count of Howe's views on confederation see the Hon. J.
W. Longley's _Joseph Howe_ in this series.

CHAPTER VII

THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE

The delegates appointed by the government of New Brunswick for the
purpose of representing the provinces at Charlottetown in the convention
for a union of the Maritime Provinces, were the Hon. Messrs. Tilley,
Steeves, Johnson, Chandler and Gray. The first three were members of the
government, while Messrs. Gray and Chandler were leading members of the
Opposition, so that the arrangement had the assent of the leaders of
both political parties and was in no sense a party movement. The Nova
Scotia delegation consisted of the Hon. Charles Tupper, the leader of
the government, the attorney-general, Mr. Henry, and Mr. Dickey, a
Conservative supporter, and also the Hon. Adams G. Archibald and
Jonathan McCully, leaders of the Liberal party. The Prince Edward Island
delegates were also chosen from both sides of politics. The convention
was opened in due form at Charlottetown on September 8th, in the chamber
of the House of Assembly. The delegations had no power to decide finally
on any subject, because any arrangements they made were necessarily
subject to the approval of the legislatures of the three Maritime
Provinces. But at this time the sentiment in favour of maritime union
was so strong it was confidently believed that whatever was agreed upon
at Charlottetown would become the basis of a future union.

{CHARLOTTETOWN CONVENTION}

The government of Canada had full knowledge of what was going on at
Charlottetown, and they considered the time opportune for the purpose of
bringing to the notice of the delegates from the Maritime Provinces the
subject of a confederation of all the British North American colonies. A
telegram was received while the delegates were in session announcing
that representatives of the government of Canada had left Quebec for the
purpose of meeting the delegates of the Maritime Provinces, and placing
certain proposals before them. On the receipt of this message the
further consideration of the question which they had met to discuss was
deferred until after the Canadian delegates had arrived. They came in
the government steamer _Victoria_ on the following day and were found to
embrace the leading men then in Canadian political life,--the Hons. J.
A. Macdonald, George Brown, Georges E. Cartier, Alexander T. Galt,
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Hector L. Langevin, Willia