Document Information

Date: 1865-09-07
By: Province of Canada (Parliament), The Quebec Daily Mercury
Citation: “Provincial “Parliament. Legislative Council. The Quebec Daily Mercury (8 September 1865).
Other formats: Click here to view the original document (PDF).
Note: All endnotes come from our recent publication, Charles Dumais & Michael Scott (ed.), The Confederation Debates in the Province of Canada (CCF, 2022).

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1865[1]

Narcisse F. Belleau [Canada East, appointed 1852, Premier and Receiver General] informed the House that he had a Message from His Excellency the Governor General [Viscount Monck], under his Sign Manual, which His Excellency had commanded him to deliver to this House.

The same was then read by the Clerk, and is as follows:—

MONCK.

The Governor General transmits for the information of the Legislative Council, copies of a Correspondence between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governor General, relative to the Union of the British North American Provinces, and the Construction of the Intercolonial Railway.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
Quebec, 6th September, 1865.

Mr. Cardwell to Viscount Monck.

(Copy.—Canada.—No. 124.)

DOWNING STREET, 29th July, 1865.

MY LORD,—I have the honor to transmit to your Lordship, for your information, the Copies of two despatches which I have addressed to the Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, apprising them of the purport of the interviews which I have had with the gentlemen composing the Deputations from the Governments of these Provinces respectively.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) EDWARD CARDWELL

The Viscount Monck, &c., &c., &c.

Mr. Secretary Cardwell to the Honorable A.H. Gordon.

(Copy.—New Brunswick.—No. 88.)

DOWNING STREET, 28th July, 1865.

SIR,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 53, of the 20th of June, reporting, that in pursuance of the Resolution of the House of Assembly, the Honorable A. J. Smith, President of the Council, and the Honorable J.C. Allan, Attorney General, had been appointed Delegates on behalf of New Brunswick to represent to Her Majesty’s Government the views and feelings of the House and of the people of that Province on the subject of the Union of British North America. Having had the honour to confer with these gentlemen, I have answered them in entire accordance with the Despatches I have addressed to you, explaining the views of Her Majesty’s Government on the subject of Confederation. I also observed to the Deputation, that, as regards a Union of the Maritime Provinces, Her Majesty’s Government can give no countenance to any proposals which would tend to delay the Confederation of all the Provinces, which they are so desirous to promote, and can only aid in the promotion of a closer union between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia if that closer union be ancillary to, and form part of, the scheme for general union.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) EDWARD CARDWELL.

Lieutenant Governor
The Hon. A.H. Gordon, C.M.G., &c., &c., &c.

Mr. Cardwell to Lieutenant Governor Sir R. MacDonnell.

(Copy.—Nova Scotia.—No. 39.)

DOWNING STREET, 28th July, 1865.

SIR,—I have received your despatch of the 21st June, No. 89, announcing that the Honorable Dr. Tupper, Provincial Secretary, and the Honorable W.A. Henry, Attorney General, had been appointed Delegates on behalf of Nova Scotia, to confer with Her Majesty’s Government on the subject of the Reciprocity Treaty, and on other topics affecting the interests of the Colony.

I have had the honor to receive and have conferred with these gentlemen, and have read to them the despatches which I have addressed to you on this subject.

I have also spoken with them on the proposed Union of the Maritime Provinces, and have taken the opportunity of expressing myself to them on the subject of Confederation in accordance with the despatches in your possession, in which the views of Her Majesty’s Government have been conveyed.

I have stated that Her Majesty’s Government can give no countenance to any proposals which would tend to delay the Confederation of all the Provinces, which they are so desirous to promote, and can only aid in the promotion of a closer union between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, if that closer union be ancillary to, and form part of, the scheme for general union.

I have, &c., (Signed,)
EDWARD CARDWELL.

Lieutenant Governor Sir R. G. MacDonnell, C.B., &c.

Mr. Cardwell to Lord Monck.

[Copy.—Canada.—No. 127.]

DOWNING STREET, 5th August, 1865.

MY LORD,—I have the honor to transmit to your Lordship a copy of a despatch from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, enclosing a resolution of the Executive Council of that Province, expressive of their opinion on the subject of Confederation, together with a copy of my reply.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) EDWARD CARDWELL.

Governor Viscount Monck, &c.

Honorable A. H. Gordon to Mr. Cardwell.

[Copy.—No. 58.]

FREDERICTON, 15th July, 1865.

SIR,—I received, by the last mail, your Despatch No. 61 of the 24th June. I thought it desirable that the contents should be immediately made public, and I accordingly directed it to be published in the last issue of the Royal Gazette.

