The Makers of Canada series Volume 19

3arrrkt^ Car0lu^ (CarWrry

:eL^

■(library

Iparftman B^ition
THE MAKERS OF CANADA

VOL XIX

GEORGE BROWN

?7f ii MAKI

GEOR<iE BROAViS

T

JOii WIS

VTO
W O., LIMITED

1909

-0.

THE MAKERS OF CANADA

GEORGE BROWN

BY

JOHN LEWIS

TORONTO
MORANG AND CO., LIMITED

1909

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada
in the year 1906 hy Morang S^ Co., Limited, in the
Department of Agriculture.

^>^

f library];

Oj

SEP 5 1955

PREFACE

THE title of this series, " Makers of Canada,"
seemed to impose on the writer the obhgation
to devote special attention to the part played by
George Brown in fashioning the institutions of this
country. From this point of view the most fruitful
years of his life were spent between the time when
the Globe was established to advocate responsible
government, and the time when the provinces were
confederated and the bounds of Canada extended
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The ordinary
political contests in which Mr. Brown and his news-
paper engaged have received only casual notice,
and the effort of the writer has been to trace Mr.
Brown's connection with the stream of events by
which the old legislative union of Canada gave
place to the confederated Dominion.

After the establishment of responsible govern-
ment, the course of this stream is not obscure.
Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada
is inadequately represented and is dominated by its
partner. Various remedies, such as dissolution of
the union, representation by population and the
" double majority," are proposed ; but ultimately
the solution is found in federation, and to this
solution, and the events leading up to it, a large
part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown was also

ix

GEORGE BROWN

an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the
country lying west to the Rocky Mountains, and
to this work reference is made.

Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse
strong friendships and strong animosities. These
have been dealt with only where they seemed to
have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir
John A. Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic
Church. It seems to be a profitless task for a
biographer to take up and fight over again quarrels
which had no public importance and did not affect
the course of history.

The period covering Mr. Brown's career was one
in which the political game was played roughly,
and in which strong feelings were aroused. To this
day it is difficult to discuss the career of the Hon.
George Brown, or of Sir John A. Macdonald,
without reviving these feelings in the breasts of
political veterans and their sons ; and even one who
tries to study the time and the men and to write
their story, finds himself taking sides with men
who are in their graves, and fighting for causes
long since lost and won. The writer has tried to
resist the temptation of building up the fame of
Brown by detracting from that of other men, but
he has also thought it right in many cases to pre-
sent Brown's point of view, not necessarily as the
whole truth, but as one of the aspects of truth.

In dealing with the question of confederation,
my endeavour has been simply to tell the story of

PREFACE

Brown's work and let it speak for itself, not to
measure the exact proportion of credit due to
Brown and to others. It is hard to believe, how-
ever, that the verdict of history will assign to him
a place other than first among the public men of
Canada who contributed to the work of confedera-
tion. Events, as D'Arcy McGee said, were prob-
ably more powerful than any of them.

If any apology is needed for the space devoted
to the subject of slavery in the United States, it
may be found not only in Brown's lifelong opposi-
tion to slavery, but in the fact that the Civil War
influenced the relations between the United States
and Canada, and indirectly promoted the confede-
ration of the Canadian provinces, and also in the
fact, so frequently emphasized by Mr. Brown, that
the growth of the institution of slavery on this con-
tinent was a danger to which Canada could not be
indifferent.

Among the works that have been found useful
for reference are John Charles Dent's Last Forty
Years (Canada since the union of 1841) ; Gray
on Confederation J Cote's Political Appointments
and Elections in the Province of Canada; Dr.
Hodgins' Legislation and History of Separate
Schools in Upper Canada ; the lives of Lord
Elgin, Dr. Ryerson and Joseph Howe in " The
Makers of Canada " series ; the Hon. Alexander
Mackenzie's Life and Speeches of the Hon. George
Brown; the Hon. James Young's Public Men

xi

GEORGE BROWN

and Public Life in Canada. Mr. Mackenzie's book
contains a valuable collection of letters, to which
frequent reference is made in the chapters of
this book dealing with confederation. The account
of the relations of the Peel government with
Governor Sir Charles Bagot is taken from the
Life of Sir Robert Peel, from his correspondence,
edited by C. S. Parker. The files of the Banner
and the Globe have been read with some care;
they were found to contain an embarrassing wealth
of most interesting historical material.

To Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the Toronto
Free Library, and to Mr. Avern Pardoe, of the
Library of the Legislative Assembly, I am deeply
indebted for courtesy and assistance.

JOHN LEWIS.

Xll

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA

CHAPTER II
METCALFE AND THE REFORMERS . . 11

CHAPTER III
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT . . .31

CHAPTER IV
DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS . . S9

CHAPTER V
THE CLERGY RESERVES . . . .51

CHAPTER VI
BROWN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT ... 61

CHAPTER VII
RISE OF BROWN'S INFLUENCE . . .69

CHAPTER Vlll
RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES ... 77

xiii

GEORGE BROWN

CHAPTER IX Pag©

SOME PERSONAL POLITICS . . . .87

CHAPTER X
THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE" ... 99

CHAPTER XI
AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY . . .111

CHAPTER XII
BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS . . 121

CHAPTER XIII
MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION . , 129

CHAPTER XIV
LAST YEARS OF THE UNION . . .141

CHAPTER IV
CONFEDERATION . . . . .147

CHAPTER XVI
THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE ... 163

CHAPTER XVII
THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE . . .169

CHAPTER XVIII
THE MISSION TO ENGLAND . . .181

xiv

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIX
BRO^VN LEAVES THE COALITION

CHAPTER XX
CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES

CHAPTER XXI
CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST

CHAPTER XXII
THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874

CHAPTER XX III
CANADIAN NATIONALISM .

. 189

199

. 211

223

. 235

LATER YEARS

CHAPTER XXIV

243

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER XXV

255

INDEX .

269

XV

CHAPTER I

FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA

GEORGE BROWN was born at Alloa, a sea-
port on the tidal Forth, thirty-five miles in-
ward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818.
His mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie,
of Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis. His father,
Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder. George
was educated at the High School and Southern
Academy in Edinburgh. " This young man," said
Dr. Gunn, of the Southern Academy, " is not only
endowed with high enthusiasm, but possesses the
faculty of creating enthusiasm in others." At the
risk of attaching too much significance to praise
bestowed on a school-boy, it may be said that these
words struck the keynote of Brown's character and
revealed the source of his power. The atmosphere
of the household was Liberal ; father and son alike
hated the institution of slavery, with which they
were destined to become more closely acquainted.
"When I was a very young man," said George
Brown, denouncing the Fugitive Slave I^aw before
a Toronto audience, " I used to think that if I ever
had to speak before such an audience as this, I
would choose African Slavery as my theme in pre-
ference to any other topic. The subject seemed to

1

GEORGE BROWN

afford the widest scope for rhetoric and for fervid
appeals to the best of human sympathies. These
thoughts aro^e far from here, while slavery was a
thing at a distance, while the horrors of the system
were unrealized, while the mind received it as a tale
and discussed it as a principle. But, when you have
mingled with the thing itself, when you have en-
countered the atrocities of the system, when you
have seen three millions of human beings held as
chattels by their Christian countrymen, when you
have seen the free institutions, the free press and
the free pulpit of America linked in the unrighteous
task of upholding the traffic, when you have realized
the manacle, and the lash, and the sleuth-hound,
you think no more of rhetoric, the mind stands ap-
palled at the monstrous iniquity, mere words lose
their meaning, and facts, cold facts, are felt to be
the only fit arguments."

Again, as George grew to manhood, the struggle
which ended in the disruption of the Church of
Scotland was approaching its climax, and the sym-
pathies of the Brown household were with those
who declared that it "is the fundamental law of
this Church that no pastor shall be intruded on any
congregation contrary to the will of the people."

In 1838 reverses in business led the father and
son to seek their fortunes in America. Arriving in
New York, Peter Brown turned to journalism, find-
ing employment as a contributor to the Albion^
a weekly newspaper pubhshed for British residents
2

BRITISH SYMPATHIES

of the United States. The Browns formed an un-
favourable opinion of American institutions as re-
presented by New York in that day. To them the
repubhc presented itself as a slave-holding power,
seeking to extend its territory in order to enlarge
the area of slavery, and hostile to Great Britain as
a citadel of freedom. They always regarded the
slave-holding element in the United States as that
which kept up the tradition of enmity to England.
An American book entitled, The Glory and Shame
of England^ aroused Peter Brown's indignation,
and he published a reply in a httle volume bearing
the name of The Fame and Glory of England
Vindicated. Here he paid tribute to British free-
dom, contrasted it with the domination of the slave
holders, and instanced the fact that in Connecticut a
woman had been mobbed and imprisoned for teach-
ing coloured girls to read. Further light is thrown
upon the American experience of the Browns by an
article in the Banner ^ their first Canadian venture
in journalism. The writer is answering an accusa-
tion of disloyalty and Yankee sympathies, a stock
charge against Reformers in that day. He said :
" We have stood in the very heart of a republic,
and fearlessly issued our weekly sheet expressing
our fervent admiration of the limited monarchy of
Great Britain, though surrounded by Democratic
Whigs, Democratic Republicans, Irish Repealers,
slave holders, and every class which breathes the
most inveterate hostiUty to British institutions.

8

GEORGE BROWN

And we are not to be turned from maintaining the
genuine principles of the constitution because some
of our contemporaries are taken with a fit of syco-
phancy, and would sacrifice all at the shrine of
power."

In December, 1842, the Browns established in
New York the British Chronicle, a paper similar to
the A Ibion, but apparently designed more especially
for Scottish and Presbyterian readers in the United
States and Canada. In an effort to promote Cana-
dian circulation, George Brown came to Canada
early in 1843. The Chronicle had taken strong
ground on the popular side of the movement then
agitating the Church of Scotland ; and this struggle
was watched with peculiar interest in Canada, where
the relations between Church and State were burn-
ing questions. Young Brown also met the members
of a Reform administration then holding power
under Governor Metcalfe, and the ministers be-
came impressed with the idea that he would be a
powerful ally in the struggle then impending.

There is on record an interesting pen picture of
George Brown as he appeared at this time. The
writer is Samuel Thompson, editor of the Colonist,
" It was, I think, somewhere about the month of
JNIay, 1843, that there walked into my office on
Nelson Street a young man of twenty-five years,
tall, broad-shouldered, somewhat lantern-jawed and
emphatically Scottish, who introduced himself to
me as the travelling agent of the New York British
4

REMOVAL TO TORONTO

Chronicle, published by his father. This was George
Brown, afterwards editor and pubhsher of the Globe
newspaper. He was a very pleasant-mannered, cour-
teous, gentlemanly young fellow, and impressed me
favourably. His father, he said, found the political
atmosphere of New York hostile to everything
British, and that it was as much as a man's life was
worth to give expression to any British predilec-
tions whatsoever (which I knew to be true). They
had, therefore, thought of transferring their publica-
tion to Toronto, and intended to continue it as a
thoroughly Conservative journal. I, of course, wel-
comed him as a co-worker in the same cause with
ourselves, little expecting how his ideas of Conser-
vatism were to develop themselves in subsequent
years." His Conservatism — assuming that the young
man was not misunderstood — was perhaps the re-
sult of a reaction from the experience of New York,
in which democracy had presented itself in an un-
lovely aspect. Contact with Toronto Toryism of
that day would naturally stiffen the Liberahsm of a
combative man.

As a result of George Brown's survey of the
Canadian field, the publication of the British
Chronicle in New York ceased, and the Browns
removed to Toronto, where they established the
Banner, a weekly paper partly Presbyterian and
partly political, and in both fields championing
the cause of government by the people. The first
number was issued on August 18th, 1843. Refer-

5

GEORGE BROWN

ring to the disruption of the " Scottish Church "
that had occurred three months before, the Banner
said : *' If we look to Scotland we shall find an
event unparalleled in the history of the world.
Nearly five hundred ministers, backed by several
thousand elders and perhaps a million of people,
have left the Church of their fathers because the
civil courts have trampled on what they deem the
rights of the Christian people in Scotland, exhibit-
ing a lesson to the world which must produce re-
sults that cannot yet be measured. The sacrifice
made by these devoted ministers of the Gospel is
great ; their reward is sure."

The columns of the Banner illustrate in a strik-
ing way the intermingling, common in that day, of
rehgion and politics. The Banner's chief antagonist
was the Churchy a paper equally devoted to episco-
pacy and monarchy. Here is a specimen bit of
controversy. The Churchy arguing against respon-
sible government, declares that as God is the only
ruler of princes, princes cannot be accountable to
the people ; and perdition is the lot of all rebels,
agitators of sedition, demagogues, who work under
the pretence of reforming the State. All the troubles
of the country are due to parliaments constantly
demanding more power and thereby endangering
the supremacy of the mother country. The Banner
is astonished by the unblushing avowal of these
doctrines, which had not been so openly proclaimed
since the days of " High Church and Sacheverell,"
6

OLD STYLE JOURNALISM

and which if acted upon would reduce the people
to the level of abject slaves. Whence, it asks, comes
this doctrine of the irresponsibility of kings ? " It
has been dug up from the tombs of Roman Catho-
lic and High Church priests and of Jacobite bigots.
Wherever it gets a footing it carries bloodshed
and persecution in its train. It cramps the free-
dom of thought. It represses commercial enter-
prise and industry. It dries up the springs of the
human understanding. To what does Britain owe
all her greatness but- to that free range of intellec-
tual exertion which prompted Watt and Arkwright
in their wonderful discoveries, which carried Anson
and Cook round the globe, and which enabled New-
ton to scale the heavens? Is the dial to be put
back ? Must the world once more adopt the doc-
trine that the people are made for kings and not
kings for the people ? Where will this treason to
the British Constitution find the slightest warrant
in the Word of God ? We know that power alone
proceeds from God, the very air we breathe is the
gift of His bounty, and whatever public right is
exercised from the most obscure elective franchise
to the king upon his throne is derived from Him to
whom we must account for the exercise of it. But
does that accountability take away or lessen the
political obligations of the social compact ? — as-
suredly not."

This style of controversy was typical of the time.
Tories drew from the French Revolution warnings

7

GEORGE BROWN

against the heedless march of democracy. Reform-
ers based arguments on the " glorious revolution of
1688." A bill for the secularization of King's Col-
lege was denounced by Bishop Strachan, the stal-
wart leader of the Anglicans, in language of extra-
ordinary vehemence. The bill would hold up the
Christian religion to the contempt of wicked men,
and overturn the social order by unsettling proper-
ty. Placing all forms of error on an equality with
truth, the bill represented a principle " atheistical
and monstrous, destructive of all that was pure and
holy in morals and religion." To find parallels for
this madness, the bishop referred to the French
Revolution, when the Christian faith was abjured,
and the Goddess of Reason set up for worship ; to
pagan Rome, which, to please the natives she had
conquered, "condescended to associate their impure
idolatries with her own."

These writings are quoted not merely as illustra-
tions of extravagance of language. The language
was the natural outcome of an extraordinary situa-
tion. The bishop was not a voice crying in the
wilderness ; he was a power in politics as well as in
the Church, and had, as executive councillor, taken
an important part in the government of the coun-
try. He was not making extravagant pretensions,
but defending a position actually held by his Church,
a position which fell little short of absolute domina-
tion. Religious equality was to be established, a
great endowment of land converted from sectarian
8

A NEW CRISIS

to public purposes, and a non-sectarian system of
education created. In this work Brown played a
leading part, but before it could be undertaken it
was necessary to vindicate the right of the people
to self-government.

In November, 1843, the resignation of Metcalfe's
ministers created a crisis which soon absorbed the
energy of the Browns and eventually led to the es-
tablishment of the Globe. In the issue of December
8th, 1843, the principles of responsible government
are explained, and the Banner gives its support to
the ministers. It cannot see why less confidence
should be bestowed by a governor-general in Cana-
da than by a sovereign in the British empire. It
deplores the rupture and declares that it still be-
longs to no political party. It has no liking for
" Democracy," a word which even Liberals at that
time seemed to regard with horror. It asks Presby-
terians to stand fast for the enjoyment of civil and
religious liberty. It exhorts the people of Canada
to be firm and patient and to let no feehng of dis-
appointment lead their minds to republicanism.
Those who would restrict the liberties of Canada
also dwell on the evils of republicanism, but they
are the very people who would bring it to pass.
The Banner's ideal is a system of just and equal
government. If this is pursued, a vast nation will
grow up speaking the same language, having the
same laws and customs, and bound to the mother
country by the strongest bonds of affection. The

9

GEORGE BROWN

Banner, which had at first described itself as inde-
pendent in party politics, soon found itself drawn
into a struggle which was too fierce and too momen-
tous to allow men of strong convictions to remain
neutral. We find politics occupying more and more
attention in its columns, and finally on March 5th,
1844, the Globe is established as the avowed ally of
Baldwin and Lafontaine, and the advocate of re-
sponsible government. It will be necessary to ex-
plain now the nature of the difference between
Metcalfe and his ministers.

10

CHAPTER II

METCALFE AND THE REFORMERS

THE Browns arrived in Canada in the period of
reconstruction following the rebellion of 1837-8.
In Lord Durham's Report the rising in Lower
Canada was attributed mainly to racial animosity —
"two nations warring in the bosom of a single
state" — "a struggle not of principles but of races."
The rising in Upper Canada was attributed mainly
to the ascendency of the "family compact" — a
family only in the official sense. " The bench, the
magistracy, the high offices of the episcopal church,
and a great part of the legal profession, are filled
by their adherents ; by grant or purchase they have
acquired nearly the whole of the waste lands of the
province ; they are all-powerful in the chartered
banks, and till lately shared among themselves al-
most exclusively all offices of trust and profit. The
bulk of this party consists, for the most part, of
native bom inhabitants of the colony, or of emi-
grants who settled in it before the last war with
the United States ; the principal members of it be-
long to the Church of England, and the mainten-
ance of the claims of that Church has always been
one of its distinguishing characteristics." Reform-
ers discovered that even when they triumphed at

11

GEORGE BROWN

the polls, they could not break up this combination,
the executive government remaining constantly in
the hands of their opponents. They therefore agi-
tated for the responsibility of the executive council
to the legislative assembly.

Lord Durham's remedy was to unite Upper and
Lower Canada, and to grant the demand for re-
sponsible government. He hoped that the union
would in time dispose of the racial difficulty. Esti-
mating the population of Upper Canada at four
hundred thousand, the English inhabitants of Lower
Canada at one hundred and fifty thousand, and the
French at four hundred and fifty thousand, "the
union of the two provinces would not only give a
clear English majority, but one which would be in-
creased every year by the influence of English im-
migration ; and I have little doubt that the French,
when once placed by the legitimate course of events
and the working of natural causes, in a minority,
would abandon their vain hopes of nationality."

The future mapped out by Lord Durham for
the French-Canadians was one of benevolent as-
similation. He underestimated their tenacity and
their power of adapting themselves to new political
conditions. They not only retained their distinctive
language and customs, but gained so large a meas-
ure of political power that in time Upper Canada
complained that it was dominated by its partner.
The union was effected soon after the report, but
thnJ granting of responsible government was long
12

A RETROSPECT

delayed. From the submission of Lord Durham's
Report to the time of Lord Elgin, the question of
responsible government was the chief issue in Cana-
dian politics. Lord Durham's recommendations
were clear and specific. He maintained that har-
mony would be restored *'not by weakening but
strengthening the influence of the people on its
government ; by confining within much narrower
bounds than those hitherto allotted to it, and not
by extending, the interference of the imperial
authorities on the details of colonial affairs." The
government must be administered on the principles
that had been found efficacious in Great Britain.
He would not impair a single prerogative of the
Crown, but the Crown must submit to the neces-
sary consequences of representative institutions, and
must govern through those in whom the repre-
sentative body had confidence.

These principles are now so well established that
it is hard to realize how bold and radical they
appeared in 1839. Between that time and 1847, the
British government sent out to Canada three gov-
ernors, with various instructions. Whatever the
wording of these instructions was, they always fell
short of Durham's recommendations, and always
expressed a certain reluctance to entrusting the
government of Canada unreservedly to representa-
tives of the people.

From 1842 to 1846 the government in Great
Britain was that of Sir Robert Peel, and it was

18

GEORGE BROWN

that government which set itself most strongly
against the granting of autonomy to Canada. It
was Conservative, and it probably received from
correspondents in Canada a good deal of misinfor-
mation and prejudiced opinion in regard to the aims
of the Reformers. But it was a group of men of the
highest character and capacity, concerning whom
Gladstone has left on record a remarkable testi-
mony. "It is his conviction that in many of the
most important rules of public policy, that govern-
ment surpassed generally the governments which
have succeeded it, whether Liberal or Conservative.
Among them he would mention purity in patronage,
financial strictness, loyal adherence to the principle
of public economy, jealous regard to the rights of
parliament, a single eye to the public interest,
strong aversion to extension of territorial responsi-
bilities, and a frank admission of the rights of
foreign countries as equal to those of their own."

With this high estimate of the general character
of the Peel government must be coupled the un-
doubted fact that it entirely misunderstood the
situation in Canada, gave its support to the party
of reaction, and needlessly delayed the establish-
ment of self-government. We may attribute this
in part to the distrust occasioned by the rebellion ;
in part to the use of partisan channels of infor-
mation ; but under all this was a deeper cause —
inability to conceive of such a relation as exists
between Great Britain and Canada to-day. In that
14

COLONIAL POLICY

respect Peel and his colleagues resembled most of
the public men of their time. They could under-
stand separation ; they could understand a relation
in which the British government and its agents
ruled the colonies in a kindly and paternal fashion ;
but a union under which the colonies were nations
in all but foreign relations passed their compre-
hension. When the colonies asked for complete
self-government it was supposed that separation
was really desired. Some were for letting them
go in peace. Others were for holding them by
political and commercial bonds. Of the latter class,
Stanley, colonial secretary under Peel, was a good
type. He beheved in " strong" governors ; he be-
lieved in a system of preferential trade between
Great Britain and the colonies, and his language
might have been used, with scarcely any modifi-
cation, by the Chamberlain party in the recent
elections in Great Britain. When, in 1843, he intro-
duced the measure giving a preference to Canadian
wheat, he expressed the hope that it would restore
content and prosperity to Canada ; and when that pre-
ference disappeared with the Corn I^aws, he declared
that the basis of colonial union was destroyed.

From the union to September, 1842, no French-
Canadian name appears in a Canadian government.
French-Canadians were deeply dissatisfied with the
terms of the union ; there was a strong reluctance
to admitting them to any share of power, and they
complained bitterly that they were politically ostra-

15

GEORGE BROWN

cized by Sydenham, the first governor. His suc-
cessor, Bagot, adopted the opposite poHcy, and
earned the severe censure of the government at
home.

On August 23rd, 1842, Sir Robert Peel wrote
to Lord Stanley in terms which indicated a belief
that Governor Bagot was experiencing great diffi-
culty in carrying on the government. He spoke of
a danger of French- Canadians and Radicals, or
French-Canadians and Conservatives, combining to
place the government in a minority. He suggested
various means of meeting the danger, and said, *' I
would not voluntarily throw myself into the hands
of the French party through fear of being in a
minority."

Before instructions founded on this letter could
reach the colony, the governor had acted, *' throw-
ing himself," in the words of Peel's biographer,
••into the hands of the party tainted by disaffec-
tion." What had really happened was that on Sep-
tember 16th, 1842, the Canadian government had
been reconstructed, the principal change being the
introduction of Lafontaine and Baldwin as its lead-
ing members. This action aroused a storm in Can-
ada, where Bagot was fiercely assailed by the Tories
for his so-called surrender to rebels. And that view
was taken also in England.

On October 18th, 1842, Mr. Arbuthnot wrote to
Sir Robert Peel: "The Duke [WelHngton] has been
thunderstruck by the news from Canada. Between
16

WELLINGTON AND PEEL

ourselves, he considers what has happened as hkely
to be fatal to the connection with England ; and I
must also, in the very strictest confidence, tell you
that he dreads lest it should break up the cabinet
here at home."

On October 21st, Sir Robert Peel wrote to Lord
Stanley, pointing out the danger of the duke's
strong and decisive condemnation: "In various
quarters the Duke of Wellington denouncing the
arrangement as a tame surrender to a party tainted
with treason, would produce an impression most
dangerous to the government, if it could get over
the effects produced by the first announcement of
his retirement, on the ground of avowed difference
of opinion." After reading Sir Charles Bagot's ex-
planations, he admitted that the governor's position
was embarrassing. "Suppose," he said in a subse-
quent letter, " that Sir C. Bagot was reduced to
such difficulties that he had no alternative but to
take the best men of the French-Canadian party
into his councils, and that it was better for him to
do this before there was a hostile vote; still, the
manner in wliich he conducted his negotiations was
a most unwise one. He makes it appear to the
world that he courted and rejoiced in the necessity
for a change in his councils." On October 24th the
Duke of Wellington wrote expressing his agree-
ment with Peel, and adding: "However, it appears
to me that we must consider the arrangement as
settled and adopted by the legislature of Canada.

17

GEORGE BROWN

It will remain to be considered afterwards what is
to be done with Sir Charles Bagot and with his
measures."

The question was solved by the death of the
governor who had been unfortunate enough to
arouse the storm, and to create a ministerial crisis
in Great Britain. It is believed that his end was
hastened by the news from England. He fell ill in
November, grew steadily worse, and at last asked
to be recalled, a request which was granted. At his
last cabinet council he bade an affectionate farewell
to his ministers, and begged them to defend his
memory. His best vindication is found in the
failure of Metcalfe's policy, and in the happy results
of the policy of Elgin.

The events connected with the retirement of
Bagot, which were not fully understood until the
publication of Sir Robert Peel's papers a few years
ago, throw light upon the reasons which determined
the selection of Sir Charles Metcalfe. Metcalfe was
asked by Lord Stanley whether he would be able
and disposed to assume "most honourable and at
the same time very arduous duties in the public
service." Metcalfe wrote to Captain Higginson,
afterwards his private secretary : "I am not sure
that the government of Canada is a manageable
affair, and unless I think I can go to good purpose
I will not go at all." Sir Francis Hincks says : "All
Sir Charles Metcalfe's correspondence prior to his
departure from England is indicative of a feeling
18

METCALFE'S MISSION

that he was going on a forlorn hope expedition,"
and Hincks adds that such language can be ex-
plained only on the assumption that he was sent
out for the purpose of overthrowing responsible
government. It is certainly established by the Peel
correspondence that the British government strong-
ly disapproved of Sir Charles Bagot's policy, and
selected Sir Charles Metcalfe as a man who would
govern on radically different lines. It is perhaps
putting it rather strongly to say that he was in-
tended to overthrow responsible government. But
he must have come to Canada filled with distrust
of the Canadian ministry, filled with the idea that
the demand for responsible government was a cloak
for seditious designs, and ready to take strong
measures to preserve British connection. In this
misunderstanding lay the source of his errors and
misfortunes in Canada.

It is not therefore necessary to enter minutely
into the dispute which occasioned the rupture be-
tween Metcalfe and his advisers. On the surface it
was a dispute over patronage. In reality Baldwin
and Lafontaine were fighting for autonomy and
responsible government ; Metcalfe, as he thought,
was defending the unity of the empire. He was a
kindly and conscientious man, and he held his
position with some skill, always contending that
he was willing to agree to responsible govern-
ment on condition that the colonial position was
recognized, the prerogative of the Crown upheld,

19

GEORGE BROWN

and the governor not dominated by one political
party.

The governor finally broke with his advisers in
November, 1843. For some months he was to
govern, not only without a responsible ministry,
but without a parliament, for the legislature was
immediately prorogued, and did not meet again
before dissolution. His chief adviser was William
Henry Draper, a distinguished lawyer, whose poli-
tical career was sacrificed in the attempt to hold an
impossible position. Reformers and Tories prepared
for a struggle which was to continue for several
years, and which, in spite of the smallness of the
field, was of the highest importance in settling a
leading principle of government.

On March 5th, 1844, as a direct consequence of
the struggle, appeared the first issue of the Toronto
Globe, its motto taken from one of the boldest
letters of Junius to George III : " The subject who
is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither
advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The lead-
ing article was a long and careful review of the his-
tory of the country, followed by a eulogy on the
constitution enjoyed by Great Britain since "the
glorious revolution of 1688," but denied to Canada.
Responsible government was withheld ; the gover-
nor named his councillors in defiance of the will of
the legislature. Advocates of responsible govern-
ment were stigmatized by the governor's friends as
rebels, traitors, radicals and republicans. The Globe
20

THE CAMPAIGN OPENS

proclaimed its adherence to Lord Durham's recom-
mendation, and said : " The battle which the Re-
formers of Canada will fight is not the battle of a
party, but the battle of constitutional right against
the undue interference of executive power." The
prospectus of the paper contained these words :
" Firmly attached to the principles of the British
Constitution, believing the limited monarchy of
Great Britain the best system of government yet
devised by the wisdom of man, and sincerely con-
vinced that the prosperity of Canada will best be
advanced by a close connection between it and the
mother country, the editor of the Globe will sup-
port all measures which will tend to draw closer the
bonds of a mutually advantageous union."

On March 25th, 1844, the campaign was opened
with a meeting called by the Toronto Reform As-
sociation. Robert Baldwin, "father of responsible
government," was in the chair, and William Hume
Blake was the orator of the night. The young edi-
tor of the Globe, a recruit among veterans, seems
to have made a hit with a picture of a ministry
framed on the "no party" plan advocated by Gover-
nor Metcalfe. In this imaginary ministry he grouped
at the same council table Robert Baldwin and his
colleague Francis Hincks; Sir Allan MacNab, the
Tory leader ; William Henry Draper, Metcalfe's
chief adviser ; John Stracban, Bishop of Toronto ;
and Dr. Ryerson, leader of the Methodists and
champion of the governor. His Excellency is on a

21

GEORGE BROWN

chair raised above the warring elements below.
Baldwin moves that King's College be opened to
all classes of Her Majesty's subjects. At once the
combination is dissolved, as any one who remem-
bers Bishop Strachan's views on that question will
understand.

Dr. Ryerson, whose name was used by Brown in
this illustration, was a leader among the Methodists,
and had fought stoutly for religious equality against
Anglican privilege. But he had espoused the side
of the governor-general, apparently taking seriously
the position that it was the only course open to a
loyal subject. In a series of letters published in the
summer of 1844, he warned the people that the
Toronto Reform Association was leading them to
the edge of a precipice. *' In the same manner," he
said, " I warned you against the Constitutional Re-
form Association, formed in 1834. In 1837 my
warning predictions were realized, to the ruin of
many and the misery of thousands. What took
place in 1837 was but a preface of what may be
witnessed in 1847." The warning he meant to con-
vey was that the people were being drawn into a
conflict with the imperial authorities. ** Mr. Bald-
win," he said, "practically renounces the imperial
authority by refusing to appeal to it, and by appeal-
ing through the Toronto Association to the people
of Canada. If the people of Canada are the tribunal
of judgment on one question of constitutional pre-
rogative, they are so on every question of constitu-
22

RYERSON'S INTERVENTION

tional prerogative. Then the governor is no longer
responsible to the imperial authority, and Canada
is an independent country. Mr. Baldwin's proceed-
ing, therefore, not only leads to independence but
involves (unconsciously, I admit, from extreme
and theoretical views), a practical declaration of
independence before the arrival of the 4th of
July I"

In this language Dr. Ryerson described with
accuracy the attitude of the British government.
That government had, as we have seen, disapproved
of Governor Bagot's action in parting with so large
a measure of power, and it was fully prepared to
support Metcalfe in pursuing the opposite course.
Dr. Ryerson was also right in saying that the gov-
ernment of Great Britain would be supported by
parliament. In May, 1844, the affairs of Canada
were discussed in the British House of Commons,
and the governor's action was justified by Peel, by
Lord Stanley, and by Lord John Russell. The only
dissentient voices were those of the Radicals, Hume
and Roebuck.

Metcalfe and his chiefs at home can hardly be
blamed for holding the prevailing views of the
time, which were that the changes contemplated
by Durham, by Bagot, and by Baldwin were dan-
gerous and revolutionary. The idea that a colony
could remain connected with Great Britain under
such a system of autonomy as we enjoy to-day was
then conceived by only a few men of exceptional

23

GEORGE BROWN

breadth and foresight, among whom Elgin was one
of the most eminent.

The wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine
and the patience and firmness of the Reformers are
attested by their conduct in very trying circum-
stances. Finding their demand for constitutional
reform opposed not only by the Canadian Tories,
but by the governor-general and the imperial gov-
ernment and parliament, they might have become
discouraged, or have been tempted into some act
of violence. Their patience must have been sorely
tried by the persistent malice or obstinate prejudice
which stigmatized a strictly constitutional move-
ment as treason. They had also to endure the trial
of a temporary defeat at the polls, and an apparent
rejection of their policy by the very people for
whose liberties they were contending.

In the autumn of 1844 the legislature was dis-
solved and a fierce contest ensued. Governor Met-
calfe's attitude is indicated by his biographer.^ "The
contest," he says, " was between loyalty on the one
side and disaffection to Her Majesty's government
on the other. That there was a strong anti-British
feeling abroad, in both divisions of the province
[Upper and Lower Canada] Metcalfe clearly and
painfully perceived. The conviction served to brace
and stimulate him to new exertions. He felt that
he was fighting for his sovereign against a rebellious
people." The appeal was successful ; Upper Canada

1 Kaye's lAfe of Metcalfe, Vol. II., p. 389.

24

A LOYALTY ELECTION

was swept by the loyalty cry, and in various poll-
ing places votes were actually cast or offered for
the governor-general. The Globe described a con-
versation that occurred in a polling place in York :
" Whom do you vote for ? " *' I vote for the gover-
nor-general." *' There is no such candidate. Say
George Duggan, you blockhead." "Oh, yes, George
Duggan ; it's all the same thing." There were can-
didates who described themselves as "governor-
general's men " ; there were candidates whose royal-
ist enthusiasm was expressed in the name " Cava-
liers." In the Montreal election petition it was
charged that during two days of polling the elec-
tors were exposed to danger from the attacks of
bands of fighting men hired by the government
candidates or their agents, and paid, fed, and armed
with "bludgeons, bowie-knives, and pistols and
other murderous weapons " for the purpose of in-
timidating the Liberal electors and preventing them
from gaining access to the polls ; that Liberals were
driven from the polls by these fighting men, and by
cavalry and infantry acting under the orders of
partisan magistrates. The polls, it was stated, were
surrounded by soldiers, field-pieces were placed in
several public squares, and the city was virtually in
a state of siege. The charges were not investigated,
the petition being rejected for irregularity ; but
violence and intimidation were then common ac-
companiments of elections.

In November the governor was able to record his

25

GEORGE BROWN

victory thus : Upper Canada, avowed supporters of
his government, thirty ; avowed adversaries, seven ;
undeclared and uncertain, five. Lower Canada,
avowed supporters, sixteen ; avowed adversaries,
twenty-one ; undeclared and uncertain, four. Re-
marking on this difference between Upper and
Lower Canada, he said that loyalty and British
feeling prevailed in Upper Canada and in the
Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, and that
disaffection was predominant among the French-
Canadian constituencies.^ Metcalfe honestly be-
lieved he had saved Canada for the empire; but
more mischief could hardly have been done by de-
liberate design. In achieving a barren and precarious
victory at the polls, he and his friends had run the
risk of creating that disaffection which they feared.
The stigma of disloyalty had been unjustly affixed
to honest and public-spirited men, whose steadiness
alone prevented them, in their resentment, from
joining the ranks of the disaffected. Worse still, the
line of political cleavage had been identified with
the line of racial division, and " French-Canadian "
and " rebel " had been used as synonymous terms.

The ministry and the legislative assembly were
now such as the governor had desired, yet the har-
mony was soon broken. There appeared divisions in
the cabinet, hostile votes in the legislature, and
finally a revolt in the Conservative press. An at-
tempt to form a coalition with the French- Canadian

1 Kaye's Ufe of Metcalfe, Vol. II., p. 390".

26

METCALFE'S DEPARTURE

members drew a sarcastic comment from the Globe:
" Mr. Draper has invited the men whom he and his
party have for years stigmatized before the country
as rebels and traitors and destructives to join his
administration." Reformers regarded these troubles
as evidence that the experiment in reaction was
failing, and waited patiently for the end. Shortly
after the election the governor was raised to the
peerage, an honour which, if not earned by success
in Canada, was fairly due to his honest intentions.
He left Canada at the close of the year 1845, suffer-
ing from a painful disease, of which he died a year
afterwards.

Soon after the governor's departure the young
editor of the Globe had a curious experience. At a
dinner of the St. Andrew's Society, Toronto, the
president. Judge MacLean, proposed the health of
Lord Metcalfe, eulogized his Canadian poHcy, and
insisted that he had not been recalled, " as certain
persons have most impertinently and untruly as-
sumed and set forth." Brown refused to drink the
toast, and asked to be heard, asserting that he had
been publicly insulted from the chair. After a scene
of uproar, he managed to obtain a hearing, and
said, addressing the chairman : " I understand your
allusions, sir, and your epithet of impertinence as
applied to myself. I throw it back on you with
contempt, and will content myself with saying that
your using such language and dragging such mat-
ters before the society was highly improper. Lord

27

GEORGE BROWN

Metcalfe, sir, has been recalled, and it may yet be
seen that it was done by an enlightened British
government for cause. The toast which you have
given, too, and the manner in which it was intro-
duced, are highly improper. This is not the place to
discuss Lord Metcalfe's administration. There is a
wide difference of opinion as to it. But I refrain
from saying one word as to his conduct in this pro-
vince. This is not a political but a benevolent so-
ciety, composed of persons of very varied pohtical
sentiments, and such a toast ought never to have
been brought here. Lord Metcalfe is not now
governor-general of Canada, and I had a right to
refuse to do honour to him or not as I saw fit, and
that without any disparagement to his conduct as a
gentleman, even though the person who is president
of this society thinks otherwise." This incident,
trivial as it may appear, illustrates the passion
aroused by the contest, and the bold and resolute
character of the young politician.

Lord Metcalfe's successor was Earl Cathcart, a
soldier who concerned himself little in the political
disputes of the country, and who had been chosen
because of the danger of war with the United
States, arising out of the dispute over the Oregon
boundary. The settlement of that dispute does not
come within the scope of this work; but it may be
noted that the Globe was fully possessed by the
belligerent spirit of the time, and frankly expressed
the hope that Great Britain would fight, not merely
28

BELLIGERENT VIEWS

for the Oregon boundary, but " to proclaim liberty
to the black population." The writer hoped that
the Christian nations of the world would combine
and ''break the chains of the slaves in the United
States, in Brazil and in Cuba."

29

CHAPTER III

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

IN England, as well as in Canada, events were
moving towards self-government. With the
repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 disappeared the
preference to Canadian wheat. " Destroy this prin-
ciple of protection," said Lord Stanley in the House
of Lords, " and you destroy the whole basis upon
which your colonial system rests." Loud complaints
came from Canada, and in a despatch from Earl
Cathcart to the colonial secretary, it was represented
that the Canadian waterways had been improved
on the strength of the report made to Great Britain,
and that the disappointment and loss resulting from
the abolition of the preference would lead to ahena-
tion from the mother country and "annexation to
our rival and enemy, the United States." Glad-
stone, in his reply, denied that the basis of imperial
unity was protection, "the exchange, not of bene-
fits, but of burdens ;" the true basis lay in common
feelings, traditions and hopes. The Globe held that
Canada had no right to complain if the people of
the United Kingdom did what was best for them-
selves. England, as an exporter of manufactures,
had to meet competition at the world's prices, and
must have cheap food supplies. Canada had surely

81

GEORGE BROWN

a higher destiny than to export a few hundred
bushels of wheat and flour to England. Canadian
home manufactures must be encouraged, and efforts
made to obtain free trade with the United States.
*' The Tory press," said the Globe, "are out in full
cry against free trade. Their conduct affords an
illustration of the unmitigated selfishness of Tory-
ism. Give them everything they can desire and
they are brimful of loyalty. They will shout paeans
till they are sick, and drink goblets till they are
blind in favour of 'wise and benevolent governors '
who will give them all the offices and all the emolu-
ments. But let their interests, real or imaginary,
be affected, and how soon does their loyalty evapo-
rate ! Nothing is now talked of but separation from
the mother country, unless the mother continues
feeding them in the mode prescribed by the child."
Some time afterwards, Lord Elgin, in his com-
munications to the home government, said that the
Canadian millers and shippers had a substantial
grievance, not in the introduction of free trade, but
in the constant tinkering incident to the abandoned
system of imperial protection. The preference given
in 1843 to Canadian wheat and to flour, even when
made of American wheat, had stimulated milling
in Canada ; but almost before the newly-built mills
were fairly at work, the free trade measure of 1846
swept the advantage away. What was wrong was
not free trade, but Canadian dependence on im-
perial tariff legislation.
82

LORD ELGIN

Elgin was one of the few statesmen of his day
who perceived that the colonies might enjoy com-
mercial independence and political equality, with-
out separation. He declared that imperial unity
did not depend on the exercise of dominion, the
dispensing of patronage, or the maintenance of an
imperial hot-bed for forcing commerce and manu-
factures. Yet he conceived of an empire not con-
fined to the British Islands, but growing, expand-
ing, " strengthening itself from age to age, and
drawing new supplies of vitality from virgin soils."

