THE .year 1860 was made memorable to the people of New Brunswick by the visit of the Prince of Wales, then a young man of eighteen. The Province had been visited by his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, many years before, but this was the first instance in which one who was heir to the throne, had come to New Brunswick. The people of this Province who are mainly descendants of the loyalists, have always boasted of their attachment to British institutions and their loyalty, so that the Prince of Wales had as splendid a reception from them as their means admitted. He visited both St. John and Fredericton, and, at both places, met with enthusiastic crowds of his future subjects. The sending of the Prince to America was a wise move 011 the part of Her Majesty for the future monarch was able thereby to obtain a better knowledge of this portion of his Dominions and of its people, then he ever could have acquired from books. A British king should know the races over which he has to rule, and the Prince of Wales, who has now become King Edward the Seventh, has enjoyed better opportunities of knowing the people of his vast Empire, than any of his predecessors.

In the early part of 1861, a very important event occurred, in connection with the Government, which produced a lasting effect on Provincial politics. Charges were made by a St. John Conservative paper, " The Colonial Empire, " in which it was stated, that members of the Government and Crown Land officials, had been purchasing the most desirable and valuable Crown lands of the Province for speculative purposes, and that in bringing these lands to sale, the Government regulations had been violated, and the public treasury had thereby suffered. A committee of the House was appointed to investigate the charges, and inquiry established the fact, that an official of the Crown Land Department had purchased a large quantity of Crown land, and that the then Attorney-General and leader of the Government, had purchased some 800 acres. These lands were all bought at public sale, but, in the forms of application, other names were used, which was a violation of the rules of the Department. A portion of the press at that time created a widespread excitement upon this subject, and the services of the official referred to, were dispensed with. Some of the supporters of the Government also took such ground in reference to the Attorney General, Mr. Fisher, that his retirement from the Government became necessary. It was felt at the time that the penalty that was paid by the Attorney-General was excessive for the offence, but, under the excitement of the public mind then existing, it was the only course that could be taken to avoid the defeat of the Government. At the general election that followed a few months later, Mr. Fisher was re-elected for the County of York, and later on, after the excitement had passed over, the Crown land official was re-instated.

The successful running of the railway from St. John to Shediac, and the opening of a portion of the St. Andrews railway from that port northward towards Woodstock, stimulated a desire for additional railway connection, particularly with Quebec and the United States. It may safely be said, that from the formation of the Liberal Government in 1854, to the time of Confederation, the principal policy of the Government was always a railway policy, and numberless communications were exchanged with the British Government, and the other Colonies which now form the Dominion of Canada, for the purpose of agreeing upon some common policy with the object of completing what is now known as the Intercolonial Railway. All previous applications to the Imperial Government for pecuniary aid to secure the construction of this railway having failed, the Governments of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick concluded, in 1861, to make one more effort before abandoning an undertaking of such national and Provincial interest, and to that end decided upon a meeting of representatives from the three Governments at Quebec. At a meeting held in the Executive Council Chamber at Quebec, on the 30th of September, 1861, there were present:

From New Brunswick: Hon. Mr. Tilley, Hon. Mr. Smith, Hon. Mr. Mitchell, Hon. Mr. Watters.

From Nova Scotia: Hon. Joseph Howe, Hon. Mr. Archibald, Hon. Mr. McCullv.

From Canada: Hon. Mr. Cartier, Hon. Mr. Macdonald, Hon. Mr. Ross, Hon. Mr. Vankoughnet, Hon. Mr. Alleyn, Hon. Mr. N. Velleau, Hon. Mr. Gait, Hon, Mr. Cauchon.

It was then unanimously Resolved, "That the three Governments of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia do renew the offers made to the Imperial Government on the 26th day of October, 1858, to aid in the construction of an Intercolonial Railway, to connect Halifax with Quebec; and that a delegation from each Province shall immediately proceed to England, with the object of pressing the project upon the attention of the Home Government; giving the assurance that the Governments of the respective Provinces, will endeavor to procure the necessary legislation at the next ensuing sessions of their respective Parliaments; and it was further Resolved, "That the route to be adopted be decided by the Imperial Government."

