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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30546-8.txt b/30546-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a9011e --- /dev/null +++ b/30546-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7274 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, George Brown, by John Lewis + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: George Brown + + +Author: John Lewis + + + +Release Date: November 25, 2009 [eBook #30546] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN*** + + +E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Brendan Lane, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 30546-h.htm or 30546-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30546/30546-h/30546-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30546/30546-h.zip) + + + + + +The Makers of Canada + +Edited by + +Duncan Campbell Scott, F.R.S.C., +Pelham Edgar, Ph.D. and +William Dawson Le Sueur, B.A., Ll.D., F.R.S.C. + +GEORGE BROWN + +_Edition De Luxe_ + +_This edition is limited to Four Hundred Signed +and Numbered Sets, of which this is_ + +_Number_ 88 + +[Signature: George N. Morang] + + + +[Illustration: George Brown] + + + +_The Makers of Canada_ + +GEORGE BROWN + +by + +JOHN LEWIS + +_Edition De Luxe_ + + + + + + + +Toronto +Morang & Co., Limited +1906 + +Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1906 +by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture + + + + +PREFACE + + +The title of this series, "Makers of Canada," seemed to impose on the +writer the obligation to devote special attention to the part played +by George Brown in fashioning the institutions of this country. From +this point of view the most fruitful years of his life were spent +between the time when the _Globe_ was established to advocate +responsible government, and the time when the provinces were +confederated and the bounds of Canada extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. The ordinary political contests in which Mr. Brown and +his newspaper engaged have received only casual notice, and the effort +of the writer has been to trace Mr. Brown's connection with the stream +of events by which the old legislative union of Canada gave place to +the confederated Dominion. + +After the establishment of responsible government, the course of this +stream is not obscure. Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada is +inadequately represented and is dominated by its partner. Various +remedies, such as dissolution of the union, representation by +population and the "double majority," are proposed; but ultimately the +solution is found in federation, and to this solution, and the events +leading up to it, a large part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown was +also an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the country lying +west to the Rocky Mountains, and to this work reference is made. + +Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse strong friendships and +strong animosities. These have been dealt with only where they seemed +to have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir John A. +Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems to be a +profitless task for a biographer to take up and fight over again +quarrels which had no public importance and did not affect the course +of history. + +The period covering Mr. Brown's career was one in which the political +game was played roughly, and in which strong feelings were aroused. To +this day it is difficult to discuss the career of the Hon. George +Brown, or of Sir John A. Macdonald, without reviving these feelings in +the breasts of political veterans and their sons; and even one who +tries to study the time and the men and to write their story, finds +himself taking sides with men who are in their graves, and fighting +for causes long since lost and won. The writer has tried to resist the +temptation of building up the fame of Brown by detracting from that of +other men, but he has also thought it right in many cases to present +Brown's point of view, not necessarily as the whole truth, but as one +of the aspects of truth. + +In dealing with the question of confederation, my endeavour has been +simply to tell the story of Brown's work and let it speak for itself, +not to measure the exact proportion of credit due to Brown and to +others. It is hard to believe, however, that the verdict of history +will assign to him a place other than first among the public men of +Canada who contributed to the work of confederation. Events, as D'Arcy +McGee said, were probably more powerful than any of them. + +If any apology is needed for the space devoted to the subject of +slavery in the United States, it may be found not only in Brown's +life-long opposition to slavery, but in the fact that the Civil War +influenced the relations between the United States and Canada, and +indirectly promoted the confederation of the Canadian provinces, and +also in the fact, so frequently emphasized by Mr. Brown, that the +growth of the institution of slavery on this continent was a danger to +which Canada could not be indifferent. + +Among the works that have been found useful for reference are John +Charles Dent's _Last Forty Years_ (Canada since the union of 1841); +_Gray on Confederation_; Coté's _Political Appointments and Elections +in the Province of Canada_; Dr. Hodgins' _Legislation and History of +Separate Schools in Upper Canada_; the lives of _Lord Elgin_, _Dr. +Ryerson_ and _Joseph Howe_ in "The Makers of Canada" series; the Hon. +Alexander Mackenzie's _Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown_; +the Hon. James Young's _Public Men and Public Life in Canada_. Mr. +Mackenzie's book contains a valuable collection of letters, to which +frequent reference is made in the chapters of this book dealing with +confederation. The account of the relations of the Peel government +with Governor Sir Charles Bagot is taken from the _Life of Sir Robert +Peel_, from his correspondence, edited by C. S. Parker. The files of +the _Banner_ and the _Globe_ have been read with some care; they were +found to contain an embarrassing wealth of most interesting historical +material. + +To Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the Toronto Free Library, and to Mr. +Avern Pardoe, of the Library of the Legislative Assembly, I am deeply +indebted for courtesy and assistance. + +JOHN LEWIS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +_CHAPTER I_ Page + + FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA 1 + + +_CHAPTER II_ + + METCALFE AND HIS REFORMERS 11 + + +_CHAPTER III_ + + RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 31 + + +_CHAPTER IV_ + + DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS 39 + + +_CHAPTER V_ + + THE CLERGY RESERVES 51 + + +_CHAPTER VI_ + + BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT 61 + + +_CHAPTER VII_ + + RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE 69 + + +_CHAPTER VIII_ + + RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES 77 + + +_CHAPTER IX_ + + SOME PERSONAL POLITICS 87 + + +_CHAPTER X_ + + THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" 99 + + +_CHAPTER XI_ + + AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY 111 + + +_CHAPTER XII_ + + BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS 121 + + +_CHAPTER XIII_ + + MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION 129 + + +_CHAPTER XIV_ + + LAST YEARS OF THE UNION 141 + + +_CHAPTER XV_ + + CONFEDERATION 147 + + +_CHAPTER XVI_ + + THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE 163 + + +_CHAPTER XVII_ + + THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE 169 + + +_CHAPTER XVIII_ + + THE MISSION TO ENGLAND 181 + + +_CHAPTER XIX_ + + BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION 189 + + +_CHAPTER XX_ + + CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES 199 + + +_CHAPTER XXI_ + + CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST 211 + + +_CHAPTER XXII_ + + THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874 223 + + +_CHAPTER XXIII_ + + CANADIAN NATIONALISM 235 + + +_CHAPTER XXIV_ + + LATER YEARS 243 + + +_CHAPTER XXV_ + + CONCLUSION 255 + + INDEX 269 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA + + +George Brown was born at Alloa, a seaport on the tidal Forth, +thirty-five miles inward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818. His +mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie, of Stornoway, in the Island +of Lewis. His father, Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder. George +was educated at the High School and Southern Academy in Edinburgh. +"This young man," said Dr. Gunn, of the Southern Academy, "is not only +endowed with high enthusiasm, but possesses the faculty of creating +enthusiasm in others." At the risk of attaching too much significance +to praise bestowed on a school-boy, it may be said that these words +struck the keynote of Brown's character and revealed the source of his +power. The atmosphere of the household was Liberal; father and son +alike hated the institution of slavery, with which they were destined +to become more closely acquainted. "When I was a very young man," said +George Brown, denouncing the Fugitive Slave Law before a Toronto +audience, "I used to think that if I ever had to speak before such an +audience as this, I would choose African Slavery as my theme in +preference to any other topic. The subject seemed to afford the +widest scope for rhetoric and for fervid appeals to the best of human +sympathies. These thoughts arose far from here, while slavery was a +thing at a distance, while the horrors of the system were unrealized, +while the mind received it as a tale and discussed it as a principle. +But, when you have mingled with the thing itself, when you have +encountered the atrocities of the system, when you have seen three +millions of human beings held as chattels by their Christian +countrymen, when you have seen the free institutions, the free press +and the free pulpit of America linked in the unrighteous task of +upholding the traffic, when you have realized the manacle, and the +lash, and the sleuth-hound, you think no more of rhetoric, the mind +stands appalled at the monstrous iniquity, mere words lose their +meaning, and facts, cold facts, are felt to be the only fit +arguments." + +Again, as George grew to manhood, the struggle which ended in the +disruption of the Church of Scotland was approaching its climax, and +the sympathies of the Brown household were with those who declared +that it "is the fundamental law of this Church that no pastor shall be +intruded on any congregation contrary to the will of the people." + +In 1838 reverses in business led the father and son to seek their +fortunes in America. Arriving in New York, Peter Brown turned to +journalism, finding employment as a contributor to the _Albion_, a +weekly newspaper published for British residents of the United +States. The Browns formed an unfavourable opinion of American +institutions as represented by New York in that day. To them the +republic presented itself as a slave-holding power, seeking to extend +its territory in order to enlarge the area of slavery, and hostile to +Great Britain as a citadel of freedom. They always regarded the +slave-holding element in the United States as that which kept up the +tradition of enmity to England. An American book entitled, _The Glory +and Shame of England_, aroused Peter Brown's indignation, and he +published a reply in a little volume bearing the name of _The Fame and +Glory of England Vindicated_. Here he paid tribute to British freedom, +contrasted it with the domination of the slave holders, and instanced +the fact that in Connecticut a woman had been mobbed and imprisoned +for teaching coloured girls to read. Further light is thrown upon the +American experience of the Browns by an article in the _Banner_, their +first Canadian venture in journalism. The writer is answering an +accusation of disloyalty and Yankee sympathies, a stock charge against +Reformers in that day. He said: "We have stood in the very heart of a +republic, and fearlessly issued our weekly sheet, expressing our +fervent admiration of the limited monarchy of Great Britain, though +surrounded by Democratic Whigs, Democratic Republicans, Irish +Repealers, slave-holders, and every class which breathes the most +inveterate hostility to British institutions. And we are not to be +turned from maintaining the genuine principles of the constitution +because some of our contemporaries are taken with a fit of sycophancy, +and would sacrifice all at the shrine of power." + +In December, 1842, the Browns established in New York the _British +Chronicle_, a paper similar to the _Albion_, but apparently designed +more especially for Scottish and Presbyterian readers in the United +States and Canada. In an effort to promote Canadian circulation, +George Brown came to Canada early in 1843. The _Chronicle_ had taken +strong ground on the popular side of the movement then agitating the +Church of Scotland; and this struggle was watched with peculiar +interest in Canada, where the relations between Church and State were +burning questions. Young Brown also met the members of a Reform +administration then holding power under Governor Metcalfe, and the +ministers became impressed with the idea that he would be a powerful +ally in the struggle then impending. + +There is on record an interesting pen picture of George Brown as he +appeared at this time. The writer is Samuel Thompson, editor of the +_Colonist_. "It was, I think, somewhere about the month of May, 1843, +that there walked into my office on Nelson Street a young man of +twenty-five years, tall, broad-shouldered, somewhat lantern-jawed and +emphatically Scottish, who introduced himself to me as the travelling +agent of the New York _British Chronicle_, published by his father. +This was George Brown, afterwards editor and publisher of the _Globe_ +newspaper. He was a very pleasant-mannered, courteous, gentlemanly +young fellow, and impressed me favourably. His father, he said, found +the political atmosphere of New York hostile to everything British, +and that it was as much as a man's life was worth to give expression +to any British predilections whatsoever (which I knew to be true). +They had, therefore, thought of transferring their publication to +Toronto, and intended to continue it as a thoroughly Conservative +journal. I, of course, welcomed him as a co-worker in the same cause +with ourselves, little expecting how his ideas of Conservatism were to +develop themselves in subsequent years." His Conservatism--assuming +that the young man was not misunderstood--was perhaps the result of a +reaction from the experience of New York, in which democracy had +presented itself in an unlovely aspect. Contact with Toronto Toryism +of that day would naturally stiffen the Liberalism of a combative man. + +As a result of George Brown's survey of the Canadian field, the +publication of the _British Chronicle_ in New York ceased, and the +Browns removed to Toronto, where they established the _Banner_, a +weekly paper partly Presbyterian and partly political, and in both +fields championing the cause of government by the people. The first +number was issued on August 18th, 1843. Referring to the disruption +of the "Scottish Church" that had occurred three months before, the +_Banner_ said: "If we look to Scotland we shall find an event +unparalleled in the history of the world. Nearly five hundred +ministers, backed by several thousand elders and perhaps a million of +people, have left the Church of their fathers because the civil courts +have trampled on what they deem the rights of the Christian people in +Scotland, exhibiting a lesson to the world which must produce results +that cannot yet be measured. The sacrifice made by these devoted +ministers of the Gospel is great; their reward is sure." + +The columns of the _Banner_ illustrate in a striking way the +intermingling, common in that day, of religion and politics. The +_Banner's_ chief antagonist was the _Church_, a paper equally devoted +to episcopacy and monarchy. Here is a specimen bit of controversy. The +_Church_, arguing against responsible government, declares that as God +is the only ruler of princes, princes cannot be accountable to the +people; and perdition is the lot of all rebels, agitators of sedition, +demagogues, who work under the pretence of reforming the State. All +the troubles of the country are due to parliaments constantly +demanding more power and thereby endangering the supremacy of the +mother country. The _Banner_ is astonished by the unblushing avowal of +these doctrines, which had not been so openly proclaimed since the +days of "High Church and Sacheverell," and which if acted upon would +reduce the people to the level of abject slaves. Whence, it asks, +comes this doctrine of the irresponsibility of kings? "It has been dug +up from the tombs of Roman Catholic and High Church priests and of +Jacobite bigots. Wherever it gets a footing it carries bloodshed and +persecution in its train. It cramps the freedom of thought. It +represses commercial enterprise and industry. It dries up the springs +of the human understanding. To what does Britain owe all her greatness +but to that free range of intellectual exertion which prompted Watt +and Arkwright in their wonderful discoveries, which carried Anson and +Cook round the globe, and which enabled Newton to scale the heavens? +Is the dial to be put back? Must the world once more adopt the +doctrine that the people are made for kings and not kings for the +people? Where will this treason to the British Constitution find the +slightest warrant in the Word of God? We know that power alone +proceeds from God, the very air we breathe is the gift of His bounty, +and whatever public right is exercised from the most obscure elective +franchise to the king upon his throne is derived from Him to +whom we must account for the exercise of it. But does that +accountability take away or lessen the political obligations of +the social compact?--assuredly not." + +This style of controversy was typical of the time. Tories drew from +the French Revolution warnings against the heedless march of +democracy. Reformers based arguments on the "glorious revolution of +1688." A bill for the secularization of King's College was denounced +by Bishop Strachan, the stalwart leader of the Anglicans, in language +of extraordinary vehemence. The bill would hold up the Christian +religion to the contempt of wicked men, and overturn the social order +by unsettling property. Placing all forms of error on an equality with +truth, the bill represented a principle "atheistical and monstrous, +destructive of all that was pure and holy in morals and religion." To +find parallels for this madness, the bishop referred to the French +Revolution, when the Christian faith was abjured, and the Goddess of +Reason set up for worship; to pagan Rome, which, to please the natives +she had conquered, "condescended to associate their impure idolatries +with her own." + +These writings are quoted not merely as illustrations of extravagance +of language. The language was the natural outcome of an extraordinary +situation. The bishop was not a voice crying in the wilderness; he was +a power in politics as well as in the Church, and had, as executive +councillor, taken an important part in the government of the country. +He was not making extravagant pretensions, but defending a position +actually held by his Church, a position which fell little short of +absolute domination. Religious equality was to be established, a great +endowment of land converted from sectarian to public purposes, and a +non-sectarian system of education created. In this work Brown played a +leading part, but before it could be undertaken it was necessary to +vindicate the right of the people to self-government. + +In November, 1843, the resignation of Metcalfe's ministers created a +crisis which soon absorbed the energy of the Browns and eventually led +to the establishment of the _Globe_. In the issue of December 8th, +1843, the principles of responsible government are explained, and the +_Banner_ gives its support to the ministers. It cannot see why less +confidence should be bestowed by a governor-general in Canada than by +a sovereign in the British empire. It deplores the rupture and +declares that it still belongs to no political party. It has no liking +for "Democracy," a word which even Liberals at that time seemed to +regard with horror. It asks Presbyterians to stand fast for the +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. It exhorts the people of +Canada to be firm and patient and to let no feeling of disappointment +lead their minds to republicanism. Those who would restrict the +liberties of Canada also dwell on the evils of republicanism, but they +are the very people who would bring it to pass. The _Banner's_ ideal +is a system of just and equal government. If this is pursued, a vast +nation will grow up speaking the same language, having the same laws +and customs, and bound to the mother country by the strongest bonds of +affection. The _Banner_, which had at first described itself as +independent in party politics, soon found itself drawn into a struggle +which was too fierce and too momentous to allow men of strong +convictions to remain neutral. We find politics occupying more and +more attention in its columns, and finally on March 5th, 1844, the +_Globe_ is established as the avowed ally of Baldwin and Lafontaine, +and the advocate of responsible government. It will be necessary to +explain now the nature of the difference between Metcalfe and his +ministers. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +METCALFE AND THE REFORMERS + + +The Browns arrived in Canada in the period of reconstruction following +the rebellion of 1837-8. In Lord Durham's Report the rising in Lower +Canada was attributed mainly to racial animosity--"two nations warring +in the bosom of a single state"--"a struggle not of principles but of +races." The rising in Upper Canada was attributed mainly to the +ascendency of the "family compact"--a family only in the official +sense. "The bench, the magistracy, the high offices of the episcopal +church, and a great part of the legal profession, are filled by their +adherents; by grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole of +the waste lands of the province; they are all-powerful in the +chartered banks, and till lately shared among themselves almost +exclusively all offices of trust and profit. The bulk of this party +consists, for the most part, of native born inhabitants of the colony, +or of emigrants who settled in it before the last war with the United +States; the principal members of it belong to the Church of England, +and the maintenance of the claims of that Church has always been one +of its distinguishing characteristics." Reformers discovered that even +when they triumphed at the polls, they could not break up this +combination, the executive government remaining constantly in the +hands of their opponents. They therefore agitated for the +responsibility of the executive council to the legislative assembly. + +Lord Durham's remedy was to unite Upper and Lower Canada, and to grant +the demand for responsible government. He hoped that the union would +in time dispose of the racial difficulty. Estimating the population of +Upper Canada at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of +Lower Canada at one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four +hundred and fifty thousand, "the union of the two provinces would not +only give a clear English majority, but one which would be increased +every year by the influence of English immigration; and I have little +doubt that the French, when once placed by the legitimate course of +events and the working of natural causes, in a minority, would abandon +their vain hopes of nationality." + +The future mapped out by Lord Durham for the French-Canadians was one +of benevolent assimilation. He under-estimated their tenacity and +their power of adapting themselves to new political conditions. They +not only retained their distinctive language and customs, but gained +so large a measure of political power that in time Upper Canada +complained that it was dominated by its partner. The union was +effected soon after the report, but the granting of responsible +government was long delayed. From the submission of Lord Durham's +Report to the time of Lord Elgin, the question of responsible +government was the chief issue in Canadian politics. Lord Durham's +recommendations were clear and specific. He maintained that harmony +would be restored "not by weakening but strengthening the influence of +the people on its government; by confining within much narrower bounds +than those hitherto allotted to it, and not by extending, the +interference of the imperial authorities on the details of colonial +affairs." The government must be administered on the principles that +had been found efficacious in Great Britain. He would not impair a +single prerogative of the Crown, but the Crown must submit to the +necessary consequences of representative institutions, and must govern +through those in whom the representative body had confidence. + +These principles are now so well established that it is hard to +realize how bold and radical they appeared in 1839. Between that time +and 1847, the British government sent out to Canada three governors, +with various instructions. Whatever the wording of these instructions +was, they always fell short of Durham's recommendations, and always +expressed a certain reluctance to entrusting the government of Canada +unreservedly to representatives of the people. + +From 1842 to 1846 the government in Great Britain was that of Sir +Robert Peel, and it was that government which set itself most +strongly against the granting of autonomy to Canada. It was +Conservative, and it probably received from correspondents in Canada a +good deal of misinformation and prejudiced opinion in regard to the +aims of the Reformers. But it was a group of men of the highest +character and capacity, concerning whom Gladstone has left on record a +remarkable testimony. "It is his conviction that in many of the most +important rules of public policy, that government surpassed generally +the governments which have succeeded it, whether Liberal or +Conservative. Among them he would mention purity in patronage, +financial strictness, loyal adherence to the principle of public +economy, jealous regard to the rights of parliament, a single eye to +the public interest, strong aversion to extension of territorial +responsibilities, and a frank admission of the rights of foreign +countries as equal to those of their own." + +With this high estimate of the general character of the Peel +government must be coupled the undoubted fact that it entirely +misunderstood the situation in Canada, gave its support to the party +of reaction, and needlessly delayed the establishment of +self-government. We may attribute this in part to the distrust +occasioned by the rebellion; in part to the use of partisan channels +of information; but under all this was a deeper cause--inability to +conceive of such a relation as exists between Great Britain and Canada +to-day. In that respect Peel and his colleagues resembled most of the +public men of their time. They could understand separation; they could +understand a relation in which the British government and its agents +ruled the colonies in a kindly and paternal fashion; but a union under +which the colonies were nations in all but foreign relations passed +their comprehension. When the colonies asked for complete +self-government it was supposed that separation was really desired. +Some were for letting them go in peace. Others were for holding them +by political and commercial bonds. Of the latter class, Stanley, +colonial secretary under Peel, was a good type. He believed in +"strong" governors; he believed in a system of preferential trade +between Great Britain and the colonies, and his language might have +been used, with scarcely any modification, by the Chamberlain party in +the recent elections in Great Britain. When, in 1843, he introduced +the measure giving a preference to Canadian wheat, he expressed the +hope that it would restore content and prosperity to Canada; and when +that preference disappeared with the Corn Laws, he declared that the +basis of colonial union was destroyed. + +From the union to September, 1842, no French-Canadian name appears in +a Canadian government. French-Canadians were deeply dissatisfied with +the terms of the union; there was a strong reluctance to admitting +them to any share of power, and they complained bitterly that they +were politically ostracized by Sydenham, the first governor. His +successor, Bagot, adopted the opposite policy, and earned the severe +censure of the government at home. + +On August 23rd, 1842, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley in terms +which indicated a belief that Governor Bagot was experiencing great +difficulty in carrying on the government. He spoke of a danger of +French-Canadians and Radicals, or French-Canadians and Conservatives, +combining to place the government in a minority. He suggested various +means of meeting the danger, and said, "I would not voluntarily throw +myself into the hands of the French party through fear of being in a +minority." + +Before instructions founded on this letter could reach the colony, the +governor had acted, "throwing himself," in the words of Peel's +biographer, "into the hands of the party tainted by disaffection." +What had really happened was that on September 16th, 1842, the +Canadian government had been reconstructed, the principal change being +the introduction of Lafontaine and Baldwin as its leading members. +This action aroused a storm in Canada, where Bagot was fiercely +assailed by the Tories for his so-called surrender to rebels. And that +view was taken also in England. + +On October 18th, 1842, Mr. Arbuthnot wrote to Sir Robert Peel: "The +Duke [Wellington] has been thunderstruck by the news from Canada. +Between ourselves, he considers what has happened as likely to be +fatal to the connection with England; and I must also, in the very +strictest confidence, tell you that he dreads lest it should break up +the cabinet here at home." + +On October 21st, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley, pointing out +the danger of the duke's strong and decisive condemnation: "In various +quarters the Duke of Wellington denouncing the arrangement as a tame +surrender to a party tainted with treason, would produce an impression +most dangerous to the government, if it could get over the effects +produced by the first announcement of his retirement, on the ground of +avowed difference of opinion." After reading Sir Charles Bagot's +explanations, he admitted that the governor's position was +embarrassing. "Suppose," he said in a subsequent letter, "that Sir C. +Bagot was reduced to such difficulties that he had no alternative but +to take the best men of the French-Canadian party into his councils, +and that it was better for him to do this before there was a hostile +vote; still, the manner in which he conducted his negotiations was a +most unwise one. He makes it appear to the world that he courted and +rejoiced in the necessity for a change in his councils." On October +24th the Duke of Wellington wrote expressing his agreement with Peel, +and adding: "However, it appears to me that we must consider the +arrangement as settled and adopted by the legislature of Canada. It +will remain to be considered afterwards what is to be done with Sir +Charles Bagot and with his measures." + +The question was solved by the death of the governor who had been +unfortunate enough to arouse the storm, and to create a ministerial +crisis in Great Britain. It is believed that his end was hastened by +the news from England. He fell ill in November, grew steadily worse, +and at last asked to be recalled, a request which was granted. At his +last cabinet council he bade an affectionate farewell to his +ministers, and begged them to defend his memory. His best vindication +is found in the failure of Metcalfe's policy, and in the happy results +of the policy of Elgin. + +The events connected with the retirement of Bagot, which were not +fully understood until the publication of Sir Robert Peel's papers a +few years ago, throw light upon the reasons which determined the +selection of Sir Charles Metcalfe. Metcalfe was asked by Lord Stanley +whether he would be able and disposed to assume "most honourable and +at the same time very arduous duties in the public service." Metcalfe +wrote to Captain Higginson, afterwards his private secretary: "I am +not sure that the government of Canada is a manageable affair, and +unless I think I can go to good purpose I will not go at all." Sir +Francis Hincks says: "All Sir Charles Metcalfe's correspondence prior +to his departure from England is indicative of a feeling that he was +going on a forlorn hope expedition," and Hincks adds that such +language can be explained only on the assumption that he was sent out +for the purpose of overthrowing responsible government. It is +certainly established by the Peel correspondence that the British +government strongly disapproved of Sir Charles Bagot's policy, and +selected Sir Charles Metcalfe as a man who would govern on radically +different lines. It is perhaps putting it rather strongly to say that +he was intended to overthrow responsible government. But he must have +come to Canada filled with distrust of the Canadian ministry, filled +with the idea that the demand for responsible government was a cloak +for seditious designs, and ready to take strong measures to preserve +British connection. In this misunderstanding lay the source of his +errors and misfortunes in Canada. + +It is not therefore necessary to enter minutely into the dispute which +occasioned the rupture between Metcalfe and his advisers. On the +surface it was a dispute over patronage. In reality Baldwin and +Lafontaine were fighting for autonomy and responsible government; +Metcalfe, as he thought, was defending the unity of the empire. He was +a kindly and conscientious man, and he held his position with some +skill, always contending that he was willing to agree to responsible +government on condition that the colonial position was recognized, the +prerogative of the Crown upheld, and the governor not dominated by +one political party. + +The governor finally broke with his advisers in November, 1843. For +some months he was to govern, not only without a responsible ministry, +but without a parliament, for the legislature was immediately +prorogued, and did not meet again before dissolution. His chief +adviser was William Henry Draper, a distinguished lawyer, whose +political career was sacrificed in the attempt to hold an impossible +position. Reformers and Tories prepared for a struggle which was to +continue for several years, and which, in spite of the smallness of +the field, was of the highest importance in settling a leading +principle of government. + +On March 5th, 1844, as a direct consequence of the struggle, appeared +the first issue of the Toronto _Globe_, its motto taken from one of +the boldest letters of Junius to George III: "The subject who is truly +loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to +arbitrary measures." The leading article was a long and careful review +of the history of the country, followed by a eulogy on the +constitution enjoyed by Great Britain since "the glorious revolution +of 1688," but denied to Canada. Responsible government was withheld; +the governor named his councillors in defiance of the will of the +legislature. Advocates of responsible government were stigmatized by +the governor's friends as rebels, traitors, radicals and republicans. +The _Globe_ proclaimed its adherence to Lord Durham's recommendation, +and said: "The battle which the Reformers of Canada will right is not +the battle of a party, but the battle of constitutional right against +the undue interference of executive power." The prospectus of the +paper contained these words: "Firmly attached to the principles of the +British Constitution, believing the limited monarchy of Great Britain +the best system of government yet devised by the wisdom of man, and +sincerely convinced that the prosperity of Canada will best be +advanced by a close connection between it and the mother country, the +editor of the _Globe_ will support all measures which will tend to +draw closer the bonds of a mutually advantageous union." + +On March 25th, 1844, the campaign was opened with a meeting called by +the Toronto Reform Association. Robert Baldwin, "father of responsible +government," was in the chair, and William Hume Blake was the orator +of the night. The young editor of the _Globe_, a recruit among +veterans, seems to have made a hit with a picture of a ministry framed +on the "no party" plan advocated by Governor Metcalfe. In this +imaginary ministry he grouped at the same council table Robert Baldwin +and his colleague Francis Hincks; Sir Allan MacNab, the Tory leader; +William Henry Draper, Metcalfe's chief adviser; John Strachan, Bishop +of Toronto; and Dr. Ryerson, leader of the Methodists and champion of +the governor. His Excellency is on a chair raised above the warring +elements below. Baldwin moves that King's College be opened to all +classes of Her Majesty's subjects. At once the combination is +dissolved, as any one who remembers Bishop Strachan's views on that +question will understand. + +Dr. Ryerson, whose name was used by Brown in this illustration, was a +leader among the Methodists, and had fought stoutly for religious +equality against Anglican privilege. But he had espoused the side of +the governor-general, apparently taking seriously the position that it +was the only course open to a loyal subject. In a series of letters +published in the summer of 1844, he warned the people that the Toronto +Reform Association was leading them to the edge of a precipice. "In +the same manner," he said, "I warned you against the Constitutional +Reform Association, formed in 1834. In 1837 my warning predictions +were realized, to the ruin of many and the misery of thousands. What +took place in 1837 was but a preface of what may be witnessed in +1847." The warning he meant to convey was that the people were being +drawn into a conflict with the imperial authorities. "Mr. Baldwin," he +said, "practically renounces the imperial authority by refusing to +appeal to it, and by appealing through the Toronto Association to the +people of Canada. If the people of Canada are the tribunal of judgment +on one question of constitutional prerogative, they are so on every +question of constitutional prerogative. Then the governor is no +longer responsible to the imperial authority, and Canada is an +independent country. Mr. Baldwin's proceeding, therefore, not only +leads to independence but involves (unconsciously, I admit, from +extreme and theoretical views), a practical declaration of +independence before the arrival of the 4th of July!" + +In this language Dr. Ryerson described with accuracy the attitude of +the British government. That government had, as we have seen, +disapproved of Governor Bagot's action in parting with so large a +measure of power, and it was fully prepared to support Metcalfe in +pursuing the opposite course. Dr. Ryerson was also right in saying +that the government of Great Britain would be supported by parliament. +In May, 1844, the affairs of Canada were discussed in the British +House of Commons, and the governor's action was justified by Peel, by +Lord Stanley, and by Lord John Russell. The only dissentient voices +were those of the Radicals, Hume and Roebuck. + +Metcalfe and his chiefs at home can hardly be blamed for holding the +prevailing views of the time, which were that the changes contemplated +by Durham, by Bagot, and by Baldwin were dangerous and revolutionary. +The idea that a colony could remain connected with Great Britain under +such a system of autonomy as we enjoy to-day was then conceived by +only a few men of exceptional breadth and foresight, among whom Elgin +was one of the most eminent. + +The wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine and the patience and +firmness of the Reformers are attested by their conduct in very trying +circumstances. Finding their demand for constitutional reform opposed +not only by the Canadian Tories, but by the governor-general and the +imperial government and parliament, they might have become +discouraged, or have been tempted into some act of violence. Their +patience must have been sorely tried by the persistent malice or +obstinate prejudice which stigmatized a strictly constitutional +movement as treason. They had also to endure the trial of a temporary +defeat at the polls, and an apparent rejection of their policy by the +very people for whose liberties they were contending. + +In the autumn of 1844 the legislature was dissolved and a fierce +contest ensued. Governor Metcalfe's attitude is indicated by his +biographer.[1] "The contest," he says, "was between loyalty on the one +side and disaffection to Her Majesty's government on the other. That +there was a strong anti-British feeling abroad, in both divisions of +the province [Upper and Lower Canada] Metcalfe clearly and painfully +perceived. The conviction served to brace and stimulate him to new +exertions. He felt that he was fighting for his sovereign against a +rebellious people." The appeal was successful; Upper Canada was swept +by the loyalty cry, and in various polling places votes were actually +cast or offered for the governor-general. The _Globe_ described a +conversation that occurred in a polling place in York: "Whom do you +vote for?" "I vote for the governor-general." "There is no such +candidate. Say George Duggan, you blockhead." "Oh, yes, George Duggan; +it's all the same thing." There were candidates who described +themselves as "governor-general's men"; there were candidates whose +royalist enthusiasm was expressed in the name "Cavaliers." In the +Montreal election petition it was charged that during two days of +polling the electors were exposed to danger from the attacks of bands +of fighting men hired by the government candidates or their agents, +and paid, fed, and armed with "bludgeons, bowie-knives, and pistols +and other murderous weapons" for the purpose of intimidating the +Liberal electors and preventing them from gaining access to the polls; +that Liberals were driven from the polls by these fighting men, and by +cavalry and infantry acting under the orders of partisan magistrates. +The polls, it was stated, were surrounded by soldiers, field-pieces +were placed in several public squares, and the city was virtually in a +state of siege. The charges were not investigated, the petition being +rejected for irregularity; but violence and intimidation were then +common accompaniments of elections. + +In November the governor was able to record his victory thus: Upper +Canada, avowed supporters of his government, thirty; avowed +adversaries, seven; undeclared and uncertain, five. Lower Canada, +avowed supporters, sixteen; avowed adversaries, twenty-one; undeclared +and uncertain, four. Remarking on this difference between Upper +and Lower Canada, he said that loyalty and British feeling +prevailed in Upper Canada and in the Eastern Townships of Lower +Canada, and that disaffection was predominant among the French-Canadian +constituencies.[2] Metcalfe honestly believed he had saved Canada for +the empire; but more mischief could hardly have been done by +deliberate design. In achieving a barren and precarious victory at the +polls, he and his friends had run the risk of creating that +disaffection which they feared. The stigma of disloyalty had been +unjustly affixed to honest and public-spirited men, whose steadiness +alone prevented them, in their resentment, from joining the ranks of +the disaffected. Worse still, the line of political cleavage had been +identified with the line of racial division, and "French-Canadian" and +"rebel" had been used as synonymous terms. + +The ministry and the legislative assembly were now such as the +governor had desired, yet the harmony was soon broken. There appeared +divisions in the cabinet, hostile votes in the legislature, and +finally a revolt in the Conservative press. An attempt to form a +coalition with the French-Canadian members drew a sarcastic comment +from the _Globe_: "Mr. Draper has invited the men whom he and his +party have for years stigmatized before the country as rebels and +traitors and destructives to join his administration." Reformers +regarded these troubles as evidence that the experiment in reaction +was failing, and waited patiently for the end. Shortly after the +election the governor was raised to the peerage, an honour which, if +not earned by success in Canada, was fairly due to his honest +intentions. He left Canada at the close of the year 1845, suffering +from a painful disease, of which he died a year afterwards. + +Soon after the governor's departure the young editor of the _Globe_ +had a curious experience. At a dinner of the St. Andrew's Society, +Toronto, the president, Judge MacLean, proposed the health of Lord +Metcalfe, eulogized his Canadian policy, and insisted that he had not +been recalled, "as certain persons have most impertinently and untruly +assumed and set forth." Brown refused to drink the toast, and asked to +be heard, asserting that he had been publicly insulted from the chair. +After a scene of uproar, he managed to obtain a hearing, and said, +addressing the chairman: "I understand your allusions, sir, and your +epithet of impertinence as applied to myself. I throw it back on you +with contempt, and will content myself with saying that your using +such language and dragging such matters before the society was highly +improper. Lord Metcalfe, sir, has been recalled, and it may yet be +seen that it was done by an enlightened British government for cause. +The toast which you have given, too, and the manner in which it was +introduced, are highly improper. This is not the place to discuss Lord +Metcalfe's administration. There is a wide difference of opinion as to +it. But I refrain from saying one word as to his conduct in this +province. This is not a political but a benevolent society, composed +of persons of very varied political sentiments, and such a toast ought +never to have been brought here. Lord Metcalfe is not now +governor-general of Canada, and I had a right to refuse to do honour +to him or not as I saw fit, and that without any disparagement to his +conduct as a gentleman, even though the person who is president of +this society thinks otherwise." This incident, trivial as it may +appear, illustrates the passion aroused by the contest, and the bold +and resolute character of the young politician. + +Lord Metcalfe's successor was Earl Cathcart, a soldier who concerned +himself little in the political disputes of the country, and who had +been chosen because of the danger of war with the United States, +arising out of the dispute over the Oregon boundary. The settlement of +that dispute does not come within the scope of this work; but it may +be noted that the _Globe_ was fully possessed by the belligerent +spirit of the time, and frankly expressed the hope that Great Britain +would fight, not merely for the Oregon boundary, but "to proclaim +liberty to the black population." The writer hoped that the Christian +nations of the world would combine and "break the chains of the slaves +in the United States, in Brazil and in Cuba." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Kaye's _Life of Metcalfe_, Vol. II., p. 389. + +[2] Kaye's _Life of Metcalfe_, Vol. II., p. 390. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT + + +In England, as well as in Canada, events were moving towards +self-government. With the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1840 disappeared +the preference to Canadian wheat. "Destroy this principle of +protection," said Lord Stanley in the House of Lords, "and you destroy +the whole basis upon which your colonial system rests." Loud +complaints came from Canada, and in a despatch from Earl Cathcart to +the colonial secretary, it was represented that the Canadian waterways +had been improved on the strength of the report made to Great Britain, +and that the disappointment and loss resulting from the abolition of +the preference would lead to alienation from the mother country and +"annexation to our rival and enemy, the United States." Gladstone, in +his reply, denied that the basis of imperial unity was protection, +"the exchange, not of benefits, but of burdens;" the true basis lay in +common feelings, traditions and hopes. The _Globe_ held that Canada +had no right to complain if the people of the United Kingdom did what +was best for themselves. England, as an exporter of manufactures, had +to meet competition at the world's prices, and must have cheap food +supplies. Canada had surely a higher destiny than to export a few +hundred bushels of wheat and flour to England. Canadian home +manufactures must be encouraged, and efforts made to obtain free trade +with the United States. "The Tory press," said the _Globe_, "are out +in full cry against free trade. Their conduct affords an illustration +of the unmitigated selfishness of Toryism. Give them everything they +can desire and they are brimful of loyalty. They will shout pćans till +they are sick, and drink goblets till they are blind in favour of +'wise and benevolent governors' who will give them all the offices and +all the emoluments. But let their interests, real or imaginary, be +affected, and how soon does their loyalty evaporate! Nothing is now +talked of but separation from the mother country, unless the mother +continues feeding them in the mode prescribed by the child." + +Some time afterwards, Lord Elgin, in his communications to the home +government, said that the Canadian millers and shippers had a +substantial grievance, not in the introduction of free trade, but in +the constant tinkering incident to the abandoned system of imperial +protection. The preference given in 1843 to Canadian wheat and to +flour, even when made of American wheat, had stimulated milling in +Canada; but almost before the newly-built mills were fairly at work, +the free trade measure of 1846 swept the advantage away. What was +wrong was not free trade, but Canadian dependence on imperial tariff +legislation. + +Elgin was one of the few statesmen of his day who perceived that the +colonies might enjoy commercial independence and political equality, +without separation. He declared that imperial unity did not depend on +the exercise of dominion, the dispensing of patronage, or the +maintenance of an imperial hot-bed for forcing commerce and +manufactures. Yet he conceived of an empire not confined to the +British Islands, but growing, expanding, "strengthening itself from +age to age, and drawing new supplies of vitality from virgin soils." + +With Elgin's administration began the new era of self-government. The +legislature was dissolved towards the close of the year 1847, and the +election resulted in a complete victory for the Reformers. In Upper +Canada the contest was fairly close, but in Lower Canada the +Conservative forces were almost annihilated, and on the first vote in +parliament the government was defeated by a large majority. The second +Baldwin-Lafontaine government received the full confidence and loyal +support of the governor, and by its conduct and achievements justified +the reform that had been so long delayed, and adopted with so many +misgivings. But the fight for responsible government was not yet +finished. The cry of French and rebel domination was raised, as it had +been raised in the days of Governor Bagot. A Toronto journal +reproachfully referred to Lord Elgin's descent from "the Bruce," and +asked how a man of royal ancestry could so degrade himself as to +consort with rebels and political jobbers. "Surely the curse of +Minerva, uttered by a great poet against the father, clings to the +son." The removal of the old office-holders seemed to this writer to +be an act of desecration not unlike the removal of the famous marbles +from the Parthenon. In a despatch explaining his course on the +Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin said that long before that +legislation there were evidences of the temper which finally produced +the explosion. He quoted the following passage from a newspaper: "When +French tyranny becomes insupportable, we shall find our Cromwell. +Sheffield in olden times used to be famous for its keen and +well-tempered whittles. Well, they make bayonets there now, just as +sharp and just as well-tempered. When we can stand tyranny no longer, +it will be seen whether good bayonets in Saxon hands will not be more +than a match for a mace and a majority." All the fuel for a +conflagration was ready. There was race hatred, there was party +hostility, there was commercial depression and there was a sincere, +though exaggerated, loyalty, which regarded rebellion as the +unforgivable sin, and which was in constant dread of the spread of +radical, republican and democratic ideas. + +The Rebellion Losses Bill was all that was needed to fan the embers +into flame. This was a measure intended to compensate persons who had +suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. It was attacked +as a measure for "rewarding rebels." Lord Elgin afterwards said that +he did not believe a rebel would receive a farthing. But even if we +suppose that some rebels or rebel sympathizers were included in the +list, the outcry against the bill was unreasonable. A general amnesty +had been proclaimed; French-Canadians had been admitted to a full +share of political power. The greater things having been granted, it +was mere pedantry to haggle about the less, and to hold an elaborate +inquiry into the principles of every man whose barns had been burned +during the rebellion. When responsible government was conceded, it was +admitted that even the rebels had not been wholly wrong. It would have +been straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel to say "we will give +you these free institutions for the sake of which you rebelled, but we +will not pay you the small sum of money necessary to recompense you +for losses arising out of the rebellion." + +However, it is easier to discuss these matters coolly in 1906 than it +was in 1849, and in 1849 the notion of "rewarding the rebels" produced +another rebellion on a small scale. A large quantity of important +legislation was brought down by the new government when it met the +legislature early in 1849, but everything else was forgotten when Mr. +Lafontaine introduced the resolution on which the Rebellion Losses +Bill was founded. In various parts of Upper Canada meetings were held +and protests made against the measure. In Toronto the protests took +the form of mob violence, foreshadowing what was to come in Montreal. +Effigies of Baldwin and Blake were carried through the streets and +burned. William Lyon Mackenzie had lately returned to Canada, and was +living at the house of a citizen named Mackintosh. The mob went to the +house, threatened to pull it down, and burned an effigy of Mackenzie. +The windows of the house were broken and stones and bricks thrown in. +The _Globe_ office was apparently not molested, but about midnight the +mob went to the dwelling-house of the Browns, battered at the door and +broke some windows. The _Globe_ in this trying time stood staunchly by +the government and Lord Elgin, and powerfully influenced the public +opinion of Upper Canada in their favour. Addresses calling for the +withdrawal of Lord Elgin were met by addresses supporting his action, +and the signatures to the friendly addresses outnumbered the other by +one hundred and twenty thousand. George Brown, Col. C. T. Baldwin, and +W. P. Howland were deputed to present an address from the Reformers of +Upper Canada. Sir William Howland has said that Lord Elgin was so much +affected that he shed tears. + +This is not the place, however great the temptation may be, to +describe the stirring scenes that were enacted in Montreal; the stormy +debate, the fiery speech in which William Hume Blake hurled back at +the Tories the charge of disloyalty; the tumult in the galleries, the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing and stoning of +the governor-general. + +Lord Elgin's bearing under this severe trial was admirable. He was +most desirous that blood should not be shed, and for this reason +avoided the use of troops or the proclamation of martial law; and he +had the satisfaction of seeing the storm gradually subside. A less +dangerous evidence of discontent was a manifesto signed by leading +citizens of Montreal advocating annexation to the United States, not +only to relieve commercial depression, but "to settle the race +question forever, by bringing to bear on the French-Canadians the +powerful assimilating forces of the republic." The signers of this +document were leniently dealt with; but those among them who +afterwards took a prominent part in politics, were not permitted to +forget their error. Elgin was of opinion that there was ground for +discontent on commercial grounds, and he advocated the removal of +imperial restriction on navigation, and the establishment of +reciprocity between the United States and the British North American +provinces. The annexation movement was confined chiefly to Montreal. +In Upper Canada an association called the British American League was +formed, and a convention held at Kingston in 1849. The familiar topics +of commercial depression and French domination were discussed; some +violent language was used, but the remedies proposed were sane +enough; they were protection, retrenchment, and the union of the +British provinces. Union, it was said, would put an end to French +domination, and would give Canada better access to the sea and +increased commerce. The British American League figures in the old, +and not very profitable, controversy as to the share of credit to be +allotted to each political party for the work of confederation. It is +part of the Conservative case. But the platform was abandoned for the +time, and confederation remained in the realm of speculation rather +than of action. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS + + +Within the limits of one parliament, less than four years, the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government achieved a large amount of useful work, +including the establishment of cheap and uniform postage, the +reforming of the courts of law, the remodelling of the municipal +system, the establishment of the University of Toronto on a +non-sectarian basis, and the inauguration of a policy by which the +province was covered with a network of railways. With such a record, +the government hardly seemed to be open to a charge of lack of energy +and progressiveness, but it was a time when radicalism was in the air. +It may be more than a coincidence that Chartism in England and a +revolution in France were followed by radical movements in both +Canadas. + +The counterpart to the Rouge party in Lower Canada, elsewhere referred +to, was the Clear Grit party in Upper Canada. Among its leaders were +Peter Perry, one of the founders of the Reform party in Upper Canada, +Caleb Hopkins, David Christie, James Lesslie, Dr. John Rolph and +William Macdougall. Rolph had played a leading part in the movement +for reform before the rebellion, and is the leading figure in Dent's +history of that period. Macdougall was a young lawyer and journalist +fighting his way into prominence. + +"Grit" afterwards became a nickname for a member of the Reform or +Liberal party, and especially for the enthusiastic followers of George +Brown. Yet in all the history of a quarrelsome period in politics +there is no more violent quarrel than that between Brown and the Clear +Grits. It is said that Brown and Christie were one day discussing the +movement, and that Brown had mentioned the name of a leading Reformer +as one of the opponents of the new party. Christie replied that the +party did not want such men, they wanted only those who were "Clear +Grit." This is one of several theories as to the derivation of the +name. The _Globe_ denounced the party as "a miserable clique of +office-seeking, bunkum-talking cormorants, who met in a certain +lawyer's office on King Street [Macdougall's] and announced their +intention to form a new party on Clear Grit principles." The _North +American_, edited by Macdougall, denounced Brown with equal fury as a +servile adherent of the Baldwin government. Brown for several years +was in this position of hostility to the Radical wing of the party. He +was defeated in Haldimand by William Lyon Mackenzie, who stood on an +advanced Radical platform; and in 1851 his opponent in Kent and +Lambton was Malcolm Cameron, a Clear Grit, who had joined the +Hincks-Morin government. The nature of their relations is shown by a +letter in which Cameron called on one of his friends to come out and +oppose Brown: "I will be out and we will show him up, and let him know +what stuff Liberal Reformers are made of, and how they would treat +fanatical beasts who would allow no one liberty but themselves." + +The Clear Grits advocated, (1) the application of the elective +principle to all the officials and institutions of the country, from +the head of the government downwards; (2) universal suffrage; (3) vote +by ballot; (4) biennial parliaments; (5) the abolition of property +qualification for parliamentary representations; (6) a fixed term for +the holding of general elections and for the assembling of the +legislature; (7) retrenchment; (8) the abolition of pensions to +judges; (9) the abolition of the Courts of Common Pleas and Chancery +and the giving of an enlarged jurisdiction to the Court of Queen's +Bench; (10) reduction of lawyers' fees; (11) free trade and direct +taxation; (12) an amended jury law; (13) the abolition or modification +of the usury laws; (14) the abolition of primogeniture; (15) the +secularization of the clergy reserves, and the abolition of the +rectories. The movement was opposed by the _Globe_. No new party, it +said, was required for the advocacy of reform of the suffrage, +retrenchment, law reform, free trade or the liberation of the clergy +reserves. These were practical questions, on which the Reform party +was united. But these were placed on the programme merely to cloak +its revolutionary features, features that simply meant the adoption of +republican institutions, and the taking of the first step towards +annexation. The British system of responsible government was upheld by +the _Globe_ as far superior to the American system in the security it +afforded to life and property. + +But while Brown defended the government from the attacks of the Clear +Grits, he was himself growing impatient at their delay in dealing with +certain questions that he had at heart, especially the secularization +of the clergy reserves. He tried, as we should say to-day, "to reform +the party from within." He was attacked for his continued support of a +ministry accused of abandoning principles while "he was endeavouring +to influence the members to a right course without an open rupture." +There was an undercurrent of discontent drawing him away from the +government. In October, 1850, the _Globe_ contained a series of +articles on the subject. It was pointed out that there were four +parties in the country: the old-time Tories, the opponents of +responsible government, whose members were fast diminishing; the new +party led by John A. Macdonald; the Ministerialists; and the Clear +Grits, who were described as composed of English Radicals, Republicans +and annexationists. The Ministerialists had an overwhelming majority +over all, but were disunited. What was the trouble? The ministers +might be a little slow, a little wanting in tact, a little less +democratic than some of their followers. They were not traitors to the +Reform cause, and intemperate attacks on them might be disastrous to +that cause. A union of French-Canadians with Upper Canadian +Conservatives would, it was prophesied, make the Reform party +powerless. Though in later years George Brown became known as the +chief opponent of French-Canadian influence, he was well aware of the +value of the alliance, and he gave the French-Canadians full credit +for their support to measures of reform. "Let the truth be known," +said the _Globe_ at this time, "to the French-Canadians of Lower +Canada are the Reformers of Upper Canada indebted for the sweeping +majorities which carried their best measures." He gave the government +credit for an immense mass of useful legislation enacted in a very +short period. But more remained to be done. The clergy reserves must +be abolished, and all connection between Church and State swept away. +"The party in power has no policy before the country. No one knows +what measures are to be brought forward by the leaders. Each man +fancies a policy for himself. The conductors of the public press must +take ground on all the questions of the day, and each accordingly +strikes out such a line as suits his own leanings, the palates of his +readers, or what he deems for the good of the country. All sorts of +vague schemes are thus thrown on the sea of public opinion to agitate +the waters, with the triple result of poisoning the public mind, +producing unnecessary divisions, and committing sections of the party +to views and principles which they might never have contemplated under +a better system." + +For some time the articles in the _Globe_ did not pass the bounds of +friendly, though outspoken, criticism. The events that drew Brown into +opposition were his breach with the Roman Catholic Church, the +campaign in Haldimand in which he was defeated by William Lyon +Mackenzie, the retirement of Baldwin and the accession to power of the +Hincks-Morin administration. + +Towards the end of 1850 there arrived in Canada copies of a pastoral +letter by Cardinal Wiseman, defending the famous papal bull which +divided England into sees of the Roman Catholic Church, and gave +territorial titles to the bishops. Sir E. P. Taché, a member of the +government, showed one of these to Mr. Brown, and jocularly challenged +him to publish it in the _Globe_. Brown accepted the challenge, +declaring that he would also publish a reply, to be written by +himself. The reply, which will be found in the _Globe_ of December +10th, 1850, is argumentative in tone, and probably would not of itself +have involved Brown in a violent quarrel with the Church. The +following passage was afterwards cited by the _Globe_ as defining its +position: "In offering a few remarks upon Dr. Wiseman's production, we +have no intention to discuss the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, +but merely to look at the question in its secular aspect. As advocates +of the voluntary principle we give to every man full liberty to +worship as his conscience dictates, and without penalty, civil or +ecclesiastical, attaching to his exercise thereof. We would allow each +sect to give to its pastors what titles it sees fit, and to prescribe +the extent of spiritual duties; but we would have the State recognize +no ecclesiastical titles or boundaries whatever. The public may, from +courtesy, award what titles they please; but the statute-book should +recognize none. The voluntary principle is the great cure for such +dissensions as now agitate Great Britain." + +The cause of conflict lay outside the bounds of that article. Cardinal +Wiseman's letter and Lord John Russell's reply had thrown England into +a ferment of religious excitement. "Lord John Russell," says Justin +McCarthy, "who had more than any man living been identified with the +principles of religious liberty, who had sat at the feet of Fox and +had for his closest friend the poet, Thomas Moore, came to be regarded +by the Roman Catholics as the bitterest enemy of their creed and their +rights of worship." + +It is evident that this hatred of Russell was carried across the +Atlantic, and that Brown was regarded as his ally. In the Haldimand +election a hand-bill signed, "An Irish Roman Catholic" was circulated. +It assailed Brown fiercely for the support he had given to Russell, +and for the general course of the _Globe_ in regard to Catholic +questions. Russell was described as attempting "to twine again around +the writhing limbs of ten millions of Catholics the chains that our +own O'Connell rescued us from in 1829." A vote for George Brown would +help to rivet these spiritual chains round the souls of Irishmen, and +to crush the religion for which Ireland had wept oceans of blood; +those who voted for Brown would be prostrating themselves like +cowardly slaves or beasts of burden before the avowed enemies of their +country, their religion and their God. "You will think of the gibbets, +the triangles, the lime-pits, the tortures, the hangings of the past. +You will reflect on the struggles of the present against the new penal +bill. You will look forward to the dangers, the triumphs, the hopes of +the future, and then you will go to the polls and vote against George +Brown." + +This was not the only handicap with which Brown entered on his first +election contest. There was no cordial sympathy between him and the +government, yet he was hampered by his connection with the government. +The dissatisfied Radicals rallied to the support of William Lyon +Mackenzie, whose sufferings in exile also made a strong appeal to the +hearts of Reformers, and Mackenzie was elected. + +In his election address Brown declared himself for perfect religious +equality, the separation of Church and State, and the diversion of +the clergy reserves from denominational to educational purposes. "I am +in favour of national school education free from sectarian teaching, +and available without charge to every child in the province. I desire +to see efficient grammar schools established in each county, and that +the fees of these institutions and of the national university should +be placed on such a scale as will bring a high literary and scientific +education within the reach of men of talent in any rank of life." He +advocated free trade in the fullest sense, expressing the hope that +the revenue from public lands and canals, with strict economy, would +enable Canada "to dispense with the whole customs department." + +Brown's estrangement from the government did not become an open +rupture so long as Baldwin and Lafontaine were at the head of affairs. +In the summer following Brown's defeat in Haldimand, Baldwin resigned +owing to a resolution introduced by William Lyon Mackenzie, for the +abolition of the Court of Chancery. The resolution was defeated, but +obtained the votes of a majority of the Upper Canadian members, and +Mr. Baldwin regarded their action as an indication of want of +confidence in himself. He dropped some expressions, too, which +indicated that he was moved by larger considerations. He was +conservative in his views, and he regarded the Mackenzie vote as a +sign of a flood of radicalism which he felt powerless to stay. +Shortly afterwards Lafontaine retired. He, also, was conservative in +his temperament, and weary of public life. The passing of Baldwin and +Lafontaine from the scene helped to clear the way for Mr. Brown to +take his own course, and it was not long before the open breach +occurred. When Mr. Hincks became premier, Mr. Brown judged that the +time had come for him to speak out. He felt that he must make a fair +start with the new government, and have a clear understanding at the +outset. A new general election was approaching, and he thought that +the issue of separation of Church and State must be clearly placed +before the country. In an article in the _Globe_ entitled "The +Crisis," it was declared that the time for action had come. One +parliament had been lost to the friends of religious equality; they +could not afford to lose another. It was contended that the Upper +Canadian Reformers suffered by their connection with the Lower +Canadian party. Complaint was made that the Hon. E. P. Taché had +advised Roman Catholics to make common cause with Anglicans in +resisting the secularization of the clergy reserves, had described the +advocates of secularization as "pharisaical brawlers," and had said +that the Church of England need not fear their hostility, because the +"contra-balancing power" of the Lower Canadians would be used to +protect the Anglican Church. This, said the _Globe_, was a challenge +which the friends of religious equality could not refuse. Later on, +Mr. Brown wrote a series of letters to Mr. Hincks, setting forth +fully his grounds of complaint against the government: failure to +reform the representation of Upper Canada, slackness in dealing with +the secularization of the clergy reserves, weakness in yielding to the +demand for separate schools. All this he attributed to Roman Catholic +or French-Canadian influence. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CLERGY RESERVES + + +The clergy reserves were for many years a fruitful source of +discontent and agitation in Canada. They had their origin in a +provision of the Constitutional Act of 1791, that there should be +reserved for the maintenance and support of a "Protestant clergy" in +Upper and Lower Canada "a quantity of land equal in value to a seventh +part of grants that had been made in the past or might be made in the +future." It was provided also that rectories might be erected and +endowed according to the establishment of the Church of England. The +legislatures were to be allowed to vary or repeal these enactments, +but such legislation was not to receive the royal assent before it had +been laid before both Houses of the imperial parliament. + +Did the words "Protestant clergy" apply to any other body than the +Church of England? A vast amount of legal learning was expended on +this question; but there can be little doubt that the intention to +establish and endow the Church of England was thoroughly in accord +with the ideas of colonial government prevailing from the conquest to +the end of the eighteenth century. In the instructions to Murray and +other early governors there are constant injunctions for the support +of a Protestant clergy and Protestant schools, "to the end that the +Church of England may be established both in principles and +practice."[3] Governor Simcoe, we are told, attached much importance +to "every establishment of Church and State that upholds a distinction +of ranks and lessens the undue weight of the democratic influence." +"The episcopal system was interwoven and connected with the +monarchical foundations of our government."[4] In pursuance of this +idea, which was also that of the ruling class in Canada, the country +was to be made as much unlike the United States as possible by the +intrenchment of class and ecclesiastical privileges, and this was the +policy pursued up to the time that responsible government was +obtained. Those outside the dominant caste, in religion as in +politics, were branded as rebels, annexationists, Yankees, +republicans. And as this dominant caste, until the arrival of Lord +Elgin, had the ear of the authorities at home, it is altogether likely +that the Act of 1791 was framed in accordance with their views. + +The law was unjust, improvident, and altogether unsuited to the +circumstances of the colony. Lord Durham estimated that the members +and adherents of the Church of England, allowing its largest claim, +were not more than one-third, probably not more than one-fourth, of +the population of Upper Canada. Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman +Catholics, each claimed a larger membership. He declared that the +sanction given to the exclusive claims of the Church of England by Sir +John Colborne's establishment of fifty-seven rectories, was, in the +opinion of many persons, the chief pre-disposing cause of the +rebellion, and it was an abiding and unabated cause of discontent.[5] + +Not only was the spirit of the colony opposed to the establishment and +domination of any Church, but settlement was retarded and the +hardships of the settler increased by the locking up of enormous +tracts of land. In addition to the clergy reserves, grants were made +to officials, to militia men, to the children of United Empire +Loyalists and others, in the hope that these persons would settle on +the land. Many of these fell into the hands of speculators and +jobbers, who bought farms of two hundred acres for prices ranging from +a gallon of rum to Ł5. "The greater part of these grants," said Mr. +Hawke, a government official whose evidence is given in the appendix +to Durham's Report, "remain in an unimproved state. These blocks of +wild land place the actual settler in an almost hopeless condition; he +can hardly expect during his lifetime to see his neighbourhood contain +a population sufficiently dense to support mills, schools, +post-offices, places of worship, markets or shops, without which +civilization retrogrades. Roads, under such circumstances, can neither +be opened by the settlers nor kept in proper repair. In 1834 I met a +settler from the township of Warwick, on the Caradoc Plains, returning +from the grist mill at Westminster, with the flour and bran of +thirteen bushels of wheat. He had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached +to his wagon, and had been absent nine days and did not expect to +reach home until the following evening. Light as his load was, he +assured me that he had to unload, wholly or in part, several times, +and after driving his wagon through the swamps, to pick out a road +through the woods where the swamps or gullies were fordable, and to +carry the bags on his back and replace them in the wagon." + +It is unnecessary here to discuss differences of opinion as to the +interpretation of the law, attempts to divide the endowment among +various denominations, or other efforts at compromise. The radical +wing of the Reform party demanded that the special provision for the +support of the Church of England should be abolished, and a system of +free popular education established. With this part of their platform +Brown was heartily in accord; on this point he agreed with the Clear +Grits that the Baldwin-Lafontaine government was moving too slowly, +and when Baldwin was succeeded by Hincks in 1851, the restraining +influence of his respect for Baldwin being removed, his discontent +was converted into open and determined opposition. + +Largely by the influence of Brown and the _Globe_, public opinion in +1851 was aroused to a high degree, and meetings were held to advocate +the secularization of the clergy reserves. The friends of the old +order were singularly unfortunate in their mode of expressing their +opinions. Opposition to responsible government was signalized by the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing of Lord Elgin in +Montreal. Opposition to religious equality was signalized by the +mobbing of an orderly assembly in Toronto. One meeting of the +opponents of the clergy reserves was broken up by these means, and a +second meeting was attacked by a mob with such violence as to +necessitate the calling out of a company of British soldiers. This +meeting was held in St. Lawrence Hall, over the city market bearing +that name. Mr. Brown was chosen to move a resolution denouncing State +endowments of religion, and did so in a speech of earnestness and +argumentative power. He compared the results of Church establishments +with those of voluntary effort in England, in Scotland, in France, and +in Canada, and denounced "State-churchism" as the author of pride, +intolerance and spiritual coldness. "When," he said, "I read the +history of the human race, and trace the dark record of wars and +carnage, of tyranny, robbery and injustice in every shape, which have +been the fruits of State-churchism in every age; when I observe the +degenerating effect which it has ever had on the purity and simplicity +of the Gospel of Christ, turning men's minds from its great truths, as +a religion of the heart, to the mere outward tinsel, to the forms and +ceremonies on which priestcraft flourishes; when I see that at all +times it has been made the instrument of the rich and powerful in +oppressing the poor and weak, I cannot but reject it utterly as in +direct hostility to the whole spirit of the Gospel, to that glorious +system which teaches men to set not their hearts on this world, and to +walk humbly before God." He held that it was utterly impossible for +the State to teach religious truth. "There is no standard for truth. +We cannot even agree on the meaning of words." Setting aside the +injustice of forcing men to pay money for the support of what they +deemed religious error, it was "most dangerous to admit that the +magistrate is to decide for God--for that is the plain meaning of the +establishment principle. Once admit that principle, and no curb can be +set upon its operation. Who shall restrict what God has appointed? And +thus the extent to which the conscience of men may be constrained, or +persecution for truth's sake may be carried, depends entirely on the +ignorance or enlightenment of the civil magistrate. There is no safety +out of the principle that religion is a matter entirely between man +and his God, and that the whole duty of the magistrate is to secure +every one in the peaceful observance of it. Anything else leads to +oppression and injustice, but this can never lead to either." + +A notable part of the speech was a defence of free, non-sectarian +education. "I can conceive," he said, "nothing more unprincipled than +a scheme to array the youth of the province in sectarian bands--to +teach them, from the cradle up, to know each other as Methodist boys, +and Presbyterian boys, and Episcopal boys. Surely, surely, we have +enough of this most wretched sectarianism in our churches without +carrying it further." + +To protect themselves from interruption, the advocates of +secularization had taken advantage of a law which allowed them to +declare their meeting as private, and exclude disturbers. Their +opponents held another meeting in the adjoining market-place where by +resolution they expressed indignation at the repeated attempts of "a +Godless association" to stir up religious strife, and declared that +the purposes of the association, if carried out, would bring about not +only the severance of British connection, but socialism, +republicanism, and infidelity. The horrified listeners were told how +Rousseau and Voltaire had corrupted France, how religion was +overthrown and the naked Goddess of Reason set up as an object of +worship. They were told that the clergy reserves were a gift to the +nation from "our good King George the Third." Abolish them and the +British flag would refuse to float over anarchy and confusion. +Finally, they were assured that they could thrash the St. Lawrence +Hall audience in a stand-up fight, but were nevertheless advised to go +quietly home. This advice was apparently accepted in the spirit of the +admonition: "Don't nail his ears to the pump," for the crowd +immediately marched to St. Lawrence Hall, cheering, groaning, and +shouting. They were met by the mayor, two aldermen, and the chief +constable, and told that they could not be admitted. Stones and bricks +were thrown through the windows of the hall. The Riot Act was read by +an alderman, and the British regiment then quartered in the town, the +71st, was sent for. There was considerable delay in bringing the +troops, and in the meantime there was great disorder; persons leaving +the hall were assaulted, and the mayor was struck in the face with a +stone and severely cut. A company of the 71st arrived at midnight, +after which the violence of the mob abated.[6] + +The steps leading up to the settlement of the question may be briefly +referred to. In 1850 the Canadian parliament had asked for power to +dispose of the reserves, with the understanding that emoluments +derived by existing incumbents should be guaranteed during their +lives. The address having been forwarded to England, Lord John Russell +informed the governor-general that a bill would be introduced in +compliance with the wish of the Canadian parliament. But in 1852 the +Russell government resigned, and was succeeded by that of the Earl of +Derby. Derby (Lord Stanley) had been colonial secretary in the Peel +government, which had shown a strong bias against Canadian +self-government. Sir John Pakington declared that the advisers of Her +Majesty were not inclined to aid in the diversion to other purposes of +the only public fund for the support of divine worship and religious +instruction in Canada, though they would entertain proposals for new +dispositions of the fund. Hincks, who was then in England, protested +vigorously against the disregard of the wishes of the Canadian people. +When the legislature assembled in 1852, it carried, at his instance, +an address to the Crown strongly upholding the Canadian demand. Brown +contended that the language was too strong and the action too weak. He +made a counter proposal, which found little support, that the Canadian +parliament itself enact a measure providing for the sale of the clergy +lands to actual settlers, and the appropriation of the funds for the +maintenance of common schools. + +With the fall of the Derby administration in England, ended the +opposition from that source to the Canadian demands. But Hincks, who +had firmly vindicated the right of the Canadian parliament to +legislate on the matter, now hesitated to use the power placed in his +hands, and declared that legislation should be deferred until a new +parliament had been chosen. The result was that the work of framing +the measure of settlement fell into the hands of John A. Macdonald, +the rising star of the Conservative party. The fund, after provision +had been made for the vested rights of incumbents, was turned over to +the municipalities. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Instructions to Governor Murray, _Canadian Archives of 1904_, p. +218. + +[4] Professor Shortt in the _Canadian Magazine_, September, 1901. + +[5] Durham's _Report on the Affairs of British North America_. +Methuen's reprint, pp. 125, 126. + +[6] The _Globe_, July, 1851. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT + + +In the autumn of 1851 parliament was dissolved, and in September Mr. +Brown received a requisition from the Reformers of Kent to stand as +their candidate, one of the signatures being that of Alexander +Mackenzie, afterwards premier of Canada. In accepting the nomination +he said that he anticipated that he would be attacked as an enemy of +the Roman Catholic Church; that he cordially adhered to the principles +of the Protestant reformation; that he objected to the Roman Catholic +Church trenching on the civil rights of the community, but that he +would be ashamed to advocate any principle or measure which would +restrict the liberty of any man, or deprive him on account of his +faith of any right or advantage enjoyed by his fellow-subjects. In his +election address he advocated religious equality, the entire +separation of Church and State, the secularization of the clergy +reserves, the proceeds to go to national schools, which were thus to +be made free. He advocated, also, the building of a railway from +Quebec to Windsor and Sarnia, the improvement of the canals and +waterways, reciprocity with the Maritime Provinces and the United +States, a commission for the reform of law procedure, the extension +of the franchise and the reform of representation. Representation by +population afterwards came to be the watchword of those who demanded +that Upper Canada should have a larger representation than Lower +Canada; but as yet this question had not arisen definitely. The +population of Upper Canada was nearly doubled between 1842 and 1851, +but it did not appear until 1852 that it had passed the lower province +in population. + +The advocacy of free schools was an important part of the platform. +During the month of January, 1852, the _Globe_ contained frequent +articles, reports of public meetings, and letters on the subject. It +was contended by some of the opponents of free schools that the poor +could obtain free education by pleading their poverty; but the _Globe_ +replied that education should not be a matter of charity, but should +be regarded as a right, like the use of pavements. The matter was made +an issue in the election of school trustees in several places, and in +the Toronto election the advocates of free schools were successful. + +It will be convenient to note here that Brown's views on higher +education corresponded with his views on public schools. In each case +he opposed sectarian control, on the ground that it would dissipate +the energies of the people, and divide among half a dozen sects the +money which might maintain one efficient system. These views were +fully set forth in a speech made on February 25th, 1853, upon a bill +introduced by Mr. Hincks to amend the law relating to the University +of Toronto. Brown denounced the measure as a surrender to the +sectaries. There were two distinct ideas, he said, in regard to higher +education in Upper Canada. One was that a university must be connected +with a Church and under the management of the clergy, without whose +control infidelity would prevail. The Reform party, led by Mr. Baldwin +and Mr. Hincks, had denounced these views as the mere clap-trap of +priestcraft. They held that there should be one great literary and +scientific institution, to which all Canadians might resort on equal +terms. This position was founded, not on contempt for religion, but on +respect for religion, liberty, and conscience. "To no one principle +does the Liberal party owe so many triumphs as to that of +non-sectarian university education." Until 1843 Anglican control +prevailed; then various unsuccessful efforts at compromise were made, +and finally, in 1849, after twenty years of agitation, the desire of +the Liberal party was fulfilled, and a noble institute of learning +established. This act alone would have entitled Robert Baldwin to the +lasting gratitude of his countrymen. + +Continuing, Brown said that the Hincks bill was reactionary--that the +original draft even contained a reference to the godless character of +the institution--that the plan would fritter away the endowment by +dividing it among sects and among localities. He opposed the abolition +of the faculties of law and medicine. Rightly directed, the study of +law was ennobling, and jurists should receive an education which would +give them broad and generous views of the principles of justice. The +endowment of the university ought to be sufficient to attract eminent +teachers, and to encourage students by scholarships. "We are laying +the foundations of a great political and social system. Our vote +to-day may deeply affect, for good or evil, the future of the country. +I adjure the House to pause ere destroying an institution which may +one day be among the chief glories of a great and wise people." + +Brown was elected by a good majority. The general result of the +election was favourable to the Hincks-Morin administration. A large +part of the interval between the election and the first session of the +new parliament was spent by Mr. Hincks in England, where he made some +progress in the settlement of the clergy reserve question, and where +he also made arrangements for the building of the Grand Trunk Railway +from Montreal westward through Upper Canada. Negotiations for the +building of the Intercolonial Railway, connecting Lower Canada with +the Maritime Provinces, fell through, and the enterprise was delayed +for some years. + +It was a matter of some importance that the first parliament in which +Mr. Brown took part was held in the city of Quebec. He had entered on +a course which made Catholics and French-Canadians regard him as their +enemy, and in Quebec French and Catholic influence was dominant. Brown +felt keenly the hostility of his surroundings, and there are frequent +references in his speeches and in the correspondence of the _Globe_ to +the unfriendly faces in the gallery of the chamber, and to the social +power exercised by the Church. "Nothing," says the Hon. James Young, +"could exceed the courage and eloquence with which Brown stood up +night after night, demanding justice for Upper Canada in the face of a +hostile majority on the floor of the chamber and still more hostile +auditors in the galleries above. So high, indeed, did public feeling +run on some occasions that fears were entertained for his personal +safety, and his friends occasionally insisted after late and exciting +debates, lasting often till long after midnight, on accompanying +him."[7] Mr. Young adds that these fears were not shared by Mr. Brown, +and that they proved to be groundless. Mr. Brown, in fact, did not +regard the Quebec influence as a personal grievance, but he argued +that on public grounds the legislature ought not to meet in a city +where freedom of speech might be impaired by local sentiment. That he +harboured no malice was very finely shown when parliament met four +years afterwards in Toronto. He had just concluded a powerful speech. +The galleries were crowded, this time with a friendly audience, which +at length broke into applause. Brown checked the demonstration. "I +have addressed none," he said, "but members of this House, and trust +that members from Lower Canada will not be overawed by any +manifestation of feeling in this chamber. I shall be ready on all +occasions to discourage it. In Lower Canada I stood almost alone in +supporting my views, and I well know how painful these manifestations +are to a stranger in a strange place. I do sincerely trust that +gentlemen of French origin will feel as free to speak here as if they +were in Quebec." + +Brown made his maiden speech during the debate on the address. It is +described in a contemporary account as "a terrible onslaught on the +government." An idea of violence conveyed in this and other comments +would appear to have been derived from the extreme energy of Brown's +gestures. The printed report of the speech does not give that +impression. Though severe, it was in the main historical and +argumentative. It contained a review of the political history of +Canada from the time of the rupture between Metcalfe and his +ministers, up to the time when the principle of responsible government +was conceded. Brown argued that Reformers were bound to stand by that +principle, and to accept all its obligations. In his judgment it was +essential to the right working of responsible government that parties +should declare their principles clearly and stand or fall by them. If +they held one set of principles out of office and another set in +office they would reduce responsible government to a farce. He +acknowledged the services which Hincks and Morin had rendered in +fighting for responsible government; but he charged them with +betraying that principle by their own conduct in office. Two systems +of government, he said, were being tested on this continent. The +American system contained checks and balances. The British system +could be carried on only by the observance of certain unwritten laws, +and especially a strict good faith and adherence to principle. Brown, +as a party man, adhered firmly to Burke's definition of party: "A body +of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national +interest, upon some particular principle on which they are all +agreed." Office-holding, with him, was a minor consideration. "There +is no theory in the principle of responsible government more vital to +its right working than that parties shall take their stand on the +prominent questions of the day, and mount to office or resign it +through the success or failure of principles to which they are +attached. This is the great safeguard for the public against clap-trap +professions." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Young's _Public Men and Public Life in Canada_, p. 83. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE + + +The condition of parties in the legislature was peculiar. The most +formidable antagonist of the Reform government was the man who was +rapidly rising to the leadership of the Reform party. The old Tory +party was dead, and its leader, Sir Allan MacNab, was almost inactive. +Macdonald, who was to re-organize and lead the new Conservative party, +was playing a waiting game, taking advantage of Brown's tremendous +blows at the ministry, and for the time being satisfied with a less +prominent part in the conflict. Brown rapidly rose to a commanding +position in the assembly. He did this without any _finesse_ or skill +in the management of men, with scarcely any assistance, and almost +entirely by his own energy and force of conviction. His industry and +capacity for work were prodigious. He spoke frequently, and on a wide +range of subjects requiring careful study and mastery of facts. In the +divisions he obtained little support. He had antagonized the +French-Canadians, the Clear Grits of Upper Canada were for the time +determined to stand by the government, and his views were usually not +such as the Conservatives could endorse, although they occasionally +followed him in order to embarrass the government. + +Brown's course in parliament, however, was pointing to a far more +important result than changes in the personnel of office-holders. +Hincks once told him that the logical conclusion of that course was +the dissolution of the union. There was a measure of truth in this. If +he had said dissolution or modification, he would have been absolutely +right. Between the ideas of Upper Canada and Lower Canada there was a +difference so great that a legislative union was foredoomed to +failure, and separation could be avoided only by a federation which +allowed each community to take its own way. Brown did not create these +difficulties, but he emphasized them, and so forced and hastened the +application of the remedy. Up to the time of his entering parliament, +his policy had related mainly to Upper Canada. In parliament, however, +a mass of legislation emanating from Lower Canada aroused his strong +opposition. In the main it was ecclesiastical legislation +incorporating Roman Catholic institutions, giving them power to hold +lands, to control education, and otherwise to strengthen the authority +of the Church over the people. It is not necessary to discuss these +measures in detail. The object is to arrive at Brown's point of view, +and it was this: That the seat of government was a Catholic city, and +that legislation and administration were largely controlled by the +French-Canadian priesthood. He complained that Upper Canada was +unfairly treated in regard to legislation and expenditure; that its +public opinion was disregarded, and that it was not fairly +represented. The question of representation steadily assumed more +importance in his mind, and he finally came to the conclusion that +representation by population was the true remedy for all the +grievances of which he complained. Lower Canada, being now numerically +the weaker, naturally clung to the system which gave it equality of +representation. + +In all these matters the breach between George Brown and the Lower +Canadian representatives was widening, while he was becoming more and +more the voice of Upper Canadian opinion. When, in the intervals +between parliamentary sessions, he visited various places in Upper +Canada, he found himself the most popular man in the community. He +addressed great public meetings. Banquets were given in his honour. +The prominent part taken by ministers of the Gospel at these +gatherings illustrates at once the weakness and the strength of his +position. He satisfied the "Nonconformist conscience" of Upper Canada +by his advocacy not only of religious equality but of the prohibition +of the liquor traffic and of the cessation of Sunday labour by public +servants. But this very attitude made it difficult for him to work +with any political party in Lower Canada. + +In 1853 there was a remarkable article in the Cobourg _Star_, a +Conservative journal, illustrating the hold which Brown had obtained +upon Upper Canadian sentiment. This attitude was called forth by a +banquet given to Brown by the Reformers of the neighbourhood. It +expressed regret that the honour was given on party grounds. "Had it +been given on the ground of his services to Protestantism, it would +have brought out every Orangeman in the country. Conservatives +disagreed with Brown about the clergy reserves, but if the reserves +must be secularized, every Conservative in Canada would join Brown in +his crusade against Roman Catholic endowments." Then follows this +estimate of Brown's character: "In George Brown we see no agitator or +demagogue, but the strivings of common sense, a sober will to attain +the useful, the practical and the needful. He has patient courage, +stubborn endurance, and obstinate resistance, and desperate daring in +attacking what he believes to be wrong and in defending what he +believes to be right. There is no cant or parade or tinsel or +clap-trap about him. He takes his stand against open, palpable, +tangible wrongs, against the tyranny which violates men's roofs, and +the intolerance which vexes their consciences. True, he is wrong on +the reserves question, but then he is honest, we know where to find +him. He does not, like some of our Reformers, give us to understand +that he will support us and then turn his back. He does not slip the +word of promise to the ear and then break it to the lips. Leaving the +reserves out of the question, George Brown is eminently conservative +in his spirit. His leading principle, as all his writings will show, +is to reconcile progress with preservation, change with stability, the +alteration of incidents with the maintenance of essentials. Change, +for the sake of change, agitation for vanity, for applause or +mischief, he has contemptuously repudiated. He is not like the Clear +Grit, a republican of the first water, but on the contrary looks to +the connection with the mother country, not as fable or unreality or +fleeting vision, but as alike our interest and our duty, as that which +should ever be our beacon, our guide and our goal." + +In 1853 the relative strength of Brown and the ministers was tested in +a series of demonstrations held throughout Canada. The Hon. James +Young gives a vivid description of Brown as he appeared at a banquet +given in his honour at Galt: "He was a striking figure. Standing fully +six feet two inches high, with a well-proportioned body, well balanced +head and handsome face, his appearance not only indicated much mental +and physical strength, but conveyed in a marked manner an impression +of youthfulness and candour. These impressions deepened as his address +proceeded, and his features grew animated and were lighted up by his +fine expressive eyes." His voice was strong and soft, with a +well-marked Edinburgh accent. His appearance surprised the people who +had expected to see an older and sterner-looking man. His first +remarks were disappointing; as was usual with him he stammered and +hesitated until he warmed to his subject, when he spoke with such an +array of facts and figures, such earnestness and enthusiasm, that he +easily held the audience for three hours.[8] + +On October 1st, 1853, the _Globe_ was first issued as a daily. It was +then stated that the paper was first published as a weekly paper with +a circulation of three hundred. On November 1st, 1846, it was +published twice a week with a circulation of two thousand, which rose +to a figure between three thousand and four thousand. In July, 1849, +it was issued three times a week. When the daily paper was first +published the circulation was six thousand. To anticipate a little, it +may be said that in 1855 the _Globe_ absorbed the _North American_ and +the _Examiner_, and the combined circulation was said to be sixteen +thousand four hundred and thirty-six. The first daily paper contained +a declaration of principles, including the entire separation of Church +and State, the abolition of the clergy reserves and the restoration of +the lands to the public, cessation of grants of public money for +sectarian purposes, the abolition of tithes and other compulsory +taxation for ecclesiastical purposes, and restraint on land-holding by +ecclesiastical corporations. + +An extract from this statement of policy may be given: + +"Representation by population. Justice for Upper Canada! While Upper +Canada has a larger population by one hundred and fifty thousand than +Lower Canada, and contributes more than double the amount of taxation +to the general revenue, Lower Canada has an equal number of +representatives in parliament. + +"National education.--Common school, grammar school, and collegiate +free from sectarianism and open to all on equal terms. Earnest war +will be waged with the separate school system, which has unfortunately +obtained a footing. + +"A prohibitory liquor law.--Any measure which will alleviate the +frightful evils of intemperance." + +The inclusion of prohibition on this platform was the natural result +of the drinking habits of that day. In a pamphlet issued by the Canada +Company for the information of intending immigrants, whiskey was +described as "a cheap and wholesome beverage." Its cheapness and +abundance caused it to be used in somewhat the same way as the "small +beer" of England, and it was a common practice to order a jug from the +grocer along with the food supply of the family. When a motion +favouring prohibition was introduced in the Canadian parliament there +were frequent references to the convivial habits of the members. The +seconder of the motion was greeted with loud laughter. He +good-naturedly said that he was well aware of the cause of hilarity, +but that he was ready to sacrifice his pleasure to the general good. +Sir Allan MacNab, the leader of the Opposition, moved a farcical +amendment, under which every member was to sign a pledge of +abstinence, and to be disqualified if he broke it. Brown made an +earnest speech in favour of the motion, in which he remarked that +Canada then contained nine hundred and thirty-one whiskey shops, +fifty-eight steamboat bars, three thousand four hundred and thirty +taverns, one hundred and thirty breweries, and one hundred and +thirty-five distilleries. + +The marked diminution of intemperance in the last fifty years may be +attributed in part to restrictive laws, and in part to the work of the +temperance societies, which rivalled the taverns in social +attractions, and were effective agents of moral suasion. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] Young, _op. cit._, pp. 58, 59. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES + + +In June, 1854, the Hincks-Morin government was defeated in the +legislature on a vote of censure for delay in dealing with the +question of the clergy reserves. A combination of Tories and Radicals +deprived Hincks of all but five of his Upper Canadian supporters. +Parliament was immediately dissolved, and the ensuing election was a +_męlée_ in which Hincks Reformers, Brown Reformers, Tories and Clear +Grits were mingled in confusion. Brown was returned for Lambton, where +he defeated the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, postmaster-general under Hincks. +The Reform party was in a large majority in the new legislature, and +if united could have controlled it with ease. But the internal quarrel +was irreconcilable. Hincks was defeated by a combination of Tories and +dissatisfied Reformers, and a general reconstruction of parties +followed. Sir Allan MacNab, as leader of the Conservative opposition, +formed an alliance with the French-Canadian members of the Hincks +government and with some of its Upper Canadian supporters. Hincks +retired, but gave his support to the new combination, "being of +opinion that the combination of parties by which the new government +was supported presented the only solution of the difficulties caused +by a coalition of parties holding no sentiments in common, a coalition +which rarely takes place in England. I deemed it my duty to give my +support to that government during the short period that I continued in +public life."[9] + +Whether the MacNab-Morin government was a true coalition or a Tory +combination under that name was a question fiercely debated at that +time. It certainly did not stand for the Toryism that had resisted +responsible government, the secularization of the clergy reserves, and +the participation of French-Canadians in the government of the +country. It had at first some of the elements of a coalition, but it +gradually came to represent Conservatism and the personal ascendency +of John A. Macdonald. Robert Baldwin, from his retirement, gave his +approval to the combination, and hence arose the "Baldwin Reformer," +blessed as a convert by one party, and cursed as a renegade by the +other. + +Reconstruction on one side was followed by reconstruction on the +other. Upper Canadian Reformers rallied round Brown, and an alliance +was formed with the Quebec Rouges. This was a natural alliance of +radical Reformers in both provinces. Some light is thrown on it by an +article published in the _Globe_ in 1855. The writer said that in +1849, some young men of Montreal, fresh from the schools and filled +to the brim with the Republican opinions which had spread from France +throughout all Europe, formed associations and established newspapers +advocating extreme political views. They declaimed in favour of +liberty and against priestcraft and tyranny with all the ardour and +freshness of youth. Their talents and the evident purity and sincerity +of their motives made a strong impression on their countrymen, +contrasting as they did with the selfishness and mediocrity of other +French-Canadian leaders, and the result was that the Rouge party was +growing in strength both in the House and in the country. With the +growth of strength there had come a growing sense of responsibility, +greater moderation and prudence. In the legislature, at least, the +Rouges had not expressed a single sentiment on general policy to which +a British constitutional Reformer might not assent. They were the true +allies of the Upper Canadian Reformers, and in fact the only Liberals +among the French-Canadians. They had Reform principles, they +maintained a high standard of political morality. They stood for the +advance of education and for liberty of speech. They were the hope of +Canada, and their attitude gave promise that a brighter day was about +to dawn on the political horizon. + +It was unreasonable to expect that the Liberals could continue to +receive that solid support from Lower Canada which they had received +in the days of the Baldwin-Lafontaine alliance. In those days the +issue was whether French-Canadians should be allowed to take part in +the government of the country, or should be excluded as rebels. The +Reformers championed their cause and received the solid support of the +French-Canadian people. But when once the principle for which they +contested was conceded, it was perceived that Lower Canada, like Upper +Canada, had its Conservative element, and party lines were formed. Mr. +Brown held that there could be no lasting alliance between Upper +Canadian Reformers and Lower Canadian Conservatives, and especially +with those Lower Canadians who defended the power and privileges of +the Church. He was perfectly willing that electors holding these views +should go to the Conservative party, which was their proper place. The +Rouges could not bring to the Liberal party the numerical strength of +the supporters of Lafontaine, but as they really held Liberal +principles, the alliance was solidly based and was more likely to +endure. + +The leader of the Rouges was A. A. Dorion, a distinguished advocate, +and a man of culture, refinement and eloquence. He was Brown's +desk-mate, and while in physique and manner the two were strongly +contrasted, they were drawn together by the chivalry and devotion to +principle which characterized both, and they formed a strong +friendship. "For four years," said Mr. Brown, in a public address, "I +acted with him in the ranks of the Opposition, learned to value most +highly the uprightness of his character, the liberality of his +opinions, and the firmness of his convictions. On most questions of +public general policy we heartily agreed, and regularly voted +together; on the questions that divided all Upper Canadians and all +Lower Canadians alone we differed, and on these we had held many +earnest consultations from year to year with a view to their removal, +without arriving at the conviction that when we had the opportunity we +could find the mode." Their habit was not to attempt to conceal these +sectional differences, but to recognize them frankly with a view to +finding the remedy. It was rarely that either presented a resolution +to the House without asking the advice of the other. They knew each +other's views perfectly, and on many questions, especially of commerce +and finance, they were in perfect accord. + +By this process of evolution Liberals and Conservatives were restored +to their proper and historic places, and the way was cleared for new +issues. These issues arose out of the ill-advised attempt to join +Upper and Lower Canada in a legislative union. A large part of the +history of this period is the history of an attempt to escape the +consequences of that blunder. This was the reason why every ministry +had its double name--the Lafontaine-Baldwin, the Hincks-Morin, the +Taché-Macdonald, the Brown-Dorion, the Macdonald-Sicotte. This was the +reason why every ministry had its attorney-general east for Lower +Canada and its attorney-general west for Upper Canada. In his speech +on confederation Sir John Macdonald said that although the union was +legislative in name, it was federal in fact--that in matters affecting +Upper Canada alone, Upper Canadian members claimed and usually +exercised, exclusive power, and so with Lower Canada. The consolidated +statutes of Canada and the consolidated statutes of Upper Canada must +be sought in separate volumes. The practice of legislating for one +province alone was not confined to local or private matters. For +instance, as the two communities had widely different ideas as to +Sabbath observance, the stricter law was enacted for Upper Canada +alone. Hence also arose the theory of the double majority--that a +ministry must, for the support of its general policy, have a majority +from each province. + +But all these shifts and devices could not stay the agitation for a +radical remedy. Some Reformers proposed to dissolve the union. Brown +believed that the difficulty would be solved by representation by +population, concerning which a word of explanation is necessary. When +the provinces were united in 1841, the population of Lower Canada +exceeded that of Upper Canada in the proportion of three to two. "If," +said Lord Durham, "the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated +at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada at +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four hundred and +fifty thousand, the union of the two provinces would not only give a +clear English majority, but one which would be increased every year by +the influence of English emigration, and I have little doubt that the +French, when once placed by the legitimate course of events in a +minority, would abandon their vain hopes of nationality." But he added +that he was averse to every plan that had been proposed for giving an +equal number of members to the two provinces. The object could be +attained without any violation of the principles of representation, +such as would antagonize public opinion, and "when emigration shall +have increased the English population of the Upper Province, the +adoption of such a principle would operate to defeat the very purpose +it is intended to serve. It appears to me that any such electoral +arrangement, founded on the present provincial divisions, would tend +to defeat the purpose of union and perpetuate the idea of disunion." + +Counsels less wise and just prevailed, and the united province was +"gerrymandered" against Lord Durham's protest. Lower Canada complained +of the injustice, and with good reason. In the course of time Lord +Durham's prediction was fulfilled; by immigration the population of +Upper Canada overtook and passed that of Lower Canada. The census of +1852 gave Upper Canada a population of nine hundred and fifty-two +thousand, and Lower Canada a population of eight hundred and ninety +thousand two hundred and sixty-one. Brown began to press for +representation by population. He was met by two objections. It was +argued on behalf of the French-Canadians that they had submitted to +the injustice while they had the larger population, and that the Upper +Canadians ought to follow their example. Mr. Brown admitted the force +of this argument, but he met it by showing that the Lower Canadians +had been under-represented for eight years, and that by the time the +new representation went into force, the Upper Canadians would have +suffered injustice for about an equal term, so that a balance might be +struck. A more formidable objection was raised by Mr. Hincks, who said +that the union was in the nature of a compact between two nations +having widely different institutions; that the basis of the compact +was equal representation, and that Brown's proposition would destroy +that basis. Cartier said that representation by population could not +be had without repeal of the union. The French-Canadians were afraid +that they would be swamped, and would be obliged to accept the laws +and institutions of the majority. + +It is impossible to deny the force of these objections. In 1841 Lower +Canada had been compelled to join a union in which the voting power of +Upper Canada was arbitrarily increased. If this was due to distrust, +to fear of "French domination," French-Canadians could not be blamed +for showing an equal distrust of English domination, and for refusing +to give up the barrier which, as they believed, protected their +peculiar institutions. Ultimately the solution was found in the +application of the federal system, giving unity in matters requiring +common action, and freedom to differ in matters of local concern. +Towards this solution events were tending, and the importance of +Brown's agitation for representation by population, which gained +immense force in Upper Canada, lies in its relation to the larger plan +of confederation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Hincks's _Political History of Canada_, p. 80. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SOME PERSONAL POLITICS + + +After the burning of the parliament buildings in Montreal the seat of +government oscillated between Quebec and Toronto. Toronto's turn came +in the session of 1856. Macdonald was now the virtual, and was on the +point of becoming the titular, leader of the party. Brown was equally +conspicuous on the other side. During the debate on the address he was +the central figure in a fierce struggle, and some one with a turn for +statistics said that his name was mentioned three hundred and +seventy-two times. The air was stimulating, and Brown's contribution +to the debate was not of a character to turn away wrath. + +Smarting under Brown's attack, Macdonald suddenly gave a new turn to +the debate. He charged that Brown, while acting as a member and +secretary of a commission appointed by the Lafontaine-Baldwin +government to inquire into the condition of the provincial +penitentiary, had falsified testimony, suborned convicts to commit +perjury, and obtained the pardon of murderers to induce them to give +false evidence. Though the assembly had by this time become accustomed +to hard hitting, this outbreak created a sensation. Brown gave an +indignant denial to the charges, and announced that he would move for +a committee of inquiry. He was angrily interrupted by the +solicitor-general, who flung the lie across the House. The +solicitor-general was a son of the warden of the penitentiary who had +been dismissed in consequence of the report of the commission. +Macdonald was a strong personal friend of the warden, and had +attempted some years before to bring his case before the assembly. +Brown promptly moved for the committee, and it was not long before he +presented that tribunal with a dramatic surprise. It was supposed that +the report of the penitentiary committee had been burned, and the +attack on Brown was made upon that supposition. When Mr. Brown was +called as a witness, however, he produced the original report with all +the evidence, and declared that it had never been out of his +possession "for one hour." The effect of this disclosure on his +assailants is shown in a letter addressed to the committee by +VanKoughnet, Macdonald's counsel: "Mr. Macdonald," he said, "had been +getting up his case on the assumption and belief that these minutes +had been destroyed and could not be procured, and much of the labour +he had been allowed to go to by Mr. Brown for that purpose would now +be thrown away; the whole manner of giving evidence, etc., would now +be altered." + +The graver charges of subornation of perjury etc., were abandoned, and +Macdonald's friends confined themselves to an attempt to prove that +the inquiry had been unfairly conducted, that the warden had been +harshly treated, and the testimony not fairly reported. It was a +political committee with a Conservative majority, and the majority, +giving up all hope of injuring Brown, bent its energies to saving +Macdonald from the consequences of his reckless violence. The Liberal +members asked for a complete exoneration of Mr. Brown. A supporter of +the government was willing to exonerate Brown if Macdonald were +allowed to escape without censure. A majority of the committee, +however, took refuge in a rambling deliverance, which was sharply +attacked in the legislature. Sir Allan MacNab bluntly declared that +the charge had been completely disproved, and that the committee ought +to have had the manliness to say so. Drummond, a member of the +government, also said that the attack had failed. The accusers were +willing to allow the matter to drop, and as a matter of fact the +report was never put to a vote. But Mr. Brown would not allow them to +escape so easily. Near the close of the session he made a speech which +gave a new character to the discussion. Up to this time it had been a +personal question between Brown and his assailants. Brown dealt with +this aspect of the matter briefly but forcibly. He declared that not +only his conduct but the character of the other commissioners was +fully vindicated, and that a conspiracy to drive him from public life +had signally failed. Conservative members had met him and admitted +that there was no truth in the charges, but had pleaded that they must +go with the party. Members had actually been asked to "pair" off on +the question of upholding or destroying his character, before they had +heard his defence. + +From these personal matters he returned to the abuses that had been +discovered by the commission. A terrible story of neglect and cruelty +was told. These charges did not rest on the testimony of prisoners. +They were sustained by the evidence of officers and by the records of +the institution. "If," said the speaker, "every word of the witnesses +called by the commissioners were struck out, and the case left to rest +on the testimony of the warden's own witnesses and the official +records of the prison, there would be sufficient to establish the +blackest record of wickedness that ever disgraced a civilized +country." Amid applause, expressions of amazement and cries of +"Shame!" from the galleries, Brown told of the abuses laid bare by the +prison commission. He told of prisoners fed with rotten meal and bread +infested with maggots; of children beaten with cat and rawhide for +childish faults; of a coffin-shaped box in which men and even women +were made to stand or rather crouch, their limbs cramped, and their +lungs scantily supplied with air from a few holes. Brown's speech +virtually closed the case, although Macdonald strove to prove that +the accounts of outrages were exaggerated, that the warden, Smith, was +himself a kind-hearted man, and that he had been harshly treated by +the commissioners. + +In a letter written about this time, Macdonald said that he was +carrying on a war against Brown, that he would prove him a most +dishonest, dishonourable fellow, "and in doing so I will only pay him +a debt that I owe him for abusing me for months together in his +newspaper."[10] Whatever the provocation may have been, the personal +relations of the two men were further embittered by this incident. + +Eight years afterwards they were members of the coalition ministry by +which confederation was brought about, and Brown's intimate friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, says that the association was most distasteful to +Brown, on account of the charges made in connection with the prison +commission. That the leaders of the two parties were not merely +political opponents but personal enemies must have embittered the +party struggle; and it was certainly waged on both sides with fury, +and with little regard either for the amenities of life or for fair +play. + +His work on the commission gave Brown a strong interest in prison +reform. While the work of the commission was fresh in his mind he +delivered an address in the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, in which he +sketched the history of prison reform in England and the United +States, and pointed out how backward Canada was in this phase of +civilization. He pleaded for a more charitable treatment of those on +whom the prison doors had closed. There were inmates of prisons who +would stand guiltless in the presence of Him who searches the heart. +There were guilty ones outside. We cannot, he said, expect human +justice to be infallible; but we must not draw a hard and fast line +between the world inside the prison and the world outside, as if the +courts of justice had the divine power of judging between good and +evil. In Canada, he said, we have no system of reforming the prisoner; +even the chaplain or the teacher never enters the prison walls. +"Children of eight and ten years of age are placed in our gaols, +surrounded by hundreds of the worst criminals in the province." He +went on to describe some of the evils of herding together hardened +criminals, children, and persons charged with trifling offences. He +advocated government inspection of prisons, a uniform system of +discipline, strict classification and separation, secular and +religious instruction, and the teaching of trades. The prisoner should +be punished, but not made to feel that he was being degraded by +society for the sake of revenge. Hope should be held out to those who +showed repentance. The use of the lash for trifling offences against +discipline was condemned. On the whole, his views were such as are +now generally accepted, and he may be regarded as one of the pioneers +of prison reform in Canada. + +The habit of personal attack was further illustrated in the charge, +frequently made by Mr. Brown's enemies, that he had been a defaulter +in Scotland. The _North American_ had printed this accusation during +its fierce altercation with the _Globe_, but the editor, Mr. +Macdougall, had afterwards apologized, and explained that it had crept +into the paper during his absence and without his knowledge. In the +session of 1858, a Mr. Powell, member for Carleton, renewed the attack +in the House, and Mr. Brown made a reply of such compelling human +interest that not a word can be added or taken away. He said: "This is +not the first time that the insinuation has been made that I was a +defaulter in my native city. It has been echoed before now from the +organs of the ministry, and at many an election contest have I been +compelled to sit patiently and hear the tale recounted in the ears of +assembled hundreds. For fifteen years I have been compelled to bear in +silence these imputations. I would that I could yet refrain from the +painful theme, but the pointed and public manner in which the charge +has now been made, and the fear that the public cause with which I am +identified might suffer by my silence, alike tell me that the moment +has come when I ought to explain the transaction, as I have always +been able to explain it, and to cast back the vile charge of +dishonesty on those who dared to make it. That my father was a +merchant in the city of Edinburgh, and that he engaged in disastrous +business speculations commencing in the inflated times of 1825 and +1826, terminating ten years afterwards in his failure, is undoubtedly +true. And it is, unhappily, also true, that he did hold a public +office, and that funds connected with that office were, at the moment +of his sequestration, mixed up with his private funds, to the extent, +I believe, of two thousand eight hundred pounds. For this sum four +relatives and friends were sureties, and they paid the money. Part of +that money has been repaid; every sixpence of it will be paid, and +paid shortly. Property has been long set aside for the payment of that +debt to its utmost farthing. My father felt that while that money +remained unpaid there was a brand on himself and his family, and he +has wrought, wrought as few men have wrought, to pay off, not only +that, but other obligations of a sacred character. Many a bill of +exchange, the proceeds of his labour, has he sent to old creditors who +were in need of what he owed. For myself, sir, I have felt equally +bound with my father; as his eldest son I felt that the fruits of my +industry should stand pledged until every penny of those debts was +paid and the honour of my family vindicated. An honourable member +opposite, whom I regret to hear cheering on the person who made the +attack, might have known that, under the legal advice of his +relative, I long ago secured that in the event of my death before the +accomplishment of our long-cherished purpose, after the payment of my +own obligations, the full discharge of those sacred debts of my father +should stand as a first charge on my ample estate. Debts, sir, which I +was no more bound in law to pay than any gentleman who hears me. For +the painful transaction to which I have been forced to allude, I am no +more responsible than any gentleman in this assembly. It happened in +1836; I was at that time but seventeen years of age, I was totally +unconnected with it, but, young as I was, I felt then, as I feel now, +the obligation it laid upon me, and I vowed that I should never rest +until every penny had been paid. There are those present who have +known my every action since I set foot in this country; they know I +have not eaten the bread of idleness, but they did not know the great +object of my labour. The one end of my desire for wealth was that I +might discharge those debts and redeem my father's honour. Thank God, +sir, my exertions have not been in vain. Thank God, sir, I have long +possessed property far more than sufficient for all my desires. But, +as those gentlemen know, it is one thing in this country to have +property, and another to be able to withdraw a large sum of money from +a business in active operation; and many a night have I laid my head +on my pillow after a day of toil, estimating and calculating if the +time had yet arrived, when, with justice to those to whom I stood +indebted, and without fear of embarrassment resulting, I might venture +to carry out the purpose of my life. I have been accused of being +ambitious; I have been charged with aspiring to the office of prime +minister of this great country and of lending all my energies to the +attainment of that end; but I only wish I could make my opponents +understand how infinitely surpassing all this, how utterly petty and +contemptible in my thoughts have been all such considerations, in +comparison with the one longing desire to discharge those debts of +honour and vindicate those Scottish principles that have been +instilled into me since my youth. The honourable member for Cornwall +[John Sandfield Macdonald] is well aware that every word I have spoken +to-night has been long ago told him in private confidence, and he +knows, too, that last summer I was rejoicing in the thought that I was +at last in a position to visit my native land with the large sum +necessary for all the objects I contemplated, and that I was only +prevented from doing so by the financial storm which swept over the +continent. Such, sir, are the circumstances upon which this attack is +founded. Such the facts on which I have been denounced as a public +defaulter and refugee from my native land. But why, asked the person +who made the charge, has he sat silent under it? Why if the thing is +false has he endured it so many years? What, sir, free myself from +blame by inculpating one so dear! Say 'It was not I who was in fault, +it was my father'? Rather would I have lost my right arm than utter +such a word! No, sir, I waited the time when the charge could be met +as it only might be fittingly met; and my only regret even now is that +I have been compelled to speak before those debts have been entirely +liquidated. But it is due, sir, to my aged father that I explain that +it has not been with his will that these imputations have been so long +pointed at me, and that it has only been by earnest remonstrance that +I have prevented his vindicating me in public long ere now. No man in +Toronto, perhaps, is more generally known in the community, and I +think I could appeal even to his political opponents to say if there +is a citizen of Toronto at this day more thoroughly respected and +esteemed. With a full knowledge of all that has passed, and all the +consequences that have flowed from a day of weakness, I will say that +an honester man does not breathe the air of heaven; that no son feels +prouder of his father than I do to-day; and that I would have +submitted to the obloquy and reproach of his every act, not fifteen +years, but fifty--ay, have gone down to the grave with the cold shade +of the world upon me, rather than that one of his gray hairs should +have been injured." + +Public opinion was strongly influenced in Mr. Brown's favour by this +incident. "The entire address," said a leading Conservative paper next +day, "forms the most refreshing episode which the records of the +Canadian House of Commons possess. Every true-hearted man must feel +proud of one who has thus chivalrously done battle for his gray-haired +sire. We speak deliberately when asserting that George Brown's +position in the country is at this moment immeasurably higher than it +ever previously has been. And though our political creed be +diametrically antipodal to his own, we shall ever hail him as a credit +to the land we love so well." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, p. 161. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" + + +By his advocacy of representation by population, by his opposition to +separate schools, and his championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr. +Brown gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the general +elections of 1857 he was elected for the city of Toronto, in company +with Mr. Robinson, a Conservative. The election of a Liberal in +Toronto is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr. Brown's +violent conflict with the Roman Catholic Church contributed to his +victory, if it was not the main cause thereof. His party also made +large gains through Upper Canada, and had a large majority in that +part of the province, so that the majority for the Macdonald +government was drawn entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds +occurred in Russell county, where names were copied into the +poll-books from old directories of towns in the state of New York, and +of Quebec city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, +Judas Iscariot and George Washington appeared on the lists. The +Reformers attacked these elections in parliament without success, but +in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several others were tried +for conspiracy, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. That the +government felt itself to be much weakened throughout the country is +evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's unsuccessful effort to add +another to his list of political combinations by detaching Mr. John +Sandfield Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats in the +cabinet to him and another Reformer. The personal attack on Mr. Brown +in the session of 1858 has already been mentioned. The chief political +event of the session was the "Double Shuffle." + +On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in placing the ministry in a +minority on the question of the seat of government. Unable to decide +between the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal and +Kingston, the government referred the question to the queen, who +decided in favour of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to the +queen, holding that the question should be settled in Canada. He also +believed that the seat of government should not be fixed until +representation by population was granted, and all matters in dispute +between Upper and Lower Canada arranged. He now moved against Ottawa +and carried his motion. During the same sitting the government was +sustained on a motion to adjourn, which by understanding was regarded +as a test of confidence. A few hours later the ministers met and +decided that, although they had been sustained by a majority of the +House, "it behoved them as the queen's servants to resent the slight +which had been offered Her Majesty by the action of the assembly in +calling in question Her Majesty's choice of the capital." The +governor-general, Sir Edmund Bond Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the +leader of the Opposition to form a government. It was contended by +Liberals that he ought not to have taken this step unless he intended +to give Mr. Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and support. +If he believed that the defeat of the government was a mere accident, +and that on general grounds it commanded a working majority in the +legislature, he ought not to have accepted the resignation, unless he +intended to sanction a fresh appeal to the country. + +The invitation to form an administration was received by Mr. Brown on +Thursday, July 28th. He at once waited on the governor-general and +obtained permission to consult his friends. He called a meeting of the +Upper Canadian members of his party in both Houses, and obtained from +them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he had an important +interview. Dorion agreed that the principle of representation by +population was sound, but said that the French-Canadian people feared +the consequences of Upper Canadian preponderance, feared that the +peculiar institutions of French Canada would be swept away. To assure +them, representation by population must be accompanied by +constitutional checks and safeguards. Brown and Dorion parted in the +belief that this could be arranged. They believed also that they +could agree upon an educational policy in which religious instruction +could be given without the evils of separation. + +Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the manipulation of +combinations of men, he succeeded on this occasion in enlisting the +services of colleagues of high character and capacity, including +besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield Macdonald, Luther Holton +and L. T. Drummond. On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the +governor-general, and informed him that having consulted his friends +and obtained the aid of Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the +task of forming an administration. During the day the formation of the +ministry was completed. "At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to give the +story in Mr. Brown's words, "learning that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went +to see him at his apartments at the Rossin House, and while with him +the governor-general's secretary entered and handed me a despatch. No +sooner did I see the outside of the document than I understood it all. +I felt at once that the whole corruptionist camp had been in commotion +at the prospect of the whole of the public departments being subjected +to the investigations of a second public accounts' committee, and +comprehended at once that the transmission of such a despatch could +have but the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way of the +new cabinet taking office, and I was not mistaken."[11] + +The despatch declared that the governor-general gave no pledge, +express or implied, with reference to dissolution. When advice was +tendered on the subject he would act as he deemed best. It then laid +down, with much detail, the terms on which he would consent to +prorogation. Bills for the registration of voters and for the +prohibition of fraudulent assignments and gifts by leaders should be +enacted, and certain supplies obtained. + +Mr. Brown criticized both these declarations. It was not necessary for +the governor-general to say that he gave no pledge in regard to +dissolution. To demand such a pledge would have been utterly +unconstitutional. The governor was quite right in saying that he would +deal with the proposal when it was made by his advisers. But while he +needlessly and gratuitously declared that he would not pledge himself +beforehand as to dissolution, he took exactly the opposite course as +to prorogation, specifying almost minutely the terms on which he would +consent to that step. Brown contended that the governor had no right +to lay down conditions, or to settle beforehand the measures that must +be enacted during the session. This was an attempt to dictate, not +only to the ministry, but to the legislature. Mr. Brown and his +colleagues believed that the governor was acting in collusion with the +ministers who had resigned, that the intriguers were taken by +surprise when Brown showed himself able to form a ministry, and that +the Sunday communication was a second thought, a hurriedly devised +plan to bar the way of the new ministers to office. + +On Monday morning before conferring with his colleagues, Brown wrote +to the governor-general, stating that his ministry had been formed, +and submitting that "until they have assumed the functions of +constitutional advisers of the Crown, he and his proposed colleagues +will not be in a position to discuss the important measures and +questions of public policy referred to in his memorandum." Brown then +met his colleagues, who unanimously approved of his answer to the +governor's memorandum, and agreed also that it was intended as a bar +to their acceptance of office. They decided not to ask for a pledge as +to dissolution, nor to make or accept conditions of any kind. "We were +willing to risk our being turned out of office within twenty-four +hours, but we were not willing to place ourselves constitutionally in +a false position. We distinctly contemplated all that Sir Edmund Head +could do and that he has done, and we concluded that it was our duty +to accept office, and throw on the governor-general the responsibility +of denying us the support we were entitled to, and which he had +extended so abundantly to our predecessor." + +When parliament assembled on Monday, a vote of want of confidence was +carried against the new government in both Houses. The newly +appointed ministers had, of course, resigned their seats in parliament +in order that they might offer themselves for re-election. It is true +the majority was too great to be accounted for by the absence of the +ministers. But the result was affected by the lack, not only of the +votes of the ministers, but of their voices. In the absence of +ministerial explanation, confusion and misunderstanding prevailed. The +fact that Brown had been able to find common ground with Catholic and +French-Canadian members had occasioned surprise and anxiety. On the +one side it was feared that Brown had surrendered to the +French-Canadians, and on the other that the French-Canadians had +surrendered to Brown. + +The conference between Brown and Dorion shows that the government was +formed for the same purpose as the Brown-Macdonald coalition of +1864--the settlement of difficulties that prevented the right working +of the union. The official declaration of its policy contains these +words: "His Excellency's present advisers have entered the government +with the fixed determination to propose constitutional measures for +the establishment of that harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which +is essential to the prosperity of the province." + +Dissolution was asked on the ground that the new government intended +to propose important constitutional changes, and that the parliament +did not represent the country, many of its members owing their seals +to gross fraud and corruption. Thirty-two seats were claimed from +sitting members on these grounds. The cases of the Quebec and Russell +election have already been mentioned. The member elected for +Lotbiničre was expelled for violent interference with the freedom of +election. Brown and his colleagues contended that these practices had +prevailed to such an extent that the legislature could not be said to +represent the country. Head's reply was that the frauds were likely to +be repeated if a new election were held; that they really afforded a +reason for postponing the election, at least until more stringent laws +were enacted. The dissolution was refused; the Brown-Dorion government +resigned, and the old ministers were restored to office. + +On the resignation of the Brown-Dorion ministry the governor called +upon A. T. Galt, who had given an independent support to the +Macdonald-Cartier government. During the session of 1858 he had placed +before the House resolutions favouring the federal union of Canada, +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, and it is +possible that his advocacy of this policy had something to do with the +offer of the premiership. As yet, however, he was not prominent +enough, nor could he command a support large enough, to warrant his +acceptance of the office, and he declined. Then followed the "Double +Shuffle." + +The Macdonald-Cartier government resumed office under the name of the +Cartier-Macdonald government, with Galt taking the place of Cayley, +and some minor changes. Constitutional usage required that all the +ministers should have returned to their constituents for re-election. +A means of evading this requirement was found. The statute governing +the case provided that when any minister should resign his office and +within one month afterwards accept another office in the ministry, he +should not thereby vacate his seat. With the object of obviating the +necessity for a new election, Cartier, Macdonald, and their +colleagues, in order to bring themselves within the letter of the law, +although not within its spirit, exchanged offices, each taking a +different one from that which he had resigned eight days before. +Shortly before midnight of the sixth of August, they solemnly swore to +discharge the duties of offices which several of them had no intention +of holding; and a few minutes afterwards the second shuffle took +place, and Cartier and Macdonald having been inspector-general and +postmaster-general for this brief space, became again attorney-general +east and attorney-general west. + +The belief of the Reformers that the governor-general was guilty of +partiality and of intrigue with the Conservative ministers is set +forth as part of the history of the time. There is evidence of +partiality, but no evidence of intrigue. The biographer of Sir John +Macdonald denies the charge of intrigue, but says that Macdonald +and the governor were intimate personal friends.[12] Dent, who +also scouts the charge of intrigue, says that the governor was +prejudiced against Brown, regarding him as a mere obstructionist.[13] +The governor-general seems to have been influenced by these personal +feelings, making everything as difficult as possible for Brown, and as +easy as possible for Macdonald, even to the point of acquiescing in +the evasion of the law known as the "Double Shuffle." + +In the debate on confederation. Senator Ferrier said that a political +warfare had been waged in Canada for many years, of a nature +calculated to destroy all moral and political principles, both in the +legislature and out of it. The "Double Shuffle" is so typical of this +dreary and ignoble warfare and it played so large a part in the +political history of the time, that it has been necessary to describe +it at some length. But for these considerations, the episode would +have deserved scant notice. The headship of one of the ephemeral +ministries that preceded confederation could add little to the +reputation of Mr. Brown. His powers were not shown at their best in +office, and the surroundings of office were not congenial to him. His +strength lay in addressing the people directly, through his paper or +on the platform, and in the hour of defeat or disappointment he turned +to the people for consolation. "During these contests," he said some +years afterwards, "it was this which sustained the gallant band of +Reformers who so long struggled for popular rights: that, abused as we +might be, we had this consolation, that we could not go anywhere among +our fellow-countrymen from one end of the country to the other--in +Tory constituencies as well as in Reform constituencies--without the +certainty of receiving from the honest, intelligent yeomanry of the +country--from the true, right-hearted, right-thinking people of Upper +Canada, who came out to meet us--the hearty grasp of the hand and the +hearty greeting that amply rewarded the labour we had expended in +their behalf. That is the highest reward I have hoped for in public +life, and I am sure that no man who earns that reward will ever in +Upper Canada have better occasion to speak of the gratitude of the +people." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Speech to Toronto electors, August, 1858. + +[12] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, Vol. I., pp. 133, 134. + +[13] Dent's _Last Forty Years_, Vol. II., pp. 379, 380. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY + + +In his home in Scotland Brown had been imbued with a hatred of +slavery. He spent several years of his early manhood in New York, and +felt in all its force the domination of the slave-holding element. +Thence he moved to Canada, for many years the refuge of the hunted +slave. It is estimated that even before the passage of the Fugitive +Slave Law, there were twenty thousand coloured refugees in Canada. It +was customary for these poor creatures to hide by day and to travel by +night. When all other signs failed they kept their eyes fixed on the +North Star, whose light "seemed the enduring witness of the divine +interest in their deliverance." By the system known as the +"underground railway," the fugitive was passed from one friendly house +to another. A code of signals was used by those engaged in the work of +mercy--pass words, peculiar knocks and raps, a call like that of the +owl. Negroes in transit were described as "fleeces of wool," and +"volumes of the irrepressible conflict bound in black." + +The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law deprived the negro of his +security in the free states, and dragged back into slavery men and +women who had for years been living in freedom, and had found means +to earn their bread and to build up little homes. Hence an impetus was +given to the movement towards Canada, which the slave-holders tried to +check by talking freely of the rigours of the Canadian climate. Lewis +Clark, the original of George Harris in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was told +that if he went to Canada the British would put his eyes out, and keep +him in a mine for life. Another was told that the Detroit River was +three thousand miles wide. + +But the exodus to Canada went on, and the hearts of the people were +moved to compassion by the arrival of ragged and foot-sore wanderers. +They found a warm friend in Brown, who paid the hotel bill of one for +a week, gave fifty dollars to maintain a negro family, and besides +numerous acts of personal kindness, filled the columns of the _Globe_ +with appeals on behalf of the fugitives. Early in 1851 the +Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was organized. The president was the +Rev. Dr. Willis, afterwards principal of Knox Presbyterian College, +and the names of Peter Brown, George Brown, and Oliver Mowat are found +on the committee. The object of the society was "the extinction of +slavery all over the world by means exclusively lawful and peaceable, +moral and religious, such as the diffusion of useful information and +argument by tracts, newspapers, lectures, and correspondence, and by +manifesting sympathy with the houseless and homeless victims of +slavery flying to our soil." Concerts were given, and the proceeds +applied in aid of the refugees. + +Brown was also strongly interested in the settlements of refugees +established throughout Western Canada. Under an act of the Canadian +parliament "for the settlement and moral improvement of the coloured +population of Canada," large tracts of land were acquired, divided +into fifty acre lots, and sold to refugees at low prices, payable in +instalments. Sunday schools and day schools were established. The +moving spirit in one of these settlements was the Rev. William King, a +Presbyterian, formerly of Louisiana, who had freed his own slaves and +brought them to Canada. Traces of these settlements still exist. +Either in this way or otherwise, there were large numbers of coloured +people living in the valley of the Thames (from Chatham to London), in +St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto. + +At the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1852, Mr. Brown +moved a resolution expressing gratitude to those American clergymen +who had exposed the atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law. He showed +how, before its enactment, slaves were continually escaping to the +Northern States, where they were virtually out of reach of their +masters. There was a law enabling the latter to recover their +property, but its edge was dulled by public opinion in the North, +which was rapidly growing antagonistic to allowing the free states to +become a hunting-ground for slave-catchers. The South took alarm at +the growth of this feeling, and procured the passage of a more +stringent law. This law enabled the slave-holder to seize the slave +wherever he found him, without warrant, and it forbade the freeman to +shelter the refugee under penalty of six months' imprisonment, a fine +of one thousand dollars, and liability to a civil suit for damages to +the same amount. The enforcement of the law was given to federal +instead of to State officials. After giving several illustrations of +the working of the law, Mr. Brown proceeded to discuss the duty of +Canada in regard to slavery. It was a question of humanity, of +Christianity, and of liberty, in which all men were interested. Canada +could not escape the contamination of a system existing so near her +borders. "We, too, are Americans; on us, as well as on them, lies the +duty of preserving the honour of the continent. On us, as on them, +rests the noble trust of shielding free institutions." + +Having long borne the blame of permitting slavery, the people of the +North naturally expected that when the great struggle came they would +receive the moral support of the civilized world in its effort to +check and finally to crush out the evil. They were shocked and +disappointed when this support was not freely and generously given, +and when sympathy with the South showed itself strongly in Great +Britain. Brown dealt with this question in a speech delivered in +Toronto shortly after Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation. He had +just returned from Great Britain, and he said that in his six months' +journey through England and Scotland, he had conversed with persons in +all conditions of life, and he was sorry to say that general sympathy +was with the South. This did not proceed from any change in the +feeling towards slavery. Hatred of slavery was as strong as ever, +but it was not believed that African slavery was the real cause +of the war, or that Mr. Lincoln sincerely desired to bring the +traffic to an end. This misunderstanding he attributed to persistent +misrepresentation. There were men who rightly understood the merits of +the contest, and among these he placed the members of the British +ministry. The course of the ministry he described as one of scrupulous +neutrality, and firm resistance to the invitations of other powers to +interfere in the contest. + +Brown himself never for a moment failed to understand the nature of +the struggle, and he showed an insight, remarkable at that time, into +the policy of Lincoln. The anti-slavery men of Canada, he said, had an +important duty to discharge. "We, who have stood here on the borders +of the republic for a quarter of a century, protesting against slavery +as the sum of all human villainies--we, who have closely watched every +turn of the question--we, who have for years acted and sympathized +with the good men of the republic in their efforts for the freedom of +their country--we, who have a practical knowledge of the atrocities +of the 'peculiar institution,' learned from the lips of the panting +refugee upon our shores--we, who have in our ranks men all known on +the other side of the Atlantic as life-long abolitionists--we, I say, +are in a position to speak with confidence to the anti-slavery men of +Great Britain--to tell them that they have not rightly understood this +matter--to tell them that slavery is the one great cause of the +American rebellion, and that the success of the North is the +death-knell of slavery. Strange, after all that has passed, that a +doubt of this should remain." + +It was true, he said, that Lincoln was not elected as an abolitionist. +Lincoln declared, and the Republican party declared, that they stood +by the constitution; that they would, so far as the constitution +allowed, restrict slavery and prevent its extension to new territory. +Yet they knew that the constitution gave them all they desired. "Well +did they know, and well did the Southerners know, that any +anti-slavery president and congress, by their direct power of +legislation, by their control of the public patronage, and by the +application of the public moneys, could not only restrict slavery +within its present boundaries, but could secure its ultimate +abolition. The South perfectly comprehended that Mr. Lincoln, if +elected, might keep within the letter of the constitution and yet sap +the foundation of the whole slave system, and they acted +accordingly." + +In answering the question, "Why did not the North let the slave states +go in peace?" Brown freely admitted the right of revolution. "The +world no longer believes in the divine right of either kings or +presidents to govern wrong; but those who seek to change an +established government by force of arms assume a fearful +responsibility--a responsibility which nothing but the clearest and +most intolerable injustice will acquit them for assuming." Here was a +rebellion, not to resist injustice but to perpetuate injustice; not to +deliver the oppressed from bondage, but to fasten more hopelessly than +ever the chains of slavery on four millions of human beings. Why not +let the slave states go? Because it would have been wrong, because it +would have built up a great slave power that no moral influence could +reach, a power that would have overawed the free Northern States, +added to its territory, and re-established the slave trade. Had +Lincoln permitted the slave states to go, and to form such a power, he +would have brought enduring contempt upon his name, and the people of +England would have been the first to reproach him. + +Brown argued, as he had done in 1852, that Canada could not be +indifferent to the question, whether the dominant power of the North +American continent should be slave or free. Holding that liberty had +better securities under the British than under the American system, he +yet believed that the failure of the American experiment would be a +calamity and a blow to free institutions all over the world. For years +the United States had been the refuge of the oppressed in every land; +millions had fled from poverty in Europe to find happiness and +prosperity there. From these had been wafted back to Europe new ideas +of the rights of the people. With the fall of the United States this +impetus to freedom, world-wide in its influence, would cease. Demands +for popular rights and free constitutions would be met by the despotic +rulers of Europe with the taunt that in the United States free +constitutions and popular rights had ended in disruption and anarchy. +"Let us not forget that there have been, and still are, very different +monarchies in the world from that of our own beloved queen; and +assuredly there are not so many free governments on earth that we +should hesitate to devise earnestly the success of that one nearest to +our own, modelled from our own, and founded by men of our own race. I +do most heartily rejoice, for the cause of liberty, that Mr. Lincoln +did not patiently acquiesce in the dismemberment of the republic." + +The Civil War in the United States raised the most important question +of foreign policy with which the public men of Canada were called upon +to deal in Brown's career. The dismemberment of the British empire +would hardly have exercised a more profound influence on the human +race and on world-wide aspirations for freedom, than the dismemberment +of the United States and the establishment on this continent of a +mighty slave empire. Canada could not be indifferent to the issue. How +long would the slave-holding power, which coerced the North into +consenting to the Fugitive Slave Law, have tolerated the existence of +a free refuge for slaves across the lakes? Either Canada would have +been forced to submit to the humiliation of joining in the hunt for +men, or the British empire would have been obliged to fight the battle +that the North fought under the leadership of Lincoln. In the face of +this danger confronting Canada and the empire and freedom, it was a +time to forget smaller international animosities. Brown was one of the +few Canadian statesmen who saw the situation clearly and rose to the +occasion. For twenty years by his public speeches, and still more +through the generous devotion of the _Globe_ to the cause, he aided +the cause of freedom and of the union of the lovers of freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS + + +That the _Globe_ and Mr. Brown, as related in a previous chapter, +became associated with Lord John Russell's bill and the "no popery" +agitation in England, may be regarded as a mere accident. The +excitement would have died out here as it died out in England, if +there had not been in Canada such a mass of inflammable material--so +many questions in which the relations of Church and State were +involved. One of these was State endowment of denominational schools. +During Brown's early years in Canada the school system was being +placed on a broad and popular basis. Salaries of teachers were +wretchedly low. Fees were charged to children, and remitted only as an +act of charity. Mr. Brown advocated a free and unsectarian system. +Claims for denominational schools were put forward not only by the +Roman Catholics but by the Anglicans. He argued that if this were +allowed the public school system would be destroyed by division. The +country could barely afford to maintain one good school system. To +maintain a system for each denomination would require an immense +addition to the number of school-houses and teachers, and would absorb +the whole revenue of the province. At the same time, the educational +forces would be weakened by the division and thousands of children +would grow up without education. "Under the non-sectarian system," +said Brown, "the day is at hand when we may hope to abolish the +school-tax and offer free education to every child in the province." + +Eventually it was found possible to carry out Mr. Brown's idea of free +education for every child in the province, and yet to allow Roman +Catholic separate schools to be maintained. To this compromise Mr. +Brown became reconciled, because it did not involve, as he had feared, +the destruction of the free school system by division. The Roman +Catholics of Upper Canada were allowed to maintain separate +denominational schools, to have them supported by the taxes of Roman +Catholic ratepayers and by provincial grants. So far as the education +of Protestant children was concerned Mr. Brown's advocacy was +successful. He opposed denominational schools because he feared they +would weaken or destroy the general system of free education for all. +Under the agreement which was finally arrived at, this fear was not +realized. In his speech on confederation he admitted that the +sectarian system, carried to a limited extent and confined chiefly to +cities and towns, had not been a very great practical injury. The real +cause of alarm was that the admission of the sectarian principle was +there, and that at any moment it might be extended to such a degree as +to split up our school system altogether: "that the separate system +might gradually extend itself until the whole country was studded +with nurseries of sectarianism, most hurtful to the best interests of +the province and entailing an enormous expense to sustain the hosts of +teachers that so prodigal a system of public instruction must +inevitably entail." + +This, however, was not the only question at issue between Mr. Brown +and the Roman Catholic Church. It happened, as has been said above, +that on his first entry into parliament, the place of meeting was the +city of Quebec. The Edinburgh-bred man found himself in a Roman +Catholic city, surrounded by every evidence of the power of the +Church. As he looked up from the floor of the House to the galleries +he saw a Catholic audience, its character emphasized by the appearance +of priests clad in the distinctive garments of their orders. It was +his duty to oppose a great mass of legislation intended to strengthen +that Church and to add to its privileges. His spirit rose and he grew +more dour and resolute as he realized the strength of the forces +opposed to him. + +It would be doing an injustice to the memory of Mr. Brown to gloss +over or minimize a most important feature of his career, or to offer +apologies which he himself would have despised. The battle was not +fought with swords of lath, and whoever wants to read of an +old-fashioned "no popery" fight, carried on with abounding fire and +vigour, will find plenty of matter in the files of the _Globe_ of the +fifties. His success in the election of 1857, so far as Upper Canada +was concerned, and especially his accomplishment of the rare feat of +carrying a Toronto seat for the Reform party, was largely due to an +agitation that aroused all the forces and many of the prejudices of +Protestantism. Yet Brown kept and won many warm friends among Roman +Catholics, both in Upper and in Lower Canada. His manliness attracted +them. They saw in him, not a narrow-minded and cold-hearted bigot, +seeking to force his opinions on others, but a brave and generous man, +fighting for principles. And in Lower Canada there were many Roman +Catholic laymen whose hearts were with him, and who were themselves +entering upon a momentous struggle to free the electorate from +clerical control. In his fight for the separation of Church and State, +he came into conflict, not with Roman Catholics alone. In his own +Presbyterian Church, at the time of the disruption, he strongly upheld +the side which was identified with liberty. For several years after +his arrival in Canada he was fighting against the special privileges +of the Anglican Church. He often said that he was actuated, not by +prejudice against one Church, but by hatred of clerical privilege, and +love of religious liberty and equality. + +In 1871 Mr. Brown, in a letter addressed to prominent Roman Catholics, +gave a straight-forward account of his relations with the Roman +Catholic Church. It is repeated here in a somewhat abbreviated form, +but as nearly as possible in his own words. In the early days of the +political history of Upper Canada, the great mass of Catholics were +staunch Reformers. They suffered from Downing Street rule, from the +domination of the "family compact," from the clergy reserves and from +other attempts to arm the Anglican Church with special privileges and +powers; they gave an intelligent and cordial support to liberal and +progressive measures. They contributed to the victory of Baldwin and +Lafontaine. But when that victory was achieved, the Upper Canadian +Reformers found that a cause was operating to deprive them of its +fruits,--"the French-Canadian members of the cabinet and their +supporters in parliament, blocked the way." They not only prevented or +delayed the measures which the Reformers desired, but they forced +through parliament measures which antagonized Reform sentiment. +"Although much less numerous than the people of Upper Canada, and +contributing to the common purse hardly a fourth of the annual revenue +of the United Provinces, the Lower Canadians sent an equal number of +representatives with the Upper Canadians to parliament, and, by their +unity of action, obtained complete dominancy in the management of +public affairs." Unjust and injurious taxation, waste and +extravagance, and great increases in the public debt followed. Seeking +a remedy, the Upper Canadian Reformers demanded, first, representation +by population, giving Upper Canada its just influence in the +legislature, and second, the entire separation of Church and State, +placing all denominations on a like footing and leaving each to +support its own religious establishments from the funds of its own +people. They believed that these measures would remove from the public +arena causes of strife and heartburning, and would bring about solid +prosperity and internal peace. The battle was fought vigorously. "The +most determined efforts were put forth for the final but just +settlement of all those vexed questions by which religious sects were +arrayed against each other. Clergymen were dragged as combatants into +the political arena, religion was brought into contempt, and +opportunity presented to our French-Canadian friends to rule us +through our own dissensions." Clergy reserves, sectarian schools, the +use of the public funds for sectarian purposes, were assailed. "On +these and many similar questions, we were met by the French-Canadian +phalanx in hostile array; our whole policy was denounced in language +of the strongest character, and the men who upheld it were assailed as +the basest of mankind. We, on our part, were not slow in returning +blow for blow, and feelings were excited among the Catholics from +Upper Canada that estranged the great bulk of them from our ranks." +The agitation was carried on, however, until the grievances of which +the Reformers complained were removed by the Act of Confederation. +Under that Act the people of Ontario enjoy representation according +to population; they have entire control over their own local affairs; +and the last remnant of the sectarian warfare--the separate school +question--was settled forever by a compromise that was accepted as +final by all parties concerned. + +In this letter Mr. Brown said that he was not seeking to cloak over +past feuds or apologize for past occurrences. He gloried in the +justice and soundness of the principles and measures for which he and +his party had contended, and he was proud of the results of the +conflict. He asked Catholics to read calmly the page of history he had +unfolded. "Let them blaze away at George Brown afterwards as +vigorously as they please, but let not their old feuds with him close +their eyes to the interests of their country, and their own interests +as a powerful section of the body politic." + +The censure applied to those who wantonly draw sectarian questions +into politics, and set Catholic against Protestant, is just. But it +does not attach to those who attack the privileges of any Church, and +who, when the Church steps into the political arena, strike at it with +political weapons. This was Brown's position. He was the sworn foe of +clericalism. He had no affinity with the demagogues and professional +agitators who make a business of attacking the Roman Catholic Church, +nor with those whose souls are filled with vague alarms of papal +supremacy, and who believe stories of Catholics drilling in churches +to fight their Protestant neighbours. He fought against real tyranny, +for the removal of real grievances. When he believed that he had found +in confederation the real remedy, he was satisfied, and he did not +keep up an agitation merely for agitation's sake. It is not necessary +to attempt to justify every word that may have been struck off in the +heat of a great conflict. There was a battle to be fought; he fought +with all the energy of his nature, and with the weapons that lay at +hand. He would have shared Hotspur's contempt for the fop who vowed +that "but for these vile guns he would himself have been a soldier." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION + + +To whom is due the confederation of the British North American +provinces is a long vexed question. The Hon. D'Arcy McGee, in his +speech on confederation, gave credit to Mr. Uniacke, a leading +politician of Nova Scotia, who in 1800 submitted a scheme of colonial +union to the imperial authorities; to Chief-Justice Sewell, to Sir +John Beverley Robinson, to Lord Durham, to Mr. P. S. Hamilton, a Nova +Scotia writer, and to Mr. Alexander Morris, then member for South +Lanark, who had advocated the project in a pamphlet entitled _Nova +Britannia_. "But," he added, "whatever the private writer in his +closet may have conceived, whatever even the individual statesman may +have designed, so long as the public mind was uninterested in the +adoption, even in the discussion of a change in our position so +momentous as this, the union of these separate provinces, the +individual laboured in vain--perhaps, not wholly in vain, for although +his work may not have borne fruit then, it was kindling a fire that +would ultimately light up the whole political horizon and herald the +dawn of a better day for our country and our people. Events stronger +than advocacy, events stronger than men, have come in at last like +the fire behind the invisible writing, to bring out the truth of these +writings and to impress them upon the mind of every thoughtful man who +has considered the position and probable future of these scattered +provinces." Following Mr. McGee's suggestion, let us try to deal with +the question from the time that it ceased to be speculative and became +practical, and especially to trace its development in the mind of one +man. + +In the later fifties Mr. Brown was pursuing a course which led almost +with certainty to the goal of confederation. The people of Upper +Canada were steadily coming over to his belief that they were +suffering injustice under the union; that they paid more than their +share of the taxes, and yet that Lower Canadian influence was dominant +in legislation and in the formation of ministries. Brown's tremendous +agitation convinced them that the situation was intolerable. But it +was long before the true remedy was perceived. The French-Canadians +would not agree to Brown's remedy of representation by population. +Brown opposed as reactionary the proposal that the union should be +dissolved. He desired not to go back to the day of small things--on +the contrary, even at this early day, he was advocating the union of +the western territories with Canada. Nor was he at first in favour of +the federal principle. In 1853, in a formal statement of its +programme, the _Globe_ advocated uniform legislation for the two +provinces, and a Reform convention held at Toronto in 1857 recommended +the same measure, together with representation by population and the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada. + +In January, 1858, Brown wrote to his friend, Luther Holton, in a +manner which showed an open mind: "No honest man can desire that we +should remain as we are, and what other way out of our difficulties +can be suggested but a general legislative union, with representation +by population, a federal union, or a dissolution of the present union. +I am sure that a dissolution cry would be as ruinous to any party as +(in my opinion) it would be wrong. A federal union, it appears to me, +cannot be entertained for Canada alone, but when agitated must include +all British America. We will be past caring for politics when that +measure is finally achieved. What powers should be given to the +provincial legislatures, and what to the federal? Would you abolish +county councils? And yet, if you did not, what would the local +parliaments have to control? Would Montreal like to be put under the +generous rule of the Quebec politicians? Our friends here are prepared +to consider dispassionately any scheme that may issue from your party +in Lower Canada. They all feel keenly that something must be done. +Their plan is representation by population, and a fair trial for the +present union in its integrity; failing this, they are prepared to go +for dissolution, I believe, but if you can suggest a federal or any +other scheme that could be worked, it will have our most anxious +examination. Can you sketch a plan of federation such as our friends +below would agree to and could carry?" + +Probably Dorion and other Lower Canadians had a part in converting +Brown to federation. In 1856 Dorion had moved a resolution favouring +the confederation of the two Canadas. In August, 1858, Brown and +Dorion undertook to form a government pledged to the settlement of the +question that had arisen between Upper and Lower Canada. Dorion says +it was agreed by the Brown-Dorion government "that the constitutional +question should be taken up and settled, either by a confederation of +the two provinces, or by representation according to population, with +such checks and guarantees as would secure the religious faith, the +laws, the language, and the peculiar institutions of each section of +the country from encroachments on the part of the other." + +At the same time an effort in the same direction was made by the +Conservative party. A. T. Galt, in the session of 1858, advocated the +federal union of all the British North American provinces. He declared +that unless a union were effected, the provinces would inevitably +drift into the United States. He proposed that questions relating to +education and likely to arouse religious dissension, ought to be left +to the provinces. The resolutions moved by Mr. Galt in 1858 give him +a high place among the promoters of confederation. Galt was asked by +Sir Edmund Head to form an administration on the resignation of the +Brown government. Galt refused, but when he subsequently entered the +Cartier government it was on condition that the promotion of federal +union should be embodied in the policy of the government. Cartier, +Ross and Galt visited England in fulfilment of this promise, and +described the serious difficulties that had arisen in Canada. The +movement failed because the co-operation of the Maritime Provinces +could not be obtained. + +In the autumn of 1859 two important steps leading towards federation +were taken. In October the Lower Canadian members of the Opposition +met in Montreal and declared for a federal union of the Canadas. They +went so far as to specify the subjects of federal and local +jurisdiction, allowing to the central authority the customs tariff, +the post-office, patents and copyrights, and the currency; and to the +local legislatures education, the laws of property, the administration +of justice, and the control of the militia. In September a meeting of +the Liberal members of both Houses was held at Toronto, and a circular +calling a convention of Upper Canadian Reformers was issued. It +declared that "the financial and political evils of the provinces have +reached such a point as to demand a thorough reconsideration of the +relations between Upper and Lower Canada, and the adoption of +constitutional changes framed to remedy the great abuses that have +arisen under the present system"; that the nature of the changes had +been discussed, but that it was felt that before coming to a +conclusion "the whole Liberal party throughout Upper Canada should be +consulted." The discussion would be free and unfettered. "Supporters +of the Opposition advocating a written constitution or a dissolution +of the union--or a federal union of all the British North American +provinces--or a federal system for Canada alone--or any other plan +calculated, in their opinion, to meet the existing evils--are all +equally welcome to the convention. The one sole object is to discuss +the whole subject with candour and without prejudice, that the best +remedy may be found." Then came an account of the grievances for which +a remedy was sought: "The position of Upper Canada at this moment is +truly anomalous and alarming. With a population much more numerous +than that of Lower Canada, and contributing to the general revenue a +much larger share of taxation than the sister province, Upper Canada +finds herself without power in the administration of the affairs of +the union. With a constitution professedly based on the principle that +the will of the majority should prevail, a minority of the people of +Upper Canada, by combination with the Lower Canada majority, are +enabled to rule the upper province in direct hostility to the popular +will. Extravagant expenditures and hurtful legislative measures are +forced on us in defiance of the protests of large majorities of the +representatives of the people; the most needful reforms are denied, +and offices of honour and emolument are conferred on persons destitute +of popular sympathy, and without qualification beyond that of +unhesitating subserviency to the men who misgovern the country." + +The convention of nearly six hundred delegates gave evidence of a +genuine, popular movement for constitutional changes. Though it was +composed of members of only one party, its discussions were of general +interest, and were upon a high level of intelligence and public +spirit. The convention was divided between dissolution and federal +union. Federation first got the ear of the meeting. Free access to the +sea by the St. Lawrence, free trade between Upper and Lower Canada, +were urged as reasons for continuing the union. Oliver Mowat made a +closely reasoned speech on the same side. Representation by population +alone would not be accepted by Lower Canada. Dissolution was +impracticable and could not, at best, be obtained without long +agitation. Federation would give all the advantages of dissolution +without its difficulties. + +Mowat's speech was received with much favour, and the current had set +strongly for federation when George Sheppard arose as the chief +advocate of dissolution. Sheppard had been an editorial writer on the +_Colonist_, had been attracted by Brown and his policy and had joined +the staff of the _Globe_. His main argument was that the central +government under federation would be a costly and elaborate affair, +and would ultimately overshadow the governments of the provinces. +There would be a central parliament, a viceroy with all the expense of +a court. "A federal government without federal dignity would be all +moonshine." There was an inherent tendency in central bodies to +acquire increased power. In the United States a federal party had +advocated a strong central government, and excuses were always being +sought to add to its glory and influence. On the other side was a +democratic party, championing State rights. "In Canada, too, we may +expect to see federation followed by the rise of two parties, one +fighting for a strong central government, the other, like Mr. Brown, +contending for State rights, local control, and the limited authority +of the central power." One of the arguments for federation was that it +provided for bringing in the North-West Territory. That implied an +expensive federal government for the purpose of organizing the new +territory, building its roads, etc. "Is this federation," he asked, +"proposed as a step towards nationality? If so, I am with you. +Federation implies nationality. For colonial purposes only it would be +a needless incumbrance." + +This speech, with its accurate forecast of the growth of the central +power, produced such an impression that the federalists amended their +resolution, and proposed, instead of a general government, "some +joint authority" for federal purposes. This concession was made by +William Macdougall, one of the secretaries and chief figures of the +convention, who said that he had been much impressed by Sheppard's +eloquence and logic. The creation of a powerful, elaborate and +expensive central government such as now exists did not form part of +the plans of the Liberals either in Upper or Lower Canada at that +time. + +Brown, who spoke towards the close of the convention, declared that he +had no morbid fear of dissolution of the union, but preferred the plan +of federation, as giving Upper Canada the advantage of free trade with +Lower Canada and the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. One of his +most forcible passages was an answer to Sheppard's question whether +the federation was a step towards nationality. "I do place the +question on grounds of nationality. I do hope there is not one +Canadian in this assembly who does not look forward with high hope to +the day when these northern countries shall stand out among the +nations of the world as one great confederation. What true Canadian +can witness the tide of emigration now commencing to flow into the +vast territories of the North-West without longing to have a share in +the first settlement of that great, fertile country? Who does not feel +that to us rightfully belong the right and the duty of carrying the +blessings of civilization throughout those boundless regions, and +making our own country the highway of traffic to the Pacific? But is +it necessary that all this should be accomplished at once? Is it not +true wisdom to commence federation with our own country, and leave it +open to extension hereafter if time and experience shall prove it +desirable? And shall we not then have better control over the terms of +federation than if all were made parties to the original compact, and +how can there be the slightest question with one who longs for such a +nationality between dissolution and the scheme of the day? Is it not +clear that the former would be the death blow to the hope of future +union, while the latter will readily furnish the machinery for a great +federation?" + +The resolutions adopted by the convention declared that the +legislative union, because of antagonisms developed through +differences of origin, local interests, and other causes, could no +longer be maintained; that the plan known as the "double majority" did +not afford a permanent remedy; that a federal union of all the British +North American colonies was out of the range of remedies for present +evils; that the principle of representation by population must be +recognized in any new union, and that "the best practical remedy for +the evils now encountered in the government of Canada is to be found +in the formation of two or more local governments, to which shall be +committed the control of all matters of a local or sectional +character, and some joint authority charged with such matters as are +necessarily common to both sections of the province." + +The hopes that had been aroused by this convention were disappointed, +or rather deferred. When Brown, in the following session of the +legislature, brought forward resolutions in the sense of those adopted +by the convention, he found coldness and dissension in his own party, +and the resolutions were defeated by a large majority. Subsequently +Mr. Brown had a long illness, retired from the leadership, and spent +some time in England and Scotland. In his absence the movement for +constitutional change was stayed. But "events stronger than advocacy," +in Mr. McGee's words, were operating. Power oscillated between the +Conservative and Reform parties, and two general elections, held +within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty. When federation +was next proposed, it had become a political necessity. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LAST YEARS OF THE UNION + + +In 1860, Mr. Brown contemplated retiring from the leadership of the +party. In a letter to Mr. Mowat, he said that the enemies of reform +were playing the game of exciting personal hostility against himself, +and reviving feelings inspired by the fierce contests of the past. It +might be well to appoint a leader who would arouse less personal +hostility. A few months later he had a long and severe illness, which +prevented him from taking his place in the legislature during the +session of 1861 and from displaying his usual activity in the general +election of the summer of that year. He did, however, accept the hard +task of contesting East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr. John +Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one. Mr. Brown then +announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement +without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some public +advantages, he said, might flow from that decision. Those whose +interest it was that misgovernment should continue, would no longer be +able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Admitting that he had used +strong language in denouncing French domination, he justified his +course as the only remedy for the evil. In 1852 he could hardly find +a seconder for his motion in favour of representation by population; +in the election just closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper +Canada, elected to stand or fall by that measure. He had fought a ten +years' battle without faltering. He advocated opposition to any +ministry of either party that would refuse to settle the question. + +The Conservative government was defeated, in the session following the +election, on a militia bill providing for the maintenance of a force +of fifty thousand men at a cost of about one million dollars. The +American Civil War was in progress; the _Trent_ affair had assumed a +threatening appearance and it was deemed necessary to place the +province in a state of defence. The bill was defeated by the defection +of some French-Canadian supporters of the government. The event caused +much disappointment in England; and from this time forth, continual +pressure from that quarter in regard to defence was one of the forces +tending towards confederation. + +John Sandfield Macdonald, who was somewhat unexpectedly called upon to +form a ministry, was an enthusiastic advocate of the "double +majority," by which he believed the union could be virtually +federalized without formal constitutional change. Upper Canadian +ministers were to transact Upper Canadian business, and so with Lower +Canada, the administration, as a whole, managing affairs of common +interest. Local legislation was not to be forced on either province +against the wish of the representatives. The administration for each +section should possess the confidence of a majority of representatives +from that section. + +Brown strongly opposed the "double majority" plan, which he regarded +as a mere makeshift for reform in the representation, and he was in +some doubt whether he should support or oppose the Liberal ministers +who offered for re-election. He finally decided, after consultation +with his brother Gordon, "to permit them to go in unopposed, and hold +them up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur." + +In July 1862, Mr. Brown sailed for Great Britain, and in September he +wrote Mr. Holton that he had had a most satisfactory interview with +the Duke of Newcastle at the latter's request. They seem to have +talked freely about Canadian politics. "His scruples about +representation are entirely gone. It would have done even Sandfield +[Macdonald] good to hear his ideas on the absurdity of the 'double +majority.' Whatever small politicians and the London _Times_ may say, +you may depend upon this, that the government and the leaders of the +Opposition perfectly understand our position, and have no thought of +changing the relations between Canada and the mother country. On the +contrary, the members of the government, with the exception of +Gladstone, are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand transit +route across the continent." He remarked upon the bitterness of the +British feeling against the United States, and said that he was +perplexed by the course of the London _Times_ in pandering to the +passions of the people. + +The most important event of his visit to Scotland was yet to come. On +November 27th he married Miss Anne Nelson, daughter of the well-known +publisher, Thomas Nelson--a marriage which was the beginning of a most +happy domestic life of eighteen years. This lady survived him until +May, 1906. On his return to Canada with his bride, Mr. Brown was met +at Toronto station by several thousand friends. In reply to a +complimentary address, he said, "I have come back with strength +invigorated, with new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with the most +earnest desire to aid in advancing the prosperity and happiness of +Canada." + +It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte government had shelved the +question of representation by population and had committed itself to +the device of the "double majority." During Mr. Brown's absence +another movement, which he had strongly resisted, had been gaining +ground. In 1860, 1861, and 1862, Mr. R. W. Scott, of Ottawa, had +introduced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman Catholic +separate school system of Upper Canada. In 1863, he succeeded, by +accepting certain modifications, in obtaining the support of Dr. +Ryerson, superintendent of education. Another important advantage was +that his bill was adopted as a government measure by the Sandfield +Macdonald ministry. The bill became law in spite of the fact that it +was opposed by a majority of the representatives from Upper Canada. +This was in direct contravention of the "double majority" resolutions +adopted by the legislature at the instance of the government. The +premier had declared that there should be a truce to the agitation for +representation by population or for other constitutional changes. That +agitation had been based upon the complaint that legislation was being +forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Canadian votes. The "double +majority" resolutions had been proposed as a substitute for +constitutional change. In the case of the Separate School Bill they +were disregarded, and the premier was severely criticized for allowing +his favourite principle to be contravened. + +Mr. Brown had been absent in the sessions of 1861 and 1862, and he did +not enter the House in 1863 until the Separate School Bill had passed +its second reading. In the _Globe_, however, it was assailed +vigorously, one ground being that the bill was not a finality, but +that the Roman Catholic Church would continually make new demands and +encroachments, until the public school system was destroyed. On this +question of finality there was much controversy. Dr. Ryerson always +insisted that there was an express agreement that it was to be final; +on the Roman Catholic side this is denied. At confederation Brown +accepted the Act of 1863 as a final settlement. He said that if he had +been present in 1863, he would have voted against the bill, because +it extended the facility for establishing separate schools. "It had, +however, this good feature, that it was accepted by the Roman Catholic +authorities, and carried through parliament as a final compromise of +the question in Upper Canada." He added: "I have not the slightest +hesitation in accepting it as a necessary condition of the union." +With confederation, therefore, we may regard Brown's opposition to +separate schools in Upper Canada as ended. In accepting the terms of +confederation, he accepted the Separate School Act of 1863, though +with the condition that it should be final, a condition repudiated on +the Roman Catholic side. + +The Sandfield Macdonald government was weakened by this incident, and +it soon afterwards fell upon a general vote of want of confidence +moved by Mr. John A. Macdonald. Parliament was dissolved and an +election was held in the summer of 1863. The Macdonald-Dorion +government obtained a majority in Upper but not in Lower Canada, and +on the whole, its tenure of power was precarious in the extreme. +Finally, in March, 1864, it resigned without waiting for a vote of +want of confidence. Its successor, the Taché-Macdonald government, had +a life of only three months, and its death marks the birth of a new +era. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONFEDERATION + + +"Events stronger than advocacy, events stronger than men," to repeat +D'Arcy McGee's phrase, combined in 1864 to remove confederation from +the field of speculation to the field of action. For several years the +British government had been urging upon Canada the necessity for +undertaking a greater share of her own defence. This view was +expressed with disagreeable candour in the London _Times_ and +elsewhere on the occasion of the defeat of the Militia Bill of 1862. +The American Civil War emphasized the necessity for measures of +defence. At the time of the _Trent_ seizure, Great Britain and the +United States were on the verge of war, of which Canada would have +been the battleground. As the war progressed, the world was astonished +by the development of the military power of the republic. It seemed +not improbable, at that time, that when the success of the North was +assured, its great armies would be used for the subjugation of Canada. +The North had come to regard Canada as a home of Southern sympathizers +and a place in which conspiracies against the republic were hatched by +Southerners. Though Canada was not to blame for the use that was made +of its soil, yet some ill-feeling was aroused, and public men were +warranted in regarding the peril as real. + +Canada was also about to lose a large part of its trade. For ten years +that trade had been built up largely on the basis of reciprocity with +the United States, and the war had largely increased the American +demand for Canadian products. It was generally expected, and that +expectation was fulfilled, that the treaty would be abrogated by the +United States. It was feared that the policy of commercial +non-intercourse would be carried even farther, the bonding system +abolished, and Canada cut off from access to the seaboard during the +winter.[14] + +If we add to these difficulties the domestic dissensions of Canada, we +must recognize that the outlook was dark. Canada was then a fringe of +settlement, extending from the Detroit River to the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, having no independent access to the Atlantic except during +the summer. She had been depending largely upon Great Britain for +defence, and upon the United States for trade. She had received +warning that both these supports were to be weakened, and that she +must rely more on her own resources, find new channels of trade and +new means of defence. The country lay in the midst of the continent, +isolated from the west, isolated in part from the east, with a +powerful and not too friendly neighbour to the south. Upper and Lower +Canada, with their racial differences as sharply defined as in the +days of Lord Durham, regarded each other with distrust; one political +combination after another had failed to obtain a working majority of +the legislature, and domestic government was paralyzed. Such a +combination of danger and difficulty, within and without, might well +arouse alarm, rebuke faction and stimulate patriotism. + +The election of 1863 was virtually a drawn battle. The Reformers had a +large majority in Upper Canada, their opponents a like majority in +Lower Canada, and thus not only the two parties, but the two +provinces, were arrayed against each other. The Reform government, +headed by Sandfield Macdonald and Dorion, found its position of +weakness and humiliation intolerable, and resigned in March, 1864. The +troubled governor-general called upon A. T. Fergusson Blair, a +colleague of Sandfield Macdonald, to form a new administration. He +failed. He called upon Cartier with a like result. He finally had a +little better success with Sir E. P. Taché, a veteran who had been a +colleague of Baldwin, of Hincks, and of Macdonald. Taché virtually +restored the Cartier-Macdonald government, taking in Foley and McGee +from the other side. In less than three months, on June 14th, this +government was defeated, and on the very day of its defeat relief +came. Letters written by Brown to his family during the month +preceding the crisis throw some light on the situation. + +On May 13th he writes: "Things here are very unsatisfactory; no one +sees his way out of the mess--and there is no way but my +way--representation by population. There is great talk to-day of +coalition--and what do you think? Why, that in order to make the +coalition successful, the imperial government are to offer me the +government of one of the British colonies. I have been gravely asked +to-day by several if it is true, and whether I would accept. My reply +was, I would rather be proprietor of the _Globe_ newspaper for a few +years than be governor-general of Canada, much less a trumpery little +province. But I need hardly tell you, the thing has no foundation, +beyond sounding what could be done to put me out of the way and let +mischief go on. But we won't be bought at any price, shall we?" On May +18th he writes that he has brought on his motion for constitutional +changes, and on May 20th that it has carried and taken Cartier and +Macdonald by surprise. "Much that is directly practical may not flow +from the committee, but it is an enormous gain to have the +acknowledgment on our journals that a great evil exists, and that some +remedy must be found." + +On June 14th Mr. Brown, as chairman of a committee appointed to +consider the difficulties connected with the government of Canada, +brought in a report recommending "a federative system, applied either +to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American provinces." +This was the day on which the Taché government was defeated. On the +subject of the negotiations which followed between Mr. Brown and the +government, there is a difference between the account given by Sir +John Macdonald in the House, and accepted by all parties as official, +and a letter written by Mr. Brown to a member of his family. The +official account represents the first movement as coming from Mr. +Brown, the letter says that the suggestion came from the +governor-general. It would seem likely that the idea moved gradually +from informal conversations to formal propositions. The governor had +proposed a coalition on the defeat of the Macdonald-Dorion government, +and he repeated the suggestion on the defeat of the Taché-Macdonald +government; but his official memorandum contains no reference to +constitutional changes. It would seem that there was a great deal of +talk of coalition in the air before Brown made his proposals, and +perhaps some talk of offering him an appointment that would remove him +from public life. But the Conservative ministers were apparently +thinking merely of a coalition that would break the dead-lock, and +enable the ordinary business of the country to proceed. Brown's idea +was to find a permanent remedy in the form of a change in the +constitution. When he made his proposal to co-operate with his +opponents for the purpose of settling the difficulties between Upper +and Lower Canada, his proposal fell upon minds familiarized with the +idea of coalition, and hence its ready acceptance. On his part, Mr. +Brown was ready to abate certain party advantages in order to bring +about constitutional reform. Mr. Ferrier, in the debate on +confederation, says that it was he who suggested that the proposal +made by Mr. Brown to Mr. Pope and Mr. Morris should be communicated to +the government. Ferrier gives a lively account of the current gossip +as to the meeting between Brown and the ministers. "I think I can +remember this being said, that when Mr. Galt met Mr. Brown he received +him with that manly, open frankness which characterizes him; that when +Mr. Cartier met Mr. Brown, he looked carefully to see that his two +Rouge friends were not behind him, and that when he was satisfied they +were not, he embraced him with open arms and swore eternal friendship; +and that Mr. Macdonald, at a very quick glance, saw there was an +opportunity of forming a great and powerful dependency of the British +empire.... We all thought, in fact, that a political millennium had +arrived." + +In a family letter written at this time Mr. Brown said: "June 18th, +past one in the morning. We have had great times since I wrote you. On +Tuesday we defeated the government by a majority of two. They asked +the governor-general to dissolve parliament, and he consented; but +before acting on it, at the governor's suggestion, they applied to me +to aid them in reconstructing the government, on the basis of settling +the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada. I +refused to accept office, but agreed to help them earnestly and +sincerely in the matter they proposed. Negotiations were thereupon +commenced, and are still going on, with considerable hope of finding a +satisfactory solution to our trouble. The facts were announced in the +House to-day by John A. Macdonald, amid tremendous cheering from both +sides of the House. You never saw such a scene; but you will have it +all in the papers, so I need not repeat. Both sides are extremely +urgent that I should accept a place in the government, if it were only +for a week; but I will not do this unless it is absolutely needed to +the success of the negotiations. A more agreeable proposal is that I +should go to England to arrange the new constitution with the imperial +government. But as the whole thing may fail, we will not count our +chickens just yet." + +Sir Richard Cartwright, then a young member of parliament, relates an +incident illustrating the tension on men's minds at that time. He +says: "On that memorable afternoon when Mr. Brown, not without +emotion, made his statement to a hushed and expectant House, and +declared that he was about to ally himself with Sir Georges Cartier +and his friends for the purpose of carrying out confederation, I saw +an excitable, elderly little French member rush across the floor, +climb up on Mr. Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature +approaching the gigantic, fling his arms about his neck and hang +several seconds there suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr. +Brown and to the infinite joy of all beholders, pit, box and gallery +included."[15] + +The official account given by Mr. Macdonald in the House, is that +immediately after the defeat of the government on Tuesday night (the +14th), and on the following morning, Mr. Brown spoke to several +supporters of the administration, strongly urging that the present +crisis should be utilized in settling forever the constitutional +difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada, and assuring them that he +was ready to co-operate with the existing or any other administration +that would deal with the question promptly and firmly, with a view to +its final settlement. Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope, to whom the suggestion +was made, obtained leave to communicate it to Mr. John A. Macdonald +and Mr. Galt. On June 17th Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Galt called upon Mr. +Brown. In the conversation that ensued Mr. Brown expressed his extreme +reluctance to entering the ministry, declaring that the public mind +would be shocked by such an arrangement. The personal question being +dropped for the time, Mr. Brown asked what remedy was proposed. Mr. +Macdonald and Mr. Galt replied that their remedy was a federal union +of all the British North American provinces. Mr. Brown said that this +would not be acceptable to Upper Canada. The federation of all the +provinces ought to come and would come in time, but it had not yet +been thoroughly considered by the people; and even were this +otherwise, there were so many parties to be consulted that its +adoption was uncertain and remote. He expressed his preference for +parliamentary reform, based on population. On further discussion it +appeared that a compromise might be found in an alternative plan, a +federal union of all the British North American provinces or a federal +union of Upper and Lower Canada, with provision for the admission of +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory when they desired. +There was apparently a difference of opinion as to which alternative +should be presented first. One memorandum reduced to writing gave the +preference to the larger federation; the second and final memorandum +contained this agreement: "The government are prepared to pledge +themselves to bring in a measure next session for the purpose of +removing existing difficulties by introducing the federal principle +into Canada, coupled with such provisions as will permit the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West Territory to be incorporated into the +same system of government. And the government will, by sending +representatives to the Lower Provinces and to England, use its best +endeavours to secure the assent of those interests which are beyond +the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may enable all +British North America to be united under a general legislature based +upon the federal principle." + +It was Mr. Brown who insisted on this mode of presentation. At the +convention of 1859 he had expressed in the strongest language his hope +for the creation of a great Canadian nationality; and he had for years +advocated the inclusion of the North-West Territories in a greater +Canada. But he regarded the settlement of the difficulties of Upper +and Lower Canada as the most pressing question of the hour, and he did +not desire that the solution of this question should be delayed or +imperilled. Galt's plan of federation, comprehensive and admirable as +it was, had failed because the assent of the Maritime Provinces could +not be secured; and for five years afterwards no progress had been +made. It was natural that Brown should be anxiously desirous that the +plan for the reform of the union of the Canadas should not fail, +whatever else might happen. + +On June 21st, Mr. Brown called a meeting of the members of the +Opposition for Upper Canada. It was resolved, on motion of Mr. Hope +Mackenzie, "that we approve of the course which has been pursued by +Mr. Brown in the negotiations with the government, and that we approve +of the project of a federal union of the Canadas, with provision for +the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, +as one basis on which the constitutional difficulties now existing +could be settled." Thirty-four members voted for this motion, five +declining to vote. A motion that three members of the Opposition +should enter the government was not so generally supported, eleven +members, including Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat, voting in the +negative. The Lower Canadian Reformers held aloof, and in the +subsequent debate in the legislature, strongly opposed confederation. + +There were many evidences of the keen interest taken by the +governor-general (Monk) in the negotiations. On June 21st he wrote to +Mr. Brown: "I think the success or failure of the negotiations which +have been going on for some days, with a view to the formation of a +strong government on a broad basis, depends very much on your +consenting to come into the cabinet. + +"Under these circumstances I must again take the liberty of pressing +upon you, by this note, my opinion of the grave responsibility which +you will take upon yourself if you refuse to do so. + +"Those who have hitherto opposed your views have consented to join +with you in good faith for the purpose of extricating the province +from what appears to me a very dangerous position. + +"They have frankly offered to take up and endeavour to settle on +principles satisfactory to all, the great constitutional question +which you, by your energy and ability, have made your own. + +"The details of that settlement must necessarily be the subject of +grave debate in the cabinet, and I confess I cannot see how you are to +take part in that discussion, or how your opinions can be brought to +bear on the arrangement of the question, unless you occupy a place at +the council table. + +"I hope I may, without impropriety, ask you to take these opinions +into consideration before you arrive at a final decision as to your +own course." + +Mr. Brown wrote home that he, in consenting to enter the cabinet, was +influenced by the vote of the Reform members, by private letters from +many quarters, and still more by the extreme urgency of the +governor-general. "The thing that finally determined me was the fact, +ascertained by Mowat and myself, that unless we went in the whole +effort for constitutional changes would break down, and the enormous +advantages gained by our negotiations probably be lost. Finally, at +three o'clock yester-day, I consented to enter the cabinet as +'president of the council,' with other two seats in the cabinet at my +disposal--one of which Mowat will take, and probably Macdougall the +other. We consented with great reluctance, but there was no help for +it; and it was such a temptation to have possibly the power of +settling the sectional troubles of Canada forever. The announcement +was made in the House yester-day, and the excitement all over the +province is intense. I send you an official copy of the proceedings +during the negotiations, from which you will see the whole story. By +next mail I intend to send you some extracts from the newspapers. The +unanimity of sentiment is without example in this country, and were it +not that I know at their exact value the worth of newspaper +laudations, I might be puffed up a little in my own conceit. After the +explanations by ministers I had to make a speech, but was so excited +and nervous at the events of the last few days that I nearly broke +down. However, after a little I got over it, and made (as Mowat +alleges) the most telling speech I ever made. There was great cheering +when I sat down, and many members from both sides crowded round me to +congratulate me. In short, the whole movement is a grand success, and +I really believe will have an immense influence on the future +destinies of Canada." + +The formation of the coalition cabinet was announced on June 30th. +Foley, Buchanan and Simpson, members of the Upper Canadian section of +the Taché-Macdonald ministry, retired, and their places were taken by +the Hon. George Brown, Oliver Mowat, and William Macdougall. Otherwise +the ministry remained unchanged. Sir E. P. Taché, though a +Conservative, was acceptable to both parties, and was well fitted to +head a genuine coalition. But it must have been evident from the first +that the character of a coalition would not be long maintained. The +Reform party, which had just defeated the government in the +legislature, was represented by only three ministers out of twelve; +and this, with Macdonald's skill in managing combinations of men, made +it morally certain that the ministry must eventually become +Conservative, just as happened in the case of the coalition of 1854. +Brown had asked that the Reformers be represented by four ministers +from Upper Canada and two from Lower Canada, which would, as nearly as +possible, have corresponded with the strength of his party in the +legislature. Galt and Macdonald represented that a change in the +personnel of the Lower Canadian section of the cabinet would disturb +the people and shake their confidence. The Lower Canadian Liberal +leaders, Dorion and Holton, were adverse to the coalition scheme, +regarding it as a mere device for enabling Macdonald and his friends +to hold office. + +Mowat and Brown were re-elected without difficulty, but Macdougall met +with strong opposition in North Ontario. Brown, who was working hard +in his interests, found this opposition so strong among Conservatives +that he telegraphed to Macdonald, who sent a strong letter on behalf +of Macdougall. Brown said that the opposition came chiefly from +Orangemen. The result was that Macdougall, in spite of the assistance +of the two leaders, was defeated by one hundred. He was subsequently +elected for North Lanark. In other bye-elections the advocates of +confederation were generally successful. In the confederation debate, +Brown said there had been twenty-five contests, fourteen for the +Upper House and eleven for the Lower House, and that only one or two +opponents of confederation had been elected. + +There had been for some years an intermittent movement for the union +of the Maritime Provinces, and in 1864 their legislatures had +authorized the holding of a convention at Charlottetown. Accordingly +eight members of the Canadian ministry visited Charlottetown, where +they were cordially welcomed. They dwelt on the advantage of +substituting the larger for the smaller plan of union, and the result +of their representations was that arrangements were made for the +holding of a general conference at Quebec later in the year. The +Canadian ministers made a tour through the Maritime Provinces, +speaking in public and familiarizing the people with the plan. At a +banquet in Halifax, Mr. Brown gave a full exposition of the project +and its advantages in regard to defence, commerce, national strength +and dignity, adding that it would end the petty strifes of a small +community, and elevate politics and politicians. + +The scheme was destined to undergo a more severe ordeal in the +Maritime Provinces than these festive gatherings. For the present, +progress was rapid, and the maritime tour was followed by the +conference at Quebec, which opened on October 10th, 1864. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Sir Richard Cartwright says also that the credit of Canada was +very low, largely because of the troubles of the Grand Trunk Railway +Company. _Memories of Confederation_, p. 3. + +[15] _Memories of Confederation._ An address delivered before the +Canadian Club of Ottawa, January 20th, 1906. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE + + +The conference was held with closed doors, so as to encourage free +discussion. Some fragmentary notes have been preserved. One impression +derived from this and other records is that the public men of that day +had been much impressed by the Civil War in the United States, by the +apparent weakness of the central authority there, and by the dangers +of State sovereignty. Emphasis was laid upon the monarchical element +of the proposed constitution for Canada, and upon the fact that powers +not expressly defined were to rest in the general, instead of the +local, legislatures. In fact, Mr. Chandler, a representative of New +Brunswick, complained that the proposed union was legislative, not +federal, and reduced the local governments to the status of municipal +corporations. In practice these residuary powers were not so +formidable as they appeared; the defined powers of the local +legislatures were highly important, and were fully maintained, if not +enlarged, as a result of the resolute attitude of Ontario under the +Mowat government. But the notion that Canada must avoid the dangers of +State sovereignty is continually cropping up in the literature of +confederation. Friends and opponents of the new constitution made +much of these mysterious residuary powers, and the Lower Canadian +Liberals feared that they were being drawn into a union that would +destroy the liberties and imperil the cherished institutions of the +French-Canadian people. + +Another point is the extraordinary amount of time and labour given to +the constitution of the senate. "The conference proceedings," wrote +Mr. Brown, "get along very well, considering we were very near broken +up on the question of the distribution of members in the Upper Chamber +of the federal legislature, but fortunately, we have this morning got +the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days in +discussing it." During the latter years of the union, the elective +system had prevailed in Canada, and Mowat, Macdougall and others +favoured continuing this practice, but were overruled. Brown joined +Macdonald in supporting the nominative system. His reasons were given +in his speech in the legislature in 1865. He believed that two +elective chambers were incompatible with the British parliamentary +system. The Upper Chamber, if elected, might claim equal power with +the Lower, including power over money bills. It might amend money +bills, might reject all legislation, and stop the machinery of +government. With a Conservative majority in one House, and a Reform +majority in the other, a dead-lock might occur. To the objection that +the change from the elective to the nominative system involved a +diminution of the power of the people, Mr. Brown answered that the +government of the day would be responsible for each appointment. It +must be admitted that this responsibility is of little practical +value, and that Mr. Brown fully shared in the delusions of his time as +to the manner in which the senate would be constituted, and the part +it would play in the government of the country. + +A rupture was threatened also on the question of finance. A large +number of local works which in Upper Canada were paid for by local +municipal taxation, were in the Maritime Provinces provided out of the +provincial revenues. The adjustment was a difficult matter, and +finally it was found necessary for the financial representatives of +the different provinces to withdraw, for the purpose of constructing a +scheme. + +On October 28th the conference was concluded, and its resolutions +substantially form the constitution of Canada. On October 31st Brown +wrote: "We got through our work at Quebec very well. The constitution +is not exactly to my mind in all its details--but as a whole it is +wonderful, really wonderful. When one thinks of all the fighting we +have had for fifteen years, and finds the very men who fought us every +inch, now going far beyond what we asked, I am amazed and sometimes +alarmed lest it all go to pieces yet. We have yet to pass the ordeal +of public opinion in the several provinces, and sad, indeed, will it +be if the measure is not adopted by acclamation in them all. For Upper +Canada we may well rejoice on the day it becomes law. Nearly all our +past difficulties are ended by it, whatever new ones may arise." + +A journey made by the delegates through Canada after the draft was +completed enabled Canadians to make the acquaintance of some men of +mark in the Maritime Provinces, including Tilley, of New Brunswick, +and Tupper, of Nova Scotia, and it evoked in Upper Canada warm +expressions of public feeling in favour of the new union. It is +estimated that eight thousand people met the delegates at the railway +station in Toronto. At a dinner given in the Music Hall in that city, +Mr. Brown explained the new constitution fully. He frankly confessed +that he was a convert to the scheme of the Intercolonial Railway, for +the reason that it was essential to the union between Canada and the +Maritime Provinces. The canal system was to be extended, and as soon +as the finances would permit communication was to be opened with the +North-West Territory. "This was the first time," wrote Mr. Brown, +"that the confederation scheme was really laid open to the public. No +doubt--was right in saying that the French-Canadians were restive +about the scheme, but the feeling in favour of it is all but unanimous +here, and I think there is a good chance of carrying it. At any rate, +come what may, I can now get out of the affair and out of public life +with honour, for I have had placed on record a scheme that would bring +to an end all the grievances of which Upper Canada has so long +complained." + +The British government gave its hearty blessing to the confederation, +and the outlook was hopeful. In December, 1864, Mr. Brown sailed for +England, for the purpose of obtaining the views of the British +government. He wrote from London to Mr. Macdonald that the scheme had +given prodigious satisfaction. "The ministry, the Conservatives and +the Manchester men are all delighted with it, and everything Canadian +has gone up in public estimation immensely.... Indeed, from all +classes of people you hear nothing but high praise of 'Canadian +statesmanship,' and loud anticipations of the great future before us. +I am much concerned to observe, however, and I write it to you as a +thing that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead +hereafter in Canadian public matters--that there is a manifest desire +in almost every quarter, that ere long the British American colonies +should shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that +we did not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to +observe this, but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of +Canada by the United States, and will soon pass away with the cause +that excites it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE + + +The parliament of Canada assembled on January 19th, 1865, to consider +the resolutions of the Quebec conference. The first presentation of +the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper Chamber by the +premier, Sir E. P. Taché. He described the measure as essential to +British connection, to the preservation of "our institutions, our +laws, and even our remembrances of the past." If the opportunity were +allowed to pass by unimproved, Canada would be forced into the +American union by violence; or would be placed upon an inclined plane +which would carry it there insensibly. Canada, during the winter, had +no independent means of access to the sea, but was dependent on the +favour of a neighbour which, in several ways, had shown a hostile +spirit. The people of the Northern States had an exaggerated idea of +Canadian sympathy with the South, and the consequences of this +misapprehension were--first, the threatened abolition of the transit +system; second, the discontinuance of reciprocity; third, a passport +system, which was almost equivalent to a prohibition of intercourse. +Union with the Maritime Provinces would give Canada continuous and +independent access to the Atlantic; and the Maritime Provinces would +bring into the common stock their magnificent harbours, their coal +mines, their great fishing and shipping industries. Then he recounted +the difficulties that had occurred in the government of Canada, ending +in dead-lock, and a condition "bordering on civil strife." He declared +that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a +legislative union, but that if a federal union were obtained, it would +be tantamount to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada would +thereby preserve its autonomy, together with all the institutions it +held so dear. These were the main arguments for confederation, and in +the speeches which followed on that side they were repeated, enforced, +and illustrated in various ways. + +In the assembly, Mr. John A. Macdonald, as attorney-general, gave a +clear and concise description of the new constitution. He admitted +that he had preferred a legislative union, but had recognized that +such a union would not have been accepted either by Lower Canada or +the Maritime Provinces. The union between Upper and Lower Canada, +legislative in name, had been federal in fact, there being, by tacit +consent and practice, a separate body of legislation for each part of +the province. He described the new scheme of government as a happy +combination of the strength of a legislative union with the freedom of +a federal union, and with protection to local interests. The +constitution of the United States was "one of the most skilful works +which human intelligence ever created; one of the most perfect +organizations that ever governed a free people." Experience had shown +that its main defect was the doctrine of State sovereignty. This +blemish was avoided in the Canadian constitution by vesting all +residuary powers in the central government and legislature. The +Canadian system would also be distinguished from the American by the +recognition of monarchy and of the principle of responsible +government. The connection of Canada with Great Britain he regarded as +tending towards a permanent alliance. "The colonies are now in a +transition state. Gradually a different colonial system is being +developed; and it will become year by year less a case of dependence +on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the mother +country, and more a case of a hearty and cordial alliance. Instead of +looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England will have in us +a friendly nation--a subordinate, but still a powerful people--to +stand by her in North America, in peace or in war." + +Brown spoke on the night of February 8th, his speech, occupying four +hours and a half in delivery, showing the marks of careful +preparation. He drew an illustration from the mighty struggle that had +well-nigh rent the republic asunder, and was then within a few weeks +of its close. "We are striving," he said, "to settle forever issues +hardly less momentous than those that have rent the neighbouring +republic and are now exposing it to all the horrors of civil war. Have +we not then great cause for thankfulness that we have found a better +way for the solution of our troubles? And should not every one of us +endeavour to rise to the magnitude of the occasion, and earnestly seek +to deal with this question to the end, in the same candid and +conciliatory spirit in which, so far, it has been discussed?" + +He warned the assembly that whatever else happened, the constitution +of Canada would not remain unchanged. "Something must be done. We +cannot stand still. We cannot go back to chronic, sectional hostility +and discord--to a state of perpetual ministerial crisis. The events of +the last eight months cannot be obliterated--the solemn admissions of +men of all parties can never be erased. The claims of Upper Canada for +justice must be met, and met now. Every one who raises his voice in +hostility to this measure is bound to keep before him, when he speaks, +all the perilous consequences of its rejection. No man who has a true +regard for the well-being of Canada can give a vote against this +scheme unless he is prepared to offer, in amendment, some better +remedy for the evils and injustice that have so long threatened the +peace of our country." + +In the first place, he said confederation would provide a complete +remedy for the injustice of the system of parliamentary +representation, by giving Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, the +number of members to which it was entitled by population. In the +senate, the principle of representation by population would not be +maintained, an equal number of senators being allotted to Ontario, to +Quebec, and to the group of Maritime Provinces, without regard to +population. Secondly, the plan would remedy the injustice of which +Upper Canada had complained in regard to public expenditures. "No +longer shall we have to complain that one section pays the cash while +the other spends it; hereafter they who pay will spend, and they who +spend more than they ought, will bear the brunt. If we look back on +our doings of the last fifteen years, I think it will be acknowledged +that the greatest jobs perpetrated were of a sectional character, that +our fiercest contests were about local matters that stirred up +sectional jealousies and indignation to their deepest depth." +Confederation would end sectional discord between Upper and Lower +Canada. Questions that used to excite sectional hostility and jealousy +were now removed from the common legislature to the legislatures of +the provinces. No man need be debarred from a public career because +his opinions, popular in his own province, were unpopular in another. +Among the local questions that had disturbed the peace of the common +legislature, he mentioned the construction of local works, the +endowment of ecclesiastical institutions, the granting of money for +sectarian purposes, and interference with school systems. + +He advocated confederation because it would convert a group of +inconsiderable colonies into a powerful union of four million people, +with a revenue of thirteen million dollars, a trade of one hundred and +thirty-seven million five hundred thousand dollars, rich natural +resources and important industries. Among these he dwelt at length on +the shipping of the Maritime Provinces. These were the days of the +wooden ship, and Mr. Brown claimed that federated Canada would be the +third maritime power in the world. Confederation would give a new +impetus to immigration and settlement. Communication with the west +would be opened up, as soon as the state of the finances permitted. +Negotiations had been carried on with the imperial government for the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada; and when those +fertile plains were opened for settlement, there would be an immense +addition to the products of Canada. The establishment of free trade +between Canada and the Maritime Provinces would be some compensation +for the loss of trade with the United States, should the reciprocity +treaty be abrogated. It would enable the country to assume a larger +share of the burden of defence. The time had come when the people of +the United Kingdom would insist on a reconsideration of the military +relations of Canada to the empire, and that demand was just. Union +would facilitate common defence. "The Civil War in the neighbouring +republic--the possibility of war between Great Britain and the United +States; the threatened repeal of the reciprocity treaty; the +threatened abolition of the American bonding system for goods in +transit to and from these provinces; the unsettled position of the +Hudson's Bay Company; the changed feeling of England as to the +relations of Canada to the parent state; all combine at this moment to +arrest the earnest attention to the gravity of the situation and unite +us all in one vigorous effort to meet the emergency like men." + +A strong speech against confederation was made by Dorion, an old +friend of Brown, a staunch Liberal, and a representative +French-Canadian. He declared that he had seen no ground for changing +his opinion on two points--the substitution of an Upper Chamber, +nominated by the Crown, for an elective body; and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, which he, with other Liberals, had always +opposed. He had always admitted that representation by population was +a just principle; and in 1856 he had suggested, in the legislature, +the substitution of a federal for a legislative union of the Canadas; +or failing this, representation by population, with such checks and +guarantees as would secure local rights and interests, and preserve to +Lower Canada its cherished institutions. When the Brown-Dorion +government was formed, he had proposed a federation of the Canadas, +but with the distinct understanding that he would not attempt to carry +such a measure without the consent of a majority of the people of +Lower Canada. From the document issued by the Lower Canadian Liberals +in 1859, he quoted a passage in which it was laid down that the powers +given to the central government should be only those that were +essential, and that the local powers should be as ample as possible. +"All that belongs to matters of a purely local character, such as +education, the administration of justice, the militia, the laws +relating to property, police, etc., ought to be referred to the local +governments, whose powers ought generally to extend to all subjects +which would not be given to the general government." The vesting of +residuary powers in the provinces was an important difference between +this and the scheme of confederation; but the point most dwelt upon by +Dorion was the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces, which he strongly +opposed. + +Dorion denied that the difficulty about representation was the source +of the movement for confederation. He contended that the agitation for +representation by population had died out, and that the real authors +of confederation were the owners of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, +who stood to gain by the construction of the Intercolonial. "The +Taché-Macdonald government were defeated because the House condemned +them for taking without authority one hundred thousand dollars out of +the public chest for the Grand Trunk Railway, at a time when there had +not been a party vote on representation by population for one or two +sessions." He declared that Macdonald had, in Brown's committee of +1864, voted against confederation, and that he and his colleagues +adopted the scheme simply to enable them to remain in office. Dorion +also criticized adversely the change in the constitution of the Upper +Chamber, from the elective to the nominative system. The Conservative +instincts of Macdonald and Cartier, he said, led them to strengthen +the power of the Crown at the expense of the people, and this +constitution was a specimen of their handiwork. "With a +governor-general appointed by the Crown; with local governors also +appointed by the Crown; with legislative councils in the general +legislature, and in all the provinces, nominated by the Crown, we +shall have the most illiberal constitution ever heard of in any +government where constitutional government prevails." + +He objected to the power vested in the governor-general-in-council to +veto the acts of local legislatures. His expectation was that a +minority in the local legislature might appeal to their party friends +at Ottawa to veto laws which they disliked, and that thus there would +be constant interference, agitation and strife between the central and +the local authorities. He suspected that the intention was ultimately +to change the federal union to a legislative union. The scheme of +confederation was being carried without submission to the people. What +would prevent the change from a federal to a legislative union from +being accomplished in a similar way? To this the people of Lower +Canada would not submit. "A million of inhabitants may seem a small +affair to the mind of a philosopher who sits down to write out a +constitution. He may think it would be better that there should be but +one religion, one language and one system of laws; and he goes to work +to frame institutions that will bring all to that desirable state; but +I can tell the honourable gentleman that the history of every country +goes to show that not even by the power of the sword can such changes +be accomplished." + +With some exaggeration Mr. Dorion struck at real faults in the scheme +of confederation. The contention that the plan ought to have been +submitted to the people is difficult to meet except upon the plea of +necessity, or the plea that the end justifies the means. There was +assuredly no warrant for depriving the people of the power of electing +the second chamber; and the new method, appointment by the government +of the day, has been as unsatisfactory in practice as it was unsound +in principle. The federal veto on provincial laws has not been used to +the extent that Dorion feared. But when we consider how partisan +considerations have governed appointments to the senate, we can +scarcely say that there was no ground for the fear that the power of +disallowance would be similarly abused. Nor can we say that Mr. Dorion +was needlessly anxious about provincial rights, when we remember how +persistently these have been attacked, and what strength, skill and +resolution have been required to defend them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE MISSION TO ENGLAND + + +A new turn was given to the debate early in March by the defeat of the +New Brunswick government in a general election, which meant a defeat +for confederation, and by the arrival of news of an important debate +in the House of Lords on the defences of Canada. The situation +suddenly became critical. That part of the confederation scheme which +related to the Maritime Provinces was in grave danger of failure. At +the same time the long-standing controversy between the imperial and +colonial authorities as to the defence of Canada had come to a head. +The two subjects were intimately connected. The British government had +been led to believe that if confederation were accomplished, the +defensive power of Canada would be much increased, and the new union +would be ready to assume larger obligations. From this time the tone +of the debate is entirely changed. It ceases to be a philosophic +deliberation of the merits of the new scheme. A note of urgency and +anxiety is found in the ministerial speeches; the previous question is +moved, and the proceedings hurried to a close, amid angry protests +from the Opposition. + +Mr. Brown wrote on March 5th: "We are going to have a great scene in +the House to-day.... The government of New Brunswick appealed to the +people on confederation by a general election, and have got beaten. +This puts a serious obstacle in the way of our scheme, and we mean to +act promptly and decidedly upon it. At three o'clock we are to +announce the necessity of carrying the resolutions at once, sending +home a deputation to England, and proroguing parliament without any +unnecessary delay--say in a week." + +The announcement was made to the House by Attorney-General Macdonald, +who laid much stress on the disappointment that would be occasioned in +England by the abandonment of a scheme by which Canadian colonies +should cease to be a source of embarrassment, and become a source of +strength. The question of confederation was intimately connected with +the question of defence, and that was a question of the most imminent +necessity. The provincial government had been in continued +correspondence with the home government as to defence "against every +hostile pressure, from whatever source it may come." + +A lively debate ensued. John Sandfield Macdonald said that the defeat +of the New Brunswick government meant the defeat of the larger scheme +of confederation, unless it was intended that the people should be +bribed into acquiescence or bullied into submission. "The Hon. Mr. +Tilley and his followers are routed, horse and foot, by the honest +people of the province, scouted by those whose interests he had +betrayed, and whose behests he had neglected; and I think his fate +ought to be a warning to those who adopted this scheme without +authority, and who ask the House to ratify it _en bloc_, without +seeking to obtain the sanction of the people." Later on he charged the +ministers with the intention of manufacturing an entirely new bill, +obtaining the sanction of the British government, and forcing it on +the Canadian people, as was done in 1840. + +This charge was hotly resented by Brown, and it drew from John A. +Macdonald a more explicit statement of the intentions of the +government. They would, if the legislature adopted the confederation +resolutions, proceed to England, inform the imperial government of +what had passed in Canada and New Brunswick, and take counsel with +that government as to the affairs of Canada, especially in regard to +defence and the reciprocity treaty. The legislature would then be +called together again forthwith, the report of the conferences in +England submitted, and the business relating to confederation +completed. + +On the following day Macdonald made another announcement, referring to +a debate in the House of Lords on February 20th, which he regarded as +of the utmost importance. A report made by a Colonel Jervois on the +defences of Canada had been published, and the publication, exposing +the extreme weakness of Canada, was regarded as an official +indiscretion. It asserted that under the arrangements then existing +British and Canadian forces together could not defend the colony. Lord +Lyveden brought the question up in the House of Lords, and dwelt upon +the gravity of the situation created by the defencelessness of Canada +and by the hostility of the United States. He held that Great Britain +must do one of two things: withdraw her troops and abandon the country +altogether, or defend it with the full power of the empire. It was +folly to send troops out in driblets, and spend money in the same way. +The Earl de Grey and Ripon, replying for the government, said that +Jervois' report contained nothing that was not previously known about +the weakness of Canada. He explained the proposed arrangement by which +the imperial government was to fortify Quebec at a cost of two hundred +thousand pounds, and Canada would undertake the defence of Montreal +and the West.[16] + +Commenting on a report of this discussion, Mr. Macdonald said there +had been negotiations between the two governments, and that he hoped +these would result in full provision for the defence of Canada, both +east and west. It was of the utmost importance that Canada should be +represented in England at this juncture. In order to expedite the +debate by shutting out amendments, he moved the previous question. + +Macdonald's motion provoked charges of burking free discussion, and +counter-charges of obstruction, want of patriotism and inclinations +towards annexation. The debate lost its academic calm and became +acrimonious. Holton's motion for an adjournment, for the purpose of +obtaining further information as to the scheme, was ruled out of +order. The same fate befell Dorion's motion for an adjournment of the +debate and an appeal to the people, on the ground that it involved +fundamental changes in the political institutions and political +relations of the province; changes not contemplated at the last +general election. + +On March 12th the main motion adopting the resolutions of the Quebec +conference was carried by ninety-one to thirty-three. On the following +day an amendment similar to Dorion's, for an appeal to the people, was +moved by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, of Peel, seconded by Matthew +Crooks Cameron, of North Ontario. Undoubtedly the argument for +submission to the people was strong, and was hardly met by Brown's +vigorous speech in reply. But the overwhelming opinion of the House +was against delay, and on March 13th the discussion came to an end. + +The prospects for the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces were now +poor. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island withdrew. A strong +feeling against confederation was arising in Nova Scotia, and it was +proposed there to return to the original idea of a separate maritime +union. It was decided to ask the aid of the British government in +overcoming the hesitation of the Maritime Provinces. The British +authorities were pressing Canada to assume increased obligations as to +defence. Defence depended on confederation, and England, by exercising +some friendly pressure on New Brunswick, might promote both objects. + +The committee appointed to confer with the British government was +composed of Macdonald, Brown, Cartier and Galt. They met in England a +committee of the imperial cabinet, Gladstone, Cardwell, the Duke of +Somerset and Earl de Grey and Ripon. An agreement was arrived at as to +defence. Canada would undertake works of defence at and west of +Montreal, and maintain a certain militia force; Great Britain would +complete fortifications at Quebec, provide the whole armament and +guarantee a loan for the sum necessary to construct the works +undertaken by Canada, and in case of war would defend every portion of +Canada with all the resources of the empire. An agreement was made as +to the acquisition of the Hudson Bay Territory by Canada, and as to +the influence to be brought to bear on the Maritime Provinces. "The +idea of coercing the Maritime Provinces into the measure was never for +a moment entertained." The end sought was to impress upon them the +grave responsibility of thwarting a measure so pregnant with future +prosperity to British America. + +In spite of the mild language used in regard to New Brunswick, the +fact that its consent was a vital part of the whole scheme must have +been an incentive to heroic measures, and these were taken. + +One of the causes of the defeat of the confederation government of New +Brunswick had been the active hostility of the lieutenant-governor, +Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, son of the Earl of Aberdeen. He was +strongly opposed to the change, and is believed to have gone to the +limit of his authority in aiding and encouraging its opponents in the +election of 1865. Soon afterwards he visited England, and it is +believed that he was sent for by the home authorities and was taken to +task for his conduct, and instructed to assist in carrying out +confederation. A despatch from Cardwell, secretary of state for the +colonies, to Governor Gordon, expressed the strong and deliberate +opinion of Her Majesty's government in favour of a union of all the +North American colonies.[17] + +The governor carried out his instructions with the zeal of a convert, +showed the despatch to the head of his government, set about +converting him also, and believed he had been partly successful. The +substance of the despatch was inserted in the speech from the throne, +when the legislature met on March 8th, 1866. The legislative council +adopted an address asking for imperial legislation to unite the +British North American colonies. The governor, without waiting for the +action of the assembly, made a reply to the council, expressing +pleasure at their address, and declaring that he would transmit it to +the secretary of state for the colonies. Thereupon the Smith ministry +resigned, contending that they ought to have been consulted about the +reply, that the council, not having been elected by the people, had no +authority to ask the imperial parliament to pass a measure which the +people of New Brunswick had expressly rejected at the polls. A protest +in similar terms might have been made in the legislative assembly, but +the opportunity was not given. A government favourable to +confederation was formed under Peter Mitchell, with Tilley as his +chief lieutenant, and the legislature was dissolved. + +A threatened Fenian invasion helped to turn the tide of public +opinion, and the confederate ministry was returned with a large +majority. That result, however desirable, did not sanctify the means +taken to bring about a verdict for confederation, which could hardly +have been more arbitrary. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Hansard, House of Lords, February 20th, 1865. See also a long and +important debate in the British House of Commons, March 13th, 1865. + +[17] Journals Canada, 1865, 2nd Session, pp. 8-15. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION + + +The series of events which gradually drew Mr. Brown out of the +coalition began with the death of Sir Etienne P. Taché on July 30th, +1865. By his age, his long experience, and a certain mild benignity of +disposition, Taché was admirably fitted to be the dean of the +coalition and the arbiter between its elements. He had served in +Reform and Conservative governments, but without incurring the +reproach of overweening love of office. With his departure that of +Brown became only a matter of time. To work with Macdonald as an equal +was a sufficiently disagreeable duty; to work under him, considering +the personal relations of the two men, would have been humiliating. +Putting aside the question of where the blame for the long-standing +feud lay, it was inevitable that the association should be temporary +and brief. On August 3rd the governer-general asked Mr. Macdonald to +form an administration. Mr. Macdonald consented, obtained the assent +of Mr. Cartier and consulted Mr. Brown. I quote from an authorized +memorandum of the conversation. "Mr. Brown replied that he was quite +prepared to enter into arrangements for the continuance of the +government in the same position as it occupied previous to the death +of Sir Etienne P. Taché; but that the proposal now made involved a +grave departure from that position. The government, heretofore, had +been a coalition of three political parties, each represented by an +active party leader, but all acting under one chief, who had ceased to +be actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions, and who +was well fitted to give confidence to all the three sections of the +coalition that the conditions which united them would be carried out +in good faith to the very letter. Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Cartier and +himself [Mr. Brown] were, on the contrary, regarded as party leaders, +with party feelings and aspirations, and to place any one of them in +an attitude of superiority to the others, with the vast advantage of +the premiership, would, in the public mind, lessen the security of +good faith, and seriously endanger the existence of the coalition. It +would be an entire change of the situation. Whichever of the three was +so preferred, the act would amount to an abandonment of the coalition +basis, and a reconstruction of the government on party lines under a +party leader." When the coalition was formed, the Liberals were in a +majority in the legislature; for reasons of State they had +relinquished their party advantage, and a government was formed in +which the Conservatives had nine members and the Liberals three. In +what light would the Liberal party regard this new proposition? Mr. +Brown suggested that an invitation be extended to some gentleman of +good position in the legislative council, under whom all parties could +act with confidence, as successor to Colonel Taché. So far as to the +party. Speaking, however, for himself alone, Mr. Brown said he +occupied the same position as in 1864. He stood prepared to give +outside the ministry a frank and earnest support to any ministry that +might be formed for the purpose of carrying out confederation. + +Mr. Macdonald replied that he had no personal feeling as to the +premiership, and would readily stand aside; and he suggested the name +of Mr. Cartier, as leader of the French-Canadians. Mr. Brown said that +it would be necessary for him to consult with his political friends. +Sir Narcisse F. Belleau, a member of the executive council, was then +proposed by Mr. Macdonald, and accepted by Mr. Brown, on condition +that the policy of confederation should be stated in precise terms. +Sir Narcisse Belleau became nominal prime minister of Canada, and the +difficulty was tided over for a few months. + +The arrangement, however, was a mere makeshift. The objections set +forth by Brown to Macdonald's assuming the title of leader applied +with equal force to his assuming the leadership in fact, as he +necessarily did under Sir Narcisse Belleau; the discussion over this +point, though couched in language of diplomatic courtesy, must have +irritated both parties, and their relations grew steadily worse. The +immediate and assigned cause of the rupture was a disagreement in +regard to negotiations for the renewal of the reciprocity treaty. It +is admitted that it was only in part the real cause, and would not +have severed the relations between men who were personally and +politically in sympathy. + +Mr. Brown had taken a deep interest in the subject of reciprocity. In +1863 he was in communication with John Sandfield Macdonald, then +premier of Canada, and Luther Holton, minister of finance. He dwelt on +the importance of opening communication with the American government +during the administration of Lincoln, whom he regarded as favourable +to the renewal of the treaty. Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, +suggested that Canada should have an agent at Washington, with whom he +and Lord Lyons, the British ambassador, could confer on Canadian +matters. The premier asked Brown to go, saying that all his colleagues +were agreed upon his eminent fitness for the mission. Brown declined +the mission, contending that Mr. Holton, besides being fully +qualified, was, by virtue of his official position as minister of +finance, the proper person to represent Canada. He kept urging the +importance of taking action early, before the American movement +against the renewal of the treaty could gather headway. But neither +the Macdonald-Sicotte government nor its successor lived long enough +to take action, and the opportunity was lost. The coalition government +was fully employed with other matters during 1864, and it was not +until the spring of 1863 that the matter of reciprocity was taken up. +In the summer of that year the imperial government authorized the +formation of a confederate council on reciprocity, consisting of +representation from Canada and the other North American colonies, and +presided over by the governor-general. Brown and Galt were the +representatives of Canada on the council. + +Mr. Brown was in the Maritime Provinces in November, 1865, on +government business. On his return to Toronto he was surprised to read +in American papers a statement that Mr. Galt and Mr. Howland were +negotiating with the Committee of Ways and Means at Washington. +Explanations were given by Galt at a meeting of the cabinet at Ottawa +on December 17th. Seward had told him that the treaty could not be +renewed, but that something might be done by reciprocal legislation. +After some demur, Mr. Galt went on to discuss the matter on that +basis. He suggested the free exchange of natural products, and a +designated list of manufactures. The customs duties on foreign goods +were to be assimilated as far as possible. Inland waters and canals +might be used in common, and maintained at the joint expense of the +two countries. Mr. Galt followed up his narrative by proposing that a +minute of council be adopted, ratifying what he had done, and +authorizing him to proceed to Washington and continue the +negotiations. + +The discussion that followed lasted several days. Mr. Brown objected +strongly to the proceeding. He declared that "Mr. Galt had flung at +the heads of the Americans every concession that we had in our power +to make, and some that we certainly could not make, so that our case +was foreclosed before the commission was opened." He objected still +more strongly to the plan of reciprocal legislation, which would keep +the people of Canada "dangling from year to year on the legislation of +the American congress, looking to Washington instead of to Ottawa as +the controller of their commerce and prosperity." The scheme was +admirably designed by the Americans to promote annexation. Before each +congress the United States press would contain articles threatening +ruin to Canadian trade. The Maritime Provinces would take offence at +being ignored, and confederation as well as reciprocity might be lost. +His own proposal was to treat Mr. Galt's proceedings at Washington as +unofficial, call the confederate council, and begin anew to "make a +dead set to have this reciprocal legislation idea upset before +proceeding with the discussion." + +Galt at length suggested a compromise. His proceedings at Washington +were to be treated as unofficial, and no order-in-council passed. Galt +and Howland were to be sent to Washington to obtain a treaty if +possible, and if not to learn what terms could be arranged, and report +to the government. + +Brown regarded this motion as intended to remove him from the +confederate council, and substitute Mr. Howland, and said so; but he +declared that he would accept the compromise nevertheless. It +appeared, however, that there had been a misunderstanding as to the +recording of a minute of the proceedings. The first minute was +withdrawn; but as Mr. Brown considered that the second minute still +sanctioned the idea of reciprocal legislation, he refused to sign it, +and decided to place his resignation in the hands of the premier, and +to wait upon the governor-general. After hearing the explanation, His +Excellency said: "Then, Mr. Brown, I am called upon to decide between +your policy and that of the other members of the government?" Mr. +Brown replied, "Yes, sir, and if I am allowed to give advice in the +matter, I should say that the government ought to be sustained, though +the decision is against myself. I consider the great question of +confederation as of far greater consequence to the country than +reciprocity negotiations. My resignation may aid in preventing their +policy on the reciprocity question from being carried out, or at least +call forth a full expression of opinion on the subject, and the +government should be sustained, if wrong in this, for the sake of +confederation." + +The debate in council had occupied several days, and had evidently +aroused strong feelings. Undoubtedly Mr. Brown's decision was affected +by the affront that he considered had been put upon him by virtually +removing him from the confederate council and sending Mr. Howland +instead of himself to Washington as the colleague of Mr. Galt. He +disapproved on public grounds of the policy of the government, and he +resented the manner in which he had been ignored throughout the +transaction. On the day after the rupture Mr. Cartier wrote Mr. Brown +asking him whether he could reconsider his resignation. Mr. Brown +replied, "I have received your kind note, and think it right to state +frankly at once that the step I have taken cannot be revoked. The +interests involved are too great. I think a very great blunder has +been committed in a matter involving the most important interests of +the country, and that the order-in-council you have passed endorses +that blunder and authorizes persistence in it.... I confess I was much +annoyed at the personal affront offered me, but that feeling has +passed away in view of the serious character of the matter at issue, +which casts all personal feeling aside." + +If it were necessary to seek for justification of Mr. Brown's action +in leaving the ministry at this time, it might be found either in his +disagreement with the government on the question of policy, or in the +treatment accorded to him by his colleagues. Sandfield Macdonald and +his colleagues had on a former occasion recognized Mr. Brown's eminent +fitness to represent Canada in the negotiations at Washington, not +only because of his thorough acquaintance with the subject, but +because of his steadily maintained attitude of friendship for the +North. He was a member of the confederate council on reciprocity. His +position in the ministry was not that of a subordinate, but of the +representative of a powerful party. In resenting the manner in which +his position was ignored, he does not seem to have exceeded the bounds +of proper self-assertion. However, this controversy assumes less +importance if it is recognized that the rupture was inevitable. The +precise time or occasion is of less importance than the force which +was always and under all circumstances operating to draw Mr. Brown +away from an association injurious to himself and to Liberalism, in +its broad sense as well as in its party sense, and to his influence as +a public man. This had better be considered in another place. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES + + +We are to consider now the long-vexed question of the connection of +Mr. Brown with the coalition of 1864. Ought he to have entered the +coalition government? Having entered it, was he justified in leaving +it in 1865? Holton and Dorion told him that by his action in 1864, he +had sacrificed his own party interests to those of John A. Macdonald; +that Macdonald was in serious political difficulty, and had been +defeated in the legislature; that he seized upon Brown's suggestion +merely as a means of keeping himself in office; that for the sake of +office he accepted the idea of confederation, after having voted +against it in Brown's committee. A most wise and faithful friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, thought that Reformers should accept no +representation in the cabinet, but that they should give confederation +an outside support. That Macdonald and his party were immensely +benefitted by Brown's action, there can be no doubt. For several years +they had either been in Opposition, or in office under a most +precarious tenure, depending entirely upon a majority from Lower +Canada. By Brown's action they were suddenly invested with an +overwhelming majority, and they had an interrupted lease of power for +the nine years between the coalition and the Pacific Scandal. +Admitting that the interest of the country warranted this sacrifice of +the interests of the Liberal party, we have still to consider whether +it was wise for Mr. Brown to enter the ministry, and especially to +enter it on the conditions that existed. The Lower Canadian Liberals +were not represented, partly because Dorion and Holton held back, and +partly because of the prejudice of Taché and Cartier against the +Rouges; and this exclusion was a serious defect in a ministry supposed +to be formed on a broad and patriotic basis. The result was, that +while the Liberals were in a majority in the legislature, they had +only three representatives in a ministry of twelve. Such a government, +with its dominant Conservative section led by a master in the handling +of political combinations, was bound to lose its character of a +coalition, and become Conservative out and out. + +A broader question is involved than that of the mere party advantage +obtained by Macdonald and his party in the retention of power and +patronage. There was grave danger to the essential principles of +Liberalism, of which Brown was the appointed guardian. Holton put this +in a remarkable way during the debate on confederation. It was at the +time when Macdonald had moved the previous question, when the +coalition government was hurrying the debate to a conclusion, in the +face of indignant protests and demands that the scheme should be +submitted to the people. Holton told Brown that he had destroyed the +Liberal party. Henceforth its members would be known as those who once +ranged themselves together, in Upper and Lower Canada, under the +Liberal banner. Then followed this remarkable appeal to his old +friend: "Most of us remember--those of us who have been for a few +years in public life in this country must remember--a very striking +speech delivered by the honourable member for South Oxford in Toronto +in the session of 1856 or 1857, in which he described the path of the +attorney-general [Macdonald] as studded all along by the gravestones +of his slaughtered colleagues. Well, there are not wanting those who +think they can descry, in the not very remote distance, a yawning +grave waiting for the noblest victim of them all. And I very much fear +that unless the honourable gentleman has the courage to assert his own +original strength--and he has great strength--and to discard the +blandishments and the sweets of office, and to plant himself where he +stood formerly, in the affections and confidence of the people of this +country, as the foremost defender of the rights of the people, as the +foremost champion of the privileges of a free parliament--unless he +hastens to do that, I very much fear that he too may fall a victim, +the noblest victim of them all, to the arts, if not the arms of the +fell destroyer." + +There was a little humorous exaggeration in the personal references to +Macdonald, for Holton and he were on friendly terms. But there was +also matter for serious thought in his words. Though Macdonald had +outgrown the fossil Toryism that opposed responsible government, he +was essentially Conservative; and there was something not democratic +in his habit of dealing with individuals rather than with people in +the mass, and of accomplishing his ends by private letters and +interviews, and by other forms of personal influence, rather than by +the public advocacy of causes. Association with him was injurious to +men of essentially Liberal and democratic tendencies, and +subordination was fatal, if not to their usefulness, at least to their +Liberal ideals. Macdougall and Howland remained in the ministry until +confederation was achieved, and found reasons for remaining there +afterwards. At the Reform convention of 1867, when the relation of the +Liberal party to the so-called coalition was considered, they defended +their position with skill and force, but the association of one with +Macdonald was very brief, and of the other very unhappy. Mr. Howland +was not a very keen politician, and a year after confederation was +accomplished he accepted the position of lieutenant-governor of +Ontario. Mr. Macdougall had an unsatisfactory career as a minister, +with an unhappy termination. He was clearly out of his element. Mr. +Tilley was described as a Liberal, but there was nothing to +distinguish him from his Conservative colleagues in his methods or his +utterances, and he became the champion of the essentially Conservative +policy of protection. + +But the most notable example of the truth of Holton's words and the +soundness of his advice was Joseph Howe. Howe was in Nova Scotia "the +foremost defender of the rights of people, the foremost champion of +the privileges of free parliaments." He had opposed the inclusion of +Nova Scotia on the solid ground that it was accomplished by arbitrary +means. At length he bowed to the inevitable. In ceasing to encourage a +useless and dangerous agitation he stood on patriotic ground. But in +an evil hour he was persuaded to seal his submission by joining the +Macdonald government, and thenceforth his influence was at an end. His +biographer says that Howe's four years in Sir John Macdonald's cabinet +are the least glorious of his whole career. "Howe had been accustomed +all his life to lead and control events. He found himself a member of +a government of which Sir John Macdonald was the supreme head, and of +a cast of mind totally different from his own. Sir John Macdonald was +a shrewd political manager, an opportunist whose unfailing judgment +led him unerringly to pursue the course most likely to succeed each +hour, each day, each year. Howe had the genius of a bold Reformer, a +courageous and creative type of mind, who thought in continents, +dreamed dreams and conceived great ideas. Sir John Macdonald busied +himself with what concerned the immediate interests of the hour in +which he was then living, and yet Sir John Macdonald was a leader who +permitted no insubordination. Sir Georges Cartier, a man not to be +named in the same breath with Howe as a statesman, was, nevertheless, +a thousand times of more moment and concern with his band of Bleu +followers in the House of Commons, than a dozen Howes, and the +consequence is that we find for four years the great old man playing +second fiddle to his inferiors, and cutting a far from heroic figure +in the arena."[18] What Holton said by way of warning to Brown was +realized in the case of Howe. He was "the noblest victim of them all." + +From the point of view of Liberalism and of his influence as a public +man, Brown did not leave the ministry a moment too soon; and there is +much to be said in favour of Mackenzie's view that he ought to have +refused to enter the coalition at all, and confined himself to giving +his general support to confederation. By this means he would not have +been responsible for the methods by which the new constitution was +brought into effect, methods that were in many respects repugnant to +those essential principles of Liberalism of which Brown had been one +of the foremost champions. At almost every stage in the proceedings +there was a violation of those rights of self-government which had +been so hardly won by Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The +Quebec conference was a meeting of persons who had been chosen to +administer the affairs of the various British provinces under their +established constitutions, not to make a new constitution. Its +deliberations were secret. It proceeded, without a mandate from the +people, to create a new governing body, whose powers were obtained at +the expense of those of the provinces. With the same lack of popular +authority, it declared that the provinces should have only those +powers which were expressly designated, and that the reserve of power +should be in the central governing body. Had this body been created +for the Canadas alone, this proceeding might have been justified, for +they were already joined in a legislative union, though by practice +and consent some features of federalism prevailed. But Nova Scotia and +New Brunswick were separate, self-governing communities, and it was +for them, not for the Quebec conference, to say what powers they would +grant and what powers they would retain. Again the people of Canada +had declared that the second chamber should be elected, not appointed +by the Crown. The Quebec conference, without consulting the people of +Canada, reverted to the discarded system of nomination, and added the +senate to the vast body of patronage at the disposal of the federal +government. The constitution adopted by this body was not, except in +the case of New Brunswick, submitted to the people, and it can hardly +be said that it was freely debated in the parliament of Canada, for it +was declared that it was in the nature of a treaty, and must be +accepted or rejected as a whole. In the midst of this debate the +people of New Brunswick passed upon the scheme in a general election, +and condemned it in the most decisive and explicit way. The British +government was then induced to bring pressure to bear upon the +province; and while it was contended that this pressure was only in +the form of friendly advice it was otherwise interpreted by the +governor, who strained his powers to compel the ministry to act in +direct contravention of its mandate from the people, and when it +resisted, forced it out of office. It is true that in a subsequent +election this decision was reversed; but that is not a justification +for the means adopted to bring about this result. It is no +exaggeration to say that Nova Scotia was forced into the union against +the express desire of a large majority of its people. There are +arguments by which these proceedings may be defended, but they are not +arguments that lie in the mouth of a Liberal. And if we say that the +confederation, in spite of these taints in its origin, has worked well +and has solved the difficulties of Canada, we use an argument which +might justify the forcible annexation of a country by a powerful +neighbour. + +Again, there was much force in Dorion's contention that the new +constitution was an illiberal constitution, increasing those powers of +the executive which were already too large. To the inordinate strength +of the executive, under the delusive name of the Crown, may be traced +many of the worst evils of Canadian politics: the abuse of the +prerogative of dissolution, the delay in holding bye-elections, the +gerrymandering of the constituencies by a parliament registering the +decree of a government. To these powers of the government the +Confederation Act added that of filling one branch of the legislature +with its own nominees. By the power of disallowance, by the equivocal +language used in regard to education, and in regard to the creation of +new provinces, pretexts were furnished for federal interference in +local affairs. But for the resolute opposition of Mowat and his +colleagues, the subordination of the provinces to the central +authority would have gone very far towards realizing Macdonald's ideal +of a legislative union; and recent events have shown that the danger +of centralization is by no means at an end. + +It was a true, liberal and patriotic impulse that induced Brown to +offer his aid in breaking the dead-lock of 1864. He desired that Upper +Canada should be fairly represented in parliament, and should have +freedom to manage its local affairs. He desired that the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West should, in the course of time, be +brought in on similar terms of freedom. But by joining the coalition +he became a participant in a different course of procedure; and if we +give him a large, perhaps the largest share, of the credit for the +ultimate benefits of confederation, we cannot divest him of +responsibility for the methods by which it was brought about, so long, +at least, as he remained a member of the government. + +In the year and a half that elapsed between his withdrawal from the +government and the first general election under the new constitution, +he had a somewhat difficult part to play. He had to aid in the work of +carrying confederation, and at the same time to aid in the work of +re-organizing the Liberal party, which had been temporarily divided +and weakened by the new issue introduced into politics. In the Reform +convention of 1867 the attitude of the party towards confederation was +considered. It was resolved that "while the new constitution contained +obvious defects, it was, on the whole, based upon equitable principles +and should be accepted with the determination to work it loyally and +patiently, and to provide such amendments as experience from year to +year may prove to be expedient." It was declared that coalitions of +opposing political parties for ordinary administrative purposes +resulted in corruption, extravagance and the abandonment of principle; +that the coalition of 1864 could be justified only on the ground of +imperious necessity, as the only available means of obtaining just +representation for Upper Canada, and should come to an end when that +object was attained; and that the temporary alliance of the Reform and +Conservative parties should cease. Howland and Macdougall, who had +decided to remain in the ministry, strove to maintain that it was a +true coalition, and that the old issues that divided the parties were +at an end; and their bearing before a hostile audience was tactful and +courageous. But Brown and his friends carried all before them. + +Brown argued strongly against the proposal to turn the coalition +formed for confederation into a coalition for ordinary administrative +purposes; and in a passage of unusual fervour he asked whether his +Reform friends were to be subjected to the humiliation of following in +the train of John A. Macdonald. + +It is difficult to understand how so chimerical a notion as a +non-party government led by Macdonald could have been entertained by +practical politicians. A permanent position in a Macdonald ministry +would have been out of the question for Brown, not only because of his +standing as a public man, but because of his control of the _Globe_, +which under such an arrangement would have been reduced to the +position of an organ of the Conservative government. There were also +all the elements of a powerful Liberal party, which soon after +confederation rallied its forces and overthrew Sir John Macdonald's +government at Ottawa, and the coalition government he had established +at Toronto. Giving Macdougall every credit for good intentions, it +must be admitted that he committed an error in casting in his +political fortunes with Sir John Macdonald, and that both he and +Joseph Howe would have found more freedom, more scope for their +energies and a wider field of usefulness, in fighting by the side of +Mackenzie and Blake. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] Longley's _Joseph Howe_, "Makers of Canada" series, pp. 228, 229. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST + + +Very soon after his arrival in Canada, Mr. Brown became deeply +interested in the North-West Territories. He was thrown into contact +with men who knew the value of the country and desired to see it +opened for settlement. One of these was Robert Baldwin Sullivan, who, +during the struggle for responsible government, wrote a series of +brilliant letters over the signature of "Legion" advocating that +principle, and who was for a time provincial secretary in the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government. In 1847, Mr. Sullivan delivered, in the +Mechanics' Institute, Toronto, an address on the North-West +Territories, which was published in full in the _Globe_. The Oregon +settlement had recently been made, and the great westward trek of the +Americans was in progress. Sullivan uttered the warning that the +Americans would occupy and become masters of the British western +territory, and outflank Canada, unless steps were taken to settle and +develop it by British subjects. There was at this time much +misconception of the character of the country, and one is surprised by +the very accurate knowledge shown by Mr. Sullivan in regard to the +resources of the country, its coal measures as well as its wheat +fields. + +Mr. Brown also obtained much information and assistance from Mr. +Isbester, a "native of the country, who by his energy, ability and +intelligence had raised himself from the position of a successful +scholar at one of the schools of the settlement to that of a graduate +of one of the British universities, and to a teacher of considerable +rank. This gentleman had succeeded in inducing prominent members of +the House of Commons to interest themselves in the subject of appeals +which, through him, were constantly being made against the injustice +and persecution which the colonists of the Red River Settlement were +suffering."[19] + +Mr. Brown said that his attention was first drawn to the subject by a +deputation sent to England by the people of the Red River Settlement +to complain that the country was ill-governed by the Hudson's Bay +Company, and to pray that the territory might be thrown open for +settlement. "The movement," said Mr. Brown, "was well received by the +most prominent statesmen of Britain. The absurdity of so vast a +country remaining in the hands of a trading company was readily +admitted; and I well remember that Mr. Gladstone then made an +excellent speech in the Commons, as he has recently done, admitting +that the charter of the company was not valid, and that the matter +should be dealt with by legislation. But the difficulty that +constantly presented itself was what should be done with the +territory were the charter broken up; what government should replace +that of the company. The idea struck Mr. Isbester, a most able and +enlightened member of the Red River deputation to London, that this +difficulty would be met at once were Canada to step in and claim the +right to the territory. Through a mutual friend, I was communicated +with on the subject, and agreed to have the question thoroughly +agitated before the expiry of the company's charter in 1859. I have +since given the subject some study, and have on various occasions +brought it before the public." Mr. Brown referred to the matter in his +maiden speech in parliament in 1851, and in 1854 and again in 1856 he +gave notice of motion for a committee of inquiry, but was interrupted +by other business. In 1852, the _Globe_ contained an article so +remarkable in its knowledge of the country that it may be reproduced +here in part. + +"It is a remarkable circumstance that so little attention has been +paid in Canada to the immense tract of country lying to the north of +our boundary line, and known as the Hudson's Bay Company's Territory. +There can be no question that the injurious and demoralizing sway of +that company over a region of four millions of square miles, will, ere +long, be brought to an end, and that the destinies of this immense +country will be united with our own. It is unpardonable that +civilization should be excluded from half a continent, on at best but +a doubtful right of ownership, for the benefit of two hundred and +thirty-two shareholders. + +"Our present purpose is not, however, with the validity of the +Hudson's Bay Company's claim to the country north of the Canadian +line--but to call attention to the value of that region, and the vast +commercial importance to the country and especially to this section, +which must, ere long, attach to it. The too general impression +entertained is, that the territory in question is a frozen wilderness, +incapable of cultivation and utterly unfit for colonization. This +impression was undoubtedly set afloat, and has been maintained, for +its own very evident purposes. So long as that opinion could be kept +up, their charter was not likely to be disturbed. But light has been +breaking in on the subject in spite of their efforts to keep it out. +In a recent work by Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, it is stated that 'there is +not a more favourable situation on the face of the earth for the +employment of agricultural industry than the locality of the Red +River.' Mr. Fitzgerald asserts that there are five hundred thousand +square miles of soil, a great part of which is favourable for +settlement and agriculture, and all so well supplied with game as to +give great facility for colonization. Here is a field for Canadian +enterprise. + +"The distance between Fort William and the Red River Settlement is +about five hundred miles, and there is said to be water communication +by river and lake all the way. But westward, beyond the Red River +Settlement, there is said to be a magnificent country, through which +the Saskatchewan River extends, and is navigable for boats and canoes +through a course of one thousand four hundred miles. + +"Much has been said of the extreme cold of the country, as indicated +by the thermometer. It is well known, however, that it is not the +degree but the character of the cold which renders it obnoxious to +men, and the climate of this country is quite as agreeable, if not +more so, than the best part of Canada. The height of the latitude +gives no clue whatever to the degree of cold or to the nature of the +climate. + +"Let any one look at the map, and if he can fancy the tenth part that +is affirmed of the wide region of country stretching westward to the +Rocky Mountains, he may form some idea of the profitable commerce +which will soon pass through Lake Superior. Independent of the hope +that the high road to the Pacific may yet take this direction, there +is a field for enterprise presented, sufficient to satiate the warmest +imagination." + +It was not, however, until the year 1856 that public attention was +aroused to the importance of the subject. In the autumn of that year +there was a series of letters in the _Globe_ signed "Huron," drawing +attention to the importance of the western country, attacking the +administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, and suggesting that the +inhabitants, unless relieved, might seek to place the country under +American government. In December 1856, there was a meeting of the +Toronto Board of Trade at which addresses were delivered by Alan +McDonnell and Captain Kennedy. Captain Kennedy said that he had lived +for a quarter of a century in the territory in question, had eight or +nine years before the meeting endeavoured to call attention to the +country through the newspapers and had written a letter to Lord Elgin. +He declared that the most important work before Canada was the +settlement of two hundred and seventy-nine million acres of land lying +west of the Lakes. The Board of Trade passed a resolution declaring +that the claim of the Hudson's Bay Company to the exclusive right to +trade in the country was injurious to the rights of the people of the +territory and of British North America. The Board also petitioned the +legislature to ascertain the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and +to protect the interests of Canada. A few days afterwards the _Globe_ +said that the time had come to act, and thenceforward it carried on a +vigorous campaign for the opening up of the territory to settlement +and the establishment of communication with Canada. + +During the year 1856, Mr. Brown addressed many meetings on the subject +of the working of the union. He opposed the separation of the Canadas, +proposed by some as a measure of relief for the grievances of Upper +Canada. This would bring Canada back to the day of small things; he +advocated expansion to the westward. William Macdougall, then a member +of the _Globe_ staff, was also an enthusiastic advocate of the union +of the North-West Territories with Canada. In an article reviewing the +events of the year 1856, the _Globe_ said: "This year will be +remembered as that in which the public mind was first aroused to the +necessity of uniting to Canada the great tract of British American +territory lying to the north-west, then in the occupation of a great +trading monopoly. The year 1856 has only seen the birth of this +movement. Let us hope that 1857 will see it crowned with success." + +In January 1857, a convention of Reformers in Toronto adopted a +platform including free trade, uniform legislation for both provinces, +representation by population, national and non-sectarian education, +and the incorporation of the Hudson Bay Territory. It was resolved +"that the country known as the Hudson Bay Territory ought no longer to +be cut off from civilization, that it is the duty of the legislature +and executive of Canada to open negotiations with the imperial +government for the incorporation of the said territory as Canadian +soil." + +The _Globe's_ proposals at this early date provoked the merriment of +some of its contemporaries. The Niagara _Mail_, January 1857, said: +"The Toronto _Globe_ comes out with a new and remarkable platform, one +of the planks of which is the annexation of the frozen regions of the +Hudson Bay Territory to Canada. Lord have mercy on us! Canada has +already a stiff reputation for cold in the world, but it is unfeeling +in the _Globe_ to want to make it deserve the reproach." The _Globe_ +advised its contemporary not to commit itself hastily against the +annexation of the North-West, "for it will assuredly be one of the +strongest planks in our platform." + +Another sceptic was the Montreal _Transcript_, which declared that the +fertile spots in the territory were small and separated by immense +distances, and described the Red River region as an oasis in the midst +of a desert, "a vast treeless prairie on which scarcely a shrub is to +be seen." The climate was unfavourable to the growth of grain. The +summer, though warm enough, was too short in duration, so that even +the few fertile spots could "with difficulty mature a small potato or +cabbage." The subject seemed to be constantly in Brown's mind, and he +referred to it frequently in public addresses. After the general +election of 1857-8 a banquet was given at Belleville to celebrate the +return of Mr. Wallbridge for Hastings. Mr. Brown there referred to a +proposal to dissolve the union. He was for giving the union a fair +trial. "Who can look at the map of this continent and mark the vast +portion of it acknowledging British sovereignty, without feeling that +union and not separation ought to be the foremost principle with +British American statesmen? Who that examines the condition of the +several provinces which constitute British America, can fail to feel +that with the people of Canada must mainly rest the noble task, at no +distant date, of consolidating these provinces, aye, and of redeeming +to civilization and peopling with new life the vast territories to our +north, now so unworthily held by the Hudson's Bay Company. Who cannot +see that Providence has entrusted to us the building up of a great +northern people, fit to cope with our neighbours of the United States, +and to advance step by step with them in the march of civilization? +Sir, it is my fervent aspiration and belief that some here to-night +may live to see the day when the British American flag shall proudly +wave from Labrador to Vancouver Island and from our own Niagara to the +shores of Hudson Bay. Look abroad over the world and tell me what +country possesses the advantages, if she but uses them aright, for +achieving such a future, as Canada enjoys--a fertile soil, a healthful +climate, a hardy and frugal people, with great mineral resources, +noble rivers, boundless forests. We have within our grasp all the +elements of prosperity. We are free from the thousand time-honoured +evils and abuses that afflict and retard the nations of the Old World. +Not even our neighbours of the United States occupy an equal position +of advantage, for we have not the canker-worm of domestic slavery to +blight our tree of liberty. And greater than these, we are but +commencing our career as a people, our institutions have yet to be +established. We are free to look abroad over the earth and study the +lessons of wisdom taught by the history of older countries, and choose +those systems and those laws and customs that experience has shown +best for advancing the moral and material interests of the human +family."[20] + +As a member of the coalition of 1864, Brown had an opportunity to +promote his long-cherished object of adding the North-West Territories +to Canada. There had been some communication between the British and +Canadian governments, and in November 1864, the latter government said +that Canada was anxious to secure the settlement of the West and the +establishment of local governments. As the Hudson's Bay Company worked +under an English charter, it was for that government to extinguish its +rights and give Canada a clear title. Canada would then annex, govern +and open up communication with the territory. When Brown accompanied +Macdonald, Cartier and Galt to England in 1865, this matter was taken +up, and an agreement was arrived at which was reported to the Canadian +legislature in the second session of 1865. The committee said that +calling to mind the vital importance to Canada of having that great +and fertile country open to Canadian enterprise and the tide of +emigration into it directed through Canadian channels, remembering the +danger of large grants of land passing into the hands of mere money +corporations, and the risk that the recent discoveries of gold on the +eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains might throw into the country +large masses of settlers unaccustomed to British institutions, they +arrived at the conclusion that the quickest solution of the question +would be the best for Canada. They therefore proposed that the whole +territory east of the Rockies and north of the American or Canadian +line should be made over to Canada, subject to the rights of the +Hudson's Bay Company; and that the compensation to be made by Canada +to the company should be met by a loan guaranteed by the British +government. To this, the imperial government consented. + +The subsequent history of the acquisition of the West need not be told +here. In this case, as in others, Brown was a pioneer in a work which +others finished. But his services were generously acknowledged by Sir +John Macdonald, who said in the House of Commons in 1875: "From the +first time that he had entered parliament, the people of Canada looked +forward to a western extension of territory, and from the time he was +first a minister, in 1854, the question was brought up time and again, +and pressed with great ability and force by the Hon. George Brown, who +was then a prominent man in opposition to the government." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] Gunn and Tuttle's _History of Manitoba_, p. 303. + +[20] Toronto _Globe_, January 25th, 1858. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874 + + +Mr. Brown's position in regard to reciprocity has already been +described. He set a high value upon the American market for Canadian +products, and as early as 1863 he had urged the government of that day +to prepare for the renewal of the treaty. He resigned from the +coalition ministry, because, to use his own words, "I felt very +strongly that though we in Canada derived great advantage from the +treaty of 1854, the American people derived still greater advantage +from it. I had no objection to that, and was quite ready to renew the +old treaty, or even to extend it largely on fair terms of reciprocity. +But I was not willing to ask for a renewal as a favour to Canada; I +was not willing to offer special inducements for renewal without fair +concessions in return; I was not willing that the canals and inland +waters of Canada should be made the joint property of the United +States and Canada and be maintained at their joint expense; I was not +willing that the custom and excise duty of Canada should be +assimilated to the prohibitory rates of the United States; and very +especially was I unwilling that any such arrangement should be entered +into with the United States, dependent on the frail tenure of +reciprocal legislation, repealable at any moment at the caprice of +either party." Unless a fair treaty for a definite term of years could +be obtained, he thought it better that each country should take its +own course and that Canada should seek new channels of trade. + +The negotiations of 1866 failed, mainly because under the American +offer, "the most important provisions of the expiring treaty, relating +to the free interchange of the products of the two countries, were +entirely set aside, and the duties proposed to be levied were almost +prohibitory in their character." The free-list offered by the United +States reads like a diplomatic joke: "burr-millstones, rags, +fire-wood, grindstones, plaster and gypsum." The real bar in this and +subsequent negotiations, was the unwillingness of the Americans to +enter into any kind of arrangement for extended trade. They did not +want to break in upon their system of protection, and they did not set +a high value on access to the Canadian market. In most of the +negotiations, the Americans are found trying to drive the best +possible bargain in regard to the Canadian fisheries and canals, and +fighting shy of reciprocity in trade. They considered that a free +exchange of natural products would be far more beneficial to Canada +than to the United States. As time went on, they began to perceive the +advantages of the Canadian market for American manufactures. But when +this was apparent, Canadian feeling, which had hitherto been +unanimous for reciprocity, began to show a cleavage, which was sharply +defined in the discussion preceding the election of 1891. Reciprocity +in manufactures was opposed, because of the competition to which it +would expose Canadian industries, and because it was difficult to +arrange it without assimilating the duties of the two countries and +discriminating against British imports into Canada. + +In earlier years, however, even the inclusion of manufactures in the +treaty of reciprocity was an inducement by which the Americans set +little store. The rejected offer made by Canada in 1869, about the +exact terms of which doubt exists, included a list of manufactures. In +1871 the American government declined to consider an offer to renew +the treaty of 1854 in return for access to the deep sea fisheries of +Canada. The Brown Treaty of 1874, which contained a list of +manufactures, was rejected at Washington, while in Canada it was +criticized as striking a blow at the infant manufactures of the +country. + +The Brown mission of 1874 was a direct result of the Treaty of +Washington. Under that treaty there was to be an arbitration to +determine the value of the American use of the Canadian inshore +fisheries for twelve years, in excess of the value of the concessions +made by the United States. Before the fall of the Macdonald +government, Mr. Rothery, registrar of the High Court of Admiralty in +England, arrived in Canada as the agent of the British government to +prepare the Canadian case for arbitration. In passing through Toronto +Mr. Rothery spoke to several public men with a view to acquiring +information as to the value of the fisheries. Mr. Brown availed +himself of that opportunity to suggest to him that a treaty of +reciprocity in trade would be a far better compensation to Canada than +a cash payment. Mr. Rothery carried this proposal to Washington, where +it was received with some favour. + +Meantime the Mackenzie government had been moving in the matter, and +in February 1874, Mr. Brown was informed that there was a movement at +Washington for the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and was +asked to make an unofficial visit to that city and estimate the +chances of success. On February 12th, he wrote: "We know as yet of but +few men who are bitterly against us. I saw General Butler, at his +request, on the subject, and I understand he will support us. Charles +Sumner is heart and hand with us, and is most kind to me personally." +On February 14th, he expressed his belief that if a bill for the +renewal of the reciprocity treaty could be submitted to congress at +once, it would be carried. + +A British commission was issued on March 17th, 1874, appointing Sir +Edward Thornton, British minister at Washington, and Mr. Brown, as +joint plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of fisheries, commerce +and navigation with the government of the United States. This mode of +representation was insisted upon by the Mackenzie government, in view +of the unsatisfactory result of the negotiations of 1871, when Sir +John A. Macdonald, as one commissioner out of six, made a gallant but +unsuccessful fight for the rights of Canada. Mr. Brown was selected, +not only because of his knowledge of and interest in reciprocity, but +because of his attitude during the war, which had made him many warm +friends among those who opposed slavery and stood for the union. + +Negotiations were formally opened on March 28th. The Canadians +proposed the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and the +abandonment of the fishery arbitration. The American secretary of +state, Mr. Fish, suggested the enlargement of the Canadian canals, and +the addition of manufactures to the free list. The Canadian +commissioners having agreed to consider these proposals, a project of +a treaty was prepared to form a basis of discussion. It provided for +the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty for twenty-one years, with +the addition of certain manufactures; the abandonment of the fishery +arbitration; complete reciprocity in coasting; the enlargement of the +Welland and St. Lawrence canals; the opening of the Canadian, New +York, and Michigan canals to vessels of both countries; the free +navigation of Lake Michigan; the appointment of a joint commission for +improving waterways, protecting fisheries and erecting lighthouses on +the Great Lakes. Had the treaty been ratified, there would have been +reciprocity in farm and other natural products, and in a very +important list of manufactures, including agricultural implements, +axles, iron, in the forms of bar, hoop, pig, puddled, rod, sheet or +scrap; iron nails, spikes, bolts, tacks, brads and springs; iron +castings; locomotives and railroad cars and trucks; engines and +machinery for mills, factories and steamboats; fire-engines; wrought +and cast steel; steel plates and rails; carriages, carts, wagons and +sleighs; leather and its manufactures, boots, shoes, harness and +saddlery; cotton grain bags, denims, jeans, drillings, plaids and +ticking; woollen tweeds; cabinet ware and furniture, and machines made +of wood; printing paper for newspapers, paper-making machines, type, +presses, folders, paper cutters, ruling machines, stereotyping and +electrotyping apparatus. In general terms, it was as near to +unrestricted reciprocity as was possible without raising the question +of discriminating against the products of Great Britain. + +Mr. Brown found that American misapprehensions as to Canada, its +revenue, commerce, shipping, railways and industries were "truly +marvellous." It was generally believed that the trade of Canada was of +little value to the United States; that the reciprocity treaty had +enriched Canada at their expense; and that the abolition of the treaty +had brought Canada nearly to its wits' end. There was some excuse for +these misapprehensions. Until confederation, the trade returns from +the different provinces were published separately, if at all. No clear +statement of the combined traffic of the provinces with the United +States was published until 1874, and even Canadians were ignorant of +its extent. American protectionists founded a "balance of trade" +argument on insufficient data. They saw that old Canada sold large +quantities of wheat and flour to the United States, but not that the +United States sent larger quantities to the Maritime Provinces; that +Nova Scotia and Cape Breton sold coal to Boston and New York, but not +that five times as much was sent from Pennsylvania to Canada. Brown +prepared a memorandum showing that the British North American +provinces, from 1820 to 1854, had bought one hundred and sixty-seven +million dollars worth of goods from the United States, and the United +States only sixty-seven million dollars worth from the provinces; that +in the thirteen years of the treaty, the trade between the two +countries was six hundred and thirty million dollars according to the +Canadian returns, and six hundred and seventy million dollars +according to the American returns; and that the so-called "balance of +trade" in this period was considerably against Canada. It was shown +that the repeal of the treaty did not ruin Canadian commerce; that the +external trade of Canada which averaged one hundred and fifteen +million dollars a year from 1854 to 1862, rose to one hundred and +forty-two million dollars in the year following the abrogation, and +to two hundred and forty million dollars in 1873. In regard to wheat, +flour, provisions, and other commodities of which both countries had a +surplus, the effect of the prohibitory American duties had been to +send the products of Canada to compete with those of the United States +in neutral markets. + +This memorandum was completed on April 27th and was immediately handed +to Mr. Fish. It was referred to the treasury department, where it was +closely examined and admitted to be correct. From that time there was +a marked improvement in American feeling. + +Brown also carried on a vigorous propaganda in the newspapers. In +New York the _Tribune_, _Herald_, _Times_, _World_, _Evening +Post_, _Express_, _Journal of Commerce_, _Graphic_, _Mail_, +and other journals, declared in favour of a new treaty; and in Boston, +Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other large cities, the press was +equally favourable. A charge originated in Philadelphia and was +circulated in the United States and Canada, that this unanimity of +the press was obtained by the corrupt use of public money. Mr. Brown, +in his speech in the senate of Canada denied this; said that not a +shilling had been spent illegitimately, and that the whole cost of the +negotiation to the people of Canada would be little more than four +thousand dollars. + +In his correspondence Brown speaks of meeting Senator Conkling, +General Garfield and Carl Schurz, all of whom were favourable. +Secretary Fish is described as courteous and painstaking, but timid +and lacking in grasp of the subject, and Brown speaks impatiently of +the delays that are throwing the consideration of the draft treaty +over to the end of the session of congress. + +It did not reach the senate until two days before adjournment. "The +president" wrote Mr. Brown on June 20th, "sent a message to the senate +with the treaty, urging a decision before the adjournment of congress. +I thought the message very good; but it has the defect of not speaking +definitely of this message as his own and his government's and calling +on the senate to sustain him. Had he done this, the treaty would have +been through now. But now, with a majority in its favour, there seems +some considerable danger of its being thrown over until December." The +treaty was sent to the Foreign Relations Committee of the senate. +"There were six present; three said to be for us, one against, and two +for the measure personally, but wanted to hear from the country before +acting. How it will end, no one can tell." As a matter of fact it +ended there and then, as far as the United States were concerned. + +Of the objections urged against the treaty in Canada, the most +significant was that directed against the free list of manufactures. +This was, perhaps, the first evidence of the wave of protectionist +sentiment that overwhelmed the Mackenzie government. In his speech in +the senate, in 1875, justifying the treaty, Mr. Brown said: "Time was +in Canada when the imposition of duty on any article was regarded as a +misfortune, and the slightest addition to an existing duty was +resented by the people. But increasing debt brought new burdens; the +deceptive cry of 'incidental protection' got a footing in the land; +and from that the step has been easy to the bold demand now set up by +a few favoured industries, that all the rest of the community ought to +be, and should rejoice to be, taxed seventeen and a half per cent, to +keep them in existence." + +Brown joined issue squarely with the protectionists. "I contend that +there is not one article contained in the schedules that ought not to +be wholly free of duty, either in Canada or the United States, in the +interest of the public. I contend that the finance minister of Canada +who--treaty or no treaty with the United States--was able to announce +the repeal of all customs duties on the entire list of articles in +Schedules A, B, and C,--even though the lost revenue was but shifted +to articles of luxury, would carry with him the hearty gratitude of +the country. Nearly every article in the whole list of manufactures is +either of daily consumption and necessity among all classes of our +population, or an implement of trade, or enters largely into the +economical prosecution of the main industries of the Dominion." The +criticism of the sliding scale, of which so much was heard at the +time, was only another phase of the protectionist objection. The +charge that the treaty would discriminate in favour of American +against British imports was easily disposed of. Brown showed that +every article admitted free from the United States would be admitted +free from Great Britain. But as this meant British as well as American +competition, it made the case worse from the protectionist point of +view. The rejection of the treaty by the United States left a clear +field for the protectionists in Canada. + +Four years after Mr. Brown's speech defending the treaty, he made his +last important speech in the senate, and almost the last public +utterance of his life, attacking Tilley's protectionist budget, and +nailing his free-trade colours to the mast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CANADIAN NATIONALISM + + +It will be remembered that after the victory won by the Reformers in +1848, there was an outbreak of radical sentiment, represented by the +Clear Grits in Upper Canada and by the Rouges in Lower Canada. It may +be more than a coincidence that there was a similar stirring of the +blood in Ontario and in Quebec after the Liberal victory of 1874. The +founding of the _Liberal_ and of the _Nation_, of the National Club +and of the Canada First Association, Mr. Blake's speech at Aurora, and +Mr. Goldwin Smith's utterances combined to mark this period as one of +extraordinary intellectual activity. Orthodox Liberalism was +disquieted by these movements. It had won a great, and as was then +believed, a permanent victory over Macdonald and all that he +represented, and it had no sympathy with a disturbing force likely to +break up party lines, and to lead young men into new and unknown +paths. + +The platform of Canada First was not in itself revolutionary. It +embraced, (1) British connection; (2) closer trade relations with the +British West India Islands, with a view to ultimate political +connection; (3) an income franchise; (4) the ballot, with the +addition of compulsory voting; (5) a scheme for the representation of +minorities; (6) encouragement of immigration and free homesteads in +the public domain; (7) the imposition of duties for revenue so +adjusted as to afford every possible encouragement to native industry; +(8) an improved militia system under command of trained Dominion +officers; (9) no property qualifications in members of the House of +Commons; (10) reorganization of the senate; (11) pure and economic +administration of public affairs. This programme was severely +criticized by the _Globe_. Some of the articles, such as purity and +economy, were scornfully treated as commonplaces of politics. "Yea, +and who knoweth not such things as these." The framers of the platform +were rebuked for their presumption in setting themselves above the old +parties, and were advised to "tarry in Jericho until their beards be +grown." + +But the letter of the programme did not evince the spirit of Canada +First, which was more clearly set forth in the prospectus of the +_Nation_. There it was said that the one thing needful was the +cultivation of a national spirit. The country required the stimulus of +patriotism. Old prejudices of English, Scottish, Irish and German +people were crystallized. Canadians must assert their nationality, +their position as members of a nation. These and other declarations +were analyzed by the _Globe_, and the heralds of the new gospel were +pressed for a plainer avowal of their intentions. Throughout the +editorial utterances of the _Globe_ there was shown a growing +suspicion that the ulterior aim of the Canada First movement was to +bring about the independence of Canada. The quarrel came to a head +when Mr. Goldwin Smith was elected president of the National Club. The +_Globe_, in its issue of October 27th, 1874, brought its heaviest +artillery to bear on the members of the Canada First party. It accused +them of lack of courage and frankness. When brought to book as to +their principles, it said, they repudiated everything. They repudiated +nativism; they repudiated independence; they abhorred the very idea of +annexation. The movement was without meaning when judged by these +repudiations, but was very significant and involved grave practical +issues when judged by the practices of its members. They had talked +loudly and foolishly of emancipation from political thraldom, as if +the present connection of Canada with Great Britain were a yoke and a +burden too heavy and too galling to be borne. They had adopted the +plank of British connection by a majority of only four. They had +chosen as their standard-bearer, their prophet and their president, +one whose chief claim to prominence lay in the persistency with which +he had advocated the breaking up of the British empire. Mr. Goldwin +Smith had come into a peaceful community to do his best for the +furtherance of a cause which meant simply revolution. The advocacy of +independence, said the _Globe_, could not be treated as an academic +question. It touched every Canadian in his dearest and most important +relations. It jeopardized his material, social and religious +interests. Canada was not a mere dead limb of the British tree, ready +to fall of its own weight. The union was real, and the branch was a +living one. Great Britain, it was true, would not fight to hold Canada +against her will, but if the great mass of Canadians believed in +British connection, those who wished to break the bond must be ready +to take their lives in their hands. The very proposal to cut loose +from Britain would be only the beginning of trouble. In any case what +was sought was revolution, and those who preached it ought to +contemplate all the possibilities of such a course. They might be the +fathers and founders of a new nationality, but they might also be +simply mischief-makers, whose insignificance and powerlessness were +their sole protection, who were not important enough for "either a +traitor's trial or a traitor's doom." + +Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply to this attack was that he was an advocate, +not of revolution but of evolution. "Gradual emancipation," he said, +"means nothing more than the gradual concession by the mother country +to the colonies of powers of self-government; this process has already +been carried far. Should it be carried further and ultimately +consummated, as I frankly avow my belief it must, the mode of +proceeding will be the same that it has always been. Each step will +be an Act of parliament passed with the assent of the Crown. As to the +filial tie between England and Canada, I hope it will endure forever." + +Mr. Goldwin Smith's views were held by some other members of the +Canada First party. Another and a larger section were Imperialists, +who believed that Canada should assert herself by demanding a larger +share of self-government within the empire, and by demanding the +privileges and responsibilities of citizens of the empire. The bond +that united the Imperialists and the advocates of independence was +national spirit. This was what the _Globe_ failed to perceive, or at +least to recognize fully. Its article of October 27th is powerful and +logical, strong in sarcasm and invective. It displays every purely +intellectual quality necessary for the treatment of the subject, but +lacks the insight that comes from imagination and sympathy. The +declarations of those whose motto was "Canada first," could fairly be +criticized as vague, but this vagueness was the result, not of +cowardice or insincerity, but of the inherent difficulty of putting +the spirit of the movement into words. A youth whose heart is stirred +by all the aspirations of coming manhood, "yearning for the large +excitement that the coming years would yield," might have the same +hesitation in writing down his yearnings and aspirations on a sheet of +paper, and might be as unwisely snubbed by his elders. + +The greatest intellect of the Liberal party felt the impulse. At +Aurora Edward Blake startled the more cautious members of the party by +advocating the federation of the empire, the reorganization of the +senate, compulsory voting, extension of the franchise and +representation of minorities. His real theme was national spirit. +National spirit would be lacking until we undertook national +responsibilities. He described the Canadian people as "four millions +of Britons who are not free." By the policy of England, in which we +had no voice or control, Canada might be plunged into the horrors of +war. Recently, without our consent, the navigation of the St. Lawrence +had been ceded forever to the United States. We could not complain of +these things unless we were prepared to assume the full +responsibilities of citizenship within the empire. The young men of +Canada heard these words with a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was +not struck again. The movement apparently ceased, and politics +apparently flowed back into their old channels. But while the name, +the organization and the organs of Canada First in the press +disappeared, the force and spirit remained, and exercised a powerful +influence upon Canadian politics for many years. + +There can be little doubt that the Liberal party was injured by the +uncompromising hostility which was shown to the movement of 1874. +Young men, enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to look +upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyrannical, unprogressive and +hostile to new ideas. When the independent lodgment afforded by Canada +First disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Conservative +party, whose leader was shrewd enough to perceive the strength of the +spirit of nationalism, and to give it what countenance he could. +Protection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely by the use of +economic arguments, but because it was heralded as the "National +Policy" and hailed as a declaration of the commercial independence of +Canada. A few years later the legislation for the building of the +Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to the point of rashness, as it seemed, +and unwise and improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily +approved by the country, because it was regarded as a measure of +national growth and expansion. The strength of the Conservative party +from 1878 to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital +principle and spirit of Canada First. + +The _Globe's_ attacks upon the Canada First party also had the effect +of fixing in the public mind a picture of George Brown as a dictator +and a relentless wielder of the party whip, a picture contrasting +strangely with those suggested by his early career. He had fought for +responsible government, for freedom from clerical dictation; he had +been one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline; he had +carelessly thrown away a great party advantage in order to promote +confederation; he had been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874 +the Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at Toronto, and Mr. +Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when +his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is +mischievous. Canada First threatened to change the formation of +political parties, and seemed to him to threaten a change in the +relations of Canada to the empire. But these explanations do not alter +the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party to lose touch with +a movement characterized by intellectual keenness and generosity of +sentiment, representing a real though ill-defined national impulse, +and destined to leave its mark upon the history of the country. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LATER YEARS + + +In the preceding chapters it has been necessary to follow closely the +numerous public movements with which Brown was connected. Here we may +pause and consider some incidents of his life and some aspects of his +character which lie outside of these main streams of action. First, a +few words about the Brown household. Of the relations between father +and son something has already been said. Of his mother, Mr. Alexander +Mackenzie says: "We may assume that Mr. Brown derived much of his +energy, power and religious zeal from his half Celtic origin: these +qualities he possessed in an eminent degree, united with the +proverbial caution and prudence of the Lowlander." The children, in +the order of age, were Jane, married to Mr. George Mackenzie of New +York; George; Isabella, married to Mr. Thomas Henning; Katherine, who +died unmarried; Marianne, married to the Rev. W. S. Ball; and John +Gordon. There were no idlers in that family. The publication of the +_Globe_ in the early days involved a tremendous struggle. Peter Brown +lent a hand in the business as well as in the editorial department of +the paper. A good deal of the writing in the _Banner_ and the early +_Globe_ seems to bear the marks of his broad Liberalism and his +passionate love of freedom. Gordon entered the office as a boy, and +rose to be managing editor. Three of the daughters conducted a ladies' +school, which enjoyed an excellent reputation for thoroughness. +Katherine, the third daughter, was killed in a railway accident at +Syracuse; and the shock seriously affected the health of the father, +who died in 1863. The mother had died in the previous year. + +By these events and by marriages the busy household was broken up. +George Brown, as we have seen, married in 1862, and from that time +until his death his letters to his wife and children show an intense +affection and love of home. After her husband's death Mrs. Brown +resided in Edinburgh, where she died on May 6th 1906. The only son, +George M. Brown, was, in the last parliament, member of the British +House of Commons for Centre Edinburgh, and is one of the firm of +Thomas Nelson & Sons, publishers. In the same city reside two +daughters, Margaret, married to Dr. A. F. H. Barbour, a well-known +physician, and writer on medicine; and Edith, wife of George Sandeman. +Among other survivors are, E. B. Brown, barrister, Toronto; Alfred S. +Ball, K.C., police magistrate, Woodstock; and Peter B. Ball, +commercial agent for Canada at Birmingham, nephews of George Brown. + +From 1852 George Brown was busily engaged in public life, and a large +part of the work of the newspaper must have fallen on other shoulders. +There are articles in which one may fancy he detects the French +neatness of William Macdougall. George Sheppard spoke at the +convention of 1859 like a statesman; and he and Macdougall had higher +qualities than mere facility with the pen. Gordon Brown gradually grew +into the editorship. "He had" says Mr. E. W. Thomson, writing of a +later period, "a singular power of utilizing suggestions, combining +several that were evidently not associated, and indicating how they +could be merged in a striking manner. He seems to me now to have been +the greatest all-round editor I have yet had the pleasure of +witnessing at work, and in the political department superior to any of +the old or of the new time in North America, except only Horace +Greeley." But Mr. Thomson thinks that like most of the old-timers he +took his politics a little too hard. Mr. Gordon Brown died in June, +1896. + +Mr. Brown regarded his defeat in South Ontario in 1867, as an +opportunity to retire from parliamentary life. He had expressed that +intention several months before. He wrote to Holton, on May 13th, +1867, "My fixed determination is to see the Liberal party re-united +and in the ascendant, and then make my bow as a politician. As a +journalist and a citizen, I hope always to be found on the right side +and heartily supporting my old friends. But I want to be free to write +of men and things without control, beyond that which my conscientious +convictions and the interests of my country demand. To be debarred by +fear of injuring the party from saying that--is unfit to sit in +parliament and that--is very stupid, makes journalism a very small +business. Party leadership and the conducting of a great journal do +not harmonize." + +In his speech at the convention of 1867 he said that he had looked +forward to the triumph of representation by population as the day of +his emancipation from parliamentary life, but that the case was +altered by the proposal to continue the coalition, involving a +secession from the ranks of the Liberal party. In this juncture it was +necessary for Liberals to unite and consult, and if it were found that +his continuance in parliamentary life for a short time would be a +service to the party, he would not refuse. It would be impossible, +however, for him to accept any official position, and he did not wish, +by remaining in parliament, to stand in the way of those who would +otherwise become leaders of the party. He again emphasized the +difficulty of combining the functions of leadership of a party and +management of a newspaper. "The sentiments of the leader of a party +are only known from his public utterances on public occasions. If a +wrong act is committed by an opponent or by a friend, he may simply +shrug his shoulders." But it was otherwise with the journalist. He had +been accused of fierce assaults on public men. "But I tell you if the +daily thoughts and the words daily uttered by other public men were +written in a book as mine have been, and circulated all over the +country, there would have been a very different comparison between +them and myself. I have had a double duty to perform. If I had been +simply the leader of a party and had not controlled a public journal, +such things would not have been left on record. I might have passed my +observations in private conversation, and no more would have been +heard of them. But as a journalist it was necessary I should speak the +truth before the people, no matter whether it helped my party or not; +and this, of course, reflected on the position of the party. +Consequently, I have long felt very strongly that I had to choose one +position or the other--that of a leader in parliamentary life, or that +of a monitor in the public press--and the latter has been my choice +being probably more in consonance with my ardent temperament, and at +the same time, in my opinion, more influential; for I am free to say +that in view of all the grand offices that are now talked +of--governorships, premierships and the like--I would rather be editor +of the _Globe_, with the hearty confidence of the great mass of the +people of Upper Canada, than have the choice of them all." + +Of Mr. Brown's relations with the parliamentary leaders after his +retirement, Mr. Mackenzie says: "Nor did he ever in after years +attempt to control or influence parliamentary proceedings as conducted +by the Liberals in opposition, or in the government; while always +willing to give his opinion when asked on any particular question, he +never volunteered his advice. His opinions, of course, received free +utterance in the _Globe_, which was more unfettered by reason of his +absence from parliamentary duties; though even there it was rarely +indeed that any articles were published which were calculated to +inconvenience or discomfort those who occupied his former +position."[21] + +Left comparatively free to follow his own inclinations, Brown plunged +into farming, spending money and energy freely in the raising of fine +cattle on his Bow Park estate near Brantford, an extensive business +which ultimately led to the formation of a joint stock company. The +province of Ontario, especially western Ontario, was for him the +object of an intense local patriotism. He loved to travel over it and +to meet the people. It was noticed in the _Globe_ office that he paid +special attention to the weekly edition of the paper, as that which +reached the farming community. His Bow Park enterprise gave him an +increased feeling of kinship and sympathy with that community, and he +delighted in showing farmers over the estate. It would be hard to draw +a more characteristic picture than that of the tall senator striding +over the fields, talking of cattle and crops with all the energy with +which he was wont to denounce the Tories. + +Brown was appointed to the senate in December, 1873. Except for the +speech on reciprocity, which is dealt with elsewhere, his career there +was not noteworthy. He seems to have taken no part in the discussion +on Senator Vidal's resolution in favour of prohibition, or on the +Scott Act, a measure for introducing prohibition by local option. A +popular conception of Brown as an ardent advocate of legislative +prohibition may have been derived from some speeches made in his early +career, and from an early prospectus of the _Globe_. On the bill +providing for government of the North-West Territories he made a +speech against the provision for separate schools, warning the House +that the effect would be to fasten these institutions on the West in +perpetuity. + +In 1876 Senator Brown figured in a remarkable case of contempt of +court. A Bowmanville newspaper had charged Senator Simpson, a +political ally of Brown, with resorting to bribery in the general +election of 1872. It published also a letter from Senator Brown to +Senator Simpson, asking him for a subscription towards the Liberal +campaign fund. On Senator Simpson's application, Wilkinson, the editor +of the paper, was called upon to show cause why a criminal information +should not issue against him for libel. The case was argued before the +Queen's Bench, composed of Chief-Justice Harrison, Justice Morrison, +and Justice Wilson. The judgment of the court delivered by the +chief-justice was against the editor in regard to two of the articles +complained of and in his favour in regard to the third. In following +the chief-justice, Mr. Justice Wilson took occasion to refer to +Senator Brown's letter and to say that it was written with corrupt +intent to interfere with the freedom of elections. + +Brown was not the man to allow a charge of this kind to go unanswered, +and in this case there were special circumstances calculated to arouse +his anger. The publication of his letter in the Bowmanville paper had +been the signal for a fierce attack upon him by the Conservative press +of the province. It appeared to him that Justice Wilson had wantonly +made himself a participant in this attack, lending the weight of his +judicial influence to his enemies. Interest was added to the case by +the fact that the judge had been in previous years supported by the +_Globe_ in municipal and parliamentary elections. He had been +solicitor-general in the Macdonald-Sicotte government from May 1862 to +May 1863. Judge Morrison had been solicitor-general under Hincks, and +afterwards a colleague of John A. Macdonald. Each of them, in this +case, took a course opposite to that which might have been expected +from old political associations. + +A few days afterwards the _Globe_ contained a long, carefully prepared +and powerful attack upon Mr. Justice Wilson. Beginning with a tribute +to the Bench of Ontario, it declared that no fault was to be found +with the judgment of the court, and that the offence lay in the +gratuitous comments of Mr. Justice Wilson. + +"No sooner had the chief-justice finished than Mr. Justice Wilson +availed himself of the occasion to express his views of the matter +with a freedom of speech and an indifference to the evidence before +the court and an indulgence in assumptions, surmises and insinuations, +that we believe to be totally unparalleled in the judicial proceedings +of any Canadian court." + +The article denied that the letter was written with any corrupt +intent, and it stated that the entire fund raised by the Liberal party +in the general election of 1872 was only three thousand seven hundred +dollars, or forty-five dollars for each of the eighty-two +constituencies. "This Mr. Justice Wilson may rest assured of: that +such slanders and insults shall not go unanswered, and if the dignity +of the Bench is ruffled in the tussle, on his folly shall rest the +blame. We cast back on Mr. Wilson his insolent and slanderous +interpretation. The letter was not written for corrupt purposes. It +was not written to interfere with the freedom of elections. It was not +an invitation to anybody to concur in committing bribery and +corruption at the polls; and be he judge or not who says so, this +statement is false." + +The writer went on to contend that there were perfectly legitimate +expenditures in keenly contested elections. "Was there no such fund +when Mr. Justice Wilson was in public life? When the hat went round in +his contest for the mayoralty, was that or was it not a concurrence in +bribery or corruption at the polls?" Mr. Justice Wilson had justified +his comment by declaring that he might take notice of matters with +which every person of ordinary intelligence was acquainted. Fastening +upon these words the _Globe_ asked, "How could Mr. Justice Wilson in +his hunt for things which every person of ordinary intelligence is +acquainted with, omit to state that while the entire general election +fund of the Liberal party for that year (1872) was but three thousand +seven hundred dollars, raised by subscription from a few private +individuals, the Conservative fund on the same occasion amounted to +the enormous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, raised by the +flagitious sale of the Pacific Railway contract to a band of +speculators on terms disastrous to the interests of the country." + +In another vigorous paragraph the writer said: "We deeply regret being +compelled to write of the conduct of any member of the Ontario Bench +in the tone of this article, but the offence was so rank, so reckless, +so utterly unjustifiable that soft words would have but poorly +discharged our duty to the public." + +No proceedings were taken in regard to this article until about five +months afterwards, when Mr. Wilkinson, the editor of the Bowmanville +paper, applied to have Mr. Brown committed for contempt of court. The +judge assailed took no action and the case was tried before his +colleagues, Chief-Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison. Mr. Brown +appeared in person and made an argument occupying portions of two +days. He pointed out that the application had been delayed five +months after the publication of the article. He contended that +Wilkinson was not prejudiced by the _Globe_ article and had no +standing in the case. In a lengthy affidavit he entered into the whole +question of the expenditure of the two parties in the election of +1872, including the circumstances of the Pacific Scandal. He repeated +on oath the statement made in the article that his letter was not +written with corrupt intent; that the subscription asked for was for +legitimate purposes and that it was part of a fund amounting to only +three thousand seven hundred dollars for the whole province of +Ontario. He boldly justified the article as provoked by Mr. Justice +Wilson's dictum and by the use that would be made of it by hostile +politicians. The judge had chosen to intervene in a keen political +controversy whose range extended to the Pacific Scandal; and in +defending himself from his enemies and the enemies of his party, Brown +was forced to answer the judge. He argued that to compel an editor to +keep silence in such a case, would not only be unjust to him, but +contrary to public policy. For instance, the discussion of a great +public question such as that involved in the Pacific Scandal, might be +stopped upon the application of a party to a suit in which that +question was incidentally raised. + +The case was presented with his accustomed energy and thoroughness, +from the point of view of journalistic duty, of politics and of +law--for Mr. Brown was not afraid to tread that sacred ground and +give extensive citations from the law reports. His address may be +commended to any editor who may be pursued by that mysterious legal +phantom, a charge of contempt of court. The energy of his gestures, +the shaking of the white head and the swinging of the long arms, must +have somewhat startled Osgoode Hall. The court was divided, the +chief-justice ruling that there had been contempt, Mr. Justice +Morrison, contra, and Mr. Justice Wilson taking no part in the +proceedings. So the matter dropped, though not out of the memory of +editors and politicians. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] Mackenzie's _Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown_, p. 119. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CONCLUSION + + +The building in which the life of the Hon. George Brown was so +tragically ended, was one that had been presented to him by the +Reformers of Upper Canada before confederation "as a mark of the high +sense entertained by his political friends of the long, faithful and +important services which he has rendered to the people of Canada." It +stood upon the north side of King Street, on ground which is now the +lower end of Victoria Street, for the purpose of extending which, the +building was demolished. The ground floor was occupied by the business +office; on the next, looking out upon King Street, was Mr. Brown's +private office; and above that the rooms occupied by the editorial +staff, with the composing room in the rear. At about half past four +o'clock on the afternoon of March 25th, 1880, several of the occupants +of the editorial rooms heard a shot, followed by a sound of breaking +glass, and cries of "Help!" and "Murder!" Among these were Mr. Avern +Pardoe, now librarian of the legislative assembly of Ontario; Mr. +Archibald Blue, now head of the census bureau at Ottawa; Mr. John A. +Ewan, now leader writer on the _Globe_; and Mr. Allan S. Thompson, +father of the present foreman of the _Globe_ composing room. Mr. Ewan +and Mr. Thompson were first to arrive on the scene. Following the +direction from which the sounds proceeded, they found Mr. Brown on the +landing, struggling with an undersized man, whose head was thrust into +Brown's breast. Mr. Ewan and Mr. Thompson seized the man, while Mr. +Brown himself wrested a smoking pistol from his hand. Mr. Blue, Mr. +Pardoe and others quickly joined the group, and Mr. Brown, though not +apparently severely injured, was induced to lie on the sofa in his +room, where his wound was examined. The bullet had passed through the +outer side of the left thigh, about four inches downward and backward; +it was found on the floor of the office. + +The assailant was George Bennett, who had been employed in the engine +room of the _Globe_ for some years, and had been discharged for +intemperance. Mr. Brown said that when Bennett entered the office he +proceeded to shut the door behind him. Thinking the man's movements +singular, Mr. Brown stopped him and asked him what he wanted. Bennett, +after some hesitation, presented a paper for Mr. Brown's signature, +saying that it was a statement that he had been employed in the +_Globe_ for five years. Mr. Brown said he should apply to the head of +the department in which he was employed. Bennett said that the head of +the department had refused to give the certificate. Mr. Brown then +told him to apply to Mr. Henning, the treasurer of the company, who +could furnish the information by examining his books. + +Bennett kept insisting that Mr. Brown should sign the paper, and +finally began to fumble in his pistol pocket, whereupon it passed +through Mr. Brown's mind "that the little wretch might be meaning to +shoot me." As he got the pistol out, Mr. Brown seized his wrist and +turned his hand downward. After one shot had been fired, the struggle +continued until the two got outside the landing, where they were found +as already described. + +The bullet had struck no vital part, and the wound was not considered +to be mortal. But as week after week passed without substantial +improvement, the anxiety of his friends and of the country deepened. +At the trial the question was raised whether recovery had been +prevented by the fact that Mr. Brown, against the advice of his +physician, transacted business in his room. After the first eight or +ten days there were intervals of delirium. Towards the end of April +when the case looked very serious, Mr. Brown had a long conversation +with the Rev. Dr. Greig, his old pastor, and with members of his +family. "In that conversation," says Mr. Mackenzie, "he spoke freely +to them of his faith and hope, and we are told poured out his soul in +full and fervent prayer," and he joined heartily in the singing of the +hymn "Rock of Ages." A few days afterwards he became unconscious; the +physicians ceased to press stimulants or nourishment upon him, and +early on Sunday, May 10th, he passed away. + +Bennett was tried and found guilty of murder on June 22nd following, +and was executed a month afterwards. Though he caused the death of a +man so conspicuous in the public life of Canada, his act is not to be +classed with assassinations committed from political motives, or even +from love of notoriety. On the scaffold he said that he had not +intended to kill Mr. Brown. However this may be, it is certain that it +was not any act of Mr. Brown's that set up that process of brooding +over grievances that had so tragic an ending. By misfortune and by +drinking, a mind, naturally ill-regulated had been reduced to that +condition in which enemies are seen on every hand. A paper was found +upon him in which he set forth a maniacal plan of murdering a supposed +enemy and concealing the remains in the furnace of the _Globe_ +building. That the original object of his enmity was not Mr. Brown is +certain; there was not the slightest ground for the suspicion that the +victim was made to suffer for some enmity aroused in his strenuous +career as a public man. Strange that after such a career he should +meet a violent death at the hands of a man who was thinking solely of +private grievances! + +Tracing Mr. Brown's career through a long period of history, by his +public actions, his speeches, and the volumes of his newspaper, one +arrives at a somewhat different estimate from that preserved in +familiar gossip and tradition. That tradition pictures a man +impulsive, stormy, imperious, bearing down by sheer force all +opposition to his will. In the main it is probably true; but the +printed record is also true, and out of the two we must strive to +reproduce the man. We are told of a speech delivered with flashing +eye, with gestures that seemed almost to threaten physical violence. +We read the report of the speech and we find something more than the +ordinary transition from warm humanity, to cold print. There is not +only freedom from violence, but there is coherence, close reasoning, a +systematic marshalling of facts and figures and arguments. One might +say of many of his speeches, as was said of Alexander Mackenzie's +sentences, that he built them as he built a stone wall. His tremendous +energy was not spasmodic, but was backed by solid industry, method and +persistence. + +As Mr. Bengough said in a little poem published soon after Mr. Brown's +death, + + "His nature was a rushing mountain stream; + His faults but eddies which its swiftness bred." + +In his business as a journalist, he had not much of that philosophy +which says that the daily difficulties of a newspaper are sure to +solve themselves by the effluxion of time. There are traditions of his +impatience and his outbreaks of wrath when something went wrong, but +there are traditions also of a kindness large enough to include the +lad who carried the proofs to his house. Those who were thoroughly +acquainted with the affairs of the office say that he was extremely +lenient with employees who were intemperate or otherwise incurred +blame, and that his leniency had been extended to Bennett. Intimate +friends and political associates deny that he played the dictator, and +say that he was genial and humorous in familiar intercourse. But it +is, after all, a somewhat unprofitable task to endeavour to sit in +judgment on the personal character of a public man, placing this +virtue against that fault, and solemnly assuming to decide which side +of the ledger exceeds the other. We have to deal with the character of +Brown as a force in its relation to other forces, and to the events of +the period of history covered by his career. + +A quarter of a century has now elapsed since the death of George Brown +and a still longer time since the most stirring scenes in his career +were enacted. We ought therefore to be able to see him in something +like his true relation to the history of his times. He came to Canada +at a time when the notion of colonial self-government was regarded as +a startling innovation. He found among the dominant class a curious +revival of the famous Stuart doctrine, "No Bishop, no King;" hence the +rise of such leaders, partly political and partly religious, as Bishop +Strachan, among the Anglicans, and Dr. Ryerson, among the Methodists, +the former vindicating and the latter challenging the exclusive +privileges of the Anglican Church. There was room for a similar +leader among Presbyterians, and in a certain sense this was the +opportunity of George Brown. In founding first a Presbyterian paper +and afterwards a political paper, he was following a line familiar to +the people of his time. But while he had a special influence among +Presbyterians, he appeared, not as claiming special privileges for +them, but as the opponent of all privilege, fighting first the +Anglican Church and afterwards the Roman Catholic Church, and +asserting in each case the principle of the separation of Church and +State. + +For some years after Brown's arrival in Canada, those questions in +which politics and religion were blended were subordinated to a +question purely political--colonial self-government. The atmosphere +was not favourable to cool discussion. The colony had been in +rebellion, and the passions aroused by the rebellion were always ready +to burst into flame. French Canada having been more deeply stirred by +the rebellion than Upper Canada, racial animosity was added there to +party bitterness. The task of the Reformers was to work steadily for +the establishment of a new order involving a highly important +principle of government, and, at the same time, to keep the movement +free from all suspicion of incitement to rebellion. + +The leading figure of this movement is that of Robert Baldwin, and he +was well supported by Hincks, by Sullivan, by William Hume Blake and +others. The forces were wisely led, and it is not pretended that this +direction was due to Brown. He was in 1844 only twenty-six years of +age, and his position at first was that of a recruit. But he was a +recruit of uncommon vigour and steadiness, and though he did not +originate, he emphasized the idea of carrying on the fight on strictly +constitutional and peaceful lines. His experience in New York and his +deep hatred of slavery had strengthened by contrast his conviction +that Great Britain was the citadel of liberty, and hence his +utterances in favour of British connection were not conventional, but +glowed with enthusiasm. + +With 1849 came the triumph of Reform, and the last despairing effort +of the old régime, dying out with the flames of the parliament +buildings at Montreal. Now ensued a change in both parties. The one, +exhausted and discredited by its fight against the inevitable coming +of the new order, remained for a time weak and inactive, under a +leader whose day was done. The other, in the very hour of victory, +began to suffer disintegration. It had its Conservative element +desiring to rest and be thankful, and its Radical element with aims +not unlike those of Chartism in England. Brown stood for a time +between the government and the Conservative element on the one side +and the Clear Grits on the other. Disintegration was hastened by the +retirement of Baldwin and Lafontaine. Then came the brief and troubled +reign of Hincks; then a reconstruction of parties, with Conservatives +under the leadership of Macdonald and Reformers under that of Brown. + +The stream of politics between 1854 and 1864 is turbid; there is +pettiness, there is bitterness, there is confusion. But away from this +turmoil the province is growing in population, in wealth, in all the +elements of civilization. Upper Canada especially is growing by +immigration; it overtakes and passes Lower Canada in population, and +thus arises the question of representation by population. Brown takes +up this reform in representation as a means of freeing Upper Canada +from the domination of the Lower Province. He becomes the "favourite +son" of Upper Canada. His rival, through his French-Canadian alliance, +meets him with a majority from Lower Canada; and so, for several +years, there is a period of equally balanced parties and weak +governments, ending in dead-lock. + +If Brown's action had only broken this dead-lock, extricated some +struggling politicians from difficulty, and allowed the ordinary +business of government to proceed, it might have deserved only passing +notice. But more than that was involved. The difficulty was inherent +in the system. The legislative union was Lord Durham's plan of +assimilating the races that he had found "warring in the bosom of a +single state." The plan had failed. The line of cleavage was as +sharply defined as ever. The ill-assorted union had produced only +strife and misunderstanding. Yet to break the tie when new duties and +new dangers had emphasized the necessity for union seemed to be an act +of folly. To federalize the union was to combine the advantage of +common action with liberty to each community to work out its own +ideals in education, municipal government and all other matters of +local concern. More than that, to federalize the union was to +substitute for a rigid bond a bond elastic enough to allow of +expansion, eastward to the Atlantic and westward to the Pacific. That +principle which has been called provincial rights, or provincial +autonomy, might be described more accurately and comprehensively as +federalism; and it is the basic principle of Canadian political +institutions, as essential to unity as to peace and local freedom. + +The feeble, isolated and distracted colonies of 1864 have given place +to a commonwealth which, if not in strictness a nation, possesses all +the elements and possibilities of nationality, with a territory open +on three sides to the ocean, lying in the highway of the world's +commerce, and capable of supporting a population as large as that of +the British Islands. Confederation was the first and greatest step in +that process of expansion, and it is speaking only words of truth and +soberness to say that confederation will rank among the landmarks of +the world's history, and that its importance will not decline but will +increase as history throws events into their true perspective. It is +in his association with confederation, with the events that led up to +confederation, and with the addition to Canada of the vast and fertile +plains of the West, that the life of George Brown is of interest to +the student of history. + +Brown was not only a member of parliament and an actor in the +political drama, but was the founder of a newspaper, and for +thirty-six years the source of its inspiration and influence. As a +journalist he touched life at many points. He was a man of varied +interests--railways, municipal affairs, prison reform, education, +agriculture, all came within the range of his duty as a journalist and +his interest and sympathy as a man. Those stout-hearted men who amid +all the wrangling and intrigue of the politicians were turning the +wilderness of Canada into a garden, gave to Brown in large measure +their confidence and affection. He, on his part, valued their +friendship more than any victory that could be won in the political +game. That was the standard by which he always asked to be judged. +This story of his life may help to show that he was true to the trust +they reposed in him, and to the principles that were the standards of +his political conduct, to government by the people, to free +institutions, to religious liberty and equality, to the unity and +progress of the confederation of which he was one of the builders. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +_Albion_, the, Peter Brown contributes thereto, 2 + +Anglican Church, exclusive claims of, 11, 51, 52 + +Annexation manifesto, result of discontent aroused by Rebellion Losses + Bill, and repeal of preferential trade, 37 + + +B + +Bagot, Sir Charles, Governor of Canada, + friendly attitude towards French-Canadians, 16; + accepts Lafontaine and Baldwin as his advisers, 16; + accused of surrender to rebels, 16; + his action threatens to cause ministerial crisis in England, 16; + denounced by Duke of Wellington, 16, 17; + recalled at his own request, 18; + illness and death, 18; + begs his ministers to defend his memory, 18 + +Baldwin, Robert, + father of responsible government, 21; + criticized by Dr. Ryerson, 22, 23; + his wise leadership, 24; + victory at polls, 33; + achievements of his ministry, 33; + the Rebellion Losses Bill, 34-7; + discontent of Clear Grits, 39; + the Baldwin-Lafontaine government defended by Brown, 42; + resigns because of vote of abolition of Court of Chancery, 47 + +_Banner_, the, + established by the Browns, 5; + descriptive extracts, 3, 6-8 + +Belleau, Sir Narcisse F., + succeeds Sir É. P. Taché as head of the coalition government, 191; + his headship only nominal, 191 + +Bennett, George, + employed in engine room of the _Globe_, 256; + discharged, 256; + his conversation with Brown, 256; + shoots and wounds Brown, 257; + on death of Brown is tried and found guilty of murder, 258; + his mind disordered by misfortune and by intemperance, 258 + +Blake, the Hon. Edward, speech at Aurora advocating imperial + federation, 240 + +British-American League, the, advocates federation, 37 + +_British Chronicle_, the, established by the Browns in New York, 4 + +Brown, George, + birth, 1; + education, 1; + leaves Scotland for the United States, 2; + visits Canada, 4; + founds the _Banner_, 5; + founds the _Globe_, 20; + addresses Toronto Reform Association, 21; + refuses to drink health of Lord Metcalfe, 27, 28; + his dwelling attacked by opponents of Lord Elgin, 36; + opposes Clear Grit movement, 40; + attitude towards Baldwin-Lafontaine government, 42; + dissatisfied with delay in dealing with clergy reserves, 42; + causes of rupture with Reform government, 44; + comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, 44, 45; + attacked as an enemy of Irish Catholics, 44-6; + defeated in Haldimand election by William Lyon Mackenzie, 46; + his election platform, 47; + rupture with Hincks's government, 48; + complains of French and Catholic influence, 48, 49; + series of letters to Hincks, 48; + addresses meeting in favour of secularization of clergy reserves, 55, 56; + candidate for parliament for Kent, 61; + his platform, 61; + advocates free and non-sectarian schools, 62; + advocates similar policy for university education, 62; + elected member for Kent, 64; + his first appearance in parliament, 65; + consequence of parliament being held in city of Quebec, 65; + hostility of French-Canadians to Brown, 65; + Brown's maiden speech, 66; + vindicates responsible government, and insists upon fulfilment of + ministerial pledges, 66, 67; + condition of parties in legislature, 69; + Brown's temporary isolation, 69; + his industry, 69; + opposes legislation granting privileges to Roman Catholic + institutions, 70; + his course leads towards reconstruction of legislative union, 70; + growth of his popularity in Upper Canada, 71; + remarkable testimony of a Conservative journal, 71, 72; + his appearance on the platform in 1853 described by the Hon. James + Young, 73; + favours prohibition, 76; + elected for Lambton, 77; + forms friendship with the Rouge leader, A. A. Dorion, 80, 81; + advocates representation by population, 82-4; + charged by J. A. Macdonald with misconduct as secretary of prison + commission, 87; + moves for committee of inquiry, 88; + forcibly repels attack, 89; + exposes cruelties and abuses in prison, 90; + his relations with Macdonald embittered by this incident, 91; + delivers address on prison reform, 91, 92; + repels charge that he had been a defaulter in Edinburgh, and defends + his father, 93-7; + elected for city of Toronto in 1857, 99; + defeats government on question of seat of government, 100; + called upon to form a government, 101; + confers with Dorion, 101; + forms Brown-Dorion administration, 102; + waits upon the governor-general, 102; + receives communication from the governor-general, 102; + forms belief that obstacles are being placed in his way by intrigue, 102; + criticizes the governor-general's communication, 103; + meets his colleagues, 104; + his government defeated in parliament, 104; + asks for dissolution and is refused, 105, 106; + his government resigns, 106; + his part in work of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, 112; + denounces Fugitive Slave Law, 113, 114; + discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, 114-19; + his relations with Roman Catholics, 121; + opposes separate schools, 121; + accepts compromise, 122; + his "no popery" campaign, 123; + his letter to Roman Catholics, 124-6; + his position considered, 127, 128; + his course leads up to confederation, 130; + letter to Holton, 131; + his speech at Reform convention of 1859, 137; + fails to obtain support of legislature for proposals to federalize + the union, 139; + contemplates retirement from leadership of Reform party, 141; + defeated in East Toronto, 141; + opposes John Sandfield's "double majority" plan, 143; + visits England, 143; + marriage in Edinburgh, 144; + his attitude towards separate schools, 145; + accepts compromise of 1863, 145; + describes dead-lock situation, 149; + lays before legislature report of special committee advocating + federation of Canada as a remedy, 150; + negotiations with government, 151-6; + consults Reformers of Upper Canada, 156, 157; + urged by governor-general (Monk) to enter government, 157; + consents, 158; + enters ministry, 159; + visits Maritime Provinces, 161; + addresses meeting at Halifax in furtherance of confederation, 161; + advocates nominative as against elective senate, 164; + describes result of Quebec conference, 165; + addresses meeting at Music Hall, Toronto, 166; + visits England, 167; + describes English feeling in favour of confederation, 167; + his speech in parliament advocating confederation, 171-5; + describes crisis created by defeat of New Brunswick government, 181, 182; + visits England with Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, 186; + on the death of Taché objects to Macdonald assuming premiership, 189; + consents to succession of Sir N. F. Belleau, 191; + his work in connection with reciprocity, 192; + appointed member of confederate council on reciprocity, 193; + protests against Galt's proceedings in Washington, 194; + objects strongly to proposal for reciprocity by legislation, 194; + resigns from coalition, 195; + letter to Cartier, 196; + his reasons for resigning, 196; + the rupture inevitable, 199; + reasons why coalition could not endure, 199; + Holton's warning, 200, 201; + experience of Howland, Macdougall and Tilley, 202; + experience of Joseph Howe, 203, 204; + coalition endangers Liberal principles, 204-7; + Brown's course after leaving coalition, 208; + addresses Reform convention of 1867 against continuance of + coalition, 209; + interest in North-West Territories, 211, 213; + advocates union of North-West Territories with Canada, 218-20; + takes part in negotiations with British government, 220; + his services as to North-West Territories acknowledged by Macdonald, 221; + sent to Washington by Mackenzie government to inquire as to + reciprocity (1874), 226; + appointed with Sir Edward Thornton to negotiate treaty, 226; + finds much ignorance of value of Canadian trade, 228; + prepares memorandum as to trade, 229; + carries on propaganda in American journals, 230; + falsely accused of bribing them, 230; + describes progress of negotiations, 231; + joins issue with Canadian protectionists, 232, 233; + effect of his hostility to Canada First movement, 241, 242; + his family, 243, 244; + determines to retire from public life, 245; + describes difficulty of combining journalism with politics, 246-8; + his relations with party leaders after retirement, 247; + acquires Bow Park estate, and engages in raising of fine cattle, 248; + engaged in a famous case of contempt of court, 249; + accused by Mr. Justice Wilson of bribery, 249; + Mr. Justice Wilson attacked by the _Globe_, 250-2; + Brown charged with contempt of court, appears in person, and defends + himself, 252-4; + attacked and shot by George Bennett, 255; + the wound not regarded as mortal, 257; + unfavourable progress of case, 257; + death, 258; + motives of Bennett, 258; + character of Brown, 259; + his career in relation to history, 260-3; + his share in achievement of confederation, 264, 265 + +Brown, J. Gordon, succeeds George as managing editor of the _Globe_, 244 + +Brown, Peter, father of the Hon. George Brown, + leaves Scotland for New York, 2; + contributes to the _Albion_, 2; + author of _Fame and Glory of England Vindicated_, 3; + establishes the _British Chronicle_, 4; + establishes the _Banner_, 5; + his business troubles in Edinburgh lead to an attack on George Brown, 93; + George Brown's speech in the legislature, 93-8; + his work on the _Globe_, 243, 244 + + +C + +Canada First, + its platform, 235; + severely criticized by the _Globe_, 236; + the _Globe_ suspects that it means Canadian independence, 237; + the _Globe's_ attack on Canada First and Goldwin Smith, 237, 238; + Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply, 238; + national spirit evinced by movement, 239; + effect of Canada First movement, 240, 241; + Edward Blake at Aurora advocates imperial federation, 240; + Liberal party injured by hostility to Canada First, 240-2 + +Cartier, Georges E., asks Brown to reconsider his resignation from + coalition ministry, 196 + +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on confederation, 148, 153 + +Cathcart, Earl, governor of Canada, 28 + +_Church_, the, opposes responsible government as impious, 6 + +Clear Grit party, + its leaders, 39; + opposed by George Brown and the _Globe_, 40; + its platform, 41 + +Clergy reserves, + intended to endow Protestant clergy, 51; + claim of Church of England to exclusive enjoyment, 51; + evidence of intention to establish Church of England, 52; + effect of policy on Canada, 52; + described as one of the causes of rebellion, 53; + settlement retarded by locking up of lands, 53, 54; + Brown advocates secularization, 54; + Brown addresses meeting in Toronto, 55, 56; + the meeting mobbed, 58; + Riot Act read, and military aid used to protect meeting, 58; + secularization accomplished, 59, 60 + +Confederation of British American provinces advocated by British + American League, 37, 38; + the proposal attributed to various persons, 129; + D'Arcy McGee says it was due to events more powerful than men, 129, 130; + Brown's course leads up to confederation, 130; + his letter to Luther Holton treating it as an open question, 131; + advocated by Dorion, 132; + by A. T. Galt, 132; + failure of attempt made in 1858, 133; + Liberals of Lower Canada declare for federal union, 133; + convention of Upper Canada Reformers, 133, 134; + the evils of the legislative union set forth, 134; + account of the convention, 134; + divided between dissolving and federalizing the union, 135; + Sheppard's acute criticism of plan of federation, 135; + convention declares for local legislatures, with joint authority for + matters of common interest, 136, 138; + George Brown opposes dissolution of union, 137; + the legislature rejects Brown's resolutions founded on those of the + convention, 139; + becomes an urgent question, 147; + causes of that change, 147; + Canada urged by Great Britain to take measures for defence, 147; + effect of the American Civil War, 147; + abrogation of reciprocity treaty and loss of American trade, 148; + fears of abolition of bonding system, 148; + isolated position of Canada, 148; + the credit of the country low, 148 (note); + the dead-lock in the government of Canada, 149; + attempts to form a stable government fail, 149; + Brown describes the situation, 150; + Brown brings into the House report of a special committee favouring + federation as a remedy for difficulties in the government of + Canada, 150; + the Taché' government defeated, 151; + negotiations with Brown, 151; + Ferrier's account of the meeting, 152; + Brown's account of negotiations, 152, 153; + Sir Richard Cartwright describes a scene in the House, 153; + official account of negotiations, 154; + Brown reluctant to join coalition ministry, 154; + question whether federation should include Maritime Provinces and + North-West Territories, 155, 156; + Brown consults Reform members for Upper Canada, 156; + they approve of confederation and of coalition, 157; + the governor-general (Monk) urges Brown to enter coalition, 157; + Brown consents, 158; + letter from Brown, 158; + formation of the coalition, 159; + predominance of Conservatives in government, 160; + the bye-elections generally favour confederation, 160, 161; + movement for Maritime union, 161; + meeting of Canadian and Maritime representatives at Charlottetown, 161; + conference at Quebec, 163; + anxiety to avoid danger of "State sovereignty," 163; + powers not defined to reside in central parliament, 163; + constitution of the senate, 164; + Brown advocates nominated senate, 164; + Brown describes result of conference, 165; + the Maritime delegates visit Canada, 166; + cordial reception at Toronto, 166; + Brown there describes scheme of confederation, 166; + Brown visits England, 167; + Brown finds English opinion favourable, 167; + debate in the legislature of Canada, 169; + speech of Sir E. P. Taché, 169; + of John A. Macdonald, 170; + of Brown, 171-4; + of Dorion, 175; + Dorion's objections to centralization considered, 178; + the plan endangered by defeat of New Brunswick government, 181; + debate in the Canadian legislature, 182; + John Sandfield Macdonald charges coalition with attempting to mislead + people, 183; + John A. Macdonald announces that a deputation will be sent to England + to consult as to defence, and as to attitude of New Brunswick, 183; + Macdonald refers to debate in House of Lords on Canadian + defences, 183, 184; + Macdonald moves previous question, 185; + ministers charged with burking discussion, 185; + the Maritime Provinces inclined to withdraw, 186; + Macdonald, Brown, Carrier and Galt visit England and confer with + British ministers, 186; + an agreement made as to defence, etc., 186; + pressure brought to bear on New Brunswick, 186-8; + death of Sir E. P. Taché, 189; + discussion as to succession, 189; + Brown's objection to Macdonald becoming premier, 189, 190; + Sir N. F. Belleau chosen, 191; + causes which led to Brown's leaving the ministry, 191; + the reciprocity negotiations, 192; + a confederate council on reciprocity formed, 193; + Galt and Howland visit Washington, 193; + Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation + instead of treaty, 193; + Brown protests against that, and generally against Galt's + proceedings, 194; + Brown resigns his place in coalition, 195; + his reasons considered, 195-201; + violation of self-government involved in steps taken to bring about + confederation, 204, 205; + absence of popular approval, 205, 206; + undue centralization, 207 + + +D + +Dorion, A. A., + leader of Rouges, 80; + his friendship with George Brown, 80; + joins Brown-Dorion government, 102; + proposes federal union, 132; + his speech in Canadian legislature against confederation, 175; + declares that real authors of confederation were owners of Grand Trunk + Railway Company, 176; + contends that too much power is vested in central authority, 177; + some of his objections well-founded, 178; + declares that Macdonald accepted confederation merely to retain + office, 199 + +"Double majority," the, advocated by John Sandfield Macdonald, 142 + +"Double Shuffle," the, 100; + the Cartier-Macdonald government defeated on question of seat of + government, 100; + resigns, 101; + George Brown asked to form ministry, 101; + conference between Brown and Dorion, 101; + the government formed, 102; + the governor-general notifies Brown that he will not pledge himself to + grant dissolution, 102, 103; + his action criticized by Brown, 103, 104; + the government defeated in the legislature, 104; + policy of the government, 104; + a dissolution asked for, 105; + dissolution refused and government resigns, 106; + former government resumes office, 106; + artifice by which ministers avoid fresh elections, 107 + +Drummond, L. T., a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102 + +Durham, Lord, extracts from his report, 11, 12, 52, 53, 54, 82, 83 + + +E + +Elgin, Lord, (see also _Rebellion Losses Bill_) + condemns system of preferential trade, 32; + reconciles colonial self-government with imperial unity, 33; + concedes responsible government, 33; + attacked by Canadian Tories as a sympathizer with rebels + and Frenchmen, 33; + assents to Rebellion Losses Bill, 36; + mobbed at Montreal, 30; + firm attitude during disturbance, 37 + + +F + +Ferrier, Mr., describes negotiations for confederation, 152 + +French-Canadians, + Lord Durham's plan of benevolent assimilation, 12; + its failure, 12; + friendly attitude of Bagot towards, 16; + their attitude towards representation by population, 83, 84 + + +G + +Galt, A. T., + asked to form a ministry, 106; + enters reconstructed Cartier-Macdonald government, 107; + advocates confederation of Canada, 132, 133; + appointed with Brown to represent Canada in confederate council on + reciprocity, 193; + visits Washington and confers with Mr. Seward, secretary of state, 193; + discusses with him question of reciprocity by legislation, 193; + his course condemned by Brown, 194 + +Gladstone, W. E., + his eulogy of Peel government, 14; + replies to despatch of Canadian government complaining of repeal of + preferential tariff, 31 + +_Globe_, the, + founded, 20; + its motto, 20; + its prospectus, 20; + champions responsible government, 20; + advocates war with United States to free slaves, 28, 29; + defends abolition of Corn Laws in England, 31; + defends Lord Elgin, 36; + opposes Clear Grit movement, 40; + discusses dissensions among Reformers, 42, 43; + comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, 44; + attacks Hincks-Morin government, 48; + first issued as a daily in 1853, 74; + absorbs _North American_ and _Examiner_, 74; + declaration of principles, 74, 75; + advocates alliance with Quebec Rouges, 78; + befriends fugitive slaves, 112; + opposes slavery, 119; + "no popery" campaign, 123, 124; + attacks Separate School Bill, 145; + the early article showing value of North-West Territories, 213-17; + severely criticizes Canada First party, 236-8; + its attitude considered, 239; + Brown declares his preference for editorship of _Globe_ to any + official position, 247; + its attack on Mr. Justice Wilson, 250-2; + the article gives rise to proceedings for contempt of court, 252; + Brown's defence, 252-4; + the court disagrees, 254; + description of building where Mr. Brown was shot, 255 + +Gordon, Arthur Hamilton, governor of New Brunswick, + opposes confederation, 187; + is censured by British government and instructed to reverse his + policy, 187; + brings pressure to bear on his ministers to abandon opposition to + confederation, 188; + the ministry resigns and is succeeded by a ministry favourable to + confederation, 188 + + +H + +Head, Sir Edmund Bond, + sends for George Brown to form government, 101; + notifies Brown that he gives no pledge to dissolve, 102; + refuses dissolution, 106; + charge of partiality considered, 107, 108 + +Hincks, Sir Francis, + succeeds Robert Baldwin, 48; + attacked by Brown and the _Globe_, 48; + policy as to secularization of clergy reserves, 59; + his government defeated, 77; + he retires and gives his support to the MacNab-Morin government, 77, 78 + +Holton, Luther, + a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102; + opposes coalition of 1864, 199; + his remarkable appeal to Brown to leave coalition, 200, 201 + +Howe, Joseph, his relations with Sir John Macdonald, 203 + +Howland, Sir W. P., + visits Washington in connection with reciprocity, 193; + his relations with Sir John A. Macdonald's ministry, 202; + defends his course in adhering to coalition, 209 + + +I + +Isbester, Mr., services in calling attention to North-West Territories, 212 + + +L + +_Liberal_, the, founded during Canada First movement, 235 + + +M + +Macdonald, John A., + rises to leadership of reconstructed Conservative party, 42; + charges Brown with misconduct as secretary of prison commission, 87-90; + enmity with Brown, 91; + recounts negotiations with Brown as to confederation, 154; + speech in legislature supporting confederation, 170; + informs House of crisis caused by defeat of New Brunswick + government, 182; + announces mission to England, 182; + deals with question of defence, 183; + moves previous question, 185; + goes to England to confer with British government, 186; + asked to form an administration on death of Sir É. P. Taché, 189; + Brown objects, 190; + proposes Sir N. F. Belleau, who is accepted, 191; + relations with Brown, 201; + relations with Joseph Howe, 203 + +Macdonald, John Sandfield, + a member of Brown-Dorion government, 102; + advocates the "double majority," 142; + his government adopts Separate School Bill, 144 + +Macdougall, William, + one of the Clear Grits, 39; + editor of the _North American_, 40; + enters coalition ministry for purpose of carrying out confederation, 159; + argues for continuance of coalition, 210 + +Mackenzie, Alexander, + opposed to Reformers entering coalition ministry in 1864, 199; + his government sends Brown to Washington in connection with + reciprocity, 1874, 226 + +Metcalfe, Sir Charles (afterwards Lord), + asked to undertake government of Canada, 18; + difficulty of position emphasized by Lord Stanley, 18; + misinformed as to intentions of Canadian Reformers, 19; + his dispute with Baldwin and Lafontaine, 19; + regards himself as defending unity of empire, 19; + willing to grant responsible government in a qualified sense, 19; + personal character, 19; + dissolves legislature, 24; + his view of the contest, 24; + votes offered for him personally, 25; + his victory, 26; + subsequent difficulties, 26; + illness and death, 27; + raised to peerage, 27 + +Mowat, Oliver, + a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102; + a member of committee of Anti-Slavery Society, 112; + advocates federal union, 135; + enters coalition to carry out confederation, 159 + + +N + +_Nation_, the, + founded to advocate Canada First movement, 235; + sets forth programme of Canada First party, 236 + +National Club, the, founded during the Canada First movement, 235 + +New Brunswick, + defeat of local government, 181; + the confederation scheme endangered by this defeat, 181; + the situation discussed in the legislature of Canada, 182, 183; + the Canadian mission to England, 186; + the British government agrees to bring influence to bear on Maritime + Provinces to enter confederation, 186; + position of Mr. Gordon, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 187; + he at first opposes confederation, 187; + receives instructions from England to promote confederation, 187; + brings pressure to bear on his government to abandon opposition + to confederation, 187, 188; + the government resigns, 188; + a general election follows, and a government favourable to + confederation is returned, 188 + +New York, experience of the Browns in, 2, 3 + +_North American_, the organ of the Clear Grits, 40 + +Nova Scotia, the province of, forced into confederation, 206 + +North-West Territories, + Brown's interest in, 211; + address by Robert Baldwin Sullivan, 211; + article in the _Globe_ describing resources of country, 213-15; + letters of "Huron" in Toronto _Globe_, 215; + meeting of Toronto Board of Trade, 216; + Reform convention of 1857 advocates addition of territories + to Canada, 217; + scepticism as to value of country, 217, 218; + Brown speaks in favour of extension of Canada to Pacific Ocean, 219; + negotiations with British government, 220; + Macdonald's testimony to Brown's services, 221 + + +P + +Parties, political, + in state of transition on Brown's entry into parliament, 69; + reconstruction on defeat of Hincks-Morin government, and formation + of MacNab-Morin government, 77; + the new government described as a coalition by its friends and as + Tory by its opponents, 77; + gradually comes to represent personal influence of John A. Macdonald, 78; + the Baldwin Reformers, 78; + opposition gathers under Brown, 78; + alliance between Upper Canadian Reformers and Rouges, 78 + +Peel government, its attitude towards responsible government in Canada, 13; + Gladstone's eulogium on, 14; + misunderstands Canadian situation, 14; + controversy with Governor Bagot, 16; + regards Bagot's action as a surrender to rebels, 16, 17; + appoints Metcalfe, 17-19 + +Preferential trade, + abolished by repeal of Corn Laws, 31; + complaints from Canada, 31; + the _Globe_ defends British position, 31; + Lord Elgin condemns imperial protection, 32 + +Prison commission, + Macdonald charges Brown with falsifying testimony and suborning + prisoners to commit perjury, 87; + scene in the House, 88; + Brown moves for a committee of inquiry, 88; + unexpectedly produces report of commission, 88; + proceedings of committee, 89; + Brown describes abuses revealed by commission, 90; + the incident embitters relations between Brown and Macdonald, 91; + Brown delivers public address on prison reform, 91, 92 + +Prohibition, + advocated by the _Globe_ in 1853, 75; + discussed in legislature, 75; + drinking habits of Canada in early days, 75, 76 + +Protection, + beginning of agitation in Canada, 231; + opposed by Brown, 232, 233 + + +R + +Rebellion in Canada (1837), + causes of, 11; + remedies proposed, 12 + +Rebellion Losses Bill, 34; + disturbance occasioned by, 35; + burning of parliament buildings at Montreal, 37; + mobbing of Lord Elgin, 37 + +Reciprocity, + abrogation of treaty of 1854 one of the causes of confederation, 148; + negotiations for renewal of treaty, 192; + confederate council on reciprocity formed, 193; + Galt and Howland visit Washington, 193; + Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation + instead of treaty, 193; + Brown's objections, 194, 223; + reasons for failure of negotiations of 1866, 224; + Americans set little value on Canadian trade, 224; + attempts at renewal in 1869 and 1871, 225; + the Brown mission of 1874, 225; + meeting with Mr. Rothery, agent of British government, 226; + Brown visits Washington, 226; + Sir Edward Thornton and Brown appointed to negotiate a treaty, 226; + reasons for selection of Brown, 227; + opening of negotiations, 227; + sketch of proposed treaty, 227; + list of articles on free list, 228; + Brown finds value of Canadian trade greatly under-estimated in + Washington, 228; + Brown prepares a memorandum showing extent of trade, 229; + carries on propaganda in American newspapers, 230; + falsely charged with corrupting the press, 230; + the treaty goes to the American senate, 231; + failure of negotiations, 231; + objections made in Canada, 231; + Canadian movement for protection, 231; + Brown opposes protection, 232, 233 + +Reformers, Canadian, + open campaign for responsible government against Governor Metcalfe, 21; + wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine, 24; + convention of 1857 advocates addition of North-West Territories to + Canada, 217; + convention of 1859 to consider relations of Upper and Lower + Canada, 133, 134; + arguments for confederation, 135; + George Sheppard's powerful speech against federation, 135, 136; + the advocates of federation agree to amendment minimizing powers of + central government, 130, 137; + Brown advocates confederation, 137, 138; + Reformers consulted by George Brown as to confederation, 156; + they agree to Brown and others entering coalition cabinet, 157; + Reform party inadequately represented in coalition, 159; + question of Reform representation again raised on death of + Sir É. P. Taché, 190; + Reform convention of 1867, 208; + approves of confederation, 208; + but declares that coalition should come to an end, its objects + having been achieved, 208, 209 + +Representation by population, + proposed by George Brown, 82-4; + objections raised on behalf of Lower Canada, 84; + strength of Lower Canadian case, 84; + federalism the real remedy, 85 + +Responsible Government (see also _Peel Government_, _Bagot_, and + _Metcalfe_), recommended by Lord Durham, 12, 13; + attitude of British government, 13; + Governor Bagot's concessions, 16-18; + Governor Metcalfe's attitude, 19; + Dr. Ryerson champions Governor Metcalfe, 22; + the legislature dissolved, 1844, 24; + fierce election contest follows, 24; + personal victory for Governor Metcalfe, 25, 26 + +Roman Catholics, + relations of George Brown with, 44 _et seq._, 121 _et seq_; + Brown's letter to prominent Roman Catholics, 124 _et seq._ + +Rouges, described by the _Globe_, 78 + +Ryerson, Dr. leader among Methodists, 22; + espouses cause of Governor Metcalfe against Reformers, 22; + correctly describes attitude of British government, 23; + supports Mr. R. W. Scott's Separate School Bill, 144 + + +S + +Scottish Church, + disruption of, 2; + opinions of the Browns thereon, 2; + comment of the _Banner_, 6 + +Sheppard, George, + his speech at Reform convention of 1859, 135; + predicts growth of central authority under federal system, 136 + +Separate Schools, + opposed by George Brown, 121; + a compromise arranged, 122, 123; + bill introduced by Mr. R. W. Scott, 144; + supported by Dr. Ryerson, 144; + adopted by Macdonald-Sicotte government, 144; + becomes law, 145; + assailed by the _Globe_, 145; + accepted by Brown, 145 + +Slavery, + Brown's opposition to, 1, 2, 3; + Canada a refuge for slaves, 111; + passage of Fugitive Slave Law, 111; + Anti-Slavery Society formed in Canada, 112; + settlements of refugee slaves, 113; + Brown at Toronto denounces Fugitive Slave Law, 113, 114; + Brown discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, 114; + describes feeling in Great Britain, 115; + Brown's insight into Lincoln's policy, 115; + insists that slavery was cause of Civil War, 116; + shows Canada's interest in the struggle, 117; + consequences of growth of a slave power in North America, 118, 119 + +Smith, Goldwin, + his connection with Canada First movement, 235; + elected president of the National Club, 237; + attacked by the _Globe_, 237, 238; + his reply, 238, 239 + +Stanley, Lord, colonial secretary under Peel, advocates preferential + trade and imperial protection, 15, 31 + +Sullivan, Robert Baldwin, delivers an address on resources of + North-West Territories, 211 + +_Star_, the Cobourg, its estimate of George Brown, 71, 72 + +Scott, R. W., introduces Separate School Bill, 144 + +Strachan, Bishop, opposes secularization of King's College, 8 + + +T + +Taché, Sir E. P., + forms government in effort to break dead-lock, 149; + his government defeated, 149; + heads coalition to carry out confederation, 159; + his speech in the legislature, 169; + his death, 189 + +Thompson, Samuel, describes meeting with George Brown in 1843, 4, 5 + +Toronto Board of Trade, advocates incorporation of North-West + Territories with Canada, 216 + + +W + +Wiseman, Cardinal, + his pastoral published and criticized in the _Globe_, 44 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN*** + + +******* This file should be named 30546-8.txt or 30546-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/5/4/30546 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: George Brown</p> +<p>Author: John Lewis</p> +<p>Release Date: November 25, 2009 [eBook #30546]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Brendan Lane,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>THE MAKERS OF CANADA</h1> + +<p class="subhead3">EDITED BY<br /><br /> +DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT, F.R.S.C.,<br /> +PELHAM EDGAR, <span class="smcap">Ph.D. and</span><br /> +WILLIAM DAWSON LE SUEUR, B.A., LL.D., F.R.S.C.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><a name="GEORGE_BROWN" id="GEORGE_BROWN"></a>GEORGE BROWN</h1> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3 class="padtop"><a name="EDITION_DE_LUXE" id="EDITION_DE_LUXE"></a><i>EDITION DE LUXE</i></h3> + +<p class="center"><i>This edition is limited to Four Hundred Signed<br /> +and Numbered Sets, of which this is</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/george-morang.jpg" width="400" height="260" alt="Number: 88 George N. Morang" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/geo-brown.jpg" width="400" height="616" alt="Geo. Brown" title="" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="u"><i>THE MAKERS OF CANADA</i></h2> + +<h1>GEORGE BROWN</h1> + +<p class="subhead3 padtop">BY</p> + +<h2>JOHN LEWIS</h2> + +<p class="subhead3 padtop"><i>EDITION DE LUXE</i></p> + +<p class="center padtop subhead3">TORONTO<br /> +MORANG & CO., LIMITED<br /> +1906</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p> + +<p class="blockquot padtop"><i>Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1906 +by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The title of this series, "Makers of Canada," seemed to impose on the +writer the obligation to devote special attention to the part played +by George Brown in fashioning the institutions of this country. From +this point of view the most fruitful years of his life were spent +between the time when the <i>Globe</i> was established to advocate +responsible government, and the time when the provinces were +confederated and the bounds of Canada extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. The ordinary political contests in which Mr. Brown and +his newspaper engaged have received only casual notice, and the effort +of the writer has been to trace Mr. Brown's connection with the stream +of events by which the old legislative union of Canada gave place to +the confederated Dominion.</p> + +<p>After the establishment of responsible government, the course of this +stream is not obscure. Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada is +inadequately represented and is dominated by its partner. Various +remedies, such as dissolution of the union, representation by +population and the "double majority," are proposed; but ultimately the +solution is found in federation, and to this solution, and the events +leading up to it, a large part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown was +also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the country lying +west to the Rocky Mountains, and to this work reference is made.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse strong friendships and +strong animosities. These have been dealt with only where they seemed +to have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir John A. +Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems to be a +profitless task for a biographer to take up and fight over again +quarrels which had no public importance and did not affect the course +of history.</p> + +<p>The period covering Mr. Brown's career was one in which the political +game was played roughly, and in which strong feelings were aroused. To +this day it is difficult to discuss the career of the Hon. George +Brown, or of Sir John A. Macdonald, without reviving these feelings in +the breasts of political veterans and their sons; and even one who +tries to study the time and the men and to write their story, finds +himself taking sides with men who are in their graves, and fighting +for causes long since lost and won. The writer has tried to resist the +temptation of building up the fame of Brown by detracting from that of +other men, but he has also thought it right in many cases to present +Brown's point of view, not necessarily as the whole truth, but as one +of the aspects of truth.</p> + +<p>In dealing with the question of confederation, my endeavour has been +simply to tell the story of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> Brown's work and let it speak for itself, +not to measure the exact proportion of credit due to Brown and to +others. It is hard to believe, however, that the verdict of history +will assign to him a place other than first among the public men of +Canada who contributed to the work of confederation. Events, as D'Arcy +McGee said, were probably more powerful than any of them.</p> + +<p>If any apology is needed for the space devoted to the subject of +slavery in the United States, it may be found not only in Brown's +life-long opposition to slavery, but in the fact that the Civil War +influenced the relations between the United States and Canada, and +indirectly promoted the confederation of the Canadian provinces, and +also in the fact, so frequently emphasized by Mr. Brown, that the +growth of the institution of slavery on this continent was a danger to +which Canada could not be indifferent.</p> + +<p>Among the works that have been found useful for reference are John +Charles Dent's <i>Last Forty Years</i> (Canada since the union of 1841); +<i>Gray on Confederation</i>; Coté's <i>Political Appointments and Elections +in the Province of Canada</i>; Dr. Hodgins' <i>Legislation and History of +Separate Schools in Upper Canada</i>; the lives of <i>Lord Elgin</i>, <i>Dr. +Ryerson</i> and <i>Joseph Howe</i> in "The Makers of Canada" series; the Hon. +Alexander Mackenzie's <i>Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown</i>; +the Hon. James Young's <i>Public Men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> and Public Life in Canada</i>. Mr. +Mackenzie's book contains a valuable collection of letters, to which +frequent reference is made in the chapters of this book dealing with +confederation. The account of the relations of the Peel government +with Governor Sir Charles Bagot is taken from the <i>Life of Sir Robert +Peel</i>, from his correspondence, edited by C. S. Parker. The files of +the <i>Banner</i> and the <i>Globe</i> have been read with some care; they were +found to contain an embarrassing wealth of most interesting historical +material.</p> + +<p>To Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the Toronto Free Library, and to Mr. +Avern Pardoe, of the Library of the Legislative Assembly, I am deeply +indebted for courtesy and assistance.</p> + + +<p>JOHN LEWIS.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table summary="contents" style="width: 55%;"><tbody> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER I</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl" style="width: 75%;">FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER II</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">METCALFE AND HIS REFORMERS </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER III</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER IV</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER V</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE CLERGY RESERVES </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER VI</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER VII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER VIII</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER IX</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">SOME PERSONAL POLITICS </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER X</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XI</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XIII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XIV</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">LAST YEARS OF THE UNION </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XV</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">CONFEDERATION </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XVI</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XVII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XVIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE MISSION TO ENGLAND </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XIX</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XX</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XXI</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XXII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874 </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XXIII</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">CANADIAN NATIONALISM </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XXIV</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">LATER YEARS </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><i>CHAPTER XXV</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">CONCLUSION </td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tl">INDEX</td> <td class="tr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +</tbody></table> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA</p> + + +<p>George Brown was born at Alloa, a seaport on the tidal Forth, +thirty-five miles inward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818. His +mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie, of Stornoway, in the Island +of Lewis. His father, Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder. George +was educated at the High School and Southern Academy in Edinburgh. +"This young man," said Dr. Gunn, of the Southern Academy, "is not only +endowed with high enthusiasm, but possesses the faculty of creating +enthusiasm in others." At the risk of attaching too much significance +to praise bestowed on a school-boy, it may be said that these words +struck the keynote of Brown's character and revealed the source of his +power. The atmosphere of the household was Liberal; father and son +alike hated the institution of slavery, with which they were destined +to become more closely acquainted. "When I was a very young man," said +George Brown, denouncing the Fugitive Slave Law before a Toronto +audience, "I used to think that if I ever had to speak before such an +audience as this, I would choose African Slavery as my theme in +preference to any other topic. The subject seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> afford the +widest scope for rhetoric and for fervid appeals to the best of human +sympathies. These thoughts arose far from here, while slavery was a +thing at a distance, while the horrors of the system were unrealized, +while the mind received it as a tale and discussed it as a principle. +But, when you have mingled with the thing itself, when you have +encountered the atrocities of the system, when you have seen three +millions of human beings held as chattels by their Christian +countrymen, when you have seen the free institutions, the free press +and the free pulpit of America linked in the unrighteous task of +upholding the traffic, when you have realized the manacle, and the +lash, and the sleuth-hound, you think no more of rhetoric, the mind +stands appalled at the monstrous iniquity, mere words lose their +meaning, and facts, cold facts, are felt to be the only fit +arguments."</p> + +<p>Again, as George grew to manhood, the struggle which ended in the +disruption of the Church of Scotland was approaching its climax, and +the sympathies of the Brown household were with those who declared +that it "is the fundamental law of this Church that no pastor shall be +intruded on any congregation contrary to the will of the people."</p> + +<p>In 1838 reverses in business led the father and son to seek their +fortunes in America. Arriving in New York, Peter Brown turned to +journalism, finding employment as a contributor to the <i>Albion</i>, a +weekly newspaper published for British residents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> of the United +States. The Browns formed an unfavourable opinion of American +institutions as represented by New York in that day. To them the +republic presented itself as a slave-holding power, seeking to extend +its territory in order to enlarge the area of slavery, and hostile to +Great Britain as a citadel of freedom. They always regarded the +slave-holding element in the United States as that which kept up the +tradition of enmity to England. An American book entitled, <i>The Glory +and Shame of England</i>, aroused Peter Brown's indignation, and he +published a reply in a little volume bearing the name of <i>The Fame and +Glory of England Vindicated</i>. Here he paid tribute to British freedom, +contrasted it with the domination of the slave holders, and instanced +the fact that in Connecticut a woman had been mobbed and imprisoned +for teaching coloured girls to read. Further light is thrown upon the +American experience of the Browns by an article in the <i>Banner</i>, their +first Canadian venture in journalism. The writer is answering an +accusation of disloyalty and Yankee sympathies, a stock charge against +Reformers in that day. He said: "We have stood in the very heart of a +republic, and fearlessly issued our weekly sheet, expressing our +fervent admiration of the limited monarchy of Great Britain, though +surrounded by Democratic Whigs, Democratic Republicans, Irish +Repealers, slave-holders, and every class which breathes the most +inveterate hostility to British institutions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> And we are not to be +turned from maintaining the genuine principles of the constitution +because some of our contemporaries are taken with a fit of sycophancy, +and would sacrifice all at the shrine of power."</p> + +<p>In December, 1842, the Browns established in New York the <i>British +Chronicle</i>, a paper similar to the <i>Albion</i>, but apparently designed +more especially for Scottish and Presbyterian readers in the United +States and Canada. In an effort to promote Canadian circulation, +George Brown came to Canada early in 1843. The <i>Chronicle</i> had taken +strong ground on the popular side of the movement then agitating the +Church of Scotland; and this struggle was watched with peculiar +interest in Canada, where the relations between Church and State were +burning questions. Young Brown also met the members of a Reform +administration then holding power under Governor Metcalfe, and the +ministers became impressed with the idea that he would be a powerful +ally in the struggle then impending.</p> + +<p>There is on record an interesting pen picture of George Brown as he +appeared at this time. The writer is Samuel Thompson, editor of the +<i>Colonist</i>. "It was, I think, somewhere about the month of May, 1843, +that there walked into my office on Nelson Street a young man of +twenty-five years, tall, broad-shouldered, somewhat lantern-jawed and +emphatically Scottish, who introduced himself to me as the travelling +agent of the New York <i>British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> Chronicle</i>, published by his father. +This was George Brown, afterwards editor and publisher of the <i>Globe</i> +newspaper. He was a very pleasant-mannered, courteous, gentlemanly +young fellow, and impressed me favourably. His father, he said, found +the political atmosphere of New York hostile to everything British, +and that it was as much as a man's life was worth to give expression +to any British predilections whatsoever (which I knew to be true). +They had, therefore, thought of transferring their publication to +Toronto, and intended to continue it as a thoroughly Conservative +journal. I, of course, welcomed him as a co-worker in the same cause +with ourselves, little expecting how his ideas of Conservatism were to +develop themselves in subsequent years." His Conservatism—assuming +that the young man was not misunderstood—was perhaps the result of a +reaction from the experience of New York, in which democracy had +presented itself in an unlovely aspect. Contact with Toronto Toryism +of that day would naturally stiffen the Liberalism of a combative man.</p> + +<p>As a result of George Brown's survey of the Canadian field, the +publication of the <i>British Chronicle</i> in New York ceased, and the +Browns removed to Toronto, where they established the <i>Banner</i>, a +weekly paper partly Presbyterian and partly political, and in both +fields championing the cause of government by the people. The first +number was issued on August 18th, 1843. Referring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>to the disruption +of the "Scottish Church" that had occurred three months before, the +<i>Banner</i> said: "If we look to Scotland we shall find an event +unparalleled in the history of the world. Nearly five hundred +ministers, backed by several thousand elders and perhaps a million of +people, have left the Church of their fathers because the civil courts +have trampled on what they deem the rights of the Christian people in +Scotland, exhibiting a lesson to the world which must produce results +that cannot yet be measured. The sacrifice made by these devoted +ministers of the Gospel is great; their reward is sure."</p> + +<p>The columns of the <i>Banner</i> illustrate in a striking way the +intermingling, common in that day, of religion and politics. The +<i>Banner's</i> chief antagonist was the <i>Church</i>, a paper equally devoted +to episcopacy and monarchy. Here is a specimen bit of controversy. The +<i>Church</i>, arguing against responsible government, declares that as God +is the only ruler of princes, princes cannot be accountable to the +people; and perdition is the lot of all rebels, agitators of sedition, +demagogues, who work under the pretence of reforming the State. All +the troubles of the country are due to parliaments constantly +demanding more power and thereby endangering the supremacy of the +mother country. The <i>Banner</i> is astonished by the unblushing avowal of +these doctrines, which had not been so openly proclaimed since the +days of "High Church and Sacheverell,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and which if acted upon would +reduce the people to the level of abject slaves. Whence, it asks, +comes this doctrine of the irresponsibility of kings? "It has been dug +up from the tombs of Roman Catholic and High Church priests and of +Jacobite bigots. Wherever it gets a footing it carries bloodshed and +persecution in its train. It cramps the freedom of thought. It +represses commercial enterprise and industry. It dries up the springs +of the human understanding. To what does Britain owe all her greatness +but to that free range of intellectual exertion which prompted Watt +and Arkwright in their wonderful discoveries, which carried Anson and +Cook round the globe, and which enabled Newton to scale the heavens? +Is the dial to be put back? Must the world once more adopt the +doctrine that the people are made for kings and not kings for the +people? Where will this treason to the British Constitution find the +slightest warrant in the Word of God? We know that power alone +proceeds from God, the very air we breathe is the gift of His bounty, +and whatever public right is exercised from the most obscure elective +franchise to the king upon his throne is derived from Him to +whom we must account for the exercise of it. But does that +accountability take away or lessen the political obligations of +the social compact?—assuredly not."</p> + +<p>This style of controversy was typical of the time. Tories drew from +the French Revolution warnings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> against the heedless march of +democracy. Reformers based arguments on the "glorious revolution of +1688." A bill for the secularization of King's College was denounced +by Bishop Strachan, the stalwart leader of the Anglicans, in language +of extraordinary vehemence. The bill would hold up the Christian +religion to the contempt of wicked men, and overturn the social order +by unsettling property. Placing all forms of error on an equality with +truth, the bill represented a principle "atheistical and monstrous, +destructive of all that was pure and holy in morals and religion." To +find parallels for this madness, the bishop referred to the French +Revolution, when the Christian faith was abjured, and the Goddess of +Reason set up for worship; to pagan Rome, which, to please the natives +she had conquered, "condescended to associate their impure idolatries +with her own."</p> + +<p>These writings are quoted not merely as illustrations of extravagance +of language. The language was the natural outcome of an extraordinary +situation. The bishop was not a voice crying in the wilderness; he was +a power in politics as well as in the Church, and had, as executive +councillor, taken an important part in the government of the country. +He was not making extravagant pretensions, but defending a position +actually held by his Church, a position which fell little short of +absolute domination. Religious equality was to be established, a great +endowment of land converted from sectarian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> to public purposes, and a +non-sectarian system of education created. In this work Brown played a +leading part, but before it could be undertaken it was necessary to +vindicate the right of the people to self-government.</p> + +<p>In November, 1843, the resignation of Metcalfe's ministers created a +crisis which soon absorbed the energy of the Browns and eventually led +to the establishment of the <i>Globe</i>. In the issue of December 8th, +1843, the principles of responsible government are explained, and the +<i>Banner</i> gives its support to the ministers. It cannot see why less +confidence should be bestowed by a governor-general in Canada than by +a sovereign in the British empire. It deplores the rupture and +declares that it still belongs to no political party. It has no liking +for "Democracy," a word which even Liberals at that time seemed to +regard with horror. It asks Presbyterians to stand fast for the +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. It exhorts the people of +Canada to be firm and patient and to let no feeling of disappointment +lead their minds to republicanism. Those who would restrict the +liberties of Canada also dwell on the evils of republicanism, but they +are the very people who would bring it to pass. The <i>Banner's</i> ideal +is a system of just and equal government. If this is pursued, a vast +nation will grow up speaking the same language, having the same laws +and customs, and bound to the mother country by the strongest bonds of +affection. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> <i>Banner</i>, which had at first described itself as +independent in party politics, soon found itself drawn into a struggle +which was too fierce and too momentous to allow men of strong +convictions to remain neutral. We find politics occupying more and +more attention in its columns, and finally on March 5th, 1844, the +<i>Globe</i> is established as the avowed ally of Baldwin and Lafontaine, +and the advocate of responsible government. It will be necessary to +explain now the nature of the difference between Metcalfe and his +ministers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">METCALFE AND THE REFORMERS</p> + + +<p>The Browns arrived in Canada in the period of reconstruction following +the rebellion of 1837-8. In Lord Durham's Report the rising in Lower +Canada was attributed mainly to racial animosity—"two nations warring +in the bosom of a single state"—"a struggle not of principles but of +races." The rising in Upper Canada was attributed mainly to the +ascendency of the "family compact"—a family only in the official +sense. "The bench, the magistracy, the high offices of the episcopal +church, and a great part of the legal profession, are filled by their +adherents; by grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole of +the waste lands of the province; they are all-powerful in the +chartered banks, and till lately shared among themselves almost +exclusively all offices of trust and profit. The bulk of this party +consists, for the most part, of native born inhabitants of the colony, +or of emigrants who settled in it before the last war with the United +States; the principal members of it belong to the Church of England, +and the maintenance of the claims of that Church has always been one +of its distinguishing characteristics." Reformers discovered that even +when they triumphed at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the polls, they could not break up this +combination, the executive government remaining constantly in the +hands of their opponents. They therefore agitated for the +responsibility of the executive council to the legislative assembly.</p> + +<p>Lord Durham's remedy was to unite Upper and Lower Canada, and to grant +the demand for responsible government. He hoped that the union would +in time dispose of the racial difficulty. Estimating the population of +Upper Canada at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of +Lower Canada at one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four +hundred and fifty thousand, "the union of the two provinces would not +only give a clear English majority, but one which would be increased +every year by the influence of English immigration; and I have little +doubt that the French, when once placed by the legitimate course of +events and the working of natural causes, in a minority, would abandon +their vain hopes of nationality."</p> + +<p>The future mapped out by Lord Durham for the French-Canadians was one +of benevolent assimilation. He under-estimated their tenacity and +their power of adapting themselves to new political conditions. They +not only retained their distinctive language and customs, but gained +so large a measure of political power that in time Upper Canada +complained that it was dominated by its partner. The union was +effected soon after the report, but the granting of responsible +government was long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> delayed. From the submission of Lord Durham's +Report to the time of Lord Elgin, the question of responsible +government was the chief issue in Canadian politics. Lord Durham's +recommendations were clear and specific. He maintained that harmony +would be restored "not by weakening but strengthening the influence of +the people on its government; by confining within much narrower bounds +than those hitherto allotted to it, and not by extending, the +interference of the imperial authorities on the details of colonial +affairs." The government must be administered on the principles that +had been found efficacious in Great Britain. He would not impair a +single prerogative of the Crown, but the Crown must submit to the +necessary consequences of representative institutions, and must govern +through those in whom the representative body had confidence.</p> + +<p>These principles are now so well established that it is hard to +realize how bold and radical they appeared in 1839. Between that time +and 1847, the British government sent out to Canada three governors, +with various instructions. Whatever the wording of these instructions +was, they always fell short of Durham's recommendations, and always +expressed a certain reluctance to entrusting the government of Canada +unreservedly to representatives of the people.</p> + +<p>From 1842 to 1846 the government in Great Britain was that of Sir +Robert Peel, and it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> that government which set itself most +strongly against the granting of autonomy to Canada. It was +Conservative, and it probably received from correspondents in Canada a +good deal of misinformation and prejudiced opinion in regard to the +aims of the Reformers. But it was a group of men of the highest +character and capacity, concerning whom Gladstone has left on record a +remarkable testimony. "It is his conviction that in many of the most +important rules of public policy, that government surpassed generally +the governments which have succeeded it, whether Liberal or +Conservative. Among them he would mention purity in patronage, +financial strictness, loyal adherence to the principle of public +economy, jealous regard to the rights of parliament, a single eye to +the public interest, strong aversion to extension of territorial +responsibilities, and a frank admission of the rights of foreign +countries as equal to those of their own."</p> + +<p>With this high estimate of the general character of the Peel +government must be coupled the undoubted fact that it entirely +misunderstood the situation in Canada, gave its support to the party +of reaction, and needlessly delayed the establishment of +self-government. We may attribute this in part to the distrust +occasioned by the rebellion; in part to the use of partisan channels +of information; but under all this was a deeper cause—inability to +conceive of such a relation as exists between Great Britain and Canada +to-day. In that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> respect Peel and his colleagues resembled most of the +public men of their time. They could understand separation; they could +understand a relation in which the British government and its agents +ruled the colonies in a kindly and paternal fashion; but a union under +which the colonies were nations in all but foreign relations passed +their comprehension. When the colonies asked for complete +self-government it was supposed that separation was really desired. +Some were for letting them go in peace. Others were for holding them +by political and commercial bonds. Of the latter class, Stanley, +colonial secretary under Peel, was a good type. He believed in +"strong" governors; he believed in a system of preferential trade +between Great Britain and the colonies, and his language might have +been used, with scarcely any modification, by the Chamberlain party in +the recent elections in Great Britain. When, in 1843, he introduced +the measure giving a preference to Canadian wheat, he expressed the +hope that it would restore content and prosperity to Canada; and when +that preference disappeared with the Corn Laws, he declared that the +basis of colonial union was destroyed.</p> + +<p>From the union to September, 1842, no French-Canadian name appears in +a Canadian government. French-Canadians were deeply dissatisfied with +the terms of the union; there was a strong reluctance to admitting +them to any share of power, and they complained bitterly that they +were politically ostracized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> by Sydenham, the first governor. His +successor, Bagot, adopted the opposite policy, and earned the severe +censure of the government at home.</p> + +<p>On August 23rd, 1842, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley in terms +which indicated a belief that Governor Bagot was experiencing great +difficulty in carrying on the government. He spoke of a danger of +French-Canadians and Radicals, or French-Canadians and Conservatives, +combining to place the government in a minority. He suggested various +means of meeting the danger, and said, "I would not voluntarily throw +myself into the hands of the French party through fear of being in a +minority."</p> + +<p>Before instructions founded on this letter could reach the colony, the +governor had acted, "throwing himself," in the words of Peel's +biographer, "into the hands of the party tainted by disaffection." +What had really happened was that on September 16th, 1842, the +Canadian government had been reconstructed, the principal change being +the introduction of Lafontaine and Baldwin as its leading members. +This action aroused a storm in Canada, where Bagot was fiercely +assailed by the Tories for his so-called surrender to rebels. And that +view was taken also in England.</p> + +<p>On October 18th, 1842, Mr. Arbuthnot wrote to Sir Robert Peel: "The +Duke [Wellington] has been thunderstruck by the news from Canada. +Between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> ourselves, he considers what has happened as likely to be +fatal to the connection with England; and I must also, in the very +strictest confidence, tell you that he dreads lest it should break up +the cabinet here at home."</p> + +<p>On October 21st, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley, pointing out +the danger of the duke's strong and decisive condemnation: "In various +quarters the Duke of Wellington denouncing the arrangement as a tame +surrender to a party tainted with treason, would produce an impression +most dangerous to the government, if it could get over the effects +produced by the first announcement of his retirement, on the ground of +avowed difference of opinion." After reading Sir Charles Bagot's +explanations, he admitted that the governor's position was +embarrassing. "Suppose," he said in a subsequent letter, "that Sir C. +Bagot was reduced to such difficulties that he had no alternative but +to take the best men of the French-Canadian party into his councils, +and that it was better for him to do this before there was a hostile +vote; still, the manner in which he conducted his negotiations was a +most unwise one. He makes it appear to the world that he courted and +rejoiced in the necessity for a change in his councils." On October +24th the Duke of Wellington wrote expressing his agreement with Peel, +and adding: "However, it appears to me that we must consider the +arrangement as settled and adopted by the legislature of Canada.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> It +will remain to be considered afterwards what is to be done with Sir +Charles Bagot and with his measures."</p> + +<p>The question was solved by the death of the governor who had been +unfortunate enough to arouse the storm, and to create a ministerial +crisis in Great Britain. It is believed that his end was hastened by +the news from England. He fell ill in November, grew steadily worse, +and at last asked to be recalled, a request which was granted. At his +last cabinet council he bade an affectionate farewell to his +ministers, and begged them to defend his memory. His best vindication +is found in the failure of Metcalfe's policy, and in the happy results +of the policy of Elgin.</p> + +<p>The events connected with the retirement of Bagot, which were not +fully understood until the publication of Sir Robert Peel's papers a +few years ago, throw light upon the reasons which determined the +selection of Sir Charles Metcalfe. Metcalfe was asked by Lord Stanley +whether he would be able and disposed to assume "most honourable and +at the same time very arduous duties in the public service." Metcalfe +wrote to Captain Higginson, afterwards his private secretary: "I am +not sure that the government of Canada is a manageable affair, and +unless I think I can go to good purpose I will not go at all." Sir +Francis Hincks says: "All Sir Charles Metcalfe's correspondence prior +to his departure from England is indicative of a feeling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> that he was +going on a forlorn hope expedition," and Hincks adds that such +language can be explained only on the assumption that he was sent out +for the purpose of overthrowing responsible government. It is +certainly established by the Peel correspondence that the British +government strongly disapproved of Sir Charles Bagot's policy, and +selected Sir Charles Metcalfe as a man who would govern on radically +different lines. It is perhaps putting it rather strongly to say that +he was intended to overthrow responsible government. But he must have +come to Canada filled with distrust of the Canadian ministry, filled +with the idea that the demand for responsible government was a cloak +for seditious designs, and ready to take strong measures to preserve +British connection. In this misunderstanding lay the source of his +errors and misfortunes in Canada.</p> + +<p>It is not therefore necessary to enter minutely into the dispute which +occasioned the rupture between Metcalfe and his advisers. On the +surface it was a dispute over patronage. In reality Baldwin and +Lafontaine were fighting for autonomy and responsible government; +Metcalfe, as he thought, was defending the unity of the empire. He was +a kindly and conscientious man, and he held his position with some +skill, always contending that he was willing to agree to responsible +government on condition that the colonial position was recognized, the +prerogative of the Crown upheld,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> and the governor not dominated by +one political party.</p> + +<p>The governor finally broke with his advisers in November, 1843. For +some months he was to govern, not only without a responsible ministry, +but without a parliament, for the legislature was immediately +prorogued, and did not meet again before dissolution. His chief +adviser was William Henry Draper, a distinguished lawyer, whose +political career was sacrificed in the attempt to hold an impossible +position. Reformers and Tories prepared for a struggle which was to +continue for several years, and which, in spite of the smallness of +the field, was of the highest importance in settling a leading +principle of government.</p> + +<p>On March 5th, 1844, as a direct consequence of the struggle, appeared +the first issue of the Toronto <i>Globe</i>, its motto taken from one of +the boldest letters of Junius to George III: "The subject who is truly +loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to +arbitrary measures." The leading article was a long and careful review +of the history of the country, followed by a eulogy on the +constitution enjoyed by Great Britain since "the glorious revolution +of 1688," but denied to Canada. Responsible government was withheld; +the governor named his councillors in defiance of the will of the +legislature. Advocates of responsible government were stigmatized by +the governor's friends as rebels, traitors, radicals and republicans. +The <i>Globe</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> proclaimed its adherence to Lord Durham's recommendation, +and said: "The battle which the Reformers of Canada will right is not +the battle of a party, but the battle of constitutional right against +the undue interference of executive power." The prospectus of the +paper contained these words: "Firmly attached to the principles of the +British Constitution, believing the limited monarchy of Great Britain +the best system of government yet devised by the wisdom of man, and +sincerely convinced that the prosperity of Canada will best be +advanced by a close connection between it and the mother country, the +editor of the <i>Globe</i> will support all measures which will tend to +draw closer the bonds of a mutually advantageous union."</p> + +<p>On March 25th, 1844, the campaign was opened with a meeting called by +the Toronto Reform Association. Robert Baldwin, "father of responsible +government," was in the chair, and William Hume Blake was the orator +of the night. The young editor of the <i>Globe</i>, a recruit among +veterans, seems to have made a hit with a picture of a ministry framed +on the "no party" plan advocated by Governor Metcalfe. In this +imaginary ministry he grouped at the same council table Robert Baldwin +and his colleague Francis Hincks; Sir Allan MacNab, the Tory leader; +William Henry Draper, Metcalfe's chief adviser; John Strachan, Bishop +of Toronto; and Dr. Ryerson, leader of the Methodists and champion of +the governor. His Excellency is on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> chair raised above the warring +elements below. Baldwin moves that King's College be opened to all +classes of Her Majesty's subjects. At once the combination is +dissolved, as any one who remembers Bishop Strachan's views on that +question will understand.</p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson, whose name was used by Brown in this illustration, was a +leader among the Methodists, and had fought stoutly for religious +equality against Anglican privilege. But he had espoused the side of +the governor-general, apparently taking seriously the position that it +was the only course open to a loyal subject. In a series of letters +published in the summer of 1844, he warned the people that the Toronto +Reform Association was leading them to the edge of a precipice. "In +the same manner," he said, "I warned you against the Constitutional +Reform Association, formed in 1834. In 1837 my warning predictions +were realized, to the ruin of many and the misery of thousands. What +took place in 1837 was but a preface of what may be witnessed in +1847." The warning he meant to convey was that the people were being +drawn into a conflict with the imperial authorities. "Mr. Baldwin," he +said, "practically renounces the imperial authority by refusing to +appeal to it, and by appealing through the Toronto Association to the +people of Canada. If the people of Canada are the tribunal of judgment +on one question of constitutional prerogative, they are so on every +question of constitutional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> prerogative. Then the governor is no +longer responsible to the imperial authority, and Canada is an +independent country. Mr. Baldwin's proceeding, therefore, not only +leads to independence but involves (unconsciously, I admit, from +extreme and theoretical views), a practical declaration of +independence before the arrival of the 4th of July!"</p> + +<p>In this language Dr. Ryerson described with accuracy the attitude of +the British government. That government had, as we have seen, +disapproved of Governor Bagot's action in parting with so large a +measure of power, and it was fully prepared to support Metcalfe in +pursuing the opposite course. Dr. Ryerson was also right in saying +that the government of Great Britain would be supported by parliament. +In May, 1844, the affairs of Canada were discussed in the British +House of Commons, and the governor's action was justified by Peel, by +Lord Stanley, and by Lord John Russell. The only dissentient voices +were those of the Radicals, Hume and Roebuck.</p> + +<p>Metcalfe and his chiefs at home can hardly be blamed for holding the +prevailing views of the time, which were that the changes contemplated +by Durham, by Bagot, and by Baldwin were dangerous and revolutionary. +The idea that a colony could remain connected with Great Britain under +such a system of autonomy as we enjoy to-day was then conceived by +only a few men of exceptional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> breadth and foresight, among whom Elgin +was one of the most eminent.</p> + +<p>The wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine and the patience and +firmness of the Reformers are attested by their conduct in very trying +circumstances. Finding their demand for constitutional reform opposed +not only by the Canadian Tories, but by the governor-general and the +imperial government and parliament, they might have become +discouraged, or have been tempted into some act of violence. Their +patience must have been sorely tried by the persistent malice or +obstinate prejudice which stigmatized a strictly constitutional +movement as treason. They had also to endure the trial of a temporary +defeat at the polls, and an apparent rejection of their policy by the +very people for whose liberties they were contending.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1844 the legislature was dissolved and a fierce +contest ensued. Governor Metcalfe's attitude is indicated by his +biographer.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> "The contest," he says, "was between loyalty on the one +side and disaffection to Her Majesty's government on the other. That +there was a strong anti-British feeling abroad, in both divisions of +the province [Upper and Lower Canada] Metcalfe clearly and painfully +perceived. The conviction served to brace and stimulate him to new +exertions. He felt that he was fighting for his sovereign against a +rebellious people." The appeal was successful; Upper Canada<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> was swept +by the loyalty cry, and in various polling places votes were actually +cast or offered for the governor-general. The <i>Globe</i> described a +conversation that occurred in a polling place in York: "Whom do you +vote for?" "I vote for the governor-general." "There is no such +candidate. Say George Duggan, you blockhead." "Oh, yes, George Duggan; +it's all the same thing." There were candidates who described +themselves as "governor-general's men"; there were candidates whose +royalist enthusiasm was expressed in the name "Cavaliers." In the +Montreal election petition it was charged that during two days of +polling the electors were exposed to danger from the attacks of bands +of fighting men hired by the government candidates or their agents, +and paid, fed, and armed with "bludgeons, bowie-knives, and pistols +and other murderous weapons" for the purpose of intimidating the +Liberal electors and preventing them from gaining access to the polls; +that Liberals were driven from the polls by these fighting men, and by +cavalry and infantry acting under the orders of partisan magistrates. +The polls, it was stated, were surrounded by soldiers, field-pieces +were placed in several public squares, and the city was virtually in a +state of siege. The charges were not investigated, the petition being +rejected for irregularity; but violence and intimidation were then +common accompaniments of elections.</p> + +<p>In November the governor was able to record his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> victory thus: Upper +Canada, avowed supporters of his government, thirty; avowed +adversaries, seven; undeclared and uncertain, five. Lower Canada, +avowed supporters, sixteen; avowed adversaries, twenty-one; undeclared +and uncertain, four. Remarking on this difference between Upper +and Lower Canada, he said that loyalty and British feeling +prevailed in Upper Canada and in the Eastern Townships of Lower +Canada, and that disaffection was predominant among the French-Canadian +constituencies.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Metcalfe honestly believed he had saved Canada for +the empire; but more mischief could hardly have been done by +deliberate design. In achieving a barren and precarious victory at the +polls, he and his friends had run the risk of creating that +disaffection which they feared. The stigma of disloyalty had been +unjustly affixed to honest and public-spirited men, whose steadiness +alone prevented them, in their resentment, from joining the ranks of +the disaffected. Worse still, the line of political cleavage had been +identified with the line of racial division, and "French-Canadian" and +"rebel" had been used as synonymous terms.</p> + +<p>The ministry and the legislative assembly were now such as the +governor had desired, yet the harmony was soon broken. There appeared +divisions in the cabinet, hostile votes in the legislature, and +finally a revolt in the Conservative press. An attempt to form a +coalition with the French-Canadian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> members drew a sarcastic comment +from the <i>Globe</i>: "Mr. Draper has invited the men whom he and his +party have for years stigmatized before the country as rebels and +traitors and destructives to join his administration." Reformers +regarded these troubles as evidence that the experiment in reaction +was failing, and waited patiently for the end. Shortly after the +election the governor was raised to the peerage, an honour which, if +not earned by success in Canada, was fairly due to his honest +intentions. He left Canada at the close of the year 1845, suffering +from a painful disease, of which he died a year afterwards.</p> + +<p>Soon after the governor's departure the young editor of the <i>Globe</i> +had a curious experience. At a dinner of the St. Andrew's Society, +Toronto, the president, Judge MacLean, proposed the health of Lord +Metcalfe, eulogized his Canadian policy, and insisted that he had not +been recalled, "as certain persons have most impertinently and untruly +assumed and set forth." Brown refused to drink the toast, and asked to +be heard, asserting that he had been publicly insulted from the chair. +After a scene of uproar, he managed to obtain a hearing, and said, +addressing the chairman: "I understand your allusions, sir, and your +epithet of impertinence as applied to myself. I throw it back on you +with contempt, and will content myself with saying that your using +such language and dragging such matters before the society was highly +improper. Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Metcalfe, sir, has been recalled, and it may yet be +seen that it was done by an enlightened British government for cause. +The toast which you have given, too, and the manner in which it was +introduced, are highly improper. This is not the place to discuss Lord +Metcalfe's administration. There is a wide difference of opinion as to +it. But I refrain from saying one word as to his conduct in this +province. This is not a political but a benevolent society, composed +of persons of very varied political sentiments, and such a toast ought +never to have been brought here. Lord Metcalfe is not now +governor-general of Canada, and I had a right to refuse to do honour +to him or not as I saw fit, and that without any disparagement to his +conduct as a gentleman, even though the person who is president of +this society thinks otherwise." This incident, trivial as it may +appear, illustrates the passion aroused by the contest, and the bold +and resolute character of the young politician.</p> + +<p>Lord Metcalfe's successor was Earl Cathcart, a soldier who concerned +himself little in the political disputes of the country, and who had +been chosen because of the danger of war with the United States, +arising out of the dispute over the Oregon boundary. The settlement of +that dispute does not come within the scope of this work; but it may +be noted that the <i>Globe</i> was fully possessed by the belligerent +spirit of the time, and frankly expressed the hope that Great Britain +would fight, not merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> for the Oregon boundary, but "to proclaim +liberty to the black population." The writer hoped that the Christian +nations of the world would combine and "break the chains of the slaves +in the United States, in Brazil and in Cuba."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Kaye's <i>Life of Metcalfe</i>, Vol. II., p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Kaye's <i>Life of Metcalfe</i>, Vol. II., p. 390.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT</p> + + +<p>In England, as well as in Canada, events were moving towards +self-government. With the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1840 disappeared +the preference to Canadian wheat. "Destroy this principle of +protection," said Lord Stanley in the House of Lords, "and you destroy +the whole basis upon which your colonial system rests." Loud +complaints came from Canada, and in a despatch from Earl Cathcart to +the colonial secretary, it was represented that the Canadian waterways +had been improved on the strength of the report made to Great Britain, +and that the disappointment and loss resulting from the abolition of +the preference would lead to alienation from the mother country and +"annexation to our rival and enemy, the United States." Gladstone, in +his reply, denied that the basis of imperial unity was protection, +"the exchange, not of benefits, but of burdens;" the true basis lay in +common feelings, traditions and hopes. The <i>Globe</i> held that Canada +had no right to complain if the people of the United Kingdom did what +was best for themselves. England, as an exporter of manufactures, had +to meet competition at the world's prices, and must have cheap food +supplies. Canada had surely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> a higher destiny than to export a few +hundred bushels of wheat and flour to England. Canadian home +manufactures must be encouraged, and efforts made to obtain free trade +with the United States. "The Tory press," said the <i>Globe</i>, "are out +in full cry against free trade. Their conduct affords an illustration +of the unmitigated selfishness of Toryism. Give them everything they +can desire and they are brimful of loyalty. They will shout pæans till +they are sick, and drink goblets till they are blind in favour of +'wise and benevolent governors' who will give them all the offices and +all the emoluments. But let their interests, real or imaginary, be +affected, and how soon does their loyalty evaporate! Nothing is now +talked of but separation from the mother country, unless the mother +continues feeding them in the mode prescribed by the child."</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards, Lord Elgin, in his communications to the home +government, said that the Canadian millers and shippers had a +substantial grievance, not in the introduction of free trade, but in +the constant tinkering incident to the abandoned system of imperial +protection. The preference given in 1843 to Canadian wheat and to +flour, even when made of American wheat, had stimulated milling in +Canada; but almost before the newly-built mills were fairly at work, +the free trade measure of 1846 swept the advantage away. What was +wrong was not free trade, but Canadian dependence on imperial tariff +legislation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p><p>Elgin was one of the few statesmen of his day who perceived that the +colonies might enjoy commercial independence and political equality, +without separation. He declared that imperial unity did not depend on +the exercise of dominion, the dispensing of patronage, or the +maintenance of an imperial hot-bed for forcing commerce and +manufactures. Yet he conceived of an empire not confined to the +British Islands, but growing, expanding, "strengthening itself from +age to age, and drawing new supplies of vitality from virgin soils."</p> + +<p>With Elgin's administration began the new era of self-government. The +legislature was dissolved towards the close of the year 1847, and the +election resulted in a complete victory for the Reformers. In Upper +Canada the contest was fairly close, but in Lower Canada the +Conservative forces were almost annihilated, and on the first vote in +parliament the government was defeated by a large majority. The second +Baldwin-Lafontaine government received the full confidence and loyal +support of the governor, and by its conduct and achievements justified +the reform that had been so long delayed, and adopted with so many +misgivings. But the fight for responsible government was not yet +finished. The cry of French and rebel domination was raised, as it had +been raised in the days of Governor Bagot. A Toronto journal +reproachfully referred to Lord Elgin's descent from "the Bruce," and +asked how a man of royal ancestry could so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> degrade himself as to +consort with rebels and political jobbers. "Surely the curse of +Minerva, uttered by a great poet against the father, clings to the +son." The removal of the old office-holders seemed to this writer to +be an act of desecration not unlike the removal of the famous marbles +from the Parthenon. In a despatch explaining his course on the +Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin said that long before that +legislation there were evidences of the temper which finally produced +the explosion. He quoted the following passage from a newspaper: "When +French tyranny becomes insupportable, we shall find our Cromwell. +Sheffield in olden times used to be famous for its keen and +well-tempered whittles. Well, they make bayonets there now, just as +sharp and just as well-tempered. When we can stand tyranny no longer, +it will be seen whether good bayonets in Saxon hands will not be more +than a match for a mace and a majority." All the fuel for a +conflagration was ready. There was race hatred, there was party +hostility, there was commercial depression and there was a sincere, +though exaggerated, loyalty, which regarded rebellion as the +unforgivable sin, and which was in constant dread of the spread of +radical, republican and democratic ideas.</p> + +<p>The Rebellion Losses Bill was all that was needed to fan the embers +into flame. This was a measure intended to compensate persons who had +suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>It was attacked +as a measure for "rewarding rebels." Lord Elgin afterwards said that +he did not believe a rebel would receive a farthing. But even if we +suppose that some rebels or rebel sympathizers were included in the +list, the outcry against the bill was unreasonable. A general amnesty +had been proclaimed; French-Canadians had been admitted to a full +share of political power. The greater things having been granted, it +was mere pedantry to haggle about the less, and to hold an elaborate +inquiry into the principles of every man whose barns had been burned +during the rebellion. When responsible government was conceded, it was +admitted that even the rebels had not been wholly wrong. It would have +been straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel to say "we will give +you these free institutions for the sake of which you rebelled, but we +will not pay you the small sum of money necessary to recompense you +for losses arising out of the rebellion."</p> + +<p>However, it is easier to discuss these matters coolly in 1906 than it +was in 1849, and in 1849 the notion of "rewarding the rebels" produced +another rebellion on a small scale. A large quantity of important +legislation was brought down by the new government when it met the +legislature early in 1849, but everything else was forgotten when Mr. +Lafontaine introduced the resolution on which the Rebellion Losses +Bill was founded. In various parts of Upper Canada meetings were held +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> protests made against the measure. In Toronto the protests took +the form of mob violence, foreshadowing what was to come in Montreal. +Effigies of Baldwin and Blake were carried through the streets and +burned. William Lyon Mackenzie had lately returned to Canada, and was +living at the house of a citizen named Mackintosh. The mob went to the +house, threatened to pull it down, and burned an effigy of Mackenzie. +The windows of the house were broken and stones and bricks thrown in. +The <i>Globe</i> office was apparently not molested, but about midnight the +mob went to the dwelling-house of the Browns, battered at the door and +broke some windows. The <i>Globe</i> in this trying time stood staunchly by +the government and Lord Elgin, and powerfully influenced the public +opinion of Upper Canada in their favour. Addresses calling for the +withdrawal of Lord Elgin were met by addresses supporting his action, +and the signatures to the friendly addresses outnumbered the other by +one hundred and twenty thousand. George Brown, Col. C. T. Baldwin, and +W. P. Howland were deputed to present an address from the Reformers of +Upper Canada. Sir William Howland has said that Lord Elgin was so much +affected that he shed tears.</p> + +<p>This is not the place, however great the temptation may be, to +describe the stirring scenes that were enacted in Montreal; the stormy +debate, the fiery speech in which William Hume Blake hurled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> back at +the Tories the charge of disloyalty; the tumult in the galleries, the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing and stoning of +the governor-general.</p> + +<p>Lord Elgin's bearing under this severe trial was admirable. He was +most desirous that blood should not be shed, and for this reason +avoided the use of troops or the proclamation of martial law; and he +had the satisfaction of seeing the storm gradually subside. A less +dangerous evidence of discontent was a manifesto signed by leading +citizens of Montreal advocating annexation to the United States, not +only to relieve commercial depression, but "to settle the race +question forever, by bringing to bear on the French-Canadians the +powerful assimilating forces of the republic." The signers of this +document were leniently dealt with; but those among them who +afterwards took a prominent part in politics, were not permitted to +forget their error. Elgin was of opinion that there was ground for +discontent on commercial grounds, and he advocated the removal of +imperial restriction on navigation, and the establishment of +reciprocity between the United States and the British North American +provinces. The annexation movement was confined chiefly to Montreal. +In Upper Canada an association called the British American League was +formed, and a convention held at Kingston in 1849. The familiar topics +of commercial depression and French domination were discussed; some +violent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> language was used, but the remedies proposed were sane +enough; they were protection, retrenchment, and the union of the +British provinces. Union, it was said, would put an end to French +domination, and would give Canada better access to the sea and +increased commerce. The British American League figures in the old, +and not very profitable, controversy as to the share of credit to be +allotted to each political party for the work of confederation. It is +part of the Conservative case. But the platform was abandoned for the +time, and confederation remained in the realm of speculation rather +than of action.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS</p> + + +<p>Within the limits of one parliament, less than four years, the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government achieved a large amount of useful work, +including the establishment of cheap and uniform postage, the +reforming of the courts of law, the remodelling of the municipal +system, the establishment of the University of Toronto on a +non-sectarian basis, and the inauguration of a policy by which the +province was covered with a network of railways. With such a record, +the government hardly seemed to be open to a charge of lack of energy +and progressiveness, but it was a time when radicalism was in the air. +It may be more than a coincidence that Chartism in England and a +revolution in France were followed by radical movements in both +Canadas.</p> + +<p>The counterpart to the Rouge party in Lower Canada, elsewhere referred +to, was the Clear Grit party in Upper Canada. Among its leaders were +Peter Perry, one of the founders of the Reform party in Upper Canada, +Caleb Hopkins, David Christie, James Lesslie, Dr. John Rolph and +William Macdougall. Rolph had played a leading part in the movement +for reform before the rebellion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> and is the leading figure in Dent's +history of that period. Macdougall was a young lawyer and journalist +fighting his way into prominence.</p> + +<p>"Grit" afterwards became a nickname for a member of the Reform or +Liberal party, and especially for the enthusiastic followers of George +Brown. Yet in all the history of a quarrelsome period in politics +there is no more violent quarrel than that between Brown and the Clear +Grits. It is said that Brown and Christie were one day discussing the +movement, and that Brown had mentioned the name of a leading Reformer +as one of the opponents of the new party. Christie replied that the +party did not want such men, they wanted only those who were "Clear +Grit." This is one of several theories as to the derivation of the +name. The <i>Globe</i> denounced the party as "a miserable clique of +office-seeking, bunkum-talking cormorants, who met in a certain +lawyer's office on King Street [Macdougall's] and announced their +intention to form a new party on Clear Grit principles." The <i>North +American</i>, edited by Macdougall, denounced Brown with equal fury as a +servile adherent of the Baldwin government. Brown for several years +was in this position of hostility to the Radical wing of the party. He +was defeated in Haldimand by William Lyon Mackenzie, who stood on an +advanced Radical platform; and in 1851 his opponent in Kent and +Lambton was Malcolm Cameron, a Clear Grit, who had joined the +Hincks-Morin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> government. The nature of their relations is shown by a +letter in which Cameron called on one of his friends to come out and +oppose Brown: "I will be out and we will show him up, and let him know +what stuff Liberal Reformers are made of, and how they would treat +fanatical beasts who would allow no one liberty but themselves."