nI

SPEECH0:;' TIlE I'ROPOSED

UN IONOP TIn:

BRITISHNORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES,DELIVER.lm NI' SIIElml~OOKE, C. E.,

BY

THE HON. A. T. GALT ,

Minister or Finance,

~3rd Novc.n hcr. 1864.

REPRINTED FROM THE lIIONTREAL GAZETTE.

MONTREAL:

PRINTED BY )f. I, ONGMOORE & CO., PRINTING HOUSE, 31 GREAT ST. JAMES STREET.

1864.

IW!%ClIIIAtI Luau rCADPA .,

BDI.lOrDaua 1rU%OIQa

INDEX .

Defects of the present Union.. .... ..... . 4The Remedies for existing evils conside red 4Governmental Difficulties of last Session 5Th e Geogra phical P osition of C.anada "The Cbarlottetown Conference 5The Quebec Conference tJ

The Territory of the Union.. 7Th e Tra de and Tonnage of the Colonies 7The Character of the Proposed Union .......... ...... ........... .. 7The Ministry to be respon sible to Parli ament.. 8The Composition of th e Upper House 9The Compo sition of th e Low er House l0The Dur ation of the General Parliament.. l OThe Powers of the General Governm ent 10The New Brunswick E xport Duty on Timber I IThe Nova Scotia Export Duty on Coal, etc llExcise Dut ies 11The prospect of Union alre ady improving our Credit.. 11Po stal Servi ce and Public Work s 11

The Militia 12Cur rency and Commercial Questions 12The Naturalization Laws 12Criminal Laws and Courts of Appeal . . 12Constit ution of Loc al Govornments., .. 13The Sehool La ws in Lower Canada ...... .. .. .. . .1 4, 20Hospital s, Prisons, etc 15Municipal Institutions 1[\Incorporation of Private Compa nies 15The Control of Civil Law confided to th e Local Legislatures ... . 15The Right s of both Rac es with respect to Language . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. .. . . . 16The Veto 16The Fi nancial Position of the Provinces 16The Intercolonial Railway Question . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 17Expenditure and Revenue of th e Provinccs. . . . . .. 17The Tariff Question . . . . .. . . .. . 19The Pos ition of Briti sh Lower Canadians .. . .. 19Emi grati on and Lands 14, 20The Question of Electoral Limits 21Incorporation of Religious Bodies 21Advantages of t he Union to L ower Canada 21Conc lusion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . .. _. . 22

Stat istical Table s . .. .. 23 24

SPEEOH

PROPOSEDOP THE

UNION

BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES.

INTRODGCTORY P ROCEE DI.llGS.

In accordance with an invitation from theHon A. T. Gait, Minister of Finance, to his con­stitnents, a large number of the latter assembledat tbe Court House in the Town of Sherbrooke,Nov. 23rd, 1864, to listen to such explana­tions as tbe Ran. gentleman deemed it properto make in relation to the plan for the Confeder­atiou of the British American Provinces at pre­sent under consideration.

On motion of JAS. HENEOKER, ESQ., theHon. ED. HALE was called to the Chair.

The OHAIRMAN returned them his thanks forcalling upon him to preside on that occasion.He could Gnlysay that he wished they had se­lected a more worthy man to fill the Chair.Their representative, Hon. lIr. G~lt, had invitedthem to meet him on that occasion for purposeswhich he would explain to them. He-Mr. H.­thought they should all be grateful to the Hon .gentleman for giVing (hem that opportunity oflistening to him on the question on wbch he\7as about to speak, the only instance in which ameeting "ad heen called by a representative ofthe Crown for the purpose which brought themthere that day. It was proper that his-Mr.H.'s--words should be few on th at occasion .The wires were then waitiug to waft from oneend of the country to the other that which theywould hear first. He need uot tell them that thiswas a very important privilege, for wbi- h theywere indebted to their Hou. friend, and he hopedthat it would he properlv recognized.-Cheers-Oonfident that they would on this occasion

evince the same sound sense they ever had, hewould call upon his Honorahle friend to addressthem.

MR. GALT, who, on rising, was received withfl:reat applause, addressed the Chairman andsaid the practice had obtained in England oflate years for the leading politicians and thosecharged with the administration of the Govern­ment to meet their constituents and the publicdnring the recess of Parliament, and discusswith them the questions then occupying thepublic mind. He believed that great advantsgehad arisen from the practice of instructing thepublic with reference to the questions then he­fore it, from the fact that, wben Parliamentefterwards met, it had the intelligeut ideas ofthe people brought to bear upon its delibera­tions. If ever there was an occasion uponwhich he might wish to address his constituents,it was now, when they had hefore them a mea­sure calculated not merely to change their pre.sent position, but through that change to raisetbis country to a scale of greatness wbich wehad longed for, but had not hitherto had theprospect of attaining That measure was onewhich had created a good deal of feeling in themind of the people at large; and, knowing thatto be the case, he was sure he was in the line ofhi. duty in coming before them that day, sudendeavoring to give them some of the rea­sons why the measure of confederation tor theBritish North American Provinces Wll.S now sub­mitted t? the consideration of the people of Ca­nada. He might say that with reference to this

particular subj ect he felt a double respons ibilityreatina UPOD him. He not only felt the respon­sibility commou to all wbo represent ed const i­tu encies in Parliament, but he had also uponhim the responsibility of acting as the repre­sentative of a class in Oanad a-of a minorityi n Lower Oanada-and of endeavor ing to see,in the measures whicb were proposed, that jus­tice was doDeto them ID common with all elas .ses of the community. No measure could pos­sibly meet the appro val of tbe people of Oanadawh ich contained within i t. the germs of in,justice to aDy j and if, in tbe measure wbichwas DOW before tbe people of Canada,th ere was anythln g wh ich bore on its face in­justice , it would operate greatly against tbesuccess of tbe measure itself.

DE~'EOTS OF THE PRE SENT UNION.

He would ask th e permission of th e meet­ing for a few moment s before ent ering onth e plan of Ooufeaeratlon, to recur to the eventswhich had rendered it necessary to bring beforetbe people of Canada a measure for the altera­tion of their constitution. ~ nd with that viewhe might perh aps be allowed to refer briefly tothe circumstancea under which the union of thetwo Oanadas took place and the political actionwhich had taken place under that union . (Hearhear.) The Union of Oanada WBS an act ofImperial policy not sought for by the people ofLower Oanada at all events, It was adopted bytbe Imperial Legislat ur e with tb e view of re­medying difficulties which then existed betweentue two Provinces. The inherent defect in tbeImperial Act for the Uoion of the two Oanadaswas tbis : it attempted to combine tbe federalprinciple with unity of action It endeavour edto gi ve equal represent atlon to tbe two sectionsof the Province, wbile it brought them togetherfor tbe purpose of dealing as one with all sub­jects both general and local. So long as therewas no very great difference in the populationof the two Canadas-so loug as they contributedin somewha t equal proportion tn the expendi­tu re-tbe system worked well, but when theferrile Iunda of the WeBt attracted emigration ingr .ater numbers to Upper than to Lower Canada jwhen the wealth and population of tha t sectionincreased iu a grea ter ratio tha n it did below,the n the difficulties wbich were inherent in tbeAct of UDioDbegan to appear j th en bega n torise the claim that in Upper Canada there wastaxation without representation, while the resist­anc e wbich was made from Lo wer Oan­ada arcse from the feeling that if inc reasedrepresentat lou was given it would henot simply an interference with tbe mererepresentation in Parli ament, but would affecttbe whole principle UPOD which tbe Ilnion Actbad been based. Consequently resistance wasoffered, and had been systema tical ly maintvineuto tbe claimsof Upper Canada , Those claims werein themsel ves undoubtedly founded in jus tice­but at the !ame time there was great reason in t beoojections taken to then:-they involved aninterference witb the Federal prin ciple recog ­nized in tbe Union Act, an interference whichamounted to an entire chan ge in the principle son whicb the Government of the country was tobe adminl atered, and could not be received

4:

otberwise than with dread by a large clas s,if Dot by the whole of t'i e population of LowerOanada . (Hear .) He need not detain tbem byaDY reference to the politi cal struggles that badmarked tb e last few years. It was witbin thei cknowledge that the claims made by Upper Oa­nsda, and the intense feel mg evinced in UpperOanada with reference to these claims, were ofsuch a char act er tbat . they to a great exten tdebarred public men from joining the govern­ment of the country, because tbey were not ableto pledge themselves to gr ant the demands ofthe Western sectlon . l1'or that reason , manywhose services would bave been useful to thecountry bad been rejected by the constituenciesof Western Oanada, and tile Prov ince bad beendeprived of the servl ces of men who underother circums ta nces would bave been valuablemembers of its Executi ve and ornaments to itslegislat ive halls . Events, as they were aware,had ripened rapidly during thc last two or threeyears , and within the present year they had seentbe machine of governm ent almost brough t to adead lock , tbe claims of Upper Canada repre­sented on the ODe hand by a very large majorityand the resistance offered by Lower Oanada re.presented on tbe other hand by an equally larg emajority from that Province-these two greatcontendin g par ties being so equally matc hedthat the work of useful legislation for the coun,try came very near being absol utely stopped.UDder these circumstances Some remedy had tobe found eitber by way of eonceaeion OD tbe oneside or the other , or by BtrikiD~ ont a Dewcoursewhich might preserve tbe benefits we had enj oy.ed under the Ilnion Act, at the same timethat it removed tbe app rebensions fel tboth East and West , tnat inju sticemight be done to one secti on or the ot her

THE REMEDIES FOR EXISTI NG EVILS CONSIDERED.

He might for a moment refer to the remedieswhich had offered themselves for eonsideratio nand in the first place that wbich wuuld natur­ally occur to tbeir minds would be that thereshould ha ve been a conceasion to Upper Oanada,of add itiona l members in proport ion to its popu­lat ion, but that CODcession would, as he hadalready remar ked, have been an invasion ofthe Federal priuciple, contained in the UnionAct, and wonld unquesticnably have been re­sented to the ut termost by a lar ge proportionif not by the whole of Lo ver Canad a, WbileOD th is subject, I:e migbt f ay th at theinte res ts of the British populatio n of LowerOanada were identical with those of the FrenchOanad lana ; the. e peculiar interests being thatthe trade and commerce of tbe Western countryshould conli~ue to flow through Lower Canad a,(Hear, hear.j He was therefore of opinion thatthe concession to Upper Canada of representa­tion by population would have been attendedwith a n agitation most disastrous to tbe wholecountry. Instead of being in aDY way cond u­cive to peace and contentment, it wonld bavebeen resisted in 1\ way that would have impe rill ­ed the best interests of the Province, and withsuc h a warning as we now bad to the south ofus, it could only bave been taken wben allotber remedies for tbe exis ring evils had failed.(Hear. ) We could, bowever, try to reta in the

5

THE GE OGRAPHICAL POSITION OIl' OANADA.

He might here remark th at one reason whythe Government bad felt it desirable to approachthe Maritime Provinces with propositions of thisnature arose from a consideration of the geogra­phical poaition of Oanada. Canada it DlUSt heconsidered wae for severa l months of the yearent irely depeni ent on a foreign country for ac­cess to tbe ocean-for access to her own mothercountry. To approach the secs in wioter wemust pass through the United States. Be trust­ed that the good. will existing between thatnation and ourselves would never be disturbed.( Oheers.) He believed, moreover, tha t as longas the eyes of the people of both cnuotries wereturned upon the great matters of common int er­est that good will never would he broken.(Hear.) But it was possible it might be, and aswe were looking forwa rd at a day which wascertainly distant to the national existence towhich we were growing up. it was necessaryto provide that we should not be then at themercy of any foreign state. The business menof Canada and her farmi ng population toowere now entirely dependent on a state oflaw in the United States, which might not con­tinue forever. (Bear. ) If i t were possible thento combine with a change in the constitutionof ('Rnada such an exte nsion of oor tenitoriallimits as to give us access to the sea, we ooghtnot 10 neglect the opportunity of att ainingth ose means of reaching at all times the mothercountry and other Euro pean countries, which theMaritime Provinces now possessed. (Oheers.)

TH E OHARLOTT lIlTOWN CONFERlIlNOlll.

The ad vantages which we had ourselvesderived from the union of the two Provinceswould thus be still more widely extended ; wewould find other interests of whicn we nowscarcely knew anything, connected wi th ourown to the greatly increased advantage ofthe whole; we should have the assistauceof the active, intelligent, and wealthy populationa

blessings of the Union, and, indeed, extend them [ which tbe Hoc. M:r. Brown ..nd two other gen­in sncb a way as to promote tbe peace content- t1emen representing tbe Liberal party of Upperment, and prosperity of tbe people, at tbe Oauada bad entered, to address tbemselves tosame timepreserving in tbe new consti tution those the p repara tion of a measure that would par­rigbts :bey were.afraid would be subjected to in- take ot a federal character as far as necessaryjustice. Wbile referring to Representa tion by with respect to local measures, while it wouldPopulation as one of the remedies, he might also preserve the existing union in respectsay that au ether , and probably one that would to measur es common to all; that theyhave immediately fo.lowed it , would have been would endeavor, if necesary, to strike outthe dissolut ion of the Union between Upper and a federal union for Osnada alone, but thatLower Canada ; for the struggle would have as- at the same time t hey would attempt , in consid­sumed such an alarming aspect, that it would ermg a change in the Conotitution of thishave resulted in an attempt to compass that. country, to bring tha Lower P rovinces ill underNow he did not thi nk any measure ever adopted the same bond, as they were alread y un der thein any country, had brought grea ter blessings in same Sove:eign. It was highly proper that, be­its train than the Union thus threatened with de. fore tonching ' be edifice of Government thatstrucnon. When tbey reflected for a moment on had been raised in Canada they shou ld addr esswha t had passed during the twenty-two or the state smen of the Lower Provinces, and tryt wenty-rbree years since the Union took effect, to induce them to form a common system. If itthey would with difficulty find a measure fraught were found impossible to bave a legislative unionwith such benefita to the people who had lived of all the British American Prov inces, th en theynnder it. We had seen the popula tion of the could reserve to the local governments of thecountry more than doubled; we had seen it tra- several Provinces the control of such subjects asversed hy ra ilways; its educatl onal system im- concerned them, while the rest sho uld be com­proved ; feudal tenure in Lower Canada abo - mitted to the csre of the General Government.lished i the grea t Olergy Reserve quest ion had (Hear hear.)heen settled -it would take more time than hecould venture to occupy even simply to go seria­tim through all the great benefits that had re­sulted from the Union-a measure be it remem­bered wbich had not been sough t for by the peo­pie, and wbich bad therefore not come into pro­per play unt il several yea rs after its enactment(Bear.) No one, considering all this, woold saywe ougbt lightly to risk these benefits, but everyone would at once agree that , while the greatinterests of the wnole country should be preserv­ed as they now were, the sect ional interests-ifhe migh t use that term, which he was very re­luctant to do-should beassured and guarantee dto each part of it, so as not to do inj ustice to any.(Cheers)

