incial Cabinets to confer and to arrange a course of action. The
omens pointed to union in the near future. But, as it happened, a new
Canadian ministry, that of Sandfield Macdonald, had shortly before
assumed office, and its members were in no wise pledged to the {28}
union project. In fact, as was proved later, several of them, notably
the prime minister himself, with Dorion, Holton, and Huntington,
regarded federation with suspicion and were its consistent opponents
until the final accomplishment.

The negotiations for the joint construction of an intercolonial railway
had been proceeding for some time. These the ministry continued, but
without enthusiasm. The building of this line had been ardently
promoted for years. It was the necessary link to bind the provinces
together. To secure Imperial financial aid in one form or another
delegates had more than once gone to London. The Duke of Newcastle had
announced in April 1862 that the nature and extent of the guarantee
which Her Majesty's government would recommend to parliament depended
upon the arrangements which the provinces themselves had to propose.[4]
There was a conference in Quebec. From Nova Scotia came Howe and
Annand, who two years later fought Confederation; from New Brunswick
came Tilley and Peter Mitchell, who carried the cause to victory in
their province. Delegates from the Quebec meeting {29} went to London,
but the railway plan broke down, and the failure was due to Canada.
The episode left a bad impression in the minds of the maritime
statesmen, and during the whole of 1863 it seemed as if union were
indefinitely postponed. Yet this was the very eve of Confederation,
and forces already in motion made it inevitable.

[1] _Canada and the Canadian Question_, by Goldwin Smith, p. 143.

[2] _Life of Henry Pelham, fifth Duke of Newcastle_, by John Martineau,
p. 292.

[3] Between 1852 and 1870 there were thirteen colonial secretaries.

[4] Dispatch of the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor of
New Brunswick.

{30}

CHAPTER IV

THE HOUR AND THE MEN

The acceptance of federation in the province of Canada came about with
dramatic simplicity. Political deadlock was the occasion, rather than
the cause, of this acceptance. Racial and religious differences had
bred strife and disunion, but no principle of any substance divided the
parties. The absence of large issues had encouraged a senseless
rivalry between individu