YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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YALE UNIVERSITY
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AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

The ensuing lectures have been long out of print. Even
at this late day I have frequent applications for copies
of them, and it is but a short time since 1 was applied to
for copies to be forwarded to the Australian Government.
As they deal with questions of permanent importance, I
have decided upon their republication. My first intention
was to recast and modernize them, but upon reflection I
have decided to reissue them in their original form — with
the exception of a few unimportant verbal alterations — and
accompanied by foot-notes shewing the marvellous progress
of our country during the years which have elapsed since
the lectures were first prepared. A careful perusal of the
text and notes will satisfy any reader that the hopes of
Canadians as to the future of the Dominion rest on a solid
and substantial basis. It will be seen that much of what I
anticipated twenty years ago has come to pass. And the end
is not yet. Canada to-day enjoys her full share of partici
pation in the advancement which is so striking a feature of
the present age, and I doubt not that she will in the future
continue to be what I regarded her in the comparatively
remote past — "one of the brightest jewels in the British
Crown." I have added a number of speeches and addresses deliv
ered at various times in the course of my public career. The

IV AUTHOR S PREFACE.
notes and running comments distributed here and there
throughout the volume sufiiciently explain the circumstances
to which they relate. " Nova Britannia," the title of Lec
ture I., has been retained throughout, as equally applicable
to the entire volume, and also as characteristic of the posi
tion of a country which, as an allied nation, will, I doubt
not, become a very important factor in the working out of
the future of our ancestral Island Home and its colonial
" Greater Britain."
ALEXANDER MORRIS.
Toronto, January, 1884.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

The purpose intended to be served by the republication of
the lectures, speeches and addresses which go to make up the
present volume are sufficiently indicated in the Author's
Preface. The editor's share in the reproduction has been
comparatively slight. So far as the two lectures are con
cerned, his task has been almost entirely restricted to supply
ing a succession of footnotes, some of which are explanatory
of certain passages in the text, while others bring down the
history and statistics to recent times. With respect to the
speeches and addresses, it has not been deemed advisable to
incumber them with prolific notes, as, from their nature, and
from the variety of subjects dealt with, a more obvious me
thod of elucidation suggested itself. Wherever it seemed
that a "note would answer the purpose — that of making the
facts clear and intelligible to readers of the present day, or
of showing by statistics the great advance made by the
country in the interval which has elapsed — that mode has
been adopted ; but where something more than mere anno
tation appeared to be called for, a running commentary,
explanatory of the attendant circumstances, has been inter
woven with the text. It is believed that no matter of
importance has been left to conjecture, and that no intell
igent reader, with the combined aid of notes and commen
tary, will encounter any difficulty in grasping the full
significance of the argument.

vi editor's introduction.
That argument, the editor may be permitted to say, is con
sistent and harmonious throughout. In its inception, it re
cognizes the instability of the then-existing legislative union
between Upper and Lower Canada, and confidently looks for
ward to a general Confederation of all the British North
American Provinces into a Dominion stretching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific* In steadily tracing the progress of
our country during the last quarter of a century, one cannot
help being struck with the literal nature of the fulfilment of
the lecturer's forecasts, not only in their principal features,
but even as to minute matters of detail, t It is not, of course,
pretended that the author of Nova Britannia was the first or
only writer who indulged in such speculations as these ; but
he at least seems to have been the only young Canadian who
had an abiding faith in the speedy fulfilment of his predic-
tipns, and who contributed to their fulfilment by keeping the
subject constantly before the public eye. As mentioned in
the body of this work, the project of a General Canadian Con
federation was the dream of his boyhood. At an age when
most boys are to be found at the skating-rink or in the cricket
field, he loved to bury himself in the pages of Lord Durham's
"Report," or in some of the many works treating of that won
derful, far-away region then nominally known as the Hud
son's Bay Company's Territories. When he grew old enough
to take part in public aflfairs, he identified himself with every
movement which seemed to hold out any prospect of realiz
ing the hopes begotten of his careful reading and his ardent
patriotism. In the summer of 1849, when he was only
twenty-three years of age, we find him busily engaged in stir-
* See pp. 43, 44, 88.
t See, for instance, pp. 43-46, 57, 74, 76-78, 87-90, 96.

EDITORS INTRODUCTION. Vll
ring up the question at the meeting of the British American
League, held at Kingston. And here, for the first time in
our history, the project of Confederation was taken up as a
practical measure by any considerable number of the adher
ents of a political body. The members of the League were
for the most part young and enthusiastic members of the
Conservative party ; but they belonged to the advanced wing
of it — the wing which was already beginning to see the ex
pediency of repudiating the efiete doctrines of Sir Allan Mac-
Nab, and of rallying round the banner of Mr. John A.
Macdonald. Well, the League did not long hold together,
and therefore failed to achieve any direct result, but there
oan be no doubt that the discussions of that body, published
in the newspapers of the day, and afterwards re-issued in
pamphlet form, did something to educate the public mind.
Soon after this time Mr. Morris took up his permanent abode
in Montreal, where, on presenting his credentials as an Upper
Canadian barrister, he was called to the bar of Lower Can
ada, and entered upon a successful commercial practice. He
nevertheless found time to write much and often on his
favourite topics of the acquisition of the North- West and a
Confederation of British North America. He from time to
time contributed articles and letters on these subjects to the
newspaper press of Montreal. His views became widely
known, and some of his friends occasionally bantered him on
his enthusiasm, alleging that he had Confederation and Hud
son's Bay Territories on the brain. He laughed as heartily
as his friends, but did not the less cease to agitate on his
favourite subjects whenever an opportunity of doing so pre
sented itself. In 1855 appeared his well-known essay on
" Canada aad Her Resources," to which was awarded the

viu EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
second prize ofiered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of
Canada. In 1858 he delivered his lecture on " Nova Bri
tannia," before the Mercantile Library Association of Mon
treal.* Its reception was such, as to render its publication
in pamphlet form almost a matter of necessity. Upon its
appearance it was eagerly bought up, insomuch that a
large edition was sold within the short, space of ten days.
A contemporary notice referred to " Nova Britannia "
and its author in the following terms : — "Mr. Morris is at
once statistical, patriotic, and prophetic. The lecturer sees
in the future a fusion of races, a union of all the existing
provinces to grow up in the west, and a railway to the Pacific.
The design of the lecture is excellent, and its facts seem to
have been carefully collected." From that time to this the
pamphlet has been more or less in demand, and as it has long
been practically unobtainable, the author has included it in
the present collection. The second lecture, on the " Hud
son's Bay and Pacific Territories, t" followed in 1859, and was
received with almost as much favour as the former one. This,
also, was published in pamphlet form, and, like its predeces
sor, has been long out of print. The two lectures- contain an
amount of valuable information which, even at the present
day, when so many additional sources of knowledge on the
subjects treated of are open to us, is not often found com
pressed into an equally restricted space.
In 1862 Mr. Morris for the first time took his seat in Par
liament, and we find that in his very first Parliamentary ut
terance he gives forcible expression to the idea which pos-
* See p. 3, note.
tSee p. 52.

EDITORS INTRODUCTION. IX
sessed him.* The same conviction finds expression in all his
subsequent utterances, untU his cherished scheme of union
was actually accomplished. The important part played by
him in the negotiations leading to the Coalition which ren
dered such a, union possible, are stated in the body of this
work.t Confederation having become a reality, we find him
turning his attention to the other project so often mooted by
him — the acquisition of the North-West Territories. A news
paper report of his speech on the resolutions introduced by
Mr. McDougall to efiect that purpose is given in this volume,
and though it is doubtless considerably abridged, it forcibly
conveys the arguments which had long before been outlined
at greater length in the lectures delivered at Montreal,
It was eminently fitting that one who had so long and so
carefully studied the subject, and who had played so conspicu
ous a part in the acquisition of the Territories by the Domin
ion, should be entrusted with the task of establishing law and
order there. As first Chief Justice of Manitoba Mr. Morris
was compelled to encounter many difficulties, which were
only overcome by patient tact and the exerpise of calm good
sense. When he succeeded Mr. Archibald as Lieutenant-
Governor of Manitoba and the North- West Territories, in
December, 1872, he had barely completed his self-allotted
task of establishing English rules and precedents for the
guidance of the Courts of Law. The country was just recover
ing from the effects of Riel's rebellion. Creeds and national
ities were pitted against each other, and there was constant
danger of collision. There was moreover a large element
of the people among whom there was little respect for the
* See pp. 94-97.
+ See pp. 98-100.

X EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
law. So great has been the transition that it seems scarcely
conceivable that such a state of things existed in Manitoba
so recently as eleven years ago.
One of the most distinguishing of Mr. Morris's qualifica
tions during his residence in the North-West was the tact
which enabled him to mollify and reconcile contending fac
tions ; and this without abating one jot or tittle of the par
amount claims which he specially represented. He possessed
the faculty of entertaining hostile deputations, and of con
verting their hostility into good humour with him and with
each other, without yielding an iota where it was his duty to
stand firm. A signal instance of his firmness may be found
recorded in an old number of the Standard, a newspaper
formerly published at Winnipeg ; and as the incident is of
some historical significance it may as well be reproduced
here. The Canadian reader may be assumed to be familiar with
the leading incidents attendant upon the insurrection at Red
River, and the claim to an amnesty set up on behalf of Louis
Riel. A Royal Proclamation of amnesty to the insurgents
for all past offences had been issued at Ottawa. Subsequent
to this event the tragic and brutal murder of Thomas Scott
took place, which of course gave an entirely different com
plexion to the situation. Such was the aspect of affairs at
Red River when the Province of Manitoba came into exist
ence. Riel, who was personally responsible for " the dark
crime of the rebellion," remained in the Province, and he
and his friends continued to clamour for an amnesty. On
the evening of Monday, the 9th of December, 1872, subse
quent to Mr. Morris's appointment as Lieutenant Governor,
but before the actual arrival of his commission, he was

EDITORS INTRODUCTION. Xl
waited upon by an infiuential deputation of Half-Breeds.
Their spokesman was Mr. L. Schmidt, M. P. P. (formerly
Secretary to Riel's " Provisional Government "), who felici
tated his Honour on his appointment as Lieutenant-Gover
nor, and then proceeded to inquire whether certain promises
made with respect to the Half-Breed lands would be car
ried out. He added that there was another matter which
the deputation had much" at heart; viz., that none of those
who had participated in past events should be troubled in
any way ; and he finally inquired whether the latter would
be protected.
Mr. Morris replied in French. He thanked them for their
good wishes, and said that everything in the Manitoba Act
would be carried out ; adding that he had received a tele
gram from Ottawa intimating that the lands would be given
to the M6tis. He also gave information to the deputation on
the Hay and Common Rights, and the issue of Patents to the
lands. As to the second question, he informed them that he
had no authority from Ottawa on the subject of an amnesty,
and he could only explain the law as it stood. He cited the
Queen's Proclamation issued by the Governor-General, Sir
John Young, urging all subjects to return to their peaceful
occupations, and submit to her authority, when the past
would be overlooked. He proceeded to add, however, that
as that Proclamation had been issued before the death of
Scott, the law still ruled as to that event. By the law then
in force, no one had a right to order to be put to death, or to
put to death, another, as had been done in that case. The
parties concerned in the affair were liable to be tried before
a judge and jury, and should they be found guilty the matter
would rest with the Governor-General at Ottawa as to the

xii EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
carrying out of the sentence. Until a trial took place, the
Queen alone had power to grant an amnesty, as the country
was under Imperial rule at the time of the occurrence. " I
have spoken," said Mr. Morris, " as a Judge and Admin
istrator, and believing it to be my duty to explain exactly
how the law stands."
Mr. Schmidt here asked if an amnesty had 'not been pro
mised. Mr. Morris replied that he had no knowledge of any pro
mise except the Queen's Proclamation. He said the deputa
tion had called on him prematurely. He had not yet assumed
the office of Lieutenant-Governor, and had not received his
commission, but was still acting as Chief Justice and Admin
istrator. He urged upon the deputation the necessity of all
the people labouring for the advancement of the common
country, and for the establishment of peace and harmony in
the future.
The deputation retired, Mr. Schmidt having again thanked
his Excellency for the interview.
Mr. Morris served his full term of five years as Lieu
tenant-Governor, and when he bade adieu to the Province
he had the satisfaction of leaving behind him an orderly
and law-abiding community. He found the country, as we
have said, just emerging from an insurrection. He left it
as loyal and progressive as any other Province of the Do
minion. With his career subsequent to his departure from
Manitoba the present work has no concern. Any one who
reads this little volume attentively will perforce be led to
the conclusion that if his life had ended there and then, it
would not have been lived in vain.

PART I.
TWO LECTURES,

L Nova Britannia ; or the Consolidation of the
British North American Provinces into the
Dominion of Canada Foreshadowed.
II. The Hudson's Bat and Pacific Territories.

l^ccturc' I.

NOYA BRITANNIA; OR,
THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN
provinces INTO THE DOMINION OF CANADA.*

In acceding to the kind invitation of this Society to
lecture before them, I have preferred to select for consider
ation a subject of practical interest. It is impossible, within
the brief limits of a fleeting hour, to do justice to so large
and comprehensive a subject; but my purpose will have
been attained if, by the instrumentality of this lecture, any
one is led to make the matter treated of the subject of after
reflection and inquiry. In fact, in this I believe the chief
merit of the modern lecture to consist : that through it
some topic of importance is treated in a popular style, and
* The following lecture was read before the Mercantile Library Association of
Montreal, as part of its special course, on the 18th of March, 1858. At the conclu
sion of the readings, the Honourable Peter McGill rose, and, addressing; the Presi
dent, stated that he had listened with much satisfaction to the lecture which had
just been deUvered, He believed its wide circulation would be productive of much
good, and he was sure he uttered the sentiments of every person present when he
desired its publication. He would, therefore, move
"That Mr. Morris be requested to publish the lecture in pamphlet form, under
the auspices of the Mercantile Library Association."
The motion was seconded by Mr. James Mitchell, and adopted by acclamation.
The- President, Mr. T. S, Brown, then stated that the Association would be
proud to secure for the lecture wide pul)licity.
On the suggestion of Mr. W. Edmons'tone, three cheers were given for the
Queen, and the meeting closed.

4 nova BRITANNIA.
presented to the consideration of a general audience, in
some of whom the spirit of inquiry may be enkindled ; and
that thus they may be led onward and upward in the pur
suit of knowledge, and in the acquisition of general infor
mation. Impressed, then, with this belief, I invite your attention
for a brief space to a consideration of the present condition
of the British North American colonies. Ere I close, I
shall indulge in what some may deem the fanciful dream of
an enthusiast, with regard to the future destiny of that im
mense tract of country which extends from the Atlantic to,
in fact, the Pacific coast, and which is now beginning to
assume — nay, which is already making rapid strides towards
assuming — that position in the estimation of the European
and American world to which its vast extent and immense
resources entitle it. I believe that few among us are by
any means so familiar as we ought to be with the extent,
capabilities, and actual position of the Lower Pi evinces,
and of the dependencies of Newfoundland and Prince
Edward Island. Their geographical position, their actual
relations towards us, and the probability of their future
closer alliance with Canada, give importance to such con
siderations, and justify ine, a British American by birth, in
to-night, before this colonial audience, dealing with ques
tions deeply affecting the future of a great colonial empire.
Providence has cast our lot in a land destined to be a great
one. It cannot be time mis-spent to consider its present,
to speculate as to its future, or even to imitate the example
of our good cousins across the lines, and boast a little of
our country, our progress, and our rapid advance in all that
constitutes the real greatness of a nation.

LECTURE I. O
The subject is indeed an inviting one, thus to trace from
infancy the rise and progress of what are now thickly popu
lated Provinces ; and many suggestive thoughts crowd upon
the mind as it dwells upon the contemplation. Time will
not permit my entering upon many of these ; but I cannot
refrain from a passing allusion to the proud position which
Britain holds in regard to her colonial empire. Strange, is
it not, how the mixed population of that, according to our
cis-Atlantic ideas, little country, should have so dissemi
nated themselves and built up great cjlonies — New Bri-
tains in all parts of the habitable globe. The triple cord
which binds together the English, Irish, and Scotch into
one great people, who yet preserve to a considerable
extent their national characteristics in support of the
British Constitution and of civil anJ religious liberty
has given to Britain her immense power and her proud
position. Swarms of her dense population have been
, drafted into the Old World and the New. Millions of
people acknowledge her sway. Australia and British
America, deriving from Britain their religions, their litera
ture, their language, and their national characteristics, rival
each other in the magnitude of their resources and in the
rapidity of their development ; and the impress of the
British mind is stamped upon and reproduced, in what are
in the lapse of time destined eventually to be great kindred
nations, bound together by the ties of origin and by paren
tal and filial affection. India, too, that great country to
wards which our sympathies are now so warmly turned —
that vast battle-field on which is even now going on the
stern contest between light, civilization and liberty, on the

6 nova BRITANNIA.
one hand, and the fierce fanaticism and blind hate of the
proud Mussulman and the cringing but subtle and cruel
Hindoo on the other — will still more and more be moulded
by the influence of British energy and enlightenment, and
will yet add a brilliant ornament to the crown which graces
the temples of the Queen of Hindostan.* Aye, and on
this continent a young but vigorous nation owes her origin
to and derives her national features from Old Britain, and,
though to some extent temporarily alienated from the
Parent State, and obscured by internal discords and the
dark blot of slavery,t will yet, I doubt not, in the evolu
tion of the world's history and the wondrous passing
changes of events, be found, with India, Australia and
British America, combining with Britain in the defence of
great constitutional principles, and in the maintenance of
the world's liberty.
But I must revert from this passing allusion to the great
ness of that Colonial Empire of which we form a part, and
which is rising up to national importance under the shade
of the British flag, to the consideration of the British North
*The visit of the Prince of Wales to India, and the conferring onHerMajesty the
Queen of England of the title of "Empress of India," are evidences of the high
estimate placed by the British people on the possession of that country.
t As the reader is aware, s averj' no longer exists in the United States, having
been abolished during the great rebellion of 1861-'65, By ao Act of Congress passed
13th March, 1862, the employment o[ military force for the return of fugitive slaves
was forbidden ; and on the 16th July in the s£lme year an Act was passed authorizing
the confiscation of the property of rebels, including slaves. On 1st January, 1863,
President Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation appeared, and the work of
mancipation was completed by the adoption, in 1865, of Article XIII. of the
Ameudments to the Constitution, which declares that " Neither slavery nor invol
untary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
*lieir Jurisdiction."

LECTURE I. 7
American Colonial Empire. And in dealing with the ques
tion it shall be my aim to treat the subject popularly,
avoiding statistics except when they may be absolutely re-
_quired in illustration or explanation. I shall successively
pass in brief review the Province of Nova Scotia and Cape
Breton, the Labrador coast, and the Islands of Newfound
land and Prince Edward. New Brunswick will next claim
notice ; and passing on, the neglected Island of Anticosti
— as large, it may be observed, as Prince Edward Island —
and our own Canada, will be considered. I shall then,
pointing merely to the great undeveloped North-West and
Pacific regions, including the Red River country, the Saskat
chewan and Peace River Territories, British Columbia and
Vancouver Island, leave my readers to form their own im
pressions of the correctness of those hopes as to our future
which colonists, whose all and whose destiny are here, are
fain to cherish, as in the pride of their hearts they exclaim,
" This is my own, my native land ! "
The early history of Nova Scotia, from its discovery to
its final cession to the British by the Treaty of Versailles,
is a chequered and eventful one ; but our time will not per
mit our tracing in detail the stirring annals of Acadia. The
early history of those discoveries which led to the settle
ment of British America may however be glanced at.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
To arrive at a tolerably correct outline of the result of
those eventful explorations, it will be well to consider that
since Southern Oregon and Upper California have been

8 NOVA BRITANNIA.
absorbed into the United States, the continent of North
America may be divided into four great sections, viz. :
The Russian Territory on the north-west,*
The British Dominions on the north.
The United States in the centre.
And on the south, Mexico and Central America, uniting
with South America. The most remarkable features of
both North and South America are rivers and mountains,
the former for their size and number, the latter for their
size and position, running in an unbroken chain from the
northern to the southern extremity, having on the east side
an immense breadth of country open to the rivers — four of
which, the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Amazon, and
the La Plata, are among the largest in the world — and but
a narrow strip to the west, wider in the northern than in
the southern continent.
Such is the vast expanse developed by the flood-tide of dis
covery which, towards the end of the fifteenth century, bore
Columbus to the New World. In October, 1492, Columbus
discovered one of the Bahama Islands, and afterwards the
continent itself. The success of the Spanish stimulated the
enterprise of the British, and in May, 1497, in the reign of
Henry VII., John Cabot and his son Sebastian.sailed from
Bristol, in the hope of finding a western passage to India.t
While pursuing a westerly course, in the hope of reaching
* Now Alaska, purchased from Russia by the United States, in 1867, for $7,
200,000. t So say the histories, which are all, directly or indirectly, founded upon the ac
count in Hatluyt. Recent researches seem to render it doubtful whether John
Cabot formed one of the expedition, though the weight of testimony is in favour
of his having done S3. See, on this subject, Biddle's Memoir of Sehaatian Cabot;
Londo 31.

LECTURE I. 9
the China seas', > thoy saw land on the 24th of June. This
they called Prima Vista, and it is believed to have been a
part of either Labrador, Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland. As
Galvanus says that this land was in latitude 45°, it is ex
tremely probable that the expedition, in coasting, had entered
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. During this part of their voyage
they discovered an island which they called St. John, now
Prince Edward Island. They then steered south to Florida.
England therefore claimed America by discovery and pos
session. The French next visited the continent, and vari
ous expeditions coasted along the shores from Newfound
land to Florida. In 1534 Jacques Cartier landed at Bay
Chaleurs, and took possession in the name of the King of
France. In 1579 an attempt was made by the British,
under a charter from Queen Elizabeth, to colonize the Wes
tern World. The French followed them in 1598, under De
La Roche ; but the early attempts were very calamitous,
and the hold obtained upon the country was slight. In
1621 James I. granted all the country now comprised in
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, together with Newfound
land, to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling ;
and in 1628 Charles I. added another grant, including
Canada and ihe chief part of the United States. An Order of
Baronets was created, each of whom was to receive 16,000
acres of land, and was to take seizin on the Castle Hill of
Edinburgh — Nova Scotia being included in the county of
that name. In 1629 Britain took possession of Cape Bre
ton, :ind held all this part of America ; but attaching little
importance to it, Charles I., by the Treaty of St. Germains,
in 1632, resigned to Louis- XIII. his right to New France.

10 nova BRITANNIA.
The progress of settlement went on. Cromwell reconquered
Nova Scotia, for the third time, in 1654 ; but in 1667
Charles II. relinquished Acadia to France. In 1710 New
England conquered Nova Scotia, at an expense of £23,000,
by an expedition which sailed from Boston. By the Treaty
of Utrecht, in 1713, all Acadia or Nova Scotia was ceded to
Great Britain, and it has ever since remained a portion of
the British Empire. New Brunswick was then included
within its limits. In 1745 Cape Breton was conquered by
the Provincial troops. It was restored to France in 1749,
but it again, in 1758, became the property of Britain. The
settlement proper of Nova Scotia may be said to have com
menced in 1759. The subjugation of Prince Edward Island
took place in 1761. I pass by, as more familiar to my
hearers, the early history, colonization, and settlement of
Canada; merely remarking that in 1763, by the Treaty of
Versailles, France resigned all her claims in North America
to Britain.
Such, then, is a compressed outline of the leading events
in the earlier history of this portion of British North Ame
rica ; and it is now time to glance at the position of Nova
Scotia and the other Provinces, which were once so under
valued that on Champlain's return to France he found the
minds of people divided with regard even to Canada, some
thinking it not worth possessing. NOVA SCOTIA.
The Province of Nova Scotia now includes Cape Breton,
from which it is severed by the Straits of Canso. Nova

LECTURE I. 11
Scotia proper, says Andrews,* is a long peninsula, nearly
wedge-shaped, connected at its eastern and broadest ex
tremity with the continent of America by an isthmus only
fifteen miles wide. This narrow slip of land separates the
waters of the Bay of Fundy from those of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The peninsula, 280 miles in lengthy fronts the
Atlantic Ocean.
The island of Cape Breton is a singularly formed net
work of streams and lakes, and it is separated into two parts,
with the exception of an isthmus but 767 yards wide, by the
Bras d'Or Lake, an arm of the sea. The most remarkable
feature in the peninsula of Nova Scotia is the numerous in
dentations along its coasts. A vast and uninterrupted body
of water, impelled by the trade wind from the coast of Africa
to the American continent, forms a current along the coast
till it strikes the Nova Scotian shore with great force, and
its tremendous tides of sixy or seventy feet in height roll
up the Bay of Fundy, which bounds Nova Scotia on the
north-west. The harbours of Nova Scotia on its Atlantic
coast are unparalleled in the world. Between Halifax and
Cape Canso there are twelve ports capable of receiving ships
of the line, and fourteen others of sufficient depth for mer
chantmen. The peninsula of Nova Scotia is supposed to
contain 9,534,196 acres, and including Cape Breton, 12,-
000,000. The country is undulating, and abounds with
lakes. It is possessed of valuable mineral wealth, includ
ing large fields of coal. In 1849, 208,000 chaldrons were
* See his Report on the. Trade 'and Commercs of the British North Ameriean
Provinces, Washington, 1861.