GOVERNMENTAL DIFFrcULTIEa OF LAST SESSION,

The circumst ances under which tne Govern·ment fouud Itself last session of Parl'ament werethese; One Government had resigned from ina­brlity to obtain Parliamentary support enoug hto govern the country. Anotber, of which be(Mr. Gall) was a member, had been defeated bya majority of two j and it did not app ear possi­ble t o form any Gover nmen t under which anymaterial difference in this respect could havebeen produced . Under these circumsta nces itwas tbe duty of those admlniatering the publicaffairs to make sacrificesof thei r interests and oftheir personal position, and to uni te to seek aremedyfor the evils that existed; and he washappy to say that men were found willing toundertak e this responaibility. Be desired in thisconnection to all ude more par ticular ly to hisfriend an~ colleague the Hon. Georl!"e Brown,who, feeliog tbat the period had arrived whenextreme views should no longer be pressed, inthe most patricti« sad straightforward maonerapp roached the Government of the day wheothey were considering what course to take, andsugge sted tbat some basis should be round onwhich a common plat form could be raised. (Hearhear .) This consideration resulted in an under­taking on the part of the Government, inl,p

in the Lower Provinces to aid us in all thingsneceessry to constitute the prosperity and great­ness of a nation. The time when the Govern­ment felt it to he their duty to approach theMaritime Provinces on the subject of unionhappened at a very favorable period. This yeerthe legislatures of the Lower Provinces-NovaScotia , New Brunswick and Prince EdwardIsland had passed resolutions pointing to alegislative union of those three Provinaes, andalso appointed delegates for the purpose ofmeeting to consider the terms upon which sucha union of the three Provinces could be broughtabout . IJonsequently when we were obliged toconsider the question of altering the terms ofthe union of Upper and Lower Canada, we hadbefore us the fact that the Lower Provinces werethemselves considering the possihility of unitingtheir destinies together, and of constitutingthemse ves into one large Province Thereforeit was felt that the time had arrived when thepublic mind in the Lower Provin ces was in abette r state of preparation for the considerationof a union with Canada than ever before. a ndbesides, this was not a new subject; it had beenbefore tbe public in one form or another for a greatnumber of years - from the time of LordDurham to the present day; but it appeared notto have been realized by tbe public 8S a prac­t ical quest ion or as one which was deservingof very serious attention. He had no doubtthat events now transpiring in the United Stateshad had a great effect in ripening publicopinion in regard to the question of BritishColonial Union. He believed there had been animpression created by tbose events.in the publicmind of all those Provinces-that there hadbeen creat ed a feeling of iusecurity which satis­lied. them that it was better their interestsshould be united together: that they shouldnot in future be Obliged to face singly anydifficuities that might arise, nor the contiugencyof being at any period of trial disunited andseparate j but that, uniting all their energies andmaking common cause together, they wouldbe in a much better position tor meeting anythingthat might unfortunately transpire hereafter.For those reasons it was thought the most ap­propriate time to bring before the Lower Pro­vinces tbe subject of Colonial Union was theoccssion when they had under consideration thescheme of union among themselves; and an in­vitation addressed to them to permit Canadato send a deputation to the Conference whichthey were about to hold, was received in themost friendly and cordial spirit. This Oonrer­ence, however, was informal merely, and for thepur pose of enabling the leading men of theseveral Provinces to consider whether, while aunion of the Provinces might be in generalterms considered desirable, such difficulUee ex­isted In regard to the details of the measureas to forbid the attempt to undertake effect.ing that union , They went to Oharlottetown, P.E. 1., where a meeting of the Colonial delegateswas held; and while not desiring 10 occupy thet ime of this meeting with the details then con­sidered, he wonld merely state that the Confer­ence , which was unanimous in the conclusionarrived at, was of opinion that the common In­erests of all were of such great importance that

6

the difficulties which might be experienced in re­gard to the details of the scheme ought to beovercome. It was felt tha t though the detailsdid in many respects offerdifficulties,from whichat the moment they did not see a mode of escape,still there was such a general opinion In refer­ence to the ad vantages to be derived from aUnion, that those difficulties were regarded LISsubordiuate to tbe general interest, and the de­termination was formed that an attempt to con­sider the question of union In a more formal wayshould he made in Quebec.

TBIl QUBBKC CONFllIRE!!CllI.

This Conference took place last month, whenfor 16 days the representatives of the severalProvinces were engaged in the discussion of thedetails of the scheme, and they arrived at a baSISupon which they could go back to their severalProvinces and recommend their adhesion to acommon union. The meeting was aware of thegeneral outline ot what took place at the QuebecConference, as the press had published the es­sence of all that had transpired. But he mightperhaps be allowed, in addressing his constitu­ents, to go into those matters discussed in confer­ence more fully than had been done at anyprevious meeting in reference to this subjee r,and to state the motives and reasons whichbrought about certain results, and to do so in amore formal and complete way than had beenattempted elsewhere. He was sure he wonIdhave their indulgence in now undertaking thistask. It was by no means an easy matter to at­tempt to go over at that time all the detailswhich had occnpied upwards of thirty gentle­men, the first men in the land, for week. to­gether. He trusted that while endeavoring, intbe sbort time at his disposal, to give them theresults, in a general way, of the dellberstlons atQnebec, he would receive their klud indulgence,feeling as he did that at the risk of inflicti ngupon them a perhaps tedious speech, the im­portance of the results in question and of thescheme contemplated would justify his enteringinto the subject somewhat fully. (Applause.)Naturally, the first question which suggesteditself for the consideration of the Conference waswhether a union ot the British North AmericanProvinces was in Itself desirable or not . Uponthis point he was happy to say there was themost complete and perfect unanimity. Of thethirty three gentlemen assembled from HalifaxIn the East to Sandwich in the West, represent­ing as they did all classes, all races, allcreeds in the country, not one hesitated to givean affirmative answer to the question that aunion of the British North American Provincesshould be effected provided it could be doneed on just principles to all. And he thoughtthat all who heard him would azree that theopinion which was then unanimously adoptedwas one which the circumstances fully justified.(Lond cheers.) If they looked at the grea t in­terests of all sections of the country, at thelargeness of the population of the Provinceseast and west, at the Importance of the mari­time element in any confederation, they wouldcertainly find that, as Inhabitants of British NorthAmerica, united together under a common bondof interest, having a common legislative in-

7

-outwards, 727,727; inwards 659,258; together1,386,980. Not incluulng Prince Edwa rd Islandand Newfoundland, for which he had not theofficial retums , th e tonn age employed in the sea­goin g business of Canada, Nova Scotia andNew Brunswick amounted to no less than fivemillions of tons, besides nearly seven millions(6,907.000) of tonnage employed on the greatinland lakes in the Cana dian trade. (Cheers.)Now, these figures w-re so great, so vast, t hatt he mind required some little time before it couldtake them in . They represented It tr ade wh ichwas probably the third in the world-excee dedonly by the trade of Great Brita in and that ofthe United States, an d perhaps the trade ofFrance, which last , bowever, did not much, ifat all exceed the figures he had jus t given . Withthese two or perhaps thr ee exceptions no othercountry in the world employed the same amount

of tonnage or sen-golng craft as was employedlas t year by tbe Brit ish Nort h Amer ican Provin-:ces in carrying on their intercourse with theworld and with each other. He consideredtherefore that, possessing as t hese Pr ovincesdid a large and increasing popula tion, a vast ter­rito ry I an d a trade and commerce Which, united,would vie with tho se of almost any other coun­try in the worl d, it must be aamitted there werematerial interests which would he greatly pro­moted it we could agree on a measure of such anat ure as to induce th e several Prov inces to en­tru st the management of their general affairs toa comrr.on government and legis lature . (Hear.

THE CHARACTER OF TilE: PRoPoSEn ns tos .In considering the mode in whic h such

a union could be carr ied out, it hecame necessaryto determine whether it should be a Federal or aLegislati ve Union. A Leg islative Union, asthey were all aware, had certain advantegesover one based on the Fed eral sys tem, It wasa more complete un ion, and implied a more di­rect action and control of the govern ment overthe interests of the people at large. And , wherea people were homogeneous, and their interests ofsuch a character as to admit of 1 nitormity of ac tionwith regard to them, it could not he doubted thata government on the principle of a Legis lativeUnion was the one which probab ly operate dmost beneficially for al l. But io the case of thepeople of these Prov inces, brought up as they hadheen under separate legis latures, having u nfor­tunately for our common int erests compa rat ive­ly littl e intercourse with each otber, the difficul ;ty was felt that, if we attempted to make a Leg .Islative Union of these Provinces in the first in­stance, the dread, in the case of the Lower Pro­vinces and probably of many among ourselvesthat peculiar interests migh« he swamped an dcertai n feelings and prej udices outraged andtrampled upon, was so great that such a measurecould not be entertained and we were compel.led to look for what was sought in a form of government tba t would commit all subjects of gen­eral interest to a general Government and Leg ­islature, reserving for local Legislatures andGovernments aucn subjects as from their naturereq uired to been trusted to those bodies, (Obeers .)The term F ederation was used with refere nceto the propos ed Union, because it was thatwit l} which the public mind WaS most fami -

terest,lI unity of a11 interests, they would he betterable to do thei r dnty as subjects of the BrlstishCrown than if each Province remained separate.

THE TERBITORY m' TME: UNION.

I n point of population, the Provinces ofBritish North America would form, if nnlted,a very respectable power in the world . Manycountries Which boast ed of kings and emperorswere not as stron g or as great either in popula­tion or territory, in trade and commerce, in in­dustry or in the int elligence of their inbabltan ts,as tbe united Provinces of Britisb North Ameri­ca would be, when unit ed unde r one Confedera­t ion. Wit h a population numbering now nearlyfour mill ions of people, with a territory exten dingfrom the Atlantic to the Pacific, with alonge r coast line than that of the United States ,with a river, commercially speaking, the great­est an d most important in the world,pasaing thro ugh the centre of our country, con­necmg the Eallt with the West, and bearing onits bosom the trade and commerce of the wholeint erior of this gr eat continent-with all theseadvan tages we might look forward to a fut urefor th is count ry, Which, whether we lived tosee it or not, our children would rejoice tosee, and feel that a power was being estab­lished on the nor thern par t of this continentwhich would he able to make itself resp ected,andwhicb, be trus ted, would furnish hereafter hap ­py and prosp erous homes to many millions oftbe industrial classes from Europe, now strng .gling for exis tence, (Cheers .)

THE TRADE Al~ D TONNAGE OF TIlE COLONIES .Let him adv ert for a moment to the trade and

tonnage of these Provinces; because in exhibit­ing the amount of that b ade, he would he ableto hring hefore tbem, in a very pointed man­ner, the mos t important results which .Dnst flowfrom a union of all our resources. The importsof Canada last year amounted to $45 ,964,000 ;the exports to $ 41,831,000 ; together, $87,795,­000. The import s of New Brunswi ck to $7,­764,824 ; the exports to $8,964,784; together$ 16,729,608. 'I'he imports of Nova Scotia to$ 10,201,391; the exports (including $1, 874,480,the value at shipping built III the Province,) to$ 8,420,968; together $ 18,622,359. The importsof Prince Edward Island amounted to $ 1,428,­028; the experts (inclUding £124,955 sterling,tbe value of the ahipping huilt) to $ 1,627,540 ;together $3,055 ,568. 'I'ne imports of Newfound ­land to $ 5,242,720 ; the exports to $6,002 ,312 ;together $11, 245,032. Cons equently, the tradeof these Colonies, separated as they were by hos­tile tar iffs, preventing proper commercial inter­course hetween the m-wit h all the disadvant­ages or being separated, dlsunited, and havingnecessarily smaller Legislatures, and smallerviews on th e part of their publicmen-amounted last year to no less a total thanone hundred and thir ty-seven and a-half millions-in precise figur es, $137,44'1,567-a volume ortrade sur passing that of almost any Europeancoun try . (Cheers.) Referring again to theto nnage employed in carrying on that trad e, wewould find, in the case of Canada, a sea-goingt onnage (both ways) of 2,133,000. In the caseof Nova Scotia-c-inwards, 112,939 ; outwards,719,915; together 1 ,432,~54_ New Brunswick

liar. Bnt it mllst not be supposed, on acconnt ofthe use of that terlll,that in the Uniou now propos­ed to be established it was inteuded to imitatethe Federal Union which we had seeu existiug inthe United States. In the United States, thegeneral Government exercised only such powersas were delegated to it by the State Governmentsat the time tbe Union was formed. Each Statewas regarded as a sovereign power, and it chosefor the common interest to delegate to the gen­eral Government the right of deciding npon cer­tain questions, which were expressly statedAll the undefined powers, all the sovereignri gbts, remained witb th e Governments ofthe several States. And he believed that near­ly all the writers and statesmen who had givenmuch thought to the snbject of the difficnl­ties now convulslng the United States wereof the opinion-and he shared that opinion him­self-that the reservation of what were popularlyknown as State rights had been to a great ex­tent the cause of the difficulties which were nowagitating that great country. He thought,when we had before us the lamentable resultswhich we now witnessed, when we saw theevils which had arisen there, and perceived thatthere was apparently no remedy for tbem withinthe limits of the constitution, we might wellhesitate to adopt any system that would besimilar in its character, If we did so we shouldbe lacking in that wisdom learned froth the ex­perience of others which was so pecnllarly valu­able. (Hear, hear.) Therefore, in laying abasis for the union of these Provinces, it wasnot proposed that the General Governmentshould have merely a delegation of powers fromthe Local Governments, hut it was proposedto go back to the fountain nead, from which allour legislative powers were derived-the Im­perial Parliament-and seek at their hands ameasure which should designate as far as possi­ble the general powers to be exercised by theGeneral Legislature, and also those to be exer­cieed by the Local Legislatures, reserving to theGeneral Legislature all suhjects not directlycommitted to the control of the Localbodies. By this means it was believed weshould escape the rock on which the UnitedStates had split and we should not have a sec­tioual agitation springing up in one section ofthe conntry or the other, because each Legisla­ture, and especially each Local Legislature-acting within the bounds prescribed by the Impe­rial Parliament and kept within these boundsby the Courts of Law if necessity should arisefor their interference - would find in th eworking of the plan of Federation acheck sufficient to prevent it from transcendingits legitimate authority. (Hear, hear.) Itwas therefore proposed, that in the Fed­eration of the British North americsn Provincesthe system cf government best adapted underexisting circumstances to protect tse diversifiedInterests of the several Provinces and secure ef­ficiency, harmony and permanency in theworkin~ of the Union, would be a General Gov­ernment charged with matters of common inter­eat to the whole country, and Local Govern­ments for each of the Canadas and for the Pro­vinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick andPrince Edward Island, charged with the control

8

of local matters in their respective sections, pro­vision being made lor the admission into theUnion Onequitable terms of Newfoundland, theNorth-west Territory, British Columbia, andVancouver.THI MINISTay TO B;J! BFSPONSIBLlIl TO P.l.BLtUIBNT.

