IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 #/. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Qr 
 
 /, 
 
 I O "- IIM lllll-^ 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 1: K^ 
 
 ~ >ii 
 
 1.4 
 
 M 
 
 2.2 
 2.0 
 
 1.6 
 
 ^TVM 
 
 6% 
 
 '# 
 
 '/# 
 
 "c-1 
 
 ^a 
 
 ^ ..% 
 
 ^^v 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 /A 
 
 Wj^^ 
 
 
 ''y 
 
 Photograpliic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 27 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
ClhM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 ColSection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiq^ies 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain tho best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are chocked below. 
 
 n 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 r~~\ Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommag^e 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur6e et/ou pellicul6e 
 
 j I Cower title missing/ 
 
 D 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes g^ographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Reli^ avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadovv's or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge int^rieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear witnin the text. Whenever possible, thes? 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutees 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque ceia 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6t6 filmdes. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires. 
 
 Tl 
 tc 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Le« details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qu! peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage 
 sont indiqu^s ni-dessous. 
 
 □ 
 
 n 
 n 
 
 v/ 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages sndommagdes 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaurges et/ou pelliculdes 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqu6es 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pag^s d^tachSes 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 I I Quality of print varies/ 
 
 Qualite in6gale de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comptend du materiel supplementaire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fagon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 Tl 
 P' 
 
 O 
 b 
 t» 
 si 
 o 
 fi 
 si 
 o 
 
 T 
 si 
 T 
 w 
 
 IV 
 di 
 
 61 
 
 b 
 ri 
 r« 
 nr 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce docume.tt est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 
 
 
 
 
 14X 
 
 
 
 
 18X 
 
 
 
 
 22X 
 
 
 
 
 26X 
 
 
 
 
 30X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 Library of the Public 
 Archives of Canada 
 
 L'exemplaire fiimi fut reproduit grfice A la 
 g^n^rosite de: 
 
 La bibliothdque des Archives 
 publiques du Canada 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6ti reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin. compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire film6, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimde sont film^s en commen^ant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit per la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont filmis en commengant par la 
 premiere page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par 
 la derniire page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol --► (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED "), or the symbol y (meening "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Un des symboles suiv&nts apparaitra sur la 
 derniftre image de cheque microfiche, snion le 
 cas: le symbols — ^- signifie "A SUiVRE", le 
 symbols V signiffe "FIN". 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratio&. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to botton^. as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre 
 film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un stiul cliche, 11 est filmd d partir 
 de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le ncmbre 
 d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la m6thode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 4 5 6 
 

 
A PLEA 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Cintfchratioit of i\t €&lmm 
 
 
 OF 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA; 
 
 
 f ft 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE AND PARLIAMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 frma ^irtujtrir Mmlu. 
 
 BY 
 
 MATTHEW BICHEY, D. D. 
 
 >-G-SB 
 
 He is the sincere and wisest friend of his country who is at aU times ready 
 on a crisis of importance, to give a temperate yet a manly and decided testi- 
 mony of his opinions.— GisBORNB. 
 
 / 
 
 K?'^!-CV 
 
 CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. I. 
 
 GEO. BREMNER, 'EXCELSIOR PRINTING OFFICE, 
 
 PRINCE STREET. 
 
 ^ 1867.^ 1 --L^^ ./:. 
 
 
? 
 
 FK 
 
TO HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 GEORGE DUNDAS, Esquiee, 
 fttnttnairf totenot & (ffmnmsiAw-jn-d^f 
 
 IN AND OVBB 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES 
 
 IN THE DEYOUT AND FERYENT HOPB 
 
 THAT THE 
 
 MEMORY OP HIS EXCELLENCY'S ADMINISTRATION 
 
 MAY BE IMMORTALIZED BY ASSOCIATION 
 
 WITH THE ACHIEYEMENT 
 
 OF THE IMPORTANT MEASURE 
 
 WHICH THEY ARE DIPFIDENTLY INTENDED TO PROMOTE 
 
 ARE, WITH PROPOUND RESPECT, 
 
 |nstrikh 
 
 BY HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 MATTHEW KICHEY. 
 
.1. 
 
 t 
 
 '^h- 
 
 .^.♦"•'' 
 
PLEA FOR THE CONFEDERATION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE AND PARLIAMENT 01 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 -ooJ«<c 
 
 Fellow Subjects : 
 
 At a crisis of transition in the history of British 
 North America, when its component Colonies, 
 nurtured from infancy to adolescence by the fos- 
 tering care of the Parent Government, are regarded 
 by her most experienced and sagacious statesmen 
 as having reached a stage of developement that 
 clearly indicates the expediency and necessity of 
 the inauguration of a new form of government 
 and administration, it behooves every patriotic 
 and loyal subject of our gracious Sovereign on 
 this Island, dispassionately and with becoming 
 deference, to weigh the grounds upon which Her 
 Majesty's ministers so earnestly desiderate the 
 adoption by all the Colonies concerned, of the 
 general principles of Confederation enunciated in 
 several important dispatches. 
 
