PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
152
MONDAY, April 4.
House met at 5 o'clock.
Hon. Mr HOWLAN introduced a Bill for
taking the Census of Prince Edward Island.
Confederation.
Hon. Mr. HOWLAN delivered to Mr.
Speaker a message from his Honor the
Administrator of the Government, transmitting various Circulars and Despatches
to the House, among which was Despatch
No. 8, of the 7th of March, 1870, on the
subject of the terms offered by Canada for
the incorporation of the Island into the
Dominion.
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
153
The message was referred to the Committee of the whole House on the despatches,
and on motion the House again resolved
itself into said committee.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND—.When the Committee rose on Wednesday night last, he
was obliged to cease speaking before he had
concluded his remarks, owing to the oppresgive state of the atmosphere in the room.
He purposed now to notice a little further
the advantages which had arisen to Scotland
and Ireland from union with England. It
might seem strange that he should advert
to this subject again but he considered it
important, on account of the position taken
up by prominent anti-confederates at
several public meetings, and by the Executive in their minute of council. He would
not give his own views but those of men
who lived at or near the time in which the
events happened. The last time he spoke
on this question, he quoted so great an
authority as Jeffery ; he would now give
another, who was no less a one than the
celebrated author of the History of Europe,
Sir Archibald Alison. In his Essay on
Bruce, after describing the efforts made by
that brave men for preserving the independence of his country, he says:—
"In these observations we have no intention,
as truly as we have no desire, to depreciate
the incalculable blessings which this country
has derived from her union with England. We
feel as strongly as we can do the immense
advantage which this measure has brought to
the wealth, the industry, and the spirit of Scotland. We are proud to acknowledge
that it is
to the efforts of English patriotism, that we
owe the establishment of liberty in our civil
code; and to the influence of English example,
the diffusion of a free spirit among our people."
These were Sir Archibald Alison's views.
But to show that Scotland had greatly increased in wealth since her union with
England, he need only had the following
short extract from the 5th vol. of Macaulay's
History :—
"A great part of Scotland was then (1699)
as poor and rude as Iceland now is. There
were five or six Shires which did not altogether
contain so many guineas and crowns as were
tossed about every day by the shovels of a
single goldsmith in Lombard Street. Even the
nobles had very little ready money ; they generally took a large part of their rents
in kind,
and were thus able, on their own domains, to
live plentifully and hospitably. But there were
many esquires in Kent and Somersetshire, who
received from their tenants a greater quantity
of gold and silver, than a Duke of Gordon,or a
Marquis of Athol, drew from extensive provinces. The pecuniary renumeration of the
clergy was such as would have moved the pity
of the most needy curate, who thought it a
privilege to drink his ale and smoke his pipe in
the kitchen of an English manor-house. Even
in the fertile Meuse, there wore parishes of
which the minister received only from four to
eight points sterling in cash. The official income of the Lord President of the Court
of
Session, was only five hundred a year. The
land tax of the whole Kingdom was fixed some
years later by the Treaty of Union at little
more than half the land tax of the single County
of Norfolk. Four hundred thousand pounds
probably bore as great a ratio to the wealth of
Scotland then,as forty millions would bear now."
Then with respect to Ireland, He (Mr. H.)
thought he was justified in saying that had
it not been for her union with Britain, she
would not now have her church question
settled, and her land question in a fair way
for adjustment, These reforma would never
have been granted to Ireland by her own
parliament, which consisted wholly of Protestants, a large proportion of whom were.
landlords. He would again quote from
Thomas Babington Macaulay, who was
one of the greatest historians who had figured
in modern times. In a speech which he
made in Parliament in 1833, in answer to
Daniel O'Connell, who had been setting
forth the grievances of Ireland, Macaulay
said :—
"Ireland has undoubtedly just causes of
complaint. We heard those causes recapitulated last night but he honorable and elarned
Member, who tolls us that he represents not
Dublin alone, but Ireland, and that he stands
between his country and civil war. i do not
deny that most of the grievances which he recounted exist, that they are serious,
and that
they ought to be remedied as far as it is in the
power of legislation to remedy them. What I
do deny is that they were caused by the Union,
and that the Repeal of the Union would remove them, I listened attentively while the
honorable and learned gentleman went through
that long and melancholy list; and I am confident that the did not mention a single
evil
which was not a subject of bitter complaint
while Ireland had a domestic parliament. Is
it fair, is it reasonable in the honorable gentleman to impute to the Union evils
which, as he
knows, better than any other man in this house,
existed long before the Union? Post hoc: ergo,
propter hoc is not always sound reasoning.