</p> + +<p>The Clear Grits advocated, (1) the application of the elective +principle to all the officials and institutions of the country, from +the head of the government downwards; (2) universal suffrage; (3) vote +by ballot; (4) biennial parliaments; (5) the abolition of property +qualification for parliamentary representations; (6) a fixed term for +the holding of general elections and for the assembling of the +legislature; (7) retrenchment; (8) the abolition of pensions to +judges; (9) the abolition of the Courts of Common Pleas and Chancery +and the giving of an enlarged jurisdiction to the Court of Queen's +Bench; (10) reduction of lawyers' fees; (11) free trade and direct +taxation; (12) an amended jury law; (13) the abolition or modification +of the usury laws; (14) the abolition of primogeniture; (15) the +secularization of the clergy reserves, and the abolition of the +rectories. The movement was opposed by the <i>Globe</i>. No new party, it +said, was required for the advocacy of reform of the suffrage, +retrenchment, law reform, free trade or the liberation of the clergy +reserves. These were practical questions, on which the Reform party +was united. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> these were placed on the programme merely to cloak +its revolutionary features, features that simply meant the adoption of +republican institutions, and the taking of the first step towards +annexation. The British system of responsible government was upheld by +the <i>Globe</i> as far superior to the American system in the security it +afforded to life and property.</p> + +<p>But while Brown defended the government from the attacks of the Clear +Grits, he was himself growing impatient at their delay in dealing with +certain questions that he had at heart, especially the secularization +of the clergy reserves. He tried, as we should say to-day, "to reform +the party from within." He was attacked for his continued support of a +ministry accused of abandoning principles while "he was endeavouring +to influence the members to a right course without an open rupture." +There was an undercurrent of discontent drawing him away from the +government. In October, 1850, the <i>Globe</i> contained a series of +articles on the subject. It was pointed out that there were four +parties in the country: the old-time Tories, the opponents of +responsible government, whose members were fast diminishing; the new +party led by John A. Macdonald; the Ministerialists; and the Clear +Grits, who were described as composed of English Radicals, Republicans +and annexationists. The Ministerialists had an overwhelming majority +over all, but were disunited. What was the trouble? The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> ministers +might be a little slow, a little wanting in tact, a little less +democratic than some of their followers. They were not traitors to the +Reform cause, and intemperate attacks on them might be disastrous to +that cause. A union of French-Canadians with Upper Canadian +Conservatives would, it was prophesied, make the Reform party +powerless. Though in later years George Brown became known as the +chief opponent of French-Canadian influence, he was well aware of the +value of the alliance, and he gave the French-Canadians full credit +for their support to measures of reform. "Let the truth be known," +said the <i>Globe</i> at this time, "to the French-Canadians of Lower +Canada are the Reformers of Upper Canada indebted for the sweeping +majorities which carried their best measures." He gave the government +credit for an immense mass of useful legislation enacted in a very +short period. But more remained to be done. The clergy reserves must +be abolished, and all connection between Church and State swept away. +"The party in power has no policy before the country. No one knows +what measures are to be brought forward by the leaders. Each man +fancies a policy for himself. The conductors of the public press must +take ground on all the questions of the day, and each accordingly +strikes out such a line as suits his own leanings, the palates of his +readers, or what he deems for the good of the country. All sorts of +vague schemes are thus thrown on the sea of public opinion to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> agitate +the waters, with the triple result of poisoning the public mind, +producing unnecessary divisions, and committing sections of the party +to views and principles which they might never have contemplated under +a better system."</p> + +<p>For some time the articles in the <i>Globe</i> did not pass the bounds of +friendly, though outspoken, criticism. The events that drew Brown into +opposition were his breach with the Roman Catholic Church, the +campaign in Haldimand in which he was defeated by William Lyon +Mackenzie, the retirement of Baldwin and the accession to power of the +Hincks-Morin administration.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of 1850 there arrived in Canada copies of a pastoral +letter by Cardinal Wiseman, defending the famous papal bull which +divided England into sees of the Roman Catholic Church, and gave +territorial titles to the bishops. Sir E. P. Taché, a member of the +government, showed one of these to Mr. Brown, and jocularly challenged +him to publish it in the <i>Globe</i>. Brown accepted the challenge, +declaring that he would also publish a reply, to be written by +himself. The reply, which will be found in the <i>Globe</i> of December +10th, 1850, is argumentative in tone, and probably would not of itself +have involved Brown in a violent quarrel with the Church. The +following passage was afterwards cited by the <i>Globe</i> as defining its +position: "In offering a few remarks upon Dr. Wiseman's production, we +have no intention to discuss the tenets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of the Roman Catholic Church, +but merely to look at the question in its secular aspect. As advocates +of the voluntary principle we give to every man full liberty to +worship as his conscience dictates, and without penalty, civil or +ecclesiastical, attaching to his exercise thereof. We would allow each +sect to give to its pastors what titles it sees fit, and to prescribe +the extent of spiritual duties; but we would have the State recognize +no ecclesiastical titles or boundaries whatever. The public may, from +courtesy, award what titles they please; but the statute-book should +recognize none. The voluntary principle is the great cure for such +dissensions as now agitate Great Britain."</p> + +<p>The cause of conflict lay outside the bounds of that article. Cardinal +Wiseman's letter and Lord John Russell's reply had thrown England into +a ferment of religious excitement. "Lord John Russell," says Justin +McCarthy, "who had more than any man living been identified with the +principles of religious liberty, who had sat at the feet of Fox and +had for his closest friend the poet, Thomas Moore, came to be regarded +by the Roman Catholics as the bitterest enemy of their creed and their +rights of worship."</p> + +<p>It is evident that this hatred of Russell was carried across the +Atlantic, and that Brown was regarded as his ally. In the Haldimand +election a hand-bill signed, "An Irish Roman Catholic" was circulated. +It assailed Brown fiercely for the support<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> he had given to Russell, +and for the general course of the <i>Globe</i> in regard to Catholic +questions. Russell was described as attempting "to twine again around +the writhing limbs of ten millions of Catholics the chains that our +own O'Connell rescued us from in 1829." A vote for George Brown would +help to rivet these spiritual chains round the souls of Irishmen, and +to crush the religion for which Ireland had wept oceans of blood; +those who voted for Brown would be prostrating themselves like +cowardly slaves or beasts of burden before the avowed enemies of their +country, their religion and their God. "You will think of the gibbets, +the triangles, the lime-pits, the tortures, the hangings of the past. +You will reflect on the struggles of the present against the new penal +bill. You will look forward to the dangers, the triumphs, the hopes of +the future, and then you will go to the polls and vote against George +Brown."</p> + +<p>This was not the only handicap with which Brown entered on his first +election contest. There was no cordial sympathy between him and the +government, yet he was hampered by his connection with the government. +The dissatisfied Radicals rallied to the support of William Lyon +Mackenzie, whose sufferings in exile also made a strong appeal to the +hearts of Reformers, and Mackenzie was elected.</p> + +<p>In his election address Brown declared himself for perfect religious +equality, the separation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> Church and State, and the diversion of +the clergy reserves from denominational to educational purposes. "I am +in favour of national school education free from sectarian teaching, +and available without charge to every child in the province. I desire +to see efficient grammar schools established in each county, and that +the fees of these institutions and of the national university should +be placed on such a scale as will bring a high literary and scientific +education within the reach of men of talent in any rank of life." He +advocated free trade in the fullest sense, expressing the hope that +the revenue from public lands and canals, with strict economy, would +enable Canada "to dispense with the whole customs department."</p> + +<p>Brown's estrangement from the government did not become an open +rupture so long as Baldwin and Lafontaine were at the head of affairs. +In the summer following Brown's defeat in Haldimand, Baldwin resigned +owing to a resolution introduced by William Lyon Mackenzie, for the +abolition of the Court of Chancery. The resolution was defeated, but +obtained the votes of a majority of the Upper Canadian members, and +Mr. Baldwin regarded their action as an indication of want of +confidence in himself. He dropped some expressions, too, which +indicated that he was moved by larger considerations. He was +conservative in his views, and he regarded the Mackenzie vote as a +sign of a flood of radicalism which he felt powerless to stay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +Shortly afterwards Lafontaine retired. He, also, was conservative in +his temperament, and weary of public life. The passing of Baldwin and +Lafontaine from the scene helped to clear the way for Mr. Brown to +take his own course, and it was not long before the open breach +occurred. When Mr. Hincks became premier, Mr. Brown judged that the +time had come for him to speak out. He felt that he must make a fair +start with the new government, and have a clear understanding at the +outset. A new general election was approaching, and he thought that +the issue of separation of Church and State must be clearly placed +before the country. In an article in the <i>Globe</i> entitled "The +Crisis," it was declared that the time for action had come. One +parliament had been lost to the friends of religious equality; they +could not afford to lose another. It was contended that the Upper +Canadian Reformers suffered by their connection with the Lower +Canadian party. Complaint was made that the Hon. E. P. Taché had +advised Roman Catholics to make common cause with Anglicans in +resisting the secularization of the clergy reserves, had described the +advocates of secularization as "pharisaical brawlers," and had said +that the Church of England need not fear their hostility, because the +"contra-balancing power" of the Lower Canadians would be used to +protect the Anglican Church. This, said the <i>Globe</i>, was a challenge +which the friends of religious equality could not refuse. Later on, +Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> Brown wrote a series of letters to Mr. Hincks, setting forth +fully his grounds of complaint against the government: failure to +reform the representation of Upper Canada, slackness in dealing with +the secularization of the clergy reserves, weakness in yielding to the +demand for separate schools. All this he attributed to Roman Catholic +or French-Canadian influence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE CLERGY RESERVES</p> + + +<p>The clergy reserves were for many years a fruitful source of +discontent and agitation in Canada. They had their origin in a +provision of the Constitutional Act of 1791, that there should be +reserved for the maintenance and support of a "Protestant clergy" in +Upper and Lower Canada "a quantity of land equal in value to a seventh +part of grants that had been made in the past or might be made in the +future." It was provided also that rectories might be erected and +endowed according to the establishment of the Church of England. The +legislatures were to be allowed to vary or repeal these enactments, +but such legislation was not to receive the royal assent before it had +been laid before both Houses of the imperial parliament.</p> + +<p>Did the words "Protestant clergy" apply to any other body than the +Church of England? A vast amount of legal learning was expended on +this question; but there can be little doubt that the intention to +establish and endow the Church of England was thoroughly in accord +with the ideas of colonial government prevailing from the conquest to +the end of the eighteenth century. In the instructions to Murray and +other early governors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> there are constant injunctions for the support +of a Protestant clergy and Protestant schools, "to the end that the +Church of England may be established both in principles and +practice."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Governor Simcoe, we are told, attached much importance +to "every establishment of Church and State that upholds a distinction +of ranks and lessens the undue weight of the democratic influence." +"The episcopal system was interwoven and connected with the +monarchical foundations of our government."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In pursuance of this +idea, which was also that of the ruling class in Canada, the country +was to be made as much unlike the United States as possible by the +intrenchment of class and ecclesiastical privileges, and this was the +policy pursued up to the time that responsible government was +obtained. Those outside the dominant caste, in religion as in +politics, were branded as rebels, annexationists, Yankees, +republicans. And as this dominant caste, until the arrival of Lord +Elgin, had the ear of the authorities at home, it is altogether likely +that the Act of 1791 was framed in accordance with their views.</p> + +<p>The law was unjust, improvident, and altogether unsuited to the +circumstances of the colony. Lord Durham estimated that the members +and adherents of the Church of England, allowing its largest claim, +were not more than one-third, probably not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> more than one-fourth, of +the population of Upper Canada. Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman +Catholics, each claimed a larger membership. He declared that the +sanction given to the exclusive claims of the Church of England by Sir +John Colborne's establishment of fifty-seven rectories, was, in the +opinion of many persons, the chief pre-disposing cause of the +rebellion, and it was an abiding and unabated cause of discontent.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Not only was the spirit of the colony opposed to the establishment and +domination of any Church, but settlement was retarded and the +hardships of the settler increased by the locking up of enormous +tracts of land. In addition to the clergy reserves, grants were made +to officials, to militia men, to the children of United Empire +Loyalists and others, in the hope that these persons would settle on +the land. Many of these fell into the hands of speculators and +jobbers, who bought farms of two hundred acres for prices ranging from +a gallon of rum to £5. "The greater part of these grants," said Mr. +Hawke, a government official whose evidence is given in the appendix +to Durham's Report, "remain in an unimproved state. These blocks of +wild land place the actual settler in an almost hopeless condition; he +can hardly expect during his lifetime to see his neighbourhood contain +a population sufficiently dense to support mills, schools, +post-offices,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> places of worship, markets or shops, without which +civilization retrogrades. Roads, under such circumstances, can neither +be opened by the settlers nor kept in proper repair. In 1834 I met a +settler from the township of Warwick, on the Caradoc Plains, returning +from the grist mill at Westminster, with the flour and bran of +thirteen bushels of wheat. He had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached +to his wagon, and had been absent nine days and did not expect to +reach home until the following evening. Light as his load was, he +assured me that he had to unload, wholly or in part, several times, +and after driving his wagon through the swamps, to pick out a road +through the woods where the swamps or gullies were fordable, and to +carry the bags on his back and replace them in the wagon."</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary here to discuss differences of opinion as to the +interpretation of the law, attempts to divide the endowment among +various denominations, or other efforts at compromise. The radical +wing of the Reform party demanded that the special provision for the +support of the Church of England should be abolished, and a system of +free popular education established. With this part of their platform +Brown was heartily in accord; on this point he agreed with the Clear +Grits that the Baldwin-Lafontaine government was moving too slowly, +and when Baldwin was succeeded by Hincks in 1851, the restraining +influence of his respect for Baldwin being removed, his discontent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>was converted into open and determined opposition.</p> + +<p>Largely by the influence of Brown and the <i>Globe</i>, public opinion in +1851 was aroused to a high degree, and meetings were held to advocate +the secularization of the clergy reserves. The friends of the old +order were singularly unfortunate in their mode of expressing their +opinions. Opposition to responsible government was signalized by the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing of Lord Elgin in +Montreal. Opposition to religious equality was signalized by the +mobbing of an orderly assembly in Toronto. One meeting of the +opponents of the clergy reserves was broken up by these means, and a +second meeting was attacked by a mob with such violence as to +necessitate the calling out of a company of British soldiers. This +meeting was held in St. Lawrence Hall, over the city market bearing +that name. Mr. Brown was chosen to move a resolution denouncing State +endowments of religion, and did so in a speech of earnestness and +argumentative power. He compared the results of Church establishments +with those of voluntary effort in England, in Scotland, in France, and +in Canada, and denounced "State-churchism" as the author of pride, +intolerance and spiritual coldness. "When," he said, "I read the +history of the human race, and trace the dark record of wars and +carnage, of tyranny, robbery and injustice in every shape, which have +been the fruits of State-churchism in every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> age; when I observe the +degenerating effect which it has ever had on the purity and simplicity +of the Gospel of Christ, turning men's minds from its great truths, as +a religion of the heart, to the mere outward tinsel, to the forms and +ceremonies on which priestcraft flourishes; when I see that at all +times it has been made the instrument of the rich and powerful in +oppressing the poor and weak, I cannot but reject it utterly as in +direct hostility to the whole spirit of the Gospel, to that glorious +system which teaches men to set not their hearts on this world, and to +walk humbly before God." He held that it was utterly impossible for +the State to teach religious truth. "There is no standard for truth. +We cannot even agree on the meaning of words." Setting aside the +injustice of forcing men to pay money for the support of what they +deemed religious error, it was "most dangerous to admit that the +magistrate is to decide for God—for that is the plain meaning of the +establishment principle. Once admit that principle, and no curb can be +set upon its operation. Who shall restrict what God has appointed? And +thus the extent to which the conscience of men may be constrained, or +persecution for truth's sake may be carried, depends entirely on the +ignorance or enlightenment of the civil magistrate. There is no safety +out of the principle that religion is a matter entirely between man +and his God, and that the whole duty of the magistrate is to secure +every one in the peaceful observance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> of it. Anything else leads to +oppression and injustice, but this can never lead to either."</p> + +<p>A notable part of the speech was a defence of free, non-sectarian +education. "I can conceive," he said, "nothing more unprincipled than +a scheme to array the youth of the province in sectarian bands—to +teach them, from the cradle up, to know each other as Methodist boys, +and Presbyterian boys, and Episcopal boys. Surely, surely, we have +enough of this most wretched sectarianism in our churches without +carrying it further."</p> + +<p>To protect themselves from interruption, the advocates of +secularization had taken advantage of a law which allowed them to +declare their meeting as private, and exclude disturbers. Their +opponents held another meeting in the adjoining market-place where by +resolution they expressed indignation at the repeated attempts of "a +Godless association" to stir up religious strife, and declared that +the purposes of the association, if carried out, would bring about not +only the severance of British connection, but socialism, +republicanism, and infidelity. The horrified listeners were told how +Rousseau and Voltaire had corrupted France, how religion was +overthrown and the naked Goddess of Reason set up as an object of +worship. They were told that the clergy reserves were a gift to the +nation from "our good King George the Third." Abolish them and the +British flag would refuse to float over anarchy and confusion. +Finally, they were assured that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> they could thrash the St. Lawrence +Hall audience in a stand-up fight, but were nevertheless advised to go +quietly home. This advice was apparently accepted in the spirit of the +admonition: "Don't nail his ears to the pump," for the crowd +immediately marched to St. Lawrence Hall, cheering, groaning, and +shouting. They were met by the mayor, two aldermen, and the chief +constable, and told that they could not be admitted. Stones and bricks +were thrown through the windows of the hall. The Riot Act was read by +an alderman, and the British regiment then quartered in the town, the +71st, was sent for. There was considerable delay in bringing the +troops, and in the meantime there was great disorder; persons leaving +the hall were assaulted, and the mayor was struck in the face with a +stone and severely cut. A company of the 71st arrived at midnight, +after which the violence of the mob abated.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>The steps leading up to the settlement of the question may be briefly +referred to. In 1850 the Canadian parliament had asked for power to +dispose of the reserves, with the understanding that emoluments +derived by existing incumbents should be guaranteed during their +lives. The address having been forwarded to England, Lord John Russell +informed the governor-general that a bill would be introduced in +compliance with the wish of the Canadian parliament. But in 1852 the +Russell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> government resigned, and was succeeded by that of the Earl of +Derby. Derby (Lord Stanley) had been colonial secretary in the Peel +government, which had shown a strong bias against Canadian +self-government. Sir John Pakington declared that the advisers of Her +Majesty were not inclined to aid in the diversion to other purposes of +the only public fund for the support of divine worship and religious +instruction in Canada, though they would entertain proposals for new +dispositions of the fund. Hincks, who was then in England, protested +vigorously against the disregard of the wishes of the Canadian people. +When the legislature assembled in 1852, it carried, at his instance, +an address to the Crown strongly upholding the Canadian demand. Brown +contended that the language was too strong and the action too weak. He +made a counter proposal, which found little support, that the Canadian +parliament itself enact a measure providing for the sale of the clergy +lands to actual settlers, and the appropriation of the funds for the +maintenance of common schools.</p> + +<p>With the fall of the Derby administration in England, ended the +opposition from that source to the Canadian demands. But Hincks, who +had firmly vindicated the right of the Canadian parliament to +legislate on the matter, now hesitated to use the power placed in his +hands, and declared that legislation should be deferred until a new +parliament had been chosen. The result was that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> work of framing +the measure of settlement fell into the hands of John A. Macdonald, +the rising star of the Conservative party. The fund, after provision +had been made for the vested rights of incumbents, was turned over to +the municipalities.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Instructions to Governor Murray, <i>Canadian Archives of +1904</i>, p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Professor Shortt in the <i>Canadian Magazine</i>, September, +1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Durham's <i>Report on the Affairs of British North +America</i>. Methuen's reprint, pp. 125, 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The <i>Globe</i>, July, 1851.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT</p> + + +<p>In the autumn of 1851 parliament was dissolved, and in September Mr. +Brown received a requisition from the Reformers of Kent to stand as +their candidate, one of the signatures being that of Alexander +Mackenzie, afterwards premier of Canada. In accepting the nomination +he said that he anticipated that he would be attacked as an enemy of +the Roman Catholic Church; that he cordially adhered to the principles +of the Protestant reformation; that he objected to the Roman Catholic +Church trenching on the civil rights of the community, but that he +would be ashamed to advocate any principle or measure which would +restrict the liberty of any man, or deprive him on account of his +faith of any right or advantage enjoyed by his fellow-subjects. In his +election address he advocated religious equality, the entire +separation of Church and State, the secularization of the clergy +reserves, the proceeds to go to national schools, which were thus to +be made free. He advocated, also, the building of a railway from +Quebec to Windsor and Sarnia, the improvement of the canals and +waterways, reciprocity with the Maritime Provinces and the United +States, a commission for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> reform of law procedure, the extension +of the franchise and the reform of representation. Representation by +population afterwards came to be the watchword of those who demanded +that Upper Canada should have a larger representation than Lower +Canada; but as yet this question had not arisen definitely. The +population of Upper Canada was nearly doubled between 1842 and 1851, +but it did not appear until 1852 that it had passed the lower province +in population.</p> + +<p>The advocacy of free schools was an important part of the platform. +During the month of January, 1852, the <i>Globe</i> contained frequent +articles, reports of public meetings, and letters on the subject. It +was contended by some of the opponents of free schools that the poor +could obtain free education by pleading their poverty; but the <i>Globe</i> +replied that education should not be a matter of charity, but should +be regarded as a right, like the use of pavements. The matter was made +an issue in the election of school trustees in several places, and in +the Toronto election the advocates of free schools were successful.</p> + +<p>It will be convenient to note here that Brown's views on higher +education corresponded with his views on public schools. In each case +he opposed sectarian control, on the ground that it would dissipate +the energies of the people, and divide among half a dozen sects the +money which might maintain one efficient system. These views were +fully set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> forth in a speech made on February 25th, 1853, upon a bill +introduced by Mr. Hincks to amend the law relating to the University +of Toronto. Brown denounced the measure as a surrender to the +sectaries. There were two distinct ideas, he said, in regard to higher +education in Upper Canada. One was that a university must be connected +with a Church and under the management of the clergy, without whose +control infidelity would prevail. The Reform party, led by Mr. Baldwin +and Mr. Hincks, had denounced these views as the mere clap-trap of +priestcraft. They held that there should be one great literary and +scientific institution, to which all Canadians might resort on equal +terms. This position was founded, not on contempt for religion, but on +respect for religion, liberty, and conscience. "To no one principle +does the Liberal party owe so many triumphs as to that of +non-sectarian university education." Until 1843 Anglican control +prevailed; then various unsuccessful efforts at compromise were made, +and finally, in 1849, after twenty years of agitation, the desire of +the Liberal party was fulfilled, and a noble institute of learning +established. This act alone would have entitled Robert Baldwin to the +lasting gratitude of his countrymen.</p> + +<p>Continuing, Brown said that the Hincks bill was reactionary—that the +original draft even contained a reference to the godless character of +the institution—that the plan would fritter away the endowment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> by +dividing it among sects and among localities. He opposed the abolition +of the faculties of law and medicine. Rightly directed, the study of +law was ennobling, and jurists should receive an education which would +give them broad and generous views of the principles of justice. The +endowment of the university ought to be sufficient to attract eminent +teachers, and to encourage students by scholarships. "We are laying +the foundations of a great political and social system. Our vote +to-day may deeply affect, for good or evil, the future of the country. +I adjure the House to pause ere destroying an institution which may +one day be among the chief glories of a great and wise people."</p> + +<p>Brown was elected by a good majority. The general result of the +election was favourable to the Hincks-Morin administration. A large +part of the interval between the election and the first session of the +new parliament was spent by Mr. Hincks in England, where he made some +progress in the settlement of the clergy reserve question, and where +he also made arrangements for the building of the Grand Trunk Railway +from Montreal westward through Upper Canada. Negotiations for the +building of the Intercolonial Railway, connecting Lower Canada with +the Maritime Provinces, fell through, and the enterprise was delayed +for some years.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of some importance that the first parliament in which +Mr. Brown took part was held<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> in the city of Quebec. He had entered on +a course which made Catholics and French-Canadians regard him as their +enemy, and in Quebec French and Catholic influence was dominant. Brown +felt keenly the hostility of his surroundings, and there are frequent +references in his speeches and in the correspondence of the <i>Globe</i> to +the unfriendly faces in the gallery of the chamber, and to the social +power exercised by the Church. "Nothing," says the Hon. James Young, +"could exceed the courage and eloquence with which Brown stood up +night after night, demanding justice for Upper Canada in the face of a +hostile majority on the floor of the chamber and still more hostile +auditors in the galleries above. So high, indeed, did public feeling +run on some occasions that fears were entertained for his personal +safety, and his friends occasionally insisted after late and exciting +debates, lasting often till long after midnight, on accompanying +him."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Mr. Young adds that these fears were not shared by Mr. Brown, +and that they proved to be groundless. Mr. Brown, in fact, did not +regard the Quebec influence as a personal grievance, but he argued +that on public grounds the legislature ought not to meet in a city +where freedom of speech might be impaired by local sentiment. That he +harboured no malice was very finely shown when parliament met four +years afterwards in Toronto. He had just concluded a powerful speech. +The galleries were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> crowded, this time with a friendly audience, which +at length broke into applause. Brown checked the demonstration. "I +have addressed none," he said, "but members of this House, and trust +that members from Lower Canada will not be overawed by any +manifestation of feeling in this chamber. I shall be ready on all +occasions to discourage it. In Lower Canada I stood almost alone in +supporting my views, and I well know how painful these manifestations +are to a stranger in a strange place. I do sincerely trust that +gentlemen of French origin will feel as free to speak here as if they +were in Quebec."</p> + +<p>Brown made his maiden speech during the debate on the address. It is +described in a contemporary account as "a terrible onslaught on the +government." An idea of violence conveyed in this and other comments +would appear to have been derived from the extreme energy of Brown's +gestures. The printed report of the speech does not give that +impression. Though severe, it was in the main historical and +argumentative. It contained a review of the political history of +Canada from the time of the rupture between Metcalfe and his +ministers, up to the time when the principle of responsible government +was conceded. Brown argued that Reformers were bound to stand by that +principle, and to accept all its obligations. In his judgment it was +essential to the right working of responsible government that parties +should declare<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> their principles clearly and stand or fall by them. If +they held one set of principles out of office and another set in +office they would reduce responsible government to a farce. He +acknowledged the services which Hincks and Morin had rendered in +fighting for responsible government; but he charged them with +betraying that principle by their own conduct in office. Two systems +of government, he said, were being tested on this continent. The +American system contained checks and balances. The British system +could be carried on only by the observance of certain unwritten laws, +and especially a strict good faith and adherence to principle. Brown, +as a party man, adhered firmly to Burke's definition of party: "A body +of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national +interest, upon some particular principle on which they are all +agreed." Office-holding, with him, was a minor consideration. "There +is no theory in the principle of responsible government more vital to +its right working than that parties shall take their stand on the +prominent questions of the day, and mount to office or resign it +through the success or failure of principles to which they are +attached. This is the great safeguard for the public against clap-trap +professions."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Young's <i>Public Men and Public Life in Canada</i>, p. 83.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE</p> + + +<p>The condition of parties in the legislature was peculiar. The most +formidable antagonist of the Reform government was the man who was +rapidly rising to the leadership of the Reform party. The old Tory +party was dead, and its leader, Sir Allan MacNab, was almost inactive. +Macdonald, who was to re-organize and lead the new Conservative party, +was playing a waiting game, taking advantage of Brown's tremendous +blows at the ministry, and for the time being satisfied with a less +prominent part in the conflict. Brown rapidly rose to a commanding +position in the assembly. He did this without any <i>finesse</i> or skill +in the management of men, with scarcely any assistance, and almost +entirely by his own energy and force of conviction. His industry and +capacity for work were prodigious. He spoke frequently, and on a wide +range of subjects requiring careful study and mastery of facts. In the +divisions he obtained little support. He had antagonized the +French-Canadians, the Clear Grits of Upper Canada were for the time +determined to stand by the government, and his views were usually not +such as the Conservatives could endorse, although they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> occasionally +followed him in order to embarrass the government.</p> + +<p>Brown's course in parliament, however, was pointing to a far more +important result than changes in the personnel of office-holders. +Hincks once told him that the logical conclusion of that course was +the dissolution of the union. There was a measure of truth in this. If +he had said dissolution or modification, he would have been absolutely +right. Between the ideas of Upper Canada and Lower Canada there was a +difference so great that a legislative union was foredoomed to +failure, and separation could be avoided only by a federation which +allowed each community to take its own way. Brown did not create these +difficulties, but he emphasized them, and so forced and hastened the +application of the remedy. Up to the time of his entering parliament, +his policy had related mainly to Upper Canada. In parliament, however, +a mass of legislation emanating from Lower Canada aroused his strong +opposition. In the main it was ecclesiastical legislation +incorporating Roman Catholic institutions, giving them power to hold +lands, to control education, and otherwise to strengthen the authority +of the Church over the people. It is not necessary to discuss these +measures in detail. The object is to arrive at Brown's point of view, +and it was this: That the seat of government was a Catholic city, and +that legislation and administration were largely controlled by the +French-Canadian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> priesthood. He complained that Upper Canada was +unfairly treated in regard to legislation and expenditure; that its +public opinion was disregarded, and that it was not fairly +represented. The question of representation steadily assumed more +importance in his mind, and he finally came to the conclusion that +representation by population was the true remedy for all the +grievances of which he complained. Lower Canada, being now numerically +the weaker, naturally clung to the system which gave it equality of +representation.</p> + +<p>In all these matters the breach between George Brown and the Lower +Canadian representatives was widening, while he was becoming more and +more the voice of Upper Canadian opinion. When, in the intervals +between parliamentary sessions, he visited various places in Upper +Canada, he found himself the most popular man in the community. He +addressed great public meetings. Banquets were given in his honour. +The prominent part taken by ministers of the Gospel at these +gatherings illustrates at once the weakness and the strength of his +position. He satisfied the "Nonconformist conscience" of Upper Canada +by his advocacy not only of religious equality but of the prohibition +of the liquor traffic and of the cessation of Sunday labour by public +servants. But this very attitude made it difficult for him to work +with any political party in Lower Canada.</p> + +<p>In 1853 there was a remarkable article in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Cobourg <i>Star</i>, a +Conservative journal, illustrating the hold which Brown had obtained +upon Upper Canadian sentiment. This attitude was called forth by a +banquet given to Brown by the Reformers of the neighbourhood. It +expressed regret that the honour was given on party grounds. "Had it +been given on the ground of his services to Protestantism, it would +have brought out every Orangeman in the country. Conservatives +disagreed with Brown about the clergy reserves, but if the reserves +must be secularized, every Conservative in Canada would join Brown in +his crusade against Roman Catholic endowments." Then follows this +estimate of Brown's character: "In George Brown we see no agitator or +demagogue, but the strivings of common sense, a sober will to attain +the useful, the practical and the needful. He has patient courage, +stubborn endurance, and obstinate resistance, and desperate daring in +attacking what he believes to be wrong and in defending what he +believes to be right. There is no cant or parade or tinsel or +clap-trap about him. He takes his stand against open, palpable, +tangible wrongs, against the tyranny which violates men's roofs, and +the intolerance which vexes their consciences. True, he is wrong on +the reserves question, but then he is honest, we know where to find +him. He does not, like some of our Reformers, give us to understand +that he will support us and then turn his back. He does not slip the +word of promise to the ear and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> break it to the lips. Leaving the +reserves out of the question, George Brown is eminently conservative +in his spirit. His leading principle, as all his writings will show, +is to reconcile progress with preservation, change with stability, the +alteration of incidents with the maintenance of essentials. Change, +for the sake of change, agitation for vanity, for applause or +mischief, he has contemptuously repudiated. He is not like the Clear +Grit, a republican of the first water, but on the contrary looks to +the connection with the mother country, not as fable or unreality or +fleeting vision, but as alike our interest and our duty, as that which +should ever be our beacon, our guide and our goal."</p> + +<p>In 1853 the relative strength of Brown and the ministers was tested in +a series of demonstrations held throughout Canada. The Hon. James +Young gives a vivid description of Brown as he appeared at a banquet +given in his honour at Galt: "He was a striking figure. Standing fully +six feet two inches high, with a well-proportioned body, well balanced +head and handsome face, his appearance not only indicated much mental +and physical strength, but conveyed in a marked manner an impression +of youthfulness and candour. These impressions deepened as his address +proceeded, and his features grew animated and were lighted up by his +fine expressive eyes." His voice was strong and soft, with a +well-marked Edinburgh accent. His appearance surprised the people who +had expected to see an older<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and sterner-looking man. His first +remarks were disappointing; as was usual with him he stammered and +hesitated until he warmed to his subject, when he spoke with such an +array of facts and figures, such earnestness and enthusiasm, that he +easily held the audience for three hours.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>On October 1st, 1853, the <i>Globe</i> was first issued as a daily. It was +then stated that the paper was first published as a weekly paper with +a circulation of three hundred. On November 1st, 1846, it was +published twice a week with a circulation of two thousand, which rose +to a figure between three thousand and four thousand. In July, 1849, +it was issued three times a week. When the daily paper was first +published the circulation was six thousand. To anticipate a little, it +may be said that in 1855 the <i>Globe</i> absorbed the <i>North American</i> and +the <i>Examiner</i>, and the combined circulation was said to be sixteen +thousand four hundred and thirty-six. The first daily paper contained +a declaration of principles, including the entire separation of Church +and State, the abolition of the clergy reserves and the restoration of +the lands to the public, cessation of grants of public money for +sectarian purposes, the abolition of tithes and other compulsory +taxation for ecclesiastical purposes, and restraint on land-holding by +ecclesiastical corporations.</p> + +<p>An extract from this statement of policy may be given:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>"Representation by population. Justice for Upper Canada! While Upper +Canada has a larger population by one hundred and fifty thousand than +Lower Canada, and contributes more than double the amount of taxation +to the general revenue, Lower Canada has an equal number of +representatives in parliament.</p> + +<p>"National education.—Common school, grammar school, and collegiate +free from sectarianism and open to all on equal terms. Earnest war +will be waged with the separate school system, which has unfortunately +obtained a footing.</p> + +<p>"A prohibitory liquor law.—Any measure which will alleviate the +frightful evils of intemperance."</p> + +<p>The inclusion of prohibition on this platform was the natural result +of the drinking habits of that day. In a pamphlet issued by the Canada +Company for the information of intending immigrants, whiskey was +described as "a cheap and wholesome beverage." Its cheapness and +abundance caused it to be used in somewhat the same way as the "small +beer" of England, and it was a common practice to order a jug from the +grocer along with the food supply of the family. When a motion +favouring prohibition was introduced in the Canadian parliament there +were frequent references to the convivial habits of the members. The +seconder of the motion was greeted with loud laughter. He +good-naturedly said that he was well aware of the cause of hilarity, +but that he was ready to sacrifice his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> pleasure to the general good. +Sir Allan MacNab, the leader of the Opposition, moved a farcical +amendment, under which every member was to sign a pledge of +abstinence, and to be disqualified if he broke it. Brown made an +earnest speech in favour of the motion, in which he remarked that +Canada then contained nine hundred and thirty-one whiskey shops, +fifty-eight steamboat bars, three thousand four hundred and thirty +taverns, one hundred and thirty breweries, and one hundred and +thirty-five distilleries.</p> + +<p>The marked diminution of intemperance in the last fifty years may be +attributed in part to restrictive laws, and in part to the work of the +temperance societies, which rivalled the taverns in social +attractions, and were effective agents of moral suasion.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Young, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 58, 59.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES</p> + + +<p>In June, 1854, the Hincks-Morin government was defeated in the +legislature on a vote of censure for delay in dealing with the +question of the clergy reserves. A combination of Tories and Radicals +deprived Hincks of all but five of his Upper Canadian supporters. +Parliament was immediately dissolved, and the ensuing election was a +<i>mêlée</i> in which Hincks Reformers, Brown Reformers, Tories and Clear +Grits were mingled in confusion. Brown was returned for Lambton, where +he defeated the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, postmaster-general under Hincks. +The Reform party was in a large majority in the new legislature, and +if united could have controlled it with ease. But the internal quarrel +was irreconcilable. Hincks was defeated by a combination of Tories and +dissatisfied Reformers, and a general reconstruction of parties +followed. Sir Allan MacNab, as leader of the Conservative opposition, +formed an alliance with the French-Canadian members of the Hincks +government and with some of its Upper Canadian supporters. Hincks +retired, but gave his support to the new combination, "being of +opinion that the combination of parties by which the new government +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>was supported presented the only solution of the difficulties caused +by a coalition of parties holding no sentiments in common, a coalition +which rarely takes place in England. I deemed it my duty to give my +support to that government during the short period that I continued in +public life."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Whether the MacNab-Morin government was a true coalition or a Tory +combination under that name was a question fiercely debated at that +time. It certainly did not stand for the Toryism that had resisted +responsible government, the secularization of the clergy reserves, and +the participation of French-Canadians in the government of the +country. It had at first some of the elements of a coalition, but it +gradually came to represent Conservatism and the personal ascendency +of John A. Macdonald. Robert Baldwin, from his retirement, gave his +approval to the combination, and hence arose the "Baldwin Reformer," +blessed as a convert by one party, and cursed as a renegade by the +other.</p> + +<p>Reconstruction on one side was followed by reconstruction on the +other. Upper Canadian Reformers rallied round Brown, and an alliance +was formed with the Quebec Rouges. This was a natural alliance of +radical Reformers in both provinces. Some light is thrown on it by an +article published in the <i>Globe</i> in 1855. The writer said that in +1849, some young men of Montreal, fresh from the schools and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> filled +to the brim with the Republican opinions which had spread from France +throughout all Europe, formed associations and established newspapers +advocating extreme political views. They declaimed in favour of +liberty and against priestcraft and tyranny with all the ardour and +freshness of youth. Their talents and the evident purity and sincerity +of their motives made a strong impression on their countrymen, +contrasting as they did with the selfishness and mediocrity of other +French-Canadian leaders, and the result was that the Rouge party was +growing in strength both in the House and in the country. With the +growth of strength there had come a growing sense of responsibility, +greater moderation and prudence. In the legislature, at least, the +Rouges had not expressed a single sentiment on general policy to which +a British constitutional Reformer might not assent. They were the true +allies of the Upper Canadian Reformers, and in fact the only Liberals +among the French-Canadians. They had Reform principles, they +maintained a high standard of political morality. They stood for the +advance of education and for liberty of speech. They were the hope of +Canada, and their attitude gave promise that a brighter day was about +to dawn on the political horizon.</p> + +<p>It was unreasonable to expect that the Liberals could continue to +receive that solid support from Lower Canada which they had received +in the days of the Baldwin-Lafontaine alliance. In those days the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +issue was whether French-Canadians should be allowed to take part in +the government of the country, or should be excluded as rebels. The +Reformers championed their cause and received the solid support of the +French-Canadian people. But when once the principle for which they +contested was conceded, it was perceived that Lower Canada, like Upper +Canada, had its Conservative element, and party lines were formed. Mr. +Brown held that there could be no lasting alliance between Upper +Canadian Reformers and Lower Canadian Conservatives, and especially +with those Lower Canadians who defended the power and privileges of +the Church. He was perfectly willing that electors holding these views +should go to the Conservative party, which was their proper place. The +Rouges could not bring to the Liberal party the numerical strength of +the supporters of Lafontaine, but as they really held Liberal +principles, the alliance was solidly based and was more likely to +endure.</p> + +<p>The leader of the Rouges was A. A. Dorion, a distinguished advocate, +and a man of culture, refinement and eloquence. He was Brown's +desk-mate, and while in physique and manner the two were strongly +contrasted, they were drawn together by the chivalry and devotion to +principle which characterized both, and they formed a strong +friendship. "For four years," said Mr. Brown, in a public address, "I +acted with him in the ranks of the Opposition, learned to value most +highly the uprightness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> of his character, the liberality of his +opinions, and the firmness of his convictions. On most questions of +public general policy we heartily agreed, and regularly voted +together; on the questions that divided all Upper Canadians and all +Lower Canadians alone we differed, and on these we had held many +earnest consultations from year to year with a view to their removal, +without arriving at the conviction that when we had the opportunity we +could find the mode." Their habit was not to attempt to conceal these +sectional differences, but to recognize them frankly with a view to +finding the remedy. It was rarely that either presented a resolution +to the House without asking the advice of the other. They knew each +other's views perfectly, and on many questions, especially of commerce +and finance, they were in perfect accord.</p> + +<p>By this process of evolution Liberals and Conservatives were restored +to their proper and historic places, and the way was cleared for new +issues. These issues arose out of the ill-advised attempt to join +Upper and Lower Canada in a legislative union. A large part of the +history of this period is the history of an attempt to escape the +consequences of that blunder. This was the reason why every ministry +had its double name—the Lafontaine-Baldwin, the Hincks-Morin, the +Taché-Macdonald, the Brown-Dorion, the Macdonald-Sicotte. This was the +reason why every ministry had its attorney-general east for Lower +Canada and its attorney-general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> west for Upper Canada. In his speech +on confederation Sir John Macdonald said that although the union was +legislative in name, it was federal in fact—that in matters affecting +Upper Canada alone, Upper Canadian members claimed and usually +exercised, exclusive power, and so with Lower Canada. The consolidated +statutes of Canada and the consolidated statutes of Upper Canada must +be sought in separate volumes. The practice of legislating for one +province alone was not confined to local or private matters. For +instance, as the two communities had widely different ideas as to +Sabbath observance, the stricter law was enacted for Upper Canada +alone. Hence also arose the theory of the double majority—that a +ministry must, for the support of its general policy, have a majority +from each province.</p> + +<p>But all these shifts and devices could not stay the agitation for a +radical remedy. Some Reformers proposed to dissolve the union. Brown +believed that the difficulty would be solved by representation by +population, concerning which a word of explanation is necessary. When +the provinces were united in 1841, the population of Lower Canada +exceeded that of Upper Canada in the proportion of three to two. "If," +said Lord Durham, "the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated +at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada at +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four hundred and +fifty thousand, the union of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> two provinces would not only give a +clear English majority, but one which would be increased every year by +the influence of English emigration, and I have little doubt that the +French, when once placed by the legitimate course of events in a +minority, would abandon their vain hopes of nationality." But he added +that he was averse to every plan that had been proposed for giving an +equal number of members to the two provinces. The object could be +attained without any violation of the principles of representation, +such as would antagonize public opinion, and "when emigration shall +have increased the English population of the Upper Province, the +adoption of such a principle would operate to defeat the very purpose +it is intended to serve. It appears to me that any such electoral +arrangement, founded on the present provincial divisions, would tend +to defeat the purpose of union and perpetuate the idea of disunion."</p> + +<p>Counsels less wise and just prevailed, and the united province was +"gerrymandered" against Lord Durham's protest. Lower Canada complained +of the injustice, and with good reason. In the course of time Lord +Durham's prediction was fulfilled; by immigration the population of +Upper Canada overtook and passed that of Lower Canada. The census of +1852 gave Upper Canada a population of nine hundred and fifty-two +thousand, and Lower Canada a population of eight hundred and ninety +thousand two hundred and sixty-one. Brown began to press<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> for +representation by population. He was met by two objections. It was +argued on behalf of the French-Canadians that they had submitted to +the injustice while they had the larger population, and that the Upper +Canadians ought to follow their example. Mr. Brown admitted the force +of this argument, but he met it by showing that the Lower Canadians +had been under-represented for eight years, and that by the time the +new representation went into force, the Upper Canadians would have +suffered injustice for about an equal term, so that a balance might be +struck. A more formidable objection was raised by Mr. Hincks, who said +that the union was in the nature of a compact between two nations +having widely different institutions; that the basis of the compact +was equal representation, and that Brown's proposition would destroy +that basis. Cartier said that representation by population could not +be had without repeal of the union. The French-Canadians were afraid +that they would be swamped, and would be obliged to accept the laws +and institutions of the majority.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to deny the force of these objections. In 1841 Lower +Canada had been compelled to join a union in which the voting power of +Upper Canada was arbitrarily increased. If this was due to distrust, +to fear of "French domination," French-Canadians could not be blamed +for showing an equal distrust of English domination, and for refusing +to give up the barrier which, as they believed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> protected their +peculiar institutions. Ultimately the solution was found in the +application of the federal system, giving unity in matters requiring +common action, and freedom to differ in matters of local concern. +Towards this solution events were tending, and the importance of +Brown's agitation for representation by population, which gained +immense force in Upper Canada, lies in its relation to the larger plan +of confederation.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Hincks's <i>Political History of Canada</i>, p. 80.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">SOME PERSONAL POLITICS</p> + + +<p>After the burning of the parliament buildings in Montreal the seat of +government oscillated between Quebec and Toronto. Toronto's turn came +in the session of 1856. Macdonald was now the virtual, and was on the +point of becoming the titular, leader of the party. Brown was equally +conspicuous on the other side. During the debate on the address he was +the central figure in a fierce struggle, and some one with a turn for +statistics said that his name was mentioned three hundred and +seventy-two times. The air was stimulating, and Brown's contribution +to the debate was not of a character to turn away wrath.</p> + +<p>Smarting under Brown's attack, Macdonald suddenly gave a new turn to +the debate. He charged that Brown, while acting as a member and +secretary of a commission appointed by the Lafontaine-Baldwin +government to inquire into the condition of the provincial +penitentiary, had falsified testimony, suborned convicts to commit +perjury, and obtained the pardon of murderers to induce them to give +false evidence. Though the assembly had by this time become accustomed +to hard hitting, this outbreak created a sensation. Brown gave an +indignant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> denial to the charges, and announced that he would move for +a committee of inquiry. He was angrily interrupted by the +solicitor-general, who flung the lie across the House. The +solicitor-general was a son of the warden of the penitentiary who had +been dismissed in consequence of the report of the commission. +Macdonald was a strong personal friend of the warden, and had +attempted some years before to bring his case before the assembly. +Brown promptly moved for the committee, and it was not long before he +presented that tribunal with a dramatic surprise. It was supposed that +the report of the penitentiary committee had been burned, and the +attack on Brown was made upon that supposition. When Mr. Brown was +called as a witness, however, he produced the original report with all +the evidence, and declared that it had never been out of his +possession "for one hour." The effect of this disclosure on his +assailants is shown in a letter addressed to the committee by +VanKoughnet, Macdonald's counsel: "Mr. Macdonald," he said, "had been +getting up his case on the assumption and belief that these minutes +had been destroyed and could not be procured, and much of the labour +he had been allowed to go to by Mr. Brown for that purpose would now +be thrown away; the whole manner of giving evidence, etc., would now +be altered."</p> + +<p>The graver charges of subornation of perjury etc., were abandoned, and +Macdonald's friends confined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> themselves to an attempt to prove that +the inquiry had been unfairly conducted, that the warden had been +harshly treated, and the testimony not fairly reported. It was a +political committee with a Conservative majority, and the majority, +giving up all hope of injuring Brown, bent its energies to saving +Macdonald from the consequences of his reckless violence. The Liberal +members asked for a complete exoneration of Mr. Brown. A supporter of +the government was willing to exonerate Brown if Macdonald were +allowed to escape without censure. A majority of the committee, +however, took refuge in a rambling deliverance, which was sharply +attacked in the legislature. Sir Allan MacNab bluntly declared that +the charge had been completely disproved, and that the committee ought +to have had the manliness to say so. Drummond, a member of the +government, also said that the attack had failed. The accusers were +willing to allow the matter to drop, and as a matter of fact the +report was never put to a vote. But Mr. Brown would not allow them to +escape so easily. Near the close of the session he made a speech which +gave a new character to the discussion. Up to this time it had been a +personal question between Brown and his assailants. Brown dealt with +this aspect of the matter briefly but forcibly. He declared that not +only his conduct but the character of the other commissioners was +fully vindicated, and that a conspiracy to drive him from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> public life +had signally failed. Conservative members had met him and admitted +that there was no truth in the charges, but had pleaded that they must +go with the party. Members had actually been asked to "pair" off on +the question of upholding or destroying his character, before they had +heard his defence.</p> + +<p>From these personal matters he returned to the abuses that had been +discovered by the commission. A terrible story of neglect and cruelty +was told. These charges did not rest on the testimony of prisoners. +They were sustained by the evidence of officers and by the records of +the institution. "If," said the speaker, "every word of the witnesses +called by the commissioners were struck out, and the case left to rest +on the testimony of the warden's own witnesses and the official +records of the prison, there would be sufficient to establish the +blackest record of wickedness that ever disgraced a civilized +country." Amid applause, expressions of amazement and cries of +"Shame!" from the galleries, Brown told of the abuses laid bare by the +prison commission. He told of prisoners fed with rotten meal and bread +infested with maggots; of children beaten with cat and rawhide for +childish faults; of a coffin-shaped box in which men and even women +were made to stand or rather crouch, their limbs cramped, and their +lungs scantily supplied with air from a few holes. Brown's speech +virtually closed the case, although Macdonald strove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> to prove that +the accounts of outrages were exaggerated, that the warden, Smith, was +himself a kind-hearted man, and that he had been harshly treated by +the commissioners.</p> + +<p>In a letter written about this time, Macdonald said that he was +carrying on a war against Brown, that he would prove him a most +dishonest, dishonourable fellow, "and in doing so I will only pay him +a debt that I owe him for abusing me for months together in his +newspaper."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Whatever the provocation may have been, the personal +relations of the two men were further embittered by this incident.</p> + +<p>Eight years afterwards they were members of the coalition ministry by +which confederation was brought about, and Brown's intimate friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, says that the association was most distasteful to +Brown, on account of the charges made in connection with the prison +commission. That the leaders of the two parties were not merely +political opponents but personal enemies must have embittered the +party struggle; and it was certainly waged on both sides with fury, +and with little regard either for the amenities of life or for fair +play.</p> + +<p>His work on the commission gave Brown a strong interest in prison +reform. While the work of the commission was fresh in his mind he +delivered an address in the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> which he +sketched the history of prison reform in England and the United +States, and pointed out how backward Canada was in this phase of +civilization. He pleaded for a more charitable treatment of those on +whom the prison doors had closed. There were inmates of prisons who +would stand guiltless in the presence of Him who searches the heart. +There were guilty ones outside. We cannot, he said, expect human +justice to be infallible; but we must not draw a hard and fast line +between the world inside the prison and the world outside, as if the +courts of justice had the divine power of judging between good and +evil. In Canada, he said, we have no system of reforming the prisoner; +even the chaplain or the teacher never enters the prison walls. +"Children of eight and ten years of age are placed in our gaols, +surrounded by hundreds of the worst criminals in the province." He +went on to describe some of the evils of herding together hardened +criminals, children, and persons charged with trifling offences. He +advocated government inspection of prisons, a uniform system of +discipline, strict classification and separation, secular and +religious instruction, and the teaching of trades. The prisoner should +be punished, but not made to feel that he was being degraded by +society for the sake of revenge. Hope should be held out to those who +showed repentance. The use of the lash for trifling offences against +discipline was condemned. On the whole, his views were such as are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +now generally accepted, and he may be regarded as one of the pioneers +of prison reform in Canada.</p> + +<p>The habit of personal attack was further illustrated in the charge, +frequently made by Mr. Brown's enemies, that he had been a defaulter +in Scotland. The <i>North American</i> had printed this accusation during +its fierce altercation with the <i>Globe</i>, but the editor, Mr. +Macdougall, had afterwards apologized, and explained that it had crept +into the paper during his absence and without his knowledge. In the +session of 1858, a Mr. Powell, member for Carleton, renewed the attack +in the House, and Mr. Brown made a reply of such compelling human +interest that not a word can be added or taken away. He said: "This is +not the first time that the insinuation has been made that I was a +defaulter in my native city. It has been echoed before now from the +organs of the ministry, and at many an election contest have I been +compelled to sit patiently and hear the tale recounted in the ears of +assembled hundreds. For fifteen years I have been compelled to bear in +silence these imputations. I would that I could yet refrain from the +painful theme, but the pointed and public manner in which the charge +has now been made, and the fear that the public cause with which I am +identified might suffer by my silence, alike tell me that the moment +has come when I ought to explain the transaction, as I have always +been able to explain it, and to cast back the vile charge of +dishonesty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> on those who dared to make it. That my father was a +merchant in the city of Edinburgh, and that he engaged in disastrous +business speculations commencing in the inflated times of 1825 and +1826, terminating ten years afterwards in his failure, is undoubtedly +true. And it is, unhappily, also true, that he did hold a public +office, and that funds connected with that office were, at the moment +of his sequestration, mixed up with his private funds, to the extent, +I believe, of two thousand eight hundred pounds. For this sum four +relatives and friends were sureties, and they paid the money. Part of +that money has been repaid; every sixpence of it will be paid, and +paid shortly. Property has been long set aside for the payment of that +debt to its utmost farthing. My father felt that while that money +remained unpaid there was a brand on himself and his family, and he +has wrought, wrought as few men have wrought, to pay off, not only +that, but other obligations of a sacred character. Many a bill of +exchange, the proceeds of his labour, has he sent to old creditors who +were in need of what he owed. For myself, sir, I have felt equally +bound with my father; as his eldest son I felt that the fruits of my +industry should stand pledged until every penny of those debts was +paid and the honour of my family vindicated. An honourable member +opposite, whom I regret to hear cheering on the person who made the +attack, might have known that, under the legal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> advice of his +relative, I long ago secured that in the event of my death before the +accomplishment of our long-cherished purpose, after the payment of my +own obligations, the full discharge of those sacred debts of my father +should stand as a first charge on my ample estate. Debts, sir, which I +was no more bound in law to pay than any gentleman who hears me. For +the painful transaction to which I have been forced to allude, I am no +more responsible than any gentleman in this assembly. It happened in +1836; I was at that time but seventeen years of age, I was totally +unconnected with it, but, young as I was, I felt then, as I feel now, +the obligation it laid upon me, and I vowed that I should never rest +until every penny had been paid. There are those present who have +known my every action since I set foot in this country; they know I +have not eaten the bread of idleness, but they did not know the great +object of my labour. The one end of my desire for wealth was that I +might discharge those debts and redeem my father's honour. Thank God, +sir, my exertions have not been in vain. Thank God, sir, I have long +possessed property far more than sufficient for all my desires. But, +as those gentlemen know, it is one thing in this country to have +property, and another to be able to withdraw a large sum of money from +a business in active operation; and many a night have I laid my head +on my pillow after a day of toil, estimating and calculating if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +time had yet arrived, when, with justice to those to whom I stood +indebted, and without fear of embarrassment resulting, I might venture +to carry out the purpose of my life. I have been accused of being +ambitious; I have been charged with aspiring to the office of prime +minister of this great country and of lending all my energies to the +attainment of that end; but I only wish I could make my opponents +understand how infinitely surpassing all this, how utterly petty and +contemptible in my thoughts have been all such considerations, in +comparison with the one longing desire to discharge those debts of +honour and vindicate those Scottish principles that have been +instilled into me since my youth. The honourable member for Cornwall +[John Sandfield Macdonald] is well aware that every word I have spoken +to-night has been long ago told him in private confidence, and he +knows, too, that last summer I was rejoicing in the thought that I was +at last in a position to visit my native land with the large sum +necessary for all the objects I contemplated, and that I was only +prevented from doing so by the financial storm which swept over the +continent. Such, sir, are the circumstances upon which this attack is +founded. Such the facts on which I have been denounced as a public +defaulter and refugee from my native land. But why, asked the person +who made the charge, has he sat silent under it? Why if the thing is +false has he endured it so many years? What, sir, free myself from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +blame by inculpating one so dear! Say 'It was not I who was in fault, +it was my father'? Rather would I have lost my right arm than utter +such a word! No, sir, I waited the time when the charge could be met +as it only might be fittingly met; and my only regret even now is that +I have been compelled to speak before those debts have been entirely +liquidated. But it is due, sir, to my aged father that I explain that +it has not been with his will that these imputations have been so long +pointed at me, and that it has only been by earnest remonstrance that +I have prevented his vindicating me in public long ere now. No man in +Toronto, perhaps, is more generally known in the community, and I +think I could appeal even to his political opponents to say if there +is a citizen of Toronto at this day more thoroughly respected and +esteemed. With a full knowledge of all that has passed, and all the +consequences that have flowed from a day of weakness, I will say that +an honester man does not breathe the air of heaven; that no son feels +prouder of his father than I do to-day; and that I would have +submitted to the obloquy and reproach of his every act, not fifteen +years, but fifty—ay, have gone down to the grave with the cold shade +of the world upon me, rather than that one of his gray hairs should +have been injured."</p> + +<p>Public opinion was strongly influenced in Mr. Brown's favour by this +incident. "The entire address," said a leading Conservative paper next +day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> "forms the most refreshing episode which the records of the +Canadian House of Commons possess. Every true-hearted man must feel +proud of one who has thus chivalrously done battle for his gray-haired +sire. We speak deliberately when asserting that George Brown's +position in the country is at this moment immeasurably higher than it +ever previously has been. And though our political creed be +diametrically antipodal to his own, we shall ever hail him as a credit +to the land we love so well."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Pope's <i>Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald</i>, p. 161.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE"</p> + + +<p>By his advocacy of representation by population, by his opposition to +separate schools, and his championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr. +Brown gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the general +elections of 1857 he was elected for the city of Toronto, in company +with Mr. Robinson, a Conservative. The election of a Liberal in +Toronto is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr. Brown's +violent conflict with the Roman Catholic Church contributed to his +victory, if it was not the main cause thereof. His party also made +large gains through Upper Canada, and had a large majority in that +part of the province, so that the majority for the Macdonald +government was drawn entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds +occurred in Russell county, where names were copied into the +poll-books from old directories of towns in the state of New York, and +of Quebec city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, +Judas Iscariot and George Washington appeared on the lists. The +Reformers attacked these elections in parliament without success, but +in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several others were tried +for conspiracy, convicted and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> sentenced to imprisonment. That the +government felt itself to be much weakened throughout the country is +evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's unsuccessful effort to add +another to his list of political combinations by detaching Mr. John +Sandfield Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats in the +cabinet to him and another Reformer. The personal attack on Mr. Brown +in the session of 1858 has already been mentioned. The chief political +event of the session was the "Double Shuffle."</p> + +<p>On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in placing the ministry in a +minority on the question of the seat of government. Unable to decide +between the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal and +Kingston, the government referred the question to the queen, who +decided in favour of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to the +queen, holding that the question should be settled in Canada. He also +believed that the seat of government should not be fixed until +representation by population was granted, and all matters in dispute +between Upper and Lower Canada arranged. He now moved against Ottawa +and carried his motion. During the same sitting the government was +sustained on a motion to adjourn, which by understanding was regarded +as a test of confidence. A few hours later the ministers met and +decided that, although they had been sustained by a majority of the +House, "it behoved them as the queen's servants to resent the slight +which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> been offered Her Majesty by the action of the assembly in +calling in question Her Majesty's choice of the capital." The +governor-general, Sir Edmund Bond Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the +leader of the Opposition to form a government. It was contended by +Liberals that he ought not to have taken this step unless he intended +to give Mr. Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and support. +If he believed that the defeat of the government was a mere accident, +and that on general grounds it commanded a working majority in the +legislature, he ought not to have accepted the resignation, unless he +intended to sanction a fresh appeal to the country.</p> + +<p>The invitation to form an administration was received by Mr. Brown on +Thursday, July 28th. He at once waited on the governor-general and +obtained permission to consult his friends. He called a meeting of the +Upper Canadian members of his party in both Houses, and obtained from +them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he had an important +interview. Dorion agreed that the principle of representation by +population was sound, but said that the French-Canadian people feared +the consequences of Upper Canadian preponderance, feared that the +peculiar institutions of French Canada would be swept away. To assure +them, representation by population must be accompanied by +constitutional checks and safeguards. Brown and Dorion parted in the +belief that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> could be arranged. They believed also that they +could agree upon an educational policy in which religious instruction +could be given without the evils of separation.</p> + +<p>Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the manipulation of +combinations of men, he succeeded on this occasion in enlisting the +services of colleagues of high character and capacity, including +besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield Macdonald, Luther Holton +and L. T. Drummond. On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the +governor-general, and informed him that having consulted his friends +and obtained the aid of Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the +task of forming an administration. During the day the formation of the +ministry was completed. "At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to give the +story in Mr. Brown's words, "learning that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went +to see him at his apartments at the Rossin House, and while with him +the governor-general's secretary entered and handed me a despatch. No +sooner did I see the outside of the document than I understood it all. +I felt at once that the whole corruptionist camp had been in commotion +at the prospect of the whole of the public departments being subjected +to the investigations of a second public accounts' committee, and +comprehended at once that the transmission of such a despatch could +have but the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> of the +new cabinet taking office, and I was not mistaken."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>The despatch declared that the governor-general gave no pledge, +express or implied, with reference to dissolution. When advice was +tendered on the subject he would act as he deemed best. It then laid +down, with much detail, the terms on which he would consent to +prorogation. Bills for the registration of voters and for the +prohibition of fraudulent assignments and gifts by leaders should be +enacted, and certain supplies obtained.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown criticized both these declarations. It was not necessary for +the governor-general to say that he gave no pledge in regard to +dissolution. To demand such a pledge would have been utterly +unconstitutional. The governor was quite right in saying that he would +deal with the proposal when it was made by his advisers. But while he +needlessly and gratuitously declared that he would not pledge himself +beforehand as to dissolution, he took exactly the opposite course as +to prorogation, specifying almost minutely the terms on which he would +consent to that step. Brown contended that the governor had no right +to lay down conditions, or to settle beforehand the measures that must +be enacted during the session. This was an attempt to dictate, not +only to the ministry, but to the legislature. Mr. Brown and his +colleagues believed that the governor was acting in collusion with the +ministers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> who had resigned, that the intriguers were taken by +surprise when Brown showed himself able to form a ministry, and that +the Sunday communication was a second thought, a hurriedly devised +plan to bar the way of the new ministers to office.</p> + +<p>On Monday morning before conferring with his colleagues, Brown wrote +to the governor-general, stating that his ministry had been formed, +and submitting that "until they have assumed the functions of +constitutional advisers of the Crown, he and his proposed colleagues +will not be in a position to discuss the important measures and +questions of public policy referred to in his memorandum." Brown then +met his colleagues, who unanimously approved of his answer to the +governor's memorandum, and agreed also that it was intended as a bar +to their acceptance of office. They decided not to ask for a pledge as +to dissolution, nor to make or accept conditions of any kind. "We were +willing to risk our being turned out of office within twenty-four +hours, but we were not willing to place ourselves constitutionally in +a false position. We distinctly contemplated all that Sir Edmund Head +could do and that he has done, and we concluded that it was our duty +to accept office, and throw on the governor-general the responsibility +of denying us the support we were entitled to, and which he had +extended so abundantly to our predecessor."</p> + +<p>When parliament assembled on Monday, a vote of want of confidence was +carried against the new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> government in both Houses. The newly +appointed ministers had, of course, resigned their seats in parliament +in order that they might offer themselves for re-election. It is true +the majority was too great to be accounted for by the absence of the +ministers. But the result was affected by the lack, not only of the +votes of the ministers, but of their voices. In the absence of +ministerial explanation, confusion and misunderstanding prevailed. The +fact that Brown had been able to find common ground with Catholic and +French-Canadian members had occasioned surprise and anxiety. On the +one side it was feared that Brown had surrendered to the +French-Canadians, and on the other that the French-Canadians had +surrendered to Brown.</p> + +<p>The conference between Brown and Dorion shows that the government was +formed for the same purpose as the Brown-Macdonald coalition of +1864—the settlement of difficulties that prevented the right working +of the union. The official declaration of its policy contains these +words: "His Excellency's present advisers have entered the government +with the fixed determination to propose constitutional measures for +the establishment of that harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which +is essential to the prosperity of the province."</p> + +<p>Dissolution was asked on the ground that the new government intended +to propose important constitutional changes, and that the parliament +did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> not represent the country, many of its members owing their seals +to gross fraud and corruption. Thirty-two seats were claimed from +sitting members on these grounds. The cases of the Quebec and Russell +election have already been mentioned. The member elected for +Lotbinière was expelled for violent interference with the freedom of +election. Brown and his colleagues contended that these practices had +prevailed to such an extent that the legislature could not be said to +represent the country. Head's reply was that the frauds were likely to +be repeated if a new election were held; that they really afforded a +reason for postponing the election, at least until more stringent laws +were enacted. The dissolution was refused; the Brown-Dorion government +resigned, and the old ministers were restored to office.</p> + +<p>On the resignation of the Brown-Dorion ministry the governor called +upon A. T. Galt, who had given an independent support to the +Macdonald-Cartier government. During the session of 1858 he had placed +before the House resolutions favouring the federal union of Canada, +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, and it is +possible that his advocacy of this policy had something to do with the +offer of the premiership. As yet, however, he was not prominent +enough, nor could he command a support large enough, to warrant his +acceptance of the office, and he declined. Then followed the "Double +Shuffle."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>The Macdonald-Cartier government resumed office under the name of the +Cartier-Macdonald government, with Galt taking the place of Cayley, +and some minor changes. Constitutional usage required that all the +ministers should have returned to their constituents for re-election. +A means of evading this requirement was found. The statute governing +the case provided that when any minister should resign his office and +within one month afterwards accept another office in the ministry, he +should not thereby vacate his seat. With the object of obviating the +necessity for a new election, Cartier, Macdonald, and their +colleagues, in order to bring themselves within the letter of the law, +although not within its spirit, exchanged offices, each taking a +different one from that which he had resigned eight days before. +Shortly before midnight of the sixth of August, they solemnly swore to +discharge the duties of offices which several of them had no intention +of holding; and a few minutes afterwards the second shuffle took +place, and Cartier and Macdonald having been inspector-general and +postmaster-general for this brief space, became again attorney-general +east and attorney-general west.</p> + +<p>The belief of the Reformers that the governor-general was guilty of +partiality and of intrigue with the Conservative ministers is set +forth as part of the history of the time. There is evidence of +partiality, but no evidence of intrigue. The biographer of Sir John +Macdonald denies the charge of intrigue, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> says that Macdonald +and the governor were intimate personal friends.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Dent, who +also scouts the charge of intrigue, says that the governor was +prejudiced against Brown, regarding him as a mere obstructionist.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +The governor-general seems to have been influenced by these personal +feelings, making everything as difficult as possible for Brown, and as +easy as possible for Macdonald, even to the point of acquiescing in +the evasion of the law known as the "Double Shuffle."</p> + +<p>In the debate on confederation. Senator Ferrier said that a political +warfare had been waged in Canada for many years, of a nature +calculated to destroy all moral and political principles, both in the +legislature and out of it. The "Double Shuffle" is so typical of this +dreary and ignoble warfare and it played so large a part in the +political history of the time, that it has been necessary to describe +it at some length. But for these considerations, the episode would +have deserved scant notice. The headship of one of the ephemeral +ministries that preceded confederation could add little to the +reputation of Mr. Brown. His powers were not shown at their best in +office, and the surroundings of office were not congenial to him. His +strength lay in addressing the people directly, through his paper or +on the platform, and in the hour of defeat or disappointment he turned +to the people for consolati<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>on. "During these contests," he said some +years afterwards, "it was this which sustained the gallant band of +Reformers who so long struggled for popular rights: that, abused as we +might be, we had this consolation, that we could not go anywhere among +our fellow-countrymen from one end of the country to the other—in +Tory constituencies as well as in Reform constituencies—without the +certainty of receiving from the honest, intelligent yeomanry of the +country—from the true, right-hearted, right-thinking people of Upper +Canada, who came out to meet us—the hearty grasp of the hand and the +hearty greeting that amply rewarded the labour we had expended in +their behalf. That is the highest reward I have hoped for in public +life, and I am sure that no man who earns that reward will ever in +Upper Canada have better occasion to speak of the gratitude of the +people."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Speech to Toronto electors, August, 1858.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Pope's <i>Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald</i>, Vol. I., pp. +133, 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Dent's <i>Last Forty Years</i>, Vol. II., pp. 379, 380.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY</p> + + +<p>In his home in Scotland Brown had been imbued with a hatred of +slavery. He spent several years of his early manhood in New York, and +felt in all its force the domination of the slave-holding element. +Thence he moved to Canada, for many years the refuge of the hunted +slave. It is estimated that even before the passage of the Fugitive +Slave Law, there were twenty thousand coloured refugees in Canada. It +was customary for these poor creatures to hide by day and to travel by +night. When all other signs failed they kept their eyes fixed on the +North Star, whose light "seemed the enduring witness of the divine +interest in their deliverance." By the system known as the +"underground railway," the fugitive was passed from one friendly house +to another. A code of signals was used by those engaged in the work of +mercy—pass words, peculiar knocks and raps, a call like that of the +owl. Negroes in transit were described as "fleeces of wool," and +"volumes of the irrepressible conflict bound in black."</p> + +<p>The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law deprived the negro of his +security in the free states, and dragged back into slavery men and +women who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> had for years been living in freedom, and had found means +to earn their bread and to build up little homes. Hence an impetus was +given to the movement towards Canada, which the slave-holders tried to +check by talking freely of the rigours of the Canadian climate. Lewis +Clark, the original of George Harris in <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> was told +that if he went to Canada the British would put his eyes out, and keep +him in a mine for life. Another was told that the Detroit River was +three thousand miles wide.</p> + +<p>But the exodus to Canada went on, and the hearts of the people were +moved to compassion by the arrival of ragged and foot-sore wanderers. +They found a warm friend in Brown, who paid the hotel bill of one for +a week, gave fifty dollars to maintain a negro family, and besides +numerous acts of personal kindness, filled the columns of the <i>Globe</i> +with appeals on behalf of the fugitives. Early in 1851 the +Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was organized. The president was the +Rev. Dr. Willis, afterwards principal of Knox Presbyterian College, +and the names of Peter Brown, George Brown, and Oliver Mowat are found +on the committee. The object of the society was "the extinction of +slavery all over the world by means exclusively lawful and peaceable, +moral and religious, such as the diffusion of useful information and +argument by tracts, newspapers, lectures, and correspondence, and by +manifesting sympathy with the houseless and homeless victims<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> of +slavery flying to our soil." Concerts were given, and the proceeds +applied in aid of the refugees.</p> + +<p>Brown was also strongly interested in the settlements of refugees +established throughout Western Canada. Under an act of the Canadian +parliament "for the settlement and moral improvement of the coloured +population of Canada," large tracts of land were acquired, divided +into fifty acre lots, and sold to refugees at low prices, payable in +instalments. Sunday schools and day schools were established. The +moving spirit in one of these settlements was the Rev. William King, a +Presbyterian, formerly of Louisiana, who had freed his own slaves and +brought them to Canada. Traces of these settlements still exist. +Either in this way or otherwise, there were large numbers of coloured +people living in the valley of the Thames (from Chatham to London), in +St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto.</p> + +<p>At the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1852, Mr. Brown +moved a resolution expressing gratitude to those American clergymen +who had exposed the atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law. He showed +how, before its enactment, slaves were continually escaping to the +Northern States, where they were virtually out of reach of their +masters. There was a law enabling the latter to recover their +property, but its edge was dulled by public opinion in the North, +which was rapidly growing antagonistic to allowing the free states to +become a hunting-ground for slave-catchers. The South took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> alarm at +the growth of this feeling, and procured the passage of a more +stringent law. This law enabled the slave-holder to seize the slave +wherever he found him, without warrant, and it forbade the freeman to +shelter the refugee under penalty of six months' imprisonment, a fine +of one thousand dollars, and liability to a civil suit for damages to +the same amount. The enforcement of the law was given to federal +instead of to State officials. After giving several illustrations of +the working of the law, Mr. Brown proceeded to discuss the duty of +Canada in regard to slavery. It was a question of humanity, of +Christianity, and of liberty, in which all men were interested. Canada +could not escape the contamination of a system existing so near her +borders. "We, too, are Americans; on us, as well as on them, lies the +duty of preserving the honour of the continent. On us, as on them, +rests the noble trust of shielding free institutions."</p> + +<p>Having long borne the blame of permitting slavery, the people of the +North naturally expected that when the great struggle came they would +receive the moral support of the civilized world in its effort to +check and finally to crush out the evil. They were shocked and +disappointed when this support was not freely and generously given, +and when sympathy with the South showed itself strongly in Great +Britain. Brown dealt with this question in a speech delivered in +Toronto shortly after Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation. He had +just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> returned from Great Britain, and he said that in his six months' +journey through England and Scotland, he had conversed with persons in +all conditions of life, and he was sorry to say that general sympathy +was with the South. This did not proceed from any change in the +feeling towards slavery. Hatred of slavery was as strong as ever, +but it was not believed that African slavery was the real cause +of the war, or that Mr. Lincoln sincerely desired to bring the +traffic to an end. This misunderstanding he attributed to persistent +misrepresentation. There were men who rightly understood the merits of +the contest, and among these he placed the members of the British +ministry. The course of the ministry he described as one of scrupulous +neutrality, and firm resistance to the invitations of other powers to +interfere in the contest.</p> + +<p>Brown himself never for a moment failed to understand the nature of +the struggle, and he showed an insight, remarkable at that time, into +the policy of Lincoln. The anti-slavery men of Canada, he said, had an +important duty to discharge. "We, who have stood here on the borders +of the republic for a quarter of a century, protesting against slavery +as the sum of all human villainies—we, who have closely watched every +turn of the question—we, who have for years acted and sympathized +with the good men of the republic in their efforts for the freedom of +their country—we, who have a practical knowledge of the atrocities +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> the 'peculiar institution,' learned from the lips of the panting +refugee upon our shores—we, who have in our ranks men all known on +the other side of the Atlantic as life-long abolitionists—we, I say, +are in a position to speak with confidence to the anti-slavery men of +Great Britain—to tell them that they have not rightly understood this +matter—to tell them that slavery is the one great cause of the +American rebellion, and that the success of the North is the +death-knell of slavery. Strange, after all that has passed, that a +doubt of this should remain."</p> + +<p>It was true, he said, that Lincoln was not elected as an abolitionist. +Lincoln declared, and the Republican party declared, that they stood +by the constitution; that they would, so far as the constitution +allowed, restrict slavery and prevent its extension to new territory. +Yet they knew that the constitution gave them all they desired. "Well +did they know, and well did the Southerners know, that any +anti-slavery president and congress, by their direct power of +legislation, by their control of the public patronage, and by the +application of the public moneys, could not only restrict slavery +within its present boundaries, but could secure its ultimate +abolition. The South perfectly comprehended that Mr. Lincoln, if +elected, might keep within the letter of the constitution and yet sap +the foundation of the whole slave system, and they acted +accordingly."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>In answering the question, "Why did not the North let the slave states +go in peace?" Brown freely admitted the right of revolution. "The +world no longer believes in the divine right of either kings or +presidents to govern wrong; but those who seek to change an +established government by force of arms assume a fearful +responsibility—a responsibility which nothing but the clearest and +most intolerable injustice will acquit them for assuming." Here was a +rebellion, not to resist injustice but to perpetuate injustice; not to +deliver the oppressed from bondage, but to fasten more hopelessly than +ever the chains of slavery on four millions of human beings. Why not +let the slave states go? Because it would have been wrong, because it +would have built up a great slave power that no moral influence could +reach, a power that would have overawed the free Northern States, +added to its territory, and re-established the slave trade. Had +Lincoln permitted the slave states to go, and to form such a power, he +would have brought enduring contempt upon his name, and the people of +England would have been the first to reproach him.</p> + +<p>Brown argued, as he had done in 1852, that Canada could not be +indifferent to the question, whether the dominant power of the North +American continent should be slave or free. Holding that liberty had +better securities under the British than under the American system, he +yet believed that the failure of the American experiment would be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +calamity and a blow to free institutions all over the world. For years +the United States had been the refuge of the oppressed in every land; +millions had fled from poverty in Europe to find happiness and +prosperity there. From these had been wafted back to Europe new ideas +of the rights of the people. With the fall of the United States this +impetus to freedom, world-wide in its influence, would cease. Demands +for popular rights and free constitutions would be met by the despotic +rulers of Europe with the taunt that in the United States free +constitutions and popular rights had ended in disruption and anarchy. +"Let us not forget that there have been, and still are, very different +monarchies in the world from that of our own beloved queen; and +assuredly there are not so many free governments on earth that we +should hesitate to devise earnestly the success of that one nearest to +our own, modelled from our own, and founded by men of our own race. I +do most heartily rejoice, for the cause of liberty, that Mr. Lincoln +did not patiently acquiesce in the dismemberment of the republic."</p> + +<p>The Civil War in the United States raised the most important question +of foreign policy with which the public men of Canada were called upon +to deal in Brown's career. The dismemberment of the British empire +would hardly have exercised a more profound influence on the human +race and on world-wide aspirations for freedom, than the dismemberment +of the United States and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the establishment on this continent of a +mighty slave empire. Canada could not be indifferent to the issue. How +long would the slave-holding power, which coerced the North into +consenting to the Fugitive Slave Law, have tolerated the existence of +a free refuge for slaves across the lakes? Either Canada would have +been forced to submit to the humiliation of joining in the hunt for +men, or the British empire would have been obliged to fight the battle +that the North fought under the leadership of Lincoln. In the face of +this danger confronting Canada and the empire and freedom, it was a +time to forget smaller international animosities. Brown was one of the +few Canadian statesmen who saw the situation clearly and rose to the +occasion. For twenty years by his public speeches, and still more +through the generous devotion of the <i>Globe</i> to the cause, he aided +the cause of freedom and of the union of the lovers of freedom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS</p> + + +<p>That the <i>Globe</i> and Mr. Brown, as related in a previous chapter, +became associated with Lord John Russell's bill and the "no popery" +agitation in England, may be regarded as a mere accident. The +excitement would have died out here as it died out in England, if +there had not been in Canada such a mass of inflammable material—so +many questions in which the relations of Church and State were +involved. One of these was State endowment of denominational schools. +During Brown's early years in Canada the school system was being +placed on a broad and popular basis. Salaries of teachers were +wretchedly low. Fees were charged to children, and remitted only as an +act of charity. Mr. Brown advocated a free and unsectarian system. +Claims for denominational schools were put forward not only by the +Roman Catholics but by the Anglicans. He argued that if this were +allowed the public school system would be destroyed by division. The +country could barely afford to maintain one good school system. To +maintain a system for each denomination would require an immense +addition to the number of school-houses and teachers, and would absorb +the whole revenue of the province. At the same time, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> educational +forces would be weakened by the division and thousands of children +would grow up without education. "Under the non-sectarian system," +said Brown, "the day is at hand when we may hope to abolish the +school-tax and offer free education to every child in the province."</p> + +<p>Eventually it was found possible to carry out Mr. Brown's idea of free +education for every child in the province, and yet to allow Roman +Catholic separate schools to be maintained. To this compromise Mr. +Brown became reconciled, because it did not involve, as he had feared, +the destruction of the free school system by division. The Roman +Catholics of Upper Canada were allowed to maintain separate +denominational schools, to have them supported by the taxes of Roman +Catholic ratepayers and by provincial grants. So far as the education +of Protestant children was concerned Mr. Brown's advocacy was +successful. He opposed denominational schools because he feared they +would weaken or destroy the general system of free education for all. +Under the agreement which was finally arrived at, this fear was not +realized. In his speech on confederation he admitted that the +sectarian system, carried to a limited extent and confined chiefly to +cities and towns, had not been a very great practical injury. The real +cause of alarm was that the admission of the sectarian principle was +there, and that at any moment it might be extended to such a degree as +to split up our school system altogether: "that the separate system +might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> gradually extend itself until the whole country was studded +with nurseries of sectarianism, most hurtful to the best interests of +the province and entailing an enormous expense to sustain the hosts of +teachers that so prodigal a system of public instruction must +inevitably entail."</p> + +<p>This, however, was not the only question at issue between Mr. Brown +and the Roman Catholic Church. It happened, as has been said above, +that on his first entry into parliament, the place of meeting was the +city of Quebec. The Edinburgh-bred man found himself in a Roman +Catholic city, surrounded by every evidence of the power of the +Church. As he looked up from the floor of the House to the galleries +he saw a Catholic audience, its character emphasized by the appearance +of priests clad in the distinctive garments of their orders. It was +his duty to oppose a great mass of legislation intended to strengthen +that Church and to add to its privileges. His spirit rose and he grew +more dour and resolute as he realized the strength of the forces +opposed to him.</p> + +<p>It would be doing an injustice to the memory of Mr. Brown to gloss +over or minimize a most important feature of his career, or to offer +apologies which he himself would have despised. The battle was not +fought with swords of lath, and whoever wants to read of an +old-fashioned "no popery" fight, carried on with abounding fire and +vigour, will find plenty of matter in the files of the <i>Globe</i> of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +fifties. His success in the election of 1857, so far as Upper Canada +was concerned, and especially his accomplishment of the rare feat of +carrying a Toronto seat for the Reform party, was largely due to an +agitation that aroused all the forces and many of the prejudices of +Protestantism. Yet Brown kept and won many warm friends among Roman +Catholics, both in Upper and in Lower Canada. His manliness attracted +them. They saw in him, not a narrow-minded and cold-hearted bigot, +seeking to force his opinions on others, but a brave and generous man, +fighting for principles. And in Lower Canada there were many Roman +Catholic laymen whose hearts were with him, and who were themselves +entering upon a momentous struggle to free the electorate from +clerical control. In his fight for the separation of Church and State, +he came into conflict, not with Roman Catholics alone. In his own +Presbyterian Church, at the time of the disruption, he strongly upheld +the side which was identified with liberty. For several years after +his arrival in Canada he was fighting against the special privileges +of the Anglican Church. He often said that he was actuated, not by +prejudice against one Church, but by hatred of clerical privilege, and +love of religious liberty and equality.</p> + +<p>In 1871 Mr. Brown, in a letter addressed to prominent Roman Catholics, +gave a straight-forward account of his relations with the Roman +Catholic Church. It is repeated here in a somewhat abbreviated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> form, +but as nearly as possible in his own words. In the early days of the +political history of Upper Canada, the great mass of Catholics were +staunch Reformers. They suffered from Downing Street rule, from the +domination of the "family compact," from the clergy reserves and from +other attempts to arm the Anglican Church with special privileges and +powers; they gave an intelligent and cordial support to liberal and +progressive measures. They contributed to the victory of Baldwin and +Lafontaine. But when that victory was achieved, the Upper Canadian +Reformers found that a cause was operating to deprive them of its +fruits,—"the French-Canadian members of the cabinet and their +supporters in parliament, blocked the way." They not only prevented or +delayed the measures which the Reformers desired, but they forced +through parliament measures which antagonized Reform sentiment. +"Although much less numerous than the people of Upper Canada, and +contributing to the common purse hardly a fourth of the annual revenue +of the United Provinces, the Lower Canadians sent an equal number of +representatives with the Upper Canadians to parliament, and, by their +unity of action, obtained complete dominancy in the management of +public affairs." Unjust and injurious taxation, waste and +extravagance, and great increases in the public debt followed. Seeking +a remedy, the Upper Canadian Reformers demanded, first, representation +by population, giving Upper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Canada its just influence in the +legislature, and second, the entire separation of Church and State, +placing all denominations on a like footing and leaving each to +support its own religious establishments from the funds of its own +people. They believed that these measures would remove from the public +arena causes of strife and heartburning, and would bring about solid +prosperity and internal peace. The battle was fought vigorously. "The +most determined efforts were put forth for the final but just +settlement of all those vexed questions by which religious sects were +arrayed against each other. Clergymen were dragged as combatants into +the political arena, religion was brought into contempt, and +opportunity presented to our French-Canadian friends to rule us +through our own dissensions." Clergy reserves, sectarian schools, the +use of the public funds for sectarian purposes, were assailed. "On +these and many similar questions, we were met by the French-Canadian +phalanx in hostile array; our whole policy was denounced in language +of the strongest character, and the men who upheld it were assailed as +the basest of mankind. We, on our part, were not slow in returning +blow for blow, and feelings were excited among the Catholics from +Upper Canada that estranged the great bulk of them from our ranks." +The agitation was carried on, however, until the grievances of which +the Reformers complained were removed by the Act of Confederation. +Under that Act the people of Ontario<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> enjoy representation according +to population; they have entire control over their own local affairs; +and the last remnant of the sectarian warfare—the separate school +question—was settled forever by a compromise that was accepted as +final by all parties concerned.</p> + +<p>In this letter Mr. Brown said that he was not seeking to cloak over +past feuds or apologize for past occurrences. He gloried in the +justice and soundness of the principles and measures for which he and +his party had contended, and he was proud of the results of the +conflict. He asked Catholics to read calmly the page of history he had +unfolded. "Let them blaze away at George Brown afterwards as +vigorously as they please, but let not their old feuds with him close +their eyes to the interests of their country, and their own interests +as a powerful section of the body politic."</p> + +<p>The censure applied to those who wantonly draw sectarian questions +into politics, and set Catholic against Protestant, is just. But it +does not attach to those who attack the privileges of any Church, and +who, when the Church steps into the political arena, strike at it with +political weapons. This was Brown's position. He was the sworn foe of +clericalism. He had no affinity with the demagogues and professional +agitators who make a business of attacking the Roman Catholic Church, +nor with those whose souls are filled with vague alarms of papal +supremacy, and who believe stories of Catholics drilling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> in churches +to fight their Protestant neighbours. He fought against real tyranny, +for the removal of real grievances. When he believed that he had found +in confederation the real remedy, he was satisfied, and he did not +keep up an agitation merely for agitation's sake. It is not necessary +to attempt to justify every word that may have been struck off in the +heat of a great conflict. There was a battle to be fought; he fought +with all the energy of his nature, and with the weapons that lay at +hand. He would have shared Hotspur's contempt for the fop who vowed +that "but for these vile guns he would himself have been a soldier."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION</p> + + +<p>To whom is due the confederation of the British North American +provinces is a long vexed question. The Hon. D'Arcy McGee, in his +speech on confederation, gave credit to Mr. Uniacke, a leading +politician of Nova Scotia, who in 1800 submitted a scheme of colonial +union to the imperial authorities; to Chief-Justice Sewell, to Sir +John Beverley Robinson, to Lord Durham, to Mr. P. S. Hamilton, a Nova +Scotia writer, and to Mr. Alexander Morris, then member for South +Lanark, who had advocated the project in a pamphlet entitled <i>Nova +Britannia</i>. "But," he added, "whatever the private writer in his +closet may have conceived, whatever even the individual statesman may +have designed, so long as the public mind was uninterested in the +adoption, even in the discussion of a change in our position so +momentous as this, the union of these separate provinces, the +individual laboured in vain—perhaps, not wholly in vain, for although +his work may not have borne fruit then, it was kindling a fire that +would ultimately light up the whole political horizon and herald the +dawn of a better day for our country and our people. Events stronger +than advocacy, events stronger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> than men, have come in at last like +the fire behind the invisible writing, to bring out the truth of these +writings and to impress them upon the mind of every thoughtful man who +has considered the position and probable future of these scattered +provinces." Following Mr. McGee's suggestion, let us try to deal with +the question from the time that it ceased to be speculative and became +practical, and especially to trace its development in the mind of one +man.</p> + +<p>In the later fifties Mr. Brown was pursuing a course which led almost +with certainty to the goal of confederation. The people of Upper +Canada were steadily coming over to his belief that they were +suffering injustice under the union; that they paid more than their +share of the taxes, and yet that Lower Canadian influence was dominant +in legislation and in the formation of ministries. Brown's tremendous +agitation convinced them that the situation was intolerable. But it +was long before the true remedy was perceived. The French-Canadians +would not agree to Brown's remedy of representation by population. +Brown opposed as reactionary the proposal that the union should be +dissolved. He desired not to go back to the day of small things—on +the contrary, even at this early day, he was advocating the union of +the western territories with Canada. Nor was he at first in favour of +the federal principle. In 1853, in a formal statement of its +programme, the <i>Globe</i> advocated uniform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> legislation for the two +provinces, and a Reform convention held at Toronto in 1857 recommended +the same measure, together with representation by population and the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada.</p> + +<p>In January, 1858, Brown wrote to his friend, Luther Holton, in a +manner which showed an open mind: "No honest man can desire that we +should remain as we are, and what other way out of our difficulties +can be suggested but a general legislative union, with representation +by population, a federal union, or a dissolution of the present union. +I am sure that a dissolution cry would be as ruinous to any party as +(in my opinion) it would be wrong. A federal union, it appears to me, +cannot be entertained for Canada alone, but when agitated must include +all British America. We will be past caring for politics when that +measure is finally achieved. What powers should be given to the +provincial legislatures, and what to the federal? Would you abolish +county councils? And yet, if you did not, what would the local +parliaments have to control? Would Montreal like to be put under the +generous rule of the Quebec politicians? Our friends here are prepared +to consider dispassionately any scheme that may issue from your party +in Lower Canada. They all feel keenly that something must be done. +Their plan is representation by population, and a fair trial for the +present union in its integrity; failing this, they are prepared to go +for dissolution, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> believe, but if you can suggest a federal or any +other scheme that could be worked, it will have our most anxious +examination. Can you sketch a plan of federation such as our friends +below would agree to and could carry?"</p> + +<p>Probably Dorion and other Lower Canadians had a part in converting +Brown to federation. In 1856 Dorion had moved a resolution favouring +the confederation of the two Canadas. In August, 1858, Brown and +Dorion undertook to form a government pledged to the settlement of the +question that had arisen between Upper and Lower Canada. Dorion says +it was agreed by the Brown-Dorion government "that the constitutional +question should be taken up and settled, either by a confederation of +the two provinces, or by representation according to population, with +such checks and guarantees as would secure the religious faith, the +laws, the language, and the peculiar institutions of each section of +the country from encroachments on the part of the other."</p> + +<p>At the same time an effort in the same direction was made by the +Conservative party. A. T. Galt, in the session of 1858, advocated the +federal union of all the British North American provinces. He declared +that unless a union were effected, the provinces would inevitably +drift into the United States. He proposed that questions relating to +education and likely to arouse religious dissension, ought to be left +to the provinces. The resolutions moved by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> Mr. Galt in 1858 give him +a high place among the promoters of confederation. Galt was asked by +Sir Edmund Head to form an administration on the resignation of the +Brown government. Galt refused, but when he subsequently entered the +Cartier government it was on condition that the promotion of federal +union should be embodied in the policy of the government. Cartier, +Ross and Galt visited England in fulfilment of this promise, and +described the serious difficulties that had arisen in Canada. The +movement failed because the co-operation of the Maritime Provinces +could not be obtained.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1859 two important steps leading towards federation +were taken. In October the Lower Canadian members of the Opposition +met in Montreal and declared for a federal union of the Canadas. They +went so far as to specify the subjects of federal and local +jurisdiction, allowing to the central authority the customs tariff, +the post-office, patents and copyrights, and the currency; and to the +local legislatures education, the laws of property, the administration +of justice, and the control of the militia. In September a meeting of +the Liberal members of both Houses was held at Toronto, and a circular +calling a convention of Upper Canadian Reformers was issued. It +declared that "the financial and political evils of the provinces have +reached such a point as to demand a thorough reconsideration of the +relations between Upper and Lower Canada, and the adoption of +constitutional changes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> framed to remedy the great abuses that have +arisen under the present system"; that the nature of the changes had +been discussed, but that it was felt that before coming to a +conclusion "the whole Liberal party throughout Upper Canada should be +consulted." The discussion would be free and unfettered. "Supporters +of the Opposition advocating a written constitution or a dissolution +of the union—or a federal union of all the British North American +provinces—or a federal system for Canada alone—or any other plan +calculated, in their opinion, to meet the existing evils—are all +equally welcome to the convention. The one sole object is to discuss +the whole subject with candour and without prejudice, that the best +remedy may be found." Then came an account of the grievances for which +a remedy was sought: "The position of Upper Canada at this moment is +truly anomalous and alarming. With a population much more numerous +than that of Lower Canada, and contributing to the general revenue a +much larger share of taxation than the sister province, Upper Canada +finds herself without power in the administration of the affairs of +the union. With a constitution professedly based on the principle that +the will of the majority should prevail, a minority of the people of +Upper Canada, by combination with the Lower Canada majority, are +enabled to rule the upper province in direct hostility to the popular +will. Extravagant expenditures and hurtful legislative measures are +forced on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> us in defiance of the protests of large majorities of the +representatives of the people; the most needful reforms are denied, +and offices of honour and emolument are conferred on persons destitute +of popular sympathy, and without qualification beyond that of +unhesitating subserviency to the men who misgovern the country."</p> + +<p>The convention of nearly six hundred delegates gave evidence of a +genuine, popular movement for constitutional changes. Though it was +composed of members of only one party, its discussions were of general +interest, and were upon a high level of intelligence and public +spirit. The convention was divided between dissolution and federal +union. Federation first got the ear of the meeting. Free access to the +sea by the St. Lawrence, free trade between Upper and Lower Canada, +were urged as reasons for continuing the union. Oliver Mowat made a +closely reasoned speech on the same side. Representation by population +alone would not be accepted by Lower Canada. Dissolution was +impracticable and could not, at best, be obtained without long +agitation. Federation would give all the advantages of dissolution +without its difficulties.</p> + +<p>Mowat's speech was received with much favour, and the current had set +strongly for federation when George Sheppard arose as the chief +advocate of dissolution. Sheppard had been an editorial writer on the +<i>Colonist</i>, had been attracted by Brown and his policy and had joined +the staff of the <i>Globe</i>. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> main argument was that the central +government under federation would be a costly and elaborate affair, +and would ultimately overshadow the governments of the provinces. +There would be a central parliament, a viceroy with all the expense of +a court. "A federal government without federal dignity would be all +moonshine." There was an inherent tendency in central bodies to +acquire increased power. In the United States a federal party had +advocated a strong central government, and excuses were always being +sought to add to its glory and influence. On the other side was a +democratic party, championing State rights. "In Canada, too, we may +expect to see federation followed by the rise of two parties, one +fighting for a strong central government, the other, like Mr. Brown, +contending for State rights, local control, and the limited authority +of the central power." One of the arguments for federation was that it +provided for bringing in the North-West Territory. That implied an +expensive federal government for the purpose of organizing the new +territory, building its roads, etc. "Is this federation," he asked, +"proposed as a step towards nationality? If so, I am with you. +Federation implies nationality. For colonial purposes only it would be +a needless incumbrance."</p> + +<p>This speech, with its accurate forecast of the growth of the central +power, produced such an impression that the federalists amended their +resolution, and proposed, instead of a general government,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> "some +joint authority" for federal purposes. This concession was made by +William Macdougall, one of the secretaries and chief figures of the +convention, who said that he had been much impressed by Sheppard's +eloquence and logic. The creation of a powerful, elaborate and +expensive central government such as now exists did not form part of +the plans of the Liberals either in Upper or Lower Canada at that +time.</p> + +<p>Brown, who spoke towards the close of the convention, declared that he +had no morbid fear of dissolution of the union, but preferred the plan +of federation, as giving Upper Canada the advantage of free trade with +Lower Canada and the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. One of his +most forcible passages was an answer to Sheppard's question whether +the federation was a step towards nationality. "I do place the +question on grounds of nationality. I do hope there is not one +Canadian in this assembly who does not look forward with high hope to +the day when these northern countries shall stand out among the +nations of the world as one great confederation. What true Canadian +can witness the tide of emigration now commencing to flow into the +vast territories of the North-West without longing to have a share in +the first settlement of that great, fertile country? Who does not feel +that to us rightfully belong the right and the duty of carrying the +blessings of civilization throughout those boundless regions, and +making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> our own country the highway of traffic to the Pacific? But is +it necessary that all this should be accomplished at once? Is it not +true wisdom to commence federation with our own country, and leave it +open to extension hereafter if time and experience shall prove it +desirable? And shall we not then have better control over the terms of +federation than if all were made parties to the original compact, and +how can there be the slightest question with one who longs for such a +nationality between dissolution and the scheme of the day? Is it not +clear that the former would be the death blow to the hope of future +union, while the latter will readily furnish the machinery for a great +federation?"</p> + +<p>The resolutions adopted by the convention declared that the +legislative union, because of antagonisms developed through +differences of origin, local interests, and other causes, could no +longer be maintained; that the plan known as the "double majority" did +not afford a permanent remedy; that a federal union of all the British +North American colonies was out of the range of remedies for present +evils; that the principle of representation by population must be +recognized in any new union, and that "the best practical remedy for +the evils now encountered in the government of Canada is to be found +in the formation of two or more local governments, to which shall be +committed the control of all matters of a local or sectional +character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> and some joint authority charged with such matters as are +necessarily common to both sections of the province."</p> + +<p>The hopes that had been aroused by this convention were disappointed, +or rather deferred. When Brown, in the following session of the +legislature, brought forward resolutions in the sense of those adopted +by the convention, he found coldness and dissension in his own party, +and the resolutions were defeated by a large majority. Subsequently +Mr. Brown had a long illness, retired from the leadership, and spent +some time in England and Scotland. In his absence the movement for +constitutional change was stayed. But "events stronger than advocacy," +in Mr. McGee's words, were operating. Power oscillated between the +Conservative and Reform parties, and two general elections, held +within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty. When federation +was next proposed, it had become a political necessity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">LAST YEARS OF THE UNION</p> + + +<p>In 1860, Mr. Brown contemplated retiring from the leadership of the +party. In a letter to Mr. Mowat, he said that the enemies of reform +were playing the game of exciting personal hostility against himself, +and reviving feelings inspired by the fierce contests of the past. It +might be well to appoint a leader who would arouse less personal +hostility. A few months later he had a long and severe illness, which +prevented him from taking his place in the legislature during the +session of 1861 and from displaying his usual activity in the general +election of the summer of that year. He did, however, accept the hard +task of contesting East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr. John +Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one. Mr. Brown then +announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement +without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some public +advantages, he said, might flow from that decision. Those whose +interest it was that misgovernment should continue, would no longer be +able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Admitting that he had used +strong language in denouncing French domination, he justified his +course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> as the only remedy for the evil. In 1852 he could hardly find +a seconder for his motion in favour of representation by population; +in the election just closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper +Canada, elected to stand or fall by that measure. He had fought a ten +years' battle without faltering. He advocated opposition to any +ministry of either party that would refuse to settle the question.</p> + +<p>The Conservative government was defeated, in the session following the +election, on a militia bill providing for the maintenance of a force +of fifty thousand men at a cost of about one million dollars. The +American Civil War was in progress; the <i>Trent</i> affair had assumed a +threatening appearance and it was deemed necessary to place the +province in a state of defence. The bill was defeated by the defection +of some French-Canadian supporters of the government. The event caused +much disappointment in England; and from this time forth, continual +pressure from that quarter in regard to defence was one of the forces +tending towards confederation.</p> + +<p>John Sandfield Macdonald, who was somewhat unexpectedly called upon to +form a ministry, was an enthusiastic advocate of the "double +majority," by which he believed the union could be virtually +federalized without formal constitutional change. Upper Canadian +ministers were to transact Upper Canadian business, and so with Lower +Canada, the administration, as a whole, managing affairs of common +interest. Local legislation was not to be forced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> on either province +against the wish of the representatives. The administration for each +section should possess the confidence of a majority of representatives +from that section.</p> + +<p>Brown strongly opposed the "double majority" plan, which he regarded +as a mere makeshift for reform in the representation, and he was in +some doubt whether he should support or oppose the Liberal ministers +who offered for re-election. He finally decided, after consultation +with his brother Gordon, "to permit them to go in unopposed, and hold +them up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur."</p> + +<p>In July 1862, Mr. Brown sailed for Great Britain, and in September he +wrote Mr. Holton that he had had a most satisfactory interview with +the Duke of Newcastle at the latter's request. They seem to have +talked freely about Canadian politics. "His scruples about +representation are entirely gone. It would have done even Sandfield +[Macdonald] good to hear his ideas on the absurdity of the 'double +majority.' Whatever small politicians and the London <i>Times</i> may say, +you may depend upon this, that the government and the leaders of the +Opposition perfectly understand our position, and have no thought of +changing the relations between Canada and the mother country. On the +contrary, the members of the government, with the exception of +Gladstone, are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand transit +route across the continent." He remarked upon the bitterness of the +British feeling against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> United States, and said that he was +perplexed by the course of the London <i>Times</i> in pandering to the +passions of the people.</p> + +<p>The most important event of his visit to Scotland was yet to come. On +November 27th he married Miss Anne Nelson, daughter of the well-known +publisher, Thomas Nelson—a marriage which was the beginning of a most +happy domestic life of eighteen years. This lady survived him until +May, 1906. On his return to Canada with his bride, Mr. Brown was met +at Toronto station by several thousand friends. In reply to a +complimentary address, he said, "I have come back with strength +invigorated, with new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with the most +earnest desire to aid in advancing the prosperity and happiness of +Canada."</p> + +<p>It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte government had shelved the +question of representation by population and had committed itself to +the device of the "double majority." During Mr. Brown's absence +another movement, which he had strongly resisted, had been gaining +ground. In 1860, 1861, and 1862, Mr. R. W. Scott, of Ottawa, had +introduced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman Catholic +separate school system of Upper Canada. In 1863, he succeeded, by +accepting certain modifications, in obtaining the support of Dr. +Ryerson, superintendent of education. Another important advantage was +that his bill was adopted as a government measure by the Sandfield +Macdonald ministry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> The bill became law in spite of the fact that it +was opposed by a majority of the representatives from Upper Canada. +This was in direct contravention of the "double majority" resolutions +adopted by the legislature at the instance of the government. The +premier had declared that there should be a truce to the agitation for +representation by population or for other constitutional changes. That +agitation had been based upon the complaint that legislation was being +forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Canadian votes. The "double +majority" resolutions had been proposed as a substitute for +constitutional change. In the case of the Separate School Bill they +were disregarded, and the premier was severely criticized for allowing +his favourite principle to be contravened.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown had been absent in the sessions of 1861 and 1862, and he did +not enter the House in 1863 until the Separate School Bill had passed +its second reading. In the <i>Globe</i>, however, it was assailed +vigorously, one ground being that the bill was not a finality, but +that the Roman Catholic Church would continually make new demands and +encroachments, until the public school system was destroyed. On this +question of finality there was much controversy. Dr. Ryerson always +insisted that there was an express agreement that it was to be final; +on the Roman Catholic side this is denied. At confederation Brown +accepted the Act of 1863 as a final settlement. He said that if he had +been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> present in 1863, he would have voted against the bill, because +it extended the facility for establishing separate schools. "It had, +however, this good feature, that it was accepted by the Roman Catholic +authorities, and carried through parliament as a final compromise of +the question in Upper Canada." He added: "I have not the slightest +hesitation in accepting it as a necessary condition of the union." +With confederation, therefore, we may regard Brown's opposition to +separate schools in Upper Canada as ended. In accepting the terms of +confederation, he accepted the Separate School Act of 1863, though +with the condition that it should be final, a condition repudiated on +the Roman Catholic side.</p> + +<p>The Sandfield Macdonald government was weakened by this incident, and +it soon afterwards fell upon a general vote of want of confidence +moved by Mr. John A. Macdonald. Parliament was dissolved and an +election was held in the summer of 1863. The Macdonald-Dorion +government obtained a majority in Upper but not in Lower Canada, and +on the whole, its tenure of power was precarious in the extreme. +Finally, in March, 1864, it resigned without waiting for a vote of +want of confidence. Its successor, the Taché-Macdonald government, had +a life of only three months, and its death marks the birth of a new +era.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">CONFEDERATION</p> + + +<p>"Events stronger than advocacy, events stronger than men," to repeat +D'Arcy McGee's phrase, combined in 1864 to remove confederation from +the field of speculation to the field of action. For several years the +British government had been urging upon Canada the necessity for +undertaking a greater share of her own defence. This view was +expressed with disagreeable candour in the London <i>Times</i> and +elsewhere on the occasion of the defeat of the Militia Bill of 1862. +The American Civil War emphasized the necessity for measures of +defence. At the time of the <i>Trent</i> seizure, Great Britain and the +United States were on the verge of war, of which Canada would have +been the battleground. As the war progressed, the world was astonished +by the development of the military power of the republic. It seemed +not improbable, at that time, that when the success of the North was +assured, its great armies would be used for the subjugation of Canada. +The North had come to regard Canada as a home of Southern sympathizers +and a place in which conspiracies against the republic were hatched by +Southerners. Though Canada was not to blame for the use that was made +of its soil,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> yet some ill-feeling was aroused, and public men were +warranted in regarding the peril as real.</p> + +<p>Canada was also about to lose a large part of its trade. For ten years +that trade had been built up largely on the basis of reciprocity with +the United States, and the war had largely increased the American +demand for Canadian products. It was generally expected, and that +expectation was fulfilled, that the treaty would be abrogated by the +United States. It was feared that the policy of commercial +non-intercourse would be carried even farther, the bonding system +abolished, and Canada cut off from access to the seaboard during the +winter.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>If we add to these difficulties the domestic dissensions of Canada, we +must recognize that the outlook was dark. Canada was then a fringe of +settlement, extending from the Detroit River to the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, having no independent access to the Atlantic except during +the summer. She had been depending largely upon Great Britain for +defence, and upon the United States for trade. She had received +warning that both these supports were to be weakened, and that she +must rely more on her own resources, find new channels of trade and +new means of defence. The country lay in the midst of the continent, +isolated from the west, isolated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> in part from the east, with a +powerful and not too friendly neighbour to the south. Upper and Lower +Canada, with their racial differences as sharply defined as in the +days of Lord Durham, regarded each other with distrust; one political +combination after another had failed to obtain a working majority of +the legislature, and domestic government was paralyzed. Such a +combination of danger and difficulty, within and without, might well +arouse alarm, rebuke faction and stimulate patriotism.</p> + +<p>The election of 1863 was virtually a drawn battle. The Reformers had a +large majority in Upper Canada, their opponents a like majority in +Lower Canada, and thus not only the two parties, but the two +provinces, were arrayed against each other. The Reform government, +headed by Sandfield Macdonald and Dorion, found its position of +weakness and humiliation intolerable, and resigned in March, 1864. The +troubled governor-general called upon A. T. Fergusson Blair, a +colleague of Sandfield Macdonald, to form a new administration. He +failed. He called upon Cartier with a like result. He finally had a +little better success with Sir E. P. Taché, a veteran who had been a +colleague of Baldwin, of Hincks, and of Macdonald. Taché virtually +restored the Cartier-Macdonald government, taking in Foley and McGee +from the other side. In less than three months, on June 14th, this +government was defeated, and on the very day of its defeat relief +came. Letters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> written by Brown to his family during the month +preceding the crisis throw some light on the situation.</p> + +<p>On May 13th he writes: "Things here are very unsatisfactory; no one +sees his way out of the mess—and there is no way but my +way—representation by population. There is great talk to-day of +coalition—and what do you think? Why, that in order to make the +coalition successful, the imperial government are to offer me the +government of one of the British colonies. I have been gravely asked +to-day by several if it is true, and whether I would accept. My reply +was, I would rather be proprietor of the <i>Globe</i> newspaper for a few +years than be governor-general of Canada, much less a trumpery little +province. But I need hardly tell you, the thing has no foundation, +beyond sounding what could be done to put me out of the way and let +mischief go on. But we won't be bought at any price, shall we?" On May +18th he writes that he has brought on his motion for constitutional +changes, and on May 20th that it has carried and taken Cartier and +Macdonald by surprise. "Much that is directly practical may not flow +from the committee, but it is an enormous gain to have the +acknowledgment on our journals that a great evil exists, and that some +remedy must be found."</p> + +<p>On June 14th Mr. Brown, as chairman of a committee appointed to +consider the difficulties connected with the government of Canada, +brought in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> a report recommending "a federative system, applied either +to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American provinces." +This was the day on which the Taché government was defeated. On the +subject of the negotiations which followed between Mr. Brown and the +government, there is a difference between the account given by Sir +John Macdonald in the House, and accepted by all parties as official, +and a letter written by Mr. Brown to a member of his family. The +official account represents the first movement as coming from Mr. +Brown, the letter says that the suggestion came from the +governor-general. It would seem likely that the idea moved gradually +from informal conversations to formal propositions. The governor had +proposed a coalition on the defeat of the Macdonald-Dorion government, +and he repeated the suggestion on the defeat of the Taché-Macdonald +government; but his official memorandum contains no reference to +constitutional changes. It would seem that there was a great deal of +talk of coalition in the air before Brown made his proposals, and +perhaps some talk of offering him an appointment that would remove him +from public life. But the Conservative ministers were apparently +thinking merely of a coalition that would break the dead-lock, and +enable the ordinary business of the country to proceed. Brown's idea +was to find a permanent remedy in the form of a change in the +constitution. When he made his proposal to co-operate with his +opponents for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> purpose of settling the difficulties between Upper +and Lower Canada, his proposal fell upon minds familiarized with the +idea of coalition, and hence its ready acceptance. On his part, Mr. +Brown was ready to abate certain party advantages in order to bring +about constitutional reform. Mr. Ferrier, in the debate on +confederation, says that it was he who suggested that the proposal +made by Mr. Brown to Mr. Pope and Mr. Morris should be communicated to +the government. Ferrier gives a lively account of the current gossip +as to the meeting between Brown and the ministers. "I think I can +remember this being said, that when Mr. Galt met Mr. Brown he received +him with that manly, open frankness which characterizes him; that when +Mr. Cartier met Mr. Brown, he looked carefully to see that his two +Rouge friends were not behind him, and that when he was satisfied they +were not, he embraced him with open arms and swore eternal friendship; +and that Mr. Macdonald, at a very quick glance, saw there was an +opportunity of forming a great and powerful dependency of the British +empire.... We all thought, in fact, that a political millennium had +arrived."