[BURPEE] HOWE AND THE ANTI-CONFEDERATION LEAGUE 411 
room for a brilliant and resourceful general in the army opposed to 
Confederation. With characteristic energy and convincing eloquence 
he threw himself into the fight, and might in the end have defeated 
the cause of union had there not been opposed to him an overwhelming 
body of public opinion, or at any rate of the leaders of public opinion, 
on both sides of the Atlantic, determined to unite the scattered colonies 
of British North America. 
The League of the Maritime Provinces was organized at Halifax 
in the summer of 1866.. The name is something of a misnomer, as 
the membership of the League was confined to Nova Scotia, and largely 
to Halifax. The Constitution is interesting as setting forth the 
grounds of opposition to Confederation. Its language suggests pretty 
conclusively that it was the work of Joseph Howe. The text will be 
found in the Appendix. 
Joseph Howe, Hugh McDonald and William Annand were ap- 
pointed delegates of the League, to oppose in England the passage 
of the Imperial statute sanctioning the proposed union of the Colonies. 
Howe and Annand sailed early in July. McDonald followed later. 
The Confederation delegates from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 
reached London about the end of July. Their colleagues from Canada 
did not, however, arrive until the middle of November. Howe there- 
fore had at least five months in which to work up public sentiment 
in England against the union, and he used his opportunity to the best 
possible advantage, as his letters show. Annand seconded his efforts 
in every way, and when McDonald arrived he too threw himself into 
the fight. Their principal opponents were Tupper and Jonathan 
McCully of the Nova Scotia delegation, and before long most of the 
great London and provincial newspapers were drawn into the contro- 
versy on one side or the other. In September Howe issued a pamphlet 
on ‘‘Confederation considered in relation to the Interests of the Empire.” 
Tupper published a reply in which with telling effect he set Howe 
against Howe, quoting passage after passage from speeches in which 
Howe had urged the advantages of Confederation. Annand replied 
to Tupper’s pamphlet, McCully did his best to demolish Annand’s 
arguments, and McDonald attacked McCully. So the war of words 
went merrily forward, no doubt to the edification of the small group 
of Englishmen who at that time were mildly interested in the affairs 
of the Colonies. 
The delegates of the League remained in England until April, 
1867, when, having fought Confederation to the last ditch, and lost 
the battle, they returned to Halifax. The British North America 
Act had been finally passed on the 29th March. 
