Document Information

Date: 1864-10-23
By: New York Times
Citation: “The Confederation of the Colonies Decided Upon—Details of the Constitution”, New York Times (23 October 1864).
Other formats:

The Confederation of the Colonies Decided Upon—Details of the Constitution.

From Our Own Correspondent.

QUEBEC, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1864.

Men determined to carry their point are not usually deterred by small difficulties. The delegates to the Quebec Conference found serious obstables [sic] in their way, and so great did these appear, that many thought they would not succeed in agreeing upon a plan under which all the British colonies in this region could unite into one confederacy. The chief cause of quarrel was as to the representation of the several colonies in the Upper House. The American precedent seemed to dictate equality among all the colonies in this respect. The small size of the Maritime provinces rendered this, in the eyes of the Canadians, impracticable. At length it was agreed that the representation should be:

Members.

Upper Canada…..24
Lower Canada…..24
New-Brunswick….24
Nova Scotia………24
Prince Edward’s Island..24
Newfoundland……4

Total………………76

The practice has been in Canada, to elect the members of the Upper House; in most of the other colonies, to have them nominated by the Crown. It is proposed that the latter course shall be followed in the new Federal Legislature; the Senators, or Lords, or whatever else they are called, to be selected, in the first instance, from among the existing members. Of course there will be a great many honourable persons snuffed out by this arrangement, but that cannot be helped.

The representation of the colonies in the Lower House is to be based, to a considerable extent, on population. The numbers will very likely be about as follows:

Upper Canada……..80
Lower Canada…..…65
New-Brunswick…….18
Nova Scotia…………23
Prince Edward’s Isl’d..6
Newfoundland………..8

Total…………………….200

The qualifications of members for the Upper House has been made as low as $1,000 in real estate, probably because the lower provinces have few able men with more than that amount of real property. The proposed qualification for the Lower House is not yet known; very likely none will be required; but a considerable qualification may be required of the electors, in accordance with the views entertained by the Duke of Newcastle, late Colonial Secretary.

The question of the power of the Federal judiciary remains as yet undecided. It is expected that as Lower Canada has made some important concessions on her side, in other matters, some concessions will have to be made to her in this, by limiting their powers considerably, especially in civil matters.

It is believed that the Governors or Chief Magistrates of the separate Provinces, will be appointed by the Federal authorities.

The new constitution, it is thought, will have to be ratified by the existing Parliaments. It is true they were in no one case elected with a view to decide upon this question, but it is believed it would be better to act without expense and delay which would certainly attend an appeal to the people. It is thought that special sessions will be held in each Province [i]n reference to the matter, or that, in any case, the sessions will be held early in the year, so that the matter may be presented to the Imperial Parliament at its next session, and pass into law for the colonies on the 1st of January, 1866.

Thus quickly and quietly have been laid the foundations for a new and powerful Northern State on this continent. The population of the future Confederacy is now nearly as follows:

Canada Upper………………………..1,600,000
Lower………………………..1,200,000
Nova Scotia……………………………320,000
New-Brunswick……………………….260,000
Prince Edward’s Island………………90,000.
Newfoundland…………………………130,000

Total……………………………………..3,600,000

This is equal to the population of the thirteen colonies when they made their Declaration of Independence, and, judging by the past, there seems no reason why the increase of the new Confederacy should not be similar to that of the old one. In such a case, its population would be 10,000,000 by the end of the century—in a little more than a single generation!