With Elgin's administration began the new era
of self-government. The legislature was dissolved
towards the close of the year 1847, and the election
resulted in a complete victory for the Reformers.
In Upper Canada the contest was fairly close, but
in Lower Canada the Conservative forces were
almost annihilated, and on the first vote in parlia-
ment the government was defeated by a large
majority. The second Baldwin-Lafontaine govern-
ment received the full confidence and loyal support
of the governor, and by its conduct and achieve-
ments justified the reform that had been so long
delayed, and adopted with so many misgivings.
But the fight for responsible government was not
yet finished. The cry of French and rebel domina-
tion was raised, as it had been raised in the days of
Governor Bagot. A Toronto journal reproachfully
referred to Lord Elgin's descent from "the Bruce,"
and asked how a man of royal ancestry could so

33

GEORGE BROWN

degrade himself as to consort with rebels and poli-
tical jobbers. " Surely the curse of Minerva, uttered
by a great poet against the father, clings to the
son." The removal of the old office-holders seemed
to this writer to be an act of desecration not unlike
the removal of the famous marbles from the Par-
thenon. In a despatch explaining his course on the
Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin said that long
before that legislation there were evidences of the
temper which finally produced the explosion. He
quoted the following passage from a newspaper:
"When French tyranny becomes insupportable, we
shall find our Cromwell. Sheffield in olden times
used to be famous for its keen and well-tempered
whittles. Well, they make bayonets there now,
just as sharp and just as well-tempered. W^hen we
can stand tyranny no longer, it will be seen whether
good bayonets in Saxon hands will not be more
than a match for a mace and a majority." All the
fuel for a conflagration was ready. There was race
hatred, there was party hostility, there was com-
mercial depression and there was a sincere, though
exaggerated, loyalty, which regarded rebellion as
the unforgivable sin, and which was in constant
dread of the spread of radical, republican and demo-
cratic ideas.

The Rebellion Losses Bill was all that was

needed to fan the embers into flame. This was a

measure intended to compensate persons who had

suffisred losses during the rebellion in liOwer Can-

34

REBELLION LOSSES BILL

ada. It was attacked as a measure for *' rewarding
rebels." Lord Elgin afterwards said that he did not
believe a rebel would receive a farthing. But even
if we suppose that some rebels or rebel sympathiz-
ers were included in the list, the outcry against the
bill was unreasonable. A general amnesty had been
proclaimed; French- Canadians had been admitted
to a full share of political power. The greater things
having been granted, it was mere pedantry to
haggle about the less, and to hold an elaborate
inquiry into the principles of every man whose
barns had been burned during the rebellion. When
responsible government was conceded, it was ad-
mitted that even the rebels had not been wholly
wrong. It would have been straining at a gnat and
swallowing a camel to say " we will give you these
free institutions for the sake of which you rebelled,
but we will not pay you the small sum of money
necessary to recompense you for losses arising out
of the rebellion."

However, it is easier to discuss these matters
coolly in 1906 than it was in 1849, and in 1849 the
notion of *' rewarding the rebels " produced another
rebellion on a small scale. A large quantity of
important legislation was brought down by the
new government when it met the legislature early
in 1849, but everything else was forgotten when
Mr. Lafontaine introduced the resolution on which
the Rebellion Losses Bill was founded. In various
parts of Upper Canada meetings were held and

35

GEORGE BROWN

protests made against the measure. In Toronto the
protests took the form of mob violence, foreshadow-
ing what was to come in Montreal. Effigies of
Baldwin and Blake were carried through the streets
and burned. William Lyon Mackenzie had lately
returned to Canada, and was living at the house of
a citizen named Mackintosh. The mob went to the
house, threatened to pull it down, and burned an
effigy of Mackenzie. The windows of the house
were broken and stones and bricks thrown in. The
Globe office was apparently not molested, but
about midnight the mob went to the dwelling-
house of the Browns, battered at the door and
broke some windows. The Globe in this trying
time stood staunchly by the government and Lord
Elgin, and powerfully influenced the public opinion
of Upper Canada in their favour. Addresses calling
for the withdrawal of Lord Elgin were met by
addresses supporting his action, and the signatures
to the friendly addresses outnumbered the other by
one hundred and twenty thousand. George Brown,
Col. C. T. Baldwin, and W. P. Rowland were de-
puted to present an address from the Reformers of
Upper Canada. Sir William Howland has said that
Lord Elgin was so much affiscted that he shed
tears.

This is not the place, however great the tempta-
tion may be, to describe the stirring scenes that
were enacted in Montreal ; the stormy debate, the
fiery speech in which William Hume Blake hurled
36

THE ANNEXATION MANIFESTO

back at the Tories the charge of disloyalty ; the
tumult in the galleries, the burning of the parlia-
ment buildings, and the mobbing and stoning of
the governor-general.

Lord Elgin's bearing under this severe trial was
admirable. He was most desirous that blood should
not be shed, and for this reason avoided the use
of troops or the proclamation of martial law ; and
he had the satisfaction of seeing the storm gradu-
ally subside. A less dangerous evidence of discon-
tent was a manifesto signed by leading citizens of
Montreal advocating annexation to the United
States, not only to relieve commercial depression,
but "to settle the race question forever, by bringing
to bear on the French- Canadians the powerful
assimilating forces of the republic." The signers
of this document were leniently dealt with ; but
those among them who afterwards took a promin-
ent part in poUtics, were not permitted to forget
their error. Elgin was of opinion that there was
ground for discontent on commercial grounds, and
he advocated the removal of imperial restriction on
navigation, and the establishment of reciprocity
between the United States and the British North
American provinces. The annexation movement was
confined chiefly to Montreal. In Upper Canada an
association called the British American I^eague was
formed, and a convention held at Kingston in 1849.
The familiar topics of commercial depression and
French domination were discussed ; some violent

37

GEORGE BROWN

language was used, but the remedies proposed were
sane enough; they were protection, retrenchment,
and the union of the British provinces. Union, i«|b
was said, would put an end to French domination,
and would give Canada better access to the sea and
increased commerce. The British American League
figures in the old, and not very profitable, contro-
versy as to the share of credit to be allotted to each
political party for the work of confederation. It is
part of the Conservative case. But the platform
was abandoned for the time, and confederation re-
mained in the realm of speculation rather than of
action.

88

CHAPTER IV

DISSENSION AMONG REFORMERS

WITHIN the limits of one parliament, less
than four years, the Baldwin-Lafontaine
government achieved a large amount of useful
work, including the establishment of cheap and
uniform postage, the reforming of the courts of
law, the remodelling of the municipal system, the
establishment of the University of Toronto on a
non-sectarian basis, and the inauguration of a policy
by which the province was covered with a network
of railways. With such a record, the government
hardly seemed to be open to a charge of lack of
energy and progressiveness, but it was a time when
radicalism was in the air. It may be more than a
coincidence that Chartism in England and a revo-
lution in France were followed by radical move-
ments in both Canadas.

The counterpart to the Rouge party in Lower
Canada, elsewhere referred to, was the Clear Grit
party in Upper Canada. Among its leaders were
Peter Perry, one of the founders of the Reform
party in Upper Canada, Caleb Hopkins, David
Christie, James LessUe, Dr. John Rolph and Wil-
liam Macdougall. Rolph had played a leading part
in the movement for reform before the rebeUion,

39

GEORGE BROWN

and is the leading figure in Dent's history of
that period. Macdougall was a young lawyer and
journalist fighting his way into prominence.

" Grit " afterwards became a nickname for a
member of the Reform or Liberal party, and es-
pecially for the enthusiastic followers of George
Brown. Yet in all the history of a quarrelsome
period in politics there is no more violent quarrel
than that between Brown and the Clear Grits. It is
said that Brown and Christie were one day discuss-
ing the movement, and that Brown had mentioned
the name of a leading Reformer as one of the op-
ponents of the new party. Christie replied that the
party did not want such men, they wanted only
those who were *' Clear Grit." This is one of several
theories as to the derivation of the name. The
Globe denounced the party as " a miserable clique
of office-seeking, bunkum- talking cormorants, who
met in a certain lawyer's office on King Street
[Macdougall's] and announced their intention to
form a new party on Clear Grit principles." The
North American, edited by Macdougall, denounced
Brown with equal fury as a servile adherent of the
Baldwin government. Brown for several years was
in this position of hostility to the Radical wing of
the party. He was defeated in Haldimand by
William Lyon Mackenzie, who stood on an ad-
vanced Radical platform; and in 1851 his opponent
in Kent and Lambton was Malcolm Cameron, a
Clear Grit, who had joined the Hincks-Morin
40

THE CLEAR GRITS

government. The nature of their relations is shown
by a letter in which Cameron called on one of his
friends to come out and oppose Brown : " I will be
out and we will show him up, and let him know
what stuff Liberal Reformers are made of, and how
they would treat fanatical beasts who would allow
no one hberty but themselves."

The Clear Grits advocated, (1) the application
of the elective principle to all the officials and in-
stitutions of the country, from the head of the
government downwards ; (2) universal suffrage ;
(3) vote by ballot; (4) biennial parliaments ; (5) the
abolition of property qualification for parliamentary
representations ; (6) a fixed term for the holding of
general elections and for the assembling of the
legislature ; (7) retrenchment ; (8) the abolition of
pensions to judges ; (9) the abolition of the Courts
of Common Pleas and Chancery and the giving of
an enlarged jurisdiction to the Court of Queen's
Bench; (10) reduction of lawyers' fees; (11) free
trade and direct taxation ; (12) an amended jury
law ; (13) the abolition or modification of the usury
laws ; (14) the abolition of primogeniture ; (15) the
secularization of the clergy reserves, and the abo-
lition of the rectories. The movement was opposed
by the Globe. No new party, it said, was re-
quired for the advocacy of reform of the suffrage,
retrenchment, law reform, free trade or the liberation
of the clergy reserves. These were practical ques-
tions, on which the Reform party was united. But

41

GEORGE BROWN

these were placed on the programme merely to
cloak its revolutionary features, features that simply
meant the adoption of republican institutions, and
the taking of the first step towards annexation.
The British system of responsible government was
upheld by the Globe as far superior to the Ameri-
can system in the security it afforded to life and
property.

But while Brown defended the government from
the attacks of the Clear Grits, he was himself grow-
ing impatient at their delay in dealing with certain
questions that he had at heart, especially the secu-
larization of the clergy reserves. He tried, as we
should say to-day, *' to reform the party from with-
in." He was attacked for his continued support of
a ministry accused of abandoning principles while
" he was endeavouring to influence the members to
a right course without an open rupture." There
was an undercurrent of discontent drawing him
away from the government. In October, 1850, the
Globe contained a series of articles on the subject.
It was pointed out that there were four parties in
the country : the old-time Tories, the opponents of
responsible government, whose members were fast
diminishing ; the new party led by John A. Mac-
donald ; the Ministerialists ; and the Clear Grits,
who were described as composed of English Radi-
cals, Republicans and annexationists. The Minis-
terialists had an overwhelming majority over all,
but were disunited. What was the trouble? The
42

FRIENDLY CRITICISM

ministers might be a little slow, a little wanting in
tact, a little less democratic than some of their
followers. They were not traitors to the Reform
cause, and intemperate attacks on them might be
disastrous to that cause. A union of French- Cana-
dians with Upper Canadian Conservatives would, it
was prophesied, make the Reform party powerless.
Though in later years George Brown became known
as the chief opponent of French- Canadian influence,
he was well aware of the value of the alliance, and
he gave the French- Canadians full credit for their
support to measures of reform. *'Let the truth be
known," said the Globe at this time, " to the French-
Canadians of Lower Canada are the Reformers of
Upper Canada indebted for the sweeping majorities
which carried their best measures." He gave the
government credit for an immense mass of useful
legislation enacted in a very short period. But more
remained to be done. The clergy reserves must be
abolished, and all connection between Church and
State swept away. " The party in power has no
policy before the country. No one knows what
measures are to be brought forward by the leaders.
Each man fancies a policy for himself. The con-
ductors of the public press must take ground on
all the questions of the day, and each accordingly
strikes out such a line as suits his own leanings,
the palates of his readers, or what he deems for the
good of the country. All sorts of vague schemes
are thus thrown on the sea of public opinion to

43

GEORGE BROWN

agitate the waters, with the triple result of poisoning
the public mind, producing unnecessary divisions,
and committing sections of the party to views and
principles which they might never have contem-
plated under a better system."

For some time the articles in the Globe did not
pass the bounds of friendly, though outspoken,
criticism. The events that drew Brown into oppo-
sition were his breach with the Roman Catholic
Church, the campaign in Haldimand in which he
was defeated by William Lyon Mackenzie, the re-
tirement of Baldwin and the accession to power of
the Hincks-Morin administration.

Towards the end of 1850 there arrived in Canada
copies of a pastoral letter by Cardinal Wiseman, de-
fending the famous papal bull which divided Eng-
land into sees of the Roman Catholic Church, and
gave territorial titles to the bishops. Sir E. P. Tachd,
a member of the government, showed one of these
to Mr. Brown, and jocularly challenged him to
publish it in the Globe. Brown accepted the chal-
lenge, declaring that he would also publish a reply,
to be written by himself The reply, which will be
found in the Globe of December 19th, 1850, is
argumentative in tone, and probably would not of
itself have involved Brown in a violent quarrel with
the Church. The following passage was afterwards
cited by the Globe as defining its position: "In
offering a few remarks upon Dr. Wiseman's pro-
duction, we have no intention to discuss the tenets
44

BROWN AND THE CATHOLICS

of the Roman Catholic Church, but merely to look
at the question in its secular aspect. As advocates
of the voluntary principle we give to every man
full liberty to worship as his conscience dictates,
and without penalty, civil or ecclesiastical, attach-
ing to his exercise thereof. We would allow each
sect to give to its pastors what titles it sees fit, and
to prescribe the extent of spiritual duties ; but we
would have the State recognize no ecclesiastical
titles or boundaries whatever. The public may, from
courtesy, award what titles they please ; but the
statute-book should recognize none. The voluntary
principle is the great cure for such dissensions as
now agitate Great Britain."

The cause of conflict lay outside the bounds
of that article. Cardinal Wiseman's letter and Lord
John Russell's reply had thrown England into a
ferment of religious excitement. '* Lord John Rus-
sell," says Justin McCarthy, " who had more than
any man living been identified with the principles
of religious liberty, who had sat at the feet of Fox
and had for his closest friend the poet, Thomas
Moore, came to be regarded by the Roman Catho-
lics as the bitterest enemy of their creed and their
rights of worship."

It is evident that this hatred of Russell was
carried across the Atlantic, and that Brown was
regarded as his ally. In the Haldimand election a
hand-bill signed, " An Irish Roman Catholic " was
circulated. It assailed Brown fiercely for the support

45

GEORGE BROWN

he had given to Russell, and for the general course
of the Globe in regard to Catholic questions. Rus-
sell was described as attempting " to twine again
around the writhing limbs of ten millions of Catho-
lics the chains that our own O'Connell rescued us
from in 1829." A vote for George Brown would
help to rivet these spiritual chains round the souls
of Irishmen, and to crush the religion for which
Ireland had wept oceans of blood ; those who voted
for Brown would be prostrating themselves like
cowardly slaves or beasts of burden before the
avowed enemies of their country, their religion and
their God. " You will think of the gibbets, the
triangles, the lime-pits, the tortures, the hangings
of the past. You will reflect on the struggles of the
present against the new penal bill. You will look
forward to the dangers, the triumphs, the hopes of
the future, and then you will go to the polls and
vote against George Brown."

This was not the only handicap with which
Brown entered on his first election contest. There
was no cordial sympathy between him and the
government, yet he was hampered by his connection
with the government. The dissatisfied Radicals ral-
lied to the support of William Lyon Mackenzie,
whose sufferings in exile also made a strong appeal
to the hearts of Reformers, and Mackenzie was
elected.

In his election address Brown declared himself
for perfect religious equality, the separation of
46

BALDWIN RESIGNS

Church and State, and the diversion of the clergy re-
serves from denominational to educational purposes.
** I am in favour of national school education free
from sectarian teaching, and available without
charge to every child in the province. I desire to
see efficient grammar schools established in each
county, and that the fees of these institutions and
of the national university should be placed on such
a scale as will bring a high literary and scientific
education within the reach of men of talent in any
rank of life." He advocated free trade in the fullest
sense, expressing the hope that the revenue from
public lands and canals, with strict economy, would
enable Canada "to dispense with the whole cus-
toms department."

Brown's estrangement from the government did
not become an open rupture so long as Baldwin
and Lafontaine were at the head of affairs. In the
summer following Brown's defeat in Haldimand,
Baldwin resigned owing to a resolution introduced
by William Lyon Mackenzie, for the abolition of
the Court of Chancery. The resolution was defeated,
but obtained the votes of a majority of the Upper
Canadian members, and Mr. Baldwin regarded
their action as an indication of want of confidence
in himself He dropped some expressions, too,
which indicated that he was moved by larger con-
siderations. He was conservative in his views, and
he regarded the Mackenzie vote as a sign of a
flood of radicalism which he felt powerless to stay.

47

GEORGE BROWN

Shortly afterwards Lafontaine retired. He, also,
was conservative in his temperament, and weary of
public life. The passing of Baldwin and Lafontaine
from the scene helped to clear the way for Mr.
Brown to take his own course, and it was not long
before the open breach occurred. When Mr. Hincks
became premier, Mr. Brown judged that the time
had come for him to speak out. He felt that he
must make a fair start with the new government,
and have a clear understanding at the outset. A new
general election was approaching, and he thought
that the issue of separation of Church and State
must be clearly placed before the country. In an
article in the Globe entitled " The Crisis," it was
declared that the time for action had come. One
parliament had been lost to the friends of religious
equality ; they could not afford to lose another. It
was contended that the Upper Canadian Reformers
suffered by their connection with the Lower Cana-
dian party. Complaint was made that the Hon. E.
P. Tache had advised Roman Catholics to make
common cause with Anglicans in resisting the
secularization of the clergy reserves, had described
the advocates of secularization as " pharisaical
brawlers," and had said that the Church of England
need not fear their hostility, because the " contra-
balancing power " of the Lower Canadians would
be used to protect the Anglican Church. This, said
the GlobCy was a challenge which the friends of
religious equality could not refuse. Later on, Mr.
48

LETTERS TO HINCKS

Brown wrote a series of letters to Mr. Hincks, set-
ting forth fully his grounds of complaint against
the government : failure to reform the representa-
tion of Upper Canada, slackness in dealing with the
secularization of the clergy reserves, weakness in
yielding to the demand for separate schools. All
this he attributed to Roman Catholic or French-
Canadian influence.

49

CHAPTER V

THE CLERGY RESERVES

THE clergy reserves were for many years a
fruitful source of discontent and agitation in
Canada. They had their origin in a provision of
the Constitutional Act of 1791, that there should
be reserved for the maintenance and support of a
"Protestant clergy" in Upper and Lower Canada
"a quantity of land equal in value to a seventh
part of grants that had been made in the past or
might be made in the future." It was provided also
that rectories might be erected and endowed ac-
cording to the establishment of the Church of Eng-
land. The legislatures were to be allowed to vary
or repeal these enactments, but such legislation was
not to receive the royal assent before it had been
laid before both Houses of the imperial parliament.
Did the words "Protestant clergy" apply to
any other body than the Church of England ? A
vast amount of legal learning was expended on
this question ; but there can be little doubt that the
intention to establish and endow the Church of
England was thoroughly in accord with the ideas
of colonial government prevailing from the con-
quest to the end of the eighteenth century. In the
instructions to Murray and other early governors

51

GEORGE BROWN

there are constant injunctions for the support of a
Protestant clergy and Protestant schools, " to the
end that the Church of England may be estabhshed
both in principles and practice."^ Governor Simcoe,
we are told, attached much importance to *' every
establishment of Church and State that upholds a
distinction of ranks and lessens the undue weight
of the democratic influence." " The episcopal sys-
tem was interwoven and connected with the mon-
archical foundations of our government."'^ In pur-
suance of this idea, which was also that of the
ruling class in Canada, the country was to be made
as much unlike the United States as possible by
the intrenchment of class and ecclesiastical privi-
leges, and this was the policy pursued up to the
time that responsible government was obtained.
Those outside the dominant caste, in religion as in
politics, were branded as rebels, annexationists,
Yankees, republicans. And as this dominant caste,
until the arrival of Lord Elgin, had the ear of the
authorities at home, it is altogether likely that the
Act of 1791 was framed in accordance with their
views.

The law was unjust, improvident, and altogether
unsuited to the circumstances of the colony. Lord
Durham estimated that the members and adherents
of the Church of England, allowing its largest
claim, were not more than one-third, probably not

^ Instructions to Governor Murray, Canadian Archives ofl90^, p. 218.
2 Professor Shortt in the Canadian Magazine, September, 1901.

52

CLERGY RESERVES

more than one-fourth, of the population of Upper
Canada. Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman
Catholics, each claimed a larger membership. He
declared that the sanction given to the exclu-
sive claims of the Church of England by Sir John
Colborne's establishment of fifty-seven rectories,
was, in the opinion of many persons, the chief pre-
disposing cause of the rebellion, and it was an abid-
ing and unabated cause of discontent.^

Not only was the spirit of the colony opposed to
the establishment and domination of any Church,
but settlement was retarded and the hardships of
the settler increased by the locking up of enormous
tracts of land. In addition to the clergy reserves,
grants were made to officials, to mihtia men, to the
children of United Empire Loyalists and others, in
the hope that these persons would settle on the land.
Many of these fell into the hands of speculators
and jobbers, who bought farms of two hundred
acres for prices ranging from a gallon of rum to
£5. "The greater part of these grants," said Mr.
Hawke, a government official whose evidence is
given in the appendix to Durham's Report, " re-
main in an unimproved state. These blocks of wild
land place the actual settler in an almost hopeless
condition ; he can hardly expect during his lifetime
to see his neighbourhood contain a population suf-
ficiently dense to support mills, schools, post-offices,

1 Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America. Methuen's
reprint, pp. 126, 126.

53

GEORGE BROWN

places of worship, markets or shops, without which
civihzation retrogrades. Roads, under such circum-
stances, can neither be opened by the settlers nor
kept in proper repair. In 1834 I met a settler from
the township of Warwick, on the Caradoc Plains,
returning from the grist mill at Westminster, with
the flour and bran of thirteen bushels of wheat. He
had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached to his
wagon, and had been absent nine days and did not
expect to reach home until the following evening.
Light as his load was, he assured me that he had to
unload, wholly or in part, several times, and after
driving his wagon through the swamps, to pick
out a road through the woods where the swamps or
gullies were fordable, and to carry the bags on his
back and replace them in the wagon."

It is unnecessary here to discuss differences of
opinion as to the interpretation of the law, attempts
to divide the endowment among various denomina-
tions, or other efforts at compromise. The radical
wing of the Reform party demanded that the special
provision for the support of the Church of England
should be abolished, and a system of free popular
education established. With this part of their
platform Brown was heartily in accord ; on this
point he agreed with the Clear Grits that the
Baldwin- Lafontaine government was moving too
slowly, and when Baldwin was succeeded by
Hincks in 1851, the restraining influence of his
respect for Baldwin being removed, his discon-
54

STATE AND CHURCH

tent was converted into open and determined op-
position.

Largely by the influence of Brown and the Globcy
public opinion in 1851 was aroused to a high de-
gree, and meetings were held to advocate the secu-
larization of the clergy reserves. The friends of the
old order were singularly unfortunate in their mode
of expressing their opinions. Opposition to respon-
sible government was signalized by the burning of
the parliament buildings, and the mobbing of Lord
Elgin in Montreal. Opposition to religious equality
was signalized by the mobbing of an orderly as-
sembly in Toronto. One meeting of the opponents of
the clergy reserves was broken up by these means,
and a second meeting was attacked by a mob with
such violence as to necessitate the calling out of a
company of British soldiers. This meeting was held
in St. Lawrence Hall, over the city market bearing
that name. Mr. Brown was chosen to move a reso-
lution denouncing State endowments of religion,
and did so in a speech of earnestness and argumen-
tative power. He compared the results of Church
establishments with those of voluntary effort in
England, in Scotland, in France, and in Canada,
and denounced " State-church ism " as the author of
pride, intolerance and spiritual coldness. " When,''
he said, " I read the history of the human race, and
trace the dark record of wars and carnage, of tyran-
ny, robbery and injustice in every shape, which
have been the fruits of State-churchism in every

55

GEORGE BROWN

age ; when I observe the degenerating effect which
it has ever had on the purity and simpHcity of the
Gospel of Christ, turning men's minds from its
great truths, as a rehgion of the heart, to the mere
outward tinsel, to the forms and ceremonies on
which priestcraft flourishes ; when I see that at all
times it has been made the instrument of the rich
and powerful in oppressing the poor and weak, I
cannot but reject it utterly as in direct hostility to
the whole spirit of the Gospel, to that glorious sys-
tem which teaches men to set not their hearts on
this world, and to walk humbly before God." He
held that it was utterly impossible for the State to
teach religious truth. " There is no standard for
truth. We cannot even agree on the meaning of
words." Setting aside the injustice of forcing men
to pay money for the support of what they deemed
religious error, it was "most dangerous to admit
that the magistrate is to decide for God — for that
is the plain meaning of the establishment principle.
Once admit that principle, and no curb can be set
upon its operation. Who shall restrict what God
has appointed ? And thus the extent to which the
conscience of men may be constrained, or persecu-
tion for truth's sake may be carried, depends en-
tirely on the ignorance or enlightenment of the
civil magistrate. There is no safety out of the prin-
ciple that religion is a matter entirely between man
and his God, and that the whole duty of the magis-
trate is to secure every one in the peaceful obser-
56

A RIVAL MEETING

vance of it. Anything else leads to oppression and
injustice, but this can never lead to either."

A notable part of the speech was a defence of
free, non-sectarian education. " I can conceive," he
said, " nothing more unprincipled than a scheme to
array the youth of the province in sectarian bands
— to teach them, from the cradle up, to know each
other as Methodist boys, and Presbyterian boys,
and Episcopal boys. Surely, surely, we have enough
of this most wretched sectarianism in our churches
without carrying it further."

To protect themselves from interruption, the ad-
vocates of secularization had taken advantage of a
law which allowed them to declare their meeting
as private, and exclude disturbers. Their opponents
held another meeting in the adjoining market-place
where by resolution they expressed indignation at
the repeated attempts of "a Godless association"
to stir up religious strife, and declared that the
purposes of the association, if carried out, would
bring about not only the severance of British con-
nection, but socialism, repubhcanism, and infidelity.
The horrified listeners were told how Rousseau and
Voltaire had corrupted France, how religion was
overthrown and the naked Goddess of Reason set
up as an object of worship. They were told that the
clergy reserves were a gift to the nation from " our
good King George the Third." Abolish them and
the British flag would refuse to float over anarchy
and confusion. Finally, they were assured that

57

GEORGE BROWN

they could thrash the St. Lawrence Hall audience
in a stand-up fight, but were nevertheless advised
to go quietly home. This advice was apparently
accepted in the spirit of the admonition : " Don't
nail his ears to the pump," for the crowd imme-
diately marched to St. Lawrence Hall, cheering,
groaning, and shouting. They were met by the
mayor, two aldermen, and the chief constable, and
told that they could not be admitted. Stones and
bricks were thrown through the windows of the
hall. The Riot Act was read by an alderman, and
the British regiment then quartered in the town,
the 71st, was sent for. There was considerable de-
lay in bringing the troops, and in the meantime
there was great disorder ; persons leaving the hall
were assaulted, and the mayor was struck in the
face with a stone and severely cut. A company of
the 71st arrived at midnight, after which the vio-
lence of the mob abated.^

The steps leading up to the settlement of the
question may be briefly referred to. In 1850 the
Canadian parliament had asked for power to dis-
pose of the reserves, with the understanding that
emoluments derived by existing incumbents should
be guaranteed during their lives. The address hav-
ing been forwarded to England, Lord John Russell
informed the governor-general that a bill would be
introduced in compliance with the wish of the
Canadian parUament. But in 1852 the Russell

1 The Globe, July, 1861.
58

HINCKS'S DELAY

government resigned, and was succeeded by that
of the Earl of Derby. Derby (Lord Stanley) had
been colonial secretary in the Peel government,
which had shown a strong bias against Canadian
self-government. Sir John Pakington declared that
the advisers of Her Majesty were not incHned to
aid in the diversion to other purposes of the only
public fund for the support of divine worship and
religious instruction in Canada, though they would
entertain proposals for new dispositions of the fund.
Hincks, who was then in England, protested vigo-
rously against the disregard of the wishes of the
Canadian people. When the legislature assembled
in 1852, it carried, at his instance, an address to the
Crown strongly upholding the Canadian demand.
Brown contended that the language was too strong
and the action too weak. He made a counter pro-
posal, Avhich found little support, that the Canadian
parliament itself enact a measure providing for the
sale of the clergy lands to actual settlers, and the
appropriation of the funds for the maintenance of
common schools.

With the fall of the Derby administration in
England, ended the opposition from that source to
the Canadian demands. But Hincks, who had firmly
vindicated the right of the Canadian parliament
to legislate on the matter, now hesitated to use
the power placed in his hands, and declared that
legislation should be deferred until a new parha-
ment had been chosen. The result was that the

59

GEORGE BROWN

work of framing the measure of settlement fell
into the hands of John A. Macdonald, the rising
star of the Conservative party. The fund, after pro-
vision had been made for the vested rights of in-
cumbents, was turned over to the municipalities.

60

CHAPTER VI

BROWN^S FIRST PARLIAMENT

IN the autumn of 1851 parliament was dissolved,
and in September Mr. Brown received a re-
quisition from the Reformers of Kent to stand as
their candidate, one of the signatures being that of
Alexander Mackenzie, afterwards premier of Cana-
da. In accepting the nomination he said that he
anticipated that he would be attacked as an enemy
of the Roman Catholic Church ; that he cordially-
adhered to the principles of the Protestant refor-
mation; that he objected to the Roman Catholic
Church trenching on the civil rights of the com-
munity, but that he would be ashamed to advocate
any principle or measure which would restrict the
liberty of any man, or deprive him on account of
his faith of any right or advantage enjoyed by his
fellow-subjects. In his election address he advo-
cated religious equality, the entire separation of
Church and State, the secularization of the clergy
reserves, the proceeds to go to national schools,
which were thus to be made free. He advocated,
also, the building of a railway from Quebec to
Windsor and Sarnia, the improvement of the canals
and waterways, reciprocity with the Maritime Pro-
vinces and the United States, a commission for the

61

GEORGE BROWN

reform of law procedure, the extension of the fran-
chise and the reform of representation. Representa-
tion by population afterwards came to be the
watchword of those who demanded that Upper
Canada should have a larger representation than
Lower Canada ; but as yet this question had not
arisen definitely. The population of Upper Canada
was nearly doubled between 1842 and 1851, but it
did not appear until 1852 that it had passed the
lower province in population.

The advocacy of free schools was an important
part of the platform. During the month of January,
1852, the Globe contained frequent articles, reports
of pubhc meetings, and letters on the subject. It
was contended by some of the opponents of free
schools that the poor could obtain free education
by pleading their poverty ; but the Globe replied
that education should not be a matter of charity,
but should be regarded as a right, hke the use of
pavements. The matter was made an issue in the
election of school trustees in several places, and in
the Toronto election the advocates of free schools
were successful.

It will be convenient to note here that Brown's
views on higher education corresponded with his
views on public schools. In each case he opposed
sectarian control, on the ground that it would dissi-
pate the energies of the people, and divide among
half a dozen sects the money which might maintain
one efficient system. These views were fully set
62

HIGHER EDUCATION

forth in a speech made on February 25th, 1853,
upon a bill introduced by Mr. Hincks to amend
the law relating to the University of Toronto.
Brown denounced the measure as a surrender to
the sectaries. There were two distinct ideas, he said,
in regard to higher education in Upper Canada.
One was that a university must be connected
with a Church and under the management of the
clergy, without whose control infidelity would pre-
vail. The Reform party, led by Mr. Baldwin and
Mr. Hincks, had denounced these views as the
mere clap-trap of priestcraft. They held that there
should be one great literary and scientific institu-
tion, to which all Canadians might resort on equal
terms. This position was founded, not on contempt
for religion, but on respect for religion, liberty, and
conscience. " To no one principle does the Liberal
party owe so many triumphs as to that of non-
sectarian university education." Until 1843 Angli-
can control prevailed ; then various unsuccessful
efforts at compromise were made, and finally, in
1849, after twenty years of agitation, the desire of
the Liberal party was fulfilled, and a noble institute
of learning established. This act alone would have
entitled Robert Baldwin to the lasting gratitude of
his countrymen.

Continuing, Brown said that the Hincks bill was
reactionary — that the original draft even contained
a reference to the godless character of the institu-
tion — that the plan would fritter away the endow-

63

GEORGE BROWN

ment by dividing it among sects and among locali-
ties. He opposed the abolition of the faculties of
law and medicine. Rightly directed, the study of
law was ennobling, and jurists should receive an
education which would give them broad and gene-
rous views of the principles of justice. The endow-
ment of the university ought to be sufficient to
attract eminent teachers, and to encourage students
by scholarships. *' We are laying the foundations
of a great political and social system. Our vote to-
day may deeply affect, for good or evil, the future
of the country. I adjure the House to pause ere
destroying an institution which may one day be
among the chief glories of a great and wise people."

Brown was elected by a good majority. The
general result of the election was favourable to the
Hincks-Morin administration. A large part of the
interval between the election and the first session
of the new parUament was spent by Mr. Hincks in
England, where he made some progress in the
settlement of the clergy reserve question, and
where he also made arrangements for the building
of the Grand Trunk Railway from Montreal west-
ward through Upper Canada. Negotiations for the
building of the Intercolonial Railway, connecting
Lower Canada with the Maritime Provinces, fell
through, and the enterprise was delayed for some
years.

It was a matter of some importance that the first
parliament in which Mr. Brown took part was held
64

COURAGEOUS ELOQUENCE

in the city of Quebec. He had entered on a course
which made Cathohcs and French-Canadians regard
him as their enemy, and in Quebec French and
CathoHc influence was dominant. Brown felt keen-
ly the hostility of his surroundings, and there are
frequent references in his speeches and in the corre-
spondence of the Globe to the unfriendly faces in
the gallery of the chamber, and to the social power
exercised by the Church. "Nothing," says the Hon.
James Young, " could exceed the courage and elo-
quence with which Brown stood up night after
night, demanding justice for Upper Canada in the
face of a hostile majority on the floor of the cham-
ber and still more hostile auditors in the galleries
above. So high, indeed, did public feeling run on
some occasions that fears were entertained for his
personal safety, and his friends occasionally insisted
after late and exciting debates, lasting often till
long after midnight, on accompanying him."^ Mr.
Young adds that these fears were not shared by
Mr. Brown, and that they proved to be groundless.
Mr. Brown, in fact, did not regard the Quebec in-
fluence as a personal grievance, but he argued that
on public grounds the legislature ought not to meet
in a city where freedom of speech might be im-
paired by local sentiment. That he harboured no
malice was very finely shown when parliament met
four years afterwards in Toronto. He had just con-
cluded a powerful speech. The galleries were

^ Young's Public Men and Public Li/e in Canada, p. 83.

65

GEORGE BROWN

crowded, this time with a friendly audience, which
at length broke into applause. Brown checked the
demonstration. "I have addressed none," he said,
" but members of this House, and trust that mem-
bers from Lower Canada will not be overawed by
any manifestation of feeUng in this chamber. I shall
be ready on all occasions to discourage it. In Lower
Canada I stood almost alone in supporting my
views, and I well know how painful these manifes-
tations are to a stranger in a strange place. I do
sincerely trust that gentlemen of French origin
will feel as free to speak here as if they were in
Quebec."

Brown made his maiden speech during the de-
bate on the address. It is described in a contem-
porary account as "a terrible onslaught on the
government." An idea of violence conveyed in this
and other comments would appear to have been
derived from the extreme energy of Brown's ges-
tures. The printed report of the speech does not
give that impression. Though severe, it was in the
main historical and argumentative. It contained a
review of the political history of Canada from the
time of the rupture between Metcalfe and his
ministers, up to the time when the principle of
responsible government was conceded. Brown ar-
gued that Reformers were bound to stand by that
principle, and to accept all its obligations. In his
judgment it was essential to the right working of
responsible government that parties should declare
66

THEORY OF PARTY

their principles clearly and stand or fall by them.
If they held one set of principles out of office and
another set in office they would reduce responsible
government to a farce. He acknowledged the ser-
vices which Hincks and Morin had rendered in
fighting for responsible government ; but he charged
them with betraying that principle by their own
conduct in office. Two systems of government, he
said, were being tested on this continent. The
American system contained checks and balances.
The British system could be carried on only by the
observance of certain unwritten laws, and especially
a strict good faith and adherence to principle.
Brown, as a party man, adhered firmly to Burke's
definition of party : "A body of men united for
promoting by their joint endeavours the national
interest, upon some particular principle on which
they are all agreed." Office-holding, with him, was
a minor consideration. " There is no theory in the
principle of responsible government more vital to
its right working than that parties shall take their
stand on the prominent questions of the day, and
mount to office or resign it through the success or
failure of principles to which they are attached.
This is the great safeguard for the public against
clap-trap professions."

67

CHAPTER VII

RISE OF BROWN^S INFLUENCE

THE condition of parties in the legislature was
peculiar. The most formidable antagonist of
the Reform government was the man who was
rapidly rising to the leadership of the Reform par-
ty. The old Tory party was dead, and its leader,
Sir Allan MacNab, was almost inactive. Macdonald,
who was to re-organize and lead the new Conserva-
tive party, was playing a waiting game, taking ad-
vantage of Brown's tremendous blows at the minis-
try, and for the time being satisfied with a less
prominent part in the conflict. Brown rapidly rose
to a commanding position in the assembly. He did
this without any finesse or skill in the management
of men, with scarcely any assistance, and almost
entirely by his own energy and force of con-
viction. His industry and capacity for work were
prodigious. He spoke frequently, and on a wide
range of subjects requiring careful study and
mastery of facts. In the divisions he obtained
little support. He had antagonized the French-
Canadians, the Clear Grits of Upper Canada were
for the time determined to stand by the govern-
ment, and his views were usually not such as
the Conservatives could endorse, although they

69

GEORGE BROWN

occasionally followed him in order to embarrass
the government.