6 
 
 A PLEA FOR 
 
 It can to no one be matter of surprise, that un- 
 toward events ot recent occurrence, threatening 
 the peace and security of these Colonies, and en- 
 dangering their connection with the Parent State, 
 have greatly increased the desire previously felt 
 among all cUsses of political parties in Great Brit- 
 ain, that we should be bound together by the 
 strong ligature of a common constitution, based 
 upon the principles of equal justice to all, and 
 adapted to promote the progressive prosperity of 
 each. 
 
 The projected plan of our Union which, it is 
 plain, can not any longer be denied our practical 
 consideration, it is freely acknowledged, is one of 
 imposing magnitude, and obviously fraught with 
 momentous issues, alike to ourselves and to pos- 
 terity. Be it remembered, how^ever, that it has 
 not been entertained by the statesmen of England, 
 and offered to our consideration and acceptance 
 without profound and protiacted investigation — 
 without having })een contemplated in all its aspects 
 and scrutinized in all its bearings and connections, 
 immediate and remote, by minds as enlightened and 
 discriminating as any on earth — minds, moreover, 
 above all suspicion as to the disinterested charac- 
 ter of the motives by which they are actuated in 
 desiring the association in one brotherhood of 
 Canada and these maritime Provinces. 
 
 Now, apart altogether from the intrinsic merits 
 of the question at issue, is there no significance in 
 the singular fact that on this subject, which con- 
 
CONFEDERATION. 
 
 fesscclly lies beyond the rimge of party politics, 
 there exists at this moment umong tlic most astute 
 politicians of all parlies in the mother country, a 
 perfect coalescence of mind and heart? Does it 
 not challenge recognition as at least presfuttptive 
 evitlenc^e in favor of the })r()p()sed Coufederalion, 
 that a Deuby and a Uussel — a Gladstone and a 
 D'lsRAELi — a Caudwkll and a Cai:x\ahvon fully 
 concur in judgment in respect to its imperious 
 necessity, and that so intense is their solicitude to 
 see it carried into effect, that in order to expedite 
 the achievement of the magniticent design, the}' are 
 mutually willing to proclaim a truce to their par- 
 liamentary campaign on other t()i)ics, and for a 
 time, at least, to hang on high the furl)ished 
 weapons of political gladiatorjship? Can a fact so 
 striking and suggestive be treated as trivial by 
 any man of calm reflection ? Is it to be imagined 
 that the ministers of the Crown have all at once 
 become so recreant to the solemn obligations 
 which they owe alike to every colony whot^e in- 
 terests are placed under their guardianship, that 
 they have taken counsel together to deliver over 
 this beautiful and fertile Island as a prey to tlie 
 cunning and cupidity of Canadian politicians? 
 And has Her Majesty Herself extinguished every 
 sentiment and instin(;t of maternal solicitude for 
 the welfare of the only dependency of the Crown 
 in British North America that derives its designar- 
 tioi from a member of the Royal Family? Has 
 She, obli/ious of the principles and precepts of 
 
8 
 
 A PLEA FOR 
 
 uncoiTiiptcd integrity, that have found their most 
 conspicuous exemplitication in her history hither- 
 to, listened to the seductive counsels of some per- 
 fidious Ahithophel, and dimmed the lustre of her 
 diadem by lending Ilcr influence to aid the inva- 
 ders of our chartered rights, and to force us from 
 our loved tran(piility into a political vortex in 
 which wc must inevitably perish ? If such be the 
 case, what wonder tliat the wily statesmen of 
 Canada already exult in the anticipation of soon 
 being able, by a legalized act of spoliation, to 
 appropriate enough from our surplus revenue and 
 the very overflowings of our treasury, to redeem 
 their tottering credit, licpiidatc the debt incurred 
 by their shamelul extravagance, and recover from 
 the financial paralysis which, as Dame Mendax 
 Infamia would have you believe, menaces them 
 with imminent and ruinous bankruptcy I 
 
 If there is something too senile and absurd in 
 such assuTuptions to impose, upon the most simple, 
 or to agitate the most suspicious, do we then claim 
 superiority in mental acumen and political sagacity 
 to those practiced and illustrious statesmen who 
 surround the British throne, and wield with con- 
 summate ability the destinies of the mightiest 
 empire the sun saw ever? Are they, with all the 
 advantages of the highest intellectual culture, and 
 of the elevated standpoint they occupy, less com- 
 petent to determine what political relations will 
 be most conducive to the present and prospective 
 welfare of this Colony than we, — in our isolated 
 
CONFEDERATION . 
 