But ante hoc: ergo non propter hoc is unanswerable. The old rustic who told Sir Thomas
More that Tenterden steeple was the cause of
Godwin sands, reasoned much better than the
honorable and learned gentleman. For it was
not until after the Tenterden steeple was built,
that the frightful wrecks on the Godwin sands
were heard of. But the honorable and learned
gentleman would make Godwin sands the cause
of Tenterden steel. Some of the Irish grievances which he ascribes to the Union, are
not
only older than the Union, but are not peculiarly Irish. They are common to England,
Scotland and Ireland ; and it was in order to get
rid of them that we, for the common benefit of
England, Scotland and Ireland, passed the
Reform Bill last year. Other grievances which
the honorable and learned gentleman mentioned
are doubtless local : but is there to be a local
legislature where ever there is a local grievance?
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
154
We all remember the complaints which were
made a few years ago about the Welsh judicial
system ; but did any body therefore propose
that Wales should have a distinct parliament ?
Cornwall has some local grievances ; but does
any one propose that Cornwall shall have its
own House of Lords and its own House of
Commons ? Leeds has local grievances. The
majority of my constituents distrust and dislike
the municipal government to which they are
subject ; they therefore call loudly on us for
corporation reform : but they do not ask us for
a separate legislature. Of this I am quite sure,
that every argument which has been urged for
the purpose of showing that the north of Ireland and the south of Ireland ought to
have
two distinct parliaments. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom, it has been
said,
is chiefly elected by Protestants, and therefore
cannot be trusted to legislate for Catholic Ireland. If this be so, how can an Irish
House of
Commons, chiefly elected by Catholics, be
trusted to legislate for Protestant Ulster ? It
is perfectly notorious that theological antipathies are stronger in Ireland than here.
I
appeal to the honorable and learned gentleman
himself. He has often declared that it is impossible for a Roman Catholic, whether
prosecutor or culprit, to obtain justice from a jury
of Orangemen. It is indeed certain that, in
blood, religion, language, habits, character, the
population of some of the northern counties of
Ireland has much more in common with the
population of England and Scotland than with
the population Munster and Connaught. I
defy the honorable and learned member, therefore, to find a reason for having a parliament
at Dublin, which will not be just as good a
reason for having another parliament in Londonderry."
He (Mr. H.) could adduce much more evidence of the same kind in support of his
position, but he had quoted sufficient to
meet the arguments of the hon. member
on the opposite side of the House (Mr.
Howlan). That hon. gentleman had also
read from the Patriot of last week, an
article from the Daily Telegraph published
in St. John in the Province of New Brunswick, complaining of some acts of the Dominion
parliament, which appeared to afford
him great satisfaction. He (Mr. Haviland),
however, would say that the advocates of
union did not contend that there would
always be unanimity of sentiment in the
Dominion. There would be difference of
opinion as in other countries, but this need
not cause any alarm. One of the questions
in dispute to which the Telegraph referred was vote by ballot, and the other
the currency question. Upon the ballot,
that journal had taken up views of its own,
and on the currency question Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick were at issue. The
people of Nova Scotia were in favor of retaining the sovereign as the standard of
value, and those of New Brunswich contended for the dollar. With respect to the
ballot, New Brunswick itself was not agreed
upon it. The Dominion had been in existence only about three years, and though a
few questions still remained unsettled yet
that afforded no sufficient reason to say
that it would not succeed. Even after the
flight of James II. from England, there were
certain parties who wished for his return.
When any public movement took place
there was always a reaction to a certain
extent ; therefore he looked upon those
grievances which a portion of the Dominion
press made such a noise about, as very
trivial. Then again there was a paragraph
in the minute of council—this wonderful
minute which the government organ called
a statesman-like document—which, referring to Nova Scotia, said that she had sent
a deputation to Washington. He (Mr.
Haviland) might affirm that this Colony
was in the same position, for the hon. leader
of the government in this House had been
at Washington to negotiate a free trade
treaty. In the next place we had been told
by the hon. Colonial Secretary and his
leader that we had no trade with the Dominion ; and that if we came under her
tariff we should be nothing better than
slaves. He (Mr. H.) could tell those hon.
members in reply, that if we had the Dominion 15 per cent tariff, together with its
free list, we would not be much more
heavily taxed than at present. In Canada
everything connected with the building of
ships, and the various articles of raw material used in the manufactures, were all
admitted duty free ; whereas here under our
miserable tariff there was nothing worth
speaking of on the free list. Only the
other day there was a petition brought
before this House praying that the duty
might be taken off articles used in the
manufacture of soap. This circumstance
showed the nature of our tariff. But in the
Dominion last year out of some $66,000,000
worth of imports, $22,000,000 were on the
free list. Then with respect to the statement that we had no trade with the Dominion,
he would read a few figures, which he
had compiled from the Journals of the
House, to prove that it was not correct.
