Document Information

Date: 1864-12-05
By: Arthur Gordon
Citation: Despatch from Lieutenant Governor Arthur Gordon to Right Hon. Edward Cardwell (5 December 1864) 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. 1.

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

(No.93.)

Fredericton, December 5, 1864.

SIR,

SINCE the return from Quebec of the Delegates appointed to consider the question of a Federal Union of the British North American Provinces, the scheme on which they have agreed has excited somewhat more interest and attention on the part of the public than was previously the case. There is still, however, an indisposition to believe that the change is seriously meditated, and an inclination to regard the plan rather than intended to produce, by its agitation, some immediate effect on the condition of existing political parties than as designed to inaugurate a new constitutional system.

2. I have the honour to enclose for your information extracts from some of the leading newspapers of the Province,* containing articles on the subject of Confederation, and also a report of the meeting at St. John, at which the Provincial Secretary and the Hon. J. H. Gray, who represented that city in the House of Assembly, explained their views to their constituents.

The first of these meetings was, I am informed, a failure ; the second, however, proved eminently successful.

I also enclose a copy of a letter addressed to his constituents, by Mr. A. S. Smith, M.P.P., who will probably take the lead in opposition to the proposals of the Government.

I have, &c.

(Signed) ARTHUR H. GORDON.

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