2. I of course lost no time in communicating a copy of the Despatch and its enclosures to my Executive Council, and I have now the honor to transmit to you the Copy of a Minute of that body with reference thereto.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) ARTHUR H. GORDON.

[Copy.]

To His Excellency the Honorable Arthur Hamilton Cordon. C.M.G., Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of New Brunswick.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY:

The Executive Council in Committee have had under consideration a Despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 24th June, lately communicated to them by Your Excellency.

From the language of this Despatch it would be natural to infer that it related to some scheme for effecting an entire Legislative and Administrative Union of the British North American Provinces, which has not yet been made public, but words used in the concluding paragraph, taken in connection with various other circumstances, lead the Committee to conclude that it is intended to refer to the Resolutions in favor of a Federation of the various Provinces of British North America, agreed to by the Canadian Parliament at the last Session. These Resolutions have already been submitted to the people of New Brunswick, at the time and in the manner which the advocates of the scheme themselves selected. The Legislature was dissolved, and the people were enabled to pronounce their decision on this most important subject in the regular constitutional mode, and, after ample consideration refused by an overwhelming majority to adopt the scheme, not because it was novel, as Mr. Cardwell las been led to suppose, but because they were unable to discover anything in it that gave promise of either moral or material advantage to the Empire or to themselves, or that afforded a prospect of improved administration or increased prosperity.

The spirit of loyalty which has always animated the people of New Brunswick, and of which they have on many occasions given proof, is still as ardent as ever, and whenever it becomes necessary they are prepared to place all their means and resources at the absolute disposal of the Imperial Government, but they cannot believe that the contemplated Confederation would either increase their strength or render it more available.

A large majority of the people of this Province are opposed to any closer political connection with Canada than that afforded by the tie of a common allegiance to the British Crown, and consider that such a Union would have a decided tendency to weaken that dependence on the British Empire which they so highly prize, and would lead to the neglect and injury of their local interests; in which opinion the Committee believe that the people of the other Maritime Provinces fully concur, but even those who desire a union must fail to discover in the Resolutions adopted at Quebec any provision whatever for the accomplishment of a fusion which, in the words of Mr. Cardwell’s Despatch, would unite in one Government all the British North American Provinces, and form a Province uniting in itself ail the population and all the resources of the whole.

The Committee, of course, cannot suppose that the British Government share the ignorance with regard to the history and character of the Federal scheme which appears to prevail among the British public, and which induces the Tines newspaper of the 20th June, to observe that ”the two Canadas have put aside their ancient jealousies and are ready to meet in a common Legislature” in apparent forgetfulness of the fact that they have so met for the last five and twenty years, and very probably without any consciousness on the part of the writer of the article that the jealousies between the Canadas, said to have been put aside, are avowedly the cause of the late proposal, and that its authors, in the event of its failure, are pledged to restore to Upper and Lower Canada a great measure of the local independence surrendered by them in 1840.

The Resolutions agreed to by the leading Canadian politicians in the month of June, 1864, as the basis of the formation of the existing Cabinet, and adopted solely under the pressure of local exigencies, contain the statement, that “on consideration of the steps most advisable for the final settlement of sectional difficulties, the remedy must be sought il the adoption of the Federal principle,” and provide that if such negotiations were unsuccessful, they would be “prepared to pledge themselves to legislation during the next Session of Parliament, for the purpose of remedying existing difficulties, by introducing the Federal principle for Canada alone.”

It is perfectly clear that the “existing difficulties” were the motive and groundwork of the scheme, and that the federal union was only sought as a means of separating the Canadas, a separation which the Canadian Government are pledged in all events immediately to effect, a fact which perhaps sufficiently accounts for the eagerness for which they seek to force its immediate adoption upon unwilling communities, for they are well aware that did the plan avowedly contemplate only the separation of the Canadas, it would be impossible even speciously to present it to the Imperial Government as in any manner a scheme of union.

Mr. Cardwell is perfectly right in supposing that the views and wishes of Great Britain are entitled to great weight, and they will ever be received with respectful attention in this Province, but the Committee feel certain that if there be one view with regard to the Colonies which is more clearly and distinctly held than another by Her Majesty’s Government and the people of England, if there be one wish on their part with respect to which there can be neither hesitation nor doubt, it is that the people of this Province, and of others, enjoying, through the wise liberality of England, Parliamentary Institutions and free self-government, should act in reference to their own affairs as seems to themselves most consistent with their duty to their Sovereign and most conducive to their own interests.