In 1869 the Dominion took us in oats
alone to the value of £30,285 18s. 4d.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND.—Well, Nova
Scotia was a part of the Dominion. The
value of pork which went from here to
the Dominion in 1869 was £33,116 ; of potatoes, £18,387 ; of upper leather, £1,112
;
of oysters, £1,697 ; of butter, £3,112 ; of
sheep—principally to the St. John mar
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
155
ket—£2,227. Who could say now that
we had no trade with the Dominion ?
And more that this, he could show that
it was a growing trade. He would first
give our imports and exports from and
to the Provinces in 1863, and then compare them with that of last year. In
taking 1863, he was choosing a year that
was one of the most prosperous in the
history of these colonies—a year in which
the tonnage of shipping built in this
Island was nearly double of what it was
in 1869. In 1863, our exports to the
Provinces were: Nova Scotia, £31,511
12s 3d ; New Brunswick, £23,340 5s 4d ;
Canada proper, £1,255 12s 11d ; total to
the Provinces that now form the Dominion, £63,107 10s 6d. Our imports for
the same year were: from Nova Scotia,
£66,890 11s 5d ; New Brunswick, £19,975 3s 11d ; Canada, £6152 8s 3d ; total
from the Dominion Provinces, £83,018
3s 7d. He would now give the returns
for 1869. In that year our exports to
Nova Scotia were: £82,013 10s 3d ; to
New Brunswick, £30,100 13s 5d ; to
Canada proper, £1,681 11s 4d ; total to
the Dominion, £113,795 15s. Our imports for the same year were, from Nova
Scotia, £68,215 18s 5d. New Brunswick,
£35,124 12s 8d ; Canada proper, £32,946
3s 9d ; total from the Dominion, £136,286 14s 10. These figures, he ought to
say, were all in British sterling. Last
year our exports to the United Kingdom,
exclusive of shops, were, £108,860 16s
8d ; and to the United States, £48,205
11s 6d. Our imports for the same year
from the United Kingdom were, £165,095 7s 10 ; and from the United States,
£55,826 7s 6d. It would thus be seen
that our exports to the Dominion were
greater than to any other country ; and
our imports from her nearly equal to
those from the United Kingdom. Having
met his opponents on the trade argument,
he (Mr. H.) would next refer to their bugbear of local taxation. Articles had been
repeatedly published in the newspapers,
setting forth the amount of direct taxes
the people in Canada had to pay. But
in this colony we would not require to
resort to such a method of taxation as
long as we could carry on the government, and pay our way with the sums
allowed by the general government. He
believed that with proper management
those subsidies would be enough for the
next generation to come. The expensves
of the local government might be curtailed. We would not need so many
public officers. With all deference to
the honorable body in the other end of
the building, he believed we might dispense with its services altogether. If
Ontario—the largest province of Ontario
—could do without an upper chamber,
surely this little Island might get along
in the same way. He (Mr. H.) was also
of opinion that the number of members
in this House might be reduced. When
he first came to it, there were only
twenty-four members ; after a time, however, so many office holders obtained
seats in the House, that the authorities
at home called attention to the insufficient proportion of independent
members which it contained, and a
measure was introduced to increase the
representation. But as only a few
office-holders were now admitted into
this House, we might very well go back
to the former number of members, or
lower still, to the old number, eighteen.
By thus cutting down our expenditure, we
would find that the grants from the
Dominion government would be quite
ample to meet our wants for a generation, and after that our people would
have become so wealthy, that they would
be able and willing to submit to a little
more taxation. Though this colony remained in her isolated position, her taxes
would have to be increased. It might
be all very well to stave off taxation on
the eve of a general election ; but not
longer ago than last session, the leader
of the government talked of increasing
the land tax. Though it was put off for
the time, yet it must come. Lately we
had a
coleur de rose statement of the
financial condition of the colony, but on
examining into the matter, he found that
it was not all gold that glittered. In
1854, the Worrell estate was purchased
for £20,500, and after working it for
some fifteen years, there was only £2,600
to the credit of the estate, to meet the
purchase money. And in the working
of all the estates in the hands of the
government, during the last financial
year, after paylng interest and all, there
was the amount of £154 11s 11d on the
wrong side of the book. Only one estate among the whole, had been self- sustaining,
and that was the one represented by the hon. member for Belfast.
