PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
17
[...]
TUESDAY, March 8.
[...]
Mr. McLEAN said that no people could
be called free and independent unless they
had power to make their own laws, and on
looking at the position we would occupy
in the Dominion, were we to join it, he concluded we would be virtually deprived of
that privilege. In the Senate we would
certainly have no representation, because
whoever might represent us there would be
appointed by the Governor General, and
not by us. This, he considered, would be
bordering on despotism. It might be argued
by hon. members of the Opposition that Her
Majesty the Queen had the power of appointing the British Peers. This he admitted
to
be true, but she might be said to hold her
position by divine right, or inheritance from
King Wm. III., who was placed on the
throne by the unanimous voice of the
people. But no such right existed in, or
should be conferred upon the Governor
General of, the Dominion. He was nothing
more than a loyal British subject, who received his appointment from the Crown and
not
from the people. It appeared to him that
the great desire evinced for confederation
by certain hon. members of this Legislature arose from the attraction which
$4,000 per annum looming up in the
distance had for them, but not from the
conviction that such a union would benefit
this Island. He thought it should have
the opposite effect, and induce us more
earnestly to set our faces against such
proposals. Last evening he heard an hon.
member refer to loyalty, who said that in
this day it was in the pocket, and not in
the heat, and that loyalty now necessarily
led to confederation, and that confederation was a stepping stone to annexation.
He could not see that such was a correct
conclusion, and hoped the question, when
it came up, would be fairly considered.
[...]
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
18
[...]
Mr. BELL did not understand why any
fault should be found with the expression
in the Address. The members of the
Legislature represented the people, and all
the interests of the country were, for the
time being, committed to the keeping of
the Government. He could not see how
the Government could show their interest
for the welfare of the country better than
by carefully watching the movements of
any party who were suspected of aiming at
depriving us of our privileges, nor could he
perceive any word more appropriate or
suitable than the one used. It was well
known that the visit of His Excellency had
something to do with confederation, and
hence they were watching to see that no
occasion should be given to confirm those
alarms which appeared in the public press
of the country.
Mr. KICKHAM - The Hon. Mr. Haviland
said last night that each hon. member
should express an opinion on this subject.
At present we had power to levy our own
taxes, regulate all our own affairs as we
thought proper, and place whom we pleased
in authority to manage our public affairs.
For the last half century we had done so
without receiving any assistance from
Canada or elsewhere. We had lived without their aid so far, and he felt convinced
were able to do so yet.
MR. PROWSE. - Perhaps it was well that
the sentiments of all the members of this
hon. committee should now be known on
the important question of confederation.
When he came to the House this session,
he expected that he would have to oppose
the majority on this question, but, to his
surprise, he found the Government committed to the principle of confederation, as
this committee was asked to give its calm
consideration to the question. He thought
it would have been more consistent for the
Government to have expressed their decided
opinion on the subject than to be waiting
to feel the public pulse. The Government
had not expressed any decisive opinion, and
believing that public men should do so, he
must condemn such conduct. The Government of Newfoundland did not express an
opinion so undecisive, but distinctly said
that no terms would be accepted.
Hon. COL. SECRETARY could not understand
why the hon. member should condemn the
government for submitting the question to the
consideration of the House, when the hon.
member himself said the subject should be
well considered by each hon. member.
Mr. PROWSE was not in favor of
confederation on the terms proposed, but
was in favor of the principle, and believed it
would be difficult for this Colony to remain
in isolation much longer. He knew that
loyal men who had a sympathy with our
institutions were making strenuous efforts
to connect the whole of British America
under one government. Last year we were
called upon to provide for the payment of
the Governor's salary, and when he reflected that the sum annually required to meet
this demand represented a capital of £42,000, at 5 per cent., he felt that the demand
was a large one, and thought it was but the
commencement of a pressure which might
be continued, if we refused to accept reasonable terms and enter the Dominion. It
was commonly said that straws showed how
the wind blew, and this circumstance declared to us the determination of the British
Government, and he believed their wishes
should have weight with us. He was not
afraid of the terms that had already been
proposed, and believed the Dominion Government was disposed to do full justice to
this Colony. He felt that if the Dominion
would bear a fair proportion of the expenses
of our public works, in addition to the construction of railroad throughout this Island,
then the question should be formally
considered. If a railroad was proposed to
be built in any other way than in connection with the Dominion he would oppose its
construction. He considered it the duty of
the Government to state the terms we
should acacept, and give the Dominion
Government to know that if they were
granted we would unite with them. As to
increased taxation, he thought we could
bear it as well as the other Colonies, and
ours would be no higher than theirs would
be.
Mr. CAMERON said the hon. member was
last year opposed to confederation, and he
was surprised to see what a change had
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
19
come over the spirit of his dream. He
thought if the hon. member was justified in
changing his mind on this important question, he certainly gave no reason to show
it.
Some hom. members appeared to think that
if we resisted confederation it would lead
to annexation. The tendency of the remarks
of the hon. member for Charlottetown led
to this conclusion. The hon. member for
Murray Harbor said, if the Dominion would
agree to build a railroad for us he would be
willing to enter confederation, but that he
would oppose the building of one out of our
own resources. His (Mr. Cameron's)
opinion was that our chances for a railroad
outside of confederation were greater than
if we were joined to the Dominion. Judging from what had already taken place, he
saw no reason to suppose that even if we were
to enter the Dominion, that the conditions
upon which we might enter would be always
held inviolable.