</p> + +<p>In a family letter written at this time Mr. Brown said: "June 18th, +past one in the morning. We have had great times since I wrote you. On +Tuesday we defeated the government by a majority of two. They asked +the governor-general to dissolve parliament, and he consented; but +before acting on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> it, at the governor's suggestion, they applied to me +to aid them in reconstructing the government, on the basis of settling +the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada. I +refused to accept office, but agreed to help them earnestly and +sincerely in the matter they proposed. Negotiations were thereupon +commenced, and are still going on, with considerable hope of finding a +satisfactory solution to our trouble. The facts were announced in the +House to-day by John A. Macdonald, amid tremendous cheering from both +sides of the House. You never saw such a scene; but you will have it +all in the papers, so I need not repeat. Both sides are extremely +urgent that I should accept a place in the government, if it were only +for a week; but I will not do this unless it is absolutely needed to +the success of the negotiations. A more agreeable proposal is that I +should go to England to arrange the new constitution with the imperial +government. But as the whole thing may fail, we will not count our +chickens just yet."</p> + +<p>Sir Richard Cartwright, then a young member of parliament, relates an +incident illustrating the tension on men's minds at that time. He +says: "On that memorable afternoon when Mr. Brown, not without +emotion, made his statement to a hushed and expectant House, and +declared that he was about to ally himself with Sir Georges Cartier +and his friends for the purpose of carrying out confederation, I saw +an excitable, elderly little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> French member rush across the floor, +climb up on Mr. Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature +approaching the gigantic, fling his arms about his neck and hang +several seconds there suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr. +Brown and to the infinite joy of all beholders, pit, box and gallery +included."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>The official account given by Mr. Macdonald in the House, is that +immediately after the defeat of the government on Tuesday night (the +14th), and on the following morning, Mr. Brown spoke to several +supporters of the administration, strongly urging that the present +crisis should be utilized in settling forever the constitutional +difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada, and assuring them that he +was ready to co-operate with the existing or any other administration +that would deal with the question promptly and firmly, with a view to +its final settlement. Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope, to whom the suggestion +was made, obtained leave to communicate it to Mr. John A. Macdonald +and Mr. Galt. On June 17th Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Galt called upon Mr. +Brown. In the conversation that ensued Mr. Brown expressed his extreme +reluctance to entering the ministry, declaring that the public mind +would be shocked by such an arrangement. The personal question being +dropped for the time, Mr. Brown asked what remedy was proposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> Mr. +Macdonald and Mr. Galt replied that their remedy was a federal union +of all the British North American provinces. Mr. Brown said that this +would not be acceptable to Upper Canada. The federation of all the +provinces ought to come and would come in time, but it had not yet +been thoroughly considered by the people; and even were this +otherwise, there were so many parties to be consulted that its +adoption was uncertain and remote. He expressed his preference for +parliamentary reform, based on population. On further discussion it +appeared that a compromise might be found in an alternative plan, a +federal union of all the British North American provinces or a federal +union of Upper and Lower Canada, with provision for the admission of +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory when they desired. +There was apparently a difference of opinion as to which alternative +should be presented first. One memorandum reduced to writing gave the +preference to the larger federation; the second and final memorandum +contained this agreement: "The government are prepared to pledge +themselves to bring in a measure next session for the purpose of +removing existing difficulties by introducing the federal principle +into Canada, coupled with such provisions as will permit the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West Territory to be incorporated into the +same system of government. And the government will, by sending +representatives to the Lower Provinces and to England,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> use its best +endeavours to secure the assent of those interests which are beyond +the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may enable all +British North America to be united under a general legislature based +upon the federal principle."</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Brown who insisted on this mode of presentation. At the +convention of 1859 he had expressed in the strongest language his hope +for the creation of a great Canadian nationality; and he had for years +advocated the inclusion of the North-West Territories in a greater +Canada. But he regarded the settlement of the difficulties of Upper +and Lower Canada as the most pressing question of the hour, and he did +not desire that the solution of this question should be delayed or +imperilled. Galt's plan of federation, comprehensive and admirable as +it was, had failed because the assent of the Maritime Provinces could +not be secured; and for five years afterwards no progress had been +made. It was natural that Brown should be anxiously desirous that the +plan for the reform of the union of the Canadas should not fail, +whatever else might happen.</p> + +<p>On June 21st, Mr. Brown called a meeting of the members of the +Opposition for Upper Canada. It was resolved, on motion of Mr. Hope +Mackenzie, "that we approve of the course which has been pursued by +Mr. Brown in the negotiations with the government, and that we approve +of the project of a federal union of the Canadas, with provision for +the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> North-West Territory, +as one basis on which the constitutional difficulties now existing +could be settled." Thirty-four members voted for this motion, five +declining to vote. A motion that three members of the Opposition +should enter the government was not so generally supported, eleven +members, including Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat, voting in the +negative. The Lower Canadian Reformers held aloof, and in the +subsequent debate in the legislature, strongly opposed confederation.</p> + +<p>There were many evidences of the keen interest taken by the +governor-general (Monk) in the negotiations. On June 21st he wrote to +Mr. Brown: "I think the success or failure of the negotiations which +have been going on for some days, with a view to the formation of a +strong government on a broad basis, depends very much on your +consenting to come into the cabinet.</p> + +<p>"Under these circumstances I must again take the liberty of pressing +upon you, by this note, my opinion of the grave responsibility which +you will take upon yourself if you refuse to do so.</p> + +<p>"Those who have hitherto opposed your views have consented to join +with you in good faith for the purpose of extricating the province +from what appears to me a very dangerous position.</p> + +<p>"They have frankly offered to take up and endeavour to settle on +principles satisfactory to all, the great constitutional question +which you, by your energy and ability, have made your own.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>"The details of that settlement must necessarily be the subject of +grave debate in the cabinet, and I confess I cannot see how you are to +take part in that discussion, or how your opinions can be brought to +bear on the arrangement of the question, unless you occupy a place at +the council table.</p> + +<p>"I hope I may, without impropriety, ask you to take these opinions +into consideration before you arrive at a final decision as to your +own course."</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown wrote home that he, in consenting to enter the cabinet, was +influenced by the vote of the Reform members, by private letters from +many quarters, and still more by the extreme urgency of the +governor-general. "The thing that finally determined me was the fact, +ascertained by Mowat and myself, that unless we went in the whole +effort for constitutional changes would break down, and the enormous +advantages gained by our negotiations probably be lost. Finally, at +three o'clock yester-day, I consented to enter the cabinet as +'president of the council,' with other two seats in the cabinet at my +disposal—one of which Mowat will take, and probably Macdougall the +other. We consented with great reluctance, but there was no help for +it; and it was such a temptation to have possibly the power of +settling the sectional troubles of Canada forever. The announcement +was made in the House yester-day, and the excitement all over the +province is intense. I send you an official copy of the proceedings +during the negotiations, from which you will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> see the whole story. By +next mail I intend to send you some extracts from the newspapers. The +unanimity of sentiment is without example in this country, and were it +not that I know at their exact value the worth of newspaper +laudations, I might be puffed up a little in my own conceit. After the +explanations by ministers I had to make a speech, but was so excited +and nervous at the events of the last few days that I nearly broke +down. However, after a little I got over it, and made (as Mowat +alleges) the most telling speech I ever made. There was great cheering +when I sat down, and many members from both sides crowded round me to +congratulate me. In short, the whole movement is a grand success, and +I really believe will have an immense influence on the future +destinies of Canada."</p> + +<p>The formation of the coalition cabinet was announced on June 30th. +Foley, Buchanan and Simpson, members of the Upper Canadian section of +the Taché-Macdonald ministry, retired, and their places were taken by +the Hon. George Brown, Oliver Mowat, and William Macdougall. Otherwise +the ministry remained unchanged. Sir E. P. Taché, though a +Conservative, was acceptable to both parties, and was well fitted to +head a genuine coalition. But it must have been evident from the first +that the character of a coalition would not be long maintained. The +Reform party, which had just defeated the government in the +legislature, was represented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> by only three ministers out of twelve; +and this, with Macdonald's skill in managing combinations of men, made +it morally certain that the ministry must eventually become +Conservative, just as happened in the case of the coalition of 1854. +Brown had asked that the Reformers be represented by four ministers +from Upper Canada and two from Lower Canada, which would, as nearly as +possible, have corresponded with the strength of his party in the +legislature. Galt and Macdonald represented that a change in the +personnel of the Lower Canadian section of the cabinet would disturb +the people and shake their confidence. The Lower Canadian Liberal +leaders, Dorion and Holton, were adverse to the coalition scheme, +regarding it as a mere device for enabling Macdonald and his friends +to hold office.</p> + +<p>Mowat and Brown were re-elected without difficulty, but Macdougall met +with strong opposition in North Ontario. Brown, who was working hard +in his interests, found this opposition so strong among Conservatives +that he telegraphed to Macdonald, who sent a strong letter on behalf +of Macdougall. Brown said that the opposition came chiefly from +Orangemen. The result was that Macdougall, in spite of the assistance +of the two leaders, was defeated by one hundred. He was subsequently +elected for North Lanark. In other bye-elections the advocates of +confederation were generally successful. In the confederation debate, +Brown said there had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> been twenty-five contests, fourteen for the +Upper House and eleven for the Lower House, and that only one or two +opponents of confederation had been elected.</p> + +<p>There had been for some years an intermittent movement for the union +of the Maritime Provinces, and in 1864 their legislatures had +authorized the holding of a convention at Charlottetown. Accordingly +eight members of the Canadian ministry visited Charlottetown, where +they were cordially welcomed. They dwelt on the advantage of +substituting the larger for the smaller plan of union, and the result +of their representations was that arrangements were made for the +holding of a general conference at Quebec later in the year. The +Canadian ministers made a tour through the Maritime Provinces, +speaking in public and familiarizing the people with the plan. At a +banquet in Halifax, Mr. Brown gave a full exposition of the project +and its advantages in regard to defence, commerce, national strength +and dignity, adding that it would end the petty strifes of a small +community, and elevate politics and politicians.</p> + +<p>The scheme was destined to undergo a more severe ordeal in the +Maritime Provinces than these festive gatherings. For the present, +progress was rapid, and the maritime tour was followed by the +conference at Quebec, which opened on October 10th, 1864.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Sir Richard Cartwright says also that the credit of +Canada was very low, largely because of the troubles of the Grand +Trunk Railway Company. <i>Memories of Confederation</i>, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Memories of Confederation.</i> An address delivered before +the Canadian Club of Ottawa, January 20th, 1906.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE</p> + + +<p>The conference was held with closed doors, so as to encourage free +discussion. Some fragmentary notes have been preserved. One impression +derived from this and other records is that the public men of that day +had been much impressed by the Civil War in the United States, by the +apparent weakness of the central authority there, and by the dangers +of State sovereignty. Emphasis was laid upon the monarchical element +of the proposed constitution for Canada, and upon the fact that powers +not expressly defined were to rest in the general, instead of the +local, legislatures. In fact, Mr. Chandler, a representative of New +Brunswick, complained that the proposed union was legislative, not +federal, and reduced the local governments to the status of municipal +corporations. In practice these residuary powers were not so +formidable as they appeared; the defined powers of the local +legislatures were highly important, and were fully maintained, if not +enlarged, as a result of the resolute attitude of Ontario under the +Mowat government. But the notion that Canada must avoid the dangers of +State sovereignty is continually cropping up in the literature of +confederation. Friends and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> opponents of the new constitution made +much of these mysterious residuary powers, and the Lower Canadian +Liberals feared that they were being drawn into a union that would +destroy the liberties and imperil the cherished institutions of the +French-Canadian people.</p> + +<p>Another point is the extraordinary amount of time and labour given to +the constitution of the senate. "The conference proceedings," wrote +Mr. Brown, "get along very well, considering we were very near broken +up on the question of the distribution of members in the Upper Chamber +of the federal legislature, but fortunately, we have this morning got +the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days in +discussing it." During the latter years of the union, the elective +system had prevailed in Canada, and Mowat, Macdougall and others +favoured continuing this practice, but were overruled. Brown joined +Macdonald in supporting the nominative system. His reasons were given +in his speech in the legislature in 1865. He believed that two +elective chambers were incompatible with the British parliamentary +system. The Upper Chamber, if elected, might claim equal power with +the Lower, including power over money bills. It might amend money +bills, might reject all legislation, and stop the machinery of +government. With a Conservative majority in one House, and a Reform +majority in the other, a dead-lock might occur. To the objection that +the change from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> elective to the nominative system involved a +diminution of the power of the people, Mr. Brown answered that the +government of the day would be responsible for each appointment. It +must be admitted that this responsibility is of little practical +value, and that Mr. Brown fully shared in the delusions of his time as +to the manner in which the senate would be constituted, and the part +it would play in the government of the country.</p> + +<p>A rupture was threatened also on the question of finance. A large +number of local works which in Upper Canada were paid for by local +municipal taxation, were in the Maritime Provinces provided out of the +provincial revenues. The adjustment was a difficult matter, and +finally it was found necessary for the financial representatives of +the different provinces to withdraw, for the purpose of constructing a +scheme.</p> + +<p>On October 28th the conference was concluded, and its resolutions +substantially form the constitution of Canada. On October 31st Brown +wrote: "We got through our work at Quebec very well. The constitution +is not exactly to my mind in all its details—but as a whole it is +wonderful, really wonderful. When one thinks of all the fighting we +have had for fifteen years, and finds the very men who fought us every +inch, now going far beyond what we asked, I am amazed and sometimes +alarmed lest it all go to pieces yet. We have yet to pass the ordeal +of public opinion in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> several provinces, and sad, indeed, will it +be if the measure is not adopted by acclamation in them all. For Upper +Canada we may well rejoice on the day it becomes law. Nearly all our +past difficulties are ended by it, whatever new ones may arise."</p> + +<p>A journey made by the delegates through Canada after the draft was +completed enabled Canadians to make the acquaintance of some men of +mark in the Maritime Provinces, including Tilley, of New Brunswick, +and Tupper, of Nova Scotia, and it evoked in Upper Canada warm +expressions of public feeling in favour of the new union. It is +estimated that eight thousand people met the delegates at the railway +station in Toronto. At a dinner given in the Music Hall in that city, +Mr. Brown explained the new constitution fully. He frankly confessed +that he was a convert to the scheme of the Intercolonial Railway, for +the reason that it was essential to the union between Canada and the +Maritime Provinces. The canal system was to be extended, and as soon +as the finances would permit communication was to be opened with the +North-West Territory. "This was the first time," wrote Mr. Brown, +"that the confederation scheme was really laid open to the public. No +doubt—was right in saying that the French-Canadians were restive +about the scheme, but the feeling in favour of it is all but unanimous +here, and I think there is a good chance of carrying it. At any rate, +come what may, I can now get out of the affair and out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of public life +with honour, for I have had placed on record a scheme that would bring +to an end all the grievances of which Upper Canada has so long +complained."</p> + +<p>The British government gave its hearty blessing to the confederation, +and the outlook was hopeful. In December, 1864, Mr. Brown sailed for +England, for the purpose of obtaining the views of the British +government. He wrote from London to Mr. Macdonald that the scheme had +given prodigious satisfaction. "The ministry, the Conservatives and +the Manchester men are all delighted with it, and everything Canadian +has gone up in public estimation immensely.... Indeed, from all +classes of people you hear nothing but high praise of 'Canadian +statesmanship,' and loud anticipations of the great future before us. +I am much concerned to observe, however, and I write it to you as a +thing that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead +hereafter in Canadian public matters—that there is a manifest desire +in almost every quarter, that ere long the British American colonies +should shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that +we did not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to +observe this, but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of +Canada by the United States, and will soon pass away with the cause +that excites it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE</p> + + +<p>The parliament of Canada assembled on January 19th, 1865, to consider +the resolutions of the Quebec conference. The first presentation of +the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper Chamber by the +premier, Sir E. P. Taché. He described the measure as essential to +British connection, to the preservation of "our institutions, our +laws, and even our remembrances of the past." If the opportunity were +allowed to pass by unimproved, Canada would be forced into the +American union by violence; or would be placed upon an inclined plane +which would carry it there insensibly. Canada, during the winter, had +no independent means of access to the sea, but was dependent on the +favour of a neighbour which, in several ways, had shown a hostile +spirit. The people of the Northern States had an exaggerated idea of +Canadian sympathy with the South, and the consequences of this +misapprehension were—first, the threatened abolition of the transit +system; second, the discontinuance of reciprocity; third, a passport +system, which was almost equivalent to a prohibition of intercourse. +Union with the Maritime Provinces would give Canada continuous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> and +independent access to the Atlantic; and the Maritime Provinces would +bring into the common stock their magnificent harbours, their coal +mines, their great fishing and shipping industries. Then he recounted +the difficulties that had occurred in the government of Canada, ending +in dead-lock, and a condition "bordering on civil strife." He declared +that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a +legislative union, but that if a federal union were obtained, it would +be tantamount to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada would +thereby preserve its autonomy, together with all the institutions it +held so dear. These were the main arguments for confederation, and in +the speeches which followed on that side they were repeated, enforced, +and illustrated in various ways.</p> + +<p>In the assembly, Mr. John A. Macdonald, as attorney-general, gave a +clear and concise description of the new constitution. He admitted +that he had preferred a legislative union, but had recognized that +such a union would not have been accepted either by Lower Canada or +the Maritime Provinces. The union between Upper and Lower Canada, +legislative in name, had been federal in fact, there being, by tacit +consent and practice, a separate body of legislation for each part of +the province. He described the new scheme of government as a happy +combination of the strength of a legislative union with the freedom of +a federal union, and with protection to local interests. The +constitution of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> United States was "one of the most skilful works +which human intelligence ever created; one of the most perfect +organizations that ever governed a free people." Experience had shown +that its main defect was the doctrine of State sovereignty. This +blemish was avoided in the Canadian constitution by vesting all +residuary powers in the central government and legislature. The +Canadian system would also be distinguished from the American by the +recognition of monarchy and of the principle of responsible +government. The connection of Canada with Great Britain he regarded as +tending towards a permanent alliance. "The colonies are now in a +transition state. Gradually a different colonial system is being +developed; and it will become year by year less a case of dependence +on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the mother +country, and more a case of a hearty and cordial alliance. Instead of +looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England will have in us +a friendly nation—a subordinate, but still a powerful people—to +stand by her in North America, in peace or in war."</p> + +<p>Brown spoke on the night of February 8th, his speech, occupying four +hours and a half in delivery, showing the marks of careful +preparation. He drew an illustration from the mighty struggle that had +well-nigh rent the republic asunder, and was then within a few weeks +of its close. "We are striving," he said, "to settle forever issues +hardly less momentous than those that have rent the neighbouring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +republic and are now exposing it to all the horrors of civil war. Have +we not then great cause for thankfulness that we have found a better +way for the solution of our troubles? And should not every one of us +endeavour to rise to the magnitude of the occasion, and earnestly seek +to deal with this question to the end, in the same candid and +conciliatory spirit in which, so far, it has been discussed?"</p> + +<p>He warned the assembly that whatever else happened, the constitution +of Canada would not remain unchanged. "Something must be done. We +cannot stand still. We cannot go back to chronic, sectional hostility +and discord—to a state of perpetual ministerial crisis. The events of +the last eight months cannot be obliterated—the solemn admissions of +men of all parties can never be erased. The claims of Upper Canada for +justice must be met, and met now. Every one who raises his voice in +hostility to this measure is bound to keep before him, when he speaks, +all the perilous consequences of its rejection. No man who has a true +regard for the well-being of Canada can give a vote against this +scheme unless he is prepared to offer, in amendment, some better +remedy for the evils and injustice that have so long threatened the +peace of our country."</p> + +<p>In the first place, he said confederation would provide a complete +remedy for the injustice of the system of parliamentary +representation, by giving Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, the +number of members to which it was entitled by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> population. In the +senate, the principle of representation by population would not be +maintained, an equal number of senators being allotted to Ontario, to +Quebec, and to the group of Maritime Provinces, without regard to +population. Secondly, the plan would remedy the injustice of which +Upper Canada had complained in regard to public expenditures. "No +longer shall we have to complain that one section pays the cash while +the other spends it; hereafter they who pay will spend, and they who +spend more than they ought, will bear the brunt. If we look back on +our doings of the last fifteen years, I think it will be acknowledged +that the greatest jobs perpetrated were of a sectional character, that +our fiercest contests were about local matters that stirred up +sectional jealousies and indignation to their deepest depth." +Confederation would end sectional discord between Upper and Lower +Canada. Questions that used to excite sectional hostility and jealousy +were now removed from the common legislature to the legislatures of +the provinces. No man need be debarred from a public career because +his opinions, popular in his own province, were unpopular in another. +Among the local questions that had disturbed the peace of the common +legislature, he mentioned the construction of local works, the +endowment of ecclesiastical institutions, the granting of money for +sectarian purposes, and interference with school systems.</p> + +<p>He advocated confederation because it would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> convert a group of +inconsiderable colonies into a powerful union of four million people, +with a revenue of thirteen million dollars, a trade of one hundred and +thirty-seven million five hundred thousand dollars, rich natural +resources and important industries. Among these he dwelt at length on +the shipping of the Maritime Provinces. These were the days of the +wooden ship, and Mr. Brown claimed that federated Canada would be the +third maritime power in the world. Confederation would give a new +impetus to immigration and settlement. Communication with the west +would be opened up, as soon as the state of the finances permitted. +Negotiations had been carried on with the imperial government for the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada; and when those +fertile plains were opened for settlement, there would be an immense +addition to the products of Canada. The establishment of free trade +between Canada and the Maritime Provinces would be some compensation +for the loss of trade with the United States, should the reciprocity +treaty be abrogated. It would enable the country to assume a larger +share of the burden of defence. The time had come when the people of +the United Kingdom would insist on a reconsideration of the military +relations of Canada to the empire, and that demand was just. Union +would facilitate common defence. "The Civil War in the neighbouring +republic—the possibility of war between Great Britain and the United +States; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> threatened repeal of the reciprocity treaty; the +threatened abolition of the American bonding system for goods in +transit to and from these provinces; the unsettled position of the +Hudson's Bay Company; the changed feeling of England as to the +relations of Canada to the parent state; all combine at this moment to +arrest the earnest attention to the gravity of the situation and unite +us all in one vigorous effort to meet the emergency like men."</p> + +<p>A strong speech against confederation was made by Dorion, an old +friend of Brown, a staunch Liberal, and a representative +French-Canadian. He declared that he had seen no ground for changing +his opinion on two points—the substitution of an Upper Chamber, +nominated by the Crown, for an elective body; and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, which he, with other Liberals, had always +opposed. He had always admitted that representation by population was +a just principle; and in 1856 he had suggested, in the legislature, +the substitution of a federal for a legislative union of the Canadas; +or failing this, representation by population, with such checks and +guarantees as would secure local rights and interests, and preserve to +Lower Canada its cherished institutions. When the Brown-Dorion +government was formed, he had proposed a federation of the Canadas, +but with the distinct understanding that he would not attempt to carry +such a measure without the consent of a majority of the people of +Lower Canada. From the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> document issued by the Lower Canadian Liberals +in 1859, he quoted a passage in which it was laid down that the powers +given to the central government should be only those that were +essential, and that the local powers should be as ample as possible. +"All that belongs to matters of a purely local character, such as +education, the administration of justice, the militia, the laws +relating to property, police, etc., ought to be referred to the local +governments, whose powers ought generally to extend to all subjects +which would not be given to the general government." The vesting of +residuary powers in the provinces was an important difference between +this and the scheme of confederation; but the point most dwelt upon by +Dorion was the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces, which he strongly +opposed.</p> + +<p>Dorion denied that the difficulty about representation was the source +of the movement for confederation. He contended that the agitation for +representation by population had died out, and that the real authors +of confederation were the owners of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, +who stood to gain by the construction of the Intercolonial. "The +Taché-Macdonald government were defeated because the House condemned +them for taking without authority one hundred thousand dollars out of +the public chest for the Grand Trunk Railway, at a time when there had +not been a party vote on representation by population for one or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> two +sessions." He declared that Macdonald had, in Brown's committee of +1864, voted against confederation, and that he and his colleagues +adopted the scheme simply to enable them to remain in office. Dorion +also criticized adversely the change in the constitution of the Upper +Chamber, from the elective to the nominative system. The Conservative +instincts of Macdonald and Cartier, he said, led them to strengthen +the power of the Crown at the expense of the people, and this +constitution was a specimen of their handiwork. "With a +governor-general appointed by the Crown; with local governors also +appointed by the Crown; with legislative councils in the general +legislature, and in all the provinces, nominated by the Crown, we +shall have the most illiberal constitution ever heard of in any +government where constitutional government prevails."</p> + +<p>He objected to the power vested in the governor-general-in-council to +veto the acts of local legislatures. His expectation was that a +minority in the local legislature might appeal to their party friends +at Ottawa to veto laws which they disliked, and that thus there would +be constant interference, agitation and strife between the central and +the local authorities. He suspected that the intention was ultimately +to change the federal union to a legislative union. The scheme of +confederation was being carried without submission to the people. What +would prevent the change from a federal to a legislative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> union from +being accomplished in a similar way? To this the people of Lower +Canada would not submit. "A million of inhabitants may seem a small +affair to the mind of a philosopher who sits down to write out a +constitution. He may think it would be better that there should be but +one religion, one language and one system of laws; and he goes to work +to frame institutions that will bring all to that desirable state; but +I can tell the honourable gentleman that the history of every country +goes to show that not even by the power of the sword can such changes +be accomplished."</p> + +<p>With some exaggeration Mr. Dorion struck at real faults in the scheme +of confederation. The contention that the plan ought to have been +submitted to the people is difficult to meet except upon the plea of +necessity, or the plea that the end justifies the means. There was +assuredly no warrant for depriving the people of the power of electing +the second chamber; and the new method, appointment by the government +of the day, has been as unsatisfactory in practice as it was unsound +in principle. The federal veto on provincial laws has not been used to +the extent that Dorion feared. But when we consider how partisan +considerations have governed appointments to the senate, we can +scarcely say that there was no ground for the fear that the power of +disallowance would be similarly abused. Nor can we say that Mr. Dorion +was needlessly anxious about provincial rights, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> we remember how +persistently these have been attacked, and what strength, skill and +resolution have been required to defend them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE MISSION TO ENGLAND</p> + + +<p>A new turn was given to the debate early in March by the defeat of the +New Brunswick government in a general election, which meant a defeat +for confederation, and by the arrival of news of an important debate +in the House of Lords on the defences of Canada. The situation +suddenly became critical. That part of the confederation scheme which +related to the Maritime Provinces was in grave danger of failure. At +the same time the long-standing controversy between the imperial and +colonial authorities as to the defence of Canada had come to a head. +The two subjects were intimately connected. The British government had +been led to believe that if confederation were accomplished, the +defensive power of Canada would be much increased, and the new union +would be ready to assume larger obligations. From this time the tone +of the debate is entirely changed. It ceases to be a philosophic +deliberation of the merits of the new scheme. A note of urgency and +anxiety is found in the ministerial speeches; the previous question is +moved, and the proceedings hurried to a close, amid angry protests +from the Opposition.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown wrote on March 5th: "We are going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> to have a great scene in +the House to-day.... The government of New Brunswick appealed to the +people on confederation by a general election, and have got beaten. +This puts a serious obstacle in the way of our scheme, and we mean to +act promptly and decidedly upon it. At three o'clock we are to +announce the necessity of carrying the resolutions at once, sending +home a deputation to England, and proroguing parliament without any +unnecessary delay—say in a week."</p> + +<p>The announcement was made to the House by Attorney-General Macdonald, +who laid much stress on the disappointment that would be occasioned in +England by the abandonment of a scheme by which Canadian colonies +should cease to be a source of embarrassment, and become a source of +strength. The question of confederation was intimately connected with +the question of defence, and that was a question of the most imminent +necessity. The provincial government had been in continued +correspondence with the home government as to defence "against every +hostile pressure, from whatever source it may come."</p> + +<p>A lively debate ensued. John Sandfield Macdonald said that the defeat +of the New Brunswick government meant the defeat of the larger scheme +of confederation, unless it was intended that the people should be +bribed into acquiescence or bullied into submission. "The Hon. Mr. +Tilley and his followers are routed, horse and foot, by the honest +people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> of the province, scouted by those whose interests he had +betrayed, and whose behests he had neglected; and I think his fate +ought to be a warning to those who adopted this scheme without +authority, and who ask the House to ratify it <i>en bloc</i>, without +seeking to obtain the sanction of the people." Later on he charged the +ministers with the intention of manufacturing an entirely new bill, +obtaining the sanction of the British government, and forcing it on +the Canadian people, as was done in 1840.</p> + +<p>This charge was hotly resented by Brown, and it drew from John A. +Macdonald a more explicit statement of the intentions of the +government. They would, if the legislature adopted the confederation +resolutions, proceed to England, inform the imperial government of +what had passed in Canada and New Brunswick, and take counsel with +that government as to the affairs of Canada, especially in regard to +defence and the reciprocity treaty. The legislature would then be +called together again forthwith, the report of the conferences in +England submitted, and the business relating to confederation +completed.</p> + +<p>On the following day Macdonald made another announcement, referring to +a debate in the House of Lords on February 20th, which he regarded as +of the utmost importance. A report made by a Colonel Jervois on the +defences of Canada had been published, and the publication, exposing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +the extreme weakness of Canada, was regarded as an official +indiscretion. It asserted that under the arrangements then existing +British and Canadian forces together could not defend the colony. Lord +Lyveden brought the question up in the House of Lords, and dwelt upon +the gravity of the situation created by the defencelessness of Canada +and by the hostility of the United States. He held that Great Britain +must do one of two things: withdraw her troops and abandon the country +altogether, or defend it with the full power of the empire. It was +folly to send troops out in driblets, and spend money in the same way. +The Earl de Grey and Ripon, replying for the government, said that +Jervois' report contained nothing that was not previously known about +the weakness of Canada. He explained the proposed arrangement by which +the imperial government was to fortify Quebec at a cost of two hundred +thousand pounds, and Canada would undertake the defence of Montreal +and the West.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Commenting on a report of this discussion, Mr. Macdonald said there +had been negotiations between the two governments, and that he hoped +these would result in full provision for the defence of Canada, both +east and west. It was of the utmost importance that Canada should be +represented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> in England at this juncture. In order to expedite the +debate by shutting out amendments, he moved the previous question.</p> + +<p>Macdonald's motion provoked charges of burking free discussion, and +counter-charges of obstruction, want of patriotism and inclinations +towards annexation. The debate lost its academic calm and became +acrimonious. Holton's motion for an adjournment, for the purpose of +obtaining further information as to the scheme, was ruled out of +order. The same fate befell Dorion's motion for an adjournment of the +debate and an appeal to the people, on the ground that it involved +fundamental changes in the political institutions and political +relations of the province; changes not contemplated at the last +general election.</p> + +<p>On March 12th the main motion adopting the resolutions of the Quebec +conference was carried by ninety-one to thirty-three. On the following +day an amendment similar to Dorion's, for an appeal to the people, was +moved by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, of Peel, seconded by Matthew +Crooks Cameron, of North Ontario. Undoubtedly the argument for +submission to the people was strong, and was hardly met by Brown's +vigorous speech in reply. But the overwhelming opinion of the House +was against delay, and on March 13th the discussion came to an end.</p> + +<p>The prospects for the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces were now +poor. Newfoundland and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> Prince Edward Island withdrew. A strong +feeling against confederation was arising in Nova Scotia, and it was +proposed there to return to the original idea of a separate maritime +union. It was decided to ask the aid of the British government in +overcoming the hesitation of the Maritime Provinces. The British +authorities were pressing Canada to assume increased obligations as to +defence. Defence depended on confederation, and England, by exercising +some friendly pressure on New Brunswick, might promote both objects.</p> + +<p>The committee appointed to confer with the British government was +composed of Macdonald, Brown, Cartier and Galt. They met in England a +committee of the imperial cabinet, Gladstone, Cardwell, the Duke of +Somerset and Earl de Grey and Ripon. An agreement was arrived at as to +defence. Canada would undertake works of defence at and west of +Montreal, and maintain a certain militia force; Great Britain would +complete fortifications at Quebec, provide the whole armament and +guarantee a loan for the sum necessary to construct the works +undertaken by Canada, and in case of war would defend every portion of +Canada with all the resources of the empire. An agreement was made as +to the acquisition of the Hudson Bay Territory by Canada, and as to +the influence to be brought to bear on the Maritime Provinces. "The +idea of coercing the Maritime Provinces into the measure was never for +a moment entertained." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> end sought was to impress upon them the +grave responsibility of thwarting a measure so pregnant with future +prosperity to British America.</p> + +<p>In spite of the mild language used in regard to New Brunswick, the +fact that its consent was a vital part of the whole scheme must have +been an incentive to heroic measures, and these were taken.</p> + +<p>One of the causes of the defeat of the confederation government of New +Brunswick had been the active hostility of the lieutenant-governor, +Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, son of the Earl of Aberdeen. He was +strongly opposed to the change, and is believed to have gone to the +limit of his authority in aiding and encouraging its opponents in the +election of 1865. Soon afterwards he visited England, and it is +believed that he was sent for by the home authorities and was taken to +task for his conduct, and instructed to assist in carrying out +confederation. A despatch from Cardwell, secretary of state for the +colonies, to Governor Gordon, expressed the strong and deliberate +opinion of Her Majesty's government in favour of a union of all the +North American colonies.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The governor carried out his instructions with the zeal of a convert, +showed the despatch to the head of his government, set about +converting him also, and believed he had been partly successful. The +substance of the despatch was inserted in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> speech from the throne, +when the legislature met on March 8th, 1866. The legislative council +adopted an address asking for imperial legislation to unite the +British North American colonies. The governor, without waiting for the +action of the assembly, made a reply to the council, expressing +pleasure at their address, and declaring that he would transmit it to +the secretary of state for the colonies. Thereupon the Smith ministry +resigned, contending that they ought to have been consulted about the +reply, that the council, not having been elected by the people, had no +authority to ask the imperial parliament to pass a measure which the +people of New Brunswick had expressly rejected at the polls. A protest +in similar terms might have been made in the legislative assembly, but +the opportunity was not given. A government favourable to +confederation was formed under Peter Mitchell, with Tilley as his +chief lieutenant, and the legislature was dissolved.</p> + +<p>A threatened Fenian invasion helped to turn the tide of public +opinion, and the confederate ministry was returned with a large +majority. That result, however desirable, did not sanctify the means +taken to bring about a verdict for confederation, which could hardly +have been more arbitrary.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Hansard, House of Lords, February 20th, 1865. See also a +long and important debate in the British House of Commons, March 13th, +1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Journals Canada, 1865, 2nd Session, pp. 8-15.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION</p> + + +<p>The series of events which gradually drew Mr. Brown out of the +coalition began with the death of Sir Etienne P. Taché on July 30th, +1865. By his age, his long experience, and a certain mild benignity of +disposition, Taché was admirably fitted to be the dean of the +coalition and the arbiter between its elements. He had served in +Reform and Conservative governments, but without incurring the +reproach of overweening love of office. With his departure that of +Brown became only a matter of time. To work with Macdonald as an equal +was a sufficiently disagreeable duty; to work under him, considering +the personal relations of the two men, would have been humiliating. +Putting aside the question of where the blame for the long-standing +feud lay, it was inevitable that the association should be temporary +and brief. On August 3rd the governer-general asked Mr. Macdonald to +form an administration. Mr. Macdonald consented, obtained the assent +of Mr. Cartier and consulted Mr. Brown. I quote from an authorized +memorandum of the conversation. "Mr. Brown replied that he was quite +prepared to enter into arrangements for the continuance of the +government in the same position<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> as it occupied previous to the death +of Sir Etienne P. Taché; but that the proposal now made involved a +grave departure from that position. The government, heretofore, had +been a coalition of three political parties, each represented by an +active party leader, but all acting under one chief, who had ceased to +be actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions, and who +was well fitted to give confidence to all the three sections of the +coalition that the conditions which united them would be carried out +in good faith to the very letter. Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Cartier and +himself [Mr. Brown] were, on the contrary, regarded as party leaders, +with party feelings and aspirations, and to place any one of them in +an attitude of superiority to the others, with the vast advantage of +the premiership, would, in the public mind, lessen the security of +good faith, and seriously endanger the existence of the coalition. It +would be an entire change of the situation. Whichever of the three was +so preferred, the act would amount to an abandonment of the coalition +basis, and a reconstruction of the government on party lines under a +party leader." When the coalition was formed, the Liberals were in a +majority in the legislature; for reasons of State they had +relinquished their party advantage, and a government was formed in +which the Conservatives had nine members and the Liberals three. In +what light would the Liberal party regard this new proposition? Mr. +Brown suggested that an invitation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> be extended to some gentleman of +good position in the legislative council, under whom all parties could +act with confidence, as successor to Colonel Taché. So far as to the +party. Speaking, however, for himself alone, Mr. Brown said he +occupied the same position as in 1864. He stood prepared to give +outside the ministry a frank and earnest support to any ministry that +might be formed for the purpose of carrying out confederation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Macdonald replied that he had no personal feeling as to the +premiership, and would readily stand aside; and he suggested the name +of Mr. Cartier, as leader of the French-Canadians. Mr. Brown said that +it would be necessary for him to consult with his political friends. +Sir Narcisse F. Belleau, a member of the executive council, was then +proposed by Mr. Macdonald, and accepted by Mr. Brown, on condition +that the policy of confederation should be stated in precise terms. +Sir Narcisse Belleau became nominal prime minister of Canada, and the +difficulty was tided over for a few months.</p> + +<p>The arrangement, however, was a mere makeshift. The objections set +forth by Brown to Macdonald's assuming the title of leader applied +with equal force to his assuming the leadership in fact, as he +necessarily did under Sir Narcisse Belleau; the discussion over this +point, though couched in language of diplomatic courtesy, must have +irritated both parties, and their relations grew steadily worse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> The +immediate and assigned cause of the rupture was a disagreement in +regard to negotiations for the renewal of the reciprocity treaty. It +is admitted that it was only in part the real cause, and would not +have severed the relations between men who were personally and +politically in sympathy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown had taken a deep interest in the subject of reciprocity. In +1863 he was in communication with John Sandfield Macdonald, then +premier of Canada, and Luther Holton, minister of finance. He dwelt on +the importance of opening communication with the American government +during the administration of Lincoln, whom he regarded as favourable +to the renewal of the treaty. Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, +suggested that Canada should have an agent at Washington, with whom he +and Lord Lyons, the British ambassador, could confer on Canadian +matters. The premier asked Brown to go, saying that all his colleagues +were agreed upon his eminent fitness for the mission. Brown declined +the mission, contending that Mr. Holton, besides being fully +qualified, was, by virtue of his official position as minister of +finance, the proper person to represent Canada. He kept urging the +importance of taking action early, before the American movement +against the renewal of the treaty could gather headway. But neither +the Macdonald-Sicotte government nor its successor lived long enough +to take action, and the opportunity was lost. The coalition government +was fully employed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> with other matters during 1864, and it was not +until the spring of 1863 that the matter of reciprocity was taken up. +In the summer of that year the imperial government authorized the +formation of a confederate council on reciprocity, consisting of +representation from Canada and the other North American colonies, and +presided over by the governor-general. Brown and Galt were the +representatives of Canada on the council.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown was in the Maritime Provinces in November, 1865, on +government business. On his return to Toronto he was surprised to read +in American papers a statement that Mr. Galt and Mr. Howland were +negotiating with the Committee of Ways and Means at Washington. +Explanations were given by Galt at a meeting of the cabinet at Ottawa +on December 17th. Seward had told him that the treaty could not be +renewed, but that something might be done by reciprocal legislation. +After some demur, Mr. Galt went on to discuss the matter on that +basis. He suggested the free exchange of natural products, and a +designated list of manufactures. The customs duties on foreign goods +were to be assimilated as far as possible. Inland waters and canals +might be used in common, and maintained at the joint expense of the +two countries. Mr. Galt followed up his narrative by proposing that a +minute of council be adopted, ratifying what he had done, and +authorizing him to proceed to Washington and continue the +negotiations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>The discussion that followed lasted several days. Mr. Brown objected +strongly to the proceeding. He declared that "Mr. Galt had flung at +the heads of the Americans every concession that we had in our power +to make, and some that we certainly could not make, so that our case +was foreclosed before the commission was opened." He objected still +more strongly to the plan of reciprocal legislation, which would keep +the people of Canada "dangling from year to year on the legislation of +the American congress, looking to Washington instead of to Ottawa as +the controller of their commerce and prosperity." The scheme was +admirably designed by the Americans to promote annexation. Before each +congress the United States press would contain articles threatening +ruin to Canadian trade. The Maritime Provinces would take offence at +being ignored, and confederation as well as reciprocity might be lost. +His own proposal was to treat Mr. Galt's proceedings at Washington as +unofficial, call the confederate council, and begin anew to "make a +dead set to have this reciprocal legislation idea upset before +proceeding with the discussion."</p> + +<p>Galt at length suggested a compromise. His proceedings at Washington +were to be treated as unofficial, and no order-in-council passed. Galt +and Howland were to be sent to Washington to obtain a treaty if +possible, and if not to learn what terms could be arranged, and report +to the government.</p> + +<p>Brown regarded this motion as intended to remove <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>him from the +confederate council, and substitute Mr. Howland, and said so; but he +declared that he would accept the compromise nevertheless. It +appeared, however, that there had been a misunderstanding as to the +recording of a minute of the proceedings. The first minute was +withdrawn; but as Mr. Brown considered that the second minute still +sanctioned the idea of reciprocal legislation, he refused to sign it, +and decided to place his resignation in the hands of the premier, and +to wait upon the governor-general. After hearing the explanation, His +Excellency said: "Then, Mr. Brown, I am called upon to decide between +your policy and that of the other members of the government?" Mr. +Brown replied, "Yes, sir, and if I am allowed to give advice in the +matter, I should say that the government ought to be sustained, though +the decision is against myself. I consider the great question of +confederation as of far greater consequence to the country than +reciprocity negotiations. My resignation may aid in preventing their +policy on the reciprocity question from being carried out, or at least +call forth a full expression of opinion on the subject, and the +government should be sustained, if wrong in this, for the sake of +confederation."</p> + +<p>The debate in council had occupied several days, and had evidently +aroused strong feelings. Undoubtedly Mr. Brown's decision was affected +by the affront that he considered had been put upon him by virtually +removing him from the confederate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> council and sending Mr. Howland +instead of himself to Washington as the colleague of Mr. Galt. He +disapproved on public grounds of the policy of the government, and he +resented the manner in which he had been ignored throughout the +transaction. On the day after the rupture Mr. Cartier wrote Mr. Brown +asking him whether he could reconsider his resignation. Mr. Brown +replied, "I have received your kind note, and think it right to state +frankly at once that the step I have taken cannot be revoked. The +interests involved are too great. I think a very great blunder has +been committed in a matter involving the most important interests of +the country, and that the order-in-council you have passed endorses +that blunder and authorizes persistence in it.... I confess I was much +annoyed at the personal affront offered me, but that feeling has +passed away in view of the serious character of the matter at issue, +which casts all personal feeling aside."</p> + +<p>If it were necessary to seek for justification of Mr. Brown's action +in leaving the ministry at this time, it might be found either in his +disagreement with the government on the question of policy, or in the +treatment accorded to him by his colleagues. Sandfield Macdonald and +his colleagues had on a former occasion recognized Mr. Brown's eminent +fitness to represent Canada in the negotiations at Washington, not +only because of his thorough acquaintance with the subject, but +because of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> steadily maintained attitude of friendship for the +North. He was a member of the confederate council on reciprocity. His +position in the ministry was not that of a subordinate, but of the +representative of a powerful party. In resenting the manner in which +his position was ignored, he does not seem to have exceeded the bounds +of proper self-assertion. However, this controversy assumes less +importance if it is recognized that the rupture was inevitable. The +precise time or occasion is of less importance than the force which +was always and under all circumstances operating to draw Mr. Brown +away from an association injurious to himself and to Liberalism, in +its broad sense as well as in its party sense, and to his influence as +a public man. This had better be considered in another place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES</p> + + +<p>We are to consider now the long-vexed question of the connection of +Mr. Brown with the coalition of 1864. Ought he to have entered the +coalition government? Having entered it, was he justified in leaving +it in 1865? Holton and Dorion told him that by his action in 1864, he +had sacrificed his own party interests to those of John A. Macdonald; +that Macdonald was in serious political difficulty, and had been +defeated in the legislature; that he seized upon Brown's suggestion +merely as a means of keeping himself in office; that for the sake of +office he accepted the idea of confederation, after having voted +against it in Brown's committee. A most wise and faithful friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, thought that Reformers should accept no +representation in the cabinet, but that they should give confederation +an outside support. That Macdonald and his party were immensely +benefitted by Brown's action, there can be no doubt. For several years +they had either been in Opposition, or in office under a most +precarious tenure, depending entirely upon a majority from Lower +Canada. By Brown's action they were suddenly invested with an +overwhelming majority, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> they had an interrupted lease of power for +the nine years between the coalition and the Pacific Scandal. +Admitting that the interest of the country warranted this sacrifice of +the interests of the Liberal party, we have still to consider whether +it was wise for Mr. Brown to enter the ministry, and especially to +enter it on the conditions that existed. The Lower Canadian Liberals +were not represented, partly because Dorion and Holton held back, and +partly because of the prejudice of Taché and Cartier against the +Rouges; and this exclusion was a serious defect in a ministry supposed +to be formed on a broad and patriotic basis. The result was, that +while the Liberals were in a majority in the legislature, they had +only three representatives in a ministry of twelve. Such a government, +with its dominant Conservative section led by a master in the handling +of political combinations, was bound to lose its character of a +coalition, and become Conservative out and out.</p> + +<p>A broader question is involved than that of the mere party advantage +obtained by Macdonald and his party in the retention of power and +patronage. There was grave danger to the essential principles of +Liberalism, of which Brown was the appointed guardian. Holton put this +in a remarkable way during the debate on confederation. It was at the +time when Macdonald had moved the previous question, when the +coalition government was hurrying the debate to a conclusion, in the +face of indignant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> protests and demands that the scheme should be +submitted to the people. Holton told Brown that he had destroyed the +Liberal party. Henceforth its members would be known as those who once +ranged themselves together, in Upper and Lower Canada, under the +Liberal banner. Then followed this remarkable appeal to his old +friend: "Most of us remember—those of us who have been for a few +years in public life in this country must remember—a very striking +speech delivered by the honourable member for South Oxford in Toronto +in the session of 1856 or 1857, in which he described the path of the +attorney-general [Macdonald] as studded all along by the gravestones +of his slaughtered colleagues. Well, there are not wanting those who +think they can descry, in the not very remote distance, a yawning +grave waiting for the noblest victim of them all. And I very much fear +that unless the honourable gentleman has the courage to assert his own +original strength—and he has great strength—and to discard the +blandishments and the sweets of office, and to plant himself where he +stood formerly, in the affections and confidence of the people of this +country, as the foremost defender of the rights of the people, as the +foremost champion of the privileges of a free parliament—unless he +hastens to do that, I very much fear that he too may fall a victim, +the noblest victim of them all, to the arts, if not the arms of the +fell destroyer."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>There was a little humorous exaggeration in the personal references to +Macdonald, for Holton and he were on friendly terms. But there was +also matter for serious thought in his words. Though Macdonald had +outgrown the fossil Toryism that opposed responsible government, he +was essentially Conservative; and there was something not democratic +in his habit of dealing with individuals rather than with people in +the mass, and of accomplishing his ends by private letters and +interviews, and by other forms of personal influence, rather than by +the public advocacy of causes. Association with him was injurious to +men of essentially Liberal and democratic tendencies, and +subordination was fatal, if not to their usefulness, at least to their +Liberal ideals. Macdougall and Howland remained in the ministry until +confederation was achieved, and found reasons for remaining there +afterwards. At the Reform convention of 1867, when the relation of the +Liberal party to the so-called coalition was considered, they defended +their position with skill and force, but the association of one with +Macdonald was very brief, and of the other very unhappy. Mr. Howland +was not a very keen politician, and a year after confederation was +accomplished he accepted the position of lieutenant-governor of +Ontario. Mr. Macdougall had an unsatisfactory career as a minister, +with an unhappy termination. He was clearly out of his element. Mr. +Tilley was described as a Liberal, but there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> was nothing to +distinguish him from his Conservative colleagues in his methods or his +utterances, and he became the champion of the essentially Conservative +policy of protection.</p> + +<p>But the most notable example of the truth of Holton's words and the +soundness of his advice was Joseph Howe. Howe was in Nova Scotia "the +foremost defender of the rights of people, the foremost champion of +the privileges of free parliaments." He had opposed the inclusion of +Nova Scotia on the solid ground that it was accomplished by arbitrary +means. At length he bowed to the inevitable. In ceasing to encourage a +useless and dangerous agitation he stood on patriotic ground. But in +an evil hour he was persuaded to seal his submission by joining the +Macdonald government, and thenceforth his influence was at an end. His +biographer says that Howe's four years in Sir John Macdonald's cabinet +are the least glorious of his whole career. "Howe had been accustomed +all his life to lead and control events. He found himself a member of +a government of which Sir John Macdonald was the supreme head, and of +a cast of mind totally different from his own. Sir John Macdonald was +a shrewd political manager, an opportunist whose unfailing judgment +led him unerringly to pursue the course most likely to succeed each +hour, each day, each year. Howe had the genius of a bold Reformer, a +courageous and creative type of mind, who thought in continents,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +dreamed dreams and conceived great ideas. Sir John Macdonald busied +himself with what concerned the immediate interests of the hour in +which he was then living, and yet Sir John Macdonald was a leader who +permitted no insubordination. Sir Georges Cartier, a man not to be +named in the same breath with Howe as a statesman, was, nevertheless, +a thousand times of more moment and concern with his band of Bleu +followers in the House of Commons, than a dozen Howes, and the +consequence is that we find for four years the great old man playing +second fiddle to his inferiors, and cutting a far from heroic figure +in the arena."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> What Holton said by way of warning to Brown was +realized in the case of Howe. He was "the noblest victim of them all."</p> + +<p>From the point of view of Liberalism and of his influence as a public +man, Brown did not leave the ministry a moment too soon; and there is +much to be said in favour of Mackenzie's view that he ought to have +refused to enter the coalition at all, and confined himself to giving +his general support to confederation. By this means he would not have +been responsible for the methods by which the new constitution was +brought into effect, methods that were in many respects repugnant to +those essential principles of Liberalism of which Brown had been one +of the foremost champions. At almost every stage in the proceedings +there was a violation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> of those rights of self-government which had +been so hardly won by Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The +Quebec conference was a meeting of persons who had been chosen to +administer the affairs of the various British provinces under their +established constitutions, not to make a new constitution. Its +deliberations were secret. It proceeded, without a mandate from the +people, to create a new governing body, whose powers were obtained at +the expense of those of the provinces. With the same lack of popular +authority, it declared that the provinces should have only those +powers which were expressly designated, and that the reserve of power +should be in the central governing body. Had this body been created +for the Canadas alone, this proceeding might have been justified, for +they were already joined in a legislative union, though by practice +and consent some features of federalism prevailed. But Nova Scotia and +New Brunswick were separate, self-governing communities, and it was +for them, not for the Quebec conference, to say what powers they would +grant and what powers they would retain. Again the people of Canada +had declared that the second chamber should be elected, not appointed +by the Crown. The Quebec conference, without consulting the people of +Canada, reverted to the discarded system of nomination, and added the +senate to the vast body of patronage at the disposal of the federal +government. The constitution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> adopted by this body was not, except in +the case of New Brunswick, submitted to the people, and it can hardly +be said that it was freely debated in the parliament of Canada, for it +was declared that it was in the nature of a treaty, and must be +accepted or rejected as a whole. In the midst of this debate the +people of New Brunswick passed upon the scheme in a general election, +and condemned it in the most decisive and explicit way. The British +government was then induced to bring pressure to bear upon the +province; and while it was contended that this pressure was only in +the form of friendly advice it was otherwise interpreted by the +governor, who strained his powers to compel the ministry to act in +direct contravention of its mandate from the people, and when it +resisted, forced it out of office. It is true that in a subsequent +election this decision was reversed; but that is not a justification +for the means adopted to bring about this result. It is no +exaggeration to say that Nova Scotia was forced into the union against +the express desire of a large majority of its people. There are +arguments by which these proceedings may be defended, but they are not +arguments that lie in the mouth of a Liberal. And if we say that the +confederation, in spite of these taints in its origin, has worked well +and has solved the difficulties of Canada, we use an argument which +might justify the forcible annexation of a country by a powerful +neighbour.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p><p>Again, there was much force in Dorion's contention that the new +constitution was an illiberal constitution, increasing those powers of +the executive which were already too large. To the inordinate strength +of the executive, under the delusive name of the Crown, may be traced +many of the worst evils of Canadian politics: the abuse of the +prerogative of dissolution, the delay in holding bye-elections, the +gerrymandering of the constituencies by a parliament registering the +decree of a government. To these powers of the government the +Confederation Act added that of filling one branch of the legislature +with its own nominees. By the power of disallowance, by the equivocal +language used in regard to education, and in regard to the creation of +new provinces, pretexts were furnished for federal interference in +local affairs. But for the resolute opposition of Mowat and his +colleagues, the subordination of the provinces to the central +authority would have gone very far towards realizing Macdonald's ideal +of a legislative union; and recent events have shown that the danger +of centralization is by no means at an end.</p> + +<p>It was a true, liberal and patriotic impulse that induced Brown to +offer his aid in breaking the dead-lock of 1864. He desired that Upper +Canada should be fairly represented in parliament, and should have +freedom to manage its local affairs. He desired that the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West should, in the course of time, be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +brought in on similar terms of freedom. But by joining the coalition +he became a participant in a different course of procedure; and if we +give him a large, perhaps the largest share, of the credit for the +ultimate benefits of confederation, we cannot divest him of +responsibility for the methods by which it was brought about, so long, +at least, as he remained a member of the government.</p> + +<p>In the year and a half that elapsed between his withdrawal from the +government and the first general election under the new constitution, +he had a somewhat difficult part to play. He had to aid in the work of +carrying confederation, and at the same time to aid in the work of +re-organizing the Liberal party, which had been temporarily divided +and weakened by the new issue introduced into politics. In the Reform +convention of 1867 the attitude of the party towards confederation was +considered. It was resolved that "while the new constitution contained +obvious defects, it was, on the whole, based upon equitable principles +and should be accepted with the determination to work it loyally and +patiently, and to provide such amendments as experience from year to +year may prove to be expedient." It was declared that coalitions of +opposing political parties for ordinary administrative purposes +resulted in corruption, extravagance and the abandonment of principle; +that the coalition of 1864 could be justified only on the ground of +imperious necessity, as the only available means of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> obtaining just +representation for Upper Canada, and should come to an end when that +object was attained; and that the temporary alliance of the Reform and +Conservative parties should cease. Howland and Macdougall, who had +decided to remain in the ministry, strove to maintain that it was a +true coalition, and that the old issues that divided the parties were +at an end; and their bearing before a hostile audience was tactful and +courageous. But Brown and his friends carried all before them.</p> + +<p>Brown argued strongly against the proposal to turn the coalition +formed for confederation into a coalition for ordinary administrative +purposes; and in a passage of unusual fervour he asked whether his +Reform friends were to be subjected to the humiliation of following in +the train of John A. Macdonald.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to understand how so chimerical a notion as a +non-party government led by Macdonald could have been entertained by +practical politicians. A permanent position in a Macdonald ministry +would have been out of the question for Brown, not only because of his +standing as a public man, but because of his control of the <i>Globe</i>, +which under such an arrangement would have been reduced to the +position of an organ of the Conservative government. There were also +all the elements of a powerful Liberal party, which soon after +confederation rallied its forces and overthrew Sir John<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> Macdonald's +government at Ottawa, and the coalition government he had established +at Toronto. Giving Macdougall every credit for good intentions, it +must be admitted that he committed an error in casting in his +political fortunes with Sir John Macdonald, and that both he and +Joseph Howe would have found more freedom, more scope for their +energies and a wider field of usefulness, in fighting by the side of +Mackenzie and Blake.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Longley's <i>Joseph Howe</i>, "Makers of Canada" series, pp. +228, 229.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST</p> + + +<p>Very soon after his arrival in Canada, Mr. Brown became deeply +interested in the North-West Territories. He was thrown into contact +with men who knew the value of the country and desired to see it +opened for settlement. One of these was Robert Baldwin Sullivan, who, +during the struggle for responsible government, wrote a series of +brilliant letters over the signature of "Legion" advocating that +principle, and who was for a time provincial secretary in the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government. In 1847, Mr. Sullivan delivered, in the +Mechanics' Institute, Toronto, an address on the North-West +Territories, which was published in full in the <i>Globe</i>. The Oregon +settlement had recently been made, and the great westward trek of the +Americans was in progress. Sullivan uttered the warning that the +Americans would occupy and become masters of the British western +territory, and outflank Canada, unless steps were taken to settle and +develop it by British subjects. There was at this time much +misconception of the character of the country, and one is surprised by +the very accurate knowledge shown by Mr. Sullivan in regard to the +resources of the country, its coal measures as well as its wheat +fields.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>Mr. Brown also obtained much information and assistance from Mr. +Isbester, a "native of the country, who by his energy, ability and +intelligence had raised himself from the position of a successful +scholar at one of the schools of the settlement to that of a graduate +of one of the British universities, and to a teacher of considerable +rank. This gentleman had succeeded in inducing prominent members of +the House of Commons to interest themselves in the subject of appeals +which, through him, were constantly being made against the injustice +and persecution which the colonists of the Red River Settlement were +suffering."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Brown said that his attention was first drawn to the subject by a +deputation sent to England by the people of the Red River Settlement +to complain that the country was ill-governed by the Hudson's Bay +Company, and to pray that the territory might be thrown open for +settlement. "The movement," said Mr. Brown, "was well received by the +most prominent statesmen of Britain. The absurdity of so vast a +country remaining in the hands of a trading company was readily +admitted; and I well remember that Mr. Gladstone then made an +excellent speech in the Commons, as he has recently done, admitting +that the charter of the company was not valid, and that the matter +should be dealt with by legislation. But the difficulty that +constantly presented itself was what should be done with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +territory were the charter broken up; what government should replace +that of the company. The idea struck Mr. Isbester, a most able and +enlightened member of the Red River deputation to London, that this +difficulty would be met at once were Canada to step in and claim the +right to the territory. Through a mutual friend, I was communicated +with on the subject, and agreed to have the question thoroughly +agitated before the expiry of the company's charter in 1859. I have +since given the subject some study, and have on various occasions +brought it before the public." Mr. Brown referred to the matter in his +maiden speech in parliament in 1851, and in 1854 and again in 1856 he +gave notice of motion for a committee of inquiry, but was interrupted +by other business. In 1852, the <i>Globe</i> contained an article so +remarkable in its knowledge of the country that it may be reproduced +here in part.</p> + +<p>"It is a remarkable circumstance that so little attention has been +paid in Canada to the immense tract of country lying to the north of +our boundary line, and known as the Hudson's Bay Company's Territory. +There can be no question that the injurious and demoralizing sway of +that company over a region of four millions of square miles, will, ere +long, be brought to an end, and that the destinies of this immense +country will be united with our own. It is unpardonable that +civilization should be excluded from half a continent, on at best but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +a doubtful right of ownership, for the benefit of two hundred and +thirty-two shareholders.</p> + +<p>"Our present purpose is not, however, with the validity of the +Hudson's Bay Company's claim to the country north of the Canadian +line—but to call attention to the value of that region, and the vast +commercial importance to the country and especially to this section, +which must, ere long, attach to it. The too general impression +entertained is, that the territory in question is a frozen wilderness, +incapable of cultivation and utterly unfit for colonization. This +impression was undoubtedly set afloat, and has been maintained, for +its own very evident purposes. So long as that opinion could be kept +up, their charter was not likely to be disturbed. But light has been +breaking in on the subject in spite of their efforts to keep it out. +In a recent work by Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, it is stated that 'there is +not a more favourable situation on the face of the earth for the +employment of agricultural industry than the locality of the Red +River.' Mr. Fitzgerald asserts that there are five hundred thousand +square miles of soil, a great part of which is favourable for +settlement and agriculture, and all so well supplied with game as to +give great facility for colonization. Here is a field for Canadian +enterprise.</p> + +<p>"The distance between Fort William and the Red River Settlement is +about five hundred miles, and there is said to be water communication +by river and lake all the way. But westward, beyond the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> Red River +Settlement, there is said to be a magnificent country, through which +the Saskatchewan River extends, and is navigable for boats and canoes +through a course of one thousand four hundred miles.</p> + +<p>"Much has been said of the extreme cold of the country, as indicated +by the thermometer. It is well known, however, that it is not the +degree but the character of the cold which renders it obnoxious to +men, and the climate of this country is quite as agreeable, if not +more so, than the best part of Canada. The height of the latitude +gives no clue whatever to the degree of cold or to the nature of the +climate.</p> + +<p>"Let any one look at the map, and if he can fancy the tenth part that +is affirmed of the wide region of country stretching westward to the +Rocky Mountains, he may form some idea of the profitable commerce +which will soon pass through Lake Superior. Independent of the hope +that the high road to the Pacific may yet take this direction, there +is a field for enterprise presented, sufficient to satiate the warmest +imagination."</p> + +<p>It was not, however, until the year 1856 that public attention was +aroused to the importance of the subject. In the autumn of that year +there was a series of letters in the <i>Globe</i> signed "Huron," drawing +attention to the importance of the western country, attacking the +administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, and suggesting that the +inhabitants,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> unless relieved, might seek to place the country under +American government. In December 1856, there was a meeting of the +Toronto Board of Trade at which addresses were delivered by Alan +McDonnell and Captain Kennedy. Captain Kennedy said that he had lived +for a quarter of a century in the territory in question, had eight or +nine years before the meeting endeavoured to call attention to the +country through the newspapers and had written a letter to Lord Elgin. +He declared that the most important work before Canada was the +settlement of two hundred and seventy-nine million acres of land lying +west of the Lakes. The Board of Trade passed a resolution declaring +that the claim of the Hudson's Bay Company to the exclusive right to +trade in the country was injurious to the rights of the people of the +territory and of British North America. The Board also petitioned the +legislature to ascertain the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and +to protect the interests of Canada. A few days afterwards the <i>Globe</i> +said that the time had come to act, and thenceforward it carried on a +vigorous campaign for the opening up of the territory to settlement +and the establishment of communication with Canada.</p> + +<p>During the year 1856, Mr. Brown addressed many meetings on the subject +of the working of the union. He opposed the separation of the Canadas, +proposed by some as a measure of relief for the grievances of Upper +Canada. This would bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Canada back to the day of small things; he +advocated expansion to the westward. William Macdougall, then a member +of the <i>Globe</i> staff, was also an enthusiastic advocate of the union +of the North-West Territories with Canada. In an article reviewing the +events of the year 1856, the <i>Globe</i> said: "This year will be +remembered as that in which the public mind was first aroused to the +necessity of uniting to Canada the great tract of British American +territory lying to the north-west, then in the occupation of a great +trading monopoly. The year 1856 has only seen the birth of this +movement. Let us hope that 1857 will see it crowned with success."</p> + +<p>In January 1857, a convention of Reformers in Toronto adopted a +platform including free trade, uniform legislation for both provinces, +representation by population, national and non-sectarian education, +and the incorporation of the Hudson Bay Territory. It was resolved +"that the country known as the Hudson Bay Territory ought no longer to +be cut off from civilization, that it is the duty of the legislature +and executive of Canada to open negotiations with the imperial +government for the incorporation of the said territory as Canadian +soil."</p> + +<p>The <i>Globe's</i> proposals at this early date provoked the merriment of +some of its contemporaries. The Niagara <i>Mail</i>, January 1857, said: +"The Toronto <i>Globe</i> comes out with a new and remarkable platform, one +of the planks of which is the annexation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> of the frozen regions of the +Hudson Bay Territory to Canada. Lord have mercy on us! Canada has +already a stiff reputation for cold in the world, but it is unfeeling +in the <i>Globe</i> to want to make it deserve the reproach." The <i>Globe</i> +advised its contemporary not to commit itself hastily against the +annexation of the North-West, "for it will assuredly be one of the +strongest planks in our platform."</p> + +<p>Another sceptic was the Montreal <i>Transcript</i>, which declared that the +fertile spots in the territory were small and separated by immense +distances, and described the Red River region as an oasis in the midst +of a desert, "a vast treeless prairie on which scarcely a shrub is to +be seen." The climate was unfavourable to the growth of grain. The +summer, though warm enough, was too short in duration, so that even +the few fertile spots could "with difficulty mature a small potato or +cabbage." The subject seemed to be constantly in Brown's mind, and he +referred to it frequently in public addresses. After the general +election of 1857-8 a banquet was given at Belleville to celebrate the +return of Mr. Wallbridge for Hastings. Mr. Brown there referred to a +proposal to dissolve the union. He was for giving the union a fair +trial. "Who can look at the map of this continent and mark the vast +portion of it acknowledging British sovereignty, without feeling that +union and not separation ought to be the foremost principle with +British American statesmen? Who that examines the condition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> of the +several provinces which constitute British America, can fail to feel +that with the people of Canada must mainly rest the noble task, at no +distant date, of consolidating these provinces, aye, and of redeeming +to civilization and peopling with new life the vast territories to our +north, now so unworthily held by the Hudson's Bay Company. Who cannot +see that Providence has entrusted to us the building up of a great +northern people, fit to cope with our neighbours of the United States, +and to advance step by step with them in the march of civilization? +Sir, it is my fervent aspiration and belief that some here to-night +may live to see the day when the British American flag shall proudly +wave from Labrador to Vancouver Island and from our own Niagara to the +shores of Hudson Bay. Look abroad over the world and tell me what +country possesses the advantages, if she but uses them aright, for +achieving such a future, as Canada enjoys—a fertile soil, a healthful +climate, a hardy and frugal people, with great mineral resources, +noble rivers, boundless forests. We have within our grasp all the +elements of prosperity. We are free from the thousand time-honoured +evils and abuses that afflict and retard the nations of the Old World. +Not even our neighbours of the United States occupy an equal position +of advantage, for we have not the canker-worm of domestic slavery to +blight our tree of liberty. And greater than these, we are but +commencing our career as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> people, our institutions have yet to be +established. We are free to look abroad over the earth and study the +lessons of wisdom taught by the history of older countries, and choose +those systems and those laws and customs that experience has shown +best for advancing the moral and material interests of the human +family."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>As a member of the coalition of 1864, Brown had an opportunity to +promote his long-cherished object of adding the North-West Territories +to Canada. There had been some communication between the British and +Canadian governments, and in November 1864, the latter government said +that Canada was anxious to secure the settlement of the West and the +establishment of local governments. As the Hudson's Bay Company worked +under an English charter, it was for that government to extinguish its +rights and give Canada a clear title. Canada would then annex, govern +and open up communication with the territory. When Brown accompanied +Macdonald, Cartier and Galt to England in 1865, this matter was taken +up, and an agreement was arrived at which was reported to the Canadian +legislature in the second session of 1865. The committee said that +calling to mind the vital importance to Canada of having that great +and fertile country open to Canadian enterprise and the tide of +emigration into it directed through Canadian channels, remembering the +danger of large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> grants of land passing into the hands of mere money +corporations, and the risk that the recent discoveries of gold on the +eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains might throw into the country +large masses of settlers unaccustomed to British institutions, they +arrived at the conclusion that the quickest solution of the question +would be the best for Canada. They therefore proposed that the whole +territory east of the Rockies and north of the American or Canadian +line should be made over to Canada, subject to the rights of the +Hudson's Bay Company; and that the compensation to be made by Canada +to the company should be met by a loan guaranteed by the British +government. To this, the imperial government consented.</p> + +<p>The subsequent history of the acquisition of the West need not be told +here. In this case, as in others, Brown was a pioneer in a work which +others finished. But his services were generously acknowledged by Sir +John Macdonald, who said in the House of Commons in 1875: "From the +first time that he had entered parliament, the people of Canada looked +forward to a western extension of territory, and from the time he was +first a minister, in 1854, the question was brought up time and again, +and pressed with great ability and force by the Hon. George Brown, who +was then a prominent man in opposition to the government."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Gunn and Tuttle's <i>History of Manitoba</i>, p. 303.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Toronto <i>Globe</i>, January 25th, 1858.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874</p> + + +<p>Mr. Brown's position in regard to reciprocity has already been +described. He set a high value upon the American market for Canadian +products, and as early as 1863 he had urged the government of that day +to prepare for the renewal of the treaty. He resigned from the +coalition ministry, because, to use his own words, "I felt very +strongly that though we in Canada derived great advantage from the +treaty of 1854, the American people derived still greater advantage +from it. I had no objection to that, and was quite ready to renew the +old treaty, or even to extend it largely on fair terms of reciprocity. +But I was not willing to ask for a renewal as a favour to Canada; I +was not willing to offer special inducements for renewal without fair +concessions in return; I was not willing that the canals and inland +waters of Canada should be made the joint property of the United +States and Canada and be maintained at their joint expense; I was not +willing that the custom and excise duty of Canada should be +assimilated to the prohibitory rates of the United States; and very +especially was I unwilling that any such arrangement should be entered +into with the United States, dependent on the frail tenure of +reciprocal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> legislation, repealable at any moment at the caprice of +either party." Unless a fair treaty for a definite term of years could +be obtained, he thought it better that each country should take its +own course and that Canada should seek new channels of trade.</p> + +<p>The negotiations of 1866 failed, mainly because under the American +offer, "the most important provisions of the expiring treaty, relating +to the free interchange of the products of the two countries, were +entirely set aside, and the duties proposed to be levied were almost +prohibitory in their character." The free-list offered by the United +States reads like a diplomatic joke: "burr-millstones, rags, +fire-wood, grindstones, plaster and gypsum." The real bar in this and +subsequent negotiations, was the unwillingness of the Americans to +enter into any kind of arrangement for extended trade. They did not +want to break in upon their system of protection, and they did not set +a high value on access to the Canadian market. In most of the +negotiations, the Americans are found trying to drive the best +possible bargain in regard to the Canadian fisheries and canals, and +fighting shy of reciprocity in trade. They considered that a free +exchange of natural products would be far more beneficial to Canada +than to the United States. As time went on, they began to perceive the +advantages of the Canadian market for American manufactures. But when +this was apparent, Canadian feeling, which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> hitherto been +unanimous for reciprocity, began to show a cleavage, which was sharply +defined in the discussion preceding the election of 1891. Reciprocity +in manufactures was opposed, because of the competition to which it +would expose Canadian industries, and because it was difficult to +arrange it without assimilating the duties of the two countries and +discriminating against British imports into Canada.</p> + +<p>In earlier years, however, even the inclusion of manufactures in the +treaty of reciprocity was an inducement by which the Americans set +little store. The rejected offer made by Canada in 1869, about the +exact terms of which doubt exists, included a list of manufactures. In +1871 the American government declined to consider an offer to renew +the treaty of 1854 in return for access to the deep sea fisheries of +Canada. The Brown Treaty of 1874, which contained a list of +manufactures, was rejected at Washington, while in Canada it was +criticized as striking a blow at the infant manufactures of the +country.</p> + +<p>The Brown mission of 1874 was a direct result of the Treaty of +Washington. Under that treaty there was to be an arbitration to +determine the value of the American use of the Canadian inshore +fisheries for twelve years, in excess of the value of the concessions +made by the United States. Before the fall of the Macdonald +government, Mr. Rothery, registrar of the High Court of Admiralty in +England,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> arrived in Canada as the agent of the British government to +prepare the Canadian case for arbitration. In passing through Toronto +Mr. Rothery spoke to several public men with a view to acquiring +information as to the value of the fisheries. Mr. Brown availed +himself of that opportunity to suggest to him that a treaty of +reciprocity in trade would be a far better compensation to Canada than +a cash payment. Mr. Rothery carried this proposal to Washington, where +it was received with some favour.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Mackenzie government had been moving in the matter, and +in February 1874, Mr. Brown was informed that there was a movement at +Washington for the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and was +asked to make an unofficial visit to that city and estimate the +chances of success. On February 12th, he wrote: "We know as yet of but +few men who are bitterly against us. I saw General Butler, at his +request, on the subject, and I understand he will support us. Charles +Sumner is heart and hand with us, and is most kind to me personally." +On February 14th, he expressed his belief that if a bill for the +renewal of the reciprocity treaty could be submitted to congress at +once, it would be carried.</p> + +<p>A British commission was issued on March 17th, 1874, appointing Sir +Edward Thornton, British minister at Washington, and Mr. Brown, as +joint plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of fisheries, commerce +and navigation with the government of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> the United States. This mode of +representation was insisted upon by the Mackenzie government, in view +of the unsatisfactory result of the negotiations of 1871, when Sir +John A. Macdonald, as one commissioner out of six, made a gallant but +unsuccessful fight for the rights of Canada. Mr. Brown was selected, +not only because of his knowledge of and interest in reciprocity, but +because of his attitude during the war, which had made him many warm +friends among those who opposed slavery and stood for the union.</p> + +<p>Negotiations were formally opened on March 28th. The Canadians +proposed the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and the +abandonment of the fishery arbitration. The American secretary of +state, Mr. Fish, suggested the enlargement of the Canadian canals, and +the addition of manufactures to the free list. The Canadian +commissioners having agreed to consider these proposals, a project of +a treaty was prepared to form a basis of discussion. It provided for +the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty for twenty-one years, with +the addition of certain manufactures; the abandonment of the fishery +arbitration; complete reciprocity in coasting; the enlargement of the +Welland and St. Lawrence canals; the opening of the Canadian, New +York, and Michigan canals to vessels of both countries; the free +navigation of Lake Michigan; the appointment of a joint commission for +improving waterways, protecting fisheries and erecting lighthouses on +the Great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> Lakes. Had the treaty been ratified, there would have been +reciprocity in farm and other natural products, and in a very +important list of manufactures, including agricultural implements, +axles, iron, in the forms of bar, hoop, pig, puddled, rod, sheet or +scrap; iron nails, spikes, bolts, tacks, brads and springs; iron +castings; locomotives and railroad cars and trucks; engines and +machinery for mills, factories and steamboats; fire-engines; wrought +and cast steel; steel plates and rails; carriages, carts, wagons and +sleighs; leather and its manufactures, boots, shoes, harness and +saddlery; cotton grain bags, denims, jeans, drillings, plaids and +ticking; woollen tweeds; cabinet ware and furniture, and machines made +of wood; printing paper for newspapers, paper-making machines, type, +presses, folders, paper cutters, ruling machines, stereotyping and +electrotyping apparatus. In general terms, it was as near to +unrestricted reciprocity as was possible without raising the question +of discriminating against the products of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown found that American misapprehensions as to Canada, its +revenue, commerce, shipping, railways and industries were "truly +marvellous." It was generally believed that the trade of Canada was of +little value to the United States; that the reciprocity treaty had +enriched Canada at their expense; and that the abolition of the treaty +had brought Canada nearly to its wits' end. There was some excuse for +these misapprehensions. Until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> confederation, the trade returns from +the different provinces were published separately, if at all. No clear +statement of the combined traffic of the provinces with the United +States was published until 1874, and even Canadians were ignorant of +its extent. American protectionists founded a "balance of trade" +argument on insufficient data. They saw that old Canada sold large +quantities of wheat and flour to the United States, but not that the +United States sent larger quantities to the Maritime Provinces; that +Nova Scotia and Cape Breton sold coal to Boston and New York, but not +that five times as much was sent from Pennsylvania to Canada. Brown +prepared a memorandum showing that the British North American +provinces, from 1820 to 1854, had bought one hundred and sixty-seven +million dollars worth of goods from the United States, and the United +States only sixty-seven million dollars worth from the provinces; that +in the thirteen years of the treaty, the trade between the two +countries was six hundred and thirty million dollars according to the +Canadian returns, and six hundred and seventy million dollars +according to the American returns; and that the so-called "balance of +trade" in this period was considerably against Canada. It was shown +that the repeal of the treaty did not ruin Canadian commerce; that the +external trade of Canada which averaged one hundred and fifteen +million dollars a year from 1854 to 1862, rose to one hundred and +forty-two million dollars in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> year following the abrogation, and +to two hundred and forty million dollars in 1873. In regard to wheat, +flour, provisions, and other commodities of which both countries had a +surplus, the effect of the prohibitory American duties had been to +send the products of Canada to compete with those of the United States +in neutral markets.</p> + +<p>This memorandum was completed on April 27th and was immediately handed +to Mr. Fish. It was referred to the treasury department, where it was +closely examined and admitted to be correct. From that time there was +a marked improvement in American feeling.</p> + +<p>Brown also carried on a vigorous propaganda in the newspapers. In +New York the <i>Tribune</i>, <i>Herald</i>, <i>Times</i>, <i>World</i>, <i>Evening +Post</i>, <i>Express</i>, <i>Journal of Commerce</i>, <i>Graphic</i>, <i>Mail</i>, +and other journals, declared in favour of a new treaty; and in Boston, +Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other large cities, the press was +equally favourable. A charge originated in Philadelphia and was +circulated in the United States and Canada, that this unanimity of +the press was obtained by the corrupt use of public money. Mr. Brown, +in his speech in the senate of Canada denied this; said that not a +shilling had been spent illegitimately, and that the whole cost of the +negotiation to the people of Canada would be little more than four +thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>In his correspondence Brown speaks of meeting Senator Conkling, +General Garfield and Carl Schurz,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> all of whom were favourable. +Secretary Fish is described as courteous and painstaking, but timid +and lacking in grasp of the subject, and Brown speaks impatiently of +the delays that are throwing the consideration of the draft treaty +over to the end of the session of congress.</p> + +<p>It did not reach the senate until two days before adjournment. "The +president" wrote Mr. Brown on June 20th, "sent a message to the senate +with the treaty, urging a decision before the adjournment of congress. +I thought the message very good; but it has the defect of not speaking +definitely of this message as his own and his government's and calling +on the senate to sustain him. Had he done this, the treaty would have +been through now. But now, with a majority in its favour, there seems +some considerable danger of its being thrown over until December." The +treaty was sent to the Foreign Relations Committee of the senate. +"There were six present; three said to be for us, one against, and two +for the measure personally, but wanted to hear from the country before +acting. How it will end, no one can tell." As a matter of fact it +ended there and then, as far as the United States were concerned.</p> + +<p>Of the objections urged against the treaty in Canada, the most +significant was that directed against the free list of manufactures. +This was, perhaps, the first evidence of the wave of protectionist +sentiment that overwhelmed the Mackenzie government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> In his speech in +the senate, in 1875, justifying the treaty, Mr. Brown said: "Time was +in Canada when the imposition of duty on any article was regarded as a +misfortune, and the slightest addition to an existing duty was +resented by the people. But increasing debt brought new burdens; the +deceptive cry of 'incidental protection' got a footing in the land; +and from that the step has been easy to the bold demand now set up by +a few favoured industries, that all the rest of the community ought to +be, and should rejoice to be, taxed seventeen and a half per cent, to +keep them in existence."</p> + +<p>Brown joined issue squarely with the protectionists. "I contend that +there is not one article contained in the schedules that ought not to +be wholly free of duty, either in Canada or the United States, in the +interest of the public. I contend that the finance minister of Canada +who—treaty or no treaty with the United States—was able to announce +the repeal of all customs duties on the entire list of articles in +Schedules A, B, and C,—even though the lost revenue was but shifted +to articles of luxury, would carry with him the hearty gratitude of +the country. Nearly every article in the whole list of manufactures is +either of daily consumption and necessity among all classes of our +population, or an implement of trade, or enters largely into the +economical prosecution of the main industries of the Dominion." The +criticism of the sliding scale, of which so much was heard at the +time, was only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> another phase of the protectionist objection. The +charge that the treaty would discriminate in favour of American +against British imports was easily disposed of. Brown showed that +every article admitted free from the United States would be admitted +free from Great Britain. But as this meant British as well as American +competition, it made the case worse from the protectionist point of +view. The rejection of the treaty by the United States left a clear +field for the protectionists in Canada.</p> + +<p>Four years after Mr. Brown's speech defending the treaty, he made his +last important speech in the senate, and almost the last public +utterance of his life, attacking Tilley's protectionist budget, and +nailing his free-trade colours to the mast.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">CANADIAN NATIONALISM</p> + + +<p>It will be remembered that after the victory won by the Reformers in +1848, there was an outbreak of radical sentiment, represented by the +Clear Grits in Upper Canada and by the Rouges in Lower Canada. It may +be more than a coincidence that there was a similar stirring of the +blood in Ontario and in Quebec after the Liberal victory of 1874. The +founding of the <i>Liberal</i> and of the <i>Nation</i>, of the National Club +and of the Canada First Association, Mr. Blake's speech at Aurora, and +Mr. Goldwin Smith's utterances combined to mark this period as one of +extraordinary intellectual activity. Orthodox Liberalism was +disquieted by these movements. It had won a great, and as was then +believed, a permanent victory over Macdonald and all that he +represented, and it had no sympathy with a disturbing force likely to +break up party lines, and to lead young men into new and unknown +paths.</p> + +<p>The platform of Canada First was not in itself revolutionary. It +embraced, (1) British connection; (2) closer trade relations with the +British West India Islands, with a view to ultimate political +connection; (3) an income franchise; (4) the ballot,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> with the +addition of compulsory voting; (5) a scheme for the representation of +minorities; (6) encouragement of immigration and free homesteads in +the public domain; (7) the imposition of duties for revenue so +adjusted as to afford every possible encouragement to native industry; +(8) an improved militia system under command of trained Dominion +officers; (9) no property qualifications in members of the House of +Commons; (10) reorganization of the senate; (11) pure and economic +administration of public affairs. This programme was severely +criticized by the <i>Globe</i>. Some of the articles, such as purity and +economy, were scornfully treated as commonplaces of politics. "Yea, +and who knoweth not such things as these." The framers of the platform +were rebuked for their presumption in setting themselves above the old +parties, and were advised to "tarry in Jericho until their beards be +grown."</p> + +<p>But the letter of the programme did not evince the spirit of Canada +First, which was more clearly set forth in the prospectus of the +<i>Nation</i>. There it was said that the one thing needful was the +cultivation of a national spirit. The country required the stimulus of +patriotism. Old prejudices of English, Scottish, Irish and German +people were crystallized. Canadians must assert their nationality, +their position as members of a nation. These and other declarations +were analyzed by the <i>Globe</i>, and the heralds of the new gospel were +pressed for a plainer avowal of their intentions. Throughout the +editorial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> utterances of the <i>Globe</i> there was shown a growing +suspicion that the ulterior aim of the Canada First movement was to +bring about the independence of Canada. The quarrel came to a head +when Mr. Goldwin Smith was elected president of the National Club. The +<i>Globe</i>, in its issue of October 27th, 1874, brought its heaviest +artillery to bear on the members of the Canada First party. It accused +them of lack of courage and frankness. When brought to book as to +their principles, it said, they repudiated everything. They repudiated +nativism; they repudiated independence; they abhorred the very idea of +annexation. The movement was without meaning when judged by these +repudiations, but was very significant and involved grave practical +issues when judged by the practices of its members. They had talked +loudly and foolishly of emancipation from political thraldom, as if +the present connection of Canada with Great Britain were a yoke and a +burden too heavy and too galling to be borne. They had adopted the +plank of British connection by a majority of only four. They had +chosen as their standard-bearer, their prophet and their president, +one whose chief claim to prominence lay in the persistency with which +he had advocated the breaking up of the British empire. Mr. Goldwin +Smith had come into a peaceful community to do his best for the +furtherance of a cause which meant simply revolution. The advocacy of +independence, said the <i>Globe</i>, could not be treated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> as an academic +question. It touched every Canadian in his dearest and most important +relations. It jeopardized his material, social and religious +interests. Canada was not a mere dead limb of the British tree, ready +to fall of its own weight. The union was real, and the branch was a +living one. Great Britain, it was true, would not fight to hold Canada +against her will, but if the great mass of Canadians believed in +British connection, those who wished to break the bond must be ready +to take their lives in their hands. The very proposal to cut loose +from Britain would be only the beginning of trouble. In any case what +was sought was revolution, and those who preached it ought to +contemplate all the possibilities of such a course. They might be the +fathers and founders of a new nationality, but they might also be +simply mischief-makers, whose insignificance and powerlessness were +their sole protection, who were not important enough for "either a +traitor's trial or a traitor's doom."</p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply to this attack was that he was an advocate, +not of revolution but of evolution. "Gradual emancipation," he said, +"means nothing more than the gradual concession by the mother country +to the colonies of powers of self-government; this process has already +been carried far. Should it be carried further and ultimately +consummated, as I frankly avow my belief it must, the mode of +proceeding will be the same that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> has always been. Each step will +be an Act of parliament passed with the assent of the Crown. As to the +filial tie between England and Canada, I hope it will endure forever."</p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith's views were held by some other members of the +Canada First party. Another and a larger section were Imperialists, +who believed that Canada should assert herself by demanding a larger +share of self-government within the empire, and by demanding the +privileges and responsibilities of citizens of the empire. The bond +that united the Imperialists and the advocates of independence was +national spirit. This was what the <i>Globe</i> failed to perceive, or at +least to recognize fully. Its article of October 27th is powerful and +logical, strong in sarcasm and invective. It displays every purely +intellectual quality necessary for the treatment of the subject, but +lacks the insight that comes from imagination and sympathy. The +declarations of those whose motto was "Canada first," could fairly be +criticized as vague, but this vagueness was the result, not of +cowardice or insincerity, but of the inherent difficulty of putting +the spirit of the movement into words. A youth whose heart is stirred +by all the aspirations of coming manhood, "yearning for the large +excitement that the coming years would yield," might have the same +hesitation in writing down his yearnings and aspirations on a sheet of +paper, and might be as unwisely snubbed by his elders.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>The greatest intellect of the Liberal party felt the impulse. At +Aurora Edward Blake startled the more cautious members of the party by +advocating the federation of the empire, the reorganization of the +senate, compulsory voting, extension of the franchise and +representation of minorities. His real theme was national spirit. +National spirit would be lacking until we undertook national +responsibilities. He described the Canadian people as "four millions +of Britons who are not free." By the policy of England, in which we +had no voice or control, Canada might be plunged into the horrors of +war. Recently, without our consent, the navigation of the St. Lawrence +had been ceded forever to the United States. We could not complain of +these things unless we were prepared to assume the full +responsibilities of citizenship within the empire. The young men of +Canada heard these words with a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was +not struck again. The movement apparently ceased, and politics +apparently flowed back into their old channels. But while the name, +the organization and the organs of Canada First in the press +disappeared, the force and spirit remained, and exercised a powerful +influence upon Canadian politics for many years.</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt that the Liberal party was injured by the +uncompromising hostility which was shown to the movement of 1874. +Young men, enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> look +upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyrannical, unprogressive and +hostile to new ideas. When the independent lodgment afforded by Canada +First disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Conservative +party, whose leader was shrewd enough to perceive the strength of the +spirit of nationalism, and to give it what countenance he could. +Protection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely by the use of +economic arguments, but because it was heralded as the "National +Policy" and hailed as a declaration of the commercial independence of +Canada. A few years later the legislation for the building of the +Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to the point of rashness, as it seemed, +and unwise and improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily +approved by the country, because it was regarded as a measure of +national growth and expansion. The strength of the Conservative party +from 1878 to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital +principle and spirit of Canada First.</p> + +<p>The <i>Globe's</i> attacks upon the Canada First party also had the effect +of fixing in the public mind a picture of George Brown as a dictator +and a relentless wielder of the party whip, a picture contrasting +strangely with those suggested by his early career. He had fought for +responsible government, for freedom from clerical dictation; he had +been one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline; he had +carelessly thrown away a great party advantage in order to promote +confederation; he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874 +the Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at Toronto, and Mr. +Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when +his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is +mischievous. Canada First threatened to change the formation of +political parties, and seemed to him to threaten a change in the +relations of Canada to the empire. But these explanations do not alter +the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party to lose touch with +a movement characterized by intellectual keenness and generosity of +sentiment, representing a real though ill-defined national impulse, +and destined to leave its mark upon the history of the country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">LATER YEARS</p> + + +<p>In the preceding chapters it has been necessary to follow closely the +numerous public movements with which Brown was connected. Here we may +pause and consider some incidents of his life and some aspects of his +character which lie outside of these main streams of action. First, a +few words about the Brown household. Of the relations between father +and son something has already been said. Of his mother, Mr. Alexander +Mackenzie says: "We may assume that Mr. Brown derived much of his +energy, power and religious zeal from his half Celtic origin: these +qualities he possessed in an eminent degree, united with the +proverbial caution and prudence of the Lowlander." The children, in +the order of age, were Jane, married to Mr. George Mackenzie of New +York; George; Isabella, married to Mr. Thomas Henning; Katherine, who +died unmarried; Marianne, married to the Rev. W. S. Ball; and John +Gordon. There were no idlers in that family. The publication of the +<i>Globe</i> in the early days involved a tremendous struggle. Peter Brown +lent a hand in the business as well as in the editorial department of +the paper. A good deal of the writing in the <i>Banner</i> and the early +<i>Globe</i> seems to bear the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> marks of his broad Liberalism and his +passionate love of freedom. Gordon entered the office as a boy, and +rose to be managing editor. Three of the daughters conducted a ladies' +school, which enjoyed an excellent reputation for thoroughness. +Katherine, the third daughter, was killed in a railway accident at +Syracuse; and the shock seriously affected the health of the father, +who died in 1863. The mother had died in the previous year.</p> + +<p>By these events and by marriages the busy household was broken up. +George Brown, as we have seen, married in 1862, and from that time +until his death his letters to his wife and children show an intense +affection and love of home. After her husband's death Mrs. Brown +resided in Edinburgh, where she died on May 6th 1906. The only son, +George M. Brown, was, in the last parliament, member of the British +House of Commons for Centre Edinburgh, and is one of the firm of +Thomas Nelson & Sons, publishers. In the same city reside two +daughters, Margaret, married to Dr. A. F. H. Barbour, a well-known +physician, and writer on medicine; and Edith, wife of George Sandeman. +Among other survivors are, E. B. Brown, barrister, Toronto; Alfred S. +Ball, K.C., police magistrate, Woodstock; and Peter B. Ball, +commercial agent for Canada at Birmingham, nephews of George Brown.</p> + +<p>From 1852 George Brown was busily engaged in public life, and a large +part of the work of the newspaper must have fallen on other shoulders. +There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> are articles in which one may fancy he detects the French +neatness of William Macdougall. George Sheppard spoke at the +convention of 1859 like a statesman; and he and Macdougall had higher +qualities than mere facility with the pen. Gordon Brown gradually grew +into the editorship. "He had" says Mr. E. W. Thomson, writing of a +later period, "a singular power of utilizing suggestions, combining +several that were evidently not associated, and indicating how they +could be merged in a striking manner. He seems to me now to have been +the greatest all-round editor I have yet had the pleasure of +witnessing at work, and in the political department superior to any of +the old or of the new time in North America, except only Horace +Greeley." But Mr. Thomson thinks that like most of the old-timers he +took his politics a little too hard. Mr. Gordon Brown died in June, +1896.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown regarded his defeat in South Ontario in 1867, as an +opportunity to retire from parliamentary life. He had expressed that +intention several months before. He wrote to Holton, on May 13th, +1867, "My fixed determination is to see the Liberal party re-united +and in the ascendant, and then make my bow as a politician. As a +journalist and a citizen, I hope always to be found on the right side +and heartily supporting my old friends. But I want to be free to write +of men and things without control, beyond that which my conscientious +convictions and the interests of my country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> demand. To be debarred by +fear of injuring the party from saying that—is unfit to sit in +parliament and that—is very stupid, makes journalism a very small +business. Party leadership and the conducting of a great journal do +not harmonize."</p> + +<p>In his speech at the convention of 1867 he said that he had looked +forward to the triumph of representation by population as the day of +his emancipation from parliamentary life, but that the case was +altered by the proposal to continue the coalition, involving a +secession from the ranks of the Liberal party. In this juncture it was +necessary for Liberals to unite and consult, and if it were found that +his continuance in parliamentary life for a short time would be a +service to the party, he would not refuse. It would be impossible, +however, for him to accept any official position, and he did not wish, +by remaining in parliament, to stand in the way of those who would +otherwise become leaders of the party. He again emphasized the +difficulty of combining the functions of leadership of a party and +management of a newspaper. "The sentiments of the leader of a party +are only known from his public utterances on public occasions. If a +wrong act is committed by an opponent or by a friend, he may simply +shrug his shoulders." But it was otherwise with the journalist. He had +been accused of fierce assaults on public men. "But I tell you if the +daily thoughts and the words daily uttered by other public men were +written in a book as mine have been, and circulated all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> over the +country, there would have been a very different comparison between +them and myself. I have had a double duty to perform. If I had been +simply the leader of a party and had not controlled a public journal, +such things would not have been left on record. I might have passed my +observations in private conversation, and no more would have been +heard of them. But as a journalist it was necessary I should speak the +truth before the people, no matter whether it helped my party or not; +and this, of course, reflected on the position of the party. +Consequently, I have long felt very strongly that I had to choose one +position or the other—that of a leader in parliamentary life, or that +of a monitor in the public press—and the latter has been my choice +being probably more in consonance with my ardent temperament, and at +the same time, in my opinion, more influential; for I am free to say +that in view of all the grand offices that are now talked +of—governorships, premierships and the like—I would rather be editor +of the <i>Globe</i>, with the hearty confidence of the great mass of the +people of Upper Canada, than have the choice of them all."</p> + +<p>Of Mr. Brown's relations with the parliamentary leaders after his +retirement, Mr. Mackenzie says: "Nor did he ever in after years +attempt to control or influence parliamentary proceedings as conducted +by the Liberals in opposition, or in the government; while always +willing to give his opinion when asked on any particular question, he +never volunteered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> his advice. His opinions, of course, received free +utterance in the <i>Globe</i>, which was more unfettered by reason of his +absence from parliamentary duties; though even there it was rarely +indeed that any articles were published which were calculated to +inconvenience or discomfort those who occupied his former +position."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Left comparatively free to follow his own inclinations, Brown plunged +into farming, spending money and energy freely in the raising of fine +cattle on his Bow Park estate near Brantford, an extensive business +which ultimately led to the formation of a joint stock company. The +province of Ontario, especially western Ontario, was for him the +object of an intense local patriotism. He loved to travel over it and +to meet the people. It was noticed in the <i>Globe</i> office that he paid +special attention to the weekly edition of the paper, as that which +reached the farming community. His Bow Park enterprise gave him an +increased feeling of kinship and sympathy with that community, and he +delighted in showing farmers over the estate. It would be hard to draw +a more characteristic picture than that of the tall senator striding +over the fields, talking of cattle and crops with all the energy with +which he was wont to denounce the Tories.</p> + +<p>Brown was appointed to the senate in December, 1873. Except for the +speech on reciprocity, which is dealt with elsewhere, his career there +was not noteworthy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> He seems to have taken no part in the discussion +on Senator Vidal's resolution in favour of prohibition, or on the +Scott Act, a measure for introducing prohibition by local option. A +popular conception of Brown as an ardent advocate of legislative +prohibition may have been derived from some speeches made in his early +career, and from an early prospectus of the <i>Globe</i>. On the bill +providing for government of the North-West Territories he made a +speech against the provision for separate schools, warning the House +that the effect would be to fasten these institutions on the West in +perpetuity.</p> + +<p>In 1876 Senator Brown figured in a remarkable case of contempt of +court. A Bowmanville newspaper had charged Senator Simpson, a +political ally of Brown, with resorting to bribery in the general +election of 1872. It published also a letter from Senator Brown to +Senator Simpson, asking him for a subscription towards the Liberal +campaign fund. On Senator Simpson's application, Wilkinson, the editor +of the paper, was called upon to show cause why a criminal information +should not issue against him for libel. The case was argued before the +Queen's Bench, composed of Chief-Justice Harrison, Justice Morrison, +and Justice Wilson. The judgment of the court delivered by the +chief-justice was against the editor in regard to two of the articles +complained of and in his favour in regard to the third. In following +the chief-justice, Mr. Justice Wilson took occasion to refer to +Senator Brown's letter and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> to say that it was written with corrupt +intent to interfere with the freedom of elections.</p> + +<p>Brown was not the man to allow a charge of this kind to go unanswered, +and in this case there were special circumstances calculated to arouse +his anger. The publication of his letter in the Bowmanville paper had +been the signal for a fierce attack upon him by the Conservative press +of the province. It appeared to him that Justice Wilson had wantonly +made himself a participant in this attack, lending the weight of his +judicial influence to his enemies. Interest was added to the case by +the fact that the judge had been in previous years supported by the +<i>Globe</i> in municipal and parliamentary elections. He had been +solicitor-general in the Macdonald-Sicotte government from May 1862 to +May 1863. Judge Morrison had been solicitor-general under Hincks, and +afterwards a colleague of John A. Macdonald. Each of them, in this +case, took a course opposite to that which might have been expected +from old political associations.</p> + +<p>A few days afterwards the <i>Globe</i> contained a long, carefully prepared +and powerful attack upon Mr. Justice Wilson. Beginning with a tribute +to the Bench of Ontario, it declared that no fault was to be found +with the judgment of the court, and that the offence lay in the +gratuitous comments of Mr. Justice Wilson.</p> + +<p>"No sooner had the chief-justice finished than Mr. Justice Wilson +availed himself of the occasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> to express his views of the matter +with a freedom of speech and an indifference to the evidence before +the court and an indulgence in assumptions, surmises and insinuations, +that we believe to be totally unparalleled in the judicial proceedings +of any Canadian court."</p> + +<p>The article denied that the letter was written with any corrupt +intent, and it stated that the entire fund raised by the Liberal party +in the general election of 1872 was only three thousand seven hundred +dollars, or forty-five dollars for each of the eighty-two +constituencies. "This Mr. Justice Wilson may rest assured of: that +such slanders and insults shall not go unanswered, and if the dignity +of the Bench is ruffled in the tussle, on his folly shall rest the +blame. We cast back on Mr. Wilson his insolent and slanderous +interpretation. The letter was not written for corrupt purposes. It +was not written to interfere with the freedom of elections. It was not +an invitation to anybody to concur in committing bribery and +corruption at the polls; and be he judge or not who says so, this +statement is false."</p> + +<p>The writer went on to contend that there were perfectly legitimate +expenditures in keenly contested elections. "Was there no such fund +when Mr. Justice Wilson was in public life? When the hat went round in +his contest for the mayoralty, was that or was it not a concurrence in +bribery or corruption at the polls?" Mr. Justice Wilson had justified +his comment by declaring that he might take notice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> matters with +which every person of ordinary intelligence was acquainted. Fastening +upon these words the <i>Globe</i> asked, "How could Mr. Justice Wilson in +his hunt for things which every person of ordinary intelligence is +acquainted with, omit to state that while the entire general election +fund of the Liberal party for that year (1872) was but three thousand +seven hundred dollars, raised by subscription from a few private +individuals, the Conservative fund on the same occasion amounted to +the enormous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, raised by the +flagitious sale of the Pacific Railway contract to a band of +speculators on terms disastrous to the interests of the country."</p> + +<p>In another vigorous paragraph the writer said: "We deeply regret being +compelled to write of the conduct of any member of the Ontario Bench +in the tone of this article, but the offence was so rank, so reckless, +so utterly unjustifiable that soft words would have but poorly +discharged our duty to the public."</p> + +<p>No proceedings were taken in regard to this article until about five +months afterwards, when Mr. Wilkinson, the editor of the Bowmanville +paper, applied to have Mr. Brown committed for contempt of court. The +judge assailed took no action and the case was tried before his +colleagues, Chief-Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison. Mr. Brown +appeared in person and made an argument occupying portions of two +days. He pointed out that the application<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> had been delayed five +months after the publication of the article. He contended that +Wilkinson was not prejudiced by the <i>Globe</i> article and had no +standing in the case. In a lengthy affidavit he entered into the whole +question of the expenditure of the two parties in the election of +1872, including the circumstances of the Pacific Scandal. He repeated +on oath the statement made in the article that his letter was not +written with corrupt intent; that the subscription asked for was for +legitimate purposes and that it was part of a fund amounting to only +three thousand seven hundred dollars for the whole province of +Ontario. He boldly justified the article as provoked by Mr. Justice +Wilson's dictum and by the use that would be made of it by hostile +politicians. The judge had chosen to intervene in a keen political +controversy whose range extended to the Pacific Scandal; and in +defending himself from his enemies and the enemies of his party, Brown +was forced to answer the judge. He argued that to compel an editor to +keep silence in such a case, would not only be unjust to him, but +contrary to public policy. For instance, the discussion of a great +public question such as that involved in the Pacific Scandal, might be +stopped upon the application of a party to a suit in which that +question was incidentally raised.</p> + +<p>The case was presented with his accustomed energy and thoroughness, +from the point of view of journalistic duty, of politics and of +law—for Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> Brown was not afraid to tread that sacred ground and +give extensive citations from the law reports. His address may be +commended to any editor who may be pursued by that mysterious legal +phantom, a charge of contempt of court. The energy of his gestures, +the shaking of the white head and the swinging of the long arms, must +have somewhat startled Osgoode Hall. The court was divided, the +chief-justice ruling that there had been contempt, Mr. Justice +Morrison, contra, and Mr. Justice Wilson taking no part in the +proceedings. So the matter dropped, though not out of the memory of +editors and politicians.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Mackenzie's <i>Life and Speeches of the Hon. George +Brown</i>, p. 119.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<p class="subhead2">CONCLUSION</p> + + +<p>The building in which the life of the Hon. George Brown was so +tragically ended, was one that had been presented to him by the +Reformers of Upper Canada before confederation "as a mark of the high +sense entertained by his political friends of the long, faithful and +important services which he has rendered to the people of Canada." It +stood upon the north side of King Street, on ground which is now the +lower end of Victoria Street, for the purpose of extending which, the +building was demolished. The ground floor was occupied by the business +office; on the next, looking out upon King Street, was Mr. Brown's +private office; and above that the rooms occupied by the editorial +staff, with the composing room in the rear. At about half past four +o'clock on the afternoon of March 25th, 1880, several of the occupants +of the editorial rooms heard a shot, followed by a sound of breaking +glass, and cries of "Help!" and "Murder!" Among these were Mr. Avern +Pardoe, now librarian of the legislative assembly of Ontario; Mr. +Archibald Blue, now head of the census bureau at Ottawa; Mr. John A. +Ewan, now leader writer on the <i>Globe</i>; and Mr. Allan S. Thompson, +father of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> the present foreman of the <i>Globe</i> composing room. Mr. Ewan +and Mr. Thompson were first to arrive on the scene. Following the +direction from which the sounds proceeded, they found Mr. Brown on the +landing, struggling with an undersized man, whose head was thrust into +Brown's breast. Mr. Ewan and Mr. Thompson seized the man, while Mr. +Brown himself wrested a smoking pistol from his hand. Mr. Blue, Mr. +Pardoe and others quickly joined the group, and Mr. Brown, though not +apparently severely injured, was induced to lie on the sofa in his +room, where his wound was examined. The bullet had passed through the +outer side of the left thigh, about four inches downward and backward; +it was found on the floor of the office.</p> + +<p>The assailant was George Bennett, who had been employed in the engine +room of the <i>Globe</i> for some years, and had been discharged for +intemperance. Mr. Brown said that when Bennett entered the office he +proceeded to shut the door behind him. Thinking the man's movements +singular, Mr. Brown stopped him and asked him what he wanted. Bennett, +after some hesitation, presented a paper for Mr. Brown's signature, +saying that it was a statement that he had been employed in the +<i>Globe</i> for five years. Mr. Brown said he should apply to the head of +the department in which he was employed. Bennett said that the head of +the department had refused to give the certificate. Mr. Brown then +told him to apply to Mr. Henning, the treasurer of the company, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +could furnish the information by examining his books.</p> + +<p>Bennett kept insisting that Mr. Brown should sign the paper, and +finally began to fumble in his pistol pocket, whereupon it passed +through Mr. Brown's mind "that the little wretch might be meaning to +shoot me." As he got the pistol out, Mr. Brown seized his wrist and +turned his hand downward. After one shot had been fired, the struggle +continued until the two got outside the landing, where they were found +as already described.</p> + +<p>The bullet had struck no vital part, and the wound was not considered +to be mortal. But as week after week passed without substantial +improvement, the anxiety of his friends and of the country deepened. +At the trial the question was raised whether recovery had been +prevented by the fact that Mr. Brown, against the advice of his +physician, transacted business in his room. After the first eight or +ten days there were intervals of delirium. Towards the end of April +when the case looked very serious, Mr. Brown had a long conversation +with the Rev. Dr. Greig, his old pastor, and with members of his +family. "In that conversation," says Mr. Mackenzie, "he spoke freely +to them of his faith and hope, and we are told poured out his soul in +full and fervent prayer," and he joined heartily in the singing of the +hymn "Rock of Ages." A few days afterwards he became unconscious; the +physicians ceased to press stimulants or nourishment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> upon him, and +early on Sunday, May 10th, he passed away.</p> + +<p>Bennett was tried and found guilty of murder on June 22nd following, +and was executed a month afterwards. Though he caused the death of a +man so conspicuous in the public life of Canada, his act is not to be +classed with assassinations committed from political motives, or even +from love of notoriety. On the scaffold he said that he had not +intended to kill Mr. Brown. However this may be, it is certain that it +was not any act of Mr. Brown's that set up that process of brooding +over grievances that had so tragic an ending. By misfortune and by +drinking, a mind, naturally ill-regulated had been reduced to that +condition in which enemies are seen on every hand. A paper was found +upon him in which he set forth a maniacal plan of murdering a supposed +enemy and concealing the remains in the furnace of the <i>Globe</i> +building. That the original object of his enmity was not Mr. Brown is +certain; there was not the slightest ground for the suspicion that the +victim was made to suffer for some enmity aroused in his strenuous +career as a public man. Strange that after such a career he should +meet a violent death at the hands of a man who was thinking solely of +private grievances!</p> + +<p>Tracing Mr. Brown's career through a long period of history, by his +public actions, his speeches, and the volumes of his newspaper, one +arrives at a somewhat different estimate from that preserved in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +familiar gossip and tradition. That tradition pictures a man +impulsive, stormy, imperious, bearing down by sheer force all +opposition to his will. In the main it is probably true; but the +printed record is also true, and out of the two we must strive to +reproduce the man. We are told of a speech delivered with flashing +eye, with gestures that seemed almost to threaten physical violence. +We read the report of the speech and we find something more than the +ordinary transition from warm humanity, to cold print. There is not +only freedom from violence, but there is coherence, close reasoning, a +systematic marshalling of facts and figures and arguments. One might +say of many of his speeches, as was said of Alexander Mackenzie's +sentences, that he built them as he built a stone wall. His tremendous +energy was not spasmodic, but was backed by solid industry, method and +persistence.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Bengough said in a little poem published soon after Mr. Brown's +death,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"His nature was a rushing mountain stream;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His faults but eddies which its swiftness bred."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In his business as a journalist, he had not much of that philosophy +which says that the daily difficulties of a newspaper are sure to +solve themselves by the effluxion of time. There are traditions of his +impatience and his outbreaks of wrath when something went wrong, but +there are traditions also of a kindness large enough to include the +lad who carried the proofs to his house. Those who were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> thoroughly +acquainted with the affairs of the office say that he was extremely +lenient with employees who were intemperate or otherwise incurred +blame, and that his leniency had been extended to Bennett. Intimate +friends and political associates deny that he played the dictator, and +say that he was genial and humorous in familiar intercourse. But it +is, after all, a somewhat unprofitable task to endeavour to sit in +judgment on the personal character of a public man, placing this +virtue against that fault, and solemnly assuming to decide which side +of the ledger exceeds the other. We have to deal with the character of +Brown as a force in its relation to other forces, and to the events of +the period of history covered by his career.</p> + +<p>A quarter of a century has now elapsed since the death of George Brown +and a still longer time since the most stirring scenes in his career +were enacted. We ought therefore to be able to see him in something +like his true relation to the history of his times. He came to Canada +at a time when the notion of colonial self-government was regarded as +a startling innovation. He found among the dominant class a curious +revival of the famous Stuart doctrine, "No Bishop, no King;" hence the +rise of such leaders, partly political and partly religious, as Bishop +Strachan, among the Anglicans, and Dr. Ryerson, among the Methodists, +the former vindicating and the latter challenging the exclusive +privileges of the Anglican Church. There was room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> for a similar +leader among Presbyterians, and in a certain sense this was the +opportunity of George Brown. In founding first a Presbyterian paper +and afterwards a political paper, he was following a line familiar to +the people of his time. But while he had a special influence among +Presbyterians, he appeared, not as claiming special privileges for +them, but as the opponent of all privilege, fighting first the +Anglican Church and afterwards the Roman Catholic Church, and +asserting in each case the principle of the separation of Church and +State.</p> + +<p>For some years after Brown's arrival in Canada, those questions in +which politics and religion were blended were subordinated to a +question purely political—colonial self-government. The atmosphere +was not favourable to cool discussion. The colony had been in +rebellion, and the passions aroused by the rebellion were always ready +to burst into flame. French Canada having been more deeply stirred by +the rebellion than Upper Canada, racial animosity was added there to +party bitterness. The task of the Reformers was to work steadily for +the establishment of a new order involving a highly important +principle of government, and, at the same time, to keep the movement +free from all suspicion of incitement to rebellion.