The following gentlemen were appointed delegates to confer with the Imperial Government upon the subject above referred to: Hon. P. M. Vankoughnet, by the Canadian Government; Hon. Joseph Howe, by the Government of Nova Scotia; and Hon. S. L. Tilley, by the Government of New Brunswick.

While the delegates were in England engaged in submitting their proposition to the Colonial Secretary, news of the Trent affair reached that country. This was the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, two representatives of the Southern Confederacy, on board the British mail steamer "Trent," in the Bahama Channel, in December, 1861, by Capt. Wilkes, who was in command of the United States war-ship " San Jacinto. " This flagrant violation of International law was disapproved by the Government of the United States, and Messrs. Mason and Slidell were given up to the British Government; but for a time it met with popular applause, and it seemed likely to lead to a war between Great Britain and the United States. Troops were sent out hastily to Canada for the purpose of defending that Province in the event of a war occurring, and as many of these troops had to be taken overland, through the wilderness between St. John and Quebec, it brought to the attention of the British Government, in a very emphatic manner, the imperfections of the existing means of communication between the several provinces. Such an object lesson, coming at such a time, was calculated to assist the delegates in placing their case before the British Government. They were able to show that the frontier of Canada was unprotected, and that a large hostile force might be thrown against it during the winter, long before any assistance could reach that Province from England.

The proposal which the delegates had to present to the British Government was to ask it to join the three provinces in a guarantee of four per cent upon £3,000,000, sterling, the assumed cost of the proposed railway, less the cost of the right of way, which the provinces were to provide. The three provinces agreed to pass bills of supply for £60,000 a year, if the Imperial Government did the same, the sum thus provided being to pay interest on the cost of the road. The Duke of Newcastle replied to this proposition, in a despatch which was dated the 12th of April, 1862, and declined to accede to the terms proposed. He professed, however, to he anxious to promote the building of the railway and said that the Imperial Government was willing to offer to the Provincial Government an Imperial guarantee of interest towards enabling them to raise, by public loan, the requisite funds for constructing the railway. The amount of the loan which the British Government would guarantee was not specified in the Duke of Newcastle's despatch, so that the whole affair was left in a very indefinite condition. Delegates representing the three provinces, met at Quebec in September, 1862, to consider the proposal of the Duke of Newcastle. New Brunswick was represented by Messrs. Tilley, Steeves, and Mitchell. Having discussed with the gentlemen present the immediate questions which had brought them together, the delegates from the Maritime Provinces declared their willingness to propose to their respective Governments to accept the proposition of the Duke of Newcastle, if the Government of Canada would bear one-half of the expense of the railway instead of one-third. After a day's deliberation, the Canadian Council communicated their ultimatum, which was an offer to assume five-twelfths of the liability of the construction and working of the Intercolonial Railway, provided the other two provinces would assume the remaining seven-twelfths. After serious and anxious deliberations, the delegates from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick decided to assume the responsibility. This agreement was embraced in a memorandum which was signed by the representatives of the three provinces, and it was agreed that a joint delegation should proceed to England with as little delay as possible, to arrange with the Imperial Government the terms of the loan, the nature of the security required and the amount to be paid for the transport of troops and mails. The delegation to England was composed of Honorables Howland and Scott for Canada: Hon. Joseph Howe for Nova Scotia: and the Hon. S. L. Tilley for New Brunswick. The departure of the Canadian delegates was delayed by a prolonged session of Parliament, but after their arrival in London, an early conference was arranged with Mr. Gladstone. The objections taken at this conference by the delegates, to the proposed terms were mainly to the Sinking Fund provisions. Mr. Gladstone desired that £3,000,000 should be set aside for this purpose, and that this was to be a first charge upon the revenues of the several Provinces. The delegates presented fully their objections to the Sinking Fund, and asked that their reasons as stated, should have the favorable consideration of the Imperial Government. This Mr. Gladstone promised a week later. In the meantime the Canadian delegates left for Paris. Before the week expired Mr. Gladstone sent his reply to the delegates. He held to his demand for a Sinking Fund, but explained that he did not wish the guarantee to take precedence of the then existing liabilities of the several Provinces. A copy of Mr. Gladstone's reply having been submitted to Mr. Howe and Mr. Tilley, then in London, and it being necessary for Mr. Tilley to return to New Brunswick at the earliest date possible, they prepared and submitted to the Duke of Newcastle a memorandum, in which they stated that they hoped Mr. Gladstone might be induced to reconsider the matter of the Sinking Fund and that the Cabinet might be able to convince Parliament that a Sinking Fund should not be insisted upon. But if it was Messrs. Howe and Tilley would not assume the responsibility of perilling or delaying this great enterprise by neglecting what the Chancellor of the Exchequer seemed to regard as an indispensable condition.