Brown's course in parliament, however, was point-
ing to a far more important result than changes in
the personnel of office-holders. Hincks once told
him that the logical conclusion of that course was
the dissolution of the union. There was a measure
of truth in this. If he had said dissolution or modi-
fication, he would have been absolutely right. Be-
tween the ideas of Upper Canada and Lower Cana-
da there was a difference so great that a legislative
union was foredoomed to failure, and separation
could be avoided only by a federation which allowed
each community to take its own way. Brown did
not create these difficulties, but he emphasized
them, and so forced and hastened the application
of the remedy. Up to the time of his entering par-
liament, his policy had related mamly to Upper
Canada. In parliament, however, a mass of legisla-
tion emanating from Lower Canada aroused his
strong opposition. In the main it was ecclesiastical
legislation incorporating Roman Catholic institu-
tions, giving them power to hold lands, to con-
trol education, and otherwise to strengthen the
authority of the Church over the people. It is
not necessary to discuss these measures in detail.
The object is to arrive at Brown's point of view,
and it was this : That the seat of government was
a Catholic city, and that legislation and administra-
tion were largely controlled by the French-Cana-
70

GROWING POPULARITY

dian priesthood. He complained that Upper Cana-
da was unfairly treated in regard to legislation and
expenditure ; that its public opinion was disregard-
ed, and that it was not fairly represented. The
question of representation steadily assumed more
importance in his mind, and he finally came to the
conclusion that representation by population was
the true remedy for all the grievances of which he
complained. Lower Canada, being now numerically
the weaker, naturally clung to the system which
gave it equality of representation.

In all these matters the breach between George
Brown and the Lower Canadian representatives was
widening, while he was becoming more and more
the voice of Upper Canadian opinion. When, in
the intervals between parliamentary sessions, he
visited various places in Upper Canada, he found
himself the most popular man in the community.
He addressed great public meetings. Banquets
were given in his honour. The prominent part taken
by ministers of the Gospel at these gatherings illus-
trates at once the weakness and the strength of his
position. He satisfied the " Nonconformist con-
science" of Upper Canada by his advocacy not only
of religious equality but of the prohibition of the
liquor traffic and of the cessation of Sunday labour
by public servants. But this very attitude made it
difficult for him to work with any political party in
Lower Canada.

In 1853 there was a remarkable article in the

71

GEORGE BROWN

Cobourg Star^ a Conservative journal, illustrat-
ing the hold which Brown had obtained upon
Upper Canadian sentiment. This attitude was
called forth by a banquet given to Brown by
the Reformers of the neighbourhood. It expressed
regret that the honour was given on party grounds.
" Had it been given on the ground of his services
to Protestantism, it would have brought out every
Orangeman in the country. Conservatives disagreed
with Brown about the clergy reserves, but if the
reserves must be secularized, every Conservative in
Canada would join Brown in his crusade against
Roman Catholic endowments." Then follows this
estimate of Brown's^character : *' In George Brown
we see no agitator or demagogue, but the strivings
of common sense, a sober will to attain the useful,
the practical and the needful. He has patient cour-
age, stubborn endurance, and obstinate resistance,
and desperate daring in attacking what he believes
to be wrong and in defending what he believes to
be right. There is no cant or parade or tinsel or
clap-trap about him. He takes his stand against
open, palpable, tangible wrongs, against the tyranny
which violates men's roofs, and the intolerance
which vexes their consciences. True, he is wrong
on the reserves question, but then he is honest, we
know where to find him. He does not, like some
of our Reformers, give us to understand that he
will support us and then turn his back. He does
not slip the word of promise to the ear and then
72

A PERSONAL DESCRIPTION

break it to the lips. Leaving the reserves out of the
question, George Brown is eminently conservative
in his spirit. His leading principle, as all his writ-
ings will show, is to reconcile progress with preser-
vation, change with stability, the alteration of inci- /
dents with the maintenance of essentials. Change,
for the sake of change, agitation for vanity, for ap-
plause or mischief, he has contemptuously repu-
diated. He is not like the Clear Grit, a republican
of the first water, but on the contrary looks to the
connection with the mother country, not as fable
or unreality or fleeting vision, but as alike our in-
terest and our duty, as that which should ever be
our beacon, our guide and our goal."

In 1853 the relative strength of Brown and the
ministers was tested in a series of demonstrations
held throughout Canada. The Hon. James Young
gives a vivid description of Brown as he appeared
at a banquet given in his honour at Gait: " He was
a striking figure. Standing fully six feet two inches
high, with a well-proportioned body, well balanced
head and handsome face, his appearance not only
indicated much mental and physical strength, but
conveyed in a marked manner an impression of
youthfulness and candour. These impressions deep-
ened as his address proceeded, and his features grew
animated and were lighted up by his fine expressive
eyes." His voice was strong and soft, with a well-
marked Edinburgh accent. His appearance sur-
prised the people who had expected to see an older

73

GEORGE BROWN

and sterner-looking man. His first remarks were
disappointing ; as was usual with him he stammered
and hesitated until he warmed to his subject, when
he spoke with such an array of facts and figures,
such earnestness and enthusiasm, that he easily held
the audience for three hours. ^

On October 1st, 1853, the Globe was first issued
as a daily. It was then stated that the paper was first
published as a weekly paper with a circulation of
three hundred. On November 1st, 1846, it was
published twice a week with a circulation of two
thousand, which rose to a figure between three
thousand and four thousand. In July, 1849, it was
issued three times a week. When the daily paper
was first published the circulation was six thousand.
To anticipate a little, it may be said that in 1855
the Globe absorbed the North American and the
Examiner, and the combined circulation was said
to be sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty-
six. The first daily paper contained a declaration
of principles, including the entire separation of
Church and State, the abolition of the clergy re-
serves and the restoration of the lands to the public,
cessation of grants of public money for sectarian pur-
poses, the abolition of tithes and other compulsory
taxation for ecclesiastical purposes, and restraint on
land-holding by ecclesiastical corporations.

An extract from this statement of policy may be
given:

* Young, op. cit., pp. 58, 69.

74

BROWN'S PLATFORM

^' Representation by population. Justice for Up-
per Canada I While Upper Canada has a larger
population by one hundred and fifty thousand than
Lower Canada, and contributes more than double
the amount of taxation to the general revenue,
Lower Canada has an equal number of representa-
tives in parliament.

^^* National education. — Common school, grammar
school, and collegiate free from sectarianism and
open to all on equal terms. Earnest war will be
waged with the separate school system, which has
unfortunately obtained a footing.
x^"A prohibitory liquor law. — Any measure which
will alleviate the frightful evils of intemperance."

The inclusion of prohibition on this platform was
the natural result of the drinking habits of that
day. In a pamphlet issued by the Canada Company
for the information of intending immigrants, whis-
key was described as *'a cheap and wholesome
beverage." Its cheapness and abundance caused it
to be used in somewhat the same way as the " small
beer " of England, and it was a common practice to
order a jug from the grocer along with the food
supply of the family. When a motion favouring
prohibition was introduced in the Canadian parlia-
ment there were frequent references to the con-
vivial habits of the members. The seconder of the
motion was greeted with loud laughter. He good-
naturedly said that he was well aware of the cause
of hilarity, but that he was ready to sacrifice his

75

GEORGE BROWN

pleasure to the general good. Sir Allan MacNab,
the leader of the Opposition, moved a farcical amend-
ment, under which every member was to sign a
pledge of abstinence, and to be disqualified if he
broke it. Brown made an earnest speech in favour
of the motion, in which he remarked that Canada
then contained nine hundred and thirty- one whiskey
shops, fifty-eight steamboat bars, three thousand
four hundred and thirty taverns, one hundred and
thirty breweries, and one hundred and thirty-five
distilleries.

The marked diminution of intemperance in the
last fifty years may be attributed in part to re-
strictive laws, and in part to the work of the tem-
perance societies, which rivalled the taverns in
social attractions, and were effective agents of
moral suasion.

76

CHAPTER VIII

RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES

IN June, 1854, the Hincks-Morin government
was defeated in the legislature on a vote of
censure for delay in dealing with the question of
the clergy reserves. A combination of Tories and
Radicals deprived Hincks of all but five of his
Upper Canadian supporters. Parliament was im-
mediately dissolved, and the ensuing election was a
melee in which Hincks Reformers, Brown Reform-
ers, Tories and Clear Grits were mingled in con-
fusion. Brown was returned for Lambton, where
he defeated the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, post-
master-general under Hincks. The Reform party
was in a large majority in the new legislature, and
if united could have controlled it with ease. But
the internal quarrel was irreconcilable. Hincks was
defeated by a combination of Tories and dissatisfied
Reformers, and a general reconstruction of parties
followed. Sir Allan MacNab, as leader of the Con-
servative opposition, formed an alliance with the
French-Canadian members of the Hincks govern-
ment and with some of its Upper Canadian sup-
porters. Hincks retired, but gave his support to
the new combination, '* being of opinion that the
combination of parties by which the new govern-

77

GEORGE BROWN

ment was supported presented the only solution of
the difficulties caused by a coalition of parties hold-
ing no sentiments in common, a coalition which
rarely takes place in England. I deemed it my
duty to give my support to that government dur-
ing the short period that I continued in public
life."^

Whether the MacNab-Morin government was a
true coalition or a Tory combination under that
name was a question fiercely debated at that time.
It certainly did not stand for the Toryism that had
resisted responsible government, the secularization
of the clergy reserves, and the participation of
French-Canadians in the government of the coun-
try. It had at first some of the elements of a coali-
tion, but it gradually came to represent Conserva-
tism and the personal ascendency of John A. Mac-
donald. Robert Baldwin, from his retirement, gave
his approval to the combination, and hence arose
the " Baldwin Reformer," blessed as a convert by
one party, and cursed as a renegade by the other.

Reconstruction on one side was followed by recon-
struction on the other. Upper Canadian Reformers
rallied roimd Brown, and an alliance was formed
with the Quebec Rouges. This was a natural alli-
ance of radical Reformers in both provinces. Some
light is thrown on it by an article published in the
Globe in 1855. The writer said that in 1849, some
young men of Montreal, fresh from the schools and

^ Hincks's Political History of Canada, p. 80.

78

THE QUEBEC ROUGES

filled to the brim with the Republican opinions
which had spread from France throughout all
Europe, formed associations and established news-
papers advocating extreme political views. They
declaimed in favour of liberty and against priestcraft
and tyranny with all the ardour and freshness of
youth. Their talents and the evident purity and
sincerity of their motives made a strong impression
on their countrymen, contrasting as they did with
the selfishness and mediocrity of other French-
Canadian leaders, and the result was that the Rouge
party was growing in strength both in the House
and in the country. With the growth of strength
there had come a growing sense of responsibility,
greater moderation and prudence. In the legisla-
ture, at least, the Rouges had not expressed a single
sentiment on general politics to which a British
constitutional Reformer might not assent. They
were the true allies of the Upper Canadian Re-
formers, and in fact the only Liberals among the
French-Canadians. They had Reform principles,
they maintained a high standard of political moral-
ity. They stood for the advance of education and
for liberty of speech. They were the hope of Can-
ada, and their attitude gave promise that a brighter
day was about to dawn on the political horizon.

It was unreasonable to expect that the Liberals
could continue to receive that solid support from
Lower Canada which they had received in the days of
the Baldwin- Lafontaine alliance. In those days the

79

GEORGE BROWN

issue was whether French-Canadians should be
allowed to take part in the government of the
country, or should be excluded as rebels. The Re-
formers championed their cause and received the
solid support of the French-Canadian people. But
when once the principle for which they contested
was conceded, it was perceived that Lower Canada,
like Upper Canada, had its Conservative element,
and party lines were formed. Mr. Brown held that
there could be no lasting alliance between Upper
Canadian Reformers and Lower Canadian Conser-
vatives, and especially with those Lower Canadians
who defended the power and privileges of the
Church. He was perfectly willing that electors
holding these views should go to the Conservative
party, which was their proper place. The Rouges
could not bring to the Liberal party the numerical
strength of the supporters of Lafontaine, but as
they really held Liberal principles, the alhance was
solidly based and was more likely to endure.

The leader of the Rouges was A. A. Dorion, a
distinguished advocate, and a man of culture, re-
finement and eloquence. He was Brown's desk-
mate, and while in physique and manner the two
were strongly contrasted, they were drawn together
by the chivalry and devotion to principle which
characterized both, and they formed a strong friend-
ship. " For four years," said Mr. Brown, in a public
address, *' I acted with him in the ranks of the Op-
position, learned to value most highly the upright-
80

BROWN AND DORION

ness of his character, the liberahty of his opinions,
and the firmness of his convictions. On most ques-
tions of pubHc general poHcy we heartily agreed,
and regularly voted together ; on the questions that
divided all Upper Canadians and all Lower Cana-
dians alone we differed, and on these we had held
many earnest consultations from year to year with
a view to their removal, without arriving at the
conviction that when we had the opportunity we
could find the mode." Their habit was not to at-
tempt to conceal these sectional differences, but to
recognize them frankly with a view to finding the
remedy. It was rarely that either presented a reso-
lution to the House without asking the advice of
the other. They knew each other's views perfectly,
and on many questions, especially of commerce and
finance, they were in perfect accord.

By this process of evolution Liberals and Con-
servatives were restored to their proper and historic
places, and the way was cleared for new issues.
These issues arose out of the ill-advised attempt to
join Upper and Lower Canada in a legislative union.
A large part of the history of this period is the
history of an attempt to escape the consequences
of that blunder. This was the reason why every
ministry had its double name — the Lafontaine-
Baldwin, the Hincks-Morin, the Tache-Macdonald,
the Brown-Dorion, the Macdonald-Sicotte. This
was the reason why every ministry had its attorney-
general east for Lower Canada and its attomey-

81

GEORGE BROWN

general west for Upper Canada. In his speech on
confederation Sir John Macdonald said that al-
though the union was legislative in name, it was
federal in fact — that in matters affecting Upper
Canada alone, Upper Canadian members claimed
and usually exercised, exclusive power, and so with
Lower Canada. The consolidated statutes of Cana-
da and the consolidated statutes of Upper Canada
must be sought in separate volumes. The practice
of legislating for one province alone was not con-
fined to local or private matters. For instance, as
the twD communities had widely different ideas as
to Sabbath observance, the stricter law was enacted
for Upper Canada alone. Hence also arose the
theory of the double majority — that a ministry
must, for the support of its general policy, have a
majority from each province.

But all these shifts and devices could not stay
the agitation for a radical remedy. Some Reformers
proposed to dissolve the union. Brown believed
that the difficulty would be solved by representation
by population, concerning which a word of explana-
tion is necessary. When the provinces were united
in 1841, the population of Lower Canada exceeded
that of Upper Canada in the proportion of three to
two. " If," said Lord Durham, " the population of
Upper Canada is rightly estimated at four hundred
thousand, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada
at one hundred and fifty thousand, and the French
at four hundred and fifty thousand, the union of the
82

QUESTION OF POPULATION

two provinces would not only give a clear English
majority, but one which would be increased every
year by the influence of English emigration, and I
have little doubt that the French, when once placed
by the legitimate course of events in a minority,
would abandon their vain hopes of nationality."
But he added that he was averse to every plan that
had been proposed for giving an equal number of
members to the two provinces. The object could be
attained without any violation of the principles of
representation, such as would antagonize public
opinion, and " when emigration shall have increased
the English population of the Upper Province, the
adoption of such a principle would operate to defeat
the very purpose it is intended to serve. It appears
to me that any such electoral arrangement, founded
on the present provincial divisions, would tend to de-
feat the purpose of union and perpetuate the idea
of disunion."

Counsels less wise and just prevailed, and the
united province was "gerrymandered" against Lord
Durham's protest. Lower Canada complained of
the injustice, and with good reason. In the course
of time Lord Durham's prediction was fulfilled ; by
immigration the population of Upper Canada over-
took and passed that of Lower Canada. The census
of 1852 gave Upper Canada a population of nine
hundred and fifty-two thousand, and Lower Canada
a population of eight hundred and ninety thousand
two hundred and sixty-one. Brown began to press

83

GEORGE BROWN

for representation by population. He was met by
two objectijQDS. It was argued on behalf of the
French-Canadians that they had submitted to the
injustice while they had the larger population,
and that the Upper Canadians ought to follow
their example. Mr. Brown admitted the force of
this argument, but he met it by showing that
the Lower Canadians had been under-represented
for eight years, and that by the time the new re-
presentation went into force, the Upper Canadians
would have suffered injustice for about an equal
term, so that a balance might be struck. A more
formidable objection was raised by Mr. Hincks, who
said that the union was in the nature of a compact
between two nations having widely different insti-
tutions ; that the basis of the compact was equal
representation, and that Brown's proposition would
destroy that basis. Cartier said that representation
by population could not be had without repeal of
the union. The French-Canadians were afraid that
they would be swamped, and would be obliged to
accept the laws and institutions of the majority.

It is impossible to deny the force of these objec-
tions. In 1841 Lower Canada had been compelled
to join a union in which the voting power of Upper
Canada was arbitrarily increased. If this was due to
distrust, to fear of " French domination," French-
Canadians could not be blamed for showing an
equal distrust of English domination, and for refus-
ing to give up the barrier which, as they believed,
84

REPRESENTATION BY POPULATION

protected their peculiar institutions. Ultimately the
solution was found in the application of the federal
system, giving unity in matters rec^uiring common
action, and freedom to differ in matters of local
concern. Towards this solution events were tend-
ing, and the importance of Brown's agitation for
representation by population, which gained im-
mense force in Upper Canada, lies in its relation to
the larger plan of confederation.

85

CHAPTER IX

SOME PERSONAL POLITICS

AFTER the burning of the parliament buildings
in Montreal the seat of government oscillated
between Quebec and Toronto. Toronto's turn came
in the session of 1856. Macdonald was now the
virtual, and was on the point of becoming the titu-
lar, leader of the party. Brown was equally con-
spicuous on the other side. During the debate on
the address he was the central figure in a fierce
struggle, and some one with a turn for statistics
said that his name was mentioned three hundred
and seventy-two times. The air was stimulating,
and Brown's contribution to the debate was not
of a character to turn away wrath.

Smarting under Brown's attack, Macdonald sud-
denly gave a new turn to the debate. \ He charged
that Brown, while acting as a member and secre-
tary of a commission appointed by the Lafontaine-
Baldwin government to inquire into the condition
of the provincial penitentiary, had falsified testi-
mony, suborned convicts to commit perjury, and
obtained the pardon of murderers to induce them to
give false evidence. ^ Though the assembly had by
this time become accustomed to hard hitting, this
outbreak created a sensation. Brown gave an indig-

87

V

GEORGE BROWN

nant denial to the charges, and announced that he
would move for a committee of inquiry. He was
angrily interrupted by the solicitor-general, who
flung the lie across the House. The solicitor-general
was a son of the warden of the penitentiary who
had been dismissed in consequence of the report of
the commission. Macdonald was a strong personal
friend of the warden, and had attempted some years
before to bring his case before the assembly. Brown
promptly moved for the committee, and it was not
long before he presented that tribunal with a dra-
matic surprise. It was supposed that the report of
the penitentiary committee had been burned, and
the attack on Brown was made upon that supposi-
tion. When Mr. Brown was called as a witness,
however, he produced the original report with all
the evidence, and declared that it had never been
out of his possession "for one hour." The effect of
this disclosure on his assailants is shown in a
letter addressed to the committee by VanKoughnet,
Macdonald's counsel: "Mr. Macdonald," he said,
"had been getting up his case on the assumption
and belief that these minutes had been destroyed
and could not be procured, and much of the labour
he had been allowed to go to by Mr. Brown for
that purpose would now be thrown away ; the
whole manner of giving evidence, etc., would now
be altered."

The graver charges of subornation of perjury
etc., were abandoned, and Macdonald's friends con-
88

DEFENCE AND ATTACK

fined themselves to an attempt to prove that the
inquiry had been unfairly conducted, that the war-
den had been harshly treated, and the testimony
not fairly reported. It was a political committee
with a Conservative majority, and the majority,
giving up all hope of injuring Brown, bent its
energies to saving Macdonald from the conse-
quences of his reckless violence. The Liberal mem-
bers asked for a complete exoneration of Mr.
Brown. A supporter of the government was willing
to exonerate Brown if Macdonald were allowed to
escape without censure. A majority of the com-
mittee, however, took refuge in a rambling deliver-
ance, which was sharply attacked in the legislature.
Sir Allan MacNab bluntly declared that the charge
had been completely disproved, and that the com-
mittee ought to have had the manliness to say so.
Drummond, a member of the government, also
said that the attack had failed. The accusers were
wilHng to allow the matter to drop, and as a matter
of fact the report was never put to a vote. But
Mr. Brown would not allow them to escape so
easily. Near the close of the session he made a
speech which gave a new character to the discus-
sion. Up to this time it had been a personal question
between Brown and his assailants. Brown dealt
with this aspect of the matter briefly but forcibly.
He declared that not only his conduct but the
character of the other commissioners was fully
vindicated, and that a conspiracy to drive him from

89

GEORGE BROWN

public life had signally failed. Conservative mem-
bers had met him and admitted that there was no
truth in the charges, but had pleaded that they
must go with the party. Members had actually
been asked to " pair " off on the question of up-
holding or destroying his character, before they had
heard his defence.

From these personal matters he returned to the
abuses that had been discovered by the commission.
A terrible story of neglect and cruelty was told.
These charges did not rest on the testimony of
prisoners. They were sustained by the evidence of
officers and by the records of the institution. " If,"
said the speaker, "every word of the witnesses
called by the commissioners were struck out, and
the case left to rest on the testimony of the war-
den's own witnesses and the official records of the
prison, there would be sufficient to establish the
blackest record of wickedness that ever disgraced
a civilized country." Amid applause, expressions of
amazement and cries of " Shame ! " from the gal-
leries. Brown told of the abuses laid bare by the
prison commission. He told of prisoners fed with
rotten meal and bread infested with maggots ; of
children beaten with cat and rawhide for childish
faults ; of a coffin-shaped box in which men and
even women were made to stand or rather crouch,
their limbs cramped, and their lungs scantily sup-
plied with air from a few holes. Brown's speech
virtually closed the case, although Macdonald strove
90

BROWN AND MACDONALD

to prove that the accounts of outrages were exag-
gerated, that the warden, Smith, was himself a
kind-hearted man, and that he had been harshly
treated by the commissioners.

In a letter written about this time, Macdonald
said that he was carrying on a war against Brown,
that he would prove him a most dishonest, dis-
honourable fellow, "and in doing so I will only pay
him a debt that I owe him for abusing me for
months together in his newspaper."^ Whatever the /
provocation may have been, the personal relations
of the two men were further embittered by this
incident.]

Eight years afterwards they were members of
the coalition ministry by which confederation was
brought about, and Brown's intimate friend, Alex-
ander Mackenzie, says that the association was
most distasteful to Brown, on account of the
charges made in connection with the prison com-
mission. That the leaders of the two parties were
not merely political opponents but personal enemies 7
must have embittered the party struggle ;( and it
was certainly waged on both sides with fury, and
with little regard either for the amenities of life or
for fair play. '

His work on the commission gave Brown a
strong interest in prison reform. While the work
of the commission was fresh in his mind he delivered
an address in the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, in

^ Pope's Memoirs of Sir John MacdoTmld, p. 161.

91

GEORGE BROWN

which he sketched the history of prison reform in
England and the United States, and pointed out
how backward Canada was in this phase of civiU-
zation. He pleaded for a more charitable treatment
of those on whom the prison doors had closed.
There were inmates of prisons who would stand
guiltless in the presence of Him who searches the
heart. There were guilty ones outside. We cannot, he
said, expect human justice to be infallible ; but we
must not draw a hard and fast line between the
world inside the prison and the world outside, as if
the courts of justice had the divine power of judg-
ing between good and evil. In Canada, he said, we
have no system of reforming the prisoner; even the
chaplain or the teacher never enters the prison
walls. "Children of eight and ten years of age are
placed in our gaols, surrounded by hundreds of the
worst criminals in the province." He went on to
describe some of the evils of herding together
hardened criminals, children, and persons charged
with trifling offences. He advocated government
inspection of prisons, a uniform system of discip-
line, strict classification and separation, secular and
religious instruction, and the teaching of trades.
The prisoner should be punished, but not made
to feel that he was being degraded by society for
the sake of revenge. Hope should be held out to
those who showed repentance. The use of the lash
for trifling offences against discipline was con-
demned. On the whole, his views were such as are
92

A PERSONAL SPEECH

now generally accepted, and he may be regarde^d
as one of the pioneers of prison reform in Canada.)
The habit of personal attack was further illus-
trated in the charge, frequently made by Mr.
Brown's enemies, that he had been a defaulter in
Scotland. The North American had printed this
accusation during its fierce altercation with the
Globe, but the editor, Mr. Macdougall, had after-
wards apologized, and explained that it had crept
into the paper during his absence and without his
knowledge. In the session of 1858, a Mr. Powell,
member for Carleton, renewed the attack in the
House, and Mr. Brown made a reply of such com-
pelling human interest that not a word can be
added or taken away. He said: "This is not the
first time that the insinuation has been made that
I was a defaulter in my native city. It has been
echoed before now from the organs of the ministry,
and at many an election contest have I been com-
pelled to sit patiently and hear the tale recounted
in the ears of assembled hundreds. For fifteen years
I have been compelled to bear in silence these
imputations. I would that I could yet refrain from
the painful theme, but the pointed and public
manner in which the charge has now been made,
and the fear that the pubHc cause with which I am
identified might suffer by my silence, alike tell me
that the moment has come when I ought to explain
the transaction, as I have always been able to ex-
plain it, and to cast back the vile charge of dis-

93

GEORGE BROWN

honesty on those who dared to make it. That my
father was a merchant in the city of Edinburgh,
and that he engaged in disastrous business specu-
lations commencing in the inflated times of 1825
and 1826, terminating ten years afterwards in his
faihire, is undoubtedly true. And it is, unhappily,
also true, that he did hold a public office, and
that funds connected with that office were, at
the moment of his sequestration, mixed up with
his private funds, to the extent, I beheve, of two
thousand eight hundred pounds. For this sum
four relatives and friends were sureties, and they
paid the money. Part of that money has been
repaid; every sixpence of it will be paid, and paid
shortly. Property has been long set aside for the
payment of that debt to its utmost farthing. My
father felt that while that money remained unpaid
there was a brand on himself and his family, and
he has wrought, wrought as few men have wrought,
to pay off, not only that, but other obligations of a
sacred character. Many a bill of exchange, the pro-
ceeds of his labour, has he sent to old creditors who
were in need of what he owed. For myself, sir, I
have felt equally bound with my father ; as his
eldest son I felt that the fruits of my industry
should stand pledged until every penny of those
debts was paid and the honour of my family vin-
dicated. An honourable member opposite, whom I
regret to hear cheering on the person who made
the attack, might have known that, under the legal
94

HIS FATHER'S DEBTS

advice of his relative, I long ago secured that
in the event of my death before the accomplish-
ment of our long-cherished purpose, after the pay-
ment of my own obligations, the full discharge of
those sacred debts of my father should stand as
a first charge on my ample estate. Debts, sir,
which I was no more bound in law to pay than any
gentleman who hears me. For the painful trans-
action to which I have been forced to allude, I am
no more responsible than any gentleman in this
assembly. It happened in 1836; I was at that time
but seventeen years of age, I was totally uncon-
nected with it, but, young as I was, I felt then, as
I feel now, the obligation it laid upon me, and I
vowed that I should never rest until every penny
had been paid. There are those present who have
known my every action since I set foot in this
country ; they know I have not eaten the bread of
idleness, but they did not know the great object of
my labour. The one end of my desire for wealth
was that I might discharge those debts and redeem
my father's honour. Thank God, sir, my exertions
have not been in vain. Thank God, sir, I have
long possessed property far more than sufficient for
all my desires. But, as those gentlemen know, it is
one thing in this country to have property, and
another to be able to withdraw a large sum of
money from a business in active operation ; and
many a night have I laid my head on my pillow
after a day of toil, estimating and calculating if the

95

GEORGE BROWN

time had yet arrived, when, with justice to those to
whom I stood indebted, and without fear of em-
barrassment resulting, I might venture to carry out
the purpose of my hfe. I have been accused of
being ambitious ; I have been charged with aspiring
to the office of prime minister of this great country
and of lending all my energies to the attainment of
that end; but I only wish I could make my op-
ponents understand how infinitely surpassing all
this, how utterly petty and contemptible in my
thoughts have been all such considerations, in com-
parison with the one longing desire to discharge
those debts of honour and vindicate those Scottish
principles that have been instilled into me since my
youth. The honourable member for Cornwall [John
Sandfield Macdonald] is well aware that every word
I have spoken to-night has been long ago told him
in private confidence, and he knows, too, that last
summer I was rejoicing in the thought that I was
at last in a position to visit my native land with the
large sum necessary for all the objects I contem-
plated, and that I was only prevented from doing
so by the financial storm which swept over the
continent. Such, sir, are the circumstances upon
which this attack is founded. Such the facts on
which I have been denounced as a public defaulter
and refugee from my native land. But why, asked
the person who made the charge, has he sat silent
under it ? Why if the thing is false has he endured
it so many years ? What, sir, free myself from
96

VINDICATION

blame by inculpating one so dear I Say * It was not
I who was in fault, it was my father ' ? Rather would
I have lost my right arm than utter such a word!
No, sir, I waited the time when the charge could
be met as it only might be fittingly met ; and my
only regret even now is that I have been com-
pelled to speak before those debts have been en-
tirely liquidated. But it is due, sir, to my aged
father that I explain that it has not been with his
will that these imputations have been so long
pointed at me, and that it has only been by earnest
remonstrance that I have prevented his vindicating
me in public long ere now. No man in Toronto,
perhaps, is more generally known in the com-
munity, and I think I could appeal even to his
political opponents to say if there is a citizen of
Toronto at this day more thoroughly respected and
esteemed. With a full knowledge of all that has
passed, and all the consequences that have flowed
from a day of weakness, I will say that an honester
man does not breathe the air of heaven; that no
son feels prouder of his father than I do to-day;
and that I would have submitted to the obloquy
and reproach of his every act, not fifteen years, but
fifty — ay, have gone down to the grave with the
cold shade of the world upon me, rather than that
one of his gray hairs should have been injured."
^ Public opinion was strongly influenced in Mr.
Brown's favour by this incident. " The entire ad-
dress," said a leading Conservative paper next day,

97

GEORGE BROWN

"forms the most refreshing episode which the re-
cords of the Canadian House of Commons possess.
Every true-hearted man must feel proud of one
who has thus chivalrously done battle for his gray-
haired sire. We speak dehberately when asserting
that George Brown's position in the country is at
this moment immeasurably higher than it ever
previously has been. And though our political
creed be diametrically antipodal to his own, we
shall ever hail him as a credit to the land we love
so well."

98

CHAPTER X

THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE ''

BY his advocacy of representation by population,
by his opposition to separate schools, and his
championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr. Brown
gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the
general elections of 1857 he was elected for the
city of Toronto, in company with Mr. Robinson, a
Conservative. The election of a Liberal in Toronto
is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr.
Brown's violent conflict with the Roman Catholic
Church contributed to his victory, if it was not the
main cause thereof. His party also made large
gains through Upper Canada, and had a large
majority in that part of the province, so that the
majority for the Macdonald government was drawn
entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds
occurred in Russell county, where names were
copied into the poll-books from old directories of
towns in the state of New York, and in Quebec
city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon
Bonaparte, Judas Iscariot and George Washington
appeared on the lists. The Reformers attacked
these elections in parliament without success, but
in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several
others were tried for conspiracy, convicted and

99

GEORGE BROWN

sentenced to imprisonment. That the government
felt itself to be much weakened throughout the
country is evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's
unsuccessful effort to add another to his list of politi-
cal combinations by detaching Mr. John Sandfield
Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats
in the cabinet to him and another Reformer. The
personal attack on Mr. Brown in the session of
1858 has already been mentioned. The chief politi-
cal event of the session was the " Double Shuffle."

On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in
placing the ministry in a minority on the question
of the seat of government. Unable to decide be-
tween the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec,
Montreal and Kingston, the government referred
the question to the queen, who decided in favour
of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to
the queen, holding that the question should be
settled in Canada. He also believed that the seat
of government should not be fixed until repre-
sentation by population was granted, and all mat-
ters in dispute between Upper and Lower Canada
arranged. He now moved against Ottawa and
carried his motion. During the same sitting the
government was sustained on a motion to adjourn,
which by understanding was regarded as a test of
confidence. A few hours later the ministers met
and decided that, although they had been sustained
by a majority of the House, "it behoved them as
the queen's servants to resent the slight which had
100

TO FORM A GOVERNMENT

been offered Her Majesty by the action of the
assembly in calHng in question Her Majesty's
choice of the capital." The governor-general, Sir
Edmund Walker Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the
leader of the Opposition, to form a government. It
was contended by I^iberals that he ought not to
have taken this step unless he intended to give Mr.
Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and
support. If he believed that the defeat of the gov-
ernment was a mere accident, and that on general
grounds it commanded a working majority in the
legislature, he ought not to have accepted the
resignation, unless he intended to sanction a fresh
appeal to the country.

The invitation to form an administration was
received by Mr. Brown on Thursday, July 28th.
He at once waited on the governor-general and
obtained permission to consult his friends. He
called a meeting of the Upper Canadian members
of his party in both Houses, and obtained from
them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he
had an important interview. Dorion agreed that
the principle of representation by population was
sound, but said that the French- Canadian people
feared the consequences of Upper Canadian pre-
ponderance, feared that the peculiar institutions of
French Canada would be swept away. To assure
them, representation by population must be ac-
companied by constitutional checks and safeguards.
Brown and Dorion parted in the belief that this

101

GEORGE BROWN

could be arranged. They believed also that they
could agree upon an educational policy in which
religious instruction could be given without the
evils of separation.

Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the
manipulation of combinations of men, he succeeded
on this occasion in enlisting the services of col-
leagues of high character and capacity, including
besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield
Macdonald, Luther Holton and L. T. Drummond.
On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the
governor-general, and informed him that having
consulted his friends and obtained the aid of
Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the
task of forming an administration. During the
day the formation of the ministry was com-
pleted. " At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to
give the story in Mr. Brown's words, " learning
that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went to see him at
his apartments at the Rossin House, and while
with him the governor-general's secretary entered
and handed me a despatch. No sooner did I
see the outside of the document than I under-
stood it all. I felt at once that the whole corrup-
tionist camp had been in commotion at the prospect
of the whole of the public departments being sub-
jected to the investigations of a second public ac-
counts' committee, and comprehended at once that
the transmission of such a despatch could have but
the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way
102

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL CRITICIZED

of the new cabinet taking office, and I was not
mistaken."^

The despatch declared that the governor-general
gave no pledge, express or implied, with reference
to dissolution. When advice was tendered on the
subject he would act as he deemed best. It then
laid down, with much detail, the terms on which he
would consent to prorogation. Bills for the regis-
tration of voters and for the prohibition of fraudu-
lent assignments and gifts by leaders should be
enacted, and certain supplies obtained.

Mr. Brown criticized both these declarations. It
was not necessary for the governor-general to say
that he gave no pledge in regard to dissolution. To
demand such a pledge would have been utterly un-
constitutional. The governor was quite right in say-
ing that he would deal with the proposal when it
was made by his advisers. But while he needlessly
and gratuitously declared that he would not pledge
himself beforehand as to dissolution, he took exactly
the opposite course as to prorogation, specifying
almost minutely the terms on which he would con-
sent to that step. Brown contended that the gov-
ernor had no right to lay down conditions, or to
settle beforehand the measures that must be enacted
during the session. This was an attempt to dictate,
not only to the ministry, but to the legislature.
Mr. Brown and his colleagues believed that the
governor was acting in collusion with the ministers

* Speech to Toronto electors, August, 1858.

103

GEORGE BROWN

who had resigned, that the intriguers were taken
by surprise when Brown showed himself able to
form a ministry, and that the Sunday communica-
tion was a second thought, a hurriedly devised plan
to bar the way of the new ministers to office.

On Monday morning before conferring with his
colleagues. Brown wrote to the governor-general,
stating that his ministry had been formed, and sub-
mitting that '* until they have assumed the func-
tions of constitutional advisers of the Crown, he and
his proposed colleagues will not be in a position
to discuss the important measures and questions
of public policy referred to in his memorandum."
Brown then met his colleagues, who unanimously
approved of his answer to the governor's memoran-
dum, and agreed also that it was intended as a bar
to their acceptance of office. They decided not to ask
for a pledge as to dissolution, nor to make or accept
conditions of any kind. " We were willing to risk
our being turned out of office within twenty-four
hours, but we were not willing to place ourselves
constitutionally in a false position. We distinctly
contemplated all that Sir Edmund Head could
do and that he has done, and we concluded that it
was our duty to accept office, and throw on the
governor-general the responsibility of denying us
the support we were entitled to, and which he had
extended so abundantly to our predecessor."

When parliament assembled on Monday, a vote
of want of confidence was carried against the new
104

DEFEAT

government in both Houses. The newly appointed
ministers had, of course, resigned their seats in
parhament in order that they might oifer them-
selves for re-election. It is true the majority was
too great to be accounted for by the absence of
the ministers. But the result was affected by the
lack, not only of the votes of the ministers, but
of their voices. In the absence of ministerial ex-
planation, confusion and misunderstanding pre-
vailed. The fact that Brown had been able to find
common ground with Catholic and French-Can-
adian members had occasioned surprise and anxiety.
On the one side it was feared that Brown had
surrendered to the French-Canadians, and on the
other that the French-Canadians had surrendered
to Brown.

The conference between Brown and Dorion
shows that the government was formed for the
same purpose as the Brown-Macdonald coalition of
1864 — the settlement of difficulties that prevented
the right working of the union. The official declara-
tion of its pohcy contains these words : " His Ex-
cellency's present advisers have entered the govern-
ment with the fixed determination to propose con-
stitutional measures for the establishment of that
harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which
is essential to the prosperity of the province."

Dissolution was asked on the ground that the
new government intended to propose important
constitutional changes, and that the parliament did

105

GEORGE BROWN

not represent the country, many of its members
owing their seats to gross fraud and corruption.
Thirty-two seats were claimed from sitting mem-
bers on these grounds. The cases of the Quebec
and Russell election have already been mentioned.
The member elected for Lotbini^re was expelled
for violent interference with the freedom of election.
Brown and his colleagues contended that these
practices had prevailed to such an extent that the
legislature could not be said to represent the coun-
try. Head's reply was that the frauds were likely
to be repeated if a new election were held ; that
they really afforded a reason for postponing the
election, at least until more stringent laws were
enacted. The dissolution was refused; the Brown-
Dorion government resigned, and the old ministers
were restored to office.

On the resignation of the Brown-Dorion ministry
the governor called upon A. T. Gait, who had
given an independent support to the Macdonald-
Cartier government. During the session of 1858
he had placed before the House resolutions favour-
ing the federal union of Canada, the Maritime
Provinces and the North- West Territory, and it is
possible that his advocacy of this policy had some-
thing to do with the offer of the premiership. As
yet, however, he was not prominent enough, nor
could he command a support large enough, to war-
rant his acceptance of the office, and he declined.
Then followed the "Double Shuffle."
106

THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE

The Macdonald-Cartier government resumed
office under the name of the Cartier-Macdonald
government, with Gait taking the place of Cayley,
and some minor changes. Constitutional usage re-
quired that all the ministers should have returned
to their constituents for re-election. A means of
evading this requirement was found. The statute
governing the case provided that when any mini-
ster should resign his office and within one month
afterwards accept another office in the ministry, he
should not thereby vacate his seat. With the object
of obviating the necessity for a new election, Cartier,
Macdonald, and their colleagues, in order to bring
themselves within the letter of the law, although
not within its spirit, exchanged offices, each taking
a different one from that which he had resigned
eight days before. Shortly before midnight of the
sixth of August, they solemnly swore to discharge
the duties of offices which several of them had no
intention of holding ; and a few minutes afterwards
the second shuffle took place, and Cartier and Mac-
donald having been inspector -general and post-
master-general for this brief space, became again
attorney -general east and attorney-general west.

The belief of the Reformers that the governor-
general was guilty of partiality and of intrigue with
the Conservative ministers is set forth as part of the
history of the time. There is evidence of partiahty,
but no evidence of intrigue. The biographer of Sir
John Macdonald denies the charge of intrigue, but

107

GEORGE BROWN

says that Macdonald and the governor were intimate
personal friends.^ Dent, who also scouts the charge
of intrigue, says that the governor was prejudiced
against Brown, regarding him as a mere obstruc-
tionist.^ The governor-general seems to have been
influenced by these personal feelings, making every-
thing as difficult as possible for Brown, and as easy
as possible for Macdonald, even to the point of ac-
quiescing in the evasion of the law known as the
"Double Shuffle."