</p> + +<p>The leading figure of this movement is that of Robert Baldwin, and he +was well supported by Hincks, by Sullivan, by William Hume Blake and +others. The forces were wisely led, and it is not pretended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> that this +direction was due to Brown. He was in 1844 only twenty-six years of +age, and his position at first was that of a recruit. But he was a +recruit of uncommon vigour and steadiness, and though he did not +originate, he emphasized the idea of carrying on the fight on strictly +constitutional and peaceful lines. His experience in New York and his +deep hatred of slavery had strengthened by contrast his conviction +that Great Britain was the citadel of liberty, and hence his +utterances in favour of British connection were not conventional, but +glowed with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>With 1849 came the triumph of Reform, and the last despairing effort +of the old régime, dying out with the flames of the parliament +buildings at Montreal. Now ensued a change in both parties. The one, +exhausted and discredited by its fight against the inevitable coming +of the new order, remained for a time weak and inactive, under a +leader whose day was done. The other, in the very hour of victory, +began to suffer disintegration. It had its Conservative element +desiring to rest and be thankful, and its Radical element with aims +not unlike those of Chartism in England. Brown stood for a time +between the government and the Conservative element on the one side +and the Clear Grits on the other. Disintegration was hastened by the +retirement of Baldwin and Lafontaine. Then came the brief and troubled +reign of Hincks; then a reconstruction of parties, with Conservatives +under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> the leadership of Macdonald and Reformers under that of Brown.</p> + +<p>The stream of politics between 1854 and 1864 is turbid; there is +pettiness, there is bitterness, there is confusion. But away from this +turmoil the province is growing in population, in wealth, in all the +elements of civilization. Upper Canada especially is growing by +immigration; it overtakes and passes Lower Canada in population, and +thus arises the question of representation by population. Brown takes +up this reform in representation as a means of freeing Upper Canada +from the domination of the Lower Province. He becomes the "favourite +son" of Upper Canada. His rival, through his French-Canadian alliance, +meets him with a majority from Lower Canada; and so, for several +years, there is a period of equally balanced parties and weak +governments, ending in dead-lock.</p> + +<p>If Brown's action had only broken this dead-lock, extricated some +struggling politicians from difficulty, and allowed the ordinary +business of government to proceed, it might have deserved only passing +notice. But more than that was involved. The difficulty was inherent +in the system. The legislative union was Lord Durham's plan of +assimilating the races that he had found "warring in the bosom of a +single state." The plan had failed. The line of cleavage was as +sharply defined as ever. The ill-assorted union had produced only +strife and misunderstanding. Yet to break the tie when new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> duties and +new dangers had emphasized the necessity for union seemed to be an act +of folly. To federalize the union was to combine the advantage of +common action with liberty to each community to work out its own +ideals in education, municipal government and all other matters of +local concern. More than that, to federalize the union was to +substitute for a rigid bond a bond elastic enough to allow of +expansion, eastward to the Atlantic and westward to the Pacific. That +principle which has been called provincial rights, or provincial +autonomy, might be described more accurately and comprehensively as +federalism; and it is the basic principle of Canadian political +institutions, as essential to unity as to peace and local freedom.</p> + +<p>The feeble, isolated and distracted colonies of 1864 have given place +to a commonwealth which, if not in strictness a nation, possesses all +the elements and possibilities of nationality, with a territory open +on three sides to the ocean, lying in the highway of the world's +commerce, and capable of supporting a population as large as that of +the British Islands. Confederation was the first and greatest step in +that process of expansion, and it is speaking only words of truth and +soberness to say that confederation will rank among the landmarks of +the world's history, and that its importance will not decline but will +increase as history throws events into their true perspective. It is +in his association with confederation, with the events<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> that led up to +confederation, and with the addition to Canada of the vast and fertile +plains of the West, that the life of George Brown is of interest to +the student of history.</p> + +<p>Brown was not only a member of parliament and an actor in the +political drama, but was the founder of a newspaper, and for +thirty-six years the source of its inspiration and influence. As a +journalist he touched life at many points. He was a man of varied +interests—railways, municipal affairs, prison reform, education, +agriculture, all came within the range of his duty as a journalist and +his interest and sympathy as a man. Those stout-hearted men who amid +all the wrangling and intrigue of the politicians were turning the +wilderness of Canada into a garden, gave to Brown in large measure +their confidence and affection. He, on his part, valued their +friendship more than any victory that could be won in the political +game. That was the standard by which he always asked to be judged. +This story of his life may help to show that he was true to the trust +they reposed in him, and to the principles that were the standards of +his political conduct, to government by the people, to free +institutions, to religious liberty and equality, to the unity and +progress of the confederation of which he was one of the builders.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span><br /><br /></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span><br /><br /></p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<p> +<span class="b">A</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Albion</i>, the, Peter Brown contributes thereto, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br /> +<br /> +Anglican Church, exclusive claims of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +Annexation manifesto, result of discontent aroused by Rebellion Losses Bill, and repeal of preferential trade, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">B</span><br /> +<br /> +Bagot, Sir Charles, Governor of Canada,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly attitude towards French-Canadians, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts Lafontaine and Baldwin as his advisers, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accused of surrender to rebels, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his action threatens to cause ministerial crisis in England, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced by Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled at his own request, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begs his ministers to defend his memory, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baldwin, Robert,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of responsible government, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticized by Dr. Ryerson, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wise leadership, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">victory at polls, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">achievements of his ministry, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Rebellion Losses Bill, <a href="#Page_34">34-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discontent of Clear Grits, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Baldwin-Lafontaine government defended by Brown, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns because of vote of abolition of Court of Chancery, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Banner</i>, the,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established by the Browns, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">descriptive extracts, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6-8</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Belleau, Sir Narcisse F.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Sir É. P. Taché as head of the coalition government, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his headship only nominal, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bennett, George,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">employed in engine room of the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discharged, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his conversation with Brown, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shoots and wounds Brown, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on death of Brown is tried and found guilty of murder, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his mind disordered by misfortune and by intemperance, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Blake, the Hon. Edward, speech at Aurora advocating imperial federation, <a href="#Page_240">240</a><br /> +<br /> +British-American League, the, advocates federation, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>British Chronicle</i>, the, established by the Browns in New York, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br /> +<br /> +Brown, George,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">education, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Scotland for the United States, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Canada, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds the <i>Banner</i>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses Toronto Reform Association, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to drink health of Lord Metcalfe, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his dwelling attacked by opponents of Lord Elgin, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Clear Grit movement, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude towards Baldwin-Lafontaine government, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissatisfied with delay in dealing with clergy reserves, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes of rupture with Reform government, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked as an enemy of Irish Catholics, <a href="#Page_44">44-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated in Haldimand election by William Lyon Mackenzie, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his election platform, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rupture with Hincks's government, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complains of French and Catholic influence, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">series of letters to Hincks, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses meeting in favour of secularization of clergy reserves, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for parliament for Kent, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his platform, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates free and non-sectarian schools, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates similar policy for university education, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected member for Kent, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first appearance in parliament, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consequence of parliament being held in city of Quebec, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility of French-Canadians to Brown, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's maiden speech, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vindicates responsible government, and insists upon fulfilment of ministerial pledges, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition of parties in legislature, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's temporary isolation, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his industry, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes legislation granting privileges to Roman Catholic institutions, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his course leads towards reconstruction of legislative union, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of his popularity in Upper Canada, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarkable testimony of a Conservative journal, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his appearance on the platform in 1853 described by the Hon. James Young, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours prohibition, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected for Lambton, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms friendship with the Rouge leader, A. A. Dorion, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates representation by population, <a href="#Page_82">82-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged by J. A. Macdonald with misconduct as secretary of prison commission, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves for committee of inquiry, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forcibly repels attack, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposes cruelties and abuses in prison, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with Macdonald embittered by this incident, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delivers address on prison reform, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repels charge that he had been a defaulter in Edinburgh, and defends his father, <a href="#Page_93">93-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected for city of Toronto in 1857, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats government on question of seat of government, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called upon to form a government, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confers with Dorion, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms Brown-Dorion administration, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">waits upon the governor-general, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives communication from the governor-general, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms belief that obstacles are being placed in his way by intrigue, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticizes the governor-general's communication, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets his colleagues, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government defeated in parliament, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks for dissolution and is refused, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government resigns, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his part in work of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces Fugitive Slave Law, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, <a href="#Page_114">114-19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with Roman Catholics, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes separate schools, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts compromise, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "no popery" campaign, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter to Roman Catholics, <a href="#Page_124">124-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his position considered, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his course leads up to confederation, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Holton, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech at Reform convention of 1859, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to obtain support of legislature for proposals to federalize the union, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contemplates retirement from leadership of Reform party, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated in East Toronto, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes John Sandfield's "double majority" plan, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits England, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage in Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his attitude towards separate schools, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts compromise of 1863, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes dead-lock situation, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays before legislature report of special committee advocating federation of Canada as a remedy, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with government, <a href="#Page_151">151-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consults Reformers of Upper Canada, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged by governor-general (Monk) to enter government, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consents, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters ministry, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Maritime Provinces, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses meeting at Halifax in furtherance of confederation, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates nominative as against elective senate, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes result of Quebec conference, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses meeting at Music Hall, Toronto, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits England, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes English feeling in favour of confederation, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech in parliament advocating confederation, <a href="#Page_171">171-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes crisis created by defeat of New Brunswick government, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits England with Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the death of Taché objects to Macdonald assuming premiership, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consents to succession of Sir N. F. Belleau, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his work in connection with reciprocity, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed member of confederate council on reciprocity, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Galt's proceedings in Washington, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objects strongly to proposal for reciprocity by legislation, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns from coalition, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Cartier, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reasons for resigning, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the rupture inevitable, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons why coalition could not endure, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holton's warning, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">experience of Howland, Macdougall and Tilley, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">experience of Joseph Howe, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coalition endangers Liberal principles, <a href="#Page_204">204-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's course after leaving coalition, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses Reform convention of 1867 against continuance of coalition, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest in North-West Territories, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates union of North-West Territories with Canada, <a href="#Page_218">218-20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes part in negotiations with British government, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his services as to North-West Territories acknowledged by Macdonald, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Washington by Mackenzie government to inquire as to reciprocity (1874), <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed with Sir Edward Thornton to negotiate treaty, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finds much ignorance of value of Canadian trade, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prepares memorandum as to trade, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries on propaganda in American journals, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">falsely accused of bribing them, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes progress of negotiations, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins issue with Canadian protectionists, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of his hostility to Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his family, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">determines to retire from public life, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes difficulty of combining journalism with politics, <a href="#Page_246">246-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with party leaders after retirement, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acquires Bow Park estate, and engages in raising of fine cattle, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engaged in a famous case of contempt of court, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accused by Mr. Justice Wilson of bribery, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Justice Wilson attacked by the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_250">250-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown charged with contempt of court, appears in person, and defends himself, <a href="#Page_252">252-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked and shot by George Bennett, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the wound not regarded as mortal, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfavourable progress of case, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">motives of Bennett, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of Brown, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career in relation to history, <a href="#Page_260">260-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his share in achievement of confederation, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, J. Gordon, succeeds George as managing editor of the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Peter, father of the Hon. George Brown,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Scotland for New York, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contributes to the <i>Albion</i>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of <i>Fame and Glory of England Vindicated</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes the <i>British Chronicle</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes the <i>Banner</i>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his business troubles in Edinburgh lead to an attack on George Brown, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Brown's speech in the legislature, <a href="#Page_93">93-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his work on the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">C</span><br /> +<br /> +Canada First,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its platform, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticized by the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Globe</i> suspects that it means Canadian independence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Globe's</i> attack on Canada First and Goldwin Smith, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national spirit evinced by movement, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward Blake at Aurora advocates imperial federation, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberal party injured by hostility to Canada First, <a href="#Page_240">240-2</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Cartier, Georges E., asks Brown to reconsider his resignation from coalition ministry, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +<br /> +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on confederation, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +Cathcart, Earl, governor of Canada, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span><br /> +<i>Church</i>, the, opposes responsible government as impious, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br /> +<br /> +Clear Grit party,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its leaders, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by George Brown and the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its platform, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Clergy reserves,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intended to endow Protestant clergy, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claim of Church of England to exclusive enjoyment, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidence of intention to establish Church of England, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of policy on Canada, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described as one of the causes of rebellion, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">settlement retarded by locking up of lands, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown advocates secularization, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown addresses meeting in Toronto, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the meeting mobbed, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Riot Act read, and military aid used to protect meeting, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secularization accomplished, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Confederation of British American provinces advocated by British American League, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the proposal attributed to various persons, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Arcy McGee says it was due to events more powerful than men, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's course leads up to confederation, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter to Luther Holton treating it as an open question, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocated by Dorion, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by A. T. Galt, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of attempt made in 1858, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liberals of Lower Canada declare for federal union, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convention of Upper Canada Reformers, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the evils of the legislative union set forth, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">account of the convention, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided between dissolving and federalizing the union, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sheppard's acute criticism of plan of federation, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convention declares for local legislatures, with joint authority for matters of common interest, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Brown opposes dissolution of union, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the legislature rejects Brown's resolutions founded on those of the convention, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes an urgent question, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes of that change, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canada urged by Great Britain to take measures for defence, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of the American Civil War, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abrogation of reciprocity treaty and loss of American trade, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fears of abolition of bonding system, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">isolated position of Canada, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the credit of the country low, 148 (note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the dead-lock in the government of Canada, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to form a stable government fail, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown describes the situation, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown brings into the House report of a special committee favouring federation as a remedy for difficulties in the government of Canada, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Taché' government defeated, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with Brown, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ferrier's account of the meeting, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's account of negotiations, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir Richard Cartwright describes a scene in the House, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">official account of negotiations, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown reluctant to join coalition ministry, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question whether federation should include Maritime Provinces and North-West Territories, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown consults Reform members for Upper Canada, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they approve of confederation and of coalition, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the governor-general (Monk) urges Brown to enter coalition, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown consents, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from Brown, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formation of the coalition, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predominance of Conservatives in government, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the bye-elections generally favour confederation, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">movement for Maritime union, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting of Canadian and Maritime representatives at Charlottetown, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conference at Quebec, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anxiety to avoid danger of "State sovereignty," 163;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">powers not defined to reside in central parliament, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitution of the senate, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown advocates nominated senate, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown describes result of conference, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Maritime delegates visit Canada, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cordial reception at Toronto, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown there describes scheme of confederation, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown visits England, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown finds English opinion favourable, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debate in the legislature of Canada, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech of Sir E. P. Taché, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of John A. Macdonald, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Brown, <a href="#Page_171">171-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Dorion, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dorion's objections to centralization considered, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the plan endangered by defeat of New Brunswick government, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debate in the Canadian legislature, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Sandfield Macdonald charges coalition with attempting to mislead people, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Macdonald announces that a deputation will be sent to England to consult as to defence, and as to attitude of New Brunswick, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macdonald refers to debate in House of Lords on Canadian defences, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macdonald moves previous question, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ministers charged with burking discussion, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Maritime Provinces inclined to withdraw, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macdonald, Brown, Carrier and Galt visit England and confer with British ministers, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an agreement made as to defence, etc., <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pressure brought to bear on New Brunswick, <a href="#Page_186">186-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of Sir E. P. Taché, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discussion as to succession, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's objection to Macdonald becoming premier, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir N. F. Belleau chosen, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes which led to Brown's leaving the ministry, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the reciprocity negotiations, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a confederate council on reciprocity formed, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Galt and Howland visit Washington, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation instead of treaty, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown protests against that, and generally against Galt's proceedings, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown resigns his place in coalition, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reasons considered, <a href="#Page_195">195-201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">violation of self-government involved in steps taken to bring about confederation, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absence of popular approval, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">undue centralization, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">D</span><br /> +<br /> +Dorion, A. A.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of Rouges, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his friendship with George Brown, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Brown-Dorion government, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes federal union, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech in Canadian legislature against confederation, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares that real authors of confederation were owners of Grand Trunk Railway Company, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contends that too much power is vested in central authority, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">some of his objections well-founded, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares that Macdonald accepted confederation merely to retain office, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +"Double majority," the, advocated by John Sandfield Macdonald, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +"Double Shuffle," the, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cartier-Macdonald government defeated on question of seat of government, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Brown asked to form ministry, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conference between Brown and Dorion, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the government formed, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the governor-general notifies Brown that he will not pledge himself to grant dissolution, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his action criticized by Brown, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the government defeated in the legislature, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of the government, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a dissolution asked for, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissolution refused and government resigns, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">former government resumes office, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artifice by which ministers avoid fresh elections, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Drummond, L. T., a member of the Brown-Dorion government, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +<br /> +Durham, Lord, extracts from his report, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">E</span><br /> +<br /> +Elgin, Lord, (see also <i>Rebellion Losses Bill</i>)<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns system of preferential trade, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconciles colonial self-government with imperial unity, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concedes responsible government, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Canadian Tories as a sympathizer with rebels and Frenchmen, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assents to Rebellion Losses Bill, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mobbed at Montreal, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">firm attitude during disturbance, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">F</span><br /> +<br /> +Ferrier, Mr., describes negotiations for confederation, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +French-Canadians,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Durham's plan of benevolent assimilation, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its failure, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendly attitude of Bagot towards, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their attitude towards representation by population, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">G</span><br /> +<br /> +Galt, A. T.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to form a ministry, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters reconstructed Cartier-Macdonald government, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates confederation of Canada, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed with Brown to represent Canada in confederate council on reciprocity, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Washington and confers with Mr. Seward, secretary of state, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discusses with him question of reciprocity by legislation, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his course condemned by Brown, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gladstone, W. E.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his eulogy of Peel government, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replies to despatch of Canadian government complaining of repeal of preferential tariff, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Globe</i>, the,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its motto, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its prospectus, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">champions responsible government, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates war with United States to free slaves, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends abolition of Corn Laws in England, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends Lord Elgin, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Clear Grit movement, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discusses dissensions among Reformers, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Hincks-Morin government, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first issued as a daily in 1853, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbs <i>North American</i> and <i>Examiner</i>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declaration of principles, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates alliance with Quebec Rouges, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">befriends fugitive slaves, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes slavery, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"no popery" campaign, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Separate School Bill, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the early article showing value of North-West Territories, <a href="#Page_213">213-17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticizes Canada First party, <a href="#Page_236">236-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its attitude considered, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown declares his preference for editorship of <i>Globe</i> to any official position, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its attack on Mr. Justice Wilson, <a href="#Page_250">250-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the article gives rise to proceedings for contempt of court, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's defence, <a href="#Page_252">252-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the court disagrees, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of building where Mr. Brown was shot, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Gordon, Arthur Hamilton, governor of New Brunswick,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes confederation, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is censured by British government and instructed to reverse his policy, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings pressure to bear on his ministers to abandon opposition to confederation, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the ministry resigns and is succeeded by a ministry favourable to confederation, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">H</span><br /> +<br /> +Head, Sir Edmund Bond,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends for George Brown to form government, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notifies Brown that he gives no pledge to dissolve, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses dissolution, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charge of partiality considered, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Hincks, Sir Francis,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Robert Baldwin, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Brown and the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy as to secularization of clergy reserves, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government defeated, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he retires and gives his support to the MacNab-Morin government, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Holton, Luther,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a member of the Brown-Dorion government, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes coalition of 1864, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his remarkable appeal to Brown to leave coalition, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Howe, Joseph, his relations with Sir John Macdonald, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Howland, Sir W. P.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Washington in connection with reciprocity, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his relations with Sir John A. Macdonald's ministry, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends his course in adhering to coalition, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">I</span><br /> +<br /> +Isbester, Mr., services in calling attention to North-West Territories, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">L</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Liberal</i>, the, founded during Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">M</span><br /> +<br /> +Macdonald, John A.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rises to leadership of reconstructed Conservative party, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges Brown with misconduct as secretary of prison commission, <a href="#Page_87">87-90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enmity with Brown, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recounts negotiations with Brown as to confederation, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech in legislature supporting confederation, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">informs House of crisis caused by defeat of New Brunswick government, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">announces mission to England, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deals with question of defence, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves previous question, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to England to confer with British government, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to form an administration on death of Sir É. P. Taché, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown objects, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes Sir N. F. Belleau, who is accepted, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Brown, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Joseph Howe, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Macdonald, John Sandfield,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a member of Brown-Dorion government, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates the "double majority," 142;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government adopts Separate School Bill, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Macdougall, William,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the Clear Grits, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">editor of the <i>North American</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters coalition ministry for purpose of carrying out confederation, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">argues for continuance of coalition, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mackenzie, Alexander,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to Reformers entering coalition ministry in 1864, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government sends Brown to Washington in connection with reciprocity, 1874, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Metcalfe, Sir Charles (afterwards Lord),<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to undertake government of Canada, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulty of position emphasized by Lord Stanley, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misinformed as to intentions of Canadian Reformers, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his dispute with Baldwin and Lafontaine, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regards himself as defending unity of empire, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">willing to grant responsible government in a qualified sense, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal character, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissolves legislature, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his view of the contest, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes offered for him personally, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his victory, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subsequent difficulties, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illness and death, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">raised to peerage, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>Mowat, Oliver,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a member of the Brown-Dorion government, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a member of committee of Anti-Slavery Society, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates federal union, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters coalition to carry out confederation, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">N</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Nation</i>, the,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded to advocate Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sets forth programme of Canada First party, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></span><br /> +<br /> +National Club, the, founded during the Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +New Brunswick,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of local government, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the confederation scheme endangered by this defeat, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the situation discussed in the legislature of Canada, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Canadian mission to England, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the British government agrees to bring influence to bear on Maritime Provinces to enter confederation, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of Mr. Gordon, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he at first opposes confederation, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives instructions from England to promote confederation, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings pressure to bear on his government to abandon opposition to confederation, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the government resigns, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a general election follows, and a government favourable to confederation is returned, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<br /> +New York, experience of the Browns in, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>North American</i>, the organ of the Clear Grits, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /> +<br /> +Nova Scotia, the province of, forced into confederation, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +North-West Territories,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's interest in, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">address by Robert Baldwin Sullivan, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">article in the <i>Globe</i> describing resources of country, <a href="#Page_213">213-15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of "Huron" in Toronto <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting of Toronto Board of Trade, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reform convention of 1857 advocates addition of territories to Canada, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scepticism as to value of country, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown speaks in favour of extension of Canada to Pacific Ocean, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations with British government, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macdonald's testimony to Brown's services, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">P</span><br /> +<br /> +Parties, political,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in state of transition on Brown's entry into parliament, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconstruction on defeat of Hincks-Morin government, and formation of MacNab-Morin government, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the new government described as a coalition by its friends and as Tory by its opponents, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gradually comes to represent personal influence of John A. Macdonald, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Baldwin Reformers, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition gathers under Brown, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alliance between Upper Canadian Reformers and Rouges, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>Peel government, its attitude towards responsible government in Canada, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gladstone's eulogium on, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misunderstands Canadian situation, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Governor Bagot, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regards Bagot's action as a surrender to rebels, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Metcalfe, <a href="#Page_17">17-19</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Preferential trade,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolished by repeal of Corn Laws, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complaints from Canada, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Globe</i> defends British position, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Elgin condemns imperial protection, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Prison commission,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Macdonald charges Brown with falsifying testimony and suborning prisoners to commit perjury, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scene in the House, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown moves for a committee of inquiry, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unexpectedly produces report of commission, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proceedings of committee, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown describes abuses revealed by commission, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the incident embitters relations between Brown and Macdonald, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown delivers public address on prison reform, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Prohibition,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocated by the <i>Globe</i> in 1853, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discussed in legislature, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drinking habits of Canada in early days, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Protection,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of agitation in Canada, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Brown, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">R</span><br /> +<br /> +Rebellion in Canada (1837),<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remedies proposed, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Rebellion Losses Bill, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disturbance occasioned by, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burning of parliament buildings at Montreal, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mobbing of Lord Elgin, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reciprocity,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abrogation of treaty of 1854 one of the causes of confederation, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiations for renewal of treaty, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confederate council on reciprocity formed, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Galt and Howland visit Washington, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation instead of treaty, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's objections, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for failure of negotiations of 1866, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Americans set little value on Canadian trade, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts at renewal in 1869 and 1871, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Brown mission of 1874, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meeting with Mr. Rothery, agent of British government, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown visits Washington, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir Edward Thornton and Brown appointed to negotiate a treaty, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for selection of Brown, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening of negotiations, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch of proposed treaty, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of articles on free list, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown finds value of Canadian trade greatly under-estimated in Washington, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown prepares a memorandum showing extent of trade, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries on propaganda in American newspapers, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">falsely charged with corrupting the press, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the treaty goes to the American senate, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of negotiations, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objections made in Canada, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canadian movement for protection, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown opposes protection, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Reformers, Canadian,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">open campaign for responsible government against Governor Metcalfe, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convention of 1857 advocates addition of North-West Territories to Canada, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convention of 1859 to consider relations of Upper and Lower Canada, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arguments for confederation, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Sheppard's powerful speech against federation, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the advocates of federation agree to amendment minimizing powers of central government, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown advocates confederation, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reformers consulted by George Brown as to confederation, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they agree to Brown and others entering coalition cabinet, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reform party inadequately represented in coalition, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of Reform representation again raised on death of Sir É. P. Taché, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reform convention of 1867, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves of confederation, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but declares that coalition should come to an end, its objects having been achieved, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Representation by population,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed by George Brown, <a href="#Page_82">82-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objections raised on behalf of Lower Canada, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength of Lower Canadian case, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">federalism the real remedy, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Responsible Government (see also <i>Peel Government</i>, <i>Bagot</i>, and <i>Metcalfe</i>), recommended by Lord Durham, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude of British government, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor Bagot's concessions, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governor Metcalfe's attitude, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dr. Ryerson champions Governor Metcalfe, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the legislature dissolved, 1844, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fierce election contest follows, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal victory for Governor Metcalfe, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Roman Catholics,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations of George Brown with, 44 <i>et seq.</i>, 121 <i>et seq</i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's letter to prominent Roman Catholics, 124 <i>et seq.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Rouges, described by the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Ryerson, Dr. leader among Methodists, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">espouses cause of Governor Metcalfe against Reformers, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correctly describes attitude of British government, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Mr. R. W. Scott's Separate School Bill, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">S</span><br /> +<br /> +Scottish Church,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disruption of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of the Browns thereon, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comment of the <i>Banner</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Sheppard, George,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech at Reform convention of 1859, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts growth of central authority under federal system, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Separate Schools,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by George Brown, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a compromise arranged, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bill introduced by Mr. R. W. Scott, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Dr. Ryerson, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted by Macdonald-Sicotte government, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes law, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepted by Brown, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Slavery,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's opposition to, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canada a refuge for slaves, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passage of Fugitive Slave Law, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anti-Slavery Society formed in Canada, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">settlements of refugee slaves, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown at Toronto denounces Fugitive Slave Law, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes feeling in Great Britain, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown's insight into Lincoln's policy, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists that slavery was cause of Civil War, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shows Canada's interest in the struggle, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consequences of growth of a slave power in North America, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Goldwin,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his connection with Canada First movement, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected president of the National Club, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his reply, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Stanley, Lord, colonial secretary under Peel, advocates preferential trade and imperial protection, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<br /> +Sullivan, Robert Baldwin, delivers an address on resources of North-West Territories, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Star</i>, the Cobourg, its estimate of George Brown, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +Scott, R. W., introduces Separate School Bill, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +<br /> +Strachan, Bishop, opposes secularization of King's College, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">T</span><br /> +<br /> +Taché, Sir E. P.,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms government in effort to break dead-lock, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his government defeated, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads coalition to carry out confederation, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech in the legislature, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thompson, Samuel, describes meeting with George Brown in 1843, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br /> +<br /> +Toronto Board of Trade, advocates incorporation of North-West Territories with Canada, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="b">W</span><br /> +<br /> +Wiseman, Cardinal,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pastoral published and criticized in the <i>Globe</i>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 30546-h.txt or 30546-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/5/4/30546">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/5/4/30546</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: George Brown + + +Author: John Lewis + + + +Release Date: November 25, 2009 [eBook #30546] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN*** + + +E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Brendan Lane, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 30546-h.htm or 30546-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30546/30546-h/30546-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30546/30546-h.zip) + + + + + +The Makers of Canada + +Edited by + +Duncan Campbell Scott, F.R.S.C., +Pelham Edgar, Ph.D. and +William Dawson Le Sueur, B.A., Ll.D., F.R.S.C. + +GEORGE BROWN + +_Edition De Luxe_ + +_This edition is limited to Four Hundred Signed +and Numbered Sets, of which this is_ + +_Number_ 88 + +[Signature: George N. Morang] + + + +[Illustration: George Brown] + + + +_The Makers of Canada_ + +GEORGE BROWN + +by + +JOHN LEWIS + +_Edition De Luxe_ + + + + + + + +Toronto +Morang & Co., Limited +1906 + +Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1906 +by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture + + + + +PREFACE + + +The title of this series, "Makers of Canada," seemed to impose on the +writer the obligation to devote special attention to the part played +by George Brown in fashioning the institutions of this country. From +this point of view the most fruitful years of his life were spent +between the time when the _Globe_ was established to advocate +responsible government, and the time when the provinces were +confederated and the bounds of Canada extended from the Atlantic to +the Pacific. The ordinary political contests in which Mr. Brown and +his newspaper engaged have received only casual notice, and the effort +of the writer has been to trace Mr. Brown's connection with the stream +of events by which the old legislative union of Canada gave place to +the confederated Dominion. + +After the establishment of responsible government, the course of this +stream is not obscure. Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada is +inadequately represented and is dominated by its partner. Various +remedies, such as dissolution of the union, representation by +population and the "double majority," are proposed; but ultimately the +solution is found in federation, and to this solution, and the events +leading up to it, a large part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown was +also an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the country lying +west to the Rocky Mountains, and to this work reference is made. + +Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse strong friendships and +strong animosities. These have been dealt with only where they seemed +to have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir John A. +Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems to be a +profitless task for a biographer to take up and fight over again +quarrels which had no public importance and did not affect the course +of history. + +The period covering Mr. Brown's career was one in which the political +game was played roughly, and in which strong feelings were aroused. To +this day it is difficult to discuss the career of the Hon. George +Brown, or of Sir John A. Macdonald, without reviving these feelings in +the breasts of political veterans and their sons; and even one who +tries to study the time and the men and to write their story, finds +himself taking sides with men who are in their graves, and fighting +for causes long since lost and won. The writer has tried to resist the +temptation of building up the fame of Brown by detracting from that of +other men, but he has also thought it right in many cases to present +Brown's point of view, not necessarily as the whole truth, but as one +of the aspects of truth. + +In dealing with the question of confederation, my endeavour has been +simply to tell the story of Brown's work and let it speak for itself, +not to measure the exact proportion of credit due to Brown and to +others. It is hard to believe, however, that the verdict of history +will assign to him a place other than first among the public men of +Canada who contributed to the work of confederation. Events, as D'Arcy +McGee said, were probably more powerful than any of them. + +If any apology is needed for the space devoted to the subject of +slavery in the United States, it may be found not only in Brown's +life-long opposition to slavery, but in the fact that the Civil War +influenced the relations between the United States and Canada, and +indirectly promoted the confederation of the Canadian provinces, and +also in the fact, so frequently emphasized by Mr. Brown, that the +growth of the institution of slavery on this continent was a danger to +which Canada could not be indifferent. + +Among the works that have been found useful for reference are John +Charles Dent's _Last Forty Years_ (Canada since the union of 1841); +_Gray on Confederation_; Cote's _Political Appointments and Elections +in the Province of Canada_; Dr. Hodgins' _Legislation and History of +Separate Schools in Upper Canada_; the lives of _Lord Elgin_, _Dr. +Ryerson_ and _Joseph Howe_ in "The Makers of Canada" series; the Hon. +Alexander Mackenzie's _Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown_; +the Hon. James Young's _Public Men and Public Life in Canada_. Mr. +Mackenzie's book contains a valuable collection of letters, to which +frequent reference is made in the chapters of this book dealing with +confederation. The account of the relations of the Peel government +with Governor Sir Charles Bagot is taken from the _Life of Sir Robert +Peel_, from his correspondence, edited by C. S. Parker. The files of +the _Banner_ and the _Globe_ have been read with some care; they were +found to contain an embarrassing wealth of most interesting historical +material. + +To Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the Toronto Free Library, and to Mr. +Avern Pardoe, of the Library of the Legislative Assembly, I am deeply +indebted for courtesy and assistance. + +JOHN LEWIS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +_CHAPTER I_ Page + + FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA 1 + + +_CHAPTER II_ + + METCALFE AND HIS REFORMERS 11 + + +_CHAPTER III_ + + RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 31 + + +_CHAPTER IV_ + + DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS 39 + + +_CHAPTER V_ + + THE CLERGY RESERVES 51 + + +_CHAPTER VI_ + + BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT 61 + + +_CHAPTER VII_ + + RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE 69 + + +_CHAPTER VIII_ + + RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES 77 + + +_CHAPTER IX_ + + SOME PERSONAL POLITICS 87 + + +_CHAPTER X_ + + THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" 99 + + +_CHAPTER XI_ + + AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY 111 + + +_CHAPTER XII_ + + BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS 121 + + +_CHAPTER XIII_ + + MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION 129 + + +_CHAPTER XIV_ + + LAST YEARS OF THE UNION 141 + + +_CHAPTER XV_ + + CONFEDERATION 147 + + +_CHAPTER XVI_ + + THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE 163 + + +_CHAPTER XVII_ + + THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE 169 + + +_CHAPTER XVIII_ + + THE MISSION TO ENGLAND 181 + + +_CHAPTER XIX_ + + BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION 189 + + +_CHAPTER XX_ + + CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES 199 + + +_CHAPTER XXI_ + + CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST 211 + + +_CHAPTER XXII_ + + THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874 223 + + +_CHAPTER XXIII_ + + CANADIAN NATIONALISM 235 + + +_CHAPTER XXIV_ + + LATER YEARS 243 + + +_CHAPTER XXV_ + + CONCLUSION 255 + + INDEX 269 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA + + +George Brown was born at Alloa, a seaport on the tidal Forth, +thirty-five miles inward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818. His +mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie, of Stornoway, in the Island +of Lewis. His father, Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder. George +was educated at the High School and Southern Academy in Edinburgh. +"This young man," said Dr. Gunn, of the Southern Academy, "is not only +endowed with high enthusiasm, but possesses the faculty of creating +enthusiasm in others." At the risk of attaching too much significance +to praise bestowed on a school-boy, it may be said that these words +struck the keynote of Brown's character and revealed the source of his +power. The atmosphere of the household was Liberal; father and son +alike hated the institution of slavery, with which they were destined +to become more closely acquainted. "When I was a very young man," said +George Brown, denouncing the Fugitive Slave Law before a Toronto +audience, "I used to think that if I ever had to speak before such an +audience as this, I would choose African Slavery as my theme in +preference to any other topic. The subject seemed to afford the +widest scope for rhetoric and for fervid appeals to the best of human +sympathies. These thoughts arose far from here, while slavery was a +thing at a distance, while the horrors of the system were unrealized, +while the mind received it as a tale and discussed it as a principle. +But, when you have mingled with the thing itself, when you have +encountered the atrocities of the system, when you have seen three +millions of human beings held as chattels by their Christian +countrymen, when you have seen the free institutions, the free press +and the free pulpit of America linked in the unrighteous task of +upholding the traffic, when you have realized the manacle, and the +lash, and the sleuth-hound, you think no more of rhetoric, the mind +stands appalled at the monstrous iniquity, mere words lose their +meaning, and facts, cold facts, are felt to be the only fit +arguments." + +Again, as George grew to manhood, the struggle which ended in the +disruption of the Church of Scotland was approaching its climax, and +the sympathies of the Brown household were with those who declared +that it "is the fundamental law of this Church that no pastor shall be +intruded on any congregation contrary to the will of the people." + +In 1838 reverses in business led the father and son to seek their +fortunes in America. Arriving in New York, Peter Brown turned to +journalism, finding employment as a contributor to the _Albion_, a +weekly newspaper published for British residents of the United +States. The Browns formed an unfavourable opinion of American +institutions as represented by New York in that day. To them the +republic presented itself as a slave-holding power, seeking to extend +its territory in order to enlarge the area of slavery, and hostile to +Great Britain as a citadel of freedom. They always regarded the +slave-holding element in the United States as that which kept up the +tradition of enmity to England. An American book entitled, _The Glory +and Shame of England_, aroused Peter Brown's indignation, and he +published a reply in a little volume bearing the name of _The Fame and +Glory of England Vindicated_. Here he paid tribute to British freedom, +contrasted it with the domination of the slave holders, and instanced +the fact that in Connecticut a woman had been mobbed and imprisoned +for teaching coloured girls to read. Further light is thrown upon the +American experience of the Browns by an article in the _Banner_, their +first Canadian venture in journalism. The writer is answering an +accusation of disloyalty and Yankee sympathies, a stock charge against +Reformers in that day. He said: "We have stood in the very heart of a +republic, and fearlessly issued our weekly sheet, expressing our +fervent admiration of the limited monarchy of Great Britain, though +surrounded by Democratic Whigs, Democratic Republicans, Irish +Repealers, slave-holders, and every class which breathes the most +inveterate hostility to British institutions. And we are not to be +turned from maintaining the genuine principles of the constitution +because some of our contemporaries are taken with a fit of sycophancy, +and would sacrifice all at the shrine of power." + +In December, 1842, the Browns established in New York the _British +Chronicle_, a paper similar to the _Albion_, but apparently designed +more especially for Scottish and Presbyterian readers in the United +States and Canada. In an effort to promote Canadian circulation, +George Brown came to Canada early in 1843. The _Chronicle_ had taken +strong ground on the popular side of the movement then agitating the +Church of Scotland; and this struggle was watched with peculiar +interest in Canada, where the relations between Church and State were +burning questions. Young Brown also met the members of a Reform +administration then holding power under Governor Metcalfe, and the +ministers became impressed with the idea that he would be a powerful +ally in the struggle then impending. + +There is on record an interesting pen picture of George Brown as he +appeared at this time. The writer is Samuel Thompson, editor of the +_Colonist_. "It was, I think, somewhere about the month of May, 1843, +that there walked into my office on Nelson Street a young man of +twenty-five years, tall, broad-shouldered, somewhat lantern-jawed and +emphatically Scottish, who introduced himself to me as the travelling +agent of the New York _British Chronicle_, published by his father. +This was George Brown, afterwards editor and publisher of the _Globe_ +newspaper. He was a very pleasant-mannered, courteous, gentlemanly +young fellow, and impressed me favourably. His father, he said, found +the political atmosphere of New York hostile to everything British, +and that it was as much as a man's life was worth to give expression +to any British predilections whatsoever (which I knew to be true). +They had, therefore, thought of transferring their publication to +Toronto, and intended to continue it as a thoroughly Conservative +journal. I, of course, welcomed him as a co-worker in the same cause +with ourselves, little expecting how his ideas of Conservatism were to +develop themselves in subsequent years." His Conservatism--assuming +that the young man was not misunderstood--was perhaps the result of a +reaction from the experience of New York, in which democracy had +presented itself in an unlovely aspect. Contact with Toronto Toryism +of that day would naturally stiffen the Liberalism of a combative man. + +As a result of George Brown's survey of the Canadian field, the +publication of the _British Chronicle_ in New York ceased, and the +Browns removed to Toronto, where they established the _Banner_, a +weekly paper partly Presbyterian and partly political, and in both +fields championing the cause of government by the people. The first +number was issued on August 18th, 1843. Referring to the disruption +of the "Scottish Church" that had occurred three months before, the +_Banner_ said: "If we look to Scotland we shall find an event +unparalleled in the history of the world. Nearly five hundred +ministers, backed by several thousand elders and perhaps a million of +people, have left the Church of their fathers because the civil courts +have trampled on what they deem the rights of the Christian people in +Scotland, exhibiting a lesson to the world which must produce results +that cannot yet be measured. The sacrifice made by these devoted +ministers of the Gospel is great; their reward is sure." + +The columns of the _Banner_ illustrate in a striking way the +intermingling, common in that day, of religion and politics. The +_Banner's_ chief antagonist was the _Church_, a paper equally devoted +to episcopacy and monarchy. Here is a specimen bit of controversy. The +_Church_, arguing against responsible government, declares that as God +is the only ruler of princes, princes cannot be accountable to the +people; and perdition is the lot of all rebels, agitators of sedition, +demagogues, who work under the pretence of reforming the State. All +the troubles of the country are due to parliaments constantly +demanding more power and thereby endangering the supremacy of the +mother country. The _Banner_ is astonished by the unblushing avowal of +these doctrines, which had not been so openly proclaimed since the +days of "High Church and Sacheverell," and which if acted upon would +reduce the people to the level of abject slaves. Whence, it asks, +comes this doctrine of the irresponsibility of kings? "It has been dug +up from the tombs of Roman Catholic and High Church priests and of +Jacobite bigots. Wherever it gets a footing it carries bloodshed and +persecution in its train. It cramps the freedom of thought. It +represses commercial enterprise and industry. It dries up the springs +of the human understanding. To what does Britain owe all her greatness +but to that free range of intellectual exertion which prompted Watt +and Arkwright in their wonderful discoveries, which carried Anson and +Cook round the globe, and which enabled Newton to scale the heavens? +Is the dial to be put back? Must the world once more adopt the +doctrine that the people are made for kings and not kings for the +people? Where will this treason to the British Constitution find the +slightest warrant in the Word of God? We know that power alone +proceeds from God, the very air we breathe is the gift of His bounty, +and whatever public right is exercised from the most obscure elective +franchise to the king upon his throne is derived from Him to +whom we must account for the exercise of it. But does that +accountability take away or lessen the political obligations of +the social compact?--assuredly not." + +This style of controversy was typical of the time. Tories drew from +the French Revolution warnings against the heedless march of +democracy. Reformers based arguments on the "glorious revolution of +1688." A bill for the secularization of King's College was denounced +by Bishop Strachan, the stalwart leader of the Anglicans, in language +of extraordinary vehemence. The bill would hold up the Christian +religion to the contempt of wicked men, and overturn the social order +by unsettling property. Placing all forms of error on an equality with +truth, the bill represented a principle "atheistical and monstrous, +destructive of all that was pure and holy in morals and religion." To +find parallels for this madness, the bishop referred to the French +Revolution, when the Christian faith was abjured, and the Goddess of +Reason set up for worship; to pagan Rome, which, to please the natives +she had conquered, "condescended to associate their impure idolatries +with her own." + +These writings are quoted not merely as illustrations of extravagance +of language. The language was the natural outcome of an extraordinary +situation. The bishop was not a voice crying in the wilderness; he was +a power in politics as well as in the Church, and had, as executive +councillor, taken an important part in the government of the country. +He was not making extravagant pretensions, but defending a position +actually held by his Church, a position which fell little short of +absolute domination. Religious equality was to be established, a great +endowment of land converted from sectarian to public purposes, and a +non-sectarian system of education created. In this work Brown played a +leading part, but before it could be undertaken it was necessary to +vindicate the right of the people to self-government. + +In November, 1843, the resignation of Metcalfe's ministers created a +crisis which soon absorbed the energy of the Browns and eventually led +to the establishment of the _Globe_. In the issue of December 8th, +1843, the principles of responsible government are explained, and the +_Banner_ gives its support to the ministers. It cannot see why less +confidence should be bestowed by a governor-general in Canada than by +a sovereign in the British empire. It deplores the rupture and +declares that it still belongs to no political party. It has no liking +for "Democracy," a word which even Liberals at that time seemed to +regard with horror. It asks Presbyterians to stand fast for the +enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. It exhorts the people of +Canada to be firm and patient and to let no feeling of disappointment +lead their minds to republicanism. Those who would restrict the +liberties of Canada also dwell on the evils of republicanism, but they +are the very people who would bring it to pass. The _Banner's_ ideal +is a system of just and equal government. If this is pursued, a vast +nation will grow up speaking the same language, having the same laws +and customs, and bound to the mother country by the strongest bonds of +affection. The _Banner_, which had at first described itself as +independent in party politics, soon found itself drawn into a struggle +which was too fierce and too momentous to allow men of strong +convictions to remain neutral. We find politics occupying more and +more attention in its columns, and finally on March 5th, 1844, the +_Globe_ is established as the avowed ally of Baldwin and Lafontaine, +and the advocate of responsible government. It will be necessary to +explain now the nature of the difference between Metcalfe and his +ministers. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +METCALFE AND THE REFORMERS + + +The Browns arrived in Canada in the period of reconstruction following +the rebellion of 1837-8. In Lord Durham's Report the rising in Lower +Canada was attributed mainly to racial animosity--"two nations warring +in the bosom of a single state"--"a struggle not of principles but of +races." The rising in Upper Canada was attributed mainly to the +ascendency of the "family compact"--a family only in the official +sense. "The bench, the magistracy, the high offices of the episcopal +church, and a great part of the legal profession, are filled by their +adherents; by grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole of +the waste lands of the province; they are all-powerful in the +chartered banks, and till lately shared among themselves almost +exclusively all offices of trust and profit. The bulk of this party +consists, for the most part, of native born inhabitants of the colony, +or of emigrants who settled in it before the last war with the United +States; the principal members of it belong to the Church of England, +and the maintenance of the claims of that Church has always been one +of its distinguishing characteristics." Reformers discovered that even +when they triumphed at the polls, they could not break up this +combination, the executive government remaining constantly in the +hands of their opponents. They therefore agitated for the +responsibility of the executive council to the legislative assembly. + +Lord Durham's remedy was to unite Upper and Lower Canada, and to grant +the demand for responsible government. He hoped that the union would +in time dispose of the racial difficulty. Estimating the population of +Upper Canada at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of +Lower Canada at one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four +hundred and fifty thousand, "the union of the two provinces would not +only give a clear English majority, but one which would be increased +every year by the influence of English immigration; and I have little +doubt that the French, when once placed by the legitimate course of +events and the working of natural causes, in a minority, would abandon +their vain hopes of nationality." + +The future mapped out by Lord Durham for the French-Canadians was one +of benevolent assimilation. He under-estimated their tenacity and +their power of adapting themselves to new political conditions. They +not only retained their distinctive language and customs, but gained +so large a measure of political power that in time Upper Canada +complained that it was dominated by its partner. The union was +effected soon after the report, but the granting of responsible +government was long delayed. From the submission of Lord Durham's +Report to the time of Lord Elgin, the question of responsible +government was the chief issue in Canadian politics. Lord Durham's +recommendations were clear and specific. He maintained that harmony +would be restored "not by weakening but strengthening the influence of +the people on its government; by confining within much narrower bounds +than those hitherto allotted to it, and not by extending, the +interference of the imperial authorities on the details of colonial +affairs." The government must be administered on the principles that +had been found efficacious in Great Britain. He would not impair a +single prerogative of the Crown, but the Crown must submit to the +necessary consequences of representative institutions, and must govern +through those in whom the representative body had confidence. + +These principles are now so well established that it is hard to +realize how bold and radical they appeared in 1839. Between that time +and 1847, the British government sent out to Canada three governors, +with various instructions. Whatever the wording of these instructions +was, they always fell short of Durham's recommendations, and always +expressed a certain reluctance to entrusting the government of Canada +unreservedly to representatives of the people. + +From 1842 to 1846 the government in Great Britain was that of Sir +Robert Peel, and it was that government which set itself most +strongly against the granting of autonomy to Canada. It was +Conservative, and it probably received from correspondents in Canada a +good deal of misinformation and prejudiced opinion in regard to the +aims of the Reformers. But it was a group of men of the highest +character and capacity, concerning whom Gladstone has left on record a +remarkable testimony. "It is his conviction that in many of the most +important rules of public policy, that government surpassed generally +the governments which have succeeded it, whether Liberal or +Conservative. Among them he would mention purity in patronage, +financial strictness, loyal adherence to the principle of public +economy, jealous regard to the rights of parliament, a single eye to +the public interest, strong aversion to extension of territorial +responsibilities, and a frank admission of the rights of foreign +countries as equal to those of their own." + +With this high estimate of the general character of the Peel +government must be coupled the undoubted fact that it entirely +misunderstood the situation in Canada, gave its support to the party +of reaction, and needlessly delayed the establishment of +self-government. We may attribute this in part to the distrust +occasioned by the rebellion; in part to the use of partisan channels +of information; but under all this was a deeper cause--inability to +conceive of such a relation as exists between Great Britain and Canada +to-day. In that respect Peel and his colleagues resembled most of the +public men of their time. They could understand separation; they could +understand a relation in which the British government and its agents +ruled the colonies in a kindly and paternal fashion; but a union under +which the colonies were nations in all but foreign relations passed +their comprehension. When the colonies asked for complete +self-government it was supposed that separation was really desired. +Some were for letting them go in peace. Others were for holding them +by political and commercial bonds. Of the latter class, Stanley, +colonial secretary under Peel, was a good type. He believed in +"strong" governors; he believed in a system of preferential trade +between Great Britain and the colonies, and his language might have +been used, with scarcely any modification, by the Chamberlain party in +the recent elections in Great Britain. When, in 1843, he introduced +the measure giving a preference to Canadian wheat, he expressed the +hope that it would restore content and prosperity to Canada; and when +that preference disappeared with the Corn Laws, he declared that the +basis of colonial union was destroyed. + +From the union to September, 1842, no French-Canadian name appears in +a Canadian government. French-Canadians were deeply dissatisfied with +the terms of the union; there was a strong reluctance to admitting +them to any share of power, and they complained bitterly that they +were politically ostracized by Sydenham, the first governor. His +successor, Bagot, adopted the opposite policy, and earned the severe +censure of the government at home. + +On August 23rd, 1842, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley in terms +which indicated a belief that Governor Bagot was experiencing great +difficulty in carrying on the government. He spoke of a danger of +French-Canadians and Radicals, or French-Canadians and Conservatives, +combining to place the government in a minority. He suggested various +means of meeting the danger, and said, "I would not voluntarily throw +myself into the hands of the French party through fear of being in a +minority." + +Before instructions founded on this letter could reach the colony, the +governor had acted, "throwing himself," in the words of Peel's +biographer, "into the hands of the party tainted by disaffection." +What had really happened was that on September 16th, 1842, the +Canadian government had been reconstructed, the principal change being +the introduction of Lafontaine and Baldwin as its leading members. +This action aroused a storm in Canada, where Bagot was fiercely +assailed by the Tories for his so-called surrender to rebels. And that +view was taken also in England. + +On October 18th, 1842, Mr. Arbuthnot wrote to Sir Robert Peel: "The +Duke [Wellington] has been thunderstruck by the news from Canada. +Between ourselves, he considers what has happened as likely to be +fatal to the connection with England; and I must also, in the very +strictest confidence, tell you that he dreads lest it should break up +the cabinet here at home." + +On October 21st, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord Stanley, pointing out +the danger of the duke's strong and decisive condemnation: "In various +quarters the Duke of Wellington denouncing the arrangement as a tame +surrender to a party tainted with treason, would produce an impression +most dangerous to the government, if it could get over the effects +produced by the first announcement of his retirement, on the ground of +avowed difference of opinion." After reading Sir Charles Bagot's +explanations, he admitted that the governor's position was +embarrassing. "Suppose," he said in a subsequent letter, "that Sir C. +Bagot was reduced to such difficulties that he had no alternative but +to take the best men of the French-Canadian party into his councils, +and that it was better for him to do this before there was a hostile +vote; still, the manner in which he conducted his negotiations was a +most unwise one. He makes it appear to the world that he courted and +rejoiced in the necessity for a change in his councils." On October +24th the Duke of Wellington wrote expressing his agreement with Peel, +and adding: "However, it appears to me that we must consider the +arrangement as settled and adopted by the legislature of Canada. It +will remain to be considered afterwards what is to be done with Sir +Charles Bagot and with his measures." + +The question was solved by the death of the governor who had been +unfortunate enough to arouse the storm, and to create a ministerial +crisis in Great Britain. It is believed that his end was hastened by +the news from England. He fell ill in November, grew steadily worse, +and at last asked to be recalled, a request which was granted. At his +last cabinet council he bade an affectionate farewell to his +ministers, and begged them to defend his memory. His best vindication +is found in the failure of Metcalfe's policy, and in the happy results +of the policy of Elgin. + +The events connected with the retirement of Bagot, which were not +fully understood until the publication of Sir Robert Peel's papers a +few years ago, throw light upon the reasons which determined the +selection of Sir Charles Metcalfe. Metcalfe was asked by Lord Stanley +whether he would be able and disposed to assume "most honourable and +at the same time very arduous duties in the public service." Metcalfe +wrote to Captain Higginson, afterwards his private secretary: "I am +not sure that the government of Canada is a manageable affair, and +unless I think I can go to good purpose I will not go at all." Sir +Francis Hincks says: "All Sir Charles Metcalfe's correspondence prior +to his departure from England is indicative of a feeling that he was +going on a forlorn hope expedition," and Hincks adds that such +language can be explained only on the assumption that he was sent out +for the purpose of overthrowing responsible government. It is +certainly established by the Peel correspondence that the British +government strongly disapproved of Sir Charles Bagot's policy, and +selected Sir Charles Metcalfe as a man who would govern on radically +different lines. It is perhaps putting it rather strongly to say that +he was intended to overthrow responsible government. But he must have +come to Canada filled with distrust of the Canadian ministry, filled +with the idea that the demand for responsible government was a cloak +for seditious designs, and ready to take strong measures to preserve +British connection. In this misunderstanding lay the source of his +errors and misfortunes in Canada. + +It is not therefore necessary to enter minutely into the dispute which +occasioned the rupture between Metcalfe and his advisers. On the +surface it was a dispute over patronage. In reality Baldwin and +Lafontaine were fighting for autonomy and responsible government; +Metcalfe, as he thought, was defending the unity of the empire. He was +a kindly and conscientious man, and he held his position with some +skill, always contending that he was willing to agree to responsible +government on condition that the colonial position was recognized, the +prerogative of the Crown upheld, and the governor not dominated by +one political party. + +The governor finally broke with his advisers in November, 1843. For +some months he was to govern, not only without a responsible ministry, +but without a parliament, for the legislature was immediately +prorogued, and did not meet again before dissolution. His chief +adviser was William Henry Draper, a distinguished lawyer, whose +political career was sacrificed in the attempt to hold an impossible +position. Reformers and Tories prepared for a struggle which was to +continue for several years, and which, in spite of the smallness of +the field, was of the highest importance in settling a leading +principle of government. + +On March 5th, 1844, as a direct consequence of the struggle, appeared +the first issue of the Toronto _Globe_, its motto taken from one of +the boldest letters of Junius to George III: "The subject who is truly +loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to +arbitrary measures." The leading article was a long and careful review +of the history of the country, followed by a eulogy on the +constitution enjoyed by Great Britain since "the glorious revolution +of 1688," but denied to Canada. Responsible government was withheld; +the governor named his councillors in defiance of the will of the +legislature. Advocates of responsible government were stigmatized by +the governor's friends as rebels, traitors, radicals and republicans. +The _Globe_ proclaimed its adherence to Lord Durham's recommendation, +and said: "The battle which the Reformers of Canada will right is not +the battle of a party, but the battle of constitutional right against +the undue interference of executive power." The prospectus of the +paper contained these words: "Firmly attached to the principles of the +British Constitution, believing the limited monarchy of Great Britain +the best system of government yet devised by the wisdom of man, and +sincerely convinced that the prosperity of Canada will best be +advanced by a close connection between it and the mother country, the +editor of the _Globe_ will support all measures which will tend to +draw closer the bonds of a mutually advantageous union." + +On March 25th, 1844, the campaign was opened with a meeting called by +the Toronto Reform Association. Robert Baldwin, "father of responsible +government," was in the chair, and William Hume Blake was the orator +of the night. The young editor of the _Globe_, a recruit among +veterans, seems to have made a hit with a picture of a ministry framed +on the "no party" plan advocated by Governor Metcalfe. In this +imaginary ministry he grouped at the same council table Robert Baldwin +and his colleague Francis Hincks; Sir Allan MacNab, the Tory leader; +William Henry Draper, Metcalfe's chief adviser; John Strachan, Bishop +of Toronto; and Dr. Ryerson, leader of the Methodists and champion of +the governor. His Excellency is on a chair raised above the warring +elements below. Baldwin moves that King's College be opened to all +classes of Her Majesty's subjects. At once the combination is +dissolved, as any one who remembers Bishop Strachan's views on that +question will understand. + +Dr. Ryerson, whose name was used by Brown in this illustration, was a +leader among the Methodists, and had fought stoutly for religious +equality against Anglican privilege. But he had espoused the side of +the governor-general, apparently taking seriously the position that it +was the only course open to a loyal subject. In a series of letters +published in the summer of 1844, he warned the people that the Toronto +Reform Association was leading them to the edge of a precipice. "In +the same manner," he said, "I warned you against the Constitutional +Reform Association, formed in 1834. In 1837 my warning predictions +were realized, to the ruin of many and the misery of thousands. What +took place in 1837 was but a preface of what may be witnessed in +1847." The warning he meant to convey was that the people were being +drawn into a conflict with the imperial authorities. "Mr. Baldwin," he +said, "practically renounces the imperial authority by refusing to +appeal to it, and by appealing through the Toronto Association to the +people of Canada. If the people of Canada are the tribunal of judgment +on one question of constitutional prerogative, they are so on every +question of constitutional prerogative. Then the governor is no +longer responsible to the imperial authority, and Canada is an +independent country. Mr. Baldwin's proceeding, therefore, not only +leads to independence but involves (unconsciously, I admit, from +extreme and theoretical views), a practical declaration of +independence before the arrival of the 4th of July!" + +In this language Dr. Ryerson described with accuracy the attitude of +the British government. That government had, as we have seen, +disapproved of Governor Bagot's action in parting with so large a +measure of power, and it was fully prepared to support Metcalfe in +pursuing the opposite course. Dr. Ryerson was also right in saying +that the government of Great Britain would be supported by parliament. +In May, 1844, the affairs of Canada were discussed in the British +House of Commons, and the governor's action was justified by Peel, by +Lord Stanley, and by Lord John Russell. The only dissentient voices +were those of the Radicals, Hume and Roebuck. + +Metcalfe and his chiefs at home can hardly be blamed for holding the +prevailing views of the time, which were that the changes contemplated +by Durham, by Bagot, and by Baldwin were dangerous and revolutionary. +The idea that a colony could remain connected with Great Britain under +such a system of autonomy as we enjoy to-day was then conceived by +only a few men of exceptional breadth and foresight, among whom Elgin +was one of the most eminent. + +The wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine and the patience and +firmness of the Reformers are attested by their conduct in very trying +circumstances. Finding their demand for constitutional reform opposed +not only by the Canadian Tories, but by the governor-general and the +imperial government and parliament, they might have become +discouraged, or have been tempted into some act of violence. Their +patience must have been sorely tried by the persistent malice or +obstinate prejudice which stigmatized a strictly constitutional +movement as treason. They had also to endure the trial of a temporary +defeat at the polls, and an apparent rejection of their policy by the +very people for whose liberties they were contending. + +In the autumn of 1844 the legislature was dissolved and a fierce +contest ensued. Governor Metcalfe's attitude is indicated by his +biographer.[1] "The contest," he says, "was between loyalty on the one +side and disaffection to Her Majesty's government on the other. That +there was a strong anti-British feeling abroad, in both divisions of +the province [Upper and Lower Canada] Metcalfe clearly and painfully +perceived. The conviction served to brace and stimulate him to new +exertions. He felt that he was fighting for his sovereign against a +rebellious people." The appeal was successful; Upper Canada was swept +by the loyalty cry, and in various polling places votes were actually +cast or offered for the governor-general. The _Globe_ described a +conversation that occurred in a polling place in York: "Whom do you +vote for?" "I vote for the governor-general." "There is no such +candidate. Say George Duggan, you blockhead." "Oh, yes, George Duggan; +it's all the same thing." There were candidates who described +themselves as "governor-general's men"; there were candidates whose +royalist enthusiasm was expressed in the name "Cavaliers." In the +Montreal election petition it was charged that during two days of +polling the electors were exposed to danger from the attacks of bands +of fighting men hired by the government candidates or their agents, +and paid, fed, and armed with "bludgeons, bowie-knives, and pistols +and other murderous weapons" for the purpose of intimidating the +Liberal electors and preventing them from gaining access to the polls; +that Liberals were driven from the polls by these fighting men, and by +cavalry and infantry acting under the orders of partisan magistrates. +The polls, it was stated, were surrounded by soldiers, field-pieces +were placed in several public squares, and the city was virtually in a +state of siege. The charges were not investigated, the petition being +rejected for irregularity; but violence and intimidation were then +common accompaniments of elections. + +In November the governor was able to record his victory thus: Upper +Canada, avowed supporters of his government, thirty; avowed +adversaries, seven; undeclared and uncertain, five. Lower Canada, +avowed supporters, sixteen; avowed adversaries, twenty-one; undeclared +and uncertain, four. Remarking on this difference between Upper +and Lower Canada, he said that loyalty and British feeling +prevailed in Upper Canada and in the Eastern Townships of Lower +Canada, and that disaffection was predominant among the French-Canadian +constituencies.[2] Metcalfe honestly believed he had saved Canada for +the empire; but more mischief could hardly have been done by +deliberate design. In achieving a barren and precarious victory at the +polls, he and his friends had run the risk of creating that +disaffection which they feared. The stigma of disloyalty had been +unjustly affixed to honest and public-spirited men, whose steadiness +alone prevented them, in their resentment, from joining the ranks of +the disaffected. Worse still, the line of political cleavage had been +identified with the line of racial division, and "French-Canadian" and +"rebel" had been used as synonymous terms. + +The ministry and the legislative assembly were now such as the +governor had desired, yet the harmony was soon broken. There appeared +divisions in the cabinet, hostile votes in the legislature, and +finally a revolt in the Conservative press. An attempt to form a +coalition with the French-Canadian members drew a sarcastic comment +from the _Globe_: "Mr. Draper has invited the men whom he and his +party have for years stigmatized before the country as rebels and +traitors and destructives to join his administration." Reformers +regarded these troubles as evidence that the experiment in reaction +was failing, and waited patiently for the end. Shortly after the +election the governor was raised to the peerage, an honour which, if +not earned by success in Canada, was fairly due to his honest +intentions. He left Canada at the close of the year 1845, suffering +from a painful disease, of which he died a year afterwards. + +Soon after the governor's departure the young editor of the _Globe_ +had a curious experience. At a dinner of the St. Andrew's Society, +Toronto, the president, Judge MacLean, proposed the health of Lord +Metcalfe, eulogized his Canadian policy, and insisted that he had not +been recalled, "as certain persons have most impertinently and untruly +assumed and set forth." Brown refused to drink the toast, and asked to +be heard, asserting that he had been publicly insulted from the chair. +After a scene of uproar, he managed to obtain a hearing, and said, +addressing the chairman: "I understand your allusions, sir, and your +epithet of impertinence as applied to myself. I throw it back on you +with contempt, and will content myself with saying that your using +such language and dragging such matters before the society was highly +improper. Lord Metcalfe, sir, has been recalled, and it may yet be +seen that it was done by an enlightened British government for cause. +The toast which you have given, too, and the manner in which it was +introduced, are highly improper. This is not the place to discuss Lord +Metcalfe's administration. There is a wide difference of opinion as to +it. But I refrain from saying one word as to his conduct in this +province. This is not a political but a benevolent society, composed +of persons of very varied political sentiments, and such a toast ought +never to have been brought here. Lord Metcalfe is not now +governor-general of Canada, and I had a right to refuse to do honour +to him or not as I saw fit, and that without any disparagement to his +conduct as a gentleman, even though the person who is president of +this society thinks otherwise." This incident, trivial as it may +appear, illustrates the passion aroused by the contest, and the bold +and resolute character of the young politician. + +Lord Metcalfe's successor was Earl Cathcart, a soldier who concerned +himself little in the political disputes of the country, and who had +been chosen because of the danger of war with the United States, +arising out of the dispute over the Oregon boundary. The settlement of +that dispute does not come within the scope of this work; but it may +be noted that the _Globe_ was fully possessed by the belligerent +spirit of the time, and frankly expressed the hope that Great Britain +would fight, not merely for the Oregon boundary, but "to proclaim +liberty to the black population." The writer hoped that the Christian +nations of the world would combine and "break the chains of the slaves +in the United States, in Brazil and in Cuba." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Kaye's _Life of Metcalfe_, Vol. II., p. 389. + +[2] Kaye's _Life of Metcalfe_, Vol. II., p. 390. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT + + +In England, as well as in Canada, events were moving towards +self-government. With the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1840 disappeared +the preference to Canadian wheat. "Destroy this principle of +protection," said Lord Stanley in the House of Lords, "and you destroy +the whole basis upon which your colonial system rests." Loud +complaints came from Canada, and in a despatch from Earl Cathcart to +the colonial secretary, it was represented that the Canadian waterways +had been improved on the strength of the report made to Great Britain, +and that the disappointment and loss resulting from the abolition of +the preference would lead to alienation from the mother country and +"annexation to our rival and enemy, the United States." Gladstone, in +his reply, denied that the basis of imperial unity was protection, +"the exchange, not of benefits, but of burdens;" the true basis lay in +common feelings, traditions and hopes. The _Globe_ held that Canada +had no right to complain if the people of the United Kingdom did what +was best for themselves. England, as an exporter of manufactures, had +to meet competition at the world's prices, and must have cheap food +supplies. Canada had surely a higher destiny than to export a few +hundred bushels of wheat and flour to England. Canadian home +manufactures must be encouraged, and efforts made to obtain free trade +with the United States. "The Tory press," said the _Globe_, "are out +in full cry against free trade. Their conduct affords an illustration +of the unmitigated selfishness of Toryism. Give them everything they +can desire and they are brimful of loyalty. They will shout paeans till +they are sick, and drink goblets till they are blind in favour of +'wise and benevolent governors' who will give them all the offices and +all the emoluments. But let their interests, real or imaginary, be +affected, and how soon does their loyalty evaporate! Nothing is now +talked of but separation from the mother country, unless the mother +continues feeding them in the mode prescribed by the child." + +Some time afterwards, Lord Elgin, in his communications to the home +government, said that the Canadian millers and shippers had a +substantial grievance, not in the introduction of free trade, but in +the constant tinkering incident to the abandoned system of imperial +protection. The preference given in 1843 to Canadian wheat and to +flour, even when made of American wheat, had stimulated milling in +Canada; but almost before the newly-built mills were fairly at work, +the free trade measure of 1846 swept the advantage away. What was +wrong was not free trade, but Canadian dependence on imperial tariff +legislation. + +Elgin was one of the few statesmen of his day who perceived that the +colonies might enjoy commercial independence and political equality, +without separation. He declared that imperial unity did not depend on +the exercise of dominion, the dispensing of patronage, or the +maintenance of an imperial hot-bed for forcing commerce and +manufactures. Yet he conceived of an empire not confined to the +British Islands, but growing, expanding, "strengthening itself from +age to age, and drawing new supplies of vitality from virgin soils." + +With Elgin's administration began the new era of self-government. The +legislature was dissolved towards the close of the year 1847, and the +election resulted in a complete victory for the Reformers. In Upper +Canada the contest was fairly close, but in Lower Canada the +Conservative forces were almost annihilated, and on the first vote in +parliament the government was defeated by a large majority. The second +Baldwin-Lafontaine government received the full confidence and loyal +support of the governor, and by its conduct and achievements justified +the reform that had been so long delayed, and adopted with so many +misgivings. But the fight for responsible government was not yet +finished. The cry of French and rebel domination was raised, as it had +been raised in the days of Governor Bagot. A Toronto journal +reproachfully referred to Lord Elgin's descent from "the Bruce," and +asked how a man of royal ancestry could so degrade himself as to +consort with rebels and political jobbers. "Surely the curse of +Minerva, uttered by a great poet against the father, clings to the +son." The removal of the old office-holders seemed to this writer to +be an act of desecration not unlike the removal of the famous marbles +from the Parthenon. In a despatch explaining his course on the +Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin said that long before that +legislation there were evidences of the temper which finally produced +the explosion. He quoted the following passage from a newspaper: "When +French tyranny becomes insupportable, we shall find our Cromwell. +Sheffield in olden times used to be famous for its keen and +well-tempered whittles. Well, they make bayonets there now, just as +sharp and just as well-tempered. When we can stand tyranny no longer, +it will be seen whether good bayonets in Saxon hands will not be more +than a match for a mace and a majority." All the fuel for a +conflagration was ready. There was race hatred, there was party +hostility, there was commercial depression and there was a sincere, +though exaggerated, loyalty, which regarded rebellion as the +unforgivable sin, and which was in constant dread of the spread of +radical, republican and democratic ideas. + +The Rebellion Losses Bill was all that was needed to fan the embers +into flame. This was a measure intended to compensate persons who had +suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. It was attacked +as a measure for "rewarding rebels." Lord Elgin afterwards said that +he did not believe a rebel would receive a farthing. But even if we +suppose that some rebels or rebel sympathizers were included in the +list, the outcry against the bill was unreasonable. A general amnesty +had been proclaimed; French-Canadians had been admitted to a full +share of political power. The greater things having been granted, it +was mere pedantry to haggle about the less, and to hold an elaborate +inquiry into the principles of every man whose barns had been burned +during the rebellion. When responsible government was conceded, it was +admitted that even the rebels had not been wholly wrong. It would have +been straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel to say "we will give +you these free institutions for the sake of which you rebelled, but we +will not pay you the small sum of money necessary to recompense you +for losses arising out of the rebellion." + +However, it is easier to discuss these matters coolly in 1906 than it +was in 1849, and in 1849 the notion of "rewarding the rebels" produced +another rebellion on a small scale. A large quantity of important +legislation was brought down by the new government when it met the +legislature early in 1849, but everything else was forgotten when Mr. +Lafontaine introduced the resolution on which the Rebellion Losses +Bill was founded. In various parts of Upper Canada meetings were held +and protests made against the measure. In Toronto the protests took +the form of mob violence, foreshadowing what was to come in Montreal. +Effigies of Baldwin and Blake were carried through the streets and +burned. William Lyon Mackenzie had lately returned to Canada, and was +living at the house of a citizen named Mackintosh. The mob went to the +house, threatened to pull it down, and burned an effigy of Mackenzie. +The windows of the house were broken and stones and bricks thrown in. +The _Globe_ office was apparently not molested, but about midnight the +mob went to the dwelling-house of the Browns, battered at the door and +broke some windows. The _Globe_ in this trying time stood staunchly by +the government and Lord Elgin, and powerfully influenced the public +opinion of Upper Canada in their favour. Addresses calling for the +withdrawal of Lord Elgin were met by addresses supporting his action, +and the signatures to the friendly addresses outnumbered the other by +one hundred and twenty thousand. George Brown, Col. C. T. Baldwin, and +W. P. Howland were deputed to present an address from the Reformers of +Upper Canada. Sir William Howland has said that Lord Elgin was so much +affected that he shed tears. + +This is not the place, however great the temptation may be, to +describe the stirring scenes that were enacted in Montreal; the stormy +debate, the fiery speech in which William Hume Blake hurled back at +the Tories the charge of disloyalty; the tumult in the galleries, the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing and stoning of +the governor-general. + +Lord Elgin's bearing under this severe trial was admirable. He was +most desirous that blood should not be shed, and for this reason +avoided the use of troops or the proclamation of martial law; and he +had the satisfaction of seeing the storm gradually subside. A less +dangerous evidence of discontent was a manifesto signed by leading +citizens of Montreal advocating annexation to the United States, not +only to relieve commercial depression, but "to settle the race +question forever, by bringing to bear on the French-Canadians the +powerful assimilating forces of the republic." The signers of this +document were leniently dealt with; but those among them who +afterwards took a prominent part in politics, were not permitted to +forget their error. Elgin was of opinion that there was ground for +discontent on commercial grounds, and he advocated the removal of +imperial restriction on navigation, and the establishment of +reciprocity between the United States and the British North American +provinces. The annexation movement was confined chiefly to Montreal. +In Upper Canada an association called the British American League was +formed, and a convention held at Kingston in 1849. The familiar topics +of commercial depression and French domination were discussed; some +violent language was used, but the remedies proposed were sane +enough; they were protection, retrenchment, and the union of the +British provinces. Union, it was said, would put an end to French +domination, and would give Canada better access to the sea and +increased commerce. The British American League figures in the old, +and not very profitable, controversy as to the share of credit to be +allotted to each political party for the work of confederation. It is +part of the Conservative case. But the platform was abandoned for the +time, and confederation remained in the realm of speculation rather +than of action. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS + + +Within the limits of one parliament, less than four years, the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government achieved a large amount of useful work, +including the establishment of cheap and uniform postage, the +reforming of the courts of law, the remodelling of the municipal +system, the establishment of the University of Toronto on a +non-sectarian basis, and the inauguration of a policy by which the +province was covered with a network of railways. With such a record, +the government hardly seemed to be open to a charge of lack of energy +and progressiveness, but it was a time when radicalism was in the air. +It may be more than a coincidence that Chartism in England and a +revolution in France were followed by radical movements in both +Canadas. + +The counterpart to the Rouge party in Lower Canada, elsewhere referred +to, was the Clear Grit party in Upper Canada. Among its leaders were +Peter Perry, one of the founders of the Reform party in Upper Canada, +Caleb Hopkins, David Christie, James Lesslie, Dr. John Rolph and +William Macdougall. Rolph had played a leading part in the movement +for reform before the rebellion, and is the leading figure in Dent's +history of that period. Macdougall was a young lawyer and journalist +fighting his way into prominence. + +"Grit" afterwards became a nickname for a member of the Reform or +Liberal party, and especially for the enthusiastic followers of George +Brown. Yet in all the history of a quarrelsome period in politics +there is no more violent quarrel than that between Brown and the Clear +Grits. It is said that Brown and Christie were one day discussing the +movement, and that Brown had mentioned the name of a leading Reformer +as one of the opponents of the new party. Christie replied that the +party did not want such men, they wanted only those who were "Clear +Grit." This is one of several theories as to the derivation of the +name. The _Globe_ denounced the party as "a miserable clique of +office-seeking, bunkum-talking cormorants, who met in a certain +lawyer's office on King Street [Macdougall's] and announced their +intention to form a new party on Clear Grit principles." The _North +American_, edited by Macdougall, denounced Brown with equal fury as a +servile adherent of the Baldwin government. Brown for several years +was in this position of hostility to the Radical wing of the party. He +was defeated in Haldimand by William Lyon Mackenzie, who stood on an +advanced Radical platform; and in 1851 his opponent in Kent and +Lambton was Malcolm Cameron, a Clear Grit, who had joined the +Hincks-Morin government. The nature of their relations is shown by a +letter in which Cameron called on one of his friends to come out and +oppose Brown: "I will be out and we will show him up, and let him know +what stuff Liberal Reformers are made of, and how they would treat +fanatical beasts who would allow no one liberty but themselves." + +The Clear Grits advocated, (1) the application of the elective +principle to all the officials and institutions of the country, from +the head of the government downwards; (2) universal suffrage; (3) vote +by ballot; (4) biennial parliaments; (5) the abolition of property +qualification for parliamentary representations; (6) a fixed term for +the holding of general elections and for the assembling of the +legislature; (7) retrenchment; (8) the abolition of pensions to +judges; (9) the abolition of the Courts of Common Pleas and Chancery +and the giving of an enlarged jurisdiction to the Court of Queen's +Bench; (10) reduction of lawyers' fees; (11) free trade and direct +taxation; (12) an amended jury law; (13) the abolition or modification +of the usury laws; (14) the abolition of primogeniture; (15) the +secularization of the clergy reserves, and the abolition of the +rectories. The movement was opposed by the _Globe_. No new party, it +said, was required for the advocacy of reform of the suffrage, +retrenchment, law reform, free trade or the liberation of the clergy +reserves. These were practical questions, on which the Reform party +was united. But these were placed on the programme merely to cloak +its revolutionary features, features that simply meant the adoption of +republican institutions, and the taking of the first step towards +annexation. The British system of responsible government was upheld by +the _Globe_ as far superior to the American system in the security it +afforded to life and property. + +But while Brown defended the government from the attacks of the Clear +Grits, he was himself growing impatient at their delay in dealing with +certain questions that he had at heart, especially the secularization +of the clergy reserves. He tried, as we should say to-day, "to reform +the party from within." He was attacked for his continued support of a +ministry accused of abandoning principles while "he was endeavouring +to influence the members to a right course without an open rupture." +There was an undercurrent of discontent drawing him away from the +government. In October, 1850, the _Globe_ contained a series of +articles on the subject. It was pointed out that there were four +parties in the country: the old-time Tories, the opponents of +responsible government, whose members were fast diminishing; the new +party led by John A. Macdonald; the Ministerialists; and the Clear +Grits, who were described as composed of English Radicals, Republicans +and annexationists. The Ministerialists had an overwhelming majority +over all, but were disunited. What was the trouble? The ministers +might be a little slow, a little wanting in tact, a little less +democratic than some of their followers. They were not traitors to the +Reform cause, and intemperate attacks on them might be disastrous to +that cause. A union of French-Canadians with Upper Canadian +Conservatives would, it was prophesied, make the Reform party +powerless. Though in later years George Brown became known as the +chief opponent of French-Canadian influence, he was well aware of the +value of the alliance, and he gave the French-Canadians full credit +for their support to measures of reform. "Let the truth be known," +said the _Globe_ at this time, "to the French-Canadians of Lower +Canada are the Reformers of Upper Canada indebted for the sweeping +majorities which carried their best measures." He gave the government +credit for an immense mass of useful legislation enacted in a very +short period. But more remained to be done. The clergy reserves must +be abolished, and all connection between Church and State swept away. +"The party in power has no policy before the country. No one knows +what measures are to be brought forward by the leaders. Each man +fancies a policy for himself. The conductors of the public press must +take ground on all the questions of the day, and each accordingly +strikes out such a line as suits his own leanings, the palates of his +readers, or what he deems for the good of the country. All sorts of +vague schemes are thus thrown on the sea of public opinion to agitate +the waters, with the triple result of poisoning the public mind, +producing unnecessary divisions, and committing sections of the party +to views and principles which they might never have contemplated under +a better system." + +For some time the articles in the _Globe_ did not pass the bounds of +friendly, though outspoken, criticism. The events that drew Brown into +opposition were his breach with the Roman Catholic Church, the +campaign in Haldimand in which he was defeated by William Lyon +Mackenzie, the retirement of Baldwin and the accession to power of the +Hincks-Morin administration. + +Towards the end of 1850 there arrived in Canada copies of a pastoral +letter by Cardinal Wiseman, defending the famous papal bull which +divided England into sees of the Roman Catholic Church, and gave +territorial titles to the bishops. Sir E. P. Tache, a member of the +government, showed one of these to Mr. Brown, and jocularly challenged +him to publish it in the _Globe_. Brown accepted the challenge, +declaring that he would also publish a reply, to be written by +himself. The reply, which will be found in the _Globe_ of December +10th, 1850, is argumentative in tone, and probably would not of itself +have involved Brown in a violent quarrel with the Church. The +following passage was afterwards cited by the _Globe_ as defining its +position: "In offering a few remarks upon Dr. Wiseman's production, we +have no intention to discuss the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, +but merely to look at the question in its secular aspect. As advocates +of the voluntary principle we give to every man full liberty to +worship as his conscience dictates, and without penalty, civil or +ecclesiastical, attaching to his exercise thereof. We would allow each +sect to give to its pastors what titles it sees fit, and to prescribe +the extent of spiritual duties; but we would have the State recognize +no ecclesiastical titles or boundaries whatever. The public may, from +courtesy, award what titles they please; but the statute-book should +recognize none. The voluntary principle is the great cure for such +dissensions as now agitate Great Britain." + +The cause of conflict lay outside the bounds of that article. Cardinal +Wiseman's letter and Lord John Russell's reply had thrown England into +a ferment of religious excitement. "Lord John Russell," says Justin +McCarthy, "who had more than any man living been identified with the +principles of religious liberty, who had sat at the feet of Fox and +had for his closest friend the poet, Thomas Moore, came to be regarded +by the Roman Catholics as the bitterest enemy of their creed and their +rights of worship." + +It is evident that this hatred of Russell was carried across the +Atlantic, and that Brown was regarded as his ally. In the Haldimand +election a hand-bill signed, "An Irish Roman Catholic" was circulated. +It assailed Brown fiercely for the support he had given to Russell, +and for the general course of the _Globe_ in regard to Catholic +questions. Russell was described as attempting "to twine again around +the writhing limbs of ten millions of Catholics the chains that our +own O'Connell rescued us from in 1829." A vote for George Brown would +help to rivet these spiritual chains round the souls of Irishmen, and +to crush the religion for which Ireland had wept oceans of blood; +those who voted for Brown would be prostrating themselves like +cowardly slaves or beasts of burden before the avowed enemies of their +country, their religion and their God. "You will think of the gibbets, +the triangles, the lime-pits, the tortures, the hangings of the past. +You will reflect on the struggles of the present against the new penal +bill. You will look forward to the dangers, the triumphs, the hopes of +the future, and then you will go to the polls and vote against George +Brown." + +This was not the only handicap with which Brown entered on his first +election contest. There was no cordial sympathy between him and the +government, yet he was hampered by his connection with the government. +The dissatisfied Radicals rallied to the support of William Lyon +Mackenzie, whose sufferings in exile also made a strong appeal to the +hearts of Reformers, and Mackenzie was elected. + +In his election address Brown declared himself for perfect religious +equality, the separation of Church and State, and the diversion of +the clergy reserves from denominational to educational purposes. "I am +in favour of national school education free from sectarian teaching, +and available without charge to every child in the province. I desire +to see efficient grammar schools established in each county, and that +the fees of these institutions and of the national university should +be placed on such a scale as will bring a high literary and scientific +education within the reach of men of talent in any rank of life." He +advocated free trade in the fullest sense, expressing the hope that +the revenue from public lands and canals, with strict economy, would +enable Canada "to dispense with the whole customs department." + +Brown's estrangement from the government did not become an open +rupture so long as Baldwin and Lafontaine were at the head of affairs. +In the summer following Brown's defeat in Haldimand, Baldwin resigned +owing to a resolution introduced by William Lyon Mackenzie, for the +abolition of the Court of Chancery. The resolution was defeated, but +obtained the votes of a majority of the Upper Canadian members, and +Mr. Baldwin regarded their action as an indication of want of +confidence in himself. He dropped some expressions, too, which +indicated that he was moved by larger considerations. He was +conservative in his views, and he regarded the Mackenzie vote as a +sign of a flood of radicalism which he felt powerless to stay. +Shortly afterwards Lafontaine retired. He, also, was conservative in +his temperament, and weary of public life. The passing of Baldwin and +Lafontaine from the scene helped to clear the way for Mr. Brown to +take his own course, and it was not long before the open breach +occurred. When Mr. Hincks became premier, Mr. Brown judged that the +time had come for him to speak out. He felt that he must make a fair +start with the new government, and have a clear understanding at the +outset. A new general election was approaching, and he thought that +the issue of separation of Church and State must be clearly placed +before the country. In an article in the _Globe_ entitled "The +Crisis," it was declared that the time for action had come. One +parliament had been lost to the friends of religious equality; they +could not afford to lose another. It was contended that the Upper +Canadian Reformers suffered by their connection with the Lower +Canadian party. Complaint was made that the Hon. E. P. Tache had +advised Roman Catholics to make common cause with Anglicans in +resisting the secularization of the clergy reserves, had described the +advocates of secularization as "pharisaical brawlers," and had said +that the Church of England need not fear their hostility, because the +"contra-balancing power" of the Lower Canadians would be used to +protect the Anglican Church. This, said the _Globe_, was a challenge +which the friends of religious equality could not refuse. Later on, +Mr. Brown wrote a series of letters to Mr. Hincks, setting forth +fully his grounds of complaint against the government: failure to +reform the representation of Upper Canada, slackness in dealing with +the secularization of the clergy reserves, weakness in yielding to the +demand for separate schools. All this he attributed to Roman Catholic +or French-Canadian influence. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CLERGY RESERVES + + +The clergy reserves were for many years a fruitful source of +discontent and agitation in Canada. They had their origin in a +provision of the Constitutional Act of 1791, that there should be +reserved for the maintenance and support of a "Protestant clergy" in +Upper and Lower Canada "a quantity of land equal in value to a seventh +part of grants that had been made in the past or might be made in the +future." It was provided also that rectories might be erected and +endowed according to the establishment of the Church of England. The +legislatures were to be allowed to vary or repeal these enactments, +but such legislation was not to receive the royal assent before it had +been laid before both Houses of the imperial parliament. + +Did the words "Protestant clergy" apply to any other body than the +Church of England? A vast amount of legal learning was expended on +this question; but there can be little doubt that the intention to +establish and endow the Church of England was thoroughly in accord +with the ideas of colonial government prevailing from the conquest to +the end of the eighteenth century. In the instructions to Murray and +other early governors there are constant injunctions for the support +of a Protestant clergy and Protestant schools, "to the end that the +Church of England may be established both in principles and +practice."[3] Governor Simcoe, we are told, attached much importance +to "every establishment of Church and State that upholds a distinction +of ranks and lessens the undue weight of the democratic influence." +"The episcopal system was interwoven and connected with the +monarchical foundations of our government."[4] In pursuance of this +idea, which was also that of the ruling class in Canada, the country +was to be made as much unlike the United States as possible by the +intrenchment of class and ecclesiastical privileges, and this was the +policy pursued up to the time that responsible government was +obtained. Those outside the dominant caste, in religion as in +politics, were branded as rebels, annexationists, Yankees, +republicans. And as this dominant caste, until the arrival of Lord +Elgin, had the ear of the authorities at home, it is altogether likely +that the Act of 1791 was framed in accordance with their views. + +The law was unjust, improvident, and altogether unsuited to the +circumstances of the colony. Lord Durham estimated that the members +and adherents of the Church of England, allowing its largest claim, +were not more than one-third, probably not more than one-fourth, of +the population of Upper Canada. Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman +Catholics, each claimed a larger membership. He declared that the +sanction given to the exclusive claims of the Church of England by Sir +John Colborne's establishment of fifty-seven rectories, was, in the +opinion of many persons, the chief pre-disposing cause of the +rebellion, and it was an abiding and unabated cause of discontent.[5] + +Not only was the spirit of the colony opposed to the establishment and +domination of any Church, but settlement was retarded and the +hardships of the settler increased by the locking up of enormous +tracts of land. In addition to the clergy reserves, grants were made +to officials, to militia men, to the children of United Empire +Loyalists and others, in the hope that these persons would settle on +the land. Many of these fell into the hands of speculators and +jobbers, who bought farms of two hundred acres for prices ranging from +a gallon of rum to L5. "The greater part of these grants," said Mr. +Hawke, a government official whose evidence is given in the appendix +to Durham's Report, "remain in an unimproved state. These blocks of +wild land place the actual settler in an almost hopeless condition; he +can hardly expect during his lifetime to see his neighbourhood contain +a population sufficiently dense to support mills, schools, +post-offices, places of worship, markets or shops, without which +civilization retrogrades. Roads, under such circumstances, can neither +be opened by the settlers nor kept in proper repair. In 1834 I met a +settler from the township of Warwick, on the Caradoc Plains, returning +from the grist mill at Westminster, with the flour and bran of +thirteen bushels of wheat. He had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached +to his wagon, and had been absent nine days and did not expect to +reach home until the following evening. Light as his load was, he +assured me that he had to unload, wholly or in part, several times, +and after driving his wagon through the swamps, to pick out a road +through the woods where the swamps or gullies were fordable, and to +carry the bags on his back and replace them in the wagon." + +It is unnecessary here to discuss differences of opinion as to the +interpretation of the law, attempts to divide the endowment among +various denominations, or other efforts at compromise. The radical +wing of the Reform party demanded that the special provision for the +support of the Church of England should be abolished, and a system of +free popular education established. With this part of their platform +Brown was heartily in accord; on this point he agreed with the Clear +Grits that the Baldwin-Lafontaine government was moving too slowly, +and when Baldwin was succeeded by Hincks in 1851, the restraining +influence of his respect for Baldwin being removed, his discontent +was converted into open and determined opposition. + +Largely by the influence of Brown and the _Globe_, public opinion in +1851 was aroused to a high degree, and meetings were held to advocate +the secularization of the clergy reserves. The friends of the old +order were singularly unfortunate in their mode of expressing their +opinions. Opposition to responsible government was signalized by the +burning of the parliament buildings, and the mobbing of Lord Elgin in +Montreal. Opposition to religious equality was signalized by the +mobbing of an orderly assembly in Toronto. One meeting of the +opponents of the clergy reserves was broken up by these means, and a +second meeting was attacked by a mob with such violence as to +necessitate the calling out of a company of British soldiers. This +meeting was held in St. Lawrence Hall, over the city market bearing +that name. Mr. Brown was chosen to move a resolution denouncing State +endowments of religion, and did so in a speech of earnestness and +argumentative power. He compared the results of Church establishments +with those of voluntary effort in England, in Scotland, in France, and +in Canada, and denounced "State-churchism" as the author of pride, +intolerance and spiritual coldness. "When," he said, "I read the +history of the human race, and trace the dark record of wars and +carnage, of tyranny, robbery and injustice in every shape, which have +been the fruits of State-churchism in every age; when I observe the +degenerating effect which it has ever had on the purity and simplicity +of the Gospel of Christ, turning men's minds from its great truths, as +a religion of the heart, to the mere outward tinsel, to the forms and +ceremonies on which priestcraft flourishes; when I see that at all +times it has been made the instrument of the rich and powerful in +oppressing the poor and weak, I cannot but reject it utterly as in +direct hostility to the whole spirit of the Gospel, to that glorious +system which teaches men to set not their hearts on this world, and to +walk humbly before God." He held that it was utterly impossible for +the State to teach religious truth. "There is no standard for truth. +We cannot even agree on the meaning of words." Setting aside the +injustice of forcing men to pay money for the support of what they +deemed religious error, it was "most dangerous to admit that the +magistrate is to decide for God--for that is the plain meaning of the +establishment principle. Once admit that principle, and no curb can be +set upon its operation. Who shall restrict what God has appointed? And +thus the extent to which the conscience of men may be constrained, or +persecution for truth's sake may be carried, depends entirely on the +ignorance or enlightenment of the civil magistrate. There is no safety +out of the principle that religion is a matter entirely between man +and his God, and that the whole duty of the magistrate is to secure +every one in the peaceful observance of it. Anything else leads to +oppression and injustice, but this can never lead to either." + +A notable part of the speech was a defence of free, non-sectarian +education. "I can conceive," he said, "nothing more unprincipled than +a scheme to array the youth of the province in sectarian bands--to +teach them, from the cradle up, to know each other as Methodist boys, +and Presbyterian boys, and Episcopal boys. Surely, surely, we have +enough of this most wretched sectarianism in our churches without +carrying it further." + +To protect themselves from interruption, the advocates of +secularization had taken advantage of a law which allowed them to +declare their meeting as private, and exclude disturbers. Their +opponents held another meeting in the adjoining market-place where by +resolution they expressed indignation at the repeated attempts of "a +Godless association" to stir up religious strife, and declared that +the purposes of the association, if carried out, would bring about not +only the severance of British connection, but socialism, +republicanism, and infidelity. The horrified listeners were told how +Rousseau and Voltaire had corrupted France, how religion was +overthrown and the naked Goddess of Reason set up as an object of +worship. They were told that the clergy reserves were a gift to the +nation from "our good King George the Third." Abolish them and the +British flag would refuse to float over anarchy and confusion. +Finally, they were assured that they could thrash the St. Lawrence +Hall audience in a stand-up fight, but were nevertheless advised to go +quietly home. This advice was apparently accepted in the spirit of the +admonition: "Don't nail his ears to the pump," for the crowd +immediately marched to St. Lawrence Hall, cheering, groaning, and +shouting. They were met by the mayor, two aldermen, and the chief +constable, and told that they could not be admitted. Stones and bricks +were thrown through the windows of the hall. The Riot Act was read by +an alderman, and the British regiment then quartered in the town, the +71st, was sent for. There was considerable delay in bringing the +troops, and in the meantime there was great disorder; persons leaving +the hall were assaulted, and the mayor was struck in the face with a +stone and severely cut. A company of the 71st arrived at midnight, +after which the violence of the mob abated.[6] + +The steps leading up to the settlement of the question may be briefly +referred to. In 1850 the Canadian parliament had asked for power to +dispose of the reserves, with the understanding that emoluments +derived by existing incumbents should be guaranteed during their +lives. The address having been forwarded to England, Lord John Russell +informed the governor-general that a bill would be introduced in +compliance with the wish of the Canadian parliament. But in 1852 the +Russell government resigned, and was succeeded by that of the Earl of +Derby. Derby (Lord Stanley) had been colonial secretary in the Peel +government, which had shown a strong bias against Canadian +self-government. Sir John Pakington declared that the advisers of Her +Majesty were not inclined to aid in the diversion to other purposes of +the only public fund for the support of divine worship and religious +instruction in Canada, though they would entertain proposals for new +dispositions of the fund. Hincks, who was then in England, protested +vigorously against the disregard of the wishes of the Canadian people. +When the legislature assembled in 1852, it carried, at his instance, +an address to the Crown strongly upholding the Canadian demand. Brown +contended that the language was too strong and the action too weak. He +made a counter proposal, which found little support, that the Canadian +parliament itself enact a measure providing for the sale of the clergy +lands to actual settlers, and the appropriation of the funds for the +maintenance of common schools. + +With the fall of the Derby administration in England, ended the +opposition from that source to the Canadian demands. But Hincks, who +had firmly vindicated the right of the Canadian parliament to +legislate on the matter, now hesitated to use the power placed in his +hands, and declared that legislation should be deferred until a new +parliament had been chosen. The result was that the work of framing +the measure of settlement fell into the hands of John A. Macdonald, +the rising star of the Conservative party. The fund, after provision +had been made for the vested rights of incumbents, was turned over to +the municipalities. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Instructions to Governor Murray, _Canadian Archives of 1904_, p. +218. + +[4] Professor Shortt in the _Canadian Magazine_, September, 1901. + +[5] Durham's _Report on the Affairs of British North America_. +Methuen's reprint, pp. 125, 126. + +[6] The _Globe_, July, 1851. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT + + +In the autumn of 1851 parliament was dissolved, and in September Mr. +Brown received a requisition from the Reformers of Kent to stand as +their candidate, one of the signatures being that of Alexander +Mackenzie, afterwards premier of Canada. In accepting the nomination +he said that he anticipated that he would be attacked as an enemy of +the Roman Catholic Church; that he cordially adhered to the principles +of the Protestant reformation; that he objected to the Roman Catholic +Church trenching on the civil rights of the community, but that he +would be ashamed to advocate any principle or measure which would +restrict the liberty of any man, or deprive him on account of his +faith of any right or advantage enjoyed by his fellow-subjects. In his +election address he advocated religious equality, the entire +separation of Church and State, the secularization of the clergy +reserves, the proceeds to go to national schools, which were thus to +be made free. He advocated, also, the building of a railway from +Quebec to Windsor and Sarnia, the improvement of the canals and +waterways, reciprocity with the Maritime Provinces and the United +States, a commission for the reform of law procedure, the extension +of the franchise and the reform of representation. Representation by +population afterwards came to be the watchword of those who demanded +that Upper Canada should have a larger representation than Lower +Canada; but as yet this question had not arisen definitely. The +population of Upper Canada was nearly doubled between 1842 and 1851, +but it did not appear until 1852 that it had passed the lower province +in population. + +The advocacy of free schools was an important part of the platform. +During the month of January, 1852, the _Globe_ contained frequent +articles, reports of public meetings, and letters on the subject. It +was contended by some of the opponents of free schools that the poor +could obtain free education by pleading their poverty; but the _Globe_ +replied that education should not be a matter of charity, but should +be regarded as a right, like the use of pavements. The matter was made +an issue in the election of school trustees in several places, and in +the Toronto election the advocates of free schools were successful. + +It will be convenient to note here that Brown's views on higher +education corresponded with his views on public schools. In each case +he opposed sectarian control, on the ground that it would dissipate +the energies of the people, and divide among half a dozen sects the +money which might maintain one efficient system. These views were +fully set forth in a speech made on February 25th, 1853, upon a bill +introduced by Mr. Hincks to amend the law relating to the University +of Toronto. Brown denounced the measure as a surrender to the +sectaries. There were two distinct ideas, he said, in regard to higher +education in Upper Canada. One was that a university must be connected +with a Church and under the management of the clergy, without whose +control infidelity would prevail. The Reform party, led by Mr. Baldwin +and Mr. Hincks, had denounced these views as the mere clap-trap of +priestcraft. They held that there should be one great literary and +scientific institution, to which all Canadians might resort on equal +terms. This position was founded, not on contempt for religion, but on +respect for religion, liberty, and conscience. "To no one principle +does the Liberal party owe so many triumphs as to that of +non-sectarian university education." Until 1843 Anglican control +prevailed; then various unsuccessful efforts at compromise were made, +and finally, in 1849, after twenty years of agitation, the desire of +the Liberal party was fulfilled, and a noble institute of learning +established. This act alone would have entitled Robert Baldwin to the +lasting gratitude of his countrymen. + +Continuing, Brown said that the Hincks bill was reactionary--that the +original draft even contained a reference to the godless character of +the institution--that the plan would fritter away the endowment by +dividing it among sects and among localities. He opposed the abolition +of the faculties of law and medicine. Rightly directed, the study of +law was ennobling, and jurists should receive an education which would +give them broad and generous views of the principles of justice. The +endowment of the university ought to be sufficient to attract eminent +teachers, and to encourage students by scholarships. "We are laying +the foundations of a great political and social system. Our vote +to-day may deeply affect, for good or evil, the future of the country. +I adjure the House to pause ere destroying an institution which may +one day be among the chief glories of a great and wise people." + +Brown was elected by a good majority. The general result of the +election was favourable to the Hincks-Morin administration. A large +part of the interval between the election and the first session of the +new parliament was spent by Mr. Hincks in England, where he made some +progress in the settlement of the clergy reserve question, and where +he also made arrangements for the building of the Grand Trunk Railway +from Montreal westward through Upper Canada. Negotiations for the +building of the Intercolonial Railway, connecting Lower Canada with +the Maritime Provinces, fell through, and the enterprise was delayed +for some years. + +It was a matter of some importance that the first parliament in which +Mr. Brown took part was held in the city of Quebec. He had entered on +a course which made Catholics and French-Canadians regard him as their +enemy, and in Quebec French and Catholic influence was dominant. Brown +felt keenly the hostility of his surroundings, and there are frequent +references in his speeches and in the correspondence of the _Globe_ to +the unfriendly faces in the gallery of the chamber, and to the social +power exercised by the Church. "Nothing," says the Hon. James Young, +"could exceed the courage and eloquence with which Brown stood up +night after night, demanding justice for Upper Canada in the face of a +hostile majority on the floor of the chamber and still more hostile +auditors in the galleries above. So high, indeed, did public feeling +run on some occasions that fears were entertained for his personal +safety, and his friends occasionally insisted after late and exciting +debates, lasting often till long after midnight, on accompanying +him."[7] Mr. Young adds that these fears were not shared by Mr. Brown, +and that they proved to be groundless. Mr. Brown, in fact, did not +regard the Quebec influence as a personal grievance, but he argued +that on public grounds the legislature ought not to meet in a city +where freedom of speech might be impaired by local sentiment. That he +harboured no malice was very finely shown when parliament met four +years afterwards in Toronto. He had just concluded a powerful speech. +The galleries were crowded, this time with a friendly audience, which +at length broke into applause. Brown checked the demonstration. "I +have addressed none," he said, "but members of this House, and trust +that members from Lower Canada will not be overawed by any +manifestation of feeling in this chamber. I shall be ready on all +occasions to discourage it. In Lower Canada I stood almost alone in +supporting my views, and I well know how painful these manifestations +are to a stranger in a strange place. I do sincerely trust that +gentlemen of French origin will feel as free to speak here as if they +were in Quebec." + +Brown made his maiden speech during the debate on the address. It is +described in a contemporary account as "a terrible onslaught on the +government." An idea of violence conveyed in this and other comments +would appear to have been derived from the extreme energy of Brown's +gestures. The printed report of the speech does not give that +impression. Though severe, it was in the main historical and +argumentative. It contained a review of the political history of +Canada from the time of the rupture between Metcalfe and his +ministers, up to the time when the principle of responsible government +was conceded. Brown argued that Reformers were bound to stand by that +principle, and to accept all its obligations. In his judgment it was +essential to the right working of responsible government that parties +should declare their principles clearly and stand or fall by them. If +they held one set of principles out of office and another set in +office they would reduce responsible government to a farce. He +acknowledged the services which Hincks and Morin had rendered in +fighting for responsible government; but he charged them with +betraying that principle by their own conduct in office. Two systems +of government, he said, were being tested on this continent. The +American system contained checks and balances. The British system +could be carried on only by the observance of certain unwritten laws, +and especially a strict good faith and adherence to principle. Brown, +as a party man, adhered firmly to Burke's definition of party: "A body +of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national +interest, upon some particular principle on which they are all +agreed." Office-holding, with him, was a minor consideration. "There +is no theory in the principle of responsible government more vital to +its right working than that parties shall take their stand on the +prominent questions of the day, and mount to office or resign it +through the success or failure of principles to which they are +attached. This is the great safeguard for the public against clap-trap +professions." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Young's _Public Men and Public Life in Canada_, p. 83. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE + + +The condition of parties in the legislature was peculiar. The most +formidable antagonist of the Reform government was the man who was +rapidly rising to the leadership of the Reform party. The old Tory +party was dead, and its leader, Sir Allan MacNab, was almost inactive. +Macdonald, who was to re-organize and lead the new Conservative party, +was playing a waiting game, taking advantage of Brown's tremendous +blows at the ministry, and for the time being satisfied with a less +prominent part in the conflict. Brown rapidly rose to a commanding +position in the assembly. He did this without any _finesse_ or skill +in the management of men, with scarcely any assistance, and almost +entirely by his own energy and force of conviction. His industry and +capacity for work were prodigious. He spoke frequently, and on a wide +range of subjects requiring careful study and mastery of facts. In the +divisions he obtained little support. He had antagonized the +French-Canadians, the Clear Grits of Upper Canada were for the time +determined to stand by the government, and his views were usually not +such as the Conservatives could endorse, although they occasionally +followed him in order to embarrass the government. + +Brown's course in parliament, however, was pointing to a far more +important result than changes in the personnel of office-holders. +Hincks once told him that the logical conclusion of that course was +the dissolution of the union. There was a measure of truth in this. If +he had said dissolution or modification, he would have been absolutely +right. Between the ideas of Upper Canada and Lower Canada there was a +difference so great that a legislative union was foredoomed to +failure, and separation could be avoided only by a federation which +allowed each community to take its own way. Brown did not create these +difficulties, but he emphasized them, and so forced and hastened the +application of the remedy. Up to the time of his entering parliament, +his policy had related mainly to Upper Canada. In parliament, however, +a mass of legislation emanating from Lower Canada aroused his strong +opposition. In the main it was ecclesiastical legislation +incorporating Roman Catholic institutions, giving them power to hold +lands, to control education, and otherwise to strengthen the authority +of the Church over the people. It is not necessary to discuss these +measures in detail. The object is to arrive at Brown's point of view, +and it was this: That the seat of government was a Catholic city, and +that legislation and administration were largely controlled by the +French-Canadian priesthood. He complained that Upper Canada was +unfairly treated in regard to legislation and expenditure; that its +public opinion was disregarded, and that it was not fairly +represented. The question of representation steadily assumed more +importance in his mind, and he finally came to the conclusion that +representation by population was the true remedy for all the +grievances of which he complained. Lower Canada, being now numerically +the weaker, naturally clung to the system which gave it equality of +representation. + +In all these matters the breach between George Brown and the Lower +Canadian representatives was widening, while he was becoming more and +more the voice of Upper Canadian opinion. When, in the intervals +between parliamentary sessions, he visited various places in Upper +Canada, he found himself the most popular man in the community. He +addressed great public meetings. Banquets were given in his honour. +The prominent part taken by ministers of the Gospel at these +gatherings illustrates at once the weakness and the strength of his +position. He satisfied the "Nonconformist conscience" of Upper Canada +by his advocacy not only of religious equality but of the prohibition +of the liquor traffic and of the cessation of Sunday labour by public +servants. But this very attitude made it difficult for him to work +with any political party in Lower Canada. + +In 1853 there was a remarkable article in the Cobourg _Star_, a +Conservative journal, illustrating the hold which Brown had obtained +upon Upper Canadian sentiment. This attitude was called forth by a +banquet given to Brown by the Reformers of the neighbourhood. It +expressed regret that the honour was given on party grounds. "Had it +been given on the ground of his services to Protestantism, it would +have brought out every Orangeman in the country. Conservatives +disagreed with Brown about the clergy reserves, but if the reserves +must be secularized, every Conservative in Canada would join Brown in +his crusade against Roman Catholic endowments." Then follows this +estimate of Brown's character: "In George Brown we see no agitator or +demagogue, but the strivings of common sense, a sober will to attain +the useful, the practical and the needful. He has patient courage, +stubborn endurance, and obstinate resistance, and desperate daring in +attacking what he believes to be wrong and in defending what he +believes to be right. There is no cant or parade or tinsel or +clap-trap about him. He takes his stand against open, palpable, +tangible wrongs, against the tyranny which violates men's roofs, and +the intolerance which vexes their consciences. True, he is wrong on +the reserves question, but then he is honest, we know where to find +him. He does not, like some of our Reformers, give us to understand +that he will support us and then turn his back. He does not slip the +word of promise to the ear and then break it to the lips. Leaving the +reserves out of the question, George Brown is eminently conservative +in his spirit. His leading principle, as all his writings will show, +is to reconcile progress with preservation, change with stability, the +alteration of incidents with the maintenance of essentials. Change, +for the sake of change, agitation for vanity, for applause or +mischief, he has contemptuously repudiated. He is not like the Clear +Grit, a republican of the first water, but on the contrary looks to +the connection with the mother country, not as fable or unreality or +fleeting vision, but as alike our interest and our duty, as that which +should ever be our beacon, our guide and our goal." + +In 1853 the relative strength of Brown and the ministers was tested in +a series of demonstrations held throughout Canada. The Hon. James +Young gives a vivid description of Brown as he appeared at a banquet +given in his honour at Galt: "He was a striking figure. Standing fully +six feet two inches high, with a well-proportioned body, well balanced +head and handsome face, his appearance not only indicated much mental +and physical strength, but conveyed in a marked manner an impression +of youthfulness and candour. These impressions deepened as his address +proceeded, and his features grew animated and were lighted up by his +fine expressive eyes." His voice was strong and soft, with a +well-marked Edinburgh accent. His appearance surprised the people who +had expected to see an older and sterner-looking man. His first +remarks were disappointing; as was usual with him he stammered and +hesitated until he warmed to his subject, when he spoke with such an +array of facts and figures, such earnestness and enthusiasm, that he +easily held the audience for three hours.[8] + +On October 1st, 1853, the _Globe_ was first issued as a daily. It was +then stated that the paper was first published as a weekly paper with +a circulation of three hundred. On November 1st, 1846, it was +published twice a week with a circulation of two thousand, which rose +to a figure between three thousand and four thousand. In July, 1849, +it was issued three times a week. When the daily paper was first +published the circulation was six thousand. To anticipate a little, it +may be said that in 1855 the _Globe_ absorbed the _North American_ and +the _Examiner_, and the combined circulation was said to be sixteen +thousand four hundred and thirty-six. The first daily paper contained +a declaration of principles, including the entire separation of Church +and State, the abolition of the clergy reserves and the restoration of +the lands to the public, cessation of grants of public money for +sectarian purposes, the abolition of tithes and other compulsory +taxation for ecclesiastical purposes, and restraint on land-holding by +ecclesiastical corporations. + +An extract from this statement of policy may be given: + +"Representation by population. Justice for Upper Canada! While Upper +Canada has a larger population by one hundred and fifty thousand than +Lower Canada, and contributes more than double the amount of taxation +to the general revenue, Lower Canada has an equal number of +representatives in parliament. + +"National education.--Common school, grammar school, and collegiate +free from sectarianism and open to all on equal terms. Earnest war +will be waged with the separate school system, which has unfortunately +obtained a footing. + +"A prohibitory liquor law.--Any measure which will alleviate the +frightful evils of intemperance." + +The inclusion of prohibition on this platform was the natural result +of the drinking habits of that day. In a pamphlet issued by the Canada +Company for the information of intending immigrants, whiskey was +described as "a cheap and wholesome beverage." Its cheapness and +abundance caused it to be used in somewhat the same way as the "small +beer" of England, and it was a common practice to order a jug from the +grocer along with the food supply of the family. When a motion +favouring prohibition was introduced in the Canadian parliament there +were frequent references to the convivial habits of the members. The +seconder of the motion was greeted with loud laughter. He +good-naturedly said that he was well aware of the cause of hilarity, +but that he was ready to sacrifice his pleasure to the general good. +Sir Allan MacNab, the leader of the Opposition, moved a farcical +amendment, under which every member was to sign a pledge of +abstinence, and to be disqualified if he broke it. Brown made an +earnest speech in favour of the motion, in which he remarked that +Canada then contained nine hundred and thirty-one whiskey shops, +fifty-eight steamboat bars, three thousand four hundred and thirty +taverns, one hundred and thirty breweries, and one hundred and +thirty-five distilleries. + +The marked diminution of intemperance in the last fifty years may be +attributed in part to restrictive laws, and in part to the work of the +temperance societies, which rivalled the taverns in social +attractions, and were effective agents of moral suasion. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] Young, _op. cit._, pp. 58, 59. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES + + +In June, 1854, the Hincks-Morin government was defeated in the +legislature on a vote of censure for delay in dealing with the +question of the clergy reserves. A combination of Tories and Radicals +deprived Hincks of all but five of his Upper Canadian supporters. +Parliament was immediately dissolved, and the ensuing election was a +_melee_ in which Hincks Reformers, Brown Reformers, Tories and Clear +Grits were mingled in confusion. Brown was returned for Lambton, where +he defeated the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, postmaster-general under Hincks. +The Reform party was in a large majority in the new legislature, and +if united could have controlled it with ease. But the internal quarrel +was irreconcilable. Hincks was defeated by a combination of Tories and +dissatisfied Reformers, and a general reconstruction of parties +followed. Sir Allan MacNab, as leader of the Conservative opposition, +formed an alliance with the French-Canadian members of the Hincks +government and with some of its Upper Canadian supporters. Hincks +retired, but gave his support to the new combination, "being of +opinion that the combination of parties by which the new government +was supported presented the only solution of the difficulties caused +by a coalition of parties holding no sentiments in common, a coalition +which rarely takes place in England. I deemed it my duty to give my +support to that government during the short period that I continued in +public life."[9] + +Whether the MacNab-Morin government was a true coalition or a Tory +combination under that name was a question fiercely debated at that +time. It certainly did not stand for the Toryism that had resisted +responsible government, the secularization of the clergy reserves, and +the participation of French-Canadians in the government of the +country. It had at first some of the elements of a coalition, but it +gradually came to represent Conservatism and the personal ascendency +of John A. Macdonald. Robert Baldwin, from his retirement, gave his +approval to the combination, and hence arose the "Baldwin Reformer," +blessed as a convert by one party, and cursed as a renegade by the +other. + +Reconstruction on one side was followed by reconstruction on the +other. Upper Canadian Reformers rallied round Brown, and an alliance +was formed with the Quebec Rouges. This was a natural alliance of +radical Reformers in both provinces. Some light is thrown on it by an +article published in the _Globe_ in 1855. The writer said that in +1849, some young men of Montreal, fresh from the schools and filled +to the brim with the Republican opinions which had spread from France +throughout all Europe, formed associations and established newspapers +advocating extreme political views. They declaimed in favour of +liberty and against priestcraft and tyranny with all the ardour and +freshness of youth. Their talents and the evident purity and sincerity +of their motives made a strong impression on their countrymen, +contrasting as they did with the selfishness and mediocrity of other +French-Canadian leaders, and the result was that the Rouge party was +growing in strength both in the House and in the country. With the +growth of strength there had come a growing sense of responsibility, +greater moderation and prudence. In the legislature, at least, the +Rouges had not expressed a single sentiment on general policy to which +a British constitutional Reformer might not assent. They were the true +allies of the Upper Canadian Reformers, and in fact the only Liberals +among the French-Canadians. They had Reform principles, they +maintained a high standard of political morality. They stood for the +advance of education and for liberty of speech. They were the hope of +Canada, and their attitude gave promise that a brighter day was about +to dawn on the political horizon. + +It was unreasonable to expect that the Liberals could continue to +receive that solid support from Lower Canada which they had received +in the days of the Baldwin-Lafontaine alliance. In those days the +issue was whether French-Canadians should be allowed to take part in +the government of the country, or should be excluded as rebels. The +Reformers championed their cause and received the solid support of the +French-Canadian people. But when once the principle for which they +contested was conceded, it was perceived that Lower Canada, like Upper +Canada, had its Conservative element, and party lines were formed. Mr. +Brown held that there could be no lasting alliance between Upper +Canadian Reformers and Lower Canadian Conservatives, and especially +with those Lower Canadians who defended the power and privileges of +the Church. He was perfectly willing that electors holding these views +should go to the Conservative party, which was their proper place. The +Rouges could not bring to the Liberal party the numerical strength of +the supporters of Lafontaine, but as they really held Liberal +principles, the alliance was solidly based and was more likely to +endure. + +The leader of the Rouges was A. A. Dorion, a distinguished advocate, +and a man of culture, refinement and eloquence. He was Brown's +desk-mate, and while in physique and manner the two were strongly +contrasted, they were drawn together by the chivalry and devotion to +principle which characterized both, and they formed a strong +friendship. "For four years," said Mr. Brown, in a public address, "I +acted with him in the ranks of the Opposition, learned to value most +highly the uprightness of his character, the liberality of his +opinions, and the firmness of his convictions. On most questions of +public general policy we heartily agreed, and regularly voted +together; on the questions that divided all Upper Canadians and all +Lower Canadians alone we differed, and on these we had held many +earnest consultations from year to year with a view to their removal, +without arriving at the conviction that when we had the opportunity we +could find the mode." Their habit was not to attempt to conceal these +sectional differences, but to recognize them frankly with a view to +finding the remedy. It was rarely that either presented a resolution +to the House without asking the advice of the other. They knew each +other's views perfectly, and on many questions, especially of commerce +and finance, they were in perfect accord. + +By this process of evolution Liberals and Conservatives were restored +to their proper and historic places, and the way was cleared for new +issues. These issues arose out of the ill-advised attempt to join +Upper and Lower Canada in a legislative union. A large part of the +history of this period is the history of an attempt to escape the +consequences of that blunder. This was the reason why every ministry +had its double name--the Lafontaine-Baldwin, the Hincks-Morin, the +Tache-Macdonald, the Brown-Dorion, the Macdonald-Sicotte. This was the +reason why every ministry had its attorney-general east for Lower +Canada and its attorney-general west for Upper Canada. In his speech +on confederation Sir John Macdonald said that although the union was +legislative in name, it was federal in fact--that in matters affecting +Upper Canada alone, Upper Canadian members claimed and usually +exercised, exclusive power, and so with Lower Canada. The consolidated +statutes of Canada and the consolidated statutes of Upper Canada must +be sought in separate volumes. The practice of legislating for one +province alone was not confined to local or private matters. For +instance, as the two communities had widely different ideas as to +Sabbath observance, the stricter law was enacted for Upper Canada +alone. Hence also arose the theory of the double majority--that a +ministry must, for the support of its general policy, have a majority +from each province. + +But all these shifts and devices could not stay the agitation for a +radical remedy. Some Reformers proposed to dissolve the union. Brown +believed that the difficulty would be solved by representation by +population, concerning which a word of explanation is necessary. When +the provinces were united in 1841, the population of Lower Canada +exceeded that of Upper Canada in the proportion of three to two. "If," +said Lord Durham, "the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated +at four hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada at +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French at four hundred and +fifty thousand, the union of the two provinces would not only give a +clear English majority, but one which would be increased every year by +the influence of English emigration, and I have little doubt that the +French, when once placed by the legitimate course of events in a +minority, would abandon their vain hopes of nationality." But he added +that he was averse to every plan that had been proposed for giving an +equal number of members to the two provinces. The object could be +attained without any violation of the principles of representation, +such as would antagonize public opinion, and "when emigration shall +have increased the English population of the Upper Province, the +adoption of such a principle would operate to defeat the very purpose +it is intended to serve. It appears to me that any such electoral +arrangement, founded on the present provincial divisions, would tend +to defeat the purpose of union and perpetuate the idea of disunion." + +Counsels less wise and just prevailed, and the united province was +"gerrymandered" against Lord Durham's protest. Lower Canada complained +of the injustice, and with good reason. In the course of time Lord +Durham's prediction was fulfilled; by immigration the population of +Upper Canada overtook and passed that of Lower Canada. The census of +1852 gave Upper Canada a population of nine hundred and fifty-two +thousand, and Lower Canada a population of eight hundred and ninety +thousand two hundred and sixty-one. Brown began to press for +representation by population. He was met by two objections. It was +argued on behalf of the French-Canadians that they had submitted to +the injustice while they had the larger population, and that the Upper +Canadians ought to follow their example. Mr. Brown admitted the force +of this argument, but he met it by showing that the Lower Canadians +had been under-represented for eight years, and that by the time the +new representation went into force, the Upper Canadians would have +suffered injustice for about an equal term, so that a balance might be +struck. A more formidable objection was raised by Mr. Hincks, who said +that the union was in the nature of a compact between two nations +having widely different institutions; that the basis of the compact +was equal representation, and that Brown's proposition would destroy +that basis. Cartier said that representation by population could not +be had without repeal of the union. The French-Canadians were afraid +that they would be swamped, and would be obliged to accept the laws +and institutions of the majority. + +It is impossible to deny the force of these objections. In 1841 Lower +Canada had been compelled to join a union in which the voting power of +Upper Canada was arbitrarily increased. If this was due to distrust, +to fear of "French domination," French-Canadians could not be blamed +for showing an equal distrust of English domination, and for refusing +to give up the barrier which, as they believed, protected their +peculiar institutions. Ultimately the solution was found in the +application of the federal system, giving unity in matters requiring +common action, and freedom to differ in matters of local concern. +Towards this solution events were tending, and the importance of +Brown's agitation for representation by population, which gained +immense force in Upper Canada, lies in its relation to the larger plan +of confederation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Hincks's _Political History of Canada_, p. 80. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SOME PERSONAL POLITICS + + +After the burning of the parliament buildings in Montreal the seat of +government oscillated between Quebec and Toronto. Toronto's turn came +in the session of 1856. Macdonald was now the virtual, and was on the +point of becoming the titular, leader of the party. Brown was equally +conspicuous on the other side. During the debate on the address he was +the central figure in a fierce struggle, and some one with a turn for +statistics said that his name was mentioned three hundred and +seventy-two times. The air was stimulating, and Brown's contribution +to the debate was not of a character to turn away wrath. + +Smarting under Brown's attack, Macdonald suddenly gave a new turn to +the debate. He charged that Brown, while acting as a member and +secretary of a commission appointed by the Lafontaine-Baldwin +government to inquire into the condition of the provincial +penitentiary, had falsified testimony, suborned convicts to commit +perjury, and obtained the pardon of murderers to induce them to give +false evidence. Though the assembly had by this time become accustomed +to hard hitting, this outbreak created a sensation. Brown gave an +indignant denial to the charges, and announced that he would move for +a committee of inquiry. He was angrily interrupted by the +solicitor-general, who flung the lie across the House. The +solicitor-general was a son of the warden of the penitentiary who had +been dismissed in consequence of the report of the commission. +Macdonald was a strong personal friend of the warden, and had +attempted some years before to bring his case before the assembly. +Brown promptly moved for the committee, and it was not long before he +presented that tribunal with a dramatic surprise. It was supposed that +the report of the penitentiary committee had been burned, and the +attack on Brown was made upon that supposition. When Mr. Brown was +called as a witness, however, he produced the original report with all +the evidence, and declared that it had never been out of his +possession "for one hour." The effect of this disclosure on his +assailants is shown in a letter addressed to the committee by +VanKoughnet, Macdonald's counsel: "Mr. Macdonald," he said, "had been +getting up his case on the assumption and belief that these minutes +had been destroyed and could not be procured, and much of the labour +he had been allowed to go to by Mr. Brown for that purpose would now +be thrown away; the whole manner of giving evidence, etc., would now +be altered." + +The graver charges of subornation of perjury etc., were abandoned, and +Macdonald's friends confined themselves to an attempt to prove that +the inquiry had been unfairly conducted, that the warden had been +harshly treated, and the testimony not fairly reported. It was a +political committee with a Conservative majority, and the majority, +giving up all hope of injuring Brown, bent its energies to saving +Macdonald from the consequences of his reckless violence. The Liberal +members asked for a complete exoneration of Mr. Brown. A supporter of +the government was willing to exonerate Brown if Macdonald were +allowed to escape without censure. A majority of the committee, +however, took refuge in a rambling deliverance, which was sharply +attacked in the legislature. Sir Allan MacNab bluntly declared that +the charge had been completely disproved, and that the committee ought +to have had the manliness to say so. Drummond, a member of the +government, also said that the attack had failed. The accusers were +willing to allow the matter to drop, and as a matter of fact the +report was never put to a vote. But Mr. Brown would not allow them to +escape so easily. Near the close of the session he made a speech which +gave a new character to the discussion. Up to this time it had been a +personal question between Brown and his assailants. Brown dealt with +this aspect of the matter briefly but forcibly. He declared that not +only his conduct but the character of the other commissioners was +fully vindicated, and that a conspiracy to drive him from public life +had signally failed. Conservative members had met him and admitted +that there was no truth in the charges, but had pleaded that they must +go with the party. Members had actually been asked to "pair" off on +the question of upholding or destroying his character, before they had +heard his defence. + +From these personal matters he returned to the abuses that had been +discovered by the commission. A terrible story of neglect and cruelty +was told. These charges did not rest on the testimony of prisoners. +They were sustained by the evidence of officers and by the records of +the institution. "If," said the speaker, "every word of the witnesses +called by the commissioners were struck out, and the case left to rest +on the testimony of the warden's own witnesses and the official +records of the prison, there would be sufficient to establish the +blackest record of wickedness that ever disgraced a civilized +country." Amid applause, expressions of amazement and cries of +"Shame!" from the galleries, Brown told of the abuses laid bare by the +prison commission. He told of prisoners fed with rotten meal and bread +infested with maggots; of children beaten with cat and rawhide for +childish faults; of a coffin-shaped box in which men and even women +were made to stand or rather crouch, their limbs cramped, and their +lungs scantily supplied with air from a few holes. Brown's speech +virtually closed the case, although Macdonald strove to prove that +the accounts of outrages were exaggerated, that the warden, Smith, was +himself a kind-hearted man, and that he had been harshly treated by +the commissioners. + +In a letter written about this time, Macdonald said that he was +carrying on a war against Brown, that he would prove him a most +dishonest, dishonourable fellow, "and in doing so I will only pay him +a debt that I owe him for abusing me for months together in his +newspaper."[10] Whatever the provocation may have been, the personal +relations of the two men were further embittered by this incident. + +Eight years afterwards they were members of the coalition ministry by +which confederation was brought about, and Brown's intimate friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, says that the association was most distasteful to +Brown, on account of the charges made in connection with the prison +commission. That the leaders of the two parties were not merely +political opponents but personal enemies must have embittered the +party struggle; and it was certainly waged on both sides with fury, +and with little regard either for the amenities of life or for fair +play. + +His work on the commission gave Brown a strong interest in prison +reform. While the work of the commission was fresh in his mind he +delivered an address in the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, in which he +sketched the history of prison reform in England and the United +States, and pointed out how backward Canada was in this phase of +civilization. He pleaded for a more charitable treatment of those on +whom the prison doors had closed. There were inmates of prisons who +would stand guiltless in the presence of Him who searches the heart. +There were guilty ones outside. We cannot, he said, expect human +justice to be infallible; but we must not draw a hard and fast line +between the world inside the prison and the world outside, as if the +courts of justice had the divine power of judging between good and +evil. In Canada, he said, we have no system of reforming the prisoner; +even the chaplain or the teacher never enters the prison walls. +"Children of eight and ten years of age are placed in our gaols, +surrounded by hundreds of the worst criminals in the province." He +went on to describe some of the evils of herding together hardened +criminals, children, and persons charged with trifling offences. He +advocated government inspection of prisons, a uniform system of +discipline, strict classification and separation, secular and +religious instruction, and the teaching of trades. The prisoner should +be punished, but not made to feel that he was being degraded by +society for the sake of revenge. Hope should be held out to those who +showed repentance. The use of the lash for trifling offences against +discipline was condemned. On the whole, his views were such as are +now generally accepted, and he may be regarded as one of the pioneers +of prison reform in Canada. + +The habit of personal attack was further illustrated in the charge, +frequently made by Mr. Brown's enemies, that he had been a defaulter +in Scotland. The _North American_ had printed this accusation during +its fierce altercation with the _Globe_, but the editor, Mr. +Macdougall, had afterwards apologized, and explained that it had crept +into the paper during his absence and without his knowledge. In the +session of 1858, a Mr. Powell, member for Carleton, renewed the attack +in the House, and Mr. Brown made a reply of such compelling human +interest that not a word can be added or taken away. He said: "This is +not the first time that the insinuation has been made that I was a +defaulter in my native city. It has been echoed before now from the +organs of the ministry, and at many an election contest have I been +compelled to sit patiently and hear the tale recounted in the ears of +assembled hundreds. For fifteen years I have been compelled to bear in +silence these imputations. I would that I could yet refrain from the +painful theme, but the pointed and public manner in which the charge +has now been made, and the fear that the public cause with which I am +identified might suffer by my silence, alike tell me that the moment +has come when I ought to explain the transaction, as I have always +been able to explain it, and to cast back the vile charge of +dishonesty on those who dared to make it. That my father was a +merchant in the city of Edinburgh, and that he engaged in disastrous +business speculations commencing in the inflated times of 1825 and +1826, terminating ten years afterwards in his failure, is undoubtedly +true. And it is, unhappily, also true, that he did hold a public +office, and that funds connected with that office were, at the moment +of his sequestration, mixed up with his private funds, to the extent, +I believe, of two thousand eight hundred pounds. For this sum four +relatives and friends were sureties, and they paid the money. Part of +that money has been repaid; every sixpence of it will be paid, and +paid shortly. Property has been long set aside for the payment of that +debt to its utmost farthing. My father felt that while that money +remained unpaid there was a brand on himself and his family, and he +has wrought, wrought as few men have wrought, to pay off, not only +that, but other obligations of a sacred character. Many a bill of +exchange, the proceeds of his labour, has he sent to old creditors who +were in need of what he owed. For myself, sir, I have felt equally +bound with my father; as his eldest son I felt that the fruits of my +industry should stand pledged until every penny of those debts was +paid and the honour of my family vindicated. An honourable member +opposite, whom I regret to hear cheering on the person who made the +attack, might have known that, under the legal advice of his +relative, I long ago secured that in the event of my death before the +accomplishment of our long-cherished purpose, after the payment of my +own obligations, the full discharge of those sacred debts of my father +should stand as a first charge on my ample estate. Debts, sir, which I +was no more bound in law to pay than any gentleman who hears me. For +the painful transaction to which I have been forced to allude, I am no +more responsible than any gentleman in this assembly. It happened in +1836; I was at that time but seventeen years of age, I was totally +unconnected with it, but, young as I was, I felt then, as I feel now, +the obligation it laid upon me, and I vowed that I should never rest +until every penny had been paid. There are those present who have +known my every action since I set foot in this country; they know I +have not eaten the bread of idleness, but they did not know the great +object of my labour. The one end of my desire for wealth was that I +might discharge those debts and redeem my father's honour. Thank God, +sir, my exertions have not been in vain. Thank God, sir, I have long +possessed property far more than sufficient for all my desires. But, +as those gentlemen know, it is one thing in this country to have +property, and another to be able to withdraw a large sum of money from +a business in active operation; and many a night have I laid my head +on my pillow after a day of toil, estimating and calculating if the +time had yet arrived, when, with justice to those to whom I stood +indebted, and without fear of embarrassment resulting, I might venture +to carry out the purpose of my life. I have been accused of being +ambitious; I have been charged with aspiring to the office of prime +minister of this great country and of lending all my energies to the +attainment of that end; but I only wish I could make my opponents +understand how infinitely surpassing all this, how utterly petty and +contemptible in my thoughts have been all such considerations, in +comparison with the one longing desire to discharge those debts of +honour and vindicate those Scottish principles that have been +instilled into me since my youth. The honourable member for Cornwall +[John Sandfield Macdonald] is well aware that every word I have spoken +to-night has been long ago told him in private confidence, and he +knows, too, that last summer I was rejoicing in the thought that I was +at last in a position to visit my native land with the large sum +necessary for all the objects I contemplated, and that I was only +prevented from doing so by the financial storm which swept over the +continent. Such, sir, are the circumstances upon which this attack is +founded. Such the facts on which I have been denounced as a public +defaulter and refugee from my native land. But why, asked the person +who made the charge, has he sat silent under it? Why if the thing is +false has he endured it so many years? What, sir, free myself from +blame by inculpating one so dear! Say 'It was not I who was in fault, +it was my father'? Rather would I have lost my right arm than utter +such a word! No, sir, I waited the time when the charge could be met +as it only might be fittingly met; and my only regret even now is that +I have been compelled to speak before those debts have been entirely +liquidated. But it is due, sir, to my aged father that I explain that +it has not been with his will that these imputations have been so long +pointed at me, and that it has only been by earnest remonstrance that +I have prevented his vindicating me in public long ere now. No man in +Toronto, perhaps, is more generally known in the community, and I +think I could appeal even to his political opponents to say if there +is a citizen of Toronto at this day more thoroughly respected and +esteemed. With a full knowledge of all that has passed, and all the +consequences that have flowed from a day of weakness, I will say that +an honester man does not breathe the air of heaven; that no son feels +prouder of his father than I do to-day; and that I would have +submitted to the obloquy and reproach of his every act, not fifteen +years, but fifty--ay, have gone down to the grave with the cold shade +of the world upon me, rather than that one of his gray hairs should +have been injured." + +Public opinion was strongly influenced in Mr. Brown's favour by this +incident. "The entire address," said a leading Conservative paper next +day, "forms the most refreshing episode which the records of the +Canadian House of Commons possess. Every true-hearted man must feel +proud of one who has thus chivalrously done battle for his gray-haired +sire. We speak deliberately when asserting that George Brown's +position in the country is at this moment immeasurably higher than it +ever previously has been. And though our political creed be +diametrically antipodal to his own, we shall ever hail him as a credit +to the land we love so well." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, p. 161. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" + + +By his advocacy of representation by population, by his opposition to +separate schools, and his championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr. +Brown gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the general +elections of 1857 he was elected for the city of Toronto, in company +with Mr. Robinson, a Conservative. The election of a Liberal in +Toronto is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr. Brown's +violent conflict with the Roman Catholic Church contributed to his +victory, if it was not the main cause thereof. His party also made +large gains through Upper Canada, and had a large majority in that +part of the province, so that the majority for the Macdonald +government was drawn entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds +occurred in Russell county, where names were copied into the +poll-books from old directories of towns in the state of New York, and +of Quebec city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, +Judas Iscariot and George Washington appeared on the lists. The +Reformers attacked these elections in parliament without success, but +in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several others were tried +for conspiracy, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. That the +government felt itself to be much weakened throughout the country is +evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's unsuccessful effort to add +another to his list of political combinations by detaching Mr. John +Sandfield Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats in the +cabinet to him and another Reformer. The personal attack on Mr. Brown +in the session of 1858 has already been mentioned. The chief political +event of the session was the "Double Shuffle." + +On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in placing the ministry in a +minority on the question of the seat of government. Unable to decide +between the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal and +Kingston, the government referred the question to the queen, who +decided in favour of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to the +queen, holding that the question should be settled in Canada. He also +believed that the seat of government should not be fixed until +representation by population was granted, and all matters in dispute +between Upper and Lower Canada arranged. He now moved against Ottawa +and carried his motion. During the same sitting the government was +sustained on a motion to adjourn, which by understanding was regarded +as a test of confidence. A few hours later the ministers met and +decided that, although they had been sustained by a majority of the +House, "it behoved them as the queen's servants to resent the slight +which had been offered Her Majesty by the action of the assembly in +calling in question Her Majesty's choice of the capital." The +governor-general, Sir Edmund Bond Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the +leader of the Opposition to form a government. It was contended by +Liberals that he ought not to have taken this step unless he intended +to give Mr. Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and support. +If he believed that the defeat of the government was a mere accident, +and that on general grounds it commanded a working majority in the +legislature, he ought not to have accepted the resignation, unless he +intended to sanction a fresh appeal to the country. + +The invitation to form an administration was received by Mr. Brown on +Thursday, July 28th. He at once waited on the governor-general and +obtained permission to consult his friends. He called a meeting of the +Upper Canadian members of his party in both Houses, and obtained from +them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he had an important +interview. Dorion agreed that the principle of representation by +population was sound, but said that the French-Canadian people feared +the consequences of Upper Canadian preponderance, feared that the +peculiar institutions of French Canada would be swept away. To assure +them, representation by population must be accompanied by +constitutional checks and safeguards. Brown and Dorion parted in the +belief that this could be arranged. They believed also that they +could agree upon an educational policy in which religious instruction +could be given without the evils of separation. + +Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the manipulation of +combinations of men, he succeeded on this occasion in enlisting the +services of colleagues of high character and capacity, including +besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield Macdonald, Luther Holton +and L. T. Drummond. On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the +governor-general, and informed him that having consulted his friends +and obtained the aid of Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the +task of forming an administration. During the day the formation of the +ministry was completed. "At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to give the +story in Mr. Brown's words, "learning that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went +to see him at his apartments at the Rossin House, and while with him +the governor-general's secretary entered and handed me a despatch. No +sooner did I see the outside of the document than I understood it all. +I felt at once that the whole corruptionist camp had been in commotion +at the prospect of the whole of the public departments being subjected +to the investigations of a second public accounts' committee, and +comprehended at once that the transmission of such a despatch could +have but the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way of the +new cabinet taking office, and I was not mistaken."[11] + +The despatch declared that the governor-general gave no pledge, +express or implied, with reference to dissolution. When advice was +tendered on the subject he would act as he deemed best. It then laid +down, with much detail, the terms on which he would consent to +prorogation. Bills for the registration of voters and for the +prohibition of fraudulent assignments and gifts by leaders should be +enacted, and certain supplies obtained. + +Mr. Brown criticized both these declarations. It was not necessary for +the governor-general to say that he gave no pledge in regard to +dissolution. To demand such a pledge would have been utterly +unconstitutional. The governor was quite right in saying that he would +deal with the proposal when it was made by his advisers. But while he +needlessly and gratuitously declared that he would not pledge himself +beforehand as to dissolution, he took exactly the opposite course as +to prorogation, specifying almost minutely the terms on which he would +consent to that step. Brown contended that the governor had no right +to lay down conditions, or to settle beforehand the measures that must +be enacted during the session. This was an attempt to dictate, not +only to the ministry, but to the legislature. Mr. Brown and his +colleagues believed that the governor was acting in collusion with the +ministers who had resigned, that the intriguers were taken by +surprise when Brown showed himself able to form a ministry, and that +the Sunday communication was a second thought, a hurriedly devised +plan to bar the way of the new ministers to office. + +On Monday morning before conferring with his colleagues, Brown wrote +to the governor-general, stating that his ministry had been formed, +and submitting that "until they have assumed the functions of +constitutional advisers of the Crown, he and his proposed colleagues +will not be in a position to discuss the important measures and +questions of public policy referred to in his memorandum." Brown then +met his colleagues, who unanimously approved of his answer to the +governor's memorandum, and agreed also that it was intended as a bar +to their acceptance of office. They decided not to ask for a pledge as +to dissolution, nor to make or accept conditions of any kind. "We were +willing to risk our being turned out of office within twenty-four +hours, but we were not willing to place ourselves constitutionally in +a false position. We distinctly contemplated all that Sir Edmund Head +could do and that he has done, and we concluded that it was our duty +to accept office, and throw on the governor-general the responsibility +of denying us the support we were entitled to, and which he had +extended so abundantly to our predecessor." + +When parliament assembled on Monday, a vote of want of confidence was +carried against the new government in both Houses. The newly +appointed ministers had, of course, resigned their seats in parliament +in order that they might offer themselves for re-election. It is true +the majority was too great to be accounted for by the absence of the +ministers. But the result was affected by the lack, not only of the +votes of the ministers, but of their voices. In the absence of +ministerial explanation, confusion and misunderstanding prevailed. The +fact that Brown had been able to find common ground with Catholic and +French-Canadian members had occasioned surprise and anxiety. On the +one side it was feared that Brown had surrendered to the +French-Canadians, and on the other that the French-Canadians had +surrendered to Brown. + +The conference between Brown and Dorion shows that the government was +formed for the same purpose as the Brown-Macdonald coalition of +1864--the settlement of difficulties that prevented the right working +of the union. The official declaration of its policy contains these +words: "His Excellency's present advisers have entered the government +with the fixed determination to propose constitutional measures for +the establishment of that harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which +is essential to the prosperity of the province." + +Dissolution was asked on the ground that the new government intended +to propose important constitutional changes, and that the parliament +did not represent the country, many of its members owing their seals +to gross fraud and corruption. Thirty-two seats were claimed from +sitting members on these grounds. The cases of the Quebec and Russell +election have already been mentioned. The member elected for +Lotbiniere was expelled for violent interference with the freedom of +election. Brown and his colleagues contended that these practices had +prevailed to such an extent that the legislature could not be said to +represent the country. Head's reply was that the frauds were likely to +be repeated if a new election were held; that they really afforded a +reason for postponing the election, at least until more stringent laws +were enacted. The dissolution was refused; the Brown-Dorion government +resigned, and the old ministers were restored to office. + +On the resignation of the Brown-Dorion ministry the governor called +upon A. T. Galt, who had given an independent support to the +Macdonald-Cartier government. During the session of 1858 he had placed +before the House resolutions favouring the federal union of Canada, +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, and it is +possible that his advocacy of this policy had something to do with the +offer of the premiership. As yet, however, he was not prominent +enough, nor could he command a support large enough, to warrant his +acceptance of the office, and he declined. Then followed the "Double +Shuffle." + +The Macdonald-Cartier government resumed office under the name of the +Cartier-Macdonald government, with Galt taking the place of Cayley, +and some minor changes. Constitutional usage required that all the +ministers should have returned to their constituents for re-election. +A means of evading this requirement was found. The statute governing +the case provided that when any minister should resign his office and +within one month afterwards accept another office in the ministry, he +should not thereby vacate his seat. With the object of obviating the +necessity for a new election, Cartier, Macdonald, and their +colleagues, in order to bring themselves within the letter of the law, +although not within its spirit, exchanged offices, each taking a +different one from that which he had resigned eight days before. +Shortly before midnight of the sixth of August, they solemnly swore to +discharge the duties of offices which several of them had no intention +of holding; and a few minutes afterwards the second shuffle took +place, and Cartier and Macdonald having been inspector-general and +postmaster-general for this brief space, became again attorney-general +east and attorney-general west. + +The belief of the Reformers that the governor-general was guilty of +partiality and of intrigue with the Conservative ministers is set +forth as part of the history of the time. There is evidence of +partiality, but no evidence of intrigue. The biographer of Sir John +Macdonald denies the charge of intrigue, but says that Macdonald +and the governor were intimate personal friends.[12] Dent, who +also scouts the charge of intrigue, says that the governor was +prejudiced against Brown, regarding him as a mere obstructionist.[13] +The governor-general seems to have been influenced by these personal +feelings, making everything as difficult as possible for Brown, and as +easy as possible for Macdonald, even to the point of acquiescing in +the evasion of the law known as the "Double Shuffle." + +In the debate on confederation. Senator Ferrier said that a political +warfare had been waged in Canada for many years, of a nature +calculated to destroy all moral and political principles, both in the +legislature and out of it. The "Double Shuffle" is so typical of this +dreary and ignoble warfare and it played so large a part in the +political history of the time, that it has been necessary to describe +it at some length. But for these considerations, the episode would +have deserved scant notice. The headship of one of the ephemeral +ministries that preceded confederation could add little to the +reputation of Mr. Brown. His powers were not shown at their best in +office, and the surroundings of office were not congenial to him. His +strength lay in addressing the people directly, through his paper or +on the platform, and in the hour of defeat or disappointment he turned +to the people for consolation. "During these contests," he said some +years afterwards, "it was this which sustained the gallant band of +Reformers who so long struggled for popular rights: that, abused as we +might be, we had this consolation, that we could not go anywhere among +our fellow-countrymen from one end of the country to the other--in +Tory constituencies as well as in Reform constituencies--without the +certainty of receiving from the honest, intelligent yeomanry of the +country--from the true, right-hearted, right-thinking people of Upper +Canada, who came out to meet us--the hearty grasp of the hand and the +hearty greeting that amply rewarded the labour we had expended in +their behalf. That is the highest reward I have hoped for in public +life, and I am sure that no man who earns that reward will ever in +Upper Canada have better occasion to speak of the gratitude of the +people." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Speech to Toronto electors, August, 1858. + +[12] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, Vol. I., pp. 133, 134. + +[13] Dent's _Last Forty Years_, Vol. II., pp. 379, 380. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY + + +In his home in Scotland Brown had been imbued with a hatred of +slavery. He spent several years of his early manhood in New York, and +felt in all its force the domination of the slave-holding element. +Thence he moved to Canada, for many years the refuge of the hunted +slave. It is estimated that even before the passage of the Fugitive +Slave Law, there were twenty thousand coloured refugees in Canada. It +was customary for these poor creatures to hide by day and to travel by +night. When all other signs failed they kept their eyes fixed on the +North Star, whose light "seemed the enduring witness of the divine +interest in their deliverance." By the system known as the +"underground railway," the fugitive was passed from one friendly house +to another. A code of signals was used by those engaged in the work of +mercy--pass words, peculiar knocks and raps, a call like that of the +owl. Negroes in transit were described as "fleeces of wool," and +"volumes of the irrepressible conflict bound in black." + +The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law deprived the negro of his +security in the free states, and dragged back into slavery men and +women who had for years been living in freedom, and had found means +to earn their bread and to build up little homes. Hence an impetus was +given to the movement towards Canada, which the slave-holders tried to +check by talking freely of the rigours of the Canadian climate. Lewis +Clark, the original of George Harris in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was told +that if he went to Canada the British would put his eyes out, and keep +him in a mine for life. Another was told that the Detroit River was +three thousand miles wide. + +But the exodus to Canada went on, and the hearts of the people were +moved to compassion by the arrival of ragged and foot-sore wanderers. +They found a warm friend in Brown, who paid the hotel bill of one for +a week, gave fifty dollars to maintain a negro family, and besides +numerous acts of personal kindness, filled the columns of the _Globe_ +with appeals on behalf of the fugitives. Early in 1851 the +Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was organized. The president was the +Rev. Dr. Willis, afterwards principal of Knox Presbyterian College, +and the names of Peter Brown, George Brown, and Oliver Mowat are found +on the committee. The object of the society was "the extinction of +slavery all over the world by means exclusively lawful and peaceable, +moral and religious, such as the diffusion of useful information and +argument by tracts, newspapers, lectures, and correspondence, and by +manifesting sympathy with the houseless and homeless victims of +slavery flying to our soil." Concerts were given, and the proceeds +applied in aid of the refugees. + +Brown was also strongly interested in the settlements of refugees +established throughout Western Canada. Under an act of the Canadian +parliament "for the settlement and moral improvement of the coloured +population of Canada," large tracts of land were acquired, divided +into fifty acre lots, and sold to refugees at low prices, payable in +instalments. Sunday schools and day schools were established. The +moving spirit in one of these settlements was the Rev. William King, a +Presbyterian, formerly of Louisiana, who had freed his own slaves and +brought them to Canada. Traces of these settlements still exist. +Either in this way or otherwise, there were large numbers of coloured +people living in the valley of the Thames (from Chatham to London), in +St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto. + +At the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1852, Mr. Brown +moved a resolution expressing gratitude to those American clergymen +who had exposed the atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law. He showed +how, before its enactment, slaves were continually escaping to the +Northern States, where they were virtually out of reach of their +masters. There was a law enabling the latter to recover their +property, but its edge was dulled by public opinion in the North, +which was rapidly growing antagonistic to allowing the free states to +become a hunting-ground for slave-catchers. The South took alarm at +the growth of this feeling, and procured the passage of a more +stringent law. This law enabled the slave-holder to seize the slave +wherever he found him, without warrant, and it forbade the freeman to +shelter the refugee under penalty of six months' imprisonment, a fine +of one thousand dollars, and liability to a civil suit for damages to +the same amount. The enforcement of the law was given to federal +instead of to State officials. After giving several illustrations of +the working of the law, Mr. Brown proceeded to discuss the duty of +Canada in regard to slavery. It was a question of humanity, of +Christianity, and of liberty, in which all men were interested. Canada +could not escape the contamination of a system existing so near her +borders. "We, too, are Americans; on us, as well as on them, lies the +duty of preserving the honour of the continent. On us, as on them, +rests the noble trust of shielding free institutions." + +Having long borne the blame of permitting slavery, the people of the +North naturally expected that when the great struggle came they would +receive the moral support of the civilized world in its effort to +check and finally to crush out the evil. They were shocked and +disappointed when this support was not freely and generously given, +and when sympathy with the South showed itself strongly in Great +Britain. Brown dealt with this question in a speech delivered in +Toronto shortly after Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation. He had +just returned from Great Britain, and he said that in his six months' +journey through England and Scotland, he had conversed with persons in +all conditions of life, and he was sorry to say that general sympathy +was with the South. This did not proceed from any change in the +feeling towards slavery. Hatred of slavery was as strong as ever, +but it was not believed that African slavery was the real cause +of the war, or that Mr. Lincoln sincerely desired to bring the +traffic to an end. This misunderstanding he attributed to persistent +misrepresentation. There were men who rightly understood the merits of +the contest, and among these he placed the members of the British +ministry. The course of the ministry he described as one of scrupulous +neutrality, and firm resistance to the invitations of other powers to +interfere in the contest. + +Brown himself never for a moment failed to understand the nature of +the struggle, and he showed an insight, remarkable at that time, into +the policy of Lincoln. The anti-slavery men of Canada, he said, had an +important duty to discharge. "We, who have stood here on the borders +of the republic for a quarter of a century, protesting against slavery +as the sum of all human villainies--we, who have closely watched every +turn of the question--we, who have for years acted and sympathized +with the good men of the republic in their efforts for the freedom of +their country--we, who have a practical knowledge of the atrocities +of the 'peculiar institution,' learned from the lips of the panting +refugee upon our shores--we, who have in our ranks men all known on +the other side of the Atlantic as life-long abolitionists--we, I say, +are in a position to speak with confidence to the anti-slavery men of +Great Britain--to tell them that they have not rightly understood this +matter--to tell them that slavery is the one great cause of the +American rebellion, and that the success of the North is the +death-knell of slavery. Strange, after all that has passed, that a +doubt of this should remain." + +It was true, he said, that Lincoln was not elected as an abolitionist. +Lincoln declared, and the Republican party declared, that they stood +by the constitution; that they would, so far as the constitution +allowed, restrict slavery and prevent its extension to new territory. +Yet they knew that the constitution gave them all they desired. "Well +did they know, and well did the Southerners know, that any +anti-slavery president and congress, by their direct power of +legislation, by their control of the public patronage, and by the +application of the public moneys, could not only restrict slavery +within its present boundaries, but could secure its ultimate +abolition. The South perfectly comprehended that Mr. Lincoln, if +elected, might keep within the letter of the constitution and yet sap +the foundation of the whole slave system, and they acted +accordingly." + +In answering the question, "Why did not the North let the slave states +go in peace?" Brown freely admitted the right of revolution. "The +world no longer believes in the divine right of either kings or +presidents to govern wrong; but those who seek to change an +established government by force of arms assume a fearful +responsibility--a responsibility which nothing but the clearest and +most intolerable injustice will acquit them for assuming." Here was a +rebellion, not to resist injustice but to perpetuate injustice; not to +deliver the oppressed from bondage, but to fasten more hopelessly than +ever the chains of slavery on four millions of human beings. Why not +let the slave states go? Because it would have been wrong, because it +would have built up a great slave power that no moral influence could +reach, a power that would have overawed the free Northern States, +added to its territory, and re-established the slave trade. Had +Lincoln permitted the slave states to go, and to form such a power, he +would have brought enduring contempt upon his name, and the people of +England would have been the first to reproach him. + +Brown argued, as he had done in 1852, that Canada could not be +indifferent to the question, whether the dominant power of the North +American continent should be slave or free. Holding that liberty had +better securities under the British than under the American system, he +yet believed that the failure of the American experiment would be a +calamity and a blow to free institutions all over the world. For years +the United States had been the refuge of the oppressed in every land; +millions had fled from poverty in Europe to find happiness and +prosperity there. From these had been wafted back to Europe new ideas +of the rights of the people. With the fall of the United States this +impetus to freedom, world-wide in its influence, would cease. Demands +for popular rights and free constitutions would be met by the despotic +rulers of Europe with the taunt that in the United States free +constitutions and popular rights had ended in disruption and anarchy. +"Let us not forget that there have been, and still are, very different +monarchies in the world from that of our own beloved queen; and +assuredly there are not so many free governments on earth that we +should hesitate to devise earnestly the success of that one nearest to +our own, modelled from our own, and founded by men of our own race. I +do most heartily rejoice, for the cause of liberty, that Mr. Lincoln +did not patiently acquiesce in the dismemberment of the republic." + +The Civil War in the United States raised the most important question +of foreign policy with which the public men of Canada were called upon +to deal in Brown's career. The dismemberment of the British empire +would hardly have exercised a more profound influence on the human +race and on world-wide aspirations for freedom, than the dismemberment +of the United States and the establishment on this continent of a +mighty slave empire. Canada could not be indifferent to the issue. How +long would the slave-holding power, which coerced the North into +consenting to the Fugitive Slave Law, have tolerated the existence of +a free refuge for slaves across the lakes? Either Canada would have +been forced to submit to the humiliation of joining in the hunt for +men, or the British empire would have been obliged to fight the battle +that the North fought under the leadership of Lincoln. In the face of +this danger confronting Canada and the empire and freedom, it was a +time to forget smaller international animosities. Brown was one of the +few Canadian statesmen who saw the situation clearly and rose to the +occasion. For twenty years by his public speeches, and still more +through the generous devotion of the _Globe_ to the cause, he aided +the cause of freedom and of the union of the lovers of freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS + + +That the _Globe_ and Mr. Brown, as related in a previous chapter, +became associated with Lord John Russell's bill and the "no popery" +agitation in England, may be regarded as a mere accident. The +excitement would have died out here as it died out in England, if +there had not been in Canada such a mass of inflammable material--so +many questions in which the relations of Church and State were +involved. One of these was State endowment of denominational schools. +During Brown's early years in Canada the school system was being +placed on a broad and popular basis. Salaries of teachers were +wretchedly low. Fees were charged to children, and remitted only as an +act of charity. Mr. Brown advocated a free and unsectarian system. +Claims for denominational schools were put forward not only by the +Roman Catholics but by the Anglicans. He argued that if this were +allowed the public school system would be destroyed by division. The +country could barely afford to maintain one good school system. To +maintain a system for each denomination would require an immense +addition to the number of school-houses and teachers, and would absorb +the whole revenue of the province. At the same time, the educational +forces would be weakened by the division and thousands of children +would grow up without education. "Under the non-sectarian system," +said Brown, "the day is at hand when we may hope to abolish the +school-tax and offer free education to every child in the province." + +Eventually it was found possible to carry out Mr. Brown's idea of free +education for every child in the province, and yet to allow Roman +Catholic separate schools to be maintained. To this compromise Mr. +Brown became reconciled, because it did not involve, as he had feared, +the destruction of the free school system by division. The Roman +Catholics of Upper Canada were allowed to maintain separate +denominational schools, to have them supported by the taxes of Roman +Catholic ratepayers and by provincial grants. So far as the education +of Protestant children was concerned Mr. Brown's advocacy was +successful. He opposed denominational schools because he feared they +would weaken or destroy the general system of free education for all. +Under the agreement which was finally arrived at, this fear was not +realized. In his speech on confederation he admitted that the +sectarian system, carried to a limited extent and confined chiefly to +cities and towns, had not been a very great practical injury. The real +cause of alarm was that the admission of the sectarian principle was +there, and that at any moment it might be extended to such a degree as +to split up our school system altogether: "that the separate system +might gradually extend itself until the whole country was studded +with nurseries of sectarianism, most hurtful to the best interests of +the province and entailing an enormous expense to sustain the hosts of +teachers that so prodigal a system of public instruction must +inevitably entail." + +This, however, was not the only question at issue between Mr. Brown +and the Roman Catholic Church. It happened, as has been said above, +that on his first entry into parliament, the place of meeting was the +city of Quebec. The Edinburgh-bred man found himself in a Roman +Catholic city, surrounded by every evidence of the power of the +Church. As he looked up from the floor of the House to the galleries +he saw a Catholic audience, its character emphasized by the appearance +of priests clad in the distinctive garments of their orders. It was +his duty to oppose a great mass of legislation intended to strengthen +that Church and to add to its privileges. His spirit rose and he grew +more dour and resolute as he realized the strength of the forces +opposed to him. + +It would be doing an injustice to the memory of Mr. Brown to gloss +over or minimize a most important feature of his career, or to offer +apologies which he himself would have despised. The battle was not +fought with swords of lath, and whoever wants to read of an +old-fashioned "no popery" fight, carried on with abounding fire and +vigour, will find plenty of matter in the files of the _Globe_ of the +fifties. His success in the election of 1857, so far as Upper Canada +was concerned, and especially his accomplishment of the rare feat of +carrying a Toronto seat for the Reform party, was largely due to an +agitation that aroused all the forces and many of the prejudices of +Protestantism. Yet Brown kept and won many warm friends among Roman +Catholics, both in Upper and in Lower Canada. His manliness attracted +them. They saw in him, not a narrow-minded and cold-hearted bigot, +seeking to force his opinions on others, but a brave and generous man, +fighting for principles. And in Lower Canada there were many Roman +Catholic laymen whose hearts were with him, and who were themselves +entering upon a momentous struggle to free the electorate from +clerical control. In his fight for the separation of Church and State, +he came into conflict, not with Roman Catholics alone. In his own +Presbyterian Church, at the time of the disruption, he strongly upheld +the side which was identified with liberty. For several years after +his arrival in Canada he was fighting against the special privileges +of the Anglican Church. He often said that he was actuated, not by +prejudice against one Church, but by hatred of clerical privilege, and +love of religious liberty and equality. + +In 1871 Mr. Brown, in a letter addressed to prominent Roman Catholics, +gave a straight-forward account of his relations with the Roman +Catholic Church. It is repeated here in a somewhat abbreviated form, +but as nearly as possible in his own words. In the early days of the +political history of Upper Canada, the great mass of Catholics were +staunch Reformers. They suffered from Downing Street rule, from the +domination of the "family compact," from the clergy reserves and from +other attempts to arm the Anglican Church with special privileges and +powers; they gave an intelligent and cordial support to liberal and +progressive measures. They contributed to the victory of Baldwin and +Lafontaine. But when that victory was achieved, the Upper Canadian +Reformers found that a cause was operating to deprive them of its +fruits,--"the French-Canadian members of the cabinet and their +supporters in parliament, blocked the way." They not only prevented or +delayed the measures which the Reformers desired, but they forced +through parliament measures which antagonized Reform sentiment. +"Although much less numerous than the people of Upper Canada, and +contributing to the common purse hardly a fourth of the annual revenue +of the United Provinces, the Lower Canadians sent an equal number of +representatives with the Upper Canadians to parliament, and, by their +unity of action, obtained complete dominancy in the management of +public affairs." Unjust and injurious taxation, waste and +extravagance, and great increases in the public debt followed. Seeking +a remedy, the Upper Canadian Reformers demanded, first, representation +by population, giving Upper Canada its just influence in the +legislature, and second, the entire separation of Church and State, +placing all denominations on a like footing and leaving each to +support its own religious establishments from the funds of its own +people. They believed that these measures would remove from the public +arena causes of strife and heartburning, and would bring about solid +prosperity and internal peace. The battle was fought vigorously. "The +most determined efforts were put forth for the final but just +settlement of all those vexed questions by which religious sects were +arrayed against each other. Clergymen were dragged as combatants into +the political arena, religion was brought into contempt, and +opportunity presented to our French-Canadian friends to rule us +through our own dissensions." Clergy reserves, sectarian schools, the +use of the public funds for sectarian purposes, were assailed. "On +these and many similar questions, we were met by the French-Canadian +phalanx in hostile array; our whole policy was denounced in language +of the strongest character, and the men who upheld it were assailed as +the basest of mankind. We, on our part, were not slow in returning +blow for blow, and feelings were excited among the Catholics from +Upper Canada that estranged the great bulk of them from our ranks." +The agitation was carried on, however, until the grievances of which +the Reformers complained were removed by the Act of Confederation. +Under that Act the people of Ontario enjoy representation according +to population; they have entire control over their own local affairs; +and the last remnant of the sectarian warfare--the separate school +question--was settled forever by a compromise that was accepted as +final by all parties concerned. + +In this letter Mr. Brown said that he was not seeking to cloak over +past feuds or apologize for past occurrences. He gloried in the +justice and soundness of the principles and measures for which he and +his party had contended, and he was proud of the results of the +conflict. He asked Catholics to read calmly the page of history he had +unfolded. "Let them blaze away at George Brown afterwards as +vigorously as they please, but let not their old feuds with him close +their eyes to the interests of their country, and their own interests +as a powerful section of the body politic." + +The censure applied to those who wantonly draw sectarian questions +into politics, and set Catholic against Protestant, is just. But it +does not attach to those who attack the privileges of any Church, and +who, when the Church steps into the political arena, strike at it with +political weapons. This was Brown's position. He was the sworn foe of +clericalism. He had no affinity with the demagogues and professional +agitators who make a business of attacking the Roman Catholic Church, +nor with those whose souls are filled with vague alarms of papal +supremacy, and who believe stories of Catholics drilling in churches +to fight their Protestant neighbours. He fought against real tyranny, +for the removal of real grievances. When he believed that he had found +in confederation the real remedy, he was satisfied, and he did not +keep up an agitation merely for agitation's sake. It is not necessary +to attempt to justify every word that may have been struck off in the +heat of a great conflict. There was a battle to be fought; he fought +with all the energy of his nature, and with the weapons that lay at +hand. He would have shared Hotspur's contempt for the fop who vowed +that "but for these vile guns he would himself have been a soldier." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION + + +To whom is due the confederation of the British North American +provinces is a long vexed question. The Hon. D'Arcy McGee, in his +speech on confederation, gave credit to Mr. Uniacke, a leading +politician of Nova Scotia, who in 1800 submitted a scheme of colonial +union to the imperial authorities; to Chief-Justice Sewell, to Sir +John Beverley Robinson, to Lord Durham, to Mr. P. S. Hamilton, a Nova +Scotia writer, and to Mr. Alexander Morris, then member for South +Lanark, who had advocated the project in a pamphlet entitled _Nova +Britannia_. "But," he added, "whatever the private writer in his +closet may have conceived, whatever even the individual statesman may +have designed, so long as the public mind was uninterested in the +adoption, even in the discussion of a change in our position so +momentous as this, the union of these separate provinces, the +individual laboured in vain--perhaps, not wholly in vain, for although +his work may not have borne fruit then, it was kindling a fire that +would ultimately light up the whole political horizon and herald the +dawn of a better day for our country and our people. Events stronger +than advocacy, events stronger than men, have come in at last like +the fire behind the invisible writing, to bring out the truth of these +writings and to impress them upon the mind of every thoughtful man who +has considered the position and probable future of these scattered +provinces." Following Mr. McGee's suggestion, let us try to deal with +the question from the time that it ceased to be speculative and became +practical, and especially to trace its development in the mind of one +man. + +In the later fifties Mr. Brown was pursuing a course which led almost +with certainty to the goal of confederation. The people of Upper +Canada were steadily coming over to his belief that they were +suffering injustice under the union; that they paid more than their +share of the taxes, and yet that Lower Canadian influence was dominant +in legislation and in the formation of ministries. Brown's tremendous +agitation convinced them that the situation was intolerable. But it +was long before the true remedy was perceived. The French-Canadians +would not agree to Brown's remedy of representation by population. +Brown opposed as reactionary the proposal that the union should be +dissolved. He desired not to go back to the day of small things--on +the contrary, even at this early day, he was advocating the union of +the western territories with Canada. Nor was he at first in favour of +the federal principle. In 1853, in a formal statement of its +programme, the _Globe_ advocated uniform legislation for the two +provinces, and a Reform convention held at Toronto in 1857 recommended +the same measure, together with representation by population and the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada. + +In January, 1858, Brown wrote to his friend, Luther Holton, in a +manner which showed an open mind: "No honest man can desire that we +should remain as we are, and what other way out of our difficulties +can be suggested but a general legislative union, with representation +by population, a federal union, or a dissolution of the present union. +I am sure that a dissolution cry would be as ruinous to any party as +(in my opinion) it would be wrong. A federal union, it appears to me, +cannot be entertained for Canada alone, but when agitated must include +all British America. We will be past caring for politics when that +measure is finally achieved. What powers should be given to the +provincial legislatures, and what to the federal? Would you abolish +county councils? And yet, if you did not, what would the local +parliaments have to control? Would Montreal like to be put under the +generous rule of the Quebec politicians? Our friends here are prepared +to consider dispassionately any scheme that may issue from your party +in Lower Canada. They all feel keenly that something must be done. +Their plan is representation by population, and a fair trial for the +present union in its integrity; failing this, they are prepared to go +for dissolution, I believe, but if you can suggest a federal or any +other scheme that could be worked, it will have our most anxious +examination. Can you sketch a plan of federation such as our friends +below would agree to and could carry?" + +Probably Dorion and other Lower Canadians had a part in converting +Brown to federation. In 1856 Dorion had moved a resolution favouring +the confederation of the two Canadas. In August, 1858, Brown and +Dorion undertook to form a government pledged to the settlement of the +question that had arisen between Upper and Lower Canada. Dorion says +it was agreed by the Brown-Dorion government "that the constitutional +question should be taken up and settled, either by a confederation of +the two provinces, or by representation according to population, with +such checks and guarantees as would secure the religious faith, the +laws, the language, and the peculiar institutions of each section of +the country from encroachments on the part of the other." + +At the same time an effort in the same direction was made by the +Conservative party. A. T. Galt, in the session of 1858, advocated the +federal union of all the British North American provinces. He declared +that unless a union were effected, the provinces would inevitably +drift into the United States. He proposed that questions relating to +education and likely to arouse religious dissension, ought to be left +to the provinces. The resolutions moved by Mr. Galt in 1858 give him +a high place among the promoters of confederation. Galt was asked by +Sir Edmund Head to form an administration on the resignation of the +Brown government. Galt refused, but when he subsequently entered the +Cartier government it was on condition that the promotion of federal +union should be embodied in the policy of the government. Cartier, +Ross and Galt visited England in fulfilment of this promise, and +described the serious difficulties that had arisen in Canada. The +movement failed because the co-operation of the Maritime Provinces +could not be obtained. + +In the autumn of 1859 two important steps leading towards federation +were taken. In October the Lower Canadian members of the Opposition +met in Montreal and declared for a federal union of the Canadas. They +went so far as to specify the subjects of federal and local +jurisdiction, allowing to the central authority the customs tariff, +the post-office, patents and copyrights, and the currency; and to the +local legislatures education, the laws of property, the administration +of justice, and the control of the militia. In September a meeting of +the Liberal members of both Houses was held at Toronto, and a circular +calling a convention of Upper Canadian Reformers was issued. It +declared that "the financial and political evils of the provinces have +reached such a point as to demand a thorough reconsideration of the +relations between Upper and Lower Canada, and the adoption of +constitutional changes framed to remedy the great abuses that have +arisen under the present system"; that the nature of the changes had +been discussed, but that it was felt that before coming to a +conclusion "the whole Liberal party throughout Upper Canada should be +consulted." The discussion would be free and unfettered. "Supporters +of the Opposition advocating a written constitution or a dissolution +of the union--or a federal union of all the British North American +provinces--or a federal system for Canada alone--or any other plan +calculated, in their opinion, to meet the existing evils--are all +equally welcome to the convention. The one sole object is to discuss +the whole subject with candour and without prejudice, that the best +remedy may be found." Then came an account of the grievances for which +a remedy was sought: "The position of Upper Canada at this moment is +truly anomalous and alarming. With a population much more numerous +than that of Lower Canada, and contributing to the general revenue a +much larger share of taxation than the sister province, Upper Canada +finds herself without power in the administration of the affairs of +the union. With a constitution professedly based on the principle that +the will of the majority should prevail, a minority of the people of +Upper Canada, by combination with the Lower Canada majority, are +enabled to rule the upper province in direct hostility to the popular +will. Extravagant expenditures and hurtful legislative measures are +forced on us in defiance of the protests of large majorities of the +representatives of the people; the most needful reforms are denied, +and offices of honour and emolument are conferred on persons destitute +of popular sympathy, and without qualification beyond that of +unhesitating subserviency to the men who misgovern the country." + +The convention of nearly six hundred delegates gave evidence of a +genuine, popular movement for constitutional changes. Though it was +composed of members of only one party, its discussions were of general +interest, and were upon a high level of intelligence and public +spirit. The convention was divided between dissolution and federal +union. Federation first got the ear of the meeting. Free access to the +sea by the St. Lawrence, free trade between Upper and Lower Canada, +were urged as reasons for continuing the union. Oliver Mowat made a +closely reasoned speech on the same side. Representation by population +alone would not be accepted by Lower Canada. Dissolution was +impracticable and could not, at best, be obtained without long +agitation. Federation would give all the advantages of dissolution +without its difficulties. + +Mowat's speech was received with much favour, and the current had set +strongly for federation when George Sheppard arose as the chief +advocate of dissolution. Sheppard had been an editorial writer on the +_Colonist_, had been attracted by Brown and his policy and had joined +the staff of the _Globe_. His main argument was that the central +government under federation would be a costly and elaborate affair, +and would ultimately overshadow the governments of the provinces. +There would be a central parliament, a viceroy with all the expense of +a court. "A federal government without federal dignity would be all +moonshine." There was an inherent tendency in central bodies to +acquire increased power. In the United States a federal party had +advocated a strong central government, and excuses were always being +sought to add to its glory and influence. On the other side was a +democratic party, championing State rights. "In Canada, too, we may +expect to see federation followed by the rise of two parties, one +fighting for a strong central government, the other, like Mr. Brown, +contending for State rights, local control, and the limited authority +of the central power." One of the arguments for federation was that it +provided for bringing in the North-West Territory. That implied an +expensive federal government for the purpose of organizing the new +territory, building its roads, etc. "Is this federation," he asked, +"proposed as a step towards nationality? If so, I am with you. +Federation implies nationality. For colonial purposes only it would be +a needless incumbrance." + +This speech, with its accurate forecast of the growth of the central +power, produced such an impression that the federalists amended their +resolution, and proposed, instead of a general government, "some +joint authority" for federal purposes. This concession was made by +William Macdougall, one of the secretaries and chief figures of the +convention, who said that he had been much impressed by Sheppard's +eloquence and logic. The creation of a powerful, elaborate and +expensive central government such as now exists did not form part of +the plans of the Liberals either in Upper or Lower Canada at that +time. + +Brown, who spoke towards the close of the convention, declared that he +had no morbid fear of dissolution of the union, but preferred the plan +of federation, as giving Upper Canada the advantage of free trade with +Lower Canada and the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. One of his +most forcible passages was an answer to Sheppard's question whether +the federation was a step towards nationality. "I do place the +question on grounds of nationality. I do hope there is not one +Canadian in this assembly who does not look forward with high hope to +the day when these northern countries shall stand out among the +nations of the world as one great confederation. What true Canadian +can witness the tide of emigration now commencing to flow into the +vast territories of the North-West without longing to have a share in +the first settlement of that great, fertile country? Who does not feel +that to us rightfully belong the right and the duty of carrying the +blessings of civilization throughout those boundless regions, and +making our own country the highway of traffic to the Pacific? But is +it necessary that all this should be accomplished at once? Is it not +true wisdom to commence federation with our own country, and leave it +open to extension hereafter if time and experience shall prove it +desirable? And shall we not then have better control over the terms of +federation than if all were made parties to the original compact, and +how can there be the slightest question with one who longs for such a +nationality between dissolution and the scheme of the day? Is it not +clear that the former would be the death blow to the hope of future +union, while the latter will readily furnish the machinery for a great +federation?" + +The resolutions adopted by the convention declared that the +legislative union, because of antagonisms developed through +differences of origin, local interests, and other causes, could no +longer be maintained; that the plan known as the "double majority" did +not afford a permanent remedy; that a federal union of all the British +North American colonies was out of the range of remedies for present +evils; that the principle of representation by population must be +recognized in any new union, and that "the best practical remedy for +the evils now encountered in the government of Canada is to be found +in the formation of two or more local governments, to which shall be +committed the control of all matters of a local or sectional +character, and some joint authority charged with such matters as are +necessarily common to both sections of the province." + +The hopes that had been aroused by this convention were disappointed, +or rather deferred. When Brown, in the following session of the +legislature, brought forward resolutions in the sense of those adopted +by the convention, he found coldness and dissension in his own party, +and the resolutions were defeated by a large majority. Subsequently +Mr. Brown had a long illness, retired from the leadership, and spent +some time in England and Scotland. In his absence the movement for +constitutional change was stayed. But "events stronger than advocacy," +in Mr. McGee's words, were operating. Power oscillated between the +Conservative and Reform parties, and two general elections, held +within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty. When federation +was next proposed, it had become a political necessity. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LAST YEARS OF THE UNION + + +In 1860, Mr. Brown contemplated retiring from the leadership of the +party. In a letter to Mr. Mowat, he said that the enemies of reform +were playing the game of exciting personal hostility against himself, +and reviving feelings inspired by the fierce contests of the past. It +might be well to appoint a leader who would arouse less personal +hostility. A few months later he had a long and severe illness, which +prevented him from taking his place in the legislature during the +session of 1861 and from displaying his usual activity in the general +election of the summer of that year. He did, however, accept the hard +task of contesting East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr. John +Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one. Mr. Brown then +announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement +without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some public +advantages, he said, might flow from that decision. Those whose +interest it was that misgovernment should continue, would no longer be +able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Admitting that he had used +strong language in denouncing French domination, he justified his +course as the only remedy for the evil. In 1852 he could hardly find +a seconder for his motion in favour of representation by population; +in the election just closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper +Canada, elected to stand or fall by that measure. He had fought a ten +years' battle without faltering. He advocated opposition to any +ministry of either party that would refuse to settle the question. + +The Conservative government was defeated, in the session following the +election, on a militia bill providing for the maintenance of a force +of fifty thousand men at a cost of about one million dollars. The +American Civil War was in progress; the _Trent_ affair had assumed a +threatening appearance and it was deemed necessary to place the +province in a state of defence. The bill was defeated by the defection +of some French-Canadian supporters of the government. The event caused +much disappointment in England; and from this time forth, continual +pressure from that quarter in regard to defence was one of the forces +tending towards confederation. + +John Sandfield Macdonald, who was somewhat unexpectedly called upon to +form a ministry, was an enthusiastic advocate of the "double +majority," by which he believed the union could be virtually +federalized without formal constitutional change. Upper Canadian +ministers were to transact Upper Canadian business, and so with Lower +Canada, the administration, as a whole, managing affairs of common +interest. Local legislation was not to be forced on either province +against the wish of the representatives. The administration for each +section should possess the confidence of a majority of representatives +from that section. + +Brown strongly opposed the "double majority" plan, which he regarded +as a mere makeshift for reform in the representation, and he was in +some doubt whether he should support or oppose the Liberal ministers +who offered for re-election. He finally decided, after consultation +with his brother Gordon, "to permit them to go in unopposed, and hold +them up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur." + +In July 1862, Mr. Brown sailed for Great Britain, and in September he +wrote Mr. Holton that he had had a most satisfactory interview with +the Duke of Newcastle at the latter's request. They seem to have +talked freely about Canadian politics. "His scruples about +representation are entirely gone. It would have done even Sandfield +[Macdonald] good to hear his ideas on the absurdity of the 'double +majority.' Whatever small politicians and the London _Times_ may say, +you may depend upon this, that the government and the leaders of the +Opposition perfectly understand our position, and have no thought of +changing the relations between Canada and the mother country. On the +contrary, the members of the government, with the exception of +Gladstone, are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand transit +route across the continent." He remarked upon the bitterness of the +British feeling against the United States, and said that he was +perplexed by the course of the London _Times_ in pandering to the +passions of the people. + +The most important event of his visit to Scotland was yet to come. On +November 27th he married Miss Anne Nelson, daughter of the well-known +publisher, Thomas Nelson--a marriage which was the beginning of a most +happy domestic life of eighteen years. This lady survived him until +May, 1906. On his return to Canada with his bride, Mr. Brown was met +at Toronto station by several thousand friends. In reply to a +complimentary address, he said, "I have come back with strength +invigorated, with new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with the most +earnest desire to aid in advancing the prosperity and happiness of +Canada." + +It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte government had shelved the +question of representation by population and had committed itself to +the device of the "double majority." During Mr. Brown's absence +another movement, which he had strongly resisted, had been gaining +ground. In 1860, 1861, and 1862, Mr. R. W. Scott, of Ottawa, had +introduced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman Catholic +separate school system of Upper Canada. In 1863, he succeeded, by +accepting certain modifications, in obtaining the support of Dr. +Ryerson, superintendent of education. Another important advantage was +that his bill was adopted as a government measure by the Sandfield +Macdonald ministry. The bill became law in spite of the fact that it +was opposed by a majority of the representatives from Upper Canada. +This was in direct contravention of the "double majority" resolutions +adopted by the legislature at the instance of the government. The +premier had declared that there should be a truce to the agitation for +representation by population or for other constitutional changes. That +agitation had been based upon the complaint that legislation was being +forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Canadian votes. The "double +majority" resolutions had been proposed as a substitute for +constitutional change. In the case of the Separate School Bill they +were disregarded, and the premier was severely criticized for allowing +his favourite principle to be contravened. + +Mr. Brown had been absent in the sessions of 1861 and 1862, and he did +not enter the House in 1863 until the Separate School Bill had passed +its second reading. In the _Globe_, however, it was assailed +vigorously, one ground being that the bill was not a finality, but +that the Roman Catholic Church would continually make new demands and +encroachments, until the public school system was destroyed. On this +question of finality there was much controversy. Dr. Ryerson always +insisted that there was an express agreement that it was to be final; +on the Roman Catholic side this is denied. At confederation Brown +accepted the Act of 1863 as a final settlement. He said that if he had +been present in 1863, he would have voted against the bill, because +it extended the facility for establishing separate schools. "It had, +however, this good feature, that it was accepted by the Roman Catholic +authorities, and carried through parliament as a final compromise of +the question in Upper Canada." He added: "I have not the slightest +hesitation in accepting it as a necessary condition of the union." +With confederation, therefore, we may regard Brown's opposition to +separate schools in Upper Canada as ended. In accepting the terms of +confederation, he accepted the Separate School Act of 1863, though +with the condition that it should be final, a condition repudiated on +the Roman Catholic side. + +The Sandfield Macdonald government was weakened by this incident, and +it soon afterwards fell upon a general vote of want of confidence +moved by Mr. John A. Macdonald. Parliament was dissolved and an +election was held in the summer of 1863. The Macdonald-Dorion +government obtained a majority in Upper but not in Lower Canada, and +on the whole, its tenure of power was precarious in the extreme. +Finally, in March, 1864, it resigned without waiting for a vote of +want of confidence. Its successor, the Tache-Macdonald government, had +a life of only three months, and its death marks the birth of a new +era. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONFEDERATION + + +"Events stronger than advocacy, events stronger than men," to repeat +D'Arcy McGee's phrase, combined in 1864 to remove confederation from +the field of speculation to the field of action. For several years the +British government had been urging upon Canada the necessity for +undertaking a greater share of her own defence. This view was +expressed with disagreeable candour in the London _Times_ and +elsewhere on the occasion of the defeat of the Militia Bill of 1862. +The American Civil War emphasized the necessity for measures of +defence. At the time of the _Trent_ seizure, Great Britain and the +United States were on the verge of war, of which Canada would have +been the battleground. As the war progressed, the world was astonished +by the development of the military power of the republic. It seemed +not improbable, at that time, that when the success of the North was +assured, its great armies would be used for the subjugation of Canada. +The North had come to regard Canada as a home of Southern sympathizers +and a place in which conspiracies against the republic were hatched by +Southerners. Though Canada was not to blame for the use that was made +of its soil, yet some ill-feeling was aroused, and public men were +warranted in regarding the peril as real. + +Canada was also about to lose a large part of its trade. For ten years +that trade had been built up largely on the basis of reciprocity with +the United States, and the war had largely increased the American +demand for Canadian products. It was generally expected, and that +expectation was fulfilled, that the treaty would be abrogated by the +United States. It was feared that the policy of commercial +non-intercourse would be carried even farther, the bonding system +abolished, and Canada cut off from access to the seaboard during the +winter.[14] + +If we add to these difficulties the domestic dissensions of Canada, we +must recognize that the outlook was dark. Canada was then a fringe of +settlement, extending from the Detroit River to the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, having no independent access to the Atlantic except during +the summer. She had been depending largely upon Great Britain for +defence, and upon the United States for trade. She had received +warning that both these supports were to be weakened, and that she +must rely more on her own resources, find new channels of trade and +new means of defence. The country lay in the midst of the continent, +isolated from the west, isolated in part from the east, with a +powerful and not too friendly neighbour to the south. Upper and Lower +Canada, with their racial differences as sharply defined as in the +days of Lord Durham, regarded each other with distrust; one political +combination after another had failed to obtain a working majority of +the legislature, and domestic government was paralyzed. Such a +combination of danger and difficulty, within and without, might well +arouse alarm, rebuke faction and stimulate patriotism. + +The election of 1863 was virtually a drawn battle. The Reformers had a +large majority in Upper Canada, their opponents a like majority in +Lower Canada, and thus not only the two parties, but the two +provinces, were arrayed against each other. The Reform government, +headed by Sandfield Macdonald and Dorion, found its position of +weakness and humiliation intolerable, and resigned in March, 1864. The +troubled governor-general called upon A. T. Fergusson Blair, a +colleague of Sandfield Macdonald, to form a new administration. He +failed. He called upon Cartier with a like result. He finally had a +little better success with Sir E. P. Tache, a veteran who had been a +colleague of Baldwin, of Hincks, and of Macdonald. Tache virtually +restored the Cartier-Macdonald government, taking in Foley and McGee +from the other side. In less than three months, on June 14th, this +government was defeated, and on the very day of its defeat relief +came. Letters written by Brown to his family during the month +preceding the crisis throw some light on the situation. + +On May 13th he writes: "Things here are very unsatisfactory; no one +sees his way out of the mess--and there is no way but my +way--representation by population. There is great talk to-day of +coalition--and what do you think? Why, that in order to make the +coalition successful, the imperial government are to offer me the +government of one of the British colonies. I have been gravely asked +to-day by several if it is true, and whether I would accept. My reply +was, I would rather be proprietor of the _Globe_ newspaper for a few +years than be governor-general of Canada, much less a trumpery little +province. But I need hardly tell you, the thing has no foundation, +beyond sounding what could be done to put me out of the way and let +mischief go on. But we won't be bought at any price, shall we?" On May +18th he writes that he has brought on his motion for constitutional +changes, and on May 20th that it has carried and taken Cartier and +Macdonald by surprise. "Much that is directly practical may not flow +from the committee, but it is an enormous gain to have the +acknowledgment on our journals that a great evil exists, and that some +remedy must be found." + +On June 14th Mr. Brown, as chairman of a committee appointed to +consider the difficulties connected with the government of Canada, +brought in a report recommending "a federative system, applied either +to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American provinces." +This was the day on which the Tache government was defeated. On the +subject of the negotiations which followed between Mr. Brown and the +government, there is a difference between the account given by Sir +John Macdonald in the House, and accepted by all parties as official, +and a letter written by Mr. Brown to a member of his family. The +official account represents the first movement as coming from Mr. +Brown, the letter says that the suggestion came from the +governor-general. It would seem likely that the idea moved gradually +from informal conversations to formal propositions. The governor had +proposed a coalition on the defeat of the Macdonald-Dorion government, +and he repeated the suggestion on the defeat of the Tache-Macdonald +government; but his official memorandum contains no reference to +constitutional changes. It would seem that there was a great deal of +talk of coalition in the air before Brown made his proposals, and +perhaps some talk of offering him an appointment that would remove him +from public life. But the Conservative ministers were apparently +thinking merely of a coalition that would break the dead-lock, and +enable the ordinary business of the country to proceed. Brown's idea +was to find a permanent remedy in the form of a change in the +constitution. When he made his proposal to co-operate with his +opponents for the purpose of settling the difficulties between Upper +and Lower Canada, his proposal fell upon minds familiarized with the +idea of coalition, and hence its ready acceptance. On his part, Mr. +Brown was ready to abate certain party advantages in order to bring +about constitutional reform. Mr. Ferrier, in the debate on +confederation, says that it was he who suggested that the proposal +made by Mr. Brown to Mr. Pope and Mr. Morris should be communicated to +the government. Ferrier gives a lively account of the current gossip +as to the meeting between Brown and the ministers. "I think I can +remember this being said, that when Mr. Galt met Mr. Brown he received +him with that manly, open frankness which characterizes him; that when +Mr. Cartier met Mr. Brown, he looked carefully to see that his two +Rouge friends were not behind him, and that when he was satisfied they +were not, he embraced him with open arms and swore eternal friendship; +and that Mr. Macdonald, at a very quick glance, saw there was an +opportunity of forming a great and powerful dependency of the British +empire.... We all thought, in fact, that a political millennium had +arrived." + +In a family letter written at this time Mr. Brown said: "June 18th, +past one in the morning. We have had great times since I wrote you. On +Tuesday we defeated the government by a majority of two. They asked +the governor-general to dissolve parliament, and he consented; but +before acting on it, at the governor's suggestion, they applied to me +to aid them in reconstructing the government, on the basis of settling +the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada. I +refused to accept office, but agreed to help them earnestly and +sincerely in the matter they proposed. Negotiations were thereupon +commenced, and are still going on, with considerable hope of finding a +satisfactory solution to our trouble. The facts were announced in the +House to-day by John A. Macdonald, amid tremendous cheering from both +sides of the House. You never saw such a scene; but you will have it +all in the papers, so I need not repeat. Both sides are extremely +urgent that I should accept a place in the government, if it were only +for a week; but I will not do this unless it is absolutely needed to +the success of the negotiations. A more agreeable proposal is that I +should go to England to arrange the new constitution with the imperial +government. But as the whole thing may fail, we will not count our +chickens just yet." + +Sir Richard Cartwright, then a young member of parliament, relates an +incident illustrating the tension on men's minds at that time. He +says: "On that memorable afternoon when Mr. Brown, not without +emotion, made his statement to a hushed and expectant House, and +declared that he was about to ally himself with Sir Georges Cartier +and his friends for the purpose of carrying out confederation, I saw +an excitable, elderly little French member rush across the floor, +climb up on Mr. Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature +approaching the gigantic, fling his arms about his neck and hang +several seconds there suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr. +Brown and to the infinite joy of all beholders, pit, box and gallery +included."[15] + +The official account given by Mr. Macdonald in the House, is that +immediately after the defeat of the government on Tuesday night (the +14th), and on the following morning, Mr. Brown spoke to several +supporters of the administration, strongly urging that the present +crisis should be utilized in settling forever the constitutional +difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada, and assuring them that he +was ready to co-operate with the existing or any other administration +that would deal with the question promptly and firmly, with a view to +its final settlement. Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope, to whom the suggestion +was made, obtained leave to communicate it to Mr. John A. Macdonald +and Mr. Galt. On June 17th Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Galt called upon Mr. +Brown. In the conversation that ensued Mr. Brown expressed his extreme +reluctance to entering the ministry, declaring that the public mind +would be shocked by such an arrangement. The personal question being +dropped for the time, Mr. Brown asked what remedy was proposed. Mr. +Macdonald and Mr. Galt replied that their remedy was a federal union +of all the British North American provinces. Mr. Brown said that this +would not be acceptable to Upper Canada. The federation of all the +provinces ought to come and would come in time, but it had not yet +been thoroughly considered by the people; and even were this +otherwise, there were so many parties to be consulted that its +adoption was uncertain and remote. He expressed his preference for +parliamentary reform, based on population. On further discussion it +appeared that a compromise might be found in an alternative plan, a +federal union of all the British North American provinces or a federal +union of Upper and Lower Canada, with provision for the admission of +the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory when they desired. +There was apparently a difference of opinion as to which alternative +should be presented first. One memorandum reduced to writing gave the +preference to the larger federation; the second and final memorandum +contained this agreement: "The government are prepared to pledge +themselves to bring in a measure next session for the purpose of +removing existing difficulties by introducing the federal principle +into Canada, coupled with such provisions as will permit the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West Territory to be incorporated into the +same system of government. And the government will, by sending +representatives to the Lower Provinces and to England, use its best +endeavours to secure the assent of those interests which are beyond +the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may enable all +British North America to be united under a general legislature based +upon the federal principle." + +It was Mr. Brown who insisted on this mode of presentation. At the +convention of 1859 he had expressed in the strongest language his hope +for the creation of a great Canadian nationality; and he had for years +advocated the inclusion of the North-West Territories in a greater +Canada. But he regarded the settlement of the difficulties of Upper +and Lower Canada as the most pressing question of the hour, and he did +not desire that the solution of this question should be delayed or +imperilled. Galt's plan of federation, comprehensive and admirable as +it was, had failed because the assent of the Maritime Provinces could +not be secured; and for five years afterwards no progress had been +made. It was natural that Brown should be anxiously desirous that the +plan for the reform of the union of the Canadas should not fail, +whatever else might happen. + +On June 21st, Mr. Brown called a meeting of the members of the +Opposition for Upper Canada. It was resolved, on motion of Mr. Hope +Mackenzie, "that we approve of the course which has been pursued by +Mr. Brown in the negotiations with the government, and that we approve +of the project of a federal union of the Canadas, with provision for +the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, +as one basis on which the constitutional difficulties now existing +could be settled." Thirty-four members voted for this motion, five +declining to vote. A motion that three members of the Opposition +should enter the government was not so generally supported, eleven +members, including Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat, voting in the +negative. The Lower Canadian Reformers held aloof, and in the +subsequent debate in the legislature, strongly opposed confederation. + +There were many evidences of the keen interest taken by the +governor-general (Monk) in the negotiations. On June 21st he wrote to +Mr. Brown: "I think the success or failure of the negotiations which +have been going on for some days, with a view to the formation of a +strong government on a broad basis, depends very much on your +consenting to come into the cabinet. + +"Under these circumstances I must again take the liberty of pressing +upon you, by this note, my opinion of the grave responsibility which +you will take upon yourself if you refuse to do so. + +"Those who have hitherto opposed your views have consented to join +with you in good faith for the purpose of extricating the province +from what appears to me a very dangerous position. + +"They have frankly offered to take up and endeavour to settle on +principles satisfactory to all, the great constitutional question +which you, by your energy and ability, have made your own. + +"The details of that settlement must necessarily be the subject of +grave debate in the cabinet, and I confess I cannot see how you are to +take part in that discussion, or how your opinions can be brought to +bear on the arrangement of the question, unless you occupy a place at +the council table. + +"I hope I may, without impropriety, ask you to take these opinions +into consideration before you arrive at a final decision as to your +own course." + +Mr. Brown wrote home that he, in consenting to enter the cabinet, was +influenced by the vote of the Reform members, by private letters from +many quarters, and still more by the extreme urgency of the +governor-general. "The thing that finally determined me was the fact, +ascertained by Mowat and myself, that unless we went in the whole +effort for constitutional changes would break down, and the enormous +advantages gained by our negotiations probably be lost. Finally, at +three o'clock yester-day, I consented to enter the cabinet as +'president of the council,' with other two seats in the cabinet at my +disposal--one of which Mowat will take, and probably Macdougall the +other. We consented with great reluctance, but there was no help for +it; and it was such a temptation to have possibly the power of +settling the sectional troubles of Canada forever. The announcement +was made in the House yester-day, and the excitement all over the +province is intense. I send you an official copy of the proceedings +during the negotiations, from which you will see the whole story. By +next mail I intend to send you some extracts from the newspapers. The +unanimity of sentiment is without example in this country, and were it +not that I know at their exact value the worth of newspaper +laudations, I might be puffed up a little in my own conceit. After the +explanations by ministers I had to make a speech, but was so excited +and nervous at the events of the last few days that I nearly broke +down. However, after a little I got over it, and made (as Mowat +alleges) the most telling speech I ever made. There was great cheering +when I sat down, and many members from both sides crowded round me to +congratulate me. In short, the whole movement is a grand success, and +I really believe will have an immense influence on the future +destinies of Canada." + +The formation of the coalition cabinet was announced on June 30th. +Foley, Buchanan and Simpson, members of the Upper Canadian section of +the Tache-Macdonald ministry, retired, and their places were taken by +the Hon. George Brown, Oliver Mowat, and William Macdougall. Otherwise +the ministry remained unchanged. Sir E. P. Tache, though a +Conservative, was acceptable to both parties, and was well fitted to +head a genuine coalition. But it must have been evident from the first +that the character of a coalition would not be long maintained. The +Reform party, which had just defeated the government in the +legislature, was represented by only three ministers out of twelve; +and this, with Macdonald's skill in managing combinations of men, made +it morally certain that the ministry must eventually become +Conservative, just as happened in the case of the coalition of 1854. +Brown had asked that the Reformers be represented by four ministers +from Upper Canada and two from Lower Canada, which would, as nearly as +possible, have corresponded with the strength of his party in the +legislature. Galt and Macdonald represented that a change in the +personnel of the Lower Canadian section of the cabinet would disturb +the people and shake their confidence. The Lower Canadian Liberal +leaders, Dorion and Holton, were adverse to the coalition scheme, +regarding it as a mere device for enabling Macdonald and his friends +to hold office. + +Mowat and Brown were re-elected without difficulty, but Macdougall met +with strong opposition in North Ontario. Brown, who was working hard +in his interests, found this opposition so strong among Conservatives +that he telegraphed to Macdonald, who sent a strong letter on behalf +of Macdougall. Brown said that the opposition came chiefly from +Orangemen. The result was that Macdougall, in spite of the assistance +of the two leaders, was defeated by one hundred. He was subsequently +elected for North Lanark. In other bye-elections the advocates of +confederation were generally successful. In the confederation debate, +Brown said there had been twenty-five contests, fourteen for the +Upper House and eleven for the Lower House, and that only one or two +opponents of confederation had been elected. + +There had been for some years an intermittent movement for the union +of the Maritime Provinces, and in 1864 their legislatures had +authorized the holding of a convention at Charlottetown. Accordingly +eight members of the Canadian ministry visited Charlottetown, where +they were cordially welcomed. They dwelt on the advantage of +substituting the larger for the smaller plan of union, and the result +of their representations was that arrangements were made for the +holding of a general conference at Quebec later in the year. The +Canadian ministers made a tour through the Maritime Provinces, +speaking in public and familiarizing the people with the plan. At a +banquet in Halifax, Mr. Brown gave a full exposition of the project +and its advantages in regard to defence, commerce, national strength +and dignity, adding that it would end the petty strifes of a small +community, and elevate politics and politicians. + +The scheme was destined to undergo a more severe ordeal in the +Maritime Provinces than these festive gatherings. For the present, +progress was rapid, and the maritime tour was followed by the +conference at Quebec, which opened on October 10th, 1864. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Sir Richard Cartwright says also that the credit of Canada was +very low, largely because of the troubles of the Grand Trunk Railway +Company. _Memories of Confederation_, p. 3. + +[15] _Memories of Confederation._ An address delivered before the +Canadian Club of Ottawa, January 20th, 1906. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE + + +The conference was held with closed doors, so as to encourage free +discussion. Some fragmentary notes have been preserved. One impression +derived from this and other records is that the public men of that day +had been much impressed by the Civil War in the United States, by the +apparent weakness of the central authority there, and by the dangers +of State sovereignty. Emphasis was laid upon the monarchical element +of the proposed constitution for Canada, and upon the fact that powers +not expressly defined were to rest in the general, instead of the +local, legislatures. In fact, Mr. Chandler, a representative of New +Brunswick, complained that the proposed union was legislative, not +federal, and reduced the local governments to the status of municipal +corporations. In practice these residuary powers were not so +formidable as they appeared; the defined powers of the local +legislatures were highly important, and were fully maintained, if not +enlarged, as a result of the resolute attitude of Ontario under the +Mowat government. But the notion that Canada must avoid the dangers of +State sovereignty is continually cropping up in the literature of +confederation. Friends and opponents of the new constitution made +much of these mysterious residuary powers, and the Lower Canadian +Liberals feared that they were being drawn into a union that would +destroy the liberties and imperil the cherished institutions of the +French-Canadian people. + +Another point is the extraordinary amount of time and labour given to +the constitution of the senate. "The conference proceedings," wrote +Mr. Brown, "get along very well, considering we were very near broken +up on the question of the distribution of members in the Upper Chamber +of the federal legislature, but fortunately, we have this morning got +the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days in +discussing it." During the latter years of the union, the elective +system had prevailed in Canada, and Mowat, Macdougall and others +favoured continuing this practice, but were overruled. Brown joined +Macdonald in supporting the nominative system. His reasons were given +in his speech in the legislature in 1865. He believed that two +elective chambers were incompatible with the British parliamentary +system. The Upper Chamber, if elected, might claim equal power with +the Lower, including power over money bills. It might amend money +bills, might reject all legislation, and stop the machinery of +government. With a Conservative majority in one House, and a Reform +majority in the other, a dead-lock might occur. To the objection that +the change from the elective to the nominative system involved a +diminution of the power of the people, Mr. Brown answered that the +government of the day would be responsible for each appointment. It +must be admitted that this responsibility is of little practical +value, and that Mr. Brown fully shared in the delusions of his time as +to the manner in which the senate would be constituted, and the part +it would play in the government of the country. + +A rupture was threatened also on the question of finance. A large +number of local works which in Upper Canada were paid for by local +municipal taxation, were in the Maritime Provinces provided out of the +provincial revenues. The adjustment was a difficult matter, and +finally it was found necessary for the financial representatives of +the different provinces to withdraw, for the purpose of constructing a +scheme. + +On October 28th the conference was concluded, and its resolutions +substantially form the constitution of Canada. On October 31st Brown +wrote: "We got through our work at Quebec very well. The constitution +is not exactly to my mind in all its details--but as a whole it is +wonderful, really wonderful. When one thinks of all the fighting we +have had for fifteen years, and finds the very men who fought us every +inch, now going far beyond what we asked, I am amazed and sometimes +alarmed lest it all go to pieces yet. We have yet to pass the ordeal +of public opinion in the several provinces, and sad, indeed, will it +be if the measure is not adopted by acclamation in them all. For Upper +Canada we may well rejoice on the day it becomes law. Nearly all our +past difficulties are ended by it, whatever new ones may arise." + +A journey made by the delegates through Canada after the draft was +completed enabled Canadians to make the acquaintance of some men of +mark in the Maritime Provinces, including Tilley, of New Brunswick, +and Tupper, of Nova Scotia, and it evoked in Upper Canada warm +expressions of public feeling in favour of the new union. It is +estimated that eight thousand people met the delegates at the railway +station in Toronto. At a dinner given in the Music Hall in that city, +Mr. Brown explained the new constitution fully. He frankly confessed +that he was a convert to the scheme of the Intercolonial Railway, for +the reason that it was essential to the union between Canada and the +Maritime Provinces. The canal system was to be extended, and as soon +as the finances would permit communication was to be opened with the +North-West Territory. "This was the first time," wrote Mr. Brown, +"that the confederation scheme was really laid open to the public. No +doubt--was right in saying that the French-Canadians were restive +about the scheme, but the feeling in favour of it is all but unanimous +here, and I think there is a good chance of carrying it. At any rate, +come what may, I can now get out of the affair and out of public life +with honour, for I have had placed on record a scheme that would bring +to an end all the grievances of which Upper Canada has so long +complained." + +The British government gave its hearty blessing to the confederation, +and the outlook was hopeful. In December, 1864, Mr. Brown sailed for +England, for the purpose of obtaining the views of the British +government. He wrote from London to Mr. Macdonald that the scheme had +given prodigious satisfaction. "The ministry, the Conservatives and +the Manchester men are all delighted with it, and everything Canadian +has gone up in public estimation immensely.... Indeed, from all +classes of people you hear nothing but high praise of 'Canadian +statesmanship,' and loud anticipations of the great future before us. +I am much concerned to observe, however, and I write it to you as a +thing that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead +hereafter in Canadian public matters--that there is a manifest desire +in almost every quarter, that ere long the British American colonies +should shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that +we did not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to +observe this, but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of +Canada by the United States, and will soon pass away with the cause +that excites it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE + + +The parliament of Canada assembled on January 19th, 1865, to consider +the resolutions of the Quebec conference. The first presentation of +the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper Chamber by the +premier, Sir E. P. Tache. He described the measure as essential to +British connection, to the preservation of "our institutions, our +laws, and even our remembrances of the past." If the opportunity were +allowed to pass by unimproved, Canada would be forced into the +American union by violence; or would be placed upon an inclined plane +which would carry it there insensibly. Canada, during the winter, had +no independent means of access to the sea, but was dependent on the +favour of a neighbour which, in several ways, had shown a hostile +spirit. The people of the Northern States had an exaggerated idea of +Canadian sympathy with the South, and the consequences of this +misapprehension were--first, the threatened abolition of the transit +system; second, the discontinuance of reciprocity; third, a passport +system, which was almost equivalent to a prohibition of intercourse. +Union with the Maritime Provinces would give Canada continuous and +independent access to the Atlantic; and the Maritime Provinces would +bring into the common stock their magnificent harbours, their coal +mines, their great fishing and shipping industries. Then he recounted +the difficulties that had occurred in the government of Canada, ending +in dead-lock, and a condition "bordering on civil strife." He declared +that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a +legislative union, but that if a federal union were obtained, it would +be tantamount to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada would +thereby preserve its autonomy, together with all the institutions it +held so dear. These were the main arguments for confederation, and in +the speeches which followed on that side they were repeated, enforced, +and illustrated in various ways. + +In the assembly, Mr. John A. Macdonald, as attorney-general, gave a +clear and concise description of the new constitution. He admitted +that he had preferred a legislative union, but had recognized that +such a union would not have been accepted either by Lower Canada or +the Maritime Provinces. The union between Upper and Lower Canada, +legislative in name, had been federal in fact, there being, by tacit +consent and practice, a separate body of legislation for each part of +the province. He described the new scheme of government as a happy +combination of the strength of a legislative union with the freedom of +a federal union, and with protection to local interests. The +constitution of the United States was "one of the most skilful works +which human intelligence ever created; one of the most perfect +organizations that ever governed a free people." Experience had shown +that its main defect was the doctrine of State sovereignty. This +blemish was avoided in the Canadian constitution by vesting all +residuary powers in the central government and legislature. The +Canadian system would also be distinguished from the American by the +recognition of monarchy and of the principle of responsible +government. The connection of Canada with Great Britain he regarded as +tending towards a permanent alliance. "The colonies are now in a +transition state. Gradually a different colonial system is being +developed; and it will become year by year less a case of dependence +on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the mother +country, and more a case of a hearty and cordial alliance. Instead of +looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England will have in us +a friendly nation--a subordinate, but still a powerful people--to +stand by her in North America, in peace or in war." + +Brown spoke on the night of February 8th, his speech, occupying four +hours and a half in delivery, showing the marks of careful +preparation. He drew an illustration from the mighty struggle that had +well-nigh rent the republic asunder, and was then within a few weeks +of its close. "We are striving," he said, "to settle forever issues +hardly less momentous than those that have rent the neighbouring +republic and are now exposing it to all the horrors of civil war. Have +we not then great cause for thankfulness that we have found a better +way for the solution of our troubles? And should not every one of us +endeavour to rise to the magnitude of the occasion, and earnestly seek +to deal with this question to the end, in the same candid and +conciliatory spirit in which, so far, it has been discussed?" + +He warned the assembly that whatever else happened, the constitution +of Canada would not remain unchanged. "Something must be done. We +cannot stand still. We cannot go back to chronic, sectional hostility +and discord--to a state of perpetual ministerial crisis. The events of +the last eight months cannot be obliterated--the solemn admissions of +men of all parties can never be erased. The claims of Upper Canada for +justice must be met, and met now. Every one who raises his voice in +hostility to this measure is bound to keep before him, when he speaks, +all the perilous consequences of its rejection. No man who has a true +regard for the well-being of Canada can give a vote against this +scheme unless he is prepared to offer, in amendment, some better +remedy for the evils and injustice that have so long threatened the +peace of our country." + +In the first place, he said confederation would provide a complete +remedy for the injustice of the system of parliamentary +representation, by giving Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, the +number of members to which it was entitled by population. In the +senate, the principle of representation by population would not be +maintained, an equal number of senators being allotted to Ontario, to +Quebec, and to the group of Maritime Provinces, without regard to +population. Secondly, the plan would remedy the injustice of which +Upper Canada had complained in regard to public expenditures. "No +longer shall we have to complain that one section pays the cash while +the other spends it; hereafter they who pay will spend, and they who +spend more than they ought, will bear the brunt. If we look back on +our doings of the last fifteen years, I think it will be acknowledged +that the greatest jobs perpetrated were of a sectional character, that +our fiercest contests were about local matters that stirred up +sectional jealousies and indignation to their deepest depth." +Confederation would end sectional discord between Upper and Lower +Canada. Questions that used to excite sectional hostility and jealousy +were now removed from the common legislature to the legislatures of +the provinces. No man need be debarred from a public career because +his opinions, popular in his own province, were unpopular in another. +Among the local questions that had disturbed the peace of the common +legislature, he mentioned the construction of local works, the +endowment of ecclesiastical institutions, the granting of money for +sectarian purposes, and interference with school systems. + +He advocated confederation because it would convert a group of +inconsiderable colonies into a powerful union of four million people, +with a revenue of thirteen million dollars, a trade of one hundred and +thirty-seven million five hundred thousand dollars, rich natural +resources and important industries. Among these he dwelt at length on +the shipping of the Maritime Provinces. These were the days of the +wooden ship, and Mr. Brown claimed that federated Canada would be the +third maritime power in the world. Confederation would give a new +impetus to immigration and settlement. Communication with the west +would be opened up, as soon as the state of the finances permitted. +Negotiations had been carried on with the imperial government for the +addition of the North-West Territories to Canada; and when those +fertile plains were opened for settlement, there would be an immense +addition to the products of Canada. The establishment of free trade +between Canada and the Maritime Provinces would be some compensation +for the loss of trade with the United States, should the reciprocity +treaty be abrogated. It would enable the country to assume a larger +share of the burden of defence. The time had come when the people of +the United Kingdom would insist on a reconsideration of the military +relations of Canada to the empire, and that demand was just. Union +would facilitate common defence. "The Civil War in the neighbouring +republic--the possibility of war between Great Britain and the United +States; the threatened repeal of the reciprocity treaty; the +threatened abolition of the American bonding system for goods in +transit to and from these provinces; the unsettled position of the +Hudson's Bay Company; the changed feeling of England as to the +relations of Canada to the parent state; all combine at this moment to +arrest the earnest attention to the gravity of the situation and unite +us all in one vigorous effort to meet the emergency like men." + +A strong speech against confederation was made by Dorion, an old +friend of Brown, a staunch Liberal, and a representative +French-Canadian. He declared that he had seen no ground for changing +his opinion on two points--the substitution of an Upper Chamber, +nominated by the Crown, for an elective body; and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, which he, with other Liberals, had always +opposed. He had always admitted that representation by population was +a just principle; and in 1856 he had suggested, in the legislature, +the substitution of a federal for a legislative union of the Canadas; +or failing this, representation by population, with such checks and +guarantees as would secure local rights and interests, and preserve to +Lower Canada its cherished institutions. When the Brown-Dorion +government was formed, he had proposed a federation of the Canadas, +but with the distinct understanding that he would not attempt to carry +such a measure without the consent of a majority of the people of +Lower Canada. From the document issued by the Lower Canadian Liberals +in 1859, he quoted a passage in which it was laid down that the powers +given to the central government should be only those that were +essential, and that the local powers should be as ample as possible. +"All that belongs to matters of a purely local character, such as +education, the administration of justice, the militia, the laws +relating to property, police, etc., ought to be referred to the local +governments, whose powers ought generally to extend to all subjects +which would not be given to the general government." The vesting of +residuary powers in the provinces was an important difference between +this and the scheme of confederation; but the point most dwelt upon by +Dorion was the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces, which he strongly +opposed. + +Dorion denied that the difficulty about representation was the source +of the movement for confederation. He contended that the agitation for +representation by population had died out, and that the real authors +of confederation were the owners of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, +who stood to gain by the construction of the Intercolonial. "The +Tache-Macdonald government were defeated because the House condemned +them for taking without authority one hundred thousand dollars out of +the public chest for the Grand Trunk Railway, at a time when there had +not been a party vote on representation by population for one or two +sessions." He declared that Macdonald had, in Brown's committee of +1864, voted against confederation, and that he and his colleagues +adopted the scheme simply to enable them to remain in office. Dorion +also criticized adversely the change in the constitution of the Upper +Chamber, from the elective to the nominative system. The Conservative +instincts of Macdonald and Cartier, he said, led them to strengthen +the power of the Crown at the expense of the people, and this +constitution was a specimen of their handiwork. "With a +governor-general appointed by the Crown; with local governors also +appointed by the Crown; with legislative councils in the general +legislature, and in all the provinces, nominated by the Crown, we +shall have the most illiberal constitution ever heard of in any +government where constitutional government prevails." + +He objected to the power vested in the governor-general-in-council to +veto the acts of local legislatures. His expectation was that a +minority in the local legislature might appeal to their party friends +at Ottawa to veto laws which they disliked, and that thus there would +be constant interference, agitation and strife between the central and +the local authorities. He suspected that the intention was ultimately +to change the federal union to a legislative union. The scheme of +confederation was being carried without submission to the people. What +would prevent the change from a federal to a legislative union from +being accomplished in a similar way? To this the people of Lower +Canada would not submit. "A million of inhabitants may seem a small +affair to the mind of a philosopher who sits down to write out a +constitution. He may think it would be better that there should be but +one religion, one language and one system of laws; and he goes to work +to frame institutions that will bring all to that desirable state; but +I can tell the honourable gentleman that the history of every country +goes to show that not even by the power of the sword can such changes +be accomplished." + +With some exaggeration Mr. Dorion struck at real faults in the scheme +of confederation. The contention that the plan ought to have been +submitted to the people is difficult to meet except upon the plea of +necessity, or the plea that the end justifies the means. There was +assuredly no warrant for depriving the people of the power of electing +the second chamber; and the new method, appointment by the government +of the day, has been as unsatisfactory in practice as it was unsound +in principle. The federal veto on provincial laws has not been used to +the extent that Dorion feared. But when we consider how partisan +considerations have governed appointments to the senate, we can +scarcely say that there was no ground for the fear that the power of +disallowance would be similarly abused. Nor can we say that Mr. Dorion +was needlessly anxious about provincial rights, when we remember how +persistently these have been attacked, and what strength, skill and +resolution have been required to defend them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE MISSION TO ENGLAND + + +A new turn was given to the debate early in March by the defeat of the +New Brunswick government in a general election, which meant a defeat +for confederation, and by the arrival of news of an important debate +in the House of Lords on the defences of Canada. The situation +suddenly became critical. That part of the confederation scheme which +related to the Maritime Provinces was in grave danger of failure. At +the same time the long-standing controversy between the imperial and +colonial authorities as to the defence of Canada had come to a head. +The two subjects were intimately connected. The British government had +been led to believe that if confederation were accomplished, the +defensive power of Canada would be much increased, and the new union +would be ready to assume larger obligations. From this time the tone +of the debate is entirely changed. It ceases to be a philosophic +deliberation of the merits of the new scheme. A note of urgency and +anxiety is found in the ministerial speeches; the previous question is +moved, and the proceedings hurried to a close, amid angry protests +from the Opposition. + +Mr. Brown wrote on March 5th: "We are going to have a great scene in +the House to-day.... The government of New Brunswick appealed to the +people on confederation by a general election, and have got beaten. +This puts a serious obstacle in the way of our scheme, and we mean to +act promptly and decidedly upon it. At three o'clock we are to +announce the necessity of carrying the resolutions at once, sending +home a deputation to England, and proroguing parliament without any +unnecessary delay--say in a week." + +The announcement was made to the House by Attorney-General Macdonald, +who laid much stress on the disappointment that would be occasioned in +England by the abandonment of a scheme by which Canadian colonies +should cease to be a source of embarrassment, and become a source of +strength. The question of confederation was intimately connected with +the question of defence, and that was a question of the most imminent +necessity. The provincial government had been in continued +correspondence with the home government as to defence "against every +hostile pressure, from whatever source it may come." + +A lively debate ensued. John Sandfield Macdonald said that the defeat +of the New Brunswick government meant the defeat of the larger scheme +of confederation, unless it was intended that the people should be +bribed into acquiescence or bullied into submission. "The Hon. Mr. +Tilley and his followers are routed, horse and foot, by the honest +people of the province, scouted by those whose interests he had +betrayed, and whose behests he had neglected; and I think his fate +ought to be a warning to those who adopted this scheme without +authority, and who ask the House to ratify it _en bloc_, without +seeking to obtain the sanction of the people." Later on he charged the +ministers with the intention of manufacturing an entirely new bill, +obtaining the sanction of the British government, and forcing it on +the Canadian people, as was done in 1840. + +This charge was hotly resented by Brown, and it drew from John A. +Macdonald a more explicit statement of the intentions of the +government. They would, if the legislature adopted the confederation +resolutions, proceed to England, inform the imperial government of +what had passed in Canada and New Brunswick, and take counsel with +that government as to the affairs of Canada, especially in regard to +defence and the reciprocity treaty. The legislature would then be +called together again forthwith, the report of the conferences in +England submitted, and the business relating to confederation +completed. + +On the following day Macdonald made another announcement, referring to +a debate in the House of Lords on February 20th, which he regarded as +of the utmost importance. A report made by a Colonel Jervois on the +defences of Canada had been published, and the publication, exposing +the extreme weakness of Canada, was regarded as an official +indiscretion. It asserted that under the arrangements then existing +British and Canadian forces together could not defend the colony. Lord +Lyveden brought the question up in the House of Lords, and dwelt upon +the gravity of the situation created by the defencelessness of Canada +and by the hostility of the United States. He held that Great Britain +must do one of two things: withdraw her troops and abandon the country +altogether, or defend it with the full power of the empire. It was +folly to send troops out in driblets, and spend money in the same way. +The Earl de Grey and Ripon, replying for the government, said that +Jervois' report contained nothing that was not previously known about +the weakness of Canada. He explained the proposed arrangement by which +the imperial government was to fortify Quebec at a cost of two hundred +thousand pounds, and Canada would undertake the defence of Montreal +and the West.