80 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the British Crown for the purposes of government and legislation, 

 based upon the principles of the British Constitution." The fourth 

 draft has the same words: and, it was not until the Revise of 9th 

 February, that the Preamble appears as in the Act passed. 



It seems to me that the amendment made by Macdonald was 

 so made to show that the Union was the act of the Colonies themselves 

 not a gift, good or bad, of the Imperial authorities: the Preamble as 

 finally settled indicates the two cardinal principles, which have 

 characterized Canada from the beginning: the fixed determination 

 to remain a part of the British Empire and the equally fixed deter- 

 mination to govern herself. This is true Canadianism. 



The decision to have a Federal and not a Legislative Union as 

 suggested by Lord Durham^ was come to at a very early stage of the 

 Quebec Conference: all the Delegates from Canada, Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland agreed 

 in this decision. 



The Preamble to the British North America Act proceeds: "It 

 is expedient that provision be made for the eventual admission 

 into the Union of other parts of British North America." 



The Union of all British North America had been many times 

 recommended — perhaps, the most notable of the recommendations 

 was that of William Smith, Chief Justice of Quebec, in a letter 

 to Lord Dorchester^. 



Lord Durham had also suggested a "Legislative Union over all the 

 British Provinces in North Ameiica. A general and responsible 

 Government. . a general Legislative Union" which "would elevate 

 and gratify the hopes of able and aspiring men."^ Many others of 

 more or less note had made the same suggestion : and even at Charlotte - 

 town at the first Conference and at Quebec at the second, it had been 

 hoped that Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland would come into 

 the Union. 



^ "On my first arrival in Canada, I was strongly inclined to a federal union. 



I thought that it would be the tendency of a federation gradually to 



become a complete legislative union. ..." But he changed his mind. "I believe 

 that tranquillity can only be restored by subjecting the Province to the vigorous 

 rule of an English majority; and that the only efficacious government would be that 

 formed by a legislative union." Report, pp. 226, 227. It cannot be said that the 

 Union of the Canadas was a failure; but undoubtedly the present Federal Union 

 is preferable — in any case a Legislative Union could not have been formed. 



2 See Can. Arch. Q 44, 1, p. 61: Kingsford's Hist. Can., Vol. VII, pp. 310-312. 

 A very full account will be found in the Life of William Smith in Dr. Anson Phelps 

 Stokes' Yale University Volumes. 



' "Report" pp. 229 (the word "Legislative" is here misprinted "Legislature") 

 231. 