In the debate on confederation. Senator Ferrier
said that a political warfare had been waged in
Canada for many years, of a nature calculated to
destroy all moral and political principles, both in the
legislature and out of it.(The "Double Shuffle" is
so typical of this dreary and ignoble warfare and it
played so large a part in the political history of the
time, that it Jias been necessary to describe it at
some length.' But for these considerations, the
episode would have deserved scant notice. The
headship of one of the ephemeral ministries that
preceded confederation could add little to the re-
putation of Mr. Brown. His powers were not shown
at their best in office, and the surroundings of
office were not congenial to him. His strength
lay in addressing the people directly, through his
paper or on the platform, and in the hour of
defeat or disappointment he turned to the people

^ Pope's Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald, Vol. I., pp. 133, 134.
2 Dent's Last Forty Years, Vol. II., pp. 379, 380.

108

HIS REWARD

for consolation. " During these contests," he said
some years afterwards, " it was this which sus-
tained the gallant band of Reformers who so long
struggled for popular rights : that, abused as we
might be, we had this consolation, that we could
not go anywhere among our fellow-countrymen
from one end of the country to the other — in
Tory constituencies as well as in Reform consti-
tuencies — without the certainty of receiving from
the honest, intelhgent yeomanry of the country —
from the true, right-hearted, right-thinking people
of Upper Canada, who came out to meet us — the
hearty grasp of the hand and the hearty greeting
that amply rewarded the labour we had expended
in their behalf. That is the highest reward I have
hoped for in public hfe, and I am sure that no man
who earns that reward will ever in Upper Canada
have better occasion to speak of the gratitude of
the people."

109

CHAPTER XI

AGAINST AMERICAN SLAVERY

IN his home in Scotland Brown had been imbued
with a hatred of slavery. He spent several
years of his early manhood in New York, and felt
in all its force the domination of the slave-holding
element. Thence he moved to Canada, for many
years the refuge of the hunted slave. It is estimated
that even before the passage of the Fugitive Slave
Law, there were twenty thousand coloured refugees
in Canada. It was customary for these poor creatures
to hide by day and to travel by night. When all
other signs failed they kept their eyes fixed on the
North Star, whose light " seemed the enduring
witness of the divine interest in their deliverance."
By the system known as the "underground rail-
way," the fugitive was passed from one friendly
house to another. A code of signals was used by
those engaged in the work of mercy — pass words,
peculiar knocks and raps, a call like that of the owl.
Negroes in transit were described as "fleeces of
wool," and "volumes of the irrepressible conflict
bound in black."

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law deprived
the negro of his security in the free states, and
dragged back into slavery men and women who

111

GEORGE BROWN

had for years been living in freedom, and had found
means to earn their bread and to build up little
homes. Hence an impetus was given to the move-
ment towards Canada, which the slave-holders tried
to check by talking freely of the rigours of the
Canadian climate. Lewis Clark, the original of
George Harris in Uncle Toms Cabin was told
that if he went to Canada the British would put
his eyes out, and keep him in a mine for life. An-
other was told that the Detroit River was three
thousand miles wide.

But the exodus to Canada went on, and the
hearts of the people were moved to compassion by
the arrival of ragged and foot-sore wanderers. They
found a warm friend in Brown, who paid the hotel
bill of one for a week, gave fifty dollars to maintain
a negro family, and besides numerous acts of per-
sonal kindness, filled the columns of the Globe with
appeals on behalf of the fugitives. Early in 1851 the
Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was organized. The
president was the Rev. Dr. Willis, afterwards prin-
cipal of Knox Presbyterian College, and the names
of Peter Brown, George Brown, and Oliver Mowat
are found on the committee. The object of the
society was " the extinction of slavery all over the
world by means exclusively lawful and peaceable,
moral and religious, such as the diffusion of useful
information and argument by tracts, newspapers,
lectures, and correspondence, and by manifesting
sympathy with the houseless and homeless victims
112 •

SLAVERY

of slavery flying to our soil." Concerts were given,
and the proceeds applied in aid of the refugees.

Brown was also strongly interested in the settle-
ments of refugees established throughout Western
Canada. Under an act of the Canadian parliament
" for the settlement and moral improvement of the
coloured population of Canada," large tracts of land
were acquired, divided into fifty acre lots, and sold
to refugees at low prices, payable in instalments.
Sunday schools and day schools were established.
The moving spirit in one of these settlements was
the Rev. William King, a Presbyterian, formerly of
Louisiana, who had freed his own slaves and brought
them to Canada. Traces of these settlements still
exist. Either in this way or otherwise, there were
large numbers of coloured people living in the valley
of the Thames (from Chatham to London), in St.
Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto.

At the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery
Society in 1852, Mr. Brown moved a resolution ex-
pressing gratitude to those American clergymen who
had exposed the atrocities of the Fugitive Slave Law.
He showed how, before its enactment, slaves were
continually escaping to the Northern States, where
they were virtually out of reach of their masters.
There was a law enabling the latter to recover their
property, but its edge was dulled by public opinion
in the North, which was rapidly growing an-
tagonistic to allowing the free states to become a
hunting-ground for slave-catchers. The South took

113

GEORGE BROWN

alarm at the growth of this feeling, and procured
the passage of a more stringent law. This law en-
abled the slave-holder to seize the slave wherever
he found him, without warrant, and it forbade the
freeman to shelter the refugee under penalty of six
months' imprisonment, a fine of one thousand dollars,
and liability to a civil suit for damages to the same
amount. The enforcement of the law was given to
federal instead of to State officials. After giving
several illustrations of the working of the law, Mr.
Brown proceeded to discuss the duty of Canada in re-
gard to slavery. It was a question of humanity, of
Christianity, and of liberty, in which all men were
interested. Canada could not escape the contamina-
tion of a system existing so near her borders. " We,
too, are Americans ; on us, as well as on them, lies
the duty of preserving the honour of the continent.
On us, as on them, rests the noble trust of shielding
free institutions."

Having long borne the blame of permitting
slavery, the people of the North naturally expected
that when the great struggle came they would re-
ceive the moral support of the civilized world in its
effort to check and finally to crush out the evil.
They were shocked and disappointed when this
support was not freely and generously given, and
when sympathy with the South showed itself strong-
ly in Great Britain. Brown dealt with this question
in a speech delivered in Toronto shortly after Lin-
coln's proclamation of emancipation. He had just
114

ENGLISH VIEWS ON SLAVERY

returned from Great Britain, and he said that in his
six months' journey through England and Scotland,
he had conversed with persons in all conditions of
life, and he was sorry to say that general sympathy
was with the South. This did not proceed from any
change in the feeling towards slavery. Hatred of
slavery was as strong as ever, but it was not be-
lieved that African slavery was the real cause of the
war, or that Mr. Lincoln sincerely desired to bring
the traffic to an end. This misunderstanding he at-
tributed to persistent misrepresentation. There were
men who rightly understood the merits of the con-
test, and among these he placed the members of
the British ministry. The course of the ministry he
described as one of scrupulous neutrality, and firm
resistance to the invitations of other powers to in-
terfere in the contest.

NBrown himself never for a moment failed to ^
understand the nature of the struggle, and he
showed an insight, remarkable at that time, into
the policy of Lincoln.) The anti-slavery men of
Canada, he said, had an important duty to dis-
charge. " We, who have stood here on the borders
of the republic for a quarter of a century, protest-
ing against slavery as the sum of all human vil-
lainies — we, who have closely watched every turn
of the question — we, who have for years acted and
sympathized with the good men of the republic in
their effiarts for the freedom of their country — we,
who have a practical knowledge, of the atrocities of

115

GEORGE BROWN

the 'peculiar institution,' learned from the lips of
the panting refugee upon our shores — we, who have
in our ranks men all known on the other side of
the Atlantic as life-long abolitionists — we, I say,
are in a position to speak with confidence to the
anti-slavery men of Great Britain — to tell them
that they have not rightly understood this matter
— to tell them that slavery is the one great cause of
the American rebellion, and that the success of the
North is the death-knell of slavery. Strange, after
all that has passed, that a doubt of this should
remain."

It was true, he said, that Lincoln was not elected
as an abolitionist. Lincoln declared, and the Repub-
lican party declared, that they stood by the consti-
tution ; that they would, so far as the constitution
allowed, restrict slavery and prevent its extension
to new territory. Yet they knew that the constitu-
tion gave them all they desired. " Well did they
know, and well did the Southerners know, that any
anti-slavery president and congress, by their direct
power of legislation, by their control of the public
patronage, and by the application of the public
moneys, could not only restrict slavery within its
present boundaries, but could secure its ultimate
abolition. The South perfectly comprehended that
Mr. Lincoln, if elected, might keep within the
■ letter of the constitution and yet sap the foundation
of the whole slave system, and they acted accord-
ingly."

116

THE INTERESTS OF CANADA

In answering the question, " Why did not the
North let the slave states go in peace ? " Brown
freely admitted the right of revolution. "The world
no longer believes in the divine right of either
kings or presidents to govern wrong ; but those who
seek to change an established government by force
of arms assume a fearful responsibility — a responsi-
bility which nothing but the clearest and most in-
tolerable injustice will acquit them for assuming."
Here was a rebellion, not to resist injustice but to
perpetuate injustice ; not to deliver the oppressed
from bondage, but to fasten more hopelessly than
ever the chains of slavery on four millions of human
beings. Why not let the slave states go ? Because
it would have been wrong, because it would have
built up a great slave power that no moral influence
could reach, a power that would have overawed the
free Northern States, added to its territory, and re-
estabUshed the slave trade. Had Lincoln permitted
the slave states to go, and to form such a power,
he would have brought enduring contempt upon
his name, and the people of England would have
been the first to reproach him.

Brown argued, as he had done in 1852, that
Canada could not be indifferent to the question,
whether the dominant power of the North Ameri-
can continent should be slave or free. Holding that
liberty had better securities under the British than
under the American system, he yet believed that
the failure of the American experiment would be a

117

GEORGE BROWN

calamity and a blow to free institutions all over the
world. For years the United States had been the
refuge of the oppressed in every land ; millions had
fled from poverty in Europe to find happiness and
prosperity there. From these had been wafted back
to Europe new ideas of the rights of the people.
With the fall of the United States this impetus to
freedom, world-wide in its influence, would cease.
Demands for popular rights and free constitutions
would be met by the despotic rulers of Europe with
the taunt that in the United States free constitu-
tions and popular rights had ended in disruption
and anarchy. " Let us not forget that there have
been, and still are, very different monarchies in the
world from that of our own beloved queen ; and
assuredly there are not so many free governments
on earth that we should hesitate to devise earnestly
the success of that one nearest to our own, modelled
from our own, and founded by men of our own
race. I do most heartily rejoice, for the cause of
liberty, that Mr. Lincoln did not patiently acquiesce
in the dismemberment of the republic."

The Civil War in the United States raised the
most important question of foreign policy with
which the public men of Canada were called upon
to deal in Brown's career. The dismemberment
of the British empire would hardly have exercised
a more profound influence on the human race
and on world-wide aspirations for freedom, than
the dismemberment of the United States and
118

AN ALTERNATIVE

the establishment on this continent of a mighty
slave empire. Canada could not be indifferent
to the issue. How long would the slave-holding
power, which coerced the North into consenting
to the Fugitive Slave Law, have tolerated the
existence of a free refuge for slaves across the
lakes ? Either Canada would have been forced to
submit to the humiliation of joining in the hunt for
men, or the British empire would have been obliged
to fight the battle that the North fought under the
leadership of Lincoln. In the face of this danger
confronting Canada and the empire and freedom,
it was a time to forget smaller international animo-
sities. Brown was one of the few Canadian states-
men who saw the situation clearly and rose to the
occasion. For twenty years by his public speeches,
and still more through the generous devotion of the
Globe to the cause, he aided the cause of freedom
and of the union of the lovers of freedom.

i/

119

CHAPTER XII

BROWN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

THAT the Globe and Mr. Brown, as related in a
previous chapter, became associated with Lord
John Russell's bill and the "no popery" agitation in
England, may be regarded as a mere accident. The
excitement would have died out here as it died out
in England, if there had not been in Canada such a
mass of inflammable material — so many questions
in which the relations of Church and State were in-
volved. One of these was State endowment of de-
nominational schools. During Brown's early years
in Canada the school system was being placed on a
broad and popular basis. Salaries of teachers were
wretchedly low. Fees were charged to children, and
remitted only as an act of charity. Mr. Brown ad-
vocated a free and unsectarian system. Claims for
denominational schools were put forward not only
by the Roman Catholics but by the Anglicans. He
argued that if this were allowed the public school
system would be destroyed by division. The country
could barely afford to maintain one good school sys-
tem. To maintain a system for each denomination
would require an immense addition to the number of
school-houses and teachers, and would absorb the
whole revenue of the province. At the same time, the

121

GEORGE BROWN

educational forces would be weakened by the divis-
ion and thousands of children would grow up with-
out education. *' Under the non-sectarian system,"
said Brown, "the day is at hand when we may hope
to abolish the school-tax and offer free education to
every child in the province."

Eventually it was found possible to carry out Mr.
Brown's idea of free ediication for every child in the
province, and yet to allow Roman Catholic separate
schools to be maintained. To this compromise Mr.
Brown became reconciled, because it did not involve,
as he had feared, the destruction of the free school
system by division. The Roman Catholics of Upper
Canada were allowed to maintain separate denomina-
tional schools, to have them supported by the taxes of
Roman Catholic ratepayers and by provincial grants.
So far as the education of Protestant children was
concerned JNIr. Brown's advocacy was successful.
He opposed denominational schools because he
feared they would weaken or destroy the general
system of free education for all. Under the agree-
ment which was finally arrived at, this fear was not
realized. In his speech on confederation he admitted
that the sectarian system, carried to a limited extent
and confined chiefly to cities and towns, had not
been a very great practical injury. The real cause of
alarm was that the admission of the sectarian prin-
ciple was there, and that at any moment it might
be extended to such a degree as to split up our school
system altogether: "that the separate system might
122

THE SCHOOL QUESTION

gradually extend itself until the whole country was
studded with nurseries of sectarianism, most hurtful
to the best interests of the province and entailing
an enormous expense to sustain the hosts of teachers
that so prodigal a system of public instruction must
inevitably entail."

This, however, was not the only question at
issue between Mr. Brown and the Roman Catholic
Church. It happened, as has been said above, that
on his first entry into parliament, the place of meet-
ing was the city of Quebec. The Edinburgh- bred
man found himself in a Roman Catholic city, sur-
rounded by every evidence of the power of the
Church. As he looked up from the floor of the
House to the galleries he saw a Catholic audience, its
character emphasized by the appearance of priests
clad in the distinctive garments of their orders. It
was his duty to oppose a great mass of legislation
intended to strengthen that Church and to add to
its privileges. His spirit rose and he grew more
dour and resolute as he realized the strength of the
forces opposed to him.

It would be doing an injustice to the memory of
Mr. Brown to gloss over or minimize a most im-
portant feature of his career, or to offer apologies
which he himself would have despised. The battle
was not fought with swords of lath, and whoever
wants to read of an old-fashioned " no popery "
fight, carried on with abounding fire and vigour, will
find plenty of matter in the files of the Globe of the

123

GEORGE BROWN

fifties. His success in the election of 1857, so far as
Upper Canada was concerned, and especially his
accomplishment of the rare feat of carrying a
Toronto seat for the Reform party, was largely
due to an agitation that aroused all the forces and
many of the prejudices of Protestantism. Yet Brown
kept and won many warm friends among Roman
Catholics, both in Upper and in I^ower Canada.
His manliness attracted them. They saw in him,
not a narrow-minded and cold-hearted bigot, seeking
to force his opinions on others, but a brave and
generous man, fighting for principles. And in Lower
Canada there were many Roman Catholic laymen
whose hearts were with him, and who were them-
selves entering upon a momentous struggle to free
the electorate from clerical control. In his fight for
the separation of Church and State, he came into
conflict, not with Roman Catholics alone. In his
own Presbyterian Church, at the time of the dis-
ruption, he strongly upheld the side which was
identified with liberty. For several years after his
arrival in Canada he was fighting against the special
privileges of the Anglican Church. He often said
that he was actuated, not by prejudice against one
Church, but by hatred of clerical privilege, and love
of religious liberty and equality.

In 1871 Mr. Brown, in a letter addressed to pro-
minent Roman Catholics, gave a straight-forward
account of his relations with the Roman Catholic
Church. It is repeated here in a somewhat ab-
124

A RETROSPECT

breviated form, but as nearly as possible in his own
words. In the early days of the political history of
Upper Canada, the great mass of Catholics were
staunch Reformers. They suiFered from Downing
Street rule, from the domination of the "family
compact," from the clergy reserves and from other
attempts to arm the Anglican Church with special
privileges and powers ; they gave an intelligent and
cordial support to liberal and progressive measures.
They contributed to the victory of Baldwin and
Lafontaine. But when that victory was achieved,
the Upper Canadian Reformers found that a cause
was operating to deprive them of its fruits, — " the
French-Canadian members of the cabinet and their
supporters in parliament, blocked the way." They
not only prevented or delayed the measures which
the Reformers desired, but they forced through
parliament measures which antagonized Reform
sentiment. "Although much less numerous than
the people of Upper Canada, and contributing to
the common purse hardly a fourth of the annual
revenue of the United Provinces, the Lower Cana-
dians sent an equal number of representatives with
the Upper Canadians to parliament, and, by their
unity of action, obtained complete dominancy in the
management of public affairs." Unjust and injurious
taxation, waste and extravagance, and great in-
creases in the public debt followed. Seeking a
remedy, the Upper Canadian Reformers demanded,
first, representation by population, giving Upper

125

GEORGE BROWN

Canada its just influence in the legislature, and
second, the entire separation of Church and State,
placing all denominations on a like footing and
leaving each to support its own religious establish-
ments from the funds of its own people. They
believed that these measures would remove from
the public arena causes of strife and heartburning,
and would bring about solid prosperity and internal
peace. The battle was fought vigorously. "The
most determined efforts were put forth for the final
but just settlement of all those vexed questions by
which religious sects were arrayed against each
other. Clergymen were dragged as combatants into
the political arena, religion was brought into con-
tempt, and opportunity presented to our French-
Canadian friends to rule us through our own dis-
sensions." Clergy reserves, sectarian schools, the use
of the public funds for sectarian purposes, were
assailed. "On these and many similar questions, we
were met by the French-Canadian phalanx in hostile
array; our whole policy was denounced in language
of the strongest character, and the men who upheld
it were assailed as the basest of mankind. We, on
our part, were not slow in returning blow for blow,
and feelings were excited among the Catholics from
Upper Canada that estranged the great bulk of
them from our ranks." The agitation was carried
on, however, until the grievances of which the Re-
formers complained were removed by the Act of
Confederation. Under that Act the people of Ontario
126

THE FOE OF CLERICALISM

enjoy representation according to population; they
have entire control over their own local affairs ; and
the last remnant of the sectarian warfare — the
separate school question — was settled forever by a
compromise that was accepted as final by all parties
concerned.

In this letter Mr. Brown said that he was not
seeking to cloak over past feuds or apologize for
past occurrences. He gloried in the justice and
soundness of the principles and measures for which
he and his party had contended, and he was proud
of the results of the conflict. He asked Catholics to
read calmly the page of history he had unfolded.
"Let them blaze away at George Brown afterwards
as vigorously as they please, but let not their old
feuds with him close their eyes to the interests of
their country, and their own interests as a powerful
section of the body politic."

The censure applied to those who wantonly draw
sectarian questions into politics, and set Catholic
against Protestant, is just. But it does not attach to
those who attack the privileges of any Church, and
who, when the Church steps into the political arena,
strike at it with political weapons. This was Brown's
position. He was the sworn foe of clericaUsm. He
had no affinity with the demagogues and pro-
fessional agitators who make a business of attacking
the Roman Catholic Church, nor with those whose
souls are filled with vague alarms of papal suprem-
acy, and who beUeve stories of Catholics drilling

127

GEORGE BROWN

in churches to fight their Protestant neighbours.
He fought against real tyranny, for the removal of
real grievances. When he believed that he had
found in confederation the real remedy, he was
satisfied, and he did not keep up an agitation merely
for agitation's sake. It is not necessary to attempt
to justify every word that may have been struck
off in the heat of a great conflict. There was a*
battle to be fought; he fought with all the energy
of his nature, and with the weapons that lay at
hand. He would have shared Hotspur's contempt
for the fop who vowed that "but for these vile guns
he would himself have been a soldier."

128

CHAPTER XIII
MOVING TOWARDS CONFEDERATION

TO whom is due the confederation of the British
North American provinces is a long vexed
question. The Hon. D'Arcy McGee, in his speech
on confederation, gave credit to Mr. Uniacke, a
leading politician of Nova Scotia, who in 1800 sub-
mitted a scheme of colonial union to the imperial
authorities ; to Chief-Justice Sewell, to Sir John
Beverley Robinson, to Lord Durham, to Mr. P. S.
Hamilton, a Nova Scotia writer, and to Mr. Alex-
ander Morris, then member for South Lanark, who
had advocated the project in a pamphlet entitled
Nova Britannia. " But," he added, " whatever the
private writer in his closet may have conceived,
whatever even the individual statesman may have
designed, so long as the public mind was uninter-
ested in the adoption, even in the discussion of a
change in our position so momentous as this, the
union of these separate provinces, the individual
laboured in vain — perhaps, not wholly in vain, for
although his work may not have borne fruit then,
it was kindling a fire that would ultimately light
up the whole political horizon and herald the dawn
of a better day for our country and our people.
Events stronger than advocacy, events stronger

129

GEORGE BROWN

than men, have come in at last Hke the fire behind
the invisible writing, to bring out the truth of these
writings and to impress them upon the mind of
every thoughtful man who has considered the posi-
tion and probable future of these scattered pro-
vinces." Following Mr. McGee's suggestion, let us
try to deal with the question from the time that it
ceased to be speculative and became practical, and
especially to trace its development in the mind of
one man.

In the later fifties Mr. Brown was pursuing a
course which led almost with certainty to the goal
of confederation. The people of Upper Canada
were steadily coming over to his belief that they
were suffering injustice under the union ; that they
paid more than their share of the taxes, and yet
that Lower Canadian influence was dominant in
legislation and in the formation of ministries.
Brown's tremendous agitation convinced them that
the situation was intolerable. But it was long before
the true remedy was perceived. flThe French-Cana-
dians would not agree to Brown's remedy of repre-
sentation by population. ; Brown opposed as reac-
tionary the proposal that the union should be dis-
solved. ; He desired not to go back to the day of
small things — on the contrary, even at this early
day, he was advocating the union of the western
territories with Canada. Nor was he at first in favour
of the federal principle. In 1853, in a formal state-
ment of its programme, the Globe advocated uniform
130

LETTER TO HOLTON

legislation for the two provinces, and a Reform
convention held at Toronto in 1857 recommended
the same measure, together with representation by
population and the addition of the North-West
Territories to Canada./

In January, 1858, Brown wrote to his friend, \y

Luther Holton, in a manner which showed an open
mind : " No honest man can desire that we should V^
remain as we are, and what other way out of our
difficulties can be suggested but a general legisla-
tive union, with representation by population, a
federal union, or a dissolution of the present union.
I am sure that a dissolution cry would be as ruinous
to any party as (in my opinion) it would be wrong.
(a federal union, it appears to me, cannot be enter-
tained for Canada alone, but when agitated must
include all British America. We will be past caring
for politics when that measure is finally achieved.
What powers should be given to the provincial
legislatures, and what to the federal ? Would you
abolish county councils ? And yet, if you did not,
what would the local parliaments have to control ?
Would Montreal like to be put under the generous
rule of the Quebec politicians ? Our friends here
are prepared to consider dispassionately any scheme
that may issue from your party in I^ower Canada.
They all feel keenly that something must be done.
Their plan is representation by population, and a
fair trial for the present union in its integrity ; fail-
ing this, they are prepared to go for dissolution, I

131

GEORGE BROWN

believe, but if you can suggest a federal or any
other scheme that could be worked, it will have
our most anxious examination. Can you sketch a
plan of federation such as our friends below would
agree to and could carry ? "

(Probably Dorion and other Lower Canadians
had a part in converting Brown to federation. Lin
1856 Dorion had moved a resolution favouring the
confederation of the two Canadas. In August, 1858,
Brown and Dorion undertook to form a government
pledged to the settlement of the question that had
arisen between Upper and Lower Canada. Dorion
says it was agreed by the Brown-Dorion govern-
ment "that the constitutional question should be
taken up and settled, either by a confederation of
the two provinces, or by representation according
to population, with such checks and guarantees as
would secure the rehgious faith, the laws, the lan-
guage, and the peculiar institutions of each section
of the country from encroachments on the part of
the other."

At the same time an effort in the same direction
was made by the Conservative party. A. T. Gait,
in the session of 1858, advocated the federal union
of all the British North American provinces. He
declared that unless a union were effected, the pro-
vinces would inevitably drift into the United States.
He proposed that questions relating to education
and likely to arouse religious dissension, ought to
be left to the provinces. The resolutions moved by
132

I

STEPS TO FEDERATION

Mr. Gait in 1858 give him a high place among the
promoters of confederation. Gait was asked by Sir
Edmund Head to form an administration on the
resignation of the Brown government. Gait refused,
but when he subsequently entered the Cartier
government it was on condition that the promotion
of federal union should be embodied in the policy
of the government. Cartier, Ross and Gait visited
England in fulfilment of this promise, and described
he serious difficulties that had arisen in Canada,
he movement failed because the co-operation of
the Maritime Provinces could not be obtained.

In the autumn of 1859 two important steps lead-
ing towards federation were taken. In October the
Lower Canadian members of the Opposition met in
Montreal and declared for a federal union of the
Canadas. They went so far as to specify the subjects
of federal and local jurisdiction, allowing to the
central authority the customs tariff, the post-office,
patents and copyrights, and the currency ; and to the
local legislatures education, the laws of property,
the administration of justice, and the control of
the militia. In September a meeting of the Liberal ft
members of both Houses was held at Toronto, and
a circular calling a convention of Upper Canadian
Reformers was issued. It declared that " the finan-
cial and political evils of the provinces have reached
such a point as to demand a thorough reconsidera-
tion of the relations between Upper and Lower
Canada, and the adoption of constitutional changes

133

GEORGE BROWN

framed to remedy the great abuses that have arisen
under the present system " ; that the nature of the
changes had been discussed, but that it was felt that
before coming to a conclusion " the whole Liberal
party throughout Upper Canada should be con-
sulted." The discussion would be free and unfetter-
ed. " Supporters of the Opposition advocating a
written constitution or a dissolution of the union —
or a federal union of all the British North American
provinces — or a federal system for Canada alone —
or any other plan calculated, in their opinion, to
meet the existing evils — are all equally welcome to
the convention. The one sole object is to discuss
the whole subject with candour and without pre-
judice, that the best remedy may be found." Then
came an account of the grievances for which a
remedy was sought : " The position of Upper Can-
ada at this moment is truly anomalous and alarm-
ing. With a population much more numerous than
that of Lower Canada, and contributing to the
general revenue a much larger share of taxation
than the sister province. Upper Canada finds herself
without power in the administration of the affairs
of the union. With a constitution professedly based
on the principle that the will of the majority should
prevail, a minority of the people of Upper Canada,
by combination with the Lower Canada majority,
are enabled to rule the upper province in direct
hostility to the popular will. Extravagant expendi-
tures and hurtful legislative measures are forced on
134

THE CONVENTION OF 1859

us in defiance of the protests of large majorities of
the representatives of the people ; the most needful
reforms are denied, and offices of honour and emolu-
ment are conferred on persons destitute of popular
sympathy, and without qualification beyond that
of unhesitating subserviency to the men who mis-
govern the country."

The convention of nearly six hundred delegates
gave evidence of a genuine, popular movement for
constitutional changes. Though it was composed of
members of only one party, its discussions were of
general interest, and were upon a high level of
intelligence and public spirit. The convention was
divided between dissolution and federal union.
Federation first got the ear of the meeting. Free
access to the sea by the St. Lawrence, free trade
between Upper and Lower Canada, were urged as
reasons for continuing the union. Oliver Mowat
made a closely reasoned speech on the same side.
Representation by population alone would not be
accepted by Lower Canada. Dissolution was im-
practicable and could not, at best, be obtained with-
out long agitation. Federation would give all the
advantages of dissolution without its difficulties.

Mowat's speech was received with much favour,
and the current had set strongly for federation when
George Sheppard arose as the chief advocate of dis-
solution. Sheppard had been an editorial writer on
the Colonist, had been attracted by Brown and his
policy and had joined the staff of the Globe. His

135

•^-1

GEORGE BROWN

main argument was that the central government
under federation would be a costly and elaborate
affair, and would ultimately overshadow the govern-
ments of the provinces. There would be a central
parliament, a viceroy with all the expense of a
court. "A federal government without federal
dignity would be all moonshine." There was an in-
herent tendency in central bodies to acquire in-
creased power. In the United States a federal party
had advocated a strong central government, and
excuses were always being sought to add to its
glory and influence. On the other side was a demo-
cratic party, championing State rights. "In Canada,
too, we may expect to see federation followed by
the rise of two parties, one fighting for a strong
central government, the other, like Mr. Brown, con-
tending for State rights, local conjtrol, and the
limited authority of the central power;" One of the
arguments for federation was that it provided for
bringing in the North- West Territory. That implied
an expensive federal government for the purpose of
organizing the new territory, building its roads, etc.
*' Is this federation," he asked, " proposed as a step
towards nationality ? If so, I am with you. Federa-
tion implies nationality. For colonial purposes only
it would be a needless incumbrance."

This speech, with its accurate forecast of the
growth of the central power, produced such an im-
pression that the federalists amended their resolu-
tion, and proposed, instead of a general government,
136

BROWN'S SPEECH

" some joint authority " for federal purposes. This
concession was made by WilHam Macdougall, one
of the secretaries and chief figures of the conven-
tion, who said that he had been much impressed by
Sheppard's eloquence and logic. The creation of a
powerful, elaborate and expensive central govern-
ment such as now exists did not form part of the
plans of the Liberals either in Upper or I^ower
Canada at that time.

k Brown, who spoke towards the close of the
convention, declared that he had no morbid fear
of dissolution of the union, but preferred the
plan of federation, as giving Upper Canada the
advantage of free trade with Lower Canada and
the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. /One of
his most forcible passages was an answer to Shep-
pard's question whether the federation was a step
towards nationality. "I do place the question
on grounds of nationality. I do hope there is not
one Canadian in this assembly who does not look
forward with high hope to the day when these
northern countries shall stand out among the nations
of the world as one great confederation. What true
Canadian can witness the tide of emigration now
commencing to flow into the vast territories of the
North- West without longing to have a share in the
first settlement of that great, fertile country ? Who
does not feel that to us rightfully belong the right
and the duty of carrying the blessings of civilization
throughout those boundless regions, and making

137

GEORGE BROWN

our own country the highway of traffic to the
Pacific ? But is it necessary that all this should be
accomplished at once ? Is it not true wisdom to
commence federation with our own country, and
leave it open to extension hereafter if time and ex-
perience shall prove it desirable ? And shall we not
then have better control over the terms of federa-
tion than if all were made parties to the original
compact, and how can there be the slightest ques-
tion with one who longs for such a nationality be-
tween dissolution and the scheme of the day? Is it
not clear that the former would be the death blow
to the hope of future union, while the latter will
readily furnish the machinery for a great federa-
tion?"^}'

The resolutions adopted by the convention de-
clared that the legislative union, because of anta-
gonisms developed through differences of origin,
local interests, and other causes, could no longer be
maintained ; that the plan known as the " double
majority" did not afford a permanent remedy ; that
a federal union of all the British North American
colonies was out of the range of remedies for pre-
sent evils ; that the principle of representation by
population must be recognized in any new union,
and that "the best practical remedy for the evils
now encountered in the government of Canada is
to be found in the formation of two or more local
governments, to which shall be committed the con-
trol of all matters of a local or sectional character,
138

ILLNESS AND RETIREMENT

and some joint authority charged with such mat-
ters as are necessarily common to both sections of
the province."
' The hopes that had been aroused by this conven-

^ tion were disappointed, or rather deferred. When
Brown, in the following session of the legislature,
brought forward resolutions in the sense of those
adopted by the convention, he found coldness and
dissension in his own party, and the resolutions

\/Were defeated by a large majority.) Subsequently
Mr. Brown had a long illness, retired from the
leadership, and spent some time in England and
Scotland. In his absence the movement for consti-
tutional change was stayed. But " events stronger
than advocacy," in JNIr. McGee's words, were oper-
ating. Power oscillated between the Conservative
and Reform parties, and two general elections, held
within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty.
When federation was next proposed, it had become
a political necessity.

189

CHAPTER XIV

LAST YEARS OF THE UNION

IN 1860, Mr. Brown contemplated retiring from
the leadership of the party. In a letter to Mr.
Mowat, he said that the enemies of reform were
playing the game of exciting personal hostility
against himself, and reviving feeUngs inspired by
the fierce contests of the past. It might be well
to appoint a leader who would arouse less personal
hostility. A few months later he had a long and
severe illness, which prevented him from taking his
place in the legislature during the session of 1861
and from displaying his usual activity in the
general election of the summer of that year. He
did, however, accept the hard task of contesting
East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr. John
Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-
one. Mr. Brown then announced that the defeat had
opened up the way for his retirement without dis-
honour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some
public advantages, he said, might flow from that
decision. Those whose interest it was that mis-
government should continue, would no longer be
able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Ad-
mitting that he had used strong language in de-
nouncing French domination, he justified his course

141

GEORGE BROWN

as the only remedy for the evil. In 1852 he could
hardly find a seconder for his motion in favour of
representation by population ; in the election just
closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper
Canada, elected to stand or fall by that measure.
He had fought a ten years' battle without faltering.
He advocated opposition to any ministry of either
party that would refuse to settle the question.

The Conservative government was defeated, in the
session following the election, on a militia bill pro-
viding for the maintenance of a force of fifty thou-
sand men at a cost of about one million dollars. The
American Civil War was in progress ; the Trent affair
had assumed a threatening appearance and it was
deemed necessary to place the province in a state of
defence. The bill was defeated by the defection of
some French- Canadian supporters of the govern-
ment. The event caused much disappointment in
England ; and from this time forth, continual pres-
sure from that quarter in regard to defence was one
of the forces tending towards confederation.

John Sandfield Macdonald, who was somewhat
unexpectedly called upon to form a ministry, was an
enthusiastic advocate of the *' double majority," by
which he believed the union could be virtually
federalized without formal constitutional change.
Upper Canadian ministers were to transact Upper
Canadian business, and so with Lower Canada, the
administration, as a whole, managing affairs of com-
mon interest. Local legislation was not to be forced
142

■NJ

BROWN TO HOLTON

on either province against the wish of the represen-
tatives. The administration for each section should
possess the confidence of a majority of represen-
tatives from that section.

{ Brown strongly opposed the "double majority"
plan, which he regarded as a mere makeshift for re-
form in the representation, and he was in some doubt
whether he should support or oppose the I^iberal
ministers who offered for re-election. He finally de-
cided, after consultation with his brother Gordon,
"to permit them to go in unopposed, and hold them
up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur."
In July 1862, Mr. Brown sailed for Great Britain,
and in September he wrote Mr. Holton that he had
had a most satisfactory interview with the Duke of
Newcastle at the latter 's request. They seem to have
talked freely about Canadian politics. " His scruples
about representation are entirely gone. It would
have done even Sandfield [Macdonald] good to hear
his ideas on the absurdity of the * double majority.'
Whatever small politicians and the London Ti?}ies
may say, you may depend upon this, that the gov-
ernment and the leaders of the Opposition perfectly
understand our position, and have no thought of
changing the relations between Canada and the
mother country. On the contrary, the members of
the government, with the exception of Gladstone,
are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand
transit route across the continent." He remarked
upon the bitterness of the British feeling against the

143

GEORGE BROWN

United States, and said that he was perplexed by
the course of the London Times in pandering to
the passions of the people.

The most important event of his visit to Scotland
was yet to come. On November 27th he married
Miss Anne Nelson, daughter of the well-known pub-
lisher, Thomas Nelson — a marriage which was the
beginning of a most happy domestic life of eighteen
years. This lady survived him until May, 1906. On
his return to Canada with his bride, Mr. Brown was
met at Toronto station by several thousand friends.
In reply to a complimentary address, he said, " I
have come back with strength invigorated, with
new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with the most
earnest desire to aid in advancing the prosperity
and happiness of Canada."

It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte gov-
ernment had shelved the question of representation
by population and had committed itself to the de-
vice of the "double majority." During Mr. Brown's
absence another movement, which he had strongly
resisted, had been gaining ground. In 1860, 1861,
and 1862, Mr. R. W. Scott, of Ottawa, had intro-
duced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman
Catholic separate school system of Upper Canada.
In 1863, he succeeded, by accepting certain modi-
fications, in obtaining the support of Dr. Ryerson,
superintendent of education. Another important
advantage was that his bill was adopted as a govern-
ment measure by the Sandfield Macdonald ministry.
144

SEPARATE SCHOOL BILL

The bill became law in spite of the fact that it was
opposed by a majority of the representatives from
Upper Canada. This was in direct contravention of
the '* double majority" resolutions adopted by the
legislature at the instance of the government. The
premier had declared that there should be a truce
to the agitation for representation by population or
for other constitutional changes. That agitation had
been based upon the complaint that legislation was
being forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Cana-
dian votes. The "double majority" resolutions had
been proposed as a substitute for constitutional
change. In the case of the Separate School Bill they
were disregarded, and the premier was severely
criticized for allowing his favourite principle to be
contravened.

Mr. Brown had been absent in the sessions of
1861 and 1862, and he did not enter the House in
1863 until the Separate School Bill had passed its
second reading. In the Globe, however, it was as-
sailed vigorously, one ground being that the bill
was not a finality, but that the Roman Catholic
Church would continually make new demands and
encroachments, until the public school system was
destroyed. On this question of finality there was
much controversy. Dr. Ryerson always insisted
that there was an express agreement that it was to
be final; on the Roman Catholic side this is denied.
At confederation Brown accepted the Act of 1863
as a final settlement. He said that if he had been

145

GEORGE BROWN

present in 1863, he would have voted against the
bill, because it extended the facility for establishing
separate schools. " It had, however, this good feature,
that it was accepted by the Roman Catholic authori-
ties, and carried through parliament as a final com-
promise of the question in Upper Canada." He
added: "I have not the slightest hesitation in ac-
cepting it as a necessary condition of the union.'*
With confederation, therefore, we may regard
Brown's opposition to separate schools in Upper
Canada as ended. In accepting the terms of con-
federation, he accepted the Separate School Act
of 1863, though with the condition that it should
be final, a condition repudiated on the Roman
Catholic side.

The Sandfield Macdonald government was weak-
ened by this incident, and it soon afterwards fell
upon a general vote of want of confidence moved
by Mr. John A. Macdonald. Parliament was dis-
solved and an election was held in the summer of
1863. The Macdonald-Dorion government obtained
a majority in Upper but not in Lower Canada, and
on the whole, its tenure of power was precarious in
the extreme. Finally, in March, 1864, it resigned
without waiting for a vote of want of confidence.
Its successor, the Tache-Macdonald government,
had a Hfe of only three months, and its death marks
the birth of a new era.

146

CHAPTER XV

CONFEDERATION

" X7^ VENTS stronger than advocacy, events stron-
-L^ ger than men," to repeat D'Arcy McGee's
phrase, combined in 1864 to remove confederation
from the field of speculation to the field of action.
For several years the British government had been
urging upon Canada the necessity for undertaking
a greater share of her own defence. This view was
expressed with disagreeable candour in the London
Times and elsewhere on the occasion of the defeat
of the Militia Bill of 1862. The American Civil
War emphasized the necessity for measures of de-
fence. At the time of the Trent seizure. Great
Britain and the United States were on the verge of
war, of which Canada would have been the battle-
ground. As the war progressed, the world was as-
tonished by the development of the military power
of the republic. It seemed not improbable, at that
time, that when the success of the North was
assured, its great armies would be used for the sub-
jugation of Canada. The North had come to regard
Canada as a home of Southern sympathizers and a
place in which conspiracies against the republic
were hatched by Southerners. Though Canada was
not to blame for the use that was made of its soil,

147

GEORGE BROWN

yet some ill-feeling was aroused, and public men
were warranted in regarding the peril as real.

