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Chronicles of Canada Volume 28 - The Fathers of Confederation: A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion

<center> <ANTIMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The Fathers of Confederation. After a painting by Robert Harris." BORDER="2" WIDTH="666" HEIGHT="491"> <H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 666px"> The Fathers of Confederation. After a painting by Robert Harris. </h4> </center> <h1> THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION </h1> <h2> A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion </h2> <h3> by </h3> <h2> A. H. U. COLQUHOUN </h2> <h3> TORONTO GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY 1916 </h3> <h5> Copyright in all Countries subscribing to the Berne Convention </h5> <h3> TO COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON WHOSE LIFE-WORK IS PROOF THAT LOYALTY TO THE EMPIRE IS FIDELITY TO CANADA </h3> {ix} <h2> CONTENTS </h2> <table ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Page</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> OBSTACLES TO UNION</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 11</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 21</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE HOUR AND THE MEN</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 30</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 44</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 56</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 65</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE DEBATES OF 1865</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 84</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 97</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> 'THE BATTLE OF UNION'</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 108</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE FRAMING OF THE BILL</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 119</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 137</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> FROM SEA TO SEA</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 158</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV.  </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE WORK OF THE FATHERS</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 188</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 191</td> </tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </td> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> INDEX</td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> 193</td> </tr> </table> {xi} <h2> ILLUSTRATIONS </h2> <table ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION  After the painting by Robert Harris. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> Frontispiece </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> WILLIAM SMITH  From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> facing page 4 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> SIR ALEXANDER T. GALT  From a photograph by Topley. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "     16 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> GEORGE BROWN  From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "     32 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> SIR GEORGE CARTIER  From a painting in the Château de Ramezay. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "     42 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD  From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "     80 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART.  From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "   116 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ  From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St Boniface. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "   166 </td></tr> <tr> <td ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN—GEORGE BROWN ADDRESSING AN AUDIENCE OF FARMERS  From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys. </td> <td ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">    "        "   180 </td></tr> </table> {1} <h3> CHAPTER I </h3> <h4> THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT </h4> The sources of the Canadian Dominion must be sought in the period immediately following the American Revolution. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris granted independence to the Thirteen Colonies. Their vast territories, rich resources, and hardy population were lost to the British crown. From the ruins of the Empire, so it seemed for the moment, the young Republic rose. The issue of the struggle gave no indication that British power in America could ever be revived; and King George mournfully hoped that posterity would not lay at his door 'the downfall of this once respectable empire.' But, disastrous as the war had proved, there still remained the fragments of the once mighty domain. If the treaty of peace had shorn the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies and the great region south of the Lakes, it had left unimpaired the provinces to the east and {2} north—Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada—while still farther north and west an unexplored continent in itself, stretching to the Pacific Ocean, was either held in the tight grip of the Hudson's Bay Company or was shortly to be won by its intrepid rival, the North-West Company of Montreal. There were not lacking men of prescience and courage who looked beyond the misfortunes of the hour, and who saw in the dominions still vested in the crown an opportunity to repair the shattered empire and restore it to a modified splendour. A general union of the colonies had been mooted before the Revolution. The idea naturally cropped up again as a means of consolidating what was left. Those who on the king's side had borne a leading part in the conflict took to heart the lesson it conveyed. Foremost among these were Lord Dorchester, whom Canada had long known as Guy Carleton, and William Smith, the Loyalist refugee from New York, who was appointed chief justice of Lower Canada. Each had special claims to be consulted on the future government of the country. During the war Dorchester's military services in preserving Canada from the invaders had been of supreme value; and his occupation {3} of New York after the peace, while he guided and protected the Loyalist emigration, had furnished a signal proof of his vigour and sagacity. William Smith belonged to a family of distinction in the old colony of New York. He possessed learning and probity. His devotion to the crown had cost him his fortune. It appears that it was with him, rather than with Dorchester, that the plan originated of uniting the British provinces under a central government. The two were close friends and had gone to England together. They came out to Quebec in company, the one as governor-general, the other as chief justice. The period of confusion, when constructive measures were on foot, suggested to them the need of some general authority which would ensure unity of administration. And so, in October 1789, when Grenville, the secretary of state, sent to Dorchester the draft of the measure passed in 1791 to divide Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, and invited such observations as 'experience and local knowledge may suggest,' Dorchester wrote: I have to submit to the wisdom of His Majesty's councils, whether it may not be {4} advisable to establish a general government for His Majesty's dominions upon this continent, as well as a governor-general, whereby the united exertions of His Majesty's North American Provinces may more effectually be directed to the general interest and to the preservation of the unity of the Empire. I inclose a copy of a letter from the Chief Justice, with some additional clauses upon this subject prepared by him at my request. <center> <ANTIMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-004.jpg" ALT="William