When the Canadian delegates received Mr. Gladstone's reply, they left England without any acceptance of the terms proposed, and without a formal rejection. Previous to the meeting of the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Tilley was requested to proceed to Quebec, and urge upon the Canadian Government the preparation of the necessary bills to carry out the agreement entered into for the construction of this great railway. Mr. Tilley reported to the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and to Mr. Howe, that the Government of Canada, for reasons stated by them, could not then undertake to have passed the legislation required, which they greatly regretted, but that they had not abandoned the arrangements or the construction of the railway, and would be willing to ask for a vote of money to cover their share of the cost of its survey. It was, therefore, a matter of great surprise and regret, to the friends of this international work in Canada and England, that the Government, during the session, declared that they had abandoned this important enterprise. The engagements entered into by the Governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were discharged to the letter by the passage of the necessary legislation, but no further steps were taken by the Government and Legislature of Canada, to secure the construction of this railway until the Confederation negotiations were commenced in 1864.

We now come down to an event of the greatest interest, and of such vast and widely reaching importance, that it overshadows almost every other in the history of the Province. The Confederation of the Canadian Provinces was, beyond all question the most notable movement that had been taken by any colony of the British Empire, since the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen colonies. It changed at once the whole character of the Colonial relation which had subsisted with the Mother Country, and substituted for a few weak and scattered colonies, a powerful Dominion, able to speak with a united voice, and stand as a helpmate 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 have been at the time, can now deny that it was timely and necessary, if the Colonies and the Mother Country were to preserve their connection with each other. It is safe to say, that if Confederation had not taken place in 1867, British interests on this continent would have suffered, and possibly some of the Colonies would now have been a part of the United States. The policy of separating the Colonies from England, which has been so much advocated by many leading public men in the great republic, would have found free scope, and by balancing the interests of one colony against those of another, promoting dissensions and favoring those Provinces which were disposed to a closer union with the United States, something might have been done to weaken their allegiance to the British Empire, a connection with which, is now the glory and the strength of the Dominion of Canada.