Hon. Mr. McAULAY regarded the discussion of the question now as altogether out
of place.
Mr. HOWAT was of a different opinion,
and thought hon. members should now
give their views at once; others might
have changed their opinions on this subject,
but he saw no reason why he should change
his. Although we should get terms that
we might regard as favorable, the power of
changing these would always rest with the
Dominion. When the delegates went to
Quebec, they said the terms were favorable,
and he believed one of those who signed
them sat in the House.
Mr. HOWAT.- Those who signed the
Quebec Report said the terms were good,
yet other and better were now offered.
This he regarded as showing that no
confidence should be placed in the
offer. The Imperial Government had already
said that the Dominion Government had
power to alter or change the constitution,
which he regarded as a clear proof that
any terms which might be agreed upon
could be altered. The Dominion Government was now making strenuous efforts to
get us to unite with Canada. Strenuous
efforts were also now being made in some
parts of the Dominion to upset the present
Government, and what guarantee had we if
a new Government was formed that it would
not overturn, and set aside any arrangements
their predecessors might have entered into.
It was said that our produce would be shut
out of the Dominion markets, but this
should not alarm us. All the Provinces
had fine capabilities for agriculture, and
would soon have to turn their attention to
it. They then would supply [illegible] own
markets. He saw no reason why we should
place ourselves in a position to be taxed by
the Dominion. The hon. member for Murray Harbor said he was not afraid of high
taxes; that if the Dominion could stand them
so could we, but he thought that was a race
our people would not wish to run. There
were islands in the British Channel that
had retained their own government, and why
might not we do the same? He would not
consent to surrender our privileges. We
could be as loyal out of the Dominion, as in
it, and our duty was to oppose confederation.
Mr. McNEILL said it was well known that
the terms of the Quebec report were condemned by the people of this Colony, and
yet, without any offer from this Island, the
Canadians came down here and proposed
ether terms. When the first terms were
offered, they were considered fair by some,
these last were regarded as better, but, as
the hon. member for Tryon said, what
guarantee would we have that they might
not be altered? Why, our agreement with
them would probably prove no stronger
than a rope of sand! The other Provinces
might complain, even as Ontario was doing
respecting Nova Scotia. They might say
that the concessions made to us were unfair
to the other Provinces. Money seemed to
be the object, and the only one now in the
way, in the opinion of many; but he would
not look at it from that point of view. He
would like to have the opinion of an experienced man like the hon. member for
Georgetown (Mr. McAulay) and hoped he
would favor the committee with it; he was
sorry that the hon. Leader of the Opposition was in favor of confederation, for if
he
was opposed to it he felt sure that no undue
influence would ever induce him to betray
the country. He would, therefore, be glad
to see him in the anti-confederate ranks,
and regarded it as unfortunate that he was
pursuing a course which, if carried, would
prove so detrimental to the interests of the
country. He viewed the matter also from
another point. One hundred years ago, his
grand-father came to this country, and, in
common with others, had to encounter
many hardships, such as clearing their
farms, opening up new roads, and contending with wild beasts and land agents. The
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
20
country had since prospered, and that entirely by the industry of the people. We
had no resources for the construction of
our public works. The other Provinces derived a revenue from their public lands, and
it appeared to him hard that a resort to
any unfair means should be thought of to
force us into a connection we disliked. It
was now but one hundred years since we
were separated from Nova Scotia. Since
then we had managed our own affairs as
well, if not better, than our neighbors, and
if Canada had studied her own interests she
would have seen that it was no use to be
proposing new terms. To accept of any
terms would be to give up our independence.
We elected our men for four years, and could
replace them with others, if tehy did not do
right, but, once into confederation, what
power would we then have to alter the
government? He read the lecture which
was delivered in the city, last fall, on confederation, and noticed that an argument
was drawn from the union of the thirteen
colonies in favor of confederation. He contended there was no analogy between them.
Their union was cordial ; they were united
by a common interest, being drawn together
to fight for their liberty ; and by the
arrangement made between them they had
prospered commercially, as they exchanged
their products with each other. In New
Foundland, wealthy men engaged in fishing,
but the superior privileges conferred upon
the French fishermen by the government of
France, rendered their fishing, to a great
extent, a failure. With regard to the union
of the colonies, he felt that we were not
prepared for it, and did not believe we
would ever be forced to go into union with
Canada. It had been laid down that parliament could not destroy itself and this was
admitted by good authority and laid down
by some of the best minds in England. He
did not think Nova Scotia was fairly dealt
with, and with her example before us, he
believed this Island would never return men
to the Legislature who would destroy our
parliament.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND said the hon. member
was not correct in saying a parliament coukd
not destroy itself, for facts in this case were
stronger than theory. In the reign of
Queen Anne, the parliament of Scotland
destroyed itself. The parliament of Irelan
did the same, and so did that of Jamaica.
Hence the theory of the hon. member did
not hold good.
House Adjourned for one hour.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND said he did not
intent to make many remarks on the
question of confederation until the despatches and papers relating to that
subject were laid before the House, but
he purposed replying to some hon.
members who had spoken on the subject.
He agreed with the remark of the hon
member from East Point (Mr. McLean)
that no people were independent unless
they had a right to make their own laws,
but he took exception to the application
of that principle to the union of this
Island with Canada, for, in case such
union should take place, our local government would still make our local laws,
and we should have representatives in
the Parliament at Ottawa who would
assist in making the general laws of the
Dominion. It had been said that we
would only have five members in the
Dominion Parliament, but if we joined
the United States we would have no
representatives in Congress at all, for,
according to the American law, no place
could have a representative unless it
had a population of one hundred and
twenty-seven thousand. There was territorial representation in the Senate.