Smith. From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa" BORDER="2" WIDTH="364" HEIGHT="530"> <H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 364px"> William Smith. From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa </h4> </center> The letter referred to made a plea for a comprehensive plan bringing all the provinces together, rather than a scheme to perpetuate local divisions. It reflected the hopes of the Loyalists then and of their descendants at a later day. In William Smith's view it was an imperfect system of government, not the policy of the mother country, that had brought on the Revolution. There are few historical documents relating to Canada which possess as much human interest as the reminiscent letter of the old chief justice, with its melancholy recital of former mistakes, its reminder that Britons going beyond the seas would inevitably carry with them their instinct for liberal government, and its striking prophecy {5} that 'the new nation' about to be created would prove a source of strength to Great Britain. Many a year was to elapse before the prophecy should come true. This was due less to the indifference of statesmen than to the inherent difficulties of devising a workable plan. William Smith's idea of confederation was a central legislative body, in addition to the provincial legislatures, this legislative body to consist of a council nominated by the crown and of a general assembly. The members of the assembly were to be chosen by the elective branches of the provincial legislatures. No law should be effective until it passed in the assembly 'by such and so many voices as will make it the Act of the majority of the Provinces.' The central body must meet at least once every two years, and could sit for seven years unless sooner dissolved. There were provisions for maintaining the authority of the crown and the Imperial parliament over all legislation. The bill, however, made no attempt to limit the powers of the local legislatures and to reserve certain subjects to the general assembly. It would have brought forth, as drafted, but a crude instrument of government. The outline of the measure revealed the honest {6} enthusiasm of the Loyalists for unity, but as a constitution for half a continent, remote and unsettled, it was too slight in texture and would have certainly broken down. Grenville replied at length to Dorchester's other suggestions, but of the proposed general parliament he wrote this only: 'The formation of a general legislative government for all the King's provinces in America is a point which has been under consideration, but I think it liable to considerable objection.' Thus briefly was the first definite proposal set aside. The idea, however, had taken root and never ceased to show signs of life. As time wore on, the provincial constitutions proved unsatisfactory. At each outbreak of political agitation and discontent, in one quarter or another, some one was sure to come forward with a fresh plea for intercolonial union. Nor did the entreaty always emanate from men of pronounced Loyalist convictions; it sometimes came from root-and-branch Reformers like Robert Gourlay and William Lyon Mackenzie. The War of 1812 furnished another startling proof of the isolated and defenceless position of the provinces. The relations between Upper Canada and Lower Canada, never cordial, {7} became worse. In 1814, at the close of the war, Chief Justice Sewell of Quebec, in a correspondence with the Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria's father), disclosed a plan for a small central parliament of thirty members with subordinate legislatures.[1] Sewell was a son-in-law of Chief Justice Smith and shared his views. The duke suggested that these legislatures need be only two in number, because the Canadas should be reunited and the three Atlantic colonies placed under one government. No one heeded the suggestion. A few years intervened, and an effort was made to patch up a satisfactory arrangement between Lower Canada and Upper Canada. The two provinces quarrelled over the division of the customs revenue. When the dispute had reached a critical stage a bill was introduced in the Imperial parliament to unite them. This was in 1822. But the proposal to force two disputing neighbours to dwell together in the same house as a remedy for disagreements failed to evoke enthusiasm from either. The friends of federation then drew together, and Sewell joined hands with Bishop Strachan {8} and John Beverley Robinson of Upper Canada in reviving the plea for a wider union and in placing the arguments in its favour before the Imperial government. Brenton Halliburton, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (afterwards chief justice), wrote a pamphlet to help on the cause. The Canada union bill fell through, the revenue dispute being settled on another basis, but the discussion of federation proceeded. To this period belongs the support given to the project by William Lyon Mackenzie. Writing in 1824 to Mr Canning, he believed that a union of all the colonies, with a government suitably poised and modelled, so as to have under its eye the resources of our whole territory and having the means in its power to administer impartial justice in all its bounds, to no one part at the expense of another, would require few boons from Britain, and would advance her interests much more in a few years than the bare right of possession of a barren, uncultivated wilderness of lake and forest, with some three or four inhabitants to the square mile, can do in centuries. {9} Here we have the whole picture drawn in a few strokes. Mackenzie had vision and brilliancy. If he had given himself wholly to this task, posterity would have passed a verdict upon his career different from that now accepted. As late as in 1833 he declared: 'I have long desired to see a conference assembled at Quebec, consisting of delegates freely elected by the people of the six northern colonies, to express to England the opinion of the whole body on matters of great general interest.' But instead of pursuing this idea he threw himself into the mad project of armed rebellion, and the fruits of that folly were unfavourable for a long time to the dreams of federation. Lord Durham came. He found 'the leading minds of the various colonies strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would elevate their countries into something like a national existence.' Such a scheme, he rightly argued, would not weaken the connection with the Empire, and the closing passages of his Report are memorable for the insight and statesmanship with which the solid advantages of union are discussed. If Lord Durham erred, it was in advocating the immediate union of the two Canadas as the first necessary step, and in announcing as one of his objects {10} the assimilation to the prevailing British type in Canada of the French-Canadian race, a thing which, as events proved, was neither possible nor necessary. Many of the advocates of union, never blessed with much confidence in their cause, were made timid by this point of Durham's reasoning. His arguments, which were intended to urge the advantages of a complete reform in the system and machinery of government, produced for a time a contrary effect. Governments might propose and parliaments might discuss resolutions of an academic kind, while eloquent men with voice and pen sought to rouse the imaginations of the people. But for twenty years after the union of the Canadas in 1841 federation remained little more than a noble aspiration. The statesmen who wielded power looked over the field and sighed that the time had not yet come. [1] It has been said that Attorney-General Uniacke of Nova Scotia submitted, in 1809, a measure for a general union, but of this there does not appear to be any authentic record. {11} <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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