 9 
 
 position and with those insiihir idiosyncrasies that 
 arc rarely corrected except by a libeml education 
 and transatlantic travel, — arc to decide for our- 
 selves? Does not such an overweening conceit 
 of onr powers of discernment and political vatici- 
 nation assume, to a sober and unbiassed judgment, 
 very much the appearance of infatuation? 
 
 I am neither advocate nor apologist of what is 
 styled the Quebec scheme, in all its details. I 
 merely assert that its fundamental principles and 
 noble object are worthy of all acceptance by every 
 People and Parliament in Eastern British America. 
 It has already been subjected to the most search- 
 ing examination, and in some of its aspects, no 
 doubt, modified so as to meet the views and se- 
 cure the acquiescence of deputations to the Colo- 
 nial Oflfice from Nova Scctia and New Brunswick. 
 The authors of that scheme never claimed infalli- 
 bility ; yet, whatever may be its defects, as a 
 tentative programme, not authoritatively issued, 
 but humbly submitted, not stealthily wormed into 
 practical developement, but frankly and ingenu- 
 ously thrown open, for years, to the gaze of the 
 public eye, it is marked in the estimation of those 
 preeminently qualified to form :i impartial and 
 just r.ppreciation of its merits, by statesmanlike 
 ability of a high order. And, from the harmoni- 
 ous adjustment of some of its details, to which 
 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in the first 
 instance, took exception, there can exist no doubt 
 that had the Government of Prince Edward Island 
 
10 
 
 A TLEA Foil 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 ¥ 
 
 been represented, us it ought to have been, in the 
 ncgociations of those who adopted a more enlight- 
 ened poliey, the result would have been that the 
 momentous question would now bo in a state to 
 bebrouirht before the new Parliament, under eon- 
 ditions much more auspicious than can possibly 
 accompany its presentation. It is our own short- 
 sighted perthiacity that has precluded those ad- 
 vantages and facilities th:it might have paved the 
 way to a solution of every difiiculty surrounding 
 the snl)ject, by the coming Parliament, in a w^ay 
 alike satisfying to the minds and promotive of the 
 interests of the entire population of the Island. 
 Our Government resolved, unhappily and most 
 nnwiselv, not to entertain tlie overtures of Union 
 under any conditions, and have, in consequence, 
 lost a most propitious juncture for procuring the 
 ready acquiescence of the other parties to the 
 compact, in all our reasonable requisitions. 
 
 Singularly enough, however, it falls out that 
 the Leader of the Government, at Avliose door lies 
 the largest amount of responsibility for that sad 
 oversight, is now found arrayed on the side of 
 Conl'ederation, and has acaially become on ; of its 
 most zealous advocates I Has he too been won 
 over to the theory he so sturdily opposed when in 
 powtn- by some golden premium on corruption? 
 Is he to be suspected of having, when in England, 
 listened to the seducing ]n'omiscs of unprincipled 
 diplomatists, and entered into fellowship with men 
 who have unanimously resolved to immolate on 
 
CONFEDERATION. 
 
 11 
 
 in the 
 nlii^ht- 
 lat the 
 ;tate to 
 er ron- 
 ossibly 
 . short- 
 )se ad- 
 ved the 
 uncling 
 I a way 
 i of the 
 Island, 
 d most 
 
 Union 
 lucnce, 
 ing the 
 
 :o the 
 
 it that 
 )or lies 
 at sad 
 ide of 
 of its 
 1 wou 
 hen in 
 ption ? 
 gland, 
 cipled 
 ;h men 
 ite on 
 
 the altar of the Confederation, as the only garland- 
 ed victim that can appease the wrath of the gods, 
 this picturespuc and productive Island? 
 
 To l)e serious : here is a man of nndou])ted 
 intelligence, of peculiar siirewdness, and, as every 
 body must admit, a clever man of business withal 
 — a man ^Wiose predominjitiug prc^judice against 
 the contemplated Union of the Colonies, refused, 
 for a long time, to listen to reason or remonstrance 
 on the subject — who, in the fervor of his zeal and 
 the tirmness of his purpose, did not hesitate to 
 risk the tenure of office, or, in the contingency of 
 a chtnige in public sentiment, the forfeiture of the 
 confidence of his constituency. 
 