The Dominion was divided into three
sections, and each section sent twenty- four members to the Senate. The hon
member (Mr. McLean) had been very
indignant that the Senators should be
appointed by the Governor General, and
not elected by the people ; but the former
great leaders of the Liberal party in this
Island, Messrs. Coles and Whelan, had
always argued in favor of having the
Legislative Council nominative, and not
elective. The hon member (Mr. Howat)
had informed the House that he (Leader
of the Opposition) had been guilty of
signing the Quebec Report, but he would
say that he was in very good company in
doing so, as all the leading statesmen of
the colonies had done the same. The
only delegates from this Island who had
not signed that Report were the Hon.
Colonel Gray and the Hon. George
Coles, who were in the United States at
the time it was signed. The hon member (Mr. Howat) had stated that our
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
21
trade with Canada was nothing, and that
we had better therefore hug our isolation ;
but if he would look at the statistics he
would find that our trade with the Dominion was equal to that with Great
Britain, if we excepted the new ships
sent to England. Large quantities of
butter, lard, and pork, which was becoming a large article of export, were
sent to the Dominion.
Mr. HOWAT said that the Hon. Leader
of the Opposition had misunderstood
him. He referred to the future, and
stated that they had plenty of land in the
Dominion capable of producing all they
could consume.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND was glad that the
hon member (Mr. Howat) only referred
to teh future, and that he acknowledged
that the inhabitants of Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick did require our produce
at the present time. The agricultural
capabilities of Nova Scotia had been
over estimated. A great part of it was
utterly sterile. The soil of this Island
was much more easily cultivated than that
of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It
would not be so easy as some hon members thought for us to find a market for
our produce, if the Dominion treated us
as a foreign state, and taxed all our
exports, especially at the present time,
when all our products were prohibited
from the American market. The first
thing that should be done was to ascertain whether a union with the rest of
British America would benefit us or not,
and when that question was decided, it
would be time enough to talk about the
terms. He (Mr. Haviland) had given it
as his opinion four years ago, that confederation was only a work of time.
Then there were only three or four
confederates on the Island, but now there
were more than the hon member for
Belfast (Mr. Duncan) would like to see.
The youngest men of the country, who were
being literally educated, would understand this subject, and would be strong
advocates of confederation. In the middle
of the nineteenth century to say that
isolation was preferable to confederation,
was contrary to the spirit of the age. If
states were better apart than joined, why
had the United States not permitted the
Southerners to have their independence
instead of expending so much to force
them back to their allegiance? The petty
German States were being absorbed by
the larger countries around theirs. Scotland had prospered since her union with
England, and weas not ahead of almost
any other country in proportion to her
size. If we joined the Dominion we
would be of some importance, and not
the miserable, wretched sand bank in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence that we now were.
Hon. Mr. DUNCAN said that this
isolated sand bank in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence was more prosperous than the
lower provinces, and he believed also
was better off than Cnada ; and if, as
had been argued, the union of two provinces was for the benefit of the poorer
one, this was an argument against our
joining the Dominion. If the Dominion
should put a duty on our exports, we
could turn our potatoes and barley into
pork, and find a market for that in
England. He (Mr. Duncan) had received
a statement from an intelligent farmer
that he could raise pork of the value of
£ 82 10s. at a cost of £76, reckoning
potatoes at 1s., and barely at 3s. per
bushel. Thus a farmer could get a renumerative price for his potatoes without
the trouble of hauling thers. Some time
ago New Brunswick required a large
quantity of our oats, but of late years
they had shipped oats to England themselves, and in a few years New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia would grow all the
produce they required. If we required
£80,000 to supply our local wants now,
when we had a population of about one
hundred thousand, what would be the
consequence when our population should
increase to two hundred thousand, were
we joined to the Dominion? for the only
additional amount we would then receive
would be £24,000 (eighty cents per head
for one hundred thousand) which would
be utterly inadequate to meet our requirements, and a resort to direct taxation
would be inevitable. Canada could not
give us terms which would be fair to us
and themselves. If we should be obliged
to go into Confederation, as some hon
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
22
members had stated, that was no argument
why we should voluntarily go into it—
we should not commit suicide because we
had to die. He (Mr. Duncan) believed
that confederates were increasing in
number, for he had heard the present
Leader of the Government party (Mr.
Davies) state, at a public meeting of his
constituents, that if they had changed
their views on confederation, it would
make a great difference with him, intimating that he would be ready to
change his opinions to suit the times.
Hon. COL. SECRETARY, in reply to Hon.
Mr. Duncan, stated that he had never
made use of the language attributed to
him by that hon. member, but had merely
asked his constituents, at the meeting
referred to, if they had changed their
opinion on the subject of confederation.