Canada was also about to lose a large part of its
trade. For ten years that trade had been built up
largely on the basis of reciprocity with the United
States, and the war had largely increased the
American demand for Canadian products. It was
generally expected, and that expectation was ful-
filled, that the treaty would be abrogated by the
United States. It was feared that the policy of
commercial non-intercourse would be carried even
farther, the bonding system abolished, and Canada
cut off from access to the seaboard during the
winter.^

If we add to these difficulties the domestic dis-
sensions of Canada, we must recognize that the
outlook was dark. Canada was then a fringe of
settlement, extending from the Detroit River to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, having no independent
access to the Atlantic except during the summer.
She had been depending largely upon Great Britain
for defence, and upon the United States for trade.
She had received warning that both these supports
were to be weakened, and that she must rely more
on her own resources, find new channels of trade
and new means of defence. The country lay in the
midst of the continent, isolated from the west, iso-

^ Sir Richard Cartwright says also that the credit of Canada was
very low, largely because of the troubles of the Grand Trunk Railway
Company. Memories of Confederation, p. 3.

148

A DRAWN BATTLE

lated in part from the east, with a powerful and not
too friendly neighbour to the south. Upper and
Lower Canada, with their racial differences as
sharply defined as in the days of Lord Durham, re-
garded each other with distrust ; one political com-
bination after another had failed to obtain a work-
ing majority of the legislature, and domestic govern-
ment was paralyzed. Such a combination of danger
and difficulty, within and without, might well arouse
alarm, rebuke faction and stimulate patriotism.

The election of 1863 was virtually a drawn
battle. The Reformers had a large majority in Up-
per Canada, their opponents a like majority in
Lower Canada, and thus not only the two parties,
but the two provinces, were arrayed against each
other. The Reform government, headed by Sand-
field Macdonald and Dorion, found its position
of weakness and humiliation intolerable, and re-
signed in March, 1864. The troubled governor-
general called upon A. T. Fergusson Blair, a col-
league of Sandfield Macdonald, to form a new ad-
ministration. He failed. He called upon Cartier
with a like result. He finally had a little better
success with Sir E. P. Tache, a veteran who had
been a colleague of Baldwin, of Hincks, and of
Macdonald. Tache virtually restored the Cartier-
Macdonald government, taking in Foley and Mc-
Gee from the other side. In less than three months,
on June 14th, this government was defeated, and
on the very day of its defeat rehef came. Letters

149

GEORGE BROWN

written by Brown to his family during the month
preceding the crisis throw some hght on the situa-
tion.

On May 13th he writes : " Things here are very
unsatisfactory ; no one sees his way out of the mess
— and there is no way but my way — representation
by population. There is great talk to-day of coali-
tion — and what do you think ? Why, that in order
to make the coalition successful, the imperial
government are to offer me the government of one
of the British colonies. I have been gravely asked
to-day by several if it is true, and whether I would
accept. My reply was, I would rather be proprietor
of the Globe newspaper for a few years than be
governor-general of Canada, much less a trumpery
little province. But T need hardly tell you, the
thing has no foundation, beyond sounding what
could be done to put me out of the way and let
mischief go on. But we won't be bought at any
price, shall we ? " On May 18th he writes that he
has brought on his motion for constitutional changes,
and on May 20th that it has carried and taken Car-
tier and Macdonald by surprise. " Much that is
directly practical may not flow from the committee,
but it is an enormous gain to have the acknowledg-
ment on our journals that a great evil exists, and
that some remedy must be found."

On June 14th Mr. Brown, as chairman of a com-
mittee appointed to consider the difficulties con-
nected with the government of Canada, brought in
150

DEAD-LOCK

a report recommending "a federative system, applied
either to Canada alone, or to the whole British
North American provinces.'! This was the day on
which the Tache government was defeated. On the
subject of the negotiations which followed between
Mr. Brown and the government, there is a differ-
ence between the account given by Sir John Mac-
donald in the House, and accepted by all parties as
official, and a letter written by Mr. Brown to a
member of his family. The official account repre-
sents the first movement as coming from Mr. Brown,
the letter says that the suggestion came from the
governor-general. It would seem likely that the
idea moved gradually from informal conversations
to formal propositions. The governor had proposed
a coalition on the defeat of the Macdonald-Dorion
government, and he repeated the suggestion on the
defeat of the Tache-Macdonald government; but
his official memorandum contains no reference to
constitutional changes. It would seem that there
was a great deal of talk of coalition in the air before
Brown made his proposals, and perhaps some talk
of offisring him an appointment that would remove
him from public life. But the Conservative minis-
ters were apparently thinking merely of a coalition
that would break the dead-lock, and enable the or-
dinary business of the country to proceed. Brown's
idea was to find a permanent remedy in the form of
a change in the constitution. When he made his
proposal to co-operate with his opponents for the

151

GEORGE BROWN

purpose of settling the diflficulties between Upper
and Lower Canada, his proposal fell upon minds
familiarized with the idea of coalition, and hence
its ready acceptance. On his part, Mr. Brown was
ready to abate certain party advantages in order
to bring about constitutional reform. Mr. Ferrier,
in the debate on confederation, says that it was he
who suggested that the proposal made by Mr.
Brown to Mr. Pope and Mr. Morris should be com-
municated to the government. Ferrier gives a lively
account of the current gossip as to the meeting be-
tween Brown and the ministers. " I think I can
remember this being said, that when Mr. Gait met
Mr. Brown he received him with that manly, open
frankness which characterizes him ; that when Mr.
Cartier met Mr. Brown, he looked carefully to see
that his two Rouge friends were not behind him,
and that when he was satisfied they were not, he
embraced him with open arms and swore eternal
friendship ; and that Mr. INIacdonald, at a very
quick glance, saw there was an opportunity of form-
ing a great and powerful dependency of the British
empire. . . . We all thought, in fact, that a political
millennium had arrived."

In a family letter written at this time Mr.
Brown said : *' June 18th, past one in the morning.
We have had great times since I WTote you. On
Tuesday we defeated the government by a majority
of two. They asked the governor-general to dissolve
parliament, and he consented ; but before acting on
152

AN AMUSING INCIDENT

it, at the governor's suggestion, they apphed to me
to aid them in reconstructing the government, on
the basis of settUng the constitutional difficulties /
between Upper and Lower Canada. I refused to ^
accept office, but agreed to help them earnestly and
sincerely in the matter they proposed. Negotiations
were thereupon commenced, and are still going on,
with considerable hope of finding a satisfactory
solution to our trouble. The facts were announced
in the House to-day by John A. Macdonald, amid
tremendous cheering from both sides of the House.
You never saw such a scene ; but you will have it
all in the papers, so I need not repeat. Both sides
are extremely urgent that I should accept a place
in the government, if it were only for a week ; but
I will not do this unless it is absolutely needed to
the success of the negotiations. A more agreeable
proposal is that I should go to England to arrange
the new constitution with the imperial government.
But as the whole thing may fail, we will not count
our chickens just yet."

Sir Richard Cartwright, then a young member
of parliament, relates an incident illustrating the
tension on men's minds at that time. He says :
" On that memorable afternoon when Mr. Brown,
not without emotion, made his statement to a
hushed and expectant House, and declared that he
was about to ally himself with Sir Georges Cartier
and his friends for the purpose of carrying out
confederation, I saw an excitable, elderly little

153

GEORGE BROWN

French member rush across the floor, climb up on
Mr. Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature
approaching the gigantic, fling his arms about his
neck and hang several seconds there suspended, to
the visible consternation of Mr. Brown and to the
infinite joy of all beholders, pit, box and gallery
included."^ j

The official account given by Mr. Macdonald in
the House, is that immediately after the defeat of
the government on Tuesday night (the 14th), and
on the following morning, Mr. Brown spoke to
several supporters of the administration, strongly
urging that the present crisis should be utilized in
settUng forever the constitutional difficulties be-
tween Upper and Lower Canada, and assuring
them that he was ready to co-operate with the ex-
isting or any other administration that would deal
with the question promptly and firmly, with a view
to its final settlement. Mr. Morris and Mr. Pope,
to whom the suggestion was made, obtained leave
to communicate it to Mr. John A. Macdonald and
Mr. Gait. On June 17th Mr. Macdonald and Mr.
Gait called upon Mr. Brown. In the conversation
that ensued Mr. Brown expressed his extreme re-
luctance to entering the ministry, declaring that the
public mind would be shocked by such an arrange-
ment. The personal question being dropped for the
time, Mr. Brown asked what remedy was proposed.

1 Memories of Confederation. An address delivered before the Cana-
dian Club of Ottawa, January 20th, 1906.

154

CONFLICTING VIEWS

Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Gait replied that their
remedy was a federal union of all the British North
American provinces. Mr. Brown said that this would
not be acceptable to Upper Canada. The federation
of all the provinces ought to come and would come
in time, but it had not yet been thoroughly con-
sidered by the people ; and even were this other-
wise, there were so many parties to be consulted
that its adoption was uncertain and remote. He ex-
pressed his preference for parliamentary reform,
based on population. On further discussion it ap-
peared that a compromise might be found in an
alternative plan, a federal union of all the British
North American provinces or a federal union of
Upper and Lower Canada, with provision for the
admission of the Maritime Provinces and the North-
West Territory when they desired. There was ap-
parently a difference of opinion as to which alterna-
tive should be presented first. One memorandum
reduced to writing gave the preference to the larger
federation; the second and final memorandum con-
tained this agreement : *' The government are pre-
pared to pledge themselves to bring in a measure
next session for the purpose of removing existing
difficulties by introducing the federal principle into
Canada, coupled with such provisions as will permit
the Maritime Provinces and the North- West Terri-
tory to be incorporated into the same system of
government. And the government will, by sending
representatives to the Lower Provinces and to Eng-

155

GEORGE BROWN

land, use its best endeavours to secure the assent of
those interests which are beyond the control of our
own legislation to such a measure as may enable all
British North America to be united under a general
legislature based upon the federal principle."

It was Mr. Brown who insisted on this mode of
presentation. At the convention of 1859 he had ex-
pressed in the strongest language his hope for the
creation of a great Canadian nationality ; and he had
for years advocated the inclusion of the North-
West Territories in a greater Canada. But he re-
garded the settlement of the difficulties of Upper
and Lower Canada as the most pressing question of
the hour, and he did not desire that the solution of
this question should be delayed or imperilled. Gait's
plan of federation, comprehensive and admirable as
it was, had failed because the assent of the Maritime
Provinces could not be secured ; and for five years
afterwards no progress had been made. It was natu-
ral that Brown should be anxiously desirous that
the plan for the reform of the union of the Canadas
should not fail, whatever else might happen.

On June 21st, Mr. Brown called a meeting of
the members of the Opposition for Upper Canada.
It was resolved, on motion of Mr. Hope Mackenzie,
"that we approve of the course which has been
pursued by Mr. Brown in the negotiations with the
government, and that we approve of the project of
a federal union of the Canadas, with provision for
the inclusion of the Maritime Provinces and the
156

THE GOVERNOR INTERVENES

North-West Territory, as one basis on which the
constitutional difficulties now existing could be set-
• tled." Thirty-four members voted for this motion,
five declining to vote. A motion that three mem-
bers of the Opposition should enter the government
was not so generally supported, eleven members,
including Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat,
voting in the negative. The Lower Canadian Re-
formers held aloof, and in the subsequent debate in
the legislature, strongly opposed confederation.

There were many evidences of the keen interest
taken by the governor-general (Monk) in the nego-
tiations. On June 21st he wrote to Mr. Brown : *' I
think the success or failure of the negotiations
which have been going on for some days, with a
view to the formation of a strong government on a
broad basis, depends very much on your consenting
to come into the cabinet.

"Under these circumstances I must again take
the liberty of pressing upon you, by this note, my
opinion of the grave responsibility which you will
take upon yourself if you refuse to do so.

"Those who have hitherto opposed your views
have consented to join with you in good faith for
the purpose of extricating the province from what
appears to me a very dangerous position.

"They have frankly offered to take up and endea-
vour to settle on principles satisfactory to all, the
great constitutional question which you, by your
energy and ability, have made your own.

157

GEORGE BROWN

" The details of that settlement must necessarily
be the subject of grave debate in the cabinet, and I
confess I cannot see how you are to take part in
that discussion, or how your opinions can be brought
to bear on the arrangement of the question, unless
you occupy a place at the council table.

" I hope I may, without impropriety, ask you to
take these opinions into consideration before you
arrive at a final decision as to your own course."
' Mr. Brown wrote home that he, in consenting to
enter the cabinet, was influenced by the vote of the
Reform members, by private letters from many
quarters, and still more by the extreme urgency of
the governor-general. " The thing that finally de-
termined me was the fact, ascertained by Mowat
and myself, that unless we went in the whole effort
for constitutional changes would break down, and
the enormous advantages gained by our negotiations
probably be lost. Finally, at three o'clock yester-
day, I consented to enter the cabinet as 'president
of the council,' with other two seats in the cabinet
at my disposal — one of which Mowat will take, and
probably Macdougall the other. We consented with
great reluctance, but there was no help for it ; and
it was such a temptation to have possibly the power
of settling the sectional troubles of Canada forever.
The announcement was made in the House yester-
day, and the excitement all over the province is
intense. 1 send you an official copy of the proceed-
ings during the negotiations, from which you will
158

THE COALITION CABINET

see the whole story. By next mail I intend to send
you some extracts from the newspapers. The una-
nimity of sentiment is without example in this
country, and were it not that I know at their exact
value the worth of newspaper laudations, I mi^ht
be puffed up a little in my own conceit. After the
explanations by ministers I had to make a speech,
but was so excited and nervous at the events of the
last few days that I nearly broke down. However,
after a little I got over it, and made (as Mowat
alleges) the most telling speech I ever made. There
was great cheering when I sat down, and many
members from both sides crowded round me to
congratulate me. In short, the whole movement is
a grand success, and I really believe will have an
immense influence on the future destinies of
Canada."

The formation of the coalition cabinet was an- , (/
nounced on June 30th. Foley, Buchanan and Simp- ■
son, members of the Upper Canadian section of the
Tache-Macdonald ministry, retired, and their places
were taken by the Hon. George Brown, Oliver
Mowat, and William Macdougall. Otherwise the
ministry remained unchanged. Sir E. P. Tache,
though a Conservative, was acceptable to both par-
ties, and was well fitted to head a genuine coalition.
But it must have been evident from the first that
the character of a coalition would not be long main-
tained. The Reform party, which had just defeated
the government in the legislature, was represented

159

GEORGE BROWN

by only three ministers out of twelve ; and this,
4 with Macdonald's skill in managing combinations
of men, made it morally certain that the ministry
must eventually become Conservative, just as hap-
pened in the case of the coalition of 1854. Brown
had asked that the Reformers be represented by
four ministers from Upper Canada and two from
Lower Canada, which would, as nearly as possible,
have corresponded with the strength of his party in
the legislature. Gait and Macdonald represented
that a change in the personnel of the Lower Cana-
dian section of the cabinet would disturb the people
and shake their confidence. The Lower Canadian
Liberal leaders, Dorion and Holton, were adverse
to the coalition scheme, regarding it as a mere de-
vice for enabhng Macdonald and his friends to hold
office.

Mowat and Brown were re-elected without diffi-
culty, but Macdougall met with strong opposition
in North Ontario. Brown, who was working hard
in his interests, found this opposition so strong
among Conservatives that he telegraphed to Mac-
donald, who sent a strong letter on behalf of Mac-
dougall. Brown said that the opposition came chiefly
from Orangemen. The result was that Macdougall,
in spite of the assistance of the two leaders, was de-
feated by one hundred. He was subsequently elected
for North Lanark. In other bye-elections the ad-
vocates of confederation were generally successful.
In the confederation debate, Brown said there had
160

CONVENTION AT CHARLOTTETOWN

been twenty-five contests, fourteen for the Upper
House and eleven for the Lower House, and that
only one or two opponents of confederation had
been elected.

There had been for some years an intermittent
movement for the union of the Maritime Provinces,
and in 1864 their legislatures had authorized the
holding of a convention at Charlottetown. Accord-
ingly eight members of the Canadian ministry
visited Charlottetown, where they were cordially
welcomed. They dwelt on the advantage of sub-
stituting the larger for the smaller plan of union,
and the result of their representations was that
arrangements were made for the holding of a gene-
ral conference at Quebec later in the year. The
Canadian ministers made a tour through the Mari-
time Provinces, speaking in public and familiarizing
the people with the plan. At a banquet in Halifax,
""^ (Mr. Brown gave a full exposition of the project
and its advantages in regard to defence, commerce,
national strength and dignity, adding that it would
end the petty strifes of a small community, and
elevate politics and politicians.

The scheme was destined to undergo a more
severe ordeal in the Maritime Provinces than these
festive gatherings. For the present, progress was
rapid, and the maritime tour was followed by the
conference at Quebec, which opened on October
10th, 1864.

161

CHAPTER XVI

THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE

THE conference was held with closed doors, so
as to encourage free discussion. Some frag-
mentary notes have been preserved. One impression
derived from this and other records is that the
(pubhc men of that day had been much impressed
by the Civil War in the United States, by the ap-
parent weakness of the central authority there, and
by the dangers of State sovereignty. Emphasis was
laid upon the monarchic^ element oi the proposed
constitution for Canada, and upon the fact that
powers not expressly defined were to rest in the
general, instead of the local, legislatures. In fact,
Mr. Chandler, a representative of New Brunswick,
complained that the proposed union was legislative,
not federal, and reduced the local governments to
the status of municipal corporations. In practice
these residuary powers were not so formidable as
they appeared; the defined powers of the local
legislatures were highly important, and were fully
maintained, if not enlarged, as a result of the reso-
lute attitude of Ontario under the Mowat govern-
ment. But the notion that Canada must avoid the
dangers of State sovereignty is continually cropping
up in the literature of confederation. /Friends and

163

GEORGE BROWN

opponents of the new constitution made much of
these mysterious residuary powers, and the Lower
Canadian Liberals feared that they were being
drawn into a union that would destroy the liberties
and imperil the cherished institutions of the French-
Canadian people.

Another point is the extraordinary amount of
time and labour given to the constitution of the
senate. *' The conference proceedings," wrote Mr.
Brown, " get along very well, considering we were
very near broken up on the question of the dis-
tribution of members in the Upper Chamber of the
federal legislature, but fortunately, we have this
morning got the matter amicably compromised,
after a loss of three days in discussing it." During
the latter years of the union, the elective system
had prevailed in Canada, and Mowat, Macdougall
and others favoured continuing this practice, but
were overruled. Brown joined Macdonald in sup-
porting the nominative system. His reasons were
given in his speech in the legislature in 1865. He
believed that two elective chambers were incom-
patible with the British parliamentary system. The
Upper Chamber, if elected, might claim equal
power with the Lower, including power over money
bills. It might amend money bills, might reject all
legislation, and stop the machinery of government.
With a Conservative majority in one House, and a
Reform majority in the other, a dead-lock might
occur. To the objection that the change from the
164)

THE SENATE AND FINANCE

elective to the nominative system involved a di-
minution of the power of the people, Mr. Brown
answered that the government of the day would
be responsible for each appointment. It must be
admitted that this responsibility is of little practical
value, and that Mr. Brown fully shared in the
delusions of his time as to the manner in which the
senate would be constituted, and the part it would
play in the government of the country.

A rupture was threatened also on the question
of finance. A large number of local works which in
Upper Canada were paid for by local municipal
taxation, were in the Maritime Provinces provided
out of the provincial revenues. The adjustment was
a difficult matter, and finally it was found neces-
sary for the financial representatives of the different
provinces to withdraw, for the purpose of con-
structing a scheme.

On October 28th the conference was concluded,
and its resolutions substantially form the constitu-
tion of Canada. On October 31st Brown wrote:
" We got through our work at Quebec very well.
The constitution is not exactly to my mind in all
its details — but as a whole it is wonderful, really
wonderful. When one thinks of all the fighting
we have had for fifteen years, and finds the very
men who fought us every inch, now going far
beyond what we asked, I am amazed and some-
times alarmed lest it all go to pieces yet. We have
yet to pass the ordeal of public opinion in the

165

GEORGE BROWN

several provinces, and sad, indeed, will it be if the
measure is not adopted by acclamation in them all.
For Upper Canada we may well rejoice on the day
it becomes law. Nearly all our past difficulties are
ended by it, whatever new ones may arise."

A journey made by the delegates through Can-
ada after the draft was completed enabled Cana-
dians to make the acquaintance of some men of
mark in the Maritime Provinces, including Tilley,
of New Brunswick, and Tupper, of Nova Scotia,
and it evoked in Upper Canada warm expressions
of public feeling in favour of the new union. It is
estimated that eight thousand people met the dele-
gates at the railway station in Toronto. /At a dinner
given in the Music Hall in that city^ Mr. Brown
explained the new constitution fully. He frankly
confessed that he was a convert to the scheme of
the Intercolonial Railway, for the reason that it
was essential to the union between Canada and the
Maritime Provinces. The canal system was to be
extended, and as soon as the finances would permit
communication was to be opened with the North-
West Territory. " This was the first time," wrote
Mr. Brown, "that the confederation scheme was

really laid open to the public. No doubt was

right in saying that the French-Canadians were
restive about the scheme, but the feeling in favour
of it is all but unanimous here, and I think there is
a good chance of carrying it. At any rate, come
what may, I can now get out of the affair and out
166

ENGLISH SENTIMENT

of public life with honour, for I have had placed on
record a scheme that would bring to an end all the
grievances of which Upper Canada has so long
complained."

The British government gave its hearty blessing
to the confederation, and the outlook was hopeful.
(In December, 1864, Mr. Brown sailed for England,)
for the purpose of obtaining the views of the British
government. He wrote from London to Mr. Mac-
donald that the scheme had given prodigious satis-
faction. "The ministry, the Conservatives and the
Manchester men are all delighted with it, and
everything Canadian has gone up in public estima-
tion immensely. . . . Indeed, from all classes of
people you hear nothing but high praise of ' Cana-
dian statesmanship,' and loud anticipations of the
great future before us. I am much concerned to
observe, however, and I write it to you as a thing
that must seriously be considered by all men taking
a lead hereafter in Canadian public matters— that
there is a manifest desire in almost every quarter,
that ere long the British American colonies should
shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident
regret that we did not declare at once for inde-
pendence. I am very sorry to observe this, but it
arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of Canada
by the United States, and will soon pass away with
the cause that excites it. "

167

CHAPTER XVII

THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE

THE parliament of Canada assembled on Jan-
uary 19th, 1865, to consider the resolutions
of the Quebec conference. The first presentation of
the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper
Chamber by the premier, Sir E. P. Tache. He
described the measure as essential to British con-
nection, to the preservation of "our institutions,
our laws, and even our remembrances of the past."
If the opportunity were allowed to pass by un-
improved, Canada would be forced into the Ameri-
can union by violence ; or would be placed upon an
inclined plane which would carry it there insensibly.
Canada, during the winter, had no independent
means of access to the sea, but was dependent on
the favour of a neighbour which, in several ways,
had shown a hostile spirit. The people of the
Northern States had an exaggerated idea of Can-
adian sympathy with the South, and the con-
sequences of this misapprehension were — first, the
threatened abolition of the transit system ; second,
the discontinuance of reciprocity ; third, a pass-
port system, which was almost equivalent to a
prohibition of intercourse. Union with the Mari-
time Provinces would give Canada continuous

169

GEORGE BROWN

and independent access to the Atlantic; and the
Maritime Provinces would bring into the common
stock their magnificent harbours, their coal mines,
their great fishing and shipping industries. Then he
recounted the difficulties that had occurred in the
government of Canada, ending in dead-lock, and a
condition "bordering on civil strife." He declared
that Lower Canada had resisted representation by-
population under a legislative union, but that if a
federal union were obtained, it would be tantamount
to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada
would thereby preserve its autonomy, together with
all the institutions it held so dear. These were the
main arguments for confederation, and in the
speeches which followed on that side they were
repeated, enforced, and illustrated in various ways.
In the assembly, Mr. John A. Macdonald, as
attorney -general, gave a clear and concise descrip-
tion of the new constitution. He admitted that he
had preferred a legislative union, but had recognized
that such a union would not have been accepted
either by Lower Canada or the Maritime Provinces.
The union between Upper and Lower Canada,
legislative in name, had been federal in fact, there
being, by tacit consent and practice, a separate body
of legislation for each part of the province. He de-
scribed the new scheme of government as a happy
combination of the strength of a legislative union
with the freedom of a federal union, and with pro-
tection to local interests. The constitution of the
170

SPEECH ON CONFEDERATION

United States was "one of the most skilful works
which human intelligence ever created ; one of the
most perfect organizations that ever governed a free
people." Experience had shown that its main defect
was the doctrine of State sovereignty. This blemish
was avoided in the Canadian constitution by vest-
ing all residuary powers in the central government
and legislature. The Canadian system would also be
distinguished from the American by the recognition
of monarchy and of the principle of responsible
government. The connection of Canada with Great
Britain he regarded as tending towards a permanent
alliance. "The colonies are now in a transition state.
Gradually a different colonial system is being de-
veloped ; and it will become year by year less a case
of dependence on our part, and of overruling pro-
tection on the part of the mother country, and more
a case of a hearty and cordial alliance. Instead of
looking upon us as a merely dependent colony,
England will have in us a friendly nation — a sub-
ordinate, but still a powerful people — to stand by
her in North America, in peace or in war."
^/ Bro:^n spoke on the night of February 8th, his
speech, occupying four hours and a half in delivery,
showing the marks of careful preparation. He drew
an illustration from the mighty struggle that had
well-nigh rent the republic asunder, and was then
within a few weeks of its close. "We are striving,"
he said, "to settle forever issues hardly less mo-
mentous than those that have rent the neighbouring

171

GEORGE BROWN

republic and are now exposing it to all the horrors
of civil war. Have we not then great cause for
thankfulness that we have found a better way for
the solution of our troubles ? And should not every-
one of us endeavour to rise to the magnitude of
the occasion, and earnestly seek to deal with this
question to the end, in the same candid and concili-
atory spirit in which, so far, it has been discussed?"

He warned the assembly that whatever else hap-
pened, the constitution of Canada would not remain
unchanged. "Something must be done. We cannot
stand still. We cannot go back to chronic, sectional
hostility and discord — to a state of perpetual minis-
terial crisis. The events of tlie last eight months
cannot be obliterated — the solemn admissions of
men of all parties can never be erased. The claims of
Upper Canada for justice must be met, and met
now. Every one who raises his voice in hostility to
this measure is bound to keep before him, when he
speaks, all the perilous consequences of its rejection.
( No man who has a true regard for the well-being of
Canada can give a vote against this scheme unless
he is prepared to offer, in amendment, some better
remedy for the evils and injustice that have so long
threatened the peace of our country."

In the first place, he said confederation would
provide a complete remedy for the injustice of the
system of parliamentary representation, by giving
Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, the
number of members to which it was entitled by
172

SPEECH ON CONFEDERATION

population. In the senate, the principle of represen-
tation by population would not be maintained, an
equal number of senators being allotted to Ontario,
to Quebec, and to the group of Maritime Provinces,
without regard to population. Secondly, the plan
would remedy the injustice of which Upper Canada
had complained in regard to public expenditures.
"No longer shall we have to complain that one sec-
tion pays the cash while the other spends it ; here-
after they who pay will spend, and they who spend
more than they ought, will bear the brunt. If we
look back on our doings of the last fifteen years, I
think it will be acknowledged that the greatest jobs
perpetrated were of a sectional character, that our
fiercest contests were about local matters that
stirred up sectional jealousies and indignation to
their deepest depth." Confederation would end sec-
tional discord between Upper and Lower Canada.
Questions that used to excite sectional hostility
and jealousy were now removed from the common
legislature to the legislatures of the provinces. No
man need be debarred from a public career because
his opinions, popular in his own province, were un-
popular in another. Among the local questions that
had disturbed the peace of the common legislature,
he mentioned the construction of local works, the
endowment of ecclesiastical institutions, the grant-
ing of money for sectarian purposes, and interference
with school systems.

He advocated confederation because it would

173

GEORGE BROWN

convert a group of inconsiderable colonies into a
powerful union of four million people, with a rev-
enue of thirteen million dollars, a trade of one
hundred and thirty-seven million five hundred
thousand dollars, rich natural resources and im-
portant industries. Among these he dwelt at
length on the shipping of the Maritime Prov-
inces. These were the days of the wooden ship,
and Mr. Brown claimed that federated Canada
would be the third maritime power in the world.
Confederation would give a new impetus to immi-
gration and settlement. Communication with the
west would be opened up, as soon as the state of the
finances permitted. Negotiations had been carried
on with the imperial government for the addition of
the North- West Territories to Canada; and when
those fertile plains were opened for settlement, there
would be an immense addition to the products
of Canada. The establishment of free trade between
Canada and the Maritime Provinces would be some
compensation for the loss of trade with the United
States, should the reciprocity treaty be abrogated.
It would enable the country to assume a larger share
of the burden of defence. The time had come when
the people of the United Kingdom would insist on
a reconsideration of the military relations of Canada
to the empire, and that demand was just. Union
would facilitate common defence. " The Civil War
in the neighbouring republic — the possibility of war
between Great Britain and the United States; the
174

DORION OPPOSES

threatened repeal of the reciprocity treaty ; the
threatened aboHtion of the American bonding sys-
tem for goods in transit to and from these prov-
inces; the unsettled position of the Hudson's Bay
Company; the changed feeling of England as to the
relations of Canada to the parent state ; all combine
at this moment to arrest the earnest attention to the
gravity of the situation and unite us all in one vigor-^/
ous effort to meet the emergency like men."

A strong speech againsj; confederation was made
by Dorion, an old friend of Brown, a staunch Lib-
eral, and a representative French-Canadian. He
declared that he had seen no ground for changing
his opinion on two points — the substitution of an
Upper Chamber, nominated by the Crown, for an
elective body; and the construction of the Inter-
colonial Railway, which he, with other Liberals, had
always opposed. He had always admitted that re-
presentation by population was a just principle; and
in 1856 he had suggested, in the legislature, the
substitution of a federal for a legislative union
of the Canadas; or failing this, representation by
population, with such checks and guarantees as
would secure local rights and interests, and preserve
to Lower Canada its cherished institutions. When
the Brown- Dorion government was formed, he had
proposed a federation of the Canadas, but with the
distinct understanding that he would not attempt
to carry such a measure without the consent of a
majority of the people of Lower Canada. From the

175

GEORGE BROWN

document issued by the Lower Canadian Liberals
in 1859, he quoted a passage in which it was laid
down that the powers given to the central govern-
ment should be only those that were essential, and
that the local powers should be as ample as possible.
"All that belongs to matters of a purely local char-
acter, such as education, the administration of just-
ice, the militia, the laws relating to property, police,
etc., ought to be referred to the local governments,
whose powers ought generally to extend to all sub-
jects which would not be given to the general gov-
ernment." The vesting of residuary powers in the
provinces was an important difference between
this and the scheme of confederation ; but the
point most dwelt upon by Dorion was the inclu-
sion of the Maritime Provinces, which he strongly
opposed.

Dorion denied that the difficulty about represen-
tation was the source of the movement for con-
federation. He contended that the agitation for
representation by population had died out, and that
the real authors of confederation were the owners of
the Grand Trunk Railway Company, who stood to
gain by the construction of the Intercolonial. '* The
Tache-Macdonald government were defeated be-
cause the House condemned them for taking with-
out authority one hundred thousand dollars out
of the public chest for the Grand Trunk Rail-
way, at a time when there had not been a party
vote on representation by population for one or
176

DORION OPPOSES

two sessions." He declared that Macdonald had, in
Brown's committee of 1864, voted against confede-
ration, and that he and his colleagues adopted the
scheme simply to enable them to remain in office.
Dorion also criticized adversely the change in the
constitution of the Upper Chamber, from the
elective to the nominative system. The Conserva-
tive instincts of Macdonald and Cartier, he said,
led them to strengthen the power of the Crown at
the expense of the people, and this constitution was
a specimen of their handiwork. "With a governor-
general appointed by the Crown; with local gov-
ernors also appointed by the Crown ; with legislative
councils in the general legislature, and in all the
provinces, nominated by the Crown, we shall have
the most illiberal constitution ever heard of in any
government where constitutional government pre-
vails."

He objected to the power vested in the governor-
general-in-council to veto the acts of local legisla-
tures. His expectation was that a minority in the
local legislature might appeal to their party friends
at Ottawa to veto laws which they disliked, and
that thus there would be constant interference,
agitation and strife between the central and the local
authorities. He suspected that the intention was
ultimately to change the federal union to a legisla-
tive union. The scheme of confederation was being
carried without submission to the people. What
would prevent the change from a federal to a legis-

177

GEORGE BROWN

lative union from being accomplished in a similar
way? To this the people of Lower Canada would
not submit. "A million of inhabitants may seem a
small affair to the mind of a philosopher who sits
down to write out a constitution. He may think it
would be better that there should be but one relig-
ion, one language and one system of laws ; and he
goes to work to frame institutions that will bring
all to that desirable state ; but I can tell the honour-
able gentleman that the history of every country
goes to show that not even by the power of the
sword can such changes be accomplished."

With some exaggeration Mr. Dorion struck at
real faults in the scheme of confederation. The
X contention that the plan ought to have been sub-
mitted to the people is difficult to meet except
upon the plea of necessity, or the plea that the end^
justifies the means. There was assuredly no warrant
for depriving the people of the power of electing
the second chamber; and the new method, appoint-
ment by the government of the day, has been as
unsatisfactory in practice as it was unsound in
principle. The federal veto on provincial laws has
not been used to the extent that Dorion feared.
But when we consider how partisan considerations
have governed appointments to the senate, we can
scarcely say that there was no ground for the fear
that the power of disallowance would be similarly
abused. Nor can we say that Mr. Dorion was
needlessly anxious about provincial rights, when
178

PROVINCIAL RIGHTS

we remember how persistently these have been
attacked, and what strength, skill and resolution
have been required to defend them.

179

CHAPTER XVIII

THE MISSION TO ENGLAND

ANEW turn was given to the debate early in
March by the defeat of the New Brunswick
government in a general election, which meant
a defeat for confederation, and by the arrival of
news of an important debate in the House of Lords
on the defences of Canada. The situation suddenly
became critical. That part of the confederation
scheme which related to the Maritime Provinces
was in grave danger of failure. At the same time
the long-standing controversy between the imperial
and colonial authorities as to the defence of Canada
had come to a head. The two subjects were inti-
mately connected. The British government had
been led to believe that if confederation were ac-
complished, the defensive power of Canada would
be much increased, and the new union would be
ready to assume larger obligations. From this time
the tone of the debate is entirely changed. It
ceases to be a philosophic dehberation of the merits
of the new scheme. A note of urgency and anxiety
is found in the ministerial speeches ; the previous
question is moved, and the proceedings hurried to
a close, amid angry protests from the Opposition.
Mr. Brown wrote on March 5th : " We are going

181

GEORGE BROWN

to have a great scene in the House to-day. . . The
government of New Brunswick appealed to the
people on confederation by a general election, and
have got beaten. This puts a serious obstacle in the
way of our scheme, and we mean to act promptly
and decidedly upon it. At three o'clock we are to
announce the necessity of carrying the resolutions
at once, sending home a deputation to England,
and proroguing parliament without any unneces-
sary delay — say in a week."

The announcement was made to the House by
Attorney-General Macdonald, who laid much stress
on the disappointment that would be occasioned
in England by the abandonment of a scheme by
which Canadian colonies should cease to be a source
of embarrassment, and become a source of strength.
The question of confederation was intimately con-
nected with the question of defence, and that was
a question of the most imminent necessity. The
provincial government had been in continued cor-
respondence with the home government as to de-
fence "against every hostile pressure, from whatever
source it may come."

A lively debate ensued. John Sandfield Mac-
donald said that the defeat of the New Brunswick
government meant the defeat of the larger scheme of
confederation, unless it was intended that the people
should be bribed into acquiescence or bullied into
submission. " The Hon. Mr. Tilley and his follow-
ers are routed, horse and foot, by the honest people
182

THE GOVERNMENT'S INTENTIONS

of the province, scouted by those whose interests
he had betrayed, and whose behests he had neg-
lected; and I think his fate ought to be a warning to
those who adopted this scheme without authority,
and who ask the House to ratify it en bloc, with-
out seeking to obtain the sanction of the people."
Later on he charged the ministers with the in-
tention of manufacturing an entirely new bill, ob-
taining the sanction of the British government, and
forcing it on the Canadian people, as was done in
1840.

This charge was hotly resented by Brown, and
it drew from John A. Macdonald a more explicit
statement of the intentions of the government.
They would, if the legislature adopted the con-
federation resolutions, proceed to England, inform
the imperial government of what had passed
in Canada and New Brunswick, and take counsel
with that government as to the affairs of Canada,
especially in regard to defence and the reciprocity
treaty. The legislature would then be called to-
gether again forthwith, the report of the confer-
ences in England submitted, and the business re-
lating to confederation completed.

On the following day Macdonald made another
announcement, referring to a debate in the House
of Lords on February 20th, which he regarded
as of the utmost importance. A report made
by a Colonel Jervois on the defences of Canada
had been pubhshed, and the publication, exposing

183

GEORGE BROWN

the extreme weakness of Canada, was regarded as
an official indiscretion. It asserted that under the
arrangements then existing British and Canadian
forces together could not defend the colony. Lord
Lyveden brought the question up in the House of
Lords, and dwelt upon the gravity of the situation
created by the defencelessness of Canada and by
the hostility of the United States. He held that
Great Britain must do one of two things : with-
draw her troops and abandon the country alto-
gether, or defend it with the full power of the
empire. It was folly to send troops out in driblets,
and spend money in the same way. The Earl de
Grey and Ripon, replying for the government, said
that Jervois' report contained nothing that was not
previously known about the weakness of Canada.
He explained the proposed arrangement by which
the imperial government was to fortify Quebec
at a cost of two hundred thousand pounds, and
Canada would undertake the defence of Montreal
and the West.^

Commenting on a report of this discussion, Mr.
Macdonald said there had been negotiations be-
tween the two governments, and that he hoped
these would result in full provision for the defence
of Canada, both east and west. It was of the ut-
most importance that Canada should be represented

1 Hansard, House of Lords, February 20th, 1865. See also a long
and important debate in the British House of Commons, March 13th,
1866.

184

THE QUEBEC RESOLUTIONS PASSED

in England at this juncture. In order to expedite
the debate by shutting out amendments, he moved
the previous question.

Macdonald's motion provoked charges of burking
free discussion, and counter- charges of obstruction,
want of patriotism and incHnations towards an-
nexation. The debate lost its academic calm and
became acrimonious. Holton's motion for an ad-
journment, for the purpose of obtaining further
information as to the scheme, was ruled out of
order. The same fate befell Dorion's motion for an
adjournment of the debate and an appeal to the
people, on the ground that it involved fundamental
changes in the political institutions and political
relations of the province ; changes not contemplated
at the last general election,
x, (X)n March 12th the main motion adopting the
resolutions of the Quebec conference was carried
by ninety-one to thirty-three. On the following
day an amendment similar to Dorion's, for an ap-
peal to the people, was moved by the Hon. John
Hillyard Cameron, of Peel, seconded by Matthew
Crooks Cameron, of North Ontario. Undoubtedly
the argument for submission to the people was
strong, and was hardly met by Brown's vigorous
speech in reply. But the overwhelming opinion of
the House was against delay, and on March 13th
the discussion came to an end.