 We now behold this same gentleman, with a 
 valuable stake in the country, and nnchangcd in 
 his intention to link the fortunes of himself and 
 his family Avith its fiititre, coming forward to 
 refute his own arguments, and to counteract the 
 regretted influence of those views to Avhicli he 
 previously gave all the sanction of his influential 
 example and all the weight of his uncompromising 
 advocacy. How happens it, I ask, that a change 
 so decided has come over the spirit of his dream ? 
 
 The problem is one of no difficult solution. He 
 has, since then, been brought into contact with 
 minds of comprehensive grasp and far-seeing pen- 
 etration. Collision, by elicithig brighter and 
 broader views of the whole sul)ject, in all its 
 affinities and connections, has resulted in coales- 
 cence ; and honest conviction and the love of his 
 
12 
 
 A PLEA FOB 
 
 II 
 
 
 i 
 
 country now impcll him manfully to avow his 
 chanjrc of sentiment, and to recommend to the 
 people of this Island at large prompt and hearty 
 concurrence with a plan, demanded by the exi- 
 gencies of the present crisis, for the union, con- 
 solidation, and defence of the Colonies of British 
 North America, under the impulse of eiilightened 
 loyalty, and the benign auspices of British su- 
 premac3^ 
 
 Am I to be told that all this is but special 
 pleading — in the hackneyed phraseology of Juni- 
 us, 'declamation without argument and assertion 
 without proof? Is the gratuitous outcry of 
 unfair and ojypressive taxation, whiningly reiter- 
 ated by designing politicians for popular eifect, 
 sufficient summarily to dispose of those and all 
 similar considerations? Is it peremptorily de- 
 manded by the opponents of the proposed Con- 
 federation, that before we take a single step in 
 that direction, the entire financial scheme for the 
 sustentation and working of the embryo-nationality 
 shall be everything that the most selfish inhabitant 
 of this Island can covet? I have, assuredly, no 
 objection that we ply every argument and use 
 every legitimate effort to obtain, at the very out- 
 set, the most favorable pecuniary terms in our 
 power ; and I certainly regret that we have lost, 
 whoLy through our own fault, a signal opportu- 
 nity, the wise and energetic improvement of which 
 might have gone far to dissipate the illusion by 
 which, on this topic, the minds of thousands are 
 
 \ 
 
I 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
 13 
 
 ow his 
 to the 
 . hearty 
 he exi- 
 m, con- 
 British 
 njhtened 
 Lish su- 
 
 special 
 of Jiini- 
 .ssertion 
 itcry of 
 Y reiter- 
 r effect, 
 and all 
 ily de- 
 ed Con- 
 step in 
 for the 
 ionality 
 labitant 
 edly, no 
 and use 
 ry out- 
 in our 
 ve lost, 
 pportu- 
 f which 
 sion by 
 nds are 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 rendered so morbidly sensitive. If this course, 
 so obviously the dictate alike of conventional pro- 
 priety and common prudence, had been taken, for 
 aught any one can tell (with the facts now before 
 us in reference to the spirit in which the claims of 
 other provinces have been responded to, I would 
 rather say, who cmi doubt that), concessions, both 
 with respect to Representative influence and fiscal 
 advantage, might have been obtained sufficient to 
 propitiate every class of Her Majesty's subjects, — 
 those alone excepted whose political proclivities 
 are not calculated to inspire the highest confidence 
 in their fealty as British Colonists ? — a class which, 
 if it exist amongst us at all, is, we rejoice to 
 believe, as small as it is uninfluential. 
 
 But too much importance may, after all, be 
 attached to the purely commercial aspect of the 
 question of Confederation. Constitutional law 
 and the actual administration of law, too fre- 
 quently, as history mournfully attests, widely dif- 
 fer. A financial arrangement, ostensibly favorable 
 in the highest degree to the interests of this 
 Colony, might, possibly, by a corrupt system of 
 management, be so thwarted as to completely 
 disappoint the anticipations of the class of political 
 economists among us, who confided in its opera- 
 tions to difl'use over the whole land the opulence of 
 the golden age. Those sticklers for the prelim- 
 inary fractional adjustment of every imaginable 
 pecuniary claim, immediate and contingent, before 
 committing ourselves to the proposed compact, 
 
14 
 
 A PLEA FOR 
 
 
 ■l' ;. 
 