The question of the union of the several colonies of British North America 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 the Provinces, and indeed it was a question which it was quite natural to discuss, for it seemed but reasonable that colonies of the same origin, owning the same allegiance, filled with people who differed but little from each other in any respect, and with many commercial interests in common, should form a political union. No doubt it might have been brought earlier to the front as a vital political question, but for the fact that the British Government, which was most interested in promoting the union of the colonies, took no step towards that end, until almost compelled by necessity to move in the matter. The Colonial policy of England, as represented in the Colonial office and in the royal instructions to Colonial Governors, has seldom been wise or far-seeing, and the British Colonies which now girdle the world, have been built up mainly as a result of private enterprise; for the part taken by the Government has, in most cases, been merely a concurrence in what private individuals had already done, and to assist in protecting British interests when they have become important in the new regions of the world. When we consider the manner in which Cabinet appointments have been and are still arranged in England, this weakness, on the part of the Colonial office, need not surprise us. The English Prime Minister, in filling up his Cabinet, can give but little attention to the question of merit and fitness, as compared with availability on the score of influence and family connection. Until recently, the system of Government in England has been mainly aristocratic, and leading families, who were supposed to be able to lend political strength to the Cabinet, were able to force inefficient members upon it, thus making it an aggregation, not of talents, but, of money and titles. Until the year 1801, the business of the colonies was carried on at the Home office, but in that year it was transferred to the Secretary of State for War, and so continued until 1854, when the offices were divided, and Sir George Grey became first Secretary of State for the Colonies. Under such circumstances we need not feel any surprise that the business of the Colonies was done in a very imperfect fashion, and that very absurd notions prevailed, in regard to the manner in which they ought to be treated.

It has been seen that in the early years of New Brunswick's history the Government was largely controlled by the Lieutenant Governor, who received his commands from Downing Street, and who made things pleasant for himself by entering into alliance with leading families in the Province, among whom the offices were divided, and who enjoyed the distinction of being his advisers in all matters. The home authorities seemed to think, that if these families were pleased everything was well, and they claimed as a right, the distribution of offices and the control of legislation, in a manner which no Colonial Minister in his senses, would now dream of attempting to exercise. When the Earl of Durham was sent out as Governor General of Canada, after the rebellion there in 1838, he suggested in his repot t, that the union of the colonies of British North America was one of the remedies which ought to be resorted to for the pacification of Canada and the reconstruction of its constitution. Lord Durham, although of high descent and an earl of the United Kingdom, was a strong Liberal, and in fact a Radical in his political notions, and as a consequence incurred the hatred of all the aristocratic nobodies who formed British society, and who even to this day are ready to hiss a British Prime Minister of Liberal tendencies. Lord Durham was made the object of bitter attacks by the entire Tory body in England, and some actions of his, in which he seemed to have strained the constitution, were made a pretext for his dismissal from office and his disgrace. He died a brokenhearted man, but the principles which he enunciated in his report did not die, but survived, to find their full fruition a quarter of a century later, at a time when Toryism had less ability to injure, and when it had somewhat modified its views with regard to the Colonies.

While a large portion of the people of the colonies looked with favor upon the idea of a political union, there was in all of them a large body of objectors who were steadily opposed to it. People of that kind are to be found in all countries, and they have existed in all ages of the world's history. They are the persons who see, in every new movement, a thousand difficulties which cannot be surmounted. Their minds are constructed ori the principle of rejecting all new ideas, and hanging on to old forms and systems long after they have lost their vitality. They are a class who look back for precedents for any step of a political character which it is proposed to take, and who judge of everything, by the standard of some former age, and by the answer to the question whether such a thing has ever been heard of before or not. They seem to forget that precedents must be created some time or another, and that the nineteenth century had as good a right to create precedents as any of its predecessors. To these people every objection that could be urged against Confederation was exaggerated and magnified, and whenever any proposal was made which seemed to tend towards the union of the Colonies, their voices were heard upon the other side. We need not doubt the honesty or loyalty of these objectors, or consider that they were either unfavorable to British connection or to the building up of the Empire. It was merely their misfortune that, constitutionally, they were adverse to change, and could not see any merit in a political movement which involved the idea of novelty.

The principal advocate of Confederation in the Maritime Provinces, was Hon. Joseph Howe, a man of such ability and force of character that, on a wider stage, he might have risen to great eminence, and have been regarded as one of the world's mightiest statesmen. When we contrast the noble figure of Joseph Howe with some of the nobodies who have been thrust into high office in England, even into the Premiership, it is impossible to restrain a regret that so great a man, one so imperial in his instincts and views, should have been condemned to spend his whole life in a small Province, and to become so dwarfed by its party politics, as, for a time, to lose his character as a statesman and sink to the level of a mean politician looking for office, rather than for the good of his country. When the Confederation question came up for final discussion in the Maritime Provinces, Joseph Howe, who had awakened in these Provinces the desire for such a union, was found arrayed against it, and used all his eloquence and power to defeat the measure of which he had been himself the leading advocate, and which he had taught the people of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to consider essential to their well-being. No more striking instance than this can be recorded of the disastrous effect of small Provincial politics on the mind of a great man.