[16] + +Commenting on a report of this discussion, Mr. Macdonald said there +had been negotiations between the two governments, and that he hoped +these would result in full provision for the defence of Canada, both +east and west. It was of the utmost importance that Canada should be +represented in England at this juncture. In order to expedite the +debate by shutting out amendments, he moved the previous question. + +Macdonald's motion provoked charges of burking free discussion, and +counter-charges of obstruction, want of patriotism and inclinations +towards annexation. The debate lost its academic calm and became +acrimonious. Holton's motion for an adjournment, for the purpose of +obtaining further information as to the scheme, was ruled out of +order. The same fate befell Dorion's motion for an adjournment of the +debate and an appeal to the people, on the ground that it involved +fundamental changes in the political institutions and political +relations of the province; changes not contemplated at the last +general election. + +On March 12th the main motion adopting the resolutions of the Quebec +conference was carried by ninety-one to thirty-three. On the following +day an amendment similar to Dorion's, for an appeal to the people, was +moved by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, of Peel, seconded by Matthew +Crooks Cameron, of North Ontario. Undoubtedly the argument for +submission to the people was strong, and was hardly met by Brown's +vigorous speech in reply. But the overwhelming opinion of the House +was against delay, and on March 13th the discussion came to an end. + +The prospects for the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces were now +poor. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island withdrew. A strong +feeling against confederation was arising in Nova Scotia, and it was +proposed there to return to the original idea of a separate maritime +union. It was decided to ask the aid of the British government in +overcoming the hesitation of the Maritime Provinces. The British +authorities were pressing Canada to assume increased obligations as to +defence. Defence depended on confederation, and England, by exercising +some friendly pressure on New Brunswick, might promote both objects. + +The committee appointed to confer with the British government was +composed of Macdonald, Brown, Cartier and Galt. They met in England a +committee of the imperial cabinet, Gladstone, Cardwell, the Duke of +Somerset and Earl de Grey and Ripon. An agreement was arrived at as to +defence. Canada would undertake works of defence at and west of +Montreal, and maintain a certain militia force; Great Britain would +complete fortifications at Quebec, provide the whole armament and +guarantee a loan for the sum necessary to construct the works +undertaken by Canada, and in case of war would defend every portion of +Canada with all the resources of the empire. An agreement was made as +to the acquisition of the Hudson Bay Territory by Canada, and as to +the influence to be brought to bear on the Maritime Provinces. "The +idea of coercing the Maritime Provinces into the measure was never for +a moment entertained." The end sought was to impress upon them the +grave responsibility of thwarting a measure so pregnant with future +prosperity to British America. + +In spite of the mild language used in regard to New Brunswick, the +fact that its consent was a vital part of the whole scheme must have +been an incentive to heroic measures, and these were taken. + +One of the causes of the defeat of the confederation government of New +Brunswick had been the active hostility of the lieutenant-governor, +Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, son of the Earl of Aberdeen. He was +strongly opposed to the change, and is believed to have gone to the +limit of his authority in aiding and encouraging its opponents in the +election of 1865. Soon afterwards he visited England, and it is +believed that he was sent for by the home authorities and was taken to +task for his conduct, and instructed to assist in carrying out +confederation. A despatch from Cardwell, secretary of state for the +colonies, to Governor Gordon, expressed the strong and deliberate +opinion of Her Majesty's government in favour of a union of all the +North American colonies.[17] + +The governor carried out his instructions with the zeal of a convert, +showed the despatch to the head of his government, set about +converting him also, and believed he had been partly successful. The +substance of the despatch was inserted in the speech from the throne, +when the legislature met on March 8th, 1866. The legislative council +adopted an address asking for imperial legislation to unite the +British North American colonies. The governor, without waiting for the +action of the assembly, made a reply to the council, expressing +pleasure at their address, and declaring that he would transmit it to +the secretary of state for the colonies. Thereupon the Smith ministry +resigned, contending that they ought to have been consulted about the +reply, that the council, not having been elected by the people, had no +authority to ask the imperial parliament to pass a measure which the +people of New Brunswick had expressly rejected at the polls. A protest +in similar terms might have been made in the legislative assembly, but +the opportunity was not given. A government favourable to +confederation was formed under Peter Mitchell, with Tilley as his +chief lieutenant, and the legislature was dissolved. + +A threatened Fenian invasion helped to turn the tide of public +opinion, and the confederate ministry was returned with a large +majority. That result, however desirable, did not sanctify the means +taken to bring about a verdict for confederation, which could hardly +have been more arbitrary. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Hansard, House of Lords, February 20th, 1865. See also a long and +important debate in the British House of Commons, March 13th, 1865. + +[17] Journals Canada, 1865, 2nd Session, pp. 8-15. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION + + +The series of events which gradually drew Mr. Brown out of the +coalition began with the death of Sir Etienne P. Tache on July 30th, +1865. By his age, his long experience, and a certain mild benignity of +disposition, Tache was admirably fitted to be the dean of the +coalition and the arbiter between its elements. He had served in +Reform and Conservative governments, but without incurring the +reproach of overweening love of office. With his departure that of +Brown became only a matter of time. To work with Macdonald as an equal +was a sufficiently disagreeable duty; to work under him, considering +the personal relations of the two men, would have been humiliating. +Putting aside the question of where the blame for the long-standing +feud lay, it was inevitable that the association should be temporary +and brief. On August 3rd the governer-general asked Mr. Macdonald to +form an administration. Mr. Macdonald consented, obtained the assent +of Mr. Cartier and consulted Mr. Brown. I quote from an authorized +memorandum of the conversation. "Mr. Brown replied that he was quite +prepared to enter into arrangements for the continuance of the +government in the same position as it occupied previous to the death +of Sir Etienne P. Tache; but that the proposal now made involved a +grave departure from that position. The government, heretofore, had +been a coalition of three political parties, each represented by an +active party leader, but all acting under one chief, who had ceased to +be actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions, and who +was well fitted to give confidence to all the three sections of the +coalition that the conditions which united them would be carried out +in good faith to the very letter. Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Cartier and +himself [Mr. Brown] were, on the contrary, regarded as party leaders, +with party feelings and aspirations, and to place any one of them in +an attitude of superiority to the others, with the vast advantage of +the premiership, would, in the public mind, lessen the security of +good faith, and seriously endanger the existence of the coalition. It +would be an entire change of the situation. Whichever of the three was +so preferred, the act would amount to an abandonment of the coalition +basis, and a reconstruction of the government on party lines under a +party leader." When the coalition was formed, the Liberals were in a +majority in the legislature; for reasons of State they had +relinquished their party advantage, and a government was formed in +which the Conservatives had nine members and the Liberals three. In +what light would the Liberal party regard this new proposition? Mr. +Brown suggested that an invitation be extended to some gentleman of +good position in the legislative council, under whom all parties could +act with confidence, as successor to Colonel Tache. So far as to the +party. Speaking, however, for himself alone, Mr. Brown said he +occupied the same position as in 1864. He stood prepared to give +outside the ministry a frank and earnest support to any ministry that +might be formed for the purpose of carrying out confederation. + +Mr. Macdonald replied that he had no personal feeling as to the +premiership, and would readily stand aside; and he suggested the name +of Mr. Cartier, as leader of the French-Canadians. Mr. Brown said that +it would be necessary for him to consult with his political friends. +Sir Narcisse F. Belleau, a member of the executive council, was then +proposed by Mr. Macdonald, and accepted by Mr. Brown, on condition +that the policy of confederation should be stated in precise terms. +Sir Narcisse Belleau became nominal prime minister of Canada, and the +difficulty was tided over for a few months. + +The arrangement, however, was a mere makeshift. The objections set +forth by Brown to Macdonald's assuming the title of leader applied +with equal force to his assuming the leadership in fact, as he +necessarily did under Sir Narcisse Belleau; the discussion over this +point, though couched in language of diplomatic courtesy, must have +irritated both parties, and their relations grew steadily worse. The +immediate and assigned cause of the rupture was a disagreement in +regard to negotiations for the renewal of the reciprocity treaty. It +is admitted that it was only in part the real cause, and would not +have severed the relations between men who were personally and +politically in sympathy. + +Mr. Brown had taken a deep interest in the subject of reciprocity. In +1863 he was in communication with John Sandfield Macdonald, then +premier of Canada, and Luther Holton, minister of finance. He dwelt on +the importance of opening communication with the American government +during the administration of Lincoln, whom he regarded as favourable +to the renewal of the treaty. Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, +suggested that Canada should have an agent at Washington, with whom he +and Lord Lyons, the British ambassador, could confer on Canadian +matters. The premier asked Brown to go, saying that all his colleagues +were agreed upon his eminent fitness for the mission. Brown declined +the mission, contending that Mr. Holton, besides being fully +qualified, was, by virtue of his official position as minister of +finance, the proper person to represent Canada. He kept urging the +importance of taking action early, before the American movement +against the renewal of the treaty could gather headway. But neither +the Macdonald-Sicotte government nor its successor lived long enough +to take action, and the opportunity was lost. The coalition government +was fully employed with other matters during 1864, and it was not +until the spring of 1863 that the matter of reciprocity was taken up. +In the summer of that year the imperial government authorized the +formation of a confederate council on reciprocity, consisting of +representation from Canada and the other North American colonies, and +presided over by the governor-general. Brown and Galt were the +representatives of Canada on the council. + +Mr. Brown was in the Maritime Provinces in November, 1865, on +government business. On his return to Toronto he was surprised to read +in American papers a statement that Mr. Galt and Mr. Howland were +negotiating with the Committee of Ways and Means at Washington. +Explanations were given by Galt at a meeting of the cabinet at Ottawa +on December 17th. Seward had told him that the treaty could not be +renewed, but that something might be done by reciprocal legislation. +After some demur, Mr. Galt went on to discuss the matter on that +basis. He suggested the free exchange of natural products, and a +designated list of manufactures. The customs duties on foreign goods +were to be assimilated as far as possible. Inland waters and canals +might be used in common, and maintained at the joint expense of the +two countries. Mr. Galt followed up his narrative by proposing that a +minute of council be adopted, ratifying what he had done, and +authorizing him to proceed to Washington and continue the +negotiations. + +The discussion that followed lasted several days. Mr. Brown objected +strongly to the proceeding. He declared that "Mr. Galt had flung at +the heads of the Americans every concession that we had in our power +to make, and some that we certainly could not make, so that our case +was foreclosed before the commission was opened." He objected still +more strongly to the plan of reciprocal legislation, which would keep +the people of Canada "dangling from year to year on the legislation of +the American congress, looking to Washington instead of to Ottawa as +the controller of their commerce and prosperity." The scheme was +admirably designed by the Americans to promote annexation. Before each +congress the United States press would contain articles threatening +ruin to Canadian trade. The Maritime Provinces would take offence at +being ignored, and confederation as well as reciprocity might be lost. +His own proposal was to treat Mr. Galt's proceedings at Washington as +unofficial, call the confederate council, and begin anew to "make a +dead set to have this reciprocal legislation idea upset before +proceeding with the discussion." + +Galt at length suggested a compromise. His proceedings at Washington +were to be treated as unofficial, and no order-in-council passed. Galt +and Howland were to be sent to Washington to obtain a treaty if +possible, and if not to learn what terms could be arranged, and report +to the government. + +Brown regarded this motion as intended to remove him from the +confederate council, and substitute Mr. Howland, and said so; but he +declared that he would accept the compromise nevertheless. It +appeared, however, that there had been a misunderstanding as to the +recording of a minute of the proceedings. The first minute was +withdrawn; but as Mr. Brown considered that the second minute still +sanctioned the idea of reciprocal legislation, he refused to sign it, +and decided to place his resignation in the hands of the premier, and +to wait upon the governor-general. After hearing the explanation, His +Excellency said: "Then, Mr. Brown, I am called upon to decide between +your policy and that of the other members of the government?" Mr. +Brown replied, "Yes, sir, and if I am allowed to give advice in the +matter, I should say that the government ought to be sustained, though +the decision is against myself. I consider the great question of +confederation as of far greater consequence to the country than +reciprocity negotiations. My resignation may aid in preventing their +policy on the reciprocity question from being carried out, or at least +call forth a full expression of opinion on the subject, and the +government should be sustained, if wrong in this, for the sake of +confederation." + +The debate in council had occupied several days, and had evidently +aroused strong feelings. Undoubtedly Mr. Brown's decision was affected +by the affront that he considered had been put upon him by virtually +removing him from the confederate council and sending Mr. Howland +instead of himself to Washington as the colleague of Mr. Galt. He +disapproved on public grounds of the policy of the government, and he +resented the manner in which he had been ignored throughout the +transaction. On the day after the rupture Mr. Cartier wrote Mr. Brown +asking him whether he could reconsider his resignation. Mr. Brown +replied, "I have received your kind note, and think it right to state +frankly at once that the step I have taken cannot be revoked. The +interests involved are too great. I think a very great blunder has +been committed in a matter involving the most important interests of +the country, and that the order-in-council you have passed endorses +that blunder and authorizes persistence in it.... I confess I was much +annoyed at the personal affront offered me, but that feeling has +passed away in view of the serious character of the matter at issue, +which casts all personal feeling aside." + +If it were necessary to seek for justification of Mr. Brown's action +in leaving the ministry at this time, it might be found either in his +disagreement with the government on the question of policy, or in the +treatment accorded to him by his colleagues. Sandfield Macdonald and +his colleagues had on a former occasion recognized Mr. Brown's eminent +fitness to represent Canada in the negotiations at Washington, not +only because of his thorough acquaintance with the subject, but +because of his steadily maintained attitude of friendship for the +North. He was a member of the confederate council on reciprocity. His +position in the ministry was not that of a subordinate, but of the +representative of a powerful party. In resenting the manner in which +his position was ignored, he does not seem to have exceeded the bounds +of proper self-assertion. However, this controversy assumes less +importance if it is recognized that the rupture was inevitable. The +precise time or occasion is of less importance than the force which +was always and under all circumstances operating to draw Mr. Brown +away from an association injurious to himself and to Liberalism, in +its broad sense as well as in its party sense, and to his influence as +a public man. This had better be considered in another place. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES + + +We are to consider now the long-vexed question of the connection of +Mr. Brown with the coalition of 1864. Ought he to have entered the +coalition government? Having entered it, was he justified in leaving +it in 1865? Holton and Dorion told him that by his action in 1864, he +had sacrificed his own party interests to those of John A. Macdonald; +that Macdonald was in serious political difficulty, and had been +defeated in the legislature; that he seized upon Brown's suggestion +merely as a means of keeping himself in office; that for the sake of +office he accepted the idea of confederation, after having voted +against it in Brown's committee. A most wise and faithful friend, +Alexander Mackenzie, thought that Reformers should accept no +representation in the cabinet, but that they should give confederation +an outside support. That Macdonald and his party were immensely +benefitted by Brown's action, there can be no doubt. For several years +they had either been in Opposition, or in office under a most +precarious tenure, depending entirely upon a majority from Lower +Canada. By Brown's action they were suddenly invested with an +overwhelming majority, and they had an interrupted lease of power for +the nine years between the coalition and the Pacific Scandal. +Admitting that the interest of the country warranted this sacrifice of +the interests of the Liberal party, we have still to consider whether +it was wise for Mr. Brown to enter the ministry, and especially to +enter it on the conditions that existed. The Lower Canadian Liberals +were not represented, partly because Dorion and Holton held back, and +partly because of the prejudice of Tache and Cartier against the +Rouges; and this exclusion was a serious defect in a ministry supposed +to be formed on a broad and patriotic basis. The result was, that +while the Liberals were in a majority in the legislature, they had +only three representatives in a ministry of twelve. Such a government, +with its dominant Conservative section led by a master in the handling +of political combinations, was bound to lose its character of a +coalition, and become Conservative out and out. + +A broader question is involved than that of the mere party advantage +obtained by Macdonald and his party in the retention of power and +patronage. There was grave danger to the essential principles of +Liberalism, of which Brown was the appointed guardian. Holton put this +in a remarkable way during the debate on confederation. It was at the +time when Macdonald had moved the previous question, when the +coalition government was hurrying the debate to a conclusion, in the +face of indignant protests and demands that the scheme should be +submitted to the people. Holton told Brown that he had destroyed the +Liberal party. Henceforth its members would be known as those who once +ranged themselves together, in Upper and Lower Canada, under the +Liberal banner. Then followed this remarkable appeal to his old +friend: "Most of us remember--those of us who have been for a few +years in public life in this country must remember--a very striking +speech delivered by the honourable member for South Oxford in Toronto +in the session of 1856 or 1857, in which he described the path of the +attorney-general [Macdonald] as studded all along by the gravestones +of his slaughtered colleagues. Well, there are not wanting those who +think they can descry, in the not very remote distance, a yawning +grave waiting for the noblest victim of them all. And I very much fear +that unless the honourable gentleman has the courage to assert his own +original strength--and he has great strength--and to discard the +blandishments and the sweets of office, and to plant himself where he +stood formerly, in the affections and confidence of the people of this +country, as the foremost defender of the rights of the people, as the +foremost champion of the privileges of a free parliament--unless he +hastens to do that, I very much fear that he too may fall a victim, +the noblest victim of them all, to the arts, if not the arms of the +fell destroyer." + +There was a little humorous exaggeration in the personal references to +Macdonald, for Holton and he were on friendly terms. But there was +also matter for serious thought in his words. Though Macdonald had +outgrown the fossil Toryism that opposed responsible government, he +was essentially Conservative; and there was something not democratic +in his habit of dealing with individuals rather than with people in +the mass, and of accomplishing his ends by private letters and +interviews, and by other forms of personal influence, rather than by +the public advocacy of causes. Association with him was injurious to +men of essentially Liberal and democratic tendencies, and +subordination was fatal, if not to their usefulness, at least to their +Liberal ideals. Macdougall and Howland remained in the ministry until +confederation was achieved, and found reasons for remaining there +afterwards. At the Reform convention of 1867, when the relation of the +Liberal party to the so-called coalition was considered, they defended +their position with skill and force, but the association of one with +Macdonald was very brief, and of the other very unhappy. Mr. Howland +was not a very keen politician, and a year after confederation was +accomplished he accepted the position of lieutenant-governor of +Ontario. Mr. Macdougall had an unsatisfactory career as a minister, +with an unhappy termination. He was clearly out of his element. Mr. +Tilley was described as a Liberal, but there was nothing to +distinguish him from his Conservative colleagues in his methods or his +utterances, and he became the champion of the essentially Conservative +policy of protection. + +But the most notable example of the truth of Holton's words and the +soundness of his advice was Joseph Howe. Howe was in Nova Scotia "the +foremost defender of the rights of people, the foremost champion of +the privileges of free parliaments." He had opposed the inclusion of +Nova Scotia on the solid ground that it was accomplished by arbitrary +means. At length he bowed to the inevitable. In ceasing to encourage a +useless and dangerous agitation he stood on patriotic ground. But in +an evil hour he was persuaded to seal his submission by joining the +Macdonald government, and thenceforth his influence was at an end. His +biographer says that Howe's four years in Sir John Macdonald's cabinet +are the least glorious of his whole career. "Howe had been accustomed +all his life to lead and control events. He found himself a member of +a government of which Sir John Macdonald was the supreme head, and of +a cast of mind totally different from his own. Sir John Macdonald was +a shrewd political manager, an opportunist whose unfailing judgment +led him unerringly to pursue the course most likely to succeed each +hour, each day, each year. Howe had the genius of a bold Reformer, a +courageous and creative type of mind, who thought in continents, +dreamed dreams and conceived great ideas. Sir John Macdonald busied +himself with what concerned the immediate interests of the hour in +which he was then living, and yet Sir John Macdonald was a leader who +permitted no insubordination. Sir Georges Cartier, a man not to be +named in the same breath with Howe as a statesman, was, nevertheless, +a thousand times of more moment and concern with his band of Bleu +followers in the House of Commons, than a dozen Howes, and the +consequence is that we find for four years the great old man playing +second fiddle to his inferiors, and cutting a far from heroic figure +in the arena."[18] What Holton said by way of warning to Brown was +realized in the case of Howe. He was "the noblest victim of them all." + +From the point of view of Liberalism and of his influence as a public +man, Brown did not leave the ministry a moment too soon; and there is +much to be said in favour of Mackenzie's view that he ought to have +refused to enter the coalition at all, and confined himself to giving +his general support to confederation. By this means he would not have +been responsible for the methods by which the new constitution was +brought into effect, methods that were in many respects repugnant to +those essential principles of Liberalism of which Brown had been one +of the foremost champions. At almost every stage in the proceedings +there was a violation of those rights of self-government which had +been so hardly won by Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The +Quebec conference was a meeting of persons who had been chosen to +administer the affairs of the various British provinces under their +established constitutions, not to make a new constitution. Its +deliberations were secret. It proceeded, without a mandate from the +people, to create a new governing body, whose powers were obtained at +the expense of those of the provinces. With the same lack of popular +authority, it declared that the provinces should have only those +powers which were expressly designated, and that the reserve of power +should be in the central governing body. Had this body been created +for the Canadas alone, this proceeding might have been justified, for +they were already joined in a legislative union, though by practice +and consent some features of federalism prevailed. But Nova Scotia and +New Brunswick were separate, self-governing communities, and it was +for them, not for the Quebec conference, to say what powers they would +grant and what powers they would retain. Again the people of Canada +had declared that the second chamber should be elected, not appointed +by the Crown. The Quebec conference, without consulting the people of +Canada, reverted to the discarded system of nomination, and added the +senate to the vast body of patronage at the disposal of the federal +government. The constitution adopted by this body was not, except in +the case of New Brunswick, submitted to the people, and it can hardly +be said that it was freely debated in the parliament of Canada, for it +was declared that it was in the nature of a treaty, and must be +accepted or rejected as a whole. In the midst of this debate the +people of New Brunswick passed upon the scheme in a general election, +and condemned it in the most decisive and explicit way. The British +government was then induced to bring pressure to bear upon the +province; and while it was contended that this pressure was only in +the form of friendly advice it was otherwise interpreted by the +governor, who strained his powers to compel the ministry to act in +direct contravention of its mandate from the people, and when it +resisted, forced it out of office. It is true that in a subsequent +election this decision was reversed; but that is not a justification +for the means adopted to bring about this result. It is no +exaggeration to say that Nova Scotia was forced into the union against +the express desire of a large majority of its people. There are +arguments by which these proceedings may be defended, but they are not +arguments that lie in the mouth of a Liberal. And if we say that the +confederation, in spite of these taints in its origin, has worked well +and has solved the difficulties of Canada, we use an argument which +might justify the forcible annexation of a country by a powerful +neighbour. + +Again, there was much force in Dorion's contention that the new +constitution was an illiberal constitution, increasing those powers of +the executive which were already too large. To the inordinate strength +of the executive, under the delusive name of the Crown, may be traced +many of the worst evils of Canadian politics: the abuse of the +prerogative of dissolution, the delay in holding bye-elections, the +gerrymandering of the constituencies by a parliament registering the +decree of a government. To these powers of the government the +Confederation Act added that of filling one branch of the legislature +with its own nominees. By the power of disallowance, by the equivocal +language used in regard to education, and in regard to the creation of +new provinces, pretexts were furnished for federal interference in +local affairs. But for the resolute opposition of Mowat and his +colleagues, the subordination of the provinces to the central +authority would have gone very far towards realizing Macdonald's ideal +of a legislative union; and recent events have shown that the danger +of centralization is by no means at an end. + +It was a true, liberal and patriotic impulse that induced Brown to +offer his aid in breaking the dead-lock of 1864. He desired that Upper +Canada should be fairly represented in parliament, and should have +freedom to manage its local affairs. He desired that the Maritime +Provinces and the North-West should, in the course of time, be +brought in on similar terms of freedom. But by joining the coalition +he became a participant in a different course of procedure; and if we +give him a large, perhaps the largest share, of the credit for the +ultimate benefits of confederation, we cannot divest him of +responsibility for the methods by which it was brought about, so long, +at least, as he remained a member of the government. + +In the year and a half that elapsed between his withdrawal from the +government and the first general election under the new constitution, +he had a somewhat difficult part to play. He had to aid in the work of +carrying confederation, and at the same time to aid in the work of +re-organizing the Liberal party, which had been temporarily divided +and weakened by the new issue introduced into politics. In the Reform +convention of 1867 the attitude of the party towards confederation was +considered. It was resolved that "while the new constitution contained +obvious defects, it was, on the whole, based upon equitable principles +and should be accepted with the determination to work it loyally and +patiently, and to provide such amendments as experience from year to +year may prove to be expedient." It was declared that coalitions of +opposing political parties for ordinary administrative purposes +resulted in corruption, extravagance and the abandonment of principle; +that the coalition of 1864 could be justified only on the ground of +imperious necessity, as the only available means of obtaining just +representation for Upper Canada, and should come to an end when that +object was attained; and that the temporary alliance of the Reform and +Conservative parties should cease. Howland and Macdougall, who had +decided to remain in the ministry, strove to maintain that it was a +true coalition, and that the old issues that divided the parties were +at an end; and their bearing before a hostile audience was tactful and +courageous. But Brown and his friends carried all before them. + +Brown argued strongly against the proposal to turn the coalition +formed for confederation into a coalition for ordinary administrative +purposes; and in a passage of unusual fervour he asked whether his +Reform friends were to be subjected to the humiliation of following in +the train of John A. Macdonald. + +It is difficult to understand how so chimerical a notion as a +non-party government led by Macdonald could have been entertained by +practical politicians. A permanent position in a Macdonald ministry +would have been out of the question for Brown, not only because of his +standing as a public man, but because of his control of the _Globe_, +which under such an arrangement would have been reduced to the +position of an organ of the Conservative government. There were also +all the elements of a powerful Liberal party, which soon after +confederation rallied its forces and overthrew Sir John Macdonald's +government at Ottawa, and the coalition government he had established +at Toronto. Giving Macdougall every credit for good intentions, it +must be admitted that he committed an error in casting in his +political fortunes with Sir John Macdonald, and that both he and +Joseph Howe would have found more freedom, more scope for their +energies and a wider field of usefulness, in fighting by the side of +Mackenzie and Blake. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] Longley's _Joseph Howe_, "Makers of Canada" series, pp. 228, 229. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST + + +Very soon after his arrival in Canada, Mr. Brown became deeply +interested in the North-West Territories. He was thrown into contact +with men who knew the value of the country and desired to see it +opened for settlement. One of these was Robert Baldwin Sullivan, who, +during the struggle for responsible government, wrote a series of +brilliant letters over the signature of "Legion" advocating that +principle, and who was for a time provincial secretary in the +Baldwin-Lafontaine government. In 1847, Mr. Sullivan delivered, in the +Mechanics' Institute, Toronto, an address on the North-West +Territories, which was published in full in the _Globe_. The Oregon +settlement had recently been made, and the great westward trek of the +Americans was in progress. Sullivan uttered the warning that the +Americans would occupy and become masters of the British western +territory, and outflank Canada, unless steps were taken to settle and +develop it by British subjects. There was at this time much +misconception of the character of the country, and one is surprised by +the very accurate knowledge shown by Mr. Sullivan in regard to the +resources of the country, its coal measures as well as its wheat +fields. + +Mr. Brown also obtained much information and assistance from Mr. +Isbester, a "native of the country, who by his energy, ability and +intelligence had raised himself from the position of a successful +scholar at one of the schools of the settlement to that of a graduate +of one of the British universities, and to a teacher of considerable +rank. This gentleman had succeeded in inducing prominent members of +the House of Commons to interest themselves in the subject of appeals +which, through him, were constantly being made against the injustice +and persecution which the colonists of the Red River Settlement were +suffering."[19] + +Mr. Brown said that his attention was first drawn to the subject by a +deputation sent to England by the people of the Red River Settlement +to complain that the country was ill-governed by the Hudson's Bay +Company, and to pray that the territory might be thrown open for +settlement. "The movement," said Mr. Brown, "was well received by the +most prominent statesmen of Britain. The absurdity of so vast a +country remaining in the hands of a trading company was readily +admitted; and I well remember that Mr. Gladstone then made an +excellent speech in the Commons, as he has recently done, admitting +that the charter of the company was not valid, and that the matter +should be dealt with by legislation. But the difficulty that +constantly presented itself was what should be done with the +territory were the charter broken up; what government should replace +that of the company. The idea struck Mr. Isbester, a most able and +enlightened member of the Red River deputation to London, that this +difficulty would be met at once were Canada to step in and claim the +right to the territory. Through a mutual friend, I was communicated +with on the subject, and agreed to have the question thoroughly +agitated before the expiry of the company's charter in 1859. I have +since given the subject some study, and have on various occasions +brought it before the public." Mr. Brown referred to the matter in his +maiden speech in parliament in 1851, and in 1854 and again in 1856 he +gave notice of motion for a committee of inquiry, but was interrupted +by other business. In 1852, the _Globe_ contained an article so +remarkable in its knowledge of the country that it may be reproduced +here in part. + +"It is a remarkable circumstance that so little attention has been +paid in Canada to the immense tract of country lying to the north of +our boundary line, and known as the Hudson's Bay Company's Territory. +There can be no question that the injurious and demoralizing sway of +that company over a region of four millions of square miles, will, ere +long, be brought to an end, and that the destinies of this immense +country will be united with our own. It is unpardonable that +civilization should be excluded from half a continent, on at best but +a doubtful right of ownership, for the benefit of two hundred and +thirty-two shareholders. + +"Our present purpose is not, however, with the validity of the +Hudson's Bay Company's claim to the country north of the Canadian +line--but to call attention to the value of that region, and the vast +commercial importance to the country and especially to this section, +which must, ere long, attach to it. The too general impression +entertained is, that the territory in question is a frozen wilderness, +incapable of cultivation and utterly unfit for colonization. This +impression was undoubtedly set afloat, and has been maintained, for +its own very evident purposes. So long as that opinion could be kept +up, their charter was not likely to be disturbed. But light has been +breaking in on the subject in spite of their efforts to keep it out. +In a recent work by Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, it is stated that 'there is +not a more favourable situation on the face of the earth for the +employment of agricultural industry than the locality of the Red +River.' Mr. Fitzgerald asserts that there are five hundred thousand +square miles of soil, a great part of which is favourable for +settlement and agriculture, and all so well supplied with game as to +give great facility for colonization. Here is a field for Canadian +enterprise. + +"The distance between Fort William and the Red River Settlement is +about five hundred miles, and there is said to be water communication +by river and lake all the way. But westward, beyond the Red River +Settlement, there is said to be a magnificent country, through which +the Saskatchewan River extends, and is navigable for boats and canoes +through a course of one thousand four hundred miles. + +"Much has been said of the extreme cold of the country, as indicated +by the thermometer. It is well known, however, that it is not the +degree but the character of the cold which renders it obnoxious to +men, and the climate of this country is quite as agreeable, if not +more so, than the best part of Canada. The height of the latitude +gives no clue whatever to the degree of cold or to the nature of the +climate. + +"Let any one look at the map, and if he can fancy the tenth part that +is affirmed of the wide region of country stretching westward to the +Rocky Mountains, he may form some idea of the profitable commerce +which will soon pass through Lake Superior. Independent of the hope +that the high road to the Pacific may yet take this direction, there +is a field for enterprise presented, sufficient to satiate the warmest +imagination." + +It was not, however, until the year 1856 that public attention was +aroused to the importance of the subject. In the autumn of that year +there was a series of letters in the _Globe_ signed "Huron," drawing +attention to the importance of the western country, attacking the +administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, and suggesting that the +inhabitants, unless relieved, might seek to place the country under +American government. In December 1856, there was a meeting of the +Toronto Board of Trade at which addresses were delivered by Alan +McDonnell and Captain Kennedy. Captain Kennedy said that he had lived +for a quarter of a century in the territory in question, had eight or +nine years before the meeting endeavoured to call attention to the +country through the newspapers and had written a letter to Lord Elgin. +He declared that the most important work before Canada was the +settlement of two hundred and seventy-nine million acres of land lying +west of the Lakes. The Board of Trade passed a resolution declaring +that the claim of the Hudson's Bay Company to the exclusive right to +trade in the country was injurious to the rights of the people of the +territory and of British North America. The Board also petitioned the +legislature to ascertain the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and +to protect the interests of Canada. A few days afterwards the _Globe_ +said that the time had come to act, and thenceforward it carried on a +vigorous campaign for the opening up of the territory to settlement +and the establishment of communication with Canada. + +During the year 1856, Mr. Brown addressed many meetings on the subject +of the working of the union. He opposed the separation of the Canadas, +proposed by some as a measure of relief for the grievances of Upper +Canada. This would bring Canada back to the day of small things; he +advocated expansion to the westward. William Macdougall, then a member +of the _Globe_ staff, was also an enthusiastic advocate of the union +of the North-West Territories with Canada. In an article reviewing the +events of the year 1856, the _Globe_ said: "This year will be +remembered as that in which the public mind was first aroused to the +necessity of uniting to Canada the great tract of British American +territory lying to the north-west, then in the occupation of a great +trading monopoly. The year 1856 has only seen the birth of this +movement. Let us hope that 1857 will see it crowned with success." + +In January 1857, a convention of Reformers in Toronto adopted a +platform including free trade, uniform legislation for both provinces, +representation by population, national and non-sectarian education, +and the incorporation of the Hudson Bay Territory. It was resolved +"that the country known as the Hudson Bay Territory ought no longer to +be cut off from civilization, that it is the duty of the legislature +and executive of Canada to open negotiations with the imperial +government for the incorporation of the said territory as Canadian +soil." + +The _Globe's_ proposals at this early date provoked the merriment of +some of its contemporaries. The Niagara _Mail_, January 1857, said: +"The Toronto _Globe_ comes out with a new and remarkable platform, one +of the planks of which is the annexation of the frozen regions of the +Hudson Bay Territory to Canada. Lord have mercy on us! Canada has +already a stiff reputation for cold in the world, but it is unfeeling +in the _Globe_ to want to make it deserve the reproach." The _Globe_ +advised its contemporary not to commit itself hastily against the +annexation of the North-West, "for it will assuredly be one of the +strongest planks in our platform." + +Another sceptic was the Montreal _Transcript_, which declared that the +fertile spots in the territory were small and separated by immense +distances, and described the Red River region as an oasis in the midst +of a desert, "a vast treeless prairie on which scarcely a shrub is to +be seen." The climate was unfavourable to the growth of grain. The +summer, though warm enough, was too short in duration, so that even +the few fertile spots could "with difficulty mature a small potato or +cabbage." The subject seemed to be constantly in Brown's mind, and he +referred to it frequently in public addresses. After the general +election of 1857-8 a banquet was given at Belleville to celebrate the +return of Mr. Wallbridge for Hastings. Mr. Brown there referred to a +proposal to dissolve the union. He was for giving the union a fair +trial. "Who can look at the map of this continent and mark the vast +portion of it acknowledging British sovereignty, without feeling that +union and not separation ought to be the foremost principle with +British American statesmen? Who that examines the condition of the +several provinces which constitute British America, can fail to feel +that with the people of Canada must mainly rest the noble task, at no +distant date, of consolidating these provinces, aye, and of redeeming +to civilization and peopling with new life the vast territories to our +north, now so unworthily held by the Hudson's Bay Company. Who cannot +see that Providence has entrusted to us the building up of a great +northern people, fit to cope with our neighbours of the United States, +and to advance step by step with them in the march of civilization? +Sir, it is my fervent aspiration and belief that some here to-night +may live to see the day when the British American flag shall proudly +wave from Labrador to Vancouver Island and from our own Niagara to the +shores of Hudson Bay. Look abroad over the world and tell me what +country possesses the advantages, if she but uses them aright, for +achieving such a future, as Canada enjoys--a fertile soil, a healthful +climate, a hardy and frugal people, with great mineral resources, +noble rivers, boundless forests. We have within our grasp all the +elements of prosperity. We are free from the thousand time-honoured +evils and abuses that afflict and retard the nations of the Old World. +Not even our neighbours of the United States occupy an equal position +of advantage, for we have not the canker-worm of domestic slavery to +blight our tree of liberty. And greater than these, we are but +commencing our career as a people, our institutions have yet to be +established. We are free to look abroad over the earth and study the +lessons of wisdom taught by the history of older countries, and choose +those systems and those laws and customs that experience has shown +best for advancing the moral and material interests of the human +family."[20] + +As a member of the coalition of 1864, Brown had an opportunity to +promote his long-cherished object of adding the North-West Territories +to Canada. There had been some communication between the British and +Canadian governments, and in November 1864, the latter government said +that Canada was anxious to secure the settlement of the West and the +establishment of local governments. As the Hudson's Bay Company worked +under an English charter, it was for that government to extinguish its +rights and give Canada a clear title. Canada would then annex, govern +and open up communication with the territory. When Brown accompanied +Macdonald, Cartier and Galt to England in 1865, this matter was taken +up, and an agreement was arrived at which was reported to the Canadian +legislature in the second session of 1865. The committee said that +calling to mind the vital importance to Canada of having that great +and fertile country open to Canadian enterprise and the tide of +emigration into it directed through Canadian channels, remembering the +danger of large grants of land passing into the hands of mere money +corporations, and the risk that the recent discoveries of gold on the +eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains might throw into the country +large masses of settlers unaccustomed to British institutions, they +arrived at the conclusion that the quickest solution of the question +would be the best for Canada. They therefore proposed that the whole +territory east of the Rockies and north of the American or Canadian +line should be made over to Canada, subject to the rights of the +Hudson's Bay Company; and that the compensation to be made by Canada +to the company should be met by a loan guaranteed by the British +government. To this, the imperial government consented. + +The subsequent history of the acquisition of the West need not be told +here. In this case, as in others, Brown was a pioneer in a work which +others finished. But his services were generously acknowledged by Sir +John Macdonald, who said in the House of Commons in 1875: "From the +first time that he had entered parliament, the people of Canada looked +forward to a western extension of territory, and from the time he was +first a minister, in 1854, the question was brought up time and again, +and pressed with great ability and force by the Hon. George Brown, who +was then a prominent man in opposition to the government." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] Gunn and Tuttle's _History of Manitoba_, p. 303. + +[20] Toronto _Globe_, January 25th, 1858. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874 + + +Mr. Brown's position in regard to reciprocity has already been +described. He set a high value upon the American market for Canadian +products, and as early as 1863 he had urged the government of that day +to prepare for the renewal of the treaty. He resigned from the +coalition ministry, because, to use his own words, "I felt very +strongly that though we in Canada derived great advantage from the +treaty of 1854, the American people derived still greater advantage +from it. I had no objection to that, and was quite ready to renew the +old treaty, or even to extend it largely on fair terms of reciprocity. +But I was not willing to ask for a renewal as a favour to Canada; I +was not willing to offer special inducements for renewal without fair +concessions in return; I was not willing that the canals and inland +waters of Canada should be made the joint property of the United +States and Canada and be maintained at their joint expense; I was not +willing that the custom and excise duty of Canada should be +assimilated to the prohibitory rates of the United States; and very +especially was I unwilling that any such arrangement should be entered +into with the United States, dependent on the frail tenure of +reciprocal legislation, repealable at any moment at the caprice of +either party." Unless a fair treaty for a definite term of years could +be obtained, he thought it better that each country should take its +own course and that Canada should seek new channels of trade. + +The negotiations of 1866 failed, mainly because under the American +offer, "the most important provisions of the expiring treaty, relating +to the free interchange of the products of the two countries, were +entirely set aside, and the duties proposed to be levied were almost +prohibitory in their character." The free-list offered by the United +States reads like a diplomatic joke: "burr-millstones, rags, +fire-wood, grindstones, plaster and gypsum." The real bar in this and +subsequent negotiations, was the unwillingness of the Americans to +enter into any kind of arrangement for extended trade. They did not +want to break in upon their system of protection, and they did not set +a high value on access to the Canadian market. In most of the +negotiations, the Americans are found trying to drive the best +possible bargain in regard to the Canadian fisheries and canals, and +fighting shy of reciprocity in trade. They considered that a free +exchange of natural products would be far more beneficial to Canada +than to the United States. As time went on, they began to perceive the +advantages of the Canadian market for American manufactures. But when +this was apparent, Canadian feeling, which had hitherto been +unanimous for reciprocity, began to show a cleavage, which was sharply +defined in the discussion preceding the election of 1891. Reciprocity +in manufactures was opposed, because of the competition to which it +would expose Canadian industries, and because it was difficult to +arrange it without assimilating the duties of the two countries and +discriminating against British imports into Canada. + +In earlier years, however, even the inclusion of manufactures in the +treaty of reciprocity was an inducement by which the Americans set +little store. The rejected offer made by Canada in 1869, about the +exact terms of which doubt exists, included a list of manufactures. In +1871 the American government declined to consider an offer to renew +the treaty of 1854 in return for access to the deep sea fisheries of +Canada. The Brown Treaty of 1874, which contained a list of +manufactures, was rejected at Washington, while in Canada it was +criticized as striking a blow at the infant manufactures of the +country. + +The Brown mission of 1874 was a direct result of the Treaty of +Washington. Under that treaty there was to be an arbitration to +determine the value of the American use of the Canadian inshore +fisheries for twelve years, in excess of the value of the concessions +made by the United States. Before the fall of the Macdonald +government, Mr. Rothery, registrar of the High Court of Admiralty in +England, arrived in Canada as the agent of the British government to +prepare the Canadian case for arbitration. In passing through Toronto +Mr. Rothery spoke to several public men with a view to acquiring +information as to the value of the fisheries. Mr. Brown availed +himself of that opportunity to suggest to him that a treaty of +reciprocity in trade would be a far better compensation to Canada than +a cash payment. Mr. Rothery carried this proposal to Washington, where +it was received with some favour. + +Meantime the Mackenzie government had been moving in the matter, and +in February 1874, Mr. Brown was informed that there was a movement at +Washington for the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and was +asked to make an unofficial visit to that city and estimate the +chances of success. On February 12th, he wrote: "We know as yet of but +few men who are bitterly against us. I saw General Butler, at his +request, on the subject, and I understand he will support us. Charles +Sumner is heart and hand with us, and is most kind to me personally." +On February 14th, he expressed his belief that if a bill for the +renewal of the reciprocity treaty could be submitted to congress at +once, it would be carried. + +A British commission was issued on March 17th, 1874, appointing Sir +Edward Thornton, British minister at Washington, and Mr. Brown, as +joint plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of fisheries, commerce +and navigation with the government of the United States. This mode of +representation was insisted upon by the Mackenzie government, in view +of the unsatisfactory result of the negotiations of 1871, when Sir +John A. Macdonald, as one commissioner out of six, made a gallant but +unsuccessful fight for the rights of Canada. Mr. Brown was selected, +not only because of his knowledge of and interest in reciprocity, but +because of his attitude during the war, which had made him many warm +friends among those who opposed slavery and stood for the union. + +Negotiations were formally opened on March 28th. The Canadians +proposed the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty, and the +abandonment of the fishery arbitration. The American secretary of +state, Mr. Fish, suggested the enlargement of the Canadian canals, and +the addition of manufactures to the free list. The Canadian +commissioners having agreed to consider these proposals, a project of +a treaty was prepared to form a basis of discussion. It provided for +the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty for twenty-one years, with +the addition of certain manufactures; the abandonment of the fishery +arbitration; complete reciprocity in coasting; the enlargement of the +Welland and St. Lawrence canals; the opening of the Canadian, New +York, and Michigan canals to vessels of both countries; the free +navigation of Lake Michigan; the appointment of a joint commission for +improving waterways, protecting fisheries and erecting lighthouses on +the Great Lakes. Had the treaty been ratified, there would have been +reciprocity in farm and other natural products, and in a very +important list of manufactures, including agricultural implements, +axles, iron, in the forms of bar, hoop, pig, puddled, rod, sheet or +scrap; iron nails, spikes, bolts, tacks, brads and springs; iron +castings; locomotives and railroad cars and trucks; engines and +machinery for mills, factories and steamboats; fire-engines; wrought +and cast steel; steel plates and rails; carriages, carts, wagons and +sleighs; leather and its manufactures, boots, shoes, harness and +saddlery; cotton grain bags, denims, jeans, drillings, plaids and +ticking; woollen tweeds; cabinet ware and furniture, and machines made +of wood; printing paper for newspapers, paper-making machines, type, +presses, folders, paper cutters, ruling machines, stereotyping and +electrotyping apparatus. In general terms, it was as near to +unrestricted reciprocity as was possible without raising the question +of discriminating against the products of Great Britain. + +Mr. Brown found that American misapprehensions as to Canada, its +revenue, commerce, shipping, railways and industries were "truly +marvellous." It was generally believed that the trade of Canada was of +little value to the United States; that the reciprocity treaty had +enriched Canada at their expense; and that the abolition of the treaty +had brought Canada nearly to its wits' end. There was some excuse for +these misapprehensions. Until confederation, the trade returns from +the different provinces were published separately, if at all. No clear +statement of the combined traffic of the provinces with the United +States was published until 1874, and even Canadians were ignorant of +its extent. American protectionists founded a "balance of trade" +argument on insufficient data. They saw that old Canada sold large +quantities of wheat and flour to the United States, but not that the +United States sent larger quantities to the Maritime Provinces; that +Nova Scotia and Cape Breton sold coal to Boston and New York, but not +that five times as much was sent from Pennsylvania to Canada. Brown +prepared a memorandum showing that the British North American +provinces, from 1820 to 1854, had bought one hundred and sixty-seven +million dollars worth of goods from the United States, and the United +States only sixty-seven million dollars worth from the provinces; that +in the thirteen years of the treaty, the trade between the two +countries was six hundred and thirty million dollars according to the +Canadian returns, and six hundred and seventy million dollars +according to the American returns; and that the so-called "balance of +trade" in this period was considerably against Canada. It was shown +that the repeal of the treaty did not ruin Canadian commerce; that the +external trade of Canada which averaged one hundred and fifteen +million dollars a year from 1854 to 1862, rose to one hundred and +forty-two million dollars in the year following the abrogation, and +to two hundred and forty million dollars in 1873. In regard to wheat, +flour, provisions, and other commodities of which both countries had a +surplus, the effect of the prohibitory American duties had been to +send the products of Canada to compete with those of the United States +in neutral markets. + +This memorandum was completed on April 27th and was immediately handed +to Mr. Fish. It was referred to the treasury department, where it was +closely examined and admitted to be correct. From that time there was +a marked improvement in American feeling. + +Brown also carried on a vigorous propaganda in the newspapers. In +New York the _Tribune_, _Herald_, _Times_, _World_, _Evening +Post_, _Express_, _Journal of Commerce_, _Graphic_, _Mail_, +and other journals, declared in favour of a new treaty; and in Boston, +Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other large cities, the press was +equally favourable. A charge originated in Philadelphia and was +circulated in the United States and Canada, that this unanimity of +the press was obtained by the corrupt use of public money. Mr. Brown, +in his speech in the senate of Canada denied this; said that not a +shilling had been spent illegitimately, and that the whole cost of the +negotiation to the people of Canada would be little more than four +thousand dollars. + +In his correspondence Brown speaks of meeting Senator Conkling, +General Garfield and Carl Schurz, all of whom were favourable. +Secretary Fish is described as courteous and painstaking, but timid +and lacking in grasp of the subject, and Brown speaks impatiently of +the delays that are throwing the consideration of the draft treaty +over to the end of the session of congress. + +It did not reach the senate until two days before adjournment. "The +president" wrote Mr. Brown on June 20th, "sent a message to the senate +with the treaty, urging a decision before the adjournment of congress. +I thought the message very good; but it has the defect of not speaking +definitely of this message as his own and his government's and calling +on the senate to sustain him. Had he done this, the treaty would have +been through now. But now, with a majority in its favour, there seems +some considerable danger of its being thrown over until December." The +treaty was sent to the Foreign Relations Committee of the senate. +"There were six present; three said to be for us, one against, and two +for the measure personally, but wanted to hear from the country before +acting. How it will end, no one can tell." As a matter of fact it +ended there and then, as far as the United States were concerned. + +Of the objections urged against the treaty in Canada, the most +significant was that directed against the free list of manufactures. +This was, perhaps, the first evidence of the wave of protectionist +sentiment that overwhelmed the Mackenzie government. In his speech in +the senate, in 1875, justifying the treaty, Mr. Brown said: "Time was +in Canada when the imposition of duty on any article was regarded as a +misfortune, and the slightest addition to an existing duty was +resented by the people. But increasing debt brought new burdens; the +deceptive cry of 'incidental protection' got a footing in the land; +and from that the step has been easy to the bold demand now set up by +a few favoured industries, that all the rest of the community ought to +be, and should rejoice to be, taxed seventeen and a half per cent, to +keep them in existence." + +Brown joined issue squarely with the protectionists. "I contend that +there is not one article contained in the schedules that ought not to +be wholly free of duty, either in Canada or the United States, in the +interest of the public. I contend that the finance minister of Canada +who--treaty or no treaty with the United States--was able to announce +the repeal of all customs duties on the entire list of articles in +Schedules A, B, and C,--even though the lost revenue was but shifted +to articles of luxury, would carry with him the hearty gratitude of +the country. Nearly every article in the whole list of manufactures is +either of daily consumption and necessity among all classes of our +population, or an implement of trade, or enters largely into the +economical prosecution of the main industries of the Dominion." The +criticism of the sliding scale, of which so much was heard at the +time, was only another phase of the protectionist objection. The +charge that the treaty would discriminate in favour of American +against British imports was easily disposed of. Brown showed that +every article admitted free from the United States would be admitted +free from Great Britain. But as this meant British as well as American +competition, it made the case worse from the protectionist point of +view. The rejection of the treaty by the United States left a clear +field for the protectionists in Canada. + +Four years after Mr. Brown's speech defending the treaty, he made his +last important speech in the senate, and almost the last public +utterance of his life, attacking Tilley's protectionist budget, and +nailing his free-trade colours to the mast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +CANADIAN NATIONALISM + + +It will be remembered that after the victory won by the Reformers in +1848, there was an outbreak of radical sentiment, represented by the +Clear Grits in Upper Canada and by the Rouges in Lower Canada. It may +be more than a coincidence that there was a similar stirring of the +blood in Ontario and in Quebec after the Liberal victory of 1874. The +founding of the _Liberal_ and of the _Nation_, of the National Club +and of the Canada First Association, Mr. Blake's speech at Aurora, and +Mr. Goldwin Smith's utterances combined to mark this period as one of +extraordinary intellectual activity. Orthodox Liberalism was +disquieted by these movements. It had won a great, and as was then +believed, a permanent victory over Macdonald and all that he +represented, and it had no sympathy with a disturbing force likely to +break up party lines, and to lead young men into new and unknown +paths. + +The platform of Canada First was not in itself revolutionary. It +embraced, (1) British connection; (2) closer trade relations with the +British West India Islands, with a view to ultimate political +connection; (3) an income franchise; (4) the ballot, with the +addition of compulsory voting; (5) a scheme for the representation of +minorities; (6) encouragement of immigration and free homesteads in +the public domain; (7) the imposition of duties for revenue so +adjusted as to afford every possible encouragement to native industry; +(8) an improved militia system under command of trained Dominion +officers; (9) no property qualifications in members of the House of +Commons; (10) reorganization of the senate; (11) pure and economic +administration of public affairs. This programme was severely +criticized by the _Globe_. Some of the articles, such as purity and +economy, were scornfully treated as commonplaces of politics. "Yea, +and who knoweth not such things as these." The framers of the platform +were rebuked for their presumption in setting themselves above the old +parties, and were advised to "tarry in Jericho until their beards be +grown." + +But the letter of the programme did not evince the spirit of Canada +First, which was more clearly set forth in the prospectus of the +_Nation_. There it was said that the one thing needful was the +cultivation of a national spirit. The country required the stimulus of +patriotism. Old prejudices of English, Scottish, Irish and German +people were crystallized. Canadians must assert their nationality, +their position as members of a nation. These and other declarations +were analyzed by the _Globe_, and the heralds of the new gospel were +pressed for a plainer avowal of their intentions. Throughout the +editorial utterances of the _Globe_ there was shown a growing +suspicion that the ulterior aim of the Canada First movement was to +bring about the independence of Canada. The quarrel came to a head +when Mr. Goldwin Smith was elected president of the National Club. The +_Globe_, in its issue of October 27th, 1874, brought its heaviest +artillery to bear on the members of the Canada First party. It accused +them of lack of courage and frankness. When brought to book as to +their principles, it said, they repudiated everything. They repudiated +nativism; they repudiated independence; they abhorred the very idea of +annexation. The movement was without meaning when judged by these +repudiations, but was very significant and involved grave practical +issues when judged by the practices of its members. They had talked +loudly and foolishly of emancipation from political thraldom, as if +the present connection of Canada with Great Britain were a yoke and a +burden too heavy and too galling to be borne. They had adopted the +plank of British connection by a majority of only four. They had +chosen as their standard-bearer, their prophet and their president, +one whose chief claim to prominence lay in the persistency with which +he had advocated the breaking up of the British empire. Mr. Goldwin +Smith had come into a peaceful community to do his best for the +furtherance of a cause which meant simply revolution. The advocacy of +independence, said the _Globe_, could not be treated as an academic +question. It touched every Canadian in his dearest and most important +relations. It jeopardized his material, social and religious +interests. Canada was not a mere dead limb of the British tree, ready +to fall of its own weight. The union was real, and the branch was a +living one. Great Britain, it was true, would not fight to hold Canada +against her will, but if the great mass of Canadians believed in +British connection, those who wished to break the bond must be ready +to take their lives in their hands. The very proposal to cut loose +from Britain would be only the beginning of trouble. In any case what +was sought was revolution, and those who preached it ought to +contemplate all the possibilities of such a course. They might be the +fathers and founders of a new nationality, but they might also be +simply mischief-makers, whose insignificance and powerlessness were +their sole protection, who were not important enough for "either a +traitor's trial or a traitor's doom." + +Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply to this attack was that he was an advocate, +not of revolution but of evolution. "Gradual emancipation," he said, +"means nothing more than the gradual concession by the mother country +to the colonies of powers of self-government; this process has already +been carried far. Should it be carried further and ultimately +consummated, as I frankly avow my belief it must, the mode of +proceeding will be the same that it has always been. Each step will +be an Act of parliament passed with the assent of the Crown. As to the +filial tie between England and Canada, I hope it will endure forever." + +Mr. Goldwin Smith's views were held by some other members of the +Canada First party. Another and a larger section were Imperialists, +who believed that Canada should assert herself by demanding a larger +share of self-government within the empire, and by demanding the +privileges and responsibilities of citizens of the empire. The bond +that united the Imperialists and the advocates of independence was +national spirit. This was what the _Globe_ failed to perceive, or at +least to recognize fully. Its article of October 27th is powerful and +logical, strong in sarcasm and invective. It displays every purely +intellectual quality necessary for the treatment of the subject, but +lacks the insight that comes from imagination and sympathy. The +declarations of those whose motto was "Canada first," could fairly be +criticized as vague, but this vagueness was the result, not of +cowardice or insincerity, but of the inherent difficulty of putting +the spirit of the movement into words. A youth whose heart is stirred +by all the aspirations of coming manhood, "yearning for the large +excitement that the coming years would yield," might have the same +hesitation in writing down his yearnings and aspirations on a sheet of +paper, and might be as unwisely snubbed by his elders. + +The greatest intellect of the Liberal party felt the impulse. At +Aurora Edward Blake startled the more cautious members of the party by +advocating the federation of the empire, the reorganization of the +senate, compulsory voting, extension of the franchise and +representation of minorities. His real theme was national spirit. +National spirit would be lacking until we undertook national +responsibilities. He described the Canadian people as "four millions +of Britons who are not free." By the policy of England, in which we +had no voice or control, Canada might be plunged into the horrors of +war. Recently, without our consent, the navigation of the St. Lawrence +had been ceded forever to the United States. We could not complain of +these things unless we were prepared to assume the full +responsibilities of citizenship within the empire. The young men of +Canada heard these words with a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was +not struck again. The movement apparently ceased, and politics +apparently flowed back into their old channels. But while the name, +the organization and the organs of Canada First in the press +disappeared, the force and spirit remained, and exercised a powerful +influence upon Canadian politics for many years. + +There can be little doubt that the Liberal party was injured by the +uncompromising hostility which was shown to the movement of 1874. +Young men, enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to look +upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyrannical, unprogressive and +hostile to new ideas. When the independent lodgment afforded by Canada +First disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Conservative +party, whose leader was shrewd enough to perceive the strength of the +spirit of nationalism, and to give it what countenance he could. +Protection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely by the use of +economic arguments, but because it was heralded as the "National +Policy" and hailed as a declaration of the commercial independence of +Canada. A few years later the legislation for the building of the +Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to the point of rashness, as it seemed, +and unwise and improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily +approved by the country, because it was regarded as a measure of +national growth and expansion. The strength of the Conservative party +from 1878 to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital +principle and spirit of Canada First. + +The _Globe's_ attacks upon the Canada First party also had the effect +of fixing in the public mind a picture of George Brown as a dictator +and a relentless wielder of the party whip, a picture contrasting +strangely with those suggested by his early career. He had fought for +responsible government, for freedom from clerical dictation; he had +been one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline; he had +carelessly thrown away a great party advantage in order to promote +confederation; he had been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874 +the Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at Toronto, and Mr. +Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when +his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is +mischievous. Canada First threatened to change the formation of +political parties, and seemed to him to threaten a change in the +relations of Canada to the empire. But these explanations do not alter +the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party to lose touch with +a movement characterized by intellectual keenness and generosity of +sentiment, representing a real though ill-defined national impulse, +and destined to leave its mark upon the history of the country. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LATER YEARS + + +In the preceding chapters it has been necessary to follow closely the +numerous public movements with which Brown was connected. Here we may +pause and consider some incidents of his life and some aspects of his +character which lie outside of these main streams of action. First, a +few words about the Brown household. Of the relations between father +and son something has already been said. Of his mother, Mr. Alexander +Mackenzie says: "We may assume that Mr. Brown derived much of his +energy, power and religious zeal from his half Celtic origin: these +qualities he possessed in an eminent degree, united with the +proverbial caution and prudence of the Lowlander." The children, in +the order of age, were Jane, married to Mr. George Mackenzie of New +York; George; Isabella, married to Mr. Thomas Henning; Katherine, who +died unmarried; Marianne, married to the Rev. W. S. Ball; and John +Gordon. There were no idlers in that family. The publication of the +_Globe_ in the early days involved a tremendous struggle. Peter Brown +lent a hand in the business as well as in the editorial department of +the paper. A good deal of the writing in the _Banner_ and the early +_Globe_ seems to bear the marks of his broad Liberalism and his +passionate love of freedom. Gordon entered the office as a boy, and +rose to be managing editor. Three of the daughters conducted a ladies' +school, which enjoyed an excellent reputation for thoroughness. +Katherine, the third daughter, was killed in a railway accident at +Syracuse; and the shock seriously affected the health of the father, +who died in 1863. The mother had died in the previous year. + +By these events and by marriages the busy household was broken up. +George Brown, as we have seen, married in 1862, and from that time +until his death his letters to his wife and children show an intense +affection and love of home. After her husband's death Mrs. Brown +resided in Edinburgh, where she died on May 6th 1906. The only son, +George M. Brown, was, in the last parliament, member of the British +House of Commons for Centre Edinburgh, and is one of the firm of +Thomas Nelson & Sons, publishers. In the same city reside two +daughters, Margaret, married to Dr. A. F. H. Barbour, a well-known +physician, and writer on medicine; and Edith, wife of George Sandeman. +Among other survivors are, E. B. Brown, barrister, Toronto; Alfred S. +Ball, K.C., police magistrate, Woodstock; and Peter B. Ball, +commercial agent for Canada at Birmingham, nephews of George Brown. + +From 1852 George Brown was busily engaged in public life, and a large +part of the work of the newspaper must have fallen on other shoulders. +There are articles in which one may fancy he detects the French +neatness of William Macdougall. George Sheppard spoke at the +convention of 1859 like a statesman; and he and Macdougall had higher +qualities than mere facility with the pen. Gordon Brown gradually grew +into the editorship. "He had" says Mr. E. W. Thomson, writing of a +later period, "a singular power of utilizing suggestions, combining +several that were evidently not associated, and indicating how they +could be merged in a striking manner. He seems to me now to have been +the greatest all-round editor I have yet had the pleasure of +witnessing at work, and in the political department superior to any of +the old or of the new time in North America, except only Horace +Greeley." But Mr. Thomson thinks that like most of the old-timers he +took his politics a little too hard. Mr. Gordon Brown died in June, +1896. + +Mr. Brown regarded his defeat in South Ontario in 1867, as an +opportunity to retire from parliamentary life. He had expressed that +intention several months before. He wrote to Holton, on May 13th, +1867, "My fixed determination is to see the Liberal party re-united +and in the ascendant, and then make my bow as a politician. As a +journalist and a citizen, I hope always to be found on the right side +and heartily supporting my old friends. But I want to be free to write +of men and things without control, beyond that which my conscientious +convictions and the interests of my country demand. To be debarred by +fear of injuring the party from saying that--is unfit to sit in +parliament and that--is very stupid, makes journalism a very small +business. Party leadership and the conducting of a great journal do +not harmonize." + +In his speech at the convention of 1867 he said that he had looked +forward to the triumph of representation by population as the day of +his emancipation from parliamentary life, but that the case was +altered by the proposal to continue the coalition, involving a +secession from the ranks of the Liberal party. In this juncture it was +necessary for Liberals to unite and consult, and if it were found that +his continuance in parliamentary life for a short time would be a +service to the party, he would not refuse. It would be impossible, +however, for him to accept any official position, and he did not wish, +by remaining in parliament, to stand in the way of those who would +otherwise become leaders of the party. He again emphasized the +difficulty of combining the functions of leadership of a party and +management of a newspaper. "The sentiments of the leader of a party +are only known from his public utterances on public occasions. If a +wrong act is committed by an opponent or by a friend, he may simply +shrug his shoulders." But it was otherwise with the journalist. He had +been accused of fierce assaults on public men. "But I tell you if the +daily thoughts and the words daily uttered by other public men were +written in a book as mine have been, and circulated all over the +country, there would have been a very different comparison between +them and myself. I have had a double duty to perform. If I had been +simply the leader of a party and had not controlled a public journal, +such things would not have been left on record. I might have passed my +observations in private conversation, and no more would have been +heard of them. But as a journalist it was necessary I should speak the +truth before the people, no matter whether it helped my party or not; +and this, of course, reflected on the position of the party. +Consequently, I have long felt very strongly that I had to choose one +position or the other--that of a leader in parliamentary life, or that +of a monitor in the public press--and the latter has been my choice +being probably more in consonance with my ardent temperament, and at +the same time, in my opinion, more influential; for I am free to say +that in view of all the grand offices that are now talked +of--governorships, premierships and the like--I would rather be editor +of the _Globe_, with the hearty confidence of the great mass of the +people of Upper Canada, than have the choice of them all." + +Of Mr. Brown's relations with the parliamentary leaders after his +retirement, Mr. Mackenzie says: "Nor did he ever in after years +attempt to control or influence parliamentary proceedings as conducted +by the Liberals in opposition, or in the government; while always +willing to give his opinion when asked on any particular question, he +never volunteered his advice. His opinions, of course, received free +utterance in the _Globe_, which was more unfettered by reason of his +absence from parliamentary duties; though even there it was rarely +indeed that any articles were published which were calculated to +inconvenience or discomfort those who occupied his former +position."[21] + +Left comparatively free to follow his own inclinations, Brown plunged +into farming, spending money and energy freely in the raising of fine +cattle on his Bow Park estate near Brantford, an extensive business +which ultimately led to the formation of a joint stock company. The +province of Ontario, especially western Ontario, was for him the +object of an intense local patriotism. He loved to travel over it and +to meet the people. It was noticed in the _Globe_ office that he paid +special attention to the weekly edition of the paper, as that which +reached the farming community. His Bow Park enterprise gave him an +increased feeling of kinship and sympathy with that community, and he +delighted in showing farmers over the estate. It would be hard to draw +a more characteristic picture than that of the tall senator striding +over the fields, talking of cattle and crops with all the energy with +which he was wont to denounce the Tories. + +Brown was appointed to the senate in December, 1873. Except for the +speech on reciprocity, which is dealt with elsewhere, his career there +was not noteworthy. He seems to have taken no part in the discussion +on Senator Vidal's resolution in favour of prohibition, or on the +Scott Act, a measure for introducing prohibition by local option. A +popular conception of Brown as an ardent advocate of legislative +prohibition may have been derived from some speeches made in his early +career, and from an early prospectus of the _Globe_. On the bill +providing for government of the North-West Territories he made a +speech against the provision for separate schools, warning the House +that the effect would be to fasten these institutions on the West in +perpetuity. + +In 1876 Senator Brown figured in a remarkable case of contempt of +court. A Bowmanville newspaper had charged Senator Simpson, a +political ally of Brown, with resorting to bribery in the general +election of 1872. It published also a letter from Senator Brown to +Senator Simpson, asking him for a subscription towards the Liberal +campaign fund. On Senator Simpson's application, Wilkinson, the editor +of the paper, was called upon to show cause why a criminal information +should not issue against him for libel. The case was argued before the +Queen's Bench, composed of Chief-Justice Harrison, Justice Morrison, +and Justice Wilson. The judgment of the court delivered by the +chief-justice was against the editor in regard to two of the articles +complained of and in his favour in regard to the third. In following +the chief-justice, Mr. Justice Wilson took occasion to refer to +Senator Brown's letter and to say that it was written with corrupt +intent to interfere with the freedom of elections. + +Brown was not the man to allow a charge of this kind to go unanswered, +and in this case there were special circumstances calculated to arouse +his anger. The publication of his letter in the Bowmanville paper had +been the signal for a fierce attack upon him by the Conservative press +of the province. It appeared to him that Justice Wilson had wantonly +made himself a participant in this attack, lending the weight of his +judicial influence to his enemies. Interest was added to the case by +the fact that the judge had been in previous years supported by the +_Globe_ in municipal and parliamentary elections. He had been +solicitor-general in the Macdonald-Sicotte government from May 1862 to +May 1863. Judge Morrison had been solicitor-general under Hincks, and +afterwards a colleague of John A. Macdonald. Each of them, in this +case, took a course opposite to that which might have been expected +from old political associations. + +A few days afterwards the _Globe_ contained a long, carefully prepared +and powerful attack upon Mr. Justice Wilson. Beginning with a tribute +to the Bench of Ontario, it declared that no fault was to be found +with the judgment of the court, and that the offence lay in the +gratuitous comments of Mr. Justice Wilson. + +"No sooner had the chief-justice finished than Mr. Justice Wilson +availed himself of the occasion to express his views of the matter +with a freedom of speech and an indifference to the evidence before +the court and an indulgence in assumptions, surmises and insinuations, +that we believe to be totally unparalleled in the judicial proceedings +of any Canadian court." + +The article denied that the letter was written with any corrupt +intent, and it stated that the entire fund raised by the Liberal party +in the general election of 1872 was only three thousand seven hundred +dollars, or forty-five dollars for each of the eighty-two +constituencies. "This Mr. Justice Wilson may rest assured of: that +such slanders and insults shall not go unanswered, and if the dignity +of the Bench is ruffled in the tussle, on his folly shall rest the +blame. We cast back on Mr. Wilson his insolent and slanderous +interpretation. The letter was not written for corrupt purposes. It +was not written to interfere with the freedom of elections. It was not +an invitation to anybody to concur in committing bribery and +corruption at the polls; and be he judge or not who says so, this +statement is false." + +The writer went on to contend that there were perfectly legitimate +expenditures in keenly contested elections. "Was there no such fund +when Mr. Justice Wilson was in public life? When the hat went round in +his contest for the mayoralty, was that or was it not a concurrence in +bribery or corruption at the polls?" Mr. Justice Wilson had justified +his comment by declaring that he might take notice of matters with +which every person of ordinary intelligence was acquainted. Fastening +upon these words the _Globe_ asked, "How could Mr. Justice Wilson in +his hunt for things which every person of ordinary intelligence is +acquainted with, omit to state that while the entire general election +fund of the Liberal party for that year (1872) was but three thousand +seven hundred dollars, raised by subscription from a few private +individuals, the Conservative fund on the same occasion amounted to +the enormous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, raised by the +flagitious sale of the Pacific Railway contract to a band of +speculators on terms disastrous to the interests of the country." + +In another vigorous paragraph the writer said: "We deeply regret being +compelled to write of the conduct of any member of the Ontario Bench +in the tone of this article, but the offence was so rank, so reckless, +so utterly unjustifiable that soft words would have but poorly +discharged our duty to the public." + +No proceedings were taken in regard to this article until about five +months afterwards, when Mr. Wilkinson, the editor of the Bowmanville +paper, applied to have Mr. Brown committed for contempt of court. The +judge assailed took no action and the case was tried before his +colleagues, Chief-Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison. Mr. Brown +appeared in person and made an argument occupying portions of two +days. He pointed out that the application had been delayed five +months after the publication of the article. He contended that +Wilkinson was not prejudiced by the _Globe_ article and had no +standing in the case. In a lengthy affidavit he entered into the whole +question of the expenditure of the two parties in the election of +1872, including the circumstances of the Pacific Scandal. He repeated +on oath the statement made in the article that his letter was not +written with corrupt intent; that the subscription asked for was for +legitimate purposes and that it was part of a fund amounting to only +three thousand seven hundred dollars for the whole province of +Ontario. He boldly justified the article as provoked by Mr. Justice +Wilson's dictum and by the use that would be made of it by hostile +politicians. The judge had chosen to intervene in a keen political +controversy whose range extended to the Pacific Scandal; and in +defending himself from his enemies and the enemies of his party, Brown +was forced to answer the judge. He argued that to compel an editor to +keep silence in such a case, would not only be unjust to him, but +contrary to public policy. For instance, the discussion of a great +public question such as that involved in the Pacific Scandal, might be +stopped upon the application of a party to a suit in which that +question was incidentally raised. + +The case was presented with his accustomed energy and thoroughness, +from the point of view of journalistic duty, of politics and of +law--for Mr. Brown was not afraid to tread that sacred ground and +give extensive citations from the law reports. His address may be +commended to any editor who may be pursued by that mysterious legal +phantom, a charge of contempt of court. The energy of his gestures, +the shaking of the white head and the swinging of the long arms, must +have somewhat startled Osgoode Hall. The court was divided, the +chief-justice ruling that there had been contempt, Mr. Justice +Morrison, contra, and Mr. Justice Wilson taking no part in the +proceedings. So the matter dropped, though not out of the memory of +editors and politicians. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] Mackenzie's _Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown_, p. 119. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CONCLUSION + + +The building in which the life of the Hon. George Brown was so +tragically ended, was one that had been presented to him by the +Reformers of Upper Canada before confederation "as a mark of the high +sense entertained by his political friends of the long, faithful and +important services which he has rendered to the people of Canada." It +stood upon the north side of King Street, on ground which is now the +lower end of Victoria Street, for the purpose of extending which, the +building was demolished. The ground floor was occupied by the business +office; on the next, looking out upon King Street, was Mr. Brown's +private office; and above that the rooms occupied by the editorial +staff, with the composing room in the rear. At about half past four +o'clock on the afternoon of March 25th, 1880, several of the occupants +of the editorial rooms heard a shot, followed by a sound of breaking +glass, and cries of "Help!" and "Murder!" Among these were Mr. Avern +Pardoe, now librarian of the legislative assembly of Ontario; Mr. +Archibald Blue, now head of the census bureau at Ottawa; Mr. John A. +Ewan, now leader writer on the _Globe_; and Mr. Allan S. Thompson, +father of the present foreman of the _Globe_ composing room. Mr. Ewan +and Mr. Thompson were first to arrive on the scene. Following the +direction from which the sounds proceeded, they found Mr. Brown on the +landing, struggling with an undersized man, whose head was thrust into +Brown's breast. Mr. Ewan and Mr. Thompson seized the man, while Mr. +Brown himself wrested a smoking pistol from his hand. Mr. Blue, Mr. +Pardoe and others quickly joined the group, and Mr. Brown, though not +apparently severely injured, was induced to lie on the sofa in his +room, where his wound was examined. The bullet had passed through the +outer side of the left thigh, about four inches downward and backward; +it was found on the floor of the office. + +The assailant was George Bennett, who had been employed in the engine +room of the _Globe_ for some years, and had been discharged for +intemperance. Mr. Brown said that when Bennett entered the office he +proceeded to shut the door behind him. Thinking the man's movements +singular, Mr. Brown stopped him and asked him what he wanted. Bennett, +after some hesitation, presented a paper for Mr. Brown's signature, +saying that it was a statement that he had been employed in the +_Globe_ for five years. Mr. Brown said he should apply to the head of +the department in which he was employed. Bennett said that the head of +the department had refused to give the certificate. Mr. Brown then +told him to apply to Mr. Henning, the treasurer of the company, who +could furnish the information by examining his books. + +Bennett kept insisting that Mr. Brown should sign the paper, and +finally began to fumble in his pistol pocket, whereupon it passed +through Mr. Brown's mind "that the little wretch might be meaning to +shoot me." As he got the pistol out, Mr. Brown seized his wrist and +turned his hand downward. After one shot had been fired, the struggle +continued until the two got outside the landing, where they were found +as already described. + +The bullet had struck no vital part, and the wound was not considered +to be mortal. But as week after week passed without substantial +improvement, the anxiety of his friends and of the country deepened. +At the trial the question was raised whether recovery had been +prevented by the fact that Mr. Brown, against the advice of his +physician, transacted business in his room. After the first eight or +ten days there were intervals of delirium. Towards the end of April +when the case looked very serious, Mr. Brown had a long conversation +with the Rev. Dr. Greig, his old pastor, and with members of his +family. "In that conversation," says Mr. Mackenzie, "he spoke freely +to them of his faith and hope, and we are told poured out his soul in +full and fervent prayer," and he joined heartily in the singing of the +hymn "Rock of Ages." A few days afterwards he became unconscious; the +physicians ceased to press stimulants or nourishment upon him, and +early on Sunday, May 10th, he passed away. + +Bennett was tried and found guilty of murder on June 22nd following, +and was executed a month afterwards. Though he caused the death of a +man so conspicuous in the public life of Canada, his act is not to be +classed with assassinations committed from political motives, or even +from love of notoriety. On the scaffold he said that he had not +intended to kill Mr. Brown. However this may be, it is certain that it +was not any act of Mr. Brown's that set up that process of brooding +over grievances that had so tragic an ending. By misfortune and by +drinking, a mind, naturally ill-regulated had been reduced to that +condition in which enemies are seen on every hand. A paper was found +upon him in which he set forth a maniacal plan of murdering a supposed +enemy and concealing the remains in the furnace of the _Globe_ +building. That the original object of his enmity was not Mr. Brown is +certain; there was not the slightest ground for the suspicion that the +victim was made to suffer for some enmity aroused in his strenuous +career as a public man. Strange that after such a career he should +meet a violent death at the hands of a man who was thinking solely of +private grievances! + +Tracing Mr. Brown's career through a long period of history, by his +public actions, his speeches, and the volumes of his newspaper, one +arrives at a somewhat different estimate from that preserved in +familiar gossip and tradition. That tradition pictures a man +impulsive, stormy, imperious, bearing down by sheer force all +opposition to his will. In the main it is probably true; but the +printed record is also true, and out of the two we must strive to +reproduce the man. We are told of a speech delivered with flashing +eye, with gestures that seemed almost to threaten physical violence. +We read the report of the speech and we find something more than the +ordinary transition from warm humanity, to cold print. There is not +only freedom from violence, but there is coherence, close reasoning, a +systematic marshalling of facts and figures and arguments. One might +say of many of his speeches, as was said of Alexander Mackenzie's +sentences, that he built them as he built a stone wall. His tremendous +energy was not spasmodic, but was backed by solid industry, method and +persistence. + +As Mr. Bengough said in a little poem published soon after Mr. Brown's +death, + + "His nature was a rushing mountain stream; + His faults but eddies which its swiftness bred." + +In his business as a journalist, he had not much of that philosophy +which says that the daily difficulties of a newspaper are sure to +solve themselves by the effluxion of time. There are traditions of his +impatience and his outbreaks of wrath when something went wrong, but +there are traditions also of a kindness large enough to include the +lad who carried the proofs to his house. Those who were thoroughly +acquainted with the affairs of the office say that he was extremely +lenient with employees who were intemperate or otherwise incurred +blame, and that his leniency had been extended to Bennett. Intimate +friends and political associates deny that he played the dictator, and +say that he was genial and humorous in familiar intercourse. But it +is, after all, a somewhat unprofitable task to endeavour to sit in +judgment on the personal character of a public man, placing this +virtue against that fault, and solemnly assuming to decide which side +of the ledger exceeds the other. We have to deal with the character of +Brown as a force in its relation to other forces, and to the events of +the period of history covered by his career. + +A quarter of a century has now elapsed since the death of George Brown +and a still longer time since the most stirring scenes in his career +were enacted. We ought therefore to be able to see him in something +like his true relation to the history of his times. He came to Canada +at a time when the notion of colonial self-government was regarded as +a startling innovation. He found among the dominant class a curious +revival of the famous Stuart doctrine, "No Bishop, no King;" hence the +rise of such leaders, partly political and partly religious, as Bishop +Strachan, among the Anglicans, and Dr. Ryerson, among the Methodists, +the former vindicating and the latter challenging the exclusive +privileges of the Anglican Church. There was room for a similar +leader among Presbyterians, and in a certain sense this was the +opportunity of George Brown. In founding first a Presbyterian paper +and afterwards a political paper, he was following a line familiar to +the people of his time. But while he had a special influence among +Presbyterians, he appeared, not as claiming special privileges for +them, but as the opponent of all privilege, fighting first the +Anglican Church and afterwards the Roman Catholic Church, and +asserting in each case the principle of the separation of Church and +State. + +For some years after Brown's arrival in Canada, those questions in +which politics and religion were blended were subordinated to a +question purely political--colonial self-government. The atmosphere +was not favourable to cool discussion. The colony had been in +rebellion, and the passions aroused by the rebellion were always ready +to burst into flame. French Canada having been more deeply stirred by +the rebellion than Upper Canada, racial animosity was added there to +party bitterness. The task of the Reformers was to work steadily for +the establishment of a new order involving a highly important +principle of government, and, at the same time, to keep the movement +free from all suspicion of incitement to rebellion. + +The leading figure of this movement is that of Robert Baldwin, and he +was well supported by Hincks, by Sullivan, by William Hume Blake and +others. The forces were wisely led, and it is not pretended that this +direction was due to Brown. He was in 1844 only twenty-six years of +age, and his position at first was that of a recruit. But he was a +recruit of uncommon vigour and steadiness, and though he did not +originate, he emphasized the idea of carrying on the fight on strictly +constitutional and peaceful lines. His experience in New York and his +deep hatred of slavery had strengthened by contrast his conviction +that Great Britain was the citadel of liberty, and hence his +utterances in favour of British connection were not conventional, but +glowed with enthusiasm. + +With 1849 came the triumph of Reform, and the last despairing effort +of the old regime, dying out with the flames of the parliament +buildings at Montreal. Now ensued a change in both parties. The one, +exhausted and discredited by its fight against the inevitable coming +of the new order, remained for a time weak and inactive, under a +leader whose day was done. The other, in the very hour of victory, +began to suffer disintegration. It had its Conservative element +desiring to rest and be thankful, and its Radical element with aims +not unlike those of Chartism in England. Brown stood for a time +between the government and the Conservative element on the one side +and the Clear Grits on the other. Disintegration was hastened by the +retirement of Baldwin and Lafontaine. Then came the brief and troubled +reign of Hincks; then a reconstruction of parties, with Conservatives +under the leadership of Macdonald and Reformers under that of Brown. + +The stream of politics between 1854 and 1864 is turbid; there is +pettiness, there is bitterness, there is confusion. But away from this +turmoil the province is growing in population, in wealth, in all the +elements of civilization. Upper Canada especially is growing by +immigration; it overtakes and passes Lower Canada in population, and +thus arises the question of representation by population. Brown takes +up this reform in representation as a means of freeing Upper Canada +from the domination of the Lower Province. He becomes the "favourite +son" of Upper Canada. His rival, through his French-Canadian alliance, +meets him with a majority from Lower Canada; and so, for several +years, there is a period of equally balanced parties and weak +governments, ending in dead-lock. + +If Brown's action had only broken this dead-lock, extricated some +struggling politicians from difficulty, and allowed the ordinary +business of government to proceed, it might have deserved only passing +notice. But more than that was involved. The difficulty was inherent +in the system. The legislative union was Lord Durham's plan of +assimilating the races that he had found "warring in the bosom of a +single state." The plan had failed. The line of cleavage was as +sharply defined as ever. The ill-assorted union had produced only +strife and misunderstanding. Yet to break the tie when new duties and +new dangers had emphasized the necessity for union seemed to be an act +of folly. To federalize the union was to combine the advantage of +common action with liberty to each community to work out its own +ideals in education, municipal government and all other matters of +local concern. More than that, to federalize the union was to +substitute for a rigid bond a bond elastic enough to allow of +expansion, eastward to the Atlantic and westward to the Pacific. That +principle which has been called provincial rights, or provincial +autonomy, might be described more accurately and comprehensively as +federalism; and it is the basic principle of Canadian political +institutions, as essential to unity as to peace and local freedom. + +The feeble, isolated and distracted colonies of 1864 have given place +to a commonwealth which, if not in strictness a nation, possesses all +the elements and possibilities of nationality, with a territory open +on three sides to the ocean, lying in the highway of the world's +commerce, and capable of supporting a population as large as that of +the British Islands. Confederation was the first and greatest step in +that process of expansion, and it is speaking only words of truth and +soberness to say that confederation will rank among the landmarks of +the world's history, and that its importance will not decline but will +increase as history throws events into their true perspective. It is +in his association with confederation, with the events that led up to +confederation, and with the addition to Canada of the vast and fertile +plains of the West, that the life of George Brown is of interest to +the student of history. + +Brown was not only a member of parliament and an actor in the +political drama, but was the founder of a newspaper, and for +thirty-six years the source of its inspiration and influence. As a +journalist he touched life at many points. He was a man of varied +interests--railways, municipal affairs, prison reform, education, +agriculture, all came within the range of his duty as a journalist and +his interest and sympathy as a man. Those stout-hearted men who amid +all the wrangling and intrigue of the politicians were turning the +wilderness of Canada into a garden, gave to Brown in large measure +their confidence and affection. He, on his part, valued their +friendship more than any victory that could be won in the political +game. That was the standard by which he always asked to be judged. +This story of his life may help to show that he was true to the trust +they reposed in him, and to the principles that were the standards of +his political conduct, to government by the people, to free +institutions, to religious liberty and equality, to the unity and +progress of the confederation of which he was one of the builders. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +_Albion_, the, Peter Brown contributes thereto, 2 + +Anglican Church, exclusive claims of, 11, 51, 52 + +Annexation manifesto, result of discontent aroused by Rebellion Losses + Bill, and repeal of preferential trade, 37 + + +B + +Bagot, Sir Charles, Governor of Canada, + friendly attitude towards French-Canadians, 16; + accepts Lafontaine and Baldwin as his advisers, 16; + accused of surrender to rebels, 16; + his action threatens to cause ministerial crisis in England, 16; + denounced by Duke of Wellington, 16, 17; + recalled at his own request, 18; + illness and death, 18; + begs his ministers to defend his memory, 18 + +Baldwin, Robert, + father of responsible government, 21; + criticized by Dr. Ryerson, 22, 23; + his wise leadership, 24; + victory at polls, 33; + achievements of his ministry, 33; + the Rebellion Losses Bill, 34-7; + discontent of Clear Grits, 39; + the Baldwin-Lafontaine government defended by Brown, 42; + resigns because of vote of abolition of Court of Chancery, 47 + +_Banner_, the, + established by the Browns, 5; + descriptive extracts, 3, 6-8 + +Belleau, Sir Narcisse F., + succeeds Sir E. P. Tache as head of the coalition government, 191; + his headship only nominal, 191 + +Bennett, George, + employed in engine room of the _Globe_, 256; + discharged, 256; + his conversation with Brown, 256; + shoots and wounds Brown, 257; + on death of Brown is tried and found guilty of murder, 258; + his mind disordered by misfortune and by intemperance, 258 + +Blake, the Hon. Edward, speech at Aurora advocating imperial + federation, 240 + +British-American League, the, advocates federation, 37 + +_British Chronicle_, the, established by the Browns in New York, 4 + +Brown, George, + birth, 1; + education, 1; + leaves Scotland for the United States, 2; + visits Canada, 4; + founds the _Banner_, 5; + founds the _Globe_, 20; + addresses Toronto Reform Association, 21; + refuses to drink health of Lord Metcalfe, 27, 28; + his dwelling attacked by opponents of Lord Elgin, 36; + opposes Clear Grit movement, 40; + attitude towards Baldwin-Lafontaine government, 42; + dissatisfied with delay in dealing with clergy reserves, 42; + causes of rupture with Reform government, 44; + comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, 44, 45; + attacked as an enemy of Irish Catholics, 44-6; + defeated in Haldimand election by William Lyon Mackenzie, 46; + his election platform, 47; + rupture with Hincks's government, 48; + complains of French and Catholic influence, 48, 49; + series of letters to Hincks, 48; + addresses meeting in favour of secularization of clergy reserves, 55, 56; + candidate for parliament for Kent, 61; + his platform, 61; + advocates free and non-sectarian schools, 62; + advocates similar policy for university education, 62; + elected member for Kent, 64; + his first appearance in parliament, 65; + consequence of parliament being held in city of Quebec, 65; + hostility of French-Canadians to Brown, 65; + Brown's maiden speech, 66; + vindicates responsible government, and insists upon fulfilment of + ministerial pledges, 66, 67; + condition of parties in legislature, 69; + Brown's temporary isolation, 69; + his industry, 69; + opposes legislation granting privileges to Roman Catholic + institutions, 70; + his course leads towards reconstruction of legislative union, 70; + growth of his popularity in Upper Canada, 71; + remarkable testimony of a Conservative journal, 71, 72; + his appearance on the platform in 1853 described by the Hon. James + Young, 73; + favours prohibition, 76; + elected for Lambton, 77; + forms friendship with the Rouge leader, A. A. Dorion, 80, 81; + advocates representation by population, 82-4; + charged by J. A. Macdonald with misconduct as secretary of prison + commission, 87; + moves for committee of inquiry, 88; + forcibly repels attack, 89; + exposes cruelties and abuses in prison, 90; + his relations with Macdonald embittered by this incident, 91; + delivers address on prison reform, 91, 92; + repels charge that he had been a defaulter in Edinburgh, and defends + his father, 93-7; + elected for city of Toronto in 1857, 99; + defeats government on question of seat of government, 100; + called upon to form a government, 101; + confers with Dorion, 101; + forms Brown-Dorion administration, 102; + waits upon the governor-general, 102; + receives communication from the governor-general, 102; + forms belief that obstacles are being placed in his way by intrigue, 102; + criticizes the governor-general's communication, 103; + meets his colleagues, 104; + his government defeated in parliament, 104; + asks for dissolution and is refused, 105, 106; + his government resigns, 106; + his part in work of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, 112; + denounces Fugitive Slave Law, 113, 114; + discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, 114-19; + his relations with Roman Catholics, 121; + opposes separate schools, 121; + accepts compromise, 122; + his "no popery" campaign, 123; + his letter to Roman Catholics, 124-6; + his position considered, 127, 128; + his course leads up to confederation, 130; + letter to Holton, 131; + his speech at Reform convention of 1859, 137; + fails to obtain support of legislature for proposals to federalize + the union, 139; + contemplates retirement from leadership of Reform party, 141; + defeated in East Toronto, 141; + opposes John Sandfield's "double majority" plan, 143; + visits England, 143; + marriage in Edinburgh, 144; + his attitude towards separate schools, 145; + accepts compromise of 1863, 145; + describes dead-lock situation, 149; + lays before legislature report of special committee advocating + federation of Canada as a remedy, 150; + negotiations with government, 151-6; + consults Reformers of Upper Canada, 156, 157; + urged by governor-general (Monk) to enter government, 157; + consents, 158; + enters ministry, 159; + visits Maritime Provinces, 161; + addresses meeting at Halifax in furtherance of confederation, 161; + advocates nominative as against elective senate, 164; + describes result of Quebec conference, 165; + addresses meeting at Music Hall, Toronto, 166; + visits England, 167; + describes English feeling in favour of confederation, 167; + his speech in parliament advocating confederation, 171-5; + describes crisis created by defeat of New Brunswick government, 181, 182; + visits England with Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, 186; + on the death of Tache objects to Macdonald assuming premiership, 189; + consents to succession of Sir N. F. Belleau, 191; + his work in connection with reciprocity, 192; + appointed member of confederate council on reciprocity, 193; + protests against Galt's proceedings in Washington, 194; + objects strongly to proposal for reciprocity by legislation, 194; + resigns from coalition, 195; + letter to Cartier, 196; + his reasons for resigning, 196; + the rupture inevitable, 199; + reasons why coalition could not endure, 199; + Holton's warning, 200, 201; + experience of Howland, Macdougall and Tilley, 202; + experience of Joseph Howe, 203, 204; + coalition endangers Liberal principles, 204-7; + Brown's course after leaving coalition, 208; + addresses Reform convention of 1867 against continuance of + coalition, 209; + interest in North-West Territories, 211, 213; + advocates union of North-West Territories with Canada, 218-20; + takes part in negotiations with British government, 220; + his services as to North-West Territories acknowledged by Macdonald, 221; + sent to Washington by Mackenzie government to inquire as to + reciprocity (1874), 226; + appointed with Sir Edward Thornton to negotiate treaty, 226; + finds much ignorance of value of Canadian trade, 228; + prepares memorandum as to trade, 229; + carries on propaganda in American journals, 230; + falsely accused of bribing them, 230; + describes progress of negotiations, 231; + joins issue with Canadian protectionists, 232, 233; + effect of his hostility to Canada First movement, 241, 242; + his family, 243, 244; + determines to retire from public life, 245; + describes difficulty of combining journalism with politics, 246-8; + his relations with party leaders after retirement, 247; + acquires Bow Park estate, and engages in raising of fine cattle, 248; + engaged in a famous case of contempt of court, 249; + accused by Mr. Justice Wilson of bribery, 249; + Mr. Justice Wilson attacked by the _Globe_, 250-2; + Brown charged with contempt of court, appears in person, and defends + himself, 252-4; + attacked and shot by George Bennett, 255; + the wound not regarded as mortal, 257; + unfavourable progress of case, 257; + death, 258; + motives of Bennett, 258; + character of Brown, 259; + his career in relation to history, 260-3; + his share in achievement of confederation, 264, 265 + +Brown, J. Gordon, succeeds George as managing editor of the _Globe_, 244 + +Brown, Peter, father of the Hon. George Brown, + leaves Scotland for New York, 2; + contributes to the _Albion_, 2; + author of _Fame and Glory of England Vindicated_, 3; + establishes the _British Chronicle_, 4; + establishes the _Banner_, 5; + his business troubles in Edinburgh lead to an attack on George Brown, 93; + George Brown's speech in the legislature, 93-8; + his work on the _Globe_, 243, 244 + + +C + +Canada First, + its platform, 235; + severely criticized by the _Globe_, 236; + the _Globe_ suspects that it means Canadian independence, 237; + the _Globe's_ attack on Canada First and Goldwin Smith, 237, 238; + Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply, 238; + national spirit evinced by movement, 239; + effect of Canada First movement, 240, 241; + Edward Blake at Aurora advocates imperial federation, 240; + Liberal party injured by hostility to Canada First, 240-2 + +Cartier, Georges E., asks Brown to reconsider his resignation from + coalition ministry, 196 + +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on confederation, 148, 153 + +Cathcart, Earl, governor of Canada, 28 + +_Church_, the, opposes responsible government as impious, 6 + +Clear Grit party, + its leaders, 39; + opposed by George Brown and the _Globe_, 40; + its platform, 41 + +Clergy reserves, + intended to endow Protestant clergy, 51; + claim of Church of England to exclusive enjoyment, 51; + evidence of intention to establish Church of England, 52; + effect of policy on Canada, 52; + described as one of the causes of rebellion, 53; + settlement retarded by locking up of lands, 53, 54; + Brown advocates secularization, 54; + Brown addresses meeting in Toronto, 55, 56; + the meeting mobbed, 58; + Riot Act read, and military aid used to protect meeting, 58; + secularization accomplished, 59, 60 + +Confederation of British American provinces advocated by British + American League, 37, 38; + the proposal attributed to various persons, 129; + D'Arcy McGee says it was due to events more powerful than men, 129, 130; + Brown's course leads up to confederation, 130; + his letter to Luther Holton treating it as an open question, 131; + advocated by Dorion, 132; + by A. T. Galt, 132; + failure of attempt made in 1858, 133; + Liberals of Lower Canada declare for federal union, 133; + convention of Upper Canada Reformers, 133, 134; + the evils of the legislative union set forth, 134; + account of the convention, 134; + divided between dissolving and federalizing the union, 135; + Sheppard's acute criticism of plan of federation, 135; + convention declares for local legislatures, with joint authority for + matters of common interest, 136, 138; + George Brown opposes dissolution of union, 137; + the legislature rejects Brown's resolutions founded on those of the + convention, 139; + becomes an urgent question, 147; + causes of that change, 147; + Canada urged by Great Britain to take measures for defence, 147; + effect of the American Civil War, 147; + abrogation of reciprocity treaty and loss of American trade, 148; + fears of abolition of bonding system, 148; + isolated position of Canada, 148; + the credit of the country low, 148 (note); + the dead-lock in the government of Canada, 149; + attempts to form a stable government fail, 149; + Brown describes the situation, 150; + Brown brings into the House report of a special committee favouring + federation as a remedy for difficulties in the government of + Canada, 150; + the Tache' government defeated, 151; + negotiations with Brown, 151; + Ferrier's account of the meeting, 152; + Brown's account of negotiations, 152, 153; + Sir Richard Cartwright describes a scene in the House, 153; + official account of negotiations, 154; + Brown reluctant to join coalition ministry, 154; + question whether federation should include Maritime Provinces and + North-West Territories, 155, 156; + Brown consults Reform members for Upper Canada, 156; + they approve of confederation and of coalition, 157; + the governor-general (Monk) urges Brown to enter coalition, 157; + Brown consents, 158; + letter from Brown, 158; + formation of the coalition, 159; + predominance of Conservatives in government, 160; + the bye-elections generally favour confederation, 160, 161; + movement for Maritime union, 161; + meeting of Canadian and Maritime representatives at Charlottetown, 161; + conference at Quebec, 163; + anxiety to avoid danger of "State sovereignty," 163; + powers not defined to reside in central parliament, 163; + constitution of the senate, 164; + Brown advocates nominated senate, 164; + Brown describes result of conference, 165; + the Maritime delegates visit Canada, 166; + cordial reception at Toronto, 166; + Brown there describes scheme of confederation, 166; + Brown visits England, 167; + Brown finds English opinion favourable, 167; + debate in the legislature of Canada, 169; + speech of Sir E. P. Tache, 169; + of John A. Macdonald, 170; + of Brown, 171-4; + of Dorion, 175; + Dorion's objections to centralization considered, 178; + the plan endangered by defeat of New Brunswick government, 181; + debate in the Canadian legislature, 182; + John Sandfield Macdonald charges coalition with attempting to mislead + people, 183; + John A. Macdonald announces that a deputation will be sent to England + to consult as to defence, and as to attitude of New Brunswick, 183; + Macdonald refers to debate in House of Lords on Canadian + defences, 183, 184; + Macdonald moves previous question, 185; + ministers charged with burking discussion, 185; + the Maritime Provinces inclined to withdraw, 186; + Macdonald, Brown, Carrier and Galt visit England and confer with + British ministers, 186; + an agreement made as to defence, etc., 186; + pressure brought to bear on New Brunswick, 186-8; + death of Sir E. P. Tache, 189; + discussion as to succession, 189; + Brown's objection to Macdonald becoming premier, 189, 190; + Sir N. F. Belleau chosen, 191; + causes which led to Brown's leaving the ministry, 191; + the reciprocity negotiations, 192; + a confederate council on reciprocity formed, 193; + Galt and Howland visit Washington, 193; + Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation + instead of treaty, 193; + Brown protests against that, and generally against Galt's + proceedings, 194; + Brown resigns his place in coalition, 195; + his reasons considered, 195-201; + violation of self-government involved in steps taken to bring about + confederation, 204, 205; + absence of popular approval, 205, 206; + undue centralization, 207 + + +D + +Dorion, A. A., + leader of Rouges, 80; + his friendship with George Brown, 80; + joins Brown-Dorion government, 102; + proposes federal union, 132; + his speech in Canadian legislature against confederation, 175; + declares that real authors of confederation were owners of Grand Trunk + Railway Company, 176; + contends that too much power is vested in central authority, 177; + some of his objections well-founded, 178; + declares that Macdonald accepted confederation merely to retain + office, 199 + +"Double majority," the, advocated by John Sandfield Macdonald, 142 + +"Double Shuffle," the, 100; + the Cartier-Macdonald government defeated on question of seat of + government, 100; + resigns, 101; + George Brown asked to form ministry, 101; + conference between Brown and Dorion, 101; + the government formed, 102; + the governor-general notifies Brown that he will not pledge himself to + grant dissolution, 102, 103; + his action criticized by Brown, 103, 104; + the government defeated in the legislature, 104; + policy of the government, 104; + a dissolution asked for, 105; + dissolution refused and government resigns, 106; + former government resumes office, 106; + artifice by which ministers avoid fresh elections, 107 + +Drummond, L. T., a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102 + +Durham, Lord, extracts from his report, 11, 12, 52, 53, 54, 82, 83 + + +E + +Elgin, Lord, (see also _Rebellion Losses Bill_) + condemns system of preferential trade, 32; + reconciles colonial self-government with imperial unity, 33; + concedes responsible government, 33; + attacked by Canadian Tories as a sympathizer with rebels + and Frenchmen, 33; + assents to Rebellion Losses Bill, 36; + mobbed at Montreal, 30; + firm attitude during disturbance, 37 + + +F + +Ferrier, Mr., describes negotiations for confederation, 152 + +French-Canadians, + Lord Durham's plan of benevolent assimilation, 12; + its failure, 12; + friendly attitude of Bagot towards, 16; + their attitude towards representation by population, 83, 84 + + +G + +Galt, A. T., + asked to form a ministry, 106; + enters reconstructed Cartier-Macdonald government, 107; + advocates confederation of Canada, 132, 133; + appointed with Brown to represent Canada in confederate council on + reciprocity, 193; + visits Washington and confers with Mr. Seward, secretary of state, 193; + discusses with him question of reciprocity by legislation, 193; + his course condemned by Brown, 194 + +Gladstone, W. E., + his eulogy of Peel government, 14; + replies to despatch of Canadian government complaining of repeal of + preferential tariff, 31 + +_Globe_, the, + founded, 20; + its motto, 20; + its prospectus, 20; + champions responsible government, 20; + advocates war with United States to free slaves, 28, 29; + defends abolition of Corn Laws in England, 31; + defends Lord Elgin, 36; + opposes Clear Grit movement, 40; + discusses dissensions among Reformers, 42, 43; + comments on Cardinal Wiseman's pastoral, 44; + attacks Hincks-Morin government, 48; + first issued as a daily in 1853, 74; + absorbs _North American_ and _Examiner_, 74; + declaration of principles, 74, 75; + advocates alliance with Quebec Rouges, 78; + befriends fugitive slaves, 112; + opposes slavery, 119; + "no popery" campaign, 123, 124; + attacks Separate School Bill, 145; + the early article showing value of North-West Territories, 213-17; + severely criticizes Canada First party, 236-8; + its attitude considered, 239; + Brown declares his preference for editorship of _Globe_ to any + official position, 247; + its attack on Mr. Justice Wilson, 250-2; + the article gives rise to proceedings for contempt of court, 252; + Brown's defence, 252-4; + the court disagrees, 254; + description of building where Mr. Brown was shot, 255 + +Gordon, Arthur Hamilton, governor of New Brunswick, + opposes confederation, 187; + is censured by British government and instructed to reverse his + policy, 187; + brings pressure to bear on his ministers to abandon opposition to + confederation, 188; + the ministry resigns and is succeeded by a ministry favourable to + confederation, 188 + + +H + +Head, Sir Edmund Bond, + sends for George Brown to form government, 101; + notifies Brown that he gives no pledge to dissolve, 102; + refuses dissolution, 106; + charge of partiality considered, 107, 108 + +Hincks, Sir Francis, + succeeds Robert Baldwin, 48; + attacked by Brown and the _Globe_, 48; + policy as to secularization of clergy reserves, 59; + his government defeated, 77; + he retires and gives his support to the MacNab-Morin government, 77, 78 + +Holton, Luther, + a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102; + opposes coalition of 1864, 199; + his remarkable appeal to Brown to leave coalition, 200, 201 + +Howe, Joseph, his relations with Sir John Macdonald, 203 + +Howland, Sir W. P., + visits Washington in connection with reciprocity, 193; + his relations with Sir John A. Macdonald's ministry, 202; + defends his course in adhering to coalition, 209 + + +I + +Isbester, Mr., services in calling attention to North-West Territories, 212 + + +L + +_Liberal_, the, founded during Canada First movement, 235 + + +M + +Macdonald, John A., + rises to leadership of reconstructed Conservative party, 42; + charges Brown with misconduct as secretary of prison commission, 87-90; + enmity with Brown, 91; + recounts negotiations with Brown as to confederation, 154; + speech in legislature supporting confederation, 170; + informs House of crisis caused by defeat of New Brunswick + government, 182; + announces mission to England, 182; + deals with question of defence, 183; + moves previous question, 185; + goes to England to confer with British government, 186; + asked to form an administration on death of Sir E. P. Tache, 189; + Brown objects, 190; + proposes Sir N. F. Belleau, who is accepted, 191; + relations with Brown, 201; + relations with Joseph Howe, 203 + +Macdonald, John Sandfield, + a member of Brown-Dorion government, 102; + advocates the "double majority," 142; + his government adopts Separate School Bill, 144 + +Macdougall, William, + one of the Clear Grits, 39; + editor of the _North American_, 40; + enters coalition ministry for purpose of carrying out confederation, 159; + argues for continuance of coalition, 210 + +Mackenzie, Alexander, + opposed to Reformers entering coalition ministry in 1864, 199; + his government sends Brown to Washington in connection with + reciprocity, 1874, 226 + +Metcalfe, Sir Charles (afterwards Lord), + asked to undertake government of Canada, 18; + difficulty of position emphasized by Lord Stanley, 18; + misinformed as to intentions of Canadian Reformers, 19; + his dispute with Baldwin and Lafontaine, 19; + regards himself as defending unity of empire, 19; + willing to grant responsible government in a qualified sense, 19; + personal character, 19; + dissolves legislature, 24; + his view of the contest, 24; + votes offered for him personally, 25; + his victory, 26; + subsequent difficulties, 26; + illness and death, 27; + raised to peerage, 27 + +Mowat, Oliver, + a member of the Brown-Dorion government, 102; + a member of committee of Anti-Slavery Society, 112; + advocates federal union, 135; + enters coalition to carry out confederation, 159 + + +N + +_Nation_, the, + founded to advocate Canada First movement, 235; + sets forth programme of Canada First party, 236 + +National Club, the, founded during the Canada First movement, 235 + +New Brunswick, + defeat of local government, 181; + the confederation scheme endangered by this defeat, 181; + the situation discussed in the legislature of Canada, 182, 183; + the Canadian mission to England, 186; + the British government agrees to bring influence to bear on Maritime + Provinces to enter confederation, 186; + position of Mr. Gordon, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 187; + he at first opposes confederation, 187; + receives instructions from England to promote confederation, 187; + brings pressure to bear on his government to abandon opposition + to confederation, 187, 188; + the government resigns, 188; + a general election follows, and a government favourable to + confederation is returned, 188 + +New York, experience of the Browns in, 2, 3 + +_North American_, the organ of the Clear Grits, 40 + +Nova Scotia, the province of, forced into confederation, 206 + +North-West Territories, + Brown's interest in, 211; + address by Robert Baldwin Sullivan, 211; + article in the _Globe_ describing resources of country, 213-15; + letters of "Huron" in Toronto _Globe_, 215; + meeting of Toronto Board of Trade, 216; + Reform convention of 1857 advocates addition of territories + to Canada, 217; + scepticism as to value of country, 217, 218; + Brown speaks in favour of extension of Canada to Pacific Ocean, 219; + negotiations with British government, 220; + Macdonald's testimony to Brown's services, 221 + + +P + +Parties, political, + in state of transition on Brown's entry into parliament, 69; + reconstruction on defeat of Hincks-Morin government, and formation + of MacNab-Morin government, 77; + the new government described as a coalition by its friends and as + Tory by its opponents, 77; + gradually comes to represent personal influence of John A. Macdonald, 78; + the Baldwin Reformers, 78; + opposition gathers under Brown, 78; + alliance between Upper Canadian Reformers and Rouges, 78 + +Peel government, its attitude towards responsible government in Canada, 13; + Gladstone's eulogium on, 14; + misunderstands Canadian situation, 14; + controversy with Governor Bagot, 16; + regards Bagot's action as a surrender to rebels, 16, 17; + appoints Metcalfe, 17-19 + +Preferential trade, + abolished by repeal of Corn Laws, 31; + complaints from Canada, 31; + the _Globe_ defends British position, 31; + Lord Elgin condemns imperial protection, 32 + +Prison commission, + Macdonald charges Brown with falsifying testimony and suborning + prisoners to commit perjury, 87; + scene in the House, 88; + Brown moves for a committee of inquiry, 88; + unexpectedly produces report of commission, 88; + proceedings of committee, 89; + Brown describes abuses revealed by commission, 90; + the incident embitters relations between Brown and Macdonald, 91; + Brown delivers public address on prison reform, 91, 92 + +Prohibition, + advocated by the _Globe_ in 1853, 75; + discussed in legislature, 75; + drinking habits of Canada in early days, 75, 76 + +Protection, + beginning of agitation in Canada, 231; + opposed by Brown, 232, 233 + + +R + +Rebellion in Canada (1837), + causes of, 11; + remedies proposed, 12 + +Rebellion Losses Bill, 34; + disturbance occasioned by, 35; + burning of parliament buildings at Montreal, 37; + mobbing of Lord Elgin, 37 + +Reciprocity, + abrogation of treaty of 1854 one of the causes of confederation, 148; + negotiations for renewal of treaty, 192; + confederate council on reciprocity formed, 193; + Galt and Howland visit Washington, 193; + Seward, American secretary of state, proposes reciprocal legislation + instead of treaty, 193; + Brown's objections, 194, 223; + reasons for failure of negotiations of 1866, 224; + Americans set little value on Canadian trade, 224; + attempts at renewal in 1869 and 1871, 225; + the Brown mission of 1874, 225; + meeting with Mr. Rothery, agent of British government, 226; + Brown visits Washington, 226; + Sir Edward Thornton and Brown appointed to negotiate a treaty, 226; + reasons for selection of Brown, 227; + opening of negotiations, 227; + sketch of proposed treaty, 227; + list of articles on free list, 228; + Brown finds value of Canadian trade greatly under-estimated in + Washington, 228; + Brown prepares a memorandum showing extent of trade, 229; + carries on propaganda in American newspapers, 230; + falsely charged with corrupting the press, 230; + the treaty goes to the American senate, 231; + failure of negotiations, 231; + objections made in Canada, 231; + Canadian movement for protection, 231; + Brown opposes protection, 232, 233 + +Reformers, Canadian, + open campaign for responsible government against Governor Metcalfe, 21; + wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine, 24; + convention of 1857 advocates addition of North-West Territories to + Canada, 217; + convention of 1859 to consider relations of Upper and Lower + Canada, 133, 134; + arguments for confederation, 135; + George Sheppard's powerful speech against federation, 135, 136; + the advocates of federation agree to amendment minimizing powers of + central government, 130, 137; + Brown advocates confederation, 137, 138; + Reformers consulted by George Brown as to confederation, 156; + they agree to Brown and others entering coalition cabinet, 157; + Reform party inadequately represented in coalition, 159; + question of Reform representation again raised on death of + Sir E. P. Tache, 190; + Reform convention of 1867, 208; + approves of confederation, 208; + but declares that coalition should come to an end, its objects + having been achieved, 208, 209 + +Representation by population, + proposed by George Brown, 82-4; + objections raised on behalf of Lower Canada, 84; + strength of Lower Canadian case, 84; + federalism the real remedy, 85 + +Responsible Government (see also _Peel Government_, _Bagot_, and + _Metcalfe_), recommended by Lord Durham, 12, 13; + attitude of British government, 13; + Governor Bagot's concessions, 16-18; + Governor Metcalfe's attitude, 19; + Dr. Ryerson champions Governor Metcalfe, 22; + the legislature dissolved, 1844, 24; + fierce election contest follows, 24; + personal victory for Governor Metcalfe, 25, 26 + +Roman Catholics, + relations of George Brown with, 44 _et seq._, 121 _et seq_; + Brown's letter to prominent Roman Catholics, 124 _et seq._ + +Rouges, described by the _Globe_, 78 + +Ryerson, Dr. leader among Methodists, 22; + espouses cause of Governor Metcalfe against Reformers, 22; + correctly describes attitude of British government, 23; + supports Mr. R. W. Scott's Separate School Bill, 144 + + +S + +Scottish Church, + disruption of, 2; + opinions of the Browns thereon, 2; + comment of the _Banner_, 6 + +Sheppard, George, + his speech at Reform convention of 1859, 135; + predicts growth of central authority under federal system, 136 + +Separate Schools, + opposed by George Brown, 121; + a compromise arranged, 122, 123; + bill introduced by Mr. R. W. Scott, 144; + supported by Dr. Ryerson, 144; + adopted by Macdonald-Sicotte government, 144; + becomes law, 145; + assailed by the _Globe_, 145; + accepted by Brown, 145 + +Slavery, + Brown's opposition to, 1, 2, 3; + Canada a refuge for slaves, 111; + passage of Fugitive Slave Law, 111; + Anti-Slavery Society formed in Canada, 112; + settlements of refugee slaves, 113; + Brown at Toronto denounces Fugitive Slave Law, 113, 114; + Brown discusses Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation, 114; + describes feeling in Great Britain, 115; + Brown's insight into Lincoln's policy, 115; + insists that slavery was cause of Civil War, 116; + shows Canada's interest in the struggle, 117; + consequences of growth of a slave power in North America, 118, 119 + +Smith, Goldwin, + his connection with Canada First movement, 235; + elected president of the National Club, 237; + attacked by the _Globe_, 237, 238; + his reply, 238, 239 + +Stanley, Lord, colonial secretary under Peel, advocates preferential + trade and imperial protection, 15, 31 + +Sullivan, Robert Baldwin, delivers an address on resources of + North-West Territories, 211 + +_Star_, the Cobourg, its estimate of George Brown, 71, 72 + +Scott, R. W., introduces Separate School Bill, 144 + +Strachan, Bishop, opposes secularization of King's College, 8 + + +T + +Tache, Sir E. P., + forms government in effort to break dead-lock, 149; + his government defeated, 149; + heads coalition to carry out confederation, 159; + his speech in the legislature, 169; + his death, 189 + +Thompson, Samuel, describes meeting with George Brown in 1843, 4, 5 + +Toronto Board of Trade, advocates incorporation of North-West + Territories with Canada, 216 + + +W + +Wiseman, Cardinal, + his pastoral published and criticized in the _Globe_, 44 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE BROWN*** + + +******* This file should be named 30546.txt or 30546.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/5/4/30546 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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