Now the next point, having decided thatthe Federative plan, a8 he had briefly en­deavored to explain it, was the one which oughtto be adopted, was whether they ought to adoptthe mode of government which they now , a\\" inuse in the United States, or whether they shouldendeavor to incorporate in the Union tbe priaci­pies under which tbe British Constitution hadbeen for so many years happiiy administered ;and upon this point no difference of opinionarose in the Conference. They all preferred thatsyateta which they had enjoyed for the last eigh­teen years, by whicb the Crown was allowed tochoose its own advisers; but those advisersmust be in harmony with the well understoodwishes of the country as expressed by its repre­sentatives in Parliament. (Cheers.) They?1ereunanimously of the opiniou that tbis system wasmore Iiktly to operate for the benefit of the peo­pie than any attempt to introdnce the Ameri­tan system of Government. They certainly be­lieved that they enjoyed more practical freedomunder the Brltish Sovereign than they couldunder a dictator who was chosen for only fouryears. He believed that the adminiatration ofthe country could be carried on with more ad­vantage to the people and. more in harmonywith their wishes if that admini stration was ob­liged constantly to retain the confidence of thepeople; and if the moment the people ceased tohave confidence in those in power, they mustgive place to others who would beable to gOTerll the country ~more inharmony with thei r wishes. The se·cret of the freedom of the British nation fromrevolution and disturbance was tbat the peoplehad at any time the power of making the Gov­ernment harmonize with their wishes,-it was, infact, the greatest safeguard tbe British Constitu­tion gave. No government In Canad a couldveatnre to set public opinion at defiance. Nogovernment could exist, except for a few shortmonths , unless they had the people attheir back; for although parliamen tarymajorities could be preserved for a short timeagainst the wishes of the majority of the peoplestill it was impossible to deny that public opin­ion was, in a complete sense, represented by tbeopinIon of the members of tile Legislature.They all knew perfectly well that their repre­sentatives were chosen from amoogst them­selves, and he trusted that we should never inthis country lose that control which had heenso happily exercised by the peopleover the government of the day. It was,therefore, concluded that in forming anUnion of these Provinces it was desirable, in theinterest of the people at large, that the system ofreponsihle government now in force should bemaintained. (Hear.) The question then aroseas to the form of government wbich should be..dopted for the administration of the general af·fairs of the Whole union, and that form wascopied almost literally from the system existingin the several Provinces. 1t was proposed to

have a Governor General, who should be appoint­ed by our Gracious Sovereign . (Hear .)

THg COMPOSITION Oil' THE llPPI'R HOUSE.

It was proposed to have a Legislative Counciland a Legislative Assembly. ID the constitutionof the 1"gisJative Oouncil it would be observedthat the principle which oow obtained in Canada,of electing obe members of that branch, was pro­posed to be done away with and th at we wouldagain revert to nomination by the Crown. Per­baps he might be permitted to say a few wordsin regard to that point. He did not think thatin Oanada they had any cause to regret thechange which had been made from the nomina­tive to the elective plan . The circumstancesunder which that change took place were proba­bly familiar to most of them . The Leg. Councilhad, from one cause or another, uoder the nomina­tive system, fallen into public discredit. Theelective Legislative Oouncil , up to this time, hadgiven them a number of very excelleot menindeed . He doubted for instance whether, underany system, they could have had a better repre ­sentarive than the gentleman who now represent­ed this district. [Hear.) Therefore, as far asCanada was concerned, he was not aware thatthey could say that the principle of an electiveLegislative Oouncil had proved in any degree afailure. There was no doubt that, in some res­pects, the elective principle was attended withdifficulties and objecti ons. It had been foundthat complaint was made that the expense con­nected with the elections in many districts wassuch as to debar many able men from attemptingto come forward as candidates. There was nodoubt that to canvass a district composed ofthree constitnencies, each sending a member tothe Lower House, was a most formidable under­taking, and one from whicb many excellent andworthy men naturally shrank. An election forone was bad enough, but to have ae election forthree constituencies, certainly must be tbreetimes as bad. He did not think however,that in Oanada there was anything in the elec­tive principle, as regarded the Legislative Coun­cil, which would have induced us to desire achange. Of course some would desire it, othersmight not. In the case ot the Lower Proviuceshowever, they had maintained the nominativeplan except in Prince Edward Island, and the gen­tlemen who came from those Provinces-boththe members of the Goveroments and the leadersof the Opposition who accompanied them-wereperfectly unanimous in the declaration that theopinion of the people in the Lower Provinceswas against the elective principle. Under thesecircumstances it was believed that the nominativeplan in some respects offered greater advan­tages than the elective priociple, and it was deci­ded that we sbould again revert to nomioation bythe crown. Jt then became necessary to settle thenumber of members lor the Upper House, andthe more so because the Upper House was in­tended to be the means whereby certain localinterests and local rights would be protected inthe General Legislature. For this reason it wascontended that while the priociple of Represen-

/ tation by Population might be properly enongnI extended to the Lower House, equality of terri­\ torial representation should be preserved in

the Upper House; and it was proposed in itaformation, that tbe Confederation should be di­vided into three large diatriots. Upper Canadaheing one, Lower Oanads another, and the Mari.time Provinces the third. Newfoundland nothaving joined the preliminary Cooference, ar­rangements were msde for its coming in withthe additional number of four members. Withrezard to the operation of the nomina tive planfor the Legislative Council for the purposes ofprotection, he mizht say that in his own view Ihe would have been ssthfled nnder the electiveplan. He thought that so far as the interestswere effected which he personally represented,they would have been able to return tbeir fairshare of representatives nnder the elective nrinci­pie. But it would not become tbem to object tothe nomioallve plan, because the members for theUpper House would be nominated by tbe Orownon the recommeodation of the General Govern·ment. He might sal it here, because it wassaid by everybody outside, that in the event ofany thing like injustice being attempted to­ward s the Briti sh population of Lower Canadaby their French Canadian fellow-subjects,-they would most nnquestionably look forremedy and redress at the hands of theGeneral Government, who would have the Ipower uf causiug their interests to be renresentedin the Upper House of the General Legislature.So far as regarded the interests of the FrenohOauadian population on the other hand, hethought there could be no question whateverthat they might safely enough trust to tbeir re­presentatives in the Upper House being takenfro-n among st their best men, and in fair pro­portion to their numbers also. It was propos­ed that, in the case of Lower Oanada, theselection should be made from the electorallimits which now existed. And he thoughtwisely so, because certain sections of the pro­vince were more particularly inhabited byFrench Canadians and others by those of Britishorigin. Ooosequently there was a greater cer­tainty that fairness would be meted out to bothparties, if the representatives io the UpperHouse were to be chosen from the electorallimits wbich now extsted. It was iotendedthat the first selection of Legislative Oouncil­lors should be made from th e present Lsgisla­tlve Oouncils of the several Provinces , andwithout referring to the reasons which actuatedgentlemen from the Lower Provioces in regardto Ihis matter, he thought it might be suffl­cient to poiut out that in Canada, where wehad forty-eight gentlemen sitting in the UpperHouse by the right of election, it would havebeen doiog a wrong, not merely to them indi­vidually, bnt to their eonstituents too, if theyhad from any came been atte-upted to beoverlooked. It was qnite evident even ifno such clause had been inserted, thatno attempt would have been made to pass overthose gentlemen who had been selected by thepeople themselves as the most fit and properpersons to represent them in the LegislativeCouncil. However, the arr anz -ment was thatthey should be chosen, reg ard being held inthat selection to the relative position of politi­eal par .ies, If the power of nomination wereentrusted to the Government without restrle-

~lO

tion tbey migbt be inclined to app oint tbeir ownpolitical fr iends to tbe exclusion of the otbers.But it was intended that the nominatiousbould be so made that not only the memberscomposing the tiovernment but also the 01'1'0.sition to th e Government should be fairlyrepresented in the Legisla tive Ooun­ciI. So far as Oana da was concerne d, there wasno likelibood of difficulty arising on this point ,because the coalition which was formed betweenth e Liberal and Oonservative part ies would pre­clude any at tempt calculat ed to injure the int er­ests of either . (H ear, hea r, and cheers.)In the case of the Lower P rovinces the samereasons did not exist. Their governments werestill party governments, and th oug b tbey hadaesoclsted with them, in the Conference whichhad taken place, the leaders of the Oppositio n,still the action to be taken would necessarily bethe action of the governments of the Lower Pro­vinc es. It was tberefore proposed that thereshould be a guarantee giveu that all politicalparties should be as nea rly as possible fully re­presented.

TRill COIl POSITIO N OF TRill LOWER ROUSIll.

Passing now to the composition of theLower House, the Important change was tobe made of basing represent ation therein uponPopulation. Now unless this were done, it wasplain that Upper Oanada would not, under anycircumstances, have consented to be a party tot be Union, since for many years it had beenclaiming additional representati on as a matter ofrigbt, and would cert ainly not have entered aConfederation, unless a due share of cout rol weregiven it over the expenditu re and taxation towhich it so lar gely cont ribut ed. The LowerProvinces at once acquiesced in this. Popu la­tion was made the basis, and to prevent any un­due augmentation iu the numbers of tbe LowerHouse as popula tion increased, it was settledthat th ere sbould be a fixed standard on whichthe numbers of the House should be calculat ed,and Lower Oanada was selected as affording theproper basis. Although Lower Canada had notthe largest, still it had a very large population,which was more equable in its increase than anyof tbe others, not increasing on the one han d sofast as Upper Canada, or on th e otberhand so slowly as the Lower Provinces, and thenumbers of tbe House of Commons (for that wasthe name selected) would not be subject to suchirregular variations as if th e populatiou ofany of the other P rovinces were taken as thebasis. Tbe House would never have less than194 members, bu t it would increase at avery slow rate, as it would only be the greaterincrease of any Province over tbat of LowerCanada whicb would entitle it to add itional re­presentation, while, ifthe agricultural resonrce sof Lower . Oanada became developed, and itsmineral ;wealth explo red, so that it increasedfaster than Upper Can ada, then the number ofrepresentatives for Upper Can ada would bedlminianed, not those for Lower Canada inereaa­ed. Of course, to provide for the settlement ofthe remote portions of the country which mightbe brought in from time t o time, power was re­served to increase the number of members ; butsuch members could only be incr eased preserving

tbe relative~proportions. One advantage whichVi ould flow from this was tbat wbile 194 or 200members were cert ainly sufficien t to carry on thebusiness of tbe country, we sbould be spared theenormous expense which woul d be entailedupon us if tbe repreaentetlves were rapidly togrow up to 300 or perbaps 400 members. ( Hear.)

1'BE DURATION OF TRE GENE RAL PARLIAMlilNT

It was also proposed that the durationof Parliament should be exte nded from four tofive years . 'I'h~ reason for adopting this coursewas tbat under our present system P arliamentsseldom lasted longer th an three years. InEngland where their legal dur atien was sevenyears, it was found, on an examinat ion of t berecord s of tbe last sixty or seventy years , thatthe average length of each P arliament was onlya tri lls over four years , Now repeated elec­tions were not in themselves very desirable.What was desired was that elections and dls­solutions of Parliament should tr ke place wit hsufficient frequency to ensure tb at the repre­senta tives should truly represent the people .It was when doubt arose, either through a votein Parliament or soma other cause, tbat the re­presentatives did not trul y represent the people,that a dissolut ion was really necessary, and itwas thought in Conference tbat no iujury wouldarise from exten diug the duration of the GeneralParliaments from four to five years . Somechange would bave tu be made in the durationof the Pa rliame nts 0"[ the local systems, and itwas tbougbt desirable tbat the term of existenceof the Genera l Legislature sbould be longer thanany that could possibly be adopted for tbe localbodies.

TRE P OWERS OF TRill GIlINERAL GOVERNMENT .

He now came to the consideration of tbepowers proposed to be given to tbe general Gov­ernment' and amongst these would be l oundall tha t could in any way be consider.ed of a publi c and general character,In the first place, it would have to dealwith tbe public debt and all the meansof sustaining tbe public credit . It would havetbe regulation of all the trade and com­merce of the country, for besides that these weresubjects in reference to wbich no local Interes tcould exisit, i t was desirable that they should bedealt witb tbrougbout t he Confedera tion on theSame principles. The regulation of dut ies of cus­toms On imports and expor ts might perhaps beconsidered so intimately connected with tbe sub­ject of tra de and commerce as to require no se­parate menti on in this place j he would howeverall ude to it be ~ause one of tbe cbief benefits ex­nected to flow from tbe Confederation was tbefree in tercbange of the products of the labor ofeacb P rovince, without being subjected to anyfiscal burden whate ver j and another was the as­similation of the tariffs . I t was most importantto aee tbat no local legislatu re sbould by its se ·parate action be able to put any such restrictionson tbe free interc hange of commodities as topreven t the manufac tures of the rest from find­ing a market in anyone province, and thus fromsharin g in the advantages of the extended Union(Hear.)

11

TilB NEW nRUNsWICK EXPORT n n r v ON TIMBER.

He might remark that in the publishedstatement it was said the General Govern­mant should not have the right of imposingduties on exports of'- lumber, coal andother minerals, but the understanding wastha t the clause should be limited in the case oftimber to the Province of New Brunswick , andID t he case of coal and other minerals to theProvince of Nova Scotia, The reason) for thisprohib ition were that the duty on the export oftimber in Sew Brunswick was in reality onlythe mode ID which they collected st umpage.'rhey had found in former years thei r method ofcollecti ng stu mpage dues was such that theirwoods and forests gave them very li ttle net reve­nue, if any, an d they resolved to substitute forit a duty on lumber when vessels carried it away.Now inasmu ch as che terr itorial possessions ofeach Prov ince were reserved as a means of pro.ducing local revenue for the respective Pro'vinces, it was evident that if the Province of NewBrunswick were deprived of this privilege of im­posing an export duty it would be obliged torevert to the old expensive process of levyiugstumpsge I)ues, against which its representa­tives in Conference ver.v strongly pro­tested. The correct interprotation of theclause would, however , leave to the Gene­ral Government the power of levying a duty onexports of lumber in all the Provinces exceptNew Brunswick, which alo-ie would possess therigh t to impose duties on the export of timber .(Hea r.j

TilE NOVA scorra EXPORT DUTY ON COAL, ETC.

Now in Nova Scotia a large revenuewas derived trom a royalty on coalmines, an d its representatives at theConference urged that if the Gen­eral Government should put an export dutyon coal, one of their most importa nt resourceswould be interfered with, and Nova Scotia wastherefore permi tted to deal with the export dutyon coal and other rmnerals, jus t as New Bruns­wick wag with regard to ti...ber, (He ar .)

EXCISE DUTIES.

The General Gov. would also have the powerof regula ting excise duties. The imposition ofthese duti es was a necessary corollary to the 100 .

position of the duties of Oustoms ; and thepower to impose the one must be given to thesame authority that exercised the power toimpose the other. Excise duties were placedupon spirits made in the country in oruerto place the consumer thereof on the same foot­ing he would be on if he consumed spirits impor­ted from abroad. He mig bt remark that in theLower Province. they had no excise dnti es j hebelieved they did not manufacture Whiskeyto any extent, but iu introducing a systemof excise duties they would have to besubjec ted to the same regnlations tbatwere followed in Canada. In general ter ms hewould add that the Oestral Government wouldhave the power of raising money by ,,11 the othermodes and systems of taxation-the power oftaxa tion had heen confided to the General Le­gislature-and there was only one method leftto the Local Governmentll, if their own resour-

ces became exhauste d, and tbis was direct taxa­tion.

TilE PROSPECT OF UNION ALRE ADY D tPROVING

OUR CRRDIT.

