S4 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the operation of Confederation, entitles the actors of 1864-67 to a memor- 

 able place in the annals of the reign. 



XV. 



In this review it has been my object to refer only to those salient 

 features of the development of Canada, and to point out how much 

 reason Canadians have for congratulating themselves on the events of the 

 last sixty years — a period contemporaneous with the reign of the present 

 Queen — in which they have laid the foundations of their happiness and 

 prosperity as one of the great communities which make up the empire. 

 It is not within the scope of this paper to point out the shadows that may 

 obscure the panorama as it unfolds itself before us. It would be strange 

 if, in the government of a country like Canada, many mistakes had not 

 been made, or if there were not many difficulties in store for the youthful 

 confederation. Dr. Goldwin Smith, from time to time, has been disposed 

 to perform the part of the Greek Chorus to the gloomy predictions of 

 the enemies and lukewarm friends of the confederation, but Canadians 

 will hardly allow themselves to be -inflvienced by purely pessimistic 

 utterances in the face of the difficulties that they have hitherto so success- 

 full}' encountered, and of the courage and hopes that animate them for 

 the future. For a century and a half the French Canadians fought and 

 bled for their country ; they had to face famine and savages, war with 

 the British, and, what was worse, the neglect and indifférence of the 

 parent state at the most critical period of their history ; but since the 

 conquest they have built up a large community by the banks of the St. 

 Lawrence and its tributaries, and even the superior energy and enter- 



tive Council ; Hon. Alex. T. Gait, M.P.P., Finance Minister ; Hon. Alexander Camp- 

 bell, M.L.C., Commissioner of Crown Lands ; Hon. Jean C. Chapais, M.L.C., Com- 

 missioner of Public Works ; Hon. Thos. D'Arcy McGee, M.P.P., Minister of Agricul- 

 ture ; Hon. Hector L. Langevin, Solicitor-General for Lower Canada ; Hon. W. 

 McDougall, M.P.P., Provincial Secretary; Hon. Jas. Cockburn, M.P.P., Solicitor- 

 General for Upper Canada ; Hon. Oliver Mowat, Postmaster-General. 



Nova Scotia. — Hon. Chas. Tupper, M.P.P., Provincial Secretarj' and Premier; 

 Hon. Wm. A. Henry, M.P.P., Attorney-General ; Hon. Robert B. Dickey, M.L.C. ; 

 Hon. Adams G. Archibald, M.P.P., Hon. Jonathan McCully, M.L.C. 



New Brunswick.— Hon. Samuel L. Tilley, M.P.P., Provincial Secretary and 

 Premier; Hon. Peter Mitchell, M.L.C; Hon. Chas. Fisher, M.P.P. ; Hon. W. H. 

 Steeves, M.L.C. ; Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P, ; Hon. Edward B. Chandler, 

 M.L.C. ; Hon. JohnM. Johnson, M.P.P., Attorney-General. 



Prince Edward Island.— Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P., Premier; Hon. 

 George Coles, M.P.P.; Hon. Thomas Heath Haviland, M.P.P.; Hon. Edward Palmer, 

 M.P.P., Attorney-General; Hon. Andrew Archibald Macdonald, M.L.C; Hon. 

 Edward Whelan, M.L.C; Hon. H. Pope, M.P.P., Provincial Secretary. 



Newfoundland.— Hon. Frederick B. T. Carter, M.P.P., Speaker of the House 

 of Assembly ; Hon. Ambrose Shea, M.P.P. 