He (Mr. H.) did not think, from the
calculations he had made, that the others
would ever pay.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND.—"Yes they are
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
156
dangerous things." And he (Mr. Haviland) thought the hon. member would
find the $800,000 offer a dangerous thing,
after the buncombé speeches which he
and the Colonial Secretary had made,
the one setting down the compensation
which we should receive from the Dominion for the loss of crown lands at
$1,240,000, and the other fixing it at as
many pounds sterling. It would not do
for us to be indulging the vain hope, that
the British government would pay for
the loss of these lands. If we were to
judge from the short, pithy despatch laid
on the table this evening, the government might make up their minds that
they would receive no help from that
quarter. They must get up some other
political cry before the elections came
off. But he supposed he ought not to
speak againsthon. members on the other
side of the House; they were so much
confederate that it seemed wrong to be
twitting them. They appeared to be
more his friends than some on this side
of the House, who were no-terms men.
There, for example, was the hon. the
Leader of the Government in the other
end of the building, who was reported
by a writer in Saturday's
Patriot, to
have said at a late meeting held at the
Ten Mile House, Lot 35:—
"That he had opposed the Quebec scheme,
which he considered unfair to the people of the
Island, but that he was not, nevertheless, a no- terms man: that be anticipated
a time when
proposals of a union of this Island With Canada
might be entertained."
After this it seemed cruel to attack hon.
members opposite, seeing that they had
such a red-hot unionist as leader. And
when we turned to the minute of
council what did it say :—
"The long delayed settlement of the Land
Question is thus made contingent upon the on- trance of Prince Edward Island into
the North
American Confederation; and the Dominion,
from whom the Island has received no injury,
and to whom no purchase monies or rents of
lands have been paid, is required to assume a
duty which clearly is not hers; but which, if
just and liberal treatment is a debt due the Island, as Earl Granville seems to imply,
undoubtedly belongs to Imperial Britain.
"The Council can only further express a
hope that the Government and Parliament of
the Dominion will adopt this question as their
own, and make such persistent and powerful
representations thereon, to the Imperia authorities as may result in obtaining redress
for this
injured Colony.
"Success would be productive of the best results. It would establish the prestige
of the
Dominion—cause a spontaneous, not an artifi
cial reaction of public opinion in Prince Edward Island."
Here there was nothing said to be in the
way, but this land question. True, it
might be objected that what this statesman-like document stated in one paragraph it
toppled over in the next. And
the best of the joke was that the supporters of the government in the House
would have to eat the leek, as the resolution proposed by their leader, required
them to approve of the "general tenor"
of the in notes of council. With respect
to the $800,000 offered by the Dominion
for a settlement of the land question, he
was surprised to see it so strongly objected to by the government. The Hon.
Mr. Coles, who was as great a Liberal as
any in this House, moved at the Quebec
convention that this Island should receive £200,000 in consideration for the
loss of her lands, and there was a rivalry
between Hon. E. Palmer and Hon. A. A.
McDonald as to which of them should
second the resolution. But now he observed that Hon. Mr. McDonald said he
could not accept the $800,000 unless it
came from Britain; and Hon. Mr. Palmer
had said something of the same kind.
He (Mr. H.) contended that the
government instead of pursuing the tortuous policy which they had done, since
they admitted the principle, ought
to have set to work and drawn up a
statement of such terms as they thought
would be fair to the Colony, and sent it
to Ottawa in place of those contradictory
minutes of council. But he would not
despair of them; their leader was with
us, and he believed Confederation, was
only a question of time. Those who were
now opposed to it, in his (Mr. H.'s)
opinion, would soon the heater champions for it than himself. Even the hon.
member for Belfast (Mr. Duncan) he expected to see among its advocates, perhaps their
very leader in chief. (Applause.)
Hon. Mr. DUNCAN asked the last speaker
(Mr. Haviland) if it was not possible for
this Legislature to put the land into
Confederation, as he (Mr. D.) understood
him to say that the cuss could not do it.
Hon. Mr. HAVILAND.—If the members of
this House were political vagabonds, they
could put the Island into Confederation.
Hon. Mr. DUNCAN was satisfied; he did
not wish the idea to go abroad that the
Legislature had not the power to unite the
Island with the Dominion.
