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Date: 1864-12-05
By: Charles Tupper, W.A. Henry, J. McCully, and Adams G. Archibald
Citation: Despatch from Charles Tupper, W.A. Henry, J. McCully, and Adams G. Archibald to Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell (5 December 1864) in Journal and Proceedings of the House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Appendix No. 3—Union of the Colonies (1865).
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Halifax, N. S., 5th December, 1864.

May it please your Excellency,—

The undersigned Delegates appointed by your Excellency at the request of the Governor General, and charged to confer at the Quebec Conference upon the subject of a Union of the British North American Provinces, have the honor to submit their Report.

The Conference consisted of the following members:

FOR CANADA.

The Hon. Sir E. P. TACHE, M. L. C., Receiver General and Minister of Militia.
JOHN A. MACDONALD, M. P. P., Attorney General, (U. Canada.)
G. E. CARTIER, M. P. P., Attorney General, (L. Canada.)
GEORGE BROWN, M P. P., President of Executive Council.
O. MOWATT, M.P. P., Postmaster General.
A. F. GALT, M. P. P., Minister of Finance.
T.D. MCGEE, M. P. P., Minister of Agriculture.
WILLIAM MCDOUGALL, M. P. P., Provincial Secretary.
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, M. L. C., Commissioner of Crown Lands.
J. C. CHAPPIAS, M. P. P., Commissioner of Public Works.
J. H. LANGEVIN, Solicitor General, (Lower Canada.)
JAMES COCKBURN, M.P.P., Solicitor General, (Upper Canada.)

FOR NOVA SCOTIA.

The Hon. CHARLES TUPPER, M. P. P., Provincial Secretary.
W. A. HENRY, M. P. P., Attorney General.
J. MCCULLY, M. L C.
ROBERT B. DICKEY, M L. C.
ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, Esq., M.P. P.

FOR NEW BRUNSWICK.

The Hon. S. L TILLEY, Provincial and Financial Secretary.
W. H. STEEVES, M. L. C, M. E. C.
J. M. JOHNSON, M. P. P., Attorney General.
P. MITCHELL, M. L. C., M. K. C.
E. B. CHANDLER, M. L.C.
Lieutenant Colonel the Hon. JOHN H. GRAY, M. P. P.
The Hon. CHARLES FISHER, M.P.P.

FOR NEWFOUNDLAND.

F. B. T. CARTER, Esq., M. P. P.
JOHN AMBROSE SHEA, Esq, M. P. P.

FOR PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Colonel the Hon. J. H. GRAY, M. P. P.
The Hon. E. PALMER, Attorney General.
W. H. POPE, Colonial Secretary.
A. A. MACDONALD, M. L. C.
G. COLES, M. P. P.
T. H. HAVILMAND, M. P. P.
E. WHELAN, M. P. P.

The foregoing Member having met at the Parliament House in Quebec on the tenth day of October last, the Conference was organized by the appointment of the Hon. Sir E. P. Taché Chairman, and the Hon. Messrs. William McDougall, Charles Tupper, S. L. Tilley, Ambrose Shea, and W. H. Pope, Joint Secretaries. H. Bernard, Esq., was nominated by the Secretaries Executive Secretary, and approved by the Conference.

After deliberating daily at great length until Thursday the 27th October, the Conference adjourned to Montreal, where a final meeting was held on the 29th October. At this meeting it was unanimously resolved that the various Delegates should present the annexed Report as the common result at which the Conference had arrived, and which it was agreed should be authenticated by the signatures of all the Members. Dealing, as this Report does, with every branch of the subject, it is not necessary that any elaborate remarks should be added in order to place the whole question fully before your Excellency, but we have much gratification in stating that nothing was more conspicuous in the discussions of the Conference than a unanimous sentiment of devoted loyalty to the Crown, ardent attachment to British Institutions, and a uniform desire to adopt such a Constitution as would unite the resources of all the Provinces represented in a common effort to preserve the rights and liberties which their inhabitants now enjoy as British subjects, and to ensure their continued connection with the Parent State.

The undersigned cannot conclude this Report without placing on record their lively appreciation of the uniform good feeling which marked the deliberations of the Conference, and the extreme courtesy and kindness manifested on every occasion by the Government and people of Canada to the Delegates from the Maritime Provinces.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

CHARLES TUPPER,
W. A. HENRY,
J. MCCULLY,
ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD.

Lieut.-Governor Sir RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNEL, C.B.

REPORT

Of Resolutions adopted at a Conference of Delegates from the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Colonies of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island held at the City of Quebec, 10th October, 1864, as the Basis of a proposed Confederation of those Provinces and Colonies.

1. The best interests and present and future prosperity of British North America will be promoted by a Federal Union under the Crown of Great Britain, provided such Union can be effected on principles just to the several Provinces.

2. In the Federation of the British North American Provinces the system of Government best adapted under existing circumstances to protect the diversified interests of the several Provinces and to secure efficiency, harmony and permanency in the working of the Union.—would be a general Government charged with matters of common interest to the whole Country, and Local Governments for each of the Canadas and for the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, charged with the control of local matters in their respective sections,—Provision being made for the admission into the Union on equitable terms of Newfoundland, the North-West Territory, British .Columbia, and Vancouver.

3. In framing a Constitution for the General Government, the Conference, with a view to the perpetuation of our connection with the Mother Country, and to the promotion of the best interests of the people of these Provinces, desire to follow the model of the British Constitution, so far as our circumstances will permit.