12 nova BRITANNIA.
Shipped to the States.* The other minerals which are turned
to economic uses are iron, manganese, gypsum, etc.f
The western and milder section of Nova Scotia is distin
guished for its productiveness in fruits. Wheat grows well
in the eastern and in the central parts. In 1851, 297,157
bushels were raised,* of which 186,497 were grown in Syd
ney, Pictou, Colchester and Cumberland, a fact which shows
the superiority of that section of the Province for the growth
of wheat — a peculiarity which extends along the whole north
eastern shore of New Brunswick to the boundary of Canada.
Oats, hay, pease, beans, potatoes, turnips, etc., are raised in
large quantities, and butter and cheese are among the most
important commodities of domestic manufacture. The cha
racter of Nova Scotia for farm stock is good. My hearers
may be surprised to learn that the Province exceeds four
teen wheat-growing States and Territories of the American
Union in the growth of wheat and barley ; and all the States
and Territories in oats, buckwheat, potatoes, hay and butter.
The trade of Nova Scotia is large. In 1850 its imports were
five millions of dollars, and its exports three millions. § In
• Of late years the export trade in coal from Nova Scotia to the United States has
not been large, owing to the imposition there of an import duty of 75c. p-^r ton; bub
the totil sale of coal in the Province during 1832 reached a grand total of 1,250,179
tons. The total production during the year was 1,365,811 tDus. During the pre
ceding year the sales were 1,035,014 tons. The dema'id is rapidly increasing, and
the trade must ere long assume immense proportions.
t Gold is also found in Nova Scotia, and according to the census the yield from the
gold mines of that Province during 1832 was 15,167.ounces,
t Mark the advancement in twenty nine years. In 1880 — the latest year for which
we have complete returns—the yield of spring wheat alone in Nova Scotia was 622,-
632 buihels. The winter wheat crop was 6,649 bushels, making a total of 629,251
bushels. § By reference to the Trade and Navigation returns for the fiscal year ending 30th
June, 1S82, it will be seen that the imports of the Province of Nova Scotia for the

LECTURE I. 13
its general and fishing trade it employs a large marine, which
must prove a fruitful nursery for seamen. In 1851 there
were 3,228 vessels entered inwards, and 3,265 outwards.* In
1851 the Province had a fishing fleet of 812 vessels, manned
by 3,681 men, and the number of boats engaged was 5,161. t
The total value of its fisheries for 1851 exceeded a million
of dollars J The population of the Province was, according
to the last census, 276,117 souls.§ There were, in 1851, 1,096
schools and 31,354 scholars.|| Nova Scotia has reclaimed by
dykes many thousands of acres of land. Cape Breton, too,
has a large trade, produces large quantities of fish, and there
is mined besides a considerable amount of coal.
NEWEOUNDLAND.IT
lies on the north-east side of the entrance to the St. Law
rence, and is separated from Canada by the Gulf. Its south
west point approaches Cape Breton within about forty-six
preceding twelve months were of the following values : On dutiable goods, $6,889,-
608; on free goods, $1,812,081. Total imports for the year, $8,701,589. The total
exports for the same period were of the value of $9,217,295.
* The number of vessels entered inwards between 30th June, 1881, and 30th June,
1882, was 5,.361 ; outwards, 4,930.
t Late returns show the number of Nova Scotian vessels, boats and men en
gaged in the fishing trade as follows : vessels, 755 ; boats, 13,214 ; men, inclusive of
shoremen as well as those employed in boats and vessels, 26,927.
X The present value is fully proportionate to the number of vessels, boats and
men employed, as indicated in the preceding note.
§ The population in 1881 was 440,572. '
II The number of schools in progress during the winter term ending 30th April,
1882, was 1,820. During the following summer the number increased to 1,910.
Number of pupils during the winter term, 76,888 ; during the summer term, 81,196.
Total number of different pupils throughout the year, 95,912. ,
H Newfoundland has not yet entered the Dominion. She sent two representa
tives to the Quebec Conference in 1864, butior some time afterwards was apathetie
to the Confederation scheme. In 1869 both branches of the Local Legislature
passed resolutions in favour of entering the Union, and soon afterwards delegates

14 nova BRITANNIA.
miles. The Straits of Belle Isle to the north and north
west separate it from the shores of Labrador, and the
Atlantic washes it on the east. It is triangular in form,
broken by bays, creeks, and estuaries. Its circuit is 1000
miles. Its breadth at the widest is 300 miles, its extreme
length 419. From the sea it has a wild, sterile appearance.
It is rugged in character, hills and valleys succeeding each
other. It comprises woods, marshes and barrens ; the
woods clothing the sides and summits of the hills, and the
valleys and low lands. The trees are pine, spruce, fir,
larch, and birch. Recently in the survey of the Atlantic
Telegraph, pine of most excellent quality was found in the
interior of the island. The marshes are not necessarily low
or level land, but are often undulated and elevated a con
siderable height above the sea. They are open tracts
covered with moss. The barrens are exposed elevated
tracts, covered with scanty vegetation. The most remark
able general feature of the country is the great abundance
of lakes, which are found even on the tops of the hills. In .
fact, it is estimated that one third of the surface of the
whole island is covered with fresh water. The area is
23,040,000 acres.* Fishing has employed the population
proceeded to Ottawa to arrange terms. "The negotiations give rise to little difii-
culty, but at the ensuing elections the people of the colony declared against the
project, which to this day remains in abeyance." See The Last Forty Years, Vol.
II., page 489. As Newfoundland therefore forms no part of the Dominion, it has
not been deemed necessary to bring down the statistics to the present time.
* The geological survey of Newfoundland has disclosed a good many important
and unanticipated facts with respect to the character of the land in the interior,
much of which is represented as being prairie, and admirably suited to the purposes
of agriculture. Ihe fisheries, however, have hitherto engrossed public attencion,
to the practical exclusion of agricultural pursuits. The construction of the New
foundland Railway, from St. John's to Harbour Grace, marks an epoch in the history

LECTURE I. 15
chiefly, and not over 200,000 acres are under cultivation.
The climate too is variable, its vicissitudes being great.
Spring comes on more slowly than in Canada. Summer is
shorter, and the winter is made up of a series of storms,
winds, rain and snow. The last rarely remains long on the
ground, and the frost is never so intense as in Western
Canada. This arises no doubt from its insular position.
The population in 1852 was 125,000, of whom 30,000 were
directly engaged in the fisheries.'" In 1845, 9,900 boats
were engaged in the fisheries. The annual value of the
produce of the colony has been estimated at $6,000,000,
and the value of ,the property engaged in the fisheries at
$2,500,000. The exports in 1851 were $4,801,000, em
ploying 1013 vessels. The imports were $4,455,180.
Newfoundland exported- in that year to Spain, Portugal,
Italy, and the Brazils, to the extent of $1,500,000. The
fisheries carried on are cod, the great staple, and the
herring, mackerel, salmon, whale, and seal fisheries.
The principal town of Newfoundland is St. John's. It is
alleged that a fast steamer could cross from thence to Gal-
way in five days. It is distant from Ireland but 1665 miles.
Its geographical position is very important, and its fisheries
are a source of inexhaustible wealth. It carries on a large
foreign trade, including an extensive one with the West
Indies.
of the island. Of this railway, forty-five miles had been constructed some months
ago, aud trains were regularly running from St. John's to Holyrood. The remaining
twenty miles were graded, and at the present time that portion of the road is either
completed, or in course of immediate completion. A perfect network of railways
is also projected to traverse the Island from point to point, though it is doubtful
whether they will be proceeded with for some time to come,
* In 1874 the population was 161,436, and at present ia believed to be not far short
of 200,000. Other statistics have increased fully in proportion to the population.

16 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Of the Labrador coast little is known. It was at one time
included in. Canada, but was re-annexed to Newfoundland in
1808.* It has a sea-coast of over 100 miles, and is fre
quented during summer by 20,000 persons. This vast
country, equal in extent to France, Spain, and Germany,
has a resident population of 9000 souls, including the Es
quimaux and the Moravians. The climate is very severe,but
the sea on its shores teems with wealth. Seals and salmon are
plentiful, and the furs of the former are very valuable. The
exports are cod, herring, salmon, sealskins, cod and seal oil,
furs and feathers. Andrews, from the best data at his com
mand, states that the exports from this coast are of the
annual value of $2,784,000 ; but they are by some estimated
as high as $4,000,000. Its imports are $600,000 per an
num, t PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. J
I now glance at Prince Edward Island, which is situated
in a deep recess on the western side of the Gulf of St. Law
rence. It is separated from New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia by the Straits of Northumberland, which at the nar
rowest are only nine miles wide. The island is crescent-
shaped, 130 miles in length, and at its greatest breadth thirty-
* Speaking generally, Labrador now form5 part of the Dominion, but a portion
of the coast is for certain purposes stil! subject to the government of Newfoundland.
The portion so subject is thus defined in the Letters Patent granted 28th March,
1876 : *'A11 the coast of Labrador from the entrance to the Hudson's Straits to a
line to be drawn due north and south from Anse Sablon on the said coast to the
fifty-second decree of north latitude, and all the islands adjacent to that part of
the said coast of Labrador." The rest is incorporated in the Province of Quebec.
t For reasons stated in the last note, the statistics of Labrador are now included
n those of~ Quebec and Newfoundland.
X Prince Edward Island entered the Dominion July 1st, 1873.

LECTURE 1. 17
four miles. The east point is twenty-seven miles from Cape
Breton, and 125 from Cape Eay, Newfoundland. It
is a level country, well adapted for agricultural purposes.
Wheat, oats and barley are the staple products. Its area is
2134 square miles. In 1848 the population was 62,678.*
The climate is neither so cold in winter nor so hot in sum
mer as in Lower Canada. One drawback to the progress of
the island has been the holding of the land by non-resident
landlords. f From the productiveness and other advantages
of the soil, it might, says Monro, J easily sustain 1,000,000
persons. There are 231 schools in the island, supported by
a tax on real estate, and attended by 9,922 pupils. § The
exports in 1854 were $596,608.|| In 1851, 621 ships were
entered inwards, and 621 outwards.^ The island is believed
to have been discovered by Cabot in 1497.** In 1761 it
became permanently a territory of Great Britain,
NEW BRUNSWICK.
I now turn to New Brunswick, which was erected into a
Province distinct from Nova Scotia in 1784. Its length is
* The population iu 1381 was 108,891.
t This serious drawback has been removed. When Prince Edward Island entered
Confederation, in 1873, an annual sum was allowed by the Dominion for the extinc
tion of the claims of landed proprietors under old grants. Two years later Com
missioners were appointed to ascertain the value of the estates, the sale whereof
was rendered compulsory.
t History, Geography, and Productions of Nova Scotia, New- Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island. Halifax, 1855.
§ In 1882 the number of schools was 487, and the number of pupils 21,269.
II The exports for the year ending 30th June, 1882, were $1,887,146. The imports
for the same period were $737,321.
If During the year ending 30th June, 1882, the total number of vessels entered
inwards was 224 : outwards, 366.
*• See Ante, p. 8, note.
2

18 NOVA BRITANNIA.
190 miles, its breadth 150. It lies nearly in the form of a
rectangle, and is bounded on the south-east by the Bay of
Fundy and Nova Scotia, on the west by Maine, on the
north-west by Canada and the Bay of Chaleurs, on the east
by Northumberland Straits and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
It contains 32,000 square miles, or 22,000,000 acres, and
a jiopulation of 210,000 inhabitants.* It has a sea-coast of
400 miles, with many harbours. Its staple trades are ship
building, the fisheries, and the timber trade. Its great
agricultural capabilities are only now beginning to be
known. The Commissioners appointed by the Imperial
Government to survey the line for the proposed railwayt
from Halifax to Quebec thus speak of New Brunswick in
their report, and their testimony is a weighty one :
" Of the climate, soil, and oapabiUtiea pf New Brunswick it is impos
sible to speak too highly. There is not a country in the world so beau
tifully wooded and watered. An inspection of the map will show that
there is scarcely a section of it without its streams, from the running
brook up to the navigable river. Two thirds of its boundary are washed
by the sea ; the remainder is embraced by the large rivers the St. John
and the Eestigouche. The beauty and richness of scenery of this latter
river and its branches are rarely surpassed by anything on this con
tinent. " The lakes of New Brunswick are numerous and most beautiful ; its
surface is undulating, hill and dale varying up to mountain and valley.
It is everywhere, except on a few peaks of the highest mountains, covered
with dense forests of the finest growth.
" The country can everywhere be penetrated by its streams. In some
parts of the interior, a canoe, by a portage of three or four miles only,
can iloat away either to the Bay of Chaleurs or the Gulf of St. Law-
* The population in 1881 was 321,233.
t Ihe railway here referred to is the Intercolonial, completed and opened in
1876.

LECTURE 1. ' 19
reuce, or down to Sb. .Tohn aud the Bay of Fundy. Its agricultural
capabilities and climate are described by Bouchette, -Martin and other
authors. The country is by them, and most deservedly so, highly
praised. For any great plan of emigration or colonization, there is not
another British colony which presents such a favourable field as New
Brunswick. " On the surface is an abundant stock of the finest timber, which in
the markets of England realizes large sums annually, and affords an
unlimited supply to the settler. If the forests should ever become ex
hausted, there are the coal fields beneath. The rivers, lakes and sea-
coast abound with fish."
Such is the sister Province of New Brunswick ; and though
I am assured, on undoubted personal authority, that a large
extent of her very best agricultural territory reaching on
wards to Canada is still a primeval forest, her position
in regard to her trade relations is no insignificant one, as
will appear from the following statements.
The total imports of New Brunswick in 1851 were
$4,852,440, and the exports $3,780,105.* There were
3,058 ships entered inwards, and 2,981 outwards.f The
fisheries are valuable, and those in the Bay of Fundy in
1850 realized $263,500.$ The timber floated down the
St. John is very large ; the quantity being estimated in
1852 at $1,945,000 § There is room in New Brunswick
for a large population. In 1855 there were only 6,000,000
acres of laud granted. Of these but 700,000 were under
* The total value of imports for the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1882, were
86,707,244, and the total exports for same period, $7,474,407.
t Latest returns show_3,422 vessels entered Inwards, and 3,474 outwards]
} The total value of fish ciught in New Brunswick during the season of 1882
amounted to ¥3,192,838 85.
S The total amount realized from the sale of products 4he forest in New
Brunswick in 1880, was considerably in excess of $8,000,000

20 NOVA BRITANNIA.
cultivation,* and 11,000,000 acres continued ungranted.
As to agricultural capabilities. New Brunswick — strange
as the tale may seem — exceeds in wheat fourteen wheat-
growing States of the Union, and in barley twenty four
out of thirty ; in oats, buckwheat, and potatoes, thirty
States and Territories ; and in butter and hay, all the States.
In the growth of potatoes, hay, and oats, Monro asserts that
no State in the Union can compete with New Brunswick,
whether as regards weight, quality, or quantity. The ave
rage produce per imperial acre of wheat is nineteen bushels,
of barley twenty-eight, of oats thirty-four, of potatoes 226,
and of turnips 456. The value of the agricultural products,
exclusive of farm-stock, was estimated in 1854 at £2,000,-
OOO.t There were, in 1851, 798 schools, attended by 18,892
children, and in 1853, 24,127.t Professor Johnston esti
mated that the agricultural resources of the Province would
enable it to sustain a population of 5,500,000. The climate
is similar to our own. The coal-field is very extensive ; its
area having been estimated by Gesner at 10,000 square
miles. The earlier history of New Brunswick is embraced
in that of Nova Scotia, and need not here be particularly
referred to.
With regard to the position of the Acadian Provinces,
their relations towards the other portions of British America,
and the community of interest which is arising, I avail my-
* There are now considerably more than a million of acres under cultivation, in
clusive of crops, pastures and orchards.
t The total value of New Brunswick products in 1881 was $18,512,658.
} During the^WintjrTarm of 1883 the number of schools was 1,317, and the num
ber of pupils in attendance 48,805, of whom 10,350 were new pupils. The total num
ber uf different pupils in attendmce within the entire year was 61,267.

LECTURE I. 21
self of the judicious statements of Principal Dawson of Mc
Gill College, in a lecture on the Acadian Provinces, de
livered before the Natural History Society of Montreal: —
" Their progress iu population aud wealth is slow, in comparison with
that of western America, though equal to the average of that of the
American Union, and more rapid thau that of the older States. Their
agriculture is rapidly improving, manufacturing and mining enterprises
are extending themsslves, and railways are being built to connect them
with the more inland parts of the continent. Like Great Britain, they
possess important minerals, in which the neighbouring parts of the conti
nent are deficient, and enjoy the utmost facilities for commercial pur
suits. Ultimately, therefore, they must have with the United States,
Canada, and the fur countries, the same commercial relations that Bri
tain maintains with western, central, and northern Europe. Above all,
they form the great natural oceanic termination of the great valley of the
St. Lawrence ; and although its commerce has hitherto, by the skill and
industry of its neighbours, been drawn across the natural barrier which
Providence has placed between it and the seaports of the United States,
it must ultimately take its natural channel ; and then not only will the
cities on the ist. Lawrence be united by the strongest common interests,
but they will be bound to Acadia by ties more close than any merely po-
litica union. The great thoroughfares to the rich lands.and noble scenery
of the West, and thence to the sea-breezes aud salt water of the Atlantic,
and to the great seats of industry and art in the old world, will pass
along the St. Lawrence, and through the lower Provinces. The surplus
agricultural produce of Canada will find its nearest consumers among the
miners, shipwrights, mariners, and fishermen of Acadia ; and they will
send back the treasures of their mines and of their sea. This ultimate
fusion of all the populations extending along this great river, valley, and
estuary, and the establishment throughout its course of one of the prin
cipal streams of American commerce, seems in the nature of things ine
vitable ; and there is already a large field for the profitable employment
of labourers and capital in accelerating this desirable result."
Giving due attention to these sound and cautious views
of a writer thoroughly acquainted with his subject, aud him-

22 NOVA BRITANNIA.
self an Acadian, which meet an objection often raised as to
the presumed absence of any common objects or commun
ity of interest between the Acadian Provinces and Canada,
we now advance to the northward of Prince Edward Island.
Here we find the Magdalen Islands, under the jurisdiction
of Canada, and for electoral purposes included in the County
of Gasp6. They are seven in number, and are used as fishing
stations. Their population- in 1851 was 2500.* These
islands are almost in the centre of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
and the length of the group is fifty-six miles. They are
owned by the Coffin family in strict entail, t
Within the Gulf, and at the very threshold of Canada, is
the large Island of Anticosti, 420 miles below Quebec. It
comprises 2,000,000 of acres. It has been till lately owned
in England, but has been much neglected. J It is believed
to contain much arable land, and is well wooded. It
should be no longer overlooked, as its position is very im
portant, and it may become an important entrepot of
trade. ? Now about 3600
t They were originally granted by the British Government to an ufiBcer who
subseqeutly became Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, who bequeathed them in strict entail
to his nephew. In 1873 the Quebec Legislature contemplated buying out the
claim of the then proprietor, as many of the islanders were dissatisfied with the
uncertain tenure of their lands, and emigrated from the islands in consequence.
J The island of Anticosti was originally granted by King Louis XIV. to Louis
Joliet, the eminent explorer. It subsequently passed into the hands of various
persons. Upon the abolition of the feudal system in Canada, the island passed
under the domination of the Seigneur, or lord of the manor, and it has since
been held in fee simple by a great many different owners, chief among whom
may be mentioned the Forsyth family. The title was fully acknowledged by the
Canadian Parliament, and in 1873 an Act was passed incorporatirg an association
called the Anticosti Land Company, to develop the resources of the island. Among
other improvements the establiehment of a number of prosperous farms was cop-
tepiplated, Th^ success of ^hcettcipriie has not ^ettetn fplly astured,

LECTURE I 23
CANADA.
And now we have arrived at our own fair Canada. I
shall not weary you with a long detail of dry and dull
figures ; you can find those elsewhere. But the mind
naturally dwells with pleasure on the contemplation of the
rapid rise, steady growth, present prosperity, and brilliant
future of this our country. Canada, with her population of
2,500,000,* her steady flow of immigration, her rising man
ufactures, her mineral wealth, her agricultural advantages,
her magnificent system of inland navigation afforded by her
canals and her new Mediterranean, her great railway (the
longest in the world), t her highway to Europe, and her
successful ocean-line of steamers,^ is bounding on with fresh
vigour, and steadily assuming the proportions of a great
and prosperous land. Canada is no longer looked upon as
a dismal, dreary waste of snow-clad hills. Our representa
tions at the Universal Exhibitions have dispelled many a
prejudice, and the people of Europe and of Britain have
learned to regard our country as a home where, free from
the keener competition of the Old World, and sheltered
under the protecting power of Britain, men can work their
* It will be understood that Canada at that time consisted only of the Provinces
of Ontario and Quebec. The united population of those two Provinces in 1881 was
2,812,367. The population of the entire Dominion, according to the census of 1881,
was then 4,324,810 ; and cannot now be much under 4,500,000.
t The reference here is to the Grand Trunk Eailway, and the statement was ac
curate at the time it was written. The subsequent construction of the American
transcontinental lines left the Grar d Trunk considerably behind in respect of lengl h ;
but our own Canada Pacific Railway, now steadily advancing towards completion,
will be not only the longest but in various reepects the most important railway
enterprise in the world.
X The tonnage of sea-going vessels arriving at the port of Moi.tretl akne during
the season of 1882 was considerably in excess of 700,OCO.

24 NOVA BRITANNIA.
way to independence and comfort, and see their families
taking positions of respectability around them. Here we
have scope and verge enough. Our population of 2,500,000
has an extent about six times that of England and Wales
for its expansion, and very surely and steadily is our popu
lation augmenting. How rapid that augmentation has been
will appear, on the most impartial testimony, from the fol
lowing extract from Hunfs Merchants' Magazine for February
last : —
"When it is remembered that in 1848 the population of United
Canada was about 1,500,000, the rate of increase in ten years is indeed
something to boast of. Two-thirds added to the population of a country
with such variety of soil and climate, in that time, is without precedent.
The increase of the United States during the ten years ending 1850 was
35J per cent., that of Upper Canada during the ten years from 1841 to
1851, 104Jper cent., and now for the whole Province, since 1848, it is 65
to 70 per cent., or nearly double the rate of increase of the United
States. The third of a century is generally reckoned as a generation.
During that period the population of Canada has increased from 582,-
000 to 2,500,000, or more than twice doubled itself. If that rate be con
tinued, Canada vfill have at the beginning of the next century 20,000,000
of inhabitants."
, And then, as an outlet for our population, and as a legiti
mate field for the development of the energies of our people,
beyond us lies that great stretch of territory of which the
newly chosen Seat of Government holds the key — the Ottawa
Valley, with its 80,000 square miles of country, through
which the Atlantic and Pacific Eailway will yet take its
course,* and the products of the Western States seek the
seaboard when the Ottawa navigation shall have been
improved .
* The Canadian reader will not need to be informed that this pre
diction has been fully verified in the line of the Canada Pacific Railway.

LECTURE I. 25
RUPERT'S LAND.
Above us, again, is that vast expanse claimed by the
Hudson's Bay adventurers, which will yet, and possibly
soon, be inhabited by a large population, comprising as it
does, 3,060,000 square miles.
This great country cannot much longer remain unoccu
pied ; and if we do not proceed to settle it the Americans
will appropriate it, as they did Oregon. Without entering
into the question of the alleged vices in the charter by
which that powerful company holds its possessions, and the
mode of adjudicating thereon, there are certain practical
measures which should be at once adopted. A means of
communication by road and water, for summer and winter
use, should be opened between Lake Superior and the Red
Eiver settlement; and that settlement should be placed
under the jurisdiction of Canada, with power to this Pro
vince to colonize the territory.* This power should at
once be given, and will- doubtless be conceded on appli
cation. This obtained, and a settlement of 7,000 souls
added to our population as a centre of operations, steps can
be taken for obtaining more accurate information as to the
nature of the immense tract of territory, of which a large
part once belonged to the Hundred Partners of Old France,
and which, though believed to be the property of Canada, is
now held by the Hudson's Bay Company. The great valley
* Rupert's Land, as the reader is aware, now forms part of the Domin'on, and
one portion of it (including Red River settlement) has been erected into the Pro
vince of Manitoba, with a Local Legislature, and with representation in the general
Parliament at Ottawa. The other recommendations in the text have also become
realities. The Dawson Route was but the precursor of the C.P.R.

