274 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



Duchesnay, Canadian Militia, Extra Provincial Aide- 

 de-Camp ; Lt.-Col. Hewitt Bernard, Major Civil Ser- 

 vice Rifle Volunteers, and Lt.-Col. F. W. Cumber- 

 land, late 10th Royals (Volunteers), Toronto, Extra 

 Provincial Aides-de-Camp. Privy Council (or Cabi- 

 net) for the Dominion. The Hon. Sir John Alexan- 

 der-Macdonald, K. C. B., D. C. L., Minister of Justice 

 and Attorney-General ; the Hon. George E. Cartier, 

 Q. C., Minister of Militia; the Hon. S. L. Tilley, C. B., 

 Minister of Customs ; the Hon. John Rose, Q. C., 

 Minister of Finance ; the Hon. William McDougall, 

 C. B., Minister of Public Works ; the Hon. W. P. 

 Howland, C. B., Minister of Inland Revenue; the 

 Hon. A. G. Archibald, Q. C., Secretary of State for 

 the Provinces ; the Hon. Peter Mitchell, Minister of 

 Marine and Fisheries ; the Hon. Alexander Campbell, 

 Q. C., Postmaster-General ; the Hon. J. C. Chapais, 

 Minister of Agriculture ; the Hon. Hector L. Lange- 

 vin, Secretary of State of Canada ; the Hon. Edward 

 Kenny, Receiver-General. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 



Ontario. Lieut.-Governor, Maj.-Gen. H. W. Stis- 

 ted, C. B. Executive Council : the Hon. J. S. Macdon- 

 ald, Q. C., Attorney-General ; the Hon. M. C. Came- 

 ron, Q. C., Secretary and Registrar; the Hon. E. B. 

 Wood, Treasurer ; the Hon. S. Richards, Q. C., 

 Commissioner of Crown Lands ; the Hon. John Car- 

 ling, Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works. 



Quebec. Lieut.-Governor, Sir N. F. Belleau, Kt. 

 Executive Council : the Hon. G. Ouimet, Attorney- 

 General; the Hon. P. J. 0. Chauveau, LL. D., Q. C., 

 Secretary and Registrar, and Minister of Education ; 

 the Hon. C. Dunkin, D. C. L., Q. C., Treasurer; the 

 Hon. C. B. de Boucherville, Speaker of the Legisla- 

 tive Council ; the Hon. J. 0. Beaubien, M. D., Com- 

 missioner of Crown Lands; the Hon. L. Archam- 

 bault, Commissioner of Agriculture and Public 

 Works; the Hon. George Irvine, Q. C., Solicitor- 

 General. 



Nova Scotia. Lieut.-Governor, Maj.-Gen. Charles 

 Hastings Doyle. Executive Council : the Hon. W. 

 Annand, Treasurer; the Hon. W. B. Vail, Provin- 

 cial Secretary ; the Hon. R. Robertson, Commission- 

 er of Public Works and Mines; the Hon. Martini. 

 Wilkins, Q. C., Attorney-General; the Hon. R. A. 

 McHettey, President of the Executive Council ; the 

 Hon. J. C. Troop, E. P. Flynn and John Ferguson 

 (members without department). 



New Brunswick. Lieut.-Governor, Col. Francis 

 Pym Harding, C. B., 22d Regt. Executive Council : 

 the Hon. A. R. Wetmore, Attorney-General ; the 

 Hon. C. N. Skinner, Solicitor-General ; the Hon. 

 Richard Sutton, Surveyor-General ; the Hon. J. A. 

 Beckwith, Provincial Secretary; the Hon. David 

 Wark, Receiver-General ; the Hon. J. McAdam, 

 Chief Commissioner of Public Works ; the Hon. A. 

 C. Des Brisay and B. Beveridge, Board of Works ; 

 the Hon. W. P. Flewelling (without office).* 



The year 1867 may safely be assumed to have 

 been the most important, since their discovery 

 and settlement, in the history of the British 

 North American colonies. No other year has 

 been so fruitful in great political and constitu- 

 tional results to the people of that portion of 

 the British colonial empire. "When we remem- 

 ber that 1867 witnessed the establishment of a 

 "new nationality," on our northern border, 

 composed of four millions of Queen Victoria's 

 subjects, with a system of government framed 

 on the " well-understood principles of the Brit- 

 ish Constitution," whereby British institutions 

 and interests have been consolidated together 



* We are indebted to the Canadian Parliamentary 

 Companion, by Henry J. Morgan (Ottawa, 4th ed., 1867), for 

 the above official list. 



and strongly engrafted in American soil, we 

 cannot underestimate the importance of the 

 event either to the Canadians or ourselves. 

 The event has a significance also, if we consider 

 England's American colonial policy during the 

 latter part of the last century, that this great 

 liberty in colonial self-government was grant- 

 ed freely and heartily, by the mother country, 

 at the request of the Canadian people, without 

 angry feeling on either side, without any overt 

 act on the part of the colonists to force the 

 measure, even to the extent of a single gun 

 being fired for it. The spectacle is a grand one, 

 and is well worthy of some enduring record. 

 It remains to be seen, however, how the peo- 

 ple of the New Dominion will profit by the 

 new liberty and power which has been accord- 

 ed to them; whether the change in their politi- 

 cal fortune will work for their good or evil. 



The negotiations between the provincial 

 governments and the Imperial authorities for 

 this great change prior to 1867 have been stated. 



The opening of 1867 found a colonial confer- 

 ence sitting in London, composed of delegates 

 from the governments of Canada, Nova Scotia, 

 and New Brunswick, summoned thither by the 

 Imperial Government for the purpose of finally 

 agreeing upon the details of the scheme of 

 union, as previously adopted at Quebec in 1864, 

 and of assisting the latter to prepare a measure 

 to be submitted for parliamentary enactment. 

 The conference, of which Mr. (now Sir John 

 A.) Macdonald, an old and experienced Cana- 

 dian statesman, already known to our readers, 

 was chosen chairman, was composed as follows 



Canada. Hon. John Alexander Macdonald, 

 Attorney-General of Upper Canada and Minis 

 ter of Militia of Canada, Chairman; Hon 

 George Etienne Cartier, Attorney- General of 

 Lower Canada; Hon. Alexander Tilloch Gait; 

 Hon. William McDougall, Secretary of the 

 Province of Canada; Hon. William Pearce 

 Howland, Minister of Finance; Hon. Hector L. 

 Langevin, Postmaster-General. 



Nova Scotia. Hon. Charles Tupper, M. D., 

 Secretary of the Province ; Hon. W. A. 

 Henry, Attorney-General ; Hon. J. W. Eitchie, 

 Solicitor-General; Hon. Jonathan McCully; 

 Hon. Adams G. Archibald. 



New Brunsicick. Hon. Peter Mitchell, Presi- 

 dent of Council; Hon. B. D. Wilmot; Hon. 

 Samuel L. Tilley, Secretary of the Province ; 

 Hon. Charles Fisher, Attorney-General; Hon. 

 J. M. Johnson ; Lt.-Colonel Hewitt Bernard, 

 Secretary. 



The conference continued its labors for 

 some short time after the new year, and its 

 members remained in England until the final 

 passage of the Union Act through Parliament. 

 The measure was introduced in the House of 

 Lords, by the Earl of Carnarvon, the then Sec- 

 retary of State for the Colonies, on the 7th of 

 February. On the 19th it was read a second 

 time, passed through Committee of the Whole 

 on the 22d, and was read a third time on the 

 26th of the same month. The bill was imme- 



