Hon. Sir George-È. Cartier said the matter did not affect
or interest the representatives of the other Provinces. The hon. member for
Lambton said that he wished to see them all Conservatives; but let him
try to get up a Liberal party. With regard to the charge of the want of
success in Confederation, and supporting it by the cases of
Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, and the North West, he would refer
to those countries. With regard to Newfoundland, it had rejected the
proposal; but the terms were not those of the Government but of the
House. The House agreed to their proposed terms, and then they ceased to be
their proposals; and he was surprised to see that such
intelligent men as the members for Lambton and Sherbrooke should found their
charges upon such a foundation. He would tell the House that if they
would be quiet, in a short time the terms would be accepted. With regard
to Prince Edward Island, the Government had made certain proposals, but they
did not like to do anything without the approval of Parliament.
They had telegraphed the terms they should submit, and they had not yet
received a reply. They could not force such powerful Provinces as
Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island to accept their terms, but they
must wait. With regard to the North-West Territory, the proceedings
adopted had not been the action simply of the Government, but had been
adopted by the House. After the plans had been adopted by Parliament the House
was responsible for them. He hoped his hon. friend did not object to
that. The responsibility rested not upon the Government, but upon the Parliament
which had passed it; they had done all in their power to
bring about the admission of the North-West into Confederation. He would
admit that at the time the Confederation Act was discussed in Quebec, and at
the discussions on it, they were not in possession of all the
information that was desirable. The idea was that the Hudson Bay Company were
not treating the inhabitants kindly, and that they would enter the Union
gladly, but recent circumstances showed that the Government of
the country was not as unpopular as it was represented. His own impression was
that the population had become indifferent to it, and the late lamentable
circumstances proved that it was partly unpopular. He regretted that his
own colleague was now to be addressed as an opponent. Before he accepted the
office, he came to him (Sir George) and asked him
118
COMMONS DEBATES
February 21, 1870 whether he would support him. He
promised him to do so for he thought that he would have been a good
Governor. He thought now that he would have been a good Governor if he could
have got into the country and could have explained to the settlers that
the Government intended to do them no wrong. There could be no doubt that
the Scotch and English half- breeds did not find fault with what
the French Canadian half-breeds were doing. It had been published in some
papers that there was a conspiracy against his hon. friend, because a
French Gouvernor ought to be sent there, and that the Territory ought to be a
second Quebec. He thought that these statements were the most wicked
untruths that had ever been published. He had promised his friend his
support, and he should not have been guilty of doing anything to give the
least appearance of truth to such a wicked and mischievous untruth. The
French Canadians were an impulsive race, and he thought it very wrong for a
writer or a speaker to attempt to raise a disturbance in the East as well
as in the West. They were French Canadians, but they were also British subjects
(cheers), and were as much British, even if not more so, than the
British, (cheers). He was a pure Frenchman, and he defied them to produce a more
loyal man. Suppose that he was appointed to the
Governorship, would his being a French Canadian make him unfit for that
position? (No! no.) Sir G.-E. Cartier then contrasted the liberality of the
Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and gave a stirring description of the
loyalty of the old French inhabitants of the Province of Quebec. As to
the inhabitants of the Red River, the French had gone there with their fathers,
but some stupid fanatical papers had said there should be no Frenchmen
there. At any rate there was no intention to send a French Government
there; but still their paper had no right to speak of the French population as
they had done. The Red River must be a Province like Quebec, Ontario,
Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, but a Province for every race to
settle in. He thanked God there were in Lower Canada 250,000 honest
English-speaking residents; and he and his co-nationalists only regretted that
there were not double the number. At the last census there were 80,000
French Canadians in Upper Canada. He hoped at the next census there would
be 100,000 more (laughter), and he was convinced that the Upper Province would
not be the worse for this increase. The address stated that the policy of
conciliation would be adopted. There was the case of Ireland, conquered hundreds
of years ago, and the misgovernment there was only
now about to be relieved by Protestant votes. We wanted no such state of
things here—no country baptized in blood. The House and country ought to be
thankful that the North-West Territory would be annexed without a drop of blood
being shed, (hear, hear). The moderation of the half-breeds had been
remarkable; and now they understood the policy of the Government was
to be pacific. He was afraid that Mr. Macdougall had been misled by some
designing people in Red River. But papers would come before the House,
and they would show the necessity of having this unfortunate difficulty settled
as soon as possible. Some papers asserted that Bishop Taché had
encouraged the movement. He had the authority of Bishop Taché to deny it
in toto. Some days before Bishop Taché left
for Rome in December last, Bishop Taché was informed that Mr. Macdougall
was to come. The Bishop wrote to the College of St. Boniface,
to the nuns in the convent there, telling them to welcome Mr. Macdougall. The
nuns having the little children under their control, were prepared to
receive him by singing the National Anthem. As to the remarks which Mr.
Mackenzie had made as to the militia he (Sir George) could inform him that
there were enrolled in Lower Canada 43,000 men, or 3,500 beyond the
quota. There was also an excess over the quota in Ontario, New Brunswick, and
Nova Scotia. There had been strictures as to the success of
Confederation, but could it be denied that the Nova Scotian's difficulty
de facto had been settled? It was well after
all that the Constitutional Act of Confederation had been tested in Nova
Scotia. There the Local Parliament was against the Dominion Government, but still
it could not impede the whole of Confederation.
By the action of the last Parliament giving justice to Nova Scotia,
the cause of Confederation had been vastly strengthened. Sir A. T. Galt
had accused the Government of slowness in carrying out Confederation; but
New Jersey and Rhode Island had been for years out of the American Union. Let
Sir A. T. Galt, who is so great an admirer of American institutions, give
the Dominion the same time for the work of Confederation. The work of
incorporating Red River, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island would be
completed before our American neighbors had settled their difficulties.
The Hon. Mr. Huntington had taken part in a meeting in the Eastern Townships, called
for the discussion of Independence, but
luckily the member for Missisquoi (Mr. Chamberlin) was there and opposed him.
The result was that Mr. Huntington did not try to hold a meeting of the
same kind anywhere else in Lower Canada.
This individual participated in:
