The general elections to decide whether or not New Brunswick was willing to become confederated with Canada, were held in May and June. The first election was that for the county of Northumberland on May 25th, and the result 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 election was held on May 26th, Messrs. Connell and Lindsay being elected by a vote of more than two to one over their anti-confederate opponents. The third election was in Albert County on the 29th, and there Messrs. McClelan and Lewis, the two candidates in favour of confederation, were triumphantly returned. On May 31st, elections were held in Restigouche and Sunbury, and, in these counties, the candidates in favour of confederation were returned by large majorities. The York election came next. In that county, the anti-confederates had placed a full ticket in the field, the candidates being Messrs. Hatheway, Fraser, Needham and Brown. Mr. Fisher had with him on the ticket, Dr. Dow and Messrs. Thompson and John A. Beckwith. Every person expected a vigorous contest in York, notwithstanding the victory of Mr. Fisher over Mr. Pickard a few months before. But, to the amazement of the anti-confederates in other parts of the province, the Hon. George L. Hatheway and Dr. Brown retired after nomination day and left Messrs. Fraser and Needham to do battle alone. Mr. Hatheway's retirement at this time was a deathblow to the hopes of the anti-confederates all over New Brunswick, affecting not only the result in the county of York, but in every other county in which an election was to be held. A few nights before his resignation, Mr. Hatheway had been in St. John addressing a packed meeting of anti-confederates in the hall of the Mechanics' Institute, and he had spoken on that occasion with apparent confidence. When his friends in St. John, who had been so much moved by his vigorous eloquence, learned that he had deserted them, their indignation was extreme, and they felt that matters must indeed be in a bad way when he did not dare to face the York electors.
The election in the county of St. John was held on June 6th, and that in the city, on the seventh. For the county, the confederate candidates were 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, having a majority of six hundred over Mr. Coram, who stood highest among the defeated candidates. The election for the city was an equally emphatic declaration in favour of confederation. The candidates were the Hon. S. L. Tilley and A. R. Wetmore on the confederate side, and J. V. Troop and S. R. Thompson opposed to confederation. Mr. Tilley's majority over Mr. Troop, who stood highest on the poll of the two defeated candidates, was seven hundred and twenty-six. The only counties which the anti-confederate party succeeded in carrying were Westmorland, Gloucester and Kent,—three counties in which the French vote was very large,—so that of the forty-one members returned, only eight were opponents of confederation. The victory was as complete as that which had 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 due to the efforts of the Hon. Mr. Tilley. That gentleman, as soon as the defeat of confederation took place in March, 1865, had commenced a campaign for the purpose of educating the people on the subject. Being free from his official duties and having plenty of time on his hands, he was able to devote himself to the work of explaining the advantages of the proposed union to the people of the province; and during the years 1865 and 1866, he spoke in almost every county on the subject which was so near to his heart. He had embraced confederation with a sincere desire for the benefit of his native province, and with the belief that it would be of the greatest advantage to New Brunswick. If the fruits of confederation have not yet all been realized, that has been due rather to circumstances over which neither Mr. Tilley nor any one else had any control, than to any inherent vice of confederation itself. If union is strength, then it must be admitted that the union of the British North American provinces, which consolidated them into a powerful whole, was a good thing; and there cannot be a doubt that if the provinces had remained separate from each other, their present position 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 the Intercolonial Railway from St. John and Halifax to Quebec. It was thought that there could be no real union between the several colonies of British North America unless a good means of communication existed, and such a means was to be obtained only through the construction of this line of railway. The Intercolonial Railway, as we have seen, had been a part of the policy of successive governments in the province for many years, and it became an essential part of the scheme of confederation. When confederation was accepted by the people of New Brunswick in 1866, the Intercolonial Railway had yet to be built. Western Extension, as the line to the Maine border was called, had only been commenced; Eastern Extension, from the Shediac line towards Halifax, was in the same condition; in fact, the total mileage of the railways in New Brunswick did not exceed two hundred miles, and these lines were isolated and formed no part of any complete system. New Brunswick now has three separate lines of railway leading to Quebec and Montreal; it is connected with the great railway systems of the continent; there is no county in the province which has not a line of railway traversing it; and the mileage has risen from less than two hundred to more than fourteen hundred.
Mr. Tilley realized that the time had come when the communities which form the British provinces of North America must either become politically connected or else fall, one by one, beneath the influence of the United States. After confederation had been brought about between Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, enough was seen in the conduct of American statesmen towards Prince Edward Island to show that their design was to try to create a separate interest in this colony apart from the general interest of Canada. The acceptance of the scheme of confederation by Prince Edward Island, at a comparatively early period, put an end to the plots in that quarter; but in the case of Newfoundland the same thing has been repeated, and an attempt was made by American statesmen to cause the people of that island to believe that their interests and those of Canada are not identical, and that they would be specially favoured by the United States if they held aloof from the great Dominion. The attitude of the people and congress of the United States towards Canada has not been marked, for the most part, by any great friendliness. They saw in confederation an arrangement that was likely to prevent this country from ever becoming absorbed by their own, and they believed that by creating difficulties for us with respect to the tariff and other matters, and limiting the area of our commercial relations, they could put such pressure upon Canada as would compel our people to unite with them. This scheme has failed because it was based on a misconception of the spirit of our people; but who will say that it would not have succeeded if the several provinces which now form the confederation had been disunited and inharmonious in their relations and had pursued different lines of policy?
HIS SPEECHES