 
 if 
 
 i^!^ 
 
 forget meanwhile that there exists an unprinted 
 code of the laws of natural and eternal justice — a 
 statute book more plain and popular than any tome 
 of Parliamentary legislation — a code photographed 
 on every man's conscience by the radiant linger of 
 God — imperatively coercive without the aid of legal 
 penalties, and ubiquitous without the expense of 
 distribution, and that in every civilized country the 
 fundamental maxims of that c(.de are faithfully 
 reflected by j)Mic opinion. AYere the anticipated 
 Confederation at this moment a fact — did this 
 Colony now feel herself surrounded by the zone 
 of a new Colonial constitution, embracing in the 
 amplitude of its circle every Province of British 
 North America, and did we feel, in our novel 
 relations, the pressure of inequitable and grasping 
 exactions on our limited resources, are there no 
 men among us able to make the halls of the 
 central Legislature reverberate with the thunder 
 of their denunciations against the shameless out- 
 rage ; and scathe, with the bolts of their indignant 
 crimination, its guilty perpetrators? Have we 
 no Gray nor Coles, no Hensley nor Ilaviland, 
 no I*ope nor Brecken, no Whelan nor Davies, to 
 bring to the vindication of the claims of their 
 injured country powers of argument and appeal 
 that would command attention and wake respon- 
 sive echoes on the most august arena of political 
 contest? And how long a period would elapse, 
 think you, tifter the unconscionable procedure 
 was held up to public execration, before the Queen 
 
 I 
 
CONFEDERATION. 
 
 15 
 
 nnted 
 ce — a 
 • tome 
 aplicd 
 "■er of 
 f legal 
 use of 
 ry the 
 hfiilly 
 ipated 
 1 this 
 e zone 
 in the 
 British 
 novel 
 asping 
 ore no 
 of the 
 lunclcr 
 s out- 
 lirnant 
 ve we 
 Hand, 
 nes, to 
 their 
 appeal 
 espon- 
 litical 
 3lapse, 
 cedure 
 Queen 
 
 
 
 and Parliament of Great Britain would interpose 
 to wipe the foul blot from the escutcheon of their 
 Colonial empire? Away then with such pusillani- 
 mous and baseless apprehensions that we are about 
 to be whelmed in the vortex of the Confederation ! 
 — that if we go into the measure we are destined to 
 be stripped of our rights and to sink rapidly into 
 a state of squallid pauperism. Narrow, indeed, 
 must be the sphere and feeble the powers of his 
 vision, who can descry nothing but shadows, 
 clouds, and darkness resting upon the dynasty of 
 a vice-regal government in British North Ameri- 
 ca, in its language, laws, and literature, constitu- 
 tional liberty, social order, and Christian faith, 
 reflecting the image, and emulating the honors of 
 its illustrious ancestry. 
 
 I will confess to you, so fur am I from parti- 
 cipating in such desponding views, that, with the 
 very prospect of such a dynasty, the day dawns, 
 and th'3 day-star of a more brillrant career of pros- 
 perity than Colonial life on this side of the Atlantic 
 has ever witnessed, arises in my heart. Let these 
 isolated Colonies only marshal themselves in 
 firm phalanx, under the auspices and supreme 
 rule of the British scepter, and that moment a 
 wall of defence is thrown around them more im- 
 pregnable than that wiiich girds the empire of 
 China, — that moment the problem of the perpetu- 
 ity of our connection with the monarchy and 
 constitution of England receives its proud and 
 practical solution, — that moment an era of dc- 
 
IG 
 
 A PLEA FOR 
 
 t-\ 
 
 fM 
 
 m * 
 
 'jJi- s 
 
 
 I 
 
 i: 
 
 ?H \ 
 
 li. ^ 
 
 >-M f 
 
 M I 
 
 velopement in every sphere and department of 
 useful activity, professional, commercial, and in- 
 dustrial, opens upon these Colonies, to the mag- 
 nificent progression of which the human imagina- 
 tion can assign no limit, — in fine, that moment 
 every heart that beats true to the constitution of 
 the realm, every bosom that glows with the blend- 
 ed fires of patriotism and loyalty, will prompt 
 the animated apostrophe to the scepter grasped 
 by the hand of a Queen the virtues of whose 
 character command the homage of our affection, 
 while the majesty of her rule claims the allegiance 
 of conscience, — Esto Perpetua ! 
 
 Have we well weighed the consequences of 
 imperiling, by our supine apathy or unreasonable 
 perverseness, the high privileges which, as Brit- 
 ons, we enjoy? What nation under the whole 
 heaven exults in the possession of such chartered 
 immuiiities and blessings as, in the good provi- 
 dence of God, fall to our lot as a civilized and 
 christian people — blessings and immunities for 
 which humanity everywhere yearns, but which, 
 in their purity and plenitude, distinguish above 
 all others those who dwell under the shadow of 
 the British throne? Who, not smitten with ju- 
 dicial blindness, would exchange those privileges 
 for the fluctuating fortunes of a Kepul-lic, that 
 has recently given a partial solution of its boasted 
 theory of Government, in a fratricidal war of 
 prodigious magnitude, issuing in the premature 
 excision from anions^ the livinsr, of not less than 
 
 I 
 
 J! 
 