The prospects for the inclusion of the Maritime
Provinces were now poor. Newfoundland and

185

GEORGE BROWN

Prince Edward Island withdrew. A strong feeling
against confederation was arising in Nova Scotia,
and it was proposed there to return to the original
idea of a separate maritime union. It was decided
to ask the aid of the British government in over-
coming the hesitation of the Maritime Provinces.
The British authorities were pressing Canada to
assume increased obligations as to defence. Defence
depended on confederation, and England, by exer-
cising some friendly pressure on New Brunswick,
might promote both objects.

( The committee appointed to confer with the
British government was composed of Macdonald,
Brown, Cartier and Gait. They met in England
a committee of the imperial cabinet, Gladstone,
Cardwell, the Duke of Somerset and Earl de Grey
and Ripon. An agreement was arrived at as to
defence. Canada would undertake works of defence
at and west of Montreal, and maintain a certain
militia force ; Great Britain would complete fortifi-
cations at Quebec, provide the whole armament
and guarantee a loan for the sum necessary to con-
struct the works undertaken by Canada, and in
case of war would defend every portion of Canada
with all the resources of the empire. An agreement
was made as to the acquisition of the Hudson Bay
Territory by Canada, and as to the influence to be
brought to bear on the Maritime Provinces. " The
idea of coercing the Maritime Provinces into the
measure was never for a moment entertained. " The
186

NEW BRUNSWICK

end sought was to impress upon them the grave
responsibility of thwarting a measure so pregnant
with future prosperity to British America.

In spite of the mild language used in regard to
New Brunswick, the fact that its consent was a
vital part of the whole scheme must have been
an incentive to heroic measures, and these were
taken.

One of the causes of the defeat of the confedera-
tion government of New Brunswick had been the
active hostihty of the Heutenant-governor, Mr.
Arthur Hamilton Gordon, son of the Earl of Aber-
deen. He was strongly opposed to the change, and
is believed to have gone to the limit of his authority
in aiding and encouraging its opponents in the
election of 1865. Soon afterwards he visited Eng-
land, and it is believed that he was sent for by the
home authorities and was taken to task for his con-
duct, and instructed to assist in carrying out con-
federation. A despatch from Card well, secretary
of state for the colonies, to Governor Gordon,
expressed the strong and deliberate opinion of Her
Majesty's government in favour of a union of all
the North American colonies.^

The governor carried out his instructions with
the zeal of a convert, showed the despatch to the
head of his government, set about converting him
also, and believed he had been partly successful.
The substance of the despatch was inserted in the

^ Journals Canada, 1865, 2nd Session, pp. 8-15.

187

GEORGE BROWN

speech from the throne, when the legislature met
on March 8th, 1866. The legislative council adopted
an address asking for imperial legislation to unite
the British North American colonies. The gover-
nor, without waiting for the action of the assembly,
made a reply to the council, expressing pleasure at
their address, and declaring that he would transmit
it to the secretary of state for the colonies. There-
upon the Smith ministry resigned, contending that
they ought to have been consulted about the reply,
that the council, not having been elected by the
people, had no authority to ask the imperial parlia-
ment to pass a measure which the people of New
Brunswick had expressly rejected at the polls. A
protest in similar terms might have been made
in the legislative assembly, but the opportunity
was not given. A government favourable to con-
federation was formed under Peter Mitchell, with
Tilley as his chief lieutenant, and the legislature
was dissolved.

A threatened Fenian invasion helped to turn the
tide of public opinion, and the confederate ministry
was returned with a large majority. That result,
however desirable, did not sanctify the means taken
to bring about a verdict for confederation, which
could hardly have been more arbitrary.

188

CHAPTER XIX

BROWN LEAVES THE COALITION

THE series of events which gradually drew Mr.
Brown out of the coalition began with the
death of Sir Etienne P. Tache on July 30th, 1865.
By his age, his long experience, and a certain
mild benignity of disposition, Tachd was admirably
fitted to be the dean of the coalition and the arbiter
between its elements. He had served in Reform and
Conservative governments, but without incurring
the reproach of overweening love of office. With
his departure that of Brown became only a matter
of time, ^o work with Macdonald as an equal was
a sufficiently disagreeable duty ; to work under him,
considering the personal relations of the two men,
would have been humiliating, j Putting aside the
question of where the blame for the long-standing
feud lay, it was inevitable that the association should
be temporary and brief. On August 3rd the gover-
ner-general asked Mr. Macdonald to form an ad-
ministration. Mr. Macdonald consented, obtained
the assent of Mr. Cartier and consulted Mr. Brown.
I quote from an authorized memorandum of the
conversation. " Mr. Brown replied that he was
quite prepared to enter into arrangements for the
continuance of the government in the same position

189

GEORGE BROWN

as it occupied previous to the death of Sir Etienne
P. Tachd ; but that the proposal now made involved
a grave departure from that position. The govern-
ment, heretofore, had been a coalition of three poli-
tical parties, each represented by an active party
leader, but all acting under one chief, who had
ceased to be actuated by strong party feelings or
personal ambitions, and who was well fitted to give
confidence to all the three sections of the coalition
that the conditions which united them would be
carried out in good faith to the very letter. Mr.
Macdonald, Mr. Cartier and himself [Mr. Brown]
were, on the contrary, regarded as party leaders,
with party feelings and aspirations, and to place any
one of them in an attitude of superiority to the
others, with the vast advantage of the premiership,
would, in the public mind, lessen the security of
good faith, and seriously endanger the existence of
the coalition. It would be an entire change of the
situation. Whichever of the three was so preferred,
the act would amount to an abandonment of the
coalition basis, and a reconstruction of the govern-
ment on party lines under a party leader." When
the coalition was formed, the Liberals were in a
majority in the legislature; for reasons of State
they had relinquished their party advantage, and a
government was formed in which the Conservatives
had nine members and the Liberals three. In what
light would the Liberal party regard this new pro-
position ? Mr. Brown suggested that an invitation
190

A MAKESHIFT

be extended to some gentleman of good position
in the legislative council, under whom all parties
could act with confidence, as successor to Colonel
Tache. So far as to the party. Speaking, however,
for himself alone, Mr. Brown said he occupied the
same position as in 1864. He stood prepared to
give outside the ministry a frank and earnest sup-
port to any ministry that might be formed for the
purpose of carrying out confederation.

Mr. Macdonald replied that he had no personal
feeling as to the premiership, and would readily
stand aside ; and he suggested the name of Mr.
Cartier, as leader of the French- Canadians. Mr.
Brown said that it would be necessary for him to
consult with his political friends. Sir Narcisse F.
Belleau, a member of the executive council, was
then proposed by Mr. Macdonald, and accepted by
Mr. Brown, on condition that the policy of con-
federation should be stated in precise terms. Sir
Narcisse Belleau became nominal prime minister
of Canada, and the difficulty was tided over for
a few months.

The arrangement, however, was a mere make-
shift. The objections set forth by Brown to Mac-
donald's assuming the title of leader appUed with
equal force to his assuming the leadership in fact,
as* he necessarily did under Sir Narcisse Belleau;
the discussion over this point, though couched in
language of diplomatic courtesy, must have irritated
both parties, and their relations grew steadily worse.

191

GEORGE BROWN

The immediate and assigned cause of the rupture
was a disagreement in regard to negotiations for the
renewal of the reciprocity treaty. It is admitted
that it was only in part the real cause, and would
not have severed the relations between men who
were personally and politically in sympathy.

Mr. Brown had taken a deep interest in the sub-
ject of reciprocity. In 1863 he was in communica-
tion with John Sandfield Macdonald, then premier
of Canada, and Luther Holton, minister of finance.
He dwelt on the importance of opening communi-
cation with the American government during the
administration of Lincoln, whom he regarded as
favourable to the renewal of the treaty. Seward,
Lincoln's secretary of state, suggested that Canada
should have an agent at Washington, with whom
he and Lord Lyons, the British ambassador, could
confer on Canadian matters. The premier asked
Brown to go, saying that all his colleagues were
agreed upon his eminent fitness for the mission.
Brown declined the mission, contending that Mr.
Holton, besides being fully qualified, was, by virtue
of his official position as minister of finance, the
proper person to represent Canada. He kept urging
the importance of taking action early, before the
American movement against the renewal of. the
treaty could gather headway. But neither the Mac-
donald- Sicotte government nor its successor lived
long enough to take action, and the opportunity
was lost. The coalition government was fully em-
192

RECIPROCITY

ployed with other matters during 1864, and it was
not until the spring of 1865 that the matter of re-
ciprocity was taken up. In the summer of that
year the imperial government authorized the forma-
tion of a confederate council on reciprocity, con-
sisting of representation from Canada and the other
North American colonies, and presided over by the
governor-general. Brown and Gait were the repre-
sentatives of Canada on the council.

Mr. Brown was in the Maritime Provinces in
November, 1865, on government business. On his
return to Toronto he was surprised to read in
American papers a statement that Mr. Gait and
Mr. Rowland were negotiating with the Committee
of Ways and Means at Washington. Explanations
were given by Gait at a meeting of the cabinet at
Ottawa on December 17th. Seward had told him
that the treaty could not be renewed, but that some-
thing might be done by reciprocal legislation. After
some demur, Mr. Gait went on to discuss the mat-
ter on that basis. He suggested the free exchange
of natural products, and a designated list of manu-
factures. The customs duties on foreign goods were
to be assimilated as far as possible. Inland waters
and canals might be used in common, and main-
tained at the joint expense of the two countries.
Mr. Gait followed up his narrative by proposing
that a minute of council be adopted, ratifying what
he had done, and authorizing him to proceed to
Washington and continue the negotiations.

193

GEORGE BROWN

The discussion that followed lasted several days.
-vj ( Mr. Brown objected strongly to the proceeding.
He declared that " Mr. Gait had flung at the heads
of the Americans every concession that we had in
our power to make, and some that we certainly
could not make, so that our case was foreclosed
before the commission was opened." He objected
still more strongly to the plan of reciprocal legisla-
tion, which would keep the people of Canada
"dangling from year to year on the legislation of
the American congress, looking to Washington
instead of to Ottawa as the controller of their com-
merce and prosperity." The scheme was admirably
designed by the Americans to promote annexation.
Before each congress the United States press would
contain articles threatening ruin to Canadian trade.
The Maritime Provinces would take offence at be-
ing ignored, and confederation as well as reciprocity
might be lost. His own proposal was to treat Mr.
Gait's proceedings at Washington as unofficial, call
the confederate council, and begin anew to " make
a dead set to have this reciprocal legislation idea
upset before proceeding with the discussion."

Gait at length suggested a compromise. His
proceedings at Washington were to be treated as
unofficial, and no order-in-council passed. Gait and
Howland were to be sent to Washington to obtain
a treaty if possible, and if not to learn what terms
could be arranged, and report to the government.
Brown regarded this motion as intended to re-
194

BROWN RESIGNS

move him from the confederate council, and sub-
stitute Mr. Rowland, and said so; but he declared
that he would accept the compromise nevertheless.
It appeared, however, that there had been a misun-
derstanding as to the recording of a minute of the
proceedings. The first minute was withdrawn ; but
as Mr. Brown considered that the second minute
still sanctioned the idea of reciprocal legislation, he
refused to sign it, and decided to place his resigna-
tion in the hands of the premier, and to wait upon
the governor-general. After hearing the explana-
tion, His Excellency said : " Then, Mr. Brown, I
am called upon to decide between your policy and
that of the other members of the government ? "
Mr. Brown replied, *' Yes, sir, and if I am allowed
to give advice in the matter, I should say that the
government ought to be sustained, though the de-
cision is against myself. I consider the great ques-
tion of confederation as of far greater consequence y
to the country than reciprocity negotiations. My
resignation may aid in preventing their policy on
the reciprocity question from being carried out, or
at least call forth a full expression of opinion on the
subject, and the government should be sustained, if
wrong in this, for the sake of confederation."

The debate in council had occupied several days,
and had evidently aroused strong feelings. Un-
doubtedly Mr. Brown's decision was affected by the
affront that he considered had been put upon him
vby virtually removing him from the confederate

195

GEORGE BROWN

council and sending Mr. Rowland instead of him;
self to Washington as the colleague of Mr. Galt,^
He disapproved on public grounds of the policy of
the government, and he resented the manner in
which he had been ignored throughout the transac-
tion. On the day after the rupture Mr. Cartier
wrote Mr. Brown asking him whether he could
reconsider his resignation. Mr. Brown replied, '*I
have received your kind note, and think it right
to state frankly at once that the step I have taken
cannot be revoked. The interests involved are too
great. I think a very great blunder has been com-
mitted in a matter involving the most important
interests of the country, and that the order-in-coun-
cil you have passed endorses that blunder and
authorizes persistence in it. ... I confess I was
much annoyed at the personal affront offered me,
but that feeling has passed away in view of the
serious character of the matter at issue, which casts
all personal feeling aside."

If it were necessary to seek for justification of
Mr. Brown's action in leaving the ministry at this
time, it might be found either in his disagreement
with the government onthe question of policy, or
in the treatment accorded to him by his colleagues.
Sandfield Macdonald and his colleagues had on a
former occasion recognized Mr. Brown's eminent
fitness to represent Canada in the negotiations at
Washington, not only because of his thorough
acquaintance with the subject, but because of his
196

THE RUPTURE INEVITABLE

steadily maintained attitude of friendship for the
North. He was a member of the confederate council
on reciprocity. His position in the ministry was not
that of a subordinate, but of the representative of
a powerful party. In resenting the manner in which
his position was ignored, he does not seem to have
exceeded the bounds of proper self-assertion. How-
ever, this controversy assumes less importance if it
is recognized that the rupture was inevitable. The
precise time or occasion is of less importance than
the force which was always and under all circum-
stances operating to draw Mr. Brown away from an
association injurious to himself and to Liberahsm,
in its broad sense as well as in its party sense, and
to his influence as a pubhc man. This had better
be considered in another place.

197

\.

V

CHAPTER XX

CONFEDERATION AND THE PARTIES

WE are to consider now the long- vexed ques-
tion of the connection of Mr. Brown with
the coahtion of 1864. Ought he to have entered
the coalition government ? Having entered it, was
he justified in leaving it in 1865 ? Holton and ^
Dorion told him that by his action in 1864, he had
sacrificed his own party interests to those of John
A. Macdonald ; that Macdonald was in serious
political difficulty, and had been defeated in the
legislature ; that he seized upon Brown's suggestion
merely as a means of keeping himself in office ; that
for the sake of office he accepted the idea of con-
federation, after having voted against it in Brown's
committee. A most wise and faithful friend, Alex-
ander Mackenzie, thought that Reformers should
accept no representation in the cabinet, but that
they should give confederation an outside support.
(That Macdonald and his party were immensely
benefitted by Brown's action, there can be no
doubt. For several years they had either been in
Opposition, or in office under a most precarious
tenure, depending entirely upon a majority from
Lower Canada. By Brown's action they were sud-
denly invested with an overwhelming majority, and \

199

GEORGE BROWN

they had an interrupted lease of power for the nine
years between the coahtion and the Pacific Scandal.
Admitting that the interest of the country war-
ranted this sacrifice of the interests of the Liberal
party, we have still to consider whether it was wise
for Mr. Brown to enter the ministry, and especially
to enter it on the conditions that existed. The
Lower Canadian Liberals were not represented,
partly because Dorion and Holton held back, and
partly because of the prejudice of Tach^ and Car-
tier against the Rouges ; and this exclusion was
a serious defect in a ministry supposed to be formed
on a broad and patriotic basis. The result was, that

T- while the Liberals were in a majority in the legis-
lature, they had only three representatives in a
ministry of twelve. Such a government, with its
dominant Conservative section led by a master
in the handling of political combinations, was
bound to lose its character of a coalition, and
become Conservative out and out.

A broader question is involved than that of the
mere party advantage obtained by Macdonald and
his party in the retention of power and patronage.

rj" OThere was grave danger to the essential principles of
Liberalism, of which Brown was the appointed
guardian/ Holton put this in a remarkable way
during the debate on confederation. It was at the
time when Macdonald had moved the previous
question, when the coalition government was hurry-
ing the debate to a conclusion, in the face of in-
200

HOLTON'S APPEAL

dignant protests and demands that the scheme
should be submitted to the people. Holton told
Brown that he had destroyed the Liberal party.
Henceforth its members would be known as those
who once ranged themselves together, in Upper
and Lower Canada, under the Liberal banner. Then
followed this remarkable appeal to his old friend:
" Most of us remember — those of us who have been
for a few years in public life in this country must
remember — a very striking speech delivered by
the honourable member for South Oxford in Tor-
onto in the session of 1856 or 1857, in which he
described the path of the attorney-general [Mac-
donald] as studded all along by the gravestones of
his slaughtered colleagues. Well, there are not want-
ing those who think they can descry, in the not very
remote distance, a yawning grave waiting for the
noblest victim of them all. And I very much fear
that unless the honourable gentleman has the cour-
age to assert his own original strength — and he has
great strength — and to discard the blandishments
and the sweets of office, and to plant himself where
he stood formerly, in the affections and confidence
of the people of this country, as the foremost
defender of the rights of the people, as the fore-
most champion of the privileges of a free parlia-
ment — unless he hastens to do that, I very much
fear that he too may fall a victim, the noblest
victim of them all, to the arts, if not the arms of
the fell destroyer."

201

GEORGE BROWN

There was a little humorous exaggeration in the
personal references to Macdonald, for Holton and
he were on friendly terms. But there was also
matter for serious thought in his words. Though
/ Macdonald had outgrown the fossil Toryism that
opposed responsible government, he was essentially
Conservative ; and there was something not de-
mocratic in his habit of dealing with individuals
rather than with people in the mass, and of accom-
plishing his ends by private letters and interviews,
and by other forms of personal influence, rather
than by the public advocacy of causes. Association
with him was injurious to men of essentially Liberal
and democratic tendencies, and subordination was
fatal, if not to their usefulness, at least to their
liberal ideals. Macdougall and Rowland remained
in the ministry until confederation was achieved,
and found reasons for remaining there afterwards.
At the Reform convention of 1867, when the
relation of the Liberal party to the so-called coali-
tion was considered, they defended their position
with skill and force, but the association of one with
Macdonald was very brief, and of the other very
unhappy. Mr. Rowland was not a very keen poli-
tician, and a year after confederation was accom-
plished he accepted the position of lieutenant-
governor of Ontario. Mr. Macdougall had an un-
satisfactory career as a minister, with an unhappy
termination. He was clearly out of his element.
Mr. Tilley was described as a Liberal, but there
202

JOSEPH HOWE

was nothing to distinguish him from his Conserva-
tive colleagues in his methods or his utterances,
and he became the champion of the essentially
Conservative policy of protection.

But the most notable example of the truth of
Holton's words and the soundness of his advice
was Joseph Howe. Howe was in Nova Scotia
"the foremost defender of the rights of people,
the foremost champion of the privileges of free
parhaments." He had opposed the inclusion of
Nova Scotia on the solid ground that it was accom- v^
plished by arbitrary means. At length he bowed
to the inevitable. In ceasing to encourage a use-
less and dangerous agitation he stood on patriotic
ground. But in an evil hour he was persuaded
to seal his submission by joining the Macdonald
government, and thenceforth his influence was at
an end. His biographer says that Howe's four
years in Sir John Macdonald's cabinet are the
least glorious of his whole career. V Howe had been
accustomed all his life to lead and control events. ,l
He found himself a member of a government o{y{^y/
which Sir John Macdonald was the supreme head,
and of a cast of mind totally different from his own.
Sir John Macdonald was a shrewd political mana-
ger, an opportunist whose unfailing judgment led
him unerringly to pursue the course most likely to
succeed each hour, each day, each year. Howe had
the genius of a bold Reformer, a courageous and
creative type of mind, who thought in continents,

203

GEORGE BROWN

dreamed dreams and conceived great ideas. Sir
John JNIacdonald busied himself with what con-
cerned the immediate interests of the hour in which
he was then living, and yet Sir John Macdonald
was a leader who permitted no insubordination.
Sir Georges Cartier, a man not to be named in the
same breath with Howe as a statesman, was, never-
theless, a thousand times of more moment and
concern with his band of Bleu followers in the
House of Commons, than a dozen Howes, and
the consequence is that we find for four years the
great old man playing second fiddle to his inferiors,
and cutting a far from heroic figure in the arena. "^
What Hoi ton said by way of warning to Brown
was realized in the case of Howe. He was "the
noblest victim of them all."

From the point of view of Liberalism and of his
influence as a public man, Brown did not leave the
ministry a moment too soon ; and there is much to
be said in favour of Mackenzie's view that he ought
to have refused to enter the coalition at all, and
confined himself to giving his general support to
confederation. By this means he would not have
been responsible for the methods by which the new
constitution was brought into effect, methods that
were in many respects repugnant to those essential
principles of Liberalism of which Brown had been
one of the foremost champions. At almost every
stage in the proceedings there was a violation

^ Longley's Joseph Howe^ " Makers of Canada" series, pp. 228, 229.

204

THE MINISTRY ANTI-LIBERAL

of those rights of self-government which had been
so hardly won by Canada, Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. The Quebec conference was a meeting
of persons whose authority, so far as it was de-
rived from the people, was to govern the provinces
under their established constitutions, not to make
a new constitution. Its deliberations were secret.
It proceeded, without a mandate from the people,
to create a new governing body, whose powers
were obtained at the expense of those of the pro-
vinces. With the same lack of popular authority, it
declared that the provinces should have only those
powers which were expressly designated, and that
the reserve of power should be in the central
governing body. Had this body been created for
the Canadas alone, this proceeding might have
been justified, for they were already joined in a
legislative union, though by practice and consent
some features of federalism prevailed. But Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick were separate, self-
governing communities, and it was for them, not
for the Quebec conference, to say what powers
they would grant and what powers they would
retain. Again the people of Canada had declared
that the second chamber should be elected, not
appointed by the Crown. The Quebec conference,
without consulting the people of Canada, reverted
to the discarded system of nomination, and added
the senate to the vast body of patronage at the
disposal of the federal government. The constitu-

205

GEORGE BROWN

tion adopted by this body was not, except in the
case of New Brunswick, submitted to the people,
and it can hardly be said that it was freely debated
in the parliament of Canada, for it was declared
that it was in the nature of a treaty, and must be
accepted or rejected as a whole. In the midst of
this debate the people of New Brunswick passed
upon the scheme in a general election, and con-
demned it in the most decisive and explicit way.
The British government was then induced to bring
pressure to bear upon the province ; and while it
was contended that this pressure was only in the
form of friendly advice it was otherwise interpreted
by the governor, who strained his powers to com-
pel the ministry to act in direct contravention of
its mandate from the people, and when it resisted,
forced it out of office. It is true that in a sub-
sequent election this decision was reversed ; but
that is not a justification for the means adopted
to bring about this result. It is no exaggeration
to say that Nova Scotia was forced into the union
against the express desire of a large majority of
its people. There are arguments by which these
proceedings may be defended, but they are not
arguments that lie in the mouth of a Liberal.
And if we say that the confederation, in spite of
these taints in its origin, has worked well and has
solved the difficulties of Canada, we use an argu-
ment which might justify the forcible annexation
of a country by a powerful neighbour.
206

DANGERS OF CENTRALIZATION

Again, there was much force in Dorion's con-
tention that the new constitution was an iUiberal
constitution, increasing those powers of the execu-
tive which were already too large. To the in-
ordinate strength of the executive, under the de-
lusive name of the Crown, may be traced many
of the worst evils of Canadian politics : the abuse
of the prerogative of dissolution, the delay in hold-
ing bye-elections, the gerrymandering of the con-
stituencies by a parliament registering the decree
of a government. To these powers of the govern-
ment the Confederation Act added that of filling
one branch of the legislature with its own nominees.
By the power of disallowance, by the equivocal
language used in regard to education, and in regard
to the creation of new provinces, pretexts were
furnished for federal interference in local affairs.
But for the resolute opposition of Mowat and his
colleagues, the subordination of the provinces to
the central authority would have gone very far
towards realizing Macdonald's ideal of a legislative
union ; and recent events have shown that the
danger of centralization is by no means at an end.
\ [It was a true, liberal and patriotic impulse that
induced Brown to offer his aid in breaking the
dead-lock of 1864. /He desired that Upper Canada
should be fairly represented in parliament, and
should have freedom to manage its local affairs.
He desired that the Maritime Provinces and the
North- West should, in the course of time, be

207

GEORGE BROWN

brought in on similar terms of freedom. But by
ci^^ joining the coahtion he became a participant in a
Z different course of procedure; and if we give him a
large, perhaps the largest share, of the credit for the
ultimate benefits of confederation, we cannot divest
him of responsibility for the methods by which
it was brought about, so long, at least, as he re-
mained a member of the government. \

In the year and a half that elapsed between his
Vs^ withdrawal from the government and the first
general election under the new constitution, he had
a somewhat difficult part to play^. He had to aid in
lihe work of carrying confederation, and at the same
Utime to aid in the work of re-organizing the Liberal
party, which had been temporarily divided and
weakened by the new issue introduced into politics.
In the Reform convention of 1867 the attitude of
the party towards confederation was considered.
It was resolved that " while the new constitution
contained obvious defects, it was, on the whole,
based upon equitable principles and should be
accepted with the determination to work it loyally
and patiently, and to provide such amendments as
experience from year to year may prove to be
expedient." It was declared that coalitions of op-
posing political parties for ordinary administrative
purposes resulted in corruption, extravagance and
the abandonment of principle ; that the coalition of
1864 could be justified only on the ground of im-
perious necessity, as the only available means of
208

BROWN AND MACDONALD

obtaining just representation for Upper Canada,
and should come to an end when that object was
attained ; and that the temporary alliance of the
Reform and Conservative parties should cease.
Rowland and Macdougall, who had decided to
remain in the ministry, strove to maintain that it
was a true coalition, and that the old issues that
divided the parties were at an end ; and their bearing
before a hostile audience was tactful and courage-
ous. But Brown and his friends carried all before
them.

yBrown argued strongly against the proposal to
turn the coalition formed for confederation into
a coalition for ordinary administrative purposes ;
and in a passage of unusual fervour he asked
whether his Reform friends were to be subjected
to the humiliation of following in the train of John
A. Macdonald, •

It is difficult to understand how so chimerical
a notion as a non-party government led by Mac-
donald could have been entertained by practical
politicians. A permanent position in a Macdonald
ministry would have been out of the question for
Brown, not only because of his standing as a public
man, but because of his control of the Globe, which
under such an arrangement would have been re-
duced to the position of an organ of the Conserva-
tive government. There were also all the elements
of a powerful Liberal party, which soon after con-
federation rallied its forces and overthrew Sir John

209

GEORGE BROWN

Macdonald's government at Ottawa, and the coali-
tion government he had established at Toronto.
Giving Macdougall every credit for good intentions,
it must be admitted that he committed an error in
casting in his political fortunes with Sir John Mac-
donald, and that both he and Joseph Howe would
have found more freedom, more scope for their
energies and a wider field of usefulness, in fighting
by the side of Mackenzie and Blake.

210

CHAPTER XXI

CANADA AND THE GREAT WEST

VERY soon after his arrival in Canada, Mr.
Brown became deeply interested in the North-
West Territories. He was thro^\'Ti into contact with
men who knew the value of the country and desired
to see it opened for settlement. One of these was
Robert Baldwin Sullivan, who, during the struggle
for responsible government, wrote a series of brilliant
letters over the signature of "Legion" advocating
that principle, and who was for a time provincial
secretary in the Baldwin-Lafontaine government.
In 1847, Mr. Sullivan delivered, in the Mechanics'
Institute, Toronto, an address on the North- West
Territories, which was published in full in the Globe.
The Oregon settlement had recently been made,
and the great westward trek of the Americans was
in progress. Sullivan uttered the warning that the
Americans would occupy and become masters of
the British western territory, and outflank Canada,
unless steps were taken to settle and develop it by
British subjects. There was at this time much mis-
conception of the character of the country, and one
is surprised by the very accurate knowledge shown
by Mr. SulUvan in regard to the resources of the
country, its coal measures as well as its wheat fields.

211

GEORGE BROWN

Mr. Brown also obtained much information and
assistance from Mr. Isbester, a "native of the
country, who by his energy, abihty and inteUigence
had raised himself from the position of a successful
scholar at one of the schools of the settlement to
that of a graduate of one of the British univer-
sities, and to a teacher of considerable rank. This
gentleman had succeeded in inducing prominent
members of the House of Commons to interest
themselves in the subject of appeals which, through
him, were constantly being made against the in-
justice and persecution which the colonists of the
Red River Settlement were suffering."^

Mr. Brown said that his attention was first drawn
to the subject by a deputation sent to England by
the people of the Red River Settlement to complain
that the country was ill-governed by the Hudson's
Bay Company, and to pray that the territory might
be thrown open for settlement. "The movement,"
said Mr. Brown, "was well received by the most
prominent statesmen of Britain. The absurdity
of so vast a country remaining in the hands of
a trading company was readily admitted; and I
well remember that Mr. Gladstone then made an
excellent speech in the Commons, as he has recently
done, admitting that the charter of the company
was not valid, and that the matter should be dealt
with by legislation. But the difficulty that constantly
presented itself was what should be done with the

^ Gunn and Tattle's History of Manitoba, p. 303.

212

THE NORTH-WEST

territory were the charter broken up ; what govern-
ment should replace that of the company. The idea
struck Mr. Isbester, a most able and enlightened
member of the Red River deputation to London,
that this difficulty would be met at once were
Canada to step in and claim the right to the terri-
tory. Through a mutual friend, I was communicated
with on the subject, and agreed to have the question
thoroughly agitated before the expiry of the com-
pany's charter in 1859. I have since given the
subject some study, and have on various occasions
brought it before the public." Mr. Brown referred
to the matter in his maiden speech in parliament
in 1851, and in 1854 and again in 1856 he gave
notice of motion for a committee of inquiry, but
was interrupted by other business. In 1852, the
Globe contained an article so remarkable in its
knowledge of the country that it may be repro-
duced here in part.

**It is a remarkable circumstance that so little
attention has been paid in Canada to the immense
tract of country lying to the north of our boundary
line, and known as the Hudson's Bay Company's
Territory. There can be no question that the in-
jurious and demoralizing sway of that company
over a region of four millions of square miles, will,
ere long, be brought to an end, and that the des-
tinies of this immense country will be united with
our own. It is unpardonable that civilization should
be excluded from half a continent, on at best but

213

GEORGE BROWN

a doubtful right of ownership, for the benefit of two
hundred and thirty-two shareholders.

"Our present purpose is not, however, with the
validity of the Hudson's Bay Company's claim to
the country north of the Canadian line — but to call
attention to the value of that region, and the vast
commercial importance to the country and especially
to this section, which must, ere long, attach to it.
The too general impression entertained is, that the
territory in question is a frozen wilderness, incapable
of cultivation and utterly unfit for colonization.
This impression was undoubtedly set afloat, and
has been maintained, for its own very evident pur-
poses. So long as that opinion could be kept up,
their charter was not likely to be disturbed. But
light has been breaking in on the subject in spite of
their efforts to keep it out. In a recent work by Mr.
Edward Fitzgerald, it is stated that ' there is not a
more favourable situation on the face of the earth
for the employment of agricultural industry than
the locality of the Red River.' Mr. Fitzgerald asserts
that there are five hundred thousand square miles
of soil, a great part of which is favourable for settle-
ment and agriculture, and all so well supplied with
game as to give great facility for colonization. Here
is a field for Canadian enterprise.

"The distance between Fort WilHam and the Red

River Settlement is about five hundred miles, and

there is said to be water communication by river

and lake all the way. But westward, beyond the

214

THE "GLOBE" ARTICLE

Red River Settlement, there is said to be a mag-
nificent country, through which the Saskatchewan
River extends, and is navigable for boats and canoes
through a course of one thousand four hundred
miles.

"Much has been said of the extreme cold of the
country, as indicated by the thermometer. It is well
known, however, that it is not the degree but the
character of the cold which renders it obnoxious to
men, and the climate of this country is quite as
agreeable, if not more so, than the best part of
Canada. The height of the latitude gives no clue
whatever to the degree of cold or to the nature of
the climate.

"Let any one look at the map, and if he can fancy
the tenth part that is affirmed of the wide region
of country stretching westward to the Rocky Moun-
tains, he may form some idea of the profitable com-
merce which will soon pass through Lake Superior.
Independent of the hope that the high road to the
Pacific may yet take this direction, there is a field
for enterprise presented, sufficient to satiate the
warmest imagination."

It was not, however, until the year 1856 that
public attention was aroused to the importance of
the subject. In the autumn of that year there was
a series of letters in the Globe signed "Huron,"
drawing attention to the importance of the western
country, attacking the administration of the Hud-
son's Bay Company, and suggesting that the in-

215

GEORGE BROWN

habitants, unless relieved, might seek to place the
country under American government. In Decem-
ber 1856, there was a meeting of the Toronto Board
of Trade at which addresses were delivered by Alan
McDonnell and Captain Kennedy. Captain Ken-
nedy said that he had lived for a quarter of a century
in the territory in question, had eight or nine years
before the meeting endeavoured to call attention to
the country through the newspapers and had written
a letter to Lord Elgin. He declared that the most
important work before Canada was the settlement
of two hundred and seventy-nine million acres of
land lying west of the Lakes. The Board of Trade
passed a resolution declaring that the claim of the
Hudson's Bay Company to the exclusive right to
trade in the country was injurious to the rights of
the people of the territory and of British North
America. The Board also petitioned the legislature
to ascertain the rights of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, and to protect the interests of Canada. A
few days afterwards the Globe said that the time
had come to act, and thenceforward it carried on
a vigorous campaign for the opening up of the
territory to settlement and the establishment of
communication with Canada.

During the year 1856, Mr. Brown addressed
many meetings on the subject of the working of the
union. He opposed the separation of the Canadas,
proposed by some as a measure of relief for the
grievances of Upper Canada. This would bring
216

THE QUESTION OF UNION

Canada back to the day of small things ; he advo-
cated expansion to the westward. William Mac-
dougall, then a member of the Globe staff, was
also an enthusiastic advocate of the union of the
North- West Territories with Canada. In an article
reviewing the events of the year 1856, the Globe
said: "This year will be remembered as that in
which the public mind was first aroused to the
necessity of uniting to Canada the great tract of
British American territory lying to the north-west,
then in the occupation of a great trading monopoly.
The year 1856 has only seen the birth of this move-
ment. Let us hope that 1857 will see it crowned
with success."

In January 1857, a convention of Reformers in
Toronto adopted a platform including free trade,
uniform legislation for both provinces, representa-
tion by population, national and non-sectarian edu-
cation, and the incorporation of the Hudson Bay
Territory. It was resolved "that the country known
as the Hudson Bay Territory ought no longer to
be cut off from civilization, that it is the duty of
the legislature and executive of Canada to open
negotiations with the imperial government for the
incorporation of the said territory as Canadian soil."

The Globe's proposals at this early date provoked
the merriment of some of its contemporaries. The
Niagara Mail, January 1857, said: "The Toronto
Globe comes out with a new and remarkable plat-
form, one of the planks of which is the annexation

217

GEORGE BROWN

of the frozen regions of the Hudson Bay Territory
to Canada. Lord have mercy on us ! Canada has
already a stiff reputation for cold in the world, but
it is unfeeling in the Globe to want to make it de-
serve the reproach." The Globe advised its con-
temporary not to commit itself hastily against the
annexation of the North- West, *'for it will assuredly
be one of the strongest planks in our platform."

Another sceptic was the Montreal Transcript^
which declared that the fertile spots in the territory
were small and separated by immense distances,
and described the Red River region as an oasis in
the midst of a desert, *' a vast treeless prairie on
which scarcely a shrub is to be seen." The climate
was unfavourable to the growth of grain. The
summer, though warm enough, was too short in
duration, so that even the few fertile spots could
"with difficulty mature a small potato or cabbage."
The subject seemed to be constantly in Brown's
mind, and he referred to it frequently in public
addresses. After the general election of 1857-8 a
banquet was given at Belleville to celebrate the
return of Mr. Wallbridge for Hastings. Mr. Brown
there referred to a proposal to dissolve the union.
He was for giving the union a fair trial. "Who
can look at the map of this contment and mark the
vast portion of it acknowledging British sover-
eignty, without feeling that union and not separa-
tion ought to be the foremost principle with British
American statesmen? Who that examines the con-
218

SPEECH AT BELLEVILLE

dition of the several provinces which constitute
British America, can fail to feel that v^^ith the
people of Canada must mainly rest the noble task,
at no distant date, of consolidating these provinces,
aye, and of redeeming to civilization and peopling
with new life the vast territories to our north, now
so unworthily held by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Who cannot see that Providence has entrusted to
us the building up of a great northern people, fit to
cope with our neighbours of the United States,
and to advance step by step with them in the
march of civilization ? Sir, it is my fervent aspira-
tion and belief that some here to-night may live to
see the day when the British American flag shall
proudly wave from Labrador to Vancouver Island
and from our own Niagara to the shores of Hud-
son Bay. Look abroad over the world and tell me
what country possesses the advantages, if she but
uses them aright, for achieving such a future, as
Canada enjoys — a fertile soil, a healthful climate, a
hardy and frugal people, with great mineral re-
sources, noble rivers, boundless forests. We have
within our grasp all the elements of prosperity. We
are free from the thousand time-honoured evils and
abuses that afflict and retard the nations of the Old
World. Not even our neighbours of the United
States occupy an equal position of advantage, for
we have not the canker-worm of domestic slavery
to blight our tree of liberty. And greater than
these, we are but commencing our career as a

219

GEORGE BROWN

people, our institutions have yet to be established.
We are free to look abroad over the earth and
study the lessons of wisdom taught by the history
of older countries, and choose those systems and
those laws and customs that experience has shown
best for advancing the moral and material interests
of the human family."^

' As a member of the coalition of 1884, Brown
had an opportunity to promote his long-cherished
\j object of adding the North- West Territories to Can-
ada. There had been some communication between
the British and Canadian governments, and in No-
vember 1864, the latter government said that Can-
ada was anxious to secure the settlement of the
West and the establishment of local governments.
As the Hudson's Bay Company worked under an
English charter, it was for that government to
extinguish its rights and give Canada a clear title.
Canada would then annex, govern and open up
communication with the territory. When Brown
accompanied Macdonald, Cartier and Gait to Eng-
land in 1865, this matter was taken up, and an
agreement was arrived at which was reported to
the Canadian legislature in the second session of
1865. The committee said that calling to mind the
vital importance to Canada of having that great and
fertile country open to Canadian enterprise and the
tide of emigration into it directed through Can-
adian channels, remembering the danger of large

^ Toronto Globe, January 25th, 1868.

220

BROWN'S SERVICES ACKNOWLEDGED

grants of land passing into the hands of mere money
corporations, and the risk that the recent discoveries
of gold on the eastern slope of the Rocky Moun-
tains might throw into the country large masses of
settlers unaccustomed to British institutions, they
arrived at the conclusion that the quickest solution
of the question would be the best for Canada. They
therefore proposed that the whole territory east of
the Rockies and north of the American or Canadian
line should be made over to Canada, subject to the
rights of the Hudson's Bay Company; and that the
compensation to be made by Canada to the com-
pany should be met by a loan guaranteed by the
British government. To this, the imperial govern-
ment consented.

The subsequent history of the acquisition of the
West need not be told here. In this case, as in
V; others, Brown was a pioneer in a work which others
finished. But his services were generously acknow-
ledged by Sir John Macdonald, who said in the
House of Commons in 1875 : "From the first time
that he had entered parliament, the people of Can-
ada looked forward to a western extension of terri-
tory, and from the time he was first a minister, in
1854, the question was brought up time and again,
and pressed with great ability and force by the
Hon. George Brown, who was then a prominent
man in opposition to the government."