The people at that meeting had almost
unanimously declared against confederation, but he (Col. Sec'y) had told them
that they should give the subject their
calm consideration, and not look upon
all the advocates of confederation as insincere. At first he (Col. Se'cy) had
thought the terms somewhat liberal, but
on closer investigation, he had seen the
injustice of them. The Canadian government had performed one act of justice
towards us, in stating that our lands had
been taken from us unjustly. The offer
made by the Canadian government was
not sufficiently positive. They were
first to endeavor to induce the British
Government to give us compensation for
our lands, and he (Col. Sec'y) did not
think the British government would pay
any more attention to their requests than
they had to ours. The Dominion government not only asked us to give up
our revenue, but to give them power to
tax us at whatever rate they might think
proper, and we would have no privileges
under confederation that we did not now
enjoy. It would be better for us not to
have any representatives in the Dominion Parliament, because if we sent
five members there, we would be responsible for all the laws passed by that
Parliament, and could not protest against
them. The Governor General would
have the appointing of the senators, and
as it would be done by the advice of his
ministers, they would be all chosen from
one political party—the party which had
carried confederation. It was the policy
of the present government to keep on
friendly terms with both the Canadian
and Imperial governments, so that we
might be allowed to remain in our present position. If we treated the
despatches from the British government
on the subject of confederation with contempt, the Colonial Minister might make
it a pretext for recommending that
this Island should be forced into
union. The British government should
put us in the same position with respect
to public lands as Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick were, before they asked us to
join the Dominion. Instead of receiving
a revenue from public lands we had been
paying a heavy rent, and if we received
fair play we should get the interest of
about one million pounds sterling paid
to us annually by the British Government.
Had Scotland not united with England
she would probably have been just as
wealthy as she now is, her prosperity
was owing to the energy and industry
of her inhabitants. Our union with the
Dominion would be no advantage to us,
as the Canadians did not want our oats
or pork, which were our principal articles
of export.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND said that Mr. Owen
Connolly had a contract to deliver four
hundred barrels of pork in Quebec on
the opening of the navigation.
Hon. COL. SECRETARY quoted the following from the speech of Mr. McKenzie,
one of the leaders of the opposition in the
Commons of the Dominion Parliament,
published in the
Globe newspaper of 25th
February, 1870:
"We find at one end of the Dominion chronic
discontent, at the other end open rebellion; we
find all the Provinces that were then out of the
Dominion still out of the Dominion. We find
that, although this government has enjoyed the
most powerful support that any government
has received in this country since 1849, they
have utterly failed to accomplish what they
promised, and what they charged the Opposition with wishing to obstruct them in doing.
* * * * The financial department is in such
a state of utter disorder that it is quite impossible to give the slightest attention
to any document coming from it. Last session a report
was taken three times for correction, and came
back incorrect after all. The balances are
false. The late Finance Minister brought down
a statement, made in 1868, showing the amount
of interest on the public debt. At the beginning
of the next session we were informed that there
was an error of $200,000 or $300,000. We find
that most extraordinary irregularities have
taken place in the Receiver General's department; that there has been no proper system
of
book keeping; that the leader had not been
posted for years; that it is very nearly impossible for any one to get a proper statement
of
our debenture debt. I make these statements
simply because they are known to every one,
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
23
and the extraordinary revelations made in connection with one of the officers of the
government some time ago, show a state of things
which no merchant in the country could endure,
and which would bring ordinary commercial
affairs into ruin a couple of months."
In view of such a state of affairs, he
(Col. Sec'y) thought the charge of bribery
and corruption brought against the Dominion Government was not without
foundation, and we would act the part
of wisdom in refraining from linking
our destinies with a country under such
a government.
Mr. BRECKEN thought it would have
been better to have left the discussion of
confederation until all the documents relating to it had been laid on the table.
As the "better terms" were sent by the
Dominion Government shortly after the
visit of Sir John Young and some of the
members of his cabinet to the Island,
the inference was that our government
had given them to understand that some
such terms would be acceptable to the
people; and if so, the conduct of the present Leader of the Government party
(Mr. Davies) was unaccountable. The
hon. member had certainly been very
inconsistent; one moment lauding the
Canadian Government to the skies because they coincided with his views
on the land question, and the next moment declaring them so corrupt that
he did not wish to have any connection
with them. The bug-bear of taxation
had been brought up to frighten the
people, but the Canadians could impose
no taxes on us that they did not put upon
themselves, and if we were wealthy, as
had been stated by some hon. members,
we would be able to bear taxation. It
was a deplorable piece of ignorance on
the part of the Colonial Secretary to say
that strangers might be appointed to represent us in the Dominion Senate, for a
section of the Act expressly provided
that they should be taken from the
Province which they were to represent.
Hon. COL. SECRETARY said he had not
made such a statement, but that the
senators would all be chosen from one
political party.
Mr. McLEAN did not believe there was
any such clause in the Act, and wished
the hon. member (Mr. Brecken) to point
it out if there was.
Mr. BRECKEN said it was also provided
in the Act that, if a senator, after
being appointed, left the Province
which he represented and went to live
in another country, his seat would become vacant, and a permanent resident
of the Province would be appointed. He
(Mr. Brecken) believed the present government of Canada were an extravagant
set, and probably they had some dishonest
officials, so that the accounts might not
always be correct, but that was no more
an argument against confederation than
the want of proper attention to roads
and bridges by a member of this House
would tell against responsible government. He (Mr. Brecken) had been
charged with saying that anti-confederation meant annexation; what he meant
was, that unless we united with the other
colonies, we should be absorbed by the
Republic. The statesmen of Great
Britain were in favor of consolidation,
as was evidenced by their not interfering
when Prussia swallowed up the little kingdom of Hanover, the birth place of some of
England's sovereigns. When king George,
the poor blind ruler of Hanover, was
driven from his throne, the statesmen of
England had not raised a voice against it,
because they believed in the great principle of confederation—the happiness of
the many must prevail over the comfort
of the few. The United States could not
make a treaty with us, and every offer
they made now was only for the purpose
of tampering with our loyalty.
