THE NEWFOUNDLANDER
St. John's, Thursday, February 2, 1865
1
REPORT OF THE DELEGATES
TO THE QUEBEC CONVENTION ON THE
FEDERAL UNION of the BRITISH NORTH
AMERICAN PROVINCES.
ST. JOHN's, JANUARY 21st, 1865.
SIR,-
Having been honoured by the Government of this
Colony with the appointment of Delegates to the
General Colonial Convention at Quebec, on the subject of the Union of the British
North America
Provinces, we proceeded in the Steamer " St.
George" on the 23rd September last, and arrived in
due course at our destination. The Meeting was
appointed to be held at Quebec on the 10th October, on which day the Delegates from
the several
Provinces met in the Parliament Buildings in that
City. Canada was represented by the members of
the Executive Council of that Province, twelve in
number, Nova Scotia had five Delegates, New
Brunswick seven, Newfoundland two and Prince
Edward Island seven, the credentials of the Delegates from the Jower Provinces were
handed in, and
the Convention was then organized by electing Sir
Etienne Tache, Premier of Canada, to be Chairman,
and the several Provincial Secretaries and Mr. Shea
to be Secretaries to the Convention.
Sometime previously a Meeting took place at
Charlottetown, of Delegates from Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and P.E. Island for the purpose
of considering the question of a Legislative Union
of these Provinces, and while so engaged, some
members of the Canadian Government presented
themselves with a proposal for the Union of all the
Provinces, which was so far received, with favor that
the consideration of the original question was suspended, and the larger one entertained
and discussed. The Meeting then adjourned to Halffax,
where the Delegates met shortly after and proceeded
with their deliberations, which resulted in a resolution that a further Conference
should be held at
Querec, to which Newfoundland should be invited
to send representatives.
Though the subject had been fully discussed in all
its general bearings at these earlier meetings, it was
now necessary to treat it more specially in relation
to the position the Colonies should respectively occupy in the contemplated Union,
and moreover, the
Newfoundland Delegates not having had the advantage of being present at the previous
meetings, it was
suggested that an exposition of the whole question
should be gone into on their account. This was
agreed to and the business proceedings were accordingly opened by the Hon. John A.
McDonald, Attorney General of Upper Canada, in an elaborate
statement, showing the great benefits of combination
to communities circumstanced as the British North
American Colonies—drawn not only from the nature
of things as respects the Provinces in their present
state, in relation to each other, but fortified also by
the experience of the working of the Union of the
Canadas, and the more important example of the
neighbouring States, which had become so great under the Union they formed on their
separation from
the mother country. The necessity for Union was
also shewn by Mr. McDonald, who considered it the
policy clearly indicated by the Home Government,
where it was justly felt that the time had arrived
when the British North American Provinces should
assume the position demanded by their numbers,
wealth, extent of territory, and growing importance,
and it was alone by a Union of the whole that they
could fit themselves for the great place now open to
them, and which the efforts of individual Provinces
could never enable them to attain.
In view of the framing of a constitution, the defeats of the American system were
fully considered.
Though the wisdom of the men who framed that consutution, had been attested by its
success for three
quarters of a century, it still embraced principles
which rendered it unable to bear the strain of the
crisis which lately arose, furnishing a most instructive lesson at the present time.
The admitted great
defect of the Federal system of the United States is
the weakness of the Executive, which compelled them
in their day of trial to resort to the exercise of power
unknown to the law, placing private and public liberty at the mercy of arbitrary suthority.
These was a very general feeling in the Conference that a legislative union would
confer the greater advantages on the General Confederation, as the
Government, under such a system, would possess
larger authority and more commanding influence.
But many difficulties presented themselves which deprived this view or its desired
feasibility. The
wer Canadians would not consent to any plan
wheh placed their peculiar institutions beyond their
immediate control; while it was also felt that public
opinion in the lower provinces was not ripe for the
extreme change which the abrogation of their local
legislatures would involve.
These matters having been fully considered, the
Colference decided as their first resolution, "That
the best interest and present and future prosperity
of British North America will be promoted by a
Federal Union under the Crown of Great Britain,
provided such Union can be effected on principles
just to the several Provinces.
In the Resolutions adopted by the Conference to
carry this Union into effect, care has been takeu to
avoid the cause of weakness disclosed in the working of the American Constitution.
The General
Government will be formed upon the principles of
to present colonial system. Executive Responsibility being maintained, while it will
not, as in the
inited States, be dependent, either for its organization,or authority, on the volition
or acts of any of
the local Governments. The structure of these latfor bodies is left in each case to
the presentiocal
legislatures to determine, and uniformity of pian not
being necessary, they are severally left to frame
such arrangements in tuis Icspect as the altered circumstance and the peculiar condition
of each province may seem to render desirable. The powers of
the General and Local Governments are defined so
as to Prevent any probable causes of conflict—all
powers of a general nature being vested in the General Government, and local questions
being reserved
for the subordinate bodies.
It was unanimously decided that the principle of
Elective Councils should not be adopted in the new
Constitution, and that the appointments should be
for life, and should vest in the General Government,
In the composition of this branch of the Legislature,
the Lower Provinces have a larger representation
than their due, if population alone were the governing consideration. For the purpose
of this arrangement it was proposed at the early meetings at Prince
Edward Island and Halifax, that Upper and Lower
Canada should each be made a section, and the Lower
Provinces a third, with equal representation for each
part. There was a difference of opinion as to whether Newfoundland intended to be
included in
the number assigned to the Lower Provinces, but the
Canadian Delegates, although maintaining that they
had included Newfoundland in the arrangement, at
length yielded the point, and four additional members
were added for this colony. "We may seem in this
case to have received less that our relative right of
representation, but so also would Upper Canada and
Nova Scotia stand if the question were regarded with
numerical strictness. But it will easily be understood
that unless such a large project as the Union of the
Provinces, with the various and diverse interests it
involves, were met in a spirit of fair compromise, no
satisfactory general result could be arrived at, and in
this instance the Delegates representing Upper Canada, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
made a concession of extreme rights to the other Provinces,although
in relation to the whole number, this colony has a
larger share than would be signable by this rule.
The principle of population alone governs the composition of the Lower House, which
is to consist of
196 members, eight being awarded as the portion of
this colony. It will be seen that this number would
give us a full representation in the popular Branch,
which is the influential and virtually governing Body
in all Governments where the principles of Responsible Government prevail.
The General Government is to assume the public
debts of the several Provinces, on the equitable plan
by which no one Province will be charged with more
than its own obligations on this account.
The surrender of the Customs Revenues to the
General Government, embraces the condition that
subsidies shall be made to the several Provinces for
the support of their Local Institutions. In none of
the Provinces is direct taxation held in favor,
though in all but this colony, it prevails to
a certain extent. We feel, however, that in
this respect we could not consent to disturb our exceptional position, though a difficulty
arose because of the insufficiency for our requiremerts
of the pro rata amount of subsidy that was sufficient
for the wants of the other Provinces. It was, however, agreed on, to avoid the necessity
of resorting
to direst taxation, to meet the deficiency of means in
our case, that Newfoundland should receivea special
subsidy of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per
annum, in consideration of the transfer to the General
Government of the control of our ungranted and unoccupied Crown Lands and Minerals,
and this arrangement places the question of our means on a satisfactory footing.
The full and explicit character of the report of the
Conference, which we beg to annex, renders it unnecessary for us to go further into
detail on this important subject, which occupied the time of the Delegates
for ten hours daily from the 19th to the 27th October,
when our labours were brought to a termination and
the report was unanimously agreed to.
Men of all parties were presunt at the Conference
from the various British North American Provinces,
but the influence of local differences found no place
in the deliberations. We feel warranted in asserting
our belief that no inquiry was ever conducted under
a higher sense of the responsibility of the occasion,
or with a more single desire to arrive at the best results for the great interests
at stake. While it would
be impossible to suppose that the report embodies
every individual view of the Delegates on all the
points it embraces, as a whole it was unreservedly
adopted. It is the emanation of the best judgment
of the Conference, unbiased by a wish for the undue
advancement of party or sectional interests, and the
spirit of calm discussion which pervaded the whole
inquiry of which this report in the result, cannot fail
to commend it to the earnest attention of all whose
interests it affects. For ourselves, we have but to
state that we affixed our signatures, as individuals, to
that report with the full conviction that the welfare
of the colony will be promoted by entering the Union
it proposes, and that we cannot reject it without aggravating the injurious consequences
of our present
insolation.
We beg to annex a statement showing the amount
and particulars of the charges from which this colony
would be relieved under the Confederation, and the
amount that would be available for the purposes of
the Local Government.
This individual participated in:
