riUHH i THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SERIES EDITORS OF THE SERIES: Rev. W. H. WITHROW, M.A., D.D., F.R.S.C. CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, M.A., F.R.CL J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.R.S.L, Rbv. T. S. LIN SCOTT, F. R.C.I. PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY BY J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.S.S. Author of " Life of Sir John Thompson," "Life and Work of Mr Gladstone" " Life and Reign of Queen Victoria" Editor of " Canada : An Encyclopedia of the Country" in 6 Vols., Etc. THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY TORONTO AND PHILADELPHIA W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited LONDON AND EDINBURGH I902 << \0° \* A Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year One Thousand Nine Hundred, by The Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, In the year One Thousand Nine Hundred, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. All Rights Reserved, PREFACE. Historical writing is too often a mere detailed sketch of campaigns and leaders — political, military or naval. The brilliant deeds of an army chief, the struggles of a party leader, the character of a prom- inent statesman, the fantasies of some passing dema- gogue, are given more attention than the pioneer labours of the settlers who founded a nation, the efforts of an entire people to obtain their daily bread, the general characteristics and attainments of the population of a country, or the silent, subtle undercurrents of sentiment which so largely help to make history, to create nations and to control or mould their permanent policy. In the records of the Provinces which constitute the present Dominion of Canada altogether too much stress has been usually laid upon political struggles and the achievements of party leaders. Francis Parkman, it is true, has done brilliant justice to that stormy and sombre period which preceded the open- ing of the nineteenth century, and which presents to the eye of the mind so vast a panorama of shadowy forms — Indians and explorers, Jesuits and missionaries, hunters and trappers, soldiers of Prance and soldiers of England — moving over more A O T CI *& r> PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. were bigoted, though honest, in the belief that Protestantism must be made dominant in the Colony. Even a leader such as Chief Justice Sewell, who bore the curiously mingled reputation of being at the same time a keen politician and a dignified and impartial Judge, was described by Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, in 1816, in a despatch to the Colonial Secretary,* as having inspired a feeling of violent hostility amongst all classes and in all parts of the Province, mainly because of the popular belief that he was strongly antagonistic to the Roman Catholic faith. It took many years and much careful and cautious work by ecclesiastics such as Bishop Plessis and conciliatory Governors like Sherbrooke and Dal- housie before this religious antagonism was modified. Fortunately, it was somewhat assuaged before the general racial rivalry had developed into armed hos- tilities. In another direction there was a serious conflict of interest. The English were a trading and commercial people. The French were essentially an agricultural people, and when their leaders as- sumed control of the Assembly, and endeavoured to completely control taxation, their policy was to keep the soil free of all burdens and make the city and business interests of the Province bear the brunt of the taxation. This attitude was keenly and natural- ly resented by the English minority. The French leaders, while drifting from a curious • Christie, History of Lower Canada, vol. 11, p. 268. THE FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT. 207 radicalism — which combined ideas received from England, France and the United States — into the republicanism which preceded their revolt, were ignorant of the true functions of their constitutional position. They strove to strengthen, and succeeded for a time in doing so, the influence of their race by attacks upon British Governors, English Judges, English Councils and, eventually, the British Par- liament. Occasionally they were right, frequently they were wrong, and especially so from the stand- point and conditions of those times. The Governors were fiercely criticised by them for not acting in a constitutional sense as the Sovereign acted in Eng- land, though it was utterly impossible to do so with- out a Ministry responsible to the people, and, as can- not be too strongly reiterated, this does not appear to have been even suggested by the French and was certainly not demanded. The Executive Council, which was really an advisory committee of the Legis- lative Council, was constantly berated for not being representative of the popular majority in the Lower House. But when French members were appointed to either of the Councils they straightway lost all weight or influence. The Government was attacked for years because some of the Judges — as being the best fitted men in a very limited English popula- tion — were members of these political Councils, but when Governor after Governor asked the Assembly to pass a measure which would remedy the diffi- culty by making the Judiciary independent of poli- 2i )S PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. tics and its members ineligible for such offices, the request was refused unless the right of voting their yearly salaries, and thus making them subservient to the wishes of the French majority in the Assembly itself, was also given. The latter body demanded vigorously and con- tinuously the right to control the Government by controlling the revenue and expenditure of the Prov- ince, and around this claim centred the controversies of the entire period from 1800 to 1837. Part of the revenue came from the Customs and Excise, which wore in the hands of the Home authorities and wore mainly subject in disposal to the advice of tho Governor and his Executive Council. Another por- tion came from local taxation and was controlled in its origin and application by the Assembly — sub- ject to the approval of the Legislative Council and Governor. There was another variable quantity in the controversy consisting of Imperial Army Funds which were under the direct and specific control of the Governor and from which he sometimes drew over a term of years to the extent of from twenty to a hundred thousand pounds, when required to meet ordinary expenses of administration which the As- sembly might refuse to provide for. All expendi- ture was supposed to be initiated by the Governor. After a struggle the popular body obtained from the Crown the right to vote the entire amount of expen j dituro, inclusive of the revenue from all sources and excepting any sums which might bo paid by THE FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT. 209 the Imperial Government. But this power was given on the distinct understanding that an ade- quate sum would be voted as a permanent Civil List to His Majesty in accordance with the custom of the British Parliament and for the payment, in this case, of salaries to Canadian officials and of expenses which were assumed to be not subject to change. By one excuse and another the carrying out of this part of the settlement was postponed, and the supply vote was made every year a subject of continuous and acrid controversy over the position of officials — often Judges — whom the Assembly wanted dismissed, or changed, and over the refusal of the Council to agree to grants having such pro- posals included. The history of this period in the Lower Province is essentially formative in a political sense because the French-Canadians had to crowd into less than half a century the discussions and political educa- tion which England had taken many centuries to develop. That the habitant and his leaders went astray, and tried to make the terms race and party interchangeable, was not so much the fault of the easy-going but excitable nature of the former or so greatly discreditable to his loyalty to what demagogues soon made him consider an alien and hostile au- thority, as it was traceable to the English folly of trying to transplant an old English oak upon Erench soil. The intention was good but the reasons fallacious and the result regrettable. Between 1830 210 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and 1837 sedition, to many in Lower Canada, was a positive virtue, and to the leaders there loomed upon the horizon of hope a vision which took the somewhat shadowy form of a French republic which might be based upon the example and insti- tutions of the United States and guarded by its neighbourhood and friendship. This expectation and the inevitably resulting bloodshed was feared and foreseen by the English minority, and when the final flash of folly came Lord Durham reported to the Imperial Government in 1838 what seemed to him at that time to be the " irreconcilable enmity " of the two branches of the people and the " irremedi- able disaffection of the whole French population." In this respect he was fortunately a false prophet, but his belief sufficiently illustrates the position of the two races. Out of this very extreme of violence, however, came the crown of constitutional experience which prepared the French Canadians for their fu- ture career in making them understand the superior advantage of constitutional agitation and fair play to all classes and races over the results of rebellion. And in that sense the insurrection was a great for- mative influence in Lower as well as in Upper Canada. In all the Maritime Provinces during this period political development was upon lines similar to tho direction of affairs in Upper Canada, but with tho exception that agitation was moderate, conditions less strenuous and politics comparatively mild, until THE FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT. 211 about 1834, when Sir Colin Campbell came out as Lieut. -Governor of Nova Scotia and Joseph Howe forged to the front as a Liberal orator and politician. After that time the issue between the Executive and Legislative Councils and the representative As- sembly was very much like the same struggle else- where. The Governors of these years were men of high character and obeyed their instructions from the Imperial Government, as it was their duty and sup- posed function to do. They asked the advice of their Executive when it seemed desirable, and ex- pected to control its policy on behalf of the Crown and in the interest, as they deemed it, of British connection and unity. They strove naturally to maintain Loyalist influence in the Councils and to strengthen the hands of the Church which was estab- lished in the Old Land and which all British Gov- ernors in this period looked upon as a bulwark of loyalty against the disaffection which might develop from seeds of American religious democracy. In- evitably other classes of the growing population re- sented the application of these views and soon sought to check them by controlling the House of Assembly and the supplies. But it seems no more reasonable to denounce the Council of Nova Scotia, as Howe did in 1837, as being " exclusive, intolerant, opposed to the spread of civil and religious liberty, enlight- enment and education among the people and actu- ated by motives of self-interest," than it was to pro- claim the Liberals in that Province as disloyal be- 212 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. cause they attacked the Governor who was without the shield of a Prime Minister. In the light of a later period we can see that the Loyalist or Tory leaders of the Maritime Provinces were in the main honourable and honest men. Exclusive they might be, but only in very few cases did they ever take ad- vantage of their position in any sense of self-interest, while the Church of England had been in so marked a measure the pioneer of religious and educational work in all these Provinces that the desire of the Governors and Councils to strengthen its hands was easily defensible. In New Brunswick difficulties between the Assembly and the Governors had only been occasional, but about 1834 they also became acute, and under an agitation led by Lemuel Allan Wilmot they were in great measure settled by the concession to the Legislature of control over the :nies in return for what Lower Canada had prom- ised but did not grant — a permanent Civil List Prince Edward Island was meantime governed upon a genuinely despotic basis. Its soil was largely owned by English capitalists, and as the Governors represented them more than they did the Crown, popular influence in the country was insignificant during the whole of this period. THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 213 CHAPTER X. THE EVOLUTION OF A EEBELEION. The political and constitutional conditions in the various Provinces had been so much alike during the first forty years of the century — with the excep- tion of the racial factor in Lower Canada — that the ultimate issue of rebellion or reform turned largely upon the personal qualities of the leaders. With- out the tempestuous recklessness of character in William Lyon Mackenzie, the troubles in Upper Can- ada would never have reached the arbitrament of force. Without the fiery eloquence, the uncon- trolled passion, the commanding presence and the personal power of Louis Joseph Papineau, the racial feelings of a portion of the French-Canadian popu- lation would never have been beaten into a white heat upon the anvil of rhetorical misrepresentation. With the marvellous influence which the oratory and personality of Joseph Howe exercised over the people of Nova Scotia he could have driven his political enemies like chan* before the wind and led his fol- lowers along any path of fire and fury which he de- sired. But, though impetuous and enthusiastic, as well as eloquent, he was stable in his loyalty to the 214 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Crown and sane in his wider mental outlook. So with Lemuel Allan Wilmot in New Brunswick. Possessed of distinct oratorical ability though lack- ing in mental magnetism, he was essentially a Par- liamentary leader and debater rather than a politi- cal firebrand, while his Loyalist descent prevented him from rushing into reckless courses. Yet all these men seemed for years to be in the same boat, and with only degrees of violence between them. Of the early Tory leaders much might be writ- ten. Their political views have been so unpopular and so misunderstood in times which know nothing of the conditions under which they governed, and little of the principles by which they were actuated, that space might well be given, and must some day be given, to an adequate picture of their lives and ideals. Jonathan Sewell in Lower Canada, John Beverley Robinson in Upper Canada, S. G. W. Archibald and James W. Johnston in Nova Scotia and Ward Chipman in New Brunswick were men of the highest type — honourable, cultured, able and. in different degrees, eloquent. John Strachan of Upper Canada was a militant ecclesiastic of an older school, and stands out upon the pages of history with a rugged force which is so picturesque as to be exceedingly attractive to the imaginative mind. But defiance usually attracts more attention than defence, the apostle of change is always more popular than the guardian of the constitution, and the ad- vocate of revolution more discussed than the THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 215 preacher of evolution. Hence the dominance of the agitator in the formative pages of Canadian history. In Upper Canada political events prior to or during the War of 1812 were not very important. Peter Hunter and Francis Gore succeeded Simcoe as Lieut-Governors, and the latter, who spent much of his time in England, had his place filled by Ad- ministrators such as Brock, Sheaffe, De Rottenburg, Drummond and Murray. In 1818, Lieut.-General Sir Peregrine Maitland, a son-in-law of the Duke of Richmond, a veteran of Waterloo and a handsome man of aristocratic bearing and naturally conservative mind, became Lieut. -Governor. Ten years later an- other veteran of the Peninsular War, Sir John Colborne — afterwards a Field Marshal and a peer with the title of Baron Seaton — succeeded to the position. In 1836 he was replaced by Sir Francis Bond Head, an English official of little political or constitutional experience, but with a passionate be- lief in British connection and the forms of British government Two years later Sir George Arthur, another military man of some Colonial experience as Governor in Tasmania and Honduras, came to the helm, and, with a few months' exception, guided its affairs through the darkened days which followed the rebellion into the brighter but still troubled period which opened out of the Union of 1841. During these years large grants of land were made in every direction and to almost any person who could show reason for its possession and use, or 216 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. title in the shape of Loyalist service or good local position. Colonel Talbot received 48,500 acres, the Laird of McNab was given a large grant, Bishop Mountain received 12,000 acres, and the heirs of General Brock a similar amount. But the great mass went to specific interests, or rather individuals rep- resenting certain conditions or enactments. In the Clergy Reserves were included 2,395,000 acres; to the United Empire Loyalists were given 2,900,000 acres; to the Canada Company, for tho encourage- ment of colonisation and in return for a definite payment, there were granted 2,484,000 acres ; in the Indian Reserves, in 1838, there were some 600,000 acres. The Militia, chiefly after the War of 1812, received 045,000 acres, the schools of the Province were given 500,000 acres, and discharged soldiers and seamen were granted 449,000 acres. A bal- ance of over eight hundred thousand acres was divided amongst retired army and navy officers, magis- trates and barristers, clergymen, Executive and Leg- islative Councillors and surveyors.* A total of f»7.~.000 acres is recorded in Lord Durham's cele- brated Report as having been allotted to miscel- laneous purposes which he was unable to trace in detail. This sums up over eleven million acres of wild lands disposed of during this period. By 1S38, indeed, but little over a million acres remained un- * Appendix " P>," written by Charles Ruller .and published in the. Report of the Earl of Durham, High Commissioner and Governor-General of British America, London, 1838. THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 217 granted of all the vast Crown Lands of the Prov- ince. How far this great power may have been abused is something upon which there has been at once too much specification and too much generalisation. Because members of the two Councils and friends of the governing element in the Province shared in these grants — the Robinsons, Jarvises, Boultons, Sherwoods, etc. — corruption has been freely charged. But there was nothing to buy in a political sense. These men and others like them were in any case friends of the Government and Tories to the hilt. There was no organised Opposition which they could have joined with propriety, while the land itself was then comparatively valueless. Those who held it for a quarter of a century no doubt made money, and in this profit Liberal families like the Baldwins shared. At the same time there were unquestion- ably abuses, of which the treatment of the Indian grants in the first years of the century is an illus- tration, while the half million acres of which neither Lord Durham nor Mr. Buller was able to find offi- cial traces is probably an indication of, at the best, extreme carelessness. Amongst such vast quantities of land and in conditions natural to a wide expanse of wilderness and to primitive arrangements of government, carelessness is in some measure excus- able. But it was hardly fair, even under the cir- cumstances of that time and taking into considera- tion all the just and strong claims of the Loyalists, 218 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. that so much of the soil should have been estranged from its future settlers. The policy created a natural ground of discontent when population poured into the Province and sought to spread itself over the apparently unoccupied wilderness all around — only to find that large portions of the country were tied up in reserves and grants of various kinds and for reasons which did not particularly appeal to the sympathies of the newcomers. The greatest of the grievances arising out of this situation was in the Clergy Reserves which, under the Imperial Act of 1791, had been put aside to the extent of one-eighth — or, as it came to be practically interpreted, one-seventh — of the waste lands of the Canadas, for the maintenance of a " Protestant Clergy." These words were afterwards the subject of serious and continued controversy, but there seems little doubt from the conditions prevalent in England between the Church of England and Non- conformists, the correspondence of Simcoe, and the general policy of Downing Street in early years, that they were intended to apply solely to the Estab- lished Church. For many years these lands were practically worthless and, up to 1829, were only oc- casionally leased by the Government in whose hands any small sums coming from rents or sales were held. In 1822 the House of Assembly petitioned the King asking for the various Protestant bodies a share in the lands, and in the succeeding year asked that a portion of the Reserves be given to the THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 219 Church of Scotland in Canada. In 1826 a similar resolution was passed with the suggestion that if such a general denominational division were deemed un- desirable the whole of the land might be given to educational purposes. The Assembly during the years mentioned was in the hands of a mixed party of Oppositionists composed of Old-Country Eadicals, moderate Liberals, Americanised Eeformers with semi-republican ideas, others who had suffered from the exclusiveness of the party in power, and some who from their religious views naturally objected to the dominance of the Church. In 1819 a Clergy Corporation had been formed to manage the Re- serves, subject to the payment of all moneys into the hands of the Government, and two years later iegular payments to the Church of England com- menced. In 1836 the Church scored vigorously by the establishment of forty-four endowed rectories throughout the Province under the strong initiative of Sir John Colborne, who, with military stern- ness, recked nothing of abuse when doing what he deemed his duty by the Church of his fathers and for the cause of what he and his advisers consid- ered the stable organisation of religion in accordance with the prevailing British custom. But the action created a feeling which, combined with other causes, broke into the ultimate storm-cloud of rebellion. There was in these years much of what might be termed the personal issue in the progress of agita- tion. Hen were estranged by the social supremacy P ooo PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTUEY. of individual Loyalists and their friends, who hold all the avenues of power and position. Others were embittered by finding classes established in a new country where they had expected to experience all the boasted blessings of equality. Some would havo been discontented anywhere and under any possible conditions. Of such a type was Bobert Gourlay. There is no doubt that the rulers of the day were harsh and that his confinement in jail was cruelly managed, or mismanaged; and that expulsion from the country, in 1819, as a result of his trial on charges of sedition was unjust. But the times themselves were harsh, the men in power or their immediate families had gone through fearful hardships to win this soil for themselves, and much may therefore be forgiven them in dealing with those whom they locked upon as interlopers without stake in the coun* try, without knowledge of its institutions, without sympathy for its foundation, without that loyalty to the Crown which was to them as their very life. Gourlay's views were in some respects far- seeing, and from the standpoint of to-day just, but others were beyond measure foolish and erratic. For this ruined gentleman from Fifeshire to under- take a vigorous agitation against the established Gov- ernment of the Province before he had bed!) a year within its bounds was sufficiently exasperating to the holders of power. But when he commenced to have what were deemed seditious meetings and to send complaints to England, it is not surprising that the THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 221 result was unpleasant to him. It has been more so to similar agitators in greater countries than Upper Canada. His point of view may be seen and judged in an extract from a work * published some years later : " The fancy of giving to Canada the British Constitution was a good one : about as rational as to think of cultivating sugar-canes in Siberia or to enter- tain hope from grafting a fruit twig on an icicle." Gourlay had been preceded by other would-be re- formers. Robert Thorpe was an Englishman ap- pointed in 1805 by the Colonial Office to be a Judge in Upper Canada. Tie early took a vigorous part in politics, and as a Radical was elected to the Assembly soon after his arrival. It is not surprising that the Governor and Executive Council should have ob- tained the recall, within two years, of a Judge who had not been more than a few months in the country before he informed the people that their Adminis- tration possessed " neither talent, education, infor- mation nor even manners." Yet this personal trav- esty upon judicial functions is a political hero to many Canadian writers, and was so to many people in the Province at a time when one of their chief and most important planks of policy was the separa- tion of Judicial and Legislative functions — the re- moval of Judges from the two Councils! So in the case of Judge Willis, who, after a few months in York, undertook to censure Attorney-General Rob- * Statistical Account of Upper Canada, by Robert Gourlay, London 1822. £22 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. inson from the Bench for some extraneous matter, to denounce the legal system of the Colony, and to profess his public sympathy with those who opposed the Government. Naturally he was recalled and be- came another hero of the agitators. Surveyor-Gen- eral Wyatt was dismissed because he refused to ac- cept the dictum that an office-holder should have no politics, and Wilcocks, for similar cause, lost the posi- tion of Sheriff in the Home District and died, event- ually, in the American army at Fort Erie. Later on Barnabas Bidwell, a refugee from American justice,* and a friend of Gourlay's, was elected in 1821 to the Assembly but was promptly expelled on motion of Attorney-General Robinson. His son, Marshall Spring Bidwell, was Speaker of the House and a leading Liberal when the Rebellion broke out. Other instances of oppression, or alleged oppres- sion, must be mentioned. Captain Mathews, a Brit- ish half-pay officer who had been elected to the As- sembly, was summoned to England and his half-pay stopped, because at a theatrical performance at York in 1825 he had, in an hilarious mood, called on the orchestra to play some American airs. In 1828 a man named Forsyth erected a high fence in front of his property at Niagara Falls so as to prevent visi- tors from seeing them without staying at his inn. Upon his refusal to remove the barrier Sir Peregrine Maitland sent some soldiers who demolished the • Canada and the Canadian Question, by Goldwin Smith, London, 1891, p. Ill, THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 223 fence and one of Forsyth's houses. Both these men became Eeform heroes. Another of the same type was Francis Collins, who, in a Kadical paper called the Canadian Freeman, was even more bitter and abusive than Mackenzie in his Colonial Advocate. Attorney-General Robinson, who always bore the full courage of his convictions, urged a charge of personal libel against Collins, and the case was eventually tried before a Court presided over by Judge Sher- wood — a former member of the Tory party. The result was conviction, heavy fines and imprisonment, and the creation of a new grievance. Meanwhile other men and matters were coming to the front. Dr. John Rolph, subtle in intellect, scholastic in attainments, successful in his profes- sion, handsome in appearance, sweet-voiced, logical and eloquent as a speaker, was returned to the As- sembly in 1824. So was Peter Perry, who came * in from Lennox and Addington with young Marshall •Bidwell, and was possessed of a vigorous and coarse eloquence which made him a power upon the stump — as the political platform is called in both Canada and the States. Later on, Dr. William Warren Baldwin of York, and his more celebrated son, Robert, entered the Legislature and became leaders of the moderate Liberals, whilst Rolph, Perry and Bidwell followed Mackenzie. The latter came to Canada in 1820 from Scotland, and four years after- wards started the Colonial Advocate at Niagara, and then at York, with a sufficiently comprehensive plat- 224 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. form of denunciation. He declared the men in the Executive and Legislative Councils, on the Bench, and in the chief public positions under appoint- ment of the Governors and the Colonial Office, to be land-jobbers, revenue grabbers and avowed enemies of common schools or of civil and religious liberty. He denounced them with a savagery of style and language such as few agitators have equalled and none excelled. This newcomer was an ex- traordinary man. Insignificant in appearance, wiry in physique, fiery in temperament, strong in his sympathies, bitter and ill-balanced in political advocacy, he yet soon became a great force in poli- tics. This was partly because of his denunciatory power; partly because of the ill-advised action of some Tory youths who, in 1826, broke into his printing office at York and destroyed his press ; partly because of the subsequent efforts — five in number — by a majority composed of the same party to expel him from the House of Assembly to which he had been elected in 1828, and to which he was re-elected after each expulsion. With these events the malignancy of his attacks greatly increased, as well as the influence of his paper. In 1832 ho was sent to England with a petition, signed by a large number of persons, protesting against his ex- clusion from the Assembly — an action which the Colonial Secretary declared to be illegal. He there formed sundry important friendships, and an alli- ance with Joseph Hume and other Radicals, returned THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 225 home to find himself a popular idol, and in 1834 was chosen as the first Mayor of York under its newly incorporated name of Toronto. The position now became acute. Everything that the Governor did was Tory tyranny ; everything that the Opposition did was Kepublican disloyalty. The Imperial authorities, ever anxious to assuage ani- mosities, recalled Maitland and substituted Col- borne. Later on they somewhat hastily removed Col- borne and sent out Sir Francis Bond Head. Their policy was misinterpreted, as a matter of course, and every fresh appearance of yielding to popular clamour was one more nail in the coffin of the Colo- nial system of the day. 'No Prime Minister inter- vened between the Governor and the discontented faction, and, as the former represented the Crown and stood for the policy of Downing Street, it was as inevitable that disloyalty should spread as it was that the dominant party should close its ranks and all the more firmly stand by, and with, the Gover- nor and the cause of British connection which he seemed to embody. Meanwhile, as the violence of Mackenzie and his section grew greater, Liberals of sagacity and genuine loyalty such as Marshall Bid- well, Eobert Baldwin and Egerton Kyerson with- drew their support from him. In 1829 the govern- ing party lost a dignified and devoted Attorney- General when Mr. John Beverley Robinson accepted the post of Chief Justice. The Assembly of 1830, including such strong Tories as C. A. Hagermaiu 226 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. W. B. Robinson, H. J. Boulton and A. N. McNab, had a majority for what all through this period was called by its opponents the " Family Com- pact" The origin of the name is found in the fact that the Tory members of the two Councils, and the holders of many offices in the Province, were frequently related to each other. It was not the case to the extent which has been often believed and stated, but it was sufficiently so to give the designa- tion point and to increase the personal animosities of the time. From the social limitations then prevalent, the smallness of population, and the natural and political ties which grew out of pioneer days, some degree of relationship was inevitable, but to assert that the offices in the Province were all filled by relations, and for that reason, is an ex- treme development of partisan bias and misstate- ment. There was, however, too much of it to deserve popular approval either then or now. In 1831 the Tory majority in the Assembly passed a bill render- ing the Judges and the Executive Council inde- pendent of the House in the matter of salaries. It was nicknamed the " Everlasting Salary Bill " and was the subject of intense vituperation. Yet, so far as the Judge was concerned, few would take ex- ception to it in these days. In 1834 the Assembly was once more captured by the extreme party, despite the loss of many mod- erate Liberals as the result of a letter received by Mackenzie from Joseph Hume in which the eminent THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 227 English Eadical expressed the belief that events in Canada must " terminate in independence and freedom from the baneful domination of the Mother Country." Mackenzie did not repudiate the senti- ments thus expressed, and at the next elections they had somewhat the effect of a boomerang. In 1836 Sir Francis Bond Head appeared on the scene as Lieut. -Governor and with the reputation of being an English Liberal. He at once filled three vacancies in the Executive Council by the appointment of Lib- erals in the persons of Messrs. Baldwin, Kolph and Dunn. But the coalition arrangement did not last long, as the new Councillors believed that they should be consulted upon every detail of government, in- cluding appointments, and this was according to neither precedent nor practice. Then came gen- eral elections into which the Governor threw himself heart and soul in the belief that it was a struggle between monarchy and republicanism, between loyalty and disloyalty, between British and Amer- ican institutions.* He certainly had some ground for the feeling. A letter from Papineau, in Lower Canada, addressed as Speaker of its Assembly to Bidwell, as Speaker in Upper Canada, and dated March 15th, 1836, declared, amongst other inter- esting assertions, that: "The state of society all over continental America requires that the forms of its Government should approximate nearer to that * A Narrative, by Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., London, 1839, p. 65. 228 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. selected, under propitious circumstances and after mature consideration, by the wise statesmen of the neighbouring Union, than to those into which chance and past ages have moulded European societies. " The publication of this extraordinary document, coupled with the statement in the famous Hume letter, the well-known American tendency of Mac- kenzie's own views, and the expressions of lesser men along similar lines, had a decisive effect upon the electorate. The result of this extreme position, and the equally strong attitude taken by the Rep- resentative of the Crown, was that Loyalist or British sentiment was everywhere aroused; the new settlers who had been pouring into the Province gave in many cases their first and last Tory vote; Mackenzie, Perry, Lount, Bidwell (who had once more been actively supporting his old-time leader) and many other Radicals were beaten at the polls; and a Tory minority of eleven in the Assembly was turned into a majority of twenty-five. Then Mac- kenzie lost all control over himself and the insurrec- tion followed. The history of this period in Lower Canada is the record of a confused medley of conflicting ideas and impossible ideals. Governor succeeded Gover- nor, with Tory or Liberal proclivities as the case might be, but with exactly similar results of popular dissatisfaction — varied though the causes were. The century opened with Sir Robert, Shore Milne9 acting as Lieutenant-Governor. Then, in 1807, THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 229 came General Sir James H. Craig, who was suc- ceeded in 1811 by General Sir George Prevost. Able, honest and laborious, the former became to the French-Canadian the embodiment of British supremacy in that alien and oppressive aspect which agitators were beginning to give it, while to the Eng- lish element he was the ideal of a stern and vigorous ruler who would stand no nonsense from a con- quered people of doubtful loyalty. Le Canadien was forcibly suppressed in 1810 for the unquestion- able preaching of sedition at Quebec, and this com- menced a long struggle between rival newspapers of extreme views, with the occasional and bitterly re- sented interference of the Government. Each of the papers, English or French, addressed the readers of its race without any fair reference to the views of the other, and the consequence was that each side grew in violence of sentiment without the least adequate idea of what the opposite standpoint really was. The rolling and broadening river of racial and religious antagonisms was not bridged by a press having views along party lines irrespective of those two great issues. Some of the English-speak- ing people did, it is true, take the side of the Erench- Canadians up to a certain point, and the chief of these was John Neilson of Quebec. But they were themselves groping in the dark in a constitutional sense and could do little to help the solution of the growing riddle, although they did not like the ex- treme views of men like Ryland who, as the Gov- 230 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ernor's Secretary and close adviser, wrote to Eng- land in 1808 that the Assembly would soon become a " focus of sedition and an asylum for all the dem- agogic turbulence of the Province." In some meas- ure he was right, but extremes beget extremes, and his known contempt for the religious faith of the French population did something to increase the fric- tion and promote the result that he feared. In April of the succeeding year Pierre Bedard, a Radi- cal French-Canadian of great ability, declared in the Assembly that the existing system was a consti- tutional monstrosity, advocated a responsible min- istry and deprecated the fierce attacks upon the Gov- ernor. But he was universally regarded as the apostle of revolutionary doctrines and evil ideas,* and his courageous suggestion found no support then or for many years afterwards. Yet without that principle in sight the agitations of the following period were but eruptive evidences of discontent or disloyalty without the advantage afforded by con- structive proposals or the excuse furnished by a practicable policy. Sir George Prevost was very different in per- sonality and principle from Craig. Conciliatory and yielding in character, he gave an impression to the French element in the Province that if their demands were maintained with sufficient vigour they would be eventually granted, and the entire revenues * Histoire du Canada, by Francis Xavier Garneau, vol. 3, p. 13*. THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 231 of the Province and the control of the Executive Council and Judiciary be placed in their hands — to say nothing of the ultimate acceptance of the elective Legislative Council scheme which was just beginning to be urged. For this he was not altogether cen- surable, and, so far as Lower Canada was concerned, his Administration succeeded in rallying the people generally to the defence of their country during the war and in relegating unpleasant questions in some measure to the background. The Civil List dis- cussions constituted the chief political topic at this time, though only in a preliminary degree of vio- lence. The Assembly, in 1809, had offered to pay the salaries of the officials and to thus relieve the Imperial authorities of what was called the Civil List. They at the same time thanked the British Government for having so long assisted in defraying this expenditure. Most of the English members in the House supported the proposition, but the bill was rejected by the Council on the ground that it was a scheme to make them dependent on the As- sembly, and not until 1816 was the offer accepted by command of the Home Government, on the under- standing that a permanent Civil List would be voted. This was not done, and further disputes of a com- paratively unimportant character ensued until, in 1820, the Earl of Dalhousie succeeded the Duke of Eichmond as Governor-in-Chief. The latter's career of aristocratic prominence and promise had been sadly closed by death from hydrophobia in 1819 232 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. after he had been a year in the Province in succes- sion to a most popular and able Administrator of two years' duration — Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. Lord Dalhousie had a very severe and unpleasant experience in Lower Canada. Extremely popular in Nova Scotia, where he had been Lieutenant- Governor for some years, he reached Quebec and as- sumed his higher dignities * at a time when public feeling was again beginning to violently clash with public government. Not since the time of Craig had there been such a sentiment abroad. Chief Justice Sewell and Judge Monk, after their im- peachment by the Assembly in 1814 — a step in which neither the Governor nor the Council would concur — had become stronger than ever in their advisory capacities, while Papineau was not only the tribune cf the people and Speaker of the new Assembly elected in 1820 but a leader of resourceful rhetoric who never scrupled in his semi-judicial position to make a popular point by sneering at the Court, scoffing at the Crown, and defying the Con- stitution as then understood. His measured elo- quence at this time has been described as fall- ing like balanced music on a listening House or leaping like a devastating flame in congenial * The Governors-in-Chief of British America, or, as they were sometimes styled, Governors-General, lived at Quebec up to the Union of 1841 and administered mainly the affairs of Tx)wer Canada. Their intervention in the other Provinces was very slight and occasional, although the Administrators elsewhere were all termed Lieutenant-Governors. THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 233 6tubble, through the heated minds of his auditory. It must be remembered in this connection that, so far as using the position of Speaker as a partisan office was concerned, he had the precedent of the Upper House in the different Provinces, where the Chief Justice usually held the Speakership while acting also as an adviser to the Governor. Into the midst of these curious constitutional conceptions and political practices Lord Dalhousie came with clear ideas of government and duty. His belief was that until the country should be freed of this universal strife little material progress could be made. Agriculture, through all this period and up to 1841, was neglected for politics; transportation matters, so essential to a scattered population, re- ceived slight attention; education was left in the hands of the Church or of private individuals. The new Governor had excellent plans of his own upon these points, but he first tried to get rid of the everlasting revenue discussions, and to that end asked the Assembly once more to fulfil its pledge and grant a permanent Civil List. When this was refused he appropriated the necessary funds and paid the expenses himself. The sources available for use in this way were the proceeds of an Imperial excise tax on spirits and molasses dating from 1774, and the " casual and territorial revenue * derived from leases of mines and sales of land. The funds ob- tained from customs duties on goods coming into the Province — for Upper Canada as well — were entirely 234 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. in the hands of the Assembly, and its disposition of these moneys, later on, caused serious disputes with the Upper Province, which culminated some fifteen years afterwards ; and in the meantime helped an agitation amongst the English of Quebec and Montreal for the immediate legislative union of the two Provinces. A scheme was actually proposed in 1822 by the British Government which arranged, incidentally, for the elimination of the French lan- guage from the Legislative debates in the course of a defined period. This unpopular proposal, coupled with some noisy talk amongst the English minority, and the later defalcation of the Receiver-General (John Caldwell) in the large sum of £96,000, in- creased immensely the feeling against Lord Dal- housie and prevented his really useful plans for the well-being of the Province from being successful. He had meantime freely used Imperial funds from the Army Chest to " carry on the King's Govern- ment " and to pay salaries when the Assembly re- fused to vote the Appropriation Bill. In 1827 he refused to receive or accept Papineau as Speaker — in accordance with a recognised Royal prerogative and because of the latter's violent language regard- ing himself as the King's Representative. Then came mass meetings, bitter language, acrid discus- sions and petitions demanding his recall, together with counter meetings, petitions and speeches amongst the English party. The Imperial Parliament in 1828 appointed a THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 235 Committee to examine into the affairs of both the Canadas, and it finally recommended that the Crown duties should be placed in control of the Assembly on condition of its granting a permanent Civil List as in England; that the Judges should give up their seats in the Executive and Legislative Councils ; that Bishops should not be allowed to interfere in matters of government; that Receivers-General should give security and have their accounts ex- amined by the Assembly's auditors; and that the membership of the Executive and Legislative Coun- cils should be enlarged and made more representa- tive. There would have been no difficulty in carry- ing out these suggestions had the Assembly been reasonable, but nothing would really satisfy its now fiery aspirations except complete dominance in the Province. The road was indeed almost ready for the restless steeds of insurrection. It was roughly paved with the bitter execration which Lord Dal- housie, who was one of the most amiable, courteous and generous of men, received during these years. He had been described as a public robber gorging himself with plunder; as one who hated the religion, language and laws of La Nation Canadienne; as an arrogant and oppressive tyrant who was stirring up a rebellion which would sweep the remains of British power from the American continent His recall at this time and appointment to the Command- in-Chief of India did not improve the situation. And yet almost his last act had been to help erect Q 236 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. the now famous Quebec monument to the joint memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. He left Canada in September with the regret of all the English element and to the delight of the French-Canadians. The recommendations of the Canada Committee in the Imperial Parliament were now placed in the bands of Sir James Kempt, who for two years con- tinued to administer affairs in Lower Canada with the rank of Lieutenant-Governor. He made several reforms, or changes, along the lines of that Report and called some prominent French-Canadians to the utive Council. But the central issue — the con- trol of the Crown revenues — remained unsettled, and after a period of deceitful calm, agitation broke out with fresh vehemence owing to the steady re- fusal of the Colonial Office to place the entire revenue in the hands of the Assembly whilst its pledge of a permanent Civil List remained unkept And so this question stood until the insurrection and the succeeding union with Upper Canada. Lord Aylmer took the place of Sir James Kempt in 1830, and in the following year received appointment as Governor-in-Chief. His period of rule, terminating in 1835, is important for its vain efforts at concil- iating the fire-eating French majority in the As» sembly and the Province; for the refusal of the House to vote supplies and the inability of the Gov- ernor to pay all the officials out of the revenue at his command; for the wasting of time in the As- sembly by passing votes of censure on the Govern- THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 237 ment, listening to fanatical speeches, and examining charges made against Judges in different parts of the Province by violent partisans. In the elections of 1831 an Assembly had been elected composed largely of young Frenchmen fired by the flaming heat of Papineau's oratory. This extraordinary man seems to have become blinded by the praise and popu- larity which had come to him and was now en- deavouring to emulate the exploits of Washington, and raise himself to the position of father and founder of a new republic. Lord Goderich, a clear- headed and wise Colonial Secretary, and Lord Ayl- mer, were both willing to give the Province every measure of liberty which was possible, but the As- sembly would do nothing except emit long and vio- lent addresses to the Crown. In 1833, Bedard, Quesnel, Cuvilier and Neilson, leaders of the mod- erate Liberals, openly withdrew from Papineau and his party and the Assembly, almost as a unit, fell into the hands of the latter. The position was becoming intolerable, and Gar- neau, the literary and historical hero of French Canada, frankly admits in regard to the action of the House towards the proposals of Goderich and Aylmer that a " malign influence " had carried it beyond all prudential limits.* Speaking in the Assembly in January, 1834, Papineau declared that the time had come for the people to set about ob- • Histoire du Canada., by F. X. Garneau, vol. 3, p. 321. 238 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. taining a remedy for their grievances even if " the soldiery should slaughter them for it ; " denounced monarchical institutions with eloquent vigour; and proclaimed what he believed to be the certain fact that " before long the whole of America will be republicanised." Then came the famous Ninety- Two Resolutions which formed the basis for con- tinuous and fiery harangues throughout the Province during the following three years. They were very long and involved and contained many repetitions and much verbiage. Sifted down, the document was a denunciation of the Governors-General for mal- administration and of the two Councils for abetting them in it. The assertion of a partial control over the Crown revenues by the Crown's Representative was given as the chief grievance in this connection. The rejection of the Assembly's violent proposals by the Legislative Council, the fact of most of the Judges being of English birth, the elimination of the French language in some of the Courts, the efforts that had been made to unite the two Canadas, the fact of 157 officials being of English birth or origin and only 47 of French-Canadian birth, were the other principal charges. Coupled with these com- plaints, and the accompanying declamation, were strong expressions of admiration for the republican institutions of the United States and the statement that they held a larger place in the affections of the people than those of England. The Resolutions were passed on March 1st, 1834, THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 239 in the form of an Address to the Crown, and by an overwhelming majority. The action was promptly opposed by Addresses from the loyal English ele- ment of the Province. The most notable document on the latter side of the case was issued by the Montreal Constitutional Society on ^November 20th. In it the grievances of the minority were pointed out. They were stated to have suffered from the feudal tenure of land and the cramped condition of the laws relating to real property, in both its regis- tration and exchange. They protested against the tax imposed by the Assembly upon British immi- grants and the arrangement of the counties in the Eastern Townships so that a Erench minority could return a majority of representatives. They pointed out that the qualification of magistrates, militia of- ficers and jurors was made to depend upon small property possessions, while most of the English people were engaged in trade and commerce and in- dustry and were therefore debarred from these posi- tions. They dealt with " the abuse of power " shown by the Assembly in its repeated expulsion of Thomas Christie and the consequent disfranchisement of the electors of Gaspe, because he had once expressed strong views regarding the policy of the Erench majority in that House. They protested against the large salary paid D. B. Yiger as the agent of the Assembly in London — without the assent or agree- ment of the other parts of the Legislature. The refusal of the Assembly to grant a bankruptcy law, 240 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. the advice of Papineau that no intercourse should be held with the English population, and the refusal of the House to pass any but temporary laws, were referred to. The willingness shown by some Colo- nial Secretaries to listen to the opinions of the As- sembly, and the consequent compromise of the dig- nity of the Crown by an unwise change of Governors, was protested against Abuses in the Land Depart- ment were, however, unsparingly dealt with, the feebleness of the Executive Council was pointed out, and the accumulation of offices in the hands of one or two individuals criticised. But it was declared that the English minority were now " an insulted and oppressed people," and that something must bo done to remedy the position of affairs. The reply of the Imperial Government was the despatch, in 1835, of a Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by the Earl of Gosford, who was at the same time appointed to succeed Lord Aylmer. Everything that man could do to conciliate the victims of a stormy agitation was done by Lord Gosford. But to evolve order out of the political chaos which now existed was impossible. It was no longer a question of wholesale constitutional change; it was a situa- tion of rampant violence in language and action. The militia was permeated with discontent, the French officers were in most cases centres of agita- tion, the juries would nowhere convict a Erench- Canadian, and Papineau was parading the Province like a paper Prince in pompous fiction. THE EVOLUTION OF A REBELLION. 241 After a year's effort to calm the country the new Governor had to practically give up conciliation, though, unfortunately, he had not the strong char- acter necessary in the adoption of the other alterna- tive of coercion. Matters went on from bad to worse. Then came the Keport of his Commission and a resolution based upon it — moved in the House of Commons by Lord John Russell in February, 1837 — which pointed out that the Assembly of Lower Canada had granted no supplies since 1832 and that $710,000 was due to Judges and civil servants. It declared that the proposal to make the Legisla- tive Council elective ought not to be granted, but that in some way it should be made more representa- tive of the people as a whole. No one was pleased by this paper compromise, while the so-called pa- triots were roused to the wildest denunciation. Pap- ineau's organ in Montreal, The Vindicator, declared that henceforth there could be no peace in the Prov- ince and " no quarter for the plunderers." " Every- thing is lawful when the fundamental liberties are in danger," continued this interesting sheet. " The Guards die — they never surrender." The spirit of disaffection seemed in the air and in the very soil, and the violence of insurrection was, in fact, soon manifested. But it yet remained for the Church of Rome to show its power and its place in the com- munity, and for the responsible element amongst the French-Canadians to exercise its influence, and, in combination, to turn a threatened revolution into 242 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. a series of enlarged riots. The two Provinces had now, however, been brought in different ways, and by excitable agitators, to the verge of what history has termed the Rebellion of 1837. Papineau and Mackenzie were standing hand in hand at the part- ing of the roads, and, encouraged as the leaders of revolution in the United States had once been long before by the apparent support of some public men in Great Britain, they took the path marked out for them by the voice of vanity and the pleadings of prejudiced passion. OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 243 CHAPTEE XL OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. The period between 1837 and 1840 had been the stormiest time in the history of the Canadas. The troubles which developed into a futile and fugitive insurrectionary movement in the two Provinces hardly, however, deserved the name of rebellion. Heated as was the feeling in Lower Canada against the ruling English class and bitter as was the de- nunciation in Upper Canada of what was termed the oligarchy and family compact, the basis of real grievance or genuine oppression was never suffici- ently strong to make a serious revolutionary attempt probable. Ignorant as the French population were regarding the peculiar workings of a British con- stitution which depends so much upon precedent and practical operation and so little upon theory and logic, and inflamed as they were in election con- tests or street riots by the speeches of demagogues, they yet knew enough of the discrepancy of forces between themselves and the British Empire to listen, attentively, though not very willingly, when the mandement issued in 1837 by Bishop Lartigue of Montreal advised them of the folly and sin of a 244 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY, useless rebellion. And this despite the clever at- tempts of Papineau to pledge the co-operation of American democracy in an effort to make all North America republican in government In Upper Canada the same fact applies with far greater force. The general population of that Province, whether Liberal or Tory, knew well enough that there was not sufficient reason for the employment of force and that in any case there was no hope of its suc- cessful use unless the United States joined in — • and of such a possibility there was no proof. But dissatisfaction, no matter how limited, makes a loud noise, although the blaze of enthusiasm which surrounded Papineau and made the banks of the St. Lawrence an apparent scene of general sedition ; or the heated talk of Mackenzie in Upper Canada, with his Vigilance Committees and armed bodies of men; were evidences of popular excitement rather than of dangerous public discontent Sir Francis Bond Head, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Upper Province, was in this respect a statesman where Lord Gosford in Lower Canada was a mere shadow of Imperial strength. The former is the most vigor- ously denounced man in Upper Canadian history. Yet it is only because circumstances have made him the embodiment of opposition to proposals which other days and other conditions have rendered prac- ticable. One of the few Canadian writers who have fully appreciated his devoted loyalty and real serv- ices to the Empire describes him as being " true OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 245 as steel and most staunch to British law and British principle in the trying days of his administration," * and as possessed of a loyalty which was both chival- rous and magnetic. He was quixotic, sometimes bombastic, and occasionally unwise. But he had first sized up a difficult situation and then carried an election which made loyalty a living power in a community which was allowing the small Radical and republican minority to overshadow by noise and violence both its Tory and Liberal elements. He then decided that the influence back of Mackenzie, in his more violent proposals, was small and not more than the local militia was quite capable of dealing with. In this conclusion events showed him thoroughly right, and, in his much discussed step of sending all the regular troops to the Lower Prov- ince to help the suppression of the more serious troubles there, he would seem to have acted the part of a statesman. The matter had to some time come to a head in his own Province, and, if the militia could cope with it, local loyalty would be stimu- lated, while possibly bitter memories of a rising crushed by British troops would be eliminated from the situation. He was criticised for being at last taken by surprise. So far as the march of the rebels upon Toronto was concerned there is little doubt that he wa3. But the suddenness of the movement was at * Dr. Alpheus Todd, C.M.G.. in Reminiscences of a Cana- dian Pioneer, by Samuel Thompson, Toronto, 1884, p. 136. 246 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. the last a surprise to Mackenzie himself. And the latter's incendiary speeches throughout the Province and the " Declaration of the Reformers of Toron- to," published in his paper, The Constitution, sup- plied sufficient ground for the Lieut.