[The hon. member here read a letter which
had appeared in the Cape Ann Advertiser,
but the Reporter was unable to obtain a copy.]
Hon. members were in the habit of disparaging the people of Canada, but if
they would travel through that country
they would find as fine a set of men as
were to be seen in any country. The
following article appeared in the London
Times, which would show the feelings
of the people of England respecting these
colonies. Respecting Mr. Beaumont's
resolutions it said:
"The first three relate to the short comings
of the mother country, the remainder to the
means of remedying them. The first resolution
declared the duty of England to afford "protection" to every colonist. 'As British
subjects
in the colonies no less than in the mother
country are bound to render, and do render,
allegiance to the Crown of England, they are
no less entitled to the constitutional rights of
British subjects; and to withhold from them
any such rights which are applicable to their
situation would be a grave offence on the part
of any responsible officer of the Crown.' The
sonorous language about protection from the
Crown of England being the constitutional
right of every British subject, does not imply
any dereliction of duty on the part of the mother
country as against a European enemy. The
colonists know well that if France or the
United States threatened them, the mother
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
24
country would strain every nerve in their defence. A few years since we sent the Guards
to Canada in the depth of winter, and hurried
to sea the squadrons which should guard the
British American coast and the West India Islands. Was there here any failure in duty,
any
shrinking from the responsibilities with England had incurred by the planting of colonies,
any disregard of the colonists as fellow subjects
or as men? To persist in ignoring the plain
and just, and equitable distinction which has
been laid down by the home government is to
trifle with public opinion. It has been declared
that England is ever ready to defend the colonies from external and civilized enemies,
but
that it belongs to themselves to deal with local
tumult or with the barbarous races who may
exist within their borders. The pretence that
such an apportionment of duties is an abandonment of our own, or a withdrawal of a
due
protection, tends to make us suspect the spirit
in which the colonists call for a closer union.
As to the severance of the colonies from the
Empire, we retain the opinion we always expressed that politically, socially and commercially,
the colonies are in the highest degree
valuable to England, and ought to be retained.
When their abandonment was urged some
years ago by Mr. Goldwin, Smith, with the
dogmatic intolerance of his school, we combated
the proposal, and should it be renewed, we
would combat it again. But there is a great
difference between maintaining an honorable
connection with free fellow-subjects, and making them helpless by keeping them in
leading
strings like children. God forbid that the colonies should be abandoned! But if ever
this
comes to pass, it will be the result of a conviction on the part of England that their
inhabitants look only to the loaves and fishes of the
Imperial system, and that the dependencies are
suckers and not feeders of the body politic."
Mr. BELL did not see the first thing we
would gain by confederation. The
Dominion could provide no market for
our produce or our fish; and whatever
inducement they might offer to us in
money, as we had seen to-day, might be
taken from us again. The British American Act had been violated by the late
arrangement with Nova Scotia, and what
was given us one year by the Ottawa
parliament might be taken away another.
It ought to be our great aim to open up
trade with the country that would furnish us a market, and Canada could do
nothing for us in this respect. The confederation scheme was highly objectionable
in that it offered almost a fixed
income for a rapidly increasing revenue.
Though the tabular statement issued in
Charlottetown showed that a considerable
quantity of goods were imported from
the Dominion, and claimed that under
confederation they would come in here
free, yet on examination it was found
that a large proportion of these articles
were of English manufacture, or were the
produce of the West Indies, and would
be subject to duty under the Canadian
tariff. With respect to the exports to
the Dominion set down in that statement, a great portion of them were only
articles forwarded through New Brunswick to the United States. For example,
those statistics showed that a quantity of
fish had been exported to the Dominion,
and he knew that the part of the country
from which he came sent almost all that
quantity over the New Brunswick railway to St. John, for the American market. Our
isolation here prevented us
from having any trade with the outside
world for about five months in the year,
consequently it would be hard for us to
pay equally with the other Provinces in
supporting the public works of the
Dominion. Once into confederation,
the general parliament could tax us as
much as they pleased, and only grant us
what they thought proper; they might
even refuse to give us what they promised. This $800,000 which they offered
to settle the land question, they had no
right to pay, as the grievance was not of
Canadian but Imperial origin; therefore,
we might expect, it we entered the
Dominion, that the first time our representatives asked for money, they would
be told that Prince Edward Island had
already for her share and would have to
be content. In answer to the hon. Leader
of the Opposition's remarks with respect
to his (Mr. Bell's) annexation tendencies,
he might say that his great desire was to
see this Island obtain a free market for
her fish and produce. He thought, too,
that any observer of events must come
to the conclusion that this continent
would some day be under one government ; and though he was a Scotchman,
and would yield to no person in loyalty
to his sovereign, he did not think that
our interests should be overlooked. In
his opinion, there would be nothing improper in petitioning the home government to
allow us to change our allegiance; he would never give his consent
to strike one blow or shed one drop of
blood against the Queen's authority, but
he could not see that it would be disloyalty to ask in a peaceable way for
separation from her government. John
Bright, now one of Her Majesty's cabinet
ministers, had expressed the opinion that
America would be one from Baffin's
Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and he (Mr.
B.) contended that we should not be
called disloyal for holding the same
views.