The question of the political union of the British North American Provinces was brought up in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia in 1854, and then, the leaders of both parties, Honorable Mr. Johnson for the Conservatives, and Honorable Mr. Howe for the Liberals, united in advocating the measure and in depicting the advantage which would accrue from it, not only to Nova Scotia, but to every British Province in North America. In 1858 the question of Confederation was brought up in the parliament of Canada, and such a union was made a part of the policy of the Government, for Mr. A. T. Gait, on becoming a member of the administration, insisted upon it being made a Cabinet question, and Sir Edmund Head, the Governor-General, in his speech at the close of the session, intimated that his Government would take action in the matter during the recess. Messrs. Cartier, Gait and Ross, who were in England, representing the Government of Canada, waited upon the Colonial Secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, asking the authority of the Imperial Government for a meeting of representatives from each of the colonies to take the question of union into consideration, but met with a rebuff, which no doubt was the result of a conference with the other members of the Government on the subject. The Earl of Derby, who soon afterwards became Prime Minister, and his Government, had no inclination at that time to enter into so vast a question as the Union of the British North American Colonies. The Colonial Secretary informed the Canadian delegates that the question of Confederation was necessarily one of an Imperial character, and declined to authorize the meeting, because no expression of sentiment on the subject had been received from any of the Maritime Provinces except Nova Scotia. The Earl of Derby's Government fell a few months after this declaration of its policy in regard to the Colonies, and was succeeded by the Government of Lord Palmerston, which was in office at the time when the negotiations, which resulted in the Confederation of the Colonies, were commenced. At first Lord Palmerston's Government seemed to have been no more favorable to the union of the colonies than its predecessor; for in 1862, the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secretary, in a despatch to the Governor General of Canada, after stating that Her Majesty's Government was not prepared to announce any definite policy on the question of Confederation, added that "If a union, either partial or complete, should hereafter be proposed, with the concurrence of all the Provinces to be united, I am sure that the matter would be weighed in this country both by the public, by Parliament an 1 by Her Majesty's Government, with no other feeling than an anxiety to discern and promote any course which might be the most conducive to the prosperity, strength, and harmony of all the British communities of North America." It must always be a subject of astonishment that the British Government, for so many years, should have had no definite policy on a matter so momentous, and that they should have sought to discourage, rather than promote, a project which has been of such vast importance to the Empire as a consolidating force, not only by the manner in which Canada itself has been made to serve Imperial needs, but also for the example which it showed to other colonies, of the way in which they could preserve their connection with the Mother Country, and, at the same time, enjoy freedom of action in the administration of their affairs, while acquiring that consideration and respect which is due to strength and unity.

