For some time the principal advocate of confederation in the Maritime Provinces was the Hon. Joseph Howe, a man of such ability and force of character that on a wider stage he might have risen to eminence, and ranked amongst the world's great statesmen.[10] It is impossible indeed not to regret that so great a man, one so imperial in his instincts and views, should have been condemned to spend his life within the bounds of one small province.

ATTITUDE OF COLONIAL OFFICE

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, the Hon. Mr. Johnson for the Conservatives, and the Hon. 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 discussed in the parliament of Canada, and such a union was made a part of the policy of the government; for Mr. A. T. Galt, on becoming a member of the administration, insisted upon its 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, Galt, 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. The colonial secretary informed the Canadian delegates, no doubt after consultation with his colleagues, 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 as yet 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 seems to have been no more favourable 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 and 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 otherwise, a project which has been of such vast importance to the empire.

The first impulse in favour 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 relations of the British colonies towards each other; for 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.

A MISSIONARY OF UNION

In 1863, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a member of the Canadian cabinet and a man of great eloquence and ability, visited St. John and delivered a lecture in the Mechanics' 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 wide attention because it opened up a subject of the highest 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 various ways the public mind was being educated on the question of confederation, and the opinion that the union of the British North American colonies was desirable was generally accepted by all 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 was afterwards developed against confederation began to be shown.

An 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, Me., and was then carried by the Grand Trunk Railway to his destination. Quebec could be reached in summer by the 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 Edmunston north to the St. Lawrence. Under these circumstances the people of the Canadian provinces and of the Maritime Provinces had but few opportunities of seeing each other, and the people of all the provinces knew much more of their neighbours in the United States than they did of their fellow-colonists. One result of the 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 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 the Maritime people to see what kind of men their fellow-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 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 legislature should be equal. The arrangement at that time was favourable 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 less representation than they were entitled to, and this state of affairs led to the raising of the cry of "Representation by Population" which was so often heard in that province prior to the era of confederation. In 1864 Upper Canada had half 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 union, was the necessity, which not long afterwards began to be recognized, of the government having a majority in the legislature from each section of the province. This, in time, grew to be so great an evil that the successful government of Canada became almost impossible, for the majority for the government in one province might at any time be disturbed by some local feeling, 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 embarrassments.

MACDONALD-BROWN COALITION