One of the advllntag~s to which we cer­tainly had a right to look forwa rd under theUnion was that the credit of tbe whole coun tryweuld be greater tban tbat of nny of its pata,and that the General Govern ment would be ableto obtain money on easier terms than any Pr o­vince could on itl own responsibility alone.Events were already beginnmg to shew the tru thof this atstement, as would be seen if we lookedat the marked advance in the price of our pecu­rit ies that had taken place within th e last thr -eor four weeks Aoco rdmg to official advicesfrom Eng land, since intelligenc e had reachedtha t countr y of the probability of Union beingeffected here , our securities, whicb had oeenllreatiy depressed, had risen no less than 15 percent, our 5 per cents being now quoted a t 90 to92. (Applause.) That might be received as anindication of what the moneyed world conceivedto be the greater security Osnada would enjoyunder a Union, and we might well accept it asan evidence of tbe propriety or the course wewere now taking, when that which was the mostsensitive of all interests-the public credit-washeoeficially affected even by tbe intelligence ofthe meeting of the Colonial delegate s [Hear.]

POST AL SERvICE AND P UBLIC WORKS.

He might now refer generally to the subjectof the Postal ~ervice . If there was one branchof the public serv ice which, more than anot her,should be under the control of the general gov­ernment it was the Postal Service j and it hadbeen agreed to leave it entirely in the hands ofthe Genera l Government. Lines of stea m orotber ships, rail ways, as well as canals and otherworks connecting any two or more of the Pro­vinces together, or extcnding beyond the limi tsof any Province, would be under the cont rol ofthe General Government. It was, however, cer­tainly desirable that all the works of amerely loeal character should t,e iu thehands of the authorities of the Province withinwhich they were situated. But ID the esse ofsuch works RS the Welland Canal, wbich thoughsitua ted in Upper 0anada was, as regards thecommerce of the country, equally pertaining toLower Canada, they would not be regarde d aslocal, and must be under the contro l of tbe Gen­eral Government, while if any enlargeme nt orimprovement of su .h works had to be undertak­en it should not be at the charge of Upper Gana­da or the other Provinces so concerned, but atthat of the whole country as the whol e wasbenefited thereby. In fact he might Bay thatlines of telegraph, railw eys, etc ., end all worksof an essentially general character, as distin­guished from those merely local, wereintend ed to be under tbe control of theGeneral Government who wou.d administerthem for tbe common int erest . They would bepnt beyond the power of IIny loca l governmentto obstruct or interfere With, they beiug ameans by which the trade and indu stry of theceuntry at large would benefit. It would notbe found possible in any part of the uni ted ter-

12

ritory to offer objection to that wbich was intbe common interest, simply on account of itsbeing situated in any particular locality.

TUB MILITIA .

Tbe control oftbe Militia wss certainly a subjectwbich tbey must all feel ought to be in tbehands of one central power. If tbere was onething more than another which required to bedirected by one mind, governed by one influencean d one policy, it was tha t which concerned thedefence of th e country. (Cheers .) It migbtbe that CRnada would be at tacked a t sometime, or it might be Nova Scotia, but it wesdesirable that, on whatever part of the Oonfe­dera -y the hostile foot was placed, the blowshould be felt at every extremity of the coun­try. (Cheers .) Every mau iu the UnitedProvinces should feel that his own home wasin danger thou gh the attack were made ath ou-and miles away, and thst every assist­ance should be rendered to the General Govern­ment in enabling it to resist aggression, fromwhatcver quarter it might come. (Renew edcbeers) Therefore he thought they would allcordiallv agree with him that putting the de­fence of the country under the control of theGeneral Goverument was a wise measure, andshould, under auy circumstances, receive ap.proval, It must he rememhered that, in cominginto this Confederatiou, their means of defencewould he greatly augmented. In Canada tberewas a large population available for the in­land defence of the country; while in the Ma·ritime Provinces there was a large sea-fariugpopulation, who, though not perhaps requiredfor their own defence would be available tostrike a blow which might bave theeffect of withdrawing or weakening thehostile attack on Upper or Lower Canada. Bya union with the Maritime Provinces we shouldbe able to strike a blow en sea, and, like theglorious old Mother Country, carry our flag intriumph over tbe waters of tbe great ocean.(Enthusiastic cheers.) In addition to the mill­tary and naval service and defence, the GeneralGovernment would legislate regardiug beacons,buoys and light-houses, navigation and shipping,quarautine, sea-coast and inland fisheries andall those subjects connected with the naviga­tion of the country.

OURRBNOY AND OOKYBROIAL QVBSTIONS,

Coming to another important clasa ofqnestions, he would speak of the currencyand coinage of the country. He thought itwould be admitte1 by all that it was most de­sirable th s currency of all the Provinces shouldbe one. Tbey had always been proud ofthe way in which Canadian currency hadmaintained its par value under circumstancesof great difficulty. He hoped it would alwayscontinue to do so. He was glad also to beable to say as to the other Provinces, there hadnever been a blot or stigma cast upon theircommercial boner, It was desirable the Gene­ral Government should have th~ control of themedium through which the trade and commerceof the country was carried on, and that m theestablishment of banks. the issue of paper moneyand in offering to the public the paper represen-

btive of their labor, iu whatever par t of thecO'1 ntry, there should be the same legislativesecurity for the people in every sectiou , He the re­fore believed that, in giving to the General Gov­erurn ent control of banking, curreucy, coinageand th e issue of paper money. and the regulatio~of S.ving's Banks, represeutio g the savings andaccumul ated industry of the poorest portion ofthe people-whIch ough t to be made as safe 8S

possible-the Couference had done Wisely, andhe Was su re their conclusion was one that wouldreceive the sanction and appro val of the peopleof all par ties in the British Nort h AmerIcanProvlnces, (Ch eers) The queation of the rateof interest on mouey was one wbich ha d causeda great deal of discussion in this country ; Itwas One in which ..ll bad an inter est, and wasso iutimately connec ted with the snbj ectaj ust na med that it naturally fell wrthlnthe scope of the general au thority Thesettl ement of the subject of bankrupt­cy and Insolvency, the adj ustment of claims be­tween debtor and creditor were matt ers In whichall had a common Interes t, and the admintstra­tion in regard to them could be hetter ent rus tedto the General Legislature than to any localbody whatever (Cheers,)

THE NATURALIZATION LAWS.

The protection of the Indi ans, and thenaturalization of aliens were matters whichnecessarily fell to the general Govern­ment . There ought clearly to be the samelaw euabltng foreigners as well as clti­zens to enjov property and devise it to theirchildren.-With regard to aliens, it was clearour object in future mua', be to at tract hit herpopulation from foreign count ries. We had;and he hoped would continue to possess , a veryIiberal slien law by which strangers coming intothis country migbt feel they were placed on thesamefooting as the subj ects of Her Majestyas earlyM possible; and in fratnmg a union of theseProvmces it was desirable that whatever mightbe the inducement that brough t foreigners hi th­er, whether a desire to embark in t he Piaheriesof Newfouudlaud, in the Lumbering ofNew Brunswick, or in the agricultural andmanufac turing industries cf Upper or LowerCanada, we should hold out to them the utm ostfacilities for becoming subjects of the BritishCrown here. (Oheers .)

OBIllINAL LAWS AND OOURTS 07 APPBAL.

The subject of the criminal law essentiallvbelong ed to the General Legi slature. Crimeshould meet with the some punishment nomatter in what part of the Country committ ed.The right hand of justice should be as sure ofgrasping the criminal and puuishing him for hisoffence m one part as in anoth er. There shouldbe no distinction anywhere in reg ard to tbeamount of puuishment iuflicted for offences.(Cheers.) He believed they would agree Withhim that, Inasmuch as they enjoyed the bleasingsof the Euglish Criminal Law, with such modi­fications as had been in troduced to suit thecountry, it should be a snbject for the ,) eneralGovernment, to administer throu gh its officersand though each Province might be obliged touse the Conrta established locally, still the

13

administration of that law would he under thecontrol of the General Government and admi­nistered by Jud ges appointed by them and re­ceiving their status and position in the countrythro ugh the General Legislature. It wasthoug ht proper to give to the GeneralGovernment the right to establish a generalCourt of Apoeal for the federated ProvincesHe tbought that whil e there was no express pro­vision for the establishmen t of such a court,many who had stud ied the question would agreet~at it was desirable tbe General Legislatureshould have to e power of consti tuting such acourt , if It saw fit to do so. At present appeallay from our courts ultimately to the Queen inPrivy Council, and it was not intend ed to de­prive the subject of recourse to this ultimatecourt j but at the same time it was well, in as­similatinl( the present syst ems of 18w, for thebenefit of all the Provinces, that they shouldhue the assembled wisdom of the Bench broughttogether in a general court of appeal to decideultimate causes, which would hefore longdoubtless supersede the necessity of goiug totbe enormous expe nse of carrying appealsto England. It was proposed to ask the Im­perial Governmen t to confer upon the GeneralGoveroment the power of constit ut ing such acourt, not, however, with the desire to abolishthe present right of appeal to England. It wasalso proposed that the Judges of the Superi orCourts in each Province, aud of the CountyCourts of Upper Canad a, should be appointedby the General Government and paid by it. Hewas glad this power had been conferr ed, be­lieving that if there was one thing more thananother which the y should seek to do in thiscountry , it was to elevate the character of theBench. He felt that to the gent temea who hadso worthily filled lor so many years the positionsof our Ju dges, was due in a great measnre thepros perity of the country, the happiness of thepeople, and the security to life and property weenj oyed. He thonght that the higher tbeir posi­tion was made and the more respect paid them,the hetter it wonld be for th e general interest, andwere the appointment and p-y ment of the j udoges put into tbe hands of the local legislatures itwould he a diminution of the importance theformer were ent itle d to expect at our hands j hetbought there was no one in the country, with theexception of the Governor General himself, whomwe should so desire to see upheld ID t be publicestimation as those men who administeredjus tice in the Courts . (Loud cheers.) He mightremar k, with reference to the appointment ofJ udges by the general Government, . tha t theywere to be selec ted from the Bars of the severalProvin ces, and the idea was thrown out at theConference that there was such a aimilar ity inthe laws of Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, NewBrunswick, Newfoundland , and Prince EdwardIsla nd-all of them possessing the Engli shlaw-that the probability was that th eywould be able to consolidate their laws, andthat of course, if that were done, there wouldbe a larger scope for the selection of the Bench­and in other respects also he believed th~t greatadvantage s would result from it. But, in the caseof Lower Oanada, where we had a different systemof law altogether, it was plaln that the Ju dges

could he selected only from among gentlemenconversant with that law, and therefore it wasprovided ~hat the Judges should be selected fromthe Bars of the respectrve Provinces in whichthey were to act, but in the case of the consoli­dation of the laws of the several Maritime Pro­viuces and of Upper Canada, the choice wouldextend to the Bars of all those Provinces. (Hear.)

OOIlSTlTUTION OF LOOAL GOVERNMENTS.

He would now proceed to refer to themode in which it was proposed that the LocalGovernments should he constituted, to the l'owers~o be committed to them, and the exercise ofthose powers. It was proposed th at in themeantime they should be constituted as at pre­sent, tha t is to say, consisting of a LieutenantGovernor, a Legislative Council, and a Legisla­tive Assembly. And the first change he had todraw their attention to was with reference tothe appointment of the Lieutenant Governorwho it was proposed should be appointed bythe General Government. The reason why thiswas preferred to the appointment taking placeas heretofor e by the Crown was that it wasintended that the communication betweenall the several Provinces and the ImperialGovernment should be restricted to the GeneralGoverument. Inasmuch as the affairs the Lo­cal Governments had to administer were purelyof a local character, not at all Imperial in theirnature, it was felt there was no necessity what­ever for their beiug in communication with theImperial Government, but that on the contraryvery great mischief might arise, if ~hey lfere per­mitted to hold that communication. It wasalso thought that, in keeping the appo in tmentof the Lieuten ant Governors in the hands of theGeneral Government, this further advantagewould he gained i the appointments would beconferred on men in our own country. (H ear,hear.) There would be a selection from thepuhlic men of intelligence and standing in therespective Prov inces, and they would go to thedischarge of the dut ies imposed upon them withexperience gained in public life in the colonieswhose local affairs they were called on to ad­minister, so that they would csrry to the admi­nist ration of public affairs in the respective Pro­vieces tha t valuab le acquaintance with tbe feel­ings and habits of thought of the people whichthey had gained during thcir public life. Besides,th is arrangemen t would preserve-what was ofno little importance-someth ing of tne natureof an object of ambition tor our publicmen. It was well that there should bethose objects of ambition. At presentthe Ear and the Bench might be said to possessalmost the only prizes the country offered to itspublic men. It was desirabl e, he thought, thatwe should have withiu our reach the opportunityof rewarding merit by appointing from amongourselves in the several Pro vinces those whoshould be the heads of the Local Governm entsand who should form the links of connectionbetween the Local Governments and the GeneralGovernment, holding to that General Govern­ment the same relations as were now held by theheads of the Provincial Governments to theImperial GOl'ernment,and discharging the duties

14

of their offices under the same local ad vice althat which the Governors now acted on. For,while they would he selected from among our ­selves, they would be required to adminis ter theGOTernments of their respective Provinces, notaccording to tbeir own will aud pleasure butaccord ing to the advice of officers who possessedthe confidence of the Local Legislatures of thoseProvinces. Consequently we should alw ays havethe means of bringing ' about harmony, if anydifficulty arose between allY of the local bodiesand the Genera l Governme nt , thro ugh the Lieut.enam Governor, and we should have a systemunder which, all action beginnin g with thepeople and proceeding through the Local Legis.lature, would, before it became law, come underthe revision of the Lieutena nt Governor, whowould be responsible for his acti on,and be obligedto made his repor t to the superior authority.(Hear.) With regard to the Local Govern mentsand Legislatures the re was a good deal ofditliculty about the quest ion whet her an at­tempt should be made to settle their constl­tution at present. It was felt that, while itwould be exceedingly desirable that thereshould be uniformit y in the mode in which theLocal Legislatnres should be constituted, stillperhaps there was no absolute necessity for it,and It might happen that some of theProvinces might prefer to have one chamberrather than two, and either from motives ofeconomy or otherwise;mig ht wish to make otherchanges in the present system. It was not feltthat any change they might make in this res­pect would affect the interest s of the communityat large, and it was considered therefore that itmigh t be Bafely left to the Local Legislaturesthemselves, either t o maintain the system whichnow exi-ted or to make such changes as mightappear to them consonant with the interests ofthe part icular Province which they re presented .But, with respect to the powers they were toexercise, these were limited to ohjects whichmight be considered purely local, and he shouldnow refer to some of them. "The establishmentand tennre oflocal offices, and the appointmentof local officere,"-these were functious whi chplainly belonged t o the Loca l Legislatures.Then there were the SUbjects of Agriculture andImmi grat ion. He had omitted referriug to tbese,wben he was readi ug the list of subjects confidedto the General Legislatures, in which they werealso Includ ed-c-becauae he was aware th eywould Come up again, in going over the snb­j ects to be dealt with bv the Local Leclaletures,'r hese tw o matters of .t..griculture and Immigrat ion must certa inly be considered as commou ina great measure to all , bat at the same timeIegialation with regard to them might be affect­ed by certain measures which might have onlya local bearin g. Conseq uently it was provi dedthat there should be concurrent j urisd iction ont hese two questi ons, But, with this concur.ren t jurisdic tion, in the event of any clashingtakinl( place between the action of the GeneralGovernm ent and the actio n of the Local Go­vernm ents , it was provided that the generalpolicy, the policy of the General Government.that which had been adopted for the good of theconntry at lar ge, shoul d supersede and overri de

any ad verse action which the Local Legis laturemight have taken with a view to purely localpurposes . 'the design 1'789 to harmo nize thesystem of Immigration and Agriculture overthe Whole of British North America, whilelocally it might be subjected to suchregulations and stipula tions as tbeLocal Legisla tures might determine from anycau se to apply to it. (Hear, bear .)