221

CHAPTER XXII

THE RECIPROCITY TREATY OF 1874

MR. BROWN'S position in regard to recipro-
city has already been described. He set a
high value upon the American market for Canadian
products, and as early as 1863 he had urged the gov-
ernment of that day to prepare for the renewal of
the treaty. He resigned from the coalition ministry,
because, to use his own words, "I felt very strongly
that though we in Canada derived great advantage
from the treaty of 1854, the American people derived
still greater advantage from it. I had no objection
to that, and was quite ready to renew the old treaty,
or even to extend it largely on fair terms of recipro-
city. But I was not willing to ask for a renewal as a
favour to Canada ; I was not willing to offer special
inducements for renewal without fair concessions in
return ; I was not willing that the canals and inland
waters of Canada should be made the joint property
of the United States and Canada and be maintained
at their joint expense ; I was not willing that the
custom and excise duty of Canada should be as-
similated to the prohibitory rates of the United
States ; and very especially was I unwilling that any
such arrangement should be entered into with the
United States, dependent on the frail tenure of re-

223

GEORGE BROWN

ciprocal legislation, repealable at any moment at
the caprice of either party." Unless a fair treaty for
a definite term of years could be obtained, he
thought it better that each country should take its
own course and that Canada should seek new chan-
nels of trade.

The negotiations of 1866 failed, mainly because
under the American offer, "the most important pro-
visions of the expiring treaty, relating to the free
interchange of the products of the two countries,
were entirely set aside, and the duties proposed to
be levied were almost prohibitory in their charac-
ter." The free-list offered by the United States reads
like a diplomatic joke : "burr-millstones, rags, fire-
wood, grindstones, plaster and gypsum." The real
bar in this and subsequent negotiations, was the
unwillingness of the Americans to enter into any
kind of arrangement for extended trade. They did
not want to break in upon their system of protec-
tion, and they did not set a high value on access to
the Canadian market. In most of the negotiations,
the Americans are found trying to drive the best
possible bargain in regard to the Canadian fish-
eries and canals, and fighting shy of reciprocity in
trade. They considered that a free exchange of na-
tural products would be far more beneficial to Can-
ada than to the United States. As time went on,
they began to perceive the advantages of the Can-
adian market for American manufactures. But when
this was apparent, Canadian feeling, which had
224

RECIPROCITY

hitherto been unanimous for reciprocity, began to
show a cleavage, which was sharply defined in the
discussion preceding the election of 1891. Recipro-
city in manufactures was opposed, because of the
competition to which it would expose Canadian in-
dustries, and because it was difficult to arrange it
without assimilating the duties of the two countries
and discriminating against British imports into
Canada.

In earlier years, however, even the inclusion of
manufactures in the treaty of reciprocity was an in-
ducement by which the Americans set little store.
The rejected offer made by Canada in 1869, about
the exact terms of which doubt exists, included a
Ust of manufactures. In 1871 the American govern-
ment declined to consider an offer to renew the
treaty of 1854 in return for access to the deep sea
fisheries of Canada. The Brown Treaty of 1874,
which contained a list of manufactures, was rejected
at Washington, while in Canada it was criticized as
striking a blow at the infant manufactures of the
country.

The Brown mission of 1874 was a direct result of
the Treaty of Washington. Under that treaty there
was to be an arbitration to determine the value of
the American use of the Canadian inshore fisheries
for twelve years, in excess of the value of the con-
cessions made by the United States. Before the fall
of the Macdonald government, Mr. Rothery, regis-
trar of the High Court of Admiralty in England,

225

GEORGE BROWN

arrived in Canada as the agent of the British gov-
ernment to prepare the Canadian case for arbitration.
In passing through Toronto Mr. Rothery spoke to
several pubHc men with a view to acquiring infor-
mation as to the value of the fisheries. Mr. Brown
availed himself of that opportunity to suggest to
him that a treaty of reciprocity in trade would be
a far better compensation to Canada than a cash pay-
ment. Mr. Rothery carried this proposal to Wash-
ington, where it was received with some favour.

Meantime the Mackenzie government had been
moving in the matter, and in February 1874, Mr.
Brown was informed that there was a movement at
Washington for the renewal of the old reciprocity
treaty, and was asked to make an unofficial visit to
that city and estimate the chances of success. On
February 12th, he wrote: "We know as yet of but
few men who are bitterly against us. I saw General
Butler, at his request, on the subject, and I under-
stand he will support us. Charles Sumner is heart
and hand with us, and is most kind to me person-
ally." On February 14th, he expressed his belief
that if a bill for the renewal of the reciprocity
treaty could be submitted to congress at once, it
would be carried.

A British commission was issued on March 17th,
1874, appointing Sir Edward Thornton, British
minister at Washington, and Mr. Brown, as joint
plenipotentiaries to negotiate a treaty of fisheries,
commerce and navigation with the government of
22G

A NEW COMMISSION

the United States. This mode of representation was
insisted upon by the Mackenzie government, in view
of the unsatisfactory result of the negotiations of
1871, when Sir John A. Macdonald, as one com-
missioner out of six, made a gallant but unsuccess-
ful fight for the rights of Canada. Mr. Brown was
selected, not only because of his knowledge of and
interest in reciprocity, but because of his attitude
during the war, which had made him many warm
friends among those who opposed slavery and stood
for the union.

Negotiations were formally opened on March
28th. The Canadians proposed the renewal of the
old reciprocity treaty, and the abandonment of the
fishery arbitration. The American secretary of state,
Mr. Fish, suggested the enlargement of the Can-
adian canals, and the addition of manufactures to
the free list. The Canadian commissioners having
agreed to consider these proposals, a project of a
treaty was prepared to form a basis of discussion. It
provided for the renewal of the old reciprocity treaty
for twenty-one years, with the addition of certain
manufactures; the abandonment of the fishery ar-
bitration; complete reciprocity in coasting; the en-
largement of the Welland and St. Lawrence canals;
the opening of the Canadian, New York, and Michi-
gan canals to vessels of both countries; the free
navigation of Lake Michigan ; the appointment of a
joint commission for improving waterways, protect-
ing fisheries and erecting lighthouses on the Great

227

GEORGE BROWN

Lakes. Had the treaty been ratified, there would
have been reciprocity in farm and other natural pro-
ducts, and in a very important list of manufactures,
including agricultural implements, axles, iron, in
the forms of bar, hoop, pig, puddled, rod, sheet or
scrap; iron nails, spikes, bolts, tacks, brads and
springs ; iron castings ; locomotives and railroad cars
and trucks; engines and machinery for mills, fac-
tories and steamboats; fire-engines; wrought and
cast steel; steel plates and rails; carriages, carts,
wagons and sleighs; leather and its manufactures,
boots, shoes, harness and saddlery; cotton grain
bags, denims, jeans, drillings, plaids and ticking;
woollen tweeds; cabinet ware and furniture, and
machines made of wood ; printing paper for news-
papers, paper-making machines, type, presses, fold-
ers, paper cutters, ruling machines, stereotyping and
electrotyping apparatus. In general terms, it was as
near to unrestricted reciprocity as was possible with-
out raising the question of discriminating against
the products of Great Britain.

Mr. Brown found that American misapprehen-
sions as to Canada, its revenue, commerce, ship-
ping, railways and industries were "truly marvel-
lous." It was generally believed that the trade of
Canada was of little value to the United States;
that the reciprocity treaty had enriched Canada at
their expense ; and that the abolition of the treaty
had brought Canada nearly to its wits' end. There
was some excuse for these misapprehensions. Until
228

A MEMORANDUM OF TRADE

confederation, the trade returns from the different
provinces were published separately, if at all. No
clear statement of the combined traffic of the prov-
inces with the United States was published until
1874, and even Canadians were ignorant of its ex-
tent. American protectionists founded a "balance of
trade" argument on insufficient data. They saw
that old Canada sold large quantities of wheat and
flour to the United States, but not that the United
States sent larger quantities to the Maritime Prov-
inces; that Nova Scotia and Cape Breton sold coal
to Boston and New York, but not that five times
as much was sent from Pennsylvania to Canada.
Brown prepared a memorandum showing that the
British North American provinces, from 1820 to
1854, had bought one hundred and sixty- seven mil-
lion dollars worth of goods from the United States,
and the United States only sixty-seven million dol-
lars worth from the provinces; that in the thirteen
years of the treaty, the trade between the two coun-
tries was six hundred and thirty million dollars ac-
cording to the Canadian returns, and six hundred
and seventy million dollars according to the Ameri-
can returns ; and that the so-called "balance of trade"
in this period was considerably against Canada. It
was shown that the repeal of the treaty did not
ruin Canadian commerce ; that the external trade of
Canada which averaged one hundred and fifteen
million dollars a year from 1854 to 1862, rose to
one hundred and forty-two million dollars in the

229

GEORGE BROWN

year following the abrogation, and to two hundred
and forty million dollars in 1873. In regard to wheat,
flour, provisions, and other commodities of which
both countries had a surplus, the effect of the pro-
hibitory American duties had been to send the
products of Canada to compete with those of the
United States in neutral markets.

This memorandum was completed on April 27th
and was immediately handed to Mr. Fish. It was
referred to the treasury department, where it was
closely examined and admitted to be correct. From
that time there was a marked improvement in
American feeling.

Brown also carried on a vigorous propaganda in
the newspapers. In New York the Tribune, Herald^
Times, World, Evening Post, Express, Journal of
Commerce, Graphic, Mail, and other journals, de-
clared in favour of a new treaty; and in Boston,
Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other large cit-
ies, the press was equally favourable. A charge
originated in Philadelphia and was circulated in the
United States and Canada, that this unanimity of
the press was obtained by the corrupt use of public
money. Mr. Brown, in his speech in the senate of
Canada denied this; said that not a shilling had
been spent illegitimately, and that the whole cost of
the negotiation to the people of Canada would be
little more than four thousand dollars.

In his correspondence Brown speaks of meeting
Senator Conkling, General Garfield and Carl Schurz,
230

THE TREATY FALLS THROUGH

all of whom were favourable. Secretary Fish is de-
scribed as courteous and painstaking, but timid and
lacking in grasp of the subject, and Brown speaks
impatiently of the delays that are throwing the con-
sideration of the draft treaty over to the end of the
session of congress.

It did not reach the senate until two days before
adjournment. "The president" wrote Mr. Brown on
June 20th, "sent a message to the senate with the
treaty, urging a decision before the adjournment of
congress. I thought the message very good ; but it
has the defect of not speaking definitely of this
message as his own and his government's and calling
on the senate to sustain him. Had he done this, the
treaty would have been through now. But now,
with a majority in its favour, there seems some con-
siderable danger of its being thrown over until
December." The treaty was sent to the Foreign
Relations Committee of the senate. "There were
six present; three said to be for us, one against, and
two for the measure personally, but wanted to hear
from the country before acting. How it will end, no
one can tell." As a matter of fact it ended there
and then, as far as the United States were con-
cerned.

Of the objections urged against the treaty in
Canada, the most significant was that directed
against the free list of manufactures. This was, per-
haps, the first evidence of the wave of protectionist
sentiment that overwhelmed the Mackenzie govern-

231

GEORGE BROWN

merit. In his speech in the senate, in 1875, justifying
the treaty, Mr. Brown said: "Time was in Canada
when the imposition of duty on any article was re-
garded as a misfortune, and the shghtest addition to
an existing duty was resented by the people. But
increasing debt brought new burdens ; the deceptive
cry of 'incidental protection' got a footing in the
land ; and from that the step has been easy to the
bold demand now set up by a few favoured indus-
tries, that all the rest of the community ought to
be, and should rejoice to be, taxed seventeen and a
half per cent, to keep them in existence."

Brown joined issue squarely with the protection-
ists. "I contend that there is not one article con-
tained in the schedules that ought not to be wholly
free of duty, either in Canada or the United States,
in the interest of the public. I contend that the
finance minister of Canada who — treaty or no treaty
with the United States — was able to announce the
repeal of all customs duties on the entire list of
articles in Schedules A, B, and C,— even though
the lost revenue was but shifted to articles of luxury,
would carry with him the hearty gratitude of the
country. Nearly every article in the whole list of
manufactures is either of daily consumption and
necessity among all classes of our population, or an
implement of trade, or enters largely into the eco-
nomical prosecution of the main industries of the
Dominion." The criticism of the sliding scale, of
which so much was heard at the time, was only
232

AN ADVOCATE OF FREE TRADE

another phase of the protectionist objection. The
charge that the treaty would discriminate in favour
of American against British imports was easily dis-
posed of. Brown showed that every article admitted
free from the United States would be admitted free
from Great Britain. But as this meant British as
well as American competition, it made the case
worse from the protectionist point of view. The re-
jection of the treaty by the United States left a
clear field for the protectionists in Canada.

Four years after Mr. Brown's speech defending
the treaty, he made his last important speech in the
senate, and almost the last public utterance of his
life, attacking Tilley's protectionist budget, and
nailing his free-trade colours to the mast.

233

CHAPTER XXIII
CANADIAN NATIONALISM

IT will be remembered that after the victory won
by the Reformers in 1848, there was an out-
break of radical sentiment, represented by the Clear
Grits in Upper Canada and by the Rouges in Lower
Canada. It may be more than a coincidence that
there was a similar stirring of the blood in Ontario
and in Quebec after the I^iberal victory of 1874.
The founding of the Liberal and of the Nation^ of
the National Club and of the Canada First Asso-
ciation, Mr. Blake's speech at Aurora, and Mr.
Goldwin Smith's utterances combined to mark this
period as one of extraordinary intellectual activity.
Orthodox Liberalism was disquieted by these move-
ments. It had won a great, and as was then be-
lieved, a permanent victory over Macdonald and
all that he represented, and it had no sympathy
with a disturbing force likely to break up party
lines, and to lead young men into new and un-
known paths.

The platform of Canada First was not in itself
revolutionary. It embraced, (1) British connection;
(2) closer trade relations with the British West
India Islands, with a view to ultimate political
connection ; (3) an income franchise ; (4) the ballot,

235

GEORGE BROWN

with the addition of compulsory voting; (5) a
scheme for the representation of minorities ; (6) en-
couragement of immigration and free homesteads
in the pubUc domain ; (7) the imposition of duties
for revenue so adjusted as to afford every possible
encouragement to native industry ; (8) an improved
militia system under command of trained Dominion
officers ; (9) no property qualifications in members
of the House of Commons ; (10) reorganization of
the senate ; (11) pure and economic administration
of public affairs. This programme was severely
criticized by the Globe. Some of the articles, such
as purity and economy, were scornfully treated as
commonplaces of politics. " Yea, and who knoweth
not such things as these." The framers of the plat-
form were rebuked for their presumption in setting
themselves above the old parties, and were advised
to "tarry in Jericho until their beards be grown."

But the letter of the programme did not evince
the spirit of Canada First, which was more clearly
set forth in the prospectus of the Nation. There it
was said that the one thing needful was the culti-
vation of a national spirit. The country required
the stimulus of patriotism. Old prejudices of Eng-
lish, Scottish, Irish and German people were crystal-
lized. Canadians must assert their nationality, their
position as members of a nation. These and other
declarations were analyzed by the Globe, and the
heralds of the new gospel were pressed for a plainer
avowal of their intentions. Throughout the editorial
236

CANADA FIRST

utterances of the Globe there was shown a growing
suspicion that the ulterior aim of the Canada First
movement was to bring about the independence
of Canada. The quarrel came to a head when
Mr. Gold win Smith was elected president of the
National Club. The Globe, in its issue of October
27th, 1874, brought its heaviest artillery to bear on
the members of the Canada First party. It accused
them of lack of courage and frankness. When
brought to book as to their principles, it said, they
repudiated everything. They repudiated nativism ;
they repudiated independence; they abhorred the
very idea of annexation. The movement was with-
out meaning when judged by these repudiations,
but was very significant and involved grave practi-
cal issues when judged by the practices of its
members. They had talked loudly and foohshly of
emancipation from political thraldom, as if the
present connection of Canada with Great Britain
were a yoke and a burden too heavy and too gall-
ing to be borne. They had adopted the plank of
British connection by a majority of only four. They
had chosen as their standard-bearer, their prophet
and their president, one whose chief claim to pro-
minence lay in the persistency with which he had
advocated the breaking up of the British empire.
Mr. Goldwin Smith had come into a peaceful com-
munity to do his best for the furtherance of a cause
which meant simply revolution. The advocacy of
independence, said the Globe, could not be treated

237

GEOUGE BROWN

as an academic question. It touched every Cana-
dian in his dearest and most important relations.
It jeopardized his material, social and religious
interests. Canada was not a mere dead limb of the
British tree, ready to fall of its own weight. The
union was real, and the branch was a living one.
Great Britain, it was true, would not fight to hold
Canada against her will, but if the great mass of
Canadians believed in British connection, those
who wished to break the bond must be ready to
take their lives in their hands. The very proposal to
cut loose from Britain would be only the beginning
of trouble. In any case what was sought was revo-
lution, and those who preached it ought to con-
template all the possibilities of such a course. They
might be the fathers and founders of a new nation-
ahty, but they might also be simply mischief-mak-
ers, whose insignificance and powerlessness were
their sole protection, who were not important
enough for "either a traitor's trial or a traitor's
doom."

Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply to this attack was
that he was an advocate, not of revolution but of
evolution. "Gradual emancipation," he said, "means
nothing more than the gradual concession by the
mother country to the colonies of powers of self-
government; this process has already been carried
far. Should it be carried further and ultimately
consummated, as I frankly avow my belief it must,
the mode of proceeding will be the same that it
238

MR. GOLDWIN SMITH

has always been. Each step will be an Act of par-
liament passed with the assent of the Crown. As to
the filial tie between England and Canada, I hope
it will endure forever."

Mr. Goldwin Smith's views were held by some
other members of the Canada First party. Another
and a larger section were Imperialists, who believed
that Canada should assert herself by demanding
a larger share of self-government within the empire,
and by demanding the privileges and responsibihties
of citizens of the empire. The bond that united the
Imperialists and the advocates of independence was
national spirit. This was what the Globe failed to
perceive, or at least to recognize fully. Its article
of October 27th is powerful and logical, strong in
sarcasm and invective. It displays every purely
intellectual quality necessary for the treatment of
the subject, but lacks the insight that comes from
imagination and sympathy. The declarations of
those whose motto was " Canada first," could fairly
be criticized as vague, but this vagueness was the
result, not of cowardice or insincerity, but of the
inherent difficulty of putting the spirit of the move-
ment into words. A youth whose heart is stirred
by all the aspirations of coming manhood, " yearn-
ing for the large excitement that the coming years
would yield," might have the same hesitation in
writing down his yearnings and aspirations on a
sheet of paper, and might be as unwisely snubbed
by his elders.

239

GEORGE BROWN

The greatest intellect of the Liberal party felt
the impulse. At Aurora Edward Blake startled the
more cautious members of the party by advocating
the federation of the empire, the reorganization of
the senate, compulsory voting, extension of the
franchise and representation of minorities. His real
theme was national spirit. National spirit would be
lacking until we undertook national responsibilities.
He described the Canadian people as "four millions
of Britons who are not free." By the policy of
England, in which we had no voice or control,
Canada might be plunged into the horrors of war.
Recently, without our consent, the navigation of
the St. Lawrence had been ceded forever to the
United States. We could not complain of these
things unless we were prepared to assume the full
responsibilities of citizenship within the empire.
The young men of Canada heard these words with
a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was not struck
again. The movement apparently ceased, and poli-
tics apparently flowed back into their old channels.
But while the name, the organization and the
organs of Canada First in the press disappeared,
the force and spirit remained, and exercised a
powerful influence upon Canadian politics for many
years.

There can be little doubt that the Liberal party

was injured by the uncompromising hostility which

was shown to the movement of 1874. Young men,

enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to

240

BROWN'S ATTACK IMPOLITIC

look upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyran-
nical, unprogressive and hostile to new ideas. When
the independent lodgment afforded by Canada First
disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Con-
servative party, whose leader was shrewd enough
to perceive the strength of the spirit of nationalism,
and to give it what countenance he could. Pro-
tection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely
by the use of economic arguments, but because it
was heralded as the "National Policy" and hailed
as a declaration of the commercial independence of
Canada. A few years later the legislation for the
building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to
the point of rashness, as it seemed, and unwise and
improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily
approved by the country, because it was regarded
as a measure of national growth and expansion.
The strength of the Conservative party from 1878
to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital
principle and spirit of Canada First.

The Globes attacks upon the Canada First party
also had the effect of fixing in the public mind a
picture of George Brown as a dictator and a re-
lentless wielder of the party whip, a picture con-
trasting strangely with those suggested by his early
career. He had fought for responsible government,
for freedom from clerical dictation ; he had been
one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline;
he had carelessly thrown away a great party ad-
vantage in order to promote confederation ; he had

241

GEORGE BROWN

been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874 the
Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at
Toronto, and Mr. Brown may not have been free
from the party man's delusion that when his party
is in power all is well, and agitation for change is
mischievous. Canada First threatened to change
the formation of political parties, and seemed to
him to threaten a change in the relations of Canada
to the empire. But these explanations do not alter
the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party
to lose touch with a movement characterized by
intellectual keenness and generosity of sentiment,
representing a real though ill-defined national im-
pulse, and destined to leave its mark upon the
history of the country.

242

CHAPTER XXIV
LATER YEARS

IN the preceding chapters it has been necessary
to follow closely the numerous public move-
ments with which Brown was connected. Here we
may pause and consider some incidents of his life
and some aspects of his character which lie outside
of these main streams of action. First, a few words
about the Brown household. Of the relations between
father and son something has already been said. Of
his mother, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie says: "We
may assume that Mr. Brown derived much of his
energy, power and religious zeal from his half Celtic
origin: these qualities he possessed in an eminent
degree, united with the proverbial caution and pru-
dence of the Lowlander." The children, in the order
of age, were Jane, married to Mr. George Macken-
zie of New York; George; Isabella, married to Mr.
Thomas Henning; Katherine, who died unmarried;
Marianne, married to the Rev. W. S. Ball; and John
Gordon. There were no idlers in that family. The
publication of the Globe in the early days involved
a tremendous struggle. Peter Brown lent a hand in
the business as well as in the editorial department
of the paper. A good deal of the writing in the
Banner and the early Globe seems to bear the

243

GEORGE BROWN

marks of his broad Liberalism and his passionate love
of freedom. Gordon entered the office as a boy, and
rose to be managing editor. Three of the daughters
conducted a ladies' school, which enjoyed an excel-
lent reputation for thoroughness. Katherine, the
third daughter, was killed in a railway accident
at Syracuse ; and the shock seriously affected the
health of the father, who died in 1863. The mother
had died in the previous year.

By these events and by marriages the busy house-
hold was broken up. George Brown, as we have seen,
married in 1862, and from that time until his death
his letters to his wife and children show an intense
affection and love of home. After her husband's
death Mrs. Brown resided in Edinburgh, where she
died on May 6th 1906. The only son, George M.
Brown, was, in the last parliament, member of the
British House of Commons for Centre Edinburgh,
and is one of the firm of Thomas Nelson & Sons,
publishers. In the same city reside two daughters,
Margaret, married to Dr. A. F. H. Barbour, a
well-known physician, and writer on medicine; and
Edith, wife of George Sandeman. Among other sur-
vivors are, E. B. Brown, barrister, Toronto; Alfred
S. Ball, K.C., police magistrate, Woodstock; and
Peter B. Ball, commercial agent for Canada at
Birmingham, nephews of George Brown.

From 1852 George Brown was busily engaged in
public life, and a large part of the work of the news-
paper must have fallen on other shoulders. There
244

GORDON BROWN

are articles in which one may fancy he detects the
French neatness of Wilham Macdougall. George
Sheppard spoke at the convention of 1859 hke a
statesman ; and he and Macdougall had higher qual-
ities than mere facility with the pen. 'Gordon
Brown gradually grew into the editorship. "He
had" says Mr. E. W. Thomson, writing of a later
period, "a singular power of utilizing suggestions,
combining several that were evidently not asso-
ciated, and indicating how they could be merged in
a striking manner. He seems to me now to have
been the greatest all-round editor I have yet had
the pleasure of witnessing at work, and in the poli-
tical department superior to any of the old or of the
new time in North America, except only Horace
Greeley." But Mr. Thomson thinks that like most
of the old-timers he took his politics a little too
hard. Mr. Gordon Brown died in June, 1896.

Mr. Brown regarded his defeat in South Ontario
in 1867, as an opportunity to retire from parlia-
mentary life. He had expressed that intention sev-
eral months before. He wrote to Holton, on May
13th, 1867, "My fixed determination is to see the
Liberal party re-united and in the ascendant, and
then make my bow as a politician. Asa journalist
and a citizen, I hope always to be found on the
right side and heartily supporting my old friends.
But I want to be free to write of men and things
without control, beyond that which my conscien-
tious convictions and the interests of my country

245

GEORGE BROWN

demand. To be debarred by fear of injuring the

party from saying that is unfit to sit in parha-

ment and that is very stupid, makes journaUsm

a very small business. Party leadership and the con-
ducting of a great journal do not harmonize."

In his speech at the convention of 1867 he said
that he had looked forward to the triumph of repre-
sentation by population as the day of his emancipa-
tion from parliamentary life, but that the case was
altered by the proposal to continue the coalition,
involving a secession from the ranks of the Liberal
party. In this juncture it was necessary for Liberals
to unite and consult, and if it were found that his
continuance in parliamentary life for a short time
would be a service to the party, he would not refuse.
It would be impossible, however, for him to accept
any official position, and he did not wish, by remain-
ing in parliament, to stand in the way of those who
would otherwise become leaders of the party. He
again emphasized the difficulty of combining the
functions of leadership of a party and management
of a newspaper. "The sentiments of the leader of a
party are only known from his public utterances on
public occasions. If a wrong act is committed by an
opponent or by a friend, he may simply shrug his
shoulders." But it was otherwise with the journalist.
He had been accused of fierce assaults on public
men. "But I tell you if the daily thoughts and the
words daily uttered by other public men were writ-
ten in a book as mine have been, and circulated all
246

HIS CHOICE OF JOURNALISM

over the country, there would have been a very dif-
ferent comparison between them and myself. I have
had a double duty to perform. If I had been simply
the leader of a party and had not controlled a pub-
lic journal, such things would not have been left
on record. I might have passed my observations in
private conversation, and no more would have been
heard of them. But as a journalist it was necessary
I should speak the truth before the people, no mat-
ter whether it helped my party or not ; and this, of
course, reflected on the position of the party. Con-
sequently, I have long felt very strongly that I had
to choose one position or the other — that of a leader
in parliamentary life, or that of a monitor in the
public press — and the latter has been my choice
being probably more in consonance with my ardent
temperament, and at the same time, in my opinion,
more influential ; for I am free to say that in view
of all the grand offices that are now talked of —
governorships, premierships and the like — I would
rather be editor of the Globe, with the hearty con-
fidence of the great mass of the people of Upper
Canada, than have the choice of them all."

Of Mr. Brown's relations with the parliamentary
leaders after his retirement, Mr. Mackenzie says :
"Nor did he ever in after years attempt to control
or influence parliamentary proceedings as conducted
by the Liberals in opposition, or in the government ;
while always willing to give his opinion when asked
on any particular question, he never volunteered

247

GEORGE BROWN

his advice. His opinions, of course, received free
utterance in the Globe, which was more unfettered
by reason of his absence from parhamentary duties ;
though even there it was rarely indeed that any
articles were published which were calculated to in-
convenience or discomfort those who occupied his
former position."^

Left comparatively free to follow his own inclina-
tions. Brown plunged into farming, spending money
and energy freely in the raising of fine cattle on his
Bow Park estate near Brantford, an extensive busi-
ness which ultimately led to the formation of a joint
stock company. The province of Ontario, especially
western Ontario, was for him the object of an
intense local patriotism. He loved to travel over
it and to meet the people. It was noticed in the
Globe office that he paid special attention to the
weekly edition of the paper, as that which reached
the farming community. His Bow Park enterprise
gave him an increased feeling of kinship and sym-
pathy with that community, and he delighted in
showing farmers over the estate. It would be hard
to draw a more characteristic picture than that of
the tall senator striding over the fields, talking of
cattle and crops with all the energy with which he
was wont to denounce the Tories.

Brown was appointed to the senate in December,
1873. Except for the speech on reciprocity, which is
dealt with elsewhere, his career there was not note-

^ Mackenzie's Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Broum, p. 119,

248

CONTEMPT OF COURT

worthy. He seems to have taken no part in the
discussion on Senator Vidal's resolution in favour
of prohibition, or on the Scott Act, a measure for
introducing prohibition by local option. A popular
conception of Brown as an ardent advocate of legis-
lative prohibition may have been derived from some
speeches made in his early career, and from an early
prospectus of the Globe. On the bill providing for
government of the North- West Territories he made
a speech against the provision for separate schools,
warning the House that the effect would be to fas-
ten these institutions on the West in perpetuity.

In 1876 Senator Brown figured in a remarkable
case of contempt of court. A BowmanviUe news-
paper had charged Senator Simpson, a political ally
of Brown, with resorting to bribery in the general
election of 1872. It pubhshed also a letter from
Senator Brown to Senator Simpson, asking him for
a subscription towards the Liberal campaign fund.
On Senator Simpson's application, Wilkinson, the
editor of the paper, was called upon to show cause
why a criminal information should not issue against
him for libel. The case was argued before the Queen's
Bench, composed of Chief-Justice Harrison, Justice
Morrison, and Justice Wilson. The judgment of
the court delivered by the chief-justice was against
the editor in regard to two of the articles comT
plained of and in his favour in regard to the third.
In following the chief -justice, Mr. Justice Wilson
took occasion to refer to Senator Brown's letter and

249

GEORGE BROWN

to say that it was written with corrupt intent to in-
terfere with the freedom of elections.

Brown was not the man to allow a charge of this
kind to go unanswered, and in this case there were
special circumstances calculated to arouse his anger.
The publication of his letter in the Bowmanville
paper had been the signal for a fierce attack upon
him by the Conservative press of the province. It
appeared to him that Justice Wilson had wantonly
made himself a participant in this attack, lending
the weight of his judicial influence to his enemies.
Interest was added to the case by the fact that the
judge had been in previous years supported by the
Globe in municipal and parliamentary elections. He
had been solicitor-general in the Macdonald-Sicotte
government from May 1862 to May 1863. Judge
Morrison had been solicitor-general under Hincks,
and afterwards a colleague of John A. Macdonald.
Each of them, in this case, took a course opposite
to that which might have been expected from old
political associations.

A few days afterwards the Globe contained a long,
carefully prepared and powerful attack upon Mr.
Justice Wilson. Beginning with a tribute to the
Bench of Ontario, it declared that no fault was to
be found with the judgment of the court, and that
the offence lay in the gratuitous comments of Mr.
Justice Wilson.

"No sooner had the chief- justice finished than
Mr. Justice Wilson availed himself of the occasion
250

ATTACK ON JUDGE WILSON

to express his views of the matter with a free-
dom of speech and an indifference to the evidence
before the court and an indulgence in assumptions,
surmises and insinuations, that we believe to be
totally unparalleled in the judicial proceedings of
any Canadian court."

The article denied that the letter was written with
any corrupt intent, and it stated that the entire
fund raised by the Liberal party in the general
election of 1872 was only three thousand seven hun-
dred dollars, or forty-five dollars for each of the
eighty-two constituencies. "This Mr. Justice Wilson
may rest assured of: that such slanders and insults
shall not go unanswered, and if the dignity of the
Bench is ruffled in the tussle, on his folly shall rest
the blame. We cast back on Mr. Wilson his insolent
and slanderous interpretation. The letter was not
written for corrupt purposes. It was not written to
interfere with the freedom of elections. It was not
an invitation to anybody to concur in committing
bribery and corruption at the polls ; and be he judge
or not who says so, this statement is false."

The writer went on to contend that there were
perfectly legitimate expenditures in keenly contested
elections. "Was there no such fund when Mr. Jus-
tice Wilson was in public life? When the hat went
round in his contest for the mayoralty, was that or
was it not a concurrence in bribery or corruption at
the polls?" Mr. Justice Wilson had justified his
comment by declaring that he might take notice of

251

GEORGE BROWN

matters with which every person of ordinary inteUi-
gence was acquainted. Fastening upon these words
the Globe asked, "How could Mr. Justice Wilson
in his hunt for things which every person of ordin-
ary intelligence is acquainted with, omit to state
that while the entire general election fund of the
Liberal party for that year (1872) was but three
thousand seven hundred dollars, raised by subscrip-
tion from a few private individuals, the Conservative
fund on the same occasion amounted to the enor-
mous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, raised
by the flagitious sale of the Pacific Railway contract
to a band of speculators on terms disastrous to the
interests of the country."

In another vigorous paragraph the writer said:
*' We deeply regret being compelled to write of the
conduct of any member of the Ontario Bench in
the tone of this article, but the offence was so rank,
so reckless, so utterly unjustifiable that soft words
would have but poorly discharged our duty to the
public."

No proceedings were taken in regard to this ar-
ticle until about five months afterwards, when Mr.
Wilkinson, the editor of the Bowmanville paper,
applied to have Mr. Brown committed for contempt
of court. The judge assailed took no action and the
case was tried before his colleagues, Chief-Justice
Harrison and Judge Morrison. Mr. Brown appeared
in person and made an argument occupying portions
of two days. He pointed out that the application
252

BROWN IN HIS OWN DEFENCE

had been delayed five months after the publication
of the article. He contended that Wilkinson was
not prejudiced by the Globe article and had no
standing in the case. In a lengthy affidavit he en-
tered into the whole question of the expenditure of
the two parties in the election of 1872, including
the circumstances of the Pacific Scandal. He repeat-
ed on oath the statement made in the article that
his letter was not written with corrupt intent ; that
the subscription asked for was for legitimate pur-
poses and that it was part of a fund amounting to
only three thousand seven hundred dollars for the
whole province of Ontario. He boldly justified the
article as provoked by Mr. Justice Wilson's dictum
and by the use that would be made of it by hostile
politicians. The judge had chosen to intervene in a
keen political controversy whose range extended to
the Pacific Scandal ; and in defending himself from
his enemies and the enemies of his party, Brown
was forced to answer the judge. He argued that to
compel an editor to keep silence in such a case,
would not only be unjust to him, but contrary to
pubhc policy. For instance, the discussion of a great
public question such as that involved in the Pacific
Scandal, might be stopped upon the application of a
party to a suit in which that question was incident-
ally raised.

The case was presented with his accustomed en-
ergy and thoroughness, from the point of view of
journalistic duty, of politics and of law — for Mr.

253

GEORGE BROWN

Brown was not afraid to tread that sacred ground
and give extensive citations from the law reports.
His address may be commended to any editor who
may be pursued by that mysterious legal phantom,
a charge of contempt of court. The energy of his
gestures, the shaking of the white head and the
swinging of the long arms, must have somewhat
startled Osgoode Hall. The court was divided, the
chief-justice ruhng that there had been contempt,
Mr. Justice Morrison, contra, and Mr. Justice Wil-
son taking no part in the proceedings. So the mat-
ter dropped, though not out of the memory of
editors and politicians.

254

CHAPTER XXV

CONCLUSION

THE building in which the life of the Hon.
George Brown was so tragically ended, was
one that had been presented to him by the Reform-
ers of Upper Canada before confederation "as a
mark of the high sense entertained by his political
friends of the long, faithful and important services
which he has rendered to the people of Canada."
It stood upon the north side of King Street, on
ground which is now the lower end of Victoria
Street, for the purpose of extending which, the
building was demolished. The ground floor was oc-
cupied by the business office; on the next, looking
out upon King Street, was Mr. Brown's private
office; and above that the rooms occupied by the
editorial staff", with the composing room in the rear.
At about half past four o'clock on the afternoon of
March 25th, 1880, several of the occupants of the
editorial rooms heard a shot, followed by a sound of
breaking glass, and cries of "Help!" and "Murder!"
Among these were Mr. Avern Pardoe, now libra-
rian of the legislative assembly of Ontario; Mr.
Archibald Blue, now head of the census bureau at
Ottawa; Mr. John A. Ewan, now leader writer on
the Globe ; and Mr. Allan S. Thompson, father of

255

GEORGE BROWN

the present foreman of the Globe composing room.
Mr. Ewan and Mr. Thompson were first to arrive
on the scene. Following the direction from which
the sounds proceeded, they found Mr. Brown on
the landing, struggling with an undersized man,
whose head was thrust into Brown's breast. Mr.
Ewan and Mr. Thompson seized the man, while Mr.
Brown himself wrested a smoking pistol from his
hand. Mr. Blue, Mr. Pardoe and others quickly-
joined the group, and Mr. Brown, though not ap-
parently severely inj ured, was induced to lie on the
sofa in his room, where his wound was examined.
The bullet had passed through the outer side of the
left thigh, about four inches downward and back-
ward ; it was found on the floor of the office.

The assailant was George Bennett, who had been
employed in the engine room of the Globe for some
years, and had been discharged for intemperance.
Mr. Brown said that when Bennett entered the office
he proceeded to shut the door behind him. Thinking
the man's movements singular, Mr. Brown stopped
him and asked him what he wanted. Bennett, after
some hesitation, presented a paper for Mr. Brown's
signature, saying that it was a statement that he
had been employed in the Globe for five years. Mr.
Brown said he should apply to the head of the de-
partment in which he was employed. Bennett said
that the head of the department had refused to give
the certificate. Mr. Brown then told him to apply to
Mr. Henning, the treasurer of the company, who
256

SHOT BY BENNETT

could furnish the information by examining his
books.

Bennett kept insisting that Mr. Brown should
sign the paper, and finally began to fumble in his
pistol pocket, whereupon it passed through Mr.
Brown's mind "that the little wretch might be
meaning to shoot me." As he got the pistol out,
Mr. Brown seized his wrist and turned his hand
downward. After one shot had been fired, the
struggle continued until the two got outside the
landing, where they were found as already described.

The bullet had struck no vital part, and the wound
was not considered to be mortal. But as week after
week passed without substantial improvement, the
anxiety of his friends and of the country deepened.
At the trial the question was raised whether re-
covery had been prevented by the fact that Mr.
Brown, against the advice of his physician, trans-
acted business in his room. After the first eight
or ten days there were intervals of delirium. To-
wards the end of April when the case looked very
serious, Mr. Brown had a long conversation with the
Rev. Dr. Greig, his old pastor, and with members
of his family. "In that conversation," says Mr.
Mackenzie, "he spoke freely to them of his faith
and hope, and we are told poured out his soul in
full and fervent prayer," and he joined heartily
in the singing of the hymn "Rock of Ages." A
few days afterwards he became unconscious; the
physicians ceased to press stimulants or nourish-

257

GEORGE BROWN

ment upon him, and early on Sunday, May 10th,
he passed away.

Bennett was tried and found guilty of murder on
June 22nd following, and was executed a month
afterwards. Though he caused the death of a man
so conspicuous in the public life of Canada, his
act is not to be classed with assassinations commit-
ted from political motives, or even from love of
notoriety. On the scaffold he said that he had not
intended to kill Mr. Brown. However this may be,
it is certain that it was not any act of Mr. Brown's
that set up that process of brooding over grievances
that had so tragic an ending. By misfortune and by
drinking, a mind, naturally ill-regulated had been
reduced to that condition in which enemies are seen
on every hand. A paper was found upon him in
which he set forth a maniacal plan of murdering a
supposed enemy and concealing the remains in the
furnace of the Globe building. That the original ob-
ject of his enmity was not Mr. Brown is certain ;
there was not the slightest ground for the suspicion
that the victim was made to suffer for some enmity
aroused in his strenuous career as a public man.
Strange that after such a career he should meet
a violent death at the hands of a man who was
thinking solely of private grievances I

Tracing Mr. Brown's career through a long period

of history, by his public actions, his speeches, and

the volumes of his newspaper, one arrives at a

somewhat different estimate from that preserved in

258

ESTIMATES OF BROWN

familiar gossip and tradition. That tradition pictures
a man impulsive, stormy, imperious, bearing down
by sheer force all opposition to his will. In the
main it is probably true; but the printed record
is also true, and out of the two we must strive
to reproduce the man. We are told of a speech de-
livered with flashing eye, with gestures that seemed
almost to threaten physical violence. We read the
report of the speech and we find something more
than the ordinary transition from warm humanity
to cold print. There is not only freedom from
violence, but there is coherence, close reasoning,
a systematic marshalling of facts and figures and
arguments. One might say of many of his speeches,
as was said of Alexander Mackenzie's sentences,
that he built them as he built a stone wall. His
tremendous energy was not spasmodic, but was
backed by solid industry, method and persistence.
As Mr. Bengough said in a little poem pub-
lished soon after Mr. Brown's death,

" His nature was a rushing mountain stream ;
His faults but eddies which its swiftness bred."

