THE MAKERS OF CANADA

 EDITED BY

 DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT, F. R. S. C. , PELHAM EDGAR, PH. D. , AND, WILLIAM DAWSON LE SUEUR, B. A. , LL. D. , F. R. S. C. 

WILMOT AND TILLEY

[Illustration: L. A. Wilmot]

 _THE MAKERS OF CANADA_

 WILMOT AND TILLEY

 BY

 JAMES HANNAY

 _EDITION DE LUXE_

 TORONTO MORANG & CO. , LIMITED 1907

_Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1907by Morang & Co. , Limited, in the Department of Agriculture_

Transcriber's Notes:

 Unique page headings have been retained, placed within {braces} and positioned before the relevant paragraphs. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant spellings have been retained. Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. The oe ligature is represented by [oe]. 

CONTENTS

 LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT

 _CHAPTER I_ Page ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE 1

 _CHAPTER II_ EARLY EFFORTS FOR REFORM 13

 _CHAPTER III_ WILMOT IN THE LEGISLATURE 31

 _CHAPTER IV_ WILMOT AS A DELEGATE TO THE COLONIAL OFFICE 41

 _CHAPTER V_ LORD JOHN RUSSELL ON TENURE OF OFFICE 57

 _CHAPTER VI_ THE READE APPOINTMENT 67

 _CHAPTER VII_ WILMOT'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION 83

 _CHAPTER VIII_ THE DEMAND FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 99

 _CHAPTER IX_ THE VICTORY IS WON 113

 _CHAPTER X_ JUDGE AND GOVERNOR 131

 SIR LEONARD TILLEY

 _CHAPTER I_ EARLY LIFE AND BUSINESS CAREER 143

 _CHAPTER II_ ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE 159

 _CHAPTER III_ THE PROHIBITORY LIQUOR LAW 171

 _CHAPTER IV_ REFORM AND PROGRESS 183

 _CHAPTER V_ THE INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY 195

 _CHAPTER VI_ THE MOVEMENT FOR MARITIME UNION 201

 _CHAPTER VII_ THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE 215

 _CHAPTER VIII_ DEFEAT OF CONFEDERATION 231

 _CHAPTER IX_ TILLEY AGAIN IN POWER 239

 _CHAPTER X_ THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT 253

 _CHAPTER XI_ THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF CANADA 269

 _CHAPTER XII_ FINANCE MINISTER AND GOVERNOR 277

 INDEX 293

LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT

CHAPTER I

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE

The contest for responsible government which was carried on in all theprovinces of British North America for so many years resembled in someof its features a modern battle, where the field of operations is sowide that it is impossible for a general to cover it with his eye or tokeep control of all the movements of his subordinates. In such a case, everything depends on the ability of the generals who command thedifferent army corps, who, operating in remote parts of the field, musttake the responsibility of success or failure. The two Canadas were sofar removed from New Brunswick, and the means of communication were sopoor, that there was but little help, even in the way of suggestion, tobe expected from them, while the contest for responsible government wasbeing carried on. Even the efforts in the same direction which werebeing made in the province of Nova Scotia had but little influence onthe course of events in New Brunswick, for each province had its ownparticular grievances and its own separate interests. Thus it happenedthat the battle for responsible government in New Brunswick was fought, to a large extent, without reference to what was being done in theother provinces which now form the Dominion of Canada, and the leadersof the movement had to be guided by the peculiar local circumstances ofthe situation. Still, there is no doubt that the efforts of all theprovinces, directed to the same ends, were mutually helpful and made thevictory more easily won. 

Among the men who took a part in the contest for responsible governmentin New Brunswick, Lemuel Allan Wilmot undoubtedly held the foremostplace, not only by reason of the ability with which he advocated thecause, but from the trust which the people had in him, which made him anatural leader and the proper exponent of their views. There were, indeed, men working in the same field before his time, but it was hishappy fortune to witness the fruit of his labours to give the province abetter form of government, and to bring its constitution into line withthe system which prevailed in the mother country. He not only viewed theland of promise from afar, but he entered into it, and he became thefirst native lieutenant-governor of the province, --a result which evenhe, sanguine as he was, could hardly have contemplated when he began hiscareer as a public man. 

{THE WILMOT FAMILY}

Lemuel Allan Wilmot was born in the county of Sunbury, on the banks ofthe St. John River, on January 31st, 1809. He was the son of WilliamWilmot, a respectable merchant and lumberman, who was in partnershipwith William Peters, grandfather of Sir Leonard Tilley. William Wilmotwas the son of Lemuel Wilmot, a Loyalist, who was a resident ofPoughkeepsie, New York, at the beginning of the Revolution. He (Lemuel)raised a company of soldiers for the service of the king, and became acaptain in the Loyal American Regiment which was commanded by BeverleyRobinson, serving in that corps during the war. At the peace, he came toNew Brunswick and settled in Sunbury County on the river St. John. TheWilmots were a respectable English family, and the first of the name inAmerica was Benjamin Wilmot, who was born in England in 1589 and came toAmerica with his wife Ann, probably prior to 1640. He was one of theearly settlers of New Haven, Connecticut, and the records of that colonyshow that he took the oaths of fidelity at a court held on May 2d, 1648. He died in 1669. His son William, who was born in 1632, was probablyalso a native of England. He married Sarah Thomas in 1658, and died in1689. 

Thomas Wilmot, his son, was born in 1679. He married Mary Lines, andtheir son Ezekiel was born in 1708. Ezekiel Wilmot and his wife Beulahwere the parents of Lemuel, who was born in 1743. Lemuel Wilmot marriedElizabeth Street, and William, the father of the subject of thisbiography, was their son. William Wilmot married Hannah Bliss, adaughter of the Hon. Daniel Bliss, a Massachusetts Loyalist, who becamea member of the council of New Brunswick and was the father of JohnMurray Bliss, one of the judges of the supreme court of that province. His grandfather was Colonel John Murray, a Massachusetts Loyalist, whowas for many years a member of the general court of that colony and whobecame a mandamus councillor. It will thus be seen that Lemuel Wilmotcame from the best New England stock, and that his connections werehighly respectable and even distinguished. He was proud of his NewEngland descent, and claimed the usual ancestor from among thepassengers of the _Mayflower_ who landed at Plymouth in 1620. If thisclaim is correct, his descent from the Pilgrim Fathers must have beenthrough the female line, and no record of it has been preserved. Thematter is not of much consequence at the present day, for the Wilmotshave made a record in their province far more distinguished than thatwhich they won in New England, for they have given to New Brunswick fivemembers of the legislature, a senator and member of the House of Commonsof Canada, two members of the executive of New Brunswick, and one of theprivy council of Canada, an attorney-general and a provincial secretaryof New Brunswick and two lieutenant-governors. 

{LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR CARLETON}

The system of government which existed in all the British North Americancolonies at the time when L. A. Wilmot was born was practically thesame. New Brunswick had been separated from Nova Scotia in 1784, and, inthe autumn of that year, its first governor was sent out in the personof Thomas Carleton, a brother of Sir Guy Carleton. Thomas Carleton hadbeen an officer in one of the regiments which fought during the War ofthe Revolution, but he was in no way distinguished, and had no specialqualifications for the position he was called upon to fill. That fact, however, did not concern the persons in England who appointed him. Inthose days, fitness or ability had very little to do with colonialappointments. Carleton continued to fill the office of governor andlieutenant-governor until his death in 1817; but for the last fourteenyears of his term he resided in England, and the duties of his officewere performed by a succession of administrators under the name ofpresidents. To assist him in his deliberations, Carleton had a councilof twelve members, who were appointed by the Crown and were thereforewholly under the influence of the governor and the authorities inEngland. In 1809, its number had been reduced to ten, and it wascomposed of the four judges of the supreme court, the provincialsecretary and the surveyor-general, who held their offices for life, andfour other persons. This council, in addition to its executivefunctions, also sat as the upper branch of the legislature, and, besidesbeing wholly irresponsible except to the governor, it sat with closeddoors, so that the public had no opportunity of knowing what was beingdone. It was not until the year 1833 that any portion of the journals ofthe legislative council was published. 

The House of Assembly consisted of members chosen by the freeholders ofthe several counties and the freeholders and freemen of the city of St. John. This House was able to exert but a limited influence on thegovernment of the country, for all authority was vested in thelieutenant-governor and he was able to act in a manner quite independentof the legislature. All the appointments to office were in his hands, and they were made in many cases even without the knowledge of hiscouncil. In England, even under the most despotic kings, parliament wasalways able to curb the power of the Crown by refusing to grantsupplies; but this check did not exist in New Brunswick, or in the othercolonies of British North America at that time, because the governor hadsources of revenue quite independent of the legislature. The Britishgovernment maintained a customs establishment in the colonies, whichlevied duties on all merchandise imported, and over which thelegislature had no control. The British government also retained therevenues arising from the Crown lands of the province, and theserevenues the governor expended as he pleased. The House of Assembly, therefore, might refuse to vote supplies; but the governor could go onwithout them, and the only effect of such a procedure was to injure itsown officials, and to deprive the people of the money which was expendedon roads and bridges. 

{THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND}

Another feature of the system of government in New Brunswick was thepredominant influence it gave to the members of the Church of England. Every member of the council of the province belonged to thatdenomination, and it was not until the year 1817 that any person who wasnot an adherent of the Church of England was appointed to the council. This exception was William Pagan, a member of the Church of Scotland, and his was a solitary instance because up to the year 1833, when theold council was abolished, all its other members were adherents of theChurch of England. The same rule prevailed with respect to all the greatoffices in the gift of the Crown. All the judges of the supreme courtfor the first sixty-seven years of the existence of the province weremembers of the Church of England. L. A. Wilmot, who becameattorney-general in 1848, was the first person not a member of theChurch of England who filled that office, and he was the first judge nota member of that Church who sat on the bench of New Brunswick. 

For some time after the foundation of the province, the salaries of theChurch of England clergymen were paid by the British government, andlarge grants of land were made for the purpose of supporting thechurches. In addition to this, financial assistance was given to themin erecting their places of worship. No dissenting minister was allowedto perform the marriage ceremony, that privilege being confined toclergymen of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Quakersand the Church of Rome. This was felt to be a very serious grievance, and, needless to say, produced a great deal of inconvenience. 

Another grievance was the fact that the great offices were held bymembers of certain favoured families. These families, from their socialposition and in some cases from their wealth, had the ear of thegovernor, or of the authorities in England, and were able to obtain andhold all the valuable places. The two Odells, father and son, held theoffice of provincial secretary for sixty years. The Chipmans wereanother favoured family, both the father and son being successivelyjudges of the supreme court, and the former receiving large sums fromthe British government as one of the commissioners who settled theboundary between Maine and New Brunswick. One of the greatest offices inthe province--that of the surveyor-general--was held by one person forthirty-three years, and this individual was in no sense responsible toany authority in New Brunswick except the governor. Those in power atthat day were very fond of expatiating on the glories of the Britishconstitution and the privileges the people enjoyed under it. But nothingless like the British constitution can be imagined than the systemwhich then prevailed in the British North American colonies. 

{THE OFFICIAL CLASSES}

One feature which is not to be lost sight of in considering thepolitical condition of the province at that time is the social element. The distinctions between the upper classes and others was then far moremarked than it is at present. The officials and the professional menformed a class by themselves, and looked with contempt upon those whowere engaged in business. The salaries of the government officials werethen three or four times as large as they are at present, and they keptup a corresponding degree of state which others were not in a positionto imitate. This assumption of superiority was carried out in all therelations of life, and the sons of those who occupied an inferiorstation were made to feel their position keenly. This was the case withLemuel Allan Wilmot, for, although his family was as good as any in theprovinces, he was the son of a man who was engaged in business and whowas not only a Dissenter but was actually a preacher in the denominationto which he belonged. No doubt the insults which the son received fromthose who claimed to occupy a higher station had a good deal to do withhis zeal for the cause of Reform, and influenced his future career to aconsiderable extent. 

William Wilmot, although he afterwards failed in business, was inprosperous circumstances when his son Lemuel was born. He was a Baptistand was one of the original members of the Baptist Church at Canning, in Queens County, which was founded in 1800. On Christmas Day, 1813, William Wilmot and nine others received their dismissal from the CanningChurch for the purpose of founding a Baptist Church in Fredericton. Wilmot was a local preacher and used his gift of eloquence in that way. He also aspired to legislative distinction, and was elected a member ofthe House of Assembly for the county of Sunbury in 1816. He was anunsuccessful candidate for the same seat in 1819, and again in 1820. Atthe general election of 1827 he ran for the county of York, to which hehad removed several years before, but was again defeated. This was hislast attempt to become a member of the House of Assembly. His loss ofthree elections out of four had certainly been discouraging, and was insingular contrast to the fortune of his distinguished son, who neverexperienced a defeat. 

{AS A LAW STUDENT}

Lemuel Wilmot's mother died when he was only eighteen months old, sothat he never knew a mother's love or a mother's care. But his fatherearly recognized his youthful promise, and gave him all the educationaladvantages then available. He became a pupil at the College of NewBrunswick, which was situated in Fredericton, of which the Rev. Dr. Somerville was the president and sole professor. This college was infact merely a grammar school, but Wilmot acquired there some knowledgeof the classics. However, his scholastic career was not prolonged, forin June, 1825, he entered as a student-at-law with Charles S. Putnam, aleading barrister of Fredericton. He was admitted an attorney of thesupreme court in July, 1830, and a barrister two years later. He wasthen twenty-three years of age. 

The men who were contemporaries of Mr. Wilmot as a youth are all dead, and not many anecdotes of his career as a student have been handed downto us. Being of an ardent and ambitious disposition, he took a keeninterest in the stirring events that were being enacted around him; forit was a time of great political excitement, and the business troublesof the province increased the difficulties of its inhabitants. In 1825, all the lumbermen in the province were ruined, and the bad management ofthe Crown lands office which had added to the business difficultiesbecame more than a political question, for by cramping its leadingindustry it affected the prosperity of every man in New Brunswick. Itwas then that young Wilmot resolved to enter upon a political career andto do what he could to redress the wrongs from which the people weresuffering. Strange to say, at this time he, who afterwards became mosteloquent, had an impediment in his speech, which it took much labour toovercome. To improve his knowledge of French, he spent some months witha French family in Madawaska, among the descendants of the ancientAcadians. In this way he acquired a colloquial knowledge of thatlanguage. 

Wilmot's ambition was to become a public man and to assist in thereformation of the constitution of his native province. He enjoyed manyadvantages for the rôle he had undertaken. He was tall, his height beingupwards of six feet, well proportioned, handsome and striking in hisfeatures, and he possessed a voice of great strength and sweetness. Hewas proficient in all athletic exercises, and took an interest in allthose movements which commend themselves to young men of enterprise andforce of character. He was a lieutenant in the first battalion of theYork County Militia when he was only eighteen years of age, and hisdevotion to the militia force continued until the end of his life. Possessed as he was of all the elements which make men popular andprominent, he was early marked for advancement in the field that he hadchosen for the exercise of his talents. 

CHAPTER II

EARLY EFFORTS FOR REFORM

The agitation for an improvement in the constitution of New Brunswickbegan long before L. A. Wilmot was born. The first man who took aprominent stand for reform in the legislature was Mr. James Glenie, amember for the county of Sunbury from 1792 to 1809. Mr. Glenie, who wasa Scotchman and a man of much ability, had been an officer in the RoyalEngineers during the Revolutionary War. His efforts to obtain reformswere met by the friends of the governor, Mr. Carleton, with the mostviolent opposition. He was denounced as an incendiary, and indeed therewas hardly a limit to the fierceness with which he was attacked forattempting to bring about an improvement in the system of government. The old Family Compact and their friends were ever ready to tell thepublic how loyal they were, and to denounce as a traitor any person whopresumed to object to the existing state of things. Mr. Glenie was notable to effect anything substantial for the improvement of theconstitution, because the time was not ripe for the changes he proposed. England itself was suffering at that time from a relapse from trueconstitutional methods, so it was not to be expected that muchattention would be paid to complaints which came from a remote provinceof North America. 

The cause of Reform would not have been nearly so well supported as itwas, had it not been for the fact that the abuses which existed touchedthe self-interest of many persons who were by no means Reformers atheart, and who in fact cared nothing about responsible government. Thefirst successful attack which was made on the existing order of thingswas with regard to the fees charged on land grants. These fees went tothe various officials, including the governor, and it was shown that ona lot of land not exceeding three hundred acres, the enormous sum offorty-seven dollars was charged as fees, while on a lot of one thousandacres to ten grantees, the fees amounted to about two hundred dollars. The reader will be able to understand from these figures how it was thatthe officials of the government were able to live in such princelystyle. This evil was remedied by permission being obtained from thecolonial secretary to include a large number of grantees in one grant. 

{THE MARRIAGE QUESTION}

Another grievance which was attacked long before Mr. Wilmot enteredpublic life was the law which related to the performance of the marriageceremony. At that time the only clerical persons authorized to solemnizemarriages were the clergymen of the Church of England, ministers of theKirk of Scotland, Quakers, and priests of the Roman Catholic Church. This was felt to be an intolerable grievance, because it preventedMethodists, Baptists and all Presbyterians except those connected withthe Church of Scotland from being married by their own ministers. In1821 a bill was passed in the House of Assembly authorizing allministers of the Gospel to solemnize marriages. This was rejected by thecouncil, a fate which befell many subsequent bills of the same kind. Forseveral years the House of Assembly continued to pass the Dissenters'Marriage Bill, and the council as steadily rejected it. Finally, in1831, the House of Assembly concluded that nothing would serve to bringabout the reform asked for but a petition to the king, and accordingly apetition was prepared in which the facts were set forth and His Majestywas asked to give instructions to the administrator of the government torecommend the legislature to pass a bill extending the privilege ofsolemnizing marriages to all regularly ordained clergymen of dissentingcongregations in New Brunswick. In 1832, a bill was passed by bothHouses carrying out these views. It contained a suspending clause, however, which prevented it from going into operation until approved byHis Majesty. It was thought that this would settle the question, but in1834 a despatch was received from His Majesty's secretary of state forthe colonies in which it was announced that the royal assent had beenwithheld on the ground that the Act was confined in its operation tofour denominations of Christians, --the Wesleyan Methodists, theBaptists, the Presbyterian seceders from the Church of Scotland, and theIndependents. It appeared, therefore, that the Act had been disallowedbecause it was not liberal enough, but this defect was speedily remediedby the passage of another bill during the session of 1834 in the termssuggested by the colonial secretary, and the Dissenters' MarriageQuestion was thus settled. 

{IMPERIAL CUSTOM DUTIES}

It has already been stated that the British government continued tomaintain a custom-house establishment in New Brunswick, and to imposeduties on goods imported into the province. These duties, which werelevied for the regulation of trade, were disposed of by the Britishgovernment and by the lieutenant-governor of the province with littlereference to the wishes of the legislature. The old restrictive systemwhich placed shackles on trade was modified by two Acts passed by theimperial parliament in 1822, under which the importation of provisions, lumber, cattle, tobacco and other articles from any foreign country inNorth and South America and the West Indies, into ports of British NorthAmerica and the British West Indies, was allowed under a fixed scale ofduty, and a free export was allowed to goods going from all our ports tothese countries. The importation of the productions of foreign countriesin Europe into the ports of British North America was also permitted, and a schedule of duties annexed. Under these Acts it was provided thatthe duties on both imports and exports were to be collected by theimperial officers of customs, and the net revenue thus obtained was tobe placed at the disposal of the colonial treasuries. This arrangementwas a decided gain to New Brunswick, because, for the first time, itplaced nearly all the revenue collected by the imperial officers underthe control of the legislature. 

The Acts of the imperial parliament, 6th George IV, Chapters 73 and 114, went still farther in the way of removing restrictions from colonialtrade. These Acts provided that the duties imposed under them should bepaid by the collector of customs into the hands of the treasurer orreceiver-general of the colony, to be applied to such uses as weredirected by the local legislature of such colony, exception being madein regard to the produce of duties payable to His Majesty, under any Actpassed prior to the eighteenth year of his late Majesty, George III. This exception is important for the purpose of illustrating thepernicious system under which duties had been collected. Even so late asthe year 1833, Messrs. Simonds and Chandler, the New Brunswick delegatesto the imperial government, were complaining that duties were collectedat the several custom-houses in New Brunswick upon wine, molasses, coffee and pimento under the provisions of the Acts of parliament, 6thGeorge II, Chapter 13; 4th George III, Chapter 15, and 6th George III, Chapter 52, amounting to upwards of one thousand pounds sterlingannually, which duties were not accounted for to the legislature, andthat it was not known to the House of Assembly by whom and to whatpurpose these duties were applied. The reply to this on the part of theimperial government was, that in pursuance of the directions containedin the statutes themselves, the duties levied under them were remittedto the exchequer in England in aid of the expenses incurred for thedefence of the British colonies in North America. Thus ten years afterthe British government had undertaken to remit the duties collected inthe colonies to the exchequers of the colonies in which the money wascollected, there still remained a considerable revenue, obtained underold and obscure Acts of parliament, which was held back, and thedestination of which was not known, until disclosed to the delegatessent to England to obtain the redress of New Brunswick's grievances. 

But the grievance which caused the greatest amount of dissatisfaction inNew Brunswick was that which arose from the management of the Crownlands. It was bad enough that the revenues arising from the publicdomain should be disposed of without the consent of the legislature; butit was still worse when such regulations were made by thesurveyor-general as hindered the settlement of the country andinterfered with one of its leading industries. One great abuse was thatlarge areas of the best land in the province were locked up as reservesfor the production of masts for His Majesty's navy. Another grievancewas the imposition of a duty of a shilling a ton on all pine timber cutin the province. This was done by the authority of the surveyor-general, and its effect was seriously to injure many of those who were engaged inlumbering. This tax was remitted for a time after the panic of the year1825, but it was revived when that crisis in the commercial life of theprovince had passed. The management of the Crown lands office had beenthe subject of criticism at almost every session of the legislature fortwelve or fifteen years before Lemuel Wilmot entered public life, andevery year the complaints grew louder. 

{AN ADDRESS TO THE KING}

At the session of 1831, an address was presented to the president, theHon. William Black, asking him to lay before the House a detailedaccount showing the amount of the casual and territorial revenue fromthe beginning of 1824 to the end of 1830, and the expenditures from thatfund for the same period. This was refused on the ground that it wasinconsistent with his instructions. The House then resolved to bring thematter to the notice of the king in an address, the spirit of which maybe gathered from the following paragraphs:--

"By the operation of the system practised in this office, very largesums are taken from the people of this province for licenses to cuttimber on Crown land, and, although the assembly do not question theright Your Majesty undoubtedly has to the lands in question, they thinkthe tremendous powers with which the commissioner is vested, with regardto impositions of tonnage money and the enormous exactions for fees, tobe incompatible with a free government, and to require redress. 

"It is generally understood, as well as universally believed, that thecommissioner in question is under no control in this province, and tothis may be ascribed the mode in which licenses to cut timber are issuedin very many cases, in quantities less than one hundred tons, subject toa duty of one shilling, three pence per ton, and the excessive fee oneach of forty-five shillings. By this mode, a large part of the receiptsis paid in the shape of fees, at once injuring the subject withoutbenefiting the revenue; and the assembly feel convinced, if the officewere under colonial management, that while the oppressions would beremoved, the revenue would be more productive; and besides, the assemblycannot but view with just alarm that the day may possibly come when, bya single mandate from the office, exactions of such magnitude may bemade as literally to stop the export trade of the country, a power whichno person should have even the shadow of authority to exercise. 

"The assembly at an early day in the present session, by an address tothe administrator of the government, sought for documents regardingthis office, to enable them officially to bring the subject more indetail under the consideration of Your Majesty, but this information, sohighly desirable and necessary, has been withheld from them; and theassembly, therefore, with great submission, lay before Your Majestyherewith, a copy of the said address, with the reply thereto, for YourMajesty's gracious consideration. 

"It will by that be seen that the objects contemplated by the assemblyare no less than relieving Your Majesty's government permanently fromthe burthen of the whole civil list of the province, a subject which theassembly humbly conceive to be of great advantage to the parent state, and only requiring that the revenues, from whatever source or sourcesderived in or collected within the province, should be placed under thecontrol of its legislature. "

{THE CIVIL LIST}

A portion of the Crown-land revenue went to pay what was termed thecivil list, which included the salaries of the lieutenant-governor, thejudges, the attorney-general, solicitor-general, private secretary, provincial secretary, auditor, receiver-general and commissioner ofCrown lands. The latter official received seventeen hundred and fiftypounds sterling per annum besides enormous fees, so that his income wasgreater than that of the lieutenant-governor. Thomas Baillie, anIrishman, who had been a subaltern in a marching regiment, had filledthat office since the year 1824, and continued to hold it until 1851, twenty-seven years in all, when he retired with a pension twice as largeas the salary of the present surveyor-general of New Brunswick. 

What the Reformers in the legislature of New Brunswick sought to obtainwas the control of the public lands, and the disposal of the revenuesderived from them. To accomplish this they were willing to undertake topay the salaries embraced in the civil list, although these salarieswere looked upon by the people of the province generally as altogethertoo large. Yet there were great difficulties in the way of thisnecessary reform, for King William IV was known to be violently opposedto it. At a later period, 1835, in the course of a conversation with theEarl of Gosford, who had been appointed governor of Lower Canada, "Iwill never consent, " he said with an oath, "to alienate the Crown lands, nor to make the council elective. Mind me, my Lord, the cabinet is notmy cabinet. They had better take care, or by ---- I will have themimpeached. "

Such was the language which this king used in regard to hisconstitutional advisers. It was fortunate for New Brunswick and theother colonies of British North America that at that time he had donehis utmost to get rid of his ministers and had been defeated andhumiliated, so that they could set him at defiance. But in 1832 theywere more disposed to defer to his wishes, and in May of that year wefind Lord Goderich, the colonial secretary, writing to Sir ArchibaldCampbell, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, in the followingstrain:--

"The preservation to the Crown of the territorial revenue is an objectof the first importance, and it would only be resigned on its beingclearly proved that the right of the Crown could not be maintainedwithout producing still greater inconvenience. You cannot, therefore, more usefully exert your influence than in endeavouring to prevent theassembly from urging the surrender of this revenue. "

{CONTROL OF THE REVENUE}

The question of the control of the Crown-land or casual and territorialrevenues was made the subject of an address to the king by the House ofAssembly in 1832. In this it was stated that the expense of collectingthese revenues was far greater than it would be under proper management, and it was proposed that they be placed under the control of thelegislature, which would undertake the payment of all the necessaryexpenses of the civil government of the province by making suchpermanent and other grants as might be necessary for this purpose. Thereply to this proposition was received during the legislative session of1833. In it Lord Goderich, with some appearance of sarcasm, observedthat "His Majesty did not consider it necessary at present to call uponthe House for a grant of the nature proposed, as he did not anticipatesuch a falling off in the revenue at his disposal as the House appearedto have apprehended. " This reply can hardly be regarded otherwise thanas an insult to the House of Assembly, for the meaning of their addressto the king was deliberately misrepresented. They were contending for aprinciple, that the revenue derived from the public domain should beunder the control of the legislature, and the amount of the revenue didnot enter into the question. 

In 1833 the House of Assembly appointed a committee on grievances forthe purpose of taking into consideration and investigating all mattersin connection with the Crown lands, which were the subject of complaint. After this committee had reported to the House, it was resolved to senda deputation to England to endeavour to make some arrangement with thecolonial secretary in reference to the Crown lands. 

{MR. STANLEY'S DESPATCH}

The deputies appointed to proceed to England and lay the grievances ofthe province at the foot of the throne were Charles Simonds and EdwardB. Chandler, both men of wealth, influence and position, and wellqualified for the performance of the work with which they wereentrusted. Messrs. Chandler and Simonds arrived in England in June, 1833, and immediately placed themselves in communication with the RightHonourable E. G. Stanley, who was then colonial secretary. Their reportwas laid before the legislature in February, 1834, and the result washighly satisfactory to the House of Assembly. A few days later adespatch from Mr. Stanley to Sir Archibald Campbell was laid before theHouse, in which he stated the terms on which he should feel that HisMajesty might properly be advised to place the proceeds of the casualand territorial revenue under the control of the assembly of NewBrunswick. He would, he said, be prepared to advise His Majesty toaccept a permanent appropriation by the legislature, duly secured to theamount of fourteen thousand pounds per annum, and that the Crown shouldundertake to charge on any such permanent grant the salaries of thelieutenant-governor, his private secretary, the commissioner of Crownlands, provincial secretary, chief-justice, three puisne judges, theattorney-general, auditor, receiver-general, the expenses of the indoorestablishment of the Crown lands department, and a grant of one thousandpounds to the college. It would be necessary, Mr. Stanley stated, thatany bill passed in consequence of the proposal contained in thisdespatch should contain a suspending clause in order that it might besubmitted to His Majesty before it was finally assented to. It was alsostated, in order to prevent misunderstanding or delay, that the Houseshould be apprised, that, unless some other fully equivalent andsufficient security could be devised, it would be expected that the Actshould provide that the stipulated annual commutation should be payableout of the first receipts in each year, and that in case of any defaultin such payment the whole of the revenue surrendered should revert tothe Crown. A committee was appointed to prepare the bill on the subjectof the surrender by His Majesty of the casual and territorial revenuesof the province. The House of Assembly had previously passed aresolution that the sum of fourteen thousand pounds required by HisMajesty's government as a permanent grant for the surrender of thecasual and territorial revenues of the province was greater than thecharges contemplated to be thereon required, yet that the great desireof the House of Assembly to have this important subject finally settledshould induce them to accept the proposal contained in Mr. Stanley'sdespatch. On the day after this resolution was passed, thelieutenant-governor communicated to the House of Assembly an extractfrom a despatch received the previous day by him from the RightHonourable Mr. Stanley, dated January 4th, 1834. This extract was asfollows:--

"In your message communicating to the assembly the proposal contained inmy despatch of the 30th September, you will take care distinctly toexplain that the payments expected from the New Brunswick Land Companyare not included in the revenue which is offered to the acceptance ofthe assembly. " It is with great regret that an historian of this periodmust record the receipt of such a despatch from an imperial head ofdepartment to a colonial governor, for the spirit displayed in themessage was not that of an enlightened statesman, but such as might havebeen expected from one who was endeavouring to drive the hardestpossible bargain with the province of New Brunswick, in order that anumber of officials, swollen with pride and enjoying enormous salaries, might not suffer. 

{NEGOTIATIONS FAIL}

A few days after the receipt of this despatch, a resolution was passedby the House in committee, regretting that the additional conditioncontained in Mr. Stanley's last despatch would prevent the committeerecommending to the House further action in the matter of preparing acivil list bill. Thus ended the attempt to settle this vexed question inthe year 1834. The House of Assembly, however, still continued toagitate the matter, and to make Sir Archibald Campbell's life a burdento him. On March 7th, they addressed him, asking for accounts in detailof the casual and territorial revenues, and calling for a number ofstatements which they had not received except in such a shape that theycould not be properly understood. They also addressed His Excellency, requesting him to lay before them copies of all official despatchestransmitted to him by the secretary of state for the colonies, since heassumed the administration of the government, relating to the subject ofthe casual and territorial revenues. The reply of His Excellency to therequest for more detailed accounts was a courteous one; but while heconsented to furnish the accounts requested in detail, it was with theunderstanding that his compliance was not to be considered as aprecedent. He declined, however, to give the names of the parties whohad their timber seized or forfeited, or the names of the petitionersfor Crown land. He also refused to furnish the accounts of thereceiver-general and commissioner of Crown lands, on the ground thatthey were accounts exclusively between these officers and the Crown. 

With regard to the request for his correspondence with the colonialsecretary, Sir Archibald Campbell in another message gave a tartrefusal, stating that such a request was subversive of the principlesand spirit of the British constitution, and that he would ill deservethe confidence put in him by His Majesty were he to hesitate in meetingso dangerous an encroachment, not only on the independence of theexecutive, but the prerogatives of the British Crown, with a mostdecided and unqualified refusal. This military officer consideredhimself a proper exponent of the principles and spirit of the Britishconstitution. He failed to understand that the British constitutionrests upon the support of the people, while his system of government wasintended to ignore the people altogether. 

{QUARREL WITH THE GOVERNOR}

A few days after the receipt of this message, a resolution was passedby the House of Assembly declaring that the language used by thelieutenant-governor, in his reply to the address of the House, was atvariance with all parliamentary precedent and usage, and such as was notcalled for by the address. Some of the governor's friends attempted toweaken the force of this resolution by an amendment of a milder nature, but their amendment was defeated, and the resolution carried by a voteof fifteen to eight. Another address on the subject of the casual andterritorial revenues and civil list was prepared and passed by theassembly for the purpose of being forwarded to His Majesty. It recitedthe proceedings, in regard to the matter, which had taken place already, and the desire of the House of Assembly to accept the propositioncontained in Mr. Stanley's despatch, and expressed the regret of theHouse at the new condition imposed with regard to the New Brunswick LandCompany, which made it impossible to accept the settlement as amended. The House concluded by expressing the hope that the terms proposed inthe original despatch might yet be considered definitive, and that theproviso with regard to the New Brunswick Land Company might bewithdrawn. This was transmitted to England; but, before the year ended, Sir Archibald Campbell concluded to rid himself of the House ofAssembly, which had given him so much annoyance, and accordingly it wasdissolved early in November; so that when the legislature met again inJanuary, 1835, the House was a new one, although largely composed of theold members. 

CHAPTER III

WILMOT IN THE LEGISLATURE

Wilmot acquired a good legal practice soon after his admission to thebar, and was recognized as a highly successful advocate in cases beforea jury. In the opinion of the legal profession he never was a deeplyread lawyer, either as a barrister or as a judge, but in the conduct ofa case at _nisi prius_ he could hardly have been surpassed. He had thegift which has been possessed by all great advocates, of seizing on theleading feature of a case, and, regardless of all minor issues, pressingit home on the minds of the jury. His eloquent and impressive speecheson behalf of his clients soon began to attract general attention, andthe court-house was thronged when it was known that he was about toaddress a jury. He was speedily marked as the proper person to representthe views of the people in the House of Assembly, and, on a vacancyoccurring in the representation of the county of York in consequence ofthe death of one of the members in the summer of 1834, Wilmot waselected without opposition, none of the government party having thecourage to oppose him. Before the time came round for the meeting of thelegislature, the House was dissolved by Sir Archibald Campbell, in thehope that he might be able to get an assembly more amenable to hiswishes, and, at the general election which followed, Wilmot was againelected, at the head of the poll. At that time he had barely completedhis twenty-fifth year. It was a great triumph for Wilmot and the friendsof Reform, for all the influence of the friends of the governor and theFamily Compact was arrayed against him. 

{ENTERS THE LEGISLATURE}

Mr. Wilmot took his seat as a member of the House of Assembly on January25th, 1835. Young as he was, he had already made a great reputation as apublic speaker, and there was no man in the legislature or in theprovince who could stand any comparison with him in point of eloquence. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the British North American provinces haveever produced a man who was Wilmot's superior in that style of oratorywhich is so telling on the hustings or where great masses of men are tobe moved. The evidence of this fact does not rest on the testimony ofhis countrymen alone, for he acquired a wider fame for eloquence thanthey could give him. At the Portland Railway Convention of 1850, wherethe ablest men of the Northern States were gathered, he easily eclipsedthem all by his brilliant and powerful oratory. The reporters are saidto have thrown down their pencils in despair, being unable to keep pacewith him as he aroused the enthusiasm of all who heard him by hisburning words. Unfortunately, there is no form of ability which is sotransient in its effects as this perfervid style of oratory. So much ofits potency depends on the action of the speaker, on the glance of hiseye and the modulation of his voice, that no report could do justice toit, even if there had been reporters at that time capable of puttingdown every word he uttered. The speeches of even Gladstone, whenreported word for word, read but indifferently when seen in cold type, and no speech of Wilmot's was ever properly reported. He was incapableof writing out a speech after he had delivered it, so that we must takethe united testimony of his contemporaries, whether friends or enemies, that he was, upon his own ground, an unequalled speaker. 

The House in which he now found himself was not one that was remarkablefor its eloquence. Unlike most of the legislatures of the present day, the proportion of lawyers was very small, there being only five in aHouse of thirty members, and of these five the only one who was anorator was Wilmot. The other twenty-five members were mostly businessmen and farmers, some of whom could express their views on publicquestions clearly enough, but had no pretensions to eloquence. Yet itwas a good House, and one of its best features was that its members wereable to appreciate the worth of the new representative from the countyof York. 

The aim of Wilmot, when he entered the legislature, was to bring theprovince into line with the principles of responsible government asunderstood in the mother country. Yet, looking at the state of NewBrunswick then, it is easy to see that the task he had undertaken wasone of enormous difficulty. Most of the evils of which the people hadbeen complaining still existed. The casual and territorial revenue wasstill under the control of the home authorities, the custom-houseestablishment still remained unreformed, the Family Compact stillcontrolled all the great public offices, and none but members of theChurch of England were thought worthy to serve their country in a publiccapacity. 

Two years earlier the executive and legislative councils had beenseparated; but the change had made little or no improvement in thesystem of government. The executive council consisted of five members, all of whom held public offices from which they could not be removed byany act of the legislature. The first on the list was Baillie, thesurveyor-general, whose record has already been referred to; next cameF. P. Robinson, the auditor of the king's casual revenue; another wasWilliam F. Odell, whose father had been provincial secretary fortwenty-eight years, and who himself filled the same office forthirty-two years. George F. Street, the solicitor-general, was anothermember of the executive, and the last on the list was John SimcoeSaunders, who was advocate-general and held three or fourcommissionerships besides. All these men were so solidly entrenched intheir positions that it seemed impossible they should ever be disturbed. They formed a solid phalanx opposed to all reform, and they weresupported by the governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, most of whose lifehad been spent in India and who, however well fitted to govern Hindoos, was hardly the man to give laws to white men who claimed to be free. 

{BECOMES A LEADER}

As soon as Wilmot entered the House of Assembly, he began to take aleading part in its debates. The very day he took his seat he wasappointed on the committee to prepare an address in reply to the speechfrom the throne. On the following day he gave notice of a resolutionwith regard to the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, a subjectthat was then coming to the front. A day or two later he brought in abill to continue the Act to provide for the expenses of judges oncircuits. Indeed, no man was more active during that first session thanthe new member for the county of York. 

There were two questions that came up for discussion in which, as aReformer, he was specially interested, --the salaries of the customsestablishment, and the casual and territorial revenue. With regard tothe latter, when the House had been sitting about a month, the reply ofthe colonial secretary to the address of the previous session was laidbefore it. That address, it will be remembered, related to the offerwhich had been made to the British government to take over the Crownlands and provide for a civil list of fourteen thousand pounds sterling, the payments expected from the New Brunswick Land Company to be includedin this arrangement. The reply of the colonial secretary was asfollows:--

"From various parts of the address I infer that the proposal conveyed tothe assembly, through my predecessors, must have been misapprehended inmore than one important particular; and I have especially remarked theerroneous assumption that, in offering to surrender the proceeds of theCrown lands, it was intended also to give up their management, and toplace them under the control of the legislature. 