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
157
Hon. Mr. LAIRD.—The two leaders in
this end of the building in discussing Confederation had edified the House by going
into the misty records of the history of
Ireland and Scotland, and the effects of
union upon them; but he (Mr. L.) thought
the chairman of this committee (Mr. Kelly)
must have been very much amused with it,
for he believed that he (Mr. Kelly) had
forgotten more of the history of those
countries than these two hon. members
ever knew. The hon. Leader of the Opposition had stated that the tariff of the
Dominion was preferable to ours because it
protected home manufactures, and he (Mr.
L.) thought the hon. member must be a
new convert to the protective system, because
judging from his speeches for many years
he always appeared to be an advocate of
free trade. Of all the causes which the
Leader of the Opposition had adovcated,
free trade was the one he (Mr. L.) thought
most of, and he was very sorry the hon.
member had fallen from the high position
he occupied as an advocate of free trade,
by joining the protectionists. How did it
happen that proposals for the union of this
Island were made? In 1864 a proposal for
the union of the Maritime Provinces was
sent to our Legislature, and although opposed to it they agreed to meet the delegates
from the other provinces to discuss
the question. At the time this was taking
place, some of the statesmen of Canada
came down as suitors soliciting these
provinces to unite with Canada, and ever
since, the question of Confederation had
been agitating the minds of the people of
this Island. In considering the proposals
made to us, we should endeavor to acquire
as much information as possible of the
country with which we were asked to unite,
and also the history of the government which
ruled that that country. A book had been
published called, "Eighty, Years' Progress
in British America" from, which he (Mr.
L.) would read a few extracts showing that
the government of Canada had been almost
supported by the Imperial Parliament—
immense loans were guaranteed, and British
gold was freely spent in the country. The
Rideau Canal was built by the Imperial
government at a cost of £900,000 sterling.
When had the British Govemment spent
money here? They had spent a few
sovereigns in building a battery near Charlottetown, which was about all the money
we received from them. Further on in the
same book was an account of the building
of Railways, and also of the effect which the
spending of so much money in the country
had on the politicians—training them up
to extravagance. The influence of contractors in the country was felt, as the following
would show:—
"Before the invasion of the province at the
east, by a deputation from the most experienced
railway men of England, bringing with them all
the knowledge and appliances of that conservative country, it had been penetrated
on the west
by some contractors from the United States, bred
in that school of politics and public works which
brought New York to a dead stand and Pennsylvania to the goal of reputation. These
practical
men had built state canals with senators and
even governors as silent partners, and were
versed in all the resources peculiar to a democratic community. The convergence of
these two
systems on the poor but virgin soil of Canada,
brought about an education of the people and
their representatives more rapid than the most
sanguine among them could have hoped for.
One bold operator organized a system which
virtually made him ruler of the province for
several years. In person or by agents he kept
'open house,' where the choicest brands of
champagne and cigars were free to all the
peoples' representatives, from the town councillor
to the cabinet minister; and it was the boast of
one of these agents that when the Speaker's bell
rang for a division, more M. P. P.'s were to be
found in his apartments than in the library or
any other single resort."
This was the school in which the statesmen
of Canada were trained. Another extract
would show how this gigantic contractor
had to be brought off before another could
take a contract.
"An English contractor was, without competition, about to pounce quietly upon the
contract
for the Toronto and Hamilton Railway, when his
American 'brother' demanded and received a
royalty of £10,000 sterling, before he would
allow a corporation to be imposed upon."
These things were winked at by the governmen, and we should be cautious in
uniting with a country whose rulers would
act in such a manner, and also as was
stated a little farther on.
"A member of the government paid away
nearly £10,000 of the first mortgage bonds of the
Toronto Northern Road company in the purchase
of real estate."
Again when the Great Western Railway
Company applied to the government for
power to lay a double track --
"They were gravely assured that the government was powerless to give them their bill,
in
consequence of the influence of the enterprising
Pennsylvanian, in the house. The contractor's
price for permitting the bill to pass was - the
contract for the work to be done."
Thus in Canada twelve years ago contractors
rules the country, while in this Island the
government was carried on as faithfully and
honestly as it was now.
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
158
"Canadians, indeed have had cause to blush at
the spectacle of men filling the highest offices in
their province, with a seat at the council board
of their sovereign, accepting fees and favors from
contractors and officials of a railway company
(between whom and them there should have been
a gulf as wide as that which seperates the judges
of [illegible] from the suitors before them), and laying the honor of their country
in the dust, often
at the feet of boorish and uneducated men whose
only recommendations were - the material one of
ill-gotten wealth, and the immoral one of unscrupulousness in the use of it."
