Part 5 (2/2)

Broho spoke towards the close of the convention, declared that he had no morbid fear of dissolution of the union, but preferred the plan of federation, as giving Upper Canada the advantage of free trade with Lower Canada and the free navigation of the St Lawrence One of his es was an answer to Sheppard's question whether the federation was a step towards nationality ”I do place the question on grounds of nationality I do hope there is not one Canadian in this asseh hope to the day when these northern countries shall stand out areat confederation What true Canadian can witness the tide of e to flow into the vast territories of the North-West without longing to have a share in the first settlereat, fertile country? Who does not feel that to us rightfully belong the right and the duty of carrying the blessings of civilization throughout those boundless regions, and hway of traffic to the Pacific? But is it necessary that all this should be accomplished at once? Is it not true wisdom to commence federation with our own country, and leave it open to extension hereafter if time and experience shall prove it desirable? And shall we not then have better control over the terinal cohtest question with one who longs for such a nationality between dissolution and the scheme of the day? Is it not clear that the former would be the death blow to the hope of future union, while the latter will readily furnish the reat federation?”

The resolutions adopted by the convention declared that the legislative union, because of antagonisin, local interests, and other causes, could no longer be maintained; that the plan known as the ”double majority” did not afford a permanent remedy; that a federal union of all the British North Ae of remedies for present evils; that the principle of representation by population nized in any new union, and that ”the best practical reovernment of Canada is to be found in the forovernments, to which shall be committed the control of all matters of a local or sectional character, and soed with such matters as are necessarily common to both sections of the province”

The hopes that had been aroused by this convention were disappointed, or rather deferred When Brown, in the following session of the legislature, brought forward resolutions in the sense of those adopted by the convention, he found coldness and dissension in his own party, and the resolutions were defeated by a largeillness, retired froland and Scotland In his absence the e was stayed But ”events stronger than advocacy,”

in Mr McGee's words, were operating Power oscillated between the Conservative and Reforeneral elections, held within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty When federation was next proposed, it had become a political necessity

CHAPTER XIV

LAST YEARS OF THE UNION

In 1860, Mr Brown conte from the leadershi+p of the party In a letter to Mr Mowat, he said that the ene personal hostility against his inspired by the fierce contests of the past It ht be well to appoint a leader ould arouse less personal hostility A fewand severe illness, which prevented hi the session of 1861 and froeneral election of the summer of that year He did, however, accept the hard task of contesting East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr John Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one Mr Brown then announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election Soht flow froovernoat of George Brown Ad French domination, he justified his course as the only remedy for the evil In 1852 he could hardly find a seconder for his motion in favour of representation by population; in the election just closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper Canada, elected to stand or fall by thatHe advocated opposition to any ministry of either party that would refuse to settle the question

The Conservative govern the election, on afor the maintenance of a force of fifty thousand men at a cost of about one ress; the _Trent_ affair had assu appearance and it was deemed necessary to place the province in a state of defence The bill was defeated by the defection of soovernland; and froard to defence was one of the forces tending towards confederation

John Sandfield Macdonald, as somewhat unexpectedly called upon to form a ministry, was an enthusiastic advocate of the ”double majority,” by which he believed the union could be virtually federalized without fore Upper Canadian ministers were to transact Upper Canadian business, and so with Lower Canada, the ad affairs of coislation was not to be forced on either province against the wish of the representatives The administration for each section should possess the confidence of a majority of representatives froly opposed the ”double arded as a mere makeshi+ft for reform in the representation, and he was in some doubt whether he should support or oppose the Liberal ministers who offered for re-election He finally decided, after consultation with his brother Gordon, ”to pero in unopposed, and hold them up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur”