26 NOVA BRITANNIA.
of the Saskatchewan should form the subject of immediate
attention. Enough is known to satisfy us that in the terri
tory commonly known as the Hudson's Bay Territory there
is a vast region well adapted for becoming the residence
of a large population. Once the Bed Eiver settlement is
opened to our commerce, a wide field extends before our
enterprise ; and those who recollect or have otherwise become
familiar with the struggles, forty years ago, of the settlers
in Western Canada, and the painful, toilsome warfare with
which they conquered that rising portion of the Province
from the wilderness, will regard the task of colonization as
a comparatively light one.
The press has for some time been teeming with articles
on the subject of this Territory, and has done good service
thereby ; and, though there is not opportunity here to enter
upon the subject at length, yet, while not going so far as
those who would paint all that Territory — some of it bleak
and inhospitable enough — as a Paradise, I hesitate not to
assert that there are many millions of acres richly arable,
and possessed of a climate milder than our own. In proof
of this position I will say a word or two as to the Eed Eiver
country, in which Lord Selkirk's settlement was planted,
taking as recent and trustworthy authorities the Eeverend
John Ryerson* and Mr. John Wesley Bond.f The Eed River
settlement is 700 miles distant from Fort William, on Lake
Superior, by the travelled way, but a route of 456 miles can
be opened. I The Red Eiver rises in Minnesota, and run-
* See Hudson's Bay ; or a Missionary Tour in the Territory of the lion. Hiid.
son's Bay Company. Toronto, 1883.
t See Minnesota and Its Resources. New York, 1855.
X About the actual length of the present route, j

LECTURE I. 27
ning northward, discharges into Lake Winnipeg. The As-
siniboine River rises far west of the Eed Eiver, and forms a
junction with it fifty-five miles from the mouth of the latter.*
The English and Scotch settlers extend along both sides of
Eed River from the Assiniboine to Lower Fort Garry, twenty
miles below. This is far the best post of the settlement.
Eighteen windmills are scattered along the west bank, upon
which the villages are principally situated.
Sir George Simpson, in his Overland Journey, says : —
" The soil of the Eed River is a black mould of considerable depth
which, when first tilled, produces extraordinary crops — as much, on some
occasions, as forty returns of wheat — and even after twenty successive
years of cultivation, without the relief of manure or of fallow or of green
crop, it still yields from fifteen to twenty-five bushels per acre. The wheat
produced is plump and heavy. There are also large quantities of grain
of all kinds, besides beef, mutton, pork, butter, cheese and wool, in
abundance." As to the character of this settlement, Ryerson says : —
" The soil is of black mould, and the settlement yields good crops of
wheat, barley, oats, pease, and potatoes. The spacious prairies afford
pasture in the open season, and furnish abundance of hay for the vrinter.
Over the boundless pastures roam thousands of sheep, black cattle, and
horses. There is however no export trade in the colony. The Hudson's
Bay CompaAy pay for what they wish to consume, and thus afford the
only market. The wheat is ground by windmills. There are no saw
mills, fulling-mills, or factories of any kind. A large portion of the set
tlers are hunters, and the number of buffaloes in the Hudson's Bay Ter
ritory is immense. The settlers have many difficulties to contend with."
Hear, again, another authority (whose zealous discharge
* At what was then Fort Garry, the residence of the Hudson's Bay Company's
Governors, and, till a few wetks past, the official residence of the Lieutenant-Gover
nor ( f the r rovince. The Canadian reader is of course aware that the place is now
th^ City of Winpipfg, with a population cf more th^n 20,000,

28 NOVA BRITANNIA.
of his duties led him to visit Prince Eupert's Land) as to
the Eed Eiver settlement. The former Bishop of Montreal,
now Bishop of Quebec,* in 1844, said : —
" The soil, which is alluvial, is beyond example rich and productive,
and withal so easily worked that, although it does not quite come up to
the- description of the Happy Islands, reddit ubi cererem teUus inerata
quot annos, there is an instance, I was assured, of a farm in which the
owner, with comparatively light labour in the preparatory processes,
had taken a wheat crop out of the same land for eighteen successive years,
never changing the crop, never manuring the land, and never suffering
.it to lie fallow, and that the crop was abundant to the last ; and with
respect to the pasture and hay, they are to be had ad libitum, as nature
gives them in the open plains."
These testimonies have lately received the most entire
corroboration. Professor Hind, in his report to the Cana
dian Government of his visit there, in the summer of last
year, fully confirms all these statements. He describes
the valley of the Eed Eiver, and a large portion of the
country on its affluent, as a " Paradise of fertility." He
finds it " impossible to speak of it in any other terms
than those which may express astonishment and admira
tion." He states that " the character of the soil cannot be
surpas.sed, and that all kinds of farm produce common in
Canada succeed admirably in the district of the Assiniboia ; "
and declares emphatically that " as au agricultural country
it will one day rank among the most distinguished."
Such, then, is that little colony composed of Scottish
Highlanders and their descendants, and of French Cana
dians, which is even now a petitioner at the portals of our
Legislature for admission to those inherent rights of free
'"¦ The late Bishop Mountain,

LECTURE L 29
self-government which every Briton inherits as a birth
right, and which the statesmen of Britain have learned — and
I doubt not Canadian politicians have had their share in the
inculcation of the lesson — to concede to British subjects in
all territories under the sway of the royal sceptre. Colonial
Government has in our days, assumed a new phase. It
must, to, continental eyes, have been a strange spectacle — as
it was in our view a noble one — that was presented when
the assent of the little colony of Newfoundland was required
to give validity to a solemn treaty agreed to between two of
the mightiest of European nations ; and stranger still, to
see that little colony resolutely vetoing the arrangement. *
This result must have grated harshly on the feelings of Im
perial Military France. Bat it should be viewed by colon
ists as a convincing proof of the readiness of the Parent
State to act justly by her colonial children ; and with such
a precedent before us, can we doubt as to whether the rights
of these Red Eiver colonists will be protected, if properly
urged and sustained by Canada ?
Imperial as well as colonial interests urgently demand the
opening up of that vast stretch of rich agricultural territory
of which the Red River " holds the key." Apart from the
arable areas on the highway between Canada and the Red
Eiver, that settlement forms a nucleus round which will
gather a dense population scattered over those vast prairies,
covered with the rankest luxuriance of vegetation, and hold
ing out to settlers rich inducements to go in and possess the
land. Should such a " Paradise of fertility " as this remain
longer locked up 1 Will the gathering of a few peltries
' The arrangement referred to was the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854.

30 NOVA BRITANNIA.
compensate for the withdrawal of such a region from the in
dustry of our race ? Assuredly not: The knell of arbitrary
rule has been rung. The day has gone by for the perpetua
tion of monopolies. The Baronets of Nova Scotia would
fare but ill in our times, unless moral worth accompanied
their rank. Provinces are not so lightly shared and parcel
led out as they once were. As for our own Province, self-
government has been conceded to us, and the largest mea
sure of political liberty is enjoyed by our people. We are
left to carve out our own destiny; and I shrewdly suspect
that few among us will regard with much admiration that
ancient and venerable parchment which, under the sign-
manual of Charles II. , by the Grace of God, King of Eng
land, Scotland, France, and Ireland, recites that he, " being
desirous to promote all endeavours tending to the public
good of our people, have of our especial grace, certain know
ledge, and mere motion, given, granted, ratified, and con
firmed unto our entirely beloved cousin Prince Eupert, the
Duke of Albermarle, et al., by the name of the Governor and
Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's.
Bay, the sole trade and commerce of all those seas, streights,
bays, rivers, lakes, creeks, and sounds, in whatsoever lati
tude they shall lie, within the entrance of the streights com
monly called Hudson's Streights; together with all the
lands and territories upon the countries, coasts, and confines
of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks, and sounds aforesaid,
that are not already actually possessed by the subjects of any
other Christian Prince or State, with the fishing of all sorts
of fish, whales, sturgeons, and all other royal fishes in the
seas, bays, islets, and rivers within the premises, and the fish

LECTURE I. 31
therein taken, together with the royalty of the sea upon the
coasts within the limits aforesaid, and all mines royal, as
well discovered as not discovered, of gold, silver, gems, and
precious stones, to be found or discovered within the terri
tories aforesaid." And what think you is the price which
this .charter provides shall be paid for this munificent, this
princely gift of, as the Hudson's Bay Company view it,
half a continent — for this comprehensive donation of every
thing, but the sky, which overhangs Prince Eupert's Land.
Ah, here it is, and very onerous and burdensome this same
company of adventurers must have found their vassalage to
be — " yielding and paying," saith this grave title-deed, with
which the onward rush of settlement is attempted to be
stayed — somewhat, it must be confessed, after the fashion of
the celebrated Mrs. Partington when, mop in hand, she
valiantly endeavoured to sweep out the incursion of the an
gry Atlantic — " yielding and paying to us, our heirs and
successors, for the same, two elks and two black beavers " —
not yearly, mark you, but magnanimously — " whensoever,
and as often as we, our heirs and successors, shall happen to
enter into the said countries, territories, and regions hereby
granted ; " and then, by all sorts of right lawyerly phrases,
not only " the whole, entire, and only trade and trafiic and
use and privilege of trading " is granted, but also " the whole
trade to and with all the natives and people inhabiting, or
which shall inhabit, within the territories, lands, and coasts
aforesaid ; " and all sorts of pains and penalties are threat
ened against all those who do visit, haunt, frequent, or trade,
traffic or adventure into the said countries ; and all such
shall, saith the Eoyal Charles, " incur our Eoyal indignation,

32 NOVA BRITANNIA.
and the forfeiture and loss of any goods or merchandize "
conveyed from the said territories into the realm of Eng.
land. But time does not permit the dwelling longer on
this relic of antiquity. It will suffice to express my con
fident belief that Canada has only to express in firm but
respectful tones her demands as to that vast territory, and
these will be cheerfully acceded to by Great Britain. Those
demands should be ripely considered, and so matured as to
evince, not a mere grasping thirst of territorial aggrandize
ment, but a large-spirited and comprehensive appreciation
of the requirements of the country, and a proper sense of the
responsibilities to be assumed in regard to the well-being of
the native and other inhabitant's, and the due development
of the resources of the territory. In such a spirit our states
men will I tirust be found acting. The position of our Pro
vince, too, is to be weighed. To a large portion of the ter
ritory we have an indubitable legal claim ; to another por
tion the Crown of Britain would be entitled ; but all that
is adapted for settlement should be placed under the juris
diction of representative government, and any further ex
tension of the rights of the Company to trade in the more
northerly regions should be subjected to the approval or
control of colonial authorities.* The subject is not without
its difficulties ; but, I doubt not, these can all be satisfac
torily overcome, and the interests of the whole" Empire im
periously demand their prompt and satisfactory adjustment.
* The negotiations which finally led to the absorp.iou of the North-West by the
Dominion proved the soundness of the lecturer's views as propounded in the text.
Indeed the entire history of the surrender of the Territory by the Hudson's Bay
Company to the Imperial Government, and of the subsequent acquisition thereof
by the Dominion, forms a striking commentary upon these passages in the lecture.

LECTURE I. 33
VANCOUVER ISLAND.
But now, to hasten on to the end of this our long journey.
Traversing the country stretching towards the Pacific,
you will find the climate gradually becoming milder as we
approach the ocean. And we have at length reached the
Pacific, and Vancouver Island, a British possession, improvi-
dently leased to the Hudson's Bay Company, whose lease will
expire in 1859.* " This splendid island," says Nicolay, " is
in form long and narrow ; in length about 250 miles, in aver
age breadth 50 ; with a surface of upwards of 12,000 square
miles. A range of lofty hills extends through its whole length ;
and it is perhaps even more fertile, and has more open glades
and land fit for cultivation than the southern continental
shore. Its western side is pierced by deep canals, and it has
many excellent harbours. It has beautiful rivers of water, and
clumps and groves of trees are scattered through the level
lands. The Hudson's Bay Company have here established
a large cattle farm and post called Victoria. t At the north
ern extremity of the island there is a large and excellent
field of coal." Iron, copper and silver, according to Spanish '
writers, are found there ; and gold, according to more re
cent accounts. Martin, the apologist of the Hudson's Bay
* In IbSS British Columbia, and in 1859, Vancouver Island, was erected into a
Crown Colony, and each had a separate government until 1866, when the latter was
united to the former. In 1871 British Columbia was admitted into the Canadian
Union, and now has a Local Government and Legislature, and representation in
the Parliament at Ottawa. The area of British Columbia (including Vaucouver
Island) has been roughly estimated at 220,000 square miles, and in 1881 the Pro
vince had a population of 49,469. The total value of imports for the year ending
30th June, 1882, was $2,899,186, and of exports, $3,154,194.
t The "large cattle farm and post" is now a beautiful city, with palatial resi
dences on some of its streets, and with a population of between 6,000 and 7,000.
3

34 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Company's regime, testifies to the excellence of the climate
of the island, and to its adaptation for the cultivation of
wheat and other grains. He adds that
" The position, resources and climate of Vanconver Island eminent
ly adapt it for being the Britain of the Northem Pacific. There is no
port between the Straits of Juan de Tuoa and San Francisco ; it is
within a week's sail of California ; within double that distance from the
Sandwich Islands, with which a thriving trade has already been estab
lished ; five days' voyage from Sitka or New Archangel, the head-quar
ters of the Russian Fur Company's settlements, where large gupplies of
provisions are required ; and it is within three weeks' steaming distance
of Japan. This commanding position justifies the expectation that
Vancouver Island will become, not only a valuable agricultural settle
ment, but also a rich commercial entrep6t for British trade and in
dustry."* He also adds that " whether it be possible" to establish
regular and rapid communication, via Canada, with the
coast of the Pacific, remains to be ascertained ; " and con
cludes with the remark that "by whatever meacs Vancou
ver Island be brought within half its present distance of
England, great good cannot fail to accrue to the colony and
to the Parent State." That desirable result is, I trust, not
very far distant, and I elsewhere point out the mode of its
attainment, t GENERAL RESULTS.
And now, my hearers, we have travelled in company from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. What think you of our jour
ney, and of those Britannic possessions in which your lot is
cast ? Is there not here the germ of a mighty people i Are
* This passage is to be found in Mr. B. Montgomery Martin's voluminous account
on the British Colonies— a work which may now be said to have had its day.
+ See post, pp. 44, 45.

LECTURE I. 35
not these colonies a fitting appanage to the great Empire
under whose protection they are being developed ] Will
they not be, nay I would say are they not now, a brilliant
jewel in the crown of our beloved and gracious Sovereign
Queen Victoria, who so worthily graces her throne ?
For, bring together the gross results of our investigations,
and what do we find t
1st. That the Maritime Provinces alone comprise 86,000
square miles, and, as we may safely assume, are capable of
sustaining a population nearly as great as England — their
natural productions and resources being very similar in kind
and amount. They are as large as Holland, Greece, Bel
gium, Portugal and Switzerland, all put together. New
Brunswick, alone is as large as the Kingdom of Sardinia, and
Nova Scotia is larger than Switzerland.
2nd. We have Canada, with her 346,863 square miles
of territory,* with her great lakes — which alone comprise
an extent of space equal to that of Britain and Wales, and
larger in volume than the Caspian Sea-^and her railways,
canals, agricultural capabilities, rising manufactures, and
enterprising people.
And 3rd. We have the North-West Territory of British
America, with, according to Arrowsmith, "its 3,060,000
square miles of country, extending from the Pacific Ocean
and Vancouver Island along the parallel of 49° north lati
tude, near the head of Lake Superior, and thence in an east
erly direction to the coast of Labrador and the Atlantic."
Place all this in one view, and we find that we can endorse
*" The area of Canada is now nearly ten times as great as stated in the text,
being 3,330,162 square miles.

3(5 NOVA BRITANNIA.
the views of the Honourable Joseph Howe, when he ex
claimed in the Nova Scotian House of Assembly : —
" Beneath, around aud behind us, stretching away from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, are 4,000,000 square miles of territory. All Europe with
its family of nations contains but 3,708,000, or 292,000 miles less. The
United States includes 3,300,572 square miles, or 769,128 less than Bri
tish America. Sir, I often smile when I hear some vain-glorious Re
publican exclaiming. ' No pent-up Utica contracts our powers ;
The whole unbounded continent is ours ! '
forgetting that the largest portion does not belong to him at all, but to
us the men of the North, whose descendants will control its destinies
forever. The whole globe contains but 37,000,000 square miles. We
North Americans under the British flag have one ninth of the whole, and
this ought to give us ample room and verge enough for the accommoda
tion and support of a countless population."
Then, grouping our population, we have in the organized
Provinces three millions of people,* at the lowest compu
tation. Combining our trade returns, we had in 1851 exports to
the extent of twenty-five millions of dollars, and a revenue
*As stated in a note on a former page, the population of the Dominion in 1881
was-4,324,810. There has been a steady, indeed a rapid, increase in the population
of the various Provinces. Ex. gr. : in 1841 Upper Canada, or Canada West, con
tained a population.of 465,367. In ,1851 the population was 962 004, showing an in-
croass of 104 •68 pCr cent. In 1831 the population of Lower Canada was 611,920,
In 1861 it was 890,026, haviag doubled iu twenty years. To view the matter in an
other aspect, as showing combined progress, in li61 the population of United Can
ada was l,8i6,265, while in 1857 it was 2,671,437, showing an icrease in five years of
729,172. Coming down to more recent times, the following tabulation from the last cen
sus will doubtless be considered as interesting in itself, and instructive for the
sake of comparison, including, as it does, all the Provinces which go to make up
the Dominion ; —

LECTURE I.

37

of £1,153,979 8s. 3d.; but it is now much larger.* The
revenue of Canada alone in 1856 was £1,238,666 ; and then,
as nations now-a-days need a safety-valve, like the national
debt of England, we too in 1851 had a national debt of
£4,691,509, but of which Canada bears the lion's share. In
1856 the direct liability of Canada, incurred for public im
provements, was £4,703,303.f

FUTURE PROSPECTS.
If we pass in review the advantages of all these Provinces,
the agricultural resources of Canada, its manufacturing capa
bilities, its ihineral wealth, its rising trade, its great means
of water communication, its systems of railways, the vast
stretch of undeveloped country beyond us ; and then the

Summary cf Population.

1871.

1881.

Increase.

Kate per
cent.

94,021
387,800285,694
1.191,516
1,620,861 3,679,782

108,891440,672321.233
1,369,027 1,923 228

14,870 62.77236,639
167,611302,377

16 8

Nova Scotia  

13 6

New Brunswick 

12'4

Quebec 

14-6

18 6

Total 
4,152,961
67,S,169
160
Manitoba . .  
18.99536,247
65,96449,469 66.446
46,96013,212
247*0
British Columbia 
36-3
Total 
66,242
171,869
60,172
Grand total for the Dominion 
3,635,024
4,324,810
633,341
18-93
* The exports of the Dominion for the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1882, amount
ed to $102,137,203. Imports for same period, $119,419,500. Total exports and im
ports, $221,566,703. The customs duties collected during the year amounted to
$21,708,837.43. t For the year ending 80th June, 1882, the revenue of the Dominion was $33,-
383,466.62. The expenditure for the same period was $27,067,103.68— leaving a
surplus of $6,316,351.94. The public debt was $206,365,257.97.
S8 NOVA BRITANNIA.
agricultural resources and capabilities 'of New Brunswick,
and its maritime facilities; the commanding position of
Nova Scotia, its coal-fields and extensive fisheries ; the mind
is most favourably impressed with the magnitude of their
combined resources. And to all this when we bring before
us the fl.eet of the Maritime Provinces, and the hosts of
sturdy colonists who man them, and consider the energetic
character inherited by our people, which the fusion of
races and the conquering from the forest of new territories
has fostered, and the influences of our climate have rendered
hardier — who, considering our present and looking back
upon our past, can doubt but that a great future is before
these colonies ? Nay, is it not manifest that the day must
come when they will play no mean part in the world's history,
and amid the ranks of nations ?
That this is no rash assumption the history of other nations
will justify us in assuming. Let us for instance take our
parent Britain as an example, and who could have foretold
the future of that island_ people 1 How wondrous her rise,
how vast her influence throughout the world, giving her sons
a right to claim a position analogous to that of the citizen of
another empire of the olden time, as he pronounced the
magic words,- " I am a Roman citizen ! " And yet, as we look
back over history, how humble her origin. Rising in pop
ulation by almost imperceptible increase, Froude says that
at the time of the invasion of the Spanish Armada a rough
census then taken gave a population to England of only
about five millions. How vast its increase since then ! and
why, with all that modern civilization is doing for us, should
not British America follow in the footsteps of her parent ?

LECTURE I. 39
Surely it is a noble destiny that is before us ; and who, as
he reflects upon all these things, does not feel an honest
pride as he thinks that he too may, in however humble a
sphere, or by however feeble an effort, aid in urging on that
great destiny 1 It is not my purpose to trench upon the
political in this lecture, nor would it be consistent with the
purposes of your society that I should thus interfere with
any of those questions of the day which, in one shape or
otheir, are pressing upon the consideration of us all. Yet, in
dwelling upon the present and the future of theSe Provinces,
it is impossible to avoid glancing at the question of how that
future will be shaped. One of two events, it has been said,
is in the course of time likely to occur. Either these Pro
vinces will form a combination with the American Union, or
with a portion of it — a possibility that I believe to be alto
gether and in every way undesirable — or (what I am sure
this audience would infinitely prefer) they will stand together,
a great Britannic Confederation, thoroughly imbued with
the true principles of liberty, and reflecting the character of
that great parent country from which their inhabitants have
mainly sprung, and rising to power and strength under her
guiding influence. Let me not be misunderstood : I do not
say that such an event as even this last contingency is an
immediately impending one ; but I do say that, in the
natural course of events, such changes will come, as surely
as the child becomes the man, or the feeble saplirtg becomes
the sturdy monarch of the forest. That day may be, and I
trust is, far distant ; but sure I am that whatever, in the
upheavings of the Old World and the restless whirl of events,
may betide, yet the connection between our country and the

40 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Parent State will not be rudely severed, but fostered by the
power and might of Britain ; and rising in strength and
power, thousands of strong hands and bold hearts within
our borders will cherish towards Britain sentiments of warm
affection and attached loyalty, and will be ready, if need be,
in the contests for liberty that may arise, to stand side by
side in the foremost rank with the armies of our Mother-
Land. There is, indeed, vast room for speculation as to the fu
ture of this great British Colonial Empire, and its consider
ation has engrossed and is engrossing the energies of many
minds. Among others, hear what Senator Seward thinks
of us : —
" Hitherto, in common with most of my countrymen as I suppose, I
have thought Canada, or, to speak more accurately, British America, to
be a mere strip Ij^ng north of the United States, easily detachable from
the Parent State, but incapable of sustaining itself, and therefore ulti
mately, nay right soon, to be ' taken on ' by the Federal Union, without
materially changing or affecting its own condition or development. I
have dropped the opinion as a national conceit. I see in British North
America, stretching as it does across the continent from the shores of
Labrador and Newfoundland to the Pacific, and occupying a consider
able belt of the temperate zone, traversed equally with the United States
by the Lakes, and enjoying the magnificent shores of the St. Lavprence
with its thousands of islands in the River and Gulf, a region grand
enough for the seat of a great empire."
And again, hear the words of a colonist who has done
somewhat to make his country known.
In reflecting on the future of these Provinces, the old
Judge in the Colony — the redoubtable " Sam Slick " —
tersely put on record his views when he asked : " Have you
ever thought of setting them" up in business on their own

LECTURE I. 41
account, or of taking them into partnership with yourself t
In the course of nature they must form some connection
soon. Shall they seek it with you, the States, or intermarry
among themselves, and begin the world on their own hook ?
These are important questions, and they must be answered
soon. . . . Things can't and won't remain long as they
are. England has three things to choose for her North
American Colonies . 1st, Incorporation with herself and
representation in Parliament ; 2nd, Independence ; and
3rd, Annexation with the States." So said Judge Hali-
burton, and, true to his colonial feelings, he has been in
Britain agitating on behalf of the colonies, and urging their
being made an integral portion of the British Empire. *
But another authority of real weight also maturely consid
ered this subject, and, in his celebrated Report, Lord Dur
ham ably argued the question of a Union of the Provinces,
and declared that
" Such a union would enable all the Provinces to co-operate for com
mon purposes ; and above all, it would form a great and powerful peo
ple, possessing the means of securing good and responsible government
for itself, and wliich, under the protection of the British Empire, might
in some measure counterbalance the preponderant and increasing infiu
ence of the United States in the American continent, . . If we
wish to prevent the extension of this influence, it can only be done by
raising up to the North American colonist some nationality of his own,
by elevating these small and unimportant communities into a society
having some objects of national importance, and by thus giving these
inhabitants a country which they will be unwilling to see absorbed into
that of their powerful neighbour."
* Judge Haliburton spent the last fifteen years of his life in England, where he
died in August, 1865. For five years before his death he sat in the House of Com
mons for Launceston, and he never lost an opportunity of saying a kind word for
the land in which his early and middle life had been passed.

42 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Already I ara glad to say this instinct of nationality has
been aroused. Already our people feel a patriotic pride in
the growth of our infant country. It would be a wise policy
to cherish and foster this feeling, to enlarge its bounds, to
promote intercolonial trade and other intercourse, to develop
commerce and manufactures, and to give free scope to those
enterprises which will have a tendency to advance these ob
jects. It is not my purpose to enter, as I have said, upon
vexed political questions, and I shall not here ask whether a
federative or a legislative union of the Provinces be the most
desirable. Nor shall I speculate as to whether the great
N orth-West Territory will be eventually ^annexed to Canada,
which would then be extended to the head-waters of the
Saskatchewan, in the Rocky Mountains ; or whether two
important British Provinces, component parts of the General
Confederation, are yet in the future in that great country :
the one having the Red River settlement as its govern
mental seat, reaching from Canada to the Rocky Mountains,
having a breadth of about 500 miles, and embracing the
whole of the Saskatchewan Valley ; and the other compre
hending Vancouver Island (which has been well styled the
future England of the North Pacific) and the Pacific slope.
Time, in the course of events, will develop the result in due
season. But while thus purposely refraining from such
speculations, and not wishing moreover to discuss matters
of mere local importance, there are yet some topics under
public view which claim attention, and which cannot be
overlooked. RAILWAYS AND OTHER MATERIAL PROJECTS.
We have now a Grand Trunk Railway, and the prospects
of its traffic are brightening ; but though it has linked the

LECTURE L 43
West with the East, and is about— by means of that world's
wonder the Victoria Bridge,* and its auxiliary branch to
Portland — to afford Canada unbroken connection with a win
ter Atlantic port, it is destined to yet further extension. Al
ready we have this Provincial Railway extending from Strat
ford, above Toronto, to St. Thomas, below Quebec ; but it is
designed to be prolonged westward to Sarnia, on Lake
Huron, and eastward to Trois Pistoles, 100 miles from the
New Brunswick frontier. The works on the section between
St. Thomas and Riviere du Loup are being urged on with
vigour. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, too, are each
extending their iron arms to meet the Canadian chain of
railway. A line is in progress, under the control of Nova
Scotia, designed to extend from Halifax to the New Bruns
wick frontier, and thence New Brunswick purposes to con
tinue it to St. John, the commercial capital of New Bruns
wick — a distance of 255 miles from the Atlantic terminus at
Halifax. The American interests, ever awake, are labourino-
to connect this line with Portland, Maine ; but a branch is
intended to connect the " European and North American
Railway " with Miramichi, distant from Riviere du Loup
but 200 miles.t
As the result, then, of these efforts in the Lower Pro
vinces and in Canada, I look for the eventual extension of a
main Provincial artery, reaching from Lake Huron to the
Atlantic at Halifax ; part of it constructed, it may be, as an
inter-provincial route. But I look further, and believe that
* The first stone of this chef d'ceuvre of Robert Stephenson was laid on the 20th
of July, 1854, and the first train passed over it on the 19th of December, 1859.
t All these projects have since become realities, together with others equally im
portant arising out of them.

44 NOVA BRITANNIA.
a line of railway will yet pass up the Ottawa Valley, and
present, through British territory, a highway to the Pacific*
And hear what a high American authority, quoted by Judge
Haliburton, says of this same British American Pacific
route : —
" The route through British America is in some respects preferable to
that through our own territory. By the former, the distance from
Europe to Asia is some thousand miles shorter than by the latter. Pas
sing close to Lake Superior, traversing the water-shed which divides the
streams flowing toward the Arctic Sea from those which have their exits
southward, and crossing the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of some
•3000 feet less than at the South Pass, the road could be here constructed
with comparative cheapness, and would open up a region abounding in
valuable timber and in other natural products, and admirably suited to
the growth of grain and to grazing. Having its Atlantic seaport at
Halifax and its Pacific depot near Vancouver Island, it would inevit
ably draw to it the commerce of Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Thus, British America, from a mere colonial dependency, would assume
a controlling rank in the world. To her other nations would be tribu
tary ; and in vain would the United States attempt to be her rival, for
we could never dispute with her the possession of the Asiatic commerce,
nor the power wliich that commerce confers."
And considering these statements from an impartial
authority, let us echo the words of Haliburton : —
" What a glorious future does this prophetic vision of an American
seer unfold ? Prom our side of the border, echo will reverberate his pre
diction until prophecy shall accomplish its own fulfilment. Well may
he regard this coming event as an eclipse, and contemplate with wonder
its overshadowing influence on the political horizon of the Republic ; well
may Her Majesty consider this Empire in the West as the most splendid
heritage in the world — a heritage of flood and field, of strong arms and
stout hearts — the land of the brave and the free."
When that day comes, as come it assuredly will, the
*See note p. 34.