~HLl SOHOOL IrAWS rN LOWER OANADA,

He would now endeavour to speak somewha tfullyas to one of the most important questions,per­haps the most importaut-tbat could be confidedto the Leg islature-« the question of Education .This was a question in Which, in Lower Oauada,they must all feel the greatest interest, end inrespec t to which, more apprehension might besupposed to exist in the minds at any rate ofthe Protestant popula ion, than in regard to any ­thing else connec ted with the whole scheme offederation . It must be clear that a measurewould not he fal' orably entertained by the min­ority of Lower Oaneda which would place theeducation of their children and the provision fortheir schools wholly iu the han ds of a majorityof a different faith , It was clear that in confidingthe general subject of education to the LocalLegislatures it was absolutely ne cessary itshould be accompaned with such restri ctionsas wonld prevent injus tice in any respectfrom heing done to the minori ty.-(Hear, hear.)Now this applied to Lower Canada, but it alsoapplied, an d with equa l force, to Upper Canadaand the other Provinces ; for in Lower Canadathere was l\ Pro testant minori ty, and in the otherProvinces a Roman Catho lic minority. The sameprivileges belonged to theone of rigb.there, as be­longed to the other of right elsewhere. T herecould be no greater injustice to a population thanto compel them to have their children educatedin a manner contrary to their own religious be­lief. It had been stipulated that the questionwas to be made subject to the rights and privi­leges which the minorities might have as to theirseparate and deno minationa l schools. There hadbeen grave difficulties surroun ding the separateschool question in Upper Canada, but they wereall settle d now, and with regard to the separateschool system of Lower Canada hewas authorisedby his colleagues to say that it was the de.termination of the Government to bring down a 1measure for the amendment of the school laws \before the Confede ration was allowed to go intoforce. (Loud cheers .) He made this statementbecause, as the clause was worded in the printedresolutions. it would appear that the school law ,as it at present existed, was to becont inued . At­tention had however been dra wn in Conferenceto tbe fact that the school law, as it existed inLower Canada, required amendme nt, but no ac­tion was taken there as to its alteration, becausehe hardly felt himself competent to draw up theamendments required ; and it was far better thatthe mind of the Britis h popu lation of Lower Ca­nada should be brou ght to bear on the subjec t,and tha t the Government might hear wha t theyhad to say, so that all the amen dments requiredin the law might be made in a bill to be sub­mitted to Parli ament; an d he would add thattbe Governme nt would be very glad to haveamendments suggested by those, who, from the irintelligence or posit ion, were best ab le to proposethem . (Hear .) It was clear that injustice couldnot be done to an impor tant class in the country,

15

such as the Protestants of Lower Cana da or theRoma n Catholics of Upper Canad a, without sow­ing the seeds,of discord in t he community, to anextent which would bea r fatal fruit in the courseof a very few years. (Hear.) The question ofEducation was put in generally.s--the clause cov­ering both superior and common schoo l educa­tion, although the two were to a certain extentdistinct. This was not the pl ace, nor bad he t bet ime or ability to enlarge upon th e subject ; buthe might observe that common scbool educat ionwas that wh ich we were called upon to give t otb e wbole of the people, but that superior educ a­ti on was 'differen t ; in t ha t , we aim ed a t some­th ing bigber ; we took tb e finest minds of tb ecountry , tb e best ta len t tb at was growing uparo und us, and endea vored to enable our youth,educated at our Unive rsi ties, to bold tbeir ownpos ition and be an hon or to the ir country in anypart of th e world; to fill up our Bencb , to sup ­ply our Bar, to be the ornaments of our church,to be distinguished in the medical profession.He hoped and belie ved when tbe question cameup in Parliament for disposal , the Legisla tur ewou ld rescue tbe Lower Canadian institutionsfor Superior Education from the difficulties inwh ich the y now stood; and th is remark appliedboth to Roman Catholic and Pro testant institu­t ions. ( Hear .)

HospiTALS, PRISON S, ae.

The management of all th e Pen itenti­ar ies and Prisons na turally fell nnd er tbe scopeof tbe loc al authori t ies ; also tbat of Hospi ta ls,Asylums, Cha rities, an d El eemosy nar y institu­t ions . Wit h regard to these, he wou ld me relysay that there might be some which could hardlybe considered loca l in tbeir nature; sucb, for ex­ample, was the Marine Hospital at Quebec, aseaport where there was an enormous trade, andwhere thou sands of seamen were annually corn­ing in . A hospital where the sick among thesesailors were taken in' must necessarily be almostnational in its character-certainly more nationalthan local; but all would agree that most of theotber hospitals and asy lums of various kindsshould more properly be supported by loca l thanby general resour ces. Indeed, he hoped the daywou ld come when these insti tuti ons would findsupport from the individual liberality of the peo­ple, ra ther than from the votes of P arli amen t.Of tbis they had a magnificent exa mp le in GreatBrita in, where tbe mos t useful chariti es weresupported by the free gifts of a liberal people,an d he t rus ted that Canadians would provethe mselves in th is respect not unworthy sc ions 'of tbe race from wbicb they sprang. (Cbeers .)

MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

The Municipal institutions of the country mustnecessarily come under the care of the local Le ­I(islatures, and in fact th e local Legi slatures werethemselves municipalities of of a larger growth.They were charged with the adminis­tration oflocal affairs, aud must be allowed todelegate such powers as they thought might besafely eutrusted to the smaller divisions of thecountry as laid out into townships and parishes.In tb is section of th e country he thought theyhad nothing t o apprehend from any fict ion t heLegislature of Lower Canada migbt take on thisques tio n, wb en separated. Tbey had al waysbeen ratber in advance of the rest of Lower Ca­nada wi th respect to mu nicipal institutions,Wbat they wou ld like would bo to have add i­tional powers conferred upon tbem, ratherthan to bave existing ones contrated. Per­baps tbe system now everywhere in use in Up­per Canada would be benefic ial in the Town­ships, The county municipalities t here were the

most imp ortant bodies . Here the county muni­cipa li ties had not exerc ised th at influence wbichwas proportionate to their relative importance.and the tow r ship and parish municipali ties badbeen more direct ly cha rged with local intereststban had bee n th e case in Upper Canada. Butwhatever amendment migh t be mad e in tb e law.the mu nicipal system must bea r equa lly upon allpersons livin g under it. He thought it verylikely tha t important ame ndments would bemad e to the municipa l laws of Lower Canad a,but he had no fea r th at under any circumstancesthe pow er ent rusted to th e local Legislature un­der this head would place any cla ss of the com­munity in any particular danger. Local work snaturally fell witbin the scope of lo cal gove rn­men ts, and would undoubtedl y be under th e im­media te influence of th e municipal councils, buta ll the works of a really public character wouldbe under the Gen er al Lerrisla ture ; such, hemeant, as were connec ted with th e genera l poli­cyof the whole country.

INCORPORATION OF PR IV ATE COMPANIES.

Tbe inco rporation of pri vate or local compa­uies,except such as related to ma tters ass igned tothe Gene ra l Parliament, would be reserved to tb elocal Gove rn ments , being mat te rs of a local char­acter. Even the pr esent law permit ted the incor­poration of companies under a very simple sys­tem, which would proba bly be continued.

THE CONTROL OF CIVIL LAW CONFIDED TO THE LOCALLEGiSLAT URES.

The control of proper ty and civil rights, tbe a d­min istr a tion of ju st ice, including tbe constitution.maintenance , and organization of th e cour tsof civil jurisdiction, and tbe pro cedure incivil matters. were also left to the locallegislatures. From tbe peculi ar pos it ion of Low ­er Canada it was felt impossible to confide thematter of civil law to the General Legisla ture.The principles upon wbich the civil law of Low­er Canada were founded differed ent irely fromthose oftbe English law. Under it property wassecured , and civil righ ts of every k ind mai ntain­ed, and the people had no particular wish to seeit changed, especially at th is moment , wben tb ework of codifying and simplifyina it was abo -rtcompleted , and when they knew t hat within tb enext tb ree or four montbs tbey would have it putinto tbeir han ds in one volume. He thouzht itwas undesirable to do away with tbat law, whi chbad bee n beneficial t o the country and un derwhicb it had prospered. It was necessary tobave it left to the local Lezislature, becau se allin Lower Canada were unwilling to have su bs ti­tuted another law with wbich tbev were unac­quainted. He thought they shou ld rej oice tha tat the mome ut wben they were obliged to con­fide to the local Legislatures the administ ra tionof tbis law there should have been put beforeth em, at the start, a volume which would containin a succinct, beautiful and simple manner tbewhole civil law of Lower Can ada, in codify ingwhich Judge Day, now present, bad borne suchan honorable part. (Cheers.) Gene ra lly . mattersof a local character wou ld be ass igned, as ha dbeen said, to the local Legislatures . It might betbat, in fra ming tbe Act of Purl iament legali zingt he scheme of Confede ration, some cha ng es mightbe made in the ar rangeme nt of th e progra mme hebad explained; bu t he considered that , for thepurpose of pub lic disc uss ion , it was well thematters he ba d refe rred to should hav e beenenumerated. Tbe question would oth erwi sebave arise n, How were such and such questionsto be dea lt with? And th erefore it was tho ugbtthat, taking tbe fifty-five subjects enumeratedal most every imp ortant point whi ch could comeunder the consideration of either th e local or gen-

16

erallegislatures, would have been touched upon.(Hear .)

THE RIGHTS OF BOTH RACE S WITH RESPECT TOLANGUAGE.

The rights of both the French and English mi­nor ities in the General and Local Legisla tures asrespects language had been provide d for. Itwas fel t tha t for th e million of people in LowerCanada, not supposed to be familiar with En g­lish, the laws should be printed in Fr ench andfor those unfamil iar wi th t hat lan guage' theyshould be st ruck off in English. It was nothingmore th an right th at pa rt ies who were expecte dto kn ow and obey the law, sbould have it pl acedbefore th em in an intelli gibl e form.

THIII VET O.

He now ca me to the control which was toexist over th e ac tions bot h of th e General Par­liament and local legisla tures. And first, as tothe former, it was proposed to app ly to its actsth e same chec k as now existed over the acts ofthe severa l legislatures of the Pr ovinces-that isto say, hill s hav ing passed the legislatures mighteither be reserved for Her Majesty's assent, orhaving received the assent of Her represent ati vemigh t be disa llowed by t he Queen within tw~year s. Wi th regar d to theacts of th e local legisla­tures, it was prop osed they should, in like man­ner, eith er bc reserved by the Lieutenant Gover­n?r, or should , if assented to by him, be liable todisallowance by th e general government wi thinone year. It was felt th at more advantage wouldari se by makin g th e reference from the local tothe general Iegislat ure direct th an to hav e it gothro ugh the Colonial Office. It was plain theQueen, or Sovereign authority, must have theright of exer cising the power of con trolli ng le­gislation in the way which had existed for somany years in every part of th e British domi­nion s. There would be no object in sendingover mere local bill s to t he Colonial Office or toth e Queen for sa nc tion. It was felt that pointson whi ch differences might arise on local billswoul d be better understood by ourselves in t hiscoun try th an by th e Imperial au t hori ties. If re­served, th ey would have to be referr ed backto the Gener al Goveroment for it s ad vice as totheir dispo sal j and if this ad vice were given, theparties concern ed would be ignoran t of the ad­visers, who could not be held responsible. Theprin ciple upon which our Government wasadministered was, that no act was donewith out some one being respo nsible. Itwas desirabl e ther efore t hat such ad vice shouldbe tend ered hy parties who could be brought toaccount for it hy th e repr esentat ives from thesection of the coun try concern ed, in the GeneralP arli ament. ( Oheers.)

THE FI NANCIAL POS ITION OF THE PROVINCES.

He had now, somewh at too briefly, perh aps, en­deavored to go over the machinery and the pow­ers with which the General and th e Local Govern­ments were expec ted to work, and it became ne­cessary t hat he shoul d say a few words as to th eexte nt of t he liah ilities and assets of the partn er­shi p into whi h th ey were about to enter. Inth a t respect th ere had not as yet been verymuch inform atio n given to th e public, and heproposed now to submit a statement of th e lia­bilities of the several Provinces, of their incomeand expendi tur e, an d generally of th e re sourceswh ich would be at the disposal of the Confede­ration, shou ld it be brou ght ab out. First hewould refer to t he respective debts of the nrovi~cesand as a great deal of dispute bad arisen occa­s!onally with reference to the amount of our pub­lie debt, he would take this opportunity of giv­ing a statement of the liabilities of Canada, as

m~de up b:r th e Anditor Genera l, with a Tie'" tothis question of (Ionfederation, Thi s unqu es­tionable and reliable document, he might saycont ained a statement not mer ely of the Deben:ture Debt of Canada, that due to th e pub lic cre­ditor abroa d and covere d by bonds and other se­curi ties, but all othe r engage ments, such as thatfor the Seig nor ial Tenu re, wbi ch was one of theIargest , Though we w.ere not obliged to pay thecap!ta l of that debt, still we were obliged to payth e 10terest , and for ttie purpose of consideringour position in t he Confederation, it was neces­~ary t o cap italize it, or to consider it as capi tal­ized. The Debenture Debt of Canada directand indirect, on t he l st J annary last, a~ountedto $65,2?8,649; miscella neous Iiabil itias, $64,­426; Ind ian Fund, $1,577,802 ; Bank ing accountsexclusive of Crown Lands, $ 3,396,982; Seignio ­r ial Tenure-capital to Seignors, $2,899 711.chargea ble on Municipalities Fun d, $'196~719j on ac count of J esuits ' Es ta tes, $ 1401_271; inde mnity to Township s, $891,500' to­ta l Seigniorial Tenure, $4,118,202. The aggr~gateof these amounts was $74,396,063. On the oth erhand we had a Sinkin g Fund, $4 ,883,177 ' andcash and bank account.exclu sive of Crown L~nds$2,248,891 : togeth er, $7,132,068. Making t be netliabili ties of the Province, on the 1st J anu ary last$67,263,994. Besides tbat, we had as th e proper tyof Upper and Lower Canada, what was known asth e Common School F und, representing a balan ceof$I,181,958, which could not be properly con­sidered a liability of the Provinc e, and might bedone away with to-morrow if th e Legislaturethought proper. The Act set ting apart that Fundwas, ind eed, so singularly worded, t bat it couldnot become useful for the purpose of suppor tinged uca tion for th e next hundred yea rs . For theFund to be mad e in any way useful, th e Act wouldhave to be altered. But, as he had stated, th e netliabilities of Canada were $67,263,994. The lia­bilities of Nova Scotia, deduct ing cash in hand,were on the 1st January last, $4,858,547. Tboseof New Brunswick , $5,702.991. Those of New­foundlan d, $946,000. And th ose of P rince Ed­ward Island, $240,673. The aggreg at e debts ofthe whol e Provinces on the 1st January last-andthey bad not increased since,but had ra ther dimin­ished - were $79,012,205. Now in th e scheme ofConfedera tion, it was proposed that there shouldbe ~ cert ain fixed rate at which each Pr ovinc eshould have t he right of cha rging its debt againstthe Confedera tion, an d for th a t purpose tbe deb tof Canada wa s placed at $62,500,000, which wassomething like five millions less t han the nominalamount of the net debt. The mode in which thatreduction wa s made was thi s. There were cer­ta in liabilities of Can ada contrac ted for local pur­poses, and certain asse ts connec ted with those li­abilities. He referred more par ticul arly to theMunicipal Loan Fund, and some simila r matterswhich were more local tban gener al . It had notbeen thought desirable that a transferen ce of thosesecuri ties should be made to the Gener al Govern­ment. It was better that each P rovince shouldassume that por tion of its debt wbich was par­ticularly local, and take with it t hose securi tieswhich i t held for its redemption. And in th atway there was esta blished for th e debt of Cana­da an amount equal per head to the amountscontributed or about to be contributed by thetwo Pr ovinces of Nova Scotia and New Bru ns­wick. If any of these Provinces had been indebt to an am ount largely exceeding th at of th eotbers per head, the matter would have been ina differen t position But it was found on exami­nation, that, whil e th e debt of Canada might bereduced by th e mode he had stated to $62,500,­OOO-as nearly as possible $25 per head-NovaScotia, in addition to her debt, had incurred cer-

17

I

tain liabilities for the completion of the railwaysystem witbi n tb at Prov ince, for which she badu nder tak en engagement s amo unting to threemillions of dollars, which would bring up berdebt to eigb tmill ions or $25 per bead a lso--wbileNe w Bruns wick, for the construction of her rail­wa ys, had eogagemen ts incurred an d liabilitiesmaturing, which amounted to $1,300,000, briuging up her debt to seve n millions--a traction perbead sligbtly a bove tba t of Nova Scoti a a nd Ca­nada . Tbus, by assuming the local lia bilitiesand asset s, we were enabled to p ut th e debt ofCan ad ...at tbe same rate per head as tbose of No­va Scot ia and New Brunswick, and th erefo re, asregarded the tbr ee larger Provinces , tbe ass ump­t ion of their debts by tbe Genera l Governmen tdid not offer a ny difficulty w batever. In tbe caseof New foundla nd a nd Prince Edward Island itwas different. Tbo se Provinces, from their insu­lar posi tion, had not been required to incur thesa me lar ge obligations for public works .Tbey possessed, for tuna tely for tb emsel ves,easy access to a ll th eir settlements by wa ter, orby very sbort dist ances of la nd car riage,and con­seq uent ly bad not been calle d on to construc tca nals, or to introduce a railway sys tem. Ae ­cordingly, tbe debt s of Newfound la nd a nd PrinceEd wa rd I sland were found to be much less, inpr oportion to t he ir population, than tbo se of tbeo thers . To place tb em on a pa r with Ca nada. NovaS cotia, and New Bru nsw ick, it t berefore becam en ecessary to give th em a n ind emnity for tb eamoun t of debt w bich they had not incurred ;because, in assuming tb eir rev enu es, we ca lledupon tbem to contribute to the paym ent of tbeiuterest on tb e debt w bicb we had incurred, andwe could not fair ly expect tbem to dn so, unl esstbey wer e in some meas ure ind emnifi ed for it.An d it was found that, in taking tbis course, wewere enabled to get ove r one great difficultywhich bad met us, w bicb was th at those particu­lar Provinces possessed no loc al revenu es, andthat, in charging th em with tb e administrationof th eir local Governments,and taking from themth e Revenu e from Customs and Excise,we shouldlea ve tb e Governments of Newfoundland andPrince Edw ard Island without a ny means what­eve r of dischar ging tbeir li abilities . Witb regardto New fou ndlan d, he might remark tbat th epeo ple in th a t colony being, ;n regard to ag ricul­t ure, alto get her consumers, and not producers,because they were a fishing a nd maritime popula ­ti on, tbe amou nt of du tiab le goods tbey consum­ed was a bout double per bead wha t it was here.They wou ld, t herefore, in tbe sha pe of Custom sdut ies, be contributing to tbe Confederation alarger pro por tion th an properly belonged to them,a nd accor dingly it w as arranged that for tbea mount of debt which tb ey bad not incurred, upto $25 per bead , they sbould be allowed interest ,for tbe pur pose of mee t ing th eir local paymentsa::d provid ing for tbe ir local wan ts .

THE INTE RCOLONIAL RAILWAY QUESTION.

He m ight remark, wbile up on this po int , thatin add ition to tbe Iiabiiities t o wh ich be bad re­ferred, there was the que sti on of tbe Intercolo­nial Rail way. Tb is was one wbi ch mu st unques­t ionabl y be conside red as most intimatelyasso ciate d witb th e carry ing out of the plan ofConfederation, and it was ind eed plain that nopoli tica l uni on could ta ke pl ace between tb eP rovinces unless they had mean s of communica t­ing with each otber . Althoug h th e construc tionof tbis railway migh t , perhaps, be more adva n­ta geous, as to its local effects, to New Bruns wickand Nova Sco tia than even to Lower Canada­witbout q uestion more advantageous than toUpper Ca nada-yet as a means by whlcb tbeuni on was to be ,accomplisbed, and by w bich

alone it could be brougbtabout, there was an in­terest belo ngin g to it which could not be attach­ed to it so lon g as the Provinces remnined sepa­rate. In the case of th e Lower P rovin ces, thecompletion of tbe In tercolonial Railw ay by tbeGeneral Government wonld be less burdensomet han if it were done by tbem alone . They wou ldhave been entering upon a large and expens iveund ertaking witb but a small population, a nd itwould undoubtedl y have borne mor e heavilyupon their resources; but, as be would in a fewmoments have occ asion to sh ow, t he effect oftb eir un ion with Canada would he to increase thednties to wb ich th ey were su bj ect, so th at bu tfor the larger sh are of the rail way expendi ture,to be borne hy Canada, t hey would have bad alarger portion of tbe burden than if tbey bad un ­dertaken the ra ilway witbou tat t he sa me time go­ing into th e Union and su bjecting th emselves toin creased duties of Customs and Exc ise.We the re­fore obtain ed tbe Interco lonial Railway on termsequitabl e a like to Canad a a nd tb e L ower Pro ­vinc es. [Hear.] In re ferr ing to th e Intercolon ialRailw ay, be would take occas ion to rema rktb at the publi c debts of Nova Scotia and NewBrun swi ck bad been alm ost ent irely in­cu rre d for the constrn ction of rai lway s.There were in opera tion in tbose two Provincesupwards ot two bun dr ed miles of ra ilway belong­ing to the Governments, for th e policy th ey hadpursued bad not been to const ruct rail way s bymeans of encouragement to nr ivate companies,hut to build them as Public Works. He thou ghtindeed th ey wer e beginning t o regret th is policya nd see t hat it would huve been better if th eyI ad pro cured tbe requi site ca pital hy ot hermeans. Eut in assumi ng the deht s of these Pro ­vin ces, th e Confederation woul d of course be­come at tb e sa me time tb e possessor of th eir rail­ways, and out of tb e 200 miles of railroad therewere over 100 mi les, be migbt even say tb erewe re nearly 200 mile s, that would become avail­ab le in conn ection with tbe Intercolonial Road.

EXPENDIT URES AND REVENUES OF THE PROVINCES .

He wou ld now proceed to state to the meetingsome matters connected with tb e expendituresand revenues of tbe Provinces last yea r, 1863,a nd to give an idea founded on the informat ionbe had received from tb e members of the Confer­ence ofw bat tbeywere ltkely 10 be in 1864, for thenear appr oac h of th e en d of tbis yea r rendered itpossible to sta te without the risk of serious errorwhat tbe figur es would be. First, as to 1863; inthat year we found th e Revenues und Expendi­tures to be as follow s :-

NOVA SCOTIA .Revenue $1,185,629Expend iture 1,072,274

Showing a balance in its fav or,NEW BaUNSWICK.

Revenue $899,991Expenditure 884,613

Al so showiug a balance in its favor ,NEWFOUNn LAND.

Revenue $480,000Expend iture 479,420

Tbe gentlemen coming from Newfounnlandhad not brou ght tb e la test returns with them , sothat the Conference had to take th e figure s of aprevious year.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.Reven ue.. ..... .. .. .......... ..... .. .... $197,384Expend iture 171,718

So tha t for the wbole of the Maritime Provin­ces we had an aggregate

Income:........... ...... ...... .... ... $2,763,004Outlay.......... .... ........ .. .. .. .. 2,608,025

Sho wing a surplus of no less thau $ 154,979. It

18

ery sbould be as lit tle costly as possible. for itwould not do to affront the intelligence of tnepeople, and tell tbem we bad devised an expen­sive kind of macbinery to do a very insignificantamount of work. Tbe gentlemen from tbe LowerProvinces bad been asked what reductions tbeycould make in tbe Gover nment oftbe several co­lonies. and the figures be was about to give wouldbe most satisfactory as show ing the dispositionof tb ose gentleme n, who bad red uced their re­quirements to tbe lowest sum. In bel' estimate ofoutl ay for 1864for objects of local character tbeProvince of Nova Scotra bad provided for an ex­penditure of no less th an $667,000, but bad und er­taken to perform t be same serv ice in future un­der a confederation at $371,000, or a redu ct ion of40 per cent . Tbe expendit ure of New Brunswickin 1864 for tb e same objec ts was est imated at$404,000. From causes exp lained at tbe time andshown to be satisfactory, sbe proposed to reducetbe expend iture to 5353,000, and at t be same timeundertook within ten years to make a furtber re­duction of $63,000. makin g a total reduc tion to$290,000. Prince Edward Island would reducebel' expenditure from $170,000 to $124,000, andNewfoundland fromS479,OOO to $350,000. In re­gard to Upper and Lower Canada be wonld nolundertake to say wbat reduction would be made;but he could show that under tbe scbeme pro­posed they would have tbe mea ns of limiting thepresent out lay wbicb was, tak ing tbe average oft be last four years, $2,021,979. Besides tbatthere would be an addit iona l it em broughtagainst tb em for the interest on the excess oftheir debt over that of the otber Provinces, mak­ing tbeir full local char ge $2,260,149, whicb wastbe presen t outlay of Canada for works whichwould not become a charge under a confedera­tion. Tbe out lay of all . the provinces being bow­ever greater than their local revenues It hecamene cessary to make provision out of tbe GeneralFund for tbe purpose of enabling thei r Lo­cal Legisla tures to carry on tbe macbinery orGovernment. It was proposed to take aw ayfrom tbem every source of revenue they possessedexcept minor lac' 1 revenue s, and then to givetbem from tbe public chest a sufficient subsidyto enab le tbe macbinery to work. The estimatewas formed on the wants of Nova Scotia, Itwas at first proposed to fO Im it on tbe wants ofNew Brunswick, but tbese were found greatertban tbose of tbe former. which had consequent­ly been teken as tb e basis. Tbe estimate was tbat80 cents a bead on tbe population of Nova Scotiawould be sufficient to enable her to work her lo­cal system. She would want $264,000. In tbecase of Upper Canada. 80 cents a head was con­siderably more tban sbe wanted at tbe presentday. and in tbe case of Lower Uanada was atleast adequate with tbe present local funds thatwould become available to her. But it was felttbat in giving a subsidy from tbe public chest itwas impossible to draw a dist inction betweenone part of tbe country and another. Butit was not intended to bold out, any induceme ntto future extravagance, to loca l Governments,but it was hoped that by the operation of na­tural causes sucb a check would be put upon ex­pendi tu res as would bri ng them down to th e low­est point . or at least prevent tbemfrom beeominglavish. Tberefore the subsidy proposed toto be give n to local legislatu res was fixed, not atan increasing rate acco rd ing to population , butat the rate wbicb existed at the census of 1861.-By tbis means, as the popu lation increased, thesubsidy would not increase witb it. Uppe r andLower Canada would tbus .get with in a fractionof two million dollars, and when tbeirpopulationincreased to five millions instead of two and ahalf, would get no more. If tbey increased their

Total. $233.000Tbese wer e tbe revenues t tat would not be

tran sferred to tbe General Government but wouldbe disposed of by tbe Local Governm ents for lo­cal purposes. In tb e case of Upper and LowerCanada togetber-and be pr eferred takin g themtogether since it was for th e Legislature an d notfor him to indi cat e wbat tbe several liabiliti es ofUpper and Lower Canada respectiv ely were- intbe case of Upper and Lower Cana da unitedlv,these local revenues amounted to $ 1,297.043.Now one objection to confederat ion was made onthe ground of expense, and in order to meet this,every effort bad been made to reduce tbe cost oftbe local Governments, so that tbe local macbin-

:61,700,000Tbe Totals of tbe Provinces for 1864 would be

Total Revenues (abou t) $14.223,000" Outl ay, 13,350.800Tbus tbere would be a surplus of nea rly a mil­

lion of dollars above tbe expenditure of all des­criptions. (Loud cheers.)

LOCAL REVENUES AND EXP ENDITURES .