In July 1862, Mr Brown sailed for Great Britain, and in September he wrote Mr Holton that he had had a most satisfactory intervieith the Duke of Newcastle at the latter's request They seem to have talked freely about Canadian politics ”His scruples about representation are entirely gone It would have done even Sandfield [Macdonald] good to hear his ideas on the absurdity of the 'double majority' Whatever small politicians and the London _Tiovernment and the leaders of the Opposition perfectly understand our position, and have no thought of changing the relations between Canada and the overnment, with the exception of Gladstone, are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand transit route across the continent” He reainst the United States, and said that he was perplexed by the course of the London _Ti to the passions of the people

The most important event of his visit to Scotland was yet to cohter of the well-known publisher, Tho of a hteen years This lady survived him until May, 1906 On his return to Canada with his bride, Mr Broas met at Toronto station by several thousand friends In reply to a coth invigorated, with new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with thethe prosperity and happiness of Canada”

It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte government had shelved the question of representation by population and had co Mr Brown's absence another round In 1860, 1861, and 1862, Mr R W Scott, of Ottawa, had introduced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman Catholic separate school syste certainthe support of Dr

Ryerson, superintendent of education Another iovernment measure by the Sandfield Macdonald ministry The bill became law in spite of the fact that it was opposed by a majority of the representatives from Upper Canada

This was in direct contravention of the ”double islature at the instance of the government The preitation for representation by population or for other constitutional changes That agitation had been based upon the co forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Canadian votes The ”double majority” resolutions had been proposed as a substitute for constitutional change In the case of the Separate School Bill they were disregarded, and the pre his favourite principle to be contravened

Mr Brown had been absent in the sessions of 1861 and 1862, and he did not enter the House in 1863 until the Separate School Bill had passed its second reading In the _Globe_, however, it was assailed vigorously, one ground being that the bill was not a finality, but that the Roman Catholic Church would continually make new demands and encroachments, until the public school system was destroyed On this question of finality there was much controversy Dr Ryerson always insisted that there was an express agreement that it was to be final; on the Roman Catholic side this is denied At confederation Brown accepted the Act of 1863 as a final settlement He said that if he had been present in 1863, he would have voted against the bill, because it extended the facility for establishi+ng separate schools ”It had, however, this good feature, that it was accepted by the Roh parliament as a final compromise of the question in Upper Canada” He added: ”I have not the slightest hesitation in accepting it as a necessary condition of the union”

With confederation, therefore, we ard Brown's opposition to separate schools in Upper Canada as ended In accepting the terms of confederation, he accepted the Separate School Act of 1863, though with the condition that it should be final, a condition repudiated on the Roovernment eakened by this incident, and it soon afterwards fell upon a general vote of want of confidence moved by Mr John A Macdonald Parliament was dissolved and an election was held in the suovernment obtained a majority in Upper but not in Lower Canada, and on the whole, its tenure of poas precarious in the extre for a vote of want of confidence Its successor, the Tache-Macdonald government, had a life of only three months, and its death marks the birth of a new era

CHAPTER XV

CONFEDERATION

”Events stronger than advocacy, events stronger than men,” to repeat D'Arcy McGee's phrase, combined in 1864 to remove confederation from the field of speculation to the field of action For several years the British govern a greater share of her own defence This vieas expressed with disagreeable candour in the London _Times_ and elsewhere on the occasion of the defeat of the Militia Bill of 1862

The American Civil War emphasized the necessity for measures of defence At the time of the _Trent_ seizure, Great Britain and the United States were on the verge of war, of which Canada would have been the battleground As the war progressed, the world was astonished by the development of the military power of the republic It seemed not improbable, at that tireat aration of Canada

The North had coard Canada as a home of Southern syainst the republic were hatched by Southerners Though Canada was not to bla was aroused, and publicthe peril as real

Canada was also about to lose a large part of its trade For ten years that trade had been built up largely on the basis of reciprocity with the United States, and the war had largely increased the Aenerally expected, and that expectation was fulfilled, that the treaty would be abrogated by the United States It was feared that the policy of commercial non-intercourse would be carried even farther, the bonding system abolished, and Canada cut off fro the winter[14]