With this history of Canada before them,
any colony that wished to unite with the
Dominion, he (Mr. L.) thought, had no
interest at stake. It might be said that the
statesmen of the Dominion had reformed;
but in looking at the politicians in Ottawa
at the present time, it would be difficult to
see where the improvement was. Judging
from the amount of British gold expended
there, and the number of railroads and
other public works, we should expect to
find a country in a flourishing condition,
carrying on a large trade, and having plenty
of money. But what were the facts? A
statement made by Sir Francis Hincks,
Finance Minister in the House of Commons,
would show the way in which the accounts
of the country were kept.
"It must be perfectly obvious to gentlemen
that years might elapse before anything connected with the debt could be brought down.
Items were constantly springing up from time to
time, and had to be considered as they came up."
If the government of this Island kept
accounts in such a way, the representatives
of the people would soon send them about
their business. It could easily be seen,
from the account of Sir F. Hincks' banking
scheme, how the Dominion Government were
pressed for money.
"It is imperatively necessary also to a right
understanding of the question now before parliament, that the confession of Sir Francis
Hincks
on Tuesday night should be kept steadily in
view-namely:- that the scheme of the 1866 was
gone into by government before of 'their
financial difficulties,' and 'they were obliged to
accept whatever terms the banks thought proper
to put upon them."
He (Mr. L.) was proud of our banking
institutions, but he would be very sorry to
see the government in such a position that
they would be obliged to take whatever
terms the banks chose to put upon them.
Yet such was the humiliating position of
the government of the Dominion-at the
mercy of the banks of the country. Sir F.
Hincks proposed a banking scheme, not
because any fault was found with the banks,
but on account of the imperative necessity
of the government to raise money. A
country that was already indebted to the
amount of twenty-five dollars per head of
their population in such want of money!
A country that took money, guaranteed for
the building of a railroad, for other purposes, lauded to the skies in our day! The
following comments were made by a member of the Dominion Parliament:
"There was one phase of the proposed measure to which be desired to call the attention
of
the House, and that was that the Finance Minister had signed that the measure was
brought in
not because the country stood in need of a revised banking system, but because the
government necessities imposed on him the duty of
providing a certain amount of money. The
system of raising money was brought to the
greatest perfection by the present government.
The government had obtained from the Insurance Companies $4,000,000, a million and
a half
from the Savings Banks- they had also sold one
million of silver, exchanging Dominion notes for
it, and paying a large commission, and they had
also five and a half million of Dominion notes in
circulation. Now there was a scheme proposed
by which the government wished to increase this
indirect load of debt to the extent of $12,000,000, making an aggregate increase of
$20,000,000- an increase of the greater portion of which
the country was altogether in ignorance."
The scheme proposed an aggregate increase
in the debt of $20,000,000 which increase
was to be made without the knowledge of
the people, so that it required a scheming,
talented man as Finance Minister of the
Dominion. Was ever a country in such a
state before as to be obliged to substitute
government bonds for gold in the banks?
The following was the scheme proposed to
the Dominion parliament by the Finance
Minister:-
"Sir. Francis Hincks proposes that the banks
shall be prohibited from issuing notes of a less
value than $4 and that all the one, two, and
three dollar notes in circulation throughout the
Dominion shall be government greenbacks. He
alleges that this will only yield the government
£2,500,000, but as he intends to force out of the
country the American silver now in such vast
circulation, it may safely be stated at double that
amount. But Sir Francis is not content with
this, he proposes that all the banks shall hold
AT LEAST one-half of their cash reserves in
government greenbacks. On the 31st of January of this year, the said cash reserves
of the
banks of the Dominion exceeded fourteen millions
of dollars. This demand of Sir Francis, therefore, covers no less a sum than seven
millions of
dollars. And not to conceal his determination
to get hold of as much more of these reserves as
possible, Sir Francis plumply proposes to free
the banks from all obligation to hold any specie
for the protection of their liabilities! They may
have all their reserves in greenbacks if they so
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
159
choose. Sir Francis gravely assured the House
of Commons on Tuesday night that it was
'rather dangerous than otherwise' to require
banks 'to hold a certain amount of specie, and
that for the very curious reason that they might
imagine the prescribed amount to be quite sufficient and confine themselves to it."
Such was the state of the Dominion that
expedients of such a nature had to be resorted to for the purpose of raising money.
