458 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
With all this feeling, however, there was no desire to coerce the Provinces into 
the arrangement. Newfoundland and even Prince Edwards Island were secure as 
we would have been had not the weak kneed fools and arrant knaves in our Legis- 
lature bound Nova Scotia by their resolution.“7 With that fora cover, and the strong 
desire to be rid of indefensible and perillous dependencies that yield no revenue and 
cost a good deal of money our fate was sealed, and we must now commence a new 
page of history without vain lamentations over the past. 
McDonald will have explained how matters stood when he left. We could not 
present our Petitions to the Housé of Commons till the Bill was before it. It was 
brought down one day and the second reading fixed for the next. Acting upon the 
best advice I could get I applied to Mr. Horsman!’ to present the Petitions. He took 
two days to consider and then declined. Admiral Erskine,”® an old friend kindly 
consented, and Mr. Hadfield'*° who had early protested against undue haste agreed 
to move the clause! which I enclose, which Erskine had promised to second. Other 
business occupied the House till a late hour, and the next morning Erskine called to 
say that at the proper moment, overpersuaded by Cardwell!” and others Hadfield 
had funked and failed to move the clause. This so disgusted me that I wrote a 
note to Bright to say that he need take no more trouble about the matter. 
I had often thought of asking to be heard at the Bar of one House or the other. 
There were difficulties in point of form which might have been got over had parties 
been so balanced as to render success probable, but with the leading men on bothsides 
certain to resist the application, and the settled convictions of the two Houses so 
apparent, it seemed only courting defeat to make the application, and I gave up the 
idea, I must confess with some reluctance. 
When the clause touching the Intercolonial Railway" came up several Members 
rose to oppose it and were only quieted by Adderly and Gladstone’s Assurance that 
it merely expressed the views of the Delegates and bound them to each other, but 
did not pledge the House of Commons to advance the money. On this assurance 
opposition was withdrawn, and the clause passed. It is evident that on this point 
there is great distrust among the Delegates. The Bill, with the Amendments is 
now before the Lords, where it is to remain till a Resolution has been passed by the 
Commons giving the guarantee! . It seems almost impossible that it should not 
pass, but it will be stoutly opposed and there is a fair chance of a spiritted debate 
and perhaps a division before all is over. But guarantee or no guarantee the Cana- 
dians have now got the Bill complete, where it can be passed in five minutes and then 
the Proclamation would issue, guarantee or no guarantee. 

127 See Note 2. 
128 Rt. Hon. Edward Horsman (1807-1876). Irish Secretary, 1855-57. Represented Liskeard 
in Parliament. One of the ‘‘Adullamites’’ of 1866. 
129 John Elphinstone Erskine, born near Edinburgh, Scotland, 1806. Entered the Navy 1819. 
Rear-Admiral, 1864. Author of a journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific . Elected 
for Sterlingshire 1865. A Liberal. 
130 George Hadfield (1787-1879) radical M.P. for Sheffield. One of the founders of the Anti- 
Cornlaw League. 
131 “That this Act shall be published in all the Provinces it is intended to unite, but the Queen's 
Proclamation shall not be issued till the existing Legislature of New Brunswick and the Legislature of 
Nova Scotia convened after the General Elections now impending have expressed their approval of it 
in Addresses to the Crown.” 
132 Edward (afterward Viscount) Cardwell (1813-1886). Colonial Secretary 1864-66; Secretary 
for War, 1868-74. ‘ 
133 The evolution of this clause may be traced in the various documents from the Quebec Confer- 
ence Resolutions to the final Act. Pope, Confederation Documents, 52, 95, 110-11, 176, 211, 246, 282. 
134 The interest on three million pounds sterling was guaranteed by the Imperial Government. 
” Pope, Memoirs, II, 6. 