LECTURE I. 45
visions of McTaggart, who was denounced as a madman,
aud of Major Pye Smith, will be realized, and, in the words
of the latter,
' ' The rich productions of the East wiU be 1 anded at the commencement
of the West, to be forwarded and distributed throughout our North
American Colonies, and to be delivered iu thirty days at the ports of
Great Britain. Then Halifax would be only ten or fifteen days distant
from the north-west coast of America, whence steamers might be des
patched with the mails from England for Pekin, Canton, Australia, and
New Zealand. What rolling masses of treasure will be sure to travel on
such a girdle-line of communication as this grand natural highway from
the Alantic to the Pacific ! "
Another reason that might be urged for the superiority
of a high northern latitude for this railroad is, that it avoids
the summer heat of a southern route, which threatens dis
ease and death to the unacclimated European emigrant.
I look also yet to see the noble Ottawa made available
for through navigation, aud fleets of stately steamers pour
ing into our midst the wealth of the Western States, and
meeting at Quebec and Montreal the Canadian lines of
ocean steamers, whose trade will be maintained and sup
ported by feeding-lines of propellers, laying, by way of the
St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, the Western States and the
Maritime Provinces under contribution. In this connection
too it would be found immediately practicable to originate
and sustain a line of steamers to the lower ports of the St.
Lawrence, touching at Gaspe, the Magdalen Islands, and at
ports in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward
Island, in connection with the ocean steamers.*
Such, then, are some of the material projects which lie
before us, and which time will develop into life and activ-
* These projects have long since been realized.

46 NOVA BRITANNIA.
ity. As our lands become more densely Settled, as the tide
of population pours in upon us, this our country will in
crease in wealth, and will steadily develop its resources.
Let us hope, then, that it will grow also in those higher
moral, social, educational and other features which mark
the real prosperity of a people ; and while with all the
vigour of a new world these noble provinces are thus advan
cing, I doubt not some of us may be spared to look back
upon what has yet been attained as but a faint shadow of the
greatness which lies before this New Britannia. Very lately,
too, despite the shock of commercial depression, and the panic
in the United States, and the suspension of moneyed insti
tutions there, our young country presented a proud aspect
of stability and self-reliance ; and, during the whole shock
of commercial credit elsewhere, our Canadian banks con
tinued specie payments, and afforded the requisite accommo
dation to their customers. In Montreal we have seen
commercial confidence unimpaired throughout, and our
merchants standing firm as in other times.
Viewing, then, these Provinces in all their aspects, I
firmly believe that the day will come, when, in the graphic
language of a Canadian writer, Mr. Roche,* who feels a
patriotic interest in the progress of our country, and has
done it some service —
" The Upper Provinces of the North-West and the Saskatchewan
country, and the Lower Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
aad Prince Edward Island, being joined to Canada, the whole con.
federated Provinces will ere long eclipse in importance all the other
colonies of Great Britain put together, and become a mightier empire
in the West than India has ever been in the East."
* Mr, Roche formerly belonged to the Civil Service in Canada. He died sorae
years ago in Africa, after doing valuable service in this country as a -shrewd and
far-seeing Canadian.

LECTURE L 47
Be this as it may, and distant as the event may prove,
and even Utopian as some may deem it, I am content
to record the views I entertain, resting assured that time
as it passes will mature and develope the strength and
power of British North America, and enable her sons to care
for the interests entrusted to their keeping, and to consoli
date the strength and develop the general resources of their
country. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS.
But, long as has been the journey this evening, and vast as;
is the territory traversed, I trust that none of my hearers will
consider the time ill spent which we have thus together de
voted to the consideration of the extent and importance of
the British North American Provinces ; and I shall therefore,
at the risk of repetition, ask you in the graphic words of
Judge Haliburton, " to take your pencils alid write down a
few facts I will give you, and, when you are alone medita
ting, JMsi chew on 'em."
"There are," says he, "4 millions of square miles' of territory in
them, whereas all Europe has but 3 millions and some odd hundred
thousands, and our almighty, everlasting United States still less than
that again. Canada alone is equal in size to Great Britain, Prance and
Pmssia. The Maritime Provinces themselves cover a space as large as
Holland, Belgium, Greece, Portugal and Switzerland all put together.
The imports for ] 853 were between 10 and 11 miUions, and the exports
and ships sold included between 9 and 10 millions. , The increase of
population in ten years is in the States 33 .per cent., in Canada 68.
" Now take these facts and see what an empire is here, surely the best
in cUmate, soil, mineral and other productions in the world, and peopled
by such a race as no other country under heaven can- produce. Here,
Sir, are the bundle of sticks ; all they want is to be well united."
And that they will be so united, in firm and indissoluble
alliance, I have no manner of doubt. Already the prospect

48 NOVA BRITANNIA.
is engaging the attention of thinking men, and Canada and
Acadia have begun to stretch out their hands to each
other. The alliance of their hearts and hands will follow.
Our neighbours, too, have their eyes upon us, and see the
vision of our future distinctly defined. It is well, then, in
many points of view, that this subject should be thus early
discussed, for it will take time to attain its successful
ace jmplishment. Public opinion has been rapidly maturing
with regard to it. A few years ago, the man who ventured
to declare himself in favour of such a combination was deem
ed a visionary, and was in fact in advance of his times.
Now, however, politicians, and the leaders of that other
power in the state — a power which makes and unmakes
cabinets — the press, are ready to adopt the proposal. This
is cheering ; for the more that it is weighed, the more im
portant in every aspect of view will this Union appear. The
mere discussion of it will do good ; while the actual grappling
with the practical details of this great national question will
give a breadth and scope to our politics that they now
lack. The dealing with the destinies of a future Britannic em
pire, the shaping its course, the laying its foundations broad
and deep, and the erecting thereon a noble and enduring
superstructure, are indeed duties that may well evoke the
energies of our people, aud nerve the arms and give power
and enthusiasm to the aspirations of all true patriots. The
very magnitude of the interests involved will, I doubt not,
elevate many among us above the demands of mere section
alism, and enable them to evince sufficient comprehensiveness
of mind to deal in the spirit of real statesmen with issues so

LECTURE I. ' 49
momentous, and to originate and develop a national line of
commercial and general policy, such as will prove adapted to
the wants and exigencies of our position.*
But, having thus directed your attention to matters that
concern you all very closely, I shall only add that, while
we are thus together conjecturing as to the future of this
new Britannia, this rising power on the American Continent,
I cannot refrain from a passing allusion to the paramount
necessity of the right development and formation of the na
tional character of this infant people. Nations, like indi
viduals, have their peculiar characteristics. The British
people, so firmly combined and yet so singularly distinct,
present in proud pre-eminence a high-toned national charac
ter, a fit model for our imitation. Inheriting, as we do, all
the characteristics of the British people, combining therewith
the chivalrous feeling and impulsiveness of France, and fus
ing other nationalities which mingle here with these, into
one, as I trust, harmonious whole— rendered the more vig
orous by our northern position, and enterprising by our sit
uation in this vast country which owns us as its masters — ¦
the British American people have duties and responsibilities
of no light character imposed upon them by Providence.
Enjoying self-government in political matters — bringing
home, through the municipal system, the art of government,
and. consequent respect for it, to the whole people — let a
high ensample of national character be kept steadily in view,
and let every effort be directed by our statesmen and by our
whole people to its formation. A wide-spread dissemination
* See the late Hon, Thomas D'Aroy McGee's comments on this paragraph, quoted
on title-page of this work,
4

50. NOVA BRITANNIA.
of a sound education— a steady maintenance of civil and
religious liberty, and of freedom of speech and thought, in
the possession and enjoyment of all classes of the commun
ity — a becoming national respect and reverence for the be
hests of the Great Euler of events, and the teachings of his
Word — truthfulness and a high-toned commercial honour —
unswerving and unfaltering rectitude, as a people, in the
strict observance of all the liabilities of the Province towards
its creditors, and in all its relations towards all connected
with it — a becoming respect for the powers that be, and a
large and liberal appreciation of the plain and evident re
sponsibilities of our position — should be pre-eminent charac
teristics of the British American people ; and so acting, they
will not fail to win the respect, as they will command the
notice, of the world.
But in all this do not think that you have no share ; for
in the formation of that character there is none so humble
that he has not a part to play. Society is a complex whole.
All its members are so fitly combined — each so acts and re
acts on the other — circles of influence are ever so meeting,
contending, and extending, that thus the whole derives its
characters from the natjires and features of its component
parts. In this view, then, each individual among us is ex
ercising an influence, more or less widely diffused, upon the
society in which we mingle. And a people is, after all, but
an aggregation of individual influences. Let each, then,
adopt and firmly act up to high views of the social, moral,
and religious duties we owe to ourselves and to society, and
so the well-being of the whole will be promoted.
And to those young British Americans who are within my
hearing, I would say : Be no loiterers or laggards by the

LECTURE I. 51
way. Here, you have a princely heritage before you. Here,
steady industry and unflinching integrity will secure the
rise of any man. Here, there is no keen competition, no
overwrought crowding of the masses ; but there is the wid
est scope for the exercise of every species of calling. And
be your position what it may, recollect that your own con
duct may dignify and elevate it. You live in a country
before which there lies a dazzling and brilliant future. Be
equal to the emergencies of your position, and recollect that
you will have some greater or smaller influence in the .shap
ing of its destinies. Be true, then, to yourselves, and you
cannot help rising with your country. Take a deeper inter
est in its affairs, watch the course of events, and be ready to
adopt an intelligent opinion on the requirements of daily
occurrences. Cherish and promote by all means the spread
of national sentiment. Familiarise yourself with all the
interests of your country ; and henceforth feel, if you have
never felt before, that you have a country of which any
people might well be proud.
And now, in conclusion, if anything that I have urged
shall cause the pure flame of patriotism to burn more bright
ly in the breasts of any of my hearers, I shall feel that this
endeavour to contribute my mite towards extending some
what more widely a knowledge of the capabilities of British
North America has been amply rewarded.

%tctnxt It

THE HUDSON'S BAY AND PACIFIC
TERRITORIES.*

In appearing before this intelligent auditory to-night, and
claiming their attention for a brief period, I have selected
for their consideration a subject of much practical import
ance — one too in which the people of Canada have a direct
and immediate interest — and not only so, but one which the
friends of civilization everywhere cannot fail to regard with
much favour.
In looking back over the past ten years of our Provincial
history and its lights and shadows, there is no feature more
indicative of our real and substantial progress than the in
telligent development of the national sentiment, which is
unmistakably evident. Self-respect and self-reliance in the
individual evoke corresponding sentiments in the minds of
others. The man who goes steadily onward in the face of
opposing difficulties, in the spirit of sturdy, honest self-reli
ance, toward the accomplishment of a well-defined and noble
purpose, commands the respect of even those who most differ
from him. And so with a rising nationality. We must
feel and exhibit confidence in ourselves — we must have a
settled purpose before us — and we must go steadily onward,
^ Delivered before the Mercantile Library Association of Montreal, and afterwards
before the Mechanics' Institute of Henuniugford, during the winter of 1868.

LECTURE II. 53
bringing all our energies to bear upon its accomplishment,
in order to merit the confidence and retain the esteem of
older nations. Our Northern rising nationality has an am
ple field before it — a brilliant future in the distance. To
occupy that field — to attain to that future in all its grandeur
— the people of British North America must take high views
of their plain and manifest responsibilities. They must
evince an adequate appreciation, of their duties, and must
possess a thorough knowledge of the advantages which they
possess, and of the vast resources which Providence has
placed at their disposal, in order that they may advance
steadily toward that high position among the nations which
they may yet attain — in order that they may enter upon the
full fruition of that rich inheritance of civil and religious
liberty, and of high social and political privileges, which is
their birthright as an offshoot of the three united nations
who compose the British people.
It is, then, under the influence of such trains of thought,
and with such objects in view, that I ask you to-night to
travel with me up the Ottawa Valley, and over the trail of
the enterprising adventurers of the old Canadian North-
West Company, and, taking our stand there, judge for our
selves, like the Israelitish spies, of the character of that sec
tion of a future great empire, which has for a century past
been claimed as the domain of a company of merchants — the
vast preserve which has been so carefully guarded from the
encroachments of modern civilization, and which is popularly
known as the Hudson's Bay Territories.*
^ It seems almost unnecessary to remind the reader that since 1870 the Hudson's
Bay Territories havebeen part an^ parcel of the Dominion.

54 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Clearer views, more correct and intelligent opinions, as to
the character of tho vast country in question, are beginning
to prevail. The deep, thick veil of obscurity and darkness
ia which the territories were so closely enwrapped is begin
ning to be uplifted. The assaults of civilization have com
menced simultaneously from the east and the west.
In the sudden pre-eminence which these countries have
reached, and in the rapid planting of Anglo-Saxon civiliza
tion on their virgin soil, the flnger of Providence is plainly
to be distinguished. Who could have dreamed, five years
ago, that so many influences would so soon have been at
work for the building up of British power on the shores of
the Pacific 1 But looking back over the more recent past,
even the materialist cannot fail to be struck with the singu
lar manner in which the discoveries of gold have been, of late
years, the precursors of the advances of the mixed people
that, for want of a better name, are popularly known as the
Anglo-Saxon race.
Let us, then, from this point of view, briefly glance at
the history of the past. And, beginning with our own
American shores, we observe Britain planting a colony in
America. The colony grows ; but at length the ties that
bound it to the parent state are ruptured, and a new and
vigorous people, speaking the English language, and inherit
ing its literature and its religion, have taken their stand
among the nations. But time passes on. Away upon the
Pacific particles of yellow dross are found. The cry of
" Gold ! gold ! " is raised, and a furious rush of eager, fierce
speculation sweeps over the intervening space, and a throng
ing horde of energetic Amerigans occupy the uew territory,

lecture II. 55
Another Anglo-Saxon State, California, claims admission
into the American Union.
But again, a vast continent lay in comparative obscurity.
Its progress was slow, the distance to it was great, the
prospects of its speedy occupation were dark and gloomy.
But suddenly it is touched as with a magic wand. Particles
of the yellow dross are found. The cupidity of the nations
is aroused, and a dense inroad of adventurers takes place.
A new wing of the great Anglo-Saxon family is planted, and
a new nationality springs into birth, destined to take no
mean place in the after history of the human family, re
ceiving the impress of the British type of mind, and inherit
ing the British peculiarities of thought and mental training.
There, on Australian soil, has been planted and has taken
deep root a vigorous offshoot of the old British oak.
But again time passes on. Another great section of the
American continent is lying idle, and unoccupied to any ex
tent by civilized life. A great company has it in possession,
and seeks to maintain about it a dense veil of obscurity. It
has been the home of the roving Indian — the haunt of the
buffalo — the huge preserve for the gathering of a few pel
tries. It is designed that so it shall remain, when again the
cry is raised of " Gold ! gold ! " The yellow dross is found
on the Fraser and the Thompson Rivers, and again the ir
resistible rush of the Anglo-Saxon family takes place. Bri
tish Columbia takes rank among the colonies of the Empire.
A new centre of light, civilization, and liberty has been
planted upon the shores of the Pacific.
Surely it is plain to the most superficial observer that
there is an overrviling purpose in aU this. Surely these

56 . NOVA BRITANNIA.
English-speaking nations have a mission to discharge to the
human race. Assuredly Britain and America — parent and
daughter — ought to, and will yet have, a common purpose,
and ought to work together in bonds of the closest alliance
for its accomplishment. Be this as it may, however, this
British race, with its energy and intelligence, its political
liberty, its freedom of speech and of conscience, and its
earnest religious character, is fast disseminating itself
throughout the habitable globe. But, not to digress too
widely, let us consider more closely the vast field for its and
our occupation which lies beyond us.
The obscurity which enveloped Prince Rupert's Land is
passing away. The mist of ignorance is rising. The country
itself is standing forth in its true light, and appears in a very
different aspect from that it wore when viewed through the
coloured and distorted media of depreciation and misrepre
sentation. The process is going steadily on. As some fair
statue — freed from the accumulation of ages in which it lay
buried, and gradually disentombed by some adventurous
Layard — stands before us a vision of beauty and of rare ex
cellence : or, to speak more appositely, as the treasures of
the hoarding miser are brought to light, and the tenacious
grasp of the huge main mort of the Hudson's Bay Company
is relaxed, so will these fair Territories stand before us and
present to the attention of the human family vast expanses
of rich arable country — goodly habitations for the residence
of civilized man.
Holding, then, such views, I shall consider : 1st. The
extent of the Territory ; 2nd. Its features and resources ;
3rd. The tenure or the mode of its holding bv the Com-

LECTURE II. 57
pany : and then I shall conjecture its future, and leave you
to think over the grandeur of :the British Dominions on this
continent, as they now are, and as they wUl in the process
of time become.
In dealing with this comprehensive and instructive sub
ject, I am aware of its magnitude and importance, and I
feel in no light degree the difficulty of compression. I
therefore remind you that, in the course of a brief hour, I
design only to suggest topics for your after reflection and
consideration. The large portion of the American continent which we
are to-night considering cannot much longer remain unten
anted by civilized man. The territory claimed by the com
pany is a vast one. Its length is stated by Murray at about
2,600 miles, and its breadth at nearly 1,460 miles ; though
it is difficult to arrive at a correct estimate, owing to the ex
tent of its inland seas. Its area, inclusLve of what is now
British Columbia, was estimated by Arrowsmith at 3,060,000
square miles. This mere abstract statement does not, how
ever, convey an adequate impression of the vast extent of the
region of Hudsonia. An Ameiican writer, who assumed the
territory over which the company exercise control to contain
an area of 2,500,000 square miles only," presents the question
to our view in the ensuing forcible terms : " How much is
that 1 It is fifteen times and a half larger than the State of
California, about thirty-eight times as large as the State of
New York, nearly twice as large as the whole of the thirty-
one States of the Union, and, if we omit the Territory
of Nebraska, as large as all our States and Territories com
bined ! "

58 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Here, then, assuredly is a princely domain, to be kept,
forsooth, as a preserve for the hunting of a company of
London Merchants ! Shall it, can it, so continue ? Surely
enlightened public opinion will answer in emphatic terms
that it shall not. Patriotism, and respect for the interests
of the empire, alike demand the throwing open of this ter
ritory to the incursions of the emigrant ; and neither the
British nor the Canadian people can long stand by, and
keep without the huge enclosure, fenced as it may be with
care, guarded by the pains and penalties of an ancient
charter, of doubtful legality, and beset with sign-boards
proclaiming to all the world, " No trespassers permitted
here." Assuredly, in sober truth, the time has come when
the claims of humanity, and the interests of a great empire,
require that all the portions of this vast territory which are
adapted for settlement should be laid open to the industrious
immigrant — and more, that every effort should be made to
ascertain what portions of the territory are really available
for settlement. With the information we possess, we
believe that there are large tracts, princely provinces in
fact, that are well adapted to become the seats of busy
industry ; and I am utterly indisposed, as are, I believe, the
people of Canada also, to accept as an accurate representa
tion " of the character of the territory of the Hudson's Bay
Company, with reference to its adaptation for the purposes
of colonization and cultivation," the authoritative and posi
tive assertion of one of the officials of the companj'- that " no
part of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories is well
adapted for settlement," however true it may be of the Si
beria to the north of the continent,

LECTURE II. 59
True, the interests of a great company require that it
should be so depicted True, the statement is in harmony
with the uniform representations of the company. But never
theless, we believe that, looking at the territory, not from
the contracted point of view of a trading company, but from
the higher stand-point of Imperial and Colonial interests,
we shall come, upon undoubted authority, to the moderate
but positive conclusions that there are noble provinces
in these territories well adapted for settlement — provinces
which will yet become important members of the New Bri
tannic Empire which is quickly being built up on these
Northern shores.
Our means of information are fast multiplying with re
gard to the territory. We have ample data on which to
base safe and legitimate conclusions. We have had the
evidence of travellers, of missionaries, and of servants of the
company. We are now obtaining the trustworthy testimony of
scientific exploring expeditions, prosecuting their researches
from the Eastern and the Western Territories, In to-night,
then, pursuing our journey westward, I design to travel in
good company ; and lest we should lose our way in the
"wilds, I will keep close to the prominently-defined trail of
the Governor of Rupert's Land, Sir George Simpson, as in
1841 he wended his way on his enterprising Overland Jour
ney Round the World, of which we are in possession of so
lively and graphic an account.*
First, we shall steam up the Ottawa as far as Les Joachims ;
thence proceed by canoe, via the Upper Ottawa and the Mat-
* London, 1847. The author. Sir George Simpson, was Governor-in-Chief of the
Hudson's Bay Company's Territories. He obtained his knighthood ip 1841, and di§4
^t Lachiqe on the 7th of Septeniber, 1860,

60 NOVA BRITANNIA.
tawan, to Lake Nipissing ; thence, by same conveyance, down
the French River to the Georgian Bay (or we ean go thus
far, directly and speedily, by the Grand Trunk and Northern
Railways) ; and thence by steamer through Lake Huron
and the Sault Ste. Marie ship-canal, to Lake Superior, and
onward on that lake to Fort William, near the frontier of
Minnesota. From this point we shall, in our canoe, dart
merrily up the beautiful river Kaministiquia, " whose ver
dant banks form a striking and agreeable contrast to the ster
ile and rugged coast of Lake Superior." Passing by the
Kakabeka Falls, " inferior in volume only to Niagara, and
having the advantage over it in wildness of scenery," we
shall pass through forests of elm, oak, pine, and birch, where
" the river is studded with isles not less fertile than the
banks, many a spot reminding us of the rich and quiet scen
ery of England." And as we look over this (to borrow a
term from the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Territories)
" perfect Paradise, as compared with the adamantine desert
of Lalie Superior," the conclusion is forced upon our minds,
as it was upon that of Sir George Simpson, that " one can
not pass through this fair valley without feeling that it is
destined, sooner or later, to become the happy home of
civilized men, with their bleating flocks and lowing h'erds,
their schools and their churches, their full garners and their.
social hearths." Toiling on our way, "crossing the height
of land between Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company's
Territories," as they claim it, and leaving behind us in a
shallow pool " one of the thousand sources of the St. Law
rence," descending the River Embarras, passing through
the Lake of a Thousand Lakes, over the French Portage,

LECTURE 1. 61
over hill and valley, through morass and forest, passing
through Sturgeon Lake into the Maligne, thence through Lac
la Croix to the Macan, seeing, as we pass, sturgeons tethered
by the Indians to stakes and waiting their doom, we make a
short portage from the Macan to a stream falling into the Lac
la Pluie, and thence float on to that Lake. " The river,"
says our authority, " which empties Lac la Pluie into the
Lake of the Woods, is decidedly the finest stream on the
whole route. From Fort Frances downwards, a stretch of
100 miles, it is not interrupted by a single impediment,
while the current is not strong enough to materially retard
an ascending traveller. When we understand, as we are in
formed by Professor Hind, that the area of arable land in the
Rainy River Valley exceeds 200,000 acres, while there are
small detached areas on the route between the Kaministiquia
and the Rainy Rivers of from 50 to 200 acres, which will
be of much importance in the establishment of the line of
communication from Canada, we can appreciate the state
ment of Sir George Simpson that " the banks are no less
favourable to agriculture than the waters themselves to
navigation, resembling in some measure those of the Thames
near Richmond. From the very bank of the river " — con
tinues Sir George, "there rises a gentle slope of green-sward,
crowned in many places with a plentiful growth of birch,
poplar, beech, elm and oak."
We can enter most cordially into the vision that rose be
fore him— a vision now rapidly approaching realization —
and which he thus foreshadowed : —
" Is it too much for the eye of philanthropy to discern, through the
vista of futurity, this noble stream, connecting" as it does the fertile
shores of two spacious lakes, with crowded steamboats on its bosom and
populous towns on its borders ? "

62 NOVA BRITANNIA.
But, paddling on through the Lake of the Woods, " whose
shores are very fertile," and which is studded with woody
islands, we reach the head of the Winnipeg, a magnificent
stream which empties the Lake of the Woods into Lake
Winnipeg. Here, again, apart from the cultivable areas
varying from 50 to 300 acres along its course of 200 miles,
we find 20,000 acres of arable land. The river is broken by
falls and rapids. Passing down the river, we reach Lake
Winnipeg ; and at length enter on the grand traverse lead
ing to the mouth of the Red River, and gain first the lower
fort of the settlement, and then Fort Garry, twenty-one
miles higher up the river. And so we have in a few minutes
accomplished a journey of 500 miles from Fort William, and
have, I trust, derived frortt the adventure some information
of a practical character. The route derives much present
interest from the fact that it is our avenue of approach to
the vast prairies of the Red River and the Saskatchewan —
our pathway to the Red River settlement, whence we can
take horse and ride on to the Rocky Mountains, " over a
very fine country." But for the present, simply passing
through the Red River settlement, and forbearing to glance
at its eventful history, in itself an ample theme for a lecture,
and reserving to an after part of the evening some account
of its condition and resources, I will ask my hearers to take
(in imagination) horse, or, if they prefer it, to stretch them
selves for part of the journey, as far as Edmonton, lazily in
a cart, and, with the cry of " Westward ho I " pass out upon
the fertile prairies, and so attempt to gain the shores of the
Pacific ; again following the route of Sir George Simpson, for
the advantage of a beaten path.

