.

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CHAPTER VI

THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE

The Quebec Conference began its sessions on the 10th of October 1864.
It was now the task of the delegates to challenge and overcome the
separatist tendencies that had dominated British America since the
dismemberment of the Empire eighty years before. They were to prove
that a new nationality could be created, which should retain intact the
connection with the mother country. For an event of such historic
importance no better setting could have been chosen than the Ancient
Capital, with its striking situation and its hallowed memories of
bygone days. The delegates were practical and experienced men of
affairs, but they lacked neither poetic and imaginative sense nor
knowledge of the past; and it may well be that their labours were
inspired and their deliberations influenced by the historic
associations of the place.

The gathering was remarkable for the varied {57} talents and forceful
character of its principal members. And here it may be noted that the
constitution was not chiefly the product of legal minds. Brown,
Tilley, Galt, Tupper, and others who shared largely in the work of
construction were not lawyers. The conference represented fairly the
different interests and occupations of a young country. It is to be
recorded, too, that the conclusions reached were criticized as the
product of men in a hurry. Edward Goff Penny, editor of the Montreal
_Herald_, a keen critic, and afterwards a senator, complained that the
actual working period of the conference was limited to fourteen days.
Joseph Howe poured scorn upon Ottawa as the capital, stating that he
preferred London, the seat of empire, where there were preserved 'the
archives of a nationality not created in a fortnight.' Still more
vigorous were the protests against the secrecy of the discussions. A
number of distinguished journalists, including several English
correspondents who had come across the ocean to write about the Civil
War, were in Quebec, and they were disposed to find fault with the
precautions taken to guard against publicity. The following memorial
was presented to the delegates:

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The undersigned, representatives of English and Canadian newspapers,
find that it would be impossible for them satisfactorily to discharge
their duties if an injunction of secrecy be imposed on the conference
and stringently carried into effect. They, therefore, beg leave to
suggest whether