A talented correspondent of the St. John,
N. B., "Globe" summed up the whole
matter as follows:-
"The time may come when the Finance
Minister may have scattered all over the country
$10,174,000 in Dominion notes, and yet, without
violating the law, hold only $1,174,000 in gold
as security! Whether this is sufficient security,
is, of course, another question."
It was indeed a very important question
whether that was sufficent specie for the
government to keep. He (Mr. L.) would
now direct attention to the power the representatives of the maritime provinces had
in the Dominion, from which we might
judge of our influence were we to go into
confederation. Hon. Joseph Howe, in speaking on the election law, said:-
"He had yet to learn that Nova Scotia could
control this great Dominion. (Hear, hear.)
There must be an accommodation of the various
systems of the provinces; Nova Scotia must give
up something, New Brunswick must give up
something, Canada might perhaps learn something, but if Canada did not choose to learn,
Canada had votes and could control the measure."
This was what we should probably be told
"if Canada did not choose to learn", we
must humbly submit to them. It had been
said that if we joined the Dominion we
should become a part of it, and our interests
would be identified with theirs, but it appeared that the party lines had been kept
up, and that Canada could rule. It had
been stated that the population of Ontario
was increasing very fast, and that she would
soon be able to control the vote in the
Dominion Parliament. The representatives of Ontario had been asking for a tariff
of twenty per cent, so that if we joined the
union we might expect to pay that tariff
before long. He (Mr. L.) was proud he
belonged to a colony that bought in the
cheapest market and sold in the dearest,
and did not go in for the Japanese policy of
putting a very heavy duty on some articles
and letting others come into the country free.
One of the reasons why the British Government wished to cast off the Dominion was
because they had exhausted their liberality,
and instead of opening a market for British
goods had virtually closed their market
against British manufactures. One of the
objects of Britain in founding colonies was
to get a market for their manufactures, but
her ungrateful child, Canada, had put
heavy duties on all her manufactures. We
were asked to unite ourselves with that
spendthrift colony. There was no comparison between our Island and Canada,
for while money had been lavishly spent on
Canada, we were refused even a loan to
buy out our lands, of which we were unjustly deprived. One of the reasons which
induced Canada to seek confederation with
the other provinces, was because they had
a political deadlock- they could not carry
on the business of the country. Was that
symptom of intelligence? If they had
the interests of the country at heart, they
would have sunk their differences for the
country's welfare. They did not form a coalition for the purpose of carrying out the
pet scheme of confederation, and some of
the means made use of to carry out their
purpose were not very commendable. In
New Brunswick, a Fenian scare was got up
to intimidate the people, and three routes
were proposed for a railroad, so that the
people near the whole of them might be
induced to vote for Confederation, which
was going to bring a railroad to their
doors. By such means the election was
carried in New Brunswick. Nova Scotia
was used still worse- language would
fail to picture the duplicity of the representatives of that unhappy, much-abused
country. And Canada was to be execrated for receiving Nova Scotia in such
a way. It did not say much for either
the parliament of the Dominion or the
Imperial Government, that they sanctioned such an act as to confederate
Nova Scotia without her people having
a voice in the matter. He (Mr. L.)
hoped the day was far distant when the
government of this Island would take
any terms that might be offered without
submitting the matter to the people.
The terms lately sent from Canada might
be subjected to a closer scrutiny than
they had yet been. Canada agreed to
pay a number of our officials, and well
she might, when she took our revenue
to do it with. They offered to pay us
five per cent on the difference between
our debt and that of the Dominion, but
we would have to help to pay the interest
on the whole debt of the country at
seven or eight per cent, if we became
part of the Dominion, and our share of
that interest according to our population
would be $2,250 a year; and if they paid
us in Canadian bonds, which were selling
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
160
at latest quotations at 95 percent, we
should lose $4,500 more every year. We
never asked the British Government to
indemnify us for the loss of territorial
revenues; we only asked to be allowed to
test the proprietors' titles. But the Dominion Government said we were entitled to
compensation for the loss of our
public lands, which was one of the reasons which induced the Government to
frame their reply in the way they did.
When the Dominion government, with
Sir John Young at their head, made that
statement, the government thought it
time to demand their rights, even should
they never join the Dominion. The
reply of the government to the proposals
from Canada had been misrepresented,
and the Leader of the Opposition had
stated that the government were bound
to go into confederation if compensation
was received for the loss of terrirorial
revenues, but he (Mr. L.) would challenge
any hon. member to prove that they
were so bound.