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
25
Mr. BRECKEN.—The British American
Act, it was said, had been violated, and
the questions asked what guarantee had we
that the proposals of the Dominion, if
accepted by this Colony, would not be
receded from again by the general parliament? True there was a party in
Upper Canada that did gramble at the
increased allowances made to Nova
Scotia, as being a violation of that Act,
but he thought if it were an error, it was
one on the right side, as Nova Scotia had
had nothing taken from her. We had as yet
been no party to any arrangement with
the Dominion, and to say that any compact entered into between her and this
Colony, would afterwards be altered by
the general parliament, was simply absurd. The hon. member from Alberton
had stated that Canada could not effect a
removal of the restrictions on our trade.
But what prospects, he (Mr. B.) would
ask, had this Colony of obtaining free
trade with the United States on her own
account? A reciprocity committee from
Congress had been here, and their visit
had only resulted in showing that there
was not the ghost of a chance of the
Island alone getting the restrictions on
her trade with that country removed.
Any person who had listened to the extract read from an American paper by
the hon. Leader of the Opposition must
be convinced that any concessions in that
direction must be obtained at the expense
of our loyalty. It was said by some that
were we to enter confederation we
would lose the glorious privilege of self- government. Well, that was a very
taking argument. Self-government was
a great blessing, and we were undoubtedly about as free as any part of the
world. Greater freedom existed here
than even in the United States, as was
evidenced by the difficulty there a short
time ago between President Johnson and
Congress. Here there could be no dead
lock of that kind, for as soon as this
House passed a vote of want of confidence in the government the administration was
overthrown. Here also we
could worship God as we pleased ; but
if we became a part of the Dominion,
would our freedom in this respect be
tampered with? The liberty of the
press was another of those glorious privileges of which we boasted in this
Colony, but was the press less free in
Canada? Would the right of trial by
jury be taken from us were we in the
Dominion? Had the people there not
the same sun to shine upon them, the
same dews to moisten them, and the
same showers to water their fields as we
had in this Island? Then why all this
ontery about losing our self-government,
when the whole question between us
and Canada resolved itself in one of
money? In considering the subject of
confederation, there was no occasion to
soar to the regions of political fancy ;
just look at our various public officers,
what a miserable pittance they received.
Yes, it was money we needed, so let the
government go to work and make up
their bill, and tell Canada what they wanted. At a recent public meeting in this
city, he had heard gentlemen in high- sounding strains ask their auditors whether
they would sell their rights for
money. Such language could only be
addressed to the passions of the people,
for it must be evident to every unprejudiced mind that not one feather would be
plucked from the eagle of our liberty by
uniting with the Dominion. It was useless, as he said before, for us, a separate
colony, to think of getting free trade
with the United States. When the delegates, General Butler, Judge Poland and
that other talented gentleman, Mr. Beck,
were here the other summer, he (Mr.
Brecken) put the question to Mr. Beck
whether he expected their visit would
accomplish anything towards establishing reciprocity between their country
and this Island. He answered, no. In
fact, he remarked, he was only put on
the committee by Speaker Colfax, to
hold one end of the political rope whilst
General Butler held the other, and he
was very glad of it, for they had had an
exceedingly pleasant time; but, said he,
you will have no reciprocity treaty until
you have it with the whole of British
America included. He (Mr. Brecken)
knew that our fisheries were valuable,
but an agricultural people, such as ours,
did not care to engage in them; our
neighbors, however, who had not so fertile a country as this Island, would prosecute
them. Nova Scotia would also
become a manufacturing province, as she
possessed the coal and the iron, and all
these industries would tend to make a
market for our produce. These were
some of the results which we might expect from confederation, but whether we
entered it or not, we could not stop the
progress of events in the Dominion.
Many in the country thought this agitation was started by a set of young politicians
in Charlottetown, who saw that
there was no scope for them in this
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
26
Colony, and wished to have the wider
field of Canada for their ambition.
Charges of bribery and corruption had
been freely made against the advocates
of confederation, but the expression of a
little independent sentiment in this
House had had a wholesome effect for
within the last day or two nothing had
been heard about Canadian gold. No
person had a right to hold up past political actions to any one, and say, you
ought not to pursue this or that course.
Every hon. member should have the
manliness to express his own conviction.
When this great anti-confederate party
would be returned at the next election,
he hoped they would not play a fast and
loose policy on the question, like what
the hon. Colonial Secretary had done
when he went down to the Uigg meeting,
and asked the people there whether they
had changed their opinions and were
now in favor of confederation. A voice
in the crowd answered, "no;" and he
replied, "then I am with you !"
(Laughter.)
Mr. MCLEAN maintained that he was
right with respect to what he said in the
morning about the senators of the Dominion; they were to be appointed by the
Governor General, and it made very little
differenee where they lived, as it would be
their interest to please him. We, at least,
would have no control over them. The
fewness of their number was also an objection. In the United States, the smallest
state had as many senators as the largest ;
but, in the Dominion, it was not so. Upper
Canada had 24 senators, Lower Canada 24,
and the Lower Provinces 24, once Newfoundland shonld come in, when the number would
be 28. He contended that this
arrangement was against the Lower Provinces; in his opinion, they ought to have a
majority in the Senate, so that if any encroachment upon them should be attempted,
it might be counteracted by that body.
Mr. BRECKEN. —The last speaker was a new
member, and he would not employ the same
language towards him which he did to the
Colonial Secretary, who ought to know
better. The senators, no doubt, would be
nominally appointed by the Governor General, but he must act according to the advice
of his council, who were responsible to
parliament.