Now it was necessary to pro vide bysome means for maintaining cert ain localexpenditures of tb e various Provinces. Tberewere tbe public work s to be kept in order, tbeeduc ational insti tution s to be maint ained, tbesystems of civil law to be administe red, andthere were a v:::riety of otber claims to be attend­ed to, whicb would naturally suggest th emselvesat once to anyone who reflected on the subject.For tbis purpose it was found necessary to assigntb em certain local revenues, of whicb tbe ter ri­tori al revenue s formed th e bul k. Tbese local re­venues amounted in 1863, in tbe Maritime Pro ­vinces , to tbe followin g sums:

Nova Seotia $ 107,000New Brunswick .... ...... .. .... .... . 89,000Prince Edward Island ..... .... .... . 32,000Newfoundland....... ...... .. ....... ... 5,000

was t herefore apparent that we were not goinginto a partnership with Colonies which requi redour suppor t in a financial point of view. 'I'heyhad always been able to pay tbeir own way, andtbey were well able to pay tbeir own way now.They even brought into the public exchequer anamount per head grea ter than we sbould contri ­bute oursel ves. and tbis because they were amore consuming people than we. In Canada, hewa s sorry to say . th at in 1863, instead of a sur­plu s, tbere was a deficiency---a deficiency of$982.491. nearly a million of dollars. It wasindeed true tbe deficiency had been made upand more than made up in 1864. and be was bap­py to have tbis oppor tunity of stating tbat the re­venu e of Canad a for tbe present yea r would beconsid erably in excess of the outl ay, even with ­out taking into consider a tion t be additionaltaxation tbe Legislature imposed at its last ses­sion. [Hear .] The Customs reve nue alone wonldshow an increase over last year of nearly a mil­lion and a half-e-a fac t which would fortunatelypl ace us in th e position of not being obliged togo into the Confederation with a deficiency, whileour sister Prov in ces were going in with a sur­plus. l Cheers.] The revenues of the other Pro­vinces had lar gely increased in 1864, and thei runit ed sur plus would be considerably greater.Witb out lookin g at th e new Canadian taxes ,wbicb were only now beginnin g to be produc­tiv c, we found tb e followin g to be tbe increaseof revenue in 1864 as over 1863 :

Canada..... .•.... ... ...... ••... . .......$I,500,000New Brunswick 100,000Nova Scotia.... ..... ... ... .... .. .. .... 100.000

texpenses in proportion to tb e growtb of popul a­ion th ey would be obliged to resor t to dir ect tax­

ation : and he tbo ugbt they might trn st t be peop leth emselves to keep a sbarp watcb over tbe localGovernments les t they should resort to directtaxation. He thought no surer check could beput upon them th an thus fixing the gra nts th eywere respectively to receive. (Hear , and cheers.)To put the posi tion of the severa l Pr ovincesin to one view, taking the bas is of 1864, and as­suming th at as the basis of t he Confederation,were it to take place to-day or on the 1st of Jan­uary next, tbe several P rovi nces unite d wouldpossess a revenue 01 814,230,000 ; from whichthey would have to disburse 81,530,043; andwould also have to give as l\ subsidy to t be Pro­vin ces $3,056,849. T berefore, the re would re­main ava ilable for the purposes of the Confedera­tio n $9,643,108. The expenditure of all theseP rovinces amo unted, in 1864, to $ 12,507,591, ofwhi ch for local outl ay th ere were no less t han$3,954,212 wb ich wonld be assume d in consid­era tion of receivin g th e subsidy an d local

(

revenues. Thus th e expe nditu re would be re­du ced as cha rged upon t he general revenue to$8,553,3 79, or $ 1,100,000 less than tbeamount that would in 1864 be ava ilable for tb epurposes of tbe Confederation . Re t hought thisst at ement was one wbich wou ld be received assati sfactory in regard to the proposed co-part­nership tbey were abont to ent er mt o, In thepresent state of affa irs we found tba t by unit ingall our means, and t aki ng out all wa nte d for lo­cal purpos es, the re would be left tor t be Gen­eral Govern ment upw ard s of a mill ion and aquarter dollars, over and above our present ex­pend it ure. Consi dering thi s tbey migh t hope th atin hringing the General Administration of thecountry unde r one Govern ment, tbere would bea certain amount of economy effected , an d anadditional efficiency impar ted to the Govern­ment. It might be tr ue tbey would be obligedto incl\/" some expenditure in keepi ng up Lo­cal Leglsla tures, and he was not prepared todeny that; but at the same time they mightreasonably hope th at when there was t akenfrom them a large share of the subj ects prev i­ously legisla ted upon , and putting under onehead what was now done unde r five or six dif­ferent heads, an econcmy would be effected ; butwithout making any allowance for wbat wouldbe achi eved in tbis way the.vwould ba ve means tomeet all tbe demands for 1864 and bave a respec­table surplus over .

THE TARIFF QUESTION.That brou ght him to a very important

point, as to whetber confederation wouldproduce increased taxation, of which ap ­prehensions wer e entertained.. In tbe first plac ethe existin g taxation in all the P roviuces wouldhave provid ed more t han one mill ion dolla rs overand above the publi c deman d ; but at the sametime it Wl\S qu ite t rue tha t in a confederationt hey would have to incur certain liabili t ies suchas for the lnt ercolonial Rail way, an d for the com­pl etion of works now in progress in t be LowerProvinces. It must be plain that as tb e revenueraised by the Colonies und er present tari ffs wasmore than SUfficient , it we were to raise th e tar ­iffs of all the P rovinces t o th at ot Canada wesbo uld have much more revenue tb an we requir­ed. In the case of the Lower P rovinces the aver­age tar iff was ab out 12, per cent a ndwh ere tbey now collect-d duti es to about 2, mil­lion dollars, under a higher tari ff like that ofOan a-ia a t least tb ree milli on dollar s wouldbe raised . Therefore to make adequa te provi­sion for all tbe wants of t he country, tbey neednot brin g up thei r tariffs, but we might redu ce

19

onrs; and in the raisi ng of dut ies it would bepracticable to find a medium of taxation he­tween the averages of 10 and 20 per cent wbic hwould be sufficient to meet tbe wants of t becountry. [ Cheers.]

THE POStTION OF BRrTISH LOWER CANADIANS.He must ap olog ize to the meeting for havmg de­

tam ed them so long, but would only keep tbema few minutes lon ger wbile closin g the remarksto whi ch he had invited them to list en . He hadgone over t he principal points which were ar­ra nged by tbe Conference at Quebec, and wbatbe now felt called upon to adver t to Wl\S tbemode in which tho se proceedin gs were likely toaffect our respective populati ons . It was quiteplain t eat , to secure the support of tbe commun­ity at lar ge to any scheme of thi s kind. it wa snecessary tbey should be satisfied tbat no injus ­tice would be done by tbe mode in which it wasto be work ed out. It was perbaps impossible toargue aga ins t or to meet mere vague apprehen­sions. But a t tbe same time we must feel tba tt here were certain subj ects, tbe deali ng wit hwhich ei tber by tbe Genera l or th e Loca l Gov­ernmen ts might be supposed to bring some dangerto the insti tutions which we individually a nd to­cally might feel most interested in. He referre dof cour se generally to the position, first , of ourFr ench Can adian friend s in Lower Canada, andtben of tbe British population of Lower Cana da.For , in reality, the difficulty of dea ling wit h thisquestion was to be found in t he fears an dapprehensions of tbese two popu lations.­And it was a fortunate thin g, as we wereobliged to meet a difficulty of that k ind,th at we had for so many years got on wit h somuch barmony togetb er-that, if apprehensionsexisted they could not be sbewn to be founde d onac ts of hostil ity by one par t of our commu nityaga inst anothe r part-that, if there was an appre­bension, it Wl\S an apprehension of wron g in thefuture , not a bitt er recollecti on of wrong in tbepast, For over twentv-five yea rs harm ony hadreigned in L ower Canada, and the Britishand French Canadian popul ati ons had felt theycould go hand in band in promoting the com­mon interests of tbe country. What Wl\S want­ed now was to ma intai n tha t feeling of confi­dence , to sbow th at no wrong was thou ght of byone or the otber. The truth was tbat while theF rench Canadian popul a tion mus t look to oursupport in the General Legislat ure for tb e pro­tection of their n ght s-s-whi le th ey must look tous as Lower Can adians, to sta nd shoulder byshoulder with them for the prote ct ion of tbeirr ights in t he General Legislat ure-we in theLoca l Legis la ture should demand that no wrongshould be attempted aga ins t us. If it shourd beothe rw ise, tbe result would be most disas trousto those who attem pted it. A minority so la rgeas t he French minority would he in th e Gene­ra l Legisla tur e could not be affronted withon tda nger, and such a minorit y as tb e British min ­ority of Lower Canada, conspicuous for itswealth and intelligence, thou gh not so much forit s numb ers, could not he outraged without im­portant results followi ng th at would bring tbeirown remedy wit h them . He therefore felt that,in tak ing bis position in tbe Conference , he wascha rged, not altogethe r with the simple d uty ofa represent ative of th e Briti sh portion of tb e pop­ulation of Lower Canada, but be felt that beequally repre sented his Fren cb Can ad ian friends;and bis convi ction was th at, instead of therebeing any clashing and divi sion of interests,they would be found in tb e future more closelybound togeth er tb an ever before. It would befound tha t the effect of th e combination of allth e Provinc es wou ld be to benefit Lowe r Cs na-

20

da, -not French Lower Canada, or British Low­er Canad a-but th e whole of Lower Canada­by givin g it th e posit ion of being the comm ercialheart of th e coun try-that th at position wesh ould share together, and that anything whichtend ed to damage tha t positi on would be fata l tothe interests botb of th e one and of th e other.(H esr, hear.) Re thoug ht our material interestswould ha ve to gover n us in this respect. Re feltthat tho se in teres ts respecting which apprehen­sions exi sted on th e part of his count rymen, coul dnot be assailed by th e French Canadian popula­tion , if t hey should be so unwise as to think ofsu ch a thi ng, wi thout retnbution falling upont hem in consequence of the action taken by theoutraged populati on on other matters in the Ge­neral Legislature or even in the local Legisla­tures . I t could not be. T heir interests couldnot be severed. T hey would live together, asthey now did in this town of She rbrooke, happi­ly and well. They ha d done so, and be hopedtbey would continne to do so, by taking specialCUP tha t they shou ld not outrage each oth er'sfeelings . In thi s way he hope d we sbould ove r­come any apprehensions whic h migh t exist. Butat the same t ime it was well that, so far asmiaht he. we should make provision against theposs ibi lit y of wrong . If security were ta kenthat wrong could not be done on th e one side orth e ot her, then there was less chance of its bein gattem pted. Instead of havin g t o remedy an in­j ury. we should preven t it. And to spea k morepar t icularly wit h reaard to the British po pula­t iou of Lower Ca nada, he would remark th at , inthe General Govern ment they could have no­t hing to fea r. T heir race would of course be t hedominant race in the General Pa rlia men t, and,co nsequentlv, he might say, in the General Gov ­ernment. Their interests would be safe there.­Th e interest s of t rad e and commerce, those inwh ich th ey felt more particularly concerned,wh ich concer ned th e merchants of Montre al a ndQuebec. would be in th e hands of a body whereth ey could have no fear th at any a dverse raceorcreed could a ffect them . Ail those subj ect swould be taken out of th e category of local qu es­tion s, would he ta ke n a way from the control ofth ose who might he und er the influence of sec­ti .mal feeli ngs an imate d either by race or reli­gion. a nd would be pl aced in th e hands of a bo­dy wh ere, if the interests of any clas s could beexpected to he sec ure, surely it would be th oseof the Brit ish popul ation of Low er Canada.­(H ear, hear .)

EMIGRATIO N AND LA.NDS.

Wit h regard to the posi tion: th ey woul doccupy in th e lo cal Le gislature there weretwo or three qu estion s in which they mus t feelvery great in terest , and in which th ey might fearthat hostil e ac tion might be taken toward them,it such fin unw ise conrs e shou ld be attternp -edhv th eir F rench Canad ia n fel low anbi ects .He would refer first to th e question of Emigra­tion a nd L and s. No doubt bere in the Ea sternTownships it had been felt by many that possibly,in lea ving the lan ds in tbe hand s of the local go­ver nments, som e rules mig ht be mad e whichwou ld restrict the occupation of t hose land s totheir Fre -ioh Ca nadian frie nds solelv . So far ashis expe rience went , we had al wavsbeen deligh t­en to see our wil -t land s settle d hy Fren ch Ca na­d ians. T'hev had gone in like the rest of th e peo­ple ann bought the lands they occ upied. Wi thregard to the puh lie domain it was clea r thst nodi stinction could he drawn by the local Legis la ­tures . I t was poss ible they might adopt the un ­wise policy of putt lnc on a pri ce whi ch woul dpreven t any from buy ing, bu t, if tbe lan d was ex­posed to sale, it. must be as open to one race asthe other . In some respects, he might have pre-

ferred not in t he interests of Low er Canada, butin the in terests of the whole countrv.fo have seenthem at th e disposal of the General Government.But circumstan ces prevented tb at -not th e posi ­tion 01' Lower Canada, but the grea t im portanceattac hed to the public dom ain hv th e Upper Ca­nadians, and in th e case al so of Nova Sco tia a ndNew Brun swick by th eir respective Governm entsand peopl e, who were determined to have con­trol of the ir own lands. Though he th ought tbegeneral interest migh t have been promot ed, if wecould have gone to Europe a nd put one compre­bensive scheme of colonizati on an d emigrationbefore the world at large.. th at was p reven tednow, and all we could hope for. was that su chwise measures migh t be ado pted by th e L ocalLeg islatures as would have th e sa me resul ts .Wliile it was necessary to leave in th e hands oftb e Local Pa rliaments and Gov er nments thepow er of determini ug t he rates or te rmson wbicb lands might be obt ained by emi­grants whe n they reached us, or wben th enatural increase of our ow n popu lation requir­ed our young men to take up land s io the backcountry, he did not tbink it should be ap pre­hended that th e Lo cal Gov eruments wouldadopt any policy which wou ld chec k th at whichwas man ifes tly for t he interest of th e communityat la rge . Whatever policy were adopted. whethera wise or a foolish one, must be a policy appl yingequally to all . No dist inction could be drawn ,with reference to nationali ty or creed, amongt hose who we nt upon the Crow n domain to buyland s. He did bope a nd trust that L ower Cau ­ada would set au example of l iberalitv, in re­gard to tbe disposal of bel' lands - whi ch he wa ssa tisfied was her true policy-aud es pecially inreaard to her mineral lands, which were now ex­ci ting so much at te ntion , a nd he hoped it wou ldbe the esse that Lower Can ad a, in seek ing todispose of her land s, wo uld look rather to theadvantage of having- an industr ious populationset tled upon tbem, th an to th e dire ct pe cuniarybenefit she might get from their sale.

THE EnU CATIOYAL QUESTIOY AGAIN.

He would now again br iefly all ude to t bequ estion of edu cation. He believ ed he hadsaid enough on that, to rem oves ny R ppre­hensions that might have bee n felt , He <l id hopethat what he had said to-d ay w ith reference tothe mea sur e to be introduced by tb e Governm entwould reach th e eyes or the ears of th ose wbowere mor e immediately connected with the qu es­tion of educa t ion, and tba t the resul t would heth at th ey would put in some succ in ct and iut elli ­eible form tb e changes wh ich it mig ht be desira­hie to make in the presen t la w : a nd be wouldtake thi s opp ortunity of aavi ng-c-and i t wa s du eto his French Ounsdian coll ea gues in the Gove rn­men t that he sbould thu s prbli clv make thestatement, that so far as the wh ole of th em wer econc erned,-Sir Etienne Tach e, Mr. Oartier, Mr .Ohanais, and Mr. Langevin.c- througbout t hewho le of tbe negotiations, there was no t a singleinstance wh en there was evid ence on th eir partoft.h e slightest disposition to withhold from tb eBritish of' Lower Canada anything th at th eyclaimed for th eir Frenc h Canad ian cou ntrymen.[ Cheers] They acted wise ly in tak ing thecou rse thev did. for cert ainly it enc ouraged him 'sel f and others to stand up for the rights of th eirFrench Canadian frie nds. (HOItr. hear.) Theoppone nts of tbe measure ha d tri po to excite ap ­prehensio ns in the mi nds of the British of Low erCa nada on tbe one hand , and in the minds of theFrench Canad ia ns on the other. by repr esentingto one and to the other th at they were to be sacri­ficed. This in fact was the best evidence th at themeasure had been wisely framed and that it was

21

not to give power or dominance to on~ over tb.eother. If this were to be Its effect, It must fll;IIfrom its manifest injustice. The only way Inwbicb they could expect it t'? be carried out, ~asby its being found on sxamtnatfon tbat no Justcause of apprehension existed on the part of anyconsiderable class of the community. [Hear.]