 .Hi 
 
CONFEDERATIOr. 
 
 17 
 
 ju- 
 
 a quarter of a million of its sons, the flower and 
 hope of their country, and thousands of them the 
 only staflf and stay ol tottering age, and nerveless 
 infirmity? Who would transfer the basis oi his 
 highest temporal hopes from the serene abode 
 of dignified and inviolable freedom, to the verge 
 of a volcano, whose crater may be fringed with 
 verdure, but whose bowels inclose elements of 
 tevrific energy that, at any moment, may })reak 
 forth and cover the land with their desolating lava ? 
 
 Fellow subjects : no selfish or unworthy motive 
 has prompted this appeal to your reason and con- 
 science as men, and to your patriotic and loyal 
 impulses as Britons. I disdain that science of the 
 bar-room and the streets — party politics. But I 
 can not — nor do I desire to divest myself of intense 
 solicitude for the honor and interests of this colony, 
 when I contemplate the hostile attitude which it 
 somewhat preposterously presents to a magnificent 
 scheme, intended to embrace in one common 
 brotherhood, for the defence of their common her- 
 itage, the whole of British North America — a 
 political compact from which, I firmly believe, 
 Prince Edward Island has everything to hope and 
 nothing to fear. 
 
 Let me earnestly entreat the yeomanry, who 
 constitute the strength and sinew of the popula- 
 tion, to scrutinize the grounds of their opj^osition 
 to a measure urgently called for by the exegencies 
 of the present crisis. Carefully sift and analyze; 
 every intelligent and relevant objection to it which 
 
18 
 
 A PLEA rOR 
 
 ill 
 
 tn 
 
 Mt^ 
 
 !;i^ 
 
 
 
 B i 
 
 its most ing3niou3 and indomitable opponents 
 have contrived to array against it, and see whether 
 they are not, with equal diplomatic dignity, cour- 
 teous contempt, and suggestive emphasis, charac- 
 terised in the last published dispatch from the 
 Colonial Office as positively trifling. Hasten to 
 rescue your country from the humiliating plight 
 in which contending politicians have placed it. 
 Hail the proposal of the closest alliance and con- 
 federation with your sister Colonies as a boon of 
 priceless value, most opportunely soliciting your 
 acceptance. Embrace with open arms and glow- 
 ing heart the great elementary principle which is 
 to form the corner stone of the majestic fabric ; 
 and abandon not your minds to the perturbation 
 of unfounded fears as to the apprehended effect of 
 the measure upon your funds and families. Place 
 some confidence in the justice and magnanimity 
 of the Imperial Government, under whose auspices 
 you have hitherto enjoyed so large an amount of 
 political quiet and happiness; and which, rest 
 assured, has no intention whatever, on the intro- 
 duction of the proposed change in some of your 
 political relations, to deliver you over a helpless 
 prey to the voracity of rapacious neighbours. 
 Beneath the shield and shadow of the same throne 
 you shall still continue, notwithstanding your im- 
 mediate connection with the new Colonial dynasty, 
 to repose in security. All your constitutional 
 rights will be as much respected as ever, and 
 even more vigilantly guarded than, under the old 
 
CONFEDERATION . 
 
 19 
 
 your 
 
 regime^ they well could be. Indeed, it is among 
 the objects of the paternal solicitude of the Impe- 
 rial Government, in promoting the speedy incep- 
 tion of the new order of things, to secure to you, 
 and to your descendants, in perpetuity, all those 
 rights and privileges, without the inconvenient 
 necessity of referring, on questions of local and 
 colonial interest and collision, to a transatlantic 
 tribunal for authoritative, and sometimes unavoid- 
 ably very tardy, decision. 
 
 Permit me, in bringk..g these remarks to a 
 conclusion, to announce it as my profound con- 
 viction, in which I am far from being alone, that 
 the coalition, at no distant day, of this Island with 
 the confederation of the Provinces, is, to every in- 
 telligent observer of the signs of the times, dis- 
 tinctly foreshadowed by the course of events, — 
 that» in point of fact, it is the palpable jorec^esiimaiiow 
 of Divine Providence. Fortunately for ourselves, 
 we may as reasonably hope to dam up the waters 
 of the gulf that surrounds us, as to arrest, by our 
 impotent opposition, the progressive career, or pre- 
 clude the happy consummation, of the magnificent 
 design, in whose programme we are embraced, and 
 in whose complete practical evolution and accom- 
 plishment, we shall undoubtedly assume our des- 
 tined and appropriate position, as an integral part 
 of the great Anglo-American commonwealth. 
 
