Part 6 (2/2)
Mowat and Broere re-elected without difficulty, but Macdougallopposition in North Ontario Broas working hard in his interests, found this opposition so strong araphed to Macdonald, who sent a strong letter on behalf of Macdougall Brown said that the opposition caall, in spite of the assistance of the two leaders, was defeated by one hundred He was subsequently elected for North Lanark In other bye-elections the advocates of confederation were generally successful In the confederation debate, Brown said there had been twenty-five contests, fourteen for the Upper House and eleven for the Lower House, and that only one or two opponents of confederation had been elected
There had been for some years an intermittent movement for the union of the Maritiislatures had authorized the holding of a convention at Charlottetown Accordingly eight members of the Canadian ministry visited Charlottetohere they were cordially welcoer for the smaller plan of union, and the result of their representations was that arrangeeneral conference at Quebec later in the year The Canadianin public and fa the people with the plan At a banquet in Halifax, Mr Brown gave a full exposition of the project and its advantages in regard to defence, co that it would end the petty strifes of a small community, and elevate politics and politicians
The scheo a more severe ordeal in the Maritis For the present, progress was rapid, and the maritime tour was followed by the conference at Quebec, which opened on October 10th, 1864
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Sir Richard Cartwright says also that the credit of Canada was very low, largely because of the troubles of the Grand Trunk Railway Company _Memories of Confederation_, p 3
[15] _Memories of Confederation_ An address delivered before the Canadian Club of Ottawa, January 20th, 1906
CHAPTER XVI
THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE
The conference was held with closed doors, so as to encourage free discussion Somentary notes have been preserved One impression derived from this and other records is that the public men of that day had been much impressed by the Civil War in the United States, by the apparent weakness of the central authority there, and by the dangers of State sovereignty Emphasis was laid upon the monarchical element of the proposed constitution for Canada, and upon the fact that powers not expressly defined were to rest in the general, instead of the local, legislatures In fact, Mr Chandler, a representative of New Brunswick, coislative, not federal, and reduced the local governments to the status of municipal corporations In practice these residuary poere not so forislatures were highly ied, as a result of the resolute attitude of Ontario under the Mowat governers of State sovereignty is continually cropping up in the literature of confederation Friends and opponents of the new constitution made much of these mysterious residuary powers, and the Lower Canadian Liberals feared that they were being drawn into a union that would destroy the liberties and imperil the cherished institutions of the French-Canadian people
Another point is the extraordinary aiven to the constitution of the senate ”The conference proceedings,” wrote Mr Brown, ”get along very well, considering ere very near broken up on the question of the distribution of islature, but fortunately, we have this ot the matter a it” During the latter years of the union, the elective systeall and others favoured continuing this practice, but were overruled Brown joined Macdonald in supporting the noiven in his speech in the legislature in 1865 He believed that two elective chambers were incompatible with the British parliaht clai power over islation, and stop the overnment With a Conservative majority in one House, and a Reforht occur To the objection that the change from the elective to the nominative system involved a diminution of the power of the people, Mr Brown answered that the government of the day would be responsible for each appointment It must be admitted that this responsibility is of little practical value, and that Mr Brown fully shared in the delusions of his time as to the manner in which the senate would be constituted, and the part it would play in the government of the country
A rupture was threatened also on the question of finance A large number of local works which in Upper Canada were paid for by local municipal taxation, were in the Maritime Provinces provided out of the provincial revenues The adjustment was a difficult matter, and finally it was found necessary for the financial representatives of the different provinces to withdraw, for the purpose of constructing a scheme
On October 28th the conference was concluded, and its resolutions substantially form the constitution of Canada On October 31st Brorote: ”We got through our work at Quebec very well The constitution is not exactly to my mind in all its details--but as a whole it is wonderful, really wonderful When one thinks of all the fighting we have had for fifteen years, and finds the veryfar beyond e asked, I ao to pieces yet We have yet to pass the ordeal of public opinion in the several provinces, and sad, indeed, will it be if the measure is not adopted by acclamation in them all For Upper Canada we may well rejoice on the day it becomes law Nearly all our past difficulties are ended by it, whatever new ones h Canada after the draft was completed enabled Canadians to make the acquaintance of so Tilley, of New Brunswick, and Tupper, of Nova Scotia, and it evoked in Upper Canada war in favour of the new union It is estiates at the railway station in Toronto At a dinner given in the Music Hall in that city, Mr Brown explained the new constitution fully He frankly confessed that he was a convert to the scheme of the Intercolonial Railway, for the reason that it was essential to the union between Canada and the Maritime Provinces The canal system was to be extended, and as soon as the finances would permit communication was to be opened with the North-West Territory ”This was the first time,” wrote Mr Brown, ”that the confederation scheht in saying that the French-Canadians were restive about the sche in favour of it is all but unani it At any rate, coet out of the affair and out of public life with honour, for I have had placed on record a scherievances of which Upper Canada has so long coave its hearty blessing to the confederation, and the outlook was hopeful In Deceland, for the purpose of obtaining the views of the British government He wrote froious satisfaction ”The ministry, the Conservatives and the Manchester one up in public estimation immensely Indeed, froh praise of 'Canadian statesreat future before us
I am much concerned to observe, however, and I write it to you as a thing thata lead hereafter in Canadian public matters--that there is athe British American colonies should shi+ft for theret that we did not declare at once for independence I am very sorry to observe this, but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of Canada by the United States, and will soon pass aith the cause that excites it”