THE QUESTION OF ELECTORAL LIMITS .

He would refer also to tbe question of the settle-ment of the electoral limits in Lower Canada. It

Iwas proposed that the electoral lim its, botb forthe Local aud the General Governments,should be arranged by the Local Legislatures.He was aware that a doubt had been suggest-ed that in in assigning the division of. electorallimits to tbe local legislature, the dominant par­ty-to speak plainly the French Canadian party-would so carve and cut up those limits aspractically to deprive the British element of. Re­presentation. But looking at the position fairly,he did not think there would be any reason toapprehend such a result, for, even supposing theFrench Canadian majority to desire it, it wouldnot be very easy for them to effect such a pur­pose. Tbe British popu lation of Lower Canadawas nearly one quarter of the whole populationof th e Country, and in some important districtsit constituted the majority, so that he did notwell see how a population so large could, by anysystem of the kind, be deprived of its just repre ­sentation, but with reference to these electorallimits, it would be absolutely necess ~y that tneysbould be in the first place determined by theLegislature of all Canada as now constituted,for there would be no local legis lation for LowerCanada until after the confederation had goneinto effect. It was the legislature of Canadawbich must define where the seventeen additionalmembers for Upper Canada should be elected, andalso whether there should be any chance in theelectoral limit of Lower Canada. He wouldfurth er say, in pursuallc~ of the same point, thatin the case of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,a reduction was to be made in the number ofth eir repr esentatives, and unless their local legis­lature arranged how this was to he effected theycould not be repres ented in the General Legisla­ture. Lower Canada alone remained as it was,and this was because Lower Canada was takenas in a manner the pivot in which the represen­tation of the others turned. [Hear.] In thefirst Parliament under the new system, therewould reside the power of making such altera­tions as they saw fit in the electoral laws . Asthey now existed in the several Provinces, theywere all different; the very franchise was differ­ent · and it must remain so until the GeneralLegislature had made alterations in the law in;no oth er way could the system be brought intooperation at all, and the same law that appliedto the electoral law also applied to electorallimits -they must from the necessity of the casebe ad] usted by the local legislatures preparatoryt o the meeting of the Federal Parliament. Theremight perhaps be little changes made in LowerCanada.c-some modifications made that might beuseful to us-there were cases where Englishtownships were so mixed up with thosewhere th e French Canadians prevailed that itwas difficult to say where the majority lay-butthe subject had not been lost sight of in Confer­ence, and, although he had no authority for anystatement on the subject, he might say that per­haps some modification of the electoral limitsmight be 'made before the next session termin­ated. [Cheers.]

INCORPORATION OF RELIGIOUS BODIES,

There was another point on which he mightmake some remarks, although he would

not detain them long. It was the right ofthe local Legis latures to incorporate bodies suchas ecclesiastical corporations, Now, he thoughtthere was no necessity for his bearers to distressthemselves much about this; he, for his part, hadno objection to let each religious body dea l withits own affairs in the way it liked best-to giveit tbe greatest possible degree of freedom . Buthe believed the same degree of intelligence thathad been disp layed in France and in Eng land inreference to the incorporation of religions asso­ciations would always be displayed in Canadatoo . The Roman Catholic mind in Lower Ca­nada was quite as well awakened as that of theProtestant part of the community to the evils oftying up lands in mortmain, and thus. placingthe population of the country m a less indepen ­dent position that they at present occupied. Theintelligent Roman Catholic community quitekept pace with Protestant society in th is re­spect, and there was no reason to fear that anystep in the wrong direction would be taken bythem in this respect. [Hear.]

ADVANTAGES OF THE UNION TO LOWER CANADA .

No part of British North America would derivesogreat benefits from the Confederation as LowerCanada, and no portion of the population wouldderive such benefits as the British element. Hethought it was plain that Lower Canada wasgoing to be the great commercial centre for thewhole of the Provinces, and even when we ex­tended the boundaries of our Empire to the coun­tries bordering on the Saskatchewan and theRocky Mountains, the who le wealth of that greatcountry must pour down tbe St. Lawrence andstimulate the industry of the cities of Lower Ca­nada. [Hear, hear.] Now if there was any partof the population of Lower Canada which par­ticu lar ly devoted itself to the cultivation of com­merce and manufactures, it was the Britishpopulation. Montreal stood pre-eminent in thisrespect, and Quebec too was full of merchants ofenergy and enterprise, principally of the Britishrace, although it was true that our French Cana­dian friends vied cordially with them in ship­building and other branches of commerce, butthe greater development to be given to the tradeof the St. Lawrence, and the increased commer­cial facilities which would be afforded to the ma­nufacturers of the Province, would wonderfullyadd to the advantages enjoyed by the British orra ther the English speak ing population.And therefore he did not hesitate to say that itwould be found in the future that the increasedPower and influence given to tbe Confederation---given it by the union of all their forces andthe extension of their commerce both east andwest-was going to be immensely beneficial toLower Canada, and that while all the pro­vinces would improve, we especially shouldfind our position improving and not becom­ing worse. As he said before, there wouldbe a proper feeling of emulation betweenthe two races in Lower Canada; and both,possessing qualities of a high though dlf­ferent character would unite in forming herea society, a community, which would havewithin itself more r f the elements of great­ness and strength than any other community inthe Confederation. But it must not be expectedthat this could be attained if they evinced a wantof confidence and entertained a mutual distrust.They ought to come together for the protectionof their common interests, and not with the de­sire to obtatain any mean advantage over oneanother but to preserve their interests, defendtheir rigbts, and do what lay in their power tomake Lower Canada attractive to foreigners, andthe whole country so to the wealth and industry of

22

other lands. They might see th eir water powersma de useful for manufacturing purposes. tbeirwha rfs and canals crowded with the vessels bothof tbe provinces and otber coun tries, and the man­ufacturing sk ill of the peop le developed so as bythatmeans to overcome the difficulties to whichoursoil and our climate exposed us.and be able torna in­tain our place in the front rank of progress inBritish North America, thus holding no meanplace in the new Confederation. (Loud cheers.)

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion , he would remark that the politicalnecessit ies of Canada seemed to render a meas­ure of union of all the provinces of Brit ish NorthAmerica necess ary in itself. He thought thatthose who examined the subject would find thatthe federative plan must be adopted. Hethought also that it contained within itself thetr uest protection of all our interests; and th atlooking at the scheme merely from a materialpoint of view, t he co-partnership was one thatwas fair to all par ties and interests. Now, be­lieving this: to be the case, he would say thatw hile they believed tbey had framed a new sys­tem of confederation that wou ld meet fully thewants and necessities of our people, they hadcer ta inly tried to dev ise such a system aswould con ta in with in itse lf the germ of unity andnot of disun ion j they had, he tru sted, avoidedthe evils and errors in the constitutio n of theirGovernment wh ich were now pro vin g t he wreckof the United Sta tes j so that in the futu re theywould find t be system they were try ing to inaug­ura te a basis of unity amo ng the peo ple, unity ofgovernment making the people more and morehomogeneous till a t length they migh t at no dis­tant day be enab led to do away with those artifi ­cia l boun daries which sepa rated one pro­v ince from another, and come together asono uni ted people. (Loud cheers.) Itwas very probable we might not live to seethat day, because it would take a long time tooutgrow prejud ices and sectional ism and thoset rammels whicb had grown up, leadiug to mis­taken judgments and estimates of our fellowmen ; but still he believed that the principle laiddow n that the administration 0' the aff~irs of allsho uld be based upon the principles of commonj ustice would in theend produce a perfect unionof all. He was convinced tbat under such a sys­tem the people of the different provinces wouldbecome one in every respect, instead of being now

Imerely the inhabitants of different sections­instead of being Nova Scotians, Canadians, etc. ­th ey would all be the subjects of one great na­tion. [L oud cbeers .] He conld not help for amoment adverting to the great future before us.Resting with our back to the icy regions of theNorth - with the finest rive r in the world pass ingt hro ugh the centre of our la nd, who could pre­dict our future powe r and greatne ss? [ Renewedcheers.] True we shou ld have a foreign fron ­tie r, but the movement now taking place ap-

peared to be bringing forth more friendly senti­ments on t he part of our friends to the South,who were discussing the subject in a favorablespirit. And he believed that anything whichhad a tendency to promote that friendly feelingought to mee t their hearty support and concur­rence . (Obeers.) Thcy had seen a d-gree ofmistrust growing up on t he part of their Ameri­can friends wbich they must try and remove ifthey could. They were bound to show them inall relations every justice, but at the same timethey were also bound by the higher duty tothemsel ves to rega rd wit h jealous care their ownrig hts and interests. and sbou ld their soilever be desecrated by a foreign foe to hu rlback the enemy and defend their constitutionand laws with every energy at the ir com­mand. (Loud cbeers .) Let us come together asone people and be united in one firm front towork in conju nction with the great empire towh ich we belonged , t o labor for t he generalgood. (Applause.) Let it not be sa id longerthat Canada was una ble or unw illing to do morein her own self-defe nce- let us fliug back that re­proach, and in dea ling wi th that subject let it heknown that we did our whole d uty with the de­te rmination to discharge t he liabili ties of a na­tion devolving up on us. ( Oheers.) Let it beour nride to do so j let it not be said th at we wereso selfish or mean-spiri ted th at , while will ing t oenjoy the benefits and privil eges of our favoredsituation, we were unwillin g to pay their cost orfight for th em. ( Cheers.) Iu coming forwar d aswe were obli ged to do from the necess it ies oftbecase, to consider a remedy for our own evils, itwas hoped tbe public mind of Canada would ap­prove the remedy now pr oposed. We bad triedand found, he believed, a remedy for our owndifficulties -not in d' sunion, not in severing thetie between Upper and Lower Canada, but by in­clud ing in one bond all the British North Ameri­CRn Pro vinces, which had all a common alle­giance and a common interest. And instead ofremaining separate as we had done for the last24 years, let us go forward with a million morefellow-colonists standing at our side in the strug­gle for national existence; and whatever mightbetide, he trusted the people of Canada, as wellas those of the other British North Americ anColonies, would be worthy of th e great interestsconfided to the m, a nd never be found hackwardin defendi ng tbem, no matter from what quarterdanger might ar ise.

The I-;on. gentleman resumed his seat afte r aspeech of three hours and ten minutes, amid pro ­longed cheers.

On motion of Mr. HENEK ER a vote of tbankswas passed to Mr. GaIt for tbe interesting andlucid statement he bad piacad before his con­s tituents .

The thanks of the meetin g were also voted tothe Cha irman. on the motion of Mr. GA LT ; andcheers having been given for the Queen and forthe Fin an ce Minister, the proceedings termina ted .

J

f,/.. ,

;-tb ;

I

l

I r e/{ ~ -~'

" t;I

23

THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE PROVINCES.

Totals, $79,012,205

Nova Scotia,New Brunswick,Newfoundland, (1862,)Prince Edward I sland, . -

Maritime Province s,Canada, -

Deb t, 1863.$4,~58, 547

5,702,991946,000240,673

$11,7-1-8,21167,263,994

Income, 1863.$1,185,629

899,991480,000197,384

$2,763,0049,760,316

$12,523,320

Outlay, 1863.$1,072,274

884,613479,420171,718

$2,608,02510,742,807

$13,350,832

INOREASED R EVENUES IN 1864.Canada, without the produce of the new taxes,New Brunswick,Nova Scotia, -

$1,500,000100,000100,000

$1,700,000Deficit of 1863,Surplus of 1864,

Total Revenues of all the Colonies, 1864,Outlay; -

Estimated Surplus, -

$827,512872,488

$1,700,000$14,223,320

13,350,832

• $872;488

THE POSITION OF THE CONFE DERA TION, ESTIMATED ON THEBASIS OF 1864.

Revenue nowproduced for

GeneralGovernment.

Canada, $11,250,000Nova Scotia,.. .. .. .. .. . . 1,300,000NewBrunswick...... 1,000,000Prin ce Edward Island. 200,000Newfoundland 480,000

Local Revenueswhic h would

not go into thegeneral Chest.

$1,297,043107,00089,00032.000

5,000

Subsidy to bepaid toeach

P rovince.$2,006,121

264,000264,000153,728369,000

Difference, avail­ab le for the

purposes of the Ge­nera l Government.

$13,260,000 $1,530,043 $3,056,849 $9,643,108

Canada.•••••. . .. .. . .Nova Scotia .New Brunswick •••. .P. E. Island .Newfoundland • •••• •

Expenditure.

$9,800,0001,222,355

834,5 18171,718479,000

$12,507,591

Local Outlay.

$2,260, 149667,000424,047124,0 16479.000

$3,954,212

Difference payableby the

General Governmen t.

$8,553,379

Surplus at the disposal of the General Government,........ ....... $ 1,089,729

AVE RAGE OF THE PRESENT TARIFFS.

Canada,Nova Scotia, ­New Brunswick, -

20 per cent.- 10 "

15! "

Newfoundland,P rince Edward Island,

11 per cent10 cc

24

FUTURE PO SITION OF THE PROVINCES.

Nova e cotia,New Brun swick,P . E. Island,Newfoundland,

Canada,

Loca l Revenues.Estimated Outlay Estimated Local Outlayfor 1864, under und er

present Government. the Union.

$107,000 $667,000 $371,00089,000 404,047 3:;3,00032,000 171.718 124,015

5,000 479,000 250,000---- ---- - - - -$233,000 $1,721,765 $1,198,015

1,297,043 ~ *2 021979 -t-

t '238;170+

---- ----$1,530,043 $J,981,914 -t-

+

.;> Average of the last four years. t Interest on excess of debt.t Not estimated by 11r. Gait, for reasons given in tbe speech.

THE AUDITOR'S STATEMENT OF THE LIABILI TI ES OF CANADA.

Debenture Debt, direct and indirect ­Miscellaneous liabilitiesCommon School FundIndian FundBanking Accounts -Seigniorial Tenure ;

Capital to SeigniorsChargeable on Municipalities' FundOn account of J esuits' EstatesIndemni ty to the Townships

Less-Sinking Fund sCash and Bank Accounts

$2,899,711 09196,719 66140,271 87891,500 00

$4,883,177 112,248,891 87

$65,238,649 2164,426 14

1,181,958 851,577,802 463,396,982 81

4,118,202 62

75,578,022 09

7,132,068 98

From which, for reasons given in his speech, Mr. Gait deducted theCommon School Fund

68,445,953 11

1,181,958 85

Leaving as NET LIABILITIES $67,26a,994 26

IMPORTS, EXPORTS AND TONNAGE OF THE P ROVINCES.

CanadaNova Scotia.New BrunswickPrince Edward I slandNewfoundland

Imports.

$45,964,00010,201,3917,764,8241,428,0285,242,720

Exports.

$41,831,0008,420,9688,964,7841,627,5406,002,212

Sea-going Tonnage.Inward and Outward.

$2,133,0001,432,9541,386,980

No returns." "

70,600,96366,846,604

Total Trade - $137,447,567

$66,846,604 4,952,934Lake T 'ge 6,907,000

Total Tons - 11,859,934