tt, Sir Francis Johnson, Sir David Macpherson, together
with such well-known citizens as the Redpaths, the Molsons, the
Torrances, and the Workmans, were among the number.

Macdonald, referring in later years to this Annexation manifesto,
observed:

Our fellows lost their heads. I was pressed to sign it, but refused
and advocated the formation of the British America League as a more
sensible procedure. From all parts of Upper Canada, and from the
British section of Lower Canada, and {28} from the British inhabitants
of Montreal, representatives were chosen. They met at Kingston for the
purpose of considering the great danger to which the constitution of
Canada was exposed. A safety-valve was found. Our first resolution
was that we were resolved to maintain inviolate the connection with the
mother country. The second proposition was that the true solution of
the difficulty lay in the confederation of all the provinces. The
third resolution was that we should attempt to form in such
confederation, or in Canada before Confederation, a commercial national
policy. The effects of the formation of the British America League
were marvellous. Under its influence the annexation sentiment
disappeared, the feeling of irritation died away, and the principles
which were laid down by the British America League in 1850 are the
lines on which the Conservative-Liberal party has moved ever since.

The carrying of the Rebellion Losses Bill was the high-water mark of
the LaFontaine-Baldwin Administration. In the following session
symptoms of disintegration began to {29} appear. Grown bold by
success, the advanced section of the Upper-Canadian Radicals pressed
for the immediate secularization of the Clergy Reserves[5] by a process
scarcely distinguishable from confiscation. To this demand the
Government was not prepared to agree, and in consequence there was much
disaffection in the Reform ranks. This had its counterpart in Lower
Canada, where Louis Joseph Papineau and his _Parti Rouge_ clamoured for
various impracticable constitutional changes, including a general
application of the elective principle, a republican form of government,
and, ultimately, annexation to the United States.

To add to the difficulties of the situation, George Brown, in the
columns of the _Globe_, which up to this time was supposed to reflect
the views of the Government, began a furious onslaught against Roman
Catholicism in general and on the