To confer on this Province a right of self-government would have been mockery, if, in consequence of its claims to deference as a protector, the wish of the Mother Country was in all cases to be followed whenever expressed, whatever the opinion of those to whom the power of judging has been solemnly entrusted by the Sovereign and Legislature of Great Britain, and who, being on the spot, and fully conversant with the subject, considered themselves not unable to judge with respect to their own affairs. When a wish is expressed by Her Majesty’s Government, it will be received with that deference which is due to suggestions emanating from so high a source, and will be considered with an anxious desire to meet the views of Her Majesty’s advisers; but if such views should, unfortunately, not coincide with the views of those on whom alone the responsibility of action in the Province falls, the Committee feel assured that Her Majesty’s Government will expect and desire that the Government of this Province should act according to their own convictions and in conformity with the sentiments of the people they represent.

(Signed,) R.D. WILMOT,
“ T.W. ANGLIN,
“ GEORGE L. HATHEWAY,
“ BLISS BOTSFORD,
“ W.H. ODELL,
“ R. HUTCHISON,
“ A.H. GILLMOR, JR.

Fredericton, July 12^th, 1865.

Mr. Cardwell to Lieutenant Governor, The Honorable A.H. Gordon.

[Copy.—No. 91]

DOWNING STREET, 4^th August, 1865.

SIR,—I have received your Despatch No. 58 of the 15th of July, in answer to mine of the 24th of June.

It might perhaps have been well that that portion of the Executive Council who are in New Brunswick, should have allowed the communication made to the Colony by Her Majesty’s Government to be generally known, and considered in the Colony, before they returned so decided a reply.

The first paragraph of the Minute seems to me to require no other notice than the observation that my despatch enclosed for the information of the Legislature of New Brunswick, the record of what had passed between Her Majesty’s Government and the Ministers of Canada on the subject of Confederation, and it was therefore impossible for any one to misunderstand the reference; or to suppose that it applied to another and different scheme.

Notwithstanding therefore your Despatch and its enclosure, I still confidently anticipate that the serious consideration of the Province of New Brunswick will be given to the earnest and friendly suggestions which on the part of Her Majesty’s Government it has been my duty to convey to them through you.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) EDWARD CARDWELL.

Lieutenant Governor,
The Honorable A. H. Gordon, &c., &c., &c.,
New Brunswick.

Mr. Cardwell to Lord Monck.

(Copy.—Canada.—No. 120.)

DOWNING STREET, 22nd July, 1865.

MY LORD,—I think it right to apprise Your Lordship that I have received communications which lead to the conclusion that more positive assurances from Canada than have yet been given to the Maritime Provinces on the subject of the readiness of Canada to ensure the prompt completion of the Intercolonial Railway in the event of Confederation being adopted, would be very satisfactory to the friends of the measure in those Provinces; and encourage their efforts to recommend the scheme of Confederation to those of their countrymen by whom it has not hitherto been supported.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) EDWARD CARDWELL.

Governor Viscount Monck.

Lord Monck to Mr. Cardwell.

(Copy.—No. 165.)

QUEBEC, August 14th, 1865.

SIR,—Referring to your despatch No. 120 of July 22, I have the honor to transmit a Copy of an approved Minute of the Executive Council of this Province on the subject to which your despatch refers.

I may add the expression of my own personal conviction that there exists amongst the Ministers and Members of the Legislature of the Province not only the determination to construct the Intercolonial Railway, so soon as the Union of the British North. American Provinces shall have taken place, but the strongest desire for the early completion of that most important work.

I have, &c.,
(Signed,) MONCK.

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

(Copy.)

Copy of a Report of a Committee of the Executive Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor General, 14th August, 1865.

The Committee of Council have had under consideration the Despatch No. 120 of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 22nd July, 1865, suggesting the propriety of some more positive assurance being given by the Government of Canada to the Maritime Provinces on the subject of the readiness of Canada to ensure the prompt completion of the Intercolonial Railway in the event of Confederation of all the British North American Provinces being accomplished.

The Committee can only reiterate the declaration of the Government and Parliament of Canada that they regard the construction of the Intercolonial Railway as a necessary accompaniment and condition of Confederation and that not a day will be unnecessarily lost after the accomplishment of Confederation in commencing the work and prosecuting it to completion.

Certified. W. A. HIMSWORTH,
Asst. C.E.C.

ENDNOTES

[1]      Source: Journals of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada (1865), pp. 145-149.