The first impulse in favor of Confederation in the minds of the members of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet, seems to have developed about the time when it became evident that the result of the civil war in the United States would be the defeat of the Southern Confederacy and the consolidation of the power of the great republic in a more effectual union than that which had existed before. No one who was not blind could fail to see that this change of attitude on the part of the United States, would demand a corresponding change in the relation of the British Colonies towards each other. From being a mere federation of States, so loosely connected that secession was frequently threatened by States both north and south, the United States, as the result of the war, had become a nation with a strong central government, which had taken to itself powers never contemplated by the constitution and which added immensely to its offensive and defensive strength. In Thomas D'Arcv McGee, a member of the Canadian Cabinet and a man of great eloquence and ability, visited St. John and delivered a lecture in the Mechanic's Institute hall on the subject of the union of the colonies. His lecture was fully reported in the "Morning News," a paper then published in that city, and attracted a] wide degree of attention, because it opened up a new subject of interest for the contemplation of the people of the Provinces. Shortly afterwards a series of articles on the same subject, written by the author of this book, appeared in the columns of the "Morning News," and were widely read and quoted. These articles followed closely the lines laid down for the union of the colonies by the late Peter S. Hamilton, of Halifax, a writer of ability, whose articles on the subject were collected in pamphlet form and extensively circulated. Thus, in many ways, the public mind was being educated on the question of Confederation, and the doctrine that the union of the British North American colonies was desirable, was generally accepted by persons who gave any attention to the subject. It was only when the matter came up in a practical form, and as a distinct proposition to be carried into effect, that the violent opposition, which afterwards developed itself against Confederation, began to be shown.

The failure of the negotiation for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway had convinced the people of New Brunswick that there was nothing to be hoped for at that time, in regard to the completion of that great work. Their minds, therefore, were naturally turned towards obtaining .railway connection with the United" States, and completing the original scheme of the European and North American Railway, which was designed to run from Halifax to Bangor by way of St. John, and there connect with the railway system of the United States. The Government of Nova Scotia had already constructed, as a part of that work, the line from Halifax to Truro, while the Government of New Brunswick had built the line from Shediac to St. John, but the portion between Moncton and

Truro, which was necessary to connect with Halifax, aud the portion between St. John and Bangor, which was necessary to connect with the United States, still remained unbuilt, and indeed no step had been taken towards its construction. In St. John a demand arose for the construction of the railway to the Maine border as a Government work, it being understood that the line from Bangor to the New Brunswick boundary, " would be built, if our people would meet the Maine people on the border. " A numerously signed petition was sent up to the Government on the subject at the session" of 1864, and such a strong pressure was brought to boar upon the administration that it was clear, that something had to be done to assuage the threatened storm, and to give the people of the Province such railway facilities as they demanded. It was clearly impossible for the Government to comply with the request of the St. John people and their representatives, unless something was done also to aid railway construction in other parts of the Province. There always has been in New Brunswick a very considerable amount of sectional jealousy on such subjects, and it was not to be supposed that the people of the North Shore and up river counties, would view with complacency the proposal to expend a very large sum of money in building the railway to the Maine boundary, while nothing was being done to enable them to obtain railway facilities. Under these circumstances the Government resolved upon the introduction of a Railway Facility Act, giving a bonus of $ 10,000 a mile for the construction of certain railways. The lines embraced in this Act, were a line from St. John to the Maine border, with a branch to Fredericton; a line from St. Stephen to the St. Andrews line, and from the terminus of that line to Woodstock; a line from some point between Moncton and Shediac, to the Nova Scotia boundary ; a line from some point of the European and North American Railway to Hillsboro and Hopewell; and a line from Moncton north, to the Miramichi.

This bill, when it made its appearance in the House of Assembly, was considered by the opposition to be a very absurd measure, and some of the wits of that side of the House, named it the " Lobster Act, " because its provisions seemed to extend to all parts of the Province, like the claws of a lobster. But the result has amply justified the wisdom of the men by whom the Act was framed and carried in the Legislature. The persons who predicted that no railway would ever be built under it, found that they had greatly mistaken the temper and enterprise of our people; because, no sooner was it passed, than measures were taken to render it operative. Under this act, in the course of a few years, the line was built to the Maine border with a branch to Fredericton; the connection with Woodstock and St. Andrews was completed; a line from Painsec Junction to Sackville was constructed ; and also a line into Albert County. In fact, all the lines contemplated by this act, have since been built, either under its terms, or in other ways which rendered the facilities it gave unnecessary.

