Document Information

Date: 1866-06-25
By: Arthur Gordon
Citation: Despatch from Lieutenant Governor Arthur Gordon to Right Hon. Edward Cardwell (25 June 1866) in UK, Parliament, Correspondence respecting the Proposed Union of the British North American Provinces (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1867).
Other formats: Click here to view the original document (PDF).

No. 29.

COPY of a DESPATCH from Lieut.-Governor the Hon. ARTHUR GORDON to the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWELL, M.P.

(No.56.)

Fredericton, N.B., June 25, 1866.
(Received July 14, 1866.)
(Answered, No.6, July 20, 1866, page 122.)

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to enclose copies of the Addresses presented to me, in reply to my Speech at the opening of the Legislature, by the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly.

I have, &c.

(Signed) ARTHUR H. GORDON.

The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.,
&c. &c. &c.

Enclosure 1 in No. 29.

(Extract).

To his Excellency, the Hon. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, C.M.G., Lieutenant governor and commander in chief of the province of New Brunswick, &c., &c., &c.

The Address of Her Majesty’s Legislative Council and General Assembly.

May it please Your Excellency,

We thank your Excellency for the speech, with which you have been pleased to open the present session of the Legislature.

We are gratified to learn that Her Majesty was pleased to receive very graciously the address of the Legislative Council on the subject of the union of the British North American provinces agreed to during the late session.

It is satisfactory to learn, that the adoption and reception by your Excellency of that Address led to events which rendered it expedient to dissolve the then existing General Assembly, and most gratifying to believe that the country have sustained that conclusion : and although we unite with your Excellency in regretting that it should have been necessary to call the Assembly together at […] that may cause personal inconvenience to some of us, we rejoice to have the opportunity of adding by our counsel and co-operation in the consummation of these natural objects which have led to our meeting.

We learn with satisfaction that Her Majesty’s Government have already expressed their strong and deliberate conviction that the Union of the British American provinces under one government is an object much to be desired, and that the Legislatures of Canada and Nova Scotia having passed the same judgment, we will shortly be called upon to express our concurrence with our dissent from the view taken of this great question by those Provinces, and we confidently look forward to a similar decision here.

We agree with your Excellency in believing that the question of the Union of the British North American Provinces, which we are now called upon speedily to consider, and the principle of which the people of this Province have so unmistakeably sustained, is one of the most momentous ever submitted to a Colonial Legislature, and we trust that we shall approach its consideration with a clear sense of the importance of the issues involved, and the solemn responsibilities which by our decision we may incur ; and we hope and believe that the trust expressed by your Excellency that our deliberations may be concluded with a sole view to the interest of the country at large may be realized, and that the conclusion at which we may arrive may be one calculated to promote the welfare and happiness not of this Province only, but of all Her Majesty’s subjects throughout the whole extent of Her Majesty’s dominions on this Continent.

Enclosure 2 in No. 29.

(Extract)

To his Excellency the Hon. ARTHUR HAMILTON GORDON, C.M.G., Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New Brunswick, &c., &c., &c.

The humble Address of the House of Assembly.

May it please your Excellency,

WE, Her Majesty’s faithful subjects, the Commons of New Brunswick, thank your Excellency for your speech at the opening of the present session.

We learn with pleasure that Her Majesty the Queen graciously received the address of the Legislative Council on the subject of the Union of the British North American Provinces, transmitted to England by your Excellency.

We agree with your Excellency that the adoption of reception by your Excellency for transmission to Her Majesty of this Address on the subject of the Union, led to events which rendered it expedient to dissolve the late General Assembly, and we believe that the constituencies of the Province have justified the course adopted by your Excellency. Although an inconvenient season of the year for the discharge of legislative duties, we will, nevertheless, cheerfully co-operate with your Excellency in the transaction of such business and the perfecting of such measures as the public interest demands.

We know that Her Majesty’s Government have expressed a strong and deliberative opinion that the union of the British North American provinces, is an object, much to be desired. And that the legislature of Canada and of Nova Scotia concur in this view, and your excellent CMA rely with confidence on our cordial cooperation to accomplish that object.

* * * *

We agree with your Excellency in the opinion that the question of the Union of the British North American Provinces, upon which, by the elections just terminated, the people of New Brunswick have recently expressed so strong an opinion, and which your excellency has called us together to consider, this the most momentous ever submitted to a Colonial Legislature. We shall approach to consideration of the question with a due sense of the importance of the issues involved, and the solemn responsibility devolving upon us as representatives of a free people. Our deliberations shall be conducted with a single view to the promotion of their interests, and we fervently pray that our determination may be calculated to promote the welfare and happiness of all Her Majesty’s subjects in the widespread dominions of the Queen on this Continent.