In his business as a journalist, he had not much
of that philosophy which says that the daily
difficulties of a newspaper are sure to solve them-
selves by the effluxion of time. There are traditions
of his impatience and his outbreaks of wrath when
something went wrong, but there are traditions
also of a kindness large enough to include the lad
who carried the proofs to his house. Those who were

259

GEORGE BROWN

thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of the office
say that he was extremely lenient with employees
who were intemperate or otherwise incurred blame,
and that his leniency had been extended to Bennett.
Intimate friends and political associates deny that
he played the dictator, and say that he was genial
and humorous in familiar intercourse. But it is, after
all, a somewhat unprofitable task to endeavour to
sit in judgment on the personal character of a pub-
lic man, placing this virtue against that fault, and
solemnly assuming to decide which side of the
ledger exceeds the other. We have to deal with the
character of Brown as a force in its relation to other
forces, and to the events of the period of history
covered by his career.

A quarter of a century has now elapsed since the
death of George Brown and a still longer time since
the most stirring scenes in his career were enacted.
We ought therefore to be able to see him in some-
thing like his true relation to the history of his times.
He came to Canada at a time when the notion of
colonial self-government was regarded as a startling
innovation. He found among the dominant class
a curious revival of the famous Stuart doctrine,
"No Bishop, no King;" hence the rise of such
leaders, partly political and partly religious, as
Bishop Strachan, among the Anglicans, and Dr.
Ryerson, among the Methodists, the former vin-
dicating and the latter challenging the exclusive
privileges of the Anglican Church. There was room
260

A RETROSPECT

for a similar leader among Presbyterians, and in a
certain sense this was the opportunity of George
Brown. In founding first a Presbyterian paper and
afterwards a political paper, he was following a line
familiar to the people of his time. But while he had
a special influence among Presbyterians, he appear-
ed, not as claiming special privileges for them, but
as the opponent of all privilege, fighting first the
Anglican Church and afterwards the Roman Cath-
olic Church, and asserting in each case the principle
of the separation of Church and State.

For some years after Brown's arrival in Canada,
those questions in which politics and religion were
blended were subordinated to a question purely po-
litical — colonial self-government. The atmosphere
was not favourable to cool discussion. The colony
had been in rebellion, and the passions aroused by
the rebellion were always ready to burst into flame.
French Canada having been more deeply stirred by
the rebellion than Upper Canada, racial animosity
was added there to party bitterness. The task of
the Reformers was to work steadily for the estab-
lishment of a new order involving a highly impor-
tant principle of government, and, at the same time,
to keep the movement free from all suspicion of in-
citement to rebellion.

The leading figure of this movement is that of
Robert Baldwin, and he was well supported by
Hincks, by Sullivan, by William Hume Blake and
others. The forces were wisely led, and it is not pre-

261

GEORGE BROWN

tended that this direction was due to Brown. He
was in 1844 only twenty-six years of age, and his
position at first was that of a recruit. But he was a
recruit of uncommon vigour and steadiness, and
though he did not originate, he emphasized the idea
of carrying on the fight on strictly constitutional
and peaceful lines. His experience in New York
and his deep hatred of slavery had strengthened by
contrast his conviction that Great Britain was the
citadel of liberty, and hence his utterances in favour
of British connection were not conventional, but
glowed with enthusiasm.

With 1849 came the triumph of Reform, and the
last despairing effort of the old regime, dying out
with the flames of the parliament buildings at
Montreal. Now ensued a change in both parties.
The one, exhausted and discredited by its fight
against the inevitable coming of the new order, re-
mained for a time weak and inactive, under a leader
whose day was done. The other, in the very hour of
victory, began to suffer disintegration. It had its
Conservative element desiring to rest and be thank-
ful, and its Radical element with aims not unlike
those of Chartism in England. Brown stood for a
time between the government and the Conservative
element on the one side and the Clear Grits on
the other. Disintegration was hastened by the re-
tirement of Baldwin and Lafontaine. Then came
the brief and troubled reign of Hincks ; then a re-
construction of parties, with Conservatives under
262

LEADS THE REFORM PARTY

the leadership of Macdonald and Reformers under
that of Brown.

The stream of pohtics between 1854 and 1864 is
turbid; there is pettiness, there is bitterness, there
is confusion. But away from this turmoil the prov-
ince is growing in population, in wealth, in all the
elements of civilization. Upper Canada especially
is growing by immigration ; it overtakes and passes
Lower Canada in population, and thus arises the
question of representation by population. Brown
takes up this reform in representation as a means of
freeing Upper Canada from the domination of the
Lower Province. He becomes the " favourite son "
of Upper Canada. His rival, through his French-
Canadian alliance, meets him with a majority from
Lower Canada; and so, for several years, there is a
period of equally balanced parties and weak gov-
ernments, ending in dead-lock.

If Brown's action had only broken this dead-lock,
extricated some struggling politicians from diffi-
culty, and allowed the ordinary business of govern-
ment to proceed, it might have deserved only
passing notice. But more than that was involved.
The difficulty was inherent in the system. The
legislative union was Lord Durham's plan of assimi-
lating the races that he had found " warring in the
bosom of a single state." The plan had failed. The
line of cleavage was as sharply defined as ever. The
ill-assorted union had produced only strife and mis-
understanding. Yet to break the tie when new

263

GEORGE BROWN

duties and new dangers had emphasized the neces-
sity for union seemed to be an act of folly. To
federalize the union was to combine the advantage
of common action with liberty to each community
to work out its own ideals in education, municipal
government and all other matters of local concern.
I More than that, to federalize the union was to
> substitute for a rigid bond a bond elastic enough
to allow of expansion, eastward to the Atlantic

(and westward to the Pacific. That principle which
has been called provincial rights, or provincial
autonomy, might be described more accurately
and comprehensively as federalism ; and it is the
basic principle of Canadian political institutions,
( as essential to unity as to peace and local freedom.
The feeble, isolated and distracted colonies of
1864 have given place to a commonwealth which,
if not in strictness a nation, possesses all the
elements and possibilities of nationality, with a
territory open on three sides to the ocean, lying
in the highway of the world's commerce, and cap-
able of supporting a population as large as that of
the British Islands. Confederation was the first and
greatest step in that process of expansion, and it
is speaking only words of truth and soberness to
say that confederation will rank among the land-
marks of the world's history, and that its import-
ance will not decline but will increase as history
throws events into their true perspective. It is in
his association with confederation, with the events
264

A MAN OF VARIED INTERESTS

that led up to confederation, and with the addition
to Canada of the vast and fertile plains of the West,
that the life of George Brown is of interest to the
student of history.

Brown was not only a member of parliament
and an actor in the political drama, but was the
founder of a newspaper, and for thirty-six years
the source of its inspiration and influence. As a
journalist he touched life at many points. He was a
man of varied interests — railways, municipal affairs,
prison reform, education, agriculture, all came within
the range of his duty as a journalist and his interest
and sympathy as a man. Those stout-hearted men
who amid all the wrangling and intrigue of the
politicians were turning the wilderness of Canada
into a garden, gave to Brown in large measure
their confidence and affection. He, on his part,
valued their friendship more than any victory that
could be won in the political game. That was the
standard by which he always asked to be judged.
This story of his Hfe may help to show that he was
true to the trust they reposed in him, and to the
principles that were the standards of his political
conduct, to government by the people, to free in-
stitutions, to religious liberty and equality, to the
unity and progress of the confederation of which
he was one of the builders.

265

INDEX

INDEX

jLlbion, the, Peter Brown contri-
butes thereto, 2

Anglican Church, exclusive claims
of, 11, 51, 52

Annexation manifesto, result of dis-
content aroused by Rebellion
Losses Bill, and repeal of prefer-
ential trade, 37

B

Bagot, Sir Charles, Governor of
Canada, friendly attitude towards
French - Canadians, 16; accepts
Lafontaine and Baldwin as his
advisers, 16; accused of surrender
to rebels, 16; his action threatens
to cause ministerial crisis in Eng-
land, 16 ; denounced by Duke of
Wellington, 16, 17; recalled at
his own request, 18 ; illness and
death, 18 ; begs his ministers to
defend his memory, 18

Baldwin, Robert, father of respon-
sible government, 21 ; criticized
by Dr. Ryerson, 22, 23 ; his wise
leadership, 24 ; victory at polls,
33; achievements of his ministry,
33 ; the Rebellion Losses Bill,
34-7 ; discontent of Clear Grits,
39 ; the Baldwin-Lafontaine gov-
ernment defended by Brown, 42 ;
resigns because of vote of abolition
of Court of Chancery, 47

Banner^ the, established by the

Browns, 5 ; descriptive extracts,
3, &-8

Belleau, Sir Narcisse F. , succeeds
Sir E. P. Tache as head of the
coalition government, 191 ; his
headship only nominal, 191

Bennett, George, employed in en-
gine room of the Globe, 256 ; dis-
charged, 256 ; his conversation
with Brown, 256 ; shoots and
wounds Brown, 257 ; on death of
Brown is tried and found guilty
of murder, 258 ; his mind disor-
dered by misfortune and by in-
temperance, 258

Blake, the Hon. Edward, speech at
Aurora advocating imperial feder-
ation, 240

British-American League, the, ad-
vocates federation, 37

British Chronicle, the, established by
the Browns in New York, 4

Brown, George, birth, 1 ; education,
1 ; leaves Scotland for the United
States, 2; visits Canada, 4; founds
the Banner, 5 ; founds the Globe,
20 ; addresses Toronto Reform
Association, 21 ; refuses to drink
health of Lord Metcalfe, 27, 28 ;
his dwelling attacked by oppo-
nents of Lord Elgin, 36 ; opposes
Clear Grit movement, 40 ; atti-
tude towards Baldwin-Lafontaine
government, 42 ; dissatisfied with
delay in dealing with clergy re-

269

GEORGE BROWN

serves, 42 ; causes of rupture with
Reform government, 44 ; com-
ments on Cardinal Wiseman's
pastoral, 44, 45 ; attacked as an
enemy of Irish Catholics, 44-6 ;
defeated in Haldimand election
by William Lyon Mackenzie, 46 ;
his election platform, 47 ; rupture
with Hincks's government, 48 ;
complains of French and Catholic
influence, 48, 49 ; series of letters
to Hincks, 48 ; addresses meeting
in favour of secularization of
clergy reserves, 55, 56 ; candidate
for parliament for Kent, 61 ; his
platform, 61 ; advocates free and
non-sectarian schools, 62 ; advo-
cates similar policy for university
education, 62 ; elected member
for Kent, 64 ; his first appearance
in parliament, 65 ; consequence
of parliament being held in city
of Quebec, 65 ; hostility of
French-Canadians to Brown, 65 ;
Brown's maiden speech, 66 ; vin-
dicates responsible government,
and insists upon fulfilment of
ministerial pledges, 66, 67 ; con-
dition of parties in legislature,
69 ; Brown's temporary isolation,
69 ; his industry, 69 ; opposes
legislation granting privileges to
Roman Catholic institutions, 70 ;
his course leads towards recon-
struction of legislative union, 70 ;
growth of his popularity in Upper
Canada, 71 ; remarkable testi-
mony of a Conservative journal,
71 , 72 ; his appearance on the
platform in 1853 described by

270

the Hon. James Young, 73 ;
favours prohibition, 76 ; elected
for Lambton, 77 ; forms friend-
ship with the Rouge leader, A.
A. Dorion, 80, 81 ; advocates
representation by population, 82-
4 ; charged by J. A. Macdonald
with misconduct as secretary of
prison commission, 87 ; moves for
committee of inquiry, 88 ; forci-
bly repels attack, 89 ; exposes
cruelties and abuses in prison, 90;
his relations with Macdonald em-
bittered by this incident, 91 ;
delivers address on prison reform,
91, 92 ; repels charge that he had
been a defaulter in Edinburgh,
and defends his father, 93-7 ,"
elected for city of Toronto in
1857, 99 ; defeats government on
question of seat of government,
100 ; called upon to form a
government, 101 ; confers with
Dorion, 101 ; forms Brown-
Dorion administration, 102; waits
upon the governor-general, 102 ;
receives communication from the
governor - general, 102 ; forms
belief that obstacles are being
placed in his way by intrigue,
102 ; criticizes the governor-
general's communication, 103 ;
meets his colleagues, 104 ; his
government defeated in parlia-
ment, 104 ; asks for dissolution
and is refused, 105, 106 ; his
government resigns, 106 ; his
part in work of the Anti-Slavery
Society of Canada, 112 ; de-
nounces Fugitive Slave Law, 113,

INDEX

114 ; discusses Lincoln's procla-
mation of emancipation, 114-19 ;
his relations with Roman Catho-
lics, 121 ; opposes separate
schools, 121; accepts compromise,

122 ; his " no popery " campaign,

123 ; his letter to Roman Catho-
lics, 124-6 ; his position consider-
ed, 127, 128 ; his course leads up
to confederation, 130 ; letter to
Holton, 131 ; his speech at
Reform convention of 1859, 137;
fails to obtain support of legis-
lature for proposals to federalize
the union, 139 ; contemplates
retirement from leadership of
Reform party, 141 ; defeated in
East Toronto, 141 ; opposes John
Sandfield's " double majority "
plan, 143 ; visits England, 143 ;
marriage in Edinburgh, 144 ; his
attitude towards separate schools,
145; accepts compromise of 1863,
145) describes dead-lock situation,
149 ; lays before legislature re-
port of special committee advo-
cating federation of Canada as a
remedy, 150 ; negotiations with

.government, 151-6; consults Re-
formers of Upper Canada, 156,
157 ; urged by governor-general
(Monk) to enter government, 157 ;
consents, 158 ; enters ministry,
159 ; visits Maritime Provinces,
161 ; addresses meeting at Halifax
in fuilherance of confederation,
161 ; advocates nominative as
against elective senate, 164 ; des-
scribes result of Quebec confer-
ence, 165 ; addresses meeting at

Music Hall, Toronto, 166 ; visits
England, 167 ; describes English
feeling in favour of confederation,
167 ; his speech in parliament
advocating confederation, 171-5 ;
describes crisis created by defeat
of New Brunswick government,
181, 182; visits England with Mac-
donald, Cartier and Gait, 186 ;
on the death of Tache objects to
Macdonald assuming premiership,
189 ; consents to succession of Sir
N. F. Belleau, 191 ; his work in
connectio n, with reciprocity, 192 ;
appointed memb.er of confederate^
council on reciprocity, 193 ; pro-
tests against Gait's proceedings
in Washington, 194 ; objects
strongly to proposal for reciprocity
by legislation, 194 ; resigns from
coalition^ 195 ; letter to Cartier,
196 ; his reasons for resigning,
196 ; the rupture inevitable. 199;
reasons why coalition could not
endure, 199 ; Holton's warning,
200, 201 ; experience of How-
land, Macdougall and Tilley, 202;
experience of Joseph Howe, 203,
204; coalition endangers Liberal
principles, 204-7 ; Brown's course
after leaving coalition, 208 ; ad-
dresses Reform convention of
1867 against continuance of co-
alition, 209 ; interest in North-
West Territories, 211, 213 ;
advocates union of North-West
Territories with Canada, 218-20 ;
takes part in negotiations with
British government, 220 ; his
services as to North- West Terri-

271

GEORGE BROWN

tories acknowledged by Macdon-
ald, 221 ; sent to Washington by
Mackenzie government to inquire
as to reciprocity (1874), 226 ;
appointed with Sir Edward Thorn-
ton to negotiate treaty, 226 ; finds
much ignorance of value of
Canadian trade, 228 ; prepares
memorandum as to trade, 229 ;
carries on propaganda in Ameri-
can journals, 230 ; falsely accused
of bribing them, 230 ; describes
progress of negotiations, 231 ;
joins issue with Canadian pro-
tectionists, 232, 233; effect of
his hostility to Canada First
movement, 241, 242 ; his family,
243, 244 ; determines to retire
from public life, 245 ; describes
difficulty of combining journalism
with politics, 246-8 ; his relations
with party leaders after retire-
ment, 247 ; acquires Bow Park
estate, and engages in raising of
fine cattle, 248 ; engaged in a
famous case of contempt of court,
249 ; accused by Mr. Justice
Wilson of bribery, 249 ; Mr. Jus-
tice Wilson attacked by the Globe,
250-2 ; Brown charged with con-
tempt of court, appears in person,
and defends himself, 252-4 ;
attacked and shot by George
Bennett, 255 ; the wound not
regarded as mortal, 257 ; un-
favourable progress of case, 257 ;
death, 258 ; motives of Bennett,
258 ; character of Brown, 259 ;
his career in relation to history,

272

260-3 ; his share in achievement
of confederation, 264, 265

Brown, J. Gordon, succeeds George
as managing editor of the Globe,
244

Brown, Peter, father of the Hon.
George Brown, leaves Scotland
for New York, 2 ; contributes to
the Albion, 2 ; author of Fame
and Glory of England Vindicated,
3 ; establishes the British Chroni-
cle, 4 ; establishes the Banner, 6;
his business troubles in Edin-
burgh lead to an attack on George
Brown, 93 ; George Brown's
speech in the legislature, 93-8 ;
his work on the Globe, 243, 244

Canada First, its platform, 235 ;
severely criticized by the Globe,

236 ; the Globe suspects that it
means Canadian independence,

237 ; the Globe's attack on Canada
First and Goldwin Smith, 237,

238 ; Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply,
238 ; national spirit evinced by
movement, 239 ; effect of Canada
First movement, 240, 241; Edward
Blake at Aurora advocates im-
perial federation, 240 ; Liberal
party injured by hostility to
Canada First, 240-2

Cartier, Georges E., asks Brown to
reconsider his resignation from
coalition ministry, 196

Cartwright, Sir Richard, on con-
federation, 148, 163

Cathcart, Earl, governor of Canada,
28

INDEX

Church, the, opposes responsible
government as impious, 6

Clear Grit party, its leaders, 39 ;
opposed by George Brown and
the Globe, 40 ; its platform, 41

Clergy reserves, intended to endow
Protestant clergy, 51 ; claim of
Church of England to exclusive
enjoyment, 51 ; evidence of in-
tention to establish Church of
England, 52 ; effect of policy on
Canada, 62 ; described as one of
the causes of rebellion, 53 ; settle-
ment retarded by locking up of
lands, 63, 54 ; Brown advocates
secularization, 64 ; Brown ad-
dresses meeting in Toronto, 55,
66 ; the meeting mobbed, 68 ;
Riot Act read, and military aid
used to protect meeting, 68 ;
secularization accomplished, 69,
60

Confederation of British American
provinces advocated by British
American League, 37, 38 ; the pro-
posal attributed to various persons,
129 ; D'Arcy McGee says it was
due to events more powerful than
men, 129, 130 ; Brown's course
leads up to confederation, 130 ;
his letter to Luther Holton treat-
ing it as an open question, 131 ;
advocated by Dorion, 132 ; by A.
T. Gait, 132 ; failure of attempt
made in 1858, 133 ; Liberals of
Lower Canada declare for federal
union, 133 ; convention of Upper
Canada Reformers, 133, 134 ; the
evils of the legislative union set
forth, 134 ; account of the con-

vention, 134 ; divided between
dissolving and federalizing the
union, 135 ; Sheppard's acute
criticism of plan of federation, 135;
convention declares for local
legislatures, with joint authority
for matters of common interest,
136, 138 ; George Brown opposes
dissolution of union, 137 ; the
legislature rejects Brown's reso-
lutions founded on those of the
convention, 139 ; becomes an ur-
gent question, 147 ; causes of that
change, 147 ; Canada urged by
Great Britain to take measures
for defence, 147 ; effect of the
American Civil War, 147 ; abro-
gation of reciprocity treaty and
loss of American trade, 148 ; fears
of abolition of bonding system,
148 ; isolated position of Canada,
148 ; the credit of the country
low, 148 (note) ; the dead-lock in
the government of Canada, 149 ;
attempts to form a stable govern-
ment fail, 149 ; Brown describes
the situation, 150 ; Brown brings
into the House report of a special
committee favouring federation
as a remedy for difficulties in
the government of Canada, 150 ;
the Tache government defeated,
151 ; negotiations with Brown,
151 ; Ferrier's account of the
meeting, 152 ; Brown's account
of negotiations, 162, 153 ; Sir
Richard Cartwright describes a
scene in the House, 153 ; official
account of negotiations, 164 ;
Brown reluctant to join coalition

273

GEORGE BROWN

ministry, 154 ; question whether
federation should include Mari-
time Provinces and North-West
Territories, 155, 156 ; Brown con-
sults Reform members for Upper
Canada, 156 ; they approve of
confederation and of coalition,
157 ; the governor-general (Monk)
urges Brown to enter coalition,
157 ; Brown consents, 158 ; letter
from Brown, 158 ; formation of
the coalition, 159 ; predominance
of Conservatives in government,
160 ; the bye-elections generally
favour confederation, 160, 161 ;
movement for Maritime union,
161 ; meeting of Canadian and
Maritime representatives at Char-
lottetown, 161 ; conference at
Quebec, 163 ; anxiety to avoid
danger of "State sovereignty,"
163 ; powers not defined to reside
in central parliament, 163 ; con-
stitution of the senate, 164 ;
Brown advocates nominated sen-
ate, 164 ; Brown describes result
of conference, 165 ', the Maritime
delegates visit Canada, 166 ; cor-
dial reception at Toronto, 166 ;
Brown there describes scheme of
confederation, 166 ; Brown visits
England, 167 ; Brown finds Eng-
lish opinion favourable, 167 ; de-
bate in the legislature of Canada,
169 ; speech of Sir E. P. Tache',
169; of John A. Macdonald, 170;
of Brown, 171-4 ; of Dorion, 1 75 ;
Dorion's objections to centraliza-
tion considered, 178 ; the plan
endangered by defeat of New

274

Brunswick government, 181 ; de-
bate in the Canadian legislature,
182 ; John Sandfield Macdonald
charges coalition with attempting
to mislead people, 183 ; John A.
Macdonald announces that a de-
putation will be sent to England
to consult as to defence, and as to
attitude of New Brunswick, 183 ;
Macdonald refers to debate in
House of Lords on Canadian
defences, 183, 184 ; Macdonald
moves previous question, 185 ;
ministers charged with burking
discussion, 185 ; the Maritime
Provinces inclined to withdraw,
186 ; Macdonald, Brown, Cartier
and Gait visit England and confer
with British ministers, 186 ; an
agreement made as to defence,
etc. , 186 ; pressure brought to
bear on New Brunswick, 186-8
death of Sir E. P. Tache, 189
discussion as to succession, 189
Brown's objection to Macdonald
becoming premier, 189, 190 ; Sir
N. F. Belleau chosen, 191 ; causes
which led to Brown's leaving the
ministry, 191 ; the reciprocity
negotiations, 192 ; a confederate
council on reciprocity formed,
193 ; Gait and Howland visit
Washington, 193 ; Seward, Am-
erican secretary of state, pro-
poses reciprocal legislation instead
of treaty, 193 ; Brown protests
against that, and generally against
Gait's proceedings, 194 ; Brown
resigns his place in coalition, 195 ;
his reasons considered, 195-201 ;

INDEX

violation of self-government in-
volved in steps taken to bring
about confederation, 204, 205 ;
absence of popular approval, 205,
206 ; undue centralization, 207

D

DoHioN, A. A., leader of Rouges,
80 ; his friendship with George
Brown, 80 ; joins Brown-Dorion
government, 102 ; proposes fed-
eral union, 132; his speech in
Canadian legislature against con-
federation, 175 ; declares that
real authors of confederation were
owners of Grand Trunk Railway
Company, 176; contends that too
much power is vested in central
authority, 177 ; some of his ob-
jections well-founded, 178 ; de-
clares that Macdonald accepted
confederation merely to retain
office, 199

"Double majority," the, advocated
by John Sandfield Macdonald,
142

"Double Shuffle," the, 100; the
Cartier- Macdonald government
defeated on question of seat of
government, 100 ; resigns, 101 ;
George Brown asked to form
ministry, 101 ; conference be-
tween Brown and Dorion, 101 ;
the government formed, 102 ; the
governor-general notifies Brown
that he will not pledge himself to
grant dissolution, 102, 103; his
action criticized by Brown, 103,
104 ; the government defeated in
the legislature, 104 ; policy of the

government, 104; a dissolution
asked for, 105 ; dissolution re-
fused and government resigns,
106 ; former government resumes
office, 106; artifice by which
ministers avoid fresh elections,
107

Drummond, L. T., a member of the
Brown-Dorion government, 102

Durham, Lord, extracts from his
report, 11, 12, 52, 53, 64, 82, 83

E

Elgin, Lord, (see also Rebellion
Losses Bill) condemns system of
preferential trade, 32 ; reconciles
colonial self-government with im-
perial unity, 33 ; concedes re-
sponsible government, 33 ; at-
tacked by Canadian Tories as a
sympathizer with rebels and
Frenchmen, 33; assents to Re-
bellion Losses Bill, 86 ; mobbed
at Montreal, 36 ; firm attitude
during disturbance, 37

Ferrier, Mr., describes negotia-
tions for confederation, 152

French -Canadians, Lord Durham's
plan of benevolent assimilation,
12 ; its failure, 12 ; friendly atti-
tude of Bagot towards, 16 ; their
attitude towards representation
by population, 83, 84

Galt, a. T., asked to form a minis-
try, 106 ; enters reconstructed
Cartier-Macdonald government,

275

GEORGE BROWN

107 ; advocates confederation of
Canada, 132, 133 ; appointed with
Brown to represent Canada in
confederate council on recipro-
city, 193 ; visits Washington and
confers with Mr. Seward, secre-
tary of state, 193 ; discusses with
him question of reciprocity hy
legislation, 193 ; his course con-
demned by Brown, 194
Gladstone, W. E., his eulogy of
Peel government, 14 ; replies to
despatch of Canadian government
complaining of repeal of prefer-
ential tariff, 31
Globe, the, founded, 20 ; its motto,
20 ; its prospectus, 20 ; champions
responsible government, 20 ; ad-
vocates war with United States
to free slaves, 28, 29 ; defends
abolition of Corn Laws in Eng-
land, 31 ; defends Lord Elgin,
36 ; opposes Clear Grit move-
ment, 40 ; discusses dissensions
among Reformers, 42, 43 ; com-
ments on Cardinal Wiseman's
pastoral, 44 ; attacks Hincks-
Morin government, 48 ; first
issued as a daily in 1853, 74 ;
absorbs North American and Ex-
aminer, 74 ; declaration of prin-
ciples, 74, 75 ; advocates alliance
with Quebec Rouges, 78 ; be-
friends fugitive slaves, 112 ; op-
poses slavery, 119 ; "no popery"
campaign, 123, 124; attacks Sepa-
rate School Bill, 145 ; the early
article showing value of North-
West Territories, 213-17 ; severe-
ly criticizes Canada First party,

276

236-8; its attitude considered,
239 ; Brown declares his prefer-
ence for editorship of Globe to
any official position, 247 ; its at-
tack on Mr. Justice Wilson, 250-
2 ; the article gives rise to pro-
ceedings for contempt of court,
252 ; Brown's defence, 252-4 ;
the court disagrees, 254 ; descrip-
tion of building where Mr. Brown
was shot, 255
Gordon, Arthur Hamilton, governor
of New Brunswick, opposes con-
federation, 187 ; is censured by
British government and instruct-
ed to reverse his policy, 187 ;
brings pressure to bear on his
ministers to abandon opposition
to confederation, 188 ; the minis-
try resigns and is succeeded by a
ministry favourable to confedera-
tion, 188

H
Head, Sir Edmund Walker, sends
for George Brown to foi m govern-
ment, 101 ; notifies Brown that he
gives no pledge to dissolve, 102 ;
refuses dissolution, 106 ; charge
of partiality considered, 107, 108
Hincks, Sir Francis, succeeds Ro-
bert Baldwin, 48 ; attacked by
Brown and the Globe, 48 ; policy
as to secularization of clergy re-
serves, 59 ; his government de-
feated, 77 ; he retires and gives
his support to the MacNab-Morin
government, 77, 78
Holton, Luther, a member of the
Brown-Dorion government, 102 ;
opposes coalition of 1864, 199;

INDEX

his remarkable appeal to Brown
to leave coalition, 200, 201

Howe, Joseph, his relations with
Sir John Macdonald, 203

Howland, Sir W. P , visits Wash-
ington in connection with reci-
procity, 193 ; his relations with
Sir John A. Macdonald's minis-
try, 202; defends his course in
adhering to coalition, 209

I

IsBRSTEB, Mr., services in calling
attention to North-West Terri-
tories, 212

L

Liberal, the, founded during Can-
ada First movement, 235

M

Macdonald, John A., rises to lead-
ership of reconstructed Conser-
vative party, 42 ; charges Brown
with misconduct as secretary
of prison commission, 87-90 ;
enmity with Brown, 91 ; recounts
negotiations with Brown as to
confederation, 154 ; speech in
legislature supporting confedera-
tion, 170 ; informs House of crisis
caused by defeat of New Bruns-
wick government, 182; announces
mission to England, 182 ; deals
with question of defence, 183 ;
moves previous question, 185 ;
goes to England to confer with
British government, 186 ; asked
to form an administration on
death of Sir E. P. Tache, 189 ;

Brown objects, 190 ; proposes Sir
N. F. Belleau, who is accepted,
191 ; relations with Brown, 201 ;
relations with Joseph Howe, 203

Macdonald, John Sandfield, a mem-
ber of Brown-Dorion government,
102 ; advocates the " double
majority," 142 ; his government
adopts Separate School Bill, 144

Macdougall, William, one of the
Clear Grits, 39 ; editor of the
North American, 40 ; enters
coalition ministry for purpose of
carrying out confederation, 159 ;
argues for continuance of coali-
tion, 210

Mackenzie, Alexander, opposed to
Reformers entering coalition min-
istry in 1864, 199; his government
sends Brown to AVashington in
connection with reciprocity, 1874,
226

Metcalfe, Sir Charles (afterwards
Lord), asked to undertake govern-
ment of Canada, 18 ; difficulty of
position emphasized by Lord
Stanley, 18 ; misinformed as to
intentions of Canadian Reformers,
19 ; his dispute with Baldwin and
Lafontaine, 19 ; regards himself
as defending unity of empire, 19 ;
willing to grant responsible gov-
ernment in a qualified sense, 19 ;
personal character, 19 ; dissolves
legislature, 24 ; his view of the
contest, 24 ; votes offered for him
personally, 25 ; his victory, 26 ;
subsequent difficulties, 26 ; illness
and death, 27 ; raised to peerage,
27

277

GEORGE BROAVN

Mowat, Oliver, a member of the
Brown-Dorion government, 102 ;
a member of committee of Anti-
Slavery Society, 112; advocates
federal union, 135 ; enters co-
alition to carry out confederation,
159

N

Nation, the, founded to advocate
Canada First movement, 235 ;
sets forth programme of Canada
First party, 236

National Club, the, founded during
the Canada First movement, 235

New Brunswick, defeat of local
government, 181 ; the confedera-
tion scheme endangered by this
defeat, 181 ; the situation dis-
cussed in the legislature of Can-
ada, 182, 183; the Canadian
mission to England, 186 ; the
British government agrees to
bring influence to bear on
Maritime Provinces to enter con-
federation, 186 ; position of Mr.
Gordon, lieutenant-governor of
New Brunswick, 187 ; he at first
opposes confederation, 187 ; re-
ceives instructions from England
to promote confederation, 187 ;
brings pressure to bear on his
government to abandon opposition
to confederation, 187, 188 ; the
government resigns, 188 ; a
general election follows, and a
government favourable to con-
federation is returned, 188

New York, experience of the
Browns in, 2, 3

278

North American, the organ of the
Clear Grits, 40

Nova Scotia, the province of, forced
into confederation, 206

North-West Territories, Brown's
interest in, 211 ; address by
Robert Baldwin Sullivan, 211 ;
article in the Globe describing
resources of country, 213-15 ;
letters of " Huron " in Toronto
Globe, 215 ; meeting of Toronto
Board of Trade, 216 ; Reform
convention of 1857 advocates ad-
dition of territories to Canada,
217 ; scepticism as to value of
country, 217, 218 ; Brown speaks
in favour of extension of Canada
to Pacific Ocean, 219 ; negotia-
tions with British government,
220 ; Macdonald's testimony to
' Brown's services, 221

Parties, political, in state of tran-
sition on Brown's entry into par-
liament, 69 ; reconstruction on
defeat of Hincks-Morin govern-
ment, and formation of MacNab-
Morin government, 77 ; the new
government described as a coali-
tion by its friends and as Tory by
its opponents, 77 ; gradually
comes to represent personal in-
fluence of John A. Macdonald,
78 ; the Baldwin Reformers, 78 ;
opposition gathers under Brown,
78 ; alliance between Upper Can-
adian Reformers and Rouges, 78

Peel government, its attitude to-
wards responsible government in

INDEX

Canada^ 13; Gladstone's eulogium
on, 14 ; misunderstands Canadian
situation, 14 ; controversy with
Governor Bagot, 16 ; regards
Bagot's action as a surrender to
rebels, 16, 17 ; appoints Metcalfe,
17-19

Preferential trade, abolished by re-
peal of Corn Laws, 31; complaints
from Canada, 31 ; the Globe de-
fends British position, 31 ; Lord
Elgin condemns imperial pro-
tection, 32

Prison commission, Macdonald
charges Brown with falsifying
testimony and suborning prisoners
to commit perjury, 87 ; scene in
the House, 88 ; Brown moves for
a committee of inquiry, 88 ; un-
expectedly produces report of
commission, 88 ; proceedings of
committee, 89 ; Brown describes
abuses revealed by commission,
90 ; the incident embitters rela-
tions between Brown and Mac-
donald, 91 ; Brown delivers public
address on prison reform, 91, 92

Prohibition, advocated by the Globe
in 1853, 75 ; discussed in legis-
lature, 75 ; drinking habits of
Canada in early days, 75, 76

Protection, beginning of agitation
in Canada, 231 ; opposed by
Brown, 232, 233

R

Rebeluon in Canada (1837), causes
of, 11 ; remedies proposed, 12

Rebellion Losses Bill, 34 ; distur-
bance occasioned by, 35 ; burning

of parliament buildings at Mon-
treal, 37 ; mobbing of Lord Elgin,
37
Reciprocity, abrogation of treaty of
1854 one of the causes of con-
federation, 148 ; negotiations for
renewal of treaty, 192 ; confeder-
ate council on reciprocity formed,
193 ; Gait and Rowland visit
Washington, 193; Seward, Amer-
ican secretary of state, proposes
reciprocal legislation instead of
treaty, 193 ; Brown's objections,
194, 223 ; reasons for failure of
negotiations of 1866, 224 ; Amer-
icans set little value on Canadian
trade, 224 ; attempts at renewal
in 1869 and 1871, 225 ; the Brown
mission of 1874, 225 ; meeting
with Mr. Rothery, agent of
British government, 226 ; Brown
visits Washington, 226 ; Sir Ed-
ward Thornton and Brown ap-
pointed to negotiate a treaty, 226 ;
reasons for selection of Brown,
227; opening of negotiations, 227;
sketch of proposed treaty, 227 ;
list of articles on free list, 228 ;
Brown finds value of Canadian
trade greatly under-estimated in
Washington, 228 ; Brown pre-
pares a memorandum showing
extent of trade, 229 ; carries on
propaganda in American news-
papers, 230 ; falsely charged with
corrupting the press, 230 ; the
treaty goes to the American
senate, 231 ; failure of negotia-
tions, 231 ; objections made in
Canada, 231; Canadian movement

279

GEORGE BROWN

for protection, 231 ; Brown op-
poses protection, 232, 233

Reformers, Canadian, open cam-
paign for responsible government
against Governor Metcalfe, 21 ;
wise leadership of Baldwin and
Lafontaine, 24 ; convention of
1857 advocates addition of North-
West Territories to Canada, 217 ;
convention of 1859 to consider
relations of Upper and Lower
Canada, 133, 134 ; arguments for
confederation, 135; George Shep-
pard's powerful speech against fed-
eration, 135, 136 ; the advocates
of federation agree to amend-
ment minimizing powers of central
government, 136, 137 ; Brown
advocates confederation, 137,138;
Reformers consulted by George
Brown as to confederation, 156 ;
they agree to Brown and others
entering coalition cabinet, 157 ;
Reform party inadequately repre-
sented in coalition, 159 ; question
of Reform representation again
raised on death of Sir E. P.
Tache', 190 ; Reform convention
of 1867, 208 ; approves of con-
federation, 208 ; but declares that
coalition should come to an end,
its objects having been achieved,
208, 209

Representation by population, pro-
posed by George Brown, 82-4 ;
objections raised on behalf of
Lower Canada, 84 ; strength of
Lower Canadian case, 84 ; federal-
ism the real remedy, 85

Responsible Government (see also

280

Peel Government, Bagot, and Met-
calfe), recommended by Lord Dur-
ham, 12, 13 ; attitude of British
government, 13 ; Governor Ba-
got's concessions, 16-18; Governor
Metcalfe's attitude, 19 ; Dr. Ryer-
son champions Governor Metcalfe,
22 ; the legislature dissolved,
1844, 24 ; fierce election contest
follows, 24 ; personal victory for
Governor Metcalfe, 25, 26
Roman Catholics, relations of George
Brown with, 44 et seq, 121 et seq ;
Brown's letter to prominent Ro-
man Catholics, 124 et seq
Rouges, described by the Glohe, 78
Ryerson, Dr. leader among Metho-
dists, 22 ; espouses cause of
Governor Metcalfe against Re-
formers, 22 ; correctly describes
attitude of British government,
23 ; supports Mr. R. W. Scott's
Separate School Bill, 144

S

Scottish Church, disruption of, 2 ;
opinions of the Browns thereon,
2 ; comment of the Banner, 6

Sheppard, George, his speech at
Reform convention of 1859, 135 ;
predicts growth of central author-
ity under federal system, 136

Separate Schools, opposed by George
Brown, 121 ; a compromise ar-
ranged, 122, 123 ; bill introduced
by Mr. R. W. Scott, 144; sup-
ported by Dr. Ryerson, 144 ;
adopted by Macdonald-Sicotte
government, 144; becomes law,

INDEX

145 ; assailed by the Globe, 145 ;
accepted by Brown, 145
Slavery, Brown's opposition to, 1,
2, 3 ; Canada a refuge for slaves,
111 ; passage of Fugitive Slave
Law, 111 ; Anti-Slavery Society
formed in Canada, 112 ; settle-
ments of refugee slaves, 113 ;
Brown at Toronto denounces
Fugitive Slave Law, 113, 114;
Brown discusses Lincoln's procla-
mation of emancipation, 114 ;
describes feeling in Great Britain,

115 ; Brown's insight into Lin-
coln's policy, 115 ; insists that
slavery was cause of Civil War,

116 ; shows Canada's interest in
the struggle, 117 ; consequences
of growth of a slave power in
North America, 118, 119

Smith, Goldwin, his connection with
Canada First movement, 235 ;
elected president of the National
Club, 237 ; attacked by the Globe,
237, 238 ; his reply, 238, 239

Stanley, Lord, colonial secretary
under Peel, advocates preferential
trade and imperial protection, 15,
31

Sullivan, Robert Baldwin, delivers
an address on resources of North-
West Territories, 21 1

Star, the Cobourg, its estimate of
George Brown, 71, 72

Scott, R. W., introduces Separate
School Bill, 144

Strachan, Bishop, opposes seculari-
zation of King's College, 8

Tach6, Sir E. P., forms govern-
ment in effort to break dead-lock,
149 ; his government defeated,
149 ; heads coalition to carry out
confederation, 159 ; his speech in
the legislature, 169 ; his death,
189

Thompson, Samuel, describes meet-
ing with George Brown in 1843,
4,6

Toronto Board of Trade, advocates
incorporation of North- West Ter-
ritories with Canada, 216

W

Wiseman, Cardinal, his pastoral
published and criticized in the
Globe, U.

281

MAKKF^S OF CA?L1DA

George Brown

F

5054

.M34 '

V.19

•?