At the same session of the Legislature, a highly important subject was taken up, which aided very materially in the movement which afterwards culminated in the Confederation of the British North American Colonies. Resolutions were passed authorizing the Government to enter into negotiations and hold a convention for the purpose of effecting a union of the Maritime Provinces. Similar resolutions were carried in the Legislatures of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and the convention thus authorized, was appointed to meet at Charlottetown, in the latter Province, in the month of September following. This movement for Maritime Union arose as the result of negotiations which had been going on for some time, between the Governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Previous to the year 1861 a number of factories of various kinds had been established in the Maritime Provinces, but the limited market they then enjoyed prevented their extension and crippled their operations. To remedy this, Mr. Tilley, with the approval of his colleagues in the Government,, visited Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and proposed to the Governments of both Provinces the free exchange of the manufactures of the three Provinces, free admission of their natural products and a uniform tariff on dutiable goods. In Halifax, he had a lengthy and satisfactory conference with Mr. Howe, the then leader of the Government, and with Dr. Tupper, the leader of the opposition. Both gentlemen agreed that the proposed arrangements would be in the interests of the three Provinces, and Mr. Howe agreed on legislative action at the next session. Mr. Tilley then proceeded to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. At the conference held with the Government there, his proposal was not so favorably entertained, the objection being that the then tariff of Prince Edward Island was lower than the tariff of either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, and sufficient for the financial wants of the Island, and that the necessary advance would be imposing taxation beyond their requirements. Notwithstanding the failure to secure the co-operation of the Island Government, it was decided that the joint action of the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Legislatures in the direction named, was desirable. When the Nova Scotia Legislature met and the public accounts were prepared, it was found that a reduction of tariff was not practicable, and Mr. Howe informed Mr. Tilley that the scheme would have to be postponed, though in other respects desirable. One of the objects of the conference later on, to consider the union of the Maritime Provinces, was the securing of the trade arrangements proposed by the conference referred to. The step taken in 1861 led up to the larger questions presented in 1864.

Another event occurred in the summer of 1864, which had its effect on the question of Confederation. Up to that time the people of Canada and New Brunswick had been almost wholly unknown to each other, because the difficulties of travelling between the two Provinces were so great. Any person who desired to reach Montreal at that time from St. John, had to take the International steamer to Portland, and was then carried by the Grand Trunk Railway to his destination. Quebec could be reached in summer, by a steamer from Pictou, which called at Shediac, but in winter the journey had to be made by the Grand Trunk Railway from Portland, the only alternative route being the road by which the mails were carried, from Edmundston north to the St. Lawrence. Under these circumstances the people of the Canadian Provinces and New Brunswick had but few opportunities of seeing each other, and the people of these Provinces knew much more of their neighbors in the United States, than they did of their fellow colonists. One result of Hon. D'Arcy McGee's visit in 1863, was an invitation by the city of St. John to the Legislature of Canada, to visit the Maritime Provinces. The invitation was accepted, and a party of about one hundred, comprising a number of the members of the Legislature, newspaper men and others, visited St. John in the beginning of August, 1864. Their trip was extended to Fredericton, where they 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 Nova Scotia. This visit produced a good effect upon the public mind, and enabled our people to see what kind of men their fellow colonists of Upper and Lower Canada were.