CHAPTER XVII
THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE
The parliament of Canada assembled on January 19th, 1865, to consider the resolutions of the Quebec conference The first presentation of the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper Chamber by the premier, Sir E P Tache He described the measure as essential to British connection, to the preservation of ”our institutions, our laws, and even our remembrances of the past” If the opportunity were allowed to pass by unimproved, Canada would be forced into the American union by violence; or would be placed upon an inclined plane which would carry it there insensibly Canada, during the winter, had no independent means of access to the sea, but was dependent on the favour of a neighbour which, in several ways, had shown a hostile spirit The people of the Northern States had an exaggerated idea of Canadian sympathy with the South, and the consequences of this misapprehension were--first, the threatened abolition of the transit system; second, the discontinuance of reciprocity; third, a passport system, which was almost equivalent to a prohibition of intercourse
Union with the Maritiive Canada continuous and independent access to the Atlantic; and the Maritinificent harbours, their coalindustries Then he recounted the difficulties that had occurred in the govern in dead-lock, and a condition ”bordering on civil strife” He declared that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a legislative union, but that if a federal union were obtained, it would be tantamount to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada would thereby preserve its autonoether with all the institutions it held so dear These were the uments for confederation, and in the speeches which followed on that side they were repeated, enforced, and illustrated in various ways
In the asseave a clear and concise description of the new constitution He adislative union, but had recognized that such a union would not have been accepted either by Lower Canada or the Maritiislative in na, by tacit consent and practice, a separate body of legislation for each part of the province He described the new scheth of a legislative union with the freedom of a federal union, and with protection to local interests The constitution of the United States was ”one of the ence ever created; one of the overned a free people” Experience had shown that its nty This ble all residuary powers in the central governislature The Canadian systenition of overnarded as tending towards a permanent alliance ”The colonies are now in a transition state Gradually a different colonial syste developed; and it will become year by year less a case of dependence on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the mother country, and more a case of a hearty and cordial alliance Instead of looking upon us as a land will have in us a friendly nation--a subordinate, but still a powerful people--to stand by her in North Aht of February 8th, his speech, occupying four hours and a half in delivery, showing the marks of careful preparation He drew an illustration froh rent the republic asunder, and was then within a feeeks of its close ”We are striving,” he said, ”to settle forever issues hardly lessrepublic and are now exposing it to all the horrors of civil war Have we not then great cause for thankfulness that we have found a better way for the solution of our troubles? And should not every one of us endeavour to rise to the nitude of the occasion, and earnestly seek to deal with this question to the end, in the same candid and conciliatory spirit in which, so far, it has been discussed?”
He warned the assembly that whatever else happened, the constitution of Canada would not re o back to chronic, sectional hostility and discord--to a state of perpetual ht months cannot be obliterated--the solemn admissions of men of all parties can never be erased The claims of Upper Canada for justice must be met, and met now Every one who raises his voice in hostility to this measure is bound to keep before him, when he speaks, all the perilous consequences of its rejection No ive a vote against this scheme unless he is prepared to offer, in amendment, so threatened the peace of our country”
In the first place, he said confederation would provide a complete remedy for the injustice of the syste Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, the number of members to which it was entitled by population In the senate, the principle of representation by population would not beallotted to Ontario, to Quebec, and to the group of Maritiard to population Secondly, the plan would reard to public expenditures ”No longer shall we have to complain that one section pays the cash while the other spends it; hereafter they who pay will spend, and they who spend ht, will bear the brunt If we look back on our doings of the last fifteen years, I think it will be acknowledged that the greatest jobs perpetrated were of a sectional character, that our fiercest contests were about local nation to their deepest depth”
Confederation would end sectional discord between Upper and Lower Canada Questions that used to excite sectional hostility and jealousy were now reislatures of the provinces No man need be debarred from a public career because his opinions, popular in his own province, were unpopular in another
A the local questions that had disturbed the peace of the coislature, he mentioned the construction of local works, the endow of money for sectarian purposes, and interference with school systems
He advocated confederation because it would convert a group of inconsiderable colonies into a powerful union of four million people, with a revenue of thirteen million dollars, a trade of one hundred and thirty-seven million five hundred thousand dollars, rich natural resources and ith on the shi+pping of the Maritime Provinces These were the days of the wooden shi+p, and Mr Brown claimed that federated Canada would be the third ive a new iration and settlement Communication with the ould be opened up, as soon as the state of the finances perotiations had been carried on with the iovernment for the addition of the North-West Territories to Canada; and when those fertile plains were opened for settlement, there would be an immense addition to the products of Canada The establishment of free trade between Canada and the Maritime Provinces would be some compensation for the loss of trade with the United States, should the reciprocity treaty be abrogated It would enable the country to assuer share of the burden of defence The tidom would insist on a reconsideration of the military relations of Canada to the empire, and that demand was just Union would facilitate co republic--the possibility of war between Great Britain and the United States; the threatened repeal of the reciprocity treaty; the threatened abolition of the Aoods in transit to and from these provinces; the unsettled position of the Hudson's Bay Coland as to the relations of Canada to the parent state; all coravity of the situation and unite us all in one vigorous effort to ency like men”