RE PES MISE SENS

438 The Last Forty Years.

the primary object of the Opposition was to turn them out. The majority of the Government was so insignificant as scarcely to deserve the name of à majority at all They were no stronger than their predecessors, who had voluntarily resixned office because of their inability to carry on the public business with efficiency. Such a condition of affairs could have but one ending, and that ending came on the 14th of June. Any pretext was sufficient to seal the doom of the Ministry. It had come to light that in the year 1859 a sum of $100,000 had been advanced from the public chest by Mr. Galt, then Minister of Finance in the Cartier-Macdonald Government, to redeem bonds given by the city of Montreal to the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Raïlway Company. By an arrangement entered into after their issue, these bonds had been made redeemable by the Grand Trunk, to which company the Provincial advance had really been made; and this had been done without the sanction or knowledge of Parliament. As an amendment to à motion to go into Committee of Supply, Mr. A. A. Dorion now moved a resolution censuring this transaction. Though directed chiefly against Mr. Galt, the resolution reflected on the Cartier-Macdonald Government as a whole, and it was alleged that the existing Ministry was in all essential respects a resuscitation of the Cartier-Macdonald Government. From a constitutional point of view this latter position was not tenable, but the Taché-Macdonald Administration announced their resolve to stand by Mr. Galt in the transaction, and to share in any censure which might be cast upon him. The motion did not seek to fix any stigma upon Mr. Galt beyond a culpable negligence in keeping the Provincial accounts ; but he was by no means disposed to admit even such a modified degree of culpability, and defended himself in a speech of much plausibility and power. Had the Government possessed in any large measure the confidence of Parliament on questions of general policy they might have laughed at Mr. Dorion’s motion, but, being already moribund, they suc-

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The Birth of the Dominion. 439

cumbed to the attack. Messieurs Dunkin and Rankin—both of whom had theretofore given them their support—voted for the motion, thereby placing the ministerial majority of two on the side of the Opposition. The vote stood 60 to 58,

The Ministry deliberated. Should they attempt a reconstruction, or demand a dissolution? Neither project seemed to promise any very satisfactory results. Even should they resign, and give the Opposition an opportunity of forming a Government, parties were so nearly balanced that neïither could hope to live, except upon the sufferance of the other. Public affairs were literally at a dead-lock. Both parties had tried in vain to carry on the Government of the country. Successive dissolutions and elections had served no purpose except to intensify the spirit of faction, and to array the contending parties more bitterly against each other. Four different ministries had been condemned within little more than two years. The state of affairs seemed hopeless, for the constitution itself was manifestly unequal to the task imposed upon it. It was however necessary that something should be done, and at once, as the sessional business was unfinished, and the Opposition were impatient, Of the various courses open to the Government, the one which seemed to offer the least unsatisfactory results was a new election. It was certain that no Ministry could be formed that would command strong support in the existing Assembly, whereas it was just possible that a newly-elected House might be found less impracticable. Ministers accordingly advised a dissolution, with a view to a fresh appeal to the people. His Excellency, after deliberation, acted on the advice, and gave them authority to dissolve.

But a more satisfactory way out of the difficulty presented itself, and one for which even the most sanguine had not ventured to hope. On the 15th—the day after the ministerial defeat—Mr, Brown had a conversation with Messieurs Alexander Morris and John Henry Pope, members respectively for South Lanark and Compton in the

Vie

440 The Last Forty Years.

Assembly. He deprecated the dead-lock, and expressed his opinion that the existing ministerial crisis should be utilized “in settling forever the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada.”* He also expressed his personal willingness to coôperate “with the existing or any other Administration” that would promptly and firmly deal with the question. Mr. Brown had been Chairman of a Parliamentary Committee which had been appointed some time before, to take into consideration the best means of remedying the grave difficulties which presented themselves in conducting the Government, The Committee had held eight meetings, and had given careful consideration to the all-important subjects which had come before them. They had reported that a strong feeling existed among them, “in favour of changes in the direction of a federative system,” applied either to Canada alone or to all the British North American Provinces. Their report had been handed in only a few hours when the ministerial defeat occurred. The two events thus concurring in point of time, seemed to present x pertinent commentary upon each other; and Mr. Brown's conversation with Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope on the following day afforded a practical suggestion of which the two last-named gentlemen availed themselves. They were both trusted supporters of the Administration, and Mr, Morris had long been an advocate of a Federal Union of the Provinces. They obtained Mr. Brown's permission to communicate his views to Mr. J. A. Macdonald and Mr. Galt. The result was that on Friday, the 17th, the two gentlemen last named waited upon Mr. Brown at his rooms in the St, Louis Hotel, when negotiations were opened which resulted in the formation of the most important coalition known to our history. The two Ministers informed Mr. Brown that they had been charged by their colleagues to invite his

* See the statement signed by Messieurs E. P. Taché, George Brown, J,. A. Macdonald, G. E, Cartier, and A. T. Galt, read by Attorney-General Macdonald to the Assembly on the 22nd of June.

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The Birth of the Dominion. 441

coôperation in strengthening the Government, with a view to a settlement of the constitutional difficulties between the two sections of the Province. Mr. Brown stated that in his opinion nothing but the extreme urgency of the cireumstances, and the hope of permanently settling the sectional question, could justify their meeting together with a view to common political action. On this point his interlocutors fully agreed with him ; whereupon Mr. Brown repeated, in effect, what he had stated to Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope, but added that, for personal reasons, he could not consent to enter the Administration. There is no need to go through the details of the negotiations step by step. There were repeated conferences, at which, in addition to the three gentlemen already named, Messieurs Taché and Cartier took part. In a few days the basis of the momentous coalition was agreed upon, and on the 22nd the fact was announced to Parliament. It was settled that the Government should pledge themselves to bring in a measure during the next session to remove existing difficulties by

introducing the federal principle into Canada, coupled with such

provision as would permit the Maritime Provinces and the North-

West to be incorporated into the same system of government. Rep-

resentatives were to be sent to the Maritime Provinces and to

England, to secure the assent of interests beyond the control of the

Canadian Legislature to such a measure as would enable all British

North America “ to be united under a general legislature, based upon the federal principle” Mr. Brown's objections to entering the Ministry were overcome, and he now consented to enter it with two colleagues from Upper Canada.

It is hardly a figure of speech to say that Parliament and the country were electrified at hearing the announcement that George Brown and John A. Macdonald had agreed to sit side by side in the same Cabinet, As might have been expected, there were wide

divergences of opinion. A few persons disapproved of the federal 29 —2