LECTURE II. 63
On the 3rd of July, 1840, then, his adventurous cavalcade
defiled "through the gates of Fort Garry into the open
plains, with a horizon before them as well defined as that of
the blue ocean, the scene resembling the moving oi an east
ern caravan in the boundless sands of Arabia ; a medley of
pots, and pans, and kettles in one single vehicle, the unruly
j)ack-horses prancing under their loads, and every cavalier
armed to the teeth, assisting his steed to neigh and caper
with boot and spur ; the effect being not a little heightened
by a brilliant sunrise, the firing of cannon, the streaming of
flags, and the shouting of spectators." We are under way,
then. The scenery of the first day is " a perfect level." On
the east, north, aud south there was not a mound or a tree
to vary the vast expanse of greensward, while to the west
were the gleaming bays of the winding Assiniboine, separa
ted from each other by wooded points of considerable depth.
Next day the cavalcade " brushed the Tich grass with their
knees." The rankness of the vegetation savoured of the
torrid zone. In the afternoon, the plains gave place to a
"rolling succession of sandy hills covered with brush."
Next day the journey lay through tolerably well- wooded
hills, with a succession of lakes. In the neighbourhood of
these waters the pasture was rich and luxuriant. The pace
now became slower, to keep with that of the loaded carts.
On ascending the eastern embankment of the valley of the
Assiniboine, a large band of horses was seen, the stud of Fort
ElUce. Leaving the fort, and passing through a swampy wood,
and through a level meadow several thousand acres in ex
tent, the party trotted away over prairies studded with

64 ^ NOVA BRITANNIA.
clumps of trees, then over swampy ground, then over prai
ries, and past a boundless one as level and smooth as a pond,
and covered with an alluvial soil of great fertility. And so
the pace was kept up, at the rate of four or five miles an
hour, for ten, twelve, or fourteen hours a day. The soil for
three or four days was, we are told, absolutely manured with
the dun^ of the buffalo, so that myriads must have recently
passed over the ground. And the journey went on amid
such characteristics as these : a picturesque country, slop
ing banks of greensward crowned with thick woods ; a
beautiful country with lofty hills and long valleys, till the
south branch of the Saskatchewan was reached. A smart
ride of four or five hours from the Bow River, through
a country much resembling an English park, brought the
cavalcade to Fort Carlton, on the Saskatchewan. The dis
tance of 600 miles was accomplished in thirteen days. The
river is here a quarter of a mile wide, and is navigable for
boats from Rocky Mountain House to Lake Winnipeg, up
wards of 700 miles in a direct line. At the Fort " there
are large gardens and fields, producing abundance of pota
toes and other vegetables." Next, we journey on from
Carlton to Edmonton, on the north bank of the Saskatche
wan. The route lies at first through a hilly country ; then
through vast prairies, the grazing-grounds of the buffalo,* a
herd of 5,000 having been overtaken by the party. Sir
George Simpson states that buffaloes are incredibly numer
ous, and that in 1829 he saw 10,000 of their carcasses mired
^ These animals have since practically become extinct. Their trails are seldom
seen, and their bones lie bleaching on the vast plains ; while the Indian, deprived
•of his main support, is painfuUy learning, under the tuition of the Canadian Gov
ernment, to gain his livelihood by the culture of the BoU.

LECTURE II. 65
in a single ford of the Saskatchewan. As they advanced
towards Edmonton an extensive forest was passed ; then a
plain covered with a luxuriant crop of wild vetches. At
length Edmonton was reached. Here they found a farm.
The pasturage was most luxuriant, and a large dairy was
maintained. Barley yielded a fair return. Wheat was, it
is said, liable to be destroyed by early frost. The garden
produced potatoes, turnips, and a few other hardy vege
tables. From Edmonton, the next stage of the journey was to
Fort Col ville, and the path lay through " every kiiid of
ground, thict swamps, rugged mountains, rapid rivers, tan
gled bush, and burning forests ; " but the journey was, not
withstanding, accomplished at the rate of forty miles a day.
The weather, during the long journey of nearly 2,000 miles,
had been an almost unbroken spell of cloudless skies. Dur
ing seven weeks the cavalcade had not had one entire day's
rain, and had been blessed with genial days, light winds,
and cool nights. Colville is a mile from the Columbia. The
farm is remarkably productive, cattle thrive well, while the
crops are abundant. Wheat weighs from sixty-three to
sixty-five pounds a bushel. Maize flourishes, ripening in
September. Potatoes, peas, barley, turnips, melons, and
cucumbers are plentiful.
Here, then, we leave Sir George Simpson to pursue his
adventurous journey " round the world," and bring before
our readers the results of their observation and of our in
quiries. Thus, then, we have the practicability demonstra
ted of a journey of 2,000 miles on horseback through the
Hudson's Bay Territories ; and we obtain glimpses of the
5

66 NOVA BRITANNIA.
country, and also obtain many incidental facts and state
ments which prove not only its adaptation for settlement,
but that it is adapted to take the highest rank as a grazing-
country. A country which affords sustenance to the buffalo
in such countless numbers cannot be a sterile one. Vast
stretches of prairie, carpeted with rich green-sward, present
no such obstacles to the settler as do our own acres of Cana
dian forest ; and the time cannot be distant when they will
be turned to profitable account. I have adduced strong tes
timony as to the character of the country in question ; but
I feel bound, in common fairness, to state that the weight
of the evidence has been somewhat impaired by that of the
same witness when before the Committee of the House of
Commons, and I shall quote, therefore, other authorities as
to tJie capabilities of the country.
Hear Sir Alexander McKenzie as to the river dis
charging Lac la Pluie : —
" This is one of the finest rivers in the North-West, and runs a course
west and east of 120 miles  Its ba.nks are covered with a rich
soil, particularly to the north, which in many parts are clothed with
fine open groves of oak, with the maple, pine and cedar. The southern
bank is not so elevated, and displays the maple, white birch and the
cedar, with the spruce, alder, and various underwood.
•i " Though the soil at the fort is a stiff clay, there is a garden, which,
unassisted as it is by manure or any particular attention, is tolerably
productive." Of the Red River District, he says : —
" The country on either side of that river is but partially supplied
with wood, and consists of plains covered with herds of buffalo and elk,
especially on the western side. On the eastern side are lakes and rivers,
and the whole coimtry is weU wooded and level  There is
no J perhaps a finer country in the world for the residence of uncivilized
man than that which occupies the space between this river and Lake
Superior."

LECTURE II. 67
Professor Hind says : —
" About Rainy Lake, and thence to Rainy River and the Lake of the
Woods, following from the latter place the propoied route across to Red
Kiver, the country is, I think, as well adapted for settlement as any
other part of North America. The climate is good, the soil in general
fertile, water-power is to be had in abundance, and in the woods there
are many kinds of valuable timber."
I shall in the proper sequence speak more fully of the
Red River country ; and I think that few will hesitate to
continue to believe that it is neither barren nor unproduc
tive, but that it is well adapted to become the dwelling-
place of a large population, and that it has resources exten
sive enough to maintain a thriving colony, if once British,
freedtim were established within its borders.
I shall, therefore, here group the result of recent inquir
ies as to the extent of the known territory, now or formerly
(under some authority or other) subjected to the control of
the company, but which ought to be thrown open for set
tlement, and which is well adapted for the purpose. And,
to reverse the order of our view, and commence on the west,
I notice, firstly, VANCOUVER ISLAND.
With regard to this interesting possession of the Crown,
which comprises 12,000 square miles, and is as long as
England, though not so wide, I quote the testimony of the
Honourable Edward EUice : —
" From all the accounts we have of it, it is a kind of England attached
to America. . . It should be the principal station of your naval force
in the Pacific. It is an island in which there is every kind of timber fit
for naval purposes. It has the only good harbour from San Francisco to
as far north as the Russian settlement of Sitka. You have in Vanoou-

68 NOVA BRITANNIA.
ver Island the best harbour, fine timber in every situation, and coal
enough for your whole navy. The climate is wholesome, very like
that of England. The coasts abound with fish of every description— in
short, there is every advantage in the Island of Vancouver to make it
one of the first colonies and best settlements of England."
Mr. Cooper, long a practical agriculturist, and a member
of the Council of the island, says of it : " The soil is cap
able of producing all the crops that we grow in England,
and some others which we cannot produce — Indian corn,
for instance ; but I do not think it would quite come to
perfection on account of the coolness of the nights." But
he says that " wheat ripens to perfection," and that " it is
one of the finest wheat-growing countries in the world."
Mr. John Miles says that " the soil of the island is Very
good and very rich, and the climate is, I think, superior to
that of England. . . There is every necessary in the
island itself for its becoming one of the finest colonies in the
world. It has wood, coal, good land and iron. The posi
tion is good and the climate is good" Ex-Governor Blan
chard says that " on the whole the climate is milder than
that of Britain, and the soil is fertile."
In view of such advantages, and in view of its evident
natural destiny as a great naval station, a new England,
upon which will concentrate a flourishing trade with India,
China, the Indian Archipelago, and Australia, who can doubt
that its rise will be rapid and its progress steady, as it is
gradually developed into a wealthy and prosperous centre
of trade, the smiling home of thousands of happy colonists 1
We have, secondly,

LECTURE II. 69
BRITISH COLUMBIA.*
This new colony lies between the Rocky Mountains and
the Pacific, and comprises all the territories bounded to the
south by the American frontier line of 49 degrees north lati
tude ; to the east by the main chain of the Rocky Mountains ;
to the north by Simpson's River and the Finlay branch of the
Peace River ; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. It in
cludes Queen Charlotte's Island, and the islands thereto ad
jacent. It is, according to the Colonial Secretary, Sir Ed
ward Bulwer Lytton, 420 miles long and 300 broad. Taken
from corner to corner, its greatest length is 800 miles, and
its greatest breadth 400 miles. Mr. Arrowsmith computes
its area, including Queen Charlotte's Island, at more than
200,000 square miles. Of its two gold-bearing districts, one
is on the Fraser River, now so well known, which river,
flowing south from the northern boundary, falls into the sea
at the south-western extremity of the territory, opposite the
southern end of Vancouver Island, and within a few miles
* Vancouver Island and the mainland were united in 1866 under the name of British
Columhia. In July, 1871, that Province entered Confederation, and became a part
of the Dominion. The boundaries laid down in the text were of course varied when
Vancouver Island became part of British Columbia. The boundary between the
United States and the British possessions in the far west of America was long a fruit
ful source of dispute. It was supposed to have been settled by the Oregon Treaty
of 1846, but the description in that treaty was so uncertain that the question, for
practical purposes, remained as far from settlement as bef )re. After having re
peatedly led to international complications, the San Juan boundary question, as it
was called, was submitted by the two powers concerned to the arbitrament of the
Emperor of Germany. The question to be decided was whether the Haro Channel,
as claimed by the United States, or the Rosairo Strait, as claimed by Great Britain,
was the boundiry contemplated by the Treaty of 1846. On the 24th of October, 1872,
the Emperor adjudicated in favour of the view contended for by the United States.
By reference to a map it will be seen that thi3 portion of the boundary lies consid
erably to the south of the 49th parallel.

70 NOVA BRITANNIA.
of the American boundary. The other is on the Thompson
River, which rises in the Rocky Mountains, and flows west
ward to the Fraser River, about 150 miles from the coast.
It is on these rivers, and chiefly at their confluence, that the
gold discoveries were originally made. Mr. Cooper is
quoted by Bulwer as stating in a letter addressed to him
that " Its fisheries are most valuable; its timber the finest in the world for
marine purposes. It abounds with bituminous coal, well suited for the
¦ {. eueration of steam. From Thompson River and ColviUe District to
the Rocky Mountains, and from the 49th parallel some 350 miles north,
a more beautiful country does not "exist. It is every way suitable for
colonization." Mr. Cooper stated also in his evidence before the Com
mittee of the House of Commons that the climate of the
Thompson River country is one of the most beautiful in
the world, and that it is capable of producing all the crops
produced in England. Its winters are more severe than
those of England, but much milder than those of Canada.
He stated that "its winter, being so much milder, would
not bear comparison with a Canadian winter." Such, then,
is the country in which, under an enlightened policy, a
provisional government has been established, with the in
tention of eventually according to the infant colony the
rights and the duties of representative institutions ; and that
so soon as its society takes ^shape and form — so soon as it
arrives at a sufficient stage of advancement for their ex
ercise. We Canadians cannot but regard with hopeful interest
the progress of this experiment. The gold-fields, though for
a time steadily depreciated, are proving productive. But

LECTURE II. 71
even should they yet become unproductive, good has been
accomplished, and earnest, self-reliant men will push on to
the western slope of the Rocky Mountains and build up
there on the Pacific shores a thriving British colony. When
the fever of the gold excitement has passed away, and fruit
ful fields yield up their rich harvest, and the hum of busy
industry is heard in the long desolate glades and prairies of
the West, the statesmanlike and judicious views of the
present Colonial Secretary will have ripened into fruition
— views which he forcibly expressed in the British House
of Commons when he said : —
" Of one thing I am sure, that though at present it is the desire of gold
which attracts to this colony its eager and impetuous founders, still, if it
be reserved, as I hope, to add a permanent and fiourishing race to the
great human family, it must be not by the gold which the digger may
bring to light, but by the more gradual process of patient industry in the
culture of the soil and in the exchange of commerce. It must be in the
respect for the equal laws which secure to every man the power to retain
what he may honestly acquire; it must be in those social virtues by which
the fierce impulse of force is tamed into habitual energy, and avarice it
self, aud the strife of competition, find their objects best realized by
steadfast emulation and prudent thrift."
Firmly convinced of the sound philosophy and the prac
tical common sense contained in these weighty words of a
British statesman, we British North Americans will watch
the future of British Columbia and Vancouver Island with
keen interest and rising hopes, and will coincide most
cordially in the feelings which influenced Bulwer, when
closing the striking speech in which he had enunciated his
plans for the development of the new colony : —
" I conclude, sir, with a humble trust,.that the Divine Disposer of all
human events may afford the safeguard of Hia blessing to an attempt to

72 NOVA BRITANNIA.
add nother community of Christian freemen to those by which Great
Britain confides the records of her empire, not to pyramids and obelisks,
but to states and commonwealths, whose history wiU be written in her
language.'' I turn, thirdly, to
THE ATHABASKA DISTRICT,
which comprises 50,000 square miles. The valleys of the
Peace and Athabaska Rivers occupy the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains, and share the Pacific cKmate in a high
degree. Of this region Sir Alexander McKenzie says : —
" In the summer of 178S a small spot was cleared at the old establish
ment, which is situated on a bank thirty feet above the level of the river,
and was sown with turnips, carrots, and parsnips. The first grew to a
large size, and the others thrived very well. An experiment was also
made with potatoes and cabbage ; the former of which was successful,
but, for want of care, the latter failed. In the fall of 1787 Mr. Pond had
formed on the bank of the Elk River as fine a kitchen-garden as I ever
saw in Canada.' Opposite to our present situation are beautiful mea,
dows." " On the 20th of April," he says, " on the other side of
the river, which was yet covered with ice, the plains were
delightful, the trees were budding and many plants in
blossom." On the 10th of May, 1793, he writes: "The
whole country displays an exuberant verdure." And to
adduce the statements of another eye-witness : sixty-five
years later, Richard King, M.D., surgeon to the expedition
in search of Sir John Ross, described this country (as he
saw it in 1833) as a very fertile valley.
" It is bounded " says Dr. King, " on the north by Athabaska Lake,
and on the south by Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan ; and it is
several thousand miles square. The country between the Athabaska and
the Saskatchewan is an immense area surrounded by water. When I

LECTURE II. 73
heard Dr. Livingstone's description of the splendid country which he
found within the tropics in the interior of Africa, it appeared to me to be
precisely the kind of country I am now describing. I passed through a
great portion of the district  The soil was a black mould, evidently
alluvial. I was told by the traders generally that it was precisely the
same land as that which I passed through, viz., a rich soil interspersed
with well-wooded country, there being growth of every kind,'and the
whole vegetable kingdom alive."
The average temperature of the vast area of which Atha
baska is the northern boundary he believed to be about the
same as that of Montreal. Limestone is met with in all
directions. The birch, beech, and maple are in abundance,
and there is every sort of fuel : there is likewise barley.
" There is one portion of London," he says, " I have often
pointed out to my friends as the sort of country I am
referring to — Kensington, and the magnificent trees round
Kensington Park." At Cumberland House he found
" capacious barns,'' and near it a little colony of thirty
persons, with 1500 to 2,000 acres under cultivation. The
farms were highly cultivated. There were corn, wheat and
barley growing. But they had been ordered to vacate.
" At the time they were ordered off, they told me that the Company
would not allow them to cultivate ; that it was against the Company,
and therefore the thing was to be broken up... Then I went to Cumber
land House, and found they were really borne out in what they said ;
for the barns and the implements were in the fields, and the cows, oxen,
and horses, and everything had gone wild. I inquired the reason of it.
They told me that Governor Williams had a penchant for farming, and
the Company had ordered him off somewhere else. The wheat was
luxuriant ; and there were also potatoes, barley, pigs, cows and horses."
The colonists appealed to Dr. King, as a government
officer, to relieve them, which he was unable to do.

74 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Here, then, is a large tract of country evidently available
for settlement, to which attention should be directed, with
the view of taking advantage of the inducements it presents
for colonization. Under other management the little colony
of thirty might have been expanded iiito an important nu
cleus of progress and civilization, and the 2000 cultivated
acres might have increased a hundred fold. Let us hope
that henceforth the country will receive that fair play which
it evidently deserves, and that colonists will have free and
unquestioned license to occupy the virgin soil without let or
hindrance. I now turn, in my eastward progress, to the
SASKATCHEWAN, ASSINIBOINE, AND RED RIVER COUNTRY.
This vast territory comprises an area of 360,000 square
miles,'*' and presents many advantages for speedy and ex
tensive colonization. The Red and Saskatchewan Rivers
course through vast fertile plains. The Red River, Lake
Winnipeg, and the Saskatchewan furnish a navigable water-
line of 1400 miles. Steamers, recent explorers have stated,
may ply on the Saskatchewan for a distance of 700 miles
above Lake Winaipeg.f According to Mr. Hind, who
reported to the Canadian Government last year, there are
within British Territory, in the valleys of the Red River
and its affluent the Assiniboine, 1,200,000 acres of cultivable
land of the finest quality, and an area of 3,000,000 acres
well adapted for grazing purposes. Surely, with such an
expanse ready for occupation, a long time will not elapse
• 230,400,000 acres.
t Ihid hjij also becopie an accomplished fact.

LECTURE IL 75
ere prosperous and populous communities will inhabit its
rich prairies, and a great transcontinental thoroughfare be
established, via^Cauada^and the Red River to the Pacific.
With our tame and prosaic ideas, with our remembrances of
the past, and with the present stern warfare urged against
the forests of our heavUy-timbered lands, it is difficult to
form any conception of this boundless prairie, with its rich,
long, waving grass glistening under the rays of the noon-day
sun like some great ocean, but " which, unlike the ever-
changing and unstable sea, seems to offer a bountiful recom
pense, in a secure though distant home, to millions of our
fellow-men." The settlement at the Red River was formed by Lord
Selkirk in 1811, and it has passed through a severe and try
ing ordeal. It has not advanced much in population,owing
to the difficulty of ingress and egress, and to the want of a
market of sufficient extent to stimulate industry and en
courage production. The total population in 1856 was 11,-
814, having increased 1,200 only in seven years.* The soil
at the Red River settlement is, according to Dr. Rae, of a
very rich quality. According to the Rev. Mr. Corbett, a
Church of England clergyman who was stationed in the ter
ritory, the country is excellent for agricultural operations,
which might probably be extended to a great distance from
the river. The soil is alluvial. The inhabitants cultivate the
soil without manuring it. They sow for twelve or fourteen
years in succession, and produce, from four quarts, twelve
bushels of wheat, sixty-five or seventy pounds to the bushel.
^ The most marveUous transformation of all has talsen place here. What was
ben known as the Red River settlement now contains not fewer thau 50,000 soqls
Winnipeg alone hag a population of more than 20,000.

76 NOVA BRITANNIA.
According to Bishop Anderson, the crops at the Red River
are as good as in any part of Canada. Mr. Gowles, a farm
er, is stated by Mr. Hind to have grown fifty-six measured
bushels of wheat to the acre.* Melons grow luxuriantly,
and "all kinds of farm-produce common in Canada succeed
admirably in the district pf Assiniboia. There are wheat, oats,
barley, Indian corn,hops, flax, hemp, potatoes, root-crops,and
all kinds of garden vegetables ; " and as a grazing country in
summer and in autunin, the Red River territory has perhaps
no equal. With such a region spread out before us, inviting
occupation, I can enter heartily into the belief of Mr. Hind :
" Introduce the European or the Canadian element into the
settleraent, and in a very few years the beautiful prairies of
the Red River and the Assiniboine would be white with
flocks and herds, and a large and flourishing centre of civil
ization, liberty, and progress planted, and another link es
tablished in the chain of communities which are springing
up in British territory between the Atlantic and the Pacific."
And now, in review of our observations of this territory,
its extent is so vast, and our means of information have been
hitherto so limited, that it is at present impossible to arrive
at a positive conclusion as to the best modes of its immedi
ate partial occupation. - Doubtless the experiment now be
ing tried on the Pacific will solve the difficulty. But it is
evident that other portions of the wide territory also de
mand the promptest attention ; and I believe that as our
^ These facts as to the agricultural capabilities of the land were little known at
the time of the delivery of the lecture. They have long since become known to
everyone who takes any interest in matters relating to the North-West, and the
statistics stated in the text have frequently been exceeded, in various parts of Man
itoba.

LECTURE It 77
own territory is sufficiently large, and we have scope and
verge enough for the expansion of a dense population (den
ser than ours will be for years to come), similar prompt and
energetic measures should be adopted with regard to the
Red River country, which until it be admitted a member of
the Canadian Confederation — an object to be kept steadily
in view — should meanwhile be constituted into a territorial
government, under the direct authority of the Crown,* with
a constitution adapted to its position, with entire freedom
for importation and exportation, save upon the charges, of
moderate extent, necessary to defray the expenses of the
government. Then, with an energetic colony on the Pacific,
with another centre of civilization and progress on the Red
River, and with Canada stretching out towards the prairie,
and traversing anew her old north-western path re-opened
and improved, the vast country would bid fair to be peopled
with an industrious population, and the avenue would be
opened up for the inroad of the locomotive. The construction
of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway would be facilitated, its
ultimate construction assured, and a step of immeasurable
* This suggestion was acted upon. In 1869 an Act was passed providing a Territor
ial Government for the North- Western possessions then in progress of acquirement
from the Hudson's Bay Company. This, however, wa-i merely a temporary expedi
ent, and in due course the Red River settlement, under the name of Manitoba, was
erected into a Province of the Confederation. The North-West Territories, apart
from Manitoba, are still governed by a Lieutenant-Governor and his Council. The
District of Keewatin was also created, embracing the Northem Territory — the laad
of the North Wind. The Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba is ex officio Governor of
this District. The North-West Territories have recently been divided into Districts,
and the Council ia a mixed one, partly nominative and partly elective. As stated
in the introduction to this volume, Mr. Morris held, during the customary term,
the offices of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, the North-West Territories, and
Keewatin.

78 NOVA BRITANNIA.
importance taken towards laying the foundation of the new
Britannic Northern Empire on these American shores.
THE PACIFIC RAILWAY
is one of those immense undertakings which only a great
and urgent necessity could call into life and activity. Yet,
grand as is the conception, I hesitate not to say that it is
far more likely to be constructed within the next twenty
years than was ten years ago the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada. Nor am I alone in this belief. Hear the language
of Sir Edward Bulwer : —
" I beUeve that the day will come, and that many now present will
live to see it, when a portion at least of the lands on the other side of
the Rocky Mountains, being also brought into colonization and guarded
by free institutions, one direct line of railway communication will unite
the Pacific to the Atlantic''
As to the practicability of the route, I content myself
with quoting the testimony of Sir George Simpson before
the Hudson's Bay Committee of the House of Commons, that
there is a very fine country through which a railway might
easily, comparatively speaking, be made from the Red River
to the Rocky Mountains. The discovery by the Palliser
expedition of practicable passes through the Rocky Moun
tains ensures the ultimate construction of this great nation
al work. THE CLIMATE.
But with the question of a railway, and with that of
colonization, the character of the climate is intimately asso
ciated, and I shall therefore notice that branch of the subject
briefly. I have already incidentally referred to the favour-

LECTURE IL 79
able climate of Vancouver Island and of British Columbia,
and the question is one of importance, for the capacity for
settlement is to be determined by climate.
In an elaborate work recently published in Philadelphia
— Blodgett's " Climatology " — it is demonstrated that the
climate of the north-west coast, and of the interior towards
Lake Winnipeg, is quite the reverse of that experienced in
the same latitudes on the Atlantic, and highly favourable to
occupation and settlement. It is predicted in that work
that a speedy' development of that capacity will take place
when the climate becomes correctly known.
On the maps of this climatological work we find lines for
the summer, connecting places of the like measures going
very far north, as they go westward from Philadelphia and
New York. Where the mean' is seventy-five degrees as at
New York, the line connecting points of that temperature
strikes off north-westward after leaving the Ohio River, and
goes almost to the northern boundary of the United States
on the Upper Missouri. The measure of seventy degrees
goes far on the Saskatchewan River, connecting its western
plains with St. Paul, Chicago, Cleveland and West Point.
If these cities have a tolerable climate for summer, the
plains of the Saskatchewan, which lie just east of Fraser
River across the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, have
one capable of settlement. The line of sixty-five connects
.Portland, Quebec, Mackinaw, Superior' City, and Lake
Winnipeg. It goes to the Athabaska River northward, and
quite to the fifty-fifth parallel, from which it returns south
ward to Fort Owen, Fort Colville, and Fort Vancouver, in
Oregon. The coolness of the country westward is derived

80 NOVA BRITANNIA.
from the Pacific, which prevents a high measure of summer
heat, the average for the vicinity of Vancouver Island
and of Fraser River being between sixty and sixty-five
degrees, or almost precisely such as that for the west of
England. " Again," says the author above referred to, " taking the
isothermal chart for the winter, we have equally important
results. The line of thirty-five degrees passes down the
coast across the mouth of the Fraser River, and, going as
far south as the Albuquerque in New Mexico, it reaches the
Atlantic coast in the latitude of Washington city. Gener
ally all the lines of temperature for the winter curve far
northward as they approach the Pacific, though they fall
southward at the meridian of the west end of Lake
Superior. The winter climate of the whole country west of
the 100th meridian is remarkable, and inexplicably mild to
one who has not studied the relation of continental climates
to those of the adjacent seas. By the explanation this posi
tion affords, however, much of the case is rdade plain. The
winds of the temperate latitudes are steadily from the
west, and they bathe the western coasts in milder air,
derived from the adjacent sea. In this manner, Ireland
England, the west of Norway and Germany, are far milder
than the interior of Russia in the same latitudes. At
Moscow it is very cold in winter, while on the British coasts
snow scarcely falls. It is precisely so on the American
continent. Quebec and Canada and the mountainous por
tion of New England represent the cold side, while Wash
ington Territory, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island
represent the west of Europe."