Hon. Mr. LAIRD.—Were we to be
bound by Lord Granville or any understrapper in the Colonial Office? The
government said we could not go into
confederation until the land question was
first settled — this means that if
such a settlement was accomplished
the government would feel it their
duty to submit the matter to the
people. When it was considered that on
the formation of a government in this
Island in 1770, this land question was
discussed, and ever since had been a
vexed question, it would be only fair to
submit the question of confederation to
the people, if indemnity was obtained for
our lands. Even had the government
said they would accept those terms, the
people would not be bound to do so;
but the only course the government were
committed to in the event of our obtaining indemnity for our lands, was to
submit the matter to the people. If we
did obtain the $800,000 we should still be
far from receiving as much from Britain
as Canada had. Some had said it was
no difference whether this money was
received from Britain or Canada, but he
(Mr. L.) considered it of vital importance
where it should come from, and the
reasons were very fully given in the
minute of Council. This $800,000 would
not be sufficient to buy up the remainder
of our township lands, even had it come
from the proper source. The Council
stated that the inion would not prove
successful unless it was accomplished
"with the free and unbiased consent of
the contracting parties." That was
surely a self-evident fact. Then again, it
was stated "that the interests of the
Island with reference to public works
had been overlooked." As the public
works of Canada were not self-sustaining
we should have to help to pay their expenses, as well as contribute our share
towards building others, while we should
have none built on the Island out of the
general revenue. He (Mr. L.) supposed
some would think the most difficult part
of the minute of Council for him to "success"
in settling the land question would
"cause a spontaneous reaction in the
minds of the people of Prince Edward
Island." When the Canadian Government had, unsolicited, been making offers
to us, there was nothing wrong in trying
to get their assistance in settling this
long vexed question. When agents,
swells, or pedlers travelling through a
country became too troublesome, the best
way to get rid of them was to give them
a difficult job to perform without any
compensation. The members of the
Dominion Government came here and
said we were wronged by the British
government, and the government told
them to redress this grievance, and it
would cause a spontaneous reaction in
the minds of the people of this Island.
If the Dominion government settled this
great question, the people of the Island
would regard them with very different
feelings from what they did at present,
but at the same time they would not be
bound to unite with them. The Dominion government would deserve to be
well thought of by the people of this
Island if they should settle this question
of a century's standing. The minute of
council declared that before the people
of this Island should be called upon to
discuss the question of confederation,
they should be placed in the same position
as the other colonies. It had been stated
that, in our present isolated position, we
should never have any influence, but that
united ot Canada, we should be a part of
a great nation. He (Mr. L.) would ask
what constituted greatness? A large
population did not constitute greatness,
or China would be the greatest empire in
the world. Neither did large extend of
country, or Russia would be great;
neither did wealth make a country great
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
161
unless there was also freedom. The
greatness that was to be desired was to
have freedom of conscience, and to have
every man educated. We should not be
improved in these respects by joining
the Dominion, and as far as wealth was
concerned we could also compare favorably with them. Some had said we
would be safer from invasion in the
union; but he would ask where would
the great Dominion be if the Republic of
America made a raid on them, as Canada
was without an army, without a navy,
without an able statesman to manage affairs. We would gain nothing commercially by
uniting with the Canadians, as they
grew everything we did, and we would aid
them in building railroads, which would
be a means of conveyance for their produce, and enable them to supply the
different markets more readily than we
could. If we paid one-fortieth part of the
civil service of the Dominion, it would
be more than the whole expense of our
government at present, ad we would be
obliged to keep up our local government
besides. We had now a cheap government and a contented people, and could
manage our affairs very well. It was all
very well to talk of the duties being
taken off certain articles in the event of
union, but if so, higher duties would
have to be imposed on other things, for
government must be sustained, and it
made no difference to a man whether he
paid his duties on what he ate or what
he were. We had nothing to fear if we
remained in our present isolated condition. We had a soil capable of yielding
a great deal more than it did at present,
and he (Mr. L.) believed the time would
come when our Island would be a market
garden, and the whole world a market
for its production. Our loyalty had
been called in question, but when a raid
was threatened the whole revenue of the
colony was placed at the disposal of the
government for defence; and he would
ask was the like ever done in any other
colony? Our loyalty was beyond dispute,
and he (Mr. L.) believed that in case of
war with any foreign power, no colony
would send more men to assist Great
Britain than Prince Edward Island, in
proportion to population.
[Mr. Brecken followed, reading several
length extracts, which have not been
furnished the Reporter; consequently he
is compelled to omit the speech.]
House adjourned.
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