Hon. Mr. LAIRD. -Hon. members of the
Opposition had twitted the Govemmant for
holding any conference with the delegates
from Ottawa, if they did not intend to en
tertain their proposals. He did not see
what harm could result from asking these
gentlemen what they were able to do for
us. He (Mr. L.) was not present at these
negotiations, a circumstances for which he
was sorry. But had he been with his colleagues on the occasion, he would not have
objected to head their proposals, so that any
terms they might offer could be placed before the people at the next general election.
He considered it was the duty of members
of the Executive to ask the so-called
all-powerful government of the Dominion
what it could do to aid us in obtaining a
redress of our grievances. It was admitted
on all sides that we had been wronged by
Britain with respect to our lands, and were
this government, this noble government of
Canada, to give us some tangible proof that
they had an irresistible influence with the
Imperial authorities, it would go a great
way to remove his objections to confederation. He was surprised that the hon.
Leader of the Opposition, who was such an
admirer of free trade, did not look to
his own favorite, model country, Canada,
and vent his righteous indignation against
her Japanese trade policy, instead of wasting all his eloquence in condemning the
restrictive tariffs between this Island and the
Dominion. Here we imposed a duty on such
articles as wine, tobacco, &c., for a revenue
must be raised from something, as governments did not live on air; but surely it
was better to replenish the treasury in this
way than to impose a tax on newspapers,
printing paper, books, and notes-of-hand.
In the Dominion, even knowledge was taxed,
but here we were free from all such restrictions. The hon. member for Charlottetown
must also receive a little notice; but he
(Mr. L.) had to confess he remembered
very little of what that gentleman had said;
his words, indeed, were pleasing to the ear;
but they left little behind them but an
echo-an echo, too, of the sentiments some
person else had uttered before. Well, he
(Mr. Brecken) seemed to be very much exercised about the views expressed by the
members of the government to the delegates from Ottawa. He (Mr. L.) thought
it made very little difference what had
passed at the informal meeting with these
gentlemen, for it was quite probable that
they had formed their conclusions chiefly
from outside information. About the time
of their visit, it was stated in the Toronto
Globe that the government here was in a
tottering condition, and that, no doubt, a
change int he sentiments of the people
would be seen when the general election
came off next spring. If this was the
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
27
opinion entertained by the Canadian delegates, it was altogether unlikely that such
far-seeing statesmen would base their proposals on the views of a shaky administration.
It had been said that Canada had at
present an economical government. He was
glad to head it, for evidently such a character could not be given its predecessors.
The customs revenue of the Dominion for
the year ending June 20, 1868, was in
round numbers $8,000,00, and the interest
paid in the same time on the public debt
over $4,000,000. This was a debt, too,
incurred without any expensive war. What
would her case be when she had to provide
a standing army to defend her frontier from
ocean to ocean, and a navy to protect
her commerce on every sea ? The hon.
member for Charlottetown (Mr. Brecken)
said isolation was played out. If it was
played out, how came it that we were so
wall off on this Island, with a trifling public debt, and free newspapers, books and
no stamp duties ; with a people, too, as
happy and contented as those of any other
country in the world. Nor need we refer
to this Island alone, for where was the
British colony that had not prospered
without confederation, unless there was
some natural cause to prevent it ? It
might be answered, however, that it was
time for these colonies to cast off the leading strings of the mother country. He
(Mr. L.) was of opinion that they would be
allowed to choose their own destiny, either
to remain as they were or to set up for
themselves. The British people, he believed,
as he said yesterday, were opposed to the
dismemberment of the empire. As to
the good looks of the Canadians, so much
commented on by the same speaker, (Mr.
Brecken) he (Mr. L.) was sure they could
not produce a finer looking gentleman than
that hon. member himself. (Laughter.)
The peace of the Dominion, he (Mr. L.)
feared was nearly at an end. This very
day a paper had been put into his hand,
containing a series of resolutions proposed
in the Ontario legislature by no less a person than Mr. Blake, complaining that the
Provinces had been broken, and the British
American Act violated by the Dominion parliament giving to Nova Scoita nearly
$2,000,000 more than was specified in that
Act. Then, again, the North-West territory had been purchased, at a cost of
£300,000 sterling. What right, he asked,
had the people of the several Provinces to
pay this money for lands which should be
the property of the settlers in that country?
It was no wonder that the half-breeds of
Red River had rebelled against being literally sold - no wonder that the Hon. Joseph
Howe should caution them to look after
their own rights as inhabitants of the territory. Now was the time for them to see
to their lands, and not be like this
colony, oppressed by a system which nothing short of a miracle could relieve from.
It had been argued that this new nationality, the Dominion, would state on its
career as strong as the United States were
at first. But the relative positions of the
two countries he (Mr. L.) contended were
very different. The United States had
variety of climate, and, consequently, a
market to a great extent within themselves.
Then, again, the young republic had no
powerful rival state on its borders that necessitated it to keep up an expensive military
establishment. As to the liberal terms
which we might receive from Canada, on
condition of our entering the union, he considered them of very little account. He
believed that before ten years the whole
financial arrangement between the Provinces
of the Dominion would be re-adjusted, and
very properly so, for a government could not
be expected to prosper if based upon wrong
principles. Hence he was opposed to this
us for the loss of our lands. It would be
unjust to tax her people to remove wrongs
which her government did not cause.
Any sum that Canada might give us now
for the settlement of our land question,
would undoubtedly be counted against us
when the re-arrangement which he anticipated in the affairs of the Dominion took
place. Let the home government redress
our land grievances, and then we would be
able to enter confederation on something
like equal terms with the other Provinces.