LECTURE II. 81
This is important testimony, ancj proves that scientific
researches are not without practical results of the highest
value. In this case they tend to the development of an
empire of the amplest extent and most abundant natural
resources. Having thus considered the character of the country
under the sway of the Hudson's Bay Company, or rather of
those portions of it now known to be best adapted for
settlement, I now proceed to inquire upon what tenure the
company claims to hold this half of a great continent, and
find that a charter was granted by King Charles the Second
to the company for the promotion of the public good, and
for the encouragement of the design of the parties for whose
benefit it was granted, viz. " the discovery of a new passage
into the South Sea," and " for finding of some trade in furs,
minerals, and other considerable .commodities," which last
is subsidiary to the main object of finding a passage into
he South Sea.
The three things granted thereby are :
1st. The territorial lordship of Rupert's Land.
2nd. The exclusive trade of Rupert's Land.
3rd. The exclusive trade with- all other ports to which
access might be obtained thence by land or water.
The words of the grant are vague and indefinite in the ex
treme. Grants were made with lavish liberality in those
days ; and in the want of accurate information as to
the extent or locality of the country granted, the gift was
clothed with a multitude of words, so as to comprehend as
much as possible. The terms of the grant are : All the seas
straits, bays, &c., in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that
6

82 NOVA BRITANNIA.
lie within tne entrance of the straits commonly called Hud
son's Straits, together with all the lands and territories upon
the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, &c., that are
not already possessed by or granted to any of our subjects,
or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian Province
or State. It would puzzle a bench of Judges to decide the
meaning of these terms,- and it would tax the ingenuity of a
corps of Provincial Land Surveyors to run the boundaries
of that grant. Where are the lands and territories, upon
the countries, coasts, and confines of the seas, &c., that lie
within Hudson's Straits ? The company have their own
interpretations of its meaning, knd claim all the country the
waters of which fall into Hudson's Bay. To sustain that
view they quote the opinion of eminent counsel. Sir J.
Pelly, long earnestly interested in the company, says, in
evidence given before the House of Commons, that "the
power of the company extends all the way from the boun
daries of Lower and Upper Canada, away to the North
Pole as far as the land goes, and from theLabrador coast all
the way to the Pacific Ocean." An extensive domain, cer
tainly ! It is not my intention to enter at length into the
discussion of the legality of this charter or its merits. Its
language is vague ; and eminent counsel. Lord Brougham
among them, have maintained that the claims of the com
pany were untenable, holding that the expression " within
the Straits," must mean such a proximity as would give the
land spoken of a sort of affinity to Hudson's Straits, and
not such lands as, from the immense distance (in this case
the nearest point to Hudson's ^Bay being 700 miles, and
thence extending to a distance of 1500 miles from it), have

LECTURE II. 83
no such geographical affinity or relation to the Straits, but
which are not even approached by the Canadians through
or by the Straits in question; and declaring that "the
enormous extensions of land and territory claimed ap
peared not to be warranted by any sound construction of
the charter.'' Passing by the general question of legality
with the simple affirmation of my belief that it ought to be
judicially tested, we, as Canadians, have a special ground of
attack against the charter, and we have territorial rights to
conserve. But it must be borne in mind, whether we assume
that the charter is valid or invalid, that Canada is clearly
not entitled to the whole of the country reaching to the
North Pole. If the charter be invalid, the British Crown
would be the sovereign of a large portion ; but nevertheless,
1 believe that Canada is the rightful owner of a large extent
of the territory. The question of boundary is important,
as a subsidiary one, and its right decision will add many
fruitful acres to our borders. It derives much significance
from the expressions which distinctly exclude " all the lands
already actually possessed by or granted to any of our sub
jects, or possessed by the subjects of any Christian Province
or State." Resting upon this express prohibition, Canada
claims by inheritance a large tract of the territory. Canada,
under the sway of the French authorities, had adventurously
pushed her way into the territory, and the subjects of
another " Christian Province " then possessed a large por
tion of it. Lord Brougham, in the opinion referred to,
states : —
" Indeed, there may be sulficient reason to suppose that the territories
in question, or part of them, had been then visited, traded in, and'in a

84 NOVA BRITANNIA.
certain degree occupied by the French settlers or traders in Canada,
erected in 1630, whose trade, prior to the date of the charter, was, we be
lieve, considerable. These territories, therefore, would be expressly ex
cepted out of the grant."
Canada, then, as the representative of French Canada,
has a right to demand the extension of its boundaries to
their ancient limits.
But to pass to another branch of the subject. The grant
of the exclusive trade over the territories called Rupert's
Land is open to serious objection. By virtue of it, the
Hudson's Bay Company claim (1.) to exclude all other mer
chants from the country ; (2) to prevent the natives from
selling their furs to any bub privileged dealers; (3) the
right to debar from trading any British subjects who may
settle in the countries included in the charter. In short,
the company claim and have endeavoured to maintain a
complete monopoly. It would be easy to quote authorities
and cite cases to prove that such engrossing of trade is unrea
sonable and unwarrantable, and that monopolies are without
law. The law of England by no means favours them ; but
none would be disposed to ask such summary justice as was
dealt out to one Sir Francis Mitchell in 1621, to whom a
patent was granted for making and selling gold and silver
lace. For this crime, as it was regarded, he was degraded
from his knighthood, fined £1000, carried on horseback with
his face to the tail through the streets of London, and then
imprisoned for life. Such punishments are out of date, and
it is well they are so. In dealing with the destiny of a
portion of the empire, the question is to be considered, not
in a mere dry legal aspect, but on the high ground of public

LECTURE II. 85
justice ; and in this view the continuance of such a mono
poly is wholly indefensible. The day has gone by for its
maintenance, and neither the colonists of Red River nor
their stronger brethren of Canada will long consent to see
trade stifled and cramped and forced out of its natural
channels. But the company have still another set of rights
— the right of exclusive trade with the Indians over what
is known as the "Indian Territories." This right is not
disputed, and is at present held under the Royal License of
trade granted in accordance with the Act of Parliament 1 and
2 Geo. IV., cap. 66. This license expires during the present
year. Such, then, is the nature of the rights and claims of the
company. But before closing this branch of the subject, I
cannot avoid alluding to the fierce warfare which waged be
tween the rival companies of the Hudson's Bay adventurers
and the Canadian North-West company, or rather the two
Canadian Fur companies. The fur trade was always an im
portant one to Canada. Distant expeditions were prose
cuted into the North-West at an early date, and the
trade was spread as far west as the banks of the Saskatche
wan. The French had a large establishment on the Kam
inistiquia, on the line of their communication with the
interior. They had other posts on the Saskatchewan.
After the conquest of Canada, the traders pushed on the
"trade beyond the French limits. A keen competition arose
between them and the Hudson's Bay Company. At length,
in 1783, the Canadian merchants formed the "North-West
Company," to carry on the fur trade. In 1788, the gross
amount of the company's adventure was £40,000. In

86 NOVA BRITANNIA.
eleven years it rose to triple that amount. In 1798 the
concern was increased, and the shares augmented. The
company was enterprising and energetic. It employed 50
clerks, 71 interpreters and clerks, 1120 canoe-men, and
35 guides. This, then, was no mean rival to the Hudson's
Bay Company, and a long and fierce struggle ensued between
them for the golden prize. The strife was waged in Can
ada, and it was battled in Britain. The Hudson's Bay
Company urged its extreme pretensions. The North-West
Company set them at naught in practice, and bearded the
lion in his den, engaging Lord Brougham, Sir Arthur Pigott,
and other eminent lawyers in their cause. At length, when
the rights of the company were likely to be subjected to the
severe test of passing through the crucible of the law, the
company shrank from the ordeal, and, after years of abuse,
the lion and the lamb lay down together ; and Edward
Ellice and the McGillivray, who had been the leaders of
the North-west Company, were suddenly transformed into
manful defenders of the monopoly they had so long defied.
Aaron's rod had swallowed up all the other rods, and hence
forth they made common cause, to retain the princely
domain which it has been so long the steady policy of the
company to decry and undervalue. The company were
gainers by the result. They secured the aid of men of keen
sagacity and shrewd judgment. They kept off " interlop
ers," secured a long uninterrupted reign, and obtained a
license of trade over the Indian Territories, and, by and by,
the occupation of Vancouver Island, with a view to its col
onization. And now again the battle is to be fought, but
with other assailants and with anotherresult. Already public

LECTURE II. , 87
necessities have withdrawn from their grasp a new colony
— British Columbia. There are yet others to be erected.
I by no means design to run an unthinking muck against
the company. I believe it to be selfish, and eager for its
own aggrandizement, as companies generally are. I believe
that it has, in its dealings with Russia and the States,
evinced an unpatriotic spirit. But yet it may be that it was
for the advancement of British interests on this continent
that the territories have hitherto remained under their
power. They might otherwise have been American. It
moreover has been well and fitly said that
"Perhaps there is no more striking illustration of the wisdom of that
Providence which presides over the management of affairs, than the fact
that emigration was first led to the Eastern coast, [rather than to the
slopes or plains of the West. Had the latter been first occupied, it is
doubtful whether the Eastern seaboard would ever have been settled.
No man would have turned from the greensward of the Pacific to the
Beamed slopes of the Atlantic edge. As it is, we have the energy and
patience which the difficult soil of the East generates, with that magni
ficent sweep. of Western territory, which, had it been opened to us first,
might, from its very luxuriauoy, have generated among those occupying
it an ignoble life of ease." '
Still, the conclusion is, on the whole, irresistible, that
public policy and the interests of the whole empire demand
that all those portions of the territory which are adapted
for settlement should at once be withdrawn from the power
of the company, the odious existing restrictions on trade
abolished, and free colonization allowed to take place therein
without let or hindrance. The Red River settlement would
then rapidly develop its resources, augment its population,
and become the seat of a new and powerful colony.

88 NOVA BRITANNIA.
With reterence to the company itself, it may be that the
time has come when it should be dissolved, and numbered
among the things that were — that it should gracefully imi
tate the example of the greater and vastly more influential
East India Company, and yield up its authority and control.
But should it, after due reflection and for sufficient reasons,
be otherwise determined, then the license to trade, and the
territorial authority of the company over any portions of
the soil but those in actual occupation, should be subjected
to the jurisdiction and right of restriction or withdrawal of
the colonial authorities of the various Provinces, or of the Su
preme Council of theGeneral Confederation, when such comes
to be organized. The questions involved in the determination
of this matter are grave and important. The rights and the
position of the Indians are to be thought of and protected.*
Still, the fact is obvious and indisputable, that the power of
the company, if it continue to exist, must be restrained, and
subjected to colonial control ; and that, moreover, the rights
of colonization and trade, at least in all the habitable terri
tories, must be. free and unfettered.
This conceded, as it must be if rightly urged, the results
will be startling. With two powerful colonies on the Pacific,
with another or more in the region between Canada and the
Rocky Mountains, with a railway and a telegraph linking
the Atlantic with the Pacific, and absorbing the newly-
opened and fast-developing trade with China and Japan,
* During his tenure of office as Lieuteaant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-
West Territories, it fell to Mr. Morris's lot to take a very conspicuous part in nego
tiating with the Indians on behalf of the Government of Canada. For a full account
of his negotiations, together with the text of the treaties concluded, we are indebted
to his own pen. See The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and
the North-West Territories. Toronto, 1880.

LECTURE IL b9
and our inland and ocean channels of trade becoming such
a thoroughfare of travel and of commerce as the world
never saw before, who can doubt of the reality and the
accuracy of the vision which rises distinctly and clearly-de
fined before us, as the Great Britannic. Empire of the North
stands out in all its grandeur, and in all the brilliancy of its
magnificent future ! Some hard matter-of-fact thinker,
some keen utilitarian, some plodding-man of business, may
point the finger of scorn at us, and deem all this but an
empty shadow — but the fleeting fantasy of a dreamer. Be
it so. Time is a worker of miracles — ay, and of sober
realities too ; and when we look east and west and north —
when we cause the goodly band of the Northmen from
Acadia, and Canada, and the North-West, and the Colum
bia, and the Britain of the Pacific, to defile before us, a noble
army of hardy spirits encased in stalwart forms — who are
the masters of so vast a territory, of a heritage of such sur
passing value : and when we remember the rapid rise into
the greatness of one of the powers of the earth of the former
American Colonies, and look back over their progress — who
can doubt of the future of these British Provinces, or of the
entire and palpable reality of that vision which rises so
grandly before us of the Great British Empire of the North
— of that new Eaglish-speaking nation which will at one
and no distant day people all this Northern continent — a
Russia, as has been well said, it may be, but yet an English
Russia, with free institutions, with high civilization, and
entire freedom of ^speech and thought — with its face to the
south and its back to the pole, with its right and left resting
on the Atlantic and the Pacific, and with the telegraph and
the iron road connecting the two oceans !

90 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Such is the vision which passed before Queen Victoria,
when she said to the Commons of England : —
" Her Majesty hopes that this new colony on the Pacific may be but
one step in the career of steady progress by Which Her Majesty's domi
nions in North America may ultimately be peopled, in an unbroken
chain from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by a loyal and industrious popula
tion of subjects of the British Crown."
Such was the patriotic vision that passed before the mind
of Roebuck, when, on the shores of Galway, he exclaimed :
" We lost the United Provinces of New England ; we lost them, but
our good fortune enabled us to make a Northem America. Our great
North American Colony stretches now from Halifax to Vancouver
Island. Up the St. Lawrence, along the lakes, through the Saskatche
wan, across the Rocky Mountains, the flag of England is predominant.
The language of JEngland goes from Halifax to Vancouver Island : the
institutions of England will reach thence as far as habitable land goes,
even to the poles, and we shall have such a dominion as the world never
saw ! "
Yes, such is the vision which is present to us, and to
many others " to the manner born," whose all and whose
destiny is here. Yes, we know, and feel, and are assured,
that if the people of these British Provinces are but true to
themselves, and if the people and the statesmen of Britain
but act aright their part, then this dream will be realized,
and that perhaps ere the men of this generation have all
passed from this fleeting scene. Let us each and all, then, do
our part in our respective spheres, however humble they
may be, toward the accomplishment of so noble an enter
prise ; and meanwhile, let us most heartily send forth, with
all the fervour of earnest patriotism, and with all the ear
nestness of true leal-hearted British North Americans, the
aspiration, ' " so MOTE IT BE."

PART II.
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.

I. Speech delivered in the Canadian assembly,
during the debate on the speech FROM the
throne, on FRIDAY, 28tH MARCH, 1862.
II. Speech on the confederation of the provinces.
III. Speech at perth, on 1st july, 1867.
IV. Speech on the resolutions for the acquisition
of the north-west territory.
V. Speech to constituents, at perth, on re-elec
tion by acclamation, after accepting office
IN THE dominion GOVERNMENT, AS MINISTER OF
INLAND REVENUE.
VI. Farewell address to constituents, on retire
ment from office.
VII. Reply to invitation from leading constituents
IN south LANARK.
VIII. Charge, as chief justice, to first grand jury
OP MANITOBA.
IX. Speech at the annual dinner on st. Andrew's
DAY, GIVEN BY THE SELKIRK ST. ANDREW'S SO
CIETY.
X. Reply to address from Manitoba college.
XI. Reply to address from kildonan.

92 NOVA BRITANNIA.
XII. Reply to address from marquette.
XIII. " " " " LISGAR.
XIV. " " " " certain loyal metis of
PROVENCHER and LISGAR.
XV. Address to the north west council.
XVI. Reply to address from half-breeds, after con
clusion OF qu'appelle treat it.
XVII. ' Account of proceedings connected with the
signing OF the qu'appelle treaty.
XVIII. Speech at the banquet to lord dufferin, at,
WINNIPEG.

jpcerhcs ixnh Jlbbvcsscs.

The following speeches are for the most part mere news
paper condensations, such as appeared in the various jour
nals of the time, and while they convey the spirit and mean
ing of the speaker with tblerable accuracy, they are by no
means to be accepted as verbatim reports. Yet, such as
they are, they are the only records preserved by Mr. Morris
of the respective occasions to which they refer. It being
thus impossible to reproduce the ipsissima verba, the third
person has generally been retained. In each instance where
the report is a literal transcript of the speaker's words, a con
trary plan has been followed, and the speech is given entire
in the first person.

SPEECH delivered IN THE CANADIAN ASSEMBLY DURING
THE DEBATE ON THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE, ON
FRIDAY, 28th march, 1862.
[These remarks were Mr. Morris's first utterances on the
floor of Parliament. He was at that time a resident of
Montreal, where he enjoyed a large and lucrative legal
practice, but he had a few months previously, without any
solicitation on his part, been returned to the Assembly for
the Upper Canadian constituency of South Lanark, in
which he was born, and where he enjoyed the prestige aris-

94 NOVA BRITANNIA.
ing from his father's long and honourable public career.*
The Cartier-Macdonald Government were then in power, and
it was as a Liberal Conservative that he took his seat, his
partisanship, however, having in it nothing of the bitterness
so prevalent in the Canadian political world at that day. It
will be seen that he was not in entire sympathy with the
Speech from the Throne, and that he expressed regret at the
absence from it of any plan for settling the vexed question
of Representation by Population. The Rep. by Pop. pro
ject was regarded by Mr. Morris ' as an inefiicient remedy
for the unpropitious state of things then existing in Canada.
The true remedy, in his opinion, was the broader scheme of
Confederation which was subsequently adopted.]
Mr. Morris said he would endeavour to come to the con
sideration ot the question before the House in no spirit
of party or of faction. He thought the question was too
grave and important a one to be so treated. The position,
in some respects peculiar, which he occupied, was one which
enabled him perhaps to look at this subject more calmly
than some members who were not situated as he had been.
He had for sixteen years been a resident of the Lower Pro
vince, and yet he had had the honour (unsolicited) of being
called to represent a constituency of Western Canada, with
* The name ot the Hon. William Morris ia familiar to all who pretend to an
acquaintance w.th our political history. He was a native of Scotland, but emi
grated thence to Canada about the beginning: of the present century. After the
cloae of the War of 1812, in which he servad as a captain, he became one of the
pioneer settlers m what is now the Town of Perth, in the County of Lanark.
In 1820 he was elected to the Upper Canada Assembly for the constituency in which
he resided, which then embraced what now are the Counties of Lanark, Carleton
and Renfrew, together with the City of Ottawa. He signalized hia third Parlia
mentary aeasion by moving and carrying an Addresa to the Kiug, asserting the claim
of the Church of Scotland to a share of the Clergy Reserves, undtr the Imperial
statute 31 Goo. III. c. 31. Frora that time forward he was the acknowledged head
and front of tile Scottish Presbyterian element in our population, as Sir John
Beverley Robiuion was of the Church of England party, and Egerton Ryerson of
the Methodists. After urging the claims of his Church for sixteen years, Mr. Morris
had the satisfactio.i of learmng that the English judges had pronounced in favour

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 95
a population of 20,000. When thus called upon to take a
part in the deliberations of the nation, he had felt it to be his
duty to consider this important question in order to see whe
ther some settlement of it might not bo arrived at. And he
could not help expressing his regret that at this, the first
meeting of a new Parliament, no mention was made in the
Speech from the Throne of any plan of settling the question
which had for so long a period agitated this Province. He
should feel it his duty to' vote against the amendment which
had been submitted, because he did not think it would be
right for him or for this House to commit themselves to the
declaration that there should be np consideration of any
question affecting the representation of the people of this
Province. He did think it was the duty pf the gentlemen who
had been entrusted with the administration of aff'airs, when
they found that a question of this moment had been so long
before the country, to consider that question, and to come
before the House, and at least tell them that they had been
endeavouring to arrive at some plan for its solution. He did
not profess to advocate Representation by Population, pure
and simple, as a remedy for the difficulties under which we
laboured. But he thought that a re-adjustment of the repre
sentation- had become a necessity, and that in that re-adjust
ment we were bound to look at the various interests of the

of hia contention. He continued to represent the County of Lanark in the Provin
cial Assembly until 1336, when he was called to a seat in the Legislative Council.
The following ytar he proceeded to England to urge the claims of the Scottish Pres
byterians of Canada to equal rights with those enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of
Euglish origin. At the Union he was appointed a member of the Legis'ative
Council of United Canada, and in 1844 he took office under Sir Charles Metcalfe,
and became Raceiver-Gcneral of the Province. Two years later he became Presi
dent of the Council. In 1848 he retired from office, but until the year 1853 he
contiaued to take an active part in the proceedings of the branch of the Legisla
ture to whice he belonged. He survived until 1858, when he died, in his aeventy,
second year. " He waa," says a cootemporary writer, "a clear, logical, vigorous
speaker, and waa alwaya listened to with respect. Having a very extensive know
ledge of Parliamentary law aud practice, he did much to establish the character of
legislatioa in that branch of tha legislature of which he was so long a member;
and, owing to his high moral character and his firm adherenca to principle, he
wielded a very beneficial influence in that body. Few public men pa's through a
life as long as his was and carry with them more of public confidence and respect
than did Mr. Morris."

96 NOVA BRITANNIA.
country, to secure representation for the industry, the manu
factures, the commerce, and the wealth of the country, as
well as for its mere population. He confessed that his views
had undergone perforce some degree of modification since
he took his seat in the House. It was impossible for any
reflecting man, any man who had a heart, to take his seat in
this Chamber and see the House occupy the position it did,
without feeling that the question now under consideration
was one of the very gravest importance. It was impossible
to look at the very wide diversity of sentiment existing be
tween the representatives of the two sections of the Pro
vince, without seeing that the question was environed with
very serious difficulties. But that was no reason why states
men should be afraid to grapple with it. In Britain ques
tions as serious had been grappled with and settled, and he
had sufficient confidence in the wisdom and good feeling of
the members of this Chamber and of the people of this coun
try, to be satisfied that if we came to the consideration of
this great question free from party spirit, we should come to
a satisfactory conclusion upon it. He had no doubt ^.hat
when the member for Rou ville* first announced to the House
that he would come down with a measure to settle the Seig
niorial Tenure in Lower Canada, friends told him — as had
been threatened with regard to this question^-that, if he
attempted to introduce such a measure he would be driven
from the country. Bat they had introduced the measure,
and succeeded in settling the question. And so he be
lieved it would be with this other question. He had
confidence that men would be found able to meet it fairly,
and to come down with a measure satisfactory to the
country. It might be that the measure would be one which
would bring together the different Provinces of British North
America into a union formed on such a basis as would give
to the people of each Province the right to manage their
own internal aff'airs, while at the same time managi.ig in
common matters of common concern, so as to secure the con
solidation of the Britannic power on this continent. Mr.

' Tlie Hon. L, T. Drummond.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 9?
Morris concluded by intimating that he should give adhesion
to another amendment which might possibly be subrnitted,
and which he thought would be more agreeable to his views
and those of his constituents than the resolution now before
the House.

[The ominous state of aff'airs which prevailed in the Cana
dian Legislature at the time of Mr. Morris's entrance into
public life was continued for several years afterwards. The
rival parties were so evenly balanced that the task of carry
ing on the public business became more and more difficult
from session to session. Neither party was strong enough
to command a safe working majority in the Assembly. One
Government succeeded to another, only to suffer defeat in
its turn. Coalitions were formed, and various devices were
resorted to, in vain attempts to accommodate to a progressive
people a condition of things which had had its day. The
result was a practical deadlock in public affairs, which na
turally begot a certain want of confidence in the future of
our country. The idea of a general Confederation of all the
British North American Provinces had suggested itself to
the minds of several of our leading statesmen as a safe and
effectual remedy for the evil, but it cannot be said to have
taken any practical shape until the summer of 1864. The
second Tach^-Macdonald Administration were then in office,
but could hardly be said to be in power, for they could com
mand but a doubtful majority of one or two. On the 14th
of June, this feeble ma j ority declared itself on the side of
the Opposition, on a public question of some importance.
The Ministry deliberated among themselves whether to re>
sign office, to attempt reconstruction, or to test the experi-
7

^8 iSrOVA BRITANNIA.
ment of a new election. The last-named course Was finally
resolved upon, although with little confidence, as it had
beer repeatedly tried, among other remedies, without avail.
The Governor-General yielded his assent to a dissolution,
when an altogether novel and unexpected way out of the
difficulty presented itself
The project of a general union of all the Provinces com
prising British North America had been the cherished
dream of Mr. Morris's youth and early manhood. As al
ready mentioned in the Introduction to this volume, he had
argued in favour of such a scheme as long ago as 1849,
at the meeting of the British American League, held at King
ston in that year. The idea had been ever present with
him from that time forward, and he had lost no opportunity
of drawing public attention to its .merits. How earnestly
and eloquently he had outlined it on the public platform
appears from the two lectures included in the present volume.
As a patriotic Canadian he deplored the state of aff'airs
which culminated in the dead- lock of 1864, and upon the
defeat of the Ministry on the 14th of June, he, in common
with many other public-spirited Parliamentarians, felt
gloomy and discouraged. During the following night he
deliberated the matter carefully in his own mind, and re
solved upon a course of action. He was on intimate and
friendly terms with the Hon. George Brown, leader of the
Opposition. He knew that Mr. Brown was favourable to a
union of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and
deemed it not unlikely that he might be brought to favour
a general union of all the Provinces.* Accordingly,
* Mr. Brown had only a few hours before handed in the Eeport of a Parliamen-
tary Committee, of which he was Chairman, appointed some months before to coB-

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 99
without conferring with any one on the subject, Mr.
Morris had an interview with Mr. Brown, and the crisis
was discussed between them very fully. Mr. Brown agreed
with Mr. Morris in deprecating the state of aff'airs, and ex
pressed his opinion that the ministerial crisis should be util
ized " in settling forever the constitutional difficulties be
tween Upper and Lower Canada."* He added that he was
" prepared to co-operate with the existing or any other Ad
ministration that would deal with the question promptly
and firmly, with a view to its final settlement." He seems
to have spoken in similar terms to Mr. (now the Hon.) J.
H. Pope, member for Compton. Mr. Morris obtained Mr.
Brown's permission to communicate these views to the Hon.
J. A. Macdonald, who, though not the Premier, was in all
but name the real head of the Government. Mr. Macdonald,
acting on the intelligence so received, spoke to Mr. Brown
on the subject on the floor of the Assembly, just befpre the
opening of the House on the 16th. He informed Mr.
Brown that his (Mr. Brown's) views had been communicated
to him, and asked if he (Mr. Brown) had any objection to meet
Mr; Gait, Minister of Finance, to discuss the matter. Mr.
Brown replied "Certainly not." This led to a conference,
brought about by Mr. Morris, between Messieurs Macdonald,'
Gait and Brown. Further conferences followed, in which
sider and report upon the most effectual means of removing the existing difiiculties
in the carrying on of the Government. The Committee had reported in favour of
a federal uniou of either Upper and Lower Canada, or of all the Provinces, This
may possibly have had some influence in inducing Mr. Morris to approach Mr.
Brown upon the subject.
^ See the official statement, quoted in Col. Gray's work on Confederation, p. 20
et seq.

