Wilmot and Tilley

by James Hannay

DIFFICULT QUESTIONS

In all the proceedings at Quebec, Mr. Tilley, as the finance minister of New Brunswick, took a very prominent part. One great difficulty which arose was with respect to the amount of money to be given by the federal government to the several provinces for legislative purposes, in lieu of the revenue which they had been accustomed to obtain from customs duties and otherwise. The whole customs establishment was to be transferred to the central government, and as most of the provinces would have no other means of obtaining a revenue except by direct taxation, this feature of the matter became of very vital importance. The difficulty was increased by the fact that by the municipal system prevailing in Upper Canada the local needs of the municipalities, in the way of roads, bridges, schools and other matters, were provided for by local taxation, whereas in the Maritime Provinces the provincial government had been accustomed to bear these burdens. It was therefore an essential requisite to any scheme of union, to make it acceptable to the people of the Maritime Provinces, that sufficient money should be given to the provincial governments to enable them to continue these services as before. It was difficult to convince the representatives of Upper Canada of this, and it appears that the conference nearly broke up without arriving at any result, simply because of the apparently irreconcilable differences of opinion between the representatives of the Maritime Provinces and those of Canada in regard to this point. Finally these differences were overcome, and the conclusions of the conference were embodied in a series of seventy-two resolutions, which were agreed to, and which were to be authenticated by the signatures of the delegates, and transmitted to their respective governments, and also to the governor-general, for the secretary of state for the colonies. These resolutions formed the first basis of confederation and became what is known as the Quebec scheme.

It was perhaps inevitable that during the discussion of the scheme of confederation by the Quebec convention, the proceedings should be secret, but this restriction should have been removed as soon as the convention adjourned. That this was not done was the principal reason for the very unfavourable reception which the Quebec scheme met with from the people of New Brunswick, when it was placed before them. It was agreed at the Quebec conference that the scheme should not be made public until after the delegates had reported to their respective governments for their approval, but it was impossible that a document, the terms of which were known to so many men, should be kept wholly concealed from the public, and so the details of the scheme leaked out and soon became a topic for public discussion. These discussions would have been conducted in a much more friendly spirit if the Quebec scheme had been given freely to the world, but as it was, prejudices and jealousies, in many cases, darkened the question, and made men, who were otherwise favourable to confederation, assume an attitude of hostility to the Quebec scheme.

SUBVENTIONS TO THE PROVINCES

One of the points which at once attracted the attention of the opponents of the scheme was the sum allowed to the several provinces for the purpose of conducting their local affairs. As the provinces had to surrender to the general government their right to levy customs and excise duties, it became necessary to make up in some way a sum sufficient to enable them to carry on those services which were still left to the provincial legislatures. It was arranged that this sum should be eighty cents a head of the population of the provinces as established by the census of 1861, which would give to New Brunswick something more than two hundred thousand dollars. This feature of the confederation scheme was eagerly seized upon as being a convenient club with which to strike it down. The cry was at once raised that the people of New Brunswick were asked to sell themselves to Canada for the sum of eighty cents a head, and this parrot-like cry was repeated with variations throughout the whole of the election campaign which followed in New Brunswick. It has often been found that a cry of this kind, which is absolutely meaningless, is more effective than the most weighty arguments, for the purpose of influencing men's minds, and this proved to be the case in New Brunswick, when the question of confederation was placed before the people. It was conveniently forgotten by those who attacked the scheme in this fashion that, if the people of New Brunswick were selling themselves to Canada for the sum of eighty cents a head, the people of Canada were likewise selling themselves to New Brunswick for the same sum, because the amount set apart for the provincial legislatures was precisely the same in each case. It would not, however, have suited the enemies of the confederation scheme to view the matter in this light; what was wanted was a cry which would be effective for the purpose of injuring the scheme and making it distasteful to the people who were asked to vote upon it.

OPPONENTS OF CONFEDERATION

It is not necessary to assume that those who opposed confederation were all influenced by sinister motives. Many honest and good men, whose attachment to British institutions could not be questioned, were opposed to it because their minds were of a conservative turn, and because they looked with distrust upon such a radical change that would alter the relations which existed between the province and the mother country. Many, for reasons which it is not easy to understand, were distrustful of the politicians of Canada, whom they looked upon as of less sterling honesty than their own, and some actually professed to believe that the Canadians expected to make up their financial deficits by drawing on the many resources of the Maritime Provinces through the confederation scheme. On the other hand confederation was opposed in the province of New Brunswick by a number of men who could only be described as adventurers, or discredited politicians, and who saw in this contest a convenient way of restoring themselves to influence and power. There were also among the opponents of the scheme some men who recognized in its success the means of perpetuating British power on this continent, and who, being annexationists, naturally looked with aversion upon it for that reason. The vast majority of the people, however, had given the matter but the slightest degree of attention, and their votes were cast in accordance with prejudice hastily formed, which they had an opportunity 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 the scheme before the people should be made in New Brunswick, the legislature of which was about expiring, and accordingly the appeal was made 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 the province, and they left no stone unturned to defeat the measure. The great cry upon which they based their opposition to the union with Canada was that of taxation, and, as the voters of New Brunswick were not inclined to favour any policy which involved high taxation, the appeals made in this way had a powerful effect. All through the rural constituencies the Opposition candidates told the electors that if they united themselves with Canada direct taxation would be the immediate result. They said that every cow, every horse, and every sheep which they owned would be taxed, and that even their poultry would not escape the 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, whose large means made him an acceptable addition to the strength of the anti-confederate party, although previously he had taken no active part in 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 the bar, and who carried the methods of the bar largely into his politics. In the course of time he became attorney-general of the province, and later on a judge of the supreme court. Mr. Wetmore, when haranguing St. John audiences, used to depict the dreadful effects of confederation in a manner peculiarly his own. His great plea was an imaginary dialogue between himself and his little son, that precocious infant asking him in lisping tones, "Father, what country do we live in?" to which he would reply, "My dear son, you have no country, for Mr. Tilley has sold us to the 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 and Joseph Coram. Mr. Cudlip was a merchant, who at one time enjoyed much popularity in the city of St. John. Mr. Anglin was a clever Irishman, a native of the county of Cork, who had lived several years in St. John and edited a newspaper called the Freeman, which enjoyed a great popularity among his co-religionists. He was admitted to be the leader of the Irish Catholics of St. John, and had acquired an ascendency over them which was not easily shaken; yet he was not, as a politician, a great success, nor did his efforts to improve the condition of his countrymen always lead to satisfactory results. The Hon. R. D. Wilmot had been a prominent Conservative politician, but was defeated, and had retired to his farm at Belmont. For some years he had been devoting his abilities to stock-raising; but at the first note of alarm on the confederation question he abandoned his agricultural pursuits and rushed into the field to take part in the contest. Mr. Joseph Coram was a leading Orangeman, and a highly respected citizen.