Document Information

Date: 1866-03-26
By: Arthur Gordon
Citation: Despatch from Lieutenant Governor Arthur Gordon to Right Hon. Edward Cardwell (26 March 1866) in UK, Parliament, Correspondence respecting the Proposed Union of the British North American Provinces (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1867).
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No. 19.

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

(No. 15a.)

Saint John, New Brunswick, March 26, 1866
(Received April 9, 1866)
(Answered No. 16, April 14,1866, page 120.)

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to enclose for your information a copy of the Address which has been agreed upon by the Legislative Council in reply to my speech at the opening of the session.

2. You will perceive from the paragraph marked with ink that the advantages likely to result from a Union of the British North American Provinces have been recognized in the fullest manner by the Legislative Council. Only three dissentient votes were recorded against the paragraph.

I have, &c.

(Signed) ARTHUR H. GORDON.

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

Enclosure in No.19.

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 HER MAJESTY’s LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

(Extract.)

We thank your Excellency for the announcement that the report of the delegates, directed by your Excellency to proceed to England on various important questions, will be laid before us ; and we learn with satisfaction that a contract has been secured by them which in connexion with measures adopted by the Government of Nova Scotia, it is contemplated will ensure the completion of the railway communication between Saint John and Halifax. We are likewise gratified at the information that the construction of a railway from Saint John to the frontier of the United States is under contract, and that the works are already in progress.

“The correspondence on the affairs of British North America, which your Excellency announces will immediately be laid before us by command of Her Majesty, will receive at our hands that careful and respectful attention due to matters emanating from so high a source, and be considered with an anxious desire to meet the wishes of Her Majesty’s Government, being fully convinced that a Union of the British North American Colonies will strengthen the ties which bind them to the Mother country, and be consistent with the true interests and prosperity of the Province.”