The new government had not been long in existence before rumours of dissensions in its ranks became very common. Mr. Wilmot made no secret to his friends of his dissatisfaction, and it was understood that other members found their position equally unpleasant. An element of difficulty was early introduced by the resignation of the chief-justice, Sir James Carter, who, in September, 1865, found it necessary, in consequence of failing health, to retire from the bench, rendering it immediately necessary for the government to fill his place. The Hon. Albert J. Smith, the leader of the government, had he chosen, might have then taken the vacant position, but he did not desire to retire from political life at that time, and the Hon. John C. Allen, his attorney-general, was appointed to the bench as a puisne judge, while the Hon. Robert Parker was made chief-justice. The latter, however, had but few weeks to enjoy his new position, dying in November of the same year, and leaving another vacancy on the bench to be filled. Again, as before, 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 former legislatures, and was at one time Speaker, was appointed to the puisne judgeship, and the Hon. William J. Ritchie was made chief-justice. The entire fitness of the latter for the position of chief-justice made his appointment 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 the latter, thought the senior judge should have received the appointment of chief-justice. His disappointment at the office being given to another caused a very bad feeling on his part towards the government, and he would have resigned his seat forthwith but for the persuasions of some of those who were not friends of the government, who intimated to him that he could do them a great deal more damage by retaining his seat, and resigning at the proper time than by abandoning the government at that moment. Mr. Wilmot remained in the government until January, 1866, but although of their number, his heart was estranged from them, and he may properly be regarded as an enemy in their camp.

CONFEDERATION VICTORY IN YORK

Mr. Anglin also had some difference with his colleagues with regard to railway matters, and he resigned his seat early in November, 1865; still he gave a general support to the government, although no longer in its councils. But the most severe blow which the administration received arose from the election in the county of York, which followed the seating of the Hon. John C. Allen on the bench. The confederation party had been so badly beaten in York at the general election that no doubt was felt by the government that any candidate they might select would be chosen by a very large majority. The candidate selected by the government to contest York was Mr. John Pickard, a highly respectable gentleman, who was engaged in lumbering, and who was extremely popular in that county, in consequence of his friendly relations with all classes of the community and the amiability of his disposition. The Hon. Charles Fisher was brought forward by the confederation party as their candidate in York, although the hope of defeating Mr. Pickard seemed to be desperate, for at the previous election Mr. Fisher had received only 1,226 votes against 1,799 obtained by Mr. Needham, who stood lowest on the poll among the persons elected for York. Mr. Fisher by his efforts in the York campaign, which resulted in his election, struck a blow at the anti-confederate government from which it never recovered. His election was the first dawn of light and hope to the friends of confederation in New Brunswick, for it showed clearly enough that whenever the people of the province were given another opportunity of expressing their opinion on the question of confederation, their verdict would be a very different one from that which they had given at the general election. Mr. Fisher beat Mr. Pickard by seven hundred and ten votes, receiving seven hundred and one votes more than at the general election, while Mr. Pickard's vote fell five hundred and seventy-two below 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 New Brunswick, when the question was first placed before the people, was the active hostility of the lieutenant-governor, Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, a son of that Earl of Aberdeen who was prime minister of England at the outbreak of the Crimean War. Mr. Gordon had been a strong advocate of maritime union and had anticipated that he would be the first governor of the united province of Acadia, or by whatever name the maritime union was to be known. He was therefore greatly disappointed and annoyed when the visit of the Canadians to Charlottetown, in September, 1864, put an end to the conference which had met for the purpose of arranging the terms of a union of that character. While a governor cannot take a very active part in political matters, he may stimulate others to hostility or to a certain course of action, who, under other circumstances, would be neutral or inactive, and there is reason to believe that some of the men who were most prominent in opposing confederation at the general election of 1865 were mainly influenced by the views of the lieutenant-governor. Confederation, however, had been approved by the British government, after the terms arranged at Quebec had been submitted to it in a despatch from the governor-general; and those officials in New Brunswick and elsewhere, who expected to find support in Downing Street in their hostility to confederation, were destined to be greatly disappointed. Not long after the new government was formed in New Brunswick, Mr. Gordon returned to England, and it was generally believed that he was sent for by the home authorities. Instead of being favourably received on the ground of his opposition to confederation, he is said to have been compelled to submit to a stern reproof for his anti-constitutional meddling in a matter which did not concern him, and to have been given decidedly to understand that if he returned to New Brunswick, to fill out the remainder of his term of office, it must be as one pledged to assist in carrying out confederation and not to oppose it. When Mr. Gordon returned he was an entirely changed man, and whatever influence he was able to exert from that time forward was used in favour of confederation.

FENIAN THREATS

Another cause which made confederation more acceptable to the people of the province arose from the threats of the Fenians to invade Canada, which were made during the year 1865, and which were followed by armed invasions during the following year. Although there was no good reason for believing that the opponents of confederation were less loyal than its supporters or less inclined to favour British connection, it was remarked that all the enemies of British connection seemed to have got into the anti-confederate camp. The Fenian movement had its origin in the troubles in Ireland arising out of oppressive land laws and other local causes, and it soon extended to America, where the politicians found it useful as a means of increasing their strength among the Irish people. At that time, there were in the United States many hundreds of thousands of men who had been disbanded from the army at the close of the Civil War, and who were only too ready to embrace any new opportunity of winning for themselves fame and rank on other fields of glory. Among these disbanded soldiers were many Irishmen, and it soon came to be known that bands of men could be collected in the United States for the invasion of this country, with the avowed object of driving the British flag from the American continent and substituting the stars and stripes. It was impossible that the people of Canada could view without emotion these preparations for their undoing, and in New Brunswick, especially, which was the first province to be threatened, the Fenian movement materially assisted in deciding the manner in which the people should vote on this great question of confederation when it came to be submitted to them a second time.

The House of Assembly met on March 8th, 1866, and the speech from the throne, delivered by the lieutenant-governor, contained the following paragraph: "I have received Her Majesty's commands to communicate to you a correspondence on the affairs of British North America, which has taken place between Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonies and the governor-general of Canada; and I am further directed to express to you the strong and deliberate opinion of Her Majesty's government that it is an object much to be desired that all the British North American colonies should agree to unite in one government. These papers will immediately be laid before you." This paragraph was not inserted in the speech without considerable pressure on the part of the lieutenant-governor, and it excited a great deal of comment at the time, because it seemed to endorse the principle of confederation, although emanating from a government which had been placed in power as the result of an election in which confederation had been condemned. When this portion of the speech was read by the lieutenant-governor, in the legislative council chamber, the crowd outside the bar gave a hearty cheer,—a circumstance which never occurred before in the province of New Brunswick, and perhaps not in any other British colony.