-Governor's be- lief that there would be neither peace nor material progress in Upper Canada until the trouble had come to its inevitably violent end. So he had sent the troops out of the Province and calmly awaited events. The Declaration was a curious document. Amongst the quietest of its terms were the " baneful domination " of Great Britain and " the mockery of human government," under which the people bad been " insulted, injured and reduced to the brink of ruin." Grievances of a now generally admitted character were placed side by side with denunciations of a character intended evidently to compare with those of another and more famous " Declaration " issued by the one-time colonists to the south. It was of such a nature as to hardly require further description, though its blatant demagoguery had the useful effect of finally estranging Liberals like Bald- win and Ryerson from even nominal association with the extreme wing of their party. The process had been going on for some years, and this document was the last instrument in a general party disin- tegration. Meanwhile the rebellion had made some headway in Lower Canada, where Lord Gosford was at one moment writing the Colonial Secretary, Lord OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 247 Glenelg (September 2d, 1837), that "all hope of conciliation has passed away " and in the next re- fusing the offer of British inhabitants at Montreal to form a Royalist rifle corps. Unlike Sir Francis Bond Head, he had not a militia which was in the main loyal and to be depended upon, but he had the elements of it in the English part of the population. Moreover, he should have benefited by the example of the Royal Governors in the Thirteen Colonies, where the historic weakness of decision and rule had invariably bred aggressive action and rebel success. Had he shown energy and determination all Papi- neau's wonderful edifice of agitation would prob- ably have collapsed, as did the rebellion itself when Sir John Colborne afterwards pricked its military bubble with the precision and power of a Peninsular veteran. And, though some kind of outbreak was probably inevitable, it might have been very much less threatening in appearance and earlier develop- ments. Dr. Wolfred Nelson, a Montreal physician of English birth and a Radical member in the As- sembly, was Papineau's chief supporter. Dr. O'Callaghan, afterwards a well-known literary man of New York; Thomas Storrow Brown, a popular iron merchant and in later days a pamphleteer; Amury Girod and Dr. Chenier; were others. A. M"i Morin and D. B. Viger, afterwards members of the Canadian Government in the days of Union; L. H. Lafontaine, destined to be Premier of the 248 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. United Provinces, Chief Justice of Lower Canada and a Baronet of the United Kingdom; George E. ("artier, afterwards Minister of Militia in the Do- minion of Canada and also a Baronet; were amongst the earlier fathers and leaders of the movement which was now to culminate. The first blow was struck in Montreal, where members of the Doric Club, a British constitutional organisation, were pub- licly attacked on the streets by the " Sons of Liberty," as a young men's rebel society which had considerable footing in the city was called. During the 7th of November, repeated conflicts took place between these two factions, and finally the office of The Vindicator, a Papineau organ, was broken into and the presses and type destroyed or scattered. At night the troops paraded the streets and pre- served some kind of order. Meanwhile the country along the Richelieu loomed up as the centre of serious disaffection. At St. Charles, on that river, a meeting had been held on the 23d of October com- posed of some thousands of people from the six counties along its banks, and thirteen fiery resolu- tions, with but one meaning, had been adopted under advice from Papineau and Nelson and inspired by the example of what were termed the " wise men and heroes of 177G " in the neighbouring republic. On the same day a very large Loyalist meeting had been held in Montreal. The troubles in that city, on November 7th following, prooipitntod matters. Where outrages in the country parishes around OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 249 Montreal upon loyal citizens and the utter inability of magistrates to protect them did not succeed, this riot was at last effectual. Lord Gosford abandoned his supine policy and issued warrants nine days later for the arrest of Papineau, 0'Callagha.n, Brown and others. Near Longueuil, on the 18th Novem- ber, however, a large body of rebels succeeded in rescuing two or three of the lesser leaders who had been arrested, and this may be considered as the real beginning of the insurrection. Papineau fled to St. Denis — a village on the Richelieu — where he stayed with Nelson and was surrounded by friends and followers. To arrest him an expedition was despatched by General Sir John Colborne, who now took matters in hand as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. It was composed of 250 men and led by Colonel Gore. On November 23d, after a weary march of sixteen miles on a dark and stormy night, Gore unsuccessfully attacked a strong position held by Nelson and had to retire leaving six men dead on the field. Papineau left during the conflict and finally got away to the States. Meantime, Colonel Wetherall captured the neighbouring rebel position at St. Charles without much difficulty, and an Am- erican who was in command fled precipitately with- out much attention to the order of his going. At the news of this disaster Nelson's forces melted away like snow in springtime and the chagrined leader was himself captured as he tried to escape. A miserable incident of the moment was the murder of Lieuten* 250 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ant Weir, a young officer carrying despatches between Montreal and Sorel, who was captured by some of Dr. Nelson's troops, and in making a dash for liberty was shot down and hacked to pieces by the rebels. The capture of St Denis and St. Charles had, how- ever, calmed this part of the country. Elsewhere, Sir John Colborne led a force of two thousand regu- lars and militia into the district north of Montreal, and at the village of St. Eustache, where some thou- sand men were entrenched, was compelled to storm the stone church of the parish in which Dr. Chenier and his followers made a mad but gallant defence. Not till the blazing roof was falling upon them and the walls around crushing them did the bravo habitants seek to escape — the most of them in vain. Chenier was killed and a monument to his memory, nearly half a century later, was erected by senti- mental sympathisers in one of the residential streets of Montreal. At St. Benoit a mob of unorganised rebels was found, but their leaders fled and they promptly surrendered after having done no greater harm than destroying the homes and harvests of somo neighbouring English settlers. In revenge the latter burnod a part of the village during the night. For the moment the rising was crushed. It did not then or afterwards comprise any large proportion of the people. Papineau thought that they rested in the hollow of his hand, but he had found himself in a fool's paradise. The moderate element in the masses appreciated the difference between standing OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 251 behind an eloquent and magnetic leader in the con- stitutional defence of what they deemed the pres- ervation and assertion of their racial character, and a rebel movement in favour of the subversion of their allegiance and the establishment of a form of govern- ment which had worked such havoc in France and which was now denounced so powerfully by their priests. With the Church stood the old Seigneur ial families, while back of them was a large farming community which did not want civil war, though it knew little of constitutional matters and delighted, as all Frenchmen do, in agitation and effervescent eloquence. Even the French-Canadian militia, though distrusted, seems in many places to have been loyal, and Colonel de Hertel, in command of 1,500 men, assured Sir John Colborne of their posi- tive loyalty and willingness to go into active service. In January, 1838, Lord Gosford was recalled and Sir John Colborne appointed Administrator. In February following the most important action in the early constitutional history of the country occurred in the selection of the Earl of Durham, as Governor- General and special High Commissioner of British America, to adjust existing difficulties in the Can- adas. During the same month some six hundred fugitives and sympathisers crossed the frontier from Vermont under command of a brother of Dr. Nel- son's, and with fieldpieces and arms to supply an- other hoped-for insurrection, but were driven back by some regulars and hastily gathered English R 252 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. militia. In April the Lower Canadian constitution was suspended and a Special Council appointed by Sir John Colborne to take the place of the Legisla- ture. It was composed of representative men of all classes and creeds such as De Lery, Stuart, McGill, Quesnel, Molson, Cuthbert and Knowlton. By May, however, the Province seemed to be quiet, martial law was abolished and the English-speaking militia allowed to return home. The rebellion in Upper Canada was an equal fiasco. There was a great difference in conditions however. In the one case the large majority was actively loyal and there was no element of racial enmity. In the other the large majority was pass- ively sullen, with racial considerations struggling against religious convictions and commands. The latter won. The centre of trouble in Upper Canada was around Toronto. Mackenzie's series of meet- ings throughout the Province had their natural effect, and by November drilling and rifle-shooting were being practised at sundry places and some fifteen hundred men had volunteered to take up arms. The military plan — if such it can be called — was to attack Toronto upon a certain date, cap- ture the 4,000 stands of arms in the City Hall, together with the Lieutenant-Governor and leading people, and then to proclaim a Republic with Dr. Rolph — a man who had succeeded during this whole period in keeping upon good terms with both sides President A mistake was mado in the date OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 253 decided upon for marching on the city, and this in- creased the inevitable futility of the whole move- ment. On December 4th, three days before the time Mackenzie had arranged for, Eolph issued orders for the advance of eight hundred men who had meanwhile gathered at Montgomery's Tavern, a few miles outside of Toronto. They had been drilled for some time by Van Egmond, an old-time officer of Napoleon's, and were led by Samuel Lount, a blacksmith by occupation. Two unpleasant in- cidents had occurred. A City Alderman named Powell, who lived to be Mayor of Toronto, was cap- tured, but escaped by shooting his guard. Colonel Moodie, a well-known settler and popular gentleman who had served with distinction in the British army, was shot dead while riding scornfully through the rebel lines. The news of the advance was soon re- ceived in the city and messengers despatched with all speed by the Lieut.-Governor to Colonel (after- wards Sir A. N.) MclSTab instructing him to bring up what were called in those days " the fighting men of Gore " — a township of which Hamilton is now the civic centre. The rebels marched until within half a mile of Toronto and then retreated in all haste in face of a picket of twenty men who had fired at them and then retired. At Montgomery's they lay until December 7 th, by which time the Governor and McNab were ready to turn the tables and attack the rebel position with some 500 militia. Sir Francis Bond Head had meantime, and for purposes 254 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. of delay, attempted to negotiate with Mackenzie through a curiously formed delegation composed of Rolph and Baldwin, but without success further than the staving off for some hours of the first rebel movement Almost every one in Toronto had stood by the Government when the tidings came. The Chief Justice, the Judges, the Executive Council, the City officials and aldermen, all took up arms and surrounded the Governor with a support which was certainly strong in a moral, if not in a trained mili- tary, sense. Many of these prominent volunteers had, however, served in the War of 1812 and knew the smell of gunpowder full well. At the Tavern, or in its vicinity, when the Governor and McNab ar- rived with their force, were nearly a thousand rebels picturesquely armed in many cases with nothing better than scythes, axes or pitchforks. Sir Francis called on them to lay down their arms, but Mackenzie refused and the militia bravely advanced on the opposing lines. The exchange of volleys was hot for a short time, but the rebels were soon scat- tered and the battle over. The prisoners taken were in most cases pardoned and released, while for a short time the neighbourhood was patrolled by an eager and ready militia force to which volunteers came flocking in from the country districts in such num- bers that the Governor did not know what to do with them. Mackenzie fled to his little stronghold of Navy Island, on thr American sirlo of "N"iasrara River, whence — behind guns procured from the OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 255 State arsenals of New York — he issued a republican manifesto signed by himself and Lount, Fletcher, Lloyd, Van Egmond, Graham, Duncombe and others. The last named tried to get up a little in- surrection in the London District, but as soon as he heard of Colonel McNab's approach with a militia force, retired to the common refuge at that time of Canadian malcontents — the United States. Kolph had left some time before for the same shelter. Mackenzie in his Navy Island manifesto spoke boastingly of American help in saving Upper Can- ada from its position of " Egyptian thraldom," and declared that vast numbers of men from the States generally, together with arms, provisions, money and artillery from Buffalo, N.Y., were coming to support his standard of resistance against " the hired red-coats of Europe." In his hands was a steamer called The Caroline, moored upon the American side of the river, which fired constantly upon the Canadian shore. McNab, who with his militia was watching this little game of war, finally sent a band of marines and volunteers in rowboats to destroy the nuisance. They took the steamer from under the guns of a United States fort on December 27th, landed the crew and then sent her in flames over the Falls of Niagara. Soon afterwards Navy Island was deserted under the fire of heavy guns sent up by Sir John Colborne. Mackenzie was then arrested, tried and sentenced, on the American side, to eigh- teen months' imprisonment for attacking a friendly 256 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nation. But organised attacks from the United States border continued. A threefold one had been planned from the Cities of Ogdensburg and Buffalo in New York and Detroit in the State of Michigan. The leaders quarrelled, however, and in the multi- tude of rebel and alien counsellors there was some relief to Canada which, even as it was, had to equip and maintain a force of four thousand militia along its frontiers. The rebel plans were mainly success- ful at this time in showing the most remarkable indifference along the border to all the international obligations of the Republic and in causing great trouble and expense to the Governments of Canada as well as worry to the peaceful settlers upon the Canadian frontier. Much of Mackenzie's success iu getting men and armaments was through the " Hunt- ers' Lodges " which had been openly organised throughout the border States for the purpose of at- tacking Canada and annoying England. On Janu- ary 7th, 1838, about a thousand Americans and rebels took possession of the Canadian Island of Bois Blanc, in the Detroit River opposite Amherstburg, and a man named Sutherland assumed command, bringing with him from Cleveland a number of stands of arms, fieldpieces, etc. At Detroit a largo schooner was publicly loaded with cannon and small arms from the State Arsenal and despatched to his aid. The vessel was attacked, however, by some Canadian militia and captured. Shortly afterwards Sutherland surrendered to the American authorities, OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 257 and was tried and acquitted. A little later, two thousand men under Van Kensselaer, who had al- ready commanded at Navy Island, assembled at Quebec Creek, on the St. Lawrence, but finding that Kingston, on the opposite shore, was well prepared they eventually dispersed. Sutherland then made another attempt upon Amherstburg by taking pos- session of Pelee Island with a view to crossing over and capturing the Canadian town. But Colonel Maitland, with a force of regulars, was too quick for him, crossed the river on the ice and attacked the marauders with a loss to them of thirteen killed, forty wounded and a number of prisoners. The British loss was two killed and twenty-eight wounded. Meanwhile, events looked threatening upon the American side of the line in connection with the Maine boundary and in a far worse sense than the condonation of guerilla attacks. War seemed very possible, and Sir John Colborne, who in readiness, determination and energy was another Brock, soon had the frontier in as strong a state of defence as was practicable. Forts were strengthened, new for- tifications arranged, large barracks built at London and considerable reinforcements received from Eng- land and distributed along the frontiers of the Up- per Province. With 40,000 militia at the back of the regulars the country therefore stood in a condi- tion of fair preparation for eventualities. In spite of all his rebuffs, however, and the strong position 258 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. of the Province, Mackenzie continued to do his best to injure it and, incidentally, to embroil two great rations in war. In May, one of his satellites with fifty men boarded the Sir Robert Peel — a well- equipped Canadian vessel — in the St. Lawrence at a point opposite Kingston, thrust the crew and passengers on shore and pillaged and burned the ship. Various minor outrages occurred along the borders at this time, but the Americans finally helped in suppressing them, and as summer advanced anxiety was allayed. In the autumn, however, news came of another intended series of attacks, and Sir George Arthur, who had succeeded Sir F. Bond Head on March 23d, at once called out part of the militia. The 10th of November was the date selected and three simultaneous attacks were to be made on Upper and Lower Canada. On that day, accordingly, the steamer United States left Oswego, N.Y., amid the cheers of a large crowd, and, after meeting some schooners with armed bands on board, landed 250 rebels at Windmill Point, near Prescott. They were promptly attacked by a local force of militia, and after some days of fighting and of wait- ing for the arrival of guns from Kingston, the marauders surrendered. Nine Canadians were killed and some forty-five wounded. Von Schultz, the rebel leader, was afterwards hung, and his trial is notable for being the first appearance in Canadian history of Sir John A. Macdonald, who, as a young lawyer, defended the prisoner. OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 259 On December 4th one more effort was made against Amherstburg. Some 450 rebels crossed from Detroit to Windsor, captured the small militia guard, burned a steamer at the wharf and some houses, murdered a negro who refused to join them, and marched out to Sandwich, two miles away. Meanwhile, the militiamen managed to escape, and in revenge the marauders murdered an army surgeon whom they happened to encounter. Shortly afterwards, however, they met their match in Colonel Prince, a veteran and well-known settler, a deter- mined, old-fashioned Tory and member of the Leg- islative Council, a man whose reputation stands out clearly in the history of the period and now rises above the weak-kneed slanders and fears which followed his prompt action. He routed them with twenty-one rebels killed and one Canadian lost. Four of those who were captured he promptly hanged, and for this action the Colonel was widely criti- cised. But he little recked that sort of thing where duty seemed to demand action. And his course certainly struck terror into rebel hearts. Windsor had been strongly garrisoned, but as soon as he ap- proached with his militia the invaders crossed over to Detroit, while some who fled into the woods were afterwards found frozen to death. This ended the troubles in Upper Canada. For the first rebel movement only two of those who had been captured were executed — Lount and Mathews. Every effort was made by the humbled party of discontent to 260 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. 6avo them, but Sir George Arthur was a man of strong ideas and he believed it a duty to the State that the law should take its course. For this he stands under the shadow of much savage denuncia- tion from those who since that time have imbibed or inherited the belief that Canadian liberties are based upon this puny and panicky revolt When, in 1838, the second series of border movements were finally crushed less mercy was shown. Nine of those who accompanied Von Schultz — chiefly Americans — were executed at Kingston, three at London, and a large number of others were trans- ported to British penal settlement. In Lower Canada no executions whatever had taken place after the troubles of 1S37. Lord Dur- ham had come out with what he believed to be, and what should have been, almost absolute powers of conciliation and arbitration of grievances. lie found a condition in which no French jury would have convicted the prisoners in hand, no English jury would have acquitted them, and no mixed jury have agreed. He did not wish to resort to military trials and thus accentuate the prevailing difficulties, but rather to restore social order and civil authority. Eventually, therefore, a proclamation had been is- sued on June 28th, 1838, pardoning minor offenders, banishing eight of the principal leaders to Bermuda and forbidding Papineau and others to return on penalty of death. The Imprrinl Parliament, in- fluenced by Lord Brougham and other personal end- OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 261 mies of the Governor-General, refused to endorse this action and declared it illegal. Lord Durham instantly resigned, returned home, and was suc- ceeded by Sir John Colborne, These divided coun- sels amongst the rulers and the mistaken leniency shown the instigators and participators in the revolt had an effect the reverse of what was hoped for by Lord Durham. The ignorant peasantry continued in many places in the Lower Province to be led by agitators who worked in secret association with the bodies which were being formed in the neighbouring States; and the departure of Lord Durham on No- vember 3d, 1838, was the signal for commencing a new rising in Lower as well as Upper Canada. On that date the steamer Henry Brougham was seized in the St. Lawrence by four hundred rebels, a man named Walker was killed near Laprairie, and the whole district surrounding Montreal was again in arms. Sir John Colborne, however, was not a man to be trifled with. Martial law was pro- claimed, the Habeas Corpus Act suspended and the Montreal gaol speedily filled with prisoners. An attack was made upon Laprairie by some rebels, but it required little more than the unexpected war- whoop of a few loyal Indians, who left church in order to seize their arms and defend their homes, for thi3 attempt to be quickly frustrated. Robert Nelson, meantime, crossed the border to JSTapier- ville with a band of marauders and was soon joined by some two thousand rebels. He at once issued a OfiO PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. '* Declaration of Independence " based upon tho " multiplied outrages and cruelties of the Govern- ment " and of that " mercenary army whose track is red with the blood of our people." It was signed by himself as President of the new Republic of Lower Canada and furnishes a fitting parallel to the similar document issued by Mackenzie in Upper Canada. While Nelson established himself at Napierville, a rebel named Cote formed a depot at a point some twenty miles away, and within American territory, for the purpose of receiving supplies, etc., from United States sympathisers. A movement made by the loyal militia of the district threatened, however, to cut off the communication between the two by an occupation of Lacolle Mill, and Dr. Cote accord- ingly advanced to attack that point. But he was routed and compelled to retire before he reached the Mill. On November 6th, Sir John Colborne marched for the front with four regiments of regu- lars and about 400 Indians and 500 militia, and was joined later by two regiments of Glengarry militia. With the victorious volunteers in his rear and this army in front, the self-installed President now found himself in rather a tight place. He had a thousand men in hand, and with them did the only thing possible; turning around and marching for Odelltown, which was held in his rear by some two hundred militia. The fight there centred in a Methodist Church, which the militia had occupied, OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 263 and was bravely conducted on both sides. But a small contingent of additional militia coming up, the rebels broke and fled, and Nelson was one of the first to make for the American border. The local disturbance was now quickly crushed and the loyal people of this particular county — who had been con- siderably insulted and harried by the rebels — now took their revenge despite the orders of Sir John Colborne, and many ruined homes and burned build- ings consequently marked the path of this renewed attempt at rebellion. The Executive clemency of the past was not repeated. A large number of arrests were made and twelve men were convicted before courts-martial and duly executed. Of these, six were proven murderers and five had been in- cluded in Lord Durham's previous amnesty. A number of minor rebels were transported. Amongst the prisoners were Lafontaine and D. B. Viger. The former was soon released; the latter, though positively refusing to give security for good be- haviour, was also eventually released without condi- tion. It may be added here as a curious com- mentary upon what is called justice, that, while so many of the victims and dupes suffered in various ways, the leaders of this revolt were in time all forgiven and in most cases allowed to take an active part in public life. Papineau was amnestied in 1847 and Mackenzie two years later. Both after- wards sat in the Assembly of United Canada. Wolfred Nelson was twice Mayor of Montreal, and 204 PROGRESS OP CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Lafontaine, Viger, Cartier, Kolph and Morin all lived to be Ministers of the Crown. Upon the grave of the struggle time has placed a mistaken monument, while the light of liberties since evolved has crowned it with a happy halo. But history, when freed from the bias of politics in- evitable to the earlier literature of a young com- munity, will do the subject more justice. Mac- kenzie in his later days honestly and bitterly re- gretted his share in the troubles, and there is no doubt that others did so in equal measure. Yet the feeling is very widespread that complete self-gov- ernment in Canada was the result of this rebellion. The truth is that such conditions would have de- veloped in any case, and probably earlier if the Imperial authorities could have felt assured of French-Canadian loyalty. Responsible government was not understood by the rebels and was naturally not favoured by the ruling party in either Prov- ince. In Lower Canada the struggle was really an effort to ensure the absolute dominance of the French element in a system where its leaders had already complete control of the Assembly and hoped to get similar power over the Council through the elective tenure proposal. In Upper Canada the Opposition, legitimately enough, wanted to rule the Provinee, and its leaders claimed, with truth, that the Govern- ment meted out the spoils of office to its own sup- porters and excluded others from fair participation OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 265 in land grants or positions. But this is to-day a cardinal principle of party life. Reforms and changes of different kinds were demanded. But they were too often asked by the voices of agitators and demagogues, disappointed seekers after official favours, or alien immigrants and settlers of a few years' residence. In the earlier days of the Prov- ince Government had to be centralised, and even up to the middle of the century Governors com- plained to the Colonial Office of the extreme diffi- culty of getting good men to fill public positions. The Imperial authorities made concession after con- cession. Legislation regarding the Church Estab- lishment, the privileges of the Church of England, the severance of Judicial from Executive adminis- tration, the holding of conventions, the taxing of wild lands, are cases in point. Lord Durham's Report arose out of the rebellion, and upon it much subsequent legislation was based. But Lord Gos- ford's Commission had been appointed and reported before the insurrection took place, and when its conclusions were found to be inadequate another would have been appointed in any case. Once the Reform Bill and ensuing legislation became facts in England similar development in the Colonies was inevitable, and was retarded rather than hastened by the firebrands who stirred up embers of dissatis- faction into flames of civil strife. Responsible gov- ernment did not come for years after the rebellion and the publication of the Durham Report, and it 266 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. came to the Maritime Provinces, where no rebellion had been dreamed of, at the same time that it was evolved in the Canadas. The fact is that, like every portion of the unwritten British constitution at home, this creation of self-government amid strange and new conditions in a distant dependency of the Empire, had to be a result of time and graded experience rather than of any sudden spring into successful operation. The little real knowledge which existed amongst the leaders of the malcontents regarding the full application of British institutions to this coun- try, in the sense now understood, is seen by their final and absolute sympathy with republican prin- ciples. They were those actually favoured from the first by the leaders and tendencies of the violent minority, and the only pity is that so many good men and brave were carried away by the passions of the time into supporting a fallacious advocacy and a futile insurrection. Meantime, the share taken by the Maritime Prov- inces in these events had been of a significant though not a serious character. They had the same institu- tions as Upper Canada, with a similar dominant class and similar difficulties in the working of their still crude and partially unformed systems. But in- stead of boasting secret revolutionary societies, armed uprisings and sought-for international raids, they remained absolutely loyal to the Crown and the Provincial Governments. The Assembly of New Brunswick even went so far as to declare in the OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 267 summer of 1837* that the House " should repu- diate the claim set up by another Colony that the Executive Council ought at all times to be subject to removal on address for that purpose from the popular branch of the Government/' although it added an expression of belief that the body in ques- tion " should be composed of persons possessing the confidence of the country at large and that the cordial sympathy and co-operation of that body are absolutely indispensable." In ISTova Scotia, during the first forty years of the century, the Lieutenant- Governors had been Sir John Wentworth, sturdy in principle and practice; Sir George Prevost, mild and popular in administration and with qualities which suited a small arena but signally failed in a stormy one; Sir John Coape Sherbrooke and Lord Dalhousie, both men of marked ability and equal popularity; Sir James Kempt, Sir Peregrine Mait- land and Sir Colin Campbell,! the latter of whom ruled during the days of the rebellion and afterwards passed through a period of bitter conflict with Joseph Howe. In New Brunswick there was a suc- cession of military Lieutenant-Governors, from Colonel Thomas Carleton, who ruled in 1784-1803 and was a brother of Lord Dorchester, to Major- General Sir Howard Douglas, who was appointed in * Letters and Speeches of the Hon. Joseph Howe, edited by William Annand, vol. 1, p. 143. f Maj.-General Sir Colin Campbell (1776-1847), sometimes mistakenly referred to in Canadian historical works as the Lord Clyde of Indian fame. 268 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. 1824 and stayed until 1831 amidst general popular- ity and appreciation of his efforts to advance the ma- terial interests of the Province. Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell and Major-General Sir John Harvey were his immediate successors. The latter acted from May, 1837, to April, 1841. As one of the heroes of the War of 1812 and a man of kindly and liberal views he made a very successful Administrator. During the Rebellion period Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, afterwards a well-known Australian Governor, presided over the affairs of little Prince Edward Island — June, 1837, to No- vember, 1841. Speaking on 12th December, 1837, Sir J. Har- vey, in reply to an address of the people of St. John, publicly assured the Governor-in-Chief that not only was a large body of New Brunswick militia ready to co-operate in crushing the insurrection, but that he would be able and willing to place himself at its head. In a despatch to Sir John Colborno about the same date he added the declaration that: "I can depend upon the loyalty of the people of this Province to a man." On December 28th he ad- dressed a special Session of the Legislature in strong terms, and the reply of the Assembly drolarod that if help was needed, and despite the riirours of the winter season, it would be available " while a man remains in these loyal Provinces able to take the field." On January 5th, 1838, an address of con- gratulation to the Lieutenant-Governor and militia OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 269 of Upper Canada was passed and £10,000 voted for any emergency which might arise. On the 25th of the same month Sir Colin Campbell addressed the !Nbva Scotian Legislature, and the Assembly promptly passed a resolution expressing its pride that " the constitutional force of the Upper Prov- ince has defeated the traitorous attempt to cast off British allegiance." These utterances show the standpoint of the people in the Maritime Provinces and are additionally significant at a time when the shadowing influence of border hostility was being felt in full measure as a result of the dispute over the Maine boundary. After this controversy had been simmering in bitterness for some time the Gov- ernor of Maine decided in 1839, at a moment when American cities bordering upon the other Provinces were also breathing threats and practising open hostility, that the opportunity had come to settle the question and seize the disputed territory. A conflict had taken place in the wintry woods between some Maine and New Brunswick lumbermen and in territory which remained necessarily in British hands until the question of right was settled. Gov- ernor Fairfield of Maine thought, however, that the arbitrament of war would be a better way of de- ciding the issue than arbitration or negotiation, and therefore maintained his lumbermen in provisions, captured the British Warden of the disputed region, and carried him to Augusta. Sir John Harvey sent 1,800 militiamen to hold the Aroostook Kiver 270 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. country; Fairfield issued a call for 10,000 State troops to take the whole territory; Sir John sent up two regiments of the line with artillery and volunteers to support the militia in their position; Nova Scotia voted all her militia and £100,000 in money to help New Brunswick; Upper Canada sent offers of aid; and the troops, people and militia of the Maritime Provinces were as full of fight as was the Governor of Maine. And the clamour was not confined to these regions. Daniel Webster almost stampeded his Government into war with Great Britain over this and other matters — the chief and real reason being that at last the Canadas were deemed ready for annexation. Fortunately Presi- dent Van Buren was calm, held the dogs of war in leash, and sent General Winfield Scott ft> the scene of trouble. The matter was then settled, for the moment, by the two officers who had fought and learned to respect each other at Lundy's Lane and Stony Creek. A little later Webster won a blood- less victory over Lord Ashburton, and the Rebellion of 1837 must be recorded as having, amongst its other ill effects, first encouraged the hostile action of Maine and then caused the British Government to weaken visibly in its negotiations with Washington upon this question. Why, as many in Great Britain no doubt suggested, fight the serried masses of Amer- ican democracy for Colonies which are striving to adopt republican institutions or, in many individual cases, American allegiance? To some extent the OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 271 loyalty of the Maritime Provinces answered this naturally prominent query. Out of Lord Durham's famous Report came the Union of Upper and Lower Canada. It was not in response to any express desire of the rebel element or from motives of conciliation. It was in direct antagonism to the fondest aspirations and avowed wishes of the French-Canadian population and was not even favoured by the Tory majority in Upper Canada. But the occasion made it possible, and Lord Sydenham, who succeeded Sir John Colborne in October, 1839, was a statesman sufficiently wise and able to carry out the dictum of Lord Durham. During his brief six months' Administration the latter had studied the situation in all the Provinces; had done much energetic travelling and made numer- ous personal inquiries; had employed able agents, of whom the members of his own Executive Council — which had replaced Sir John Colborne's Special Council and was composed chiefly of Englishmen — were the chief, and notably Mr. Charles Buller; had kept himself aloof from all social cliques and political parties; and had met in Conference the Lieutenant-Governors of the different Provinces. Lord Durham's ensuing Report was dated January 31st, 1839, and is one of the most memorable docu- ments in Imperial history. It was presented to Parliament and in May reached Canada, where its conclusions and the policy based upon them worked a practical revolution in the relation and constitu- o7 L > PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. tions of all the Provinces. A little more than I year afterwards the sensitive, patriotic and brilliant nobleman who had penned its pages was dead — partly perhaps from the disappointment of a high- strung nature and partly from a constitutional feebleness of frame which was, no doubt, seriously affected by the nine months of labour during which ho had studied and governed the storm-tossed Prov- inces, written seventy important despatches and com- pleted his thorough, voluminous and systematic etatement. He described in his Report the material backwardness of the Canadas; the conditions by which the ruling party successfully met and checked the popular Assemblies through its control of the Legislative Councils; and the indefinite nature of the demands which were made in some quarters for what was called " responsible government " — some- thing which its own advocates did not understand. Ho dealt at length with the desire of American set- tlers in the country to assimilate its institutions with those of tho United States and the following reference * to tho existing state of the Colonists in their relation with the neighbouring Republic is most eloquently interesting: " The influence of the United States surrounds him on every side and is for ever present. It ex- tends itself as population and intercourse incro I it penetrates every portion of the continent into * Lord Durham's Report, pp. 111-112, OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 273 which the restless spirit of American speculation impels the settler or the trader; it is felt in all the transactions of commerce from the important opera- tions of the monetary system down to the minor de- tails of ordinary traffic; it stamps on all the habits and opinions of the surrounding countries the com- mon characteristics of the American people. . . . If we wish to prevent the extension of this influence it can only be done by raising up for the North American Colonist some nationality of his own; by elevating these small and unimportant communities into a society having some objects of a national importance; and by thus giving their inhabitants a country which they will be unwilling to see ab- sorbed into one even more powerful. " There was naturally a good deal of criticism of the Report. Sir George Arthur wrote Lord Nor- manby, the Colonial Secretary, that "on many im- portant points he (Lord Durham) has been much misinformed " and in a later despatch he adds that " a considerable section of persons who are disloyal to the core " are extravagantly elated because of its terms.* Both Houses of the Upper Canadian Legislature protested against its assertions, and Chief Justice Robinson urged vigorously, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary, that -f the injurious tend- ency of the Report v should be counteracted in every possible way. And, with the sincere enthu- * Despatches quoted by Sir Francis Bond Head, in " An Ad- dress to the House of Lords," London, 1840. 274 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. 6iasm of his old-fashioned principles, he denouncod it by pen and voice, both in Canada and in Eng- land. Sir Peregrine Maitland, with many years' experience in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada, de- clared on August 19th, 1839, that " it gives an in- accurate and unfair description of the Province and people of Upper Canada." Nevertheless it was a great and statesmanlike document. Mistakes there were, of course, but its advice has upon the whole been followed, its prophecies in the main fulfilled, its historical statements generally, though not in- variably, accepted. The chief recommendation of Lord Durham — after his advocacy and description of responsible government, the establishment of municipal institutions and the building of a rail- way which should connect the various Provinces — was the union of Upper and Lower Canada and the consequent submersion of French national ideas, and certain republican tendencies of the Upper Province, in a system which would be dependent upon the popular vote of the whole mixed community and be influenced, it was hoped, by other than sectional divisions and limitations. On March 23d, 1839, the Upper Canadian Assembly carried resolutions proclaiming the Provincial separation of 1791 to have been un- wise, declaring an united Legislature to be now in- dispensable and appointing agents to go to England to arrange the terms of union. The Council re- jected the resolutions, and nothing definite followed OUT OP REBELLION INTO UNION. 275 until the arrival of the Eight Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson — afterwards Lord Sydenham — as Gover- nor-General. His appointment dated from October, 1839, and he came ont with the reputation of being a strong Liberal and a good sound business man who had made a reasonable success of his position as President of the Board of Trade. He was hardly given credit, however, for the astute statesmanship which soon carried everything before it. Upon his arrival he laid the plan of union, as proposed by the Imperial authorities, before the Special Council of Lower Canada — which had been revived with a membership similar to that of Sir John Colborne's — and it was accepted with only three dissentients. In the Upper Province the situa- tion was more difficult than in one where the whole French population could, and had to be, ignored. Upper Canada was in the governing hands of a Tory party intrenched behind additional power and actual popularity won by the crushing of an insurrection through the unaided action of a militia composed largely of its own members. And its leaders were well known and honest opponents of the main politi- cal principle practically pledged by the proposed constitution — that of the responsibility of the Ex- ecutive. But the heads of the so-called " Family Compact" — a phrase declared by Lord Durham to be inaccurate — were more patriotic than they had been given credit for by their opponents. The heavy debt of the Province, its practical bankruptcy in 276 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. regard to revenue and expenditure, the stagnation of trade and industry, the emigration out of the country rather than into it, the general feeling of uneasiness and discontent, made it seem necessary to sacrifice their intrenched position, to accept ar- rangements with Lower Canada, and to trust the principles of loyalty and conservatism which they cherished to the new constitution — even though it threatened to give the decision into the hands of a section of the population whose one-time leaders had been scattered by the results of a rash appeal to arms. Mr. Poulett Thomson also appealed to the Ex- ecutive and Legislative Councils on the ground of the strong wishes of tho British Government and the necessity for strengthening the country against pos- eiblo American aggression. He finally prevailed and resolutions were passed by the Legislature favouring an union based upon equal Provincial representation, the granting of a sufficient and per- manent Civil List and the assumption of the Upper Canadian debt by the united Provinces. A measure embodying these principles passed the Imperial Parliament in July, 1840, and came into effect by proclamation of the Governor-General (now Lord Sydenham) on February 10th, 1841. By its terms the Legislature of the united Provinces consisted of the Queen, or her Ecpresentativo, a Legislative Council of twenty members appointed by the Crown, and an Assembly of eighty-four members elected OUT OF REBELLION INTO UNION. 277 equally by the two Provinces. The Executive Coun- cil was to be composed of eight members chosen by the Governor-General from both Houses. Those selected from the Assembly were to return to their constituencies for election as in the Ministries of the Mother-land. In this, and the arrangement that bills for the expenditure of money must origi- nate with the Government, are to be seen the first practical steps in the direction of responsible gov- ernment. A Civil List of £75,000 for the payment of officials, Judges, etc., was permanently estab- lished. Thus equipped, a new constitutional start was made and every power given by the Imperial authorities for the working out of a full, free and flexible form of government in the United Provinces. PART TWO. TIIE FORMATION OF A DOMINION, 1841-1807. CHAPTER XII. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT AND ITS RESULTS. During the first forty years of the century the Canadas had seen public discussion develop into open disaffection; during the next twenty-five years they were to see Parliamentary discussion and dis- pute develop into deadlock. And yet both these processes were in the end serviceable to the best interests of the people. The first helped to create the Union of 1841 and gave an opportunity for the French and English people to mix and mould their politics along other than racial lines. The second helped to evolve a wider and greater union out of the Apparent constitutional collapse of the smaller one. But it does not follow because good happened to come out of these evils that the same ends might not have been more wisely and beneficially achieved by the cultivation of harmony rather than discord, of peace rather than strife. During the first and RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 279 formative period discussion and heated controversy had evolved a mimic civil war, and out of these con- ditions arose Provincial union and free and popular government. It was not, however, the armed strife which brought about responsible government — it was the previous discussions, and their resumption with greater understanding in the years following the re- bellion. So it was that the deadlock in the functions of government which appears superficially to have so largely caused the confederation of all the Colonies in 1867 — although undoubtedly an important factor in making politicians turn their attention to any means of possible escape from existing difficulties which might present itself — was yet not the chief cause of the greater union. Even in this case, how- ever, the practical failure in the Canadas of that responsible government, which had been so earnestly fought for, carried with it many important reforms and the seeds of a constant discussion which must necessarily have enlarged the scope of political thought as it eventually helped, at least, to enlarge the field of political action. The Colonies of British America were now to try a new form of government. Under early Gov- ernors like Wentworth, Simcoe and Dorchester they had experienced absolute monarchy in its simplest and best application. During the first part of the nineteenth century they had been ruled under the aristocratic system of a limited and comparatively mild oligarchy. IsTow they were to evolve a pure 230 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. democracy under monarchical forms. The condi- tions were not very favourable. When Lord Syden- ham met the united Parliament at Kingston in June, 1S41, he found a French-Canadian feeling that the Union was intended to kill the French nationality,*" and amongst many of the Tory and Loyalist leaders the belief, expressed in 1836 by the Toronto City Council, that " it would be fatal to the connection of these Provinces with the Mother Country." The carrying out of the Imperial desiro to develop min- isterial responsibility ho found hampered by the be- lief that — as Lord Durham put it in his Report — many of the Reform or Liberal leaders " wished to assimilate the institutions of the Province to those of the United States/' lie faced a situation in Up- per Canada where nearly all of the Judges were strong Tories and the juries very often rabid Radi- cals. There was everywhere a lack of College educa- tion and of good elementary training. Progress was hampered by efforts to exclude English professional men — physicians, lawyers, etc. — from practising in the Provinces. Political feeling, of course, ran high, and the Orangemen in Upper Canada, who were in- creasing in numbers through immigration from the North of Ireland, had no liking for the new alliance with French and Catholic Canada, while the latter population fully agreed with a clause regarding Orangeism contained in a Roman Catholic address • Garneau, vol. 3, p. 403. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 281 to Lord Durham, in which, that nobleman was politely asked to " put down this increasing abomi- nation." Lord Sydenham was himself a Liberal, and was acting under instructions from Lord John Russell, and a new complication was thus introduced into the situation by his political aversion to the still dominant party in the Canadas. The word had now practically gone out that responsible government was to be established in British America. There were, however, withdraw- als from that decision, there was hesitancy in its application by Governors, there were differences in definition by changing Colonial Secretaries. People generally did not know what it really meant, and this Lord Sydenham himself clearly states in a letter dated Toronto, November 20th, 1839. It is even a question as to how far he went in favouring the application of the principle itself. The Tory position in these years and in all the Provinces had been thoroughly consistent, and despite any and every fault charged to their account the fact stands out clearly that they were the British party in the country and that their loyalty was a merit in those tempestuous times which should redound to their lasting credit. No stronger proof of this could have been given — not even frequent service in the field — than their acceptance of the Union with its avowed probabilities of their own overthrow, mainly because it was the wish of the British Government. They had been consistent in opposing complete ov) PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. popular government, not only from their own natural and inherited standpoint of dislike to a democracy which to them spelled American principles and practices, but because their own policy had fre- quently appeared to realise the wishes of the Im- perial authorities. As late as July, 1837,* the Colonial Office had taken a strong position in this connection. In response to an Address to the Crown from the Assembly of Nova Scotia, wherein " the language would seem to indicate an opinion, which is not yet distinctly propounded, that the Assembly ought to exercise over the public officers of that Colony a control corresponding with that which is exercised over the Ministers of the Crown by the House of Commons," it was announced that " to any such demand Her Majesty's Government must oppose a respectful, but at the same time a firm declaration that it is inconsistent with a due ad- vertence to the essential distinctions between a metropolitan and a Colonial Government and is, fur- ther, inadmissible." When the same party found itself face to face at times with a situation in which their cherished prin- ciples were attacked with the apparent support of the Imperial Government, they found relief and com- fort in the different interpretations which could be honestly given to Imperial despatches and in the ♦ Despatch from Lord Glenelg to Sir Colin Campbell, July 6th, 1837. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 283 somewhat chaotic condition of Liberal views upon the application of the principle. And the difficult and seemingly insuperable obstacle remained now, through all the practical experiments in responsible government, as it had appeared in the early and shadowy speculations concerning its possibilities, of how to combine the Imperial functions of the Queen's Representative with his Colonial position. Upon this point both parties held strong convictions and presented strong arguments. In the new Prov- ince of Canada Lord Sydenham might have done what was left for Lord Elgin to achieve at a later period — created a working system which would have harmonised some of these conflicting interests and aspirations. He had the ability and the neces- sary qualities, but fate removed him by an accidental fall from his horse in the autumn of 1841 before he could do more than meet the Legislature and forward the introduction of a municipal system and the regulation of the currency and the customs; while urging the extension of canals and the estab- lishment of an efficient common school system. His successor was Sir Charles Bagot, an experienced diplomatist and formerly British Minister at Wash- ington. He held the post until March, 1843, and signalised his administration by calling Louis Hypolite Lafontaine, the Liberal leader from Lower Canada, Robert Baldwin, the Liberal leader from Upper Canada, and Francis Hincks, another Re- former or Liberal, to the Executive Council or, as T 284 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. it was now beginning to bo termed, the Ministry. But there was still no Prime Minister and no Cabinet selected by, and personally responsible to, one political leader. There was a crude attempt at it, and later on the Attorneys-General of Canada West and Canada East * were supposed to be equal in position and to have the right to choose their own followers for the Government upon a basis which changed continuously and was the subject of much inter-party controversy. Now came a crucial issue. It was pretty well recognised in theory that the Executive Council in its general policy must be dependent upon and guided by the majority in the Assembly, though there were many loopholes of escape from this re- sponsibility and many deviations from it. And the Liberals were wise and consistent in doing their utmost to press the advantage which this recogni- tion gave them. But they soon found, on partially obtaining office, that the control of patronage was not in their hands and that the Governor-General — Sir Charles Metcalfe, who had succeeded Sir Charles Bagot — was determined not to give it up to them. And in this decision he had the approval of the Colonial Office. Sir Charles was a somewhat old- fashioned statesman of high personal honour and with a past reputation for Liberal views. But in * After the Union of 1841 Lower Canada was called Can- ada East and Upper Canada Canada West. After Confeder- ation the former became Quebec and the latter Ontario. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 285 Canadian matters lie had lofty ideals regarding his own duty and the necessity for preserving the pre- rogative of the Crown in what seemed to him and his numerous followers the last important strand in the silken chain of British union. He therefore made sundry appointments without asking the ad- vice of his Executive, and Baldwin and Lafontaine promptly resigned. A general election took place, the Tories, or Conservatives as they now termed themselves, naturally took the Governor's side, and Sir Charles was sustained. Although the Liberals were right in their contention as self-government was afterwards worked out, it was not yet under- stood how the Governor-General could be deprived of all power over appointments without weakening his authority in such a measure as to destroy the Colonial prestige of the Crown. William Henry Draper, the Conservative leader and a man of silvery eloquence who held the per- sonal respect of all shades of political thought and who had for a short time led the first Ministry of the new Province, formed a Government — if it could yet be called by that name. There was no difficulty about appointments now, because those made by the Governor-General, even if he did not ask ad- vice, were likely to be acceptable in the nature of things. He and his Ministers had much the same principles, and no question of fitness from the stand- point of loyalty could arise between them regarding positions thus filled. It was naturally otherwise 2SG PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. with men who had been mixed up with the rebel leaders and the insurrectionary movements, al- though the impartial historian can find much to praise in the character and policy of the two chief Liberal leaders of this period. Baldwin was noted for his prudence and common sense, and for a con- scientiousness which almost unfitted him for public life. His integrity has never been doubted, and Lis name still stands in Canadian political history as a synonym for honour and honesty. His ability as a statesman, however, was greater than his skill as a politician, and during these years he was largely instrumental in founding the local and municipal institutions of Upper Canada and in constituting, or remodelling, the Courts of the Province. La- fontaine was a man of striking appearance, with a square Napoleonic face and massive brow, conserva- tive in character and sometimes in policy. It is hard to understand from his later career how ho could have been such a sincere and enthusiastic fol- lower of Papineau's, and the only possible explana- tion is in the fiery spirit of vigorous youth. Of him Baldwin spoke in January, 1844, as a man whom he had found " so clear in his perception of right, so prompt in his assertion of it, and so stern in the condemnation of arts of low and party in- trigue," that he deemed it a comfort to have such a guide and a glory to have such a leader. Making every allowance for the party feeling and personal sentiment in such an utterance, there was much of RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 287 truth in it. The marvel is that with men of this type in command there should have been such extreme and inexcusable bitterness in party war- fare. The attacks upon Sir Charles Metcalfe during this period were so violent as to be brutal and beyond defence, unless it be found in the heated nature of public feeling after the incidents of insurrection. In the same way it is impossible to do anything but condemn the Conservative fury of a later date at the Kebellion Losses Bill. Yet the leaders of that party were also men of high character. Draper has already been referred to. Sir Allan McNab was a handsome, hearty, courageous and vigorous personage whom nothing daunted and who lived to the full every moment of his life, and felt in every nerve and fibre of his body an intense loyalty to the British connection for which he had often fought and which he believed to be endangered by the ad-' vance of reform. He was a Tory of the olden times transported to a scene of struggling modern de- mocracy. Bobert Baldwin Sullivan was the most brilliant of the politicians of this period. As an orator he had no equal in the House, and possessed a knowledge as varied and interesting as his powers of expression were vivid and entertaining. But his reputation for inconsistency proved an obstacle to his attainment of high political power. Dominick Daly, long afterwards Governor of Prince Edward Island and one of the Australian Colonies, and 28S PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. knighted for his general services, was a man who I nothing for popular government and deemed his whole duty to lie in serving the Queen's Rep- resentative faithfully and fully in any position he might he asked to fill. He was " the permanent Secretary, the Vicar of Bray of Canadian politics." Yet there is no reason to doubt his honour and the honesty of his sentiments. He always stood by the Governor-General and knew that in doing so ho aroused at times the most bitter hostility. Colonel (afterwards Sir) Etienne Pascal Tache was the Conservative leader in Lower Canada and a gentle- man of the best Seigneurial type. Others during this and following years who came to the sur- face of the stormy sea of politics were Francis Hincks (a moderate Liberal of great ability who early obtained a high financial reputation and was always a fluent and incisive speaker), John Sand- field Macdonald, D. B. Viger, A. N. Morin, Etienne Parent, T. C. Aylwin, John ^Neilson, William Ham- ilton Merritt, Malcolm Cameron, Isaac Buchanan, James Morris, R. E. Caron, Alexander Morris, Ogle R. Gowan (the Orange leader), J. E. Cauchon, P. J. O. Chauveau, L. T. Drummond, Henry Sher- wood, and, last and greatest of all, John A. Mac- donald and George Brown. Sir Charles Metcalfe — who was raised to the peerage in January, 1845 — fought sternly and lily his battle with those whom he thought cne- of the Queen's prerogative, and at the same RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 289 time silently struggled with the painful death which was surely coming to him from a cancer in the cheek. There is no more mournful picture in Canadian history than is afforded by the spectacle of this in- domitable and conscientious Governor fighting the most bitter opposition and extreme and continuous suffering in what he deemed to be the cause of the Crown. Finally he was conquered by nature, though not by man, and went home to die. For a couple of years General the Earl of Cathcart took his place and carried on his policy as Governor-General, and in January, 1847, was succeeded by the Earl of Elgin. The latter found a problem which for the moment overshadowed even the evolution of respon- sible government through its progressively complex stages. About £40,000 had been voted by the As- sembly, under Conservative guidance, to compensate loyal persons in Upper Canada who had suffered during the Eebellion. The Lower Canadian repre- sentatives had at once demanded a similar grant, and a Commission of Inquiry had declared that while the total claims amounted to a quarter of a million, yet £100,000 would cover the real losses. The Draper Government awarded £10,000, which the French-Canadians naturally resented as an in- sult, especially as they were still without adequate representation in the Government and were lumped in the popular mind of the Upper Province as having all been rebels together. Feeling became very bitter and once more the racial element threatened to domi- 290 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nate affairs. A firm, judicious and skilful hand was indeed required, and in Lord Elgin's the iron and velvet were happily combined. In the year after his arrival general elections were held of an exceed- ingly stormy character and the Conservatives were defeated. Draper accepted the situation, resigned his office and was succeeded by Baldwin and Lafon- taine. Full French representation was given in the new Ministry, the principle of responsibility to tho Assembly was fully and finally decided, and Lord Elgin also accepted the Liberal view of appoint- ments to office. This ended the struggle for com- plete self-government, and it remained now for the Province of Canada to apply and practise the prin- ciple. The same year saw similar conditions prevail in the other Provinces. In "New Brunswick, however, the central question for years had been the bound- ary issue with Maine. It was settled in 1842 by the wretched Ashburton Treaty, in which Daniel Webster so signally over-reached the indifferent Englishman and effected a compromise by which 7,000 square miles went to the State of Maine and 5,000 to New Brunswick. During this period the question of responsible government was not very seriously discussed. The differing views expressed by Lord John Russell and Lord Glenelg, as Colonial Secretaries, had befogged the public mind, and, in any case, the administration of Sir John Harvoy was so acceptable that no one worried very much RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 291 over constitutional theories. The Assembly in 1839 even threw out a motion asking for responsible gov- ernment. Sir John was succeeded by Sir William Colebrooke, and in the general elections of 1842, as a result of stagnation in the lumber trade, a scourge of fire in St. John and a deficit between revenue and expenditure, the Liberals in the Prov- ince had a still harder time of it. The succeeding Assembly represented what was really the over- whelming conservatism of a people who did not want change of any sort, and had a feeling that some of their present troubles were due to the previous and partial realisation of Liberal efforts. The new Assembly in fact passed a congratulatory address to Sir Charles Metcalfe, the Governor-General, upon a despatch which he had forwarded to the Lieuten- ant-Governor, and in which he claimed the right of the Crown, through its representatives, to make appointments and to recommend a reconstruction of the Legislative Council so that all political parties and religious denominations should be represented in it. An interesting event, typical of the quietness of New Brunswick politics, was the death in 1844 of William Odell, who had held the position of Pro- vincial Secretary since 1818, when he succeeded his father — the first and pioneer occupant of the posi- tion. Incidentally, a conflict occurred over this vacancy, which the Governor rather rashly filled by the appointment of his son-in-law. All parties ob- jected to the appointment on the ground of Mr. PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. lleade being a non-resident with, a9 yet, no stake in the Province. Of the various political leaders, however, only L. A. Wilmot took the high ground of Canadian Liberals and claimed this as a good opportunity for the introduction of responsible gov- ernment The Governor did not press the matter and the position was finally given to a local man. Nothing important then occurred until 1847, when a despatch was received from Earl Grey, Colonial Secretary, addressed to the Lieutenant-Governors of the Provinces and clearly defining the principles of responsible government Coming from the Im- perial authorities this settled the matter, and in the session of 1848, on motion of Charles Fisher, who had for years supported the policy, both parties agreed by a large majority vote that the principles of Lord Grey's despatch should be applied to New Brunswick as well as Nova Scotia. There was no further trouble upon this point Sir Edmund Head became Lieutenant-Governor in the same year and administered the system with discretion and suc- cess until 1854. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia had gone through an ordeal of fierce and fiery discussion. Lord John Russell's despatch of 1839 regarding the tenure of public officers, in which he mildly intimated that they fchould no longer hold positions upon an absolute life tenure but be liable, as was the Lieutenant- Governor, to removal, had been enthusiastically greeted by the Provincial Liberals. In reality it RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 293 meant little, and, as Sir Colin Campbell, a staunch believer in prerogative, really believed, it still left matters largely in the Governor's hands. But Joseph Howe did not so regard it, and he soon made the walls of the Assembly and the free air of the Province ring with eloquent denunciation of the non- responsible system. In resolutions presented to the House in 1840, and adopted by a vote of thirty to twelve, he declared that for many years the progress of the Province had been retarded by want of har- mony between the different branches of the Govern- ment, and that the Executive Council not only did not enjoy the confidence of the country but had wielded powers and patronage in order to hamper the efforts made by the Assembly to purify Provin- cial administration and institutions. Sir Colin sturdily refused to take any action and was soon afterwards recalled — presumably by the advice of the Governor-General (Mr. Poulett Thomson) who about this time paid Halifax a visit and had sundry discussions with Howe and others. Viscount Falk- land came out in October and tried conciliation by adding Howe and some other Liberals to the Tory element in the Executive Council. Elections fol- lowed with the Liberals still in a majority in the Assembly. The coalition Executive did not last long. Johnston, the Tory leader, favoured denomi- national colleges and schools, with Government grants, and he and his friends did not accept the principle of responsibility to the Assembly. Howe 291 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. favoured free common schools, one Provincial Uni- versity and complete responsible government. The three Liberals resigned early in 1844 from the Ex- ecutive, and the ensuing elections resulted in a small Tory majority. The Governor and the Liberals were once more in open antagonism, and Howe again commenced the style of campaign he had conducted against Sir Colin Campbell. To say that these campaigns were brilliant and bitter is to very haltingly describe two of the most extraordinary episodes in all political struggle. By innumerable newspaper articles, speeches which read like eloquent essays, and long letters to Colonial Secretaries and English statesmen, Howe, with Junius-like cleverness and the most vitriolic in- tensity, pilloried these two unfortunate Governors. His sarcasm and the cutting force of his criticism have seldom been equalled, and had he lived in a wider sphere, or in days of later publicity, his name and writings would have been the talk of empires. As it was, Sir Colin Campbell, an old-fashioned gentleman of military strictness in his ideas of honour and ideals of government, went under, and Lord Falkland, despite the approval of Lord Stanley, the Colonial Secretary, was also compelled to ac- cept recall, and in August, 1846, he was succeeded by the invariably successful Sir John Harvey. Great as was the ability of Howe, his popular power in the Province had, however, somewhat turned his head. He should have been more just to a Governor RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 295 who in the case of Falkland actually had a majority in the Assembly itself. But no better illustration of the difficulties encountered at this time by the Queen's Eepresentatives in all the Provinces can be found than in these violent personal attacks. If responsible government means anything it implies not only the responsibility of the Ministry to Par- liament but the irresponsibility of the Governor to any one except the Sovereign-in-Council. But, instead of confining his criticism to the Ministers, Howe followed the earlier example of Papineau and Mackenzie, and directed the force of an al- most unequalled invective against the Queen's Rep- resentative^ — in the teeth of his own statement de- claring in a famous letter to Lord J". Russell, that such a personage was properly " the fountain of honour, of justice and of mercy : he must offer no insult and should have no enemies." In the autumn of 1847, general elections were held, and this time the Liberals were successful. Meanwhile Lord Grey's despatch had come, and in January, 1848, after a formal vote of want of confidence in the Executive had been carried in the Assembly, John Boyle Uniacke was sent for and formed a Liberal Ministry composed of such veterans as Howe, Tobin, Huntington, Des Barres, O'Connor Doyle and George R. Young. The history of Prince Edward Island in this con- nection is more important from its assertion of a principle than because of the magnitude of interests 296 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. involved in a tiny territory with some sixty thou- sand of a population. But none the less had Gov- ernor followed Governor, and all the paraphernalia of Queers Representative and Executive, Legisla- tive Council and Assembly, been established and maintained. In 1835, under the Governorship of Sir Aretus W. Young, a dispute about supplies occurred between the Council and Assembly, and in the following year Sir John Harvey came as Gov- ernor. In 1837 he was succeeded by Sir C. A. Eitz- roy, who soon found that the real trouble in the Is- land was the absentee proprietary of its land. These Proprietors, sitting in London, drained the settlers of their profits or ejected them if they refused to pay the rents fixed. They were not subject to local taxation except very slightly — £7,000 in twelve years out of £107,000. The new Governor advised the Proprietors to sell out to the tenants, the As- sembly passed a law assessing their lands, Lord Durham wrote very 6trongly to Lord Glenelg upon the subject and, finally, the taxing legislation was accepted in London. In 1839 the Executive and Legislative Councils were separated and the Chief Justice retired from the latter. Sir Henry Vere Huntley became Governor two years later ;md was succeeded in 1847 by Sir Donald Campbell. During this year a series of resolutions in favour of respon- sible government were passed and put in the form of a petition to the Queen. Lord Grey's reason for its refusal was the natural one of a lack of popula- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 297 tion. But be offered the control of the revenues to the Assembly provided a sufficient Civil List was granted — excluding the Governor's salary of £5,000, which the Imperial Government would pay. A gen- eral election was therefore held, the new House met in March, 1850, and pressed the issue more strongly. It in fact refused supplies until the right to change or control the Executive was ac- corded. Finally, in response to an able report from Sir D. Campbell upon the condition, resources and prospects of the Island, Lord Grey decided to grant the demand. The Governor died before the news arrived, and his successor, Sir Alexander Banner- man, announced it to the Legislature in March, 1851. A Ministry was at once formed consisting of George Coles, Charles Young and other politi- cians, and responsible government was in one more case a fact. The Province of Canada in the sixteen years fol- lowing 1848 and the formation of the Baldwin- Lafontaine Ministry, presented a curious picture of political progress and political failure. The prin- ciple of responsible government was fully in force and its first result was a new Rebellion Losses Bill and racial conflict; its last result was Legislative deadlock. Yet, in between these conditions was a period marked, it is true, by continuous party con- flict and bitter controversy, but marked also by im- portant reforms, the rise of a new school of states- men, and the coming to the top of one of those domi- 298 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nant minds which occasionally in the world's history stamps the seal of genius upon national affairs. Early in the Session of 1848 M. Lafontaine intro- duced his measure indemnifying the French-Cana- dian sufferers by the rebellion to the extent of £100,000. No amount of clever concealment could avoid the popular perception of the fact that it in- demnified the disloyal as well as the loyal — the great majority of sufferers being undoubtedly sympa- thisers with the insurrection, if not active par- ticipants. The Bill provided that no one convicted of high treason, " said to have been committed " in Lower Canada, should be remunerated, but this covered a very small proportion of those who ad- mittedly took part in the insurrection. However, the measure passed both Houses and then awaited, for a while, the signature of the Governor-General. Seldom, or never, in Canadian history has such feeling been raised amongst its English population. This proposal to reward rebellion, as it seemed to the excited Loyalists, set the Upper Province and the Tories everywhere in a blaze of indignation. The Bill was declared to be the price paid by Bald- win and his friends in Upper Canada for the sup- port of the French Liberals, and therefore the cry of French domination and the feeling of racial rivalry were added to the bitterness which the picture of public taxation for an indemnity to would-be or actual rebels had aroused. The immediate results were the formation of the British North American RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 299 League by men like George Moffatt, Asa H. Burn- ham, John A. Macdonald, Ogle K. Gowan, P. M. Van Konghnet and J. W. Gamble, with a wide federal union as part of its platform; stormy meet- ings all over the two Provinces and a riot in Toronto ; violent protests from the entire Conservative com- munity of Upper Canada — a decided majority upon such a question as this; and tremendous exertions to persuade Lord Elgin to veto the Bill or else sus- pend it for Imperial decision. But His Excellency had no idea of doing anything except take the ad- vice of his Ministers according to the new principle of responsibility, and he accordingly signed the measure on the 25th of April. The legislation was wrong, the principle involved was dangerous and not very loyal, the exercise of the veto power would have been immensely popular amongst the English- speaking population. Such action, however, would have fatally antagonised the French at the very be- ginning of this new experiment in popular govern- ment, while the policy adopted really did much to soothe their suspicions and develop their loyalty. Lord Elgin himself was mobbed in Montreal as he came away from giving his assent to the Bill, and the Parliament Buildings were burned by a gather- ing in which irrepressible excitement caused ir- reparable crime and reflected disgrace upon a party hitherto famed for its loyalty and the dignity of its leaders. The House should, perhaps, have ac- cepted the warning of Sir Allan McNab and called 300 PROGRESS OF CANADA IX THE CENTURY. for military support, but this was not done and Montreal, in addition to the discredit attached to the occurrence and the destruction of very valuable books and papers, lost finally its position as the seat of legislation for united Canada. For a number of years, Quebec and Toronto now became the al- ternate seat of Government Apart from the immediate disasters following this measure it served a great purpose in reviving the suggestion which Chief Justice Sewell had made in 1816 regarding a confederation of all the Provinces of British America. Like a meteoric flash in a dark sky that proposal had come and gone. Lord Durham had dreamed of it in 1838, but the vision had faded into the darkness of his own death. Now came the dawn of a vivified ideal and one which never left Canadian politics till its realisation in 1867. Another scheme also came to the 6tormy surface of affairs at this time, and its suggestion was caused partly by the Rebellion Losses legisla- tion; partly by the collapse of industry, investment and commerce after the Imperial free trade enact- ments of 1846 and the consequent removal of prefer- ential duties and British fiscal protection. A large meeting was held in Montreal in favour of annexa- tion to the United States, and a numerously signed Manifesto was issued in a moment of ephemeral rage at the apparent desertion of Canada by the Imperial Parliament in trade matters and by the Queen's Representative in local legislation. Many BESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 301 men afterwards distinguished in Canadian history- signed this extravagant and interesting document. In after years Sir John Abbott, Sir D. L. McPher- son, Sir John Rose, Sir A. A Dorion and other lead- ing politicians had reason to look back with a regret tinged with amusement at this act of signal and youthful rashness. But it illustrates the serious state of affairs which undoubtedly existed and which made a political and business leader like Isaac Buchanan declare that Lord Elgin would be the last Governor- General of Canada. The latter had, meanwhile, offered his resignation to the Imperial Government, but it was declined and his course was afterwards endorsed by both Houses of the British Parliament. The Clergy Reserves issue now came to the front, and with it a man who for nearly three decades was destined to hold a strong place in Upper Cana- dian politics. George Brown was a vehement, ag- gressive, forceful politician and writer; editor and proprietor of the Toronto Globe ; a Radical of con- sistently Scotch character ; and a violent Protestant in his political opinions with, as a natural corol- lary, strong prejudices against the French-Cana- dians and anything which savoured of Catholic, or for that matter Anglican, ascendency in State affairs. He had for some years led in an agitation against Lord Sydenham's arrangement regarding the Clergy Reserves, and by which it was hoped that the question had been finally settled. This 302 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. legislation had been introduced by the Hon. W. H. Draper, with the Governor-General's strong support, in the last Legislature of Upper Canada, and by its terms the Reserves were to be sold and the proceeds divided — the greater part going to the clergymen of the Church of England and the balance being distributed amongst the other Christian Churches. This was carried by a small majority and was after- wards made law by Imperial legislation. But it never really satisfied the Radical element of the Liberal party, and Mr. George Brown was soon the recognised leader of a wing which came to be called " Clear Grits," as against the section of the party led by Baldwin, Lafontaine and others who were becoming more and more moderate in their views as time passed on and were opposed to any further agitation of the subject and, especially, to the secu- larisation of funds received from future sales. This was the beginning of the break-up of the powerful Liberal Government and party led by Baldwin and Lafontaine. Brown's attitude upon religious or semi-religious issues gradually estranged French-Canadians from the party, while it divided the English section into followers of Brown and Baldwin respectively. Eventually, it may be said here, the former became the basis of the present Liberal party of the Dominion, although it was not till after Confederation that the sectarian element was sufficiently eliminated to permit of really full and cordial co-operation from French Liberals. RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 303 The " Baldwin Keformers," as they were termed, under the clever manipulation of Mr. John A. Mac- donald — now well in the front of affairs — gradually drifted into the moderate Conservative party which that leader was striving to organise out of the dis- jointed Tory, French, Orange and moderate Liberal sections of the community. It was only after 1867, however, that the full result of his labours and skill was realised. Meanwhile, Ministry succeeded Ministry in a variety infinite, if not pleasing, and more like those of the modern French Eepublic than can be seen in any other parallel. Baldwin and Lafontaine retired from public life in 1851. Under the double leadership plan Francis Hincks and A. "N. Morin, George Brown and John Sand- field Macdonald (for two days), J. S. Macdonald with L. V. Sicotte and then with A. A. Dorion, led the various Liberal Ministries from their respective Provinces up to 1867. During the same period Colonel E. P. Tache and George E. Cartier from Lower Canada acted with John A. Macdonald in a series of changing Conservative Administrations. The whole thing was a political kaleidoscope. Men were Liberals to-day and Conservatives to- morrow, while party platforms fluctuated much as did personal principles. Other men came to the front from time to time, of whom A. T. Gait, John Kose, Oliver Mowat, William McDougall, L. H. Holton, L. S. Huntington, Luc Letellier de St. Just, J. E. Cauchon, Alexander Campbell, H. L. 304 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Langevin, T. D'Arcy McGee and W. P. Holland were the most representative. In 1854, after an agitation extending over thirty years of keen controversy, the Clergy Reserves prob- lem was finally settled by an Imperial Act which gave authority to the Canadian Legislature to deal again with the question ; and by an Act of the latter under which the final separation of State and Church in Upper Canada was decreed. Endowed rectories were not interfered with and certain provisions were made for the widows and orphans of the clergy. The balance of the Reserves, in both funds and lands, was devoted to purposes of education and local improvement and divided accordingly amongst the townships in proportion to their population. Though urged with such persistence and for so many years by the Liberal leaders of the Province, this reform was at the last effected by the new Conserva- tive party under the astute leadership of Mr. John A. Macdonald. So with the twin question in Lower Canada of the Seigneurial Tenure which, for half a century, had been recognised as hampering in some measure the settlement and progress of the Province. The Liberals, or French party, had more than once refused the fence in this connection, and neither Papineau in his days of power nor Lafon- talne at a later period had cared very much to face the issue. In 1855, however, the Tache-Macdonald Government settled the matter on the basis of fanning out the Seigneurs' claims; freeing the small farm- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 305 ers of the Province from their various feudal dues and taxes; and appointing a Commission which in four years had disposed of this most complex ques- tion at an expense to the Province, as a whole, of £650,000. The same period saw the temporary settlement of an important international issue — the trade rela- tions of the growing Provinces with the United States. Lord Elgin, assisted by Commissioners from Canada and the other Provinces, arranged the terms of a treaty with W. L. Marcy, the American Secretary of State, upon the basis of a free exchange of the products of the sea, the fields, the forest and the mine. Americans had also the free run of Cana- dian fisheries, rivers and canals. But the one thing which would have made the Treaty beneficial to the Maritime Provinces was the admission of Provin- cial-built ships to the United States market, and this was not granted. Owing mainly to the Crimean War and the civil struggle in the Republic the ar- rangement finally appeared to be of great value to the Canadian farmer, though in most other directions it redounded to American interests. How Lord Elgin got the measure through the United States Senate is one of the curiosities of diplomatic history and the result stands to the lasting credit of his skill in statecraft, his geniality, personal tact and perhaps, also, to his hospitality. A tradition prevails to this day in Washington that the Treaty was floated through on a sea of champagne. Be that aa 306 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. it may, the measure lasted from 1854 to 1866, and with a seeming success which makes Canadian farm- ers — forgetting that the high prices were chiefly due to war — look back upon the period as a sort of golden age in agriculture. Meanwhile the Crimean contest had stirred up Canadian loyalty. The 100th Regi- ment was formed and recruited in Canada and served with great credit on many a stern-fought field. Con- gratulatory addresses upon the Battle of the Alma passed the Canadian Legislature, and £20,000 was voted to the widows and orphans of those who fell in the war. Nova Scotia sent Major Welsford and Captain Parker to fall at the storming of the Redan and General (Sir) William Fenwick Williams to win lasting glory at Kars. New Brunswick sent soldiers who at the end of the war brought back to the banks of the St. John many a coveted medal awarded for bravery in the field. One of the results of these events was the organisation, in 1855, of a volunteer force which formed the nucleus of the more important militia of a later time. Meanwhile, the railway idea had taken hold of the Provincial politicians, and during these years Hincks, Howe and Chandler, for the three Prov- inces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respectively, were mixed up in all kinds of com- plicated efforts to obtain Imperial aid and mutual co-operation in the building of railways. The net result was the Grand Trunk, the Great Western and some minor lines. In 1850 Papineau, who upon re- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 307 ceiving his pardon had been promptly elected to the Legislature, introduced his old-time scheme of an elective Council. Owing, however, to loss of per- sonal influence and other causes it fell flat for the moment. Six years later the experiment was tried in a mild and tentative form by the arrangement that as vacancies occurred in the Legislative Council, by death or retirement, they were to be filled up by election from large and stated constituencies for a period of eight years. In this mixed form the plan could hardly be termed a success and was entirely abandoned at Confederation. Politics still remained bitter, although some of the bad feelings engendered by the Rebellion period were slowly dying out. They were being replaced by two great sources of rivalry and political passion — the representation by popula- tion question and the " French domination " cry of the Hon. George Brown and the Globe. In a sense these were connected problems. The former was a simple enough matter had it not been for the racial feature. By the terms of union in 1841 the represen- tation in the joint Legislature of the two Prov- inces was exactly equal, although the population of Lower Canada at that time was 200,000 greater than that of the Upper Province. And it was under- stood that this was to be the permanent basis of electoral arrangement. When, however, Upper Can- ada grew steadily in population and first equalled and then passed the other in numbers it was natural that many of her politicians should seek equal rep- 308 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. reservation — and it was also natural that they should be fiercely opposed by the French-Canadians. Out of this agitation, coupled with the fact that at intervals the Lower Canadian contingent in the Assembly controlled the fate of Ministries and of important measures, grew the charge of growing dom- inance on the part of the French and the ever- ready fear of a Protestant population — or the ex- treme section of it — that this also meant Roman Catholic domination. Hence the vigorous denuncia- tions by George Brown, the break-up of the old Liberal party and the gradual development of ab- solute deadlock in the functions of legislation. Mixed up with these difficulties were many minor, though collateral, ones. From the days when Par- liament had sat in Montreal for the last time it had visited, alternately, Quebec and Toronto — four years in each place. But the peripatetic plan was neither conducive to unity nor comfort and, in 1858, Her Majesty the Queen was asked by Legislative petition to select a central spot, away from the rival cities or the international frontier, where the seat of Government might be permanently established. The little village in the lumber region of the Ottawa, and within sound of the thundering Chaudiere, was chosen and the name of Bytown changed to that of Ottawa. Upon this site grew slowly the massive and stately buildings which are now the pride of a con- tinental Dominion, though before that result had fair- ly commenced to evolve there were months of foolish RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 309 and fruitless discord over the Koyal decision. Racial and civic rivalry combined to make the Legislature unwilling to accept the Queen's selection, and to its disgrace a resolution was passed by a small majority declaring that Ottawa ought not to be the seat of Government. The Macdonald-Cartier Ministry at once resigned and the Brown-Macdonald Cabinet was formed, and than overthrown in two days by a vote of non-confidence. Messrs. John A. Mac- donald and George E. Cartier returned to office. During the next session the Governor-General — Sir Edmund W. Head, Bart, had succeeded Lord Elgin in December, 1854 — informed the Legislature that the Queen's decision was binding, and after another partisan debate the arrangement was finally accepted. Events now moved rapidly towards that federal issue which statesmen could see must be the ulti- mate goal of British American politics. The pub- lic had not yet grasped the full idea, but an educat- ive process was going on. In 1860 the young Prince of Wales visited the Provinces accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secretary, and a large suite. The visit was made in accordance with the desire of the Queen and the Prince Consort to cultivate a personal as well as theoretical loyalty to the Crown in its great dependencies. About the same time Prince Alfred was sent to the Cape and then to Australia. In British America the Heir to the Throne received a magnificent welcome. Halifax, St. John, Quebec, Montreal and Toronto rivalled 310 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. one another in evidences of loyalty and pleasure, and the Maritime Provinces vied with French Can- ada in popular demonstrations. The only bit of discord to mar the absolute harmony of the event was the refusal of the Duke of Newcastle to advise the Prince to pass under certain Orange arches in Toronto, Belleville and Kingston, and the consequent anger of the important organisation concerned. At Montreal the great Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence, which at that time was considered one of the wonders of the world, was opened by the Prince, and at Ottawa the corner-stone of the Par- liament Buildings was laid by His Royal Highness. Later, he made a tour of the United States under his subordinate title of Lord Renfrew and in a nomi- nally private capacity — which, needless to say, was openly and almost entirely disregarded. His wel- come was a mixture of the sincere and universal hospitality so characteristic of the Republic with a curiosity which was not always polite or pleasant. But the visit did good. In 1861 Lord Monck became Governor-General, and in the succeeding year, dur- ing a time when international complications growing out of the American Civil War threatened to in- volve Great Britain and Canada in a struggle with the United States, the Macdonald-Cartier Govern- ment was unfortunately defeated upon a Militia Bill which they had introduced with a view to pre- paring for eventualities. There were complex causes for the occurrence, but it naturally made an un- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 311 favourable impression in England. During Jan- uary, 1862, ten thousand British troops had been hurried to Halifax in connection with the Trent Affair — which was not settled for another year — and at the very time when the Assembly thus re- fused to support a policy of militia reorganisation and military co-operation with the Mother Country the spirit of war was smouldering fiercely in a caul- dron of international dispute. The Manchester School, which was then dominant in British politics, delighted in this apparent evidence of Canadian in- difference to Imperial matters, and from Lord Palm- erston and the Times downward there was much contemptuous reference to the spiritless loyalty, or lack of loyalty, which had been shown. The fact, of course, was that politics were uppermost and the public unconvinced that war was really probable. During this period there was a strong sympathy shown by the Canadian press for the Southern States, although at the same time Canadians to the number of 40,000 men are said to have served in the Northern armies. Many Southerners made the Provinces a place of refuge and of communication with friends in the Northern States, and one of the results of this condition of affairs was the plunder- ing of an American vessel in Lake Erie. A raid upon the border town of St. Albans, in Vermont, was also made in October, 1864, by twenty- three Southerners who robbed the banks of some $250,000, shot the cashier of one institution, and then made 312 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. their escape back into Canada. They were promptly arrested and $90,000 recovered, but were as hur- riedly released by the Montreal Chief of Police, who, at the same time, returned the money to them with a hasty kindness and zeal which lost him his place and eventually made the Province responsible for the sum. It was duly paid over and volunteers stationed on the frontier to prevent the recurrence of an incident which, nevertheless, created intense ill-feeling in the United States. At the close of the Civil War occurred the Fenian Raids of 1866 and the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty. The Fenian Raids were the outcome of the im- mense migration of discontented Irishmen to the United States in 1849 and immediately following years, and of the hostility aroused in the Northern States toward Great Britain by the Alabama in- cident and the alleged sympathy of that country for the Southern cause. The movement was helped also by the existence of a great body of idle men in the Republic who had for some years served as soldiers, and now, at the close of the Civil War, felt no in- clination to turn again to manual labour or the bind- ing occupations of a time of peace. The ground was therefore ripe for mischief and Fenian societies sprang up all through the frontier States — nom- inally for the purpose of " freeing " Ireland, practi- cally for the invasion of Canada as being the nearest and easiest way of hurting Great Britain. Head- quarters were established at 3STew York in a palatial RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 313 mansion and with a large and highly-paid staff; an arsenal was formed at Trenton, JST.J"., for the conversion of American Springfield muskets into breech-loaders; numerous depots of arms, ammuni- tion and military stores were placed along the Cana- dian border; one hundred thousand men were en- listed and drilled by December, 1865; and arrange- ments were attempted for a rising in Ireland at the same time as the projected invasion of Canada. All these plans and movements were public property, as were the protests of the British Government; but nothing was done by American authorities who, at this very time, were denouncing with tremendous vigour the accident by which the Alabama had escaped from an English port and were demanding damages of untold millions in amount. The nominal strength of the volunteers in British America was 22,000, and since the Trent Affair of 1862 there had also been some 12,000 Imperial troops stationed throughout the country. On March 17th, 1866, ten thousand volunteers were called out to meet a threatened invasion of the Canadian fron- tier. Fourteen thousand responded and General McDougall in a subsequent Report declared that thirty thousand could have been as easily obtained. ^Nothing happened for the moment, however, except an incipient raid on !N"ew Brunswick which wa3 checked at an early stage by the presence on the coast of sundry British men-of-war. After some duty on the frontier as guards the Canadian volun- 314 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. teers were allowed to return home. But a little later the Fenian movement into Canada really began, and on May 31st fourteen thousand men were ordered out for actual service. In three days 20,000 men were under arms. The details of ensuing events need not be entered into. They were important in their consequences but trivial in the number of men engaged and in the nature of the actual conflicts. On the old battle-grounds of the Niagara, nine hundred Fenians were met by a detachment of Canadian militia, but, owing to the mistakes of officers who misapprehended instructions, the Canadians were compelled to retreat from what is called the Battle of Bidgeway, leaving nine dead and twenty-two wounded on the field. Hearing, however, of the approach of a larger force, with a number of regu- lars amongst them, the Fenian contingent retired across the river to -New York State. Other inva- sions were threatened at different points on the border, but were checked by the concentration of troops on the Canadian side. Some invasions fol- lowed in later years, but this was the record for 1866. It seems a small sum total of actual hostili- ties, yet it involved a militia expenditure of a million dollars over the normal figure, the death of several brave young Canadians, and a serious loss to the people, through the natural and inevitable disorgan- isation of business. Upon the footsteps of this trouble came also the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty and the conse- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 315 quent shattering of many commercial ties and in- terests; together with a final realisation of the failure of responsible government to remove racial rivalries. This latter political principle had now been in operation for twenty-five years, and so far as Canada was concerned had been an instrument of both good and evil. It found the two Provinces wrecked in a constitutional sense upon the shoals of rebellion; it left the ship of state foundering upon the rocks of racial and religious jealousy. Yet in effect the value of self-government had been vin- dicated, and only popular abuse of the privilege had made its nominal failure possible. It had by free discussion evoked some common grounds of action between people of different creeds and race. It had forced the settlement of the Clergy Eeserves, the Seigneurial Tenure and the Seat of Govern- ment question. It had evolved a system of Cabinet construction and ministerial responsibility which, however, was continuously hampered by the attempt to introduce the alien element of confidence from a double majority — one from each part of the Prov- ince. Upon this issue the whole system was now stranded, and out of the impossibility of forming a stable Government — which became finally and fully evident in 1864 after a dozen organised and reorgan- ised Ministries in two years — came the partisan willingness to consider a wider union. From the granting of responsible government until the period when Confederation became every- 31 1 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. where a living issue the Provinces facing the waters of the Atlantic were not greatly troubled in a political Bense. It took time, of course, to exactly fit the new constitutional garment to ' the body of public life, but there was no such turmoil as was bred by the same process in the Canadas. For some years fol- lowing 1850 the great subject of discussion was the Intercolonial Kail way suggested by Lord Durham and fitfully urged from time to time thereafter. As a political issue Joseph Howe made it his own, paid a visit to England, and delivered eloquent speeches which he followed up by numerous letters addressed to Earl Grey. Conferences ensued be- tween the Provinces; varying complexities were introduced by the building of the Grand Trunk in Upper Canada; plans for co-operation amongst the Provinces were received in degrees varying from the friendly to the frigid; international considerations were found to exist under which England refused to subsidise a road unless free from American con- nections and distant from the American border; and the whole thing finally fell through until after Con- federation had been some years in existence. In 1852, at the age of seventy-four, Sir John Harvey died in Government House, Halifax, after having ruled for sixteen years in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and always with success and popularity. Such a record, in those days, stamps his memory as that of a statesman as well as a soldier. Sir John RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 317 Gaspard Le Marchant succeeded him for six years, and the Earl of Mulgrave — afterwards Marquess of Normanby — acted as Lieutenant-Governor from 1858 to 1863. Sir Kichard Graves Macdonnell then held the position for a little over a year and was replaced for two years* by a distinguished native of the Province, Sir Eenwick Williams of Kars, who had the honour of presiding over its entry into the new Dominion. In 1855 a first attempt to intro- duce a Prohibitory liquor law in British America was made by the Conservative leader in Nova Scotia, the Hon. J. W. Johnston, but was laughed and ridi- culed out of court by Joseph Howe. A memor- able incident of this year was Howe's defeat in Cumberland County by one of the most striking figures in all Canadian history — Dr. Charles Tup- per. Handsome in appearance, strong in physique, energetic beyond political parallel in the Prov- ince, eloquent with a sledge-hammer force which was yet to ring from Halifax to Vancouver and to leave its impress in the metropolis of the Em- pire, Dr. Tupper was, even at this time, a worthy foe of the man who had held Nova Scotia so long in the hollow of his hand. More fortunate than he, a time was to come when events would enable him to be a potent figure in national and Imperial devel- opment as well as in the smaller arena of his native Province. The Conservatives came into power in 1857 under Johnston and Tupper, were sustained at the elections of 1863, and in the succeeding year 318 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Dr. Tupper introduced a measure which completely revolutionised the educational system of the Prov- ince and another which proposed the Legislative union of the Maritime Provinces and proved a pre- text for the wider union which evolved out of the en- suing discussions. In New Brunswick little had, meanwhile, occurred of importance. Sir Edmund W. Head acted as Lieutenant-Governor until 1854 and was succeeded for seven years by Sir J. H. T. Manners- Sutton. The Hon. Arthur Hamilton Gordon — afterwards Lord Stanmore — presided over its affairs from 1861 until Confederation. There was little party spirit shown until 1855 — the chief topics of political dis- cussion being the proposed Intercolonial Railway and an agitation for retrenchment in the Judges' salaries led by Wilmot and Fisher. A more im- portant subject of wider controversy was the right to place a protective duty on flour, and afterwards on other products of local industry, as well as the right to grant a bounty to the fishermen of the Province. Lord Grey, who was at the Colonial Office and just then sitting on the valve of an active and pulsating free trade principle, naturally objected, but he had to finally give way, as did Downing Street in 1858, when the Hon. A. T. Gait imposed his Canadian protectionist duties. Then came the heated dis- cussions over Confederation, led on the one side by the Hon. S. L. Tilley and in opposition by the Hon. A. J. Smith. Prince Edward Island had meantime RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 319 been using every possible way and means to settle its complicated land tenure question. The Imperial Government was only too anxious to find a solution, but it was naturally and properly bound to defend the just rights of the Proprietors, as it was also desirous of alleviating admitted grievances and checks upon settlement. Something was done in 1854 when the Provincial Government purchased for re-sale to settlers, under free tenure, a large estate of 81,000 acres. Then the Assembly proposed that the Imperial Government should guarantee a loan of £100,000 to enable them to buy out other pro- prietors, but, after some promising negotiations, this scheme fell through. Finally, a Royal Commission of Inquiry was asked for and in 1860 appointed — one Commissioner by the Colonial Government, ono by the Imperial authorities and one by the Pro- prietors. In 1858 the estates of the Earl of Selkirk, who had done such pioneer service to the Island, were purchased — 62,000 acres for the sum of £6,586. The ensuing Report of the Commission was a singu- larly able document, and proposed, in brief, that the absentee proprietors who owned more than fifteen thousand acres should be obliged to sell, down to that amount, when asked by their tenants; and that the Imperial Government should guaran- tee the loan previously suggested by the Provincial Assembly. This was not done, however, and the question smouldered unsettled until after Confeder- ation. As Governors of the little Province Sin 320 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Dominick Daly (of Canadian fame) had succeed- ed Sir A. Bannerman in 1854 and Mr. George Dun- das ruled, at least nominally, until 1868, when he was replaced by Sir Robert Hodgson. Mr. (after- wards Sir) William C. F. Robinson succeeded in 1870 and governed until after the Province entered the Dominion. Far away to the North and West some progress had been made during this period. In the North- West regions proper, the Red River Settlement was still apparently an oasis of colonisation in a wild waste where Indian and Half-breed camps and fur- trade forts monopolised the commerce and control of the country. But, although the fur trade was unquestioned monarcn of the land from Lake Su- perior to the Rockies and Sir George Simpson, a vigilant, energetic and able ruler of the territory, was not too fond of settlers, yet around the numer- ous trading-posts which he placed on rivers, lakes and bays there naturally arose a number of flourish- ing little colonies which, in turn, attracted isolated and occasional settlers who were not connected with the Hudson's Bay Company. But these latter were exceptional. In 1849 the Company founded Victoria as the capital of its Pacific territories and with a basis of thirty settlers in addition to its own employes. Richard Blanshard was the first Gov- ernor of the infant Colony, but a year later threw up the office and was succeeded by Mr. (afterwards Sir) James Douglas — the chief figure in British RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 321 Columbian pioneer life. During his rule many things happened. In and about 1856 miners poured into the region watered by the Fraser and Thompson Rivers and vefry soon the wild canyons and pine-clad heights of the great mountainous interior of the mainland swarmed with adventurers and every kind of rough and turbulent character. In 1858 Douglas was given charge of this region as well as Vancouver Island, and for six years administered it with an iron hand. He then retired and was suc- ceeded on the Island for two years by Mr. (after- wards Sir) Arthur E. Kennedy and on the Main- land by Mr. Frederick Seymour. Meantime Governor Douglas had also to deal with a critical international complication arising out of the Oregon Treaty by which Great Britain, in 1S4G, yielded up to the United States a large territory she had always claimed as hers, and which included all the splendid Puget Sound region and the greater parts of the present States of Washington and Oregon. The new controversy arose out of the question as to which channel was meant in the terms of the Treaty defining the boundary line through the waters and islands between Vancouver Island and the United States mainland. Only one had been then known to exist; afterwards there were found to be three. The Island of San Juan was the centre of controversy as it commanded British shores and was an important position from a military standpoint. In 1854 some American squatters settled on tliQ 322 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Island, and soon two rival flags were flying and national passions being continually aroused. In 1859 a wandering pig brought the nations interested to the verge of war. One of these animals, belong- ing to the Hudson's Bay Fort, strayed on to the un- enclosed ground of an American settler, named Cutler, who promptly shot it and then scornfully re- fused payment. The demand for remuneration was even resented as an outrage, and General Harney sent a force of United States troops to occupy and administer the whole Island. Governor Douglas had abundant troops at his command and British warships on the spot, but, with characteristic Brit- ish patience, he awaited the decision of his Govern- ment. On learning of the event, however, the Am- erican Administration apologised, sent General Winfield Scott to replace Harney and, eventually, in 1860, a joint occupation was arranged. In 1872 the issue was decided by arbitration, and, as usual, against England. Other matters now came up of a constitutional na- ture. Vancouver Island and the Mainland had been taken from the control of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany in 1858, as a result of the lapsing of the ar- rangement under which they had promised — and failed — to colonise as well as govern. The two di- visions were made separate governments, as already stated, but owing to the danger which afterwards arose of the Island being carried into the swing of a strong annexation movement resulting from the in- RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 323 flux of Americans, it was reunited in 1866 with the Mainland by Act of the Imperial Parliament and with Mr. Anthony Musgrave as Governor. For eight years following 1850 the Government had been solely in the Governor's hands and for five years following 1858 in the hands of a Governor and Executive Council. In March, 1860, Governor Douglas met a Council of fifteen members — partly appointed, partly elected, and from both the Island and the Mainland. This arrangement lasted till 1864 when separate Legislative Councils were convened. Not until February, 1871, did a properly elected As- sembly sit for the Province. By that time the splendid dream of a Dominion stretching from sea to sea had been partially realised and was awaiting the final decision of these representatives of still scattered settlements in the wilds of the Selkirks and on the shores of the Pacific. PliOUilLbri OF CANADA IN TUE CENTUIiiT. CHAPTER XIII. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. During the formative period of Canadian history the principal progress of the country had, in all the Provinces, taken the shape of transforming the forest areas into farm lands and at the same time adjust- ing varied views of government and life, brought from older civilisations into harmony with the con- ditions of a new and potential empire. In the succeeding quarter of a century the first phase of this development is still more clearly re- corded in the statistics of the period as well as in the greater comforts of the home and the more populous character of the small cities and towns. There had been a large immigration just prior to the Rebellion, but, except as to driblets, this ceased during the troubles of that time. Between 1840 and 1850, how- ever, some 350,000 souls were landed at Quebec, a large proportion of whom — perhaps a half — went to the United States. During the single year 1847, when the terrible Irish famine was at its height, nearly a hundred thousand people came to that port of the new world. Between 1852 and 1865, 336,000 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 325 immigrants arrived at Quebec,* and a somewhat similar proportion as above seem to have stayed in Canada, In 1866 the immigrants amounted to 28,000. Like an army this mass of people spread over the soil of Canada or the neighbouring Re- public. Up the St. Lawrence Valley they came in thousands and settled the forests of the Huron Tract in a manner which would have made Gait envious and did eventually astonish the Canada Company. A great territory back of the Tract which had been regarded as swamp land was thrown open by the Government, and in a short time two large counties — Bruce and Waterloo — stretching up to the shores of the Georgian Bay, were ringing with the axe of the settler. In 1857 the Counties o$ Wellington and Grey were formed out of what had been called the Queen's Bush, and in the succeeding ten years became the home of many thousands of families from the Old Land. In 1843 the County of Simcoe had been set apart for settlement and in seven years its popula- tion grew to 25,000. It was the policy of the Gov- ernment at this time to open up the counties back of Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Montreal and Ot- tawa, and, owing to this influx of settlers, the plan was very largely successful. ISTew Brunswick also began to receive some accessions to its population, though not in a similarly bountiful measure. Be- * Report of A. C. Buchanan, Chief Government Immigra- tion Agent, Quebec, 18C6. 326 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. tween 1834 and 1840 the increase had been about 30,000 and in the next eleven years it was 37,000. In 1847, the year of Ireland's sorrow and of Eng- land's succour to the extent of millions of pounds sterling, ninety-nine vessels arrived from that country laden with victims of " ship-fever." Thou- sands died of the plague on the way, other thou- sands in the St. Lawrence River, and these years will be as memorable in Canadian history as is the cholera period of 1832-34, when that terrible disease wreaked havoc at Quebec and Montreal and in many parts of Upper Canada — amongst not only the unfortunate immigrants who had brought it to the country but amongst all classes of the people. In the two French Canadian cities thousands had also died from the earlier scourge. With this influx of people and despite the passage of many to the United States the settlement of the Provinces grew steadily, though not rapidly, as may be seen from the follow- ing table: 1861. 1861. 1871. LowerCanada 890,261 1,111,566 1,191,516 Upper Canada 952,004 1,396,091 1,620,851 Nova Scotia 276,117 330,857 387,800 New Brunswick 193,800 252,047 285,594 Prince Edward Island 65,000* 80,857 94,021 Manitoba and British Columbia 10,000* 46,314 2,377,182 8,181,418 8,626,090t It was upon the whole a good class of population. • Estimated. f Indians, 100,000 included. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 327 The extreme element of political thought and the disloyal or discontented section went largely over the border and left behind a stable, solid and sub- stantial mass of hard-working people. Between 1861 and 1871 emigration of all kinds from Eng- land decreased, and Canada sank into a background illumined only by the civil conflagration in the United States and the not very inviting prospect of war. Prosperity in the United Kingdom and the dominance of stormy politics in the Canadas also had their effect upon emigration. In 1861 the Census returns for the four chief Provinces gave forty-four per cent, of the people as belonging to the Church of Rome, fifteen per cent, each to the Church of England and the combined Presbyterian di- visions, fourteen per cent, to the Methodist Churches, and a little over six per cent, to the Baptist denomina- tion. The most interesting feature of these figures is, of course, the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Canada, where 85 per cent, of the people belonged to that faith, and the decline of the ChurcH of England in its comparative numerical strength as well as in its governing and political in- fluence. At the same date the adult male popula- tion of the Provinces was composed of 320,000 farmers with 209,000 labourers — including lumber- men — and 115,000 mechanics. Only 57,000 were engaged in trade and commerce and fisheries, so that the still overwhelming preponderance of the farm was very visible. 328 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Since the Union of the Canadas in 1841 there had been an enormous expansion in this agricultural pro- duction. The forest had in so many great regions given way to the farm; the methods of cultivation had so greatly improved and the knowledge of the farmers, derived from growing practical acquaint- ance with the soil and climate, had so largely in- creased ; while prices, owing to wars in the East and West, in Hindostan, the Crimea and the Southern States, had so bountifully grown; that the farmers of these Provinces shared in a common expansion of prosperity which is never likely to be seen again. In 1861 the Census had shown a cash value in farms of $537,000,000, in live stock of about $120,000,000, and in implements of $25,000,000. Nine years later a reasonable estimate in this connection * placed the value of farms at $672,000,000, of live stock at $150,000,000, and of agricultural implements at $31,000,000, while the value of the products was estimated at $196,000,000. Between 1854 and 1866 the products of the farm had gone into the markets of the United States free, while the various wars of the period, and especially the one which withdrew a million of men in the United States from productive pursuits and threw them into a prolonged and sanguinary struggle, naturally ran the prices of products up. But as time passed conditions gradually changed, and from finding the United * James Young, M.P., in the Year Book of Canada, Mon- treal, 1871. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 329 States under the Keciprocity Treaty and the circum- stances just noted a splendid market for their prod- ucts, Canadian farmers about the time of Confedera- tion and the repeal of that Treaty were discovering an unpleasant development of American competition in local markets and a growing competition of the same kind in British markets. Meanwhile trade and commerce showed signs of progress, despite difficulties of various kinds. Up to 1841 pioneer conditions of transportation and the comatose state of enterprise and investment following the American Revolution period had prevented much continental interchange and restricted both imports and exports. It took some time to rise out of these conditions, and still longer to get railways and canals into established and working order. Another det- rimental and vital influence was to be found in the tariffs which each Province imposed upon goods coming from the other. Not satisfied with separa- tion in their governmental systems, severance be- tween the Canadas in racial and religious sentiments and between the other Provinces by great spaces of wilderness, they had also every variety of fiscal di- vision. When the Canadas united that difficulty dis- appeared as between them, but it was still main- tained against the Maritime Provinces — with which the total trade in 1851 amounted to $1,865,000 and in 1854 to $2,770,000.* By 1862 the various dis- * Report of Committee in Canadian House of Assembly, Sessional Papers, 1855, vol. 17. 330 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. cussions over Intercolonial railway connection had aroused popular interest in this question, and Lord Monck made an effort on behalf of Canada to have some freer Provincial trade basis arranged. But nothing practical was done until the general union of 1867. Meanwhile in the same year (1863) the Hon. (afterwards Sir) W. P. Howland had prepared an elaborate Report on the subject from which it may be seen that the Canadian duties on imports from the other Provinces such as manufactures, tea, to- bacco, wine, etc., ran from 20 to 30 per cent., whib the Maritime Province duties were only about one- half of those figures. It is interesting to note that the tax upon gin ran from 100 to 175 per cent, and on rum from 57 to 100 per cent, in the different Provinces. In 1851 the external trade of the Canadas was twenty-one million dollars in imports and thirteen millions in exports, and by the time of Confedera- tion it had reached one hundred and seven millions as the sum total of both imports and exports. Of the exports, in 1866, Great Britain received $12,900,- 000 and the United States $34,000,000. The im- ports from these two countries were respectively $29,000,000 and $20,000,000. This characteristic of Canadian commerce was destined to be after- wards revolutionised, partly by the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty and partly by the higher tariffs imposed in the Republic. In this connection it must be pointed out in passing that the Treaty was TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 331 not an unmixed good to British America. It led the Provinces to separately cultivate interchange of products to the South in preference to promoting closer commercial relations with each other east and west. It positively decreased trade in some cases between the Provinces and in other cases prevented possible expansion. It destroyed the St. Lawrence as a great Canadian transportation route. It made the United States the carrier of Canadian exports abroad, depleted the returns and profits of Canadian railways, helped to delay the building of the Intercolonial between Halifax and Quebec and made the Prov- inces dangerously dependent upon American fiscal will and pleasure. By 1866 the trade of New Brunswick had grown to twelve millions and that of Nova Scotia to twenty-two millions — a total com- merce for the four Provinces of $147,000,000. The chief exports of Canada were animals and agricul- tural products and lumber and its manufactured products. Those of New Brunswick were lumber and its products and ships, while Nova Scotia ex- ported largely of fish and coal. Minerals were as yet slightly produced, although gold had been dis- covered in British Columbia and Nova Scotia; and manufactures were still insignificant in the export trade. The railway development of this period was very great and the results complicated and contradictory. To individuals throughout a myriad scattered com- munities it was an unmixed good — bringing life and w 332 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. business and growth to villages and towns, placing the farmer in contact with the larger centres of popu- lation, and bringing the centres into communication with each other. But, partly through ignorance concerning the conditions of construction in a new and vast country, partly through extravagance in expenditure and comparatively small returns from a sparse population and trade, the larger lines did not pay and the shareholders suffered proportionately. Money was poured out like water upon the building of the Grand Trunk and Great Western Lines, and, between 1852 and 1857, there was a period of specu- lative mania which sent governments, municipalities and corporations into a wild rivalry of expenditure and extravagance. When the reaction came in the financial crisis of the last-mentioned year the Eng- lish shareholder was brought to the point of cursing all Canadian investments because he had suffered so greatly in one; and an injury was thus done Cana- dian credit which nearly half a century has not absolutely wiped out. The local taxpayer suffered also, and more than one public man in the Provinces regretted his connection with the railway movement. Yet it was a period of great and necessary progress, and the hero of this expansion, the Colbert of his time, was Sir Francis Hincks. He was a man in whom many seeming contradictions of character centred. At times a vehement partisan, at times a moderate Liberal, he eventually became a Conserva- tive. Conspicuous in the Welland Canal investiga- TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 333 tions of 1835, he was himself the ultimate victim of charges at the hands of Howe, whom he had apparent* ly got the better of in the railway rivalries of the early fifties. With a tongue that cut like a sword he was yet a careful speaker upon many important and serious topics. With a temperament of feverish activity he was also a clear-headed and methodical man of business. With a financial reputation so pronounced that Sir John Macdonald in days of Do- minion unity selected him as the best available man for the post of Finance Minister, he yet towards the end of his career was involved in the unfortunate failure of a Bank over whose affairs he had presided for years. But he did the country good service. His Municipal Loan Bill of 1849, though eventually plunging Canadian municipalities into a debt of ten million dollars, laid the foundation of our railwav system, while the building of the Grand Trunk, de- spite its after difficulties and disasters, was an all-important aid to the general community. To this period and in this connection belong the great bridge across the St. Lawrence at Montreal which cost seven millions of dollars and was completed in 1860, and the famous Suspension Bridge which spans the Niagara chasm and was finished in 1855. In 1850 there were only fifty-five miles of rail- way in all the wide areas of British America; in 1867 there were over three thousand miles. The cost of these lines up to the latter year was $160,000,- 000, including $24,000,000 for the Great Western 334 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and $102,000,000 for the Grand Trunk. The annual earnings were over twelve millions, and there were seven important lines projected and contracted for — including the Intercolonial — which would cover fourteen hundred more miles. A continental road was still the dream of a very few and steam com- munication with the distant Orient a vision of fancy only. Intimately connected with this branch of prog- ress in the promotion of trade and business, though in every other sense a rival interest, was the devel- opment of the Canal system. Such improvements as had been made in nature's great waterways prior to 1841 were largely tentative, though costly and in a measure serviceable. After that date, however, the co-operation of the two Canadian Provinces in matters of material importance, disturbed though it often was by political bitterness and controversy, en- abled much more to be done. In the Welland Canal which, during a long term of years, was gradually and steadily increased at a cost, up to July 1st, 1867, of $7,638,000, William Hamilton Merritt left a last- ing memorial of indefatigable exertions and in- tense enthusiasm. Following its success and the building of the Lachine Canal on the St. Lawrence navigation and the Rideau on the Ottawa, came, after 1841, the completion of a series of Canals intended to improve and perfect the great system of the former river. In this connection the improvement of the Montreal Harbour was an important work which was TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 335 greatly furthered during these years and in which the Hon. John Young of Montreal took an active part — as he did in most of the pioneer railway and canal schemes of Lower Canada. In 1845 the Beauharnois Canal was opened and up to Confedera- tion had cost $1,600,000. The Canals known as the Williamsburg System were completed in 1856 at a cost of $1,300,000 up to the year 1867. The Richelieu Canals, the Burlington Bay Canal, and others were carried to the final stage, or improved, during this period with a total expenditure — in- cluding that of the years before the Union of 1841 — amounting to twenty-one millions of dollars. A great waterway was thus assured through Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario to the sea, for vessels of moderate draught, while at the same time a com- petitive warfare of somewhat serious character was inaugurated between railways and waterways. The farmers have now for many years had the advantage but in those days it was still a very debateable question — and may easily be again — as to which was to be the best and strongest factor in transportation. Water rates are lower but carriage is slower, and consequently the railways have gained greatly in these times of lightning rapidity. But from 1851 onwards for a decade or so the issue was not de- cided, one route cut into the other, and before the popular verdict was given the Grand Trunk and Great Western suffered considerably. Meanwhile progress in other directions was 336 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. marked. Provincial revenues are in some ways in* dicative of popular conditions, though perhaps more bo of political requirements. In any case they grew steadily during this period in all the Provinces — slowly down by the sea, swiftly up the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. In the fiscal year 1865-6 the revenues of Canada were $12,600,000; those of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia $3,100,000. The expenditures naturally maintained a fair equilib- rium, and with the inevitable tendency of democratic government towards expense, these popular Minis- tries incurred liabilities and promoted enterprises which Administrators like Lord Dalhousie, Sir Howard Douglas or Sir John Harvey, with all their desire to promote the material interests of the people, would have shrunk from. It was a natural process, however, because only when a man feels that he has the country behind him and with him can he de- velop into a Napoleon of national finance and pro- duce the varied benefits and disasters which such a position involves. At Confederation, therefore, the united revenues of these Provinces, with a population of about three millions, excelled those of the United States in the years between 1792 and 1805 when the population of that coun- try ran from four to six millions. Under the rule of the Tory party in the Provinces there had been up to 1841 but little of debt incurred. Up- per Canada had indeed liabilities of iiYe million dollars which were then deemed very heavy and TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 337 were assumed by the united Government of the Canadas. On June 30th, 1866, the debt of the two Provinces was $77,000,000, that of Nova Scotia $6,000,000, and of New Brunswick $5,900,000. That of Prince Edward Island on January 31st, 1867, was $445,000. These liabilities represented, of course, the cost of railways, canals and other public works, and in that sense were evidences of sub- stantial development. But a not inconsiderable proportion of the money was wasted by the inexperi- ence of politicians who knew nothing of finance, and the experience of others who knew too much. The circumstances were inevitable in a new and still crude community, as indeed they seem to have been in far greater and richer states during these years of transportation schemes and speculations. Banks and banking had progressed greatly. The commercial crises of 1837 and 1857 in the United States had naturally affected the British Provinces and the banks had gone through various experiences of disaster and difficulty. But they had also learned many lessons, and the Legislature of United Canada had taken leaves of useful knowledge from the book of English legislation, the valuable instructions of the Colonial Office, and the occasional vetoes of the Crown. Gradually American ideas gave way to British, and especially Scottish, principles of bank- ing; the branch system was maintained and elab- orated; and by July 1st, 1867, there were seven banks in Upper Canada with a paid-up capital of $38 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nino million dollars, twelve in Lower Canada with a paid-up capital of twenty millions and thirteen small banks in the Maritime Provinces with a simi- lar capital of three millions. The total deposits in all these institutions amounted to over thirty-two million dollars, the circulation of bank notes to over ten millions, and the discounts to fifty-six mil- lions. Savings and Loan Companies were as yet not equally popular, or strong, and the total deposits in 1867 were not five millions in value. The Bank of Upper Canada, after a stormy history which would not be deemed a wise one to-day, collapsed in 1866. It had been endowed during its earlier years with all the prestige of a Government institution and had been managed upon a broad, hopeful and en- terprising basis eminently suited to pioneer times and the development of a new country. More am- bitious for the progress of the Province than always cautious for its own welfare, it was a widely popular and in the main a useful institution. In its day and to the farming community of Upper Canada it was like the Bank of England and to be in its ser- vice was an honour. But the time of trouble came, and despite all possible assistance from the Govern- ment, it had to suspend payment with a loss to the latter of a million dollars and to the shareholders of over three millions. The Merchants' Bank of Canada was founded in 1864, mainly by the exer- tions of Sir Hugh Allan of Montreal and with a paid-up capital of one million j and the Canadian TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 339 Bank of Commerce was organised in 1867 with a similar capital. They subsequently became the two largest institutions in Canada after the Bank of Montreal, whose capital during this period had risen from two million dollars in 1841 to twelve millions in 1873, with a reserve fund which increased from $89,000 to three millions (1870). Much of the progress of this latter institution was due to the extraordinary abilities of Mr. E. H. King, who be- came its General Manager in 1863.* He plunged into tremendous speculations in New York during the Civil War which turned out successfully and poured profits into the Bank's coffers, while he at the same time cut off, with the unsparing hand of a great surgeon, all doubtful business at homa As a whole the banking arrangements of British America were established during this period upon a basis which made it possible to evolve in later years a system serving the fluctuating business necessities of the country as a sail adjusts itself to the motions of the wind. Shipbuilding prospered greatly in the years pre- ceding Confederation. Between 1860 and 1866 the Canadian annual tonnage — built chiefly at Que- bec, on the St. Lawrence, and Kingston, on Lake Ontario — ran from 24,000 to 64,000. In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia the industry was still more progressive and in the former Province the * Mr. King became President of the Bank in 1869, retired in 1873, and died in 1896. 340 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. tonnage in 1863 was 85,250. The total for the three Provinces rose from 85 ; 680 tons in 1860 to 155,551 tons in 1866, while in little Prince Edward Island the figures between 1850 and 1863 ran from 14,000 tons, valued at half a million dollars, to 26,000 tons, valued at nearly a million. With this and connected industries the lumber trade grew in all the Provinces and the apparently illimitable forests began to visibly shrink before the unceasing labours of thousands of woodmen added to the long-continued and persistent advance of the pioneer settler, or progressive farmer, in search of more soil and increased facilities for production. In extending the making of ships steam came to help their increased use and the birth of this period saw the commencement of the great Cunard Line of ocean steamers at the hands of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, while 1852 saw the beginning of the Allan Line of steam- ers on the St. Lawrence. Then came the extension of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, and other lines commenced to run from Lake On- tario to the sea or from Quebec to Liverpool. By the time of Confederation there were innumerable steamers on the Great Lakes and the larger rivers of British America and a total inland and sea-going tonnage which made Canada three years later, in 1870, possess the fourth mercantile navy in the world— 7,591 ships with a tonnage of 899,096.* In * Statesman' 8 Year Book, London, 1870. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 341 the year 1868 forty thousand British and fifteen thousand foreign vessels, with a thirteen million ton- nage, registered at the ports of the JSTew Dominion. Another branch of commerce which expanded greatly during this period was the development of the boundless fisheries of the seaboard and the lakes. This the Reciprocity Treaty had helped by provid- ing the American market for the fish and hampered by giving freedom to American fishermen in Cana- dian waters — in 1866 United States craft under Canadian licence numbered 454, while many fished without licence. The estimated value of this Amer- ican catch in the year mentioned was from twelve to fourteen millions of dollars. The Canadian and Maritime Provinces at the same time caught in sea and lake waters, so far as recorded, fish to the value of $6,263,000, and this included both those for ex- port and for local consumption. Turning again from the sea to the land, we find that mining was still in its infancy, though the resources were im- measurable. Some small development was going on, however, in plumbago mining at Buckingham on the Ottawa, in iron at Marmora in Upper Canada, in copper in the Eastern Townships, in gold and coal in Nova Scotia. The latter Province showed a production in 1865 of 601,000 tons of coal, worth about two million dollars. Analysing the material progress of this period, the most remarkable advance seems to have been in means of transportation and in agriculture— the ggg PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. twin bases of material development. Manufacturing was still a creation of powers which were " cribbed, cabin'd and confined." The beginning had been made, however, in cottons and in woollen and iron industries. Andrew Paton in 1866 started what afterwards became the largest woollen factory in the Dominion; James Rosamond in 1857, after a pre- vious effort in Carleton Place, founded the Almonte Mills which were destined to afterwards grow to very- large proportions. George Stephen and Company of Montreal — the head of which became one of the creators of the Canadian Pacific Railway and a Peer of Great Britain — were perhaps the chief wholesale people of the time in this line. The Census of 1871 showed 270 cloth-making establishments in the four Provinces with a productive value of five million and a half of dollars. At the same time there were 650 carding and fulling mills; while over seven million yards of cloth were still made on hand-looms in the houses of the people. In 1857 a knitting factory was started in Belleville, and the industry soon found a footing — especially in Paris and Gait, U.C. Cotton manufacturing to any extent did not com- mence till the early sixties, but there were pioneer mills established twenty years before that period, and notably the one at Sherbrooke, Lower Canada, which was promoted in some measure by the Hon. A. T. Gait. Another was established in Thorold, Upper Canada, in 1847, and in 1861 the oldest ex- isting cotton mill was started in St John, N.B., by TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS. 343 W. Parks & Son. Yet progress was slow, and up to 1871 there were only eight mills in all the Prov- inces. In the same year there were only 21 paper mills in existence, while the boot and shoe industry made slower progress than it had done prior to 1841. In providing improved means of transportation, however, the Provinces had laid a notable foundation for future commercial progress as well as for a fair measure of present prosperity, and it remained for the following two decades to carry on the system to continental and Imperial proportions. Agriculture had meanwhile made prosperous farmers out of pio- neer settlers, and the figures for 1866 showed twen- ty-one million acres of land surveyed and sold, or granted, in Upper Canada, nineteen million acres in Lower Canada, six millions in Nova Scotia and nine millions in New Brunswick. Only a propor- tion of this land was as yet cultivated, however, and back of it was a vast, unsettled and ungranted re- serve of some fourteen millions in the Maritime Provinces, together with the apparently illimitable wastes of the far West. 311 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN TIIE CENTURY. CHAPTER XIV. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OP POPULAR PROGRESS. While political experiments of various kinds were being tried in the Provinces, with differing de- grees of success, and the party system was passing through its preliminary stages and constantly bub- bling up to the surface of the constitutional caul- dron, the people were slowly evolving into a larger and broader life with a better and truer view. The pioneer period was passing away in all the older parts of the country, and men found themselves able to devote their time and talents to plans for the bet- terment of popular conditions and the elevation of the public mind. Sir Samuel Cunard and Sir Hugh Allan breasted the difficulties of ocean steam trans- portation, while Merritt and Young, Hincks and Howe, devoted themselves to the development of canal or railway communication. Dr. Ryerson and Bishop Strachan in Upper Canada, Dr. J. B. Meilleur and the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau in Lower Canada, ex- erted the widest influence in promoting educational improvement, whilst clergymen of all denominations helped in all the Provinces to raise the religious and general standard of the people. Many of the incom- TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 345 ing immigrants were of superior type in physique and education, and had come to British America with a view to bettering themselves by growing up with a new country and not because they were driven from the Old Land by political discontent or personal fail- ure. The majority of those who came out during the famine years and the storms of the early forties naturally drifted into the United States, where they found institutions different from those under which they had suffered. Of course there were many ex- ceptions, but, as a whole, the element which main- tained its sympathy with British ideas of govern-* ment and its loyalty to the Crown now showed a tendency to stay in the Provinces, and thus help to deepen the foundation so well laid by the original Loyalists. Improved educational facilities also began to per- form a great work. At the Union of the Can- adas in 1841 a measure was passed reorganising the Common Schools, authorising the establishment of Separate Schools for Protestants in Lower Canada and for Roman Catholics in Upper Canada, and creating a basis for the national system of public instruction which it was hoped would be evolved. In 1844 the Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson — the elo- quent Methodist preacher, successful denominational editor and powerful political pamphleteer to whom the Province owes what England does to Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth or New England to Horace Mann — was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education 346 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. in Upper Canada. After visits to other countries and much study of conditions at home and abroad he reconstructed the Provincial system to a degree which makes comparison with the old state of affairs very difficult. The new plan was based upon tho best features of the then existing systems in New York and Massachusetts, Ireland and Germany.* It differed in many points, however, from these or any other organised methods. Religious instruc- tion was provided for and the executive head was to be a non-political and permanent official. Taxation for school purposes was to be voluntary on the part of the municipalities and the use of foreign text- books in the English branches of instruction was forbidden except by special permission. This was, of course, aimed at the multitudinous American works which had crept into the hands of the pupils and for years had afforded instruction inimical to British ideas and principles. Upon this point, and the further requirement that teachers should take the oath of allegiance, Dr. Ryerson stated in his Special Report to the Legislature in 1847 that: " I think less evil arises from the employment of Am- erican teachers than from the use of American (school) books. ... It is not because they are for- eign books simply that they are excluded, but because they are, with very few exceptions, anti-British in every sense of the word. They abound in state- * Mr. J. C. Patterson, now Lieut. -Governor of Manitoba, in Year Book of Canada, Montreal, 1870. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 347 merits and allusions prejudicial to the character and institutions of the British nation. . . . From facts which have come to my knowledge I believe it will be found, on inquiry, that in precisely those parts of Upper Canada where United States school books had been used most extensively, there the spirit of the in- surrection of 1837 and 1838 was most prevalent." Supplies of maps, school apparatus, prizes and library books were to come direct from the Education De- partment. The principal Act in this educational connection was that of 1850. Three years later amendments were made affecting the Separate Schools, and again in 1858-60-63. Therein was a fruitful theme of public controversy. A large element in the popu- lation wanted no such schools and deemed them un- desirable and dangerous, as tending to permanently separate the Province into sections of population trained in different ideals of political and social life, as well as of religious faith. The Catholics, on the other hand, maintained the right to have what their majority in the Lower Province conceded to the Protestants there, and wished to stereotype upon the minds of the young the religious principle and prac- tice which they believed should be the greatest factor in their future life and a first consideration in their early education. In 1863 legislation settled this subject for the time being and constituted a basis for the educational provisions of the British North Am- erican Act of 1867. Time has since healed the sores 848 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. of religious controversy and removed the causes of friction in this and many similar directions, but during these years Separate Schools constituted a frequent and bitter subject of discussion — especially when George Brown rode into some passing arena of debate upon what, in Canadian politics, has been given the familiar and popular name of the " Protestant Horse." The principle which was pretty generally accepted, by 1867, was a Provincial provision for the education of the youth of all religious persuasions in secular subjects, combined with the arrangement of special facilities by which such religious instruction might be given to the pupils as their parents and pastors desired and pro- vided. In this case the Irish practice was followed, and, outside of the Separate Schools which were established wherever the Catholics were strong enough to do so, the system was generally practised, although it must be said that the religious part of the day's instruction had a tendency to grow more and more attenuated. Dr. Kyerson's ideal system was one of free pub- lic schools and compulsory attendance of pupils. ^Neither of these principles was he able to make abso- lute until after Confederation; although electors were given the privilege of making the schools free in their own localities if they so desired, while every effort was made to get the children into the schools. But the great basis of progress in these years was his creation of school districts around which grew up a TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 349 local training of the masses in the necessity of edu- cation; and the cultivation of consequent willingness to bear taxation for the purpose of its promotion. In 1850 there were 3,476 teachers in Upper Canada with an average attendance of 81,000 pupils; and these figures had grown by 1871 to 5,306 teachers and 188,000 pupils.* There were, in 1867, 161 Separate Schools in the Province with 210 teachers and 18,000 pupils, while the grammar or high schools numbered 103 with 159 teachers and 5,600 pupils. One great difficulty during this period was the obtaining of trained teachers. This trouble had made efficient education almost impossible in the pioneer and formative stages of the country's his- tory, and not until the Normal School was opened at Toronto in 1852, for the special education of teachers, was progress in this direction really marked. Gradually the influence of the institution told and soon hundreds of men and women were leaving its halls to instruct the new generation upon lines in which some method and system were to be found. Higher education also steadily improved, and, while Upper Canada College held its own for the well-to-do, grammar schools provided for the masses a link between the common schools and the Univer- sities — which eventually evolved out of the struggles of a time when education and denominational religion were as much political issues as the en- * The Hon. G. W. Ross, Ontario Minister of Education, in Canada : An Encyclojp&dia, vol. 3, p. 175. 350 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. largement of the franchise. The militant figure in the fight for this highest element in educational prog- ress was the sturdy and sanguine Bishop Strachan. One great mission of his life had been the mainte- nance of a connection between State and Church in Canada ; the other was the connected ideal of a great Church of England University. It was not until 1843 that the land endowment set aside by the Im- perial Government in 1797 for the establishment of such a University was at last successfully utilised by the opening of King's College with the Bishop of Toronto at its head and an Anglican Professor of Divinity in charge of that department. In 1850, however, the forces opposed to Church of England ascendency won the day and the institution was made undenominational and re-christened the Uni- versity of Toronto. Under the sway of Dr. John McCaul, a brilliant scholar and great Principal, it became a pronounced factor in the educational, social and public life of the Province. Bitterly dis- appointed as he was, his most cherished ambition ap- parently crushed, the result of many years of con- troversy and labour neutralised, the Bishop refused to give way, and, despite his three score and ten j ears, rallied his supporters in Canada, went to Eng- land and collected further funds from his friends there. In two years Trinity College, Toronto, as a result of his energy and enthusiasm, was an estab- lished institution under the guidance of his Church and with beautiful buildings which still remain one TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 351 of the academic centres of the Province. Mean- while Queen's University, Kingston, had come into existence in 1840 as a Presbyterian institution, and Victoria University, Cobourg — the old-time Upper Canada Academy — in 1841 was given wider powers. In 1866 Albert College, Belleville, was made a de- gree-conferring institution at the instance of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while similar powers were granted to Eegiopolis College, Kingston, and to Ottawa College at the Capital, under Koman Catholic auspices. Knox College, Toronto (Pres- byterian Free Church), Huron College, London (Church of England), the Canadian Literary In- stitute, "Woodstock (Baptist), St. Michael's College, Toronto (Roman Catholic), the Wesleyan Eemale College, Hamilton, and the Hellmuth Ladies' College, London were also established in the later years of this period. It had been a time of intense contro- versy, in higher as in lower educational circles, and political and denominational considerations had helped greatly to mould or mar the progress which was really being made. As Confederation drew near, however, it found a distinct lessening in the violence and extent of these differences, so far as education was concerned, and the way was being paved for the greater progress which ensued in the national period of Canadian life. Meantime much had been done elsewhere in edu- cational matters. In Lower Canada, where the re- bellion had practically destroyed the school system, 352 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. one of the first acts of the united Legislature of 1841 was an attempt at its re-establishment. Jean Bap- tiste Meilleur was shortly afterwards appointed to superintend the new arrangements, during 1851 School Inspectors were installed, and four years later M. Pierre J. O. Chauveau commenced a career of signal service to hi3 Province and to the intellec- tual development of the Canadian people by succeed- ing M. Meilleur as Chief Superintendent — a position which he retained until ho became Premier of Que- bec in 1867. Under his administration various new and beneficial regulations were made regarding both high and primary education. Three Normal Schools were established, eight Classical Colleges for the train- ing of the clergy were created from time to time, and in 1859 a Council of Public Instruction, com- posed of eleven Catholics and four Protestants, was established. By 1867 there were 3,712 common schools in the Province with 208,000 scholars, who were maintained at a cost of $728,000 — the greater part being paid by the municipalities. M. Chauveau helped also in the formation of a French and English Journal of Instruction and in the creation of a pen- sion fund for teachers. In Lower Canada there was comparatively little sectarian strife in this connec- tion, and it stands to the lasting credit of the French and Catholic majority that, as soon as the passions of the pre-Union days had cooled down, an edu- cational system was established which did ample justice to the minority. More than that, there was TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 353 little or no effort to curtail Protestant privileges, and in this respect the echo of the campaigns in Upper Canada against religious or sectarian schools was very slight. Laval University was inaugurated at Quebec in 1854, and some years later formed a branch at Montreal which afterwards became the centre of a prolonged controversy between the extreme ele- ments of thought in the Roman Catholic Church. Both branches of the institution, however, did splendid service to the cause of ecclesiastical higher education and later on to law and medi- cine in their separate and distinct departments. In 1829 the University of McGill had started in a small way in Montreal through the munifi- cence of the Hon. James McGill of that city. It was intended to be the centre of the Protestant edu- cational interests of the Province, but until 1855, when Sir William Dawson first took hold of the College, its life was a scene of struggle and doubt- ful service. After that time, under the control of this singularly able educationalist, scientist and writer, the University grew in power and prosperity. Bequests were left to it and presents made, from time to time, amounting to millions of dollars; and libraries, buildings, scientific collections, depart- ments of teaching and professorial chairs were added until it became the foremost University in British America and perhaps upon the whole continent. By 1867 it was well on the way towards this position, 354 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and the affiliation, between 1860 and the former date, of seven theological colleges of different denomina- tions helped greatly. In 1843 the Church of Eng- land institution, Bishop's College, Lennoxville, had been started, and this also assisted in the develop- ment of Protestant education generally in the Prov- ince. It had not been an easy task in Lower Can- ada to arouse an interest in educational matters. Parents were not then ambitious for their children in the manner of later days, and they had around them the effect of dependence upon the semi- religious instruction of the Catholic priests and schools and upon arrangements which might be made for them but not by them. Even in the Upper Prov- ince people were not enthusiastic, and it required many years to fully inculcate the principle of co- operation in educational work, as between the tax- payer and the teaching institutions of the Province, and in the general interest of popular progress. To Dawson and Chauveau belong largely the honour of having formed the feeling in Lower Canada which Ryerson and Strachan evolved in other ways in the Upper Province. In Nova Scotia free schools were established by Act of the Legislature under the Premiership of Dr. (Sir Charles) Tupper in 1864. The number of common and high schools in the Province in that year was 1,112, with 35,000 pupils maintained at a cost of $163,000 — two hundred more schools, twenty thousand more expenditure and ten thousand more TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 355 pupils than there had been thirteen years before. During the next few years the new system was ad- ministered by Dr. Theodore H. Hand, as the old one had been by Dr. Forrester and Dr. (Sir) J. W. Daw- son. Under it the Executive Council, or Ministry, constituted the Council of Public Instruction and the Province was divided into eighteen counties, each presided over by an Inspector. There were also 34: districts, each with a Board of Commissioners ap- pointed by the Government. Then there were a large number of sections with elective Trustees. These latter were the most important Boards, and really constituted the popular government of the schools under conditions laid down by the other functionary bodies. In the summer term of 1868 there were 1,598 sections, with fourteen hundred schools and teachers, and seventy-two thousand pupils. By the assessment of these sections nearly three hundred thousand dollars were raised, while the County funds and Provincial grants produced two hundred and fifty thousand more. This was in- deed a different state of affairs from the universal lethargy and indifference which had been shown in the early forties. Higher education had meantime been developed by County Academies, or high schools, of which there were ten in 1868, and by colleges and universities which had been started and maintained largely as a result of sectarian rivalry. Dalhousie University, after a season of collapse, was revived in 1863. St. Francis Xavier College was 356 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. established in 1854 as a Roman Catholic institution; while Acadia and King's College maintained a some- what struggling existence by the support of their respective denominations. In New Brunswick a Committee was appointed to investigate the condition of the schools, in 1845, and, two years later, as a result of their Report to the Legislature regarding the public apathy and the evils of cheap itinerant teachers, an Act of reor- ganisation was passed which formed a Board of Education, granted aid to teachers, constituted school districts and created a Normal School at Frederic- ton. In 1852 amendments were made and other im- provements effected — amongst them the appointment of a Chief Superintendent of Education. The Rev. James Porter, J. Marshal D'Avray and Henry Eisher held the position in turn up to 1860 and Dr. John Bennett during the ensuing eleven years. Free schools were not created until after Confederation and Separate Schools were still allowed. In the sum- mer term of 1868 there were 861 schools, 881 teach- ers and 31,000 scholars, with a Provincial expendi- ture of forty-two thousand dollars and a municipal expenditure of fifty-seven thousand. Prince Edward Island adoptedfree schools in 1852, established a Nor- mal School four years later and the Prince of Wales College in 1860. Little was done in the North- West during this period except the reorganisation of St John's School, in 1866, by the present Archbishop Machray. In British Columbia the limited popu- TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 357 lation of Vancouver Island was given free schools by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1855, but owing to political complications and changes the system was practically inoperative by 1868 and educational matters generally remained in a very crude and un- satisfactory state. Religious progress throughout the country in the years following the early forties was very great. In the large towns it was marked to the eye by little wooden structures being transformed into handsome brick churches, while more and more frequently edifices of stone were found gracing the streets of cities like Montreal or Toronto, With the growth of Colleges in the English Provinces, home-trained ministers of the different denominations came to fill the pulpits, while in Lower Canada a still higher grade of culture and more complete code of ecclesias- tical education emanated from its numerous religious seminaries and colleges. The wandering mission- ary gradually gave way to the clergyman in his set- tled parish or to the minister in charge of a single congregation in village, town or populous municipal- ity. The itinerant Methodist preacher was given a longer stationary term, and it was only in the back regions or in the Western wilds, where there was still ample room for missionary efforts, that one could now witness the magnificent and strenuous work of the pioneer preacher. Gradually, too, the various denominations became more or less self-sup- porting. The great missionary societies of the Old 358 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Land were no longer called upon for the ordinary support of congregations or parishes, and only in spe- cial cases of loss, or of proposed building operations, was direct assistance asked. With the final settle- ment of the Clergy Reserves self-support became the motto of Church of England parishes as well as of Methodist congregations, and, though the process was a somewhat slow one and funds for many years con- tinued to come from varied sources in Great Britain, yet by 1867 the principle of self-help was not only a pious aspiration but, in all the populous parts of the English Provinces, an accepted fact. Equality in ecclesiastical conditions and functions and opportunities, coupled with the growth of popu- lar democracy of a somewhat new type and the influx of a population which in the United Kingdom had been composed more of Dissenters than of Church- men, rendered the progress of the Methodist denomi- nation during this period the most marked. From two hundred and eighty thousand in all the Prov- inces, in 1851, its adherents rose to four hundred and fifty thousand in 1861 and to nearly six hun- dred thousand in 1871. The eloquence of preachers like Ryerson, Richey, Punshon, Douglas and Car- man had something to do with this result; the min- istration of enthusiastic pioneer itinerants like Case, Ryan, Black, Reynolds, Davison and Richardson had immense influence; while the practice of putting young men through periods of probationary preach- ing before admission to the Ministry created a fund TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 359 of constant and earnest labour. No class distinc- tions troubled these men, and they came from farms or villages, entered and passed through College, and finally returned to work in similar farms or villages, amongst people whom they knew and understood. This was a great and little apprehended advantage. They rarely preached over the heads of the listeners, and, as a rule, and often to the verge of extrava- gance in diction or style, tried to preach down to their hearts. The early difficulties arising out of international alliances and suspected disloyalty dis- appeared entirely in the forties, and, as time passed, union amongst themselves became a watchword which after Confederation made the principle a realised fact. The Canadian Wesleyan Church and the New Connection Methodists joined together in 1841 and the Wesleyan Conference and the Eastern Dis- trict were united in 1854. But these were really only preliminary to the great union of 1874. Mis- sion work was undertaken in the North- West, and in 1854 the British Conference gave up its missions in the Hudson's Bay Territory to the Wesleyan Con- ference of Canada. A very different duty and position from that of Methodism were those assumed and still maintained by the Church of England. In the history of the Provinces during the century the Church had been the mother of religious ceremony and function, while its ministers had been at the heart of every good work and the sharers in every form of privation 360 PROGRESS OF CANADA TN TITR CENTURY. and suffering. From the Mother-land came steady streams of money and men to help the labours of its scattered missionaries and the building of its churches and parsonages. Nor did this process cease when the political storms of the thirties had blown over British America. But, unfortunately, the Church became connected, in the minds of the population which did not belong to it, with a domi- nant political party which they hated, and its religious extension was injured by the growth of its political influence. To many minds — though false- ly so because the central feature of its ministrations is their application to all — the Church of England became the Church of a class. And it never bene- fited very greatly by the much-denounced Clergy Reserves. The Rectories established by Sir J. Col- borne were an exception, and the moneys which finally came to the Church therefrom between 1841 and 1854 were certainly of some assistance. But perhaps they did more good than harm by sapping that voluntary principle amongst Churchmen which has so greatly helped the Established Church at home. A complete and well-maintained State Church in the early and struggling days of a scat- tered community might and would have been a good thing despite any change the future might have brought about ; but, as it was, the Church of England in this country possessed the political odium, and at times the social assumption emanating from an Establishment, without the advantages whicfi would TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 361 Have minimised those faults and magnified immense- ly its opportunity and capacity for good. How- ever that may be, the Church in 1851 had some three hundred and forty thousand adherents in the Prov- inces which, in 1861, had increased to four hundred and seventy thousand and, in 1871, to five hundred thousand. Many were the splendid men produced by the Church during these years. Bishops like Mountain, Williams, Medley, Anderson, Strachan, Cronyn, Burney and Machray left a lasting mark upon the history of the period — not the least strik- ing feature of which was the missionary work done in the North-West. There, under privations and sufferings as great as those in the Canadas during the first years of the century, missions were estab- lished and maintained by men such as Taylor, Cochrane and Cook. Money poured into the region from the Church Missionary Society and the So- ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, while, de- spite the growing financial independence of many parishes, the total expenditure of the Societies in British America as a whole was well maintained, and between 1842 and 1865 amounted, in the case of the S.P.G. alone, to over two millions of dollars. In British Columbia much work was done, many missions established and a Diocese organised. The Church of Kome had some of the qualities of both the Methodist and Anglican denominations. Its adherents were as enthusiastic in their religious allegiance as any Methodist and as indifferent to 362 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. class distinctions and customs. At the same timo it was emphatically the Church of ceremony, and in this respect far outshone the Church of England. Moreover it held the historic faith of the French- Canadians, and amongst them so thoroughly main- tained its ground that by 1871 it had a million fol- lowers in Lower Canada alone. Education during the period between the Rebellion and Confederation was not in that Province a subject of violent de- nominational and political conflict; it was rather a powerful established fact in the strongest ecclesias- tical sense. Nor was the position of the Church in Lower Canada a subject of serious dispute. It was the Church of the vast majority, and by tithe and land grants and capable business management it was really a State Establishment in the fullest sense of the word. Into the other Provinces it was able to pour numbers of priests — trained and educated men who were free to take advantage of every changing current of immigration and settlement — and the re- sult was that a Roman Catholic total population of a million in British America in 1851 had become, in 1861, one million four hundred thousand and, in 1871, a million and a half. The mission work of the Church was carried into the North- West and away to the Pacific Coast. A Diocese had long been established at St. Boniface, on the Red River, under Bishop Provencher, and in 1853 he was succeeded by Father Tache — whose name as Bishop, Arch- bishop and citizen is enshrined in all the history TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 363 of those vast regions. A Cathedral of stone was built in 1860 upon the banks of the Kiver, while missionaries of the Church were everywhere to be found amongst Indians, Half-breeds and casual set- tlers. So, in British Columbia, where churches, hospitals, asylums, schools and colleges sprang up under the auspices of the Church and the steady spread of its principles. Bishop Tache of St. Boni- face, Archbishop Turgeon of Quebec, Archbishop Connolly of Halifax, Bishop de Charbonnel of To- ronto, and Bishop Demers of Vancouver Island were perhaps the principal names of the period in an ecclesiastical sense, while the most striking general features were the labours of the pioneer priests in the far West and the gradual building up, all through Lower Canada, of a myriad handsome stone or brick churches — to such an extent that the spire of the church glittering in the rays of the sun, and the villages nestling around its doors, became inter- changeable facts. In the population of Provinces where so many Scotchmen were settled it was inevitable from the beginning that Presbyterianism must become a religious and political power. The Kirk of Scot- land shared with the Church of England everywhere such prestige as might surround an Established religious body, but without, as a whole, experienc- ing the same violence of political criticism and an- tagonism. It benefited more than the Methodists or Catholics in the not very large returns from the 364 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Clergy Reserves of Upper Canada. But at the same time it participated in the difficulties and dis- cussions of the Establishment at home much as the Canadian Church of England did in the contro- versies over matters of ceremonial in England. When the Disruption came in Scotland it was fol- lowed by a similar movement in the various British Provinces, and for a time there was disintegration sather than union. Then the reverse operation commenced in 1860 by the Union of the Synods in Nova Scotia, and was continued by the union of the Eree and United Presbyterian Synods of Canada as the Canada Presbyterian Church. Not till after Confederation, however, was this development com- pleted Meantime much was done for missions to growing portions of the older Provinces, although the help given to the Rev. Dr. John Black in his pio- neer labours in the North- West was not such as he wished and asked for. In British Columbia the Church of Scotland did an important work for years without much help from the Provincial Churches. French-Canadian evangelisation was a work vigor- ously entered into — especially by the Synod in con- nection with the Church of Scotland. Principal MacVicar and Professor Conssirat of the Presby- terian College in Montreal were the most energetic workers in this movement. The historic names of Canadian Presbyterianism during this period include those of Alexander Mathieson, John Cook, William Leitch, William Ormiston, William Reid, Robert TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 365 Perrier Burns, Alexander Topp and William Gregg. These, with many other earnest, strong-minded and sincere men, formed a body of learning and religious zeal which did much to advance the denomination, numerically, from three hundred and sixty thousand in 1851 to four hundred and sixty thousand in 1861 and to five hundred and seventy thousand in 1871. Summarising this progress, it will be seen that, in the two decades, the Church of Rome in the five Provinces increased by half a million, the Methodists of all shades of belief by three hundred and twenty thousand, the Presbyterians of all sections by over two hundred thousand and the Church of England by one hundred and sixty thousand. The Baptists were the only other denomination which held a prominent place during the period, and this was owing more to the political ability of individuals and the united opposition of the body to all relig- ious discriminations than to its numbers. Intimately associated with education and religion in the life of the time was the progress of journal- ism and literature; and in no other branch of their development did the Provinces show more distinctly the racial division than in this. Prench Canada ex- celled during these years in newspapers which brought all the froth and foam characteristic of Prench moments of passion to the surface, while it at the same time produced a school of brilliant and educated journalists and litterateurs to which the other Provinces could offer no fair analogue. Poli- 3f>6 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ticians, poets, students, and even Churchmen took to journalism. Bedard, Papineau, Morin, Garneau, Ribaud, Parent, of pre-rebellion days, and the fa- mous Le Canadien gave place to men like Cauchon, Blanchet, Bellemare, Laflamme, Doutre, Langevin, Duvernay, Gerin-Lajoie and those remarkable Dorion brothers who were in turn politicians, journalists, annexationists, republicans, lawyers and judges, yet always brilliant and always foremost. Novelists like De Gaspe, educational writers like Chauveau and Meilleur, historians such as Garneau, exercised wide influence, while a myriad figures, of less im- portance but always bright and clever, flashed across the surface of some fiery agitation and, like many of the newspapers, passed from view with meteoric suddenness. English journalism and literature in Lower Canada did not flourish to any great extent, on account of its limited constituency. But John Neilson, Thomas D'Arcy McGee and Francis Hincks combined politics and journalism, while other fa- miliar names were those of John Lowe, Brown Chamberlain, John Reade, Daniel Tracey and David Kinnear. William Smith and Robert Christie did some good historical work. In Upper Canada George Brown wielded all the power of a free and forceful pen, guided by a vehement and sometimes vindictive will. Thomas White, afterwards a Min- ister of the Crown in the Dominion of Canada, David McCulloch, Thomas Dalton, James Lesslie, William McDougall, George Sheppard, Daniel Mor- TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 367 rison, Hugh Scobie, John Cameron, Samuel Thomp- son and James Beaty were leading journalists of this period, while Dr. Alpheus Todd, Henry J. Morgan and Eennings Taylor were perhaps the chief representatives of a literary activity which was more marked during many years by a rushing stream of popular pamphlets than by the deep river of a lasting literature. Dr. Egerton Ryerson and Bishop Strachan were the representatives of a semi- religious and semi-political pamphleteering school. The fact really is that the axe of the settler, the river rafts of the lumberman, the canoe of the voy- ageur, the musket of the hunter, the work of the plough and the whistle of the steam-engine and the steamship still monopolised the main attention of the people. But towards the middle of the " six- ties ? the light of a slowly evolving literature began to illumine and promote the sentiment of unity and to prepare itself for the progress of the following decades. The journalism of the Maritime Provinces centres around the name and fame of Joseph Howe. Great as an orator he was equally so as a journalist. As- sociated with the pen in either one or other of the Provinces by the sea in this period were William Annand, S. H. Holmes, T. W. Anglin, William Elder and J. V. Ellis — all afterwards prominent in politics. Literature evolved the phenomenal figure of Thomas Chandler Haliburton — historian, hu- morist, lawyer, politician and judge. Under his 368 PROGRESS OP CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nom de plume of " Sam Slick " he became the most widely known Canadian of his day and the founder of a distinct school of fiction which in later times was appropriated as a type by the United States. Around him gathered other Maritime writers, chief- ly of an historical character, such as Beamish Mur- doch, Duncan Campbell, Abraham Gesner and An- drew Archer. In far-away British Columbia a newspaper was started in 1858, and thereafter a suc- cession of shifting journals came and went with all the apparent speed of the mining population which read them. To Amor de Cosmos, a typical Pacific Coast pioneer and politician, and later on to D. W. Higgins, belong perhaps the chief journalistic laurels of the period. Local literature was non- existent. In the North- West a paper was started in 1859 and held a feeble and fluctuating place during the following decade. Not until the early " seven- ties " did the region boast a stable and in- fluential journal. Meanwhile many monthly jour- nals or magazines were started, but only two lasting and fairly successful ones — the Literary Garland and the Revue Canadienne — and these were in Montreal. Various efforts were made to establish journals after the style of Punchy but they all had an ephemeral existence. Passing for a moment from journalism to literature, it must be said that poetry constituted the most marked feature in the general progress of these years. French-Canada teemed with more or less clever writing of this kind, and in TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 369 its English branch the names of Charles Heavysege, Charles Sangster, Alexander McLaehlan, William Kirby and John Keade occupy a high place. One of the most important popular developments of this period was the Militia force. Education might train the mind, religion might mould the morals, and literature might instruct the thought of the people while journalism voiced their political passions, but nothing could at once so influence and embody pubMo patriotism as the inception and prog- ress of the Volunteer principle. Prior to 1841 the militia in all the Provinces had been a mere ad- junct of the local British troops. When required for active service the training and drilling were willingly received and the expenses paid, in the main, by the Imperial Government But there was no militia in the modern sense of the word — or- ganised upon a volunteer basis, permanent in it3 composition and supported by the people or Gov- ernment of the individual Provinces. With the granting and acceptance of responsible government, However, there came the necessity of establishing a local defence force as the first of all free or semi- national duties. In 1855 an Act of the Legislature of the Canadas provided for the enrolment of an active militia of 5,000 men. During the next few years the maintenance of this force — which grew to 11,000 in 1861— averaged about $145,000 out of a revenue of nearly ten million dollars. In 1863 the force was raised to 25,000 men and maintained at 370 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. that figure through the trials of the Fenian period and until Confederation. From 1760 to 1841 Great Britain had directed all the militia as well as the military affairs of British America and had con- trolled them in part from the latter date to 1855. After that time, so far as Canada was concerned, the Province bore its own militia charges, while the Mother Country maintained the military works and the requirements of the regular army which might be stationed there — or elsewhere in British America. Meanwhile, military schools were established in the Provinces and the volunteer spirit everywhere de- veloped upon a basis not dissimilar to that existing in the Province of Canada. The French-Canadian as well as the English-Canadian, the settler upon the shores of the Atlantic and upon the banks of the Georgian Bay, learned to bear arms and practise military movements for the possible protection of a common flag and principle of allegiance. No stronger influence, in fact, was evolved in all this period for the welding together of the people than the rise and success of the volunteer movement and its practical expression in the Fenian troubles of 1866. Popular progress in other directions was not so marked unless it were in the discussions upon tariff issues which followed upon the protective policy adopted by the Hon. A. T. Gait in 1858, as In- spector-General or Finance Minister of Canada. In this controversy Isaac Buchanan took a vigorous TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 371 part, and the economic question aroused a public in- terest greater than even the repeal of the Corn Laws had caused in the Provinces and became one which was destined to be a permanent and prominent factor in their future life. British merchants and manufacturers protested, the Colonial Office ob- jected, the United States grumbled, but the tariff for protection had come to stay, and the principle of fiscal freedom in local affairs was maintained as strenuously by Alexander Tilloch Gait as freedom in political matters had been fought for by Baldwin or Lafontaine. Another important element in political and popular growth, municipal institutions, had progressed greatly in Upper Canada, fairly in Lower Canada and very slightly in the Maritime Provinces. In the Upper Province there were in 1866 only two unorganised districts; all the rest of the counties enjoyed complete self-government, to- gether with five cities and six towns. The total as- sessment of real estate was two hundred and thirty million dollars as against one hundred and sixty mil- lions in Lower Canada ; the number of acres assessed were respectively eighteen millions and thirteen mil- lions; and the number of ratepayers two hundred and ninety thousand and two hundred thousand. The people in every city, town, village and town- ship elected persons to represent them in Councils which had the power to borrow money, or raise it by direct taxation, and of expending it on roads, bridges and other local improvements. Then these gf| PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. various bodies — excluding City Councils — wore again represented in the County Councils for the control of somewhat wider interests. The system did good service to the community, although in times of public excitement, such as that of the railway- mania period, the Councils were apt to be led into extravagances and the creation of undue liabilities. But these popular bodies trained the public mind in the details as well as principles of self-government and secured a stable basis for the wider and higher application of the theory. Had they been earlier organised the Rebellion might never have taken place, and the foolish effort which was made to be- gin at the top of a political structure and work down would never have been attempted. Another important evolution of this period was the growth of the centres of population. Montreal in 1861 had become a town of ninety thousand people, Quebec of fifty thousand, Toronto of forty- four thousand, St. John of twenty-seven thousand, Halifax of twenty-five thousand. Hamilton, Ot- tawa and London, which in 1841 were little more than villages, had grown into cities and Kingston had become a place of thirteen thousand people. The pioneer stage had indeed gone and been re- placed by centres where the comforts and customs of the older civilisation in the Mother-land were gradually becoming the possession of the many as well as the few. There was still, as Mr. Goldwin Smith once said, much that was " rough, raw and TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF POPULAR PROGRESS. 373 democratic n in the community — the latter quality indeed was being stereotyped into the institutions and habits of the people — but time and progress was steadily working out the result which to-day gives us a population in much of the Dominion which is neither English nor American in type but purely Canadian. In social life and conditions a great change had taken place everywhere except in Lower Canada. There the Church remained the reverenced mentor of the people and constituted the mould in which was stamped their personal characteristics and customs. The Seigneur had lost his feudal power but still retained in the main the respect of the masses. Habits had not changed nor manners altered from the earlier part of the century; al- though Montreal had become a great commercial centre and was developing a wealthy though not critical, or perhaps greatly cultured, society. That was to come in another period. Social equality in the English Provinces was largely a fact, but it was not extreme nor was it republican in tendency. Above all the farm was still the backbone of popular life, and the young men of the country had not commenced to rush to the larger centres of popula- tion with the fallacious hope of greater ease, or with foolish ambitions for the glittering bauble of some showy career or " respectable " profession. Of course there were many exceptions, but the feverish haste and hurry of a later time had not yet made agriculture a pursuit to be apparently shunned, or at least neglected, by the young. 374: PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Art in British America had made a beginning. The romance and marvellous changing landscape of Indian life had attracted Paul Kane and produced a career of constant travel through the vast North- West and a series of valuable paintings. Daniel Fowler and George Theodore Berthon in Upper Canada, Cornelius Kreighoff and Theophile Hamel in Lower Canada, and Newton Gush and Valentine in the Maritime Provinces, laboured in various fitful ways to create and respond to artistic tastes. Portraits were the chief subject of their brushes, and many really excellent ones to-day adorn the Government Houses and public buildings of the different Provinces. Scenery was yet to come as a subject for artistic Canadian treatment, though local appreciation of this branch of culture has never been what its importance deserves. As with literature, so with art, the culture of the com- munity was still too limited and crude to permit of great development. But, in both, something good had been done and added rungs surmounted in the ladder of national life. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 375 CHAPTEK XV. THE ESTABLISHMENT OP THE DOMINION. Many causes combined to make the Confederation of the British American Provinces, in 1867, possible and desirable. The government of the United Provinces of Canada had become a structure based on shifting sand. By 1864, owing largely to the racial and religious rivalries of the people, no Gov- ernment could obtain a working majority. Pro- jects for material development, plans for strengthen- ing the country against foreign aggression, pro- posals for obtaining a renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty with the States, became little more than the shuttlecocks of faction. Dissolution followed dis- solution, Government succeeded Government, re- organisations and resignations seemed the natural order of things, while session after session of the Legislature proved nothing more than stormy inter- ludes to periods of Executive impotence. Respon- sible government had apparently brought the coun- try to a position such as that to which irresponsible government was declared to have dragged it in 1837. The great difference, however, was the absence of 376 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. any clement of actual disloyalty in the community of the " sixties." The result of this state of affairs was a meeting brought about by the late Alexander Morris between the two great rival leaders, John A. Macdonald and George Brown, and the formation of a coalition Gov- ernment on June 30th, 1864, with the object and aim of confederating the Provinces of British America. Sir Etienne P. Tache was the nominal Premier, though Mr. Macdonald in whatever Gov- ernment he might be was the real one, and with those three leaders were George E. Cartier, A. T. Gait, Alexander Campbell, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, J. C. Chapais, H. L. Langevin and James Cock- burn — all Conservatives — and Oliver Mowat (for a short time), William McDougall and W. P. How- land, who with Mr. Brown constituted the Liberal element. Meantime the Maritime Provinces had been considering the subject of union in a general way, though not as a relief from deadlock or partisan disquiet. Nor was the proposition which the Legis- latures of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island approved in 1864 a federal union. It was in reality a union of their various Legisla- tures for purposes of combined and economical Government. A Conference had been arranged iu this connection to meet at Charlottetown, P.E.I., and, within a couple of months of the formation of the coalition Government in Canada, Delegates from the Maritime Provinces discussing this subject of THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 377 union down by the sea received a request from Can- ada for permission to join the Conference and gladly consented. Leading up to this general result there had been other and perhaps more influential causes than dis- cord in the Canadas and a vague desire for closer union in the other Provinces. To the south of these weak and scattered British populations there was now a victorious and united Republic with a million men recently in arms and seeking new worlds to conquer. The shadow of bitter suspicion regarding the attitude of Britain and Canada during the Civil War had developed into a storm-cloud of con- temptuous hostility which not only promised the cer- tain abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty in a year or two; but threatened, in the projected Fenian in- vasion, to destroy the peace and security of all the Provinces. The first of these probabilities, under conditions of commercial interchange which in- volved a trade of twenty millions of dollars and had produced a serious dependence upon American transportation routes, while very largely combining the common banking interests of the two countries, seemed to threaten the very foundations of existing prosperity. In the second were the evident seeds of war and the consequent insecurity of property, investment and business. In 1812 the governing power and authority of the Imperial Executive had given the scattered dependencies a species of unity which in 1864 did not exist and without which they 373 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. could have been bent and broken like a bundle of loose sticks. Moreover, even the kindliness of the neighbouring Republic was dangerous in those times. The chief American argument in favour of the abrogation of the Treaty — which it was so mis- takenly believed would ruin the Provinces — was that the action might coerce them into accepting annexa- tion. On the other hand the chief reason given in the United States for continuing the arrangement was that conciliation and the continuous growth of common interests would attain the same end with even greater certainty. Back of these important in- fluences and considerations was the wise and con- sistent pressure of the Mother Country, based upon anxiety to see the Provinces organised and united — if for no other purpose than their mutual defence. It was natural, under this internal and external pressure, that first the public men and then the pub- lic itself should begin to seriously discuss Confedera- tion. The idea had long lived in the minds of leaders and at intervals found expression in historic correspondence, in the eloquent peroration of a speech, or as the embodiment of some patriotic dream. Governor Hutchinson and Chief Justice William Smith had proposed it with a view to avert- ing the American Revolution. Chief Justice Sewell and H.R.H. the Duke of Kent had elaborated schemes upon paper with enthusiastic care. Sir John Beverley Robinson and Bishop Strachan in days of Loyalist and Tory supremacy had suggested THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 379 it to the British Government. Gourlay and Mac- kenzie had favoured it in somewhat crude form as a possible solution in their day of existing difficul- ties. Lord Durham and the Upper Canada As- sembly and Council had all favoured the idea, in a more or less tentative way, during the days of re- construction which followed the Rebellion. John A. Macdonald, from the early period of his political life, and notably at Montreal in 1851, had seen the great possibilities which it involved. From time to time politicians like George R. Young and James W. Johnston in Nova Scotia, Hamilton Merritt and Henry Sherwood in Upper Canada, or J. H. Gray in New Brunswick, had urged it upon public atten- tion. It had been therefore the occasional dream of Tories and Eadicals alike. It had been supported in England by men of such opposite views as the Earl of Durham and the Earl of Derby — the one- time Tory Premier. It was John A. Macdonald's proposed remedy for the fiscal and political and an- nexationist troubles of 1849, as it was his suggested solution of the difficulties of fifteen years later. The first really practical steps were taken in 1857 when the Nova Scotia Government under the leader- ship of Messrs. Johnston and Tupper pressed the matter upon the consideration of the Imperial Min- istry. In the following year the Hon. A. T. Gait spoke strongly in favour of the policy at meetings in Sherbrooke and Toronto and during a debate in the Canadian Legislature. "When, therefore, the z 3S0 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Macdonald-Cartier Government, soon afterwards, in- cluded him amongst its members the action marked one of the first significant evidences of what was coming. But this was not all. In closing the Ses- sion of 1858 the Governor-General, Sir Edmund W. Head, announced his intention of communicat- ing with the Imperial and other Colonial Govern- ments on the subject. " I am desirous," he said, " of inviting them to discuss with us the principles on which a bond of a federal character, uniting the Provinces of British North America, may perhaps hereafter be practical." Shortly afterwards Messrs. George E. Cartier, John Boss and A. T. Gait were sent to England to urge upon the Imperial Govern- ment the appointment of Delegates from the Prov- inces to discuss the subject No immediate action was taken, as the Colonial Office naturally did not wish to assume such direct responsibility, but when a little later Delegates from Nova^ Scotia again brought up the matter, Mr. Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton), the Colonial i Secretary, informed them that the Government would interpose no ob- stacles to such a union and that he himself felt that a union of the Maritime Provinces would bo especially beneficial. In 1861 the Duke of New- castle, then Colonial Secretary, declared that any proposals for union, whether partial or complete, would be considered by the Imperial Government " with no other feeling than anxiety to discern and promote any course most conducive to the strength, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 381 the prosperity and the harmony of these British communities." There is no doubt of the desire which existed in the Mother Country that this policy of union should be successful. It was favoured from various motives. Despite the existing dominance of the Manchester School there were a few statesmen, like Disraeli, who supported it from a far-seeing belief in future Imperial development. There were others, like Palmerston, who favoured it because they were not sure of the future in this respect but hoped in a vague way that good might come out of it. Others, and they were in the majority, such as Molesworth, Roebuck, Adderley and Cornwall Lewis, openly sup- ported Confederation because, as the last named said, in July, 1862, they could i; look forward without misapprehension and, I may add, without regret to the time when Canada may become an independent State." And they believed that the union of the Provinces would strengthen them for that eventuality and thus promise to relieve these Radical philoso- phers, playing at statecraft, of some of the despised responsibilities of Empire. During the succeeding period, and whatever the motive, the Imperial Gov- ernment did everything possible to further the move- ment. Newcastle and his successors — Mr. Henry Cardwell and the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos — put all the influence of the Colonial Office at its disposal. In New Brunswick, Lieut.-Governor the Hon. A. H. Gordon visited England in 1865 as an 382 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. anti-confederate and returned favourable to the policy.* In Nova Scotia, Sir R. G. Macdonell, who was known to oppose federation, was replaced in the same year by General Sir W. F. Williams who had definite instructions to advance the scheme in every possible way. All that was possible through the medium of favourable despatches, sympathising Governors and even by the friendly pressure of social kindness was done. The latter was something new. Colonial visitors in England during the earlier years of Canadian history had been received and treated too often as poor relations are sometimes received at the ancestral home — with courteous coldness and polite indifference. The scheme of union was, therefore, serving a double purpose in bringing the Provinces closer to one another and at the same time making them known in the Mother-land as growing states with a possibly great and loyal future. The Confed- eration of British America was, in fact, the first and foremost nail in the coffin of the Imperial disin- tegrationist school. And not the least of the Im- perial influences which made for Provincial Union during these years was that of Lord Monck. He used without hesitation all the prestige of his posi- tion as Governor-General — powers which were then greater than they have since been — for the further- ance of the policy. The Lieutenant-Governors felt * History of Confederation, by tho IIoii. John Hamilton Gray, p. 335. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 383 the weight of his views, and politicians were very conscious of them. Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, afterwards Premier of the Dominion, has written of the " share he had in bringing influence to bear on the Governments of some of the Provinces and possibly on individuals ; " * and Sir John Mac- donald has more than once borne witness to his ability and enthusiasm in the same connection. Yet Lord Monck was never really popular in Can- ada. He became mixed up in some unfortunate way with the Manchester School doctrines and, by hinting upon one occasion at a future of complete independence for the united Provinces, injured his reputation in a manner which no evidence of state- craft could overcome at the time. Meanwhile the motives for supporting Confedera- tion in the Provinces were even more varied than they were amongst statesmen at home. J. W. John- ston of Nova Scotia, inheritor of loyal Tory tradi- tions and beliefs regarding the value of British institutions, declared himself in favour of the policy (1851) in order to " perpetuate for all time to come the character, name, honour and institutions of the country of which we are all proud to form a part." P. S. Hamilton of the same Province looked upon it as paving the way to a wider Empire federation (1855). John Hamilton Gray of New Brunswick (1856) thought " it would become necessary in * Life of George Brown, by Alexander Mackenzie, Toronto, 1882, p. 96. * 384 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURA. order to check the republicanism of the one section in the Province of Canada and the radicalism of the other by an infusion of the determined loyalty of the truly British Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia." Alexander Morris of Upper Canada, in a series of important lectures, afterwards pub- lished in book form, favoured the policy in order to bring about a fusion of races, a union with the far West and a future railway to the Pacific (1858). Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a one-time rebel in days of Irish sorrow and starvation, but now for many years a thoroughly loyal Irish-Canadian of mar- vellous eloquence, declared at St. John in July, 1864, that there were before the public men of Brit- ish America only two courses : " To drift with the tide of democracy or to seize the golden moment and fix for ever the monarchical character of our insti- tutions." Some supported the idea because the separated Provinces were menaced by American ag- gressiveness ; others because the fragments of Brit- ish population might otherwise eventually succumb to the continuous pressure of the much-feared and ever-present shadow of American democracy — as evidenced in its influence upon the literature, cus- toms, schools, press and politics of the Provinces. Some favoured it as a means of overpowering that Prench influence which George Brown felt to be and denounced as such baleful domination; others be- cause it would enlarge and purify the whole cramped field of Provincial politics and make a THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 385 cohesive community out of still scattered settle- ments. A few had dim visions of a great future for the distant West; some had shadowy hopes of a national independence guarded by British friend- ship and embodying a sort of Colonial offspring of the Manchester School; a very few felt that Confederation might lead, through independence, to Annexation. But the great mass of the people and politicians supported it in order to strengthen the Provinces — first in their Government through co- hesion and centralisation, and next in their organised power to resist extraneous pressure whether political, commercial or military. Opposition came from different sources and varied motives. M. Joly de Lotbiniere, during the Con- federation debates of IS 65 in the Canadian Legis- lature, opposed the scheme primarily and vehement- ly because it had been recommended by men like Sewell, Robinson and Durham, whose " avowed ob- ject it was to obliterate French-Canadian national- ity." The Hon. A. A. Dorion, leader of the Lower Canadian Liberals, a man of courteous and charming character, a fluent master of both languages and a speaker of deft gentleness and pure diction, op- posed it because the appointment by the Crown of the Governor-General, the Lieutenant-Governors of the Provinces, the members of the Senate and of the Legislative Councils, and the Speakers of the Upper Houses, would put immense power in the hands of Downing Street and indirectly make the Provincial 386 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Governments mere satellites of the central star at Ottawa. He and others failed even yet to grasp the full significance and scope of a responsible govern- mental system which would eventually mould forms and institutions into an unwritten constitution con- trolled in all essential points by the Cabinet of the new Confederation — and indirectly by the people. The Hon. L. H. Holton, a Liberal leader from Mon- treal, denounced the measure as revolution, and an unnecessary revolution. It was to him " a crude, immature and ill-considered scheme," leading to un- told expenditures for the Intercolonial Kail way and for defence, and threatening the country generally with " a period of calamities " such as it had never before known. The Hon. Christopher Dunkin, afterwards famous in connection with certain tem- perance legislation in the Dominion, made the most exhaustive and elaborate of all the speeches against Confederation. He believed the measure would lead to disunion instead of union; that the rival- ries of Upper and Lower Canada would shatter the paper ties of federation; that eventually the Prov- inces would separate, under such a system, from the British Empire. He considered the proposed Senate useless as a Federal check upon legislation and harmful as being based upon no form of public opinion. The difficulties in the construction of a Federal Cabinet he deemed insurmountable while sec- tional influences would in any case soon lead, in his opinion, to a Federal deadlock. There would be un- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 387 limited confusion in legal and judicial matters as between the Federal and Provincial Governments; the expenditures on great railways and western ex- pansion projects would bankrupt the Union; while the attempt to combine the differing political ideas and principles of the Provinces would cause " en- ormous jobbery and corruption." Some of these fears were not unreasonable. The fact is that if the proposed union gave unlimited scope for opti- mism and the higher elements of patriotic aspiration it also afforded ample room for pessimism and the natural narrowness of view which is to be found in all small communities. It is interesting and important in this connection to notice how one man dominated the private con- sideration and the public discussions of this question as he had for two decades, in greater or lesser de- gree, controlled the political and chameleon-like changes of the day. " John A.," as he was popularly known at this time throughout the Canadas, and in some measure down by the sea, was the greatest man that British America has produced. Migrating with his father from Scotland when a very young child, Sir John A. Macdonald grew up among the peo- ple and of the people. A Tory from youth up, his politics crystallised gradually into a mod- erate and mellowed Conservatism which enabled him to grasp the skirts of fortune and adjust in time the disintegrating atoms of early Toryism and early Liberalism into a party which he believed 388 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. to combine the distinctive British tendencies of the former with the progressive policy of the latter. No man in Canadian history has been more pub- licly abused; no leader in Canadian life has been so personally loved. He was in the highest sense of the word a political opportunist, but, whether con- sistent or otherwise in small matters, there was one great principle — that of Imperial unity — which he 6tood by from the days of his earliest political mani- festo to the time of his last declaration to the people : " A British subject I was born, a British subject I will die." He was always far-seeing in policy. In 1849 he favoured Colonial Federation, in the later fifties he supported Colonial Protection, in the early sixties he suggested closer Imperial Union. He possessed neither a commanding pres- ence nor what is generally called eloquence. But his mobile and expressive face, his pleasant manner and easy gestures, his amusing stories and clever treatment of opponents, his marvellous memory for names and faces and detail, his knowledge of human nature and perennial geniality, his quick percep- tion and perfect genius for statecraft and political combination, made him easily the chief of British statesmen upon this continent. Whon, therefore, Confederation became a living issue he iwtu rally presided over the Quebec Conference rod the suc- ceeding one in London, was the recognised leader of the movement here and in England, trio only ono who received in 1867 the honour of knighthood, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 389 and the inevitable first Prime Minister of the New Dominion. Yet Sir John Macdonald could have done little without George Brown, George E. Cartier, S. L. Tilley and Charles Tupper. His genius was shown in compelling the co-operation of Liberals such as Brown and Tilley ; in winning the devotion of leaders so strong in their own Provinces as Cartier and Tupper. His personal relations with Brown were so bitter — this was the almost single exception to a rule in which political enemies were usually his personal friends — that the two leaders were not on speaking terms before the coalition of 1864 and re- lapsed ' into the same state after Brown had retired from the Cabinet. A word here as to the latter's general position. During the year 1858, at a Liberal Convention in Toronto which had been called by himself, he had advocated a federal union of the two Canadas instead of the existing Legislative Union as being a remedy for present evils. But for any further extension of the principle he was not then prepared, as he stated in a letter to the Hon. L. H. Holton of Montreal. In fact he thought they u would be past caring for politics when that meas- ure is finally achieved." In the Session of 1864, however, new light had come and he moved for a Committee to consider Constitutional changes, and, as its Chairman, reported on June 14th in favour of a federative system to be applied either to the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada or to the 390 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. whole of British America. The movement at the moment was largely a political one arising out of the weakness of the Tache-Macdonald Ministry, but it constitutes the basis of the claim made by some writers for regarding Mr. Brown as the principal parent of Confederation. The day after the pres- entation of his Keport, the Government was over- thrown and the final stage of deadlock was reached, together with the coalition period which made a wider union politically possible. Mr. Goldwin Smith, with the superficiality which usually marks an epigram, has stated that " the parent of Con- federation was deadlock," and upon this conclusion a Liberal writer of later days bases his belief that because the deadlock was produced by George Brown the latter was therefore the real father of the policy.* Of much of this political strife Brown had unquestionably been the cause. Honestly and hon- ourably he held certain views regarding Upper Can- ada and the desirability of its dominance in a racial and religious connection, and for them he fought during many years with an utter disregard of the interests or wishes of the other partner to the Union and of his own personal and political prospects. A stubborn, conscientious leader, an unsparingly vigor- ous journalist and speaker, and a sincere lover of his Province, he has left an indelible impression upon its history. But it was not in the constructive • William Buckingham, in Canada : An Encyclopaedia , voL 5, p. 205. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 391 Bense. Macdonald and he were essentially the an- tipodes of each other in this particular. The one was great at organisation, construction, conciliation; the other at obstruction, conflict and the advocacy of change. To the Confederation movement, however, George Brown brought the prestige of Liberal leadership in Upper Canada, the element of pronounced Protestantism which had proved so difficult of as- similation with the Catholicism of Lower Canada, and the powerful influence of the Globe. Cartier brought his strong personality, his popularity with French-Canadians and a reputation for loyalty to Provincial ideals which enabled him to triumph over the opposition of Dorion and other French Liberals who would not be led by Brown. Gait brought not only his skill and reputation as a finan- cier but also his influence as leader of the Protestant minority in Lower Canada, D'Arcy McGee, who was still a Liberal, and, until the time of the Fenian raids, a force amongst the Irish voters generally, brought his wonderful tongue and skilful pen to aid the cause. Tilley, as the Liberal Premier of New Brunswick, and Tupper, as the Conservative Premier of Nova Scotia, were able to combine at the Char- lottetown Conference in receiving the Canadian Delegates ; in supporting their proposition for a fur- ther and enlarged discussion of the projected Mari- time Union; and in adjourning that gathering to meet later at Quebec in order to try and arrange the 392 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. details of a wider and wiser British American federation. The result of this policy was the meeting of Dele- gates at Quebec on October 10th, 1864, from all the Provinces of British America — including New- foundland, whose representatives were F. B. T. Car- ter and Ambrose Shea, and Prince Edward Island, whose Delegates were Colonel Gray, Edward Palmer, W. H. Pope, George Coles, T. H. Haviland, E. Whelan and Andrew A. Macdonald. The Prince Edward Island Delegates, with those from the main- land Provinces, have been commonly known as the " Fathers of Confederation." Those from Canada were Sir Etienne P. Tache, John A. Macdonald, George E. Cartier, William McDougall, George Brown, Alexander T. Gait, Alexander Campbell, Oliver Mowat, H. L. Langevin, T. D'Arcy McGee, James Cockbura and J. C. Chapais. From Nova Scotia came Dr. Charles Tupper, W. A. Henry, Jonathan McCully, Adams G. Archibald and R. B. Dickey. New Brunswick was represented by Samuel Leonard Tilley, John M. Johnston, Peter Mitchell, Charles Fisher, E. B. Chandler, W. H. Steeves and John Hamilton Gray. Out of this Con- ference came the seventy-two Besolutions which prac- tically constituted the British North America Act of 1867 — so far as the terms and conditions of that measure are concerned. But there was a long strug- gle before complete success came to the policy thus promulgated. The Union Besolutions were adopted THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 393 in the Canadian Assembly, in 1865, by 91 to 33 votes and in the Legislative Conncil by 85 to 45. Fifty- four from Upper Canada and thirty-seven from Lower Canada constituted the favourable vote in the Assembly. After two general elections in New Brunswick and a change of Government, the Reso- lutions were approved in July, 1866, by good ma- jorities. In Nova Scotia, as in Canada, they were adopted by the Legislature — on the motion of the Hon. Dr. Tupper in the Assembly and by a vote of 31 to 19 — without a general election. But the re- sult in the Maritime Province, owing to the antag- onism of Joseph Howe, was a prolonged and some- times dangerous agitation for secession. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland refused to come into the Union, while British Columbia and the North- West were not yet in a sufficiently organised and populated stage to deal with the question. In December, 1866, Delegates from the four Provinces met in London to make final arrangements. Mr. John A. Macdonald was appointed Chairman, and of the Quebec Conference members Messrs. Mac- dougall, Cartier, Gait, McCully, Tilley, Fisher, Johnston, Mitchell, Archibald, Tupper, Langevin and Henry were also present. The new names amongst the Delegates were those of J. W. Eitchie of Nova Scotia — afterwards Chief Justice of tho Dominion — W. P. Howland of Upper Canada and R. D. Wilmot of New Brunswick. The final details were settled, and on the 28th of March, 1867, the 394 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Resolutions, after passing through the Imperial Par- liament as the British North America Act, re- ceived the Queen's Assent and became the constitu- tion of the new Dominion of Canada on the ensuing First of July. Under the terms of this Federal constitution, or by virtue of British precedent and Canadian practice, the following system was then established or has since evolved: 1. A Governor-General representing the Queen, appointed by the Crown for five years, and holding practically the same place in the Canadian Consti- tution that the Sovereign does in Great Britain. 2. A Cabinet composed of members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, who may be chosen from either branch of Parliament, and whose chief is termed the Premier. He is usually leader of the House of Commons as well as leader of his party. The Cabinet must command the support or confidence of a majority in the Commons and was composed at first of twelve Ministers, each in charge of a Department. 3. A Senate whose members are appointed for life by the Governor-General-in-Council. It is com- posed of 78 members, who must possess a property qualification, be thirty years of age, and British sub- jects. They receive $1,000 for a Session of thirty days, with travelling expenses. 4. A House of Commons composed of members elected for a maximum period of five years by popu- lar vote — from 1898 under the franchise of the THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 395 respective Provinces — and subject to dissolution at the will of the Governor-General. This power is, however, greatly restricted by precedent and prac- tice. There is no property qualification, but mem- bers must be twenty-one years of age, British sub- jects and not disqualified by law. There are in 1899 213 members and the Sessional allowance is $1,000. 5. The Provincial Governments are composed of the Lieutenant-Governor, appointed for a term of five years by the Governor-General-in-Council ; the Cabinet or Ministry, composed of departmental officers selected from either House of the Legisla- ture, and often additional members without office; a Legislative Council in Nova Scotia and Quebec composed of members appointed for life by the Provincial Government or Lieutenant-Governor-in- Council, and in Prince Edward Island elected by the people; and a Legislative Assembly elected for a maximum period of four years by popular vote. In all the Provinces manhood suffrage, limited by residence and citizenship, ultimately became the law, except in Prince Edward Island. By the terms of the British North America Act the Dominion Parliament was to have control of the general affairs of the Dominion, including matters not specifically delegated to the Provincial authori- ties. The chief subjects were: The regulation of trade and commerce and the postal system ; the pub- lic debt, public property, and borrowing of money on public oredit; the militia, and all matters con- 396 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. nected with the local defence of the country; navi- gation, shipping, quarantine, and the coast and in- land fisheries ; currency, coinage, banks, weights and measures, bills and notes, bankruptcy and insolv- ency; copyright and patents of invention and dis- covery; Indians, naturalisation laws and aliens; marriage and divorce; customs and excise duties; public works, canals, railways and penitentiaries; criminal law and procedure. The Provincial Legislatures were to have control of certain specified subjects, including direct tax- ation within the Province; the borrowing of money on the credit of the Province; the management and sale of public lands locally situated and of the wood and timber thereon; the establishment, mainte- nance and management of prisons and reformatories, hospitals, asylums and charitable institutions gen- erally; licences to saloons, taverns, shops and auc- tioneers; the control of certain public works wholly situated within the Province; the administration of justice, including the organisation of Provincial Courts; the control of education and municipal in- stitutions. Under the terms of the Act, Ontario has at the end of the century 92 representatives in the House of Commons, Quebec 65, Nova Scotia 20, New Brunswick 14, Prince Edward Island 5, Manitoba 7, British Columbia 6, and the North- West Territories 4. The basis, according to popu- lation, is that of Quebec with its 65 members, and a rearrangement takes place after each decennial THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 397 Census. The average population to each representa- tive is now 22,688. On July 1st, 1867, the first Dominion Ministry was formed by Sir John A. Mac- donald. His colleagues were the Hon. Alexander Tilloch Gait, Hon. William Macdougall, Hon. George Etienne Cartier, Hon. Samuel Leonard Tilley, Hon. Jean Charles Chapais, Hon. Alexan- der Campbell, Hon. Peter Mitchell, Hon. William Pearce Howland, Hon. Adam Johnston Fergusson- Blair, Hon. Edward Kenny, Hon. Hector Louis Langevin and Hon. Adams George Archibald. Following this union of the four older Provinces of British America under the common name of Can- ada — Upper Canada becoming the Province of On- tario and Lower Canada the Province of Quebec — came the period of continuous territorial expansion necessary in order to complete and render continental in extent this dream of early statesmen. The vast Hudson's Bay Company possessions were purchased by the Dominion in 1869, and on July 15th, 1870, a portion of that country entered Confederation as the Province of Manitoba — after passing through the storms of the Red River Rebellion. On July 20th, 1871, British Columbia followed the example thus given. A Resolution in favour of Confedera- tion had passed its Legislature in 1867, but had en- countered some opposition from Lieut.-Governor Seymour and his Ministers. On January 29th, 1868, a large public meeting was held in Victoria and an active agitation started by the Hon. Amor de 398 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Cosmos and others which resulted in the formation of a League to advocate the policy of union. J. F. McCreight, John Robson, Robert Beaven, Hugh Nelson, H. P. P. Crease, and other afterwards prominent citizens, joined in the movement The chief opponent of the scheme was Dr. J. S. Helmcken, who seems to have been actuated by a strong American, if not annexationist, sentiment, and to have been supported by a certain section of the population which had come into the Province from the States to the south. An energetic debate on the question arose in the Assembly in March, 1870, and a favourable Resolution based upon ar- rangements proposed by Governor Musgrave — who had meanwhile replaced the late antagonistic Gov- ernor by advice of Sir John Macdonald to the Im- perial authorities — was finally carried unanimously. Messrs. Helmcken, Carrall and Trutch were then sent to Ottawa and the terms finally settled — the principal item of discussion, then and afterwards, being a pledge by the Dominion to construct the Canadian Pacific Railway. By a trans-continental railway only could the Province be brought into Confederation in any other than the barest technical and constitutional sense. Prince Edward Island, after protesting that it would ne'er consent, finally came into the Union on July 1st, 1873, partly from a desire to have its land question settled; partly because of failure in the local shipbuilding trade, the imposition of high American duties upon Pro- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOMINION. 399 vincial fish, and the consequent commercial depres- sion; partly because of inability to make the local revenue meet the objects of expensive railway devel- opment to which the Province was pledged. With the completion of Confederation the Prov- inces entered upon the straight path towards nation- ality — either British or independent — and under the control of a man who was determined that it should be the former. Storms and struggles were to come and overshadow at times the seeming great- ness of the Canadian future ; but nothing seemed to blot out or really blur the impression stamped on the canvas of fate when the Queen's Proclamation was published on July 1st, 1867, and the birth of the new Dominion was formally announced. From thenceforward its record is that of an unceasing evolu- tion along the lines of union — educational, religious, social and political. In a general sense and, of course, with the weakness of all generalisations, the age of constitutional struggle may be said to havo passed into a period of transportation policy which, in turn, was succeeded by one of tariff controversy and then of mineral development. PART THREE. FORMATION OF A NATIONALITY, 18G7-1900. CHAPTER XVL CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS UNDER FEDERAL INSTI- TUTIONS. When bells pealed and cannon thundered on the first Dominion Day of these newly federated Provinces the sound marked the birth of an epoch in the history of a continent as well as of an Empire — a period of slow but sure growth and consolida- tion in the British nation thus formally established upon American soiL The acceptance of the Premier- ship and the successful formation of the first Fed- eral Ministry by Sir John A Macdonald * marked * In honour of the achievement of Confederation Mr. Mac- donald had been created a K.C.B. by the Queen, and Messrs. Howland, Macdougall, Tupper andTilley Companions of the Bath. Mr. Cartier declined the latter honour — deeming himself entitled, as the French-Canadian leader, to at least equality of treatment with Mr. Macdonald. He was amply satisfied in the succeeding year with a baronetcy, and his col- league, Mr. H. L. Langevin, was also accorded a C.B. CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 401 at the same time the realisation of cherished per- sonal ambitions and the final stage of evolution in the creation of a great political party. It had been evident to Sir John from almost his first entrance into public life, in 1844, that the future of the Prov- inces depended upon getting the French and English divided upon non-racial lines. To achieve this end, and by using opponents to advantage, he had carried reforms which the Liberal party had pressed for years but had been unable to effect He had never been particular about party allegiance when a friend could be won or an enemy placated, and this, com- bined with his extraordinary personal magnetism, had enabled him in years preceding Confederation to win over Liberals such as M. H. Foley, D'Arcy McGee, Fergusson-Blair and Francis Hincks. There were many others who, in the shifting politics of those days, had ultimately come under the banner of John A. Macdonald and served him against the powerful onslaughts of George Brown and his paper. He was now able, in a greater field, to put in prac- tice the policy of years, to break up finally the old party lines so often based upon racial and religious issues, and to establish a political organisation more in harmony with the circumstances of the new Do- minion. He announced his intention of forming the first Federal Ministry with, if possible, the co-operation of men from all sections of the country and all divisions of political thought, who may have contributed to the creation of Confederation, 402 PBOGKESB OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Six Liberals and six Conservatives were finally included in his Cabinet — Macdougall, Howland, Fergusson-Blair, Tilley, Mitchell and Archibald constituting the first element, and Campbell, Car- tier, Langevin, Chapais, Gait and Kenny the last. In the appointments to the Senate which, of course, were made by the Governor-General upon his recommendation thirty-six Liberals were selected and thirty-six Conservatives. George Brown, with characteristic impracticability, refused to have any- thing to do with the new combination, called a Con- ference in Toronto, rallied round himself strong support and organised the basis of the present Lib- eral party of Canada. An even more important dissentient from the principle of coalition was Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia. In some unfortunate way his opposition to Confederation had been taken for granted and he had not been included in any of the Conferences upon the subject, although for so many years the foremost politician of his Province. He was now naturally, and no doubt honestly, a con- firmed opponent of the whole scheme and an equally bitter antagonist of the Government which em- bodied its principles. He was also the head of the opposition to Dr. Tupper in Nova Scotia. The latter, it may be mentioned here, had been offered a seat in the new Dominion Ministry, but had, together with D'Arcy McGee, waived his strong personal and political claims in order to help Sir John in certain difficulties of sectional representa- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 403 tion which had arisen. In New Brunswick and Quebec there was no very vigorous Opposition or- ganised although, in the latter Province, Messrs. Dorion and Holton did their best to oppose the new arrangements and to support Mr. Brown in his Ontario activities. The party then formed around the person of Sir John A. Macdonald was called the Liberal-Conservative party, and this somewhat absurd name is still used upon formal occasions. Popularly, it became known as the Conservative or Tory party, while members of the Opposition soon received and accepted the old-time political names of Keformer, Grit, or Liberal. Meanwhile the administrations of the Provinces generally were being constructed and carried on along the new lines provided by the Federal constitution. The Maritime Provinces for a time retained the Lieut. -Governors previously appointed by the Im- perial authorities — Sir Charles Hastings Doyle in New Brunswick and Sir W. P. Williams in Nova Scotia. The first Ontario Legislature was opened by Major-General Henry W. Stisted as Lieutenant- Governor, and in Quebec Sir Narcisse P. Belleau, a native of the Province and for a time Prime Min- ister of Canada before Confederation, was ap- pointed to the position. The first Premier of On- tario was John Sandfield Macdonald, who had been associated with Antoine A. Dorion in the Liberal leadership, but who had latterly drifted away from his moorings and come under the magnetic influence 404 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN T1IR CENTURY. of John A. Macdonald. For many years he was the idol of the Catholic population of the Upper Prov- ince. He could speak Gaelic and make a good speech in English and was clever and shrewd in character. But his opinions were not always stable, it was often hard to tell what he would do next, and in later years he, not inaccurately, termed himself " an Ish- maelite in politics." His Ministry was mainly Con- servative in composition. In Quebec the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, so long and eminently connected with educational matters, formed a Government of similar political texture. In Nova Scotia, the Hon. II i ram Blanchard and, in New Brunswick, the Hon. A. R. Wetmore, headed Cabinets of a some- what colourless nature so far as party politics woro concerned. Thus equipped the Dominion started upon its course. To trace its political history on- wards in detail is of course impossible here, but an effort may be made to present some of the salient points of progress. The position and functions of the Governor- General changed gradually, and became settled, by precedent and practice, into that of a constitu- tional Sovereign guided, in his relationship toward the people of Canada, by a clearly defined recog- nition of the right of his Ministry to control the entire internal policy of the country so long as they retained the confidence of a Parliamentary majority — subject, however, to his usually dormant power of dismissing the Government and his admit- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 405 ted right to control the important point of Parlia- mentary dissolution. At the same time, and as the Dominion grew in strength and influence, the position of the Governor-General as the representative of Im- perial interests also increased in importance. All the correspondence between the Government of Great Britain and the Government of Canada centred in his hands, and all the intricate threads of Imperial policy as affecting Canada had to be considered by him and presented in turn to his Cabinet. There were no more stormy deputations to Downing Street, or passionate appeals to the British Parlia- ment by irresponsible political agents as in the days of Papineau, Viger and Mackenzie. Much of what may be termed the foreign policy of Canada — for want of a better phrase with which to describe the external affairs of a Dependency which had not yet risen to Imperial partnership — was in his hands, and upon his advice to the Colonial Office turned many interests of grave import Sir John Mac- donald has, in this connection, paid the highest tribute to Lord Monck * for his management during several serious years of Provincial relations with the United States. Lord Lisgar (Sir John Young), who succeeded him in December, 1868, had charge of much of the intricate correspondence connected with the Washington negotiations of ensuing years * Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald, by Joseph Pope, Ottawa. 406 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and the claims of Canada to receive compensation for the Fenian Raids. With the coming of Lord Dufferin in June, 1872, there began a new conception of the position and its duties. Hitherto the influence of the Governor- General, under the responsible system of govern- ment, was supposed to be entirely a personal and 6ocial one — except where Imperial interests were af- fected. !Now the magnetic power of an almost per- fect eloquence softened, chastened, flattered and moulded public opinion until the Earl of Dufferin became a great personal and political influence in the land; and it was seen how pronounced might be the power of a brilliant nobleman in the position of Queen's Representative and apart altogether from the ordinary degree of prestige surrounding that position. Almost at the beginning he had to face a difficult constitutional point. In 1873 the party storm-cloud known as the Pacific Railway Scandal broke over the heads of the Conservative Ministry of Sir J. Macdonald, and the Opposition demanded the instant dismissal of the Government at the hands of Lord Dufferin. Charge after charge was brought, and pressed, while Sir John Mac- donald requested a prorogation of Parliament — in- stead of a resignation by himself, or a dissolution — in order that a responsible Royal Commission might examine and report upon the whole matter. This Lord Dufferin finally decided was only just, and moreover expressed his belief that so long as his CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 407 Government had a majority in Parliament he was bound in such affairs to follow its advice. Although he was much censured at the time his view came to be generally accepted, and his own personality soon carried him triumphantly clear of any temporary discontent. In 1874 he had much to do with ar- ranging satisfactory terms with British Columbia, at a time of great local dissatisfaction over the fail- ure to commence building the Canadian Pacific Railway; while his silvery speeches at Winnipeg and Victoria fairly electrified the people of the West through their elegant description of the vast resources and splendid future of the country. The Marquess of Lome, who came out in 1878, accompanied by his wife the Princess Louise, and whose appointment was a part of Lord Beacons- field's Imperialistic policy, also had his constitu- tional difficulty. M. Luc Letellier de St. Just, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec and a Liberal in his former politics, had dismissed his Conservative Ministry on the ground of neglect to supply him with important documents for signature and ap- proval. He found a Liberal leader to form a new Government and to live for a time on the sufferance of the Legislature. Meantime, however, Mr. Mackenzie, the Liberal Premier at Ottawa who had supported this action in Parliament, had been defeated, and a strong demand came to Sir John Macdonald from the Conservatives of Quebec to dismiss M. Letellier de St Just. Lord Lome objected because, under 408 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN TTTF, CENTURY. all the principles of British responsible government, the Lieutenant-Governor's action had been disposed of from a constitutional point of view as soon as a new Premier had assumed responsibility for it and obtained the support of the House of Assembly. Party feeling ran too high, however; Sir John in- sisted upon his point and Lord Lome referred the whole matter to the Colonial Office. The result was not very satisfactory to him, as it practically con- sisted of instructions to follow the advice of his Ministers. Accordingly the Lieutenant-Governor was removed. The Marquess of Lansdowne suc- ceeded Lord Lome in October, 1883, and had a con- siderable share in conducting the Canadian side of the controversies which followed about the Atlantic Fisheries. Sir John Macdonald has expressed his belief that Lord Lansdowne was the ablest of all Canada's Governors-General, and there is no doubt that the lucid and valuable nature of his despatches concerning affairs in the Dominion and its relation to the Empire was largely instrumental in causing his appointment as Viceroy of India. A curious evidence of development in the recognised functions of a position was shown at the time William O'Brien came to Canada for the purpose of expressing Irish Home Rule dislike of Lord Lansdowne as an Irish landowner. It was so widely felt that a Governor- General could not defend himself in such a case without loss of dignity and popular respect that there was an almost universal expression of indigna- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 409 tion, several great public meetings were held, and O'Brien was practically compelled to leave the coun- try. And this in Provinces where Sir Francis Bond Head had fought a personal and political campaign, where Lord Metcalfe and Lord Dalhousie had been the objects of public party execration, or where Sir Colin Campbell and Lord Falkland had been driven into retirement by the fierce attacks of a Joseph Howe. Lord Stanley of Preston (16th Earl of Derby) during his term of office, which lasted from 1888 to 1893, was for a time the centre of considerable controversy in connection with the Jesuits Estates Act. His public expression of a belief in the con- stitutional legality of that measure raised the ques- tion as to whether a Governor-General could express a personal opinion upon a matter of local politics. It was claimed that in such a case he must be em- bodying the opinion of his Ministry. It cannot be said that the discussion had any satisfactory con- clusion further than to clearly illustrate the public idea that the Queen's Representative had practically nothing to do with Canadian political affairs. Lord Aberdeen, who presided over the Dominion from 1893 until he was succeeded by the Earl of Minto in 1898, proved the contrary in his practical dis- missal of Sir Charles Tupper and his Ministry in July, 1896. The issue turned upon the belief of the Governor-General that between the time when a Government has been defeated at the polls and the 410 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. occasion of its retirement, or meeting Parliament, the interests of the country as a whole are in the hands of the Sovereign, or her Representative, rather than in those of a Premier who represents a minority both in Parliament and the country. Hence his refusal to sanction certain important ap- pointments and the consequent necessity under which Sir Charles Tupper lay of resigning office without waiting for the meeting of Parliament. The whole affair was perhaps more a party matter than a constitutional issue, as the mere fact of the Laurier Government instantly assuming office and responsibility absolved the Governor-General from a constitutional standpoint. Still, the result in- dicates the important dormant powers which lie in the Sovereign's hand and in those of her Repre- sentative. At the end of the century therefore we find that in Canada the Governor-General not only represents the Sovereign as the head of the State and of Parliament, but guides and influences very largely its external relations; helps to mould public opinion upon Imperial issues and to keep his Gov- ernment in constant touch with the Colonial Office; leads the social affairs of the Dominion in the style of a country gentleman like Lord Lisgar or in princely state like Lord Aberdeen; controls the dis- solution of Parliament at critical periods, and at times influences the tenure of office on the part of Ministries. He does not preside at the Council Board as the Governors used to do in former days, CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 411 or as they do now in Australia, but none the less does a man of ability, experience and strength in his position wield a pronounced influence over his Ministers in all matters outside of mere party politics. The development in the position of the Lieutenant- Governors has been not less marked. In the days of constitutional struggle they exercised more than the power of a modern Governor-General. There was, for instance, substantially little difference be- tween the functions of the Duke of Richmond at Quebec as Governor-in-Chief and those of Sir Peregrine Maitland at York as Lieutenant-Gover- nor. Theoretical differences there were; practical ones there were not. The Governor-General usually presided over the affairs of Lower Canada before the Union of 1841, and not till the days of Lord Elgin did he really exercise power in the Maritime Provinces. After Confederation the Lieutenant- Governors were appointed by the Dominion Govern- ment and took at once a subsidiary position. And this despite constitutional decisions in the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council which have since indicated that they are, equally with the Governor-General, the representative in each Prov- ince of the Sovereign. Gradually, too, all the posi- tions came to be filled by distinguished or representa- tive local men, and, though the appointments have usually been of the highest character, it was natural that the public should come in time to look 2b 412 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. upon the post of Lieutenant-Governor as merely a gift in the hands of the Dominion Ministry and a reward for political merit The first native Lieu- tenant-Governor of Nova Scotia was, very properly, Joseph Howe, and he was succeeded by others who had borne the brunt in party battles during many years — notably Sir Adams Archibald and the Hon. A. W. McLellan. In New Brunswick, L. A. Wil- mot was the first native of the Province to rule in Government House and Sir Leonard Tilley, E. B. Chandler and K. D. Wilmot have been amongst his best known successors. The principal Lieutenant- Governors of Quebec have been the Hon. R. E. Caron, Luc Letellier de St. Just, A. E. Angers and Sir J. A. Chapleau — the latter a splendid orator, a shrewd Conservative politician and a powerful and popular French leader. In Ontario Sir W. P. Howland, the Hon. John Beverley Robinson (son of the Tory leader and Chief Justice of early days), Sir Alexander Campbell, Sir George Kirkpatrick and Sir Oliver Mowat have filled the position. In none of the Provinces did it develop into a very influential one. The duties of opening the Legisla- tures in the name of the Sovereign, presiding with differing degrees of fitness over the social life of the community and patronising, by presence and speeches, its various local interests, were not onerous functions. And so well understood did the relations between the Lieutenant-Governor and his Ministers become, and so free from constitutional strife has CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 413 been Provincial politics, that only in Quebec have controversies of importance arisen between them. Yet the position has proved a useful if not a strongly influential one. It has given a dignified and permanent head to the constitutional system of each Province and has proved a more or less valuable social centre for the entertainment and reception of distinguished visitors and the promotion of that somewhat intangible element of modern civilisation termed culture. The two Quebec cases, in which the Lieutenant-Governors interfered directly with the position of their Ministers, were of serious import in a constitutional sense and illustrative of the strong and available powers which lie under all the apparent forms and formulas of British institutions. Some reference has been made to the first case in con- nection with the position of the Governor-General. The real point of importance in the dismissal of M. de Boucherville by M. Letellier de St. Just was the controversy which arose as to how far the principle of responsible government could be carried. Was the Representative of the Sovereign in either Do- minion or Province to have the undoubted prerog- ative of the Crown at home, as regards the dis- missal of a Ministry, or was he in no case to be justified in exercising that right? The decision then come to was not important as it was essentially a party one. And, although the revenge taken upon the Lieutenant-Governor by the Government at Ottawa, with the permission of the Imperial authori- 4U PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ties and despite the opposition of Lord Lome, threatened to degrade the position of Lieutenant- Governor into that of a mere machine to register the wishes and policy of the Federal Cabinet, it did not so turn out. Nor did it in the end affect the prerogative of the Governor-General. The events of 1878 and 1879 found indeed a complete constitu- tional corrective in those of 1891. And the dis- missal of M. Mercier, on proven charges of political corruption, by M. de Boucherville in the latter year, was also one of those turns of the wheel of fate in which history occasionally records a personal re- venge given to some one who has suffered at its hands. In the first case a Liberal Lieutenant-Gover- nor had dismissed a Conservative Ministry. In the second a Conservative Lieutenant-Governor — the Premier of the previous period — dismissed a Lib- eral Cabinet. In the former case the new Govern- ment struggled along for a year and the Lieutenant- Governor was dismissed by the Federal (Conserva- tive) authorities. In the latter the new Ministry was sustained at the polls and the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor was sustained in office by the very authorities at Ottawa who had dismissed his predecessor. So that in the end, and after much constitutional con- troversy and partisan debate, the Liberal, and in this case British, principle, that the Crown or its Representative can dismiss a Ministry, if another Cabinet is found to accept the responsibility and carry on the Government, was maintained. CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 415 With the creation of the Dominion constitu- tional politics took an entirely new aspect. There were no more battles-royal between Governor and Cabinet, or Governor and political factions, except in the one or two cases already mentioned, where the conflict was mild indeed compared with past ex- periences. The Federal Parliament at Ottawa set- tled down into practices which followed closely the time-honoured principles and precedents of the British system and the Ministries, as they succeeded one another, moulded themselves as much as possible upon the same lines — an example which was care- fully followed in the Provinces. The internal prob- lems which came up for solution after the prelim- inary organisation of Governments and Government Departments, Customs and Excise, the Postal Serv- ice and the Franchise, turned more upon the gen- eral relation of the Provinces to the Dominion, and to each other, than upon petty questions of appoint- ments to office and the payments of official salaries. Only occasionally was the old racial issue revived, while the so-called rebellions which took place only served to consolidate Confederation and unify na- tional sentiment. With a greater population, wider outlook, more plentiful supply of able and experi- enced men, and a better knowledge of constitutional matters and the object-lesson afforded by England's more complete development, there could be no fur- ther question as to responsible government in either its nature, its practice or its benefits. But there 416 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. was much difficult work to encounter in the welding of the Provinces together while at the same time promoting and retaining Provincial autonomy. In this complex labour troubles were sure to come; and no man was better equipped to meet them than Sir John Macdonald. His conciliatory nature, charming manners and personal popularity made him a natural factor in the soothing of prejudices and the smoothing down of inevitable asperities. The first matter of importance in this connection was the abolition in 1872 of the dual representation, under which a member of the Quebec or Ontario Government or legislature was able to sit in the Dominion Parliament — there being no regulation to the contrary in the British North America Act. The Maritime Provinces had, however, forbidden it from the first by local legislation. A measure was also passed in 1868 declaring that no person holding an office of profit or emolument under the Crown, or retaining Government contracts, could sit in Parlia- ment Then came the admission of British Colum- bia into Confederation in 1872 and that of Prinoo Edward Island in the succeeding year. But I two events were arranged without serious difficulty at the time and did not constitute a straining and testing of the new constitution such as was incurred by the questions connected with Manitoba and Nova Scotia during this period. The latter Province was the only one of the four original members of the Confederation which caused CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 417 serious trouble at the outset of its new career. In the main this was owing to the fiery and eloquent personality of Joseph Howe. He had opposed Con- federation in the old Assembly against Dr. Tupper and his friends, but unsuccessfully. At the polls in the elections which followed the Union in all the Provinces, he had his revenge and absolutely overwhelmed the Confederates. Tupper alone of all his party in Eova Scotia came to the new House of Commons at Ottawa, while two Confederates only entered the doors of the Assembly at Halifax. The air rang with denunciation of the Dominion and with cries for repeal of the Union. Howe had made the Province believe itself to have been tricked into a policy and position which would destroy its in- dependence, menace its connection with Great Brit- ain and hamper its progress. He declared that if the Legislature which passed the Federal proposals had gone to the people, as did the New Brunswick Assembly, the Province would not then be in the Confederation. The new Assembly passed almost unanimous Resolutions in favour of secession, a Delegation composed of Howe and others was sent to lay petitions before the Throne for permission to leave the Confederation, and from every town and village flowed in a stream of supporting appeals. The scene was then transferred to London, where Howe appeared with a Province almost absolutely behind him in a plan to break up the new Domin- ion; and with the knowledge in his own mind and 418 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. in the public mind of Nova Scotia that thousands were willing to take up arms against the assertion of Federal supremacy. To London also went Tupper on behalf of the Dominion Government, armed with full powers of negotiation and abundance of force- ful ability — perhaps the only man in Nova Scotia whom Howe had found a rival really worthy of his steel. The representative of the Province did everything in his power to obtain Imperial permis- sion for the repeal of the Union, but failed. Dr. Tupper as representative of the Dominion did every- thing possible in opposition, and won. At the same time he spent days in negotiation and conversation with Howe, offered him better financial terms for his Province, seats in the Senate for his friends, a place in the Government for himself. Above all he pointed out the results of the inevitable failure should agitation be afterwards continued — an in- flamed people, riots and perhaps civil war, financial ruin to individuals and to the Province, half a cen- tury's retrogression. These arguments had an effect which no personal considerations could for a moment have had with Howe and he weakened somewhat in the fierceness of his feelings. But he did all that man could do to carry out his mission, though upon his return home there was an immediate and per- ceptible effort to control the more violent spirits. Sir John Macdonald, Tupper, Cartier and others followed him to Halifax, skilled diplomacy directed by Sir John's master-hand was brought into play, CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 419 better terms were arranged in accordance with Dr. Tupper's promises, Howe entered the Dominion Cabinet and the issne was practically settled. Two results followed however. The tribune of the people lost his marvellous popularity and stood in his new position like a shattered idol upon a pedestal. The realisation of this fact ultimately broke his heart, and, although he returned to Halifax three years later as the first native Lieutenant-Governor of his Province, he only lived a few months to enjoy the honour. Yet he had fully done his duty. Up to the point of absolute rebellion he had struggled against destiny as few others have done, and only drew back before lurid possibilities which entailed an enormous responsibility upon a man who seemed to hold the people in the hollow of his hand. He was not a reckless and irresponsible Mackenzie, and therefore stopped at the brink, turned back and made the best terms possible for his Province. To an in- flamed public mind it looked like treachery; to the historian who knows the honourable and pure char- acter of the man it looks like patriotism of a high type. Howe had managed in 1872 to carry his Province despite the defection of friends and the mutterings of discontent. But it was a last effort and result of his wonderful oratory. Up to within a few years of the close of the century Repeal has continued to be heard of at the polls in Nova Scotia ; the bitterness remained for long in the hearts of the people, and resolutions were even passed in the As- 420 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. sembly. The steady growth of a wider national life, however, slowly but surely destroyed this senti- ment, and time has now finally drawn a veil over the whole dangerous and futile movement. In 1868 it was felt by the Dominion Government that some steps should be taken to secure the great Hudson's Bay Company territories for Canada; and that the time was most opportune as the two hundred years' charter of the famous body of Adventurers into Hudson's