THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA

“We know that political parties have their beginning and their end. Babels are built, and confusion of tongues ensues. But when discussion is pushed to the extreme, and enthusiasts and demagogues have gone mad, the turning-point is reached, and an union of those who have their senses left marks the beginning of a new era When the time does come for a renewal of strife, we spin around in accordance with the immutable laws by which the political world is regulated, and we cannot, if we would, avoid the scrambling, jostling, quarrelling and fighting incident to the enjoyment of free institutions in a free country.” —Canada First; or, Our ‘ew Nationality, by W. A. Foster.

ÿ4 OR some time before the actual coming into existence of

a G the Dominion, it had become apparent that a considerable É K + part of the population was not prepared to receive the &# new order of things with enthusiasm. In the Maritime Provinces the mercurial state of public opinion was p.oved

by the fact that a strong anti-Union feeling was again prevalent among the people. To such a length was this feeling carried that many persons came out boldly in favour of annexation to the United States. In Lower Canada the Rouge party, to a man, were opposed to Confederation, and among them also there was a strong predilection for annexatian. In Ontario public opinion was almost unanimous in favour of Conféderation, and no appreciable part of the community had any leanings towards the United States, but many Reformers, following the lead of The Globe, came out strongly against the coalition. As has been seen, the membersh;r of the proposed new Xovernment had become generally known, and an »ng the names were those of William Pearce Howland and William McDougall. The

acceptance of office by those gentlemen was denounced by The Globe 31—-2

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as an act of political treason. The great influence of that journal and its editor naturally won considerable support for its opinions, and the Reform party were greatly agitated on the subject of the alleged defection of two of their most prominent members.* On the 27th and 28th of June a general convention of the Reform yarty met at Toronto, and passed a number of important resolutions, one of which was strongly denunciatory of the proposed coalition. Messieurs MeDougall and Howland, being opportunely in Toronto, were specially invited to attend They accordingly presented themselves before the convention, and explained their reasons for joining the Government. Mr. Howland’s plea was that a new era was about to be inaugurated; that new and great interests had arisen which were entitled to consideration, and that the old party lines of the past were on the point of being swept away. The address of Mr. McDougall embodied an eloquent and powerful defence of the coalition, and produced a visible effect upon the convention; but Mr. Brown's influence was paramount, and carried all before it. The two coalitionists were practically “read out of the Reform party,” so far as the convention was concerned. Mr. Mec- Dougall has never since been regarded as belonging to it. As for Mr. (now Sir William) Howland, he has for several years past been once more identified with the party under the auspices of which he first entered political life.

The general elections for the House of Commons came off in the

* The question here presents itself : Why did not Mr. Fergusson-Blair encounter his share of obloquy from The Globe and those members of the Reform party who echoed its opinions? That gentleman was an old and prominent member of the party, and he had, equally with Messieurs McDougall and Howland, been enrolled in the ranks of the coalition. The answer is twofold, Mr. Fergusson-Blair was an elderly man, in feeble health, who had ceased to take any important part in public affairs, His political influence was practically at an end. He was regarded as one whose day was past, and whom it was not worth while to attack, The other reason is doubtless to be found in the fact that he was not, like Mr, McDougall and Mr. Howland, an active party to the conditions of the com: act entered into in 1864,

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The Beginning of a New Era. 475

summer and early autumn. In spite of the utmost exert'ons of the anti-coalitionists, the people of Ontario and Quebec returned an overwhelming majority of supporters of the Government. There was à widespread feeling, even among those who disapproved of coalitions in general, that the new Government should have a fair trial. Mr. Brown himself sustained defeat in South Ontario, and did not attempt to obtain a seat elsewhere. This defeat was disastrous to the Opposition, who were much depressed by the circumstance, and the Government thereby gained material support in several doubtful constituencies. In the Province of Quebec only twelve anti-coalitionists secured election. The Government, however, sustained a check in that Province in the case of Mr. Chapais, Minister of Agriculture, who contested the constituency of Kamouraska with Mr. Charles Alphonse Pautaléon Pelletier, an uncompromising opponent of the coalition. Mr. Pelletier secured a considerable majority of votes over his opponent, but owine to irregularities in the proceedings a special return was made which had the practical effect of disfranchising the constituency for several months. Still, this quasi-defeat, was not a matter of much moment to the Government, as Mr. Chapais retained his portfolio, and in the following January was called to the Senate. In New Brunswick, notwithstanding the strong expressions of disfavour to the Union which had been expressed during the few preceaing months, the Government party carried twelve seats out of fifteen. In Nova Scotia alone was the result strongly antagonistic. The inhabitants of that Province had from the first been hostile to the Union, and their predilections had been worked upon to the fullest extent. The Hon. Joseph Howe, who had for more than a quarter of a century been one of the most influential men in the Province, and who was unquestionably the first natural orator that British America has ever produced, had thought proper to take a stand hostile to Confederation.* His

* For the probable reasons which actuated Mr, Howe in his opposition, see The Canadian Portrait Gallery, Vol, II,, p. 128,

476 The Last Forty Years.

example was vehemently enforced by his precept. To his influence the result of the general elections in Nova Scotia must doubtless be in great measure attributed. Of the nineteen members returned, one only—Dr. Tupper—was a supporter of the Administration. Nearly all the leading members of the anti-Union party were returned ; whereas Mr. Archibald, Secretary of State for ‘1e Provinces, was defeated, and compelled to resign his seat in the Cabinet. Except in the cases of Mr. Archibald and Mr. Chapais, however, a. the Ministers were returned, and when the total result became known it was found that the Government could command nearly three-fourths of the entire vote in the House of Commons.

The elections for the local Legislatures in the different Provinces resulted similarly to those for the House of Commons. In the Maritime Provinces public opinion was very largely moulded by individuals. The people of New Brunswick were soon brought to look upon the new order of things with complacency, whereas in Nova Scotia all but two of the thirty-eight members returned to the local Assembly were anti-Unionists. The diatribes of Mr. Howe, Mr. Annand and others roused a feeling of opposition to Confederation which can hardly be said, even at the present time, to have wholly passed away. In Quebec the first Government was formed under the auspices of the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, who remained at its head until 1873. In Ontario the formation of the first Government was entrusted to the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald. That gentleman had long been diverging farther and farther from the Reform party, or rather from that portion of it which acknowledged allegiance to Mr. Brown. He regarded the disorganization of the party as being wholly due to Mr. Brown’s ascendency, and to this impression his subsequent course is largely attributable. He had vehemently opposed the scheme of Confederation until it had been finally matured, but, being to a large extent a man of expediency, he had given in his adhesion when all

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