 Instead then of being ignominiously dragged in- 
 to the Union by the stern logic of uncontrolable 
 eyentS) let us enter it spontaneously, and with as 
 
20 
 
 A PLEA FOR 
 
 y, t' 
 
 
 •I" ' 
 
 
 ■> I 
 
 
 ..V i 
 
 I 
 
 
 dignified a bearing as we may now assume, after 
 seeming to say, by our inertness and equivocal 
 attitude in relation to the clearly indicated wishes 
 and policy of the advisers of the Crown, that we 
 were wilbng to peril the richest heritage we pos- 
 sess ourselves, or can transmit to posterity — the 
 civil and religions liberty of British subjects. 
 
 This, whatever certain speculative or prejudiced 
 theorists may imagine, is assuredly no trivial con- 
 sideration. At a period when the despotisms of 
 continental Europe ai-e trembling in the balance — 
 when no political prophet, however gifted, can an- 
 ticipate with tranquil confidence the events of a 
 single week — events which, in their consequences, 
 might soon ensheet the fairest portions of the old 
 world in the mantling flame of revolutionary vio- 
 lence, or of a general war; at a period when the 
 passions of conflicting parties in the adjacent Re- 
 public appear to be iniensified almost to the point 
 of explosion, and the unresting fluctuations and 
 tumults, that would seem to be inseparable from the 
 genius ot its institutions, are so ominous of its 
 coming destinies, it is no easy calculation to esti- 
 mate the advantage of living under the tegis of an 
 Empire with whose power and grandeur, (in the 
 words of America's greatest statesman and most 
 powerful orator *) Rome, in the height of her glory, 
 was not to be compared ; and of which one of 
 America's most accomplished and zealous mission- 
 aries in the East did not hesitate publicly to tes- 
 tify, that the extension of its influence is the best 
 
 ♦ Webster. 
 
CONFEDERATION. 
 
 21 
 
 e, after 
 ui vocal 
 wishes 
 that we 
 v^o pos- 
 ,ty — the 
 icts. 
 
 3Judiced 
 aiil con- 
 tisms of 
 ilance — 
 , can an- 
 nts of a 
 quences, 
 I the old 
 lary vio- 
 ^hen the 
 bcent Ke- 
 hc point 
 ons and 
 from the 
 lis of itG 
 
 to esti- 
 
 (jis of an 
 
 (in the 
 
 and most 
 
 ler glory, 
 
 one of 
 
 mission- 
 ly to tes- 
 
 the best 
 
 guarantee for the spread of the princi[)lep of con- 
 stitutional liberty and Christian civilization. 
 
 Gentlemen of the House of Assembly and Hon- 
 orable Members of the Legislative Council, placed 
 by your position and your promises under the most 
 sacred obligations not merely to promote the well- 
 understood legitimate wishes of your respective 
 constituencies, but to exercise your utmost influ- 
 ence to rectify their obliquities and misapprehen- 
 sions, and guide their opinions on all questions 
 vitally affectintr not their interests alone, but the 
 welfare of the entire population of the Island, you 
 sustain, at this critical juncture, a most onerous 
 responsibility, and the gaze of millions on both 
 sides of the Atlantic is intently fixed up n you, 
 to mark in what spirit, and with what wisdomy 
 that responsibility shall l)e met. It rests mahily 
 with your agency, uninteUigenthj or wisely exer- 
 cised, to determine whether, for a series of ^ears, 
 this colony shall be consigned to an abject and ab- 
 normal condition of dreary isolation, or, springing 
 from its recumbent, inglorious lethargy, and 
 shaking ofi' the incubus that has terrified the im- 
 aginations of so many with all sorts of spectral 
 monstei^s, shall ascend, with cheerful and elastic 
 step, the eminence to which our incomparable 
 Queen is affectionably beckoning you, to survey 
 an inheritance of almost illimitable extent, teeming 
 with every element of enterprise and wealth and 
 well being, to be added at once to your tiny, in- 
 sulated domicile, unless indeed, with pitiable pu^ . 
 
22 
 
 A PLEA VOU 
 
 t:f! 
 