Bay was about to come up again for re- newal at the hands of the Imperial Parliament Sir George Cartier and the Hon. William Mac- dougall were, therefore, sent to London, and after varied negotiations and discussions Canada was allowed by the Imperial authorities to purchase from the Company its proprietary rights and its monopoly of trade. Accordingly, in 1870, £300,- 000 was paid to the Hudson's Bay Company, a twentieth of all lands surveyed for future settle- ment was promised to it, and certain guarantees were given against excessive taxation. It was still to retain numerous and important trading-posts, a vast influence over the natives, and wide facilities for commerce. The reasons for this expansive policy on the part of the Dominion were strong and the results exceedingly important. The United States had re- cently purchased the wilds of Alaska and was well known to have a natural desire for further extension ; while the people of Canada were not very sure as to the possible effect which a big bid from the Republic CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 421 might have upon the Hudson's Bay Company. Moreover, the central settlement on the Red River was known to contain many American adventurers of a type not unlike the Fenians, and it was be- lieved that the Company had hardly done its duty in the matter of colonisation. There was no sub- stantial reason for any fear of the Company's loy- alty. Later knowledge of its history shows that it was really the cause of saving all this vast region to the Crown, and that, if the Provinces to the south had earlier understood their own possibilities of ex- pansion and the Colonial Office not been dominated by the Little Englanders, Oregon and Washington, and Alaska itself, might have formed a part of the Dominion. But the true Imperial spirit was now dawning in the minds of the Canadian people, and the time had arrived in the North- West for its change from a region of traps and furs, of buffaloes and Indians, into one of steadily developing agriculture and all the varied forms of civilised energy. At first, the twelve thousand people — mainly Trench and Indian Half-breeds, some Americans and a few Canadians • — did not understand the situation. And, unfor- tunately, it was not explained to them except by the appearance of land surveyors and the spread of countless rumours. Out of this ignorance came op- position and then the splutter of a brief and fantas- tic rebellion. The horde of Indians roving over the vast prairies of the West knew nothing of the matter 422 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. at all, but were none the less subjects for serious speculation when trouble threatened — partly in this case from their numbers, partly from their intimate relations with the Half-breeds, partly from their susceptibility to the schemes of unscrupulous agi- tators. Largely owing, however, to the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company there was but little diffi- culty with them at this time. The story of the rebellion which followed is a curious one and might very well be a long one. The French Half-breeds of the Red River had for leader a clever, eloquent, unscrupulous, partially educated and very ambitious man in the person of Louis Kiel. He had a sufficiently mixed element to ap- peal to and one which required a positive genius for conciliation to combine and concentrate in a suc- cessful insurrection. It is creditable to his ability that he was able to browbeat the somewhat indiffer- ent Company and the loyal Canadians, and to de- ceive the Half-breeds by promoting jealousy of Canadian rule, fears of heavy taxation, natural prejudices against the land surveyors and thoughts of a disgraceful position as the Colony of a Colony — without self-government or the rights of British sub- jects. The English-speaking and French-speaking Half-breeds were jealous of each other's religiou3 views and possible supremacy under the new dis- pensation; while the pure white element was di- vided into loyal Canadians, Fenians with fond and foolish republican aspirations, and American set- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 423 tiers dreaming of Annexation. This population, with all its jumble of peculiar views and possibili- ties, Eiel stirred up into such antagonism to Can- ada and such conflicting internal jealousies that, in the winter of 1869 when news arrived of the Cana- dian appointment of the Hon. William Macdougall as Governor of the unorganised territory, he was able to raise the flag of insurrection, proclaim him- self " Provisional President " of a new Kepublic and prevent the entrance, into what is now Mani- toba, of Macdougall and his staff. The latter, from out of the wilds of Minnesota, in the United States, issued vain orders and appeals, but was compelled eventually to return to Ottawa leaving Eiel at the head of affairs until his dream of power was shat- tered in the summer of 1870 by the arrival of the Wolseley expedition. Meanwhile the latter rioted in a rough-and-ready rule which was marked by streaks of cleverness in policy and by such miserable incidents as the mur- der of a young Canadian named Scott, who was shot by the order of the " President " on a pre- tended charge of seeking to breed dissension in the little Republic. Of the stuff that romances are built upon was the imprisonment of some loyal Canadians in old Port Garry and the escape of Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Schultz in a wild and stormy night, and his succeeding journey on snow- shoes over the vast wilderness of seven hundred miles which lay between the Red River and civilisa- 424 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. tion. Gaunt in appearance and broken in health through starvation and suffering, he quickly helped to set Ontario on fire with indignation; and, in days prior to railway connection with the Canadian West, a force of seven hundred volunteers and five hun- dred regulars under command of Colonel Garnet J. Wolseley was soon wending its weary way by lakes and rivers and wilds to revenge the death of Scott, to restore British-Canadian rule, and to bring peace and harmony to a now hunted and cowed people. Royal Commissions had meanwhile been sent up by the Dominion Government, and Donald A. Smith (now Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal) had used his personal influence and that of the Hudson's Bay Company to restore order, without much avail. They had, however, with the aid of Bishop Tache, prevented any more Scott episodes. On August 24th, 1870, Wolseley reached Fort Garry, in the heart of the Bed River Settlement, only to find that the tiny phantom of a Republic had crumbled into dust and that Riel had fled to the United States. There he was destined to pass several years of exile, and from thence he eventually came to lead another and more serious insurrection. Colonel Wolseley quickly restored order, escaped the Lieutenant-Governorship which it is understood he was willing to accept, highly praised the volun- teer portion of his force, and returned home to be- come eventually Commander-in-Chief of the Army and one of the two or three leading British soldiers CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 425 of his period. Manitoba was organised under the terms of the British North America Act and ad- mitted into the Confederation with all the privileges of a Province, while Fort Garry, in time, became the great prairie city and commercial centre — Winni- peg. Such was the constitutional birth of Manitoba, It was, and is, a small Province, but comprises with- in its bounds the most fertile soil in the world and the most marvellous wheat-bearing qualities. North and east and west of it stretched the boundless prairies and plains, river valleys and lakes and streams, of what were then the practically unknown North-West Territories. No government was as yet given them because their only population was still in the main a roving and hunting body of men who acknowledged little of interest or influence ex- cept that of the Hudson's Bay Company. But gradually people came, settlements were formed, and railways established, until in 1876 Keewatin was formed into a District under the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of Manitoba, and in 1882 Assiniboia, Sas- katchewan, Alberta and Athabasca were organised under a Lieutenant-Governor who placed his pio- neer capital upon the prairies at a little settlement christened Regina. There were various phases in the constitutional progress of these Territories. A Lieutenant-Governor with a Council appointed by himself was the first; an Advisory Council of four Members chosen from an elected Assembly of twenty-two members was the next; an Executive 426 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Council and Legislative Assembly with practically all Provincial powers except the right to borrow money and control the Crown Lands followed. Then in 1898 came complete responsible govern- ment. In 1895 the still unorganised regions of a million square miles had been formed into the Dis- tricts of Ungava, Franklin and Mackenzie and placed under the Regina Government. Two years later the District of Yukon was carved out of this region and in 1898 taken under Dominion jurisdic- tion. Meanwhile various events had occurred. D'Arcy McGee, whose eloquence had given him such in- fluence over his fellow-Irishmen and such a marked place in Canadian history, was murdered by Fenian instrumentality at the door of his own house — upon the very verge of his entry into the Government of the country he had served so well and just after a brilliant speech in the House urging conciliation and kindness to the Repealers of Nova Scotia. The fan- tastic but costly Fenian Raids of May, 1870, into Quebec, and of October, 18 71, into Manitoba fol- lowed. The volunteers were again called out, an- other half million dollars was spent by the country, and the Fenians were driven back over the border after a brief struggle at Eccles Hill in the East and by the intervention of United States troops in the far West — after long delays and many warnings to the American Government. The Atlantic fisheries question came up, an important militia measure CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 427 was passed, the Washington Treaty was arranged. British troops to the number of 14,000 men were withdrawn from Canada in accordance with Man- chester School principles, and the Dominion fonnd itself to all intents and purposes a free British nation upon the American continent. Constitution- al points between the Provinces arose from time to time. Ontario and Quebec had a prolonged struggle over the large debt which they had jointly incurred during the days of Legislative union and of which, under the Act of Confederation, the Do- minion Government was to assume part and the rest to be equally divided between the two Provinces. The division was left to arbitration, but eventually the differences became so great that Quebec with- drew its Arbitrator and its Legislature refused to be bound by the award. Stormy discussions fol- lowed at Ottawa and eventually the matter went to the Courts, and is not yet entirely settled. In 1871 a question arose in New Brunswick which affected the school system of the whole Dominion in a constitutional sense. A Provincial law was passed establishing free and non-sectarian schools. The Roman Catholics, however, wanted their own separate institutions, as in Ontario, where the chil- dren should receive definite instruction along Catho- lic lines and to which their taxation should be ap- plied, instead of to schools which they could not conscientiously use. They appealed to the Dominion Government for disallowance of the measure on the 2c 42S PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ground of its violating certain provisions of the British North America Act This was refused, and they then appealed to the Courts and finally to the Judicial Committee in London, where the Provin- cial law was declared constitutional. There was no further public trouble in the matter, although local discussions of details in the operation of the law have since taken place. Then came the union of Prince Edward Island and British Columbia with Canada, the constitutional completion of Confedera- tion from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the pledge of a trans-continental railway. In 1872-3 arose one of those party issues which shake a country to the core, overthrow Governments and change the cur- rent of events. During the former year the Do- minion general elections had taken place, and one of the prominent questions was the proposed con- struction of the Canadian Pacific Kailway. Tho Government was sustained, but in the Session of tho ensuing year charges were made upon the floor of Parliament, by the Hon. L. S. Huntington, of the most serious character. Flagrant corruption was al- leged in connection with the sale of the charter for the projected road, and private letters and tele- grams stolen from the desk of Mr. (afterwards Sir) J. J. C. Abbott of Montreal were produced which proved that the Government, through Sir George Cartier, had undoubtedly obtained from Sir Hugh Allan, head of one of two rival Companies, IftfgO sums of money for election purposes. A Royal CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 429 Commission was appointed and sat ; but did nothing more than report the evidence. Stormy discussions in the press, in Parliament and on the platform fol- lowed, and a wave of public indignation swept the Government finally into a position where Sir John Macdonald felt compelled to resign. Mr. Alex- ander Mackenzie was sent for and formed a Liberal Cabinet with Dorion, Cartwright, Letellier de St. Just, Huntington, Blake and others as members. In the following year he appealed to the people and was given a large majority. Sir John Macdonald never attempted to deny tho receipt and expenditure of these moneys and no one ever accused him, even during one of the two hottest election contests in Canadian history, of having personally benefited. But the Cabinet of Canada was unfortunately the Carlton Club of the Conservative party, and the combination of these two functions really explains the whole situation. Money had to be obtained and used in the elections, but it should not have been obtained by members of the Government. And, although it was proved that Sir Hugh Allan had received nothing and had been promised nothing for his contributions; that he had always given generously to the party funds as be- came a man interested in particular phases of its canal and railway policy; and that in his pet am- bition of being President of the consolidated Com- pany which it was hoped would be formed out of the two rival concerns at Toronto and Montreal, he 430 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. had been disappointed through Sir John's own in- tervention; yet it was very properly felt that the Government should not have accepted anything from him. An incident of the elections was the return to Parliament of Louis Riel from the Half-breed con- stituency of Provencher, in Manitoba. He man- aged to come secretly to Ottawa and to secretly sign the roll ; but, as a fugitive from justice with an in- dictment for murder against him, was at once ex- pelled the House and on being re-elected was again expelled. At the same time, however, the general amnesty extended to the rest of the rebels was now granted Riel and his lieutenant Lepine — very fool- ishly as it turned out. The commencement of the Canadian Pacific Railway followed under loud threats of secession from the Pacific shores of the Dominion if the pledges of 1872 were not adhered to; and in 1878 Sir John Macdonald came back to power with a triumphant majority based upon his policy of protection to native industries and his own marvellous personal popularity. Between this date and his death in 1891 his continuously sus- tained Government included members such as Thompson, Campbell, Tilley, Tupper, Foster, Caron, Bowell, Macpherson, White, Chapleau, Abbott, Langevin, Frank Smith and C. H. Tupper. In 1885 came another Nova Scotian issue in the shape of a demand for a larger annual subsidy. This was based on the ground that other Provinces had re- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 431 ceived more favourable terms since 1868 than it had; that its financial condition was bad and its resources insufficient for the purposes of government and internal improvement; that the Province had not received sufficient compensation for local rail- ways which had been taken over by the Dominion; and that its Customs contributions to the Dominion treasury were greatly out of proportion to its re- ceipts from the Dominion. Upon the refusal of " better terms " the mutterings of the old Repeal movement were again heard in the land, the Legis- lature passed Resolutions in favour of instant seces- sion, and a Provincial Government favouring these views was actually returned by a large majority. It was, however, only a game of political bluff, and the constituencies of the Province continued to re- turn a large majority to Ottawa of Confederates and Conservatives. Meantime an International Commission sitting at Halifax in 1877 had awarded Canada $5,500,000 for the American use of its fisheries during ten years, and later on (1888) a new Fisheries Treaty was negotiated by Mr. T. F. Bayard, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and Sir Charles Tupper, but was thrown out in the United States Senate. The Saskatchewan rebellion of 1885 brought Riel once more to the front and, incidentally, brought good out of evil by developing the most marked evidences of really national unity amongst Prov- inces stretched in a thin streak of population across 432 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. half a continent. It was largely the result of a clever agitator being permitted to play upon the fears and prejudices of an ignorant class in the community. But these feelings had some substan- tial basis. Unlike the Half-breeds on the Eed River in Manitoba, those living on the prairie banks of the Saskatchewan, some hundreds of miles away, had never been granted title-deeds or patents for their land; and in a season of wild speculative excitement they naturally feared the possibility of seizure on the part of unscrupulous speculators. Pe- titions seemed to be useless, while all around them the buffalo was failing and the Indians as well as the Half-breeds were finding a cordon of not im- probable starvation drawing around them. In the midst of their discontent Kiel was called for as the man who had forced the Government to give the Manitoba Half-breeds their patents and as an agi- tator whom that Government had been apparently afraid to punish for the murder of Scott. lie came to their aid, and they naturally thought his help would be considerable. For a while he was moderate in advice, constitutional in agitation and reasonable in view. Then the wild free air of the prairies seemed to get into his easily inflamed mind, memories of past power recurred to him, daily evi- dences of present influence over a scattered but numerous population of Half-breeds and Indians came homo to his senses, republican sentiments re- vived in his mind and were aided by spiritual CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 433 fanaticism and the force of his own eloquence. He cast fear and consequences to the winds, gathered the Half-breeds around him at Batoche, called on the Indians to join him, and rebellion was once more a fact on Canadian soil. Scattered through these great regions were some thirty-five thousand In- dians. The men of these tribes were mostly skilled hunters and would have made brave warriors. They were friends of the Half-breeds and were associated with them by ties of kindred life and occupation and often of blood. If they joined the insurrection the whites of much of the vast country between Winni- peg and the Rockies, and north to Hudson's Bay and the Arctic seas, were at their mercy. Kiel did his best but failed for the moment, excepting in the cases of Big Bear and Poundmaker — two chiefs with considerable followings. Great anxiety naturally prevailed at Ottawa. It was felt that if the Indians did not at once join Kiel they would certainly do so in the event of any suc- cess won over Canadian troops, and that the terrors of the historic scalping-knife and the horrors of fire and death were hanging over the heads of the entire North- West settlers. Scarcity of food had made the tribes restless and, despite the excellent administration which as a whole has characterised the record of Canadian relations with the Indians, the danger was a serious one. Preparations were quietly made, but, in the month of March and like a flash of lightning, came the news that Eiel had 434 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. taken advantage of a rumoured declaration of w*T by Russia against Great Britain, had assumed ab- solute authority at Batoche, given the command of his troops to Gabriel Dumont — a skilful buffalo hunter and Half-breed — and that the latter had de- feated near Duck Lake a force of Mounted Police with a loss of twelve men killed and seven wounded. In a moment Canada and the other Provinces were in a blaze. The Government call for troops was responded to with a rush, and in three days Cana- dian militiamen were on the march from Quebec, Montreal, Kingston and Toronto, while regiments had volunteered for service from Halifax to Winni- peg. General Middleton, in command of the Militia as a whole, was placed in charge of the expedition and proved a careful, skilful and fortunate leader. Three points, at considerable distances from one an- other, were menaced by the rapidly spreading re- bellion — Prince Albert by the Half-breeds at Batoche, Battleford by the Indians under Pound- maker and Fort Pitt by Big Bear's Indian Reserve. Near the latter point, at Frog Lake, a massacre of white people did take place, and shortly afterwards the Fort was itself captured. General Middleton arranged his forces into three columns after their junction with those of Winnipeg. They had already endured great privations and suf- ferings from cold in marching the long distance which had to be traversed north of Lake Superior — owing to the incomplete condition of the Canadian CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 435 Pacific Kailway and the refusal of the United States Government to permit British armed troops to cross its territory by rail. The first column under Lieut.- General Bland Strange, and numbering five or six hundred, was sent against Big Bear and his fol- lowers. The second, numbering about the same and under the command of Lieut.-Colonel W. D. Otter, was despatched to the relief of Battleford. The main column, under his own command, consisted of nearly a thousand men and was to relieve Prince Albert and subjugate Batoche. Upon the whole this carefully matured plan was carried out. Mid- dleton first met the rebels at Msh Creek on April 24th, where they fought so stubbornly and well that he was for a moment checked and induced to await reinforcements before advancing further in pursuit of the retiring enemy. Meanwhile Colonel Otter relieved Battleford, marched out to meet Pound- maker and plunged into a gully opening upon Cut Knife Hill. Here his troops were virtually sur- rounded by a wall of fire, and though they fought steadily and well had to eventually be withdrawn. A week later occurred the three days' struggle at Batoche between Middleton's forces and the Half- breeds intrenched behind rifle-pits in a region fur- rowed with ravines and guarded by trenches. At last, on the 12th of May, the slow process of distant shot and shell was abandoned, and, under orders from the General and by the more immediate command of Colonels Van Straubenzie, Williams and Grasett, a 436 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. charge was made which cleared the rifle-pita in a hurry and scattered the rebels like chaff. In a few days Riel was a prisoner and the insurrection prac- tically at an end. General Strange, a little later, came up with Big Bear, but was repulsed from a strong position which the old savage held near Fort Pitt. Two days afterwards, however, a portion of the band was severely punished by Major Steele and the prisoners captured at Frog Lake were rescued. Early in July the Chief came in and surrendered, and on the 5th of the month the troops started for home, where they received such a welcome and were the cause of such really national demonstrations as Canada had never seen before. In the summer Riel was tried for high treason at Regina, found guilty and executed in September, despite a tremendous political uproar which arose over the claim that he was a Frenchman and a Catholic and was being condemned for that reason ; that the insurrection was justified by the neglect of the Government to meet the LEalf-breeds' com- plaints in time; and that he was insane and should therefore be merely shut up in safe-keeping for tho rest of his life. The Liberal press made a fierce campaign upon this general issue, Quebec was aroused as it had perhaps not been since the days of 1837 or 1849, and Honore Mercier rode into office in that Province upon a triumphant wave of sec- tarian and sectional bigotry. But the sentiment was only a momentary one. When the Dominion elec- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 437 tions came on in January, 1887, Messrs. Chapleau, Langevin and Caron, who had taken their political lives in their hands, refused to bow or bend to the storm of racial and religious feeling, and stood by Sir John Macdonald, were able to hold the Prov- ince for the Conservative party and for the consti- tutional exercise of the principle of Dominion authority in the teeth of Provincial prejudices and policy. Incidentally, and during the debate upon the question in the House of Commons, Mr. Edward Blake made one of his greatest speeches in an at- tack upon the Government, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John S. D. Thompson delivered a reply which stands in history as one of the most logical and lucid ever given in a Canadian Parliament. It estab- lished permanently his reputation as a great debater. The result of the rebellion was, in the main, bene- ficial, and the local consequences of Government neglect, or insurrectionary discontent, or political strife, were transmuted by the influence of pride in the volunteers and the popular ardour of a military campaign into a strengthened national sentiment which spread like a wave from shore to shore of the Dominion. As a result of the coming into power in Quebec of M. Mercier with an extreme religious and racial party masquerading under the name of Liberal, or at times of " Le parti Rationale," certain important legislation connected with the historic Jesuits' Estates was enacted. At the time of the Cession 438 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. of Canada the Jesuits held large properties in and around Quebec; and under the terms of the Treaty with France and the subsequent suppression of the Order by the Pope these came into the hands of the British Government. An allowance was granted, however, to every then living member of the Order in Canada. In 1814 the Papal suspension was re- moved and an agitation began for the restoration of the Estates, or for the indemnification of the Order itself — whose priests were returning once more to the land in which their earlier predecessors had so greatly suffered and so strenuously laboured. Finally, in 1888, M. Mercier took advantage of his large majority in the Quebec Legislature and of a strong politico-religious feeling amongst the people, to introduce and pass an Act granting $400,000 to the Order as complete compensation for these claims. At the same time he very shrewdly granted the Protestant Educational Committee of the Province $60,000 for the use of their institutions. A power- ful agitation was at once commenced in Ontario, led by Mr. D'Alton McCarthy, an eminent lawyer and Conservative politician, for the disallowance of the measure at the hands of the Dominion Govern- ment. Discussion raged everywhere and consider- able religious feeling was aroused, especially by a peculiar use of the Pope's name in the Preamble to the measure. The matter was fiercely debated in Parliament, but Sir John Macdonald stood firmly upon the ground that, whether good or evil, the CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 439 legislation was constitutional and that he would not contravene Provincial rights by advising the use of the Crown's prerogative of veto. As the general question of Provincial rights was one upon which the Liberals had hitherto taken a strong posi- tion — notably in cases connected with Provincial boundaries, Provincial and Dominion rights in streams and rivers, the sphere of control in tem- perance legislation and the power of appointing Queen's Counsel — they now supported the Conserva- tive Government and placed McCarthy and his sup- porters in a minority of 13 to 188. Out of the ac- companying agitation, however, grew the Equal Eights Association, based upon the old-time theory of George Brown that Prench-Canadianism and Roman Catholicism were acquiring too great a power in the country. It had its effect in stirring up feeling over the Manitoba School Question and in the Ontario elections of 1890, but had largely lost its force by the Dominion elections of the suc- ceeding year. An extreme result of this agitation was the ephemeral, but violent, Protestant Protec- tion Association — an importation in form and con- stitution from the United States. Another religious issue came to the front, partly in the same connection. The Province of Manitoba in 1890 had abolished its Catholic Separate Schools and established a system based largely upon that of New Brunswick. The Roman Catholic minority considered this measure unconstitutional and in con- 440 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. travention of a distinct understanding at the timo of entering Confederation, in 1871, that their Sepa- rate Schools would never be interfered with. They appealed to the Courts and thence to the Imperial Privy Council. That body decided the legislation to be within the powers of the Province. Then a second appeal on another point went through the Courts and to the Privy Council, and the result was a decision that a minority in any Province, which deemed itself oppressed, had a right to de- mand redress from the Governor-General-in-Council, or in other words from the Dominion Government. This was at once done. Meanwhile, the brilliant intellect and keen discernment of Sir John Mac- donald was no longer at the head of the Adminis- tration at Ottawa. After his death in 1891, Sir John J. C. Abbott had succeeded to the Premier- ship for a year and a half and been replaced in December, 1892, by Sir John S. D. Thompson. The latter' s pathetic and memorable death at Wind- sor Castle, just after being sworn of the Imperial Trivv Council by the Queen, made Sir Mackenzie BoweU Prime Minister in December, 1894. By iiis Government it was now decided to restore the Sepa- rate Schools, and a Remedial Order to that effect fcraa issued. The Premier of Manitoba refused to ad upon the command, agitation for the guarding of Provincial rights commenced in Ontario, the pres- sure of the French-Can ad in us for the restoration of the schools of their compatriots in the West con- CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 441 tinued, trouble in the Ministry developed, and finally Sir M. Bowell resigned and in May, 1896, was succeeded by Sir Charles Tupper. The re- organised Government introduced a Bill into Par- liament along the lines of the Eemedial Order, but could not get it through the House, a general elec- tion followed in June, the veteran of a thousand Tory battles was beaten, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier came into power with the Liberals, for the first time since 1878 and upon a policy of conciliation rather than coercion. He eventually succeeded in compro- mising matters with the Liberal Premier of Mani- toba, and thus settled a question which had seriously menaced the friendly and constitutional harmony of the Provinces in relation to one another. Meantime, and in the various Provinces, political and constitutional matters had followed along the lines set by Dominion precedent; though there was keen jealousy in the preservation of every right which might be deemed theirs under the constitu- tion. In Ontario, Sandfield Macdonald was replaced as Premier by a Liberal Government in December, 1871, with Edward Blake as Premier. A year later Mr. Blake resigned to go into Dominion politics and was succeeded by Oliver Mowat, who had left the Bench for the Premiership, and now continued to hold that position through all the mutations of party strife for twenty-four years. In 1896 Sir O. Mowat accepted the Lieutenant-Governorship of the Province and was replaced by Mr. Arthur S. Hardy, 442 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. who in 1899 was succeeded by Mr. George W. Ross. The leaders of the Conservative Opposition during this long period were Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice Sir) M. C. Cameron and Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice Sir) W. R. Meredith. Then came for a short time Mr. G. E. Marter and the present leader Mr. J. P. Whitney. In Quebec the Chauveau Min- istry was succeeded, in 1873, by that of the Hon. G. Ouimet. Then came C. B. de Boucherville, H. J. Joly de Lotbiniere, J. A. Chapleau, J. A. Mous- seau, J. J. Ross and L. O. Taillon. With the ex- ception of M. Joly de Lotbiniere, who was Premier for a year, by grace of the Lieutenant-Governor, these were all reorganisations of an existing Con- servative Cabinet. But on January 27, 1887, the Hon. Honore Mercier — afterwards created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope — came into office and held power until December, 1891, when C. B. de Boucherville, L. O. Taillon and E. J. Flynn were the successive heads of another Conservative Ministry. In 1897 the Hon. E. G. Marchand car- ried the Province for the Liberal party and came into power. Politics in the Maritime Legislatures were not very clearly defined after Confederation. The Con- servatives, as a rule, carried the Provinces in Do- minion elections, while the Liberals, who had ob- tained all the rights they desired, were reasonably content — aside from the secession agitation in Nova Scotia. In that Province, Hiram Blanchard, CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 443 William Annand, P. C. Hill, S. H. Holmes, J. S. D. Thompson and W. T. Pipes were alternately Premiers, until 1884, when the Hon. W. S. Fielding came into power and held the reins as a Liberal, with a coalition Cabinet, until he entered the Do- minion Ministry in 1896 and was replaced at Hali- fax by the Hon. G. H. Murray. In New Bruns- wick, Mr. Wetmore was succeeded by G. E. King, J. J. Eraser, D. L. Harrington and A. G. Blair. Prom 1833 until 1896, when he entered the Laurier Ministry, the last-named politician remained at the head of a sort of coalition — though himself a Lib- eral and, like Mr. Pielding in Nova Scotia, an ally of the other Provincial Liberal Governments. He was succeeded, first by James Mitchell and then by the Hon. H. K. Emmerson. In Prince Edward Is- land, L. C. Owen, L. H. Davies, W. W. Sullivan, Erederick Peters, A. B. Warburton and Donald Ear- quharson succeeded one another as Prime Minister. Manitoba was governed from the days of Union, in 1870, by Alfred Boyd, M. A. Girard, H. J. H. Clarke, K. A. Davies and D. H. Harrison. The two chief Premiers and politicians of the Prairie Province were, however, John Torquay (1878-87), a big, clever, jovial, honest Half-breed, and Thomas Greenway, from 1888 to 1900 when he was defeated, and replaced by the Hon. Hugh John Macdonald — son of the great Dominion Premier. In con- nection with this Province an important consti- tutional point arose in 1887 over the attempted 2d I I I PROGRESS OF CANADA IN T1IK CKNTURY. construction of the Red River Railway — a lino running south from Winnipeg and contravening t ho Dominion arrangements made with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in 1880 and accepted by Parliament. At the point of crossing the C.P.R. difficulties occurred which almost ended in conflict between the Provincial and Dominion authorities; while Manitoba rang with fierce denunciation of what was termed the " Monopoly Clause " in the Charter and the determination of the Dominion Government to enforce it. Deputation after deputa- tion went to Ottawa and protest after protest came from the Provincial Legislature until, in 1888, a compromise was effected and the clauses in dispute waived by the C.P.R. Company in return for a fifty-year Dominion guarantee of interest on a $15,- 000,000 issue of 3£ per cent, bonds, secured upon tho Company's unsold lands — about 15,000,000 acres. British Columbia, meanwhile, was ruled, as Prime Minister and in succession, by J. F. McCreight, Amor de Cosmos, A. C. Elliot, G. A. Walkem, R. Beaven, William Smythe, A. E. B. Davies, John Robson — u pioneer leader and politician who per- haps made the greatest impression upon its history — Theodore Davie, J. II. Turner and C. A. Semlin. In the North-West Territories, and through various phases and forms of constitutional government, Mr. F. W. G. Haultain has, since 1887, been the chief figure in politics and administration. In municipal matters marked progress took place CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS. 445 during this period. Prior to the Union of 1841 there had been practically no municipal institutions in Lower Canada, while, in Upper Canada, the Pro- vincial Legislature had been burdened with an in- finite amount of detail work in connection with vil- lages, towns and counties. After that date many of these matters were delegated to local bodies of a still somewhat crude composition, and in Lower Canada efforts were made to evolve a system which would modify that French-Canadian ignorance of municipal institutions which had in earlier days so disastrously extended to other constitutional prin- ciples and conditions. But it was not until after Confederation that a system was fully established in all the Provinces by which each county, city, town, township, village or parish controlled its own public improvements, public health, morals and, in some measure, public taxation. With the exception of Prince Edward Island, however, a complete and reasonably efficient municipal code is now in opera- tion in all the Provinces of the Dominion. Such is the briefest possible record of Canadian constitutional matters since Confederation. There has been friction between the Provinces at times; there have been inevitable troubles of a racial, re- ligious or educational character; there have been curious developments of a political kind. But the progress has been steady, and, despite party contro- versy and party accusations, sectarianism and sec- tionalism have markedly decreased. Federal ties 446 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. have been developed into national ones and mutual interests have so increased that even the advocacy of so-called Provincial rights has lost its old-time charm. Foreign intrigues have had a vital influence in this connection, but they too have lost their force, owing mainly to the vigour and sincerity of Sir John Macdonald's life-ideal of a great British Dominion, and latterly to the wisdom of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in upholding the same principle and carrying his party along similar lines of Imperial and constitu- tional development. TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 447 CHAPTER XVII. PROGRESS IN TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. Railways and tariffs have been so intermixed with the politics and progress of Canada during the last half of the nineteenth century that it is almost impossible to dissever them. They take, in fact, the place of earlier constitutional struggles and seem to permeate every project of trade, every material interest of each and every Province, and all the mat- ters affecting the daily life and movement and busi- ness of the people. At the end of the century the immense distances of British North America have been covered by nearly seventeen thousand miles of railway, where only twenty-two hundred existed in 1868— with working expenses of $35,000,000 and earnings of $52,000,000 in 1897, as compared with earnings of $12,000,000 and corresponding expenses in the year after Confederation. When the Provinces began their Federal career the Grand Trunk Railway had been built, had run its course of bankruptcy, and was on the slow up- grade toward the period when it would stretch out to Chicago in the United States and amalgamate 448 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. with its own line half the small railways of Ontario. The Intercolonial Railway was still the subject of a discussion which had lasted from 1835 onwards, and had included various tentative surveys and numerous negotiations in London and at the Pro- vincial capitals. But its completion was now a part of the pact of Federation, and the methods and cost of operating had become the chief elements of discussion. The final surveys through New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia were made by Mr. (now Sir) Sandford Fleming, the exact route was decided upon, questions of construction were fought over and set- tled, and the work commenced and carried on until the 1st of July, 1876, when the whole line was opened to traffic at a total cost to the Dominion of $22,488,000. The mileage of the system was, in 1895, 1,186 miles and the through distance from Halifax to Quebec was 675 miles. By legislation and arrangements made in 1898 the direct connec- tion of the line has been carried on to Montreal. Great Britain was originally interested in this Bail- way as a means for transporting troops, and she be- came more directly connected with it by a snl^o quent guarantee of loans amounting to £3,000,000 for its construction — partly in return for the waiving by Canada of her Fenian Raid claims against the United States. It must also be said that had it not been for the reckless surrender of territory by the Imperial Government under the Ashburton Treaty the distance to cover between Montreal and llali- TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 449 fax would have been less by two hundred miles, ten million dollars of expenditure would have been saved, and a winter port on the Atlantic coast secured to the Dominion.* Following the construction of this line and the binding together of Quebec and the Atlantic Prov- inces came the entry of British Columbia into the Confederation and the pledge to connect Ontario by rail with the distant shores of the Pacific. It was not a new project, but was none the less a daring one in its inception, its execution and its comple- tion. The idea in 1834 was a favourite one with Thomas Dalton, Editor of the Toronto Patriot; Sir Richard Bonnycastle, in 1846, had written of an iron belt from the Atlantic to the Pacific; Sir John Harvey in the succeeding year, and with that states- manship which seems to have ever characterised his policy and ideas, spoke to the Legislature in Nova Scotia of " a great chain of communication which may be destined at no remote period to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean ; " Eobert Christie in his History of Lower Canada, Major Carmichael Smyth, K.E., Lieutenant Synge, R.E., and a few others wrote of it in 1848-9; Joseph Howe de- clared at Halifax on July 15th, that "Many in this room will live to hear the whistle of the steam engine in the passes of the Rocky Mountains ; " Alan Macdonell of Toronto, in the same year, tried to or- * Sir Sandford Fleming, in History of tlie Intercolonial Railway. 450 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ganise a Company for the construction of a Pacific Railway. Others who favoured or advocated the project in succeeding years were the Hon. John Young of Montreal and Chief Justice Draper of Upper Canada, Lord Bury and Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Lord John Russell and Mr. Roebuck in the Imperial Parliament, Sir S. Cunard, Lord Car- narvon, Henry Yule Hind and Sir Sandford Flem- ing (1862). But it was in the main a theoretical dream, a ship of thought passing in the night, or a striking perora- tion for some patriotic speech until, in 1870, the Government of Sir John Macdonald agreed to its construction as the only means of bringing British Columbia into Confederation and the only method of making that union a practical and serviceable one. From this time until 1880 the question was a centre of continually changing storm-clouds of polit- ical struggle, and comparatively small practical progress was made. Mr. Sandford Fleming was appointed Engineer-in-Chief in 1871, and published two volumes of Surveys which showed somewhat more clearly than had been generally understood the tremendous difficulties of the undertaking. Then came the battle of the Companies, headed respectively by Sir Hugh Allan, J. J. C. Abbott and Donald A. Smith in Montreal, and by Mr. (after- wards Sir) D. L. Macpherson, Frank Smith and others in Toronto. The Pacific Scandal followed, the Government of Mr. Mackenzie was formed, and TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 451 the Liberal policy of constructing sections of the road so as to connect with and utilise various bodies of water was proceeded with. Finally, Sir J. Mac- donald came back to power, and, in 1880, with Sir Charles Tupper as Minister of Kailways, the con- tract for the construction of the Canadian Pacific was duly signed, and in 1881 was approved by Par- liament. The new Company was strong in repu- tation and ability and, as it afterwards proved, in determination and vigour. George Stephen (after- wards Lord Mount-Stephen), Donald A. Smith (afterwards Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal), P. B. Angus, James J. Hill and Duncan Mclntyre were the chief promoters. Sir William C. Van Home came from the United States in 1881 and from that time, either as General Manager or Presi- dent, directed the destinies of the road until the end of the century. The Company undertook to build and operate the line for a consideration of $25,000,- 000 and 25,000,000 acres of selected land along its route, together with the right of way through public lands and the necessary ground for stations, docks, wharves, etc. Steel rails, telegraph wire and other dutiable articles were to be admitted free for its first construction. Parts of the road then built were to be handed over by the Government and no line running south in competition was to be per- mitted. Great difficulties were encountered from the first. Construction on the north shore of Lake Superior 452 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. was a veritable problem in engineering science, and piercing the Rockies and Selkirks was something which has seemed to the traveller of late years a new wonder of the world. Criticism in financial circles, bitter deprecation in political circles, lack of faith in the public itself, met the Company at every turn. The chief promoters and partners in the enterprise staked not only their reputations but their fortunes on it, and yet, more than once, abso- lute and complete failure stared them in the face. Once the Dominion Government, after grave hesi- tation and under serious protest from members of its own party as well as the Opposition, advanced $35,- 000,000 and practically saved the enterprise and its promoters from ruin. The whole amount was paid back in a few years. By the terms of the contract the Railway was to be completed in 1890. As a matter of fact the last spike on the great iron road was driven by Sir Donald A. Smith on November 7th, 1885. It was the successful end of perhaps the greatest financial and engineering enterprise of the nineteenth century. The Government of Canada were involved, for good or ill, in the result, the for- tunes of the leading men of Montreal were staked upon it, the welfare of the Bank of Montreal through its Manager, Mr. R. B. Angus, was concerned in it, the fate of the Conservative party depended upon the issue, while the unity of the western and on Provinces hung uppB its completion. Great for- tunes ultimately came to the promoters and peerage* TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 453 and honours were showered upon them ; but only the most carping of critics, or minds unable to compre- hend the tremendous strain of such a struggle, could object to their rewards. To the country the importance of this event can hardly be over-estimated. Towns and villages grew up in a night and remained as the centre of popu- lous agricultural, lumbering or mining regions. Branch lines were sent out in every direction and the great North- West opened up to settlement and cul- tivation. Port Arthur, Fort William, Eat Port- age, Calgary, Vancouver, grew from nothing into towns, and in the last-named case to an important city and a possible rival of San Francisco. Im- mense elevators were built at central points by the Company for the holding of grain, large steamers were placed on the Great Lakes, telegraph lines were constructed over mountain and prairie, and, in 1892-3, lines of steamships under the control of the Company commenced to run between Vancouver and China and Japan and from the same Pacific port to Honolulu and Australasia. It was the beginning of a new era of progress, the completion of Cana- dian unity in a material sense, the injection of a new commercial, financial and national life into the veins of the Dominion. Meanwhile, small railways or branch lines had been constructed in every direc- tion as the country was slowly but surely opening up through its sparsely populated area of three mil- lion square miles. By absorption of minor roads 454 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and by general construction the Grand Trunk Rail- way System, in 1897, was possessed of 3,161 miles of rail, receipts amounting to $16,977,000, expenses of $11,363,000, a passenger traffic of $4,856,000 and a freight traffic of $11,167,000. At the same time and in the same way the Canadian Pacific Railway had 6,283 miles of rail, $20,822,000 of receipts, $12,198,000 of expenses, $4,941,000 of passenger traffic and $13,036,000 of freight traffic* Other lines, including the Government-owned and managed Intercolonial of 1,360 miles, possessed over seven thousand miles of rail and receipts amounting to fifteen millions of dollars. The progress of transportation interests by sea and on the lakes of Canada was also very marked during this period. Various canals were built, or deepened, in connection with the great waterway stretching from the sea to the head of Lake Su- perior. The Lachine was improved at a cost of six and a half million dollars, the Beauharnois was re- placed by the Soulanges at a cost of four millions, the Welland was deepened and enlarged by an ex- penditure of over sixteen millions, the Carillon and Grenville were improved at an expense of three mil- lions, and upon the Cornwall, Murray and St. Ann's, respectively, over a million dollars was spent. t The work upon these artificial aids to the continental * Government Year Book for 1897. f Official Report by G. F. Baillarge, Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ottawa, 1889. TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 455 waterway cost Canada between the time of Con- federation and the year 1889 the sum total of $33,960,783. Adding the $21,124,928 spent prior to 1867 and the sums expended on repairs, renewals and maintenance during the whole period, the gen- eral cost of Canadian transportation improvements in this connection may be placed at $75,000,000 by the end of the century. The latest work constructed has been the Sault Ste. Marie Canal which con- nects Lake Superior and Lake Huron over Canadian soil; while in July, 1897, Parliament authorised a further expenditure of four and a half millions for the uniform deepening of the St. Lawrence Canals so as to permit a vessel of 14 feet draught to load at Fort William and pass through to Montreal — four- teen hundred miles — without breaking bulk. On June 28th, 1894, Lord Aberdeen as Governor- General of Canada unveiled a memorial tablet in the Parliament Buildings at Ottawa in honour of the Koyal William which, in 1833, was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic by steam-power. Constructed in Canada and owned by Canadians, it was the pioneer of those mighty fleets of ocean steamers which now cover the seas of the world. The vessels connected with these great fleets and the carrying trade of Can- ada by sea, between 1869 and 1896, had a total ton- nage of 80,000,000 in British ships, 29,000,000 in Canadian and 58,000,000 in Foreign ships. In 1896 the British vessels arriving at Canadian ports numbered 1,684, with a tonnage of 2,350,338; the 456 PROGRESS OF CANADA W THU 6T8NTUKY. Canadian vessels, 6,810, with a tonnage of 1,007,- 954; and the Foreign vessels, 5,291, with a tonnago of 5,895,360. According to registered tonnage Can- ada ranked in this year after the United Kingdom, r 1 if* United States, the German Empire, France and the Netherlands — the two latter standing very little higher in tonnage than the Dominion. Meanwhile, the carrying trade on the Great Lakes had increased enormously until the ships going through the Ameri- can Sault Ste. Marie Canal possessed a tonnage greater than those carrying the trade of the East and the West through the Suez Canal. In 1868 the vessels arriving and departing from Canadian ports on inland waters had numbered forty thousand — one-third being American. In 1896 they numbered thirty-five thousand, of which one-half belonged to the United States. So far as Canada is concerned these figures do not, therefore, show progress in tho right direction; but the stringency of United States regulations, the exclusion from American canals de- spite the American use upon equal terms of those be- longing to Canada, and the enormous growth of American lake-shore populations as compared with the smaller Canadian increase, explain the situation. The tons of freight carried respectively, however, were in 1896 nearly equal in number — slightly over a million. The coasting trade of the Provinces — inland and seaboard — nearly trebled between 1876 and 1896, and rose from 10,300,000 tons in the first-named TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 457 year to 27,431,000 tons at the latter date. Upon all the lakes and shores of Canada, boats, steamers and ships of varied kinds are now plying, and in place of the swift and silent canoe propelled by savages and speeding over the bosom of secret waters at the beginning of the century, there is now heard the shrill whistle of the steamer — not alone in the Great Lakes but on the Lake of the Woods, on Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg, in the beautiful regions of Muskoka in Northern Ontario, on the rivers of British Columbia and on all the seacoasts of half a continent from the Yukon to the St. Law- rence. The Canadian Pacific line of steamers on Lake Huron and Lake Superior and the lines run- ning between Vancouver and Sydney, or Vancou- ver and Hong Kong, are creditable evidences of Canadian enterprise. Sir William Van Home was a pioneer in this respect, as Sir Hugh Allan, Sir Samuel Cunard and the Hon. L. A. Senecal were in the St. Lawrence or upon the Atlantic. Down the great Canadian river from Montreal there now streams an ever-increasing volume of traffic which the Allan and Dominion Lines carry to Liverpool with the assistance, from Halifax or St. John, of the Beaver and Purness and other lines of steam- ships. Local lines also now run from the Mari- time Provinces to Newfoundland, Jamaica, Ber- muda, the West Indies and Cuba. Shipbuilding has not grown greatly in the years approaching the end of the century. Its flourish- 458 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ing days — in the time when British tariff prefer- ences for timber existed and there was a steady Brit- ish demand for wooden ships — have passed away, and it is probable that the record of 3,873 ships, with a tonnage of 1,285,000, built at Quebec be- tween 1787 and 1875, will never be repeated. In- deed the number decreased for all Canada from 490 in 1874 to 227 in 1896. Great possibilities and resources exist, however, in connection with the iron and steel industry, and there is no reason why, in time, the seaports of Quebec and Nova Scotia should not again resound with the ring of a new and greater form of shipbuilding and mark the revival in the beginning of the twentieth century of a prominent occupation in the pioneer days of British America at the opening of the nineteenth century. Intimately connected with the transportation de- velopment which had thus bound together Provinces separated by great forests, lakes or mountains has been the tariff history, discussion and policies aris- ing out of these peculiar geographical conditions. Questions of protection and free trade have not been and could not be considered upon the same plan as they are in other countries. The United States has always possessed a home market and a local de- mand of ever-increasing proportions. Great Brit- ain has had the advantages of immense capital and, in earlier days, of superior skill as well as of con- sistent protection to its industries. Australia has no great neighbouring competitor and rival such as TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 459 the United States. At first, of course, the strug- gling and isolated British American Colonies had the advantage of the Imperial preferential tariff — ■ which did as much for their timber trade as it did for West Indian sugar. But in the middle of tho century came its abrogation and the creation of con- ditions which soon developed into a complete local control of the tariff and attempts to make better trade arrangements with the American Republic. Incidentally^ protection to native industries became a factor in politics and Government. Mr. J. W. Johnston, the Tory leader in Nova Scotia, urged in 1847 the adoption of " a high practical encourage- ment to the industries " of his Province, as an out- come of the right given to the Colonies in the previous year to regulate their own tariffs. At the same time the Canadian Legislature passed an Ad- dress to the Imperial Government asking it to nego- tiate a treaty of reciprocity with the United States, and, during the years immediately following, placed the Kepublic, by legislation, upon a fiscal equality with the Empire. In 1858 a large meeting was held in Toronto under the initiative of the Hon. Isaac Buchanan and an Association for the promotion of protection formed. In the same year the Gait Tariff was framed despite protests from the Colonial Sec- retary and from sundry British manufacturing centres. Like the protests of Canadian public meet- ings, of private individuals and of the Governor- General himself (Earl Cathcart) against the abro- 2 E 460 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN TIIE CENTURY. gation of the preferential tariff by England, they were disregarded. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 was abrogated in 1866 and Confederation followed. The Canadian tariff for the ensuing decade averaged seventeen per cent., and, during part of that period, owing to the situation in the United States which immediately succeeded the Civil War, it proved a sufficient pro- tection to local industries. But by 1875 American industries had completely -recovered from the shock of war, and were able to pour their surplus goods into the Canadian Provinces at prices that defied the competition of concerns having only a small capital and a confined market. The result was a general demand for further and higher duties, the return to power of Sir John Macdonald, the crea- tion of the " National Policy of Protection " in the Session of 1879, and the maintenance, since that date and despite a change of Government in 189G, of a tariff averaging thirty per cent, in its protec- tion of Canadian industries and products. What- ever may be the technical or theoretical qualities of Protection there can be little doubt, apart fiom partisan discussion, of the value of this policy to the Canadian Provinces. Like the railways it has proved a great solvent of the difficulties of space, a most useful instrument in the creation of trade inter- change amongst isolated communities, a factor in the evolution of national sentiment. Instead of allowing to grow up — or trying to promote as did TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 461 the Commercial Union agitation of a decade later — • trade between Nova Scotia and the State of Maine, Ontario and ]STew York, Quebec and Vermont, Mani- toba and Minnesota, or British Columbia and Wash- ington, it aimed to encourage the interchange of their own products between the various Provinces, over their own railways and to the general advan- tage of their own people. The policy seems to have been beneficial to internal trade without injuring external commerce. During the five years ending in 1897 the total of exports and imports was in round numbers two hundred millions greater than it had been in the five years ending in 1885 ; while the estimated trade between the Provinces in 1896 was $116,000,000 as against a million dollars in 1861 * and a comparatively small interchange in 1879. Prom 1876 to 1896 the tariff, or questions con- nected with it, constituted the central topic of Cana- dian controversy, although the conception and con- struction of the Canadian Pacific Railway came close upon it in importance and public interest be- tween the years 1872 and 1885. The fiscal issue in the Dominion involved not only the time-honoured problem of protecting home industries without devel- oping monopolies, of promoting industrial interests without injuring agriculture, of helping the producer without hurting the consumer, but it included the * Report of Hon. W. P. Rowland, Sessional Papers of Canada, vol. 5, 1863. 