But even then, he would like to see our
rights as a local government places on a
more substantial basis than the will of a
parliamentary majority at Ottawa.
Mr. BRECKEN - The hon. member for
Bedeque had referred to the resolution
brought up in the Ontario legislature
against the additional allowances to
Nova Scotia. It was well known that
when confederation was proposed, it was
cordially entered into by Hon. George
Brown and other Upper Canadian politicians, as a scheme whereby they might
free themselves from the difficulties of
their position, Wen the delegates went
to the Quebec conference they were fully
aware of this, and compromises were
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
28
made, but he (Mr. B.) did not think
Ontario had much reason to complain of
what had been done for Nova Scotia,
considering the improved position which
she herself occupied in the confederacy
to what she held under the union of the
two Canadas. The hon. member (Mr.
Laird) appeared to justify the course
pursued by the rebels at Red River.
The people there were chiefly half- breeds and indians, and because they
preferred living in a semi-lawless state to
coming under an organized government
that would foster civilization and the arts
of peace, they forsooth were to be held
up as patterns to all true patriots. The
terms proposed by the Canadian delegates, said the hon. member, were of no
account. He (Mr. B.) wondered when
the memoranda came down to this House
whether anything like this sentiment
would be found recorded there ; and
whether the overshadowing power of the
Great Republic would therein be set
forth. He would ask, looking at the respective positions of Great Britain and
the United States, whether a war between them was to be apprehended ?
Did the hon member not know that there
were millions of British gold invested in
the United States ? And further, would
not one week's war cost the United
States more than all British America
was worth? He (Mr. B.) was sorry to
hear a member of the government argue
that we should not take the $800,000
from the Dominion for the settlement of
our land question. The British government would never pay us that money
after all she had expended in supporting
military establishments in these Provinces ; and Canada, in consideration of
this, might well give us the amount
offered. The Dominion held property
belonging to the mother country of much
greater value than $800,000, and he
(Mr. B.) could see no impropriety in our
taking that money form the Ottawa government. The Hon. Mr. Coles, at the
time of the Quebec conference, saw no
impropriety in it either, when he
asked for £200,000 to settle our land
question. Reference had been made to
the newspaper postage and stamp duties
of the Dominion. He (Mr. B.) admitted
those taxes were obnoxious, particularly
in a new country ; but were we to condemn everything about Canada because
some of her duties were objectionable ?
In the United States even photographs
were taxed, and go where we would,
something of the sort would meet us.
The present government of the Dominion
would not always remain in power ; the
reformers of Upper Canada, who were
mostly Scotchmen and economists, would
yet get control of the finances, and then
we might look for the abolition of all
obnoxious taxes. But taxation was being increased in this colony ; last year
our duties were raised one per cent., and
if the public works were carried out
which we required, he believed that in a
few years our tariff would be up to 15
per cent., or as high as it now was in
the Dominion.
Hon. P. SINCLAIR scarcely knew what
side of this questions the hon member for
Charlottetown was on till to-night ; but
he had now come out squarely in favor
of confederation. The Scotchmen of
Canada had come in for a share of his
admiration ; he thought they were so
economical they would keep down taxation. He (Mr. S.) could tell that gentleman that
these Scotchmen, or their
forefathers, came from a country much
more heavily taxed than even Canada,
and perhaps would not be able to keep
down these burdens in their adopted, any
more than in their native, country.
That hon member had a great deal to say
about confederation, but he had never
shown what benefit it would be to this
Colony. He had soared away to the
glory argument, and asked if we would
not have the same sun to shine upon us,
and the same dew to fall upon us in the
Dominion as we had now. He (Mr. S.)
wondered if we were to become subjects
of the Sultan of Turkey whether we
would have a different sun to shine upon
us! All this was beside the question.
We had our rain and sunshine independently of any earthly government, and
our duty was to consider those things
which a change of our constitution might
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
29
bring upon the Colony. We knew we
were lightly taxed at present, and that
in a general way our revenue, from the
improvement of the country, would keep
pace with out expenditure. With respect to the proposals from Canada, he
did not look upon them as any better
than the Quebec Scheme, as revised at
the London Conference, with the exception of the increased number of our
population on which the 80 cents a head
would be paid ; and the $800,000 for
our lands, which was only an offer of
the amount asked by Hon. Mr. Coles at
the first conference, namely, £200,000
Canadian currency. It had been stated
on the floor of this House that we had a
very large trade with the Dominion. He
(Mr. S.) had looked into the matter, and
found that our exports to Canada during
the last three years had decreased from
£2,188 9s. 6d. to £1,093 19s.; while our
export trade with the United States during the same period, in the face of a
hostile tariff, had increased from £21,688 4s. to £48,031 19s. 7d.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND merely rose to
ask the hon. member from Wilmot Creek
(Mr. Laird), who had such a horror of
taxes on newspapers, and the like, why
it was that we had to pay time pence
postage here on a letter to the neighboring Provinces, while throughout the Dominion
it was only three cents ? and
why postage from Britain to Canada
had been reduced to three pence sterling,
and to this Island it was still six pence;
and to those who had to pay the fine by
late mails, thirteen pence half-penny
currency ?
Hon. Mr. LAIRD—The postage referred to was only a temporary inconvenience, which, he believed, would
be remedied with as little delay as possible;
but the taxes in the Dominion were a
deliberate charge imposed by parliament.
Debate adjourned till to-morrow.
This individual participated in:
