Canada and the States

by Sir E. W. Watkin

In the interval between this and my last visit, Lord Monck had been appointed Governor-General in place of Sir Edmund Head, retiring. In talking with the Duke about this appointment, he said, "I offered the position to five men previously, and they refused it." I replied, "Did your Grace offer it to Lord Lawrence, now at home?" The Duke put down his pen, turned from one side of his chair to the other, looked down and looked up, and at last said, "Upon my honour, I never thought of that. What a good appointment it would have been!" Be that as it may, Lord Monck made an excellent Governor in very difficult times. Canada, and the great cause of Confederation, owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

I found unexpected difficulties about Grand Trunk affairs. The Government were afraid of their own shadows. Instead of bringing in the Grand Trunk Relief Bill as a Government measure, as we had expected, they, in spite of remonstrance from Mr. Gait, confided it to a private member, and such was the, unexplained, opposition that I verily believe had the Cartier-Macdonald Government remained in power the Bill, though entirely in the nature of a private Bill, affecting the public in every sense of indirect advantage, would have been thrown out. The newspapers throughout the two Provinces, with half-a dozen honorable exceptions, were vile and vicious, as trans-Atlantic newspapers especially can be. I was full of unexpected anxiety. The Government tactics were Fabian; and on the 5th April they decided to adjourn the House to the 23rd. So I went home in the "China" from New York on the 9th April with my son; saw the Duke of Newcastle, discussed the situation; saw the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1862 on the 1st May, and a few days afterwards sailed, with Lady Watkin, in the old Cunarder, the "Niagara;" arriving at Boston after a long and difficult passage, and then travelling on to Quebec. But, on the 20th May, an event occurred—caused, it seemed to me, as a looker on, through want of tact—which ended in the resignation of the Government. The circumstances were these. Under pressure from home, administered through the new. Governor-General, the Ministry had brought forward measures of defence. They proposed to raise and equip, at the cost of Canada, 50,000 men. They proceeded, if my memory serves me, by the introduction of a Bill, and that Bill was rejected by a very small majority (61 to 54), composed of Sandfield Macdonald and a few others, described as "Ishmaelites." Upon that vote Mr. Cartier at once resigned, as I thought in too much haste. I met him as he walked away from the Parliament House in the afternoon, and expressed regret. He said, with set teeth, clenched fist, and sparkling eyes, "Ah! Well, I have saved the honour of my country against those 'Grits' and 'Rouges;' traitres, traitres." Mr. J. A. Macdonald, afterwards, took the matter very quietly, merely remarking that the slightest tact might have prevented the occurrence. So I thought.

The question was, Who was to succeed? In the ordinary course Mr. Foley, the assumed leader of the Opposition, would have been sent for. It was the opinion of the Honorable John Ross that he ought to have been. But the Governor, considering, I suppose, that the scanty majority was led by Sandfield Macdonald, sent for him. All sides believed that it would be a ministry of a month. But this astute descendant of Highlanders managed to stay in for nearly two years: two years of no good: two years of plausible postponement of all that the Duke had been so loyally working for in the interest of Canada. Personally, I had no reason to complain as regarded Grand Trunk legislation. Sandfield Macdonald promised to carry our Bill, and he honourably fulfilled his promise. The Bill passed; Lady Watkin and I sailed from Boston for England on the 7th June.

But the refusal of the Canadian Parliament to vote money for defence had created a very bad impression in England. England had made large sacrifices in filling Canada with troops and stores, at a critical time—and it was naturally said, in many quarters, "Are these people cowards? Are they longing for another rule?" Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, when Mr. Rose and I called upon him at his lodgings, in St. James's Place, during my short stay in London, said, "I do not see what we can do. Had Canada helped us at all, we could have succeeded. Now every one will say, What is the use of helping such people?" And Mr. Disraeli said, in the House, answering a statement that the vote of the Canadian Parliament did not represent the feeling of the people: "I decline to assume that the vote of a popular assembly is not the vote of those they represent." All this was awkward. But I resolved I would never give in. So I went to Canada again in the autumn of 1862.

Mr. Joseph Howe came from Halifax to Canada to meet me. He did all he could to induce Sandfield Macdonald to settle the long out-standing postal claim on Canada of the Grand Trunk; but in vain. He never would settle it, just and honest as it was. Mr. Howe tried to induce the Government to take up the Intercolonial question where we had left it in the previous autumn: and in this he so far succeeded that it was agreed a delegation from Canada should meet delegations from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick before the end of this year—1862—in London. Messrs. Howland and Sicotte were the Canadian delegates; Mr. Howe for Nova Scotia, and Mr. Tilley for New Brunswick. We set to work to carry both the Intercolonial guarantee, and the Pacific transit scheme, the moment these gentlemen arrived in England.

Meeting Messrs. Rowland and Sicotte at their hotel, in Jermyn Street, on the 2nd December, 1862, and discussing matters all round, they certainly led me, unsuspectingly, to believe they had the same desire to carry the Intercolonial as that entertained by Messrs. Howe and Tilley; and further, that if a road and telegraph project could be carried on the broad lines laid down in so many discussions, their arrangements on both questions would be cordially welcomed and approved by their colleagues. I very soon found out, however, that they were "riding to orders," and those orders, no doubt, being interpreted, were: "Refuse nothing, discuss everything, but do nothing."

On the 8th December we met the Canadian delegates at the bank of Messrs. Glyn, in Lombard Street, and we drew up a proposal, which these gentlemen corrected. We adopted their corrections and sent in the paper, as an agreed paper, to the Duke.

Two days afterwards, for better assurance, we received the following memorandum:—

"With a view of better enabling the gentlemen whom they met yesterday at 67, Lombard Street, to take immediate measures to form a Company for the object of carrying out the construction of a telegraph line, and of a road to establish frequent and easy communication between Canada and the Pacific, and to facilitate the carrying of mails, passengers, and traffic, the undersigned have the honour to state, that they are of opinion that the Canadian Government will agree to give a guarantee of interest at the rate of four per cent, upon one-third of the sum expended, provided the whole sum does not exceed five hundred thousand pounds, and provided also that the same guarantee of interest will be secured upon the other two-thirds of the expenditure by Imperial or Columbian contributions.

"If a Company composed of men of the standing and wealth of those they had the pleasure to meet is formed for the above purposes, under such conditions as will secure the interests of all parties interested, and the accomplishment of the objects they have in view, such an organization will be highly favourable to the settlements of an immense territory, and, if properly administered, may prove to be also of great advantage to the trade of England.