 ■■'iti 
 
 Ml 
 
 orility Jiiul inclKiblo in<^nititudo, you Hpuni the 
 s('c'i)tere(l lumd that holds out to you the muiiiHcent 
 donative. Ilesir me, I beseech j'ou I Should the 
 new Parliament and Administration, likc^ their 
 predecessors, throw trlftuig obstacles in the way 
 of the proposed Confederation, they tire destined 
 in all [)rol)ability to die in official infancy; or, hi 
 the contin<::encv of their contrivin^i^ to survive for 
 years, they will most certaiidy transmit their names 
 to posterity not illustrated with a halo of honor, 
 but signalized by demonstrated incapacity to ap- 
 preciate what are not simply the exigencies but 
 the imperious requisitions of the eventful epoch 
 of their accession to influence and i)ower. Vie 
 l)()[)o better things of you ; and await with mingled 
 emotions of cheering hope and trembling solicitude 
 the development of the Gubernatorial policy that 
 must in a very short time either increase the 
 humiliation, or issue — and Heaven grant it may ! — 
 in redeeming the periled honor and promoting the 
 elevation of this small yet in various aspects most 
 interesting and important colony, and setting it 
 forth, in fraternal union and friendly emulation 
 with its kindred colonies, on a happy-omened 
 career of unprecedented prosperity. 
 
 In concluding this appeal, it may be important 
 to allude, at least conjecturally, to the position in 
 which we shall be placed as a colony, in the event 
 of the nnqualified rejection by the newly-elected 
 House of Assembly, of the final deliverance of the 
 Imperial Government on the subject. If New- 
 
 i: 
 
COXFKDEUATION. 
 
 23 
 
 )iirii the 
 niificcnt 
 ould the 
 kc their 
 the way 
 clcsthicd 
 r ; or, in 
 rvivc for 
 ir names 
 >f honor, 
 ty to ap- 
 icics hut 
 111 epoch 
 er, AYo 
 I mingled 
 plicitude 
 jliey that 
 •ease the 
 t may ! — 
 loting the 
 3cts most 
 setting it 
 muUition 
 ^-omened 
 
 mportant 
 
 )8ition in 
 « 
 
 the event 
 y-elected 
 ice of the 
 
 If New- 
 
 foundland enter the confederation — and of that 
 there exists scarcely the shadow of a douht, we 
 shall remain in our cold and repulsive isolation — 
 without the countenance or sympathy of a .single 
 sister colony. Nor is that all : we shall compel those 
 who direct Iler Majesty's councils to do that which 
 they strongly deprecate — not ln(h'ed (in contra- 
 vention of their avowed purpose) to coerce us to 
 hecome a constituent hraiuh of the (-onftMh'ration, 
 hut, to assign us a relation to it far less desirable 
 than an honorable partnership. It seems prepos- 
 terous to imagine that when the other (^>l()nies come 
 under a local regime^ a department in the Home 
 Government will still be kept up, solely for the 
 accommodation of this Island. Such an expectation 
 is too extravagant to be entertained. Who then 
 can contemplate the alternative without humiliation 
 and shame ! Do we prefer subordination to equali- 
 ty? — a relation of suppliant dependence to the 
 conscious dignity of 'full participation in the con- 
 trol, the honors, and the advantages of n potent 
 Vice-Royalty? That certainly were a species of 
 voluntary humility, revolting to every sentiment 
 of becoming self-respect — a sacrifice without even 
 a show of wisdom to disguise its imbecility. 
 
 Whatever may be the issue, I shall never, I 
 trust, have cause to regret the presentation of this 
 miostentatious offering to the unity and consolida- 
 tion of British North America, — the field of my 
 labors for almost half a century. Fully aware that 
 on the subject of this Plea, the sentiments of my 
 

 24 
 
 A PLEA FOR CONFEDERATION. 
 
 best personal friends are divided, my profound 
 conviction of the truth and importance of the views 
 I have announced, alone has overcome the reluct- 
 ance which I naturally felt to displease any of them. 
 On whichever side of the question their judgment 
 at present may range them, none of them, I appre- 
 hend, will be disinclined to accord to me tlio claim 
 of sincerity. In any event, no one can rob me of 
 the satisfaction I derive from a consciousness of 
 the rectitude, benevolence, and patriotism of my 
 design in this exposition of my opinions on a topic 
 of assuredly no evanescent interest ; for when the 
 agitations of the present generation concerning it 
 have subsided into the solemn quiescence of the 
 sepulchre, the course they now take in reference 
 to it, will leave its impress — it may be for ages — 
 
 on the destinies of the livingr. 
 
 ;,*^f: iiCI' I '■(li.n.iU: inu- 
 
 1.-* ii 
 
 ■ryjiiii •; ^i?''>?-:-:av''"* 
 
 
rofound 
 le views 
 ! reluct- 
 3fthem. 
 idgiBeni; 
 I appre- 
 le claim 
 )h me of 
 mess of 
 I of my 
 1 a topic 
 hen the 
 riling it 
 i of the 
 3ference 
 • ages — 
 
 
 -I f 
 
 J. < 
 
vm