462 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. constant discussion of trade relations with Great Brit- ain and the United States and the relative value of the two markets to the Canadian masses. Upon tho whole, monopoly has not been encouraged to any serious extent in Canada by the tariff, and the few millionaires whom the country has produced owe their money more to mines and distilleries and rail- ways than to fiscal arrangements. Perhaps the chief exception is the agricultural implement industry with its amalgamation of small concerns in one large Company and its immense and concentrated busi- ness. It is safe to say also that no country in the world has such well-distributed wealth and so little real poverty. The Canadian tariff, as it has been under Conservative rule and is now under a Liberal Administration, has been maintained with very fair success as a buffer against the tremendous external competition of both English and American manu- facturers, and that of American farm products — though not at a height sufficient to make serious monopoly possible. Its average, in fact, is about one-half the United States rate. In 1888, Sir Charles Tupper, as Minister of Finance, endeav- oured to promote iron and steel manufacture in Can- ada by a re-arrangement of the duties. But whether the tariff and the bonuses were insufficient, or the market too small, or investors too cautious, or per- haps for all three reasons, the effort did not succeed except in a most tentative way. In other direc- tions the tariff has been a partial failure. Ontario TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 463 still gets the bulk of its coal from Pennsylvania in- stead of from Nova Scotia; and Manitoba grumbles about the price of eastern manufactures as it does about the traffic rates charged by the Canadian Pacific. But these have never been very serious complaints, or difficulties, and a majority of the people have continued, in live general elections, to approve the main principle. The two parties during this period divided very summarily upon the issue of free trade and protec- tion. Mr. Mackenzie refused to dally with the question in the closing days of his regime, although he might by doing so have saved the political situa- tion. He had lived a free-trader and he would die as one — in a party sense. It may be thought that the question of principle was not greatly affected as between an average of seventeen per cent, and one of thirty per cent. ; but, as already intimated, it cer- tainly did constitute the difference between un- limited American competition and a restricted com- petition. Mr. Mackenzie and Sir Kichard Cart- wright were defeated, and from the day, in 1879, when Sir Leonard Tilley announced and carried as Finance Minister his new protective tariff, the Lib- eral leaders fought vigorously and steadily against the whole system and policy. Sir R. Cartwright defied his opponent of that time, as he did Mr. George E. Poster in later days, upon countless plat- forms, and everywhere took the ground that free trade in principle is good for the consumer, good PBOGNHM OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. for the farmer, good for every one except the " spoon- fed " manufacturer ; though he accepted the condi- tion that a tariff for revenue in a new and young country is necessary. But it should not be protec- tive. Year followed year and election followed election; Mr. Edward Blake succeeded Mr. Mac- kenzie as leader and Mr. Wilfrid Laurier succeeded him; until by 1888 the Liberal Opposition was in a state of natural disappointment and individual pessimism sufficient to make almost any new and ag- gressive policy acceptable. This was found in the agitation for closer trado relations with the United States, called variously Unrestricted Reciprocity, Unrestricted Free Trade, and Commercial Union. It was not a difficult issue to raise in a country which had so greatly benefited by the old-time Reciprocity Treaty of 1854-66. Limited in its application to natural products as that arrangement had been, the glamour of prices created by days of war, in a time of reciprocity, still rested in the memories and hearts of many prosperous and many poverty-stricken farmers. Apart from that memorable Treaty and the efforts to renew it which had been made in 1866 by Sir A. T. Gait, Hon. W. P. Ilowland, Hon. W. A. Henry and Hon. A. J. Smith; in 1869 by Sir John Rose and Sir E. Thornton; in 1871 by Sir John Mac- donald at the Washington High Commissior Con- ference; in 1874 by the Hon. George Brown and Sir E. Thornton; in 1887 by Sir Charles Tuppcr and TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 465 Mr. Chamberlain; there had been more than one attempt to advocate and promote a free trade which should be wider in its scope than the mere inter- change of natural products. Mr. Ira Gould had urged before the Montreal Board of Trade in 1852 a measure of free trade with the States which should include manufactures and should not trouble about results so far as England was concerned. His motion had been lost by fifteen to six. A Select Committee of the Canadian Legislature composed of men of all parties — Messrs. Hamilton Merritt, William Cayley, John Rose, A. A. Dorion, Isaac Buchanan, Malcolm Cameron and W. P. Howland • — had, in 1858, recommended that " the principle of reciprocity be extended to manufactures ... in the same manner as to the productions of the soil." Elaborate Keports by United States officials — such as that of J. W. Taylor in 1860, E. II. Derby in 1867 and J. 1ST. Larned in 1870 — urged the same policy; whilst the Oswego and Chicago Boards of Trade in 1854, Committees of the United States House of Representatives in 1862, in 1876, in 1880, in 1884 and in 1886, and Mr. W. H. Seward, United States Secretary of State, in 1865, supported simi- lar schemes. Mr. L. S. Huntington, afterwards a member of the Mackenzie Government, moved in the Canadian House of Commons on March 16th, 1870, that " a continental system of commercial in- tercourse, under one general customs union," would be beneficial. The motion was lost by 100 to 53. 466 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. The revival of this old idea, in the form of a new policy and under new names, was inaugurated in 1887 by Mr. Erastus Wiman, a wealthy Canadian living in New York, Mr. Goldwin Smith, the pes- simistic and erratic but exceedingly able English writer then living in Toronto, and Mr. Valancey E. Fuller, then head of the Ontario Farmers' Insti- tutes, living in Hamilton. Sir Richard Cartwright, in the following year, took up the policy freely and with much frankness, Mr. Laurier did so at a later period with some apparent hesitation, and Sir Oliver Mowat with a dubious approval which was understood to turn upon how far it might affect relations with the Mother Country. The whole con- troversy, then and afterwards, turned upon what Unrestricted Free Trade with the United States — the phrase generally adopted by the Liberal party — might mean. Mr. Goldwin Smith declared frankly that it involved commercial union with the United States, the adoption of their tariff against England and the complete removal of all duties from the frontiers of Canada and the United States. Messrs. Hitt, Butterworth and Sherman, the chief supporters of the policy in the United States, af- firmed the same, and Sir R. Cartwright declared that if discrimination; against British goods was necessary he would accept the consequences. Mr. Laurier and Sir Oliver Mowat, and others, asserted that a reciprocity such as they desired in both natural and industrial products could be obtained without TRANSPORTATION AND TARIFFS. 467 discrimination — though how no one seemed able to explain.* The Conservatives took up the issue, and upon it fought and won the battle of the general elections in 1891. The tariff remained practically unchanged, Unrestricted Free Trade gradually dropped out of the political vocabulary, and the elections of 1896 were carried by the Liberal party upon local issues and apart from the now exhausted tariff question. The final settlement of the pro- longed controversy — so far as the nineteenth century is concerned — came with the announcement in 1897 that the Laurier Government intended to initiate a tariff giving British goods a distinct preference in the Canadian market of 25 per cent. It was, however, found impossible to carry this out under the terms of certain Imperial Treaties with Bel- gium and the old German Zollverein without in- cluding those countries. But with the Diamond Jubilee Conference in London between Mr. Cham- berlain and the Colonial Premiers, and from the urgent pressure of the Canadian Government, came the abrogation of the troublesome Treaties and, in 1898, the final establishment of a British preferen- tial tariff in the Dominion. At the end of the cen- tury, therefore, Canada had done in some measure what England did in the beginning of that period, * Resolutions in connection with this question were for- mally presented to the Canadian House of Commons during the Sessions of 1888 and 1889 by Sir R. Cartwright and to the United States House of Representatives in 1889 and 1890. 4G3 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and had moderated her protective system so as to include within its bounds the products of Great Britain and all portions of the Empire imposing a certain limited range of duties upon Canadian products THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 469 CHAPTEK XVIII. THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OP THE DOMINION. The relations of Canada with the Empire were greatly simplified and centred by the pact of Con- federation. Railway negotiations and tariff com- plications between the scattered Colonies found their solution at Ottawa instead of London. The possible area of difference between an Imperial Governor and his Colonial Ministers was narrowed from half a dozen local capitals to the Dominion centre. Issues which a quarter of a century before would have kept the people in a continuous flurry of excite- ment and Downing Street in a state of strained un- certainty were relegated to the cool and impartial shades of a small chamber in London, where sat the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Local defence, which previously had been a question of arrangement between the Colonial Office and the Colonial Governments of British America, with very doubtful results, became an organised fact with a pledged yearly expenditure of at least a million dollars. The Imperial defences of the east and the west, of Halifax and Esquimault, were united by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and eventually were assisted by a small annual contribution from the 470 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Dominion Government Negotiations for the pro- motion of common interests between Great Britain and British America were rendered much easier, and a comprehension of what those interests really were was made more certain, by the establishment of the central Federal authority at Ottawa. The surrender of Canadian territory, or slack attention to Cana- dian claims and interests, by an Imperial Govern- ment burdened with immense and varied responsi- bilities throughout a world-encircling realm, were rendered improbable — at least without the recogni- tion and voluntary acceptance of the Canadian people. And, of course, Canada's importance to the Empire as a factor in its general strength, as a half-way house for its commerce and as a pivotal point in its naval power, became more evident The history of Canada up to that time had been a curious medley of contradictory considerations so far as the advantages of British connection were con- cerned. Great Britain had purchased its existence and early maintenance at a vast expenditure of men and money in her wars with the French and Indians and American Colonists. She had spent upon its defence forces in times of peace during the nine- teenth century at least three hundred millions of dollars.* She had guaranteed Canadian loans to the extent of $20,000,000 and had received neither * British Parliamentary Returns, 1853-73, furnished to the author by the courtesy of the "War Office ; also article by Sir John Lubbock in Nineteenth Century, March, 1877. THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 471 monetary contribution nor fiscal favour at the hands of the Canadian people. In earlier days she had helped to defray the expenses of their scattered Governments, to pay the cost of colonisation efforts, to support their constitutions in days of rebellion, to defend their borders from invasion; while for a, hundred years their coasts and commerce had been guarded from danger by the mighty fleets of the Mother-land. Yet there had been another side to the picture, and it was not a pleasant one. From the earliest days of empire in British America dense and dark ignorance too often prevailed concerning local conditions, needs and aspirations. The Col- onial Office embodied crude British views of what the Colonies ought to be and ought to do rather than representing a clear perception of what they were and what they wanted. With a natural but not commendable narrowness it was thought that policies and principles which suited the small area, large and growing population, trained political life and centuries-old constitution of the British Isles should equally apply to the vast spaces, the scattered peoples, the diverse national conceptions and the pioneer life and crude constitutions of a new coun- try. Experiments were manifold, from the grant- ing of dual language rights to the French-Canadians up through all the varied forms of paternal, oli- garchic, Colonial Office and semi-popular systems of Government. No single system was adopted and then adhered to. Governors and forms of Govern- §Jg PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ment were changed as readily as one changes a coat, and continuity of policy seemed to bo the last thought, or at least result, of Downing Street ad- ministration. Yet there can be no doubt of the good intentions which existed and of the excellent character of the British statesmen who tried to create or mould the Canadian constitution. Men in charge of the Colonial Department such as Lord Bathurst, Sir George Murray, Lord Goderich, Lord Glenelg, the Marquess of Normanby, Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Sir Edward Bulwer- Lytton, the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of Carnar- von and so on up to Mr. Chamberlain at the end of the century, were leaders of the best personal and political type. But there was no continuity of policy. Parties came and went, and with them the Colonial Secretary and the existing Colonial policy. Hence the failure of the Colonial Office on more than one occasion to endorse a Canadian Governor at times when firmness meant the success of his Administration and weakness the addition of greater burdens for his successor and more problems for Downing Street. Hence the utter incapacity shown in many of the negotiations with the United States. Ignorance of the value of territory produced in- difference, and out of indifference came diplomatic inefficiency. The weakness of Oswald and the ig- norance of Shelburne gave the United States in 3 the garden of the continent stretching down THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 473 through the central valley of the Mississippi and the Ohio. The friendliness of Lord Ashburton to the United States in 1842,* his apparently complete ignorance of the value of the territory in dispute, as including a future winter seaport on the Atlantic for the British American Provinces, and his desire to conclude a Treaty at almost any cost, lost Canada not only a national seaport but a region which was admittedly hers by maps in the possession of Mr. Daniel Webster, the American negotiator, and in the hands of the United States Senate at the time of ratifying the Treaty "(—maps which should have been known to Lord Ashburton and which would have been under the conditions prevalent in all more recent negotiations. So in the events preceding the Oregon Treaty of 1846, if British politicians had understood something of American methods and politics, they would not have accepted President Polk's Message of 1845 as indicating any real danger of war, nor would they have permitted the earlier * Martineau's History of England. In Sir A. H. Gordon's Life of Lord Aberdeen (page 179) is the statement that when that nobleman was Foreign Secretary he " determined to send a special mission to America and entrusted it to Lord Ashburton who, as the head of the great house of Baring, was nearly as much interested in the peace and prosperity of the United States as in that of Great Britain. . . . He did his work well. ... It was generally felt that peace was well worth purchasing at the price of a tract of barren pine swamp." f Thomas Hodgins, Q.C., "British and American Negotia- tions affecting Canada," in Canada : An Encyclopaedia of the Country, vol. 6. 474 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. joint occupation of so-called disputed territory by which the Republic acquired claims which wero pressed in an ever-increasing ratio of progression — with a final compromise leaving the United States in possession of soil to which discovery and colonisa- tion seem to have alike entitled Canada or Great Britain. Had English statesmen in those days been pos- sessed of Imperial prescience Lord Aberdeen would not have declined to accept California from Mexico for fear of hurting the susceptibilities of the United States,* nor would Lord Derby for the same reason have refused Sir John Macdonald's proposal, as in- cluded in the first draft of the British North Amer- ica Act, to make Canada in name a Kingdom, in- stead of a dependent Dominion. And the Behring Sea and Yukon and Alaska boundary troubles of a later date would have been prevented by an ac- ceptance of the subsequent opportunity to acquire Alaska from Russia. So with Newfoundland and the French-shore question, to say nothing of far- away opportunities lost and complications created by such wasted chances as have occurred in the Orange Free State, Delagoa Bay and the Island of New Guinea. I have said elsewhere in this volume that the maintenance and strength of British senti- ment in Canada constitute one of the miracles of the nineteenth century. And there cannot be the * Life of Lord Aberdeen, by Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, p. 193. THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 475 slightest doubt of this fact to those who are familiar with the utterances and recorded views of British statesmen during the decades which immediately followed the middle of the century. Men such as Lord Ellenborough and Lord Brougham, Sir Wil- liam Moles worth and Lord Ashburton himself, Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden, Lord Derby and Lord John Russell, expressed not only a willingness to let Can- ada and the Colonies go if they desired to do so, but a belief that they would eventually and neces- sarily sever their Imperial connection. Colonial permanent officials such as Sir Henry Taylor and Sir F. Rogers — afterwards Lord Blachford — are on record as advising that steps be taken to prepare for and to hasten the event. The latter, when Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies, had the almost incredible impertinence to write his Chief, the Duke of Newcastle, that: "As to our American Posses- sions I have long held and often expressed the opinion that they are a sort of damnosa hereditas ; and when Your Grace and the Prince of Wales were employ- ing yourselves so successfully in conciliating the Colonists, I thought you were drawing closer ties which might better be slackened. I think that a policy which has regard to a not very far-off future should prepare facilities and propensities for separa- tion." Little wonder that a small party, and perhaps a larger public opinion of a secret character, developed in all the Colonies in favour of eventual independ- 2 F 476 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ence. Little wonder that for a time the cry of " Cut the painter " was popular amongst the young men of the Australasian Colonies, whilst the note of " Little England " found its echo throughout the British North America. Little wonder that Lord Elgin voiced the feeling of all loyal men in the external 6tates of the Empire and of many another British Governor in other parts of the world, and in later days, when he wrote to Lord Grey, Colonial Secretary, on November 16th, 1849, a vigorous and afterwards oft-repeated protest against the utterances of Imperial statesmen — de- claring that : " When I protest against Canadian pro- jects for dismembering the Empire, I am always told that the most eminent statesmen in England have over and over again told us that when we choose we might separate." Little wonder that when Mr. Edward Blake, in 1875, delivered the well-known Aurora speech in which he advocated Imperial Federation, as opposed to a future of In- dependence, it was like a voice crying in the wilder- ness. Little wonder that years afterwards and for a brief space the Liberal party in Canada seemed in- clined to adopt the then cast-off garments of the old English school of Imperial negation and even showed some willingness to cultivate American re- lations rather than British. They have since more than atoned as a governing party for views which probably originated in the lack of sympathy shown by England during so many years — 1846 to 1872 — THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 477 with Colonial ambitions and development; and have carefully avoided the pitfalls of a policy which, in 1891, made Mr. Edward Blake cast his Imperial hopefulness to the winds and come forward with the pessimistic expression of a belief that Canada stood on the verge of annexation to the United States. But no neglect of territorial rights, no ignorance of the needs of the Provinces, no mistakes in ad- ministration and policy, no slights inflicted upon public sentiment, could really and permanently affect the loyalty of the Canadian population. Prior to Confederation it was a sentiment based upon the traditions of United Empire Loyalists, upon the home feeling of British emigrants, upon the sense of Erench-Canadians that British connection best conserved their institutions, their religion and their racial affinities, and upon a general consciousness of the self-evident weakness of the scattered Prov- inces. After Confederation it became associated with a deeper feeling of affection for a new and broadening Canadian empire — the home of a future nation of the north. Eor a brief period the future perhaps was in doubt, and the issue involved in that serious test of Canadian loyalty — the Washington Treaty of 1871 — was a serious one. Had the de- tails of the negotiations been known the arrange- ment could never have passed the Canadian House of Commons. Eor the admission of Americans to the inshore fisheries of the Atlantic coast Canada got little immediate return, although, in 1877, the 478 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Halifax Arbitration awarded $5,500,000 to the Do- minion as against the $14,500,000 which she had claimed for their ten years' use. Reciprocity was absolutely refused, the Fenian Raid claims were not even discussed, the subsequent arbitration of tho ownership of the Island of San Juan gave that im- portant place to the United States, and the settle- ment of the Alaskan boundary has proved to be a broken reed. Sir John Macdonald, however, ex- erted the powers of his wonderful personality and appealed to all the dormant loyalty of the people and Parliament to accept a Treaty whose rejection might involve the Empire and the Republic in war — and his appeal was successful. If Canadians had known that in the meetings of that High Commission at Washington Sir John Macdonald stood practically alone, and in many cases was obliged to oppose the combined English and American Commissioners in defence of Cana- dian interests, even he could not have stirred their loyalty to the point of accepting the arrangement made. The correspondence which has, since his death, been published, shows the courageous and continuous contest which he fought for Canada and reveals the intense anxiety of the English Commis- sioners — partly under pressure from the Home Government and partly under the belief that Presi- dent Grant meant the fiery threats of war contained in his annual Message — to carry home with them a Treaty which should remove the cloud of possible THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 479 conflict hanging over the two nations.* It was the last time in Imperial history when there has been any serious thought of sacrificing Canadian interests upon the altar of peace. Since then Canada has become the practical negotiator of its own treaties, subject to final Imperial approval, but endorsed by the aid of British ambassadors and helped by the backing of Imperial prestige and diplomatic ex- perience. The negotiation of the Fisheries Treaty of 1888 by Mr. J. Chamberlain and Sir Charles Tupper which the United States Senate refused to accept; the making of the French Commercial Treaty and the negotiations with Spain and Brazil; the intercolonial negotiations between Canada and Australasia which culminated in the Ottawa Con- ference of 1894; the similar efforts with the British West Indies, and with Cape Colony between Mr. Cecil Khodes and the late Sir John Thompson; illustrate this fact and indicate the different status to which Confederation has raised the British Am- erican Provinces as well as the change which has come over the whole external and internal relations of the countries of the Empire. But, if the sympathies of the English-speaking people of Canada have been maintained towards the Mother-land by memories of an historic and national character and of the French-speaking people by appreciation of liberties and privileges * Life of Sir John A, Macdonald, by Joseph Pope, Ottawa, 1894. 480 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. preserved intact; if, on the other hand, such feel- ings have sometimes been alienated by lack of coin- prehension on the part of Britain and dulliu .■> vision on the part of British statesmen ; there has been mixing and merging with these influences and moulding many of the characteristics and political incidents of Canadian history the powerful factor of United States contiguity. It, of course, affected the very foundations of the country through the im- migration and bitter memories of the United Em- pire Loyalists and the subsequent defence of their homes and hearths from invasion by the French- Canadians. The sympathy of the lawless and some- times cultured and intelligent elements of the Re- public made the small rebellions of Canadian his- tory more significant and more difficult of settle- ment. Its fiscal hostility and very occasional fiscal friendship run through every page of our annals as an alternate policy of coercion and conciliation — » always with a more or less veiled belief that " mani- fest destiny " must in the end compel the assimila- tion of Canada with its own powerful community. Its influence affected to some extent the school- books and educational systems of the Provinces, the political character of the people, the earlier phases of banking legislation and the social manners and customs of all the country outside of Quebec. Its journalism lias controlled — in a modified way — the press of Canada ; and its literature in the later form of cheap magazines and multitudinous books of aa THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 481 ephemeral character has swept the whole field of Canadian readers. Its cable service from London to New York controls the news columns of the Cana- dian press as it does the pages of American papers. Its superior wealth and great financial and industrial resources have at times manipulated the Canadian market and affected the welfare of most vital Cana- dian interests. Finally, the pressure of so many mil- lions of people upon the southern border of Canada has had a curiously complicated and general effect connected with, and yet frequently apart from, the above considerations. It has made the people of the Dominion very demo- cratic and very apt to be ignorantly critical of Eng- lish institutions with all their peculiar mingling of aristocratic forms and popular control. It has pre- vented Canadians from being, very often, the mon- archists from principle which they are through per- sonal loyalty to the Queen and her interpretation of monarchical rule. It has made them see England's House of Lords and Established Church and other cherished home institutions through American or British Radical glasses rather than by the medium of that appreciation of historic structures which it might be supposed that distance in time and space would make natural and appropriate. It has made possible a public opinion of British political leaders such as Beaconsfield, Salisbury and Chamberlain which partakes more of the American view than of the sympathising Imperial sentiment which, how- 482 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ever, the end of the century is rendering possible. It must be remembered that since the United States Civil War the cabled statements, opinions and sketches of English Tory leaders have been almost entirely from the standpoint of their political op- ponents, while matters connected with the develop- ment of the Empire abroad, or of its unity at home, have received but scant attention. To-day in Can- ada, as an illustration, there is but little comprehen- sion of the great work done by Mr. Disraeli in check- ing the separatist policy of the Manchester school and little knowledge of the splendid Imperial ideals of Mr. Cecil Rhodes. To many the one is an his- torical charlatan, the other a selfish capitalist. It is, of course, not unnatural that the American view of British public life or Imperial unity should be the view of a foreigner out of sympathy with its principles and out of touch with its progress — ex- cept where there has been a Radical effort to effect changes in the direction of American ideals. But it is a pity that such a foreign view should have been grafted to so great an extent upon the Canadian mind by the constant reading of American papers and American cabled news. Upon the other hand, the contiguity of the United States has had a centrifugal as well as a centripetal effect. Proximity has made Canadians aware of the anomalies of its constitution, the admitted cor- ruption of its politics, the inequalities in its treat- ment of coloured peoples, the evils of its elective THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 483 judicial system, the extreme sensationalism and un- trustworthiness of a part of its press, and (np to the year 1898 and the Spanish War) the bitterness of its popular feeling toward England. The very power and population of the United States have helped to keep Canada loyal to the Empire. Pres- sure of this kind forced, or helped to force, the Provinces into federation, and knowledge of the greatness of the Kepublic and the competition of its boundary, fishery, trade and tariff interests with those of Canada have prevented the growth of that independence sentiment in the Dominion which so many British politicians of earlier days tried to promote and which it might have been thought the French-Canadians themselves would favour. Hos- tile expressions and policy towards Canada and England, however, coupled with a knowledge of cer- tain American defects in character, institutions and politics, did more than discourage independence agitation and sentiment. They destroyed the prob- ability and possibility of annexation. There was a time when danger in this direction really threat- ened Canada. It never came from fear of the United States, nor from threats of coercion. It did not come from the prolonged teachings and efforts of Mr. Goldwin Smith and his oft-reiterated proph- ecy of continental union. It did not come from any feeling against England — unless it were an uncon- scious one — nor did it emanate from movements in the direction of greater local independence within 4S4 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. the Empire. It was not facilitated by the forma- tion of an Annexationist Association in Montreal in 1849 any more than it was by the organisation of the Continental Union Association of Ontario in June, 1892, with Mr. Goldwin Smith as Hon. Presi- dent and a consequent large distribution of annex- ationist literature throughout the country. It came about by what seems, in 1888 and im- mediately succeeding years, to have been a strong, sudden and apparently widespread feeling that Canada was lying between two great streams of com- mercial life and sharing in neither. A portion of the people were aroused by the full tide of prosper- ity at that time visible in the United States, and ex- pressed through the medium of the Commercial Union agitation referred to in the preceding chap- ter, to a consciousness of the comparative smallness and slowness of Canadian development in connec- tion with the continent as a whole. Another and a larger portion were stirred up by the advocacy of the Imperial Federation League, and the vigorous presentation of its principles on the platform and in tli-o press, to a vivid perception of the national future opening out before them as partners in the power and resources and commerce of the British Empire. These two principles — unconsciously to the people at large — came into conflict at the gen- eral elections of 1891, and the British sentiment obtained the victory. The whole issue was a bless- ing in disguise, just as its meaning or import at the THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 485 time was concealed and unperceived by the masses. Politics were mixed up with it and helped to ob- scure the real position. It was never in any sense a deliberate issue of loyalty against disloyalty or annexation against federation. But it was decided- ly a contest of tendencies. Had the American tend- ency got the upper hand the result might have been very serious, and the parting of the ways in Cana- dian history have really proved a sliding scale to- wards continental assimilation. As it was, a most tempting commercial bait was refused, the British tendencies triumphed, all parties accepted the re- sult and the sliding scale turned towards Imperial unity. Meanwhile, the very practical element of a grow* ing commerce, which was being developed along eastern and western routes of transportation, rather than in a southern direction where tariff obstacles barred the way, was slowly but surely bringing Great Britain and Canada together in the bonds of a common material interest. It was a somewhat curious process and, in the teeth of so-called natural laws and the effects of contiguity, has afforded a striking illustration of the influence wielded by careful legislation and the progress of transporta- tion facilities. At Confederation much of Cana- dian produce sought its market in Great Britain by way of the United States, over American railways and waterways and at the hands of American mid- dlemen. At the end of the century the great bulk 486 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. of an export trade to Great Britain which has risen from seventeen millions in 1868 to ninety-three millions in 1898 goes via Canadian railways, or the St. Lawrence River, to help supply the teeming millions of the Mother-land. During those thirty years, despite the proximity of its market and the facilities of inter-communication, Canadian exports to the American Republic have only risen from twenty-two to thirty-four millions. Of course, hostile tariffs have had something to do with this result, but it seems probable that even under lower duties increased exports to the United States would to a great degree have simply replaced similar American products shipped to Great Britain. Similarity of conditions and the fact that the United Kingdom is the common market of both countries for agricultural products makes this in- evitable. Yet for many years — up to 1891 in fact — the value of the two markets to Canada in actual export was about equal. From the year named, however, the change took place, and the export to Great Britain first doubled and then trebled upon the figures of Canadian export to the States. For the whole thirty years the total shows $1,260,000,- 000 worth of products sent to the United Kingdom and $955,000,000 worth to the United States. The import trade of Canada in this period shows an exactly opposite condition of affairs, and yet it is not one seriously detracting from the conclusions which may be arrived at from a study of the ex- THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 487 ports. In 1868 the imports from Great Britain were thirty-six millions of dollars and in 1898 four millions less, while in the meantime imports from the United States had risen from twenty-six to seventy-eight millions. Viewed in the bulk these figures do not look much like an increase in trade with Great Britain which might be considered of advantage to the Mother-land as well as to Canada. Analysing the figures, however, it is found that a very large part of Canadian imports from thb States is, and has been, composed of raw material for manufacture or consumption and which Great Britain either does not produce or can hardly ex- pect to compete in. From the coal mines of Penn- sylvania, and in preference to its own mines in Nova Scotia, Canada took, in 1898, nearly ten mil- lion dollars' worth of coal and coke. From the Re- public she received at the same time ^.ve and a half millions of cotton and cotton goods — mainly raw cotton from the South — while, however, taking three and a quarter millions' worth of manufactured cot- ton from England. Some thirteen millions' worth of Indian corn, wheat and various breadstuffs were also imported from the States together with eight millions' worth of hides and skins, gutta percha, indiarubber and wood, or manufactures of wood. These were all products in which Great Britain could hardly expect to compete — although to them, unfortunately, is now to be added an im- portant item which stood a few years ago in a dif- 438 WOGUBSS of Canada tx THE CENTURY. ferent category. For the 1ir.-{ twenly years of Con- dition Canada imported iron and steel in about equal quantities from England and the States. Then the scale commenced to turn, and in 1S98 the Do- minion took fourteen million dollars' worth from the Republic and only two millions from the Mother- land. Contiguity had something to do with the re- sult, but the main influence lias been the undoubted all-round advance of the United States in connec- tion with this great industry. Then there is, of course, a scattering import of manufactures in which the small total of each import, when combined, be- comes a fairly large amount owing to the infinite variety of American industries and the special convenience or local taste which has at times to be consulted. In important lines, however, such as cottons, woollens, flax, hemp and jute, silk, etc., Great Britain fully holds her own, and, as the pref- erential tariff of 1898 comes into full and fair operation, the advantage should gradually but surely be on her side. Even as it is, the fact may fairly be considered surprising that, between 1868 and 1898, Great Britain should have exported to Canada a total of $1,331,000,000 worth of goods (nearly all manufactured) as compared with $1,464,000,000 exported by the United States to the Dominion and made up, in large but fluctuating proportions, of raw material and agricultural products. About the same time that the export trade of Canada to Great Britain was commencing to in- o THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 4S9 crease by leaps and bounds a strong movement had developed, partly because of the Imperial Federa- tion propaganda and partly out of protest against the continental trade advocacy of the day, in favour of preferential trade relations with the Mother-land. Mr. D'Alton McCarthy and others spoke frequently upon the subject, and, on April 25th, 1892, Mr. Alexander McNeill proposed in the House of Com- mons that : " If and when the Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland admits Canadian products to the markets of the United Kingdom upon more favourable terms than it accords to the products of foreign countries, the Parliament of Canada will be prepared to accord corresponding advantages by a substantial reduction in the duties it imposes upon British manufactured goods." Mr. (afterwards Sir) L. H. Davies moved in amendment and on be- half of the Liberal party that : " Inasmuch as Great Britain admits the products of Canada into her ports free of duty, this House is of the opinion that the present scale of duties exacted on goods mainly imported from Great Britain should be reduced." The amendment was defeated on a party division and the main motion accepted by 97 to 63 votes. But both Resolutions showed how the lines of cleav- age in British versus American trade ideals were being softened and the two parties drawn to- gether. A little later, on January 12, 1893, Mr Wilfrid Laurier, at a meeting in Toronto, declared that " the very idea of Imperial Federation is to me 490 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. very alluring." In 1894 the Ottawa Conference took place, and Delegates from all the Australasian Colonies and the Cape joined with those of Canada in discussing questions of closer Colonial union — commerce, cables and tariffs — and amongst other im- portant Resolutions declared that : " This Confer- ence records its belief in the advisability of a cus- toms arrangement between Great Britain and her Colonies by which trade within the Empire may be placed on a more favourable footing than that which is carried on with foreign countries." In the politi- cal campaign of 1896, Sir Charles Tupper, in his Manifesto, urged " a tariff based on mutual con- cessions " as between Canada and the Empire, and the Liberals, after defeating him at the polls, put in practice, in 1897, a part of the proposal — sustaining at the same time the policy of their Parliamentary Resolution of 1892. Other steps in the movement for closer Imperial Unity followed. Sir Henry Strong became a mem- ber of the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council where he sat in judgment with representa- tives from Australia and the Cape as well as from the British Isles. The famine in India brought out an expression of the Imperial sympathy in Cana- dian hearts to the amount of $200,000. The Hon. William Mulock, as Canadian Postmaster-General, in 1898 became the means of realising in result the prolonged labours of Mr. Henniker Heaton, M. P., in England, and Imperial penny postage was pro- THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION. 491 claimed an established fact. In July of the same year a Military Commission, appointed by the Im- perial Government, examined the defences of Canada with a view to their improvement, while Major-General E. T. II. Hntton, C.B., after a dis- tinguished experience in Australia, came out as Commander of the Canadian Militia. In the suc- ceeding year occurred the sweeping expression of Canadian loyalty and British sentiment embodied in the despatch of Contingents of three thousand troops to South Africa — a fitting event with which to stamp the end of a century of conflicting develop- ment and very varied views as to the future of British America. The parting of the ways had in- deed come, and the chosen road seems now to lead straight to the goal of a united and permanent Em- pire despite struggles which must still occur and difficulties which must inevitably be met. And in this connection the words of Sir John A. Mac- donald, whose life and memory constitute such a bulwark of British sentiment on this American con- tinent — spoken in 1888 — should not be forgotten: " I look forward to the time when Australia, if not confederated so closely as ourselves, will have a confederation for offence and defence; when South Africa will also be a Confederation ; and when there shall be determined by treaty the quota to be fur- nished by our auxiliary nations toward the defence of the Empire." It is evident, therefore, that the Dominion has 2g 492 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. now at the end of the nineteenth century reached a platform of permanent national policy. Despite the mistakes of English diplomats and the cold- ness, or indifference, of earlier Imperial leaders, its people are strongly British in sentiment, and the one-time frequently expressed aspirations for inde- pendence are no more heard of. Despite tho glamour of American wealth and commercial great- ness the trend of Canadian trade and tariffs is to- ward the Mother-land. Despite the proximity of American institutions, the influence wielded by the ideals of an immense and populous democracy and their admitted effect upon the opinion of individu- als, the Canadian system of Government is in tho main a duplication of the British Constitution with all its historic charters, precedents and practices. The supremacy of the law and the public respect for decisions of an absolutely independent judiciary; the controlling power of the House of Commons, under the law of the realm and combined with the principle of Ministerial responsibility; the perma- nence and independence of the Civil Service of Canada and the constitutional usages of its Parlia- ment, Legislatures and Governments; all approxi- mate to the Imperial model of Great Britain. It is a wonderful fact under the varied circumstances sur- rounding Canadian development that such should be the case and is pefhaps only less so than the exist- ence and power of the Empire to which the Domin- ion adheres. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 493 CHAPTER XIX. THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY AT THE END OF THE CENTURY. During the thirty years which have followed Confederation the general progress of Canada has been very great. ISTot only has the country grown in constitutional status, expanded territorially from ocean to ocean, developed in fiscal freedom and taken immense strides in the creation of transportation facilities, but its people have obtained a wider out- look through their closer connection with the Em- pire, while public life and the private culture of the community have developed in a beneficial though somewhat cosmopolitan manner. The Dominion still remains essentially a country of farms and farmers. Despite the existence and continued growth of cities and the now settled tendency of young men to drift from the farms into industrial and populous centres for the purposes of employ- ment, or professional studies and pursuits, the agri- cultural element continues to be the backbone of Canadian life and strength. Toronto has increased, since 1881, from 96,000 people to double that num- ber, Montreal from 155,000 to 250,000, Victoria from 6,000 to 20,000, Vancouver from nothing to 494 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. 20,000, Winnipeg from 8,000 to 40,000, and smaller places in proportion. Yet the equality of growth, as between rural and urban life, has been fairly well maintained by the agricultural development of the great North- West, the progress of mining in British Columbia and the general development of North- western Ontario. There were in 1891 649,000 farmers and farmers' sons in the Dominion and some 76,000 farm labourers. The number consti- tuted a slight decrease over the figures of 1881, owing to the causes mentioned, but there is little doubt that the figures of the next Census will show a considerable increase in this branch of the popu- lation as a result of the continued and very apparent opening up of new regions. Statistics are never interesting, but they are some- times necessary, and the future of Canada depends so decidedly upon its agricultural position that it is well to note here something of what has already been achieved. Throughout Manitoba, where the golden grain waves in the passing summer breezes like a sea of molten gold, there is land capable of bearing, according to Sir C. E. Howard Vincent, a crop of two hundred million quarters of wheat, and in 1898 its total production of grain reached 47,- 000,000 bushels. In the great grain elevators which have been erected by the Canadian Pacific and the Milling Companies the capacity has been increased from eight million bushels in 1891 to eighteen mil- lion bushels in 1898. The total farm property of PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 495 Ontario, including farm lands, implements, build- ings and live stock, was valued in 1897 at $905,000- 000 — a decrease of fifty millions in fourteen years. In view, however, of the generally low prices which have prevailed for farm products, the severe com- petition of Manitoba, the influence of hostile Ameri- can tariffs and the continental and, in fact, world- wide decrease in the values of land, this is not a bad showing. As a matter of fact the farmers of Canada consti- tute one of the most prosperous classes which are to be found in any community. In Ontario, mile after mile of comfortable farmhouses, large barns and well-cultivated fields testify of this fact to the pass- ing traveller. Inside these houses the change is very great from the conditions of fifty or even thirty years ago. The organ or piano has taken the place of the spinning-wheel; easy chairs and cushioned lounges replace the old-fashioned furniture of the stiff-backed past or the home-made articles of pioneer days; fashionable garments, for Sunday at any rate, have replaced amongst the females of the family the homespun material of a previous gener- ation ; carriages or buggies have succeeded for many purposes to the farm waggons of other days. Some- times, however, a mortgage has come to kill the old- time independence of the farmer. And in some other respects improvement cannot be said to have been marked. The diet of the farm is not good. There is too much pork and pie, and too little of the 496 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. cream which goes in such abundant measure into cheese and butter for purposes of sale. And it may even be said that there is not enough of that health- giving beer which helps to make the English farmer so sturdy and strong. " Gentleman farming " is largely a matter of the past, and there are but few " Squires " in the Canadian community. Work is persistent, and for the man pleasure is too rare; prices are low, and many have strained their means to set up sons in the far-away North- West. Yet upon the whole the Canadian farmer is well off, and when he keeps in touch with scientific improve- ments, with proper changes in crop, with the rec- ommendations and experience of the Experimental Government Farms, he can always do better. In the North-West ranching has taken the place of ordinary farming, and the boast of possessing " cattle upon a thousand hills " has become a Canadian privilege. To Great Britain the farmer is steadily turning more and more as being his great market. In 1867 he exported to that country $4,546,000 of animal and agricultural products and to the United States $14,800,000. In 1897 he sent to Britain forty-five millions' worth and to the Republic only seven mil- lions' worth. The Maritime Provinces and Quebec have not shared so much in this expansion as they should have done, owing to primitive methods of farming amongst "French-Canadians and the rival in- fluences of shipbuilding, lumbering or mining PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 497 amongst the people on the Atlantic coast. But in the last few years great efforts have been made to share in the increase of cattle-raising, the phenomenal growth of the cheese industry and the improvement in butter-making which have marked agricultural progress in other parts of the Dominion. Altogether, the development of these years has been satisfac- tory, and is illustrated by the fact that between 1881 and 1891 the total of acres occupied in Canada in- creased by fifteen millions, the acres of improved land by seven millions, the production of wheat by ten million bushels, of oats by twelve millions, of fruit by twenty-three millions. The export of cattle increased in value from $951,000 in 1874 to over seven million dollars in 1897 and the export of cheese from $620,000 worth in 1868 to a value of over seventeen millions in 1898. Intimately connected with the farm life of the country is the nature of the homes and habits of the people generally. Partly owing to the slow growth of population — according to the Census returns it was 3,635,024 in 1871, 4,324,810 in 1881 and 4,833,239 in 1891 — and the consequent preponder- ance of a better class of population than is possible in communities where the increase is large and pro- miscuous; partly because of the strict tenets of Presbyterianism, the consistent influence of Roman Catholicism and the objection of the Church of England to divorce; the moral sentiment and char- acter of the Canadian people have remained at a high 498 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. point of excellence. Out of the 840,000 immi- grants who are said to have come into the country between 1868 and 1898* many went on and settled in the United States and the balance were composed, as a rule, of the best class of settlers — people with some small means and with a clearly defined national sentiment which made them prefer living in a land where they could retain their allegiance to an ac- ceptance of the more glittering and surface attrac- tiveness of a great foreign Republic where their nationality would be lost. Distinctly alien elements have not been encouraged as settlers, and up to 1898, when some 6,000 Galicians were settled in the North- West, the great majority of immigrants have been from the British Isles — with a tendency amongst the Irish element to drift away to the United States. In addition to this gradual growth of the Canadian population having been of benefit to the moral status of the community, it has, in vast regions of the North-West, also enabled the full machinery of popular government to be evolved and thoroughly practised before the inevitable flood of future popu- lation finds its way thither. Following the early social sentiments of the Provinces, when the Church of Rome in Quebec stamped the seal of its absolute disapproval upon * Tli© figures of immigration into Canada are admittedly defective. This total is, however, furnished by the Domin- ion Statistician from the best available statements and is as nearly accurate as possible. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 499 divorce, and was fully endorsed in that connection by the rigid tenets of Presbyterianism and the feel- ings of English Churchmen in the other Colonies, Canada since Confederation has been notable for an old-time adherence to the sacredness of the marriage tie and for its open objection to the growing loose- ness of legislation and sentiment in the United States upon the subject. In Ontario, Quebec, the Territories and Manitoba complete separation can only be obtained through public application to Par- liament and trial by the Senate, and then only for the Scriptural reason. The Maritime Provinces and British Columbia have Provincial Courts, and, since Confederation, 196 divorces have been granted by them. Parliament has only granted sixty di- vorces, and these figures therefore constitute the sum-total during thirty years in a population of four or five millions. The Temperance question since 1867 has been a much-discussed one. It has assumed every form of agitation and legislation from moderate restriction to entire prohibition. The Dunkin Act — a local option measure — was in force in parts of Upper and Lower Canada at Con- federation. In 1875, Sir Charles Tupper proposed and carried through Parliament a Prohibitory Act for the North- West Territories dealing chiefly with the sale of liquor to Indians. Three years later the Hon. E. W. Scott carried his famous Canada Tem- perance Act which relegated the power of Prohibi- tion to the cities and counties of the Dominion and 500 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. was voted upon in nine of the former and seventy- three of the latter. After many years of ups and downs and much energetic and eloquent advocacy in earlier days by Mr. George E. Foster and Mr. George W. Ross — the one afterwards Dominion Minister of Finance and the other Premier of Ontario — the Act is now in force (1899) in one city and twenty-seven counties. But of these only three are outside the Maritime Provinces. Various attempts have been made to obtain total Prohibition in the Provinces and in the Dominion. Manitoba, in 1892, polled a majority of eleven thousand five hundred for the principle, Prince Edward Island in 1893 gave it seven thousand two hundred majority, Nova Scotia in 1894 polled one of thirty-one thousand four hundred, and Ontario in the same year voted in its favour by eighty-one thousand seven hundred majority. Emboldened by these successes, though they were never put into legislative practice, the advocates of Prohibition ob- tained in 1898 a Dominion Plebiscite upon the ques- tion and a majority of 13,687 in the country as a whole. But as Quebec voted in the most overwhelm- ing manner against the proposal — with a majority of 98,000 — and as the total votes polled for and against it were only 43 per cent, of the votes on tho Dominion lists, the Government very properly re- fused to consider the result of the test as a popular mandate in favour of Prohibition. As a whole the Canadian community is essentially a temperate one. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 501 It does not consume as much whiskey as the Scotch, as much beer as the English, or as much lager and other stimulants as the Americans. The French habitant is by nature temperate and indulges chief- ly in light home-made wines; the farmer elsewhere in the country drinks little and is usually very steady in his habits; while the cities have not the large vicious element possessed by greater centres of population in older countries. Temperance socie- ties, temperance lodges in various labour and politi- cal organisations, and temperance banquets, have in late years been steadily increasing. It is interest- ing to note in this connection that while the popula- tion has increased by perhaps a million, the con- victions for drunkenness between 1885 and 1898 have remained stationary — a little over eleven thou- sand in the respective years. In 1886 there were 3,509 convictions for indictable offences and 30,365 summary convictions in all Canada as against totals of 5,787 and 32,419 respectively in 1898. In the latter year the inmates of the Penitentiaries of Canada included 1,446, of whom the great majority were native-born. One-half were of Trench ex- traction, eleven hundred were able to read and writo and nearly a half were between the ages of twenty and thirty. Contrary to popular belief only 445 were intemperate in their original habits. Turning from these considerations to the all-im- portant point of religious development, it is probable that the most instructive feature of the three do- 502 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. cades following Confederation has been the tend- ency toward denominational unity and friendship. The class distinctions which in earlier days tended to keep various religious bodies apart have largely dis- appeared, while the objections to an interchange of pulpits have gradually died away in all the Chris- tian divisions outside of the Church of Rome and the Church of England. A more cosmopolitan spirit has entered into the majority of Canadian Churches, and the country as a whole has not re- mained outside the stream of modern tendency to- ward a pulpit which is able to treat, or which aims at treating, of every branch of social life as well as of theological theory or dogmatic principle. Mean- time unity has been in the air. In 1868 the Free Church Synod of the Maritime Provinces and the Church of Scotland Synods of those three Provinces combined. In 1875 the Church of Scotland in Canada and the Canada Presbyterian Church of the Maritime Provinces came together in a general union which soon embraced the whole Dominion denomi- nation. In the previous year the Wesleyan Metho- dist Conference of Canada, the Canadian New-Con- nection Conference and the Wesleyan Conference of Eastern British America combined as the Methodist Church of Canada. By 1883 the feeling of religi- ous, or denominational, kinship had so matured that the Methodist Church of Canada united its forces with those of the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christians and the Methodist Episcopal Church in PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 503 a general Dominion body — The Methodist Church in Canada. In Canada as a whole the Roman Catholic Church maintained its numerical supremacy and, in 1891, had nearly two million adherents, or 41.21 per cent, of the population, as compared with the Methodist 17.54 per cent., the Presbyterian 15.63 per cent. and the Church of England 13.37 per cent The Methodists had 847,000, the Presbyterians 75-5,- 000 and the Church of England 646,000 adherents according to this Census. In Ontario, between 1871 and 1891, the greatest increase had been with the Methodists, the Presbyterians coming next, the Roman Catholics third and the Anglicans fourth. In Quebec the Church of Rome added 272,000 to the number of its adherents and the Protestant de- nominations only a few scattering thousands. The three Maritime Provinces placed the Roman Catho- lics first in their growth and the Methodists second — the Church of England in two of the Provinces actually showing a decrease. In Manitoba, British Columbia and the Territories, however, the Presby- terian Church came first in its increase, the Church of England second, the Methodists third and the Roman Catholics fourth. Taking the Dominion as a whole, and during these two decades, the Church of Rome increased its adherents to the number of 429,- 000, the Methodists 256,000, the Presbyterians 161,000 and the Church of England 120,000. It will thus be seen that from being first in numbers 504 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and influence in three of the old Provinces of Brit- ish America the last-named denomination has be- come last among the chief divisions of Christianity. The other most notable feature of these religious facts is the marked growth of Roman Catholicism in all the older Provinces of the Dominion. The Baptists made substantial progress during this period and especially in church building — in which connection, however, the Church of England led all the Protestant denominations and the Church of Rome. Between Confederation and the end of the cen- tury there was an immense advance in educational systems and facilities. Not that the principle aimed at by men like Dawson, Rand, Chauveau and Ryerson was changed by their successors, but that a proper appreciation of the desirability of free schools and good schools was brought home to the minds of the people and better means were con- sequently given in all the Provinces for improve- ment and development. In Ontario, where the subject received the most attention and organised effort, a great advance has been made. The School Act of 1871 amended the system of 1850 very con- siderably; and in 1876 the position of nominated Chief Superintendent of Education was abolished and the schools were placed under the charge of a political Minister. Since then the system has been much centralised and modified and has been admin- istered from 1883 to 1899 by the Hon. George W. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 505 Ross. In 1871 the average attendance at the free, or public, schools was 188,000; in 1896 it was 271,- 000. The number of High Schools had only in- creased by twenty-seven, but the expenditure upon them had risen over six hundred thousand dollars. The Catholic Separate Schools had received the benefit of sundry amendments to the law and had increased from 161 to 339. In Quebec the system was slowly improved in details, but the main principle of governing by means of Catholic and Protestant Committees of Public Instruction, with complete control of their respective funds under the general guidance and responsibility of a Su- perintendent, remained the same. Prom 1876 to 1895 the Hon. Gedeon Ouimet held the position of Superintendent and did good service to the general cause of education in his Province where, in 1897, there were 307,000 children attending school as compared with 212,000 at Confederation. The Ro- man Catholic schools, including colleges and uni- versities, numbered 5,848. The Catholic clergy of Quebec during these decades ministered unceasing- ly to the cause of education — in that combined moral, Christian and secular form which they inculcate. To them Quebec owes seventeen colleges, and to the teaching Orders of women a very large number of scholars owe an education which is excellent in scope and character. In these days of advanced women and of masculine pursuits and occupations for females it is interesting to note that, in 1896, 506 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. over thirteen thousand children in the Province studied domestic economy, over sixteen thousand learned knitting and more than twelve thousand mastered the twin arts of sewing and embroidery.* It may be added here that in 1896 there were over 30,000 male students being educated by Roman Catholic religious Orders throughout Canada, while 44,000 female students were being trained by the various Sisterhoods. In Nova Scotia the School system is under the control of a Chief Superintendent of Education, and the position since Confederation has been held by Dr. T. H. Rand, the Rev. A. S. Hunt, Dr. David Allison and Dr. Alexander H. MacKay. It has worked well in the promotion of public interests through an increase of teachers from 1,360 in 1867 to 2,438 in 1896, in the increased average attendance of pupils from 36,000 to 53,000, in the growth of popular assessments for school purposes from $353,- 000 to $570,000, and in the addition of $80,000 to the amount of the Provincial grant for education. In New Brunswick Dr. Theodore H. Rand held charge as Chief Superintendent from 1871 to 1883, and was succeeded in course by Mr. William Crocket and Dr. James R. Inch. A somewhat acute controversy took place in the Province over the Com- mon Schools Act of 1871, which was carried through the Legislature by the Hon. George E. King — now • The Hon. P. Boucher de la Bruere, in Canada : An En* eyclopcedia of the Country, vol. 3, p. 24. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 507 a Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. By this measure all the property of the Province was made subject to assessment for the support of non-secta- rian and free schools. The Koman Catholics naturally opposed it, and also, unfortunately, a large class who disliked direct taxation, even for edu- cational purposes. Mr. King was thus trying to do for New Brunswick what Dr. Tupper had done in 1864 for Nova Scotia. Eventually the matter was settled by a compromise under which Roman Cath- olic teachers, Sisters of Charity, etc., could be employed in the public schools subject to the passing of similar examinations and the same inspection as all other teachers. The plan has worked well, and between 1877 and 1896 the number of schools in- creased by over four hundred and the pupils by six thousand. The storm centre in educational matters, however, during a portion of this period was the little Prov- ince of Manitoba. Under the system established in 1871 the schools were managed by a joint Koman Catholic and Protestant Committee in much the same manner as in Quebec. But the two Sec- tions did not work well together, and in 1876 the Protestant one pronounced in favour of the abolition of Catholic Separate Schools. Vari- ous modifications of the original system were made, but no really serious change occurred until 1890 when, under the initiative of the stormy petrel of Manitoba politics, as he afterwards was of 2h 508 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. British Columbia — Mr. Joseph Martin — the Sepa- rate Schools were abolished and the management of education transferred to a Government Department. A political storm followed which aroused bitter sec- tarian feeling and even threatened to set the Prov- inces against one another upon religious lines owing to the transference of the question to Dominion Courts and the Dominion Parliament. Incidental- ly it secured the Greenway Government in power through the support of the Protestant majority in Manitoba and defeated the Tupper Government at Ottawa through its disintegrating effect upon the Conservative party. The legality of the legislation was twice tested before the highest Courts of Can- ada and the Empire, and eventually the Dominion Government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Pro- vincial Ministry of Mr. Greenway reached a kind of mild compromise by which the Roman Catholicswere allowed certain of their old-time and minor privi- leges, but with the generally secular character of the public schools conserved. The schools of this Prov- ince increased from 256 in 1883 to 1,032 in 1896, while the number of teachers rose by nearly nine hundred and the pupils by twenty-seven thousand in the same period. The educational system of British Columbia was established in 1872 and amended in many important cts by the Provincial Acts of 1891 and 1896. The chief executive officer is the Minister of Edu- cation, assisted by a Chief Superintendent, and PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 509 British Columbia is thus the only Canadian Prov- ince which has followed the example of Ontario in placing education under political control. The progress made has been considerable and in the years between 1872 and 1896 the school districts in- creased from 25 to 193, the average daily attendance rose from a few hundreds to fourteen thousand and the expenditure from almost nothing to a couple of hundred thousand dollars. In the North-West Territories education is under the control of a Council of Public Instruction of a somewhat curi- ous character. Pour of its members belong to the Executive or Ministry, four are appointed and con- sist of two Roman Catholics and two Protestants. Over the vast extent of territory covered by the scattered population of these regions there were, in 1896, 366 schools with twelve thousand pupils, and the system seems to be working well. How much better it is than the ill-defined, unpopular, badly- equipped system of pioneer days in the older Prov- inces of the Dominion can easily be estimated. The pioneers of the prairies, with all their liability to severe cold, occasional damage to crops and the in- evitable isolation of vast areas, have indeed had few privations and little suffering in comparison with those of their early predecessors in the Lake and Atlantic regions of Canada. And not the least of their advantages has been the possession of these improved educational facilities and of the zealous attention of great religious denominations in the older Provinces as well as in the Mother-land. 510 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. During this period higher education also made great progress in Canada, and in some of the Prov- inces perhaps received too much attention. Since Confederation five Ladies' Colleges have been or- ganised in Ontario, several Catholic Colleges in Quebec, an Agricultural College at Guelph, in Ontario, and at Truro, in Nova Scotia, and a School of Practical Science in Toronto. Colleges of Music, Medicine, Dentistry have also been es- tablished. A Presbyterian and a Methodist Col- lege were founded in Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba was established in 1877 by a loose union of these institutions with the older Colleges of St. John and St. Boniface. Well-trained stu- dents have now for many years been turned out of the Universities in Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Kingston and Winnipeg in numbers which have steadily increased, until it has become a question in Canada how far the process is an economic advantage. Not finding sufficient openings in the small population at home for their superior educational qualifications, these students have drifted in very many cases to the neighbouring Republic and have thus proved a loss to the com- munity as a whole and to the farms from which so many of them had come and to which their newly- trained tastes prevented a return. The high schools acted, of course, as feeders to the Universities, and, while no one can dispute the personal pleasure of a completed education and the advantage of Univcr- PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 511 sity training in the diffusion of culture, it has be- come an undoubted problem in Canada how the recognition of this fact is to be combined with the retention of its young men in a community which must have workers other than those of an intellect- ual character and is primarily dependent upon the prosperity of its farms and the development of its soil. Like the rush of women into the cities, and into shops and factories, in preference to the adop- tion of domestic service or acceptance of the home life offered them by marriage within their own circles, this is a problem which has evolved in the Dominion during the last twenty years and will have to be faced in the next century. It must be said, also, that if higher education has produced its problems, the public school system in Canada has not been without serious defects. Little or no attention is now paid to the manners of the children, respect to superiors or elders is not in- culcated, and the desire to train boys in freedom of thought and speech has too often resulted in laxity, if not licence, of language and manner. The com- bination of politeness with perfect independence is not regarded, apparently, as an ideal condition for the Canadian schoolboy, and the hardly probable extreme of servility is avoided by the frequent evolu- tion of the other extreme of rudeness. Too much! grinding study is the characteristic of the public schools and at times children are dwarfed mentally and physically by the varied nature of their tasks 512 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. and the influence of a competition for place and position so extreme as to be painful in the case of the very young. There is not sufficient patronage giwn to the large private schools of the country or sufficient encouragement to the British ideal of cul- tivating character and manliness in boys as well as a knowledge of grammar and arithmetic. Upper Canada College, under the recent control of Dr. George R. Parkin, has become an exception to this rule and is rapidly taking its place, in fact as well as in popular designation, as a Canadian Eton. Probably, also, as population and wealth increase in the Dominion the patronage of this and other in- stitutions of the kind will grow greater. Another serious fault in the public schools is the underpay- ment of the teachers in consequence of the intense competition for positions. High schools have to face a similar evil owing to the large number of University graduates available for any and every vacancy. Incidentally it may be said, with regret, that the spelling, pronunciation and grammar taught in the lower forms of Canadian schools is patterned very largely, though unconsciously, upon American models and ignores many of the niceties of the English language as cultivated in England, many of the delicate refinements of spelling and of speech to which English culture has attained, and many of the rules laid down by the best English authorities. Proximity may have made this process and result inevitable, but the fact is none the less to be de- plored. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 513 Social conditions, in the meantime, developed great- ly under the changes of the three decades which have closed the pages of a century's history. The posi- tion of the farmers has been slightly referred to. In English-speaking centres the old-time Loyalist class with its official connections, hereditary sentiment and sympathetic touch with English social tradi- tions, has largely passed away or else has experi- enced the loss of position which so often follows the loss of property or means. Successful mer- chants, well-to-do manufacturers and prosperous pro- fessional men have succeeded to its social place and traditions, and to these classes at the end of the century is due a society which has a curious com- mingling, in its customs and forms, of American freedom and English reserve. Yet Canada is not without old families and hereditary associations. Names such as Baldwin, Haliburton, Gait, Tache, Taschereau, Boulton, Cartwright, Jarvis, Robinson, Denison, Tupper, Molson, Blake, Lotbiniere, De Salaberry and Sewell occur at once in this connec- tion to any one familiar with the history of the various Provinces. The fact is particularly appar- ent in Quebec where families still frequently main- tain a position of hereditary distinction and where the old Seigneur ial system still lives in a social sense. Amongst the habitants of that Province there has been little change in custom or character during this period. They remain like a piece of medieval Europe imbedded in the heart of a bust- 514 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ling continent, although here and there some trav- elling " Jean Baptiste " comes back every now and then from an American industrial town swaggering in the clothes and crude ideas of an extraneous civili- sation and for a time gives to his village a new ex- citement and a glimpse of other conditions. As a whole, however, the habitant is still the cheerful, irresponsible, excitable, moral and religious peasant of fifty and a hundred years ago. Montreal has become the commercial and finan- cial metropolis of the Dominion. Here centres the business of the Bank of Montreal — the largest bank- ing institution on the continent. Here are the head- quarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway and its vast interests. Here still exists a connection with the old-time fur trade through the Hudson's Bay Company. Here are many of the greater wholesale houses of the country and the transportation com- panies which control the Canadian traffic on the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic. Here are immense manufacturing concerns employ- ing much habitant labour and making occasional millionaires. Montreal is emphatically the seat of social wealth; Toronto is representative of people with what might be termed moderate means; Hali- fax still holds the military society of Canada ; Win- nipeg and Vancouver have all the mixed elements characteristic of rapidly growing Western cities; Victoria constitutes in custom and character a typi- cal English town on Canadian soil. Ottawa is the PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 515 seat of Government and the centre of Vice-regal hospitalities which vary in lavishness, in display and in degrees of dignity with each occupant of Rideau Hall. Its society is interesting during the Session of Parliament, but at other times loses largely the cosmopolitan and mixed character so typi- cal of a national capital. The labouring classes in Canada are perhaps the most generally contented and comfortable to be found anywhere. Trade Unions and Labour organisations of all kinds flour- ish, but upon the whole relations between employers and working-men are not strained. Strikes have never been numerous, and violence seldom marks those which have occurred. There was for a time a tendency to combine the labour and fraternal or- ganisations of Canada with the immense concerns of the United States, but at the close of the century there are marked evidences of a desire to draw away from the connection thus formed with the great prob- lems of American industrial life. Meanwhile other elements in the making of a na- tion, or in the moulding for good or ill of national characteristics, have been evolving in Canada. The creation of a literature and journalism which has been formative in nature and illustrative in charac- ter of the life of the people has latterly been marked. Unfortunately it has still to be described as a broken and divided development — two streams of English and French thought running side by side and never mixing. With the coming of Confederation there 516 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. was a period of very slow growth in the English branch of Canadian literature. The process was de- pendent upon the educational influence of the news- papers, and the latter, for a long time, were more intent upon the material ends of national life — questions of transportation and constitution-making — than upon the cultivation of flowers of poetry or the seeking out of germs of literary ability. Henry J. Morgan, G. Mercer Adam, Dr. Alpheus Todd, Dr. W. H. Withrow, W. J. Eattray, Dr. George Stewart, Dr. J. George Hodgins, did good service in these earlier years to general literature and un- der most trying conditions of public indifference to all Canadian efforts in that direction. Charles Sangster, William Kirby, John Eeade, Mrs. Lepro- hon, James de Mille and others endeavoured to up- hold the lamp of romance and poesy. Isabella Val- ancey Crawford, after one flash of genius and beauti- ful poetic creation, died of disappointment as Keats had done in another country and another period. Gradually, however, the change came. With the growth of genuine Canadian sentiment came an ap- preciation of things Canadian, a keener interest in the past of Canada, a fuller comprehension of the beauties and potentialities of its vast Dominion. Dr. William Kingsford, in 1888, undertook the prep- aration of a History of Canada in most elaborate form and from all available documentary data. He finished the work in ten vohnnos, in 1898, and shortly afterwards died. His completed undertak- PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 517 ing constitutes a monument of ceaseless research and exertion and is a mine of valuable information. Sir John George Bourinot, in magazine and pamphlet and constitutional volume, won his way to reputation and rank. Dr. Goldwin Smith in essay and newspaper argument, book and pamphlet, poured out a stream of literary production which, while often alien in sentiment and incurring bitter controversial opposition, yet helped by its lucid English and almost perfect style to develop culture and classical taste in the community. At the same time, it must be said, his writings frequently had the opposite effect by adding fuel to the flames of a suffi- ciently violent style of Colonial journalism. The most important of Canadian biographical works, from the standpoint of documentary detail, is Mr. Joseph Pope's Memoirs of Sir John A. Macdonald, published in 1894. From 1880, onwards, public ap- preciation of local literary effort steadily increased, and between 1890 and 1900 it has reached a stage of which the pioneers in Canadian literature could hardly have dreamed. Mrs. Everard Cotes, Miss Lily Dougall, Edmund E. Sheppard, Charles G. D. Eoberts, J. Macdonald Oxley, W. D. Lighthall, Mrs. S. Erances Harrison, William McLennan, Miss Marshall Saunders and, most prominent of all, Gilbert Parker, have obtained rank in the liter- ature of romance. Mr. Parker, in particular, has won a reputation as wide as the English-speaking world. In Quebec the chief names of this period 518 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. are those of Louis Frechette, the most brilliant poet of his people, Sir James Le Moine, the cultured historical student and writer who dwells on the banks of the St. Lawrence, not far from the Heights of Abraham, M. Faillon, L'Abbe Gosselin, Mgr. C. Tanguay and H. K. Casgrain. Poets of taste and beauty of expression French Canada has produced, in a greater degree of numerical excellence than has been possible elsewhere in the Dominion. Journalism in Canada can hardly be said to have kept pace with literature in its development. What- ever the faults of the latter, and in a young country they must always be sufficiently numerous, it has at least aimed high and has tried to follow the best English models. But the papers of Canada have fallen, to some extent, into beaten paths of American style and taste and manner without being possessed of the immense backing of wealth and energy which makes even the most wretchedly sensational New York sheet a somewhat marvellous creation. There are exceptions, of course, and at least half a dozen great dailies in the Dominion maintain a curious balance between English solidity and accuracy and American sensational and " slap-dash " journalism. And there is also, beneath the surface, a very saving grace of honour and self-respect which, in spite of ap- pearances and exaggerations and political person- alities, is steadily growing stronger. It is greatly to the credit of Canada that the more distinct these qualities are the more influential has been the paper. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 519 That the press, as a whole, has been controlled by patriotic motives is apparent from the ease with which racial and religions strife can be stirred np by unscrupulous journals in a country having two races and rival creeds and by the few occasions in which such an influence has really been uppermost. For the rest, increasing education and capital and closer intimacy with British methods and British style may be expected to steadily improve a system of journalism which is better now than that of the United States, though not yet upon the same level as the experienced and dignified press of the United Kingdom. In Quebec journalism is essentially different in scope and character from that of the rest of the Canadian community. It is French, with a strong dash of Provincialism. It is of the soil, yet with many qualities alien to the general environ- ment of the people. It is Canadian, and loyal as a whole to British connection, without being British. The newspaper men of the Province are and have been of a peculiarly brilliant type, and from its Editorial chairs have come many political leaders, eloquent speakers and successful lawyers. Inci- dentally a curious phase of Canadian public life, and one not always beneficial, may be found in the fact that some of the prominent journalists of Quebec are Frenchmen from Paris and not French- Canadians in the true sense of that complex word. Closely and naturally associated with literature and journalism is the growth of art and musical cul- 520 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. ture. The best that can be said cf Canada in this respect is that these are cultivated tastes, and for their full fruition require the leisure which only comes to matured communities and the wealth which only results from a fairly developed country. To- ward the end of the century both these conditions are becoming apparent, and with this stage in Canadian development native artists and musicians arc beginning to be appreciated and understood. Peel, Sandham, Vogt, Edson, Eaton, Fraser, Ward, Bourassa, Jacobi, O'Brien, Harris, have all con- tributed to the progress now apparent ; and the mag- nificent resources in Canada's vast mountains, varied lake and river and forest and island scenery, and pastoral, ranching and hunting views, are being slowly exploited. In this process much good has come from the Royal Canadian Academy, founded in 1879 by the Marquess of Lome, just as the pur- suit of literature and science has been greatly aided by the foundation in 1881 of the Royal Society of Canada. Sculpture has found its chief expression in busts and statues of eminent men and in the representation of various religious subjects for church edifices in the Province of Quebec. The most notable examples of statuary in the Dominion are the memorials to Sir John A. Macdonald in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Ottawa, the statue of the Queen at Montreal, of Sir George Cartier at Ottawa, of George Brown at Toronto and of General Brock at Queenston. In music and song Canada, since Con- PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 521 federation, has been proud of having produced Madame Albani-Gye, and the French-Canadian part of its population sings Sir George E. Carrier's beautiful " Canada mon pays, Mes Amours," while English-Canadians delight in Alexander Muir's " Land of the Maple Leaf." The cities of the country have done much of late years to encourage musical taste by school instruction, by the formation of Colleges of Music, by the organisation of Orches- tras and Choral Societies and by the presentation of the works of great composers. And, while the Dominion has produced no great names in musical composition, it has undoubtedly developed a good standard of musical culture. In other branches of national life progress has been even more marked. To the Militia, or Volun- teer, system which so distinctly differentiates the English-speaking world from other nationalities Confederation naturally gave a great impetus. Very wisely, the command of the forces in Canada (now numbering about 40,000 men) was left in the hands of an Imperial officer, and to the eight men who have since held that position much has been due — more than will even yet be admitted by those who, unfortunately, have appeared to prefer a locally and politically controlled Militia to one absolutely in- dependent of partisanship. Over a million dollars has been annually spent in maintaining the system, and the men have proved their efficiency during the Eenian Kaids, the North- West Kebellions and 522 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. upon the battle-grounds of South Africa. Imperial troops, under a Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in British America, have been maintained at Hali- fax and Esquimault. During the last years of the century and by the active efforts of Major-General E. T. H. Hutton, reforms of various kinds have been effected in the Militia with a view to strength- ening it as an arm of the military force of the Em- pire. Incidentally the system has had a great in- fluence in promoting, as well as expressing patriot- ism, and the most ardent lover of peace cannot but appreciate how great a factor in unifying scattered peoples and settlements, or distant Provinces and countries, is a national Militia or a common Army and Navy. Industrial life has had a remarkable expansion during the thirty years following Confederation. Woollens and cottons, agricultural implements and paper and pulp manufactures are largely the prod- uct of this period. The loom and the spinning- wheel have given place, except in a few old-fashioned communities, to large mills and industrial establish- ments, while raw material is every year imported to a greater extent and more and more manufactured goods are exported. In 1898, a million and a quarter dollars' worth of Canadian grey cottons were sent to far-away China, while Canadian implements now largely control the Australasian market and the prod- uct of its pulp and paper mills promises to rival the one-time greatness of its timber trade. Between PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 523 1881 and 1891 the number of industrial establish- ments in Canada increased by 25,000, the capital employed by $190,000,000, the number of employes by 116,000, the wages paid by $40,000,000 and the value of the total output by $16,000,000. Per- haps, however, the feature of Canadian develop- ment which has attracted most attention abroad is its gold. British Columbia in the " fifties," and onward, produced some fifty millions of gold by the sudden expansion of mining activity and pro- cess of placer mining, but the excitement of the first discoveries died out after a time and in the course of years the production dwindled down to a small annual figure. Then came the mineral epoch of 1896, when the great gold-ore resources of the Kootenay regions were made known and the Arctic regions of the Canadian Yukon found to be practi- cally paved with precious metal. Rossland and countless mineral centres grew up in British Colum- bia almost in a night, Dawson City soon held an ice- bound population of thousands in the distant Yu- kon and the world rang with stories of unequalled wealth. The first excitement has now died away, and in both these regions mining has settled down upon a substantial basis with yearly increased re- sults. The annual production of the Dominion in all minerals has risen from twenty to forty millions in value, while enormous and uncounted quantities of gold dust have passed out of the country in the hands of American miners. 2i 524 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. Meantime progress has been equally evident in other directions and may bo briefly summarised. The number of Post Offices in the Dominion in- -ed, between 1868 and 1898, by fifty-six hun- dred; the number of letters, under constantly de- creasing rates, rose from eighteen millions to ono hundred and thirty-five millions and the newspapers in an equal proportion; the tonnage of Canadian shipping rose by four millions and the number of the vessels by six thousand; the imports doubled and the exports trebled in value; the balance in the Post Office savings banks increased from a few thousands to thirty-four millions of dollars, and the assets of the chartered banks rose from seventy- seven to three hundred and sixty-five millions. By the Census of 1891 there were 28,537,000 acres of land under cultivation. The net Public Debt — • mainly expended upon railways, canals and other public improvements — rose from $75,757,135 in 1868 to $263,956,399 in 1898. During the same period the revenues of the Dominion increased from thirteen to forty millions. Meanwhile the Pro- vincial debts had risen from nothing to thirty mil- lions * and the Provincial revenues from five to twelve millions. One of the most striking features in this summary is that relating to banking. Through an exceedingly flexible bank-note system and the main- * The Provincial indebtedness lias, with some exceptions, been incurred in opening up new country and backwood regions by means of roads, bridges, railways, etc. PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 525 tenance by each large bank of many branches the paper money of the country has been made singular- ly easy of application to the requirements of a great- ly scattered population. The circulation is satis- factorily guaranteed and secured, the confidence of the public in the banks is absolute, their capital is large, the profits made are considerable, and the system has worked so well as to justify Canadians in regarding it as one of the highest and best evidences of their national advancement. It is perhaps the most perfect system in its application to the con- ditions of the people and the country which is any- where to be found. In 1898 there were six hundred and forty-one branches, scattered from Halifax to Vancouver and the Yukon, of the thirty-eight Canadian banks. In that year their total paid-up capi- tal was sixty-two millions, the notes in circulation thirty-seven millions, the deposits two hundred and thirty-six millions and the discounts two hundred and twenty-three millions of dollars. Canadian insurance against fire in 1898 showed a total of nearly seven hundred millions, of which two-thirds was carried by British Companies. The life in- surance carried in Canada by Canadian Companies showed the striking increase, between 1868 and 1898, of five to two hundred and twenty-five mil- lions. British Companies increased their business from sixteen to thirty-six millions and American Companies from thirteen to one hundred and five millions. 520 PROGRESS OF CANADA IN THE CENTURY. With all these varied forms of development going on in the Dominion it may fairly be concluded that Canada should stand upon the threshold of another century in a spirit of hope and confidence. In 1800 it appeared as a tiny population of pioneers scat- tered along the northern frontiers of a hostile na- tion ; environed by the shadow of gloomy forests and the sound of savage life ; with the loneliness of a vast wilderness away to the farthest north and west. The past was painful, the present was only relieved by a patriotic fire in the hearts of the Loyalists and by the cheerful hopefulness characteristic of their race in the breasts of the French, while the future was veiled behind dense clouds of evident personal privation and the utter absence of common popular action. In 1900 it stands as a united people of be- tween five and six millions with a foundation, well and truly laid, of great transportation enterprises, of a common fiscal policy and a common Canadian sen- timent. It boasts a greatly expanded trade and com- merce, a growing industrial production, increasing national and Provincial revenues, a wiser and better knowledge of its own vast resources, a steady pro- motion of settlement, and the continuous opening up of new regions in its seemingly boundless terri- tories. Above all it has reached out beyond the shores of the Dominion into a practical partnership with the other countries of the British Empire and is sharing in a greatness and power which the wild- est dream of a United Empire Loyalist in his log- PEOPLE AND COUNTRY AT END OF CENTURY. 527 hut in the forest of a century since could never have pictured. To meet this apparent destiny, however, qualities must be cultivated such as those possessed by the settlers in pioneer days, and the narrowness of a superficial and vain-glorious democracy as care- fully avoided as the subservient faults of a selfish despotism. If the people of Canada cultivate a strength of mind which eliminates boasting, a loyalty which avoids spread-eagleism, an educational system which reaches the heart as well as the intel- lect and trains the manners as well as the morals, a religious feeling which avoids bigotry and detests in- tolerance, a national sentiment which is not racial or Provincial but Canadian, an Imperial patriotism which widens the public horizon and strengthens the character of the people while it elevates the poli- tics of the country, that future seems to the finite vision to be reasonably assured. INDEX. Aberdeen, Lord, and his dismissal of the Tupper Ministry, 409. Abolition of dual representation, The work of the, 416. Acadians, Manners and Customs of the, 120 ; were exiled by their own action, 18. Acadians of 1755, Short sketch of the, Agricultural area and products in Canada, 494. Agricultural expansion after the Union, 328. Agriculture in Canada, 1826-40, De- velopment in, 190. Agriculture in Maritime Provinces, Progress of, 190. Agriculture in 1866, Some figures on, 843. American advance in 1814, The first, 106. Americans and their sympathy for France, 88. American emigrants, and War of 1812 and Rebellion of 1837, 68 ; In- flux of some very undesirable, 67. American forces compelled to retire to winter quarters, 99. American Leaders, Separation not wanted by the better class of, 26. American Loyalists in Upper Canada in 1800, Condition of the, 57. Americans victorious at Fort Erie and Chippewa, 107. Annexation between Canada and the U.S., Some danger of, 484. Annexation to the U.S., Meeting held in favor of, 300. Art and musical culture, Growth of, 520. Art in British America, The beginning of, 374. Assembly for B.C., The first properly elected, 822. B. Bagot, Sir Charles, succeeds Lord Sydenham, 284. Bald win-Laf on tain e Government, Breakup of the, 302. "Baldwin Reformers," Whatb6came of the, 303. Baldwin, Robert, Character of, 286. Banks and Banking, 1837 to 1867, 337. Banking business, Striking changes in early, 192. Banks founded in British America, Some well-known, 191. Banking Institutions in 1898, Condi- tion and extent of, 525. Bank of Montreal, Founding of tho, 191. Banking System, Evolution of the Canadian, 191. Baptist Church, Canada. Success of the, 168. Bateaux, Advent of the French-Cana- dian, 174. Battle of Chateauguay, Clever defeat of the Americans at, 104. Beaver, The S.S., launched by Wil- liam IV., 180. Black Rock and other points captured by the British, 101. Black, Rev. William, Great results of the work of the, 167. Bloody Struggle of 1815, Result of the, 110. Board of Education, Establishment of a provincial, 131. Boat Building, Increase in, 175. Boot and shoe making started in Lower Canada, 188. Brandy, wine and rum brought into Canada in 1824, 184. Brant, Joseph (Thayendanegea), Some facts concerning, 74, 75. British America, at the end of the formative period of its history, 81, 82 ; Early social conditions in, 113; in the opening of the nine- teenth century, 34. British America in 1800, Position of the people of, 52. British American Land Company, Advent of the, 66; makes vigor- ous efforts colonisation, 67 ; Prop- erty owned by the, 66. British Canada in 1791-1800, 32. British Loyalist Refugees receive a Government grant, 40. British Methodist Episcopal Church, Origin of the, 170. 530 INDEX. British North America Act, Birth of the, 892. British od Lake Erie, Disastrous de- feat of the, 101. British part of the Campaign of 1814, 100. British Population in Atlantic Pro- rinces after 1834, Increase of, 72. British regiments stationed through- out Canada, 115, 116. British sentiment in Canada, a mir- acle of the nineteenth century, 474-477. British soldiers intermarry with the French population, 36. British successes toward close of 1813, 106. Brock, Sir Isaac, although handi- capped, works almost miracles, 04; captures Hull and his army, 93 | Difficulties in the way of, 91 ; Prompt action of, 92 ; receives his death-wound, 96 ; the mau for the criaes, 90, 91. Brown, George, and Joseph Howe, strongly oppose the Federal Min- istry, 402. Brown, George, and the Clergy Re- serves, 301 ; rides the Protestant Horse, 348. Brown-Macdonald Cabinet over- thrown in two days, 309. Buffalo captured and burned, 106. Buffalo wool into cloth, Unsuccessful attempt to turn, 188. Burgoyne at Saratoga, Surrender of, Burke & Fox after party advantage, U. Burwell, Colonel M., surveys the site of London into town lots, 61. C. Cabot, John, English colonisation en- hanced by the voyage of, 2 ; Ex- plorations of, 2 ; is badly treated on his return to England, 2 ; sails for the new continent, 1. Canada, Derivations of the name, 3 ; Formation of the provinces of, 1 ; What Great Britain had paid for, 470. Canada and her people at close of the century. 493. Canada and the U.S. in 1827, Trade between, 178. Canada Company, Incorporation of the, 63, 64. Canada from 1812 to 1818, Social con- ditions in, 113. Canada in 1800 compared with Canada in 190*. 991. Canadian Constitution, Men who tried to mould the, 47 2. Canadian development after 1820, 123. 124. ^ Canadian education injured by American ideas and teaching, 135. 6 ' Canadian Evolution, The annals of the more modern period of, VI. Canadian exports in timber and ships in 1814-1837, 184. Canadian exports, 1814-1837, wheat, flour and fish, 185. Canadian export trade to Great Brit- ain, 1868-98, 486. Canadian export and import trade with G.B. and U.S., 486. Canadian loyalty sorely tested by the Washington Treaty of 1871, 477- 479. Canadian Pacific Railway, Immense results of the building of the, 458 : Importance of the completion of the, 452; Inception and building of the, 449-452; The question of the, 428. Canadian population first half of nineteenth century, Increase of, 324-326. Canadian Population in 1861, Classifi- cation of the, 827. Canadian Press shows sympathy for the Southern States, 311. Canadian progress during the early years of the century, 122, 123; The story of, 33. Canadian Rebellion did not give self- government, 264. Canadian requirements, Britain had crude idea of, 471. Canadian settlers, A great variety of, 121, 122. Canadian tariff, Working of the, 462. Canadian trade and tariffs lean toward the motherland, 492. Canadian trade with Great Britain, Statistics of, 183. Canals, Building and use of, 175. Canals and waterways, Development in, 454. Canal making and shipbuilding begun, 54. Canal system greatly improved after 1841, 334. Carleton, Sir Guy, saved Canada to the Crown, 81. Caroline, Capture of the, 255. Cartier, Jacques, Explorations of, 8. Catholic Church in Canada, 1841 to 1874, 861-363. Champlain founded Quebec, Condi- tions under which, 4. Champlain, Great difficulties in the way of, 5. Chapleau, Langevin andCaron, Brave stand of, 437. Chauncey, Commodore, sails for Toronto and captures it, 100. INDEX. 531 Chauveau, M. Pierre J. O., and educa- tion in Lower Canada, 352. Chrystler's Farm, Americans defeated at, 103. Church denominations, Comparative progress of the various, 365. Church of England in Canada, 1841 to 1874, 359-361 ; Steady progress of 159. Church of England in Upper Canada a formative force, 153; Rapid growth of the, 154. Church of Rome in Upper Canada, Beginning of the history of the, 149 ; Growth and extension of the, 151. Clergy corporation, Formation and use of the, 219. Clergy Reserves as arranged by Lord Sydenham, 301 ; Final settlement of the, 304 ; Grievances arising out of the, 218 ; and George Brown,301. Climate of Canada, Strong prejudice against the, 4. Coalition Government, Formation of a, 376. Coasting trade of the Provinces, 1876- 96, 456. Colborne, Sir John, and the Canada Company, 66; fortifies the fron- tier, 257 ; metes out justice to the rebels, 263. Colonel Prince makes short work of the rebels from Detroit, 259. Commercial and financial metropolis, Montreal has become the, 514. Commercial traffic with the Provinces and the U.S., Extent of, 177. Confederates totally routed in Nova Scotia by Howe, 417. Confederation, Contributions of the great leaders to, 391 ; England fa- voured, 381 ; First practical steps toward, 379 ; Motives for opposi- tion to, 385 ; Motives for support- ing Provincial, 383; Motives for the desire of, 378, 379 ; Steps lead- ing up to, 375 ; simplifies the rela- tion of Canada with the Empire, 469 ; the child of deadlock, 390 ; Various opponents of, 385. Confederation Delegates, Final meet- ing of the, 393 ; Great meeting of, 392. Confederation in Maritime Prov- inces antagonised by Joseph Howe, 393. Confederation of the B.N.A. prov- inces, Proposal of the, 300. Confederation of the Provinces marked the advent of greater prosperity, 399. Congregationalism, Beginning of the history of, 168. Conquest of Canada, Causes that led to the English, 11. Conservative Government would not favour disallowance, 439. Controversies of 1800-37, Cause of the, 208. Cornwallis at Yorktown, Capitula- tion of, 31. Cot6, Dr., Movements of the rebel, 262. Craig, Sir James, and Henry the Ad- venturer, 87. Cunard line of steamers, Founding of the, 179. Debt of the Provinces, 1866-7, &37. Declaration of Independence, Miser- able proceedings preceding the, 23. Declaration of the Reformers of To- ronto, The curious, 246. Descent upon Montreal planned by the Americans, 103. Dickson, The Hon. William, founds the Town of Gait, 61. Distinction conferred in honour of Confederation, 400. District schools, establishment and success of, 130, 131. Divorce, Canadian law and sentiment against, 499. Dominion, Formation of a, 278. Dominion Day marked an epoch in the history of a continent, 400. Dominion Government decides to re- store separate schools, 440. Dominion Government buys out the Hudson's Bay Company, 420. Dominion and Manitoba Govern- ments, Acute friction between the, 444. Dominion and Provincial Parlia- ments, Many changes in, 441-443. Dominion Ministry, Formation of the first, 397. Dominion of Canada, Establishment of the, 375 ; System for adminis- tering the Constitution of the, 394-396. Dominion Premiership , Rapid changes in the, 440. Douglas, Sir James, Influence and activity of, 821. Draper, William Henry, forms a Gov- ernment, 285. Drummond, General Sir Gordon, be- comes commander in Upper Can- ada, 106. Dufferin, Lord, allays dissatisfaction in B. C, 407 ; and the Pacific Rail- way scandal, 406 ; becomes Gov- ernor-General of Canada, 406. Duncombe, Dr. Charles, moves for better education, 133 ; reports on American schools and colleges. 134. 53'J INDEX. Durham boats. Introduction of tho, 174. Durham, Earl of, appointed Govern- or-General, 251. Durham, Lord, and his rebel policy, 260. Educational and religions progress, Early stages of, 127. Educational Commission of Enquiry of 1839, 135. Educational facilities in 1841, Great improvement in, 845. Educational matters, Men who led in, 132. Edu.-ation In Canada, Beginning of, 55. Education in Lower Canada at and after 1841, 352. Education in New Brunswick, Prog- ress of, 356. Education in Nova Scotia, Progress of, 354. Education In P.E.I, and N.W.T., 856. Education since Confederation, Prog- ress of, 504, 512. Elgin, Lord, and the rebellion losses, 289 ; gets free trade with the U.S., 306; mobbed in Montreal, 299. Emigrants to Canada, 1868-98, Dispo- sition of the, 498. Emigration to Maritime Provinces, Slow growth of, 70, 71. English and French struggle for Can- ada, Peculiarity of, 12. English and French in Canada, Lack of harmony between the, 114. English Interference with Colonial internal affairs a mistake, 22. Exports and imports in 1851, Cana- dian, 330. Exports to Canada by G.B. and U.S., F. Family Compact, Origin of the name, 226; Patriotism of the, 275. Farmers in Canada, Condition of, 495-497. Federal Ministry, Completion of the first, 402. Fenian Raids, Cause of the, 812 ; Re- ?mlse of the, 426. an Raid of 1866, Result of the, 314. Fire and life insurance, Growth of, 525. FMvries award of 1877, 431. Fisheries development preceding Confederation,. 'HI. 1 hon, Lieutenant, makes a clever capture, 101. Fort Georgo captured by the Ameri- cans, 100. Fort Oswego captured by the British, 107. Free trade with the U.S., Agitation for and against, 464, 467. France, Partial triumph of, 82. French-Canadians along the banks of the St. Lawrence, 81 ; and agri- culture, 35 ; Disposition and home life of the, 37, 88. French-Canadian gentry, Influence of the, 115. French-Canadian habitant, Condition of the, 36. French-Canadians in 1800, Strength of the, 57. French-Canadians in the war, Brav- ery of the, 103. French-Canadian Militia, Loyalty of, 251. French explorations, Some very noted, 16. French habitant, Pleasures of the, 115, 116. French population in Canada, when Montreal surrendered, 14, O. Gait, John, chief Promoter of the Canada Co., 64 ; Some facts con- cerning, 64. George the Third had a patriotic basis for his action, 28 ; not the tyrant of the revolution, 27. Glasgow Colonial Society, a great external factor, 162. Gore, Colonel, Unsuccessful attack of, 249. Gosford, Lord, Weakness of the efforts of, 247. Gourley, Robert, Harsh treatment of, 220. Government, A mistake to give Lower Canada responsible, 202; Good effects of self-, 815 ; The Evolution of Canadian, 198 ; Tho foundations of, 194. Government deadlock, Result of, 279 Government in Lower Canada, Style of, 200. Government transferred to Ottawa, Seat of, 308. Governor- General after Confedera- tion, Functions of the, 404. Governor-General in Canada, Present duties and power of the, 410. Governors, Lieut., 1812 to 1841, 215. Governors of Canada, Development in the position of the Lieut.-, 411, 414. Governors of P. E. I., Some of the, 820. Governors of the Province, resisted INDEX. 533 the advance of American ideas, 195. Grand Trunk Railway System in 1897, Extent of the, 454. Great Britain and United States in 1800 and 1900, 32, 33. Great Britain apparently helpless in 1812, 89. Great Britain continues her right of searching ships, 86. Great Britain, War declared against, 31. Guardian, Christian, Founding of the, 167. II. Halifax, High life and nobility in, 117, 118 ; Sports and customs at, 118. Harvey, Colonel, at Burlington Heights, Brilliant work of, 101 ; Death of, 316. Head, Sir Francis, Loyalty and action of, 244 ; makes appointments in the Executive Council, 227. Heneker, R. W., is Commissioner of the British American Land Coy., 67. Henry, Patrick, denounces the tyr- anny of the King, 24. Henry, Rev. George,flrst Presbyterian minister in Lower Canada, 1G2. Higher Education in U.C., Progress of, 349. Hincks, Sir Francis, the hero of the railway period, 332. Historical writing, The frequent na- ture of, v. Howe, Joseph, defeated on his Lon- don mission by Dr. Tupper, 418 ; defeated by Dr. Tupper, 317; is unjustly severe to the Governor- General, 295 ; loses his popularity and is heartbroken, 419 ; makes a great fight for responsible gov- ernment, 293 ; Stability and loyalty of, 213 ; the pacification of, 418. Howe, Sir William, Criminal incom- petence of, 31. Hudson's Bay Company and Lord Selkirk's famous settlement, 77, 78. Hudson's Bay Company, in 1849, 320 ; lose control of Vancouver and the mainland, 322 ; sells out to the Dominion, 397. Hull, General, invades Canada, 92. Hume, Joseph, Important letter re- ceived from, 226. Hundred and fourth-repriment, Splen- did march of the, 109. Hundredth-Regiment, wins glory at the Crimea, 306. " Hunters' Lodges " greatly aid Mac- kenzie, 256. Huron Tract, Extent of the, 64 ; Much dissatisfaction over the, 65, 66 ; Rapidity of the settlement of the, 66. Imperial Act of 1791, the causo of much agitation, 156. Imperial Parliament of 1840 pass a measure favoring union, 276. Imperial spirit dawns on the Cana- dian people, 421. Imperial Unity, Steps toward closer, 489, 491. Indian affairs, Bad management of, 75. Indians of Canada honorably treated by the Government, 73. Indian settlers are loyal to Great Britain, 46. Indian Tribes in N.W.T. and B.C., 76, Industries in Canada in 1833, Some important, 189. Industrial life in Canada, Expansion of, 522. Intercolonial Railway, Project of the, 448 ; the great subject of discus- sion, 316. Irish migration in 1S23, extent of the, 61, 62. Iroquois Indians, Composition of the, 78 ; made cruel by white man's deception, 9 ; Probable numerical strength of the, 8 ; were a conti- nental scourge, 8; when Cham- plain met them, 7. Jesuits, have better success in the Maritime Provinces, 11 ; Heroic labours and martyrdom of the, 10 ; Wonderful pioneer labours of the, 9. Jesuits' Estates Allowance, Some re suits of the, 439. Jesuit Priests, Cause of the limited success of the, 10. Jewish religious movement, First ap- pearance of the, 170. Johnson,Sir William, and the Iroquois distinguish themselves for the King, 31. Journalism, Leading men in French- Canadian, 366. Journalism in Canada, Development of, 518. Journalism in the Maritime Provinces, Prominent names in, 367. Journalism in Upper and Lower Canada, Prominent names that centre around English, 3C6. 534 INDEX King George badly advised as to the Thirteen Colonies, 23. King, Mr. E. H., as a banker, 330. Kingston and Niagara, Early impor- tance of, 60. Lafontaine, Hy polite, Character of, 286. Lansdowne, Lord, an able Governor- General, 408. Land Grants, 1812 to 1838, Extrava- gant, 216. Land Tenure Question in P.E.I., 319. Lartigue, Bishop, issues a mandement against rebellion, 243. Late Loyalists, Character of the, 41. Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, comes into power, 441. Laval and McGill Universities, Found- ing of, 353. Lawrence, Governor, and the Aca- dians, 18. Liberal-Conservative Party, Origin of the, 403. Liberal Party, Cause of the formation of the, 197. Literature and journalism, Evolu- tion of, 515. Literature, romance and poetry, Names of early contributors to, 516, 518. ** Logging Bee," The old time, 63. London, Ont., Condition of site in 1826,61. Lome, Marquess of, finds a constitu- tional difficulty, 407. Lount and Mathews, Execution of, ■ft Lower Canadian Rebels, rise Novem- ber 3d, 1838, 261. Lower Canada in the opening of the nineteenth century, 84. Lower Canada prior to 1841, Progress of education in, 143. Lumber industry, greatly assisted by Philemon Wright, 60. Lundy's Lane, Battle of, 107. Loyalists in 1783-4, Condition of the, 39. Loyalists, Principles and aim of the, vi. Loyalist migration into the Maritime Provinces, 43. Loyalist refugees. Origin and charac- ter of, 40, 41. Loyalist settlers, Bitter years of the early, 47 ; Great improvement in th* condition of the, 49, 50. I * settlers up to 1800, left their impress, 47. Macdonald, Sir John A., and Confed- eration, 387 ; and his necessary colleagues, 389 ; comes back to power, 480 ; is ambitious for a great political party, 401 ; wins over prominent Liberals, 401. Macdonell, Bishop, Work and influ- ence of, 149. Macdougall, Governor, prevented en- trance to Manitoba by RieL, 423. Mackenzie, William Lyon, arrested by the Americans, 255 ; Character and power of, 224 ; first mayor of Toronto, 225 ; flees to Navy Island, 254 ; issues a manifesto, 255 ; pre- cipitates a rebellion, 213. Mackenzie, Alexander, forms a Liber- al Cabinet, 429. Madison, President, pledges himself to precipitate a conflict, 87. Maine boundary trouble in New Brunswick, 290. Maine boundary, Warlike prepara- tions over the, 268, 270. Manchester School, Theory of the, 25. Manifesto of Annexation to the U.S., Names of some who signed the, 300. Manitoba and the Territories, Settle- ment and development of, 425. Manitoba, British Columbia and P.E.I., come into the Dominion, 897,398. Manitoba School Question, History of the, 439. Manitoba School Question settled, 441. Manufacturing and industrial prog- ress, 1800 to 1840, 185. Manufacturing preceding Confedera- tion, Progress in, 842. Maritime Provinces, People and cus- toms of the, 119 ; Progress of education in the, 186, 141; The struggle in the, 109. Maroons not satisfactory settlers, 45. Material progress in Canada, Twen • ty-flve years of, 824. Meilleur, Jean Baptiste, and educa- tion in Lower Canada, 352. Mercler, M., and the historic Jesuits' Estates, 437. Merritt, Hon. William Hamilton, and the Welland Canal, 176. Metcalfe, Sir Charles, forced to re- tire by disease, 289; statesman- ship of, 284 ; Violent attack upon, 287. Methodism, Canadian, Influence and Erogressof, 164. odism in Canada, 1841 to 1874, T,0. Metlx.dism, Struggles and growth of. INDEX. 535 Methodist College, Coburg, Estab- lishment of the, 167. Methodists, Influence of the early, 126. Militia Bill defeats the Macdonald- Cartier Government, 310. Militia development in Canada, 1841 to 1871, 369. Militia in Canada in 1866, Strength of the, 313. Militia system, Development of the, 521. Mining development preceding Con- federation, 341. Moodie, Colonel, Shooting of, 253. Modern history in British America, The real pivot of, 58. Monck, Lord, becomes Governor- General of Canada, 310 ; not pop- ular in Canada, 383. Montgomery's Tavern, Battle near, 253,254. Montreal and Quebec in the early days, Great variety of people in, 117. Montreal Constitutional Society is- sues a remarkable document, 239. Moravianism, Advent and work of, 169. Mountain, Dr. Jacob, first Anglican Bishop of the Canadas, 157. Municipal Loan Bill of 1849, Result of the, 333. Ma McCarthy, D 1 Alton, leads the minor- ity against Jesuits' Estates allow- ance, 438. McCaul, Dr. John, and higher educa- tion, 350. McClure, General, evacuates Fort George, 105. McDonell, Colonel, and his High- land Regiment strike a hard blow, 100. McGee, D'Arcy, Murder of, 426. McGill University, Opening of, 144; Success and growth of, 353. McGregor, Rev. Dr. James, pioneer Presbyterian minister. McNab, Sir Allan, Character of, 287. N. Napoleon endeavours to subjugate England, 85, 86. Negro settlers not satisfactory, 45. Nelson, Dr. Wolfred, Capture of, 249. Nelson, Robert, issues a Declaration of Independence, 261. Newark Village, wantonly buruec". to the ground, 106. New England States, averse to *he war policy, 8& Newspapers in Canada in 1788-1802, 56. Newspapers, French-Canadian, took the lead, 865. Ninety -Two Resolutions, The famous, 238 Non-Intercourse Act of 1808, 86. North American Indian, Origin and nature of the, 5, 6. North and West Territories, Progress of the, 320. Nova Scotia gives untold trouble to the New Federal Government, 416, 417 ; makes further demands and threatens secession, 431 ; re- solves to withdraw from Con- federation, 417. North- West Territories, Progress of education in the, 142. O. O'Brien, William, fails In his attack on Lord Lansdowne, 408. Odell, William, Provincial Secretary of N.B., dies in 1844, 291. Ojibbiway Indians in 1850, Land pos- - by the, 76. P. Pacific Scandal defeats the Tory Gov- ernment, 429. Paine, Thomas, and his pamphlet, " Common Sense," 25. Pakenham, General, fails to capture New Orleans, 109. Paper mills, Starting of the first, 188. Papineau, L. J., again tries his old scheme of an Elective Council, 807 ; flees to the States, 249 ; pre- cipitates a rebellion, 213 ; remark- able letter from, 227 ; Some chief supporters of, 247. Parkman, Francis, did justice to the opening of the nineteenth cen- tury, v. Parliamentary grants for war pur- poses in 1812, 99. Peace of Versailles, Result of the, 81. Pioneers, Methodist, Names of, 167. Pioneers of the early days, Some prominent, 65. Pioneer steamboat on the St. Law- rence, The first, 175. Pioneer work and settlement, Sketch of, 34. Plessis, Jean Octave, Loyalty and work of, 147. Poetry, Some names connected with early Canadian, 868. Politics in Lower Canada, 1800 to 1834, 228-237 ; Strife enters, 201. Politics took a new aspect, On crea- 536 INDEX. tion of the Dominion, constitu- tional, 415. Political activity in N.B., 1855, 818. Political changes, Swift and numer- ous, 808. Political leaders in Upper and Lower Canada, 214, 215. Political situation in 1834 becomes active, 225. Political struggles, Too much stress laid upon, v. Politicians of the early Union days, Some of the prominent, 288. Population of British America, 1832 to 1841, 70. Post offices in 1840, Number of, 178. Post offices, 1868-98, Increase in, 524. Presbyterianism in Canada, Early history of, 160 ; In the early days, 363, 865 ; Progress of, 102. Prevost, Sir George, and the conflict in Lower Canada, 97 ; Glaring in- capacity of, 105; meets a dis- graceful defeat at Plattsburg, 108; Repulse of the attack of, 100 ; Weakness and vacillation of, 93. Prince Edward Island, gets respon- sible Government, 297; is trou- bled by absentee proprietary, 296 ; Political troubles in, 295. Prince of Wales does not pass under the Orange arches, 310 ; opens the Victoria Bridge, 310 ; visits Amer- ica, 309 ; visits the U.S., 310. Procter, Colonel, Splendid victory of, 99 ; Humiliating defeat of, 102. Prohibitory Liquor Law in British America, First attempt to intro- duce a, 316. Progress of Canada, Authors con- sulted in preparing, vii ; The author's aim in writing, vii ; Twenty-five years of, 344. Progress, 1841 to 1886, Men who laid the foundations of popular, 344. Progress under Federal institutions, Constitutional, 400. Protection and free trade as applied to Canada, 458-462. Provincial Governments after Con- federation, Complexion of the, 403. Provincial municipal institutions, Establishment of. 445. Public debt of Canada, 1868-98, In- crease in, 801 Quakers and Mennonites make good settlers, 45. Quakers, The advent of the. 169. Quebec Act of 177 popula- tion placated by the, 88. Quebec and Montreal, Unique condi- tion of, 36, »T. Quebec Bank, Founding of the, 191. Queenstou Heights, Importance of the Battle of, 95, 96. R. Radical party badly beaten, 228. Railway area, 1868-1900, Increase In, 447. Railway area In British America in 1850,353. Railway development of 1851, 831. Railway idea takes hold of Provincial politicians, 300. Rebellion, First violent act of the, 248 ; The evolution of a, 213 ; The Red River, 422. Rebellion in Lower Canada, making headway, 246, 247; Progress of the, 248, 252. Rebellion in Upper Canada, Plan of the, 252. Rebellion Losses Bill, a result of re- sponsible Government, 297. Rebellion Losses, Indemnity for Lower Canadian, 298. Rebellion Losses in Lower Canada, Indignation over the Indemnity Bill for, 298. Rebellion of 1837, a great formative influence, 210; 111 effect of the, 270. Rebellion of 1885, Cause and particu- lars of the Saskatchewan, 431, 434. Rebels, Amnesty granted to the lead- ing, 263. Rebel attacks by Sutherland and Van Rensaeller, 256, 257. Rebel attack on Toronto, 253. Rebels of 1838 get stern iustice, 260. Reciprocity Treaty, Abrogation of the, 312; not an unmixed Ll^ss- ins, 330 ; Result of the abrogation of the, 315. Reform Heroes, Usage of so-called, 222,223. Reformers, Some prominent, 223. Relations of the Dominion, The ex- ternal, 469. Religious census in Canada in 1861, 327. Religious denominations prior to 1841, Formative influence of the, 170, 171. Religious development since Confed- eration, 501, 504. Religious growth in Maritime Prov- inces, 159. Religious intolerance In Lower Can- ada, 206. Religious orders in New Franro, Em- inent women connected with the, 11. INDEX. 537 Religious progress following the early f orties, 357. Religious progress in British Amer- ica, Foundations of, 145. Religious progress, Some early pion- eers in, 858. Report of Lord Durham receives se- vere criticism, 273. Representation by population vs. French domination, 307. Report of Lord Durham, Result of the famous, 271. Responsible Government obtains in N.B., 292. Revenues of the Provinces, 1865-6, 336. Revolution, Environment of the, 30. Richelieu, Policy of, 11. Rideau Canal, Purpose of the build- ing of the, 60. Kiel, Louis, Arrest and execution of, 436; escapes to the U.S., 424; Great storm in Lower Canada over the execution of, 436 ; is twice expelled from the House, 430 ; promotes the rebellion, 422 ; returned to Parliament by the half-breeds, 430. Rlel Rebellion of 1885, Canadian troops to the rescue, 434 ; Plan of the suppression of the, 434, 436. Road-making, The difficulties of, 51, 52. Robinson, Mr. John Beverley, be- comes Chief Justice, 225. Roman Catholic Church, Progress of the, 149. Roman Catholicism in Canada, The great hold of, 146. Roman Catholic Highlanders, Influ- ence of, 43. Royal Commission of Enquiry under Lord Gosford, 240. Royal William, first steamer to cross the Atlantic, 179 ; Memorial tab- let in honour of, 455. Ryerson Family, Advent of the, 42. Ryerson, Rev. Dr. Egerton, becomes chief Superintendent of Educa- tion, 345 ; Ideal educational sys- tem of, 348 ; on American school books, 346 ; prominent figure in Canadian Methodism, 165 ; re- marks on partisan struggle, 199. Salaberry, Colonel de, Clever strat- egy of, 104. Salary Bill, The everlasting, 226. Schools at Kingston, Newark and Cornwall, Some early, 129. School statistics in 1827, 182. School teachers in the early days, Duties of, 131. School Question of New Brunswick, 427. Schultz, Dr., escapes from Fort Garry, 423. Scotch settlers, Influence of the, 125. Seigneurs, Courtesy and entertain- ment of the, 38. Seigneurial Tenure Question, Settle- ment of the, 304. Self-government in England, Crude state of, 22. Selkirk, Lord, and his efforts at col- onising, 44, 45 ; attacks his ene- mies, 79 ; Death of, 80 ; Early diffi- culties of the Colony of, 79, 80 ; sacrifices much for his Colony, 80. Selkirk Settlement purchased by H. B. Coy. 81. Separate schools, Early agitation over, 347. Settlers locating along the Grand River, 60. Settlers of 1784-1816, Type of the mil- itary, 58, 59. Sewell, Chief Justice, a representa- tive of English life, 164. Shipbuilding, Growth of Canadian, 178. Shipbuilding in Canada, Growth of, 457. Shipbuilding in the Maritime Prov- inces, 178. Shipbuilding preceding Confedera- tion, Progress of, 339. Shipping of Maritime Provinces, Some figures concerning, 180. Simcoe, Major-Genl. John Graves, and the " Late Loyalists," 41 ; and his policy of encouraging settlers, 42 ; endeavours to pro- mote education, 129, 130 ; estab- lishes Dundas St., 52; Proph- esies about London, Ont., 51. Sir Robert Peel, Rebels capture and burn the, 258. Social conditions since Confedera- tion, 513. Social progress in Canada, 378. Society for Propagation of the Gos- pel, Good work of the, 154. Southerners from Canada raid St. Albans, 811. Special Council, Appointment of a, 252. Stage line, Establishment of a daily, 173. Stamp Act, Final denunciation of the, 24. Stanley of Preston, Lord, and the Jesuits' Estates Act, 409. Steamboat launched, The first, ia Canada, 55. Stewart, Dr. Chas. James, Good work done by, 157. Strachan, Bishop, and higher educa- 633 xxii = 560 INDEX. tion, 350 ; made Bishop of Toron- to, 158; organised the Historic Institution at Cornwall, 55. Suffolk settlers arrive in Western On- tario in 1832, 61. Sydenham, Lord, is removed by an unfortunate accident, 283 ; makes strong efforts on behalf of Union, 275. T. Talbot, Colonel, assists the settlement of the country, 11. Talon, the Intendant, remarks on Canadian manufactures, 186. Tariff issues and municipal institu- tions. Progress of, 870. Teachers and pupils in Upper Canada, 1850 to 1871, 349. Tecumseh, the Great Indian chief, Lamented death of, 102. Temperance reform since 1867, 499. Territories, Constitutional progress of the N.W.T., 425. Thirteen Colonies, Beginning of the revolt of the, 20 ; Cause of the revolt of the, 21, 22 ; Start out as an independent nationality, 31. Thompson, John S. IX, makes memo- rable reply to Mr. Blake, 437. Thorpe, Robert, Action and recall of, Timber resources of British America, 181. Timber trade with England, Rapid growth of the, 181. Tory party in Canada, Doctrine of the early, 196. Tory party of 1840, Loyalty of the, 281. Tory leaders of the Maritime Prov- inces, Character of the, 212. Towns and cities in Canada, Increase in, 493. Towns and cities, 1861, Population of Canadian, 372. Trade and commerce after the Union, Trade and general progress, 172. Trade relations with Q. B., Discus- sions on preferential, 489. Transportation, Various stages of early, \72. Transportation and tariffs, Progress in, 447. U. Unitarian movement, Beginning of the, 169. Upper Canada College, Founding of, 184. Upper Canada, invaded from Buffalo, 107. V. Verrazano, Exploration of, 2, 8. Vessels in Canadian carrying trade, 1880-06. 165. Victoria College and other institu- tions, Establishment of, 184. Vincent, General, Gallant work done by, 105. Vindicator, the organ of Papineau, Fiery tone of the, 241. Von Schultz, defended by John A. Macdonald, 258. W. War between G.B. and U.S., nearly brought about by a pig, 822 ; Sha- dow of, 877. War of 1812, Americans thought they could easily win the, 90. War of 1812-15, and its effect on Bri tlsh North America, 83 ; Beneficial re- sults of the, 83, 84; Declaration of the, 89 ; Nominal causes of the, 87; Unjust to G.B. and U.S.A., 85. Water communication, Beginning of, 174. Weir, Lieut., Dastardly murder of, 250. Welland Canal, Growth and expenses of the, 176. Welding the Provinces together, the work of, 416. Wesley, John, denounced the Colon- ists for their insurrection, 29. West, Rev. John, Work of the, 160. WiU'ocka, the rebel, in the House of Assembly, 91. Willis, Judge, Conduct and recall of, 221. Wilmot, Lemuel Allan, a Parliamen- tary leader, 214. Windmill Point, Rebel attack at, 258. Wolseley Expedition against Riel, 424. Wolseley, Colonel, escapes the Lieut.- Governorship, 424. Woollen industry, Establishment and growth of the, 187. Wolfe's famous victory, Result of, 19. Union of 1840, French-Canadian view of the, 280. United States get the advantage in negotiations. Why the, 472. U.S. influence on Canadians. 480, 483. 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