[BURPEE] HOWE AND THE ANTI-CONFEDERATION LEAGUE 467 
change of staple and of domestic manufactures; for the adjustment of a uniform cur- 
rency; the general extension of Free Trade, and for the arrangement of such measures 
of mutual defence as shall place, in time of war, all the physical force of the Provinces 
under the control of the Military and Naval Commanders-in-chief appointed by the 
Queen. 
But they are opposed to rash innovation and revolutionary changes. They 
are specially opposed to the Scheme of Confederation arranged by certain gentlemen 
at Quebec in 1864, without any authority from the people they profess to represent; 
and they are equally opposed to the measure now in contemplation, by which it is 
intended to overthrow the established institutions of these Provinces by an Act of 
Parliament prepared by a secret committee, without the sanction of the loyal People, 
whose future it is intended to bind, and whose interests and wishes it is designed, in 
a most high-handed and unconstitutional manner, to override and disregard. 
This LEAGUE is formed to protect the institutions of the Maritime Provinces 
from such rash innovation—to assert the right of the people to be consulted before 
their revenues are swept away; and a distant authority, which they can never in- 
fluence, is invested with powers of dictation and control which the Queen’s Govern- 
ment, for a quarter of a century, has not pretended to exercise. 
The undersigned pledge themselves, each to the other, to protect the Maritime 
Provinces from radical changes by all lawful means and agencies, and, with this simple 
end in view, enroll themselves as members of this LEAGUE. 
London Times, 16 Aug. 1866. 
It is understood that an arrangement has been come to between the British 
Government and the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Commissioners, with the con- 
currence of the Canadian Government and Legislature, on the details of the Con- 
federation of British North America, and of the Imperial guarantee of the sum required 
by the Inter-Colonial Railway. This guarantee has been promised successively 
by Lord Grey in 1851, by the Duke of Newcastle in his despatch of the 12th of April, 
1862; and by Mr. Cardwell, ina despatch of the 17th of June, 1865 but it was made 
dependent on the assent of the provinces to the Confederation, which Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick had until now withheld, and also on further evidence that the 
sum of 3,000,000/. originally stipulated for should suffice for the purpose. All 
the Provinces have now agreed to the Confederation, and it is said to have been con- 
ceded that a contingent fourth million shall, if found necessary, be further guaranteed. 
Canada, however, having already constructed 120 miles of railway, from Quebec to 
Trois Pistoles, and Nova Scotia 60 miles, from Halifax to Truro, there remain but 
360 miles to construct, and, at the official estimate, of 7,000/. per mile, probably the 
3,000,000/. will suffice. The Halifax and Truro line has cost under 500,000/., or 
about 8,000/. per mile. The primary guarantee is to be given by the Provincial 
Legislatures in the following proportions :—five-twelfths by Canada, three and a half 
twelfths by New Brunswick, and the same proportion by Nova Scotia. Certain 
securities are to be hypothecated in return for the supplementary Imperial guarantee, 
which is calculated to enable the colonies to borrow at about 4 per cent. The Cana- 
dian Commissioners have just arrived; but their business is now reduced to little 
more than the form of signing the convention for the Confederation and the railway 
guarantee, which Lord Carnarvon, it is understood, is remaining in town to complete. 
The nature of the country to be traversed is not such as to render the Intercolonial 
Railway, which will not be commenced immediately, a very tedious affair. It is 
Sec. I & II, Sig. 16 