"From the course of their proceedings, as well as the tenor of thepresent expression of their sentiments, the assembly must be understoodto consider it an indispensable condition that the payments of the LandCompany should be comprised among the objects to be surrendered to them. This is a condition to which His Majesty's government cannot agree. HisMajesty's government would also be unable to recognize theinterpretation which was placed on their former offer, so far as regardsthe control over the lands belonging to the Crown in New Brunswick. Under these circumstances, I can only desire you to convey to theassembly His Majesty's regrets that the objects of their address cannotbe complied with, and, adverting to the wide difference between theviews entertained by the government and those manifested by the assemblyon this subject, it seems to me that no advantage could be anticipatedfrom making any further proposals at present respecting the cession ofthe territorial revenue. "

{RENEWED AGITATION}

This despatch, which brought a sudden close to the negotiations withregard to the casual and territorial revenues of the province, did notemanate from the government with which the House of Assembly had beenpreviously negotiating, but from a new administration which had justbeen formed under the premiership of Sir Robert Peel, and which lastedjust one hundred and forty-five days. The creation of thisadministration was due to the action of King William IV, in dismissinghis advisers on the death of Earl Spencer, which removed Lord Althorpfrom the House of Commons. The king had grown to detest his cabinet fortheir reforming spirit, but his designs were thwarted by the failure ofSir Robert Peel to form an administration capable of facing the House ofCommons. As a consequence, Viscount Melbourne again became premier, anda renewal of the negotiations with the government in regard to thecasual and territorial revenues was rendered possible. 

The House of Assembly was still determined to keep the question of thecasual and territorial revenue to the front, and at a later period inthe session another address on this subject was prepared by the House ofAssembly, to be laid before His Majesty. In this address the grievanceswith regard to the management of the Crown lands of New Brunswick wererecited, and the willingness of the legislature to provide for the civilestablishment of the province was stated. The address urged the benefitsthat would result to the people of New Brunswick from placing the netproceeds of the Crown-land revenues under the control of thelegislature. Attached to this address was a schedule of salariesproposed to be paid out of the casual and territorial revenues, amounting in all to £10, 500 currency. The address was transmitted to thegovernor to be forwarded to His Majesty. No specific answer was evermade to this proposal, a fact which was probably due to the confusion, incident to the change of government, which took place about the timethe address reached Downing Street. 

{CUSTOM-HOUSE SALARIES}

Another matter which engaged the attention of the House during thissession, and in which Wilmot took an active interest, was the settlementof the salaries of the custom-house officials. Although the surplusrevenue from this source went into the provincial treasury, the amountthus received was much less than it ought to have been, in consequenceof the large salaries which were paid to the officials. In the year 1830the amount of custom-house duties collected in the province was £16, 61618s. 11d. Sterling, from which was deducted for salaries £7, 073 6s. , ornearly one-half of the whole amount. The House of Assembly objected tothe payment of such large salaries, and in 1831 proposed to the Britishgovernment to make a permanent annual grant of £4, 250 sterling for thepayment of customs officials in New Brunswick. This proposal wasaccepted, and in the following year a bill was passed in accordance withthis arrangement. But it was protested against by the customsauthorities in England and disallowed because the salaries of theofficers of customs were not made the first charge on the revenue. During the session of 1835, an amended bill embracing this provision waspassed, and the question was settled for the time. Mr. Wilmot was notsatisfied with this arrangement, because it was a violation of theprinciple that the House of Assembly should have control of theprovincial revenue, and he therefore voted against it. Nevertheless, themeasure apart from this violation of a fundamental principle, was a gainto the province, as it placed a considerable sum additional in thepublic treasury. 

CHAPTER IV

WILMOT AS A DELEGATE TO THE COLONIAL OFFICE

Mr. Wilmot took a very active part in the proceedings of the legislatureduring the session of 1836, and was the moving spirit in the committeeof the whole to inquire into the state of the province during thatsession. The result was the passing by large majorities of a series oftwenty-six resolutions condemning the management of the Crown landsoffice, the composition of the executive council and also of thelegislative council, and declaring that the control of the casual andterritorial revenues should be placed in the hands of the legislature. These resolutions were made the basis of an address to His Majesty, which was to be carried to England by a deputation of two members of theHouse of Assembly. This address relates at length the principal facts ofthe management of the Crown lands and the reasons of the House ofAssembly for dissatisfaction therewith. Mr. Wilmot, in recognition ofthe active part he had taken in this business, was appointed a member ofthe delegation, the other member being William Crane of Westmorland, agentleman of experience, wealth and standing in the province. Thisappointment was the highest compliment that could possibly have beenpaid to Wilmot's capacity, for the negotiation then to be conducted withthe colonial office was of the most important and delicate character, and one which vitally affected the interests of the province. 

The colonial secretary at that time was Lord Glenelg, a statesman whosecharacter has been drawn by Sir Henry Taylor, who was then a clerk inthe colonial office. "Amiable and excellent as he was, " says Taylor, "amore incompetent man could not have been found to fill an officerequiring activity and ready judgment. A dart flung at him by LordBrougham in 1838 points to his notorious defect as a minister calledupon to deal with a crisis. The then crisis was that of the CanadianRebellion. " "It is indeed, " said Lord Brougham, "a most alarming andfrightful state of things, and I am sure must have given my noble friendmany a sleepless day. " It was probably because of Lord Glenelg's habitof procrastination that the delegates had to remain in London for fourmonths before they were able to bring their business to a conclusion. They arrived there about the middle of June, and it was well on inOctober before they were able to leave. The result of their work wasthat an arrangement was made satisfactory both to the British governmentand to the delegates representing the House of Assembly, by which thecasual and territorial revenues were to be transferred to the province, in consideration of the legislature undertaking to provide for a civillist of £14, 500 currency annually, for the payment of certain salarieschargeable to that fund. A draft of a Civil List Bill was prepared andagreed to by the lords of the treasury, and the understanding was thatthis bill should be passed by the legislature, and receive the assent ofthe lieutenant-governor, when it would immediately become operative. 

{CIVIL GOVERNMENT BILL}

The first clause of this bill transferred the proceeds of theterritorial and casual revenues, and of all woods, mines and royaltieswhich had been collected and were then in hand, or which shouldthereafter be collected, to the provincial treasurer, who was authorizedto receive them for the use of the province, while the Act remained inforce. The second clause charged the revenues with the payment of£14, 500 for a civil list. The third clause enacted that all the surplusover and above the sum of £14, 500 currency, should remain in thetreasury of the province until appropriated or disposed of by an Act orActs of the general assembly. The fourth clause gave thelieutenant-governor, with the advice of his executive council, power toexpend such sums as they might deem necessary for the prudentmanagement, protection and collection of the said revenues, a detailedaccount of which was to be laid before the legislature within fourteendays of the commencement of each session, with all vouchers for thesame. It was also enacted that all grants or sales of Crown lands shouldbe void, unless the land had been sold at public auction after duenotice in the _Royal Gazette_. By this arrangement the House of Assemblyhad obtained the boon for which it had so long been contending, butthere was still one more obstacle to be overcome, --the opposition of thelieutenant-governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, who had entered into a plotwith some of the enemies of freedom in the province for the purpose ofthwarting, not only the wishes of the House of Assembly, but also theintentions of the home government. As soon as Sir Archibald Campbell wasapprised of the intention of His Majesty's advisers in England totransfer the casual and territorial revenues to the provinciallegislature, he commenced a correspondence with the colonial office, pointing out what he deemed to be imperfections in the scheme which theyhad prepared for the management of the public lands. He pretended tohave discovered that there was some error in the calculation of thelords of the treasury with regard to the sum to be paid in lieu of thecivil list, and that the amount of £14, 500 currency would not besufficient to defray all the expenditures chargeable on the civil list. 

{AN OBSTRUCTIVE GOVERNOR}

Sir Archibald Campbell, soon after the opening of the session of thelegislature, in December 1836, requested the House of Assembly to add asuspending clause to any Civil List Bill they might pass, so that hemight forward it to the home government for their approval. As this wasentirely contrary to the understanding which had been reached betweenMessrs. Wilmot and Crane and the colonial secretary, --it beingunderstood that the bill if passed in the form agreed upon would beimmediately assented to by the lieutenant-governor, --the House ofAssembly very naturally refused to comply with Sir Archibald's wishes. He, however, held firm in his resolution, and the Civil List Bill whichhad been agreed to by the home authorities, after being passed by bothHouses, did not receive his assent. At the close of the session, whilethe matter was under discussion, at the instigation of thelieutenant-governor one of the executive council, Solicitor-GeneralStreet, was sent on a secret mission to Downing Street. The object ofthis mission was to make such representations to the home authorities aswould induce them to delay giving their assent to the Civil List Bill. The truth of the matter seems to have been that Sir Archibald Campbelland his advisers in New Brunswick thought if they could only gain timethe Liberal government of England which had granted such favourableterms to the province might be defeated, and a Tory government come intopower which would speedily undo all that their predecessors had done, and refuse to grant any concessions to the legislature of New Brunswick. There was great excitement in the province in consequence of the actionof the lieutenant-governor, and this excitement was fairly voiced in theHouse of Assembly, where an address was prepared representing thecondition of affairs to His Majesty, and detailing the manner in whichthe lieutenant-governor had sought to thwart the intentions of theimperial government. This address was passed by a vote of twenty-sevento two, the only members of the House who ventured to stand with the manwho occupied Government House being John Ambrose Street and William End. 

{CIVIL GOVERNMENT BILL PASSED}

Messrs. Crane and Wilmot were again appointed a deputation to proceed toEngland with the address of the House of Assembly, and took theirdeparture two days after it was passed, amidst great populardemonstrations by the citizens of Fredericton. The legislature wasprorogued on March 1st, on which day the House of Assembly againrequested the lieutenant-governor to pass the Civil List Bill, pointingout that under the arrangements made with the colonial office it was hisduty to do so, but their request fell upon deaf ears. In the speechproroguing the legislature, Sir Archibald Campbell stated that he hadwithheld his assent from this bill because a suspending clause had notbeen appended to it. These were the last words that this obstinategovernor was destined to speak before a New Brunswick legislature. Finding that all his hopes of impeding the progress of the province inthe direction of political liberty were in vain, he tendered hisresignation to save himself from being removed, as he would have been, for his direct disobedience to the commands of his superiors inEngland. [1] Sir John Harvey, another soldier, but a man of a verydifferent spirit, was appointed to succeed him as lieutenant-governor. The Civil List Bill was again passed at a special session of thelegislature and received the assent of the governor, becoming law onJuly 17th, 1837. From that time to the present, the province of NewBrunswick has controlled the revenues which it derives from its Crownlands and similar sources, and, whether wisely expended or not, thepeople of this province have at least the satisfaction of knowing thatthe money is appropriated by their own representatives, and by agovernment which is responsible to them for its actions. 

The death of King William IV took place during the summer of 1837, andbrought about another general election. Mr. Wilmot again stood for thecounty of York and was returned at the head of the poll. This was only aproper recognition of his eminent services to the province in thelegislature and as a delegate to England. At this election, CharlesFisher, a young lawyer, was also returned for the county of York. Mr. Fisher, although not so fluent a speaker as Wilmot, was second to no manin the legislature in devotion to Liberal principles, and he proved amost valuable lieutenant in the battle for responsible government whichnow began. The contest for the control of the Crown lands of theprovince had been won, but a still more difficult task remained for thefriends of constitutional principles to accomplish, --the making of theexecutive responsible to the people. The members of the House ofAssembly had been almost unanimous in demanding the control of the Crownlands, but, when it came to applying the principles of responsiblegovernment to the affairs of the province generally, there were manydeserters from the ranks of those who had called themselves Reformers. This was partly due to the principles of responsible government notbeing well understood even by some members of the legislature, andpartly to the fact that the question did not touch the self-interest ofthe members in the same manner as the mismanagement of the Crown landsdepartment had done. 

Under a thoroughly constitutional system of government the initiation ofmoney grants would have been in the hands of the executive, but in 1837not a single member of the executive council had a seat in the House ofAssembly. Three of the five members of the executive council were alsomembers of the legislative council, but the two others had no seat ineither House, a fact which shows on what lax principles the executivewas constructed. The initiation of money grants being in the House ofAssembly, any private member had it in his power to move anappropriation of money for any object that he pleased. In this way asystem of "log rolling" was inaugurated in the legislature, whichresulted in extravagant expenditures and the appropriation of money forobjects which, under a better system, would not have received it. It wasimpossible to put any check upon the expenditure or to keep it withinthe income under such an arrangement, and one of the first efforts ofthe Reformers was therefore directed to the removal of this abuse. Unfortunately this was, of all the proposed reforms in the constitution, the one most difficult to carry, and it was not accomplished until afterWilmot had retired from public life. 

{KING'S COLLEGE}

One of the subjects which engaged the attention of Mr. Wilmot, at anearly period of his legislative career, was the charter of King'sCollege. This charter had been obtained in 1828 from His Majesty, KingGeorge IV, and the legislature had granted the college an endowment ofeleven hundred pounds currency a year, in addition to ten hundred poundssterling granted by the king out of the casual and territorial revenuesof the province. The aim of the charter was to make the college a Churchof England institution exclusively, for it provided that the bishop ofthe diocese should be the visitor of the college, and that the presidentshould always be a clergyman in holy orders of the United Church ofEngland and Ireland. No religious test was required of studentsmatriculating or taking degrees in arts, but the council of the college, which was the governing body, was to be composed of members of theChurch of England, who, previous to their appointment, had subscribed tothe thirty-nine articles. The professors, to the number of seven, whowere members of the Church of England, were to be members of thecouncil, so that, although no religious test was required of them, itwas reasonably certain that none but persons of that denomination wouldbe appointed to professorships. These terms were much complained of, andsurely it was absurd to place a provincial college under the control ofa single denomination which could not claim more than one-third of thepopulation of the province as belonging to its communion. It is statedin Fullom's _Life of Sir Howard Douglas_, who was lieutenant-governor ofthe province at the time, that the charter would have been much lessliberal than it was if it had not been for his efforts. The Bishop ofNova Scotia and the Bishop of London desired to confine it entirely tostudents belonging to the Church of England, and to make subscription tothe thirty-nine articles a condition precedent to the granting ofdegrees in arts. On the other hand, Attorney-General Peters in 1845, when the amendments to the charter were discussed in the legislativecouncil, stated that the charter as originally drafted and sent toEngland was much more liberal in its provisions than when finallypassed, but that in 1828, to the surprise of Sir Howard Douglas, thethen existing charter came out copied from one obtained by Dr. Strachanfor Upper Canada. If this statement was correct, it affords a singularillustration of the injury that the bigotry of one man can cause tofuture generations. If King's College had treated all denominations onequal terms, all would have resorted to it for higher education. As itwas, it became the college of only a section of the people, thedifferent denominations established colleges of their own, and whenfinally the connection between the Church of England and King's Collegewas severed and it became the University of New Brunswick, thedenominational colleges had become so well established that it couldhardly compete with them on equal terms. 

{AN EXCLUSIVE INSTITUTION}

During the session of 1838 Mr. Wilmot, as chairman, submitted to thelegislature the report of the select committee which had been appointedto take into consideration the state of the college. In this report itwas proposed to make certain alterations in the charter for the purposeof rendering it more acceptable to those who were not in the communionof the Church of England. In 1839 he introduced a bill in the House ofAssembly embracing these amendments. The principal changes were to makethe lieutenant-governor visitor of the college instead of the bishop, torepeal the section which provided that the president of the college mustbe a member of the Church of England, and to make persons of everydenomination eligible for members of the college council. Theprofessorship of theology was still retained, and students in thatcourse were still required to subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, while services were held in the college morning and evening according tothe rites of the Church of England. These changes were certainly of avery moderate character, but they were stoutly resisted by the collegeauthorities and their friends. They put forward the plea that thelegislature had no right to alter a royal charter, that to do so was aninterference with the royal prerogative, and that the direst consequencewould ensue if the constitution of the college was changed. According totheir view, a royal charter once granted, the king himself, even withthe assistance of both branches of the legislature, could not amend it. The college authorities also denied that they were under the control ofthe legislature in any way, or responsible to it for their management ofthe institution, although they were living on money voted by thelegislature for its support. 

{ADDRESS TO THE QUEEN}

Wilmot's bill passed the House of Assembly, but was defeated in thelegislative council. A similar bill was introduced by him in 1840, butpostponed in consequence of a communication from the college councilwhich seemed to show an inclination to yield something to the demands ofthe public. But a fatal objection to these modifications being acceptedwas the insistence of the college council that the bishop of thediocese, or in his absence the archdeacon, should be a member of thatbody. Representatives of the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptistspointed out in a memorial to the lieutenant-governor that the exclusivecharacter of the council would still remain, as that body would becomposed wholly of members of the Church of England. Lord John Russell, the colonial secretary, to whom the matter had been referred, suggestedthat the college should surrender its charter and that a new one shouldbe prepared embracing the proposed changes, but the college council tookno steps to carry these suggestions into effect. This being the case, atWilmot's instance the House of Assembly proposed an address to the queensetting forth the facts of the case and asking Her Majesty to assent toa bill, a draft of which was enclosed, which the House of Assembly wasprepared to pass. 

At the session of 1842 Wilmot again introduced the King's College Bill, and it was passed by the House, but again rejected by the legislativecouncil. Early in the session of 1843, the lieutenant-governorcommunicated to the House by message two despatches from Downing Streeton the subject of the college. One of these was from Lord John Russell, and the other from his successor, Lord Stanley. Lord John laid down thedoctrine that "it is a principle of undoubted validity that a grant offranchise by the Crown is irrevocable and unalterable by a furtherexercise of the royal authority unless the power of revocation andchange be embodied and reserved in the original grant, or unless thegrantees make a voluntary surrender of their franchises. " Lord John hadevidently forgotten his English history, or he would have known thatEnglish kings on many occasions had revoked charters granted bythemselves or their predecessors. [2] Lord John desired the college tosurrender its charter and accept a new one, but Lord Stanley and the lawofficers of the Crown whom he had consulted held a different view, andthought that a new charter could be granted to supersede the old. Bothcolonial secretaries were desirous that the changes in the constitutionof the college should be effected by a new royal charter. But this didnot suit the views of the House of Assembly, and after another collegebill had been defeated in the House and rejected by the council, onMarch 20th, 1843, the following resolution, which was moved by Mr. Wilmot, was passed by the House without a division:--

"WHEREAS, The assembly, during several years past, have endeavoured, without success, to effect certain reasonable modifications in thecharter of King's College; and whereas those modifications as containedin the bill which has been rejected by the legislative council, duringthe present session, have been loudly and repeatedly called for bynumerous petitions from nearly every county in the province, while nopetition has ever been presented against those modifications; andwhereas it is in vain to expect the amount of public benefit from theinstitution which its munificent endowment from the provincial revenueshould ensure; therefore, "_Resolved_, That this House have learned with much regret anddisappointment that a majority of the legislative council have rejectedthe said bill during the present session; and further

"_Resolved_, That this House should persevere in their endeavours toamend the said charter by legislative enactment, and not resort to anaddress to the throne for a new charter; and that this House willsteadfastly adhere to the principle that all the educationalestablishments of the province, which are endowed from the colonialrevenues, whether incorporated by royal charter or otherwise, should beat all times subject to the supervision of the local legislature. "

{COLLEGE CHARTER AMENDED}

This resolution embodied a great principle to which the House ofAssembly was determined to adhere, and which was very soon carried out. In 1844 the college amendment bill was again rejected by the council, but this was the last effort of that reactionary body to defeat thewishes of the people. At the session of 1845, the college bill wasagain introduced by Mr. Wilmot, and this time it passed both Houses. But like many important bills of that day it was reserved for HerMajesty's pleasure and although passed in March, 1845, it was not untilDecember, 1846, that it received the royal assent and became law. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This is shown by the correspondence of Sir John Harvey with thecolonial office. Sir John was then governor of Prince Edward Island. 

[2] Charles II annulled the charter of Massachusetts, and disposed in asimilar fashion of the charter of the city of London, as well as of manyEnglish towns. 

CHAPTER V

LORD JOHN RUSSELL ON TENURE OF OFFICE

In the session of 1840 Sir John Harvey, the lieutenant-governor, communicated to the legislature a despatch which he had received fromLord John Russell a short time before. This dealt with the question ofthe tenure of public offices in the gift of the Crown throughout theBritish colonies. Lord John had been struck by the fact that, while thegovernor of a colony was liable to have his commission revoked at anytime, the commissions of all other public officials were very rarelyrecalled except for positive misconduct. In New Brunswick offices hadbeen held generally for life and sometimes for two lives, as was thecase with the Odells, father and son, who filled the position ofsecretary of the province for sixty years. One attorney-general of theprovince had held office for twenty-four years, another for nineteenyears and a third for twenty years. One surveyor-general held office forthirty-three years and another for almost thirty years. Under such asystem, it was clear that responsible government could make no advance, for these officials held their positions quite independently of thewishes of the legislature. Lord John Russell thought that the time hadcome when a different course should be followed, and his despatch wasfor the purpose of announcing to the lieutenant-governor the rules whichwould hereafter be observed in the province of New Brunswick. He said:--

"You will understand, and cause it to be made generally known, thathereafter the tenure of colonial offices held during Her Majesty'spleasure will not be regarded as equivalent to a tenure during goodbehaviour, but that not only such officers will be called upon to retirefrom the public service as often as any sufficient motives of publicpolicy may suggest the expediency of that measure, but that a change inthe person of the governor will be considered as a sufficient reason forany alterations which his successor may deem it expedient to make in thelist of public functionaries, subject, of course, to the futureconfirmation of the sovereign. 

"These remarks do not extend to judicial offices, nor are they meant toapply to places which are altogether ministerial, and which do notdevolve upon the holders of them duties, in the right discharge of whichthe character or policy of the government are directly involved. Theyare intended to apply rather to the heads of departments than to personsserving as clerks, or in similar capacities under them. Neither do theyextend to officers in the services of the lords commissioners of thetreasury. The functionaries who will be chiefly, though not exclusively, affected by them, are the colonial secretary, the treasurer orreceiver-general, the surveyor-general, the attorney-general andsolicitor-general, the sheriff or provost marshal, and other officers, who under different designations from these, are entrusted with the sameor similar duties. To this list must be also added the members of thecouncil, especially in those colonies in which the legislative andexecutive councils are distinct bodies. 

"The application of these rules to officers to be hereafter appointedwill be attended with no practical difficulty. It may not be equallyeasy to enforce them in the case of existing officers, and especially ofthose who may have left this country for the express purpose ofaccepting the offices they at present fill. Every reasonable indulgencemust be shown for the expectations which such persons have beenencouraged to form. But even in these instances it will be necessarythat the right of enforcing these regulations should be distinctlymaintained, in practice as well as in theory, as often as the publicgood may clearly demand the enforcement of them. It may not beunadvisable to compensate any such officers for their disappointment, even by pecuniary grants, when it may appear unjust to dispense withtheir services without such an indemnity. "

{AN HISTORIC DESPATCH}

This despatch produced consternation among those who had been accustomedto regard their offices as held on a life tenure, but it was lookedupon by all the friends of good government as the beginning of a newand better order of things with respect to the public services. Thematter was considered by a committee of the whole House a few days afterthe despatch was received, and an effort was made by Wilmot to have afavourable vote with regard to it. But although the friends of the oldFamily Compact always professed to be extremely loyal and to pay greatdeference to the wishes of the British government, on this occasion theypursued a different course. A majority of the House voted down aresolution which affirmed that this despatch should be "highlysatisfactory, " "affording, as it does, the most satisfactory proof of asincere desire on the part of our Most Gracious Queen and her governmentto infuse principles in the administration of colonial affairs strictlyanalogous to the principles of the British constitution. " Instead ofpassing this sensible resolution the committee, by the casting vote ofthe chairman, passed the following absurd amendment:--

"_Resolved_, As the opinion of this committee, that there is nothing inthe despatch of the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, now underconsideration, to call forth any expression from the House on thesubject of colonial government, and that in the event of any occurrencetaking place to disturb the present happy political state of theprovince, the House cannot but entertain the opinion that any loyal anddutiful representations which they may have occasion to lay at the footof the throne will receive, as they have always done, the royalconsideration. "

The vote on the original resolution was fifteen to thirteen, so that, although defeated, it had a strong support in the House, yet it wasyears before the principles embodied in the despatch of Lord JohnRussell were carried into full effect in New Brunswick. 

{OFFICIAL SALARIES}

When the Civil List Bill was passed in 1837, the salaries of the publicofficials which were provided for in it were placed on a very liberalscale. The lieutenant-governor was to receive £3, 500 sterling, or almostdouble the present salary of the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick. The commissioner of Crown lands was to have £1, 750 sterling, or aboutfive times as much as the present holder of that office; the provincialsecretary got £1, 430 sterling, or more than three times as much as thesecretary of the province now receives. All the other salaries were inthe same proportion, and on a scale altogether beyond the means of theprovince. It was admitted by Lord Glenelg, when the arrangements werebeing made for the transfer of the casual and territorial revenues, thatthese salaries might require modification, and he suggested that thelegislative council and the House of Assembly should at some future daypresent him with their views on this subject. At the session of 1837, acommittee of the House of Assembly, of which Wilmot was a member, reported in favour of a reduced scale of salaries, and this report wasadopted by the House. During the same year, a committee of the councilrecommended that the salary of the surveyor-general or commissioner ofCrown lands should be reduced to twelve hundred pounds currency. Thisreduction was protested against by Mr. Baillie, who had held the officefor many years, but it was thought to be reasonable by Lord Glenelg. Theexecutive council, however, took no steps to effect this reduction, possibly because Mr. Baillie himself was a member of that body. At theinstance of Mr. Wilmot, the matter was taken up by the House at thesession of 1839, and a strongly worded resolution passed censuring theexecutive council for not carrying into effect the reduction of thesalary of the surveyor-general, according to the views of Lord Glenelg. At a later period in the same session, a committee, of which Wilmot wasan active member, laid before the House a scale of salaries which theyhad prepared and which they considered sufficient for the publicofficials embraced in the civil list. Under this scale, the salary ofthe surveyor-general was reduced to £600 currency, and that of theprovincial secretary to the same amount. This report was not accepted bythe House. There were strong interests working for the retention of theexisting salaries, and it was not until a much later period that thesalaries of the public officials were placed on a footing that agreedin some measure with the means of the province. 

At the session of 1842, Wilmot was an active member of a committee whichwas appointed to take into consideration the subject of fees andemoluments of the public officers, and at a later period in the sessionthey made a report recommending that all fees should go into thetreasury of the province and that all public officers should receive acertain fixed salary. They presented with their report a scale ofsalaries which they considered sufficient, which gave the provincialsecretary, surveyor-general and attorney-general each six hundredpounds. Bills were introduced for the purpose of carrying theserecommendations into effect, but, although passed by the House, theywere rejected by the council, which for many years was the graveyard ofall measures for the improvement of the province. 

{RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT}

The general election of 1842 was mainly fought on the Reform issue, andthe question of responsible government was discussed on every hustings. Unfortunately very few of the candidates who offered their services aslegislators had a clear idea of what responsible government reallymeant, and some of the gentlemen who were not ashamed to confess theirignorance of the principles of the British constitution were men ofeducation and position, from whom better things might have beenexpected. Mr. Robert L. Hazen, an eminent lawyer, who was a candidatefor the representation of the city of St. John, declared in hisnomination speech that he never met with any one who could explain tohim satisfactorily what responsible government meant. Mr. Humbert, oneof the candidates for St. John County, was entirely averse to the newprinciples. "And what, " he asked, "are these principles?" "Why, " hewould ask, "should the old system be altered; it had never given causefor complaint, it had always worked well, --then why should the peoplecomplain?" He was not in favour of any innovations on British colonialgovernment. Very few people understood what responsible governmentmeant. He hardly understood it himself. It was, in his opinion, justintroducing another branch into our government. He was not in favour ofthe government initiating the money votes. He was always sensitive aboutthe rights of the House--to them ought the power of originating thesupplies to belong, and to none other--and if returned he would opposethe measure. 

Such absurdities as the above would not be worth quoting, but for thelight they throw on the views of the average New Brunswick politician ofthat period. Mr. Humbert had been for many years a member of the Houseof Assembly, and yet he had been unable to understand the significanceof the changes which the Reformers proposed in the constitution of thecountry. The result of the election in St. John showed that the peopleof that city and county were quite indifferent to the new doctrines. For the county, Mr. Partelow was at the head of the poll, and thatgentleman on the hustings had declared that he was opposed to any changein the constitution. He went into the House, he said, under aconstitution of fifty years' standing, and he was determined to leave itas he found it, unimpaired. He disapproved of the initiation of moneyvotes being placed in the hands of the executive. He thought "such asystem would be wrong and pernicious in the extreme. "

{REFORMERS DEFEATED}

When the legislature met in January 1843, it was found that theReformers were in the minority. Mr. Partelow was determined to make thisfact very clear, for in nominating the speaker he made a speech of somelength in which he declared that the time had come for testing theprinciples on which the House should act, and with this object in viewhe would throw down the gauntlet to the friends of responsiblegovernment by nominating Mr. J. W. Weldon, to fill the chair. Thisgentleman was a very fit representative of the old system, for besidesbeing a member for Kent, he filled almost all the offices in that countywhich one man could hold. He was postmaster of Richibucto, deputytreasurer for the port of Richibucto, issuer of marriage licenses forthe county of Kent, keeper of the seals and clerk of the peace and ofthe inferior court of common pleas, and registrar of probates for thesame county. 

Mr. Wilmot was nominated for the speakership by Mr. Hill, of Charlotte, but declined to run; the odds were too great, and so Mr. Weldon, theopponent of responsible government, was elected without opposition. Thiswas an unsatisfactory result after so many years of conflict, but thefriends of Reform, although they had to admit defeat, were neitherdaunted nor discouraged. They knew that many other questions besides theabstract one of the adoption of responsible government had influencedthe recent election, and that the new principles had been blamed forresults that would have been avoided if they had been in operation. Forinstance, the transfer of the casual and territorial revenues to thetreasury of the province in 1837 had placed a very large sum, amountingto £150, 000, at the disposal of the legislature. All this money had beendissipated by extravagant grants, and in 1842 the province was actuallyin debt. Many ignorant electors were made to believe that this resultwas due to the Reformers who had been the means of obtaining this money, which the legislature had squandered; and this feeling was so strong inthe county of York, that Messrs. Wilmot and Fisher stood lower on thepoll than the two anti-Reformers who were elected with them. 

CHAPTER VI

THE READE APPOINTMENT

Although elected in opposition to responsible government, thelegislature of 1843 at its first session took one important step infavour of Reform. The arrangement by which the executive and legislativecouncils were separated, which had come into force ten years before, although a decided improvement on the old state of affairs, did notproduce universal satisfaction. [3] The constitution of the legislativecouncil was complained of, and it was described as an obstructive bodywhich disregarded the wishes of the people. Bills of the utmostimportance, which had been passed by large majorities in the House ofAssembly, and which were demanded by the people, were frequentlyrejected by the council without being even discussed. Most of itsmembers were opposed to any change in the constitution of the province, and everything which seemed to be in the direction of giving power tothe people was denounced as an innovation and condemned as aninfringement of the vested rights of the council. One of the chiefcauses of complaint against the council was their rejection of everybill for the amendment of the charter of King's College. Wilmot had sofrequently had his efforts in this direction nullified by the councilthat he introduced a resolution in the assembly condemning the conductof that body for rejecting the college bill, and the council retaliatedby unanimously voting this a breach of privilege. [4] The complaints ofthe House of Assembly against the legislative council were now embodiedin an address to the queen. In this address it was stated that in theopinion of the House the legislative council should be composed ofpersons not only representing all the leading interests of the province, but so independent in respect to property and so free from officialcontrol as to form a constitutional check on the executive. Although, bythe laws that existed then, members of the assembly were required to bepossessed of real estate to the value of two hundred pounds, over andabove all encumbrances, there was no property qualification whateverrequired for members of the legislative council. The address of theHouse expressed the opinion that members of the council should berequired to possess a certain amount of real estate, and that theirseats should be vacant on the loss of this qualification, or on theirbecoming bankrupt, or public defaulters, or from neglect to give theirattendance for a given time without leave of the lieutenant-governor. The address also stated that the constitution of the legislative councilwas defective and objectionable in other respects, because, of theeighteen members who composed it, a great proportion held offices at thepleasure of the Crown, and the principal officers of the governmentusually formed a majority of the members present. It was also complainedthat members of the Church of England had too great a preponderance inthe council, the only members not of that communion being onePresbyterian and one Baptist. 

{THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL}

At the next session of the legislature, despatches from Lord Stanleywere laid before the House of Assembly in which it was stated that thecouncil would be increased in number to twenty-one, and four new membersof the council were to be appointed. The new members then appointed wereT. H. Peters, Admiral Owen, William Crane and George Minchin, while theHon. Thomas Baillie, the surveyor-general, the Hon. Mr. Lee, thereceiver-general, the Hon. James Allanshaw, of St. Andrews, and the Hon. Harry Peters, of Gagetown, retired. No doubt the retirement of twoofficials who received large salaries was some improvement, but thecouncil required further remodelling before it could be said to be anefficient body, or one in sympathy with the inhabitants of theprovince. 

The legislative council has now ceased to exist, and it may be said ofit that it was never a very satisfactory body for legislative purposes. Perhaps the original composition of it created such a prejudice againstlegislative councils as to hamper its activities; and, from having beenat first merely the echo of the wishes of the governor, it becamelatterly, to a large extent, the echo of the wishes of the government. Gradually it became relieved of its official members, and in its lastyears no head of a department ever occupied a seat in the legislativecouncil; for it was thought, and rightly, that the power ought to be inthe House, where the responsibility to the people was most felt, andthat it was not wise to place an official whose department expendedlarge sums of money in a body which properly had no control over thepublic expenditure. The legislative council had undoubtedly from time totime many able and useful members, and, at certain periods in thehistory of the province, particularly during the confederationdiscussions, it took a firm stand in favour of measures which seemedessential to the prosperity of the British North American provinces. Noone can deny that at that time it exercised an authority fully equal tothat of the Lower House, but it cannot be doubted that some of this workwas done at the expense of the proper balance of the constitution. Suchan exercise of unusual authority on the part of a body not elected bythe people may serve a purpose at a particular crisis, but cannot becommended as an example, and if frequently repeated would end in thedestruction of the constitution. 

{THE COUNCIL'S RECORD}

The legislative council lost a considerable proportion of its able menat the time of confederation by the removal of eleven of its members tothe senate of Canada, although one or two remained with it who were notinferior to any of those who then took their departure. The new memberswho came in as their successors were naturally inferior to the old inpractical experience and ability, and this had, no doubt, an influenceon the future of the House. The example of Ontario, which was able toconduct its affairs with one House, showed that two independent branchesof the legislature were by no means necessary, and that the councilmight be abolished with safety. No doubt it was difficult to bring thisabout among a people who had been trained to believe that there wassomething essential to legislation in the balance of king, lords, andcommons, making up one legislative body. But in the course of time theelectors began to think that the council was not exactly the properequivalent of the House of Lords, and the lieutenant-governor very farfrom standing in the position of a king. Old prejudices in favour of aconstitution framed after a particular model are difficult to remove, but, in the case of New Brunswick, these prejudices were at lengthovercome, and it is safe to say that in the course of time all theprovincial legislatures of Canada will consist of but a single chamber. It is equally safe to assert that under the new system the work oflegislation will be as well done as it was under the old. 

The session of the legislature in 1843 came to an end on April 11th, andon the seventeenth of the same month Wilmot became a member of thegovernment. His appointment had been preceded by the resignation of fivemembers of the government--Messrs. Black, Shore, Robinson, Odell andCrane--and by the appointment of Messrs. E. B. Chandler, Hugh Johnston, John Montgomery and Robert L. Hazen, to fill the vacancies thus created. Of the retiring members two--Messrs. Black and Shore--were members ofthe legislative council; one of them, Mr. Crane, was a member of theHouse of Assembly, while the other two were officials who did not belongto either branch of the legislature. Of the new members of the executivecouncil, Messrs. Chandler and Johnston were members of the legislativecouncil, Messrs. Hazen and Wilmot were members of the House of Assembly, while Mr. Montgomery had no seat in either House. The executive councilas made up at that time included four members of the legislativecouncil, three members of the House of Assembly and Mr. Montgomery, whodid not become a member of the House of Assembly until three yearslater. There is no doubt that the composition of the new executivecouncil was more in accordance with correct principles than itspredecessor; yet little could be expected from it in the way of Reform, for Wilmot was the only member who was in favour of responsiblegovernment. 

{ENTERS THE GOVERNMENT}

Mr. Wilmot has been censured for entering a government composed of menwho were opposed to the liberal views he held on public questions. Itwas thought by many that his conduct in this respect looked too muchlike a surrender of his principles for the sake of office or officialposition, and it certainly would have been better if he had continued inOpposition. Yet we can easily conceive that he may have thought at thetime he could do more for the cause of Reform inside the government thanout of it, and, although this proved to be an error, it was a naturalone for which it is not difficult to find an excuse. Fortunately for thecause of Reform, Wilmot's connection with the government did not lastlong at that time. A storm was gathering in an unexpected quarter whichwas destined to wreck the government, and to cause some of itsConservative members to reconsider their opinions with reference to somequestions which until then they had regarded as fixed and unchangeable. 

It has been already stated that the governor of the province made suchappointments to office as he pleased, usually without the advice of hiscouncil. He was supposed to have the power to do this as therepresentative of the sovereign and in the exercise of what was termed"the royal prerogative. " In this way persons were frequently appointedto offices who were not residents of the province, and in all othercases appointments were given to the members of certain favouredfamilies. In 1834, a vacancy was created on the supreme court bench bythe death of Chief-Justice Saunders. Ward Chipman was appointedchief-justice in place of Mr. Saunders, and the vacant puisne judgeshipwas given to James Carter, who afterwards became chief-justice of theprovince. Carter was a young Englishman then living in London, and wascertainly no better qualified to fill the position of judge than manynatives of the province, so that it was regarded as a gross insult tothe members of the New Brunswick bar, to give such an appointment to astranger. Yet so slow was public opinion to make itself felt in regardto the evil of the appointing power being given to the governor withoutqualification, that ten years later the House of Assembly presented anaddress to Sir Charles Metcalfe, governor-general of Canada, expressingthe high sense entertained by them, as representatives of the people ofNew Brunswick, of the "constitutional stand" taken by him in maintainingthe prerogative of the Crown in the then recent memorable "conflict. "[5]The city of St. John also, to show its loyalty, presented a similaraddress; and one signed by one thousand persons was sent from the countyof York. 

{SIR CHARLES METCALFE}

Yet nothing can be more clear than that the stand taken by Sir CharlesMetcalfe in 1844 was wholly wrong, for it consisted in refusing toconsult with his council in regard to appointments, and in makingappointments contrary to their advice. What would the people of Canadasay to-day to a governor-general who insisted on appointing men tooffice against the advice of his cabinet? Yet it was for doing this thatthe New Brunswick House of Assembly, the city and county of St. John andthe county of York actually grovelled in the dust before this despoticgovernor, thus approving of all his acts. Such abasement andsubserviency to an unconstitutional governor was certain to bring itsown punishment, and it came much sooner than any one could haveanticipated. On Christmas Day of the same year the Hon. William FranklinOdell, who had been provincial secretary for thirty-two years, died atFredericton. Mr. Odell's father had been secretary before him from thefoundation of the province, so that the Odell family had held thatimportant and highly lucrative office for sixty years. 

The governor at this time was Sir William Colebrooke, and on January1st, 1845, just one week after the death of Mr. Odell, he appointed hisson-in-law, Alfred Reade, who was a native of England and a stranger tothe province, to the vacant office. The gentlemen who had been mostprominent in shouting their approval of the "constitutional stand" takenby Sir Charles Metcalfe, now suddenly discovered that Sir WilliamColebrooke's conduct in making this appointment without consulting hiscouncil, was a fearful outrage, and their distress was pitiable tobehold. Several members of the government, including such zealousupholders of the prerogative as the Hon. Robert L. Hazen, of St. John, at once resigned their positions. A communication from three ofthem--Hugh Johnston, E. B. Chandler and R. L. Hazen--addressed to HisExcellency gave as their reasons for resigning that they could notjustify the exercise of the prerogative of the Crown in respect to Mr. Reade's appointment, because they felt that "the elevation to thehighest offices of trust and emolument of individuals whose character, services, and claims to preferment, however appreciated elsewhere, areentirely unknown to the country generally, is prejudicial to the bestinterests of the province. " They did not, however, make it a ground ofobjection that the appointment of Mr. Reade was forwarded for the royalapprobation without the advice or concurrence of the council. Thesegentlemen evidently thought it was too early for them to eat the wordsin regard to the prerogative of the Crown, of which they had been sofree a few months before, but they showed their true characters bydeserting the governor because he had been foolish enough to believethat their profuse expressions in favour of the royal prerogative weresincere. 

{RESIGNATION}

Mr. Wilmot, who also resigned, sent a separate communication to thelieutenant-governor in which he stated what he considered to be the trueconstitutional doctrine which should govern such matters. He said:--

"In the first place, I consider it justly due to the people of thisprovince, that all the offices of honour and emolument in the gift ofthe administration of the government should be bestowed upon inhabitantsof the province who have made this country their home, and, in the casesof the principal offices, those persons should be preferred who haveclaims for public services rendered to the province, and who can commandthe respect and confidence of the country. With these views, which Ihope I shall ever retain, I must necessarily disapprove of theappointment in question, as I can only look upon Mr. Reade as acomparative stranger and a transient person, while, at the same time, Iam of opinion that he has no claim whatever on the ground of publicservices rendered to this province. 

"It would be in vain for the parents of our youth to make every exertionin order to qualify their sons for the higher offices of the province, if the avenues to honourable and profitable preferment are to be thusclosed against them; and I therefore cannot but view the appointmentunder consideration as an act of great injustice to the people of thiscountry; and I can safely assure Your Excellency that it will be thusconsidered throughout the length and breadth of the province. 

"Your Excellency is well aware that ever since I have had the honour ofhaving a seat in the council, I have approved of, and advocated thoseprinciples of colonial government which are now in full operation inCanada, which have been distinctly enunciated by the present governmentin the House of Commons, and which require the administration to beconducted by heads of departments responsible to the legislature, andholding their offices contingently upon the approbation and confidenceof the country as expressed through the representatives of the people. Still entertaining a strong attachment to those principles from a clearconstitutionality, and, from a conscientious belief in their safe andpractical adaptation to a British colony enjoying the privileges of arepresentative form of government, I can see no sufficient reason forwithholding their salutary influence from the loyal and intelligentpeople of this province; and considering it more advisable that agradual advancement should be made by the government itself towardsthose principles as opportunities may offer, than that a concession ingross should hereafter be made to the urgent demands of the country, Iam of the opinion that the provincial secretary should now be broughtinto the executive government, and should hold a seat in one of theHouses of the legislature--his tenure of office being contingent uponthe successful administration of the government; and therefore, as theappointment in question has been made irrespective of any of theseconditions, I am bound to give it my opposition. "

{REMONSTRANCE OF THE ASSEMBLY}

When the House met in the latter part of January, the Reade appointmentimmediately became the subject of discussion, and by the vote oftwenty-four to six, an address was passed to Her Majesty the Queen, condemning the appointment, not, as the members said, because theyquestioned "in the remotest degree the prerogative in its undoubtedright to make such appointments, " but because they thought that theright of appointment had been improperly or unjustly exercised. In otherwords, the members of the House of Assembly surrendered the principlethat appointments should be made by the governor, with the advice ofhis executive, and only objected to the Reade appointment because, intheir opinion, some one else should have been chosen. It is easy to seethat in subscribing to this address the members of the House stultifiedthemselves; for if it was a part of the prerogative of the Crown to makeappointments without the advice of the council, surely the exercise ofthe prerogative in the appointment of a particular individual could notbe fairly questioned. The result of the difficulty, however, was thecancelling of Mr. Reade's appointment by the home government. Thisdecision was communicated to the House of Assembly by message onFebruary 3rd, 1846. The despatch from the colonial office, upon whichthe lieutenant-governor acted, was written on March 31st, 1845, and musthave been received by him at Fredericton not later than the last ofApril. But notwithstanding this despatch Mr. Reade held office untilJuly 17th, so it will be seen that Sir William Colebrooke was in nohurry to carry out the wishes of the home government. Lord Stanley, thewriter of the despatch in question, expressed the opinion that publicemployment should be bestowed on the natives or settled inhabitants ofthe province, and he thought that Mr. Reade did not come under thisdescription. He closed his despatch with the following singularstatement:--

{READE'S APPOINTMENT CANCELLED}

"I observe with satisfaction that the House of Assembly have not onlyabstained from complicating the subject with any abstract question ofgovernment, but have rejected every proposal for laying down formalprinciples upon such questions. The House has, I think, in this coursedone justice to the earnest desire of Her Majesty that the colonialadministration generally should be conducted in harmony with the wishesof her people, whatever may be the variations arising out of localconsiderations and the state of society in various colonies, subject towhich that principle may be carried into practice; and it is anxiouslyhoped that the same wise forbearance which has led the House of Assemblyto decline the unnecessary discussion of subjects of so much delicacy, may lead them also to regard the practical decision now announced as thefinal close of the controversy, and to unite in the promotion, not ofobjects of party strife and rivalry, but of the more substantial andenduring interests of the colony which they represent. " If these wordshave any meaning, they seem to show that at that date the Britishgovernment believed the right of appointment to be in the Crown, withoutreference to the council, and that they were unwilling that any generalprinciple should be laid down by the legislature of the province whichconflicted with this view. 

FOOTNOTES:

[3] This change had been effected by a royal commission under the signetand sign-manual dated December 3d, 1832. There is nothing in the recordsof the province to show why this was done. Neither the council nor theHouse of Assembly had asked for it. The Nova Scotia council was notdivided until 1838. 

[4] Mr. Wilmot's resolution was carried in the assembly without adivision, so that he had the solid support of the popular branch of thelegislature, yet little good was to be expected from such votes in theHouse. 

[5] The resolution to present this address was strongly opposed by Mr. Wilmot and his colleague, Mr. Fisher, who both declared the conduct ofLord Metcalfe to be contrary to the principles of responsiblegovernment. Mr. Wilmot's speech led to a singular result. He wasattacked in the _Loyalist_ newspaper for his opposition to the address, and this attack having been brought to the notice of the House ofAssembly was voted a breach of privilege. Messrs. Doak and Hill, theproprietors of the paper, were arrested on the warrant of the speakerand committed to prison. On the application of their counsel, Mr. D. S. Kerr, they were released by Mr. Justice Carter on a writ of _habeascorpus_. Doak and Hill both brought actions against the speaker, Mr. Weldon, and the result was a decision of the Supreme Court of NewBrunswick that the House of Assembly had not the power to arrest andimprison the publisher of a libel on a member of the House touching hisconduct and proceedings in the House. 

CHAPTER VII

WILMOT'S VIEWS ON EDUCATION

Among the questions in which Wilmot took a deep interest was that ofeducation. His views on this subject were far in advance of those ofmost of his contemporaries. Education was in a very unsatisfactorycondition in the province of New Brunswick when he entered public life, and it continued in that condition for many years afterward. If we mayjudge from the statute-book, the founders of the province had verylittle appreciation of the advantages of education, for no law waspassed with a view to the establishment of public schools until the year1805. In that year "An Act for encouraging and extending literature inthis province" was passed, under the provisions of which a publicgrammar school was established in the city of St. John, which received agrant of one hundred pounds for the purpose of assisting the trustees toprocure a suitable building for school uses, and also an annual grant ofone hundred pounds for the support of the master. The same Act providedfor the establishment of county schools, and the sections relating tothem, being limited in respect to time, were continued by 50th GeorgeIII, Chap. 33 to the year 1816, when they expired and were replaced by"An Act for the establishment of schools in the province. " This Actexpired in 1823, and in its place "An Act for the encouragement ofparish schools" was passed the same year. This last Act was repealed by"An Act in relation to parish schools" passed in 1833, which continuedin force for many years. All these Acts were essentially the same inprinciple, as they provided for government aid to teachers who had beenemployed to teach schools in the parishes under the authority of theschool trustees. The Act of 1833, which was considered to be a greatimprovement on former Acts, provided for the appointment of three schooltrustees in each parish by the sessions, and these trustees were chargedwith the duty of dividing the parishes into districts and directing thediscipline of the schools. They were required to certify once a year tothe lieutenant-governor as to the number of schools in their parish, thenumber of scholars and other particulars, and on their certificate theteacher drew the government money. This money was granted at the rate oftwenty pounds for a male teacher who had taught school a year, or tenpounds for six months, and ten pounds for a female teacher who hadtaught school a year, or five pounds for six months, provided theinhabitants of the school district had subscribed an equal amount forthe support of the teacher, or supplied board, washing and lodging tothe teacher in lieu of the money. Thus a male teacher in a districtwhere a school was always kept, would receive for his year's work hisboard, lodging and washing, and twenty pounds in money; and a femaleteacher ten pounds. Such a rate of remuneration was not well calculatedto attract competent persons, and the result was very unsatisfactory. Most of the teachers employed were old men who had a mere smattering oflearning and who were very incompetent instructors. They usually lodgedwith the parents of the pupils, living at each house in proportion tothe number of scholars sent. This system, which raised them but onedegree above the condition of paupers, was not conducive to theircomfort or self-respect. As there was no uniformity in the booksprescribed and no sufficient educational test, the results of suchteaching were not likely to be satisfactory. Sometimes the teacher was awoman who eked out a scanty subsistence by communicating her smalllearning to a few scholars whom she gathered in her kitchen. Generally, however, the school building was a log hut without any of thoseappliances which are now regarded as essential to the proper instructionof youth. 

{PROVINCIAL GRAMMAR SCHOOLS}

In 1816 an Act was passed providing for the establishment of grammarschools in the several counties of the province. At that period St. Johnand St. Andrews had already grammar schools which had been establishedunder separate Acts, and Fredericton had an academy or college, whichwas founded by a provincial charter granted by Lieutenant-GovernorCarleton in 1800. The counties of St. John, Charlotte and York weretherefore excepted from the operation of the general Act for theestablishment of grammar schools. This Act, after being amended in 1823, was finally repealed by the Act of 1829, which endowed King's College atFredericton and made new provisions for the establishment and support ofgrammar schools throughout the province. King's College at a laterperiod developed into the University of New Brunswick. It had itsbeginning in the original charter of 1800, already referred to, whichestablished the College of New Brunswick. In the same year the governorand trustees of the College of New Brunswick received a grant, under thegreat seal of the province, of a considerable tract of land in and nearFredericton for the support of that institution of learning. Until theyear 1829, the New Brunswick College was merely a classical schoolreceiving from the legislature annually two hundred and fifty pounds, which was the same amount then allowed to the St. John Grammar School. 

{MADRAS SCHOOLS}

At an early period, the attention of the people of that province wasdirected to what was called the Madras system of national schools asconducted by Dr. Bell, the real founder of the system being JosephLancaster. This system depends for its success on the use of monitors, who are selected from among the senior pupils to instruct the youngerones. It was supposed at the time to be a notable discovery, but, likeother short cuts to learning, has fallen out of favour. In July, 1818, the first Madras school was established in St. John by a Mr. West fromHalifax. This was a boys' school; and a school for girls, on the samesystem, was opened a year or two later. In 1819, a Madras school charterwas procured under the great seal of the province, and the Madras schoolsystem established on a substantial foundation. The province gave agrant of two hundred and fifty pounds for the erection of a suitablebuilding in St. John, and the National Society in England contributed toits support. This charter was confirmed by an Act passed in 1820. TheSt. John school was to be regarded as the central school, but it was thedesign of the charter that the benefits of the system should be extendedto other parts of the province, and this was accordingly done. TheMadras schools received liberal appropriations of money, and largegrants of land, and they continued to exist until the introduction ofthe free school system in 1872. Two or three of them, indeed, continuedin operation after that time, but they had lost their original characterand had become simply Church of England schools, that denominationhaving appropriated the Madras school endowments to the support ofschools in which its principles and creed were taught. In 1900, by Actof the legislature, the Madras school property was handed over to thediocesan synod of Fredericton, with the exception of about ten thousanddollars, which went to the University of New Brunswick. 

From the day when Wilmot became a member of the House of Assembly in1835, he began to press upon the attention of that body the necessityfor an improvement in the schools of the province. But the same spiritof apathy which prevailed with regard to purely political questionsaffected the legislature with respect to education. The peoplethroughout the province were not prepared to make the sacrificesnecessary to obtain sufficient schools. Their attitude with regard toeducation was well described in a speech made by Wilmot in 1846, whenMr. Brown, of Charlotte, brought in his bill to provide for a normal orproper training school for the education of those who were to becometeachers. This bill did not become law, in consequence of the oppositionraised against it in the legislature on the ground of expense. It wasestimated that it would cost an additional two thousand pounds toprovide a normal school, and this sum the men who were at the head ofthe government were not willing to pay for the purpose of giving thechildren of the province properly trained teachers. Wilmot's speech onthat occasion concluded as follows:--

{PARISH SCHOOLS}

"Before I sit down I must again revert to the greatest difficulty whichhas to be encountered to render the provisions of that bill effective inpromoting a better system of education in the parish schools. This is adifficulty which in this country legislation cannot reach--I earnestlywish it could. I mean the apathy of the parents themselves. Thehonourable member now in the chair can bear me witness as to the extentto which this apathy prevails in this county at this day. Thathonourable member, when out of the chair, could tell the committee thatin a certain district of this county where there is no schoolhouse, aphilanthropic individual told the inhabitants that if they would get outa frame and provide the boards, he would at his own expense providenails, glass, locks, and the necessary materials for finishing aschoolhouse. What was the result? They did get out the frame and raisedit, and when I and the honourable chairman had occasion to visit thatpart of the county together, we enquired why they did not go on andfinish it. The worthy individual who had made the proposition, andbought and had in his house the materials for finishing the building, told us that the inhabitants of the district would not find the boards, and, in consequence of that, the erection of the schoolhouse had notbeen gone on with. A gentleman now present (I will not mention names, asthe chairman might blush) offered to give them the boards from aneighbouring mill if they would go and fetch them, but even this theywould not do. Although everything was to be had without money, there wasno one who felt interest enough in the education of their children togo and bring them to the spot--and to this day the frame stands, as itthen did, a melancholy monument of the dreadful apathy which issometimes to be found even in this comparatively intelligent county. "

Mr. Wilmot lived long enough to see a free school system in force in hisnative province, although he had no share in bringing this result about. Yet that his views on this subject were sound and far in advance of histime is shown by a speech which he made at the time of the opening ofthe first exhibition in the province in 1852. He said:

"It is unpardonable that any child should grow up in our country withoutthe benefit of, at least, a common-school education. It is the right ofthe child. It is the duty not only of the parent but of the people; theproperty of the country should educate the country. All are interestedin the diffusion of that intelligence which conserves the peace andpromotes the well-being of society. The rich man is interested inproportion to his riches, and should contribute most to the maintenanceof schools. Though God has given me no child of my own to educate, Ifeel concerned for the education of the children of those who do possessthem. I feel concerned in what so intimately touches the best interestsof our common country. I want to hear the tax collector for schoolscalling at my door. I want the children of the poor in the remotesettlements to receive the advantages now almost confined to their morefortunate brethren and sisters of the towns. I know full well that Godhas practised no partiality in the distribution of the noblest of hisgifts--the intellect; I know that in many a retired hamlet of ourprovince--amid many a painful scene of poverty and toil--there may befound young minds ardent and ingenious and as worthy of cultivation asthose of the pampered children of our cities. It is greatly important tothe advancement of the country that these should be instructed. "

{MONEY VOTES}

The initiation of money grants by the executive, and the responsibilityof the latter to the people, are the two corner-stones on whichresponsible government must rest. From the very first, Wilmot was anearnest advocate of both these measures; but, owing to the apathy of thepeople and the disinclination of the members of the legislature to giveup what they considered their privileges, it was a difficult matter toaccomplish these objects. A reference to the journals of the legislaturewill show that on numerous occasions he pressed these subjects on theattention of the House of Assembly, and he was ably assisted by hiscolleague from the county of York, Mr. Charles Fisher, who deserves aforemost place among the men who should be honoured for their efforts tobring about responsible government in the colonies of British NorthAmerica. It was a peculiar feature in the struggle for responsiblegovernment in New Brunswick that, before it ended, the opposition to itcame not so much from the British government as from the members of theprovincial legislature. It was evident that the system of appropriatingmoney which existed in the House of Assembly was one which was wrong inprinciple and resulted in getting the province into debt, because therewas no guiding hand to control the expenditure. The transfer of thecasual and territorial revenues to the provincial treasury in 1837 hadplaced a very large sum, amounting to about £150, 000, at the disposal ofthe legislature, but this sum was speedily dissipated; and in the year1842, when Sir William Colebrooke became lieutenant-governor of theprovince, its finances were in an embarrassed condition. 

Towards the close of 1841, a despatch was received from Lord Stanley, the colonial secretary, suggesting that it was desirable that a bettersystem of appropriating the funds of the province should be inaugurated. This brought up a discussion in the legislature during the session of1842 in regard to the propriety of adopting the principle of placing theinitiation of money grants in the executive council. Mr. Wilmot moved aresolution in committee of the whole House "that no appropriation ofpublic money should be made at any future session in supply, for anypurpose whatever, until there be a particular account of the income andexpenditure of the previous year, together with an estimate of the sumsrequired to be expended, as well for ordinary as extraordinary services, respectively, and also a particular estimate of the principal amount ofrevenue for the ensuing year. " To this an amendment was moved by Mr. Partelow that "Whereas the present mode of appropriation, tested by anexperience of more than fifty years, has not only given satisfaction tothe people of this province, but repeatedly attracted the deservedapprobation of the colonial ministers as securing its constitutionalposition to every branch of the legislature, therefore resolved, as theopinion of this committee, that it is not expedient to make anyalteration in the same. " This amendment was carried by a vote ofeighteen to twelve. 

{AN ABUSE UPHELD}

Such an amendment as that passed by the House of Assembly of NewBrunswick in 1842 would now only be an object of ridicule, because, as amatter of fact, the financial condition of the province showed that thesystem of appropriation which prevailed was based on false principles, while the alleged approval of the colonial ministers of which so muchaccount was made, had been extended to the most illiberal features ofthe constitution. There was, however, some excuse for the reluctance ofthe members of the House of Assembly to surrender the initiation ofmoney votes to the executive, because the executive council of that daywas not a body properly under the control of the legislature, or insympathy with the people. 

When the House met in 1843, it was seen that the friends of responsiblegovernment were still in the minority. Yet they brought up the subjectof the appropriation of the public moneys by a resolution which soughtto fix the responsibility of the expenditure on the government. This wasmet by an amendment moved by Mr. J. W. Weldon, that the House would notsurrender the initiation of the money votes. The amendment was carriedby a vote of twenty-four to seven, which showed that the friends ofReform had still much leeway to make up before they could hope toimpress their views upon the legislature. 

{SPEECH ON APPROPRIATIONS}

As it was hopeless to expect that a House of Assembly thus constitutedwould vote in favour of the transfer of the initiation of money grantsto the executive, Wilmot did not bring up the subject again during theremainder of its term; but by the operation of the Quadrennial Act, which came into force in 1846, a new House was elected in that year, which was largely made up of the same members as the previous one, andat the first session of this House, held early in 1847, Wilmot, duringthe discussion of the revenue bill, brought up the question of theinitiation of money grants in a vigorous and characteristic speech. Hesaid:--

"Can my honourable gentlemen tell me within five thousand pounds of themoney asked for, or required for the present session? No, they cannot, and here we are going on in the old way, voting money in the dark, witha thing for our guide called an 'estimate'--a sort of dark lantern withwhich we are to grope our way through the mazes of legislation. Where isthe honourable member for Gloucester who talked so much about the goodold rules of our forefathers? I am opposed to the present principle ofvoting away money; it is, in fact, but giving to tax and taxing to give, this way and that way--every stratagem is used which can be invented inorder to carry favourite grants, and thus we proceed from day to day bythis system of combination and unprincipled collusion. [Cries of 'Order, Order!'] Honourable members may cry order as much as they please, it istrue, and I care not who knows it--let it go forth to the country atlarge. This system is what the honourable and learned member forGloucester [Mr. End] denominates 'the glorious old principles of ourforefathers, ' which should be held as dear as life itself. It is not nowas in times gone by, when the legislative council and executive councilwere one, and consequently we cannot now take the initiation of moneygrants. This left the whole power in the hands of the assembly; and now, with the report of the committee of finance before us, His Excellency'smessages, petitions and everything else, there is not one honourablemember around these benches can tell me within five thousand pounds ofthe amount to be asked for, much less within ten thousand pounds of theamount that will be granted during the present session; and yet, here weare in committee of ways and means for raising a revenue. But it willnever answer to have too much information upon this point--if we knewexactly how far we could go and no farther--I perhaps would lose mygrant, or another honourable member might lose a grant; this is thesystem that is pursued. I have held a seat here for twelve years andknow the 'ropes' pretty well. "

In the following year there was another discussion on the initiation ofmoney grants, arising out of a despatch which had been received fromEarl Grey, then colonial minister, in which he referred to the laxity ofthe system by which money was voted in the New Brunswick legislaturewithout any estimate, and suggested that the initiation of money grantsshould be surrendered to the executive. This proposal was fiercelyopposed, and all the forces of ancient Toryism were rallied against it, one member from Queens County, Mr. Thomas Gilbert, going so far as toapply to the advocacy of the old rotten system the soul-stirring wordscontained in Nelson's last signal at Trafalgar, "England expects thatevery man this day will do his duty. "

{END'S RESOLUTION}

In 1850, the last year that Mr. Wilmot sat in the House of Assembly, thematter came up again on a resolution moved by a private member. Thiswas met by an amendment moved by Mr. End, of Gloucester, in thefollowing words:--

"WHEREAS, the right of originating money grants is inherent in therepresentatives of the people who are constitutionally responsible totheir constituents for the due and faithful user of that right;therefore, "_Resolved_, As the opinion of this House, that the surrender of suchright would amount to a dereliction of public duty and ought not to beentertained by the House of Assembly. "

This was carried by a vote of sixteen to eleven. The three members ofthe government who sat in the House, one of whom was Mr. Wilmot, who hadjoined it in May 1848, voted with the minority. It was not until theyear 1856 that a resolution was passed by the House of Assemblyconceding to the executive the right of initiating money grants, andthis was carried by a majority of only two in a full House. The firstestimate of income and expenditure framed by a New Brunswick governmentwas not laid before the House of Assembly until the session of 1857. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE DEMAND FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

When Mr. Wilmot first entered the House of Assembly, many of the memberswere office-holders and therefore depended on the goodwill of thegovernor for their positions. At the session of 1842, a bill wasintroduced for the purpose of putting an end to this evil, in which itwas declared that any member of the House of Assembly who should acceptthe office of executive councillor or any office of profit or emolumentunder the Crown should be incapable of taking or holding his seat in theGeneral Assembly while in such office, unless reëlected after acceptancethereof. An amendment was moved to exempt executive councillors who didnot hold any office of emolument from the provisions of this section, but it was lost by a close vote. Mr. Wilmot voted for the amendment onthe ground that a man who was merely an executive councillor withoutoffice, and who received no emolument as such, should not be required togo back to the people for reëlection. The bill, nevertheless, was passedby a full House, but it was disallowed by the home authorities on theground that it was not in accordance with British precedents. Thecolonial secretary said, "This Act as actually drawn would thereforeseem to establish a principle of great importance as well asnovelty--the principle, namely, that the Crown may not select its ownconfidential advisers from amongst representatives of the people unlessthe person so chosen should be willing to hazard a new election. How farit is wise to erect such a barrier between the executive government andthe popular branch of the legislature would seem to be a matter wellmeriting serious consideration. " In the same despatch, the propriety ofseats in the assembly being vacated for the same reasons which wouldvacate seats in the House of Commons was fully conceded. The stand takenby Wilmot in regard to this subject was therefore the one which wasapproved by the home government and was further endorsed by subsequentlegislation. Yet it was not until 1849 that the Act was passed whichfinally settled the question, and required members of the legislatureaccepting office to vacate their seats in the House of Assembly and goback to their constituents for reëlection. 

{THE GOVERNOR CENSURED}

Sir William Colebrooke had not been a popular governor since theappointment of his son-in-law to the office of provincial secretary. TheHouse of Assembly, therefore, was disposed to watch his conduct veryclosely and to criticize actions which perhaps would not have attractedso much attention under other conditions. During the session of 1846, itwas shown that he had appropriated a portion of the surplus civil listfund, amounting to about three thousand pounds, for the purpose ofdefraying the expenses of surveying Crown lands in Madawaska. [6] Thismoney was taken by the order of the colonial secretary, Lord Stanley. Thus it appeared that, although the province was supposed to have thecontrol of the territorial revenue, the British government assumed theright to dispose of a portion of this revenue without the consent orauthority of the House of Assembly. The conduct of the governor inconnection with this matter was censured in a strongly worded resolutionwhich was passed by the House of Assembly almost unanimously. [7] Thetime had gone by when the representative of the Crown could do as heliked with the public funds of the province, as had been the case informer years. 

The legislature was dissolved in 1846 under the provisions of the Actwhich limited its term to four years. On the last day of the sessionWilmot bade farewell to the members of the House, and stated that he didnot intend to offer himself again for reëlection. No doubt he was quitesincere in making this statement at the time, but he soon had reason tochange his mind. The people of the county of York were unwilling to losethe services of the champion of their rights in the House of Assembly, so that he found it necessary to consent to be again nominated. He wasreturned at the head of the poll, and with him Mr. Charles Fisher, whohad been his colleague in two previous legislatures. 

The general election of 1846 brought a considerable number of new meninto the House, and in point of liberality the new assembly was a slightimprovement on its predecessor. The legislature met near the end ofJanuary in the following year. The government at that time consisted ofonly five persons, of whom two were members of the House of Assembly andthree of the legislative council. It appeared that negotiations had beengoing on with some of the members of the Opposition for the purpose offilling up the vacancies in the executive council. Wilmot had beenoffered a seat in that body, but made it a condition of his acceptancethat he should go in with two of his friends, provided the council wasfilled up to the number of seven, or three, if filled up to the numberof nine. This was not agreed to, so he remained outside the government. During the first week of the session three new members were added to thegovernment, one of them being the surveyor-general, Mr. Baillie, who hadbeen elected a member of the House of Assembly for the county of York. The arrangements made were not satisfactory to Wilmot and his friends, and the government had to face what was practically a want of confidenceresolution. It was moved by Mr. Fisher and was as follows:--

"_Resolved_, As the opinion of this House, that while it fullyrecognizes the accountability of the executive council to the assembly, it will expect that henceforth the provincial administration will, fromtime to time, prepare and bring before the legislature such measures asmay be required for the development of the provincial resources and thegeneral advancement of the public interests. "

{ASSAILS THE GOVERNMENT}

In the course of the debate Wilmot spoke with great power and effect. The following report of his speech on that occasion may serve to conveyto the reader some idea of his manner and method as a public speaker:--

{SPEECH ON REFORM}

"The honourable gentleman might have spared himself the trouble ofmaking the defence he did. I have heard that he was to be presented witha gold medal for his admirable defence of that nearly extinct race--theold Family Compact. I see that I shall have to cross a lance with myhonourable and learned friend [Mr. Hazen] politically. Yet I hope thesame good feeling which has characterized the debate thus far will becontinued. A great deal has been said about politics and politicalprinciples, but my political principles are not of yesterday--I havegleaned them from the history of my country, a country which we are allproud to own. Will any honourable member dare to tell me that because weare three thousand miles from the heart of the British empire the bloodof freemen shall not flow through the veins of the sons of NewBrunswick? If so, I have yet to learn the reason. Before I sit down Iwill endeavour to show my honourable friends what the distinction isbetween Liberals and Conservatives--what the Liberals have done, andwhat the Conservatives have not done. Now to the resolution. Myhonourable friend said yesterday that the resolution meant initiation ofmoney grants. When this announcement was made I heard a shout from thedirection of my honourable friend, Mr. Partelow, in a tenor voice, andan honourable member in the rear [Mr. Barberie] joining in a sort offalsetto accompaniment. I think my honourable friend [Mr. Hazen] is muchto blame for having accused his honourable colleague [Mr. Woodward] withwriting an article in a city paper. What, suppose he did write it, donot some of the first noblemen and statesmen in England write for thepapers? I will not deny that I have written for the papers myself somelittle squibs. But it is wrong to place an honourable member in theposition where he will have to affirm or deny it. A great cry has beenraised of a contemplated attack on the government, and, after all, ithas turned out that their fears have been excited by a newspaperparagraph. The government has fortified all their outposts, and HisExcellency and two aides have been on the lookout for the coming attack. At length my honourable colleague [Mr. Fisher] brought forth hisresolutions when they said to each other, 'Why, this doesn't meananything; there is no attack. ' But they slept over it one night, crackedsome wine upon it, and while sitting under the mahogany theysaid--'Hazen, there is something in these resolutions of Fisher's, depend upon it--some hidden meaning--what shall we say it is? what willwe call it? we must give them some ugly name, or they will pass. ' 'Oh, 'said Hazen, 'I have it--initiation of money grants--that'll do; I'lljust go down to the House and cry out "mad dog, " "initiation of moneygrants"; members will become alarmed, and we'll succeed in defeatingthem. ' But the honourable member from St. John [Mr. Jordan] has made themost wonderful discoveries; he has taken a peep from the lookout stationat the enemy; he has looked through a political microscope, and hasdiscovered more than the commander-in-chief himself. 'Why, ' says he, 'there's everything there--I see "free trade" and "protection" both, andlet me see--I--there's the "Board of Works, " too; and round on the otherside I see "Municipal Corporations. "' I will endeavour before I sit downto prove that the arguments of my honourable friend Mr. Hazen arefallacious. He has been developing at a great rate yesterday; he was notasked to develop the money, but to bring down such measures as woulddevelop the provincial resources; this is the meaning of the resolution, and, had not my honourable friend become alarmed for the safety of thegovernment, there is no man into whose hands I would sooner place theresolution. But he has chosen to put the construction upon theresolution which he has done, and other honourable members said, 'Oh, heknows what it means better than I do; he has cried "mad dog" and we'llfollow him. ' The government is not asked to bring in the revenue bill, or any other bill which involves the principle of money grants. All theresolution requires is, that they shall be prepared, at the opening ofthe session, with such measures as may be considered for the generalwelfare of the country, and not keep the assembly waiting two or threeweeks for the motion of the government, as has been the case thissession. Honourable members will recollect that there is a constituencybehind them to whom they are accountable; but they may resolve andre-resolve as they please. There is a spirit of inquiry abroad among thepeople, a political intelligence, which was not to be found a few yearssince when my honourable friend denounced responsible government as allnonsense! What was the case when responsible government was first talkedof in this province? Who descended from their lofty eminence to warn thepeople to beware of these new doctrines? The old official Family Compactparty--they who entrenched themselves behind the prerogative of theCrown in 1836, came down to the people and said, 'We who have done somuch for you--we who have watched over and guarded you, beware of thatdreadful monster, responsible government. ' These are the people who callthemselves Conservatives. What, I would ask, did they conserve?Everything but the good of the country; and, had the Conservatism of1836 been carried out, an insulted people would ere this have risen intheir majesty and would have shaken off the yoke of bondage under whichthey had been labouring. 

{RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT}

{THE PEOPLE SUPREME}

"It has been said by honourable members of the government that there isno distinction between Liberals and Conservatives. If this is the case, why did they object to have me and two others take seats in the councilbecause we were Liberals? Here is a question which I would like myhonourable friends to answer. The Conservatives do not wish to see anypower in the hands of the people. [Interjection from Mr. End--'Not toomuch. '] The honourable member from Gloucester, Mr. End, has receded fromhis principles wonderfully; his speech yesterday was certainly a mostextraordinary one. He said to the government in a most supplicating toneof voice, 'Give me fair play--give me the appointment of all thebye-road commissioners, magistrates, sheriffs, and so on, in Gloucester, and I will support you; that is all I want. ' I will take care not to bemisunderstood in these matters, I will not allow any man to be theexponent of my political principles. I believe departmental governmentto be inseparable from our institutions, but will oppose the immediateintroduction of the whole system; I will bring it in step by step as thecountry is prepared for it. Some extraordinary notions are entertainedas to the source from whence the power of the government is derived; thefreedom of government does not come down from the Crown, it goes up fromthe people; and if the people are fit for these institutions they arefit for self-government. I have frequently said that they who get thepeople's money shall do the people's work. [From Mr. Partelow--'Yes, that's right. '] I will now come down a step further--what was the casein 1837? I am not going to disclose any secrets this time--but willspeak low. I wish to ask my honourable friend [Mr. Hazen] if, after theadministration changed in 1837, the government had the cordialcoöperation of the heads of departments? No! There has been acounter-working going on--a constant endeavour to lead the governmentastray and place them in a wrong position, and my generous-heartedfriend [Mr. Hazen] has to come down to this House and defend them. It isa political fact, that previous to 1841 the heads of departments in thisprovince were in open hostility to the government. [From Mr. End--'Theycould do no harm. '] If the departmental system were in operation, andtheir tenure of office depended upon their ability so to conduct thegovernment as to merit the confidence of the assembly and the people, there would be none of this stabbing in the dark, and running off thetrack. It is, in my opinion, the only constitutional remedy for the goodworking of the government. These five gentlemen who have lately formedthe mixed government, asked for departmental government when they signedthe address to the queen; yet now they refuse to adopt it. I should liketo know when they intend to graduate--does it depend upon the age of thecountry or the state of the atmosphere? The fact is, whenever the peopleof this country, through their representatives, choose to ask for itthey must get it. In 1844 they ran to the rescue of the prerogative inCanada; but the very next year the same case came down to their owndoors! The tune was changed then, and an address was prepared to thequeen signed by the whole assembly except five. Why is this broughtabout--why is the tune changed so suddenly? They at first saidresponsible government is not fit for a colony--the next cry was, it isnot fit for New Brunswick, and finally they said, when they addressedthe queen--we must have it. Mr. Roebuck called upon Lord John Russell toexplain what responsible government was, which he has done [reads thespeech as delivered in the British parliament], and, when they had firstasked for it here, it was in full operation in Canada. My honourablefriend [Mr. Hazen] has accused me of having receded; but I will now askhim to point out how I have done so? He has also said that I was broughtforward at the last election by the Conservatives. True, but I wasbacked by all my old friends, and I told them if they took me, they mustdo so with all my former opinions--opinions which I never will give up. When they talk about there being no difference in politicalnames, --there is a difference; those who have contended for Liberalprinciples have their names covered with obloquy. We ask for aconstitution that, while it protects the queen upon the throne, throws, at the same time, its paternal arms around the helpless infant. This weask for, this we want--the pure, the free, the glorious constitution ofEngland; for this we have contended, for this the Liberals of NewBrunswick have fought, and let them call us rebels who have nothing elseto write about, I care not; we ask for a system that will give fair playto all--that will upset all Family Compacts, and give to the sons ofNew Brunswick their birthright, the benefit of free institutions andself-government. This is what we want, and I will not submit tamely tobe called a rebel; I defy any honourable member to look at my politicallife and say where I have overstepped the bounds of the constitution? IfI do live three thousand miles from the great body of the empire, stillthat empire sends its blood through the veins of every British subject. A son of New Brunswick has the same right to the benefit of herinstitutions as has a resident of London, and I will not submit to becut off by any political man[oe]uvring. "

{REFORM DEFEATED}

After a long debate, Mr. Fisher's resolution was defeated by a vote oftwenty-three to twelve, which showed that the friends of Reform hadstill much work to do. 

FOOTNOTES:

[6] This occurred during the time of the "rump" government composed ofMessrs. Simonds, Allen and McLeod, the members of the executive whorefused to resign at the time of the Reade appointment. 

[7] The following resolutions which were moved by Mr. Partelow werecarried in the House of Assembly by a vote of twenty to two:

"1st. _Resolved_, That this committee deeply regret that His Excellencythe lieutenant-governor in council should not have felt himselfauthorized to communicate to the House the despatch of the RightHonourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, of January 5th, 1845, relative to the appropriation of the surplus civil list, in answerto the address of the House of Assembly of March 14th, 1845, whereby theHouse was prevented from representing, by an humble and dutiful addressto Her Majesty, that such appropriation was not in accordance with thedespatch of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Coloniesof August 31st, 1836. 

"2d. _Resolved_, As the opinion of this committee, that any fundsnecessary to carry out the fourth article of the Treaty of Washington, being a national treaty with a foreign power, ought not to be chargeableupon the funds of this province; and that the House should, by an humbleand dutiful address to Her Majesty, pray that any appropriation made forthat purpose from the surplus civil list fund may be refunded to thesame. "

CHAPTER IX

THE VICTORY IS WON

The session of 1848 was destined to be a memorable one in the history ofresponsible government in New Brunswick. It was evident that with theHouse as then constituted no progress could be made unless a change werebrought about in the views of some of its members by outside pressure. In this instance the pressure came from the imperial government, whichdesired to bring the political condition of New Brunswick into line withthat of Canada and Nova Scotia. In March, 1847, Earl Grey, the colonialsecretary, addressed a despatch to Sir John Harvey, the governor of NovaScotia, in which he laid down the principles which he thought shouldcontrol colonial administration. The most important feature of thisdespatch was its declaration with reference to the composition of theexecutive council. With regard to office-holders in general, Earl Greythought that they ought not to be disturbed in consequence of any changeof government, but he was of opinion that a different rule should applyto such officials as were members of the executive council. On thispoint he adopted the language of Mr. Poulett Thomson (Lord Sydenham), who, in a despatch to Lord John Russell, written at Halifax, in theyear 1840, said:--

"The functions of the executive council, on the other hand, are, it isperfectly clear, of a totally different character; they are a body uponwhom the governor must be able to call at any or at all times foradvice, with whom he can consult upon the measures to be submitted tothe legislature, and in whom he may find instruments within its walls tointroduce such amendments in the laws as he may think necessary, or todefend his acts and his policy. It is obvious, therefore, that those whocompose this body must be persons whose constant attendance on thegovernor can be secured; principally, therefore, officers of thegovernment, but, when it may be expedient to introduce others, menholding seats in one or other House, taking a leading part in politicallife, and above all, exercising influence over the assembly. 

"The last, and in my opinion by far the most serious, defect in thegovernment is the utter absence of power in the executive, and its totalwant of energy to attempt to occupy the attention of the country uponreal improvements, or to lead the legislature in the preparation andadoption of measures for the benefit of the colony. It does not appearto have occurred to any one that it is one of the first duties of thegovernment to suggest improvements where they are wanted; that, theconstitution having placed the power of legislation in the hands of anassembly and a council, it is only by acting through these bodies thatthe duty can be performed; and that, if these proper and legitimatefunctions of government are neglected, the necessary result must be notonly that the improvements which the people have a right to expect willbe neglected, and the prosperity of the country checked, but that eachbranch of legislature will misuse its power, and the popular mind beeasily led into excitement upon mere abstract theories of government towhich their attention is directed as the remedy for the uneasiness theyfeel. "

He concluded by expressing the opinion that the peculiar circumstancesof Nova Scotia presented no insuperable obstacle to the immediateadoption of that system of parliamentary government which had longprevailed in the mother country. 

{A MEMORABLE DESPATCH}

A copy of this despatch was sent to the lieutenant-governor of NewBrunswick and it was laid before the House in pursuance of an addresswhich had been passed a few days before. It was understood that theprinciples laid down in this despatch would be equally applicable to theprovince of New Brunswick, and Mr. Fisher moved that the House shouldapprove of them and of their application to New Brunswick. Thisresolution was carried by a vote of twenty-four to eleven, which was acomplete reversal of the vote of the previous session. Among those whovoted for the resolution were the three members of the government whohad seats in the House of Assembly and who had been previously opposedto any such change in the political system of the country. Thus thevictory for responsible government was practically won, and it onlyremained to perfect the details. 

Immediately after the prorogation of the legislature, a reorganizationof the government took place, Messrs. Baillie, Shore and Johnstonretired and their places were taken by Messrs. Wilmot, Partelow, Fisherand Kinnear. Mr. Wilmot became attorney-general in the place of Mr. Peters, recently deceased, who had filled that office for twenty years. Mr. Partelow became provincial secretary in place of John SimcoeSaunders. Mr. Kinnear, who had been made solicitor-general in 1846, nowbecame a member of the government under the new system, while Mr. Fishertook his seat as a member of the government without office. Thus werethe principles of responsible government vindicated and established inNew Brunswick. The provincial secretary, the attorney-general and thesolicitor-general became political officers subject to change with everychange of government. The surveyor-general, Mr. Baillie, by resigningfrom the government escaped this condition for the time being, but itwas not long before that office also became political, Mr. Bailliehimself retiring with a pension in 1851. 

{INFLUENCE OF COLONIAL OFFICE}

Messrs. Wilmot and Fisher were much censured by their friends forbecoming members of a government that was essentially Conservative andin which they were in a minority. But as the principles for which theyhad contended had been admitted and were now in a measure established, there seemed to be no reason why they should not assist in working themout. Wilmot as attorney-general certainly had greater opportunities ofadvancing the cause of Reform than as a private member, and he andFisher working together were able to exercise a strong influence on theadministration. In the following year, as has already been seen, ameasure was carried voiding the seats of members of the assembly whobecame heads of departments in the government, or enjoyed any office ofprofit or emolument under the Crown, and this was all that was necessaryto establish responsible government on a firm basis. There was indeedone other difficulty, the interference of the colonial office and theinfluence of the governor, who had been accustomed to govern theprovince largely by means of despatches. This influence was one whichcould only be got rid of by degrees, for the wise men of Downing Streetalways thought they knew much better what colonists required than didthe colonists themselves. The colonial secretary undertook to dictate tothe province as to the kind of tariff it should pass, and to refuseassent to the passage of bills by the legislature giving a preferenceto any particular county or granting bounties to fishermen or othersengaged in any special calling. It was felt to be a hardship that theprovince was not permitted to give encouragement to any industry whichit desired to assist, and so strong was this feeling that at the sessionof 1850, immediately after the receipt of a despatch from Earl Greydisallowing the bill of the previous session granting bounties for thecultivation of hemp, a bill was introduced and carried by anoverwhelming majority in the assembly appropriating three thousandpounds for bounties to fishermen. This bill was rejected by the council, so that the colonial secretary was spared the difficulty which wouldhave been involved in being defied by the New Brunswick legislature. Itwas also felt to be a great hardship that, at a time when the colonieswere being deprived of the preferential tariff they had so long enjoyedin the English markets, they should be debarred from entering intocommercial arrangements with foreign nations. A series of stronglyworded resolutions on this subject was moved by Mr. David Wark, and waswell supported, although not carried. The language used by many of thespeakers during the debate showed that the loyal feelings which hadalways distinguished the people of the province were being subjected toa severe strain by the policy of the British government. Theseinterferences with provincial rights continued for many years afterWilmot had retired from public life, and therefore it is unnecessary torefer to them further. 

{THE PORTLAND CONVENTION}

Wilmot had but few opportunities during his active career as a publicman of displaying his abilities outside of his native province. His fameas an orator was therefore mainly a local one, and the Portland RailwayConvention of 1850 was the first occasion on which he was recognized asone of the best speakers on the continent. That great gathering of therailway and business men of the United States and Canada was assembledfor the purpose of taking measures to secure a shorter ocean route toEurope than was afforded by steamships sailing from New York. It wasthought that a better plan would be to run steamships from some port onthe west coast of Ireland to a port on the east coast of Nova Scotia, adistance of about two thousand miles, and to connect the latter with NewYork by a line of railway. No one doubted at that time that this was aplan that was likely to succeed, and probably it would have done so ifthere had been no improvement in the construction of steamships. No onedreamed in those days that boats with a speed of twenty-five knots anhour and of twenty thousand tons displacement would be running to NewYork before the century was ended, and that the voyage to Liverpoolwould be reduced to less than six days. 

The Portland Convention included many eminent men from the United Statesand Canada and not a few that could justly be described as orators, butit was universally admitted that in eloquence Attorney-General Wilmot, of New Brunswick, exceeded them all. The reporter of the proceedings ofthe convention stated, in the pamphlet afterwards published, that it wasdue to the speaker and to himself to say that "he had been entirelyunable to give anything like a report of the remarks of Mr. Wilmot. " Thereporter also quotes the statement of another that "Mr. Wilmot deliveredone of the most spicy, eloquent and enlivening speeches which he everheard, which, while it kept the audience in the best spirits, wasreplete with noble sentiments commending themselves to the hearts of allpresent. His remarks were generally upon the moral, social andintellectual influences which would result from the contemplated work. No sketch would do justice to its power and beauty, its flashes of witand humour. "

{WILMOT'S GREAT SPEECH}

The following report of Wilmot's great convention speech, althoughadmittedly very imperfect, is given as almost the only example thatsurvives of his eloquence:--

"I find myself in a new position in addressing a convention in a city, in a state, and under a government that is foreign to me, as far ascitizenship is concerned. But I feel myself at home, for I am amongthose who derive their inheritance from the same common ancestry. I am, Mr. President, not a son of New England, but a grandson, and I can findthe old gravestone which indicates the graves of my ancestors, in apleasant village of Connecticut [cheers]. 

"We in the provinces came to this convention at your call. We haveresponded to your invitation and you have given us a brother's welcome. Physiologists affirm that the exercise of the muscles tends to theirenlargement and fuller development; and phrenologists affirm that theexercise of the different faculties develops in a corresponding degreethe bumps upon the cranium. I would beg to add something to thiscategory, --the exercise of benevolence and kindness enlarges the heart, and since I have been among you I have felt my heart growing big withinme [cheers]. 

"I am delighted to see this day, and could I give expression to theemotions which swell up within me I would do so, but my power fails inthe attempt, and I cannot presume to make a speech. We do not, however, meet to consult about California, where one hundred and twelve hourspeeches are necessary, or about the admission of New Mexico into theUnion. Our object is to effect an admission into the great railroadunion, and on this question we admit of no 'compromises. ' We go straightahead in our purpose and the union will be effected [cheers]. 

"I know, Mr. President, it is a great work in which we are engaged. Iknow that it looks vast, if not impossible of achievement to those whohave not studied its relations and its details, but those who look at itthrough the enlarged medium which its contemplation presents will findthat difficulties diminish as its importance grows upon their vision. 

"Look at the progress of similar enterprises among yourselves in thestate of Maine, and other parts of New England, and then say whetheranything is required of us but union of effort and faith in the resultof our exertions. In prosecuting our work in this matter, we must havefaith; but as faith without works is dead, let us put forth ourexertions and go steadily forward to a speedy and glorious completion ofour great enterprise [cheers]. 

"If the timid falter and the doubting hold back, there are others whowill take their places and keep our ranks full. We have only to hold ourposition, and drive back the army of doubters, or opposers, who mayresist our march. We must give them the same reception that GeneralTaylor gave to the army of Santa Anna at Buena Vista. If opposed bysuperior numbers, or if on any part of the field there are those whohesitate, or hold back when a stronghold of the enemy is to be carried, I would repeat the order of General Taylor: 'A little more grape, Captain Poor'[8] [tremendous cheers]. 

"It is written in the decrees of eternal Providence, Mr. President, that we shall learn war no more; we may then go on side by side withglorious emulation for the cause of virtue and philanthropy throughoutthe world, striving who shall out-vie the other. How changed in everyrespect, now, is the condition of our race! How glorious the sight oftwo great peoples uniting as one, 'to draw more closely the bands ofbrotherhood, that yet shall make of all mankind but one greatbrotherhood of nations. ' The sentiment of that resolution which embodiesthis idea is worthy of its author and of the American character; but itis also a sentiment to which the people of the British empire willrespond [cheers]. 

"Sir, I found in the circular which invited us here this sentimentexpressed, in terms which aroused to the fullest enthusiasm the mind ofevery man in the British provinces: 'The spirit of peace has at lastprevailed--national animosities, sectional and political hostility havedisappeared between the English races since the establishment of theboundaries of Maine and Oregon, and the contests of war have beensucceeded by a noble and generous rivalry for the promotion of the artsof peace. The introduction of the steamship and the railway has madeformer enemies friends. National hostility has given way to commercialand social intercourse, and under whatever form of government they mayhereafter exist, they can never again become hostile or unfriendly'[cheers]. 

"To this sentiment I respond with all my heart. It is this sentimentthat has brought us together. I know not who was the author of thiscircular, but whoever he may be, in the name of every Englishman--in thename of every American, sir, in the name of humanity, I tender himthanks [cheers]. 

"An enterprise aiming to accomplish such results, and which is in and ofitself calculated to produce such results, cannot fail of success. Thewhole civilized world is interested in its accomplishment. There aresome good old-fashioned people who think we are going too fast and toofar in our railroad enterprises. We have, they say, lived and got alongwell enough without railroads, and now you seem to think that yourtemporal salvation depends upon it! Blot out your telegraphs, lay upyour steamboats, --what darkness would come upon the world! We must formourselves into a council of war for the purpose of combating these oldprejudices, and, instead of being turned away from our objects, we willtake stronger grounds than ever occupied before. 

"Mr. President, we of the provinces have made up our minds no longer toremain quiet in our present condition. With all the fine naturaladvantages our country possesses, we make comparatively slow progress, and our province itself is scarcely known to the world. I shall bepardoned here for relating an anecdote to illustrate the truth of thisremark. 

"In a recent visit to Washington upon official business, I had occasionto tarry a few days in the city of New York, and among the places that Ivisited with a friend was one of the colleges in the city. My friendintroduced me to a learned professor as his friend, the'Attorney-general of New Brunswick. ' We entered into conversation on avariety of subjects, and he inquired when I came over to the city, andas to various matters going on in the neighbouring state. Seeing themistake of the learned professor, I thought it hardly kind to mortifyhim by correcting it, and I answered in the best way I could, and tookmy leave; and to this hour, I suppose, the learned professor thinks hewas talking with the attorney-general of the fine old state of NewJersey [tremendous cheers]. 

"Seeing that my own country itself was hardly known beyond its bounds, Ifelt a little concern that she should not always remain in thiscondition. I felt, as many of my friends and neighbours have long felt, that we must look at home for the means of making our province honouredand respected abroad. And we intend to open this line of railwayentirely across the breadth of our province and bring ourselves intoconnection with the world [cheers]. 

"Mr. President, I cannot omit, in this connection, the expression of myprofound regard for the American Union. It is the union of these statesthat has given you greatness and strength at home and the respect andadmiration of the civilized world [long-continued cheers]. 

"The great interests of Christianity, of philanthropy and of liberty, throughout the world, depend upon the union of these states. We of NewBrunswick, of Nova Scotia, and of Canada are deeply interested in itsexistence. If there is any question of the day that interests us morethan all others, it is this very question of the perpetuity of theunion. For myself, I think there should be passed a law providing thatthe man who would even conceive the idea of a dissolution of the unionshould be guilty of treason. In the sincerity of my heart, I say, perishthe man who should dare to think of it [tremendous cheers]!"

With respect to railway legislation Wilmot was not in advance of manyothers in the province whose general political views were less liberalthan his own. There was always a good deal of local feeling injectedinto the discussion of railway matters and Wilmot, who was a resident ofFredericton, incurred a good deal of censure for the ridicule which hethrew on the proposal to build a railway from St. John to Shediac, whichis now a part of the Intercolonial. As this railway brought the countiesbordering on the Straits of Northumberland and the Gulf of St. Lawrenceinto easy communication with St. John, nothing is more clear than thatof all the railways then projected in the province it was the one mostlikely to be useful and profitable, but Wilmot apparently could notforget the fact that it did not touch his own county. His speech on thissubject was made in the legislature before the meeting of the PortlandConvention, and it is worthy of note that five-sixths of the ShediacRailway was to be used as part of the magnificent European and NorthAmerican Railway scheme which was so much lauded by him in his Portlandspeech. 

{HIS WORK IN LEGISLATION}

There is not much to be said in regard to the political life of Wilmotafter he became attorney-general. His principal legislative achievementwhile he filled that office was an Act for the consolidation of thecriminal law with regard to the definition of certain indictableoffences and the punishment thereof. This was a useful but not abrilliant work, which many another man might have performed equallywell. In the session of 1850, Wilmot carried a bill through the House ofAssembly for the reduction of the salaries of the judges of the supremecourt and some other officials, but this measure did not pass thelegislative council. He had always been in favour of a low scale ofsalaries as best suited to the conditions which prevailed in theprovince. The scale had been fixed in 1836, when the casual andterritorial revenues were placed under the control of the province, butan agitation soon afterwards commenced for further reductions. Theimperial government would not consent to the reduction of any salarywhile the holder of the office lived, except in the case of thesurveyor-general, whose duties had been decreased, but it agreed to alower scale for future occupants of the offices. In this way the salaryof the provincial secretary had been reduced from £1, 599 11s. To £600;that of the surveyor-general from £2, 019 4s. 4d. To £1, 209 12s. 4d. , andthat of the auditor-general from £500 to £346 3s. The salaries of thejudges, however, remained the same in 1850 as they had been in 1836, viz. , £1, 096 3s. For the chief-justice and £750 for each of the puisnejudges. Wilmot's bill reduced these salaries to £700 for thechief-justice and £600 to each of the other judges. He also voted for aresolution in favour of making the legislative council elective, andthat an address should be presented to Her Majesty asking her to consentto the passage of such a bill. A favourable answer was received from HerMajesty, but the scheme to make the legislative council elective wasnever carried into effect, in consequence of the opposition which itencountered in that body. 

There is no doubt that the popularity of Wilmot seriously declined afterhe entered the government. This was very plainly seen at the generalelection which took place in June, 1850, when he narrowly escapeddefeat, being the lowest on the poll of the members elected, while hiscolleague in the government, Mr. Fisher, was defeated, polling less thanone-half the number of votes given to the candidate who was highest onthe poll. But, on the whole, the result throughout the province wasfavourable to the cause of Reform, and among those elected in York whostood higher on the poll than Wilmot were two new members who heldadvanced views with respect to the amendment of the constitution. 

{THE GOVERNOR AND THE JUDGES}

Although responsible government had been conceded to New Brunswick, andit was admitted that public offices should be bestowed in accordancewith the wishes of the people, the close of Wilmot's legislative careerwas marked by an event which showed that the old order of things had notentirely passed away. Chief-Justice Chipman, owing to failing health, resigned his seat on the bench in the autumn of 1850, and it becamenecessary to provide for a successor. A meeting of the executive councilwas called for the purpose of filling the vacancy, and six members ofthe council out of the eight who were present signed a memorandum to theeffect that it was not advisable to appoint any person to the vacantoffice, but that such a division of the work of the judiciary should bemade by the legislature as would secure the efficient discharge of thejudicial duties by three judges, together with the Master of the Rolls. Wilmot was one of the persons who signed this memorandum, but on thefollowing day he called on the governor and asked that his name might bewithdrawn from it, he having in the meantime apparently changed hismind. The governor, Sir Edmund Head, asked the judges whether, in theiropinion, three of them would be able to do all the judicial business ofthe country, and received from them a strongly worded protest againstany such alteration in the number of judges. Mr. Fisher, who was one ofthe members of the executive present at the meeting, submitted to thegovernor a paper in which he took strong grounds against the proposal toreduce the number of judges. Sir Edmund Head referred the matter to thehome authorities, and they decided that the proposed change in thenumber of judges was not advisable. Moreover, they decided as to whoshould fill the vacant offices, and asked the governor to appoint Mr. Justice Carter to the position of chief-justice and to offer a puisnejudgeship to the attorney-general, Mr. Wilmot, and if he refused it tothe solicitor-general, Mr. Kinnear. Mr. Wilmot accepted, and thusbrought his political career to an end. 

FOOTNOTES:

[8] This is an adaptation of General Taylor's words. John A. Poor wasthe chief promoter of the European and North American Railway and thechairman of the committee of arrangements of the Portland Convention. 

CHAPTER X

JUDGE AND GOVERNOR

The opinion that was entertained of Mr. Wilmot by those who were closelyassociated with him in the work of Reform was well expressed by the lateMr. George E. Fenety, in his _Political Notes_. 

"A great luminary, " says Mr. Fenety, "set in semi-darkness on the daythat Mr. Wilmot left the forum for the bench. He was the light of theHouse for sixteen years, the centre from whence radiated most of thesparkling gems in the political firmament. It was at a time of life(comparatively a young man) and a period when talents such as his weremost wanted by his party and his country. Notwithstanding his supposedmistake in having joined a Conservative government, the Liberals werealways willing to receive their old leader back with outstretchedarms--ready to forgive and go along again with him over the old road, and, to a man, would have held to him had he made a stand against SirEdmund Head, and told him--'thus far and no farther shalt thou go'. "

Many of Wilmot's friends regretted that he should have accepted theoffice of judge on the conditions under which it was offered. Theythought that as attorney-general he was entitled to the position ofchief-justice, and that in consenting to take the puisne judgeship hehad lowered himself. It is hardly necessary to discuss a question ofthis kind at the present day. No doubt he had reasons of his own forretiring from the arena of politics. The work he had been doing for thepublic had placed a great strain upon him and interfered with his legalbusiness to a very serious extent. He was never a wealthy man, and hadtherefore to consider his own future, while a position on the bench wasone of honour and dignity which was regarded as worthy of acceptance byany member of the legal profession. 

There was nothing worthy of note in the career of Mr. Wilmot as a judge. He was never considered to be a deeply read lawyer, but he filled theoffice of judge with dignity and general acceptance. His duties were notsufficiently arduous to prevent him from having leisure to engage inother lines of inquiry, for his mind was much interested in questionsconnected with science. He frequently appeared on the lecture platformand always with success. 

When confederation was accomplished, it was felt that of all the nativesof New Brunswick he was the most worthy to be appointed its firstlieutenant-governor under the new régime. Judge Wilmot himself waswilling to accept the office as a fitting close to his long and activecareer as a public man; but for some reason, which it is now impossibleto ascertain, the appointment was not made until about a year afterconfederation. Judge Wilmot became lieutenant-governor on July 23rd, 1868, and continued to hold that honourable and important office untilNovember 14th, 1873, when he was succeeded by the Hon. S. L. Tilley. 

{OTHER ACTIVITIES}

So far, we have been considering Wilmot as a politician and member ofthe legislature, but a very imperfect idea of his character would begathered from regarding him merely in these capacities. He was amany-sided man, and had other interests which occupied his attention asmuch as, or more than, those public questions to which he devoted somuch of his vigour. It has already been stated that his father was amember of the Baptist Church, and one of the founders of the church ofthat denomination in Fredericton. It does not appear that the son everidentified himself with that Church, or that while a youth he gave muchattention to religious matters. It was not until after the death of hisfirst wife, which took place in 1833, that he became affected byreligious influences and began to attend the services of the MethodistChurch, the pulpit of which was then filled by the Rev. Enoch Wood, aman of much ability and eloquence whose style of oratory was veryimpressive. Under his ministrations Mr. Wilmot became a convert, wasbaptized and joined the Methodist Church in Fredericton, and from thattime until the close of his life he was a very prominent figure in it. He filled the office of superintendent of its Sunday School for upwardsof twenty-five years, and was the leader of the church choir for thirtyyears. When he was appointed governor it was thought that he would giveup these offices, but he still continued to fill them, and wassuperintendent of the Sunday School up to the day when his life came toan end. He always took a great interest in questions relating to theBible, and frequently lectured on topics connected with it. Hevehemently opposed the teachings of Darwin and others who followed thesame line of inquiry, and he stoutly maintained that wherever the Bibleand science were in conflict, science was in the wrong. He seems to havebeen, from first to last, an unquestioning believer in the doctrines ofthe Christian religion, and he viewed with great disfavour any one whoventured to question any part of its creed. As a lecturer he waseloquent and though discursive, always interesting. None of his lectureswere written, so that to-day they are only a fading memory to those whoheard them delivered. Though found acceptable at the time, it is hardlylikely that, if delivered at the present day, they would enjoy so high adegree of popularity. People are not now so willing to accept sweepingassertions which are in conflict with the conclusions of scientific menwho have devoted their lives to a patient study of the phenomena of lifeand the records of creation. 

{INTEREST IN MILITARY MATTERS}

One of the most pleasing features of Judge Wilmot's character was hisfondness for children. He was never so happy as when among the youngpeople, and long after he became a judge he took an intense interest indrilling the schoolboys and instructing them in all martial exercises;indeed, he seemed to be quite as much devoted to this work as he was toany other of his numerous employments. When a very young man, he becamean ensign in the first battalion of York County militia, and speedilyrose to be captain. When the so-called Aroostook War[9] broke out in1839 he was major of a company of rifles attached to that battalion, andhe volunteered for active service at the front. His interest in militarymatters continued until a late period, and, in the first military camporganized in the province by the lieutenant-governor, the Hon. ArthurGordon, in 1863, he commanded one of the battalions. If Wilmot had notbeen a politician and a lawyer, he might have been a great evangelist ora great soldier. 

Judge Wilmot was very fond of flowers, and the beautiful grounds atEvelyn Grove, where he resided, were looked upon as the finest in theprovince. Nearly every visitor to Fredericton found his way to thatcharming place and was sure of a cordial welcome from the judge, whodelighted to show strangers what he had been able to accomplish ingrowing flowers and rare plants. Not the least interesting feature ofsuch visits was the conversation of the host, who abounded in knowledgeof horticulture, and was always ready to give others the benefit of hisinformation. It was in this lovely retreat that the last years of Mr. Wilmot's life were passed. When his term as governor expired, thegovernment of Canada very properly gave him a pension as a retiredjudge. In 1875 he succeeded the Right Hon. Mr. Childers, as secondcommissioner under the Prince Edward Island Land Purchase Act. He wasnominated as one of the arbitrators in the Ontario and North-WestBoundary Commission, but did not live long enough to act in thatcapacity. 

{HIS DEATH}

During the last two or three years of his life he suffered much fromchronic neuralgia, which sometimes prevented him from stirringout-of-doors. No serious result was anticipated, and he was generallyable to take active exercise and engage in his usual routine of duty. OnMonday, May 20th, 1878, while driving in his carriage with his wife, hecomplained of a sudden and severe pain in the region of the heart. Hewas at once driven home and a physician summoned, but in a few minuteshe passed away. He had not quite completed his seventieth year. Hisdeath evoked expressions of regret and sympathy from every part of theprovince, and tributes of respect and admiration from many who residedin other parts of Canada and in the United States. 

Judge Wilmot was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1832, was Jane, daughter of Mr. James Balloch, of St. John. She died very soonafter their marriage, and in 1834 he married Miss Elizabeth Black, daughter of the Hon. William Black, of Halifax, and granddaughter of theRev. William Black, who is regarded as the apostle of Wesleyan Methodismin the Maritime Provinces. 

In estimating the character and achievements of L. A. Wilmot, regardmust be had to the conditions under which the battle for responsiblegovernment was fought, and the peculiar difficulties he had to face. Hehad not only to contend against governors determined to use their powerto the utmost, an immovable legislative council and a reactionaryexecutive, but he had to attempt to inspire with something of his ownspirit a House of Assembly which had but little sympathy with his views. That he did not accomplish more is less a matter of surprise than thathe accomplished so much. With heavy odds against him, he contended forthe rights of the people and the improvement of the constitution, and helived to see the principles for which he had fought so firmlyestablished in his native province that they can never be disturbed. 

{A CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE}

It was never his good fortune to be the leader and master of agovernment or to have a free hand in the work of legislation. We aretherefore left in the dark as to what he might have accomplished undermore favourable conditions. Yet there is but little doubt that, had heremained in public life, the progress of Reform would have been greatlyaccelerated, and that such important measures as the establishing offree schools would have been brought about much earlier than was thecase without his vigorous support. The faults of Wilmot were those thatbelong to an ardent, enthusiastic and liberty-loving temperament. Hehated injustice in every form, and in his denunciation of evil he wassometimes led to use stronger language than men of cooler feelingsapproved. In this way he aroused opposition and left himself open toattack. Yet it is doubtful whether the censure of his enemies was asinjurious as the flattery of some who professed to be his friends, andwho were ready to applaud whatever he said or did. Being accepted as aleader when a mere youth because he had made a few eloquent speeches, hemissed the wholesome discipline which most men have to undergo beforethey achieve fame. He would have been a greater and wiser man if he hadbeen spared the unthinking flattery which was too lavishly bestowed uponhim. Yet, after all has been said by those who would seek to minimizehis merits, the fact remains that this son of New Brunswick stood foryears as the foremost champion of the rights of the people, and that itis impossible to deny him a place among the great men who have assistedto build up Canada. 

FOOTNOTES:

[9] The Aroostook War arose out of the unsettled boundary questionbetween Maine and New Brunswick. There was a large area on the St. JohnRiver, the ownership of which was in dispute, and in 1839 the difficultycame to a head in consequence of the governor of Maine undertaking tosolve the question in his own way by taking possession of the territory. Governor Fairfield, of Maine, sent eighteen hundred militiamen to thefront and Sir John Harvey, the governor of New Brunswick, issued aproclamation asserting the right of Great Britain to guard the territorywhile it was in dispute, and calling on the governor of Maine towithdraw his troops. Fairfield denied the right to issue a counterproclamation and called on the state for ten thousand men. Sir JohnHarvey then sent Colonel Maxwell with the 36th and 69th Regiments and atrain of artillery to the upper St. John to watch the movements of themilitia. A large force of New Brunswick militia was also embodied andsent to the front. Fortunately, President Van Buren sent GeneralWinfield Scott to Maine with full power to settle the difficulty. He gotinto a friendly correspondence with Sir John Harvey, which led to anunderstanding by which the troops on both sides were withdrawn and alldanger of war averted. The boundary question was afterwards settled bythe Ashburton Treaty. 

[Illustration: S. L. Tilley]

SIR LEONARD TILLEY

CHAPTER I

EARLY LIFE AND BUSINESS CAREER

The political career of Samuel Leonard Tilley did not begin until theyear that brought the work of Lemuel Allan Wilmot as a legislator to aclose. Both were elected members of the House of Assembly in 1850, butin the following year Wilmot was elevated to the bench, so that theprovince lost his services as a political reformer just as a new man, who was destined to win as great a reputation as himself, was steppingon the stage. Samuel Leonard Tilley was born at Gagetown, on the St. John River, on May 8th, 1818, just thirty-five years after the landingof his royalist grandfather at St. John. He passed away seventy-eightyears later, full of years and honours, having won the highest prizesthat it was in the power of his native province to bestow. 

{OF LOYALIST STOCK}

In these days, when a man becomes eminent an effort is usually made totrace his descent from distinguished ancestors, but most of the earlyinhabitants of New Brunswick were too careless in such matters to leavemuch material to the modern maker of pedigrees. Sir Leonard Tilley wasunable to trace his descent beyond his great-grandfather, Samuel Tilley. At one time it was thought that his first ancestor in America was JohnTilley, who came over in the _Mayflower_ in 1620, but a closer search ofthe records of the Plymouth colony reveals the fact that John Tilleyleft no sons. But there were persons of the name of Tilley in theMassachusetts Bay colony as early as 1640, and there seems to be nodoubt that Sir Leonard Tilley's ancestors had been long in America. Theybelonged to the respectable farming class which has given the Dominionof Canada and the United States so many of their most distinguishedsons. Samuel Tilley, the great-grandfather of Sir Leonard, was a farmeron Long Island at the time of the American Revolution. His farm was thenwithin the boundaries of the present borough of Brooklyn, and thecurious in such matters can find the very lot upon which he resided laiddown upon some of the ancient maps of that locality. At the time theBritish occupied Long Island, after the battle which took place there inthe autumn of 1776, resulting in the defeat of the Americans, theBrooklyn farmers were called upon to provide cattle for the sustenanceof the troops. Samuel Tilley, being a loyal man and a friend of thegovernment, complied, and for this he was made the subject of attacks bythe disloyal element among his neighbours, and in the course of time wascompelled to seek shelter within the British lines. The occupation ofLong Island by the British during the whole period of the war made itsecure enough for Samuel Tilley, as well as for all loyal men who livedin the vicinity of Brooklyn; but when the war was over it becamenecessary for him to seek shelter in Nova Scotia, the acts ofconfiscation and banishment against the Loyalists being of the mostsevere character. Samuel Tilley came to New Brunswick with the springfleet, which arrived in St. John in May, 1783, and was a grantee ofParrtown, which is now the city of St. John. He erected a house andstore on King Street, on the south side, just to the east of Germain, and there commenced a business which he continued for several years. Hedied at St. John in the year 1815. His wife was Elizabeth Morgan, whosurvived him for many years and died in 1835, aged eighty-four years. 

Sir Leonard Tilley was not born when his great-grandfather died, but hada clear recollection of his great-grandmother, who lived for about fouryears after he came to reside in St. John. James Tilley, the grandfatherof Sir Leonard, was also a grantee of Parrtown, he having purchased fora trifling sum, when a boy, a lot on Princess Street, which had beendrawn by some person who was anxious to dispose of it. James Tilley wasa resident of Sunbury County and a magistrate there for a great manyyears, dying in the year 1851. Sir Leonard Tilley's father, ThomasMorgan Tilley, was born in 1790, and served his time with Israel Gove, who was a house-joiner and builder. He spent his early days as alumberman, getting out ship timber, his operations being carried onmainly at Tantiwanty, in the rear of Upper Gagetown. He afterwards wentinto business at Gagetown, and kept a store there down to the time ofhis death, which took place in 1870. Sir Leonard's great-grandmother, onhis father's side, was Mary Chase, of the Chase family of Massachusetts, she having come from Freetown, in that state. Sir Leonard's mother wasSusan Ann Peters, daughter of William Peters, who was for many years aprominent farmer in Queens County, and a member of the legislativeassembly. William Peters owned a large property and had one of thefinest tracts of land possessed by any man in the province in his day. But he was unwise enough to sell it for the purpose of obtaining moneywith which to enter into lumbering with William Wilmot, the father of L. A. Wilmot, and, being unsuccessful in his operations, his whole fortunewas swept away. The ancestors of William Peters were from New Yorkstate, from which they came with the rest of the Loyalists in 1783. 

{EARLY EDUCATION}

The house in Gagetown in which the future governor of New Brunswick andfinance minister of Canada was born, is still standing and is now usedas a hotel. Gagetown was at that period, and still is, one of the mostbeautiful places in New Brunswick. The river St. John flows in front ofit, and Gagetown Creek, which is almost as wide as the river, laves itsshores. The land in the vicinity is fertile, and fine old trees line thestreets, giving an air of beauty and refinement to the locality. SirLeonard was named after his uncle, Samuel Leonard Peters, and the latterwas named after an English schoolmaster named Samuel Leonard, who was agreat favourite with William Peters, the grandfather of the subject ofthis biography. Samuel Leonard, after leaving Gagetown, appears to haveremoved to Nova Scotia, and probably died in that province. When SirLeonard was five years old he was sent to the Madras School in Gagetown, of which Samuel Babbitt was the teacher. He attended this school from1823 until 1827, when the grammar school was instituted in Gagetown. TheMadras school system was at that time in high favour with the people ofthe province, and these schools received large grants from thegovernment, it being thought that this system was more advantageous thanany other for the instruction of youth. This idea, however, did notprove to be universally correct, for in the course of a few years wefind the legislature declaring that while they believed the Madrassystem suitable to towns and populous places, it did not answer so wellin rural districts. Samuel Babbitt, the teacher of the Madras School, was clerk of the parish, and, according to the custom of that day, ledthe responses in church. The rector of Gagetown at this period was theRev. Samuel Clark. The teacher of the local grammar school which youngTilley attended from 1827 to 1831 was William Jenkins, a graduate ofDublin University. Jenkins was a very severe man, and believed in thedoctrine that he who spares the rod spoils the child, and Sir Leonardhad a very vivid recollection of the vigour with which he applied thebirch. He removed from Gagetown shortly after 1831, and took up hisresidence in Quebec, where he conducted a large school for many years, dying about the year 1863. Sir Leonard, after he had become a well-knownpolitical character and a member of the government of New Brunswick, hadthe pleasure of paying him a visit some time in 1858. 

An interesting incident occurred in 1827, at the time young Tilleycommenced to attend the grammar school. Sir Howard Douglas, who was thengovernor of New Brunswick, paid a visit to Gagetown and was the guest ofColonel Harry Peters, the speaker of the House of Assembly. While thegovernor and his host were walking through Gagetown, they met youngTilley and a son of Harry Peters returning from school, and the boyswere introduced to His Excellency, who presented each of them with aSpanish quarter-dollar. Sir Leonard could remember and often spoke ofthe appearance of Sir Howard Douglas, dressed in a blue coat with brassbuttons, a fine-looking gentleman, with a pleasant face and a kindlysmile. Little thought the then governor of New Brunswick that the boy towhom he was speaking, a lad of nine years of age, would fifty yearslater sit in his own chair in the government house. 

{ENTERS ON BUSINESS LIFE}

Young Tilley was not the kind of youth likely to be satisfied to resideall his life in Gagetown. Other boys of less ambition might be contentto settle down on the farm and to fulfil their destinies within thecomparatively limited sphere of action which that little town in QueensCounty afforded, but he had within him longings for a higher destinythan he was likely to attain as a resident of a rural district. 

Young Tilley came to St. John in May, 1831, at the age of thirteen. Heat once entered the drugstore of Dr. Henry Cook, as a clerk, it beingthe fashion of those times for medical men to have a dispensary inconnection with their professional practice, so that they could giveadvice, and dispense their own prescriptions with equal facility. Hecontinued as clerk with Dr. Cook until February, 1835, when he enteredthe service of William O. Smith, who, in later years, was mayor of St. John. It was while a clerk with Smith that Tilley became a member of theSt. John Young Men's Debating Society, an organization which, if it hasno other claim to the remembrance of posterity, at least has that ofgiving one distinguished statesman to British America, and a governor toNew Brunswick. It was in this society that he made his first attempt atpublic speaking, and it may be said that from the very beginning heshowed a remarkable aptitude for debate and public discussions. 

In December, 1837, he took one of the most important steps of his lifein espousing the cause of total abstinence. Having taken up thismovement, he threw his whole energy into it, and from that time down tothe day of his death he was a consistent temperance man, and a strongadvocate of the principle of total abstinence. It was, perhaps, thisstrong advocacy of the cause of temperance, more than anything else, that brought him before the public as a suitable person to become acandidate for the House of Assembly, and led to his first election as arepresentative for the city of St. John in the local legislaturethirteen years later. Certainly the fact that Tilley, from that timeuntil the close of his public career, had always the support of thetemperance societies, gave him a strength which he hardly would haveobtained otherwise, and rallied around him a phalanx of friends, who, for fidelity to his interests and zeal for his political advancement, could hardly have been surpassed. 

Tilley commenced business on his own account in 1838, before he hadattained the age of twenty years, as a member of the firm of Peters &Tilley, and he continued a successful career until 1855, when hetransferred his business to Mr. T. B. Barker, the founder of the presentfirm of T. B. Barker & Sons. It is unnecessary to say anything more inregard to Mr. Tilley's life as a business man than that it was a highlyprosperous one. He showed so much energy and enterprise that when heentered political life he was comparatively wealthy. There is no doubtthat if he had continued in business instead of devoting his energies tothe service of the province and Dominion, he would have made far moremoney than he obtained as a politician. 

{COLONIAL TRADE}

The movement in behalf of free trade, which was changing the fiscalpolicy of the United Kingdom in the closing years of the first half ofthe nineteenth century, did not meet with much favour in New Brunswick, because it seriously affected the leading industry of the province. Colonial timber had long enjoyed a preference in the British market, butthis preference had been seriously impaired by imperial legislation andwas likely to be taken away altogether if free trade principles shouldprevail. Many remonstrances had been sent to the British governmentagainst the reduction or abolition of the duty on foreign timber whichcame into competition with the colonial product, but these remonstrancesproved wholly unavailing, and it was seriously believed that thecolonial timber trade would be destroyed. This led to the annexationmovement of 1848, which affected all the provinces, while it also causedthe formation of organizations pledged to resist the free trademovement. Tilley was in sympathy with these efforts to preserve colonialtrade, and it was in consequence of this that he first made hisentrance into political life. 

{GENERAL ELECTION OF 1850}

At a meeting of the electors of St. John in favour of protection, whichwas held previous to the general election of 1850, Tilley was nominatedas one of the candidates for the city of St. John. He was not present atthe meeting and had no knowledge whatever of the intention of theelectors to make such a nomination. A meeting was called a few nightslater in Carleton to confirm the nomination, and at that meeting Tilleywas present. He then made the strongest possible protest against thenomination, but the electors present would not take "No" for an answer, and he eventually consented to stand as a candidate, informing them atthe same time that he had an engagement to be in Boston on the day fixedfor the nomination, and could not be at the hustings on that day. Notwithstanding this statement they still persisted in his nomination, but as Tilley was absent in the United States, his nomination speech onthat occasion was made by Joseph W. Lawrence, who afterwards was foundamong his strongest political opponents. At the general election of 1850all the candidates elected for the city and county of St. John wereavowed opponents of the government. Tilley was returned at the head ofthe poll, while W. H. Needham, who ran with him, was likewise elected. The members elected for the county were R. D. Wilmot, William J. Ritchie, John H. Gray and Charles Simonds; while J. R. Partelow, Charles Watters and John Jordan were the three defeated candidates. Thelist of candidates for the city and county of St. John included twofuture governors, a future chief-justice of the supreme court of Canadaand two other judges, to say nothing of the provincial secretary, Mr. Partelow, a speaker of the House of Assembly and a future mayor of St. John. It must be admitted that few elections that have ever been held inany part of British North America have had so many candidates presentedto the electors who were afterwards eminent in public life. Thiselection took place at an important epoch in the history of theprovince, when the old order was passing away and men's minds wereprepared for a great change in political affairs. It was a Reform Houseof Assembly, and, although all the members elected for the purpose ofupholding Reform principles did not prove true to their trust, still itcontained a larger number of men of Liberal views than any of itspredecessors. 

Among the members of this House were several who had taken a veryimportant part in public affairs, or who afterwards became members ofthe executive. The county of York sent among its representatives, LemuelA. Wilmot, who had been a member of the House for sixteen years, and whohad taken a leading part in many measures of importance for theimprovement of the system by which the country was governed. 

Mr. Charles Fisher, who had been a colleague of Mr. Wilmot in the countyof York, was defeated at the general election, but soon afterwardsbecame a member of the House. Mr. Fisher had not the oratorical giftspossessed by Mr. Wilmot, but he was even stronger in his Liberal views, and as a constitutional lawyer he had no equal, at that time, in theprovince. Although his manners were somewhat uncouth and his address farfrom polished, Fisher had strong individuality and a singularly clearintellect. His services in the cause of Liberalism in New Brunswick canhardly be overestimated, and these services were rendered at a time whento be a Liberal was to be, to a large extent, ostracized by the greatand powerful who looked upon any interference with their vested rightsas little short of treason. 

Tilley's colleague from St. John city was William H. Needham, whoafterwards represented the county of York in the legislature. Mr. Needham had some remarkable gifts as a speaker and a public man, and hemight have risen to a much higher position than he ever attained had itnot been that his principles were somewhat uncertain. In truth, Needhamnever succeeded in getting sufficiently clear of the world to be quiteindependent, and this misfortune hampered him greatly in his politicalcareer. 

{NOTABLE CANDIDATES}

One of the members from St. John County was William J. Ritchie, a lawyerwho had risen by his own efforts to a commanding position at the bar, and who became chief-justice of Canada. Mr. Ritchie had been a member ofthe House of Assembly for several years, and always a useful one. Hepossessed what few members at that time had, --a clear knowledge of thetrue principles of responsible government. He had an eminently practicalmind; he was a forcible and impressive speaker, and he was bold in theenunciation of the Liberal principles to which he held. It was a seriousmisfortune to the province that at a comparatively early age he wastransferred to the bench, so that his great abilities were lost at acritical period when they might have been useful to New Brunswick inmany ways. 

John H. Gray, a new member, also sat in this House for the county of St. John. Mr. Gray was a man of fine presence, handsome appearance, and hada style of oratory that was very captivating and impressive. Hisfluency, however, was greater than his ability, and he injured himselfby deserting the Liberal party, which he had been elected to uphold. Gray never quite recovered from the unpopularity connected with thisaction, and he never became in any sense a real leader. The party he haddeserted soon obtained the control of the province, and his finalappearance in the legislature was as a supporter of Mr. Tilley, contentto play a secondary part during the great confederation conflict. 

Robert Duncan Wilmot, another of the St. John County members, a firstcousin of L. A. Wilmot, was not new to the legislature, and his mindbeing naturally conservative, it is in connection with the Conservativeparty that he is best known in the history of the province. He waselected as a Liberal, however, in 1850, but seems to have forgotten thatfact as soon as he reached the House of Assembly. This was not the onlyoccasion on which Wilmot contrived to change his principles, for heperformed a similar feat during the confederation contest, and left theanti-confederate government of 1865 in the lurch at a moment when itsexistence almost depended on his fidelity. Wilmot never was an eloquentman, and he entertained some highly visionary views in regard to anirredeemable paper currency, but he was a useful public servant, and heafterwards became a member of the government of Canada and eventuallylieutenant-governor of New Brunswick. 

{JOHN R. PARTELOW}

The Hon. John R. Partelow, who was defeated in St. John but elected forVictoria, was a man who might have acquired a great political reputationhad the stage on which he appeared been a larger one. Partelow'squalifications for high public position did not depend upon his oratory, which was not of a high order, but upon his moderation and good sense. Partelow's origin was humble, and his early days were spent as a clerkin a store on the North Wharf, St. John. In that subordinate position hemade himself so useful and displayed so much ability that he was markedfor promotion. The idea of bringing him forward as a candidate for thecity of St. John seems to have originated with his employers, but whenhe gained a seat in the legislature he speedily made his influence felt. Partelow spoke but seldom, but when he did address the legislature itwas generally with good effect, and after the subject had been to alarge extent exhausted by previous speakers. He then had a faculty ofdrafting a resolution which seemed to express the general sense of all, and which was usually accepted as a solution of the matter. He was agood business man, understood accounts thoroughly and, therefore, had agreat advantage in legislative work over those who were not so wellequipped in this respect. New Brunswick may have produced greater menthan he in public life, but none whose talents were more useful to theprovince, or better fitted to serve its interests at a critical periodin its constitutional history. 

CHAPTER II

ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE

Shortly after the general election, Chief-Justice Chipman, who had beenin infirm health, resigned his office, and a vacancy was thus left onthe bench of the supreme court of the province. In the natural course, this office ought to have gone to the attorney-general, Mr. L. A. Wilmot, but this appointment was not made. The council were unable tounite in any recommendation to the governor, who consequently laid allthe facts before the home government and in reply received instructionsto give the chief-justiceship to Judge Carter and to offer the puisnejudgeship to Mr. Wilmot, or, if he should refuse it, to Mr. Kinnear, thesolicitor-general. The executive council complained that the appointmentof Mr. Wilmot to a seat on the bench by the authority of the secretaryof state without the advice or recommendation of the responsibleexecutive within the province, was at variance with the principles ofresponsible government which were understood to be in force. They, however, had only themselves to thank for this, for they werecontinually appealing to Downing Street. As a majority of the House hadbeen elected as opponents of the government, it was supposed therewould be no difficulty in bringing about a change of administration. Mr. Simonds, of St. John, who was reputed to be a Liberal, was electedspeaker without opposition, and at an early day in the session Mr. Ritchie, of St. John, moved, as an amendment to the address, awant-of-confidence resolution. This resolution, instead of being carriedby a large majority as was expected, was lost by a vote of fifteen totwenty-two, Messrs. Alexander Rankine and John T. Williston, ofNorthumberland, Messrs. Robert Gordon and Joseph Reed, of Gloucester, Mr. A. Barbarie, of Restigouche, and Mr. Francis McPhelim, of Kent, having deserted their Liberal allies. Had they proved faithful, thegovernment would have been defeated, and the province would have beenspared another three years of an incompetent administration. 

In this division, Tilley and Needham, who represented the city of St. John, and Messrs. R. D. Wilmot and Gray, two of the county members, voted for Ritchie's amendment. As Wilmot and Gray showed by their votesthat they had no confidence in the government in February, 1851, it waswith much surprise that the people of St. John, in the August following, learned that they had become members of the administration which theyhad so warmly condemned a few months before. Their secession from theLiberal party destroyed whatever chance had before existed of oustingthe government. Mr. Fisher had seceded from the government inconsequence of their action in reference to the judicial appointments, and John Ambrose Street, who was a member for Northumberland, becameattorney-general in place of Robert Parker, appointed a judge. Mr. Street was a ready debater and a strong Conservative, and his entranceinto the government at that time showed that a Conservative policy wasto be maintained. 

{RAILWAY LEGISLATION}

Mr. Street, as leader of the government in the assembly, presented along programme of measures for the consideration of the legislature, none of which proved to be of any particular value. The municipalcorporation bill was passed, but it was a permissive measure, and wasnot taken advantage of by any of the counties. A bill to make thelegislative council elective, which was also passed in the Lower Houseat the instance of the government, was defeated in the Upper Chamber. The bill appointing commissioners on law reform was carried, andresulted in the production of the three volumes of the revised statutesissued in 1854. The most important bill of the session, introduced bythe government, was one in aid of the construction of a railroad fromSt. John to Shediac. This bill provided that the government should givea company two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, to assist inthe construction of the line referred to. There was also a bill toassist the St. Andrews and Quebec Railroad to the extent of fiftythousand pounds, and a bonus or subvention to the Shediac lineamounting to upwards of eleven thousand dollars a mile, for which sum avery good railway could be constructed at the present time. It may bestated here that, although the company was formed and undertook to builda railway to Shediac under the terms offered by the government, theprovince had eventually to build the road at a cost of forty thousanddollars a mile, or fully double what a similar road could be constructedfor now. 

{KING'S COLLEGE}

One of the measures brought forward by the government at this sessionwas with reference to the schools of the province. The idea of taxingthe property of the county for the support of public schools had notthen found any general acceptance in New Brunswick; indeed, it was nottill the year 1872 that the measure embodying this principle was passedby the legislature. The government school bill of 1851 provided that theteachers were to be paid in money, or board and lodging, by the districtto the amount of ten pounds for six months, in addition to thegovernment allowance. This bill was a very slight improvement on the Actthen in force, and as the government left it to the House to deal with, and did not press it as a government measure, it was not passed. Aprivate member, Mr. Gilbert, of Queens, at this session proposed toconvert King's College into an agricultural school, with a model farmattached. King's College had been established by an Act passed in 1829, and had received a large endowment from the province, but it never was apopular institution because of its connection with a single Church. Theoriginal charter of the college made the bishop of the diocese thevisitor, and required the president to be always a clergyman of theChurch of England; and, although this had been changed in 1845 by thelegislature, the number of students who attended it was always small, and it was shown in the course of debate that it had failed to fulfilthe object for which it was created. The college council consisted offifteen members, of whom ten were Episcopalians; and the visitor, thechancellor, the president, the principal, five out of seven of theprofessors and teachers, and the two examiners were members of the sameChurch. The services in the college chapel were required to be attendedby all resident students, and of the eighteen students then in thecollege, sixteen were Episcopalians. It was felt that this collegerequired to be placed on a different footing, and Mr. Gilbert's bill, although it provoked much hostile comment at the time, certainly wouldhave been more beneficial to the educational interests of the country, if it had passed, than the state of affairs which resulted from thecontinuance of the old system. An agricultural school was the very thingthe province required, while, judging from the limited attendance at thecollege at that time, the people of this province were not greatlyimpressed with the value of a classical education. In 1851, however, any one who proposed to replace a college for the teaching of Greek andLatin with a college of agriculture, and the sciences allied to it, waslooked upon as a Philistine. Then youths were taught to compose Latinand to read Greek who never, to the day of their death, had a competentknowledge of their own language; and agricultural studies, which were ofthe highest importance to more than one-half of the people of theprovince, were totally neglected. Mr. Gilbert's bill was defeated, as itwas certain to be in a legislature which was still under the dominationof old ideas. Had it passed, New Brunswick might at this time have had alarge body of scientific farmers capable of cultivating the soil in themost efficient manner, and increasing its productiveness to an extenthardly dreamed of by those who only consider it in the light of thepresent system of cultivation. 

During this session, Mr. Ritchie of St. John moved a series ofresolutions condemning the government, and complaining of the colonialoffice and of the conduct of the governor. These resolutions declared:first, that the House was entitled to full copies of all despatchesaddressed to or received from the colonial office, and that it was notenough merely to send extracts from a despatch which had been receivedby the governor. They declared that the power of making appointments tooffices was vested in the governor by and with the advice of theexecutive council, and that the appointment of the chief-justice and apuisne judge by the governor, contrary to the advice of his council, wasinconsistent with the principles of responsible government. Theycomplained that the salaries were excessive, and condemned the refusalof the British government to allow the colonies to grant bounties forthe development of their resources. These resolutions, after beingdebated for about a week, were rejected by a vote of twenty-one tonineteen, the smallness of the majority against them at the time beinglooked upon as virtually a Liberal victory. If the nineteen had beenmade up of men who could be relied on to stand by their colours in allemergencies, it would have been a Liberal triumph, but, unfortunately, among the nineteen there were some who afterwards deserted their partyfor the sake of offices and power. 

{A POLITICAL SURPRISE}

Early in August it was announced that John H. Gray and R. D. Wilmot, twoof the Liberal members for the county of St. John, had abandoned theirparty and their principles and become members of the government. TheLiberals of St. John, who had elected these gentlemen by a substantialmajority, were naturally chagrined at such a proof of theirfaithlessness, and their colleagues were likewise greatly annoyed. Messrs. Gray and Wilmot made the usual excuses of all deserters fortheir conduct, the principal one being that they thought they couldserve the interests of the constituency and of the province better bybeing in the government than out of it. The friends of the four memberswho still remained faithful, Messrs. Tilley, Simonds, Ritchie andNeedham, held a meeting at which these gentlemen were present, and itwas agreed that they should join in an address to their constituentscondemning the course of Messrs. Wilmot and Gray, and calling on theconstituency to pronounce judgment upon it. As Wilmot, who had beenappointed to the office of surveyor-general, had to return to hisconstituency for reëlection, the voice of the constituency could only beascertained by placing a candidate in the field in opposition to him. This was done, and Mr. Allan McLean was elected to oppose Mr. Wilmot. The result seemed to show that the people of St. John had condoned theoffence, for Wilmot was reëlected by a majority of two hundred andseventy-three. As this appeared to be a proof that they had lost theconfidence of their constituents, Messrs. Simonds, Ritchie and Tilley atonce resigned their seats and did not offer for reëlection. This actwas, at the time, thought by many to indicate an excess ofsensitiveness, and Needham refused to follow their example, therebyforfeiting the regard of most of those who had formerly supported him. The sequel proved that the three resigning members were right, for theywon much more in public respect by their conduct than they lost by theirtemporary exclusion from the House of Assembly. 

{THE ST. JOHN ELECTION}

The gentlemen returned for the three seats in St. John which had beenvacated by the resigning members were James A. Harding, John Goddard andJohn Johnson. Mr. Harding, who ran for the city, was opposed by S. K. Foster. Harding was a Liberal, but this fact does not seem to have beenkept in view when he was elected. The net result of the whole affair wasthat the constituency of St. John could not be relied upon to support aLiberal principle, or any kind of principle as against men. That hasalways been a peculiarity of the St. John constituencies, men being moreimportant than measures, and frequently a mere transient feeling beingset off against the most important considerations of general policy. 

Tilley was not in the House of Assembly during the sessions of 1852, 1853 and 1854; that period was one, however, of development in politicalmatters and of substantial progress. The governor's speech at theopening of the session of 1852 was largely devoted to railways, and itexpressed the opinion that a railroad connecting Canada and Nova Scotia, and a connection with a line from St. John to the United States, wouldproduce an abundant return to the province, and that by this meansmillions of tons of timber, then standing worthless in the forest, wouldfind a profitable market. It was during this session that Messrs. Peto, Brassy and Betts proposed to construct the European and North AmericanRailway, on certain conditions. The subsidies offered by the province atthis time were twenty thousand pounds a year for twenty years, and amillion acres of land for the European and North American Railway, asthe line to the United States was termed; and for the Quebec line, twenty-two thousand pounds sterling for twenty years, and two millionacres of land. A new company, which included Mr. Jackson, M. P. , offeredto build the New Brunswick section of both railroads, upon the provincegranting them a subsidy of twenty thousand pounds a year for twentyyears, and four million acres of land. Attorney-General Streetintroduced a series of railway resolutions favouring the building of theIntercolonial Railway jointly by the three provinces, according to termswhich had been agreed upon by the delegates of each. The arrangement wasthat the Intercolonial Railway should be built through the valley of theSt. John, and for favouring resolutions in the House confirming thisarrangement, Mr. Street's Northumberland constituents called upon him toresign his seat, a step which he refused to take. 

{INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY}

The government railway resolutions were carried by a large majority. During the recess Mr. Chandler, as a representative of New Brunswick, and Mr. Hincks, a representative of Canada, went to London to endeavourto obtain from the British government a sum sufficient to build theIntercolonial Railway. The request of the delegates was refused on theground that such a work had to be one of military necessity, and thatthe route which had been selected, by the valley of the St. John, wasnot a proper one for military purposes. As Mr. Chandler could not obtainwhat he wished from the British government, he applied to Messrs. Peto, Brassy and Betts, who said they were prepared to build all the railroadsthat New Brunswick might require, upon the most advantageous terms. Mr. Jackson visited the province in September of the same year, and it wasagreed that his company should build a railway from St. John to Amherst, and from St. John to the United States frontier, the distance being thenestimated at two hundred and fourteen miles, for the sum of sixty-fivehundred pounds sterling per mile. The province was to take stock to theextent of twelve hundred pounds per mile, and to lend its bonds to thecompany for one thousand eight hundred pounds additional per mile. Thecompletion of this arrangement caused great rejoicing in the province, especially in St. John, a special session of the legislature beingcalled on October 21st for the express purpose of amending the RailwayAct so that it might conform to the new conditions. As both branches ofthe legislature were strongly in favour of the railway policy of thegovernment, the necessary bills were speedily passed and the legislaturewas prorogued after a session of eight days. 

The meeting of the legislature in 1853 derived its principal importancefrom the fact that much of its time was taken up with the discussion ofthe question of a reciprocity treaty with the United States of America. The discussion disclosed a strong disinclination on the part of manymembers to any arrangement by which the fisheries would be surrendered. An address to the queen was agreed to by both branches of thelegislature in which it was stated that the exclusive use of thefisheries by the inhabitants of British North America would be much moreadvantageous and satisfactory than anything which the United Statescould offer as an equivalent. It was also stated that no reciprocitytreaty with that country would be satisfactory to New Brunswick whichdid not embrace the free exchange of raw materials and natural productsand the admission of colonial built vessels to registry in Americanports. The tone of the discussions on this subject, both in 1853 and1854, shows that reciprocity with the United States was not generallyregarded as being an equivalent for the giving of the fisheries to ourneighbours, and it is quite clear that, so far as New Brunswick wasconcerned, the reciprocity treaty would not have been agreed to had itnot been that the matter was in the hands of the British government, andthat the legislature of the province was not disposed to resiststrenuously any arrangement which that government thought it wise tomake. 

CHAPTER III

THE PROHIBITORY LIQUOR LAW

The House which had been elected in 1850 was dissolved after theprorogation in 1854, and the election came on in the month of July. Itwas a memorable occasion, because it was certain that the topicsdiscussed by the House then to be elected would be of the very highestimportance. One of these subjects was the reciprocity treaty, which atthat time had been arranged with the United States through the Britishgovernment. This treaty provided for the free interchange of certainnatural products between the great republic and the several provinceswhich later formed the Dominion of Canada, and it had been brought aboutthrough the efforts of Lord Elgin, who at that time was governor-generalof Canada. The treaty was agreed to on June 5th, and was subject toratification by the imperial parliament and the legislatures of theBritish North American colonies which were affected by it. In the St. John constituencies there was at that time a strong feeling in favour ofa protection policy, but this did not interfere with the desire toeffect the interchange of raw material with the United States onadvantageous terms. Tilley had been originally nominated as aprotectionist, and still held views favourable to the encouragement andprotection of native industries by means of the tariff, but he was alsofavourable to reciprocity with the United States if it could be obtainedin such a manner as to be beneficial to the province. At the generalelection he led the poll in the city of St. John, his colleague beingJames A. Harding, who had been elected at a bye-election to the previousHouse. For the county, Mr. William J. Ritchie was one of the successfulcandidates, and the only Liberal returned for that constituency. Theother members for the county were the Hon. John R. Partelow, Robert D. Wilmot and John H. Gray. 

The new House was called together on October 19th for the purpose ofratifying the reciprocity treaty, and the Hon. D. L. Hanington waselected speaker by a vote of twenty-three to thirteen. This gave theopposition an earlier opportunity of defeating the Street-Partelowadministration than would, under ordinary circumstances, have beenpossible. An amendment to the address was moved by the Hon. CharlesFisher, which was an indictment of the government for their variousshortcomings and offences. The amendment was to expunge the whole of thefifth paragraph and substitute for it the following:--

"It is with feelings of loyalty and attachment to Her Majesty's personand government that we recognize, in that provision of the treaty whichrequires the concurrence of this legislature, a distinct avowal by theimperial government of their determination to preserve inviolate theprinciples of self-government, and to regard the constitution of theprovince as sacred as that of the parent state. We regret that theconduct of the administration during the last few years has not been inaccordance with these principles, and we feel constrained thus early tostate to your Excellency that your constitutional advisers have notconducted the government of the province in the true spirit of ourcolonial constitution. " This amendment was debated for six days, and wascarried by a vote of twenty-seven to twelve. 

{QUESTION OF THE JUDGES REVIVED}

The general ground of accusation against the government, and the onemost strongly insisted upon, was that it had yielded to the influence ofthe colonial office in the appointment of Judge Wilmot. It was wellknown that the government at that time, or at least a majority of them, did not consider it necessary to appoint another judge; at all events, they took no steps to bring about another appointment; but they yieldedto the colonial office, and the pressure put upon them by Sir EdmundHead, the lieutenant-governor, so far as to acquiesce in the appointmentof Judge Carter as chief-justice, and the elevation of Mr. Wilmot to thebench. This was a fair ground of attack, because it was clear that ifthe executive council of New Brunswick was under the orders of the homegovernment, representative institutions and responsible government didnot exist. 

Thus the Street-Partelow government fell, and with it disappeared, atonce and forever, the old Conservative régime which had existed in theprovince from its foundation, and which, unavoidably no doubt, hadpresided over the early political life of the colony, but the unduecontinuance of which was wholly incompatible with the full developmentof representative institutions and responsible government. It was agreat triumph for the cause of Liberalism that the Conservatives of thatperiod were not only defeated, but swept altogether out of existence. After that a government of men who called themselves Conservatives mightgo into power, but the old state of affairs, under which thelieutenant-governor could exercise almost despotic powers, had departedforever, and could no more be revived than the heptarchy. All that aConservative government could do after that was to fall into line withthe policy of the men they had displaced, and proceed, less rapidlyperhaps, but none the less surely, along the path of political progress. 

The new government which was formed as the result of this vote had forits premier the Hon. Charles Fisher, who took the office ofattorney-general; Mr. Tilley became provincial secretary; Mr. JamesBrown, a few weeks later, received the office of surveyor-general; J. M. Johnson, one of the members for Northumberland, became solicitor-general;and William J. Ritchie, Albert J. Smith and William H. Steeves weremembers of the government without office. 

The bill to give effect to the reciprocity treaty passed its thirdreading on November 2d, only five members voting against it. On motionof the Hon. Mr. Ritchie, one of the members of the new government, itwas resolved that it was desirable and expedient that thesurveyor-general, who was a political officer, should hold a seat in theHouse of Assembly, and that the government should carry out the wishesof the House in this respect. Before the House again met the wishes ofthe House had been complied with, and Mr. Brown, of Charlotte, becamesurveyor-general. 

{SESSION OF 1855}

The House met again on February 1st, 1855, and then the real work oflegislative and administrative reform began. In the speech from thethrone it was stated that the Customs Act would expire in the course ofa year, and that it was necessary that a new Act should be passed. Abetter system of auditing the public accounts was also recommended, anda better system of electing members to the legislature. On March 5th, correspondence was brought down, dated the previous 15th of August, announcing, on the part of the imperial government, the withdrawal ofthe imperial customs establishment, which was considered to be no longernecessary, and stating that as the duties of these offices were nowmainly in connection with the registration of vessels in the colonies, and the granting of certificates of the origin of colonial products, this work would hereafter be performed by the colonial officers. Aletter addressed to the comptrollers and other customs officers hadinformed them that their services would be discontinued after January5th, 1855. So disappeared the last remnant of the old imperialcustom-house system, which had been the cause of so many difficulties inall the colonies and which had done more than anything else to bringabout the revolution which separated the thirteen colonies from themother country. 

The great measure of the session of 1855 was the law to prevent theimportation, manufacture or selling of liquor. This bill was brought inby Mr. Tilley as a private member, and not on behalf of the government. It was introduced on March 3d. Considering its importance and the factthat it led to a crisis in the affairs of the government and thetemporary defeat of the Liberal party, it went through the House withcomparatively little difficulty. It was first considered on March 19th, and a motion to postpone its further consideration for three months waslost by a vote of seventeen to twenty-one. The final division on thethird reading was taken on March 27th, and the vote was twenty-one toeighteen, so that every member of the House, with one exception, votedyea or nay. The closeness of this last division should have warned theadvocate of the measure that it was likely to produce difficulty, for itis clear that all laws which are intended to regulate the personalhabits of men must be ineffectual unless they have the support of alarge majority of the people affected by them. That this was not thecase with the prohibitory liquor law was shown by the vote in thelegislature, and it was still more clearly shown after the law came intooperation on January 1st, 1856. 

{PROHIBITORY LIQUOR ACT}

The passage of the prohibitory law was a bold experiment, and, as thesequel showed, more bold than wise. The temperance movement in NewBrunswick, at that time, was hardly more than twenty years old, and NewBrunswick had always been a province in which the consumption of liquorwas large in proportion to its population. When it was first settled bythe Loyalists, and for many years afterwards, the use of liquor wasconsidered necessary to happiness, if not to actual existence. Everyperson consumed spirits, which generally came to the province in theform of Jamaica rum, from the West Indies, and as this rum was supposedto be an infallible cure for nearly every ill that flesh is heir to, nothing could be done at that time without its use. Large quantities ofrum were taken into the woods for the lumbermen, to give them sufficientstrength to perform the laborious work in which they were engaged, andif it had been suggested that a time would come when the same work wouldbe done without any more powerful stimulant than tea, the person whoventured to make such a suggestion would have been regarded as foolish. Experience has shown that more and better work can be done, not only inthe woods, but everywhere else, without the use of stimulants than withthem; but no one could be persuaded to believe this sixty years ago. Every kind of work connected with the farm then had to be performed bythe aid of liquor. Every house-raising, every ploughing match, everymeeting at which farmers congregated, had unlimited quantities of rum asone of its leading features. It was also used by almost every man as apart of his regular diet; the old stagers had their eleven-o'clock dramand their nip before dinner; their regular series of drinks in theafternoon and evening; and they actually believed that without them lifewould not be worth living. Some idea of the extent of thespirit-drinking of the province may be gathered from the fact that, in1838, when the population did not exceed 120, 000, 312, 298 gallons ofrum, gin and whiskey, and 64, 579 gallons of brandy were consumed in NewBrunswick. Spirits, especially rum, were very cheap, and, the duty beingonly thirty cents a gallon, every one could afford to drink it ifdisposed to do so. 

It was at midnight on December 31st, 1855, when the bells rang out amerry peal to announce the advent of the New Year, that this law wentinto force. This meant little less than a revolution in the views, feelings and ideas of the people of the province, and, to a largeextent, in their business relations. The liquor trade, both wholesaleand retail, employed large numbers of men, and occupied many buildingswhich brought in large rents to their owners. The number of taverns inSt. John and its suburb, Portland, was not less than two hundred, andevery one of these establishments had to be closed. There were probablyat least twenty men who sold liquor at wholesale, and who extended theirbusiness to every section of the province, as well as to parts of NovaScotia, and their operations also had to come to an end. It was not tobe supposed that these people would consent to be deprived suddenly oftheir means of living, especially in view of the fact that it was by nomeans certain that the sentiment in favour of prohibition was as strongin the country as it appeared to be in the legislature. It has alwaysbeen understood that many men voted for prohibition in the House ofAssembly who themselves were not total abstainers, but who thought theymight make political capital by taking that course, and who relied onthe legislative council to throw out the bill. No men were moredisgusted and disappointed than they when the council passed the bill. 

{PROHIBITORY ACT UNPOPULAR}

The result of the attempt to enforce prohibition was what might havebeen expected. The law was resisted, liquor continued to be sold, andwhen attempts were made to prevent the violation of the law, and theviolators of the law were brought before the courts, able lawyers wereemployed to defend them, while the sale of liquor by the same partieswas continued, thus setting the law at defiance. This state of confusionlasted for several months, but it is unnecessary to go into details. Inthe city of St. John, especially, the conflict became bitter to the lastdegree, and it was evident that, however admirable prohibition might beof itself, the people of that city were not then prepared to accept it. At this juncture came the astounding news that the lieutenant-governor, the Hon. H. T. Manners-Sutton, had dissolved the House of Assemblyagainst the advice of his council. This governor, who had been appointedthe year previous, was a member of an old Conservative family, one ofwhom was speaker of the British House of Commons for a great many years. The traditions of this family were all opposed to such a radical measureas the prohibitory law, and, therefore, it was not to be expected thatManners-Sutton, who drank wine at his own table, and who considered thatits use was proper and necessary, would be favourable to the law. Buteven if he had been disposed to favour it originally, or to regard itwithout prejudice, the confusion which it caused in the province whenthe attempt was made to enforce it, would naturally incline him to lookupon it as an evil. At all events, he came to the conclusion that thepeople should have another opportunity of pronouncing upon it, and, asthe result of this view of the situation, resolved to dissolve thelegislature, which had been elected only a little more than a year, andhad still three years to run. 

{DISSOLUTION OF LEGISLATURE}

The election which followed in July, 1856, was perhaps the most hotlycontested that has ever taken place in the province. In St. John, especially, the conflict was fierce and bitter, because it was in thiscity that the liquor interest was strongest and most influential. Allover the province, however, the people became interested in thestruggle, as they had not been in any previous campaign. 

By the Liberals and friends of the government, the action of GovernorSutton was denounced as tyrannical, unjust and entirely contrary to theprinciples of responsible government. On the other hand, the friends ofthe governor and of the liquor interest declared that his action wasright, and the cry of "Support the governor, " was raised in everycounty. At this day it is easy enough to discern that there was a gooddeal of unnecessary violence injected into the campaign, and thatneither party was inclined to do full justice to the other. 

CHAPTER IV

REFORM AND PROGRESS

The result of the election was the defeat of the government. Mr. Tilleylost his seat for St. John city, and the Hon. James Brown, thesurveyor-general, was rejected by the county of Charlotte, so that twoof the principal members of the executive were not in their places whenthe House was called together in July. The city of St. John, and thecity and county of St. John, sent a solid phalanx of six members opposedto prohibition, and an Act repealing the prohibitory liquor law waspassed by a vote of thirty-eight to two. The new government which wasformed had for its principal members, the Hon. John H. Gray, who becameattorney-general; the Hon. John C. Allen, solicitor-general; the Hon. R. D. Wilmot, provincial secretary; the Hon. John Montgomery, surveyor-general, and the Hon. Francis McPhelim, postmaster-general. Theother members of the executive council were the Hon. Edward B. Chandler, the Hon. Robert L. Hazen and the Hon. Charles McPherson. 

When the House met in July, the Hon. Charles Simonds, of St. John, waselected speaker, and it was soon discovered, after the liquor bill hadbeen disposed of, that the majority supporting the government was sosmall as to make it impossible for them to accomplish any usefullegislation. When the legislature again met, in the early part of 1857, it was seen that in a House of forty-one members twenty were arrayedagainst the government, and the only way in which government businesscould be done was by the casting vote of the speaker. This condition ofaffairs speedily became intolerable, because it practically madelegislation impossible, but it was brought to an end by Mr. McMonagle, one of the members for the county of Kings, withdrawing his support fromthe government. Two courses only were now open to them, to tender theirresignations or advise the dissolution of the legislature, and theychose the latter. The House of Assembly was dissolved by proclamation onApril 1st, 1857, and the writs for the election were made returnable onMay 16th. 

{THE FISHER GOVERNMENT}

The excitement attending this second election was, if possible, evengreater than during the election of 1856, for the public mind had beenwrought up to a high state of tension by the proceedings in the Houseand the numerous divisions in which the government was supported only bythe casting vote of the speaker. The result of the election was sounfavourable to the Gray-Wilmot government that they at once tenderedtheir resignations to the lieutenant-governor, agreeing to hold officeonly until their successors were appointed. The most bitter contest ofthe election centred in the city of St. John, and it resulted in theelection of Mr. Tilley, with Mr. James A. Harding for his colleague, thelatter having changed his views in regard to the question at issue sincethe previous election, when he was chosen as an opponent of thegovernment of which Tilley had been a member. When the Gray-Wilmotgovernment resigned, the lieutenant-governor sent for Mr. Fisher, andentrusted to him the business of forming a new government. Thegovernment thus formed comprised the Hons. James Brown, S. L. Tilley, William Henry Steeves, John M. Johnson, Albert J. Smith, David Wark andCharles Watters. The Hon. Charles Fisher became attorney-general, and, resigning his seat, was reëlected for the county of York prior to themeeting of the legislature on June 24th, 1857. The session lasted onlyuntil July 1st, being merely held for the purpose of disposing of thenecessary business. James A. Harding was elected speaker of the House, and the legislation was confined to the passage of the supply bills, andmatters that were urgent. Tilley took no part in the legislation of thissession, for his seat immediately became vacant by his appointment asprovincial secretary. The other departments were filled by theappointment of Mr. Brown to the office of surveyor-general; of Mr. Charles Watters, to the office of solicitor-general, and of John M. Johnson as postmaster-general. 

The legislature met again on February 10th, 1858, and the speech fromthe throne dealt mainly with the financial crisis, the IntercolonialRailway, and the progress that was being made in the construction of theline between St. John and Shediac as a part of what was termed theEuropean and North American Railway. The speech also referred to thefact that the surplus civil list fund had been, by arrangement with theBritish government made the previous year, placed at the disposal of theHouse of Assembly. It was soon seen that the government was strong inthe House, the first test vote being that taken on the passage of theaddress in reply to the speech from the throne. This came in the form ofan amendment, regretting that the arrangement in regard to the surpluscivil list fund had been acceded to without the consent of the House. This amendment to the address received the support of only six members. A return brought down at an early period in the session showed that therevenue of the province for the fiscal year, ending October 31st, 1857, amounted to $668, 252 an increase of $86, 528 over the previous year. Ofthis sum upwards of $540, 000 came from import duties and what weretermed railway impost, which was simply duties levied on imports for thepurpose of defraying the cost of the railways then building. The casualand territorial revenue yielded only eighteen thousand pounds but theexport duties reached almost twenty thousand pounds. 

{INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY}

The Intercolonial Railway still continued to engage the attention of thelegislature, and correspondence with the secretary of state, with thegovernment of Canada, and with the government of Nova Scotia, in regardto this great work, was laid before the House soon after the sessionopened. The government of New Brunswick consulted with the governmentsof Canada and Nova Scotia as to what assistance should be given by theimperial government towards the construction of the IntercolonialRailway from Halifax to Quebec, in the form of a guarantee of interest. The British government professed to feel a strong sense of theimportance of the object, but thought they would not be justified inapplying to parliament for the required guarantee, because the heavyexpenditures to which Great Britain had been subjected did not leavethem at liberty to pledge its revenue for the purpose of assisting inthe construction of public works of this description, however desirablein themselves. The correspondence on the subject of the IntercolonialRailway extended over a period of more than twenty years and grew toenormous proportions, but it is safe to assert that this line of railwaywould not have been constructed in the nineteenth century but for thefact that it was undertaken by the Canadian Dominion as a work which hadto be built for the purpose of carrying out the terms of confederationas set out in the British North America Act (section 145). 

The railway to Shediac was finally completed and opened for traffic onAugust 5th, 1860, its length being one hundred and eight miles. Thenineteen miles between Pointe du Chêne and Moncton had been open asearly as August, 1857, and the nine miles from St. John to Rothesay, onJune 1st, 1858. The railway was opened from St. John to Hampton in June, 1859, and to Sussex in November of the same year. Although the people ofthe province had abated something of their enthusiasm for railways bythe time the St. John and Shediac line was finished, still its openingwas a great event, because it was the commencement of a new era intransportation and gave St. John access to the north shore, from whichit had previously been practically shut out. Goods could now be sent bymeans of railway and steamer to Prince Edward Island, and to the NewBrunswick ports on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and a community of interestwhich did not exist before was thus created between the most remotesections of the province. 

The traffic receipts of the complete line were thought to be highlysatisfactory; the business for the first three months amounted to about$45, 000, and yielded a revenue of $18, 000. This was a good showing andgave promise of still better things for the future. It may beinteresting to state that in the last year that the railway was operatedby the government of the province, the gross receipts amounted to$148, 330, and the net receipts to $51, 760. The gross and net revenue ofthe road had shown a steady increase from the first, and although it hadbeen a costly public work the people of the province considered it agood investment. It was only after it had passed into the hands of thegovernment of Canada, and become a part of the Intercolonial Railway, that any colour was given to the accusation that it was an unprofitableline. The railway from St. John to Shediac had always paid well, andprobably, if dissociated from its connecting lines, would at this daypay three or four per cent, upon its original cost. 

{THE BALLOT}

The legislation of the province between 1858 and 1861, although itincluded many useful measures, evolved nothing that calls for particularmention, with the exception of the law which provided for voting byballot. This was an innovation to which many were opposed, but which theLiberal party very properly considered necessary to the protection ofthe voter, who was liable to be coerced by his employer, or by those whohad financial relations with him. The ballot system introduced by thegovernment was quite imperfect and did not insure absolute secrecy, because it did not provide for an official ballot such as is required inthe system of election which now prevails in connection with the choiceof members to our Canadian parliament. Yet it was a vast improvement onopen voting, not only because it gave the voter a certain degree ofprotection, but also from the fact that it tended to promote order atelections, and to do away with that riotous spirit which wascharacteristic of the earlier contests in the province. 

{UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK}

In 1859 an important step was taken for the reorganization of King'sCollege, which by an Act passed in that year, was changed into theUniversity of New Brunswick. There had always been a great deal ofdissatisfaction with the college in consequence of its denominationalcharacter, and in 1854 an Act was passed empowering thelieutenant-governor to appoint a commission to inquire into the state ofKing's College, its management and utility, with a view to improving it. The commissioners appointed were the Hon. John H. Gray, the Rev. EgertonRyerson, J. W. Dawson, the Hon. John S. Saunders and the Hon. JamesBrown. The report, which was dated December 28th, 1854, was laid beforeboth branches of the legislature in 1855. In 1857 the college councilappointed a committee and prepared a draft of a bill which was laidbefore the legislature. This, with a few slight alterations, was thebill which was passed in 1859 for the establishment of the University ofNew Brunswick, and in this bill were embodied the principalrecommendations of the commissioners appointed in 1854 to enquire intothe state of the college. This Act transferred to the University of NewBrunswick all the property of King's College and its endowment, and madethe university liable for the payment of the debts and the performanceof the contracts of King's College. It created a new governing body forthe college to be styled the senate, to be appointed by the governor incouncil, and the president of the college was required to be a member ofthat body and also to be a layman. It conferred upon the senate thepower of appointing the professors and other officers of the university, except the president, and also the power of removing them from office, subject to the approval of the governor in council. It also authorizedthe senate to fix their salaries. It abolished the professorship oftheology and provided for the affiliation of other institutions with theuniversity, and also for a number of free scholars. This Act, which waspassed in April, 1859, was especially approved by Her Majesty in councilon January 25th, 1860. Thus a new era in the higher education of NewBrunswick was commenced, and a long step was taken towards making thecollege more acceptable to the people of that province. Great hopes wereentertained at the time that this liberalizing of the constitution ofthe college would lead to a large increase in the number of itsstudents, and a more general interest in its work, but, unfortunately, as the sequel showed, these hopes were only partially realized. 

During the spring of 1860 circumstances occurred which led to theresignation of the postmaster-general, the Hon. Charles Connell. Thelegislature having adopted the decimal system of currency in the placeof the pounds, shillings and pence which had been the currency of theprovince since its foundation, Mr. Connell, in March, 1860, wasauthorized to obtain a new set of postage stamps of the denominationsrequired for use in the postal service of the province. No person, atthat time, thought that a political crisis would arise out of thisorder, but it appears that Mr. Connell, guided by the example ofpresidents and postmasters-general of the United States, had made up hismind that instead of the likeness of the queen, which had been upon allthe old postage stamps of the province, the five-cent stamp, the onewhich would be most in use, should bear the impress of his owncountenance. Accordingly the Connell postage stamp, which is now one ofthe rarest and most costly of all in the lists of collectors, wasprocured and was ready to be used, when Mr. Connell's colleagues in thegovernment discovered what was going on and took steps to prevent thenew five-cent stamp from being issued. The correspondence on thesubject, which will be found in the journals of 1861, is curious andinteresting; it ended in the withdrawal of the objectionable stamps andin the resignation of Mr. Connell, who complained that he had lost theconfidence of his colleagues, and in resigning, charged them withneglecting the affairs of the province. Only a few of the Connell stampsgot into circulation, the remainder of the issue being destroyed. Mr. Connell's place as postmaster-general was filled by the appointment ofJames Steadman. 

{RESIGNATION OF MR. FISHER}

In the early part of 1861 a very important event occurred in connectionwith the government which produced a lasting effect on provincialpolitics. Charges were made by a St. John Conservative paper, _TheColonial Empire_, in which it was stated that members of the governmentand certain Crown lands officials had been purchasing the most desirableand valuable Crown lands of the province for speculative purposes, andthat in bringing these lands to sale the government regulations had beenviolated and the public treasury had suffered. A committee of the Housewas appointed to investigate these charges, and inquiry established thefact that an official of the Crown lands department had purchased someeight hundred acres. These lands were all bought at public sale, but inthe forms of application other names were used, which was a violation ofthe rules of the department. A portion of the press at the time createda widespread excitement upon this subject, and the services of theofficial referred to were dispensed with. Some of the supporters of thegovernment also took such ground in reference to the attorney-general, Mr. Fisher, that his retirement from the government became necessary, the accusation against him being that he had negligently permitted someimproper sales of Crown lands to be made. It was felt at the time bysome that the penalty that was paid by the attorney-general wasexcessive for the offence; but, under the excitement then existing, itwas the only course that could be taken to avoid the defeat of thegovernment. At the general election that followed a few months later, Mr. Fisher was reëlected for the county of York, and later on, after theexcitement had passed over, the delinquent Crown lands official wasreinstated. At the same election, that took place in 1861, thegovernment was handsomely sustained, after one of the warmest conteststhat had ever taken place in New Brunswick. Probably the most effectivenomination speech ever made by Tilley, during his long political career, was the one then delivered at the court-house, St. John, in his owndefence, and in the vindication of his government against the chargesmade by the Opposition candidates and press. 

CHAPTER V

THE INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY

The imperfect means of communication between the Maritime Provinces andCanada had long been recognized as a great evil, and very soon after theintroduction of railways into England a line of railway was projected torun from St. Andrews, in New Brunswick, to Quebec. The transfer of aconsiderable tract of territory, which had been believed to be in NewBrunswick, to the state of Maine, under the terms of the AshburtonTreaty, gave a check to this enterprise, and financial difficultiesafterwards prevented its accomplishment. A more promising scheme wasthat of a railway from Halifax to Quebec, and this so far received theapproval of the British government that an officer of engineers, MajorRobinson, was, in 1847, detailed to conduct a survey of the proposedline. As this gentleman was influenced by purely militaryconsiderations, his line was carried as far from the United Statesboundary as possible, and consequently by a very long and circuitousroute. During the session of 1852, Attorney-General Street introduced aseries of resolutions in the New Brunswick legislature favouring thebuilding of the Intercolonial Railway jointly by Canada, New Brunswickand Nova Scotia, according to terms which had been agreed upon by thedelegates of each. This arrangement was that the Intercolonial Railwayshould be built through the valley of the St. John. These resolutionswere carried by a large majority. During the recess, Mr. Chandler, asthe representative of New Brunswick, and Mr. Hincks, the representativeof Canada, went to London to endeavour to obtain from the Britishgovernment financial aid to build the Intercolonial Railway. This wasrefused on the ground that such a work had to be one of militarynecessity. Further efforts were made in 1855, and again in 1858, toinfluence the British government in favour of this railway, but withoutresult; the answer of Downing Street being that the heavy expenditureinvolved in the Crimean War prevented the government from assisting inthe construction of public works, such as the Intercolonial Railway, however desirable in themselves. 

{DELEGATION TO ENGLAND}

The effort to secure the construction of the Intercolonial Railway wasrenewed in 1861. At a meeting of delegates representing Canada, NovaScotia and New Brunswick, which was held at Quebec on September 30th, itwas resolved that the three governments should renew the offers made tothe imperial government in 1858 with reference to the IntercolonialRailway, and that the route to be adopted be decided by the imperialgovernment. The Hon. Mr. Tilley, who was at this Quebec meeting, wassent to England as a delegate to confer with the imperial governmentwith regard to the railway, while Nova Scotia was represented by theHon. Joseph Howe, and Canada, by the Hon. P. M. Vankoughnet. Thedelegates reached England in November and placed themselves incommunication with the Duke of Newcastle, who was then colonialsecretary, and they also had interviews with the prime minister, LordPalmerston, the chancellor of the exchequer, the secretary of war, andthe president of the board of trade. While in England, the seizure ofthe commissioners of the southern confederacy, Messrs. Mason andSlidell, by Commodore Wilkes, on board the British mail steamer _Trent_, produced a crisis in the relations between Great Britain and the UnitedStates which seemed likely to lead to a war, and greatly strengthenedthe position of the delegates, who were able to point out the difficultyinvolved in defending Canada without a railway to the sea. Theypresented their views to the colonial secretary in a very ably writtenstate paper, which should have convinced those to whom it was addressedthat the railway was an absolute necessity. The delegates estimated thecost of the railway at £3, 000, 000 sterling, and they asked the imperialgovernment to join in a guarantee of four per cent. Interest on thissum, each of the provinces to guarantee £20, 000 a year for this purposeand the imperial government, £60, 000. This proposal was rejected by theBritish government, but it offered "an imperial guarantee of interesttowards enabling them to raise by public loan, at a moderate rate, therequisite funds for constructing the railway. " The British government, therefore, would do nothing for this great work except to indorse thebonds of the provinces to a limited extent, for it was stated in theDuke of Newcastle's letter to the delegates that "the nature and extentof the guarantee must be determined by the particulars of any schemewhich the provincial governments may be disposed to found on the presentproposal and on the kind of security which they would offer. "

Delegates representing the three provinces met in Quebec in September, 1862, to consider this offer, New Brunswick being represented by Messrs. Tilley, Steeves and Mitchell. The delegates from the Maritime Provincesdeclared their willingness to propose to their respective governments toaccept the proposition of the Duke of Newcastle if Canada would bearone-half of the expense of the railway instead of one-third. TheCanadian government offered to assume five-twelfths of the liability forthe construction and working of the Intercolonial, and to this thedelegates for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had to agree. This imposed avery serious burthen on two provinces, which, between them, had only sixhundred thousand inhabitants, and their willingness to assume it showsthe interest they took in this great work. 

{NEGOTIATIONS IN ENGLAND}

In pursuance of an arrangement made at this Quebec meeting, delegatesfrom the three provinces went to England to arrange the terms of theguarantee with the British government; the Hon. Mr. Tilley representedNew Brunswick, and the Hon. Joseph Howe, Nova Scotia. Mr. Gladstone, whowas then chancellor of the exchequer, insisted on a sinking fund beingprovided, which was to be a first charge on the revenues of the severalprovinces. This sinking fund was objected to by the colonial delegates, but the only modification in its terms which they were able to obtainwas that the sinking fund was not to take precedence of any existingliability. Before leaving England, Messrs. Tilley and Howe prepared andsubmitted a memorandum to the Duke of Newcastle in which they expresseda hope that Mr. Gladstone might be induced to reconsider the matter ofthe sinking fund, and that it would not be insisted on. The Canadiandelegates left England without an acceptance of the terms proposed byMr. Gladstone, and without a formal rejection of them. Previous to themeeting of the Canadian parliament, Tilley proceeded to Quebec to urgeupon the Canadian government the preparation of the necessary bills tocarry out the agreement entered into for the construction of this greatrailway. He reported to the lieutenant-governor on his return that thegovernment of Canada, for reasons stated, could not then undertake topass the legislation required, which they greatly regretted, but thatthey had not abandoned the arrangements for the construction of therailway. The Canadian government's declaration in the course of thesession that they had abandoned this important enterprise was, accordingly, a source of great surprise and regret. The governments ofNew Brunswick and Nova Scotia passed the necessary legislation at thenext session, but the government of Canada took no further step in thematter until the confederation negotiations were commenced in 1864. 

CHAPTER VI

THE MOVEMENT FOR MARITIME UNION

We now come down to an event of the greatest interest, in which Mr. Tilley took part, and one of such vast and far-reaching importance thatit quite overshadows all the other events of his career. Theconfederation of the Canadian provinces was, beyond all question, themost notable colonial movement within the British empire since theAmerican Declaration of Independence. It changed at once the wholecharacter of the colonial relations which had subsisted with the mothercountry, and substituted for a few weak and scattered colonies apowerful Dominion, able to speak with a united voice, and stand as ahelpmeet to the nation from which most of its people had sprung. No man, whatever his views as to the wisdom of that political union may havebeen at the time, can now deny that it was timely and necessary, if thecolonies and the mother country were to preserve their connection witheach other. It is safe to say that, if confederation had not taken placein 1867, British interests on this continent would have suffered, andpossibly some of the colonies would now have been a part of the UnitedStates. The policy of separating the colonies from England, which hasbeen so much advocated by many leading public men in the great republic, would have found free scope, and by balancing the interests of onecolony against those of another, promoting dissensions and favouringthose provinces which were disposed to a closer union with the UnitedStates, something might have been done to weaken their connection withthe British empire, which is now the glory and the strength of theDominion of Canada. 

The question of the union of the several colonies of British NorthAmerica was by no means a new one when it came up for final settlement. It had been discussed at a very early period in the history of theprovinces, and indeed it was a question which it was quite natural todiscuss, for it seemed but reasonable that colonies of the same origin, owing the same allegiance, inhabited by people who differed but littlefrom each other in any respect, and with many commercial interests incommon, should form a political union. No doubt it might have beenbrought earlier to the front as a vital political question but for thefact that the British government, which was most interested in promotingthe union of the colonies, took no step towards that end until almostcompelled by necessity to move in the matter. The colonial policy ofEngland, as represented by the colonial office and in the royalinstructions to colonial governors, has seldom been wise or far-seeing, and the British colonies which now girdle the world, have been built upmainly as the result of private enterprise; for the part taken by thegovernment has, in most cases, been merely to give official sanction towhat private individuals have already done, and to assist in protectingBritish interests when they have become important, especially in newregions of the world. 

{CONFEDERATION FORESHADOWED}

When the Earl of Durham was sent out as governor-general of Canada afterthe rebellion there in 1838, he suggested in his report that the unionof the colonies of British North America was one of the remedies whichought to be resorted to for the pacification of Canada and thereconstruction of its constitution. While a large proportion of thepeople of the colonies looked with favour upon the idea of a politicalunion, there was in all of them a large body of objectors who weresteadily opposed to it. People of that kind are to be found in allcountries, and they have existed in all ages of the world's history. They are the persons who see in every new movement a thousanddifficulties which cannot be surmounted. Their minds are constructed onthe principle of rejecting all new ideas, and clinging to old forms andsystems long after they have lost their vitality. They are a class wholook back for precedents for any step of a political character which itis proposed to take, and who judge of everything by the standard of someformer age. They seem to forget that precedents must be created sometime or another, and that the present century has as good a right tocreate precedents as any of its predecessors. To these people everyobjection that could be urged against confederation was exaggerated andmagnified, and whenever any proposal was made which seemed to tendtowards the union of the colonies, their voices were heard upon theother side. We need not doubt the honesty or loyalty of these objectors, or consider that they were unfavourable either to British connection orto the building up of the empire. It was merely their misfortune thatthey were constitutionally adverse to change, and could not see anymerit in a political movement which involved the idea of novelty. 

For some time the principal advocate of confederation in the MaritimeProvinces was the Hon. Joseph Howe, a man of such ability and force ofcharacter that on a wider stage he might have risen to eminence, andranked amongst the world's great statesmen. [10] It is impossible indeednot to regret that so great a man, one so imperial in his instincts andviews, should have been condemned to spend his life within the bounds ofone small province. 

{ATTITUDE OF COLONIAL OFFICE}

The question of the political union of the British North Americanprovinces was brought up in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia in1854, and then the leaders of both parties, the Hon. Mr. Johnson for theConservatives, and the Hon. Mr. Howe for the Liberals, united inadvocating the measure, and in depicting the advantage which wouldaccrue from it not only to Nova Scotia, but to every British province inNorth America. In 1858 the question of confederation was discussed inthe parliament of Canada, and such a union was made a part of the policyof the government; for Mr. A. T. Galt, on becoming a member of theadministration, insisted upon its being made a cabinet question, and SirEdmund Head, the governor-general, in his speech at the close of thesession, intimated that his government would take action in the matterduring the recess. Messrs. Cartier, Galt, and Ross, who were in Englandrepresenting the government of Canada, waited upon the colonialsecretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, asking the authority of theimperial government for a meeting of representatives from each of thecolonies to take the question of union into consideration. The colonialsecretary informed the Canadian delegates, no doubt after consultationwith his colleagues, that the question of confederation was necessarilyone of an imperial character, and declined to authorize the meeting, because no expression of sentiment on the subject had as yet beenreceived from any of the Maritime Provinces except Nova Scotia. The Earlof Derby's government fell a few months after this declaration of itspolicy in regard to the colonies, and was succeeded by the government ofLord Palmerston, which was in office at the time when the negotiationswhich resulted in the confederation of the colonies were commenced. Atfirst Lord Palmerston's government seems to have been no more favourableto the union of the colonies than its predecessor; for in 1862 the Dukeof Newcastle, then colonial secretary, in a despatch to thegovernor-general of Canada, after stating that Her Majesty's governmentwas not prepared to announce any definite policy on the question ofconfederation, added that, "If a union, either partial or complete, should hereafter be proposed, with the concurrence of all the provincesto be united, I am sure that the matter would be weighed in this countryboth by the public, by parliament and by Her Majesty's government, withno other feeling than an anxiety to discern and promote any course whichmight be the most conducive to the prosperity, strength and harmony ofall the British communities of North America. " It must always be asubject of astonishment that the British government for so many yearsshould have had no definite policy on a matter so momentous, and thatthey should have sought to discourage, rather than otherwise, a projectwhich has been of such vast importance to the empire. 

The first impulse in favour of confederation in the minds of the membersof Lord Palmerston's cabinet seems to have developed about the time whenit became evident that the result of the civil war in the United Stateswould be the defeat of the southern confederacy and the consolidationof the power of the great republic in a more effectual union than thatwhich had existed before. No one who was not blind could fail to seethat this change of attitude on the part of the United States woulddemand a corresponding change in the relations of the British coloniestowards each other; for from being a mere federation of states, soloosely connected that secession was frequently threatened by statesboth north and south, the United States, as the result of the war, hadbecome a nation with a strong central government, which had taken toitself powers never contemplated by the constitution, and which addedimmensely to its offensive and defensive strength. 

{A MISSIONARY OF UNION}

In 1863, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a member of the Canadian cabinet and a manof great eloquence and ability, visited St. John and delivered a lecturein the Mechanics' Institute Hall on the subject of the union of thecolonies. His lecture was fully reported in the _Morning News_, a paperthen published in that city, and attracted wide attention because itopened up a subject of the highest interest for the contemplation of thepeople of the provinces. Shortly afterwards a series of articles on thesame subject, written by the author of this book, appeared in thecolumns of the _Morning News_, and were widely read and quoted. Thesearticles followed closely the lines laid down for the union of thecolonies by the late Peter S. Hamilton, of Halifax, a writer of abilitywhose articles on the subject were collected in pamphlet form andextensively circulated. Thus in various ways the public mind was beingeducated on the question of confederation, and the opinion that theunion of the British North American colonies was desirable was generallyaccepted by all persons who gave any attention to the subject. It wasonly when the matter came up in a practical form and as a distinctproposition to be carried into effect, that the violent opposition whichwas afterwards developed against confederation began to be shown. 

An event occurred in the summer of 1864 which had its effect on thequestion of confederation. Up to that time the people of Canada and NewBrunswick had been almost wholly unknown to each other, because thedifficulties of travelling between the two provinces were so great. Anyperson who desired to reach Montreal at that time from St. John had totake the international steamer to Portland, Me. , and was then carried bythe Grand Trunk Railway to his destination. Quebec could be reached insummer by the steamer from Pictou which called at Shediac, but in winterthe journey had to be made by the Grand Trunk Railway from Portland, theonly alternative route being the road by which the mails were carriedfrom Edmunston north to the St. Lawrence. Under these circumstances thepeople of the Canadian provinces and of the Maritime Provinces had butfew opportunities of seeing each other, and the people of all theprovinces knew much more of their neighbours in the United States thanthey did of their fellow-colonists. One result of the Hon. D'ArcyMcGee's visit in 1863 was an invitation by the city of St. John to thelegislature of Canada to visit the Maritime Provinces. The invitationwas accepted and a party of about one hundred, comprising members of thelegislature, newspaper men, and others, visited St. John in thebeginning of August, 1864. Their trip was extended to Fredericton, wherethey were the guests of the government of New Brunswick, and to Halifax, where they were the guests of that city and of the government of NovaScotia. This visit produced a good effect upon the public mind, andenabled the Maritime people to see what kind of men theirfellow-colonists of Upper and Lower Canada were. 

{POLITICAL CRISIS IN CANADA}

In the meantime a great crisis had arisen in the government of Canada, which was the immediate cause of the active part which that provincetook in the confederation movement. When Upper and Lower Canada wereunited in 1841, it was arranged that the representation of each provincein the legislature should be equal. The arrangement at that time wasfavourable to Upper Canada, which had a smaller population than LowerCanada; but in the course of time, as the population of Upper Canadaincreased faster than that of the lower province, the people of UpperCanada felt that they had less representation than they were entitledto, and this state of affairs led to the raising of the cry of"Representation by Population" which was so often heard in that provinceprior to the era of confederation. In 1864 Upper Canada had half amillion more people than Lower Canada, and yet was only entitled to thesame number of members in the legislature. Another serious difficulty, which arose out of the union, was the necessity, which not longafterwards began to be recognized, of the government having a majorityin the legislature from each section of the province. This, in time, grew to be so great an evil that the successful government of Canadabecame almost impossible, for the majority for the government in oneprovince might at any time be disturbed by some local feeling, and as aconsequence the government overthrown. To trace the history of thedifficulties which arose from this cause would be to recite twenty yearsof the history of Canada; but it is only necessary to point out thusplainly the reasons for the willingness of the people of Upper and LowerCanada to resort to confederation as a means of getting rid of theirembarrassments. 

{MACDONALD-BROWN COALITION}

In 1863, the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald was leader of the government, but he was compelled to resign when parliament met in the early part of1864, and in March of that year a new administration under thepremiership of Sir E. P. Taché was formed. This new governmentdeveloped very little strength, and was defeated on June 14th by a voteof fifty-eight to sixty, on a question relative to some transactionconnected with bonds of the city of Montreal. A deadlock had come, andas it was evident that no new government which could be formed waslikely to command sufficient support, it became necessary to make somenew arrangements in regard to the system of administration. Immediatelyafter the defeat of the government, Mr. George Brown, leader of theOpposition, spoke to several supporters of the administration stronglyurging that the present time should be availed of for the purpose ofsettling forever the constitutional difficulties between Upper and LowerCanada, and assuring them that he was prepared to coöperate with theexisting or any other administration that would deal with the questionpromptly and firmly, with a view to its final settlement. After muchnegotiation Messrs. Brown, Mowat and McDougall, three prominent membersof the Reform party, agreed to enter the government for the purpose ofcarrying out this policy based on a federal union of all the provinces. 

{SCHEME OF MARITIME UNION}

Prior to this time there had been various efforts made by the governmentof New Brunswick to enter into closer relations with Nova Scotia andPrince Edward Island. Previous to the year 1861 a number of factories ofvarious kinds had been established in the Maritime Provinces, but thelimited market they then enjoyed prevented their extension and crippledtheir operations. To remedy this, Mr. Tilley, with the approval of hiscolleagues in the government, visited Nova Scotia and Prince EdwardIsland and proposed to the governments of both provinces free admissionof their natural products and a uniform tariff on dutiable goods. InHalifax he had a lengthy and satisfactory conference with Mr. Howe, thenleader of the government, and with Dr. Tupper, the leader of theOpposition. Both gentlemen agreed that the proposed arrangements wouldbe in the interests of the three provinces, and Mr. Howe agreed tosubmit the matter to his government with the view of legislative actionat the next session. Mr. Tilley then proceeded to Charlottetown, PrinceEdward Island. At the conference held with the government there, hisproposal was not so favourably entertained, the objection being that theexisting tariff of Prince Edward Island was lower than the tariff ofeither Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, and sufficient for the financialwants of the Island, and that the necessary advance would be imposingtaxation beyond their requirements. Notwithstanding the failure tosecure the coöperation of the Island government, it was decided that thejoint action of the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick legislatures in thedirection named was desirable. When the Nova Scotia legislature met andthe public accounts were proposed, it was found that a reduction oftariff was not practicable, and Howe informed Tilley that the schemewould have to be postponed, "though in other respects desirable. " Butthe subject was not allowed to sleep, and in 1864 there was a renewal ofthe movement for a union of the Maritime Provinces. At the session ofthe New Brunswick legislature held that year, resolutions were passedauthorizing the government to enter into negotiations with Nova Scotiaand Prince Edward Island to hold a convention for the purpose ofcarrying such a union into effect. Similar resolutions were carried inthe legislatures of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and theconvention thus authorized was appointed to meet at Charlottetown in themonth of September following. 

FOOTNOTES:

[10] For a full account of Howe's views on confederation see the Hon. J. W. Longley's _Joseph Howe_ in this series. 

CHAPTER VII

THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE

The delegates appointed by the government of New Brunswick for thepurpose of representing the provinces at Charlottetown in the conventionfor a union of the Maritime Provinces, were the Hon. Messrs. Tilley, Steeves, Johnson, Chandler and Gray. The first three were members of thegovernment, while Messrs. Gray and Chandler were leading members of theOpposition, so that the arrangement had the assent of the leaders ofboth political parties and was in no sense a party movement. The NovaScotia delegation consisted of the Hon. Charles Tupper, the leader ofthe government, the attorney-general, Mr. Henry, and Mr. Dickey, aConservative supporter, and also the Hon. Adams G. Archibald andJonathan McCully, leaders of the Liberal party. The Prince Edward Islanddelegates were also chosen from both sides of politics. The conventionwas opened in due form at Charlottetown on September 8th, in the chamberof the House of Assembly. The delegations had no power to decide finallyon any subject, because any arrangements they made were necessarilysubject to the approval of the legislatures of the three MaritimeProvinces. But at this time the sentiment in favour of maritime unionwas so strong it was confidently believed that whatever was agreed uponat Charlottetown would become the basis of a future union. 

{CHARLOTTETOWN CONVENTION}

The government of Canada had full knowledge of what was going on atCharlottetown, and they considered the time opportune for the purpose ofbringing to the notice of the delegates from the Maritime Provinces thesubject of a confederation of all the British North American colonies. Atelegram was received while the delegates were in session announcingthat representatives of the government of Canada had left Quebec for thepurpose of meeting the delegates of the Maritime Provinces, and placingcertain proposals before them. On the receipt of this message thefurther consideration of the question which they had met to discuss wasdeferred until after the Canadian delegates had arrived. They came inthe government steamer _Victoria_ on the following day and were found toembrace the leading men then in Canadian political life, --the Hons. J. A. Macdonald, George Brown, Georges E. Cartier, Alexander T. Galt, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Hector L. Langevin, William McDougall and AlexanderCampbell. These delegates represented the Reform, as well as theConservative party, and were therefore able to speak with authority inregard to the views of the people of both Upper and Lower Canada. Theywere accorded seats in the convention, and at once submitted reasonswhy in their opinion a scheme of union, embracing the whole of theBritish North American colonies, should be adopted. The Hon. John A. Macdonald and Messrs. Brown and Cartier were heard on this subject, thefinancial position of Canada was explained, and the sources of revenueand wealth of the several provinces were discussed. Speeches were alsomade by Messrs. Galt, McGee, Langevin and McDougall, and after havingcommanded the attention of the convention for two days the Canadiandeputation withdrew. Before doing so they proposed that if theconvention concluded to suspend its deliberations upon the question ofMaritime union, they should adjourn to Quebec at an early day, to benamed by the governor-general, to consider the question ofconfederation. On the following day the convention adjourned, on theground that it would be more for the general interest of British NorthAmerica to adopt the larger union than a union of the Maritime Provincesmerely, and it was thought that this might be effected without any verygreat difficulty, for there was then no strong feeling evinced in anyquarter against confederation. 

From Charlottetown the members of the convention and the Canadiandeputation went to Halifax, where they were received most cordially andentertained at a banquet. They then took their departure for St. John, where they were entertained at a public dinner at which many leading menof the city were present. The chair was occupied by the Hon. John H. Gray, one of the delegates, and the expressions in favour of theproposed confederation were strong and hearty. No one could havesuspected at that time that the movement for confederation would meetwith so much opposition in New Brunswick. All seemed plain sailing but, as the result showed, the battle for confederation had yet to be fought, and it was won only after a long and doubtful struggle. 

{THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE}

According to arrangement, the delegations from the other provinces metin convention at Quebec on October 10th, all the colonies, includingNewfoundland, were represented and the delegates were as follows:--

Canada. --Hon. Sir Etienne P. Taché, premier; Hon. John A. Macdonald, attorney-general west; Hon. Georges E. Cartier, attorney-general east;Hon. George Brown, president of the executive council; Hon. Alexander T. Galt, finance minister; Hon. Alexander Campbell, commissioner of Crownlands; Hon. William McDougall, provincial secretary; Hon. Thomas D'ArcyMcGee, minister of agriculture; Hon. Hector Langevin, solicitor-generaleast; Hon. J. Cockburn, solicitor-general west; Hon. Oliver Mowat, postmaster-general; Hon. J. C. Chapais, commissioner of public works. 

Nova Scotia. --Hon. Charles Tupper, provincial secretary; Hon. W. A. Henry, attorney-general, Hon. R. B. Dickey, Hon. Adams G. Archibald, Hon. Jonathan McCully. 

New Brunswick. --Hon. Samuel L. Tilley, provincial secretary; Hon. JohnM. Johnson, attorney-general; Hon. Edward B. Chandler, Hon. JohnHamilton Gray, Hon. Peter Mitchell, Hon. Chas. Fisher, Hon. William H. Steeves. 

Newfoundland. --Hon. F. B. T. Carter, speaker of the House of Assembly;Hon. Ambrose Shea. 

Prince Edward Island. --Hon. John Hamilton Gray, premier; Hon. EdwardPalmer, attorney-general; Hon. W. H. Pope, provincial secretary; Hon. George Coles, Hon. A. A. Macdonald, Hon. T. H. Haviland, Hon. EdwardWhelan. 

Sir Etienne P. Taché, who was then premier of Canada, was unanimouslychosen president of the conference, and Major Hewitt Bernard, of thestaff of the attorney-general west, private and confidential secretary. It was arranged that the convention should hold its meetings with closeddoors, and it was laid down as a principle of the discussion that, asthe matters to come up for debate were all of a novel character, no manshould be prejudiced or held liable to the charge of inconsistencybecause he had changed his views in regard to any particular matter inthe course of the discussion. It was also agreed that the vote, in caseof a division, should be by provinces and not by numbers, Canada havingtwo votes, representing Canada East and Canada West, and each of theother provinces one. This arrangement made it quite certain that theinterests of the Maritime Provinces were not likely to be prejudiced bythe result of the vote, or the work of the convention. It was soondecided that a federal union was to be preferred to a legislative union, and on the second day of the meeting the outlines of the proposedconfederation were submitted in a series of resolutions by the Hon. JohnA. Macdonald. The general model of the proposed confederation was thatof the United States, but with this difference, that whereas in theUnited States all powers not expressly given by the constitution to thefederal government are held to belong to the several states, in theCanadian constitution all powers not expressly reserved to the severalprovinces were held to belong to the federal parliament. Thus in theUnited States the residuum of power is in the several states, while inCanada it is in the federal union and in the parliament of the Dominion. No doubt the recent example of the civil war in the United States, whichwas the result of an extreme assertion of state rights, was largelyresponsible for this feature of the Canadian constitution. It is clear, however, that it is a feature that is to be commended, because itstendency is to cause Canadians to regard themselves rather as Canadiansthan as belonging to any particular province, while in the United Statesthe feeling of statehood is still very strong. There are, of course, many other contrasts between the Canadian confederation and the federalunion of the United States, arising from radical differences in thesystem of government. Nothing like responsible government, as understoodin the British empire, exists in the United States, while this essentialfeature had to be preserved in the Canadian constitution, not only withreference to the Dominion parliament, but also in the legislatures ofthe several provinces. 

{DIFFICULT QUESTIONS}

In all the proceedings at Quebec, Mr. Tilley, as the finance minister ofNew Brunswick, took a very prominent part. One great difficulty whicharose was with respect to the amount of money to be given by the federalgovernment to the several provinces for legislative purposes, in lieu ofthe revenue which they had been accustomed to obtain from customs dutiesand otherwise. The whole customs establishment was to be transferred tothe central government, and as most of the provinces would have no othermeans of obtaining a revenue except by direct taxation, this feature ofthe matter became of very vital importance. The difficulty was increasedby the fact that by the municipal system prevailing in Upper Canada thelocal needs of the municipalities, in the way of roads, bridges, schoolsand other matters, were provided for by local taxation, whereas in theMaritime Provinces the provincial government had been accustomed to bearthese burdens. It was therefore an essential requisite to any scheme ofunion, to make it acceptable to the people of the Maritime Provinces, that sufficient money should be given to the provincial governments toenable them to continue these services as before. It was difficult toconvince the representatives of Upper Canada of this, and it appearsthat the conference nearly broke up without arriving at any result, simply because of the apparently irreconcilable differences of opinionbetween the representatives of the Maritime Provinces and those ofCanada in regard to this point. Finally these differences were overcome, and the conclusions of the conference were embodied in a series ofseventy-two resolutions, which were agreed to, and which were to beauthenticated by the signatures of the delegates, and transmitted totheir respective governments, and also to the governor-general, for thesecretary of state for the colonies. These resolutions formed the firstbasis of confederation and became what is known as the Quebec scheme. 

It was perhaps inevitable that during the discussion of the scheme ofconfederation by the Quebec convention, the proceedings should besecret, but this restriction should have been removed as soon as theconvention adjourned. That this was not done was the principal reasonfor the very unfavourable reception which the Quebec scheme met withfrom the people of New Brunswick, when it was placed before them. It wasagreed at the Quebec conference that the scheme should not be madepublic until after the delegates had reported to their respectivegovernments for their approval, but it was impossible that a document, the terms of which were known to so many men, should be kept whollyconcealed from the public, and so the details of the scheme leaked outand soon became a topic for public discussion. These discussions wouldhave been conducted in a much more friendly spirit if the Quebec schemehad been given freely to the world, but as it was, prejudices andjealousies, in many cases, darkened the question, and made men, who wereotherwise favourable to confederation, assume an attitude of hostilityto the Quebec scheme. 

{SUBVENTIONS TO THE PROVINCES}

One of the points which at once attracted the attention of the opponentsof the scheme was the sum allowed to the several provinces for thepurpose of conducting their local affairs. As the provinces had tosurrender to the general government their right to levy customs andexcise duties, it became necessary to make up in some way a sumsufficient to enable them to carry on those services which were stillleft to the provincial legislatures. It was arranged that this sumshould be eighty cents a head of the population of the provinces asestablished by the census of 1861, which would give to New Brunswicksomething more than two hundred thousand dollars. This feature of theconfederation scheme was eagerly seized upon as being a convenient clubwith which to strike it down. The cry was at once raised that the peopleof New Brunswick were asked to sell themselves to Canada for the sum ofeighty cents a head, and this parrot-like cry was repeated withvariations throughout the whole of the election campaign which followedin New Brunswick. It has often been found that a cry of this kind, whichis absolutely meaningless, is more effective than the most weightyarguments, for the purpose of influencing men's minds, and this provedto be the case in New Brunswick, when the question of confederation wasplaced before the people. It was conveniently forgotten by those whoattacked the scheme in this fashion that, if the people of New Brunswickwere selling themselves to Canada for the sum of eighty cents a head, the people of Canada were likewise selling themselves to New Brunswickfor the same sum, because the amount set apart for the provinciallegislatures was precisely the same in each case. It would not, however, have suited the enemies of the confederation scheme to view the matterin this light; what was wanted was a cry which would be effective forthe purpose of injuring the scheme and making it distasteful to thepeople who were asked to vote upon it. 

{OPPONENTS OF CONFEDERATION}

It is not necessary to assume that those who opposed confederation wereall influenced by sinister motives. Many honest and good men, whoseattachment to British institutions could not be questioned, wereopposed to it because their minds were of a conservative turn, andbecause they looked with distrust upon such a radical change that wouldalter the relations which existed between the province and the mothercountry. Many, for reasons which it is not easy to understand, weredistrustful of the politicians of Canada, whom they looked upon as ofless sterling honesty than their own, and some actually professed tobelieve that the Canadians expected to make up their financial deficitsby drawing on the many resources of the Maritime Provinces through theconfederation scheme. On the other hand confederation was opposed in theprovince of New Brunswick by a number of men who could only be describedas adventurers, or discredited politicians, and who saw in this contesta convenient way of restoring themselves to influence and power. Therewere also among the opponents of the scheme some men who recognized inits success the means of perpetuating British power on this continent, and who, being annexationists, naturally looked with aversion upon itfor that reason. The vast majority of the people, however, had given thematter but the slightest degree of attention, and their votes were castin accordance with prejudice hastily formed, which they had anopportunity of reconsidering before another year and a half had elapsed. 

{FEELING IN NEW BRUNSWICK}

It had been arranged at the convention that the first trial of thescheme before the people should be made in New Brunswick, thelegislature of which was about expiring, and accordingly the appeal wasmade to the people and the elections came on in the month of March, 1865. The enemies of confederation were very active in every part of theprovince, and they left no stone unturned to defeat the measure. Thegreat cry upon which they based their opposition to the union withCanada was that of taxation, and, as the voters of New Brunswick werenot inclined to favour any policy which involved high taxation, theappeals made in this way had a powerful effect. All through the ruralconstituencies the Opposition candidates told the electors that if theyunited themselves with Canada direct taxation would be the immediateresult. They said that every cow, every horse, and every sheep whichthey owned would be taxed, and that even their poultry would not escapethe grasp of the Canadian tax-gatherers. In the city of St. John, Mr. Tilley and his colleague, Mr. Charles Watters, were opposed by Mr. J. V. Troop and Mr. A. B. Wetmore. Mr. Troop was a wealthy ship-owner, whoselarge means made him an acceptable addition to the strength of theanti-confederate party, although previously he had taken no active partin political affairs. Mr. Wetmore was a lawyer of standing in St. John, who was considered to be one of the best _nisi prius_ advocates at thebar, and who carried the methods of the bar largely into his politics. In the course of time he became attorney-general of the province, andlater on a judge of the supreme court. Mr. Wetmore, when haranguing St. John audiences, used to depict the dreadful effects of confederation ina manner peculiarly his own. His great plea was an imaginary dialoguebetween himself and his little son, that precocious infant asking him inlisping tones, "Father, what country do we live in?" to which he wouldreply, "My dear son, you have no country, for Mr. Tilley has sold us tothe Canadians for eighty cents a head. "

In the county of St. John, the Hon. John. H. Gray, Charles N. Skinner, W. H. Scovil and James Quinton, who ran as supporters of confederation, were opposed by John W. Cudlip, T. W. Anglin, the Hon. R. D. Wilmot andJoseph Coram. Mr. Cudlip was a merchant, who at one time enjoyed muchpopularity in the city of St. John. Mr. Anglin was a clever Irishman, anative of the county of Cork, who had lived several years in St. Johnand edited a newspaper called the _Freeman_, which enjoyed a greatpopularity among his co-religionists. He was admitted to be the leaderof the Irish Catholics of St. John, and had acquired an ascendency overthem which was not easily shaken; yet he was not, as a politician, agreat success, nor did his efforts to improve the condition of hiscountrymen always lead to satisfactory results. The Hon. R. D. Wilmothad been a prominent Conservative politician, but was defeated, and hadretired to his farm at Belmont. For some years he had been devoting hisabilities to stock-raising; but at the first note of alarm on theconfederation question he abandoned his agricultural pursuits and rushedinto the field to take part in the contest. Mr. Joseph Coram was aleading Orangeman, and a highly respected citizen. 

{A CRITICAL ELECTION}

In the county of York, the Hon. George L. Hatheway, who was then chiefcommissioner of the board of works, appeared in the field as anOpposition candidate, in company with John C. Allen, John J. Fraser andWilliam H. Needham. Mr. Hatheway deserted the government in its hour ofneed, apparently because he judged from the cries that were raisedagainst confederation that the current of public opinion was stronglyadverse to the Quebec scheme. Having left Mr. Tilley in the lurch on theeve of the confederation contest, he deserted the Smith governmentsixteen months later, when the second confederation election came to berun, thereby inflicting upon them a blow from which it was impossiblethey could recover. William H. Needham, whose name has already appearedin this volume, did not lay claim to any high political principles; buthaving retired some time before to private life, he found in theconfederation struggle a good opportunity of getting into thelegislature. He was a man of very considerable ability, and had hisprinciples been only equal to his knowledge and talents, he might haverisen to the highest position in the province. But his course on manyoccasions made the public distrustful of him, and he died without havingenjoyed any of those honours which men of far less ability haveobtained. John James Fraser, afterwards governor of New Brunswick, was aman of a different stamp, and seems to have been a sincere opponent ofconfederation from conviction. The same may be said of John C. Allen, afterwards chief-justice of the province, a man whose sterling honestyhas never been questioned. 

CHAPTER VIII

DEFEAT OF CONFEDERATION

The result of the election was the most overwhelming defeat that everovertook any political party in the province of New Brunswick. Out offorty-one members, the friends of confederation succeeded in returningonly six, the Hon. John McMillan and Alexander C. DesBrisay, for thecounty of Restigouche; Abner R. McClelan and John Lewis for the countyof Albert; and William Lindsay and Charles Connell for the county ofCarleton. Every member of the government who held a seat in the House ofAssembly, with the exception of the Hon. John McMillan, thesurveyor-general, was defeated. The majorities against the confederationcandidates in some of the counties were so large it seemed hopeless toexpect that any future election would reverse the verdict. Both the cityand county of St. John, and the county of York, made a clean sweep, andreturned solid delegations of anti-confederates. With the exception ofthe two Carleton members, the entire block of counties on the River St. John and the county of Charlotte, forming the most populous and bestsettled part of the province, declared against the Quebec scheme. On thenorth shore, Westmorland, Kent, Northumberland and Gloucesterpronounced the same verdict, and, on the day after the election, thestrongest friends of confederation must have felt that nothing but amiracle could ever bring about a change in the opinion which had beenpronounced with such emphasis and by so overwhelming a majority. Yetfifteen months later the verdict of March, 1865, was completelyreversed, and the anti-confederates were beaten almost as badly as theadvocates of confederation had been in the first election; such are themutations of public opinion. 

Mr. Tilley and his colleagues resigned immediately after the result ofthe elections became known, and the Hon. Albert J. Smith was called uponto form a new government. Mr. Smith had been attorney-general in Mr. Tilley's government up to the year 1862, when he resigned in consequenceof a difference with his colleagues in regard to the negotiations whichwere being carried on for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway. He was a fine speaker, and a man of ability. At a later period, whenconfederation had been established, he became a cabinet minister in thegovernment of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. His powerful influence waslargely responsible for the manner in which the North Shore countiesdeclared against confederation, and he also did much to discredit theQuebec scheme by his speeches delivered in the city of St. John. Mr. Smith did not take the office of attorney-general in the new government, but contented himself with the position of president of the council, the Hon. John C. Allen, of York, becoming attorney-general, and the Hon. A. H. Gillmor, of Charlotte, provincial secretary. The Hon. BlissBotsford, of Westmorland, was made surveyor-general; and the Hon. GeorgeL. Hatheway retained his old office as the chief commissioner of theboard of works. The other members of the government were the Hon. RobertDuncan Wilmot, of Sunbury, the Hon. T. W. Anglin, of St. John, and theHon. Richard Hutchinson, of Miramichi. 

{THE NEW GOVERNMENT}

The new government looked strong and imposing, and seemed to be secureagainst the assaults of its enemies, yet it was far from being ascompact and powerful as it appeared to the outward observer. In thefirst place, it had the demerit of being founded solely on a negative, and upon opposition to a single line of policy. The reason why these menwere assembled together in council as a government was that they wereopposed to confederation, and, this question having been disposed of, they were free to differ upon all other points which might arise. Someof the men who thus found themselves sitting together at the samecouncil board had all their lives been politically opposed to eachother. The Hon. R. D. Wilmot, an old Conservative, could have little orno sympathy with Mr. A. H. Gillmor, a very strong Liberal. The Hon. A. J. Smith, also a Liberal, had little in common with hisattorney-general, Mr. Allen, who was a Conservative. Mr. Odell, thepostmaster-general, represented the old Family Compact more thoroughlythan any other man who could have been chosen to fill a public office inNew Brunswick, for his father and grandfather had held the office ofprovincial secretary for the long term of sixty years. As he was a manof no particular capacity, and had no qualification for high office, andas he was, moreover, a member of the legislative council, hisappointment to such a position was extremely distasteful to many whowere strongly opposed to confederation. The Hon. Bliss Botsford, ofMoncton, who became surveyor-general, was another individual who addedno strength to the government. In a cabinet consisting of four men inthe government who might be classed as Liberals, and five who might beproperly described as Conservatives, room was left for many differencesand quarrels over points of policy, to say nothing of patronage, afterthe great question of confederation had been disposed of. Local feelingsalso were awakened by the make-up of the government, for the North Shorepeople could not but feel that their interests were in danger of beingneglected, as instead of having the attorney-generalship and thesurveyor-generalship, which had been theirs in the previous government, they had to be content with a single member in the government, withoutoffice, in the person of Mr. Richard Hutchinson, who, as therepresentative of Gilmour, Rankine & Co. , the great lumber house of theNorth Shore, was extremely unpopular, even in the county which hadelected him. The Hon. Robert Duncan Wilmot was perhaps the mostdissatisfied man of any, with the new cabinet in which he found himself. He had not been a fortnight in the government before he began to realizethe fact that his influence in it was quite overshadowed by that of Mr. Smith and Mr. Anglin, although neither of them held any office. Mr. Wilmot was a man of ability, and of strong and resolute will, so thatthis condition of affairs became very distasteful to him and hisfriends, and led to consequences of a highly important character. 

{DISSENSIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT}

The new government had not been long in existence before rumours ofdissensions in its ranks became very common. Mr. Wilmot made no secretto his friends of his dissatisfaction, and it was understood that othermembers found their position equally unpleasant. An element ofdifficulty was early introduced by the resignation of the chief-justice, Sir James Carter, who, in September, 1865, found it necessary, inconsequence of failing health, to retire from the bench, rendering itimmediately necessary for the government to fill his place. The Hon. Albert J. Smith, the leader of the government, had he chosen, might havethen taken the vacant position, but he did not desire to retire frompolitical life at that time, and the Hon. John C. Allen, hisattorney-general, was appointed to the bench as a puisne judge, whilethe Hon. Robert Parker was made chief-justice. The latter, however, hadbut few weeks to enjoy his new position, dying in November of the sameyear, and leaving another vacancy on the bench to be filled. Again, asbefore, the Hon. Mr. Smith declined to go on the bench, and the Hon. John W. Weldon, who had been a long time a member of formerlegislatures, and was at one time Speaker, was appointed to the puisnejudgeship, and the Hon. William J. Ritchie was made chief-justice. Theentire fitness of the latter for the position of chief-justice made hisappointment a popular one, but he was the junior of the Hon. Lemuel A. Wilmot as a judge, and the Hon. R. D. Wilmot, who was a cousin of thelatter, thought the senior judge should have received the appointment ofchief-justice. His disappointment at the office being given to anothercaused a very bad feeling on his part towards the government, and hewould have resigned his seat forthwith but for the persuasions of someof those who were not friends of the government, who intimated to himthat he could do them a great deal more damage by retaining his seat, and resigning at the proper time than by abandoning the government atthat moment. Mr. Wilmot remained in the government until January, 1866, but although of their number, his heart was estranged from them, and hemay properly be regarded as an enemy in their camp. 

{CONFEDERATION VICTORY IN YORK}

Mr. Anglin also had some difference with his colleagues with regard torailway matters, and he resigned his seat early in November, 1865;still he gave a general support to the government, although no longer inits councils. But the most severe blow which the administration receivedarose from the election in the county of York, which followed theseating of the Hon. John C. Allen on the bench. The confederation partyhad been so badly beaten in York at the general election that no doubtwas felt by the government that any candidate they might select would bechosen by a very large majority. The candidate selected by thegovernment to contest York was Mr. John Pickard, a highly respectablegentleman, who was engaged in lumbering, and who was extremely popularin that county, in consequence of his friendly relations with allclasses of the community and the amiability of his disposition. The Hon. Charles Fisher was brought forward by the confederation party as theircandidate in York, although the hope of defeating Mr. Pickard seemed tobe desperate, for at the previous election Mr. Fisher had received only1, 226 votes against 1, 799 obtained by Mr. Needham, who stood lowest onthe poll among the persons elected for York. Mr. Fisher by his effortsin the York campaign, which resulted in his election, struck a blow atthe anti-confederate government from which it never recovered. Hiselection was the first dawn of light and hope to the friends ofconfederation in New Brunswick, for it showed clearly enough thatwhenever the people of the province were given another opportunity ofexpressing their opinion on the question of confederation, their verdictwould be a very different one from that which they had given at thegeneral election. Mr. Fisher beat Mr. Pickard by seven hundred and tenvotes, receiving seven hundred and one votes more than at the generalelection, while Mr. Pickard's vote fell five hundred and seventy-twobelow that which Mr. Needham had received on the same occasion. 

CHAPTER IX

TILLEY AGAIN IN POWER

Among the causes that had assisted to defeat confederation in NewBrunswick, when the question was first placed before the people, was theactive hostility of the lieutenant-governor, Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, a son of that Earl of Aberdeen who was prime minister of England at theoutbreak of the Crimean War. Mr. Gordon had been a strong advocate ofmaritime union and had anticipated that he would be the first governorof the united province of Acadia, or by whatever name the maritime unionwas to be known. He was therefore greatly disappointed and annoyed whenthe visit of the Canadians to Charlottetown, in September, 1864, put anend to the conference which had met for the purpose of arranging theterms of a union of that character. While a governor cannot take a veryactive part in political matters, he may stimulate others to hostilityor to a certain course of action, who, under other circumstances, wouldbe neutral or inactive, and there is reason to believe that some of themen who were most prominent in opposing confederation at the generalelection of 1865 were mainly influenced by the views of thelieutenant-governor. Confederation, however, had been approved by theBritish government, after the terms arranged at Quebec had beensubmitted to it in a despatch from the governor-general; and thoseofficials in New Brunswick and elsewhere, who expected to find supportin Downing Street in their hostility to confederation, were destined tobe greatly disappointed. Not long after the new government was formed inNew Brunswick, Mr. Gordon returned to England, and it was generallybelieved that he was sent for by the home authorities. Instead of beingfavourably received on the ground of his opposition to confederation, heis said to have been compelled to submit to a stern reproof for hisanti-constitutional meddling in a matter which did not concern him, andto have been given decidedly to understand that if he returned to NewBrunswick, to fill out the remainder of his term of office, it must beas one pledged to assist in carrying out confederation and not to opposeit. When Mr. Gordon returned he was an entirely changed man, andwhatever influence he was able to exert from that time forward was usedin favour of confederation. 

{FENIAN THREATS}

Another cause which made confederation more acceptable to the people ofthe province arose from the threats of the Fenians to invade Canada, which were made during the year 1865, and which were followed by armedinvasions during the following year. Although there was no good reasonfor believing that the opponents of confederation were less loyal thanits supporters or less inclined to favour British connection, it wasremarked that all the enemies of British connection seemed to have gotinto the anti-confederate camp. The Fenian movement had its origin inthe troubles in Ireland arising out of oppressive land laws and otherlocal causes, and it soon extended to America, where the politiciansfound it useful as a means of increasing their strength among the Irishpeople. At that time, there were in the United States many hundreds ofthousands of men who had been disbanded from the army at the close ofthe Civil War, and who were only too ready to embrace any newopportunity of winning for themselves fame and rank on other fields ofglory. Among these disbanded soldiers were many Irishmen, and it sooncame to be known that bands of men could be collected in the UnitedStates for the invasion of this country, with the avowed object ofdriving the British flag from the American continent and substitutingthe stars and stripes. It was impossible that the people of Canada couldview without emotion these preparations for their undoing, and in NewBrunswick, especially, which was the first province to be threatened, the Fenian movement materially assisted in deciding the manner in whichthe people should vote on this great question of confederation when itcame to be submitted to them a second time. 

The House of Assembly met on March 8th, 1866, and the speech from thethrone, delivered by the lieutenant-governor, contained the followingparagraph: "I have received Her Majesty's commands to communicate to youa correspondence on the affairs of British North America, which hastaken place between Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for thecolonies and the governor-general of Canada; and I am further directedto express to you the strong and deliberate opinion of Her Majesty'sgovernment that it is an object much to be desired that all the BritishNorth American colonies should agree to unite in one government. Thesepapers will immediately be laid before you. " This paragraph was notinserted in the speech without considerable pressure on the part of thelieutenant-governor, and it excited a great deal of comment at the time, because it seemed to endorse the principle of confederation, althoughemanating from a government which had been placed in power as the resultof an election in which confederation had been condemned. When thisportion of the speech was read by the lieutenant-governor, in thelegislative council chamber, the crowd outside the bar gave a heartycheer, --a circumstance which never occurred before in the province ofNew Brunswick, and perhaps not in any other British colony. 

The members of the House favourable to confederation immediately took upthe matter, and dealt with it as if the government had thereby pledgedthemselves in favour of that policy, and indeed there was a fair excusefor such an inference. When the secret history of the negotiationsbetween the lieutenant-governor and his advisers, prior to the meetingof the legislature, comes to be told, it will be found that at leastsome of the members of the government had given His Excellency tounderstand that they were prepared to reverse their former action and toadopt confederation. The difficulty with them was that they feared theirown supporters, and thought that if they made such a move they wouldlose the favour of those who had placed them in power, and this fear wascertainly a very natural one. 

{DESERTED BY FRIENDS}

As soon as the House met, it was discovered that Mr. A. R. Wetmore, oneof the prominent supporters of the government who had been elected torepresent the city of St. John as an anti-confederate, was no longer insympathy with the government. Mr. Wetmore's long experience as a _nisiprius_ lawyer, and his curt and imperturbable manner, rendered him amost exasperating and troublesome opponent, and at a very early periodof the session he commenced to make it unpleasant for his formerfriends. He cross-examined the members of the government in the fashionwhich he had learned from long experience in the courts. Such attacksproved extremely damaging as well as very annoying. 

The address in reply to the speech from the throne was moved in theHouse of Assembly by Colonel Boyd, of Charlotte County, and when theparagraph relating to confederation was read, Mr. Fisher asked him whatit meant. Mr. Boyd replied that the government had no objection toconfederation, provided the terms were satisfactory. This reply stillfurther strengthened the feeling that the government were inclined topass the measure which they had been elected to oppose. Mr. Fisher movedan amendment to the fourth paragraph of the address, which referred tothe Fenian conspiracy against British North America, expressing theopinion that while His Excellency might rely with confidence on thecordial support of the people for the protection of the country, hisconstitutional advisers were not by their general conduct entitled tothe confidence of the legislature. This amendment was seconded by Mr. DesBrisay, of Kent, who had been elected as a supporter of thegovernment, and it was debated at great length. The discussion upon itcontinued from day to day for about three weeks, when, on April 10th, the government resigned in consequence of difficulties with HisExcellency in regard to his reply to the address of the legislativecouncil. The legislative council had proceeded to pass the address inreply to the speech, but in consequence of the delay in the House ofAssembly, this reply had not before been presented to the governor. Inanswer to the address of the legislative council, His Excellency said:"I will immediately transmit your address to the secretary of state forthe colonies in order that it may be laid at the foot of the throne. HerMajesty the Queen has already been pleased to express deep interest in acloser union of her North America colonies and will no doubt greatlyappreciate this decided expression of your opinion, and the avowal ofyour desire that all British North America should unite in onecommunity, under one strong and efficient government, which cannot buttend to hasten the accomplishment of this great measure. "

{THE GOVERNMENT RESIGNS}

The resignation of the government was announced in the House of Assemblyon April 13th by the Hon. A. J. Smith, and the correspondence betweenthe lieutenant-governor and his advisers was laid before the House atthe same time. The immediate and ostensible cause of the resignation wasthe terms of approval in which the lieutenant-governor had replied tothe address of the legislative council in reference to confederation. Mr. Smith claimed that it was the duty of the lieutenant-governor toconsult his constitutional advisers in regard to the answer to be given, and that, in assuming to himself the right to reply to such an addresswithout consulting them, he had not acted in accordance with the truespirit of the constitution. This was certainly sound doctrine, and thereply of the lieutenant-governor was by no means satisfactory on thispoint, but he was able to show that Mr. Smith had himself expressed hiswillingness to enter into a scheme of union, although opposed to theQuebec scheme, and had suggested that, as a preliminary step, the paperson that subject should be referred to a joint committee of both Houseswith an understanding that the committee should report in favour of ameasure of union. At a later period Mr. Smith seemed indisposed to carryout this arrangement, his conduct evidently being the result oftimidity, and so he found himself, to use the language of Sir ArthurGordon, "entangled in contradictory pledges from which he found itimpossible to extricate himself. " He had, in fact, placed himself in thepower of the lieutenant-governor, and his only resource was to resign. It was understood at the time, and has never been denied, that HisExcellency was acting under the advice of the Hon. Peter Mitchell, amember of the legislative council, who was a strong supporter ofconfederation. Mr. Mitchell was a man of great force of character, and, next to Mr. Tilley, must be regarded as the most potent factor inbringing about the change in the sentiments of the people of theprovince with respect to confederation. 

The lieutenant-governor called upon the Hon. Peter Mitchell, who was amember of the legislative council, to form a government. Mr. Mitchellhad been very active in the cause of confederation, and was the movingspirit in the legislative council in all the proceedings in its favourtaken in that body; but, when asked to form a new government, he advisedthe lieutenant-governor that the proper person to undertake thatresponsibility was the Hon. Mr. Tilley. The latter, however, declinedthe task on the ground that he was not a member of the legislature, whereupon Mr. Mitchell associated with himself the Hon. Mr. Wilmot forthe purpose of forming a new government. The government was announced onApril 18th, and was formed as follows:--Hon. Peter Mitchell, presidentof the council; Hon. S. L. Tilley, provincial secretary; Hon. CharlesFisher, attorney-general; Hon. Edward Williston, solicitor-general; Hon. John McMillan, postmaster-general; Hon. A. R. McClelan, chiefcommissioner of public works; Hon. R. D. Wilmot and Hon. CharlesConnell, members without office. The latter afterwards becamesurveyor-general. 

{THE FENIAN INVASION}

While the government was being formed in New Brunswick, a Fenian armywas gathering upon the border for the purpose of invading the province. This force consisted of four or five hundred young men, most of whom hadbeen in the army of the United States. It was recruited at New York, andits chief was a Fenian named Doran Killian. A part of his force arrivedat Eastport on April 10th, and a schooner, laden with arms for theFenians, soon after reached that place. From this schooner, which wasseized by the United States authorities, one hundred and seventeen casesof arms and ammunition were taken, --a clear proof that the intentions ofthe Fenians were warlike, and that their presence on the border was nota mere demonstration. The Fenians appeared to have been under theimpression--as many residents of the United States are to this day--thatthe people of Canada and of New Brunswick were dissatisfied with theirown form of government, and were anxious to come under the protection ofthe stars and stripes. This absurd idea was responsible, largely, forthe War of 1812, and it has been responsible, since then, for many othermovements, with respect to the British provinces of North America, inwhich residents of the United States have taken part. There never was agreater delusion than this, and, in the instance referred to, theFenians were doomed to be speedily undeceived. The presence of a Fenianforce on the border sounded like a bugle blast to every able-bodied manin New Brunswick, and the call for troops to defend the country wasinstantly responded to. About one thousand men were called out andmarched to the frontier. The troops called out consisted of the threebatteries of the New Brunswick regiment of artillery, seven companies ofthe St. John volunteer battalion, one company of the first battalion ofthe York County militia, one company each of the first and thirdbattalions of the Charlotte County militia, and two companies each ofthe second and fourth battalions of the Charlotte County militia. Thesetroops remained in arms on the frontier for nearly three months, andwere disbanded by a general order dated June 20th. The Fenian raid onNew Brunswick proved to be a complete fiasco. The frontier was so wellguarded by the New Brunswick militia and by British soldiers, and theSt. Croix so thoroughly patrolled by British warships, that the Fenianshad no opportunity to make any impression upon the province. It ought tobe added that the United States government was prompt to take steps toprevent any armed invasion, and General Meade was sent down to Eastportwith a force of infantry and a ship of war to prevent the Fenians frommaking that place a base of operations against these provinces. 

{CONFEDERATION VICTORIES}

The general elections to decide whether or not New Brunswick was willingto become confederated with Canada, were held in May and June. The firstelection was that for the county of Northumberland on May 25th, and theresult was that the four candidates who favoured confederation, Messrs. Johnson, Sutton, Kerr and Williston, were elected by large majorities. The same result followed in the county of Carleton, where the electionwas held on May 26th, Messrs. Connell and Lindsay being elected by avote of more than two to one over their anti-confederate opponents. Thethird election was in Albert County on the 29th, and there Messrs. McClelan and Lewis, the two candidates in favour of confederation, weretriumphantly returned. On May 31st, elections were held in Restigoucheand Sunbury, and, in these counties, the candidates in favour ofconfederation were returned by large majorities. The York election camenext. In that county, the anti-confederates had placed a full ticket inthe field, the candidates being Messrs. Hatheway, Fraser, Needham andBrown. Mr. Fisher had with him on the ticket, Dr. Dow and Messrs. Thompson and John A. Beckwith. Every person expected a vigorous contestin York, notwithstanding the victory of Mr. Fisher over Mr. Pickard afew months before. But, to the amazement of the anti-confederates inother parts of the province, the Hon. George L. Hatheway and Dr. Brownretired after nomination day and left Messrs. Fraser and Needham to dobattle alone. Mr. Hatheway's retirement at this time was a deathblow tothe hopes of the anti-confederates all over New Brunswick, affecting notonly the result in the county of York, but in every other county inwhich an election was to be held. A few nights before his resignation, Mr. Hatheway had been in St. John addressing a packed meeting ofanti-confederates in the hall of the Mechanics' Institute, and he hadspoken on that occasion with apparent confidence. When his friends inSt. John, who had been so much moved by his vigorous eloquence, learnedthat he had deserted them, their indignation was extreme, and they feltthat matters must indeed be in a bad way when he did not dare to facethe York electors. 

The election in the county of St. John was held on June 6th, and that inthe city, on the seventh. For the county, the confederate candidateswere Messrs. C. N. Skinner, John H. Gray, James Quinton and R. D. Wilmot, and the anti-confederate candidates were Messrs. Coram, Cudlip, Robertson and Anglin. The former were elected by very large majorities, Mr. Wilmot, who stood lowest on the poll among the confederates, havinga majority of six hundred over Mr. Coram, who stood highest among thedefeated candidates. The election for the city was an equally emphaticdeclaration in favour of confederation. The candidates were the Hon. S. L. Tilley and A. R. Wetmore on the confederate side, and J. V. Troop andS. R. Thompson opposed to confederation. Mr. Tilley's majority over Mr. Troop, who stood highest on the poll of the two defeated candidates, wasseven hundred and twenty-six. The only counties which theanti-confederate party succeeded in carrying were Westmorland, Gloucester and Kent, --three counties in which the French vote was verylarge, --so that of the forty-one members returned, only eight wereopponents of confederation. The victory was as complete as that whichhad been recorded against confederation in the beginning of 1865. 

{THE BATTLE IS WON}

The battle of confederation had been won, and the triumph was mainly dueto the efforts of the Hon. Mr. Tilley. That gentleman, as soon as thedefeat of confederation took place in March, 1865, had commenced acampaign for the purpose of educating the people on the subject. Beingfree from his official duties and having plenty of time on his hands, he was able to devote himself to the work of explaining the advantagesof the proposed union to the people of the province; and during theyears 1865 and 1866, he spoke in almost every county on the subjectwhich was so near to his heart. He had embraced confederation with asincere desire for the benefit of his native province, and with thebelief that it would be of the greatest advantage to New Brunswick. Ifthe fruits of confederation have not yet all been realized, that hasbeen due rather to circumstances over which neither Mr. Tilley nor anyone else had any control, than to any inherent vice of confederationitself. If union is strength, then it must be admitted that the union ofthe British North American provinces, which consolidated them into apowerful whole, was a good thing; and there cannot be a doubt that ifthe provinces had remained separate from each other, their presentposition would have been much less favourable than it is now. 

CHAPTER X

THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT

One of the great objects of confederation was the construction of theIntercolonial Railway from St. John and Halifax to Quebec. It wasthought that there could be no real union between the several coloniesof British North America unless a good means of communication existed, and such a means was to be obtained only through the construction ofthis line of railway. The Intercolonial Railway, as we have seen, hadbeen a part of the policy of successive governments in the province formany years, and it became an essential part of the scheme ofconfederation. When confederation was accepted by the people of NewBrunswick in 1866, the Intercolonial Railway had yet to be built. Western Extension, as the line to the Maine border was called, had onlybeen commenced; Eastern Extension, from the Shediac line towardsHalifax, was in the same condition; in fact, the total mileage of therailways in New Brunswick did not exceed two hundred miles, and theselines were isolated and formed no part of any complete system. NewBrunswick now has three separate lines of railway leading to Quebec andMontreal; it is connected with the great railway systems of thecontinent; there is no county in the province which has not a line ofrailway traversing it; and the mileage has risen from less than twohundred to more than fourteen hundred. 

Mr. Tilley realized that the time had come when the communities whichform the British provinces of North America must either becomepolitically connected or else fall, one by one, beneath the influence ofthe United States. After confederation had been brought about betweenCanada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, enough was seen in the conduct ofAmerican statesmen towards Prince Edward Island to show that theirdesign was to try to create a separate interest in this colony apartfrom the general interest of Canada. The acceptance of the scheme ofconfederation by Prince Edward Island, at a comparatively early period, put an end to the plots in that quarter; but in the case of Newfoundlandthe same thing has been repeated, and an attempt was made by Americanstatesmen to cause the people of that island to believe that theirinterests and those of Canada are not identical, and that they would bespecially favoured by the United States if they held aloof from thegreat Dominion. The attitude of the people and congress of the UnitedStates towards Canada has not been marked, for the most part, by anygreat friendliness. They saw in confederation an arrangement that waslikely to prevent this country from ever becoming absorbed by theirown, and they believed that by creating difficulties for us with respectto the tariff and other matters, and limiting the area of our commercialrelations, they could put such pressure upon Canada as would compel ourpeople to unite with them. This scheme has failed because it was basedon a misconception of the spirit of our people; but who will say that itwould not have succeeded if the several provinces which now form theconfederation had been disunited and inharmonious in their relations andhad pursued different lines of policy?

{HIS SPEECHES}

It is unfortunate that, owing to the absence of verbatim reports, it isimpossible to reproduce any of Tilley's speeches during theconfederation campaign. No speaker that New Brunswick has ever producedhas been more generally acceptable than was Tilley. His speeches werepointed, and so clear that they could not be misunderstood. Hepossessed, to a very large extent, that magnetism which enabled him toretain the attention and to awaken the sympathy of his audience. At allthe meetings which he addressed, there were many who regarded themselvesalways as his friends and supporters and who formed a phalanx aroundhim, giving him a confidence and political strength which few statesmenhave ever enjoyed to a like extent. Although his addresses frequentlyprovoked the bitter animosity of his enemies, he had always enoughfriends to counteract their influence; and during the many contestswhich he had to fight for his seat in the city of St. John, he wasalways able to rely on the loyalty of those who were his earlyassociates and who remained his supporters until the end of his career. It is quite safe to assert that confederation could not have beencarried had it not been for the personal efforts of Mr. Tilley. As theleader of the government which had consented to the Quebec scheme, hewas properly looked upon as the chief promoter of confederation in NewBrunswick, and his name will go down to future generations identifiedwith that large and necessary measure of colonial statesmanship. 

{THE LEGISLATURE MEETS}

Although the vote of the electors had been taken on the question, muchremained to be done before confederation could become an accomplishedfact. The last elections, which were those of Kings and Charlotte, wereheld on June 12th, but more than a year was to elapse before the unionwas effected, and the result which the election was intended to bringabout realized. The first thing to be done was to call the legislaturetogether and complete the business of the province, which had beeninterrupted by the dissolution. The legislature met on June 21st, andthe Hon. John H. Gray, who had been an active advocate of confederation, and who was one of the members for the county of St. John, was madeSpeaker. In the speech from the throne the following reference was madeto the question of confederation:--

"Her Majesty's government have already expressed their strong anddeliberate opinion that the union of the British North Americanprovinces under one government is an object much to be desired. Thelegislatures of Canada and Nova Scotia have formed the same judgment, and you will now shortly be invited to express your concurrence with ordissent from the view taken of this great question by those provinces. "

The address in reply was moved by Mr. Kerr, of Northumberland, andseconded by Mr. Beveridge of Victoria, and its consideration was madethe order of the day for the following Saturday. When it came up fordiscussion the Hon. Albert J. Smith was not in his place, and Mr. Botsford, one of his colleagues from Westmorland, endeavoured to havethe consideration of the matter postponed; but the House was in nohumour to await the convenience of any single member, and the addresswas passed the same day by a vote of thirty to seven. Attorney-GeneralFisher, immediately on the passage of the address, gave notice of thefollowing resolution, which was to be made the order of the day forMonday, June 26th:--

"_Resolved_, That an humble address be presented to His Excellency, thelieutenant-governor, praying that His Excellency be pleased to appointdelegates to unite with delegates from the other provinces in arrangingwith the imperial government for the union of British North America, upon such terms as will secure the just rights and interests of NewBrunswick, accompanied with provision for the immediate construction ofthe Intercolonial Railway; each province to have an equal voice in suchdelegation, Upper and Lower Canada to be considered as separateprovinces. "

Mr. Fisher moved the resolution in question in a very brief speech, andwas replied to by the Hon. Mr. Smith, who spoke at great length andcontinued his speech on the following day. Mr. Smith took exception togiving the delegates power to fix the destinies of the provincesforever, without again submitting the scheme of union to the people. Heproceeded to discuss the Quebec scheme, and took exception to theconstruction of the Upper House of the proposed legislature of theconfederation, declaring that each province should have an equal numberof representatives in it, as was the case in the United States. Aftergoing over the ground pretty thoroughly and criticizing most of theterms of the scheme of confederation, he moved an amendment, to theeffect that no Act or measure for a union with Canada take effect untilapproved by the legislature or the people of the province. 

{A PLAN FOR CONFEDERATION}

The Hon. Mr. Tilley replied to the leader of the Opposition in one ofthe most effective speeches that he ever delivered in the legislature. He first took up Mr. Smith's allusion to the constitutional question, and, with immense power and solemnity, he charged that any want ofconstitutional action which existed was due to Mr. Smith and hiscolleagues. He stated that the governor's sympathies were with the lategovernment, and that he had endeavoured to aid and not to injure them. Mr. Smith had alluded to the Hon. Joseph Howe, who was then an opponentof confederation, in terms of praise, and Mr. Tilley, in reply, readfrom Mr. Howe's speech, made in 1861, a magnificent paragraph on theunion of British America. Mr. Tilley stated that the government wouldtake the Quebec scheme for a basis, and would seek concessions to meetthe views of those who found objection to parts of it. He mentioned thevarious counties of the province to show that they were either expresslyor potentially favourable to the Quebec scheme. He was convinced thateven his friend, the ex-attorney-general and member for Westmorland, washardly against union. He asked, "Was there one anti-unionist on thefloor of the House? Where was Mr. Anglin? Mr. Needham? Mr. Hill and allthe rest of the anti-unionists? They were all swept away and unionistshad taken their places, and when the arrangements for union were carriedout, the feeling in its favour would be deeper and deeper. " Mr. Tilleyshowed the great advantages which would accrue to New Brunswickeventually in consequence of confederation. He combated the statementmade by Mr. Smith that after confederation the provincial legislaturewould become a mere farce, showing that of all the Acts passed duringthe previous two years there were only seven which would have come underthe control of the general legislature. Mr. Tilley closed by dwelling onthe impression of power which union would have on the minds of thoseabroad who were plotting our ruin. The speech was listened to with theutmost attention by the members of the legislature and by a very largeaudience which completely filled the galleries, and it was generallyconsidered to have been one of his greatest efforts. 

{SMITH'S AMENDMENT}

The resolution was finally carried by a vote of thirty to eight, onlytwo members, both of whom would have voted for the resolution, beingabsent. As soon as the confederation resolution was passed the Hon. A. J. Smith moved a resolution which, after reciting the steps which hadalready been taken in favour of union with Canada, continued asfollows:--

"THEREFORE, _Resolved_, as the deliberate opinion of this House, that nomeasure for such union should be adopted which does not contain thefollowing provisions, viz. : first, an equal number of legislativecouncillors for each province; second, such legislative councillors tobe required to reside in the province which they represent and for whichthey are appointed; third, the number of representatives in the federalparliament to be limited; fourth, the establishment of a court for thedetermination of questions and disputes that may arise between thefederal and local governments as to the meaning of the Act of Union;fifth, exemption of this province from taxation for the construction andenlargement of canals in Upper Canada, and for the payment of money forthe mines and minerals and lands of Newfoundland; sixth, eighty centsper head to be on the population as it increases and not to be confinedto the census of 1861; seventh, securing to each of the MaritimeProvinces the right to have at least one executive councillor in thefederal government; eighth, the commencing of the Intercolonial Railwaybefore the right shall exist to increase taxation upon the people of theprovince. "

Mr. Smith supported his resolution in a lengthy speech in which hepredicted increased taxation as the result of confederation. He saidthat the House, instead of being a deliberative assembly, had tosurrender its judgment to the government. Confederation was a greatexperiment at best, and called for the exercise of other men's judgment. The government were going on in the most highhanded manner and were notjustified in withholding information asked for. He elaborated the ideathat Canada was pledged to issue treasury notes to pay presentliabilities, and asserted that the government was altogether under thecontrol of Canadian politicians. He insisted particularly on a provisionin the Act of Union that each of the Maritime Provinces have anexecutive councillor in the federal government. Finally the vote wastaken and the following amendment, which had been moved by the Hon. Mr. Fisher, was carried, only eight members voting against it:--

"_Resolved_, That the people of this province having, after duedeliberation, determined that the union of British North America wasdesirable, and the House having agreed to request His Excellency thelieutenant-governor to appoint delegates for the purpose of consideringthe plan of union upon such terms as will secure the just rights of NewBrunswick, and having confidence that the action of His Excellency underthe advice of his constitutional advisers will be directed to theattainment of that end, sound policy and a due regard to the interestsof this province require that the responsibility of such action shouldbe left unfettered by an expression of opinion other than what hasalready been given by the people and their representatives. "

This ended the battle for confederation in New Brunswick, for whatremained to be done was merely the arrangement of the details of theunion by the delegates who had received full powers for that purpose. The session of the legislature, which must be considered one of the mostimportant ever held in New Brunswick, came to a close on Monday, July7th. At a meeting of the government held immediately after theprorogation, the Hon. Messrs. Tilley, Wilmot, Fisher, Mitchell, Johnsonand Chandler were appointed to go to England as delegates for thepurpose of meeting delegates from Canada and Nova Scotia, and framingthe bill which was to be passed by the imperial parliament for theconsummation of confederation. It was understood that there would be nodelay on the part of the delegates from Canada, but Sir John A. Macdonald and the other Canadian delegates were unable to leave at thetime appointed, and did not meet the Maritime Provinces delegation inEngland until many months after the latter had arrived there. Thisunfortunate circumstance produced much comment at the time, because itlooked as if the government of Canada was treating the delegates of NewBrunswick and Nova Scotia with discourtesy. Instead of the businessbeing completed promptly, as was expected, and the bill passed by theparliament during the autumn season, the whole matter was thrown overuntil the following year, and the New Brunswick delegates, most of whomwere prominent members of the government, had to remain in England forabout ten months at great expense and inconvenience. 

{THE DELEGATES IN ENGLAND}

The delegates from the three provinces, Canada, Nova Scotia and NewBrunswick, met at the Westminster Palace Hotel, London, in December, 1866, the Hon. John A. Macdonald in the chair and Lieut. -Col. HewittBernard acting as secretary. The resolution passed at the Quebecconference held in 1864 was read, and amendments were moved inaccordance with the suggestions made in the several legislatures duringthe discussions at the previous sessions. It was conceded by all thatthe Intercolonial Railway, by which facilities for interprovincialcommercial intercourse should be secured, must be built by the unitedprovinces and without delay. It was also conceded that in the provinceswhere separate schools were established by law, that principle shouldnot be disturbed. In the discussion it was claimed that the sole rightof imposing an export duty should be vested in the federal authority. This was objected to by the New Brunswick delegates, on the ground thatas the people of that province had expended a large sum of money in theimproving of the navigation of the upper St. John, they had to recoupthemselves by imposing an export duty on lumber shipped from theprovince. A considerable portion of the income thus received was paid bythe lumbermen of the state of Maine, the advantage derived by them fromsuch improvements being very great. The claim thus presented by the NewBrunswick delegates was conceded, and the province was permitted toretain the right. This right was abandoned after confederation, theDominion paying therefor a hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annumto the New Brunswick government. 

{THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT}

During the sitting of the delegates, which lasted for two months, manyconferences were held with Lord Carnarvon, then secretary of state forthe colonies, and the law officers of the Crown, in regard to objectionswhich were taken to some of the resolutions adopted by the delegates. The governor-general of Canada, Viscount Monck, was in London at thetime, and was able to render valuable assistance during the conference, owing to his intimate knowledge of the previous negotiations at Quebec. The arrangements there made, in regard to the strengthening of thecentral government, founded on the experience of the United Statesduring the War of Secession, were adhered to in the London resolutionsand accepted by the imperial authorities. When the bill reachedparliament some amendments were suggested, but when it was pointed outthat the bill as presented was the result of the most carefulconsideration of both the imperial authorities and the colonialrepresentatives, the suggested amendments were not pressed and themeasure passed through both Houses with very little discussion. But onespirit seemed to animate both the imperial government and the members ofparliament, and that was to give the provinces interested the fullestpowers consistent with their relation to the Empire. The parliamentaryopposition to the measure was much less than might have been expected, when it is remembered that the opponents of confederation hadrepresentatives in London, well able to present objections from theirstandpoint, who had the ear of Mr. Bright and other members of the Houseof Commons. Her Majesty took a deep interest in the measure andexpressed that interest to members of the delegation, adding that shefelt a great affection for her loyal Canadian subjects. While the billwas before the House of Lords, Messrs. Macdonald, Cartier, Galt, Tupperand Tilley were honoured by a private presentation to Her Majesty, atBuckingham Palace, and shortly afterwards all the members of theconference were presented at a drawing-room at the same place. 

{COUNTY COURT ACT}

The New Brunswick delegates returned to Canada in the spring of 1867, having completed their labours, and the legislature was called togetheron May 8th. The business before it was of great importance, for theprovince was entering upon a new era as a member of the Canadianconfederation, and the legislature was about to lose that portion of itspowers which was delegated to the federal parliament. It is not, however, necessary to enter into any details of the work of the session, which was carried through without any particular difficulty, theOpposition being too weak to oppose seriously the measures of thegovernment. It was felt on all sides that, as twelve members of thelegislative council were about to become members of the senate ofCanada, and as fifteen representatives were to be elected to the Houseof Commons, most of whom would come from the House of Assembly, astriking change would take place in the composition of the legislature, which would be deprived of the services of a large number of its ablestmen. One of the important bills of the session was the passage of theAct establishing county courts in the province, and in respect to thismeasure a difference of opinion took place between Mr. John M. Johnson, one of the delegates and member for Northumberland, and his fellowdelegates to England. He thought that the legislature had no authorityunder the terms of confederation, or from any understanding between thedelegates while in England, to create county courts, while the otherdelegates held a different view. The Act was passed, however, and hasproved to be one of the most useful ever placed upon the statute-book, relieving the supreme court of many cases, both civil and criminal, which would otherwise block its business, and enabling them to bedisposed of more rapidly than before. The county court judges appointedunder this Act were, with one exception, taken from the legislature, andthis made another serious drain upon its experienced members. 

CHAPTER XI

THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF CANADA

The British North America Act, by which the provinces of Upper and LowerCanada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were bound into a confederation, came into force by royal proclamation on the first day of July, 1867. When it is considered how vast and vital a change this measure broughtabout, it is surprising that it produced so little excitement anywhere. With the exception of one or two demonstrations which were made withflags by persons hostile to confederation, it was received in theprovince of New Brunswick, which had been so much excited during twoelections, with perfect calmness, and although for some years afterwardsthere were always a number of persons opposed to union who predicteddireful things from confederation, and thought it must finally bedissolved, the voices of such persons were eventually silenced either bydeath or by their acquiescence in the situation. To-day it may be safelydeclared that the Canadian confederation stands upon as secure afoundation as any other government in the civilized world. 

In June, 1867, the Hon. John A. Macdonald, the leading spirit in thegovernment of Canada, was entrusted by Lord Monck, thengovernor-general, with the formation of a ministry for the Dominion. Mr. Macdonald naturally experienced a good deal of difficulty in making hisarrangements. In the formation of the first ministry much care wasnecessary; provincial and national interests were to be thought of anddenominational claims had to receive some attention. But the greatestdifficulty arose with respect to old party lines. Mr. Macdonald thoughtthat these ought, as far as possible, to be ignored, and accordinglyselected his men from the leading advocates of confederation belongingto both parties, placing in his cabinet seven Conservatives and sixLiberals. The Liberals included the names of Mr. W. P. Rowland and Mr. William MacDougall for Ontario. A large number of the Liberals ofOntario, including George Brown and Alexander Mackenzie, opposed thisarrangement, called a public meeting in Toronto, and passed resolutionsin favour of a strictly party government on the old lines. It declaredhostility to the proposal for a coalition, and resolved to opposeMessrs. Rowland and MacDougall, should they accept office under Mr. Macdonald. This decision was carried out, but these gentlemen were bothelected by good majorities. In this first ministry there were fivemembers from Ontario, four from Quebec, two from Nova Scotia, and twofrom New Brunswick: S. L. Tilley and Peter Mitchell. 

The wisdom of the course adopted will be apparent when it is rememberedthat the question of confederation was not settled or carried on partylines, some of the Conservatives opposing and some Liberals supportingit. This was clearly the case in New Brunswick, as shown by the last twoelections held there. About one-third of the Liberal party, and a likeproportion of the Conservative party, opposed confederation at thesecond election. To have formed the first government on a party basiswould have necessitated the selection of some men who were opposed tothe union, and whose efforts might not have been devoted to making it asuccess. 

{FIRST CONFEDERATION MINISTRY}

The first confederation ministry was a very strong one. The Hon. John A. Macdonald became premier and minister of justice; the Hon. George E. Cartier was minister of militia and defence; Alexander T. Galt wasminister of finance; the Hon. William MacDougall was minister of publicworks; the Hon. W. P. Rowland was minister of inland revenue; the Hon. A. J. F. Blair, president of the privy council; the Hon. AlexanderCampbell, postmaster-general; the Hon. J. C. Chapais, minister ofagriculture; the Hon. Hector L. Langevin, secretary of state. The Hon. Mr. Tilley became minister of customs and the Hon. Mr. Mitchell ministerof marine and fisheries, while the two Nova Scotia representatives, Messrs. Archibald and Kenny, became respectively secretary of state forthe provinces and receiver-general. 

It will thus be seen that the Maritime Provinces had fourrepresentatives out of thirteen members of the cabinet, and thisproportion has generally been maintained since that time; so that thefears of those who anticipated that the provinces by the sea would notreceive fair treatment in the distribution of high offices have provedto be groundless. On the contrary, it can be said that the MaritimeProvince members of the government appear always to have occupied a veryinfluential position. 

The office of minister of customs, which Mr. Tilley received, wasthought by some of his friends to be less important than he deserved, they being of the opinion that he should have been made minister offinance. This office, however, went to Mr. Galt, who, owing to adifference with the rest of the government, resigned four months later, his place in the cabinet being taken by Sir John Rose, who held theoffice of finance minister until October, 1869, Sir Francis Hincks thenreceiving the appointment. It was not until the resignation of thelatter in February, 1873, that Mr. Tilley became minister of finance. The office at first assigned to him, however, was one of greatimportance, involving as it did the reorganization of the entireestablishment of the customs of Canada, and it gave ample scope for hisgreat ability as a business man. 

The elections for the House of Commons in the new parliament of Canadatook place in August, when Tilley was chosen to represent the city ofSt. John, and John H. Gray, the county. It had been expected, in view ofthe fact that these men had been so largely instrumental in bringingabout confederation, that they would be allowed to walk over the courseunopposed. This was the case with Mr. Gray, whose candidature met withno opposition; but Mr. Tilley was opposed by Mr. John Wilson, whoreceived a very small vote. This needless and futile opposition to thecandidature of a man who deserved so well from the province, was merelyone of the proofs of the existence of political rancour in the breastsof those who had been defeated on the confederation question. 

{FIRST CANADIAN PARLIAMENT}

The first parliament of united Canada met on November 6th, 1867, and theaddress was moved by the Hon. Charles Fisher, who had been elected torepresent the county of York. The session was a very long one, lastinguntil May 22nd of the following year; but there was an adjournment, extending from December 21st to March 20th. This meeting of parliamentwas especially memorable, inasmuch as it brought together, for the firsttime, the representatives of all the provinces, and the ablest men ofall political parties. The people of Ontario and Quebec were littleknown to the people of the Maritime Provinces, and those who resided inthe larger provinces in like manner knew comparatively little of theirfellow-subjects who dwelt by the sea. It was expected by some that theMaritime Province representatives would be completely overshadowed bymen of greater political reputation belonging to the larger provinces, but this did not prove to be the case. The Maritime representatives atonce took a leading position in parliament, and this position they havesteadily maintained down to the present time. No man stood better in theHouse of Commons than the representative from St. John, the Hon. S. L. Tilley. At that time Her Majesty, the Queen, in acknowledgment of hisservices in the cause of confederation, had created him a Companion ofthe Bath, a distinction which was also given to the Hon. Charles Tupper, of Nova Scotia. 

A vast amount of business had to be disposed of at the first session ofthe parliament of Canada. Although the Union Act embodied the plan uponwhich confederation was founded, it was necessary to supplement it by agreat deal of special legislation, for the purpose of interpreting itand making preparations for the practical working of the constitution. In all the discussions relative to the measures which had to be passedat that time, Tilley took a prominent part, and, when the session wasover, he had established in the House of Commons, as fully as he had inthe legislature of New Brunswick, a reputation for ability as a speakerand as a man of affairs. He was looked upon as one whose wide knowledgeof the needs of the province and whose experience in departmental workwere likely to be of the greatest use to the confederation. His highcharacter gave weight at all times to his words, and caused him to belistened to with the most respectful attention. During the whole periodthat Tilley sat in the House of Commons, he had the pleasure of knowingthat even his political enemies respected his character and abilities, and, with the exception of the premier, perhaps no man wielded a morepotent influence in the councils of the Dominion than he. 

It is not necessary here to trace to any large extent the career of SirS. L. Tilley in the parliament of Canada; that belongs rather to thehistory of the Dominion than to a work which deals particularly with hisconnection with his native province. Only so much of his public life inthe House of Commons will be dealt with as seems necessary to completehis personal history. Tilley continued to hold the position of ministerof customs during the whole of the term of the first parliament ofCanada. This parliament held five sessions and dissolved in the summerof 1872, the general election being in the month of July, upon whichoccasion he was reëlected for the city of St. John without opposition. 

{MINISTER OF FINANCE}

The second parliament met on March 5th, 1873. Eleven days before thattime Mr. Tilley had become minister of finance, succeeding Sir FrancisHincks, who had resigned that office after holding it for more thanthree years. The advancement of Mr. Tilley to this responsible andinfluential position was very pleasing to his friends, and was receivedwith satisfaction by the country generally. 

The first confederation ministry of Canada resigned office on November5th, 1873, under circumstances which are a part of the political historyof the Dominion and need not be gone into in this volume, further thanto say that, whatever basis there may have been for charges ofcorruption in connection with the Pacific Railway contract against otherpersons in the government, none were ever preferred against Mr. Tilley;nor did any one suspect or believe that he had anything whatever to dowith the transactions which led to the resignation of the government. Prior to that event Mr. Tilley had been appointed lieutenant-governor ofthe province of New Brunswick in succession to the Hon. Lemuel A. Wilmot, whose term had expired. Every one felt that the honour thusbestowed upon Tilley was a most fitting one, for he was New Brunswick'sforemost son in political life, and had reached his high position purelythrough his own ability and his own good character. That position hefilled a greater number of years than any of his successors are likelyto do, and it is admitted on all sides that no man could have performedthe duties of the office more satisfactorily than he did. 

CHAPTER XII

FINANCE MINISTER AND GOVERNOR

Mr. Tilley took up his residence in the old Government House, Fredericton, and he must have been struck with the changed aspectof affairs from that presented under the old régime, whenlieutenant-governors were appointed by the British government and sentout from England to preside over the councils of a people of whom theyknew little or nothing. Most of these former governors had been militarymen, more accustomed to habits of command than to deal with perplexingquestions of state. They looked with a very natural degree of impatienceon the attempts which the people of the province were making to get thefull control of their own affairs. Under the old régime the governor wassurrounded with military guards, and sentries paced the walks andguarded the entrances to the Government House. The withdrawal of theBritish troops from Canada before the lieutenant-governorship of Mr. Tilley commenced relieved him of any embarrassment in regard todispensing with military guards and sentries; but all pretentiousaccompaniments of authority were foreign to his nature, and he alwaysshowed, by the severe simplicity of his life, that he felt he was oneof the people, and that it was his duty as well as his pleasure topermit all who had any occasion to see him to have free access to him, without the necessity of going through any formal process. 

{THE PROTECTIONIST TARIFF}

When Mr. Tilley became lieutenant-governor of the province, he wasfifty-five years of age, and he seems to have thought that his politicalcareer was ended, because, by the time his term of office expired in itsnatural course, he would have reached the age of sixty, a period when aman is not likely to make a new entrance into public life. Butcircumstances, quite apart from any desire on his part, made it almostnecessary for him to change his determination, and during the summer of1878, when the general election was imminent, he found himself pressedby his old political friends to become once more the candidate of hisparty for his old constituency, the city of St. John. There was greatenthusiasm amongst them when it was announced that he would comply withtheir wishes, and that he had resigned the lieutenant-governorship. Theresult of that general election is well known. The Liberal party, whichhad succeeded to the government less than five years before with a largemajority in the House of Commons, experienced a severe defeat, and theHon. Alexander Mackenzie, seeing this, very properly did not await theassembling of parliament, but sent in the resignation of the ministry, and Sir John A. Macdonald was called upon to form a new government. Inthe cabinet thus constructed Mr. Tilley resumed his old office ofminister of finance, and one of his first duties was to assist in theframing of a new customs tariff which was to give effect to theprinciple, upon which the election had been run, of protection to homeindustries. This idea of protection had not been heard of in theCanadian confederation as the policy of any political party until SirJohn A. Macdonald took it up about a year before the general election, but it proved a winning card and was the means of giving the newgovernment a long lease of power. 

Sir Leonard Tilley's speech in introducing the new tariff was wellreceived and made a strong impression upon all who heard it. It wasadmitted, even by those who were opposed to the views he held, that heshowed a great mastery of the details, and that he illustrated in a veryclear manner the view that the country was suffering because the dutiesimposed upon foreign goods were not sufficiently high to protectCanadian manufactures. 

It is not the intention of this volume to deal to any full extent withthe career of Sir Leonard Tilley during his second term of office asminister of finance of Canada. To enter into that phase of his careerwould be to relate the history of Canada, for he was but one member ofthe government, and not its leader. It is admitted that, in respect tofinancial questions, Sir Leonard showed the same ability that hadcharacterized his career during his previous term of office, and he waslooked upon by his colleagues as a man in whose judgment the utmostconfidence could be placed. At this time, however, his health began tofail, and the disease which finally carried him off developed to such anextent that he was told he must cease all active work or his days wouldbe shortened. Under these circumstances, it became necessary for him toretire from the severe duties of his very responsible and laboriousoffice, and on October 31st, 1885, he was again appointedlieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, an office which he had filled withso much acceptance between 1873 and 1878. Sir Leonard Tilley continuedlieutenant-governor during a second term, for almost eight years, oruntil the appointment of the Hon. John Boyd to that position. He waslieutenant-governor of New Brunswick for considerably more than twelveyears, a record which is not likely to be equalled by any futurelieutenant-governor for many years to come, if ever. 

{SECOND TERM AS GOVERNOR}

There was no event of particular importance to distinguish Sir LeonardTilley's second term as lieutenant-governor. The Hon. Mr. Blair waspremier of New Brunswick during the whole period, and there was nopolitical crisis of any importance to alter the complexion of affairs. The only event in connection with the governorship which is worthy ofbeing mentioned is the change that was made by the abandonment of theold Government House, at Fredericton, as the residence of thelieutenant-governor. This building had become antiquated, and in otherways unsuitable for the occupancy of a lieutenant-governor, and itsmaintenance involved a very large expenditure annually, which theprovince was unable to afford. It was therefore determined that infuture the lieutenant-governor should provide his own residence, andthat the amount spent on the Government House annually should be saved. Sir Leonard Tilley built a residence in St. John, in which he lived forthe remainder of his life, and the seat of government, so far as hispresence was concerned, was transferred to that city. Sir Leonard Tilleywas always on the most cordial terms with the various premiers who ledthe government of New Brunswick during their terms of office. He knewwell the strict constitutional limits of his office, and was alwayscareful to confine his activities within their proper scope. The lessonsof responsible government which he had learned in his early youth, andwhich had been the study of his manhood, enabled him to avoid thosepitfalls which beset the steps of earlier lieutenant-governors. 

During Sir Leonard Tilley's last term of office, and after its close, heabstained wholly from any interference with public affairs in theDominion, and although he still remained steadfastly attached to theLiberal-Conservative party, he gave no outward sign of his desire fortheir success. This neutral position which he assumed in politicalmatters had the effect of drawing towards him thousands of hisfellow-countrymen who, in former years, had been accustomed to regardhim with unfriendly feelings. They forgot the active political leaderand saw before them only the aged governor, whose venerable figure andkindly face were so familiar at social or other gatherings, or wheneverwork was to be done for any good cause. In this way Sir Leonard Tilleygrew to assume a new character in the public estimation, and at the timeof his death the regret was as great on the part of those who had beenhis political opponents as among those who had been his associates inpolitical warfare. This was one of the most pleasing features of hisdeclining years, and one that gave him the greatest satisfaction, because it enabled him to feel that he enjoyed the affectionate regardof the whole body of the people. 

Sir Leonard Tilley throughout his life gave great attention to hisreligious duties. He was a devoted member of the Church of England, andhis attendance at its services was constant and regular. For severalyears before his death he was connected with St. Mark's congregation, and no cause, except severe bodily illness, was ever allowed to preventhim from going to church on Sunday morning. On many occasions, when hissteps had grown feeble and his strength was failing, it was suggested tohim that he should drive to church, but he always replied that he wouldwalk to church as long as he had strength left to do so, and that hewould not have people harnessing up horses on the Sabbath Day on hisaccount. This resolution he maintained to the end of his life. Sometimes, when he met an old acquaintance, as he toiled up the streetwhich led to his favourite church, he would cheerfully greet him bysaying, "John, this hill has grown steeper than it used to be, " but heclimbed the hill to the end, and the last Sunday he was able to be outof his bed he walked to church as usual. He also took a deep interest inall humane and philanthropic objects as well as in the great workconnected with the spread of the Gospel. He was a constant attendant atthe annual meetings of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and was alife member of that admirable association. 

{HIS IMPERIAL HONOURS}

The honours that Sir Leonard Tilley received from Her Majesty, inrecognition of his great public services, were very gratifying to hisfriends as well as to himself, and when he was made a Knight Commanderof St. Michael and St. George, in 1879, his temperance friends embracedthe first opportunity on his return to St. John to have a banquet in hishonour, at which he wore, for the first time in public, the insignia ofthe knightly order of which he had become a member. There was probablyno public event in the whole course of his life which gave him greaterpleasure than this proof of the attachment of his old friends. 

Sir Leonard's last visit to England was marked by an extremely graciousinvitation to visit the queen at Osborne, in the Isle of Wight. While heand Lady Tilley were sojourning at Cowes a message was sent summoningthem to Osborne House, where they were received by Her Majesty in thebeautiful grounds that surround that palace. The Princess Louise andPrincess Beatrice, with an equerry in waiting, were the only otherpersons present. After an interesting conversation they were permittedto visit the private apartments of Her Majesty, and the Prince Consort'sfarm. 

Sir Leonard Tilley was first married in 1843 to Julia Ann, daughter ofthe late James T. Hanford, who died in 1862. By her he had sevenchildren, two sons and five daughters. In 1867, he married Alice Starr, daughter of the late Z. Chipman, of St. Stephen. By this marriage he hadtwo sons, Mr. Herbert C. Tilley, of the Imperial Trust Company, whoresides in St. John, and Mr. L. P. DeWolfe Tilley, barrister, who isalso a resident of St. John. These two sons, Herbert and Leonard, werethe prop and comfort of his declining years and were devoted wholly tohim to the end. 

{LADY TILLEY}

Sir Leonard Tilley's second marriage was contracted at the time when hewas exchanging the limited field of provincial politics for the widersphere which confederation opened up to him in the parliament of Canada. It was a fortunate union, for it gave him a helpmeet and companion whowas in full sympathy with him in all his hopes and feelings, and who wassingularly well qualified to preside over his household, which, in hiscapacity of a minister of the Crown, had become, to a considerableextent, a factor in the public life of Canada. Lady Tilley had a highideal of her duty as the wife of a cabinet minister and of the governorof New Brunswick, and was not content to lead a merely ornamental lifeor confine her energies within a narrow range. She saw many deficienciesin our appliances for relieving human misery, and with a zeal whichcould not be dampened, she sought to remedy them. The Victoria Hospitalat Fredericton is her work; hers also is the Nurses' Home in connectionwith the Public Hospital in St. John, and the Reformatory for the careof bad or neglected boys, who are in danger of becoming criminals ifthey are not educated and disciplined when they are young. In every workof philanthropy Lady Tilley has always taken not only an active, but aleading part, and her position has enabled her to enlist in the cause ofhumanity the energies of many who, under other circumstances, might nothave given their attention to philanthropic work. 

Sir Leonard Tilley for many years had suffered from an incurabledisease, which had been mitigated by rest and medical treatment, but notremoved. It was the knowledge of the fact that his days would beshortened if he continued in active political life that compelled himto leave the government in 1885. For many years before his death themalady had been so far subdued that it gave him comparatively littletrouble, but any unusual exertion on his part was almost certain toarouse it again to activity, so that he was prevented on many occasionsfrom taking part in public functions which, under other circumstances, he would have been glad to attend. Still, he always contrived to takehis daily walk, and few who saw him ever suspected that he wasconstantly menaced by death. For three or four years before his deceasehis strength had been failing, he stooped more as he walked, and it wasevident that he was not destined to enjoy many more years of life. Yetduring the spring of 1896 there was nothing whatever to indicate thatthe end was so near, for he went about as usual, and was able to presideat the annual meeting of the Loyalist Society which was held during thelast week in May. On that evening he appeared very bright and cheerful, and he entered with much interest into the discussion of the details ofan outing which it was proposed the society should hold during thesummer. "Man proposes, God disposes. " Sir Leonard had gone to Rothesayearly in June to spend a few weeks in that pleasant spot, and heappeared to be in his usual health until the night of June 10th, when hebegan to suffer great pain from a slight cut which he had received inthe foot. The symptoms became alarming and gave indications of bloodpoisoning, a condition due to the disease from which he had suffered somany years. On June 11th, he was taken to Carleton House, his townresidence, and from that time the doctors gave no hope of his recovery. It was one of the sad features of his illness that his life-long friendand physician for many years, Dr. William Bayard, was unable to attendhim, being himself confined to his bed by illness. 

{LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH}

After Sir Leonard Tilley reached his home in St. John he never rallied, and he was well aware that his end was near. He was attended by Dr. Inches and Dr. Murray McLaren, but he was beyond medical aid, andtherefore the people of St. John, for several days before the event tookplace, were aware that their foremost citizen was dying. The time wasone of great excitement, for the general election was near, yet the eyesof thousands were turned from the moving panorama of active life whichpassed before them to the silent chamber where the dying statesman wasbreathing his last. The regret and sympathy that was expressed wasuniversal, and in their kindly words those who had been his life-longpolitical opponents were not behind those who had been his friends. SirLeonard Tilley died at three o'clock on the morning of June 25th, thesecond day after the general election which brought about the defeat ofthe party with which he had been so long identified. 

{HIS EMINENT SERVICES}

His death evoked expressions of sympathy and regret from all parts ofthe empire and from many states of the union. The letters and telegramsof condolence which Lady Tilley received during the first days of herwidowhood would of themselves fill a volume, showing how widely he wasknown and respected. The funeral, which took place on the Saturdayfollowing his death, was one of the largest ever seen in St. John, andwas attended by the Board of Trade, the Loyalist Society, the varioustemperance organizations, the members of the provincial government, anda vast concourse of prominent citizens. The services took place at St. John's Episcopal Church, and were conducted by the rector, the Rev. JohndeSoyres, assisted by the Rev. R. P. McKim, rector of St. Luke's Church, with which Sir Leonard had been identified in his earlier years. Theinterment took place in the Rural Cemetery. Many references to thedecease of this eminent man were made from the pulpits of St. John andother parts of the province on the Sunday following his death, and allthe newspapers had long notices of the event and editorials on his lifeand character. We may fittingly close this work by quoting a portion ofwhat was said of him by the St. John _Telegraph_, a paper that waspolitically opposed to him for many years:--

"It is greatly to the honour of Sir Leonard Tilley that no scandal, public or private, was ever attached to his name. A consistenttemperance man to the end of his life, he was faithful to the causewhich he had espoused when he was young, and he enjoyed the confidenceand received the steady support of a vast majority of the temperance menof the province, who looked upon him as their natural leader. Hiscapacity for friendship was great, and his friends might be numbered bythousands, for he had a peculiar faculty of strongly attracting men tohimself. This may be ascribed, in part, to the magnetism of a buoyantand strong nature, but it was more largely due to the extreme simplicityof his character, which remained wholly unspoiled by the favours whichfortune had showered upon him. No man, however humble, had anydifficulty in obtaining an interview with Sir Leonard Tilley; he wasevery inch a gentleman, and was, therefore, as polite to the poorestlabourer as to the richest in the land. Such a man could not fail to beloved even by those who had been his most bitter opponents in formeryears, when he was in active political life. 

"It is one of the drawbacks of this human life that the wise, thelearned, the good, and those whom we most love and honour, grow old andfeeble, fall by the wayside and pass away. So while we lament the deathof Sir Leonard Tilley, we must recognize it as an event that wasinevitable, and which could not long have been postponed. His lifeworkwas done; his labours were ended; his active and brilliant career wasclosed; he was but waiting for the dread summons which sooner or latermust come to all. The summons has come, and he has gone from among usforever. His venerable, noble face will no longer be seen on ourstreets, his kindly greeting will no longer be heard. But his memorywill live, not only in the hearts of all his countrymen, but enshrinedin the history of this his native province, and of the great Dominionwhich he did so much to create, and which he so fondly loved. "

INDEX

INDEX

A

 Allen, Hon. John C. , solicitor-general, 183; opposes confederation, 228; becomes attorney-general, 233; appointed a judge, 235

 Anglin, Hon. Timothy W. , opposes confederation, 227, 233; differences with his colleagues, 236; resigns from the government, 237

 Aroostook War, 135

 Ashburton Treaty, 195

 Assembly, House of, its composition and powers, 6; Wilmot's college bill introduced in, 51; its passage through the House, 52-6

B

 Babbitt, Samuel, teacher of the Madras School, 147

 Baillie, Thomas, retires with a pension, 116

 Ballot Law passed, 189

 Beckwith, John A. , member for York, 250

 Bernard, Lieutenant-Colonel Hewitt, secretary of the confederation delegations, 263

 Blair, Hon. Andrew G. , premier of New Brunswick, 280

 Bliss, Hannah, mother of L. A. Wilmot, 3, 4

 Botsford, Hon. Bliss, surveyor-general, 233

 Bounties, disallowed by British government, 118

 Boyd, Hon. John, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 280

 British North America Act, the, comes into force, 269

 Brown, George, agrees to support confederation, 211

 Brown, James, surveyor-general, 174

C

 Campbell, Sir Archibald, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 23, 27; refuses information to the House, 28; censured by the assembly, 29; dissolves the assembly, 29; opposes the civil list arrangement, 44

 Carleton, Thomas, governor of New Brunswick, 5

 Carnarvon, Lord, his interest in confederation, 264

 Carter, Sir James, appointed a judge, 74; appointed chief-justice, 130; resigns the chief-justiceship, 235

 Cartier, Hon. George E. , minister of militia, 271

 Casual and territorial revenue, _see_ Crown lands

 Chandler, Edward B. , a delegate to England in reference to the Crown lands, 24; enters the government, 72; resigns, 76; goes to England on behalf of the Intercolonial Railway, 168, 196; confederation delegate to England, 262

 Chipman, Ward, chief-justice, 74; resigns, 129

 Church of England, its predominant influence, 7

 Civil list, the, paid in part by the Crown land revenue, 21, 25; the Civil List Bill, 43; the bill passed, 47

 Clark, Rev. Samuel, rector of Gagetown, 147

 Colebrooke, Sir William, lieutenant-governor, 76; appoints Alfred Reade secretary, 76; censured by the assembly, 101

 Confederation, 201, 202; proposed in Lord Durham's Report, 203; discussed in 1858, 205; not favoured by Lord Derby's government, 205; D'Arcy McGee's party visits the Maritime Provinces, 209; crisis in the government of Canada, 209, 210; Canadian statesmen at the Charlottetown conference, 217-19; the Quebec scheme, 222; unfavourably received in New Brunswick, 223-5; the general election of 1865, 226-9; defeat of, 231; recommended in the speech from the throne, 242; carried at the general election of 1866, 249-51; resolutions in its favour carried in the legislature, 260, 262; delegation sent to England to arrange details of, 262; delay in arrival of Canadian delegates, 263; meeting in London, 263; discussion of the terms of union, 264; Confederation Act passed by parliament, 265; the union of the provinces proclaimed, 269

 Connell, Hon. Charles, postmaster-general, circumstances which led to his resignation, 191-2; member for Carleton, 231; becomes a member of the Mitchell-Wilmot government, 247; reëlected for Carleton, 249

 Cook, Dr. Henry, 149

 Council, executive, its composition, 48, 72; reorganized, 116

 Council, legislative, 5; rejects the college bill, 52, 53; its obstructive character, 67; its conduct condemned by the assembly, 68; changes in its composition, 69; favours confederation, 244

 Crane, William, a delegate to England with an address to His Majesty, 41

 Crown lands, revenues from, 6; dissatisfaction with the management of, 18-21; used to pay the civil list, 21, 22; control of, made the subject of an address to the king, 23; a deputation sent to England, 24; the surrender of the revenues by His Majesty proposed, 25-7, 35-7; another address to the king, 37, 38; control of, surrendered to the province, 47

 Custom-house system, imperial, discarded, 175, 176

 Customs duties, 6, 16, 17, 18, 38, 39

D

 DesBrisay, L. P. W. , seconds Fisher's amendment to the address in reply to the speech from the throne, 244

 Douglas, Sir Howard, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 50, 51, 148

 Dow, Dr. , member for York, 250

E

 Education, unsatisfactory condition of, in New Brunswick, 83-5; the Madras system, 86-8; Wilmot's speech on, 88-91

F

 Family Compact, the, 13, 110

 Fees, on land grants, 14

 Fenians, threaten to invade Canada, 240, 241; invade New Brunswick, 247; Doran Killian, leader of, 247; troops called out to oppose them, 248; their invasion a fiasco, 249

 Fisher, Hon. Charles, member for York, 47; reëlected for York, 102; moves a want of confidence resolution, 103; his resolution defeated, 111; enters the government, 116; defeated in York, 128; his services to the Liberal party, 154; moves a want of confidence resolution, 172, 173; joins the new government as attorney-general, 174; retires from the government, 193; reëlected for York, 194; elected on the confederation ticket for York, 237; moves an amendment to the address in reply to the speech from the throne, 244; becomes attorney-general, 247; moves a confederation resolution, 257, 258; a confederation delegate to England, 262; elected for York in the first parliament of united Canada, 273

 Fraser, John J. , opposes confederation, 228

G

 Gagetown, birthplace of Sir Leonard Tilley, 146

 Galt, Hon. A. T. , in favour of confederation, 205; minister of finance, 271

 Gilbert, Thomas, advocates agricultural schools, 162

 Gillmor, Hon. A. H. , provincial secretary, 233

 Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E. , 199

 Glenelg, Lord, colonial secretary, 42, 61

 Glenie, James, an early Reformer, 13

 Gordon, Arthur Hamilton, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, opposed to confederation, 239; his change of views, 240; the confederation paragraph in his speech from the throne, 242; differences with his government, 242

 Government, responsible, the demand for, 99-111; granted, 113-16

 Gray, Hon. John H. , 152; supports the government, 160; becomes a member of the government, 165; appointed attorney-general, 183; favours confederation, 227; elected for St. John County, 251; speaker of the assembly, 256; again elected for St. John in the parliament of 1867, 273

 Gray-Wilmot government, formed, 183; defeated, 184

 Grey, Earl, colonial secretary, on tenure of office, 113; disallows hemp bounty bill, 118

 Grievances, committee on, appointed, 24

H

 Hamilton, Peter S. , his articles advocating confederation, 207

 Hanington, Hon. D. L. , speaker, 172

 Hannay, James, his articles in favour of confederation, 207

 Harding, James A. , elected for the city of St. John, 167

 Harvey, Sir John, lieutenant-governor, 47, 113

 Hatheway, Hon. George L. , opposes confederation, 228; joins the anti-confederation government, 233; retires from the contest in York, 250

 Hazen, Hon. Robert L. , on responsible government, 63; enters the government, 72; resigns, 76

 Head, Sir Edmund, lieutenant-governor, 129

 Hill, George S. , member for Charlotte, 66

 Howe, Hon. Joseph, a delegate to England in connection with the Intercolonial Railway, 107; advocates confederation, 204

 Humbert, Mr. , opposes responsible government, 64

 Hutchinson, Richard, 234

J

 Jenkins, William, teacher of the Gagetown grammar school, 147

 Johnson, Hon. John M. , solicitor-general, 174; confederation delegate to England, 262; opposes county courts bill, 267

 Johnston, Hon. Hugh, enters the government, 72; resigns, 76

K

 Kerr, George, member for Northumberland, 249

 King's College, 49; its illiberal charter, 50; bill to amend it defeated, 52; passed, 56, 163; reorganized and becomes University of New Brunswick, 190

 Kinnear, Hon. William B. , solicitor-general, 116

L

 Legislature of New Brunswick, called together in 1866, 256; its session of 1867, 266

 Leonard, Samuel, 147

 _Loyalist_, newspaper, its proprietors arrested, 75 (note)

M

 Macdonald, Sir John A. , chairman of the confederation delegation, 263; forms the first Dominion cabinet, 270

 McClelan, Hon. A. R. , chief commissioner of public works, 247; reëlected for Albert County, 249

 McGee, Thomas D'Arcy, favours confederation, 207; lectures in St. John, 207; brings a party to visit the Maritime Provinces, 209

 McMillan, Hon. John, surveyor-general, elected for Restigouche, 231; becomes postmaster-general, 247

 McPhelim, Francis, postmaster-general, 183

 Manners-Sutton, Hon. H. T. , lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, dissolves the House of Assembly, 180

 Maritime union movement, 211-13; the Charlottetown conference, 215

 Marriage laws, 14, 15

 Meade, General, 249

 Metcalfe, Sir Charles, governor-general of Canada, 74; his unconstitutional stand, 74; his views approved by the New Brunswick assembly, 74

 Mitchell, Hon. Peter, member of the legislative council, 246; supports confederation, 246; called on to form a government, 246; forms the Mitchell-Wilmot government, 247; confederation delegate to England, 262; becomes minister of marine, 271

 Monck, Viscount, governor-general of Canada, 265

 Money grants, initiation of, 48

 Montgomery, John, enters the government, 72; surveyor-general, 183

 Morgan, Elizabeth, great grandmother of Sir Leonard Tilley, 145

N

 Needham, W. H. , member for York, 152; his ability and character, 154; opposes confederation, 228

 Newcastle, Duke of, colonial secretary, 197

O

 Odell, Hon. William Franklin, death of, 75

 Odell, Hon. William H. , postmaster-general, 233, 234

 Office, tenure of, 57; Lord John Russell's despatch, 57; resolution of assembly thereon, 60

P

 Palmerston, Lord, his government in office during confederation negotiations, 206

 Parker, Hon. Robert, becomes chief-justice, 235

 Parliament of Canada, its first meeting, 273

 Partelow, Hon. John R. , member for St. John County, 65; on money appropriations, 93; becomes provincial secretary, 116; his ability as a business man, 157

 Peters, Colonel Harry, speaker of the assembly, 148

 Peters, Susan Ann, mother of Sir Leonard Tilley, 146

 Peters, William, grandfather of Sir Leonard, 146

 Peto, Brassy and Betts, propose to construct New Brunswick railways, 167-9

 Pickard, John, defeated in York, 237

 Portland Railway Convention, 119; L. A. Wilmot's speech at, 120

 Prohibitory liquor law, 176-8; its failure, 180

 Putnam, Charles S. , barrister, 11

R

 Railways, European and North American, proposed, 168; its progress, 186; completed to Shediac, 187, 188; Intercolonial, building of, proposed, 168, 195; delegations sent to England to obtain assistance, 169, 196-8; discussed in parliament, 187; a meeting held in Quebec to consider the offer of the British government, 198; a committee is sent to England to arrange the terms of the guarantee but fail to come to an agreement, 199, 200; its construction secured by confederation, 264

 Reade, Alfred, appointed provincial secretary, 76; his appointment condemned by the assembly, 79; the appointment cancelled, 80

 Reciprocity treaty, discussed, 170, 171; bill passed, 175

 Ritchie, Hon. William J. , member for the county of St. John, 152; his great ability, 155; moves a want of confidence resolution, 160; complains of the conduct of the governor and the colonial office, 164; resigns his seat, 166; reëlected for St. John, 172; joins the Fisher government, 175; becomes chief-justice, 236

 Robinson, F. P. , auditor of the king's casual revenue, 34

 Russell, Lord John, colonial secretary, 53; on the King's College charter, 54; on tenure of office, 114

S

 Salaries, official, 61; reduction proposed by Wilmot, 62

 Saunders, Hon. John Simcoe, advocate-general, 34

 Simonds, Hon. Charles, a delegate to England with the grievances of New Brunswick, 24; elected speaker, 160; resigns his seat, 166; again elected speaker, 183

 Skinner, Hon. C. N. , favours confederation, 227; member for St. John city, 251

 Smith, Hon. Albert J. , joins the Fisher government, 175; forms an anti-confederation government, 232; differences with the lieutenant-governor, 242; his government resigns, 245; moves an amendment to confederation resolutions, 260

 Smith, William O. , mayor of St. John, 149

 Stanley, Lord, colonial secretary, 53; on King's College charter, 53, 54; on the Reade appointment, 80; on money grants, 92

 Steadman, Hon. James, postmaster-general, 193

 Steeves, Hon. William H. , joins the Fisher government, 175

 Street, Hon. George F. , solicitor-general, 34; a delegate to England in connection with the Civil List Bill, 45

 Street, Hon. John Ambrose, attorney-general, 161

 Street-Partelow government, defeated, 173

 Sutton, Richard, 249

T

 Tilley, James, grandfather of Sir Leonard, 145

 Tilley, Lady, 284; her charitable work, 285

 Tilley, Samuel, great-grandfather of Sir Leonard, 143

 Tilley, Samuel Leonard, birth and ancestry, 143; at the Madras School, 147; at the grammar school, 147; removes to St. John, 149; enters a drug store as clerk, 149; becomes a total abstainer, 150; begins business on his own account, 150; elected to the House of Assembly as member for St. John, 152; resigns his seat, 166; reëlected for St. John, 172; becomes provincial secretary, 174; defeated on the prohibition question, 183; again elected for St. John, 185; a delegate to England in regard to the Intercolonial Railway, 196; a delegate to Quebec to consider the offer of the British government, 198; second delegation to England, 199; at the Quebec conference, 219-22; defeated in St. John city, 231; resigns with his colleagues, 232; declines to form a new government, 247; becomes provincial secretary, 247; reëlected for St. John city, 251; his efforts for confederation, 252; his ability as a speaker, 255; supports the confederation resolutions, 258, 259; confederation delegate to England, 262; presented to Her Majesty, 266; becomes minister of customs, 272; elected to parliament for St. John city, 273; made a Companion of the Bath, 274; his standing in the House of Commons, 274; becomes minister of finance, 275; elected to the second parliament, 275; appointed lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 275; resigns the governorship, 278; again becomes finance minister, 279; introduces a protectionist tariff, 279; again appointed lieutenant-governor, 280; resides in St. John, 281; his simple habits, 281; his popularity, 282; a member of the Church of England, 282; made a K. C. M. G. , 283; his marriages, 284; visits Her Majesty at Osborne, 284; his children, 284; suffers from an incurable disease, 285; his last illness, 286; death, 287; funeral, 288; tributes of respect, 288

 Tilley, Thomas Morgan, father of Sir Leonard, 145

 _Trent_ affair, 197

U

 United States, their attitude towards Canada, 254

V

 Vankoughnet, Hon. P. M. , a delegate to England in regard to the Intercolonial Railway, 197

W

 Wark, David, his bounty resolutions, 118

 Watters, Hon. Charles, an advocate of confederation, 226

 Weldon, Hon. John W. , speaker of the assembly, 65; on money grants, 94; appointed a judge, 236

 Wetmore, Hon. A. R. , opposes confederation, 226; opposes anti-confederation government, 243; reëlected for St. John city, 251

 William IV. , objects to alienation of Crown lands, 22; dismisses the Liberal government, 37

 Williston, Hon. Edward, solicitor-general, 247; reëlected for Northumberland, 249

 Wilmot, Benjamin, first of the name in America, 3

 Wilmot, Hon. Robert Duncan, 152; his change of principle, 156; supports the government, 160; becomes surveyor-general, 165; reëlected in St. John, 166; becomes provincial secretary, 183; opposes confederation, 227; dissatisfied with the government, 235; resigns in January, 1866, 236; forms a new government with Mitchell, 247; reëlected for St. John County, 251; confederation delegate to England, 262

 Wilmot, Lemuel, grandfather of L. A. Wilmot, 3

 Wilmot, Lemuel Allan, birth, 2; ancestry, 3; education, 10; studies law, 11; his interest in politics, 11; his knowledge of French, 12; an officer of militia, 12; elected to the assembly for York, 31; takes his seat, 32; his eloquence, 33; zeal for reform, 34; on custom house salaries, 38; a delegate to the colonial office in connection with provincial affairs, 41; arranges terms with the British government, 43; second delegation to England, 46; reëlected for York, 47; engaged in the reform of King's College charter, 49-52; bill rejected by council, 52; resolutions thereon, 54; the college bill passed, 56; proposes a reduced scale of salaries, 62, 63; nominated for the speakership, 66; reëlected for York, 66; becomes a member of the government, 72, 73; resigns in consequence of the Reade appointment, 76; his reasons, 77; advocates improved schools, 88; in favour of free schools, 90; an advocate of the initiation of money grants, 91, 94-7; bids farewell to the House, 102; reëlected for York, 103; his speech on the want of confidence resolution, 103-11; becomes attorney-general, 116; his oratory, 119; at the Portland Railway Convention, 120; his views on railway legislation, 126; opposes the Shediac Railway, 127; his bill for the reduction of salaries defeated in the legislative council, 127; decline of popularity, 128; appointed a judge, 130; Fenety's estimate of, 131; appointed lieutenant-governor, 133; his religious views, 133; as a lecturer, 134; takes part in the Aroostook War, 135; his love of flowers, 136; illness and death, 137; character and achievements, 137-9

 Wilmot, William, father of L. A. Wilmot, 3; a Baptist local preacher, 10; member of the House of Assembly in 1816, 10