In the meantime a great crisis had arisen in the Government of Canada, which was the immediate cause of the active part which that Province took in the Confederation movement. When Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841, it was arranged that the representation of each Province in the United Legislature should be equal. The arrangement at that time was favorable to Upper Canada, which had a smaller population than Lower Canada, but in the course of time, as the population of Upper Canada increased faster than that of the Lower Province, the people of Upper Canada felt that they had much less representation than they were fairly entitled to, and this led to the cry for "Representation by Population," which was so often heard in that Province prior to the era of Confederation. In 1864, Upper Canada had held a million more people than Lower Canada, and yet was only entitled to the same number of members in the Legislature. Another serious difficulty, which arose out of the Act of Union, was the necessity of the Government having a majority in the Legislature of each Province. This, in time grew to be so flagrant an evil that the successful Government in one Province might at any time be disturbed by some local feeling of jealousy, and as a consequence the Government overthrown. To trace the history of the difficulties which arose from this cause would be to recite twenty years of the history of Canada, but it is only necessary to point out thus plainly, the reasons for the willingness of the people of Upper and Lower Canada to resort to Confederation as a means of getting rid of their embarassments. In 1863, the Hon. John Sanfield McDonald was leader of the Government, but he was compelled to resign when Parliament met in the early part of 1864, and in March of that year, a new administration under the Premiership of Sir E. P. Tache was formed. This new Government developed very little strength and was threatened with defeat. On the 14th of June, the Tache Government was defeated by a vote of 60 to 58, on a question relative to some transaction connected with the bonds of the city of Montreal. A deadlock had come and, as it was evident that no new Government which could be formed, was likely to command sufficient support, it became a necessity to make some new arrangements in regard to the system of administration. Immediately after the defeat of the Government, Mr. George Brown, leader of the opposition, spoke to several supporters of the administration, strongly urging that the present time should be utilized for the purpose of settling, forever, the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada, and assuring them that he was prepared to co-operate with the existing or any other administration that would deal with the question promptly and firmly, with a view to its final settlement. Messrs. Morris and Pope, to whom he spoke, asked and obtained leave to communicate this conversation to Mr. John A. Macdonald, the Attorney General, and Mr. Gait. Messrs. Brown. Macdonald, and Gait, met on June, 17th at the St. Louis Hotel, and discussed the situation. Mr. Brown stated that nothing but the extreme urgency of the crisis and the hope of settling the sectional difficulties of the Province would, in his opinion, justify him in meeting with the members of the Government, with a view to common political action. He was informed by Messrs. Gait and Macdonald, that they were charged by their colleagues, formally to invite his aid in strengthening the administration with a view to the settlement of those difficulties. Mr. Macdonald desired Mr. Brown to enter the Cabinet, and the result of a considerable amount of negotiation, was a pledge on the part of the Government to bring in a measure at the following session, for the purpose of removing existing difficulties by introducing the Federal principle into Canada, coupled with such provisions as would permit the Maritime Provinces and the North West Territory, to be incorporated into the same system of Government. On this pledge being given, Messrs. Brown, Mowatt, and McDougal, all prominent reformers, entered the Cabinet. Thus a coalition was formed between the leaders of the Reform and Conservative parties, for the purpose of carrying a measure for the Confederation of the British Provinces of North America. It is easy to see from the tenor of the negotiations, that nothing short of the emergency which had arisen in Canada, could have induced the leaders of the Reform party there to join with Conservatives in this movement, nor is it likely that the latter would have troubled themselves about the matter, had they not been influenced by the same motive. The necessities of Canada, in a political sense, alone brought about the existence of the present great Dominion which stretches from ocean to ocean.

The delegates appointed by the Government of New Brunswick for the purpose of representing this Province at Charlottetown, in the convention for a union of the Maritime Provinces, were the Honorable Messrs. Tilley, Steeves, Johnson, Chandler and Gray. The first three were members of the Government, while Messrs. Gray and Chandler were leading members of the opposition, so that the arrangement had the assent of the leaders of both political parties, and was in no sense a party movement. The Nova Scotia delegation consisted of Honorable Charles Tupper, the leader of the Government, the Attorney-General, Mr. Henry, and Mr. Dickey, a Conservative supporter, and also the Honorable Adam G. Archibald and Jonathan McCulley, leaders of the Liberal party. The Prince Edward Island delegates were also chosen from both sides of politics. The convention was opened in due format Charlottetown, on September 8th, in the chamber of the House of Assembly. The delegations had no power to decide finally on any subject, because any arrangements they made were necessarily subject to the approval of the Legislatures of the three Maritime Provinces. But at this time the sentiment in favor of Maritime union was so strong, it was confidently believed that whatever was agreed upon at Charlottetown, would become the basis of a future union.