100 NOVA BRITANNIA.
two other members of the Government, Messieurs Tach^ and
Cartier, took part. The final result was that a great Coali
tion was agreed upon, to effect a great object. The Gov
ernment pledged themselves to bring in a measure introduc
ing the federal principle into Canada, with provision for the
admission of the Maritime Provinces and the North-West
into the same system of Government. Mr. Brown agreed
to enter the Government, taking with him two of the most
prominent of his political supporters.
It is unnecessary to trace the subsequent history of the Con
federation project in minute detail. Suffice it to say thateight
members of the Canadian Administration repaired to Char-
lottetown in the following September, to attend a Convention
of delegates from the various Governments of the Maritime
Provinces, who purposed to eff'rict a union among themselves,
without reference to Canada. The Canadian Ministers were
invited to express their views, which they did with great
freedom and vigour, recommending the larger scheme, to in
clude the whole of British North America. The Conven
tion, after discussing the matter for some days, adjourned to
meet at Quebec on the 1 0th of October following. The re
sult of the Quebec Conference, which lasted more than a
fortnight, was the adoption of the famous Seventy-two
Resolutions. A general Confederation of the Provinces was
determined upon, and all the delegates stood pledged to use
their utmost endeavours to secure the concurrence therein
of the Legislatures to which they respectively belonged.
The following session of the Canadian Parliament was
largely taken up with debates on the great question which
engrossed men's minds, almost to the exclusion of every

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 101
other. The debates on this subject were reported with great
care, and published in a large volume containing 1032 pages
imperial octavo. The following was Mr. Morris's most im
portant contribution to _^the discussion, and was delivered
from his place in the Assembly, on the night of the 23rd of
February, 1865.]
speech on the confederation of the provinces.
Mr. Speaker :
The member for Lambton* has, I think, set a good ex
ample, and I shall endeavour, if it be possible, to follow
it. I desire to state at the outset that this, as has been well
observed by many who have spoken upon the subject, is no
new question ; but that in one phase or another, as was very
properly stated in the narrative given to the House by the
honourable member for Montreal West.t it has been before the
people of this country from time to time for many years past.
It is not my intention to follow that honourable gentleman in
his interesting narrative of the history of this question, but I
desire to ask the attention of the House to the fact that this"
is the third time that this question has been formally
brought before Parliament by the Government of this country.
The fir.st occasion was, I believe, in 1858, when the then Gov
ernor-General, J in closing the session of Parliament for that
year, used in the Speech from the Throne the following words :
— "I propose, in the course of the recess, to communicate with
Her Majesty's Government, and with the government of the
sister colonies, on another matter of very great importance. I
am desirous of inviting them to discuss with us the principles
on which a bond of a federal character uniting the provinces of
British North America may, perhaps, hereafter be practicable."
* Mr. Alexander Mackenzie. The example referred to as having been set by
Mr, Mackenzie, who immediately preceded Mr. Mnrrid in the debate, was that of
restricting hia remarks within reasonable bounds, instead of occupying the attention
of the House for an entire day, as some of his predecessors had done,'
t Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee.
i sif Edmund Walj^er 4«ac|,

102 NOVA BRITANNIA. -
That formal statementwas followed by the despatch which has
been referred to frequently in this House and during this de
bate, and which was made the basis of the motion laid before
the House last session by the honourable member for South
Oxford,* which motion has had the effect of causing present,
and, as I believe, future great results. I believe the appoint
ment of the committee moved for by that honourable gentle
man will be looked back to as an era in the history of this coun
try. Now, as to the second occasion on which this question was
formally brought before the attention of the House and coun
try, we have heard from those who object to this scheme that
the people of the country have been taken by surprise, that
they do not understand it, and that they are not prepared to
discuss it. I would ask, sir, in reference to that, if this present
Government was not formed on the very basis and understand
ing that it would bring about a settlement of this question, and
if the people of the country did not know this to be the fact!
I hold in my hand the basis upon which the Government
was formed, in which the following is stated as the result of
a long negotiation between the leading members of it ; —
The Government are prepared to pledge themselves to bring in a
measure next session, for the purpose of removing; existing dlflSoultiea hy
introducing the Federal principle into Canada, coupled with such pro
vision as will permit the Maritime Provinces and the North- Vf est Terri
tory to be incorporated in the same system-of Government.
And the Government will seek, by sending representatives to the
Lower Provinces, and to England, to secure the assent of those interests
which are beyond the control of our own legislation to siiuh a measure as
may enable all British North America to be united under a general legis
lature based upon the Federal principle.
This, sir, was the pledge given to this House and country by
the present Government on its formation. It was pledged
to introduce the Federative system into the Government of
Canada, with special provisions fer the incorporation into
this Federation of the Maritime Provinces, and it was also
pledged to send delegates to those provinces, and invite them
to join us in this Federation. And yet we are told, forsootl',
that these delegates, who were thus appointed in conformity
* Hon. George Brown. His motion waa for the appointment of the committee
lu^n^ioned in the note on pp. 98, 99, arit^.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. ' 103
with the pledge of the Government, were " a self-constituted
junto :" — we were told that they had no authority for their
action in the face of the distinct obligation resting upon the
Government to send delegates to those provinces and to
England with a view of bringing about this Confederation.
No self-constituted junto were those delegates who framed
these resolutions ; but they met in accordance with a pledge
given by this Government, and must be held to have been
called together with the sanction of the Parliament of Can
ada, because Parliament ^ave the Government, formed to
effect the Federation, its confidence. They met also with
the sanction of the Imperial Government, as now appears
from statements and despatches in possession of this House.
But, coming now to the present aspect of the matter, I feel
that this country has reason to be satisfied with a scheme of
so pragtical a nature as that now under the consideration of
the House. I believe that the plan of union proposed will
be found to meet the exigencies of our local position, give
latitude to local development, and due protection to local
interests, and yet secure that general control which is essen
tially necessary for the proper government of a country
placed under the dominion ot the British Crown. And while
I thus look upon the plan, I desire to state emphatically and
clearly that it is no new principle to which the people of
this country and the members of this House are asked to
give their sanction. The question of colonial union, in one
shape or another, is one that has engaged the attention of
high intellects and able statesmen in England ; and I think
I will be able to show to the House that the very principle,
we are now endeavouring to introduce as a principle of-
government in these British North American Provinces is
one that has received the sanction of eminent men in Eng
land, and more than that, the sanction of a solemn act, of the
Imperial Parliament. I will go back a few years, when the
condition of the Australian colonies rendered it necessary
for the statesmen of Great Britain to endeavour to find a
practical solution of the difficulty of governing those great
and growing dependencies of the British Crown. 'What
^as tlie practical mode adopted when events njade it neges-

104 NOVA BRITANNIA.
sary that they should form a new constitution for the more
perfect government of those colonies? Why, the Imperial
Government revived an old committee of the Privy Council,
called the " Committee of Trade and Foreign Plantations,"
arid referred the question to it, calling in to its aid, as
new members. Lord Campbell, then Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster, Sir James Stephen, and Sir Edward Ryan.
The result of the deliberations of that committee was a re
port in which the eminent men who composed it recom
mended the formation of a general assembly, to which the
control of the general affairs of the Australian colonies
should be entrusted, with local governments having local
jurisdiction and certain defined powers granted to them.
I hold in my hands a series of letters on the colonial policy
of England, addressed by Earl Grey to Lord John Russell,
which contain the report of the committee of the Privy
Council that I have referred to, and I find that the plan
there suggested is analogous to the one to which we are now
asked to give practical eff'ect in this country. The proposi
tion of the committee was that there should be a Governor-
General to administer the affairs of the Australian colonies,
and that he should convene a body, to be called the General
Assembly of .Australia, on receiving a request to that effect
from two or more of the Australian legislatures ; and it
was recommended that this general assembly, so convened,
should have the power to make laws respecting the imposi
tion of duties on imports aud exports, the post office, the
formation of roads, canals and railways, and a variety of
other subjects. The advantages of this plan were so mani
fest, as uniting those colonies together, and securing for them
a better and more satisfactory form of government than
they had before enjoyed, that the report was at once adopted
by the Privy Council, embodied in a bill, and submitted to
Parliament. The bill passed the House of Commons, and
reached the House of Lords ; but while before that body the
two clauses which introduced into the government of the
Australian colonies the same system that in effect it is pro
posed to introduce here were dropped. And why 1 Not
because of any change of opinion on the part of the. Govern-

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 105
ment on the question, nor because the House of Lords was
opposed to the principle, but because it was found on exam
ination that they were liable to practical objections, to
obviate which amendments would have to be introduced
which there were no means of arranging without further
communications with the colonies. The Imperial Govern
ment would not make these changes in the measure without
the consent of the colonies, but Earl Grey by no means
changed his mind in regard to the advantages to be derived
from the plan proposed, as the following extract from one of
his despatches, written in 1850, to the Governor of New
South Wales, will show : —
I am not, however, the less persuaded that the want of some such cen
tral authority to regulate matters of common importance to the Austra
lian colonies will be felt ; and probably at a very early period ; but when
this want is so felt, it will of itself suggest the means by which it maybe
met. The several legislatures will, it is true, be unable at once to give
the necessary authority to a General Assembly, because the legislative
power of each is confined of necessity within its territorial limits ; but if
two or more of these legislatures should find that there are objeots of com
mon interest for which it is expedient to create such an authority, they
will have it in their power, if they can settle the terms of an arrangement
for the purpose; to pass acts for giving effect to it, with clauses suspend
ing their operation until Parliament shall have supplied the authority
that is wanting. By such acts the extent and objects of the powers
which they are prepared to delegate to such a body might be defined and
limited with precision, aud there can be little doubt that Parliament,
when applied to in order to give effect to an ap-angement so agreed upon,
would readily consent to do so.
Some may say, Mr. Speaker, that this is very true, but
that the British Government dropped the plan, and did not
proceed with it. I think I shall be prepared to meet that
argument, and show that it only rested in the plan to learu
the wishes of the people of the colonies ; for you find it fol
lowing the very same principle, reported upon favourably by
the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations, in the
constitution which was subsequently granted tp the New
Zealand provinces. In 1852 the plan suggested by that
committee in regard to Australia was carried into effect in
New Zealand, and it must be remembered that at that time
the population of New Zealand was very small — so small in
deed that one cannot help contrasting the position of that

106 NOVA BRITANNIA.
country with that of British North America at the present
day. But the statesmen of Great Britain looked into the
future of the colony, and they decided that it would be ad
visable to confer on it powers analogous to those now sought
for by us. The New Zealand Constitutional Act created six
provinces, with superintendents, provincial councils of nine
appointed by the governor, and a general government of
three estates. In the debate on that bill. Earl Grey said
that this was the only form of government which could be
conferred on a colony situated as that one was. He re
marked : —
It is impracticable, and must for many years continue to be so, for any
general legislature to meet all the wants of so many separate settlements
at a great distance from each other ; hence it see'ms absolutely necessary
to constitute provincial legislatures on which a great portion of the public
business must devolve.
The very difficulty which was met with there is the one we
have to overcome here. It was found absolutely necessary
to create in every province a local legislature, and in addi
tion one central power, to whom matters common to all
might be referred. Earl Grey, in the course of the debate,
speaking of the importance of this arrangement, said that
there were some subjects on which extensive inconveni
ence would arise, if uniformity of legislation among the
several provinces were not insured, which could only be
accomplished by a general legislature. And that. Sir, is
what this Government now asks us to adopt. They ask us
to invite the Imperial Parliament to create for us provincial
legislatures, to whom shall be referred all local matters, and
that we shall have a general legislature for the care of
those subjects of a general character which could not be so
well looked after by the provincial legislatures. And I say.
Sir, that, finding as we do that this is no new question, we
can, therefore, understand why this measure met with such
ready approval from the statesmen of Britain, and the high
commendation of Her Majesty by her advisers.
But, Mr. Speaker, I will now pass from the consideration
of the history of this important movement — and I assure
j^ou that I feel the difficultjr of addressing the House on t\\\^

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 107
subject, in consequence of the sense I entertain of the grav
ity of the question, and the momentous character of the issues
it involves. The subject. Sir, is one of the very highest im
portance. The destinies of this great country are bound up
in it. The Upper House has already sanctioned the scheme,
and I would take the opportunity of remarking that I do
not think that the members of that House can be rightly
charged with not having given it that deliberate considera
tion which its importance demands. I think that they have
shown a very proper example in their discussion of the ques
tion, and one that we may well follow. They debated with
leisure, deliberation, and a thorough' appreciation of its gra
vity, day by day, during four weeks, and I therefore think
that the members of the LTpper House ought not to have
been charged with " indecent haste."
[This expression had been used by the Hon. John Sand-
field Macdonald, member for Cornwall, who here interrupted
the speaker to remark that the expression used by him (Mr.
Macdonald), had been " unsuitable haste." Whereupon Mr.,
Morris proceeded as follows : — ]
I have somewhat of a recording memory, and I think the
words unfortunately used were " indecent haste." How
ever, I have no intention of disputing with my honourable
friend as to the particular words he used. I have only to
express my opinion that the time which has been already
spent on this question here and elsewhere has not been lost.
I think it is our duty to consider this subject in all its as
pects, and believing as I do that the scheme will be adopted
by this House, I feel the importance of a full and free dis
cussion, in order that its merits may be put before the coun
try. Mr. Speaker, I desire now to state that I support the
proposal at present under our consideration, because in my
honest and deliberate judgment I believe that this union, if
accomplished, is calculated in its practical effects to bind us
more closely to Britain than we could be bound by any
other system. [A voice here interrupted : " It would put an
end to the connection."] An honourable member says it
would put an end to the connection. Well, I would say to
^hat hoijoiirable gentlernan ar(d this House, that in my opi-

108 NOVA BRITANNIA.
nion there are but two destinies before us. We have either
to rise into strength and wealth and power by this union,
under the sheltering protection of Britain, or we must be
absorbed by the great power beside us. I believe that this
is the only conclusion we can arrive at. [A voice : " But
the people are against it."] An honourable gentleman says
the people are not in favour of a Federal union. But we
know, on the contrary, that the people are in favour of the
change. When the public mind is excited against any mea
sure, is there not a means open to the people to make known
their opposition, and how is it that the table of this House
is not covered with petitions against the scheme, if it is so
unpopular as honourable gentlemen would have us believe 1
But, it is urged, there are no pttitions for it. And why is
it that there are not 1 Is it not because the Government
was constituted on the basis of union ? The people, through
a vast majority of its representatives in this House, are in
favour of it. If they are opposed to it they have the remedy
in their own hands. They have the means of opposing, but
they do not oppose it because they feel that a change of
some kind is absolutely essential, and they have confidence
in the wisdom of those entrusted with the destiny of the
country in this crisis of its history. But I say that the
great reason why this scheme has taken the hold that it has
done upon the public men of the province is that they see
in it an earnest desire to perpetuate British connection.
.[The Hon. Mr. Holton, member for Chateauguay, here
interrupted : " It will turn out a delusion."]
I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I am
willing to place my prediction against that of the honour
able gentleman who says it will be a delusion. A fear has
been expressed that the Confederation will lead to the sever
ance of those links which bind us to the mother-country.
But I believe it will be our own fault if the ties between us
are broken. . With entire freedom, and the. right of self-gov
ernment in the fullest sense of the word, together with the
great advantage of an improved position, and the strength
and power of Great Britain to foster and protect us, why
should we seek to change our connection, what object coul4

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 109
we have to induce us to form other ties 1 What have we to
envy in the position of the neighbouring country, burdened
as it is with the heavy load of taxation arising from the cruel
war raging there, that we should covet that flag 1 Why
then should our coming together for the purpose of union
weaken our position, or diminish the tie that links us to
Britain ? It will be for honourable gentlemen who do not
believe that the union of these scattered colonies will give
them strength, to prove that, contrary to all precedent, union
is not strength. But I will state why this union is calcul
ated to prolong our connection with Britain. It is well
known that there has been an entire and radical change
of late in the colonial policy of England. That policy has
been to extend to us the utmost liberty in our relations to
the Empire. What is after all the nature of the bond which
links us to Great Britain, apart from our allegiance dnd loy
alty t What is it but a Federative bond ? That is what
links us to Britain, and I feel quite satisfied that, in the words
of an English publicist of some eminence, " the .new colo
nial policy is calculated to prolong the connection of the
colonies with the mother-country." I believe it will raise
these provinces as part of the British Empire, and so secure
to us the permanency of British institutions, and bind us
more closely to the Crown. I believe it will, in the words
of that far-seeing statesman. Lord Durham, " raise up to the
North American colonist a nationality of his own, by elevat
ing those small and unimportant communities into a society
having some objects of national importance, and give these
inhabitants a country which they will be unwilling to see
absorbed into that of their powerful neighbours." And, Sir,
our neighbours so see it. Shortly after the visit of the
Duke of Newcastle to this country, attention was directed
to the question of the union of the colonies, not only in this
country, but in England and in the United States. The
New York Courier and Inquirer, in an article published at
that time, came to the conclusion that " the union would, in
fact, be an argument for a continuance of the existing rela
tions between the two countries as a matter of policy and
gtatitude j" and that " such a change of government would

110 NOVA BRITANNIA.
meet with no objection of any weight." I invite the atten
tion of the honourable member for Chateauguay to that
statement. Bat, Mr. Speaker, it is a singular study, look
ing back over the history of the past, to see how this ques
tion has come up in the experience of the various colonies.
Before the American revolution, Benjamin Franklin sug
gested a plan for a Federation of the old colonies of Britain
on this continent, which, he afterwards said, would, accord
ing to his deliberate opinion, have prevented the severance of
the connection between the colonies and the mother-country.
I will quote a passage written by him after the Revolution,
in which he makes allusion to this project. He said : —
I proposed and drew up a plan for the union of all the colonies under
one Government, so far as might be necessary for defence and other im
portant general purposes. By my plan, the General Government was
to be administered by a President-General, appointed and supported by
the Crown, and a General Council, to be chosen by the representatives
of the people of the several colonies, met in the respective assemblies.
The plan was agreed to in Congress, but the assemblies of the provinces
did not adopt it, as they thought there was too much prerogative in it,
and in England it was judged to have too much of the democratic. The
different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan made me suspect
that it was really the true medium, and I am still of opinion it would
have been happy for both sides if it had been adopted. The colonies so
united would have been strong enough to have defended themselves ;
there would then have been no need of troops from England ; of course
the subsequent pretext for taxing America, and ^o the bloody contest
it occasioned would have been avoided.
It is singular that nearly a hundred years ago Benjamin
Franklin, looking at the difficulties then existing between
the colonies, should have suggested a plan of union similar
to that now proposed to us, and it is a strong proof of the
wisdom of the plan now before this House, that seeing the
difficulties under which the other colonies laboured for want
of a central power, just as we now see them, proposing this
Confederation, he should have declared that if such a plan
had been adopted then it would have prevented the sever
ance of the British connection.
[Hon. Mr. Holton — " This scheme is looked upon as
equal to independence."]
Is that the opinion of the honourable member 1 I think
that far different views prevail in Britain. In 1858, when

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Ill
British Columbia was erected into a colony, it was found
that the Commons of Britain had no intention of surren
dering the fair possessions of Britain on this continent, and
Her Majesty was advised to say : —
Her IMajesty hopes that the new colony on the Pacific may be but one
Step in the career of steady progress, by which Her Majesty's domin
ions in North America may ultimately be peopled in an unbroken chain
from the Atlantic to the Pacific by a loyal, industrious population of
subjects of the British Crown.
I say. Sir, that there is no evidence whatever that the
statesmen of Britain look upon this great scheme as involv
ing the severance of our connection with the Empire ; but
these utterances, as read here the other night by the hon
ourable member from Montreal Centre,* prove directly the
contrary. If breaking off from the mother-country were its
tendency, then I, for one, would not support it, nor would
it be supported by any of those honourable gentlemen who
so strongly advocate it. I am not afraid to say that any
government which dared to bring down such a measure
would be hurled from their places.
But, Mr. Speaker, I have been led into the discussion of
this question of connection with the mother-country at
much greater length than I had intended, by the sugges
tions of honourable members, and I will take the liberty of
calling the attention of the House to a passage from a work
I have already referred to, and in which we find an exposi
tion of the policy which governed the administration of
Lord John Russell. I find there an elaborate argument
to prove that the colonies are an advantage to Britain, and
that Britain, of course is an advantage to the colonies ; and
on the mere ground of material interest, if there was no
other — if deeper and stronger ties did not exist as they do —
I feel satisfied that this country would not be prepared to
take the first step towards the severance of our connection
with England, and the loss of that prestige and power which
go with every British subject to every civilized part of the
globe, enabling him to say, like the old Roman, " I am a
British citizen." Earl Grey states that
* Hon. (now Sir) John Rose.

112 MOVA BRITANNIA.
The -possession of a number of steady and faithful allies, in various
quarters of the globe, will surely be admitted to add greatly to the
strength of any nation ; while no alliance between independent states
can be so close and intimate as the connection which unites the colonies
to the United Kingdom as parts of the Great British Empire. Nor
ought it to be forgotten that the power of a nation does.not depend
merely on the amount of physical force it can command, but rests, in no
small degree, upon opinion and moral infiuence. In this respect British
power would be diminished ' by the loss of our colonies to a degree
which it would be difficult to estimate.
Passing on a little, we find him saying : —
To the latter [i. e. the colonists] it is no do\ibt of far greater importance
than to the former, because, while still forming comparatively small and
weak communities, they enjoy, in return fur their allegiance to the Brit
ish Crown, all the security and consideration which belongs to them as
members of one of the most powerful states in the world. No foreign
power ventures to attack or interfere with the smallest of them, while
every colonist carries with him to the remotest quarter of the globe
which he may visit, in trading or other pursuits, that protection which
the character of a British subject everywhere confers.
But to view the subject in another aspect. I believe it will
be found that all the conditions are combined in the scheme
now before us that are considered necessary for the forma
tion on a permanent basis of a federative union. I hold in
my hand a book of some note on Representative Government,
by John Stuart Mill, and I find that he lays down three
conditions as applicable to the union of independent states,
and which, by parity of reasoning, are applicable to prov
inces which seek to have a closer alliance with each other,
and also, thereby, a closer alliance with the mother-country.
The conditions he lays down are, first : —
That there should be a sufficient amount of mutual sympathy among
the populations.
And he states that the sympathies which they should have
in common should be
_ Those of race, language, religion, and, above all, of political institu
tions, as conduotingmost to a feeling of identity of political interest.
We possess that strong tie of mutual sympathy in a high
degree. We have the same systems of government, and the
same political institutions. We are part of the same great

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 113
Empire, and that is the real tie which will bind us together
in future time. The second condition laid down is : —
That the separate states be not so powerful as to be" able to rely for
protection against foreign encroachment on their individual strength.
That is a condition which applies most forcibly in our case.
The third condition is : —
That there be not a very marked inequality of strength among the
several contracting states. They cannot, indeed, be exactly equal in re
sources ; in all federations there will be a gradation of power among the
members ; some will be more populous, rich, and civilized than others.
There is a wide difference in wealth between New 'York and Rhode
Island.Just as there is between Canada and Prince Edward
Island. I trust I have satisfied my honourable friend from
Hochelaga'* that Mr. Mill's views are entirely applicable
to our position. I now proceed to state my belief that
we will find great advantages in the future, in the pos
session of a strong Central Government and local or mu
nicipal parliaments, such as are proposed for our adop
tion. I believe the scheme will be found in fact and in
practice — by its combination of the better features of the
American system with those of the British Constitution
— to have very great practical advantages. I shall read an
extract from an article in the London Times, written in 1858,
bearing on this subject, and which brings very clearly into
view the distinction between the system' which has been pro
posed for our adoption, and that which has been adopted
in the States. The great weakness of the American system
has lain in the fact that the several states, on entering the
union) claimed independentjurisdiction ; that they demitted
to the Central Government certain powers, and that they
claimed equal and sovereign powers with regard to every
thing not so delegated and demitted. The weaknesses and
difficulties of thait system have been avoided in the project
now before us^and we have the central power with defined
and sovereign powers, and the local parliaments with their
> Hen. A. A. Dor'on, who had juat previously interrupted the speaker by a cheer
exprcsjive of oissent. s

114 NOVA BRITANNIA.
defined and delegated powers, but subordinated to the cen
tral power. The article says ; —
It is quite clear that the Federal Constitution of the United States of
America forms a precedent which cannot possibly be followed in its prin
ciples or details by the united colonies, so long as they remain part of the
dominions of the Imperial Crown. The principle of the American
Federation is, that each is a sovereign state, which consents to delegate
to a cntral authority a portion of its sovereign power, leaving the re
mainder which is not so delegated absolute and intact in its own hands.
This is not the position of the colonies, each of which, instead of being au
isolated sovereign state, is an integral part of the British Empire. They
cannot delegate their sovereign authority to a central government, be
cause they do not possess the sovereign authority to delegate. The only
alternative as ^t seems to us would be to adopt a course exactly the con
trary of that which the United States adopted, and instead of taking for
their motto E Pluribus Unum, to invert it by saying In Urio Plura.
The first steps towards a Federation of the American Colonies would
thus be to form them all into one state, to give that state a completely
organized government, and then to delegate to each of the colonies out of
which that great state is formed, such powers of local government as may
be fthought necessary, reserving to the Central Government all such
powers as are not expressly delegated. The Government of New Zealand
forms a precedent well worthy the attention of those who are undertak
ing this arduous negotiation.
And I cannot doubt that the' framers of this constitution
have studied the precedent as well of the proposed consti
tution of Australia, as that of the constitutipn of New Zea
land, which has been in use for ten years past.
[Hon. Mr. Holton here interrupted by the question : "How
does it work ? "]
I have not been there, but I know that from a small popu
lation of 26,000 in all the New Zealand provinces when that
Constitution was given them, they have risen in ten years to
a population of 250,000 — indicating certainly growth and
progress. [Hon. Mr. Holton : " As we have grown, in spite
of that terribly bad union you wish to do away with."] True,
we have grown and progressed under the present union. But
the honourable gentleman knows the heart-burning we have
had in the past. I have not been in Parliament so long as
that honourable gentlemen. But I recollect, when I first took
a seat in this House, the state of excitement which then pre
vailed, and which continued, making government practically
impossible. For we had governments maintaining themselves
session after session by majorities of one or two, shewing

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 115
that it was impossible for any government to conduct public
affairs with that dignity and success with which a govern
ment ought to conduct them. But, as I have stated, I think
the Conference has been exceedingly happy in the plan they
have submitted for our adoption. A community of British
freemen, as we are, deliberately surveying our past as well as
our present position, and looking forward to our future, we
in eff'ect resolve that we will adhere to the protection of the
British Crown ; that we will tell the Goldwin Smith school
— those who are crying out for cutting oif the colonies — that
we will cling to the old mother-land. We desire to maintain
our connection. We have no desire to withdraw ourselves
from that protection we have so long enjoyed ; but we desire,
while remaining under that protection, to do all that lies in
our power for our self-defence, and for the development of
all the great interests which Providence has committed to
our trust ; and we seek at the hands of the British Parlia
ment such legislation as will enable us to accomplish these
great ends for the whole of British America. Why, what a
domain do we possess ! We have over three millions of square
miles of territory — large enough, certainly, for the expansion
of the races which inhabit this country ; and our desire is, in
the language of the late colonial minister — language which,
I believe, well expresses the views and sentiments of the peo
ple of all these provinces — we would approach the British
people, the British Government, and our Sovereign, with this
language : "We desire, by your aid, with your sanction and
permission, to attempt to add another community of Chris
tian freemen to those by which Great Britain confides the re
cords of her Empire, not to pyramids and obelisks, but to states
and communities, whose history will be written in her lan
guage." That was the language of the Colonial Secretary, Sir
Bulwer Lytton, when he proposed and carried out the setting
off of a new colony on the Pacific shore — language certainly
which indicated a firm and sure reliance in the power and
efficacy of British institutions — that these institutions would
be fo'ind capable of all the expansion requisite to meet the
circumstances of a new country, and of any body of British
freemen to whom the care of these institutions may be en-

116 NOVA BRITANNIA.
trusted. But I fear I have been tempted to forget the excel
lent example of my honourable friend from Lambton.*
[Cries of " No, no," " Go on."] I desire very briefly to notice
two or three immediate advantages which, in my judgment
would be derived from the consummation, linder one central
power with local municipal parliaments, of a union of the
Canadas with the Maritime Provinces. Let us glance at what
is their position, in relation to the great military power which
in rising on the other side of the lines. Let us see what they
are thinking of us there. One of their eminent statesmen
suggested, some years ago, that they should cultivate our
acquaintance, while we were still " incurious of our destiny."
But we have passed that state. We have become curious of
our destiny, and are seeking, as far as we can, to place it on
a sure and certain basis. Here is the view taken of our
position by an American writer : —
They have now no comprehensive power that embraces the interests of
all — that acts on the prosperity of the seacoast and interior — of commerce
and agriculture where they are seemingly rivals— that gives uniformity
in tariffs and taxes and the encouragement that shall be entrusted to the
fishing, mining ana other great interests.
That is a view of the position of these provinces to which I
commend the attention of my honourable friends from Cha
teauguay and Hochelega. I ask, is it not a correct view 1 Is
not that the position in which we have long been ? And I
believe the result of this union will be to do away with that
stalte of things. I believe that when these colonies. are com
bined, acting in concert, and quickened and invigorated by
a feeling of mutual dependence and interest, the tendency
will be to increase their wealth and manufactures, and gen
eral strength. And, sir, I am satisfied one of the great
advantages of this union will be found in this, that we will
be raised above our sectionalisms, and come to feel and to act
as the citizens of a great country, with destinies committed
to us such as may well evoke the energies of a great people.
But I desire to point out another practical advantage which,
I think, is of no mean or slight moment ; and it is this.
Bound as we are to England, by the closest ties, and yet
* See note ou p. 101, ante.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 117
enjoying our own governraent, England is still compelled to
act for us in all matters of an international nature. But,
when we have for all these British provinces one General
Government, able to take an oversight of the whole, and to
attend to all their various interests, we will be able to repre
sent to Britain on behalf of the whole, with a force and
power we have never before been able to use, what those
interests are ; we will be able to press them home on the
attention of British statesmen in such a manner as will lead
them to__appreciate, and seek to protect those interests, in
their negotiations with foreign powers. I would allude, as
an illustration of what I mean, to the Reciprocity Treaty,
and I cannot refrain from reading a very striking extract from
a report presented to the United States House of Represen
tatives in 1862, from the Committee of Commerce on the
Reciprocity Treaty. I ask the attention of the House to this
extract, as shewing how the United States have been able to
take advantage of our isolated condition — our w.-nt of cen
tral power and authority — to gain for themselves advantages
in the negotiation of that treaty, such as they could not
have obtained, or even sought, had we been in a position to
present all the advantages, in negotiations with the United
States, which Canada and the Maritime Provinces as a whole
could present. Instead of the American statesmen having to
negotiate with the separate governments of separate pro
vinces, they would have to negotiate with the combined in
terests of British North America. I read this extract as a
very striking one, and as entitled, on account of the source
from which it comes, to some weight. In the report I have
referred to, the natural results of the treaty and of its abro
gation are thus spoken of : —
A great and mutually beneficial increase in our commerce with
Canada was the natural aud primary result of the treaty. Many causes
of irritation were removed, aud a large accession to our trade was ac
quired, through the treaty,- with the Maritime Provinces. Arguments
founded upon the results of the treaty as a whole, with the various
provinces, have a valid and incontrovertible application against the un
conditional and complete abrogation of the treaty, so far as it refers to
provinces against which no complaint is made. The isolated and dis
connected condition of the various governments of these provinces to
each other, and the absence of their real responsibility to any common

118 NOVA BRITANNIA.
centre, are little understood. No fault is found with the acts of New
foundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
These separate provinces and that of Canada have each a separate tariff
and legislature, and neither of them is accountable to or for any other.
An abrogation of the treaty, as a whole, would therefore be a breach
of good faith towards the other provinces, even if it were expedient to
adopt such a course towards Canada, but no advantages gained by the
treaty with the Maritime Provinces can be admitted as offsets in fa
vour of Canada. Each province made its own bargain, and gave and
received its separate equivalent.
This is an instance of some moment, and I believe the
same principles will be found to apply to all those questions
on which, in the future history of this Confederation, it will
be found necessary to confer with foreign governments,
through the mother country: No -longer detached and iso
lated from each other, we will be able to present a combined
front, and to urge the advantages which may be derived
from the exhaustless fisheries of the Lower Provinces, as
well as those afforded by Canada. The defence question has
been alluded to very frequently in this debate. I think
there really cannot be a question that it would be for the
advantage, not only of Britain, but of each one of these pro
vinces, that on such subjects as the militia, and on all kin
dred questions, such as those relating to aliens, the observ
ance of neutrality and like subjects, there should be a general
and uniform action ; that, seeing the action of any one of the
colonies might involve the parent state in war, there should
be separate and distinct action, but one uniform action, on all
that class of national and international subjects, throughout
the whole of the British Provinces. I cannot help thinking
that in practice an immense advantage would be derived
from the introduction of this system. It is not my forte, as
it is that of some honourable gentlemen, to speak with
regard to the defence question. There are other honour
able members who understand that subject thoroughly, and
will, no doubt, deal with it in a satisfactory manner. But.
I cannot help thinking that a uniform system of militia and
marine for British North America would be powerfully felt
in the history of this continent.
[ Hon. Mr. Holton here interrupted — " Are we to have a
navy?"]

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 119
The honourable gentleman no doubt listened with interest
to the speech of the President of the Council, and he might
have learned from that that we have a navy of which any
country might be proud, devoted to the pursuits of honest
industry, and which causes us to rank, even in our infancy,
as the third maritime power in the world. And should the
time of need come — as I trust it never may — -I am satisfied
that in the Gulf, on the St. Lawrence, and on the lakes, there
would be enough of bold men and brave hearts to man that
navy. I would further remark, that under the proposed
system local interests would be much better cared for. I
am satisfied the local interests of all the separate provinces
would be better cared for, if their legislatures were divested
of those large subjects of general interest which now absorb
— and necessarily so — so much of our time and attention. I
will now mention briefly one or two incidental advantages
which I believe will be found to accrue in the future from, our
position as united provinces of the British Empire. I will not
quote any figures to show the extent of intercolonial trade ,
that will spring up with the Maritime Provinces and with the
West India Provinces. Some years ago there was, as mer
cantile men well know, a large trade conducted with the
West India Islands, which, from various circumstances, has
almost entirely ceased. I believe that, when the provinces
are united, not only will a large trade spring up in those
agricultural and other products which are now supplied to
the Lower Provinces from the United States, but a trade
will also be established with the West India Islands. Some
time ago I took the trouble to look into the figures, and I
was surprised to find how large a trade was conducted
twenty-five years ago with those islands ; and I believe that,
by carrying out this union we will have facilities for estab
lishing such commercial relations as will lead to the re
opening of that valuable trade.
_ [Hon. Mr. Holton — " You should bring in the West India
Islands also."]
The honourable gentleman is very anxious to extend the
Confederation. I have known him for long years as a Fede
ralist, and I believe he is only sorry that we do not go a little

120 NOVA BRITANNIA.
faster. I am satisfied that when Confederation is accom
plished he will be one of its most hearty supporters. I
would now, Mr. Speaker, desire to quote a few words from
a lecture delivered some years ago by Principal Dawson, of
Montreal, a well-known Nova Scotian, who is distinguished
for his thorough acquaintance with the Maritime Provinces.
He says : —
Their progress in population and wealth is slow, in comparison with
that of Western America, though equal to the average of that of the
Amei ican Union, and more rapid than that of the older states. Their
agriculture is rapidly impro\'ing, manufacturing and mining enterprises
are extending themselves, and railways ai e being built to connect -them
with the more inland parts of the continent. Like Great Britain, they
possess important minerals in which the neighb(mring parts of the con
tinent are deficient, and enjoy the utmost facilities for commercial pur
suits. Ultimately, therefore, they must have with the United States,
Canada, and the fur countries, the same commercial relations that
Britain maintains with western, central and northern Europe. Above
all, they form the great natural oceanic termination of the great valley
of the St. Lawrence; and although its commerce has hitherto, by the
skill and industry of its neighbours, been drawn across the natural bar
rier which Providence has placed between it and the seaports of the
United States, it must ultimately take its natural channel; and then
not only will the cities on the St. Lawrence be united by the strongest
common interests, but they will be bound to Acadia by ties more close
than any merely political union. The great thoroughfares to the rich
lands atid noble scenery of the west, and thence to the sea breezes and
salt water of the Atlantic, and to the great seats of industry and art
in the old world, will pass along the St. Lawrence, and through the
Lower Provinces. The surplus agiicultural produce of Canada will find
its nearest consumers among the miners, shipwrights, mariners and fish
ermen of Acadia; and they will send back the treasures of their mines
and of their sea. This ultimate fusion of all the populations extending
along this great river, valley and estuary, and the establishment through
out its .course of one of the principal streams of American commerce,
seems in the nature of things inevitable; and there is already a large
fleld for the profitable employment of labour and capital in accelerating
this desirable result.
Such, I believe, Mr. Spraker, will be found to be the re
sults of the steps now being taken.
In conclusion,' I would desire to call attention to the ad
vantages we will enjoy in consequence of our being able to do
something to secure the development of the immense tract
of country lying beyond us— Central British North America,
popularly known as the Great North-West. If Canadians
are to stand still and allow American energy and enterprise

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 121
to press on as it is doing towards that country, the inevita
ble result must be that that great section of territory will be
taken possession of by the citizens of the neighbouring states.
The question is one of great interest to the people of Canada.
Years ago, Canadian industry pushed its way up the valley
of the Ottawa to the Great North-West. In 1798 the North-
West Company had in its employment not fewer than 12,000
persons; and there is no reason in the world why the trade
which was then carried on should not be re-established be
tween the North-West and Canada. No insuperable ob
stacles stand in the way. A practicable route exists which
can be used by land and by water, and there is no reason
why the necessary steps should not be taken to secure the
development of the resources of that country, and make them
tributary to Canada. I think it was a wise foresight on the
part of the gentlemen who prepared the plan now before us,
that they laid this down as one of the principal features of the
scheme — that they regarded the development of the North-
West as necessary for the security and the promotion of the
best interests of British North America. If the House will
bear with me, Mr. Speaker, I would ask honourable members
to consider for a moment the extent of the territory -there
possessed. An American writer, who estimates it at 2,500,
' 000 square miles, puts it in this way : —
How large is that? It is fifteen and a half times larger than the
State of California; about thirty-eight times as large as the State of New
York; nearly twice as large as the thirty-ofte states of the Union; and,
if we omit the territory of Nebraska, as large as all our states and terri
tories combined.
Between the settled portions of Canada and the Red
River country there are areas of arable laud, ranging frora
200,000 acres downwards, with facilities for opening up
communication by laud and water; and I do not wonder
that the late Sir George Simpson, while making his cele
brated journey round the world, in passing from Montreal
to Red River, and thence overland to the Pacific, should hdve
been struck with the extraordinary advantages of this coun
try, and that on one occasion, when surveying the magnifi-

122 NOVA BRITANNIA.
cent expanse of inland lake and river navigation, in the
midst of a fertile -country, he should exclaim : —
Is it too much for the eye of philanthropy to discern through the
vista of futurity this noble stream, connecting, as it does, the fertile
shores of two spacious lakes, with crowded steamboats on its bosom, and
populous towns on its borders ?
Sir George Simpson was not a man likely to be carried
away by mere impulse ; but, viewing the prospect before
him, he could not -refrain from breaking forth in the glow
ing language I have quoted. Then, glance for a moment at
the Saskatchewan, the Assiniboine and the Red River
country, with the Red River settlement of 10,000 people,
forming the nucleus for a future province — a nucleus around
which immigration could be drawn so as to bind up in that
distant region a powerful section of the Confederation. It
is a country which embraces 360,000 square miles, and the
Red River, Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatchewan afford a
navigable water-line of 1,400 miles. And what is the char
acter of the country ? On this point I would quote Pro
fessor Hind, who describes the valley of the Red River and
a large portion of the country on its affluent, the Assini
boine, as "a Paradise of fertility." He could speak of it in
no other terms than those of " astonishment and admira
tion." He adds that as an agricultural country the character
of the soil could not be surpassed, affirming in proof of this
assertion That all kinds of farm produce common in Canada succeed admira
bly in the district of Assiniboia, and that as an agricultural country it
will one day rank among the most distinguished.
Nor are there any difficulties of climate. If any honourable
member will take the trouble to examine that excellent work
in our library, Blodgett's Climatology, he will find it stated as
having been demonstrated that " the climate of the North-
West coast, and of the interior towards Lake Winnipeg, is
quite the reverse of that experienced in the same latitude
on the Atlantic, and is highly favourable to occupation and
settlement." Mr. Speaker, I desire now to place before the House
the extent of the territory we possess in the Atlantic and

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 123
Pacific Provinces. The Atlantic Provinces comprise Ca
nada East, with an area of 201,989 square miles; Canada
West, 148,832 ; New Brunswick, 27,700 ; Nova Scotia,
18,746; Prince Edward Island, 2,134; Newfoundland,
35,913 — together 435,314 square miles, to which add the
territory of Labrador, 5,000 miles, making a grand total of
440,314 square miles, embracing a population of something
like 4,000,000 of souls. The Pacific Provinces are British
Columbia, containing 200,000 square miles, and Vancouver
Island, with 12,000 square miles ; and then there is the ter
ritory of Hudson's Bay (including Central British North
America) with 2,700,000 square miles.
I desire now. Sir, to thank the House for the patience
with which honourable members have listened to my re
marks. I rose at a late hour in the evening, and seeing
that the House was wearied when I commenced, I did not
wish to prolong the debate. I have thus shortened very
much the remarks I intended to offer, and have treated
only hurriedly and casually many points which might have
engaged further attention under other circumstances. I
desire to express my confident opinion, before closing, that
this great scheme is not one which ought to be factiously
met. For if ever there was a plan submitted to any legisla
ture which deserved to be treated with an avoidance of
party feeling, it is this. It is evident that in the House
there are a large majority in favour of the plan, and while
it is their duty to concede to the minority — what is the
right of the minority — the opportunity of stating their ob
jections to it, it is on the other hand an evidence of the
strongest kind that the majority, in supporting this meas
ure, believe they are doing the best for their country, and
that it is a measure which meets the popular sanction and
approval, when they avow by their own act ,their readiness
to return to the people for their approval of the steps they
have thought proper to take. It is the duty of those, who
are in favour of the scheme — and I believe there are a very
large majority who see in it advantages of the most sub
stantial kind — I am firmly persuaded that it is a duty they
owe to those who sent them to this House, it is a duty they

124 NOVA BRITANNIA. .
owe to the country, it is a duty they owe to the great em
pire of which we form a part, to bring this scheme to a
speedy consummation. I am glad. Sir, in taking a retro
spect of the three eventful years during which I have had a
seat in this House, to reflect that on the first occasion I had
the honour of addressing the House, in 1861, I declared
myself in favour of an analogous scheme to that we are now
discussing ; that I then expressed myself in favour of a
general government of the British North American Pro
vinces, with separate local legislatures, in the following
terms, when speaking of the question of representation by
population : —
He had confidence that men would be found able to meet the ques
tion fairly, and to come down with a measure .satisfactory to the country.
It might be that that measure would be one w^ich would bring together
the different provinces of British North America into a union, formed
on such a basis as would give to the people of each province the right to
manage their own internal affairs, while at the same time the whole should
provide for the management of matters^of common concern, so as to se
cure the consolidation of the Britannic power on this continent.*
I have lield this opinion ever since I have had the cap
acity of thinking of the destiny of this country, and I would
beg to be aUowed further to quote language I used in 1859.
Reviewing at that time, as I have done hurriedly to-night,
the extent of our possessions, and the great advantages wc
would be able to obtain by the union now proposed to be
carried into efi'ect, I spoke as follows, in a lecture on the
Hudson's Bay and Pacific Territories, delivered in Mon
treal : —
With two powerful colonies on the Pacific, with another or more in
the region between Canada and the Rocky Mountains, with a railway
and a telegraph linking the Atlantic with the Pacific, and our inland and
ocean channels of trade becoming a great thoroughfare of travel and of
commerce, who can doubt of the reality and the accuracy of the vision
which rises distinctly and clearly define'd before us, as the great Britan
nic Empire of the North stands out in all its grandeur, and in all the
brilliancy of its magnificent future! Some hard matter-of-fact thinker,
some keen utilitarian, some plodding man of business, may point the
linger of scorn at us, and deem all this but an empty shadow — but the
fleeting fantasy of a dream. Be it so. Time is a worker of miracles —
ay, and of sober realities, too; but when we look east and west and north;

See ante, p. 96.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 125
when we cause the goodly band of the Northmen from Acadia, and
Canada, and the North-West,' and the Columbia, and the Britain of the
Pacific, to defile before us, who are the masters Of so vast a territory, cf
a heritage of such surpassing value; aad when we remember the rapid
rise into greatness, as one of the powers of the earth, of the former Amer
ican colonies, and look back over their progress, who can doubt of the
future of these British provinces, or of the entire and paljiable reality of
that vision which rises so grandly before us pf this great British Empire
of the North — of that new English-speaking nation which" will at one and
no distant day people aU this northern continent— a Rus.-.ia, as has been
well said, it may be, but yet an English Eussia, with free institutions,
with high civilization, and entire freedom of speech and thought — with
its face to the south and its hack to the pole, with its right and left rest
ing on the Atlantic and the Pacific, and with the telegraph and the ircm
road connecting the two oceans ? *
Such, Mr. Speaker, is the vision which is present to
myself and to many others who, like myself, whether in
Upper or Lower Canada, are " to the manner born," and
whose all and whose destiny is here. I know and feel and '
am assured that if the people of these British Provinces are
but true to themselves, and if the statesmen of Britain now
act aright their part in this great crisis of our national his
tory, this vision will be realized. We will have the pride
to belong to a great country still attached to the Crown of
-Great Britain, but in which, notwithstanding, we shall have
entire freedom of action and the blessings of responsible
self-government ; and I am satisfied we will see as the re
sults of this union all that we could possibly imagine as its
fruits. Thanking the House for their kind attention, I
have only to say further, that I believe the plan under
which we seek to ask the Parliament of Great Britain to
legislate for us is a wise and judicious one, and which not
only deserves, but which I am confident will receive, the
hearty support of the representatives and of the people of
this province, and to which I, for one, shall feel it my duty
to give my warmest and most cordial sanction.
* See ante, pp. 88, 89.

126 NOVA BRITANNIA.

Speech at Perth, on 1st July, 1867.
[The debate on the Confederation resolutions in the Cana
dian Assembly extended over a period of five weeks, and was
not concluded until the 10th of March (1865), when the
resolutions were adopted by a vote of 91 to 33. They had
previously been adopted in the Legislative Council by a vote
of 45 to 15. In due course the Confederation project was
brought to maturity. The Dominion of Canada was esta
blished by an Act of the Imperial Parliarnent, and was
ushered into existence by virtue of a Royal Proclama
tion on the 1st of July, 1867.* The day was celebrated'
throughout the land with great enthusiasm. The Town of
Perth, Mr. Morris's birthplace, was not behindhand in
doing honour to the event. Mr. Morris himself delivered
the following address on the occasion, in the presence of
2,000 persons.]
Mr. Morris, on coming forward, said he had great pleas
ure in responding to the invitation of the Mayor and Cor
poration of the Town of Perth, to address this large as
semblage, briefly, on subjects appropriate to this auspicious
occasion. In accepting the invitation, he regarded it not
so much as a personal compliment, but as a witness of
"The Dominion, as then constituted, was composed of the two Canadas (formerly
Upper and Lower Canada, thenceforth known respectively as Ontario and Quebec),
together with the two Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia aud New Brunswick.
Provision was made for the admission of the other British North American Provin
ces and Territories, in case such admission should eventually be thought desirable.
The various Territories and Provinces have from time to time been admitted, and
at the present day Newfoundland is the only portion of British North America
which does not form part of the Dominion. See ante, p. 13, note. Public opinion
there,' however, is understood to be very largely in favour of amalgamation, and the
early entry of the colony into the Dominion may confidently be looked for.

speeches and addresses. 127
the determination of our people to make the Dominion a
great success. And as he stood there, and saw the eviden
ces of progress, wealth and luxury on all hands around him,
and recollected that just fifty-one years ago, this flourishing
town was a wilderness, and the military settlement was
just being planted, he could not help conjecturing what
the result of another fifty years' progress would be to the
Dominion, whose natal day the meeting was met to wel
come. The same day, too, that witnesses the inauguration
of the Canadian confederacy, henceforth, " Our Glorious
First," is also, by a hopeful coincidence, the birth day of
the Great North German Confederation. A peaceful revo
lution has been brought about, and is now commemorated.
Our neighbours across the line have their fourth ; the result
of a revolution — but a fierce and bloody one — the rankling
effects of which are still felt, estranging and alienating
two great nations. Our great national change, on the other
hand, has been brought about by the union of men of all
parties in these provinces, with the sanction and aid of the
statesmen and the two great political parties in England,
and with the personal hearty approval of our Gracious
Queen, for the single object of strengthening and advancing
colonial interests, and binding the colonies, as one harmoni
ous whole, more closely to the parent laud. Statesmen saw,
in the British American colonies, the bundle of sticks in the
old fable, and that all they wanted was to be well united.
Singly, each was weak and feeble — ^the hand of the child
could break it. United, the power of the strong man in his
vigour could be defied. He (Mr. Morris) was one of those
who believed that the affairs of nations were overruled by
Providence. For, in the words of the poet.
There's a Divinity that shapes our ends.
Rough hew them how we will."
And, impressed with this belief, he could not avoid seeing
in the rapid and successful accomplishment of this great
union, and in the way in which difficulties had been remov
ed, and apparently untoward events had contributed to
wards its success, the workings of the finger of Providence.

128 nova BRITANNIA.
It was amazing, for instance, how the repeal of the Becipro-
city Treaty, designed to have the contrary effect of forcing
our people to an unwilling alliance with the United States,
had proved beneficial to us — had taught our people that we
could rely on our own resources — and had contributed to
the opening up of new avenues of trade and commerce.
Again, was it not remarkable, how, when the action of New
F^runswick was doubtful, the landing on Campobello and
the raid on Canada (evoking, as the latter did, a noble
spirit of self-defence, and presenting a spectacle to cheer and
encourage every lover of his country, in the way in which
the message flashed along the telegraph wires at midnight
wasresponded to, and 14,000 men, where but 10,000 were cal
led for, from all ranks and classes and creeds of our society,
sprang to arms, ready to do and die in defence of our
homes, our hearths, and our altars), rallied the people of
New Brunswick as one man around the cause of Union.
Yes, viewing the progress of this great national event in its
grand and steady progress from its inception to its comple
tion, there rose up on every hand hopeful auguries of a
happy and glorious future. But, as time was limited, he
would pass on to glance at the position, resources, trade
and extent of the Dominion. And first, he would call their
attention to the territorial magnitude of the combined pro
vinces. He found the area of the Dominion was 377,0i5
square miles ; the population being about four millions ; and
were it to advance at the same ratio as in the past, in a single
generation the population would, it had been calculated by
Mr. Harvey, the able editor of the Year Book, be about 12,-
OpO,0'JO. But mere figures give but the faintest idea of the
extent and proportions of this fair Dominion, with ils mag
nificent seaboard — its great St. Lawrence — its vast inland
seas — its varied resources — its fisheries, its mines of coal,iron,
copper, gold and silver, and its rich agricultural resources and
vast undeveloped forests. Time, as it passes, with its magic
wand, will bring all these into prominent view ; but a Do
minion equal in extent to Great Britain, France, Prussia, Hol
land, Belgium , Greece, Portugal, and Switzerland, all put to
gether, and peopled by a race embracing the triple strands.

speeches and addresses. 129
out of which the cord that binds together the British nation
is woven, and intertwining with the English, Irish and
Scotch, the blood of old France — a race, too, rendered hardy