onservatives and
the Manchester men are all delighted with it, and everything Canadian
has gone up in public estimation immensely.... Indeed, from all
classes of people you hear nothing but high praise of 'Canadian
statesmanship,' and loud anticipations of the great future before us.
I am much concerned to observe, however, and I write it to you as a
thing that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead
hereafter in Canadian public matters--that there is a manifest desire
in almost every quarter, that ere long the British American colonies
should shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that
we did not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to
observe this, but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of
Canada by the United States, and will soon pass away with the cause
that excites it."

CHAPTER XVII

THE CONFEDERATION DEBATE

The parliament of Canada assembled on January 19th, 1865, to consider
the resolutions of the Quebec conference. The first presentation of
the reasons for confederation was made in the Upper Chamber by the
premier, Sir E. P. Tache. He described the measure as essential to
British connection, to the preservation of "our institutions, our
laws, and even our remembrances of the past." If the opportunity were
allowed to pass by unimproved, Canada would be forced into the
American union by violence; or would be placed upon an inclined plane
which would carry it there insensibly. Canada, during the winter, had
no independent means of access to the sea, but was dependent on the
favour of a neighbour which, in several ways, had shown a hostile
spirit. The people of the Northern States had an exaggerated idea of
Canadian sympathy with the South, and the consequences of this
misapprehension were--first, the threatened abolition of the transit
system; second, the discontinuance of reciprocity; third, a passport
system, which was almost equivalent to a prohibition of intercourse.
Union with the Maritime Provinces would give Canada continuous and
independent access to the Atlantic; and the Maritime Provinces would
bring into the common stock their magnificent harbours, their coal
mines, their great fishing and shipping industries. Then he recounted
the difficulties that had occurred in the government of Canada, ending
in dead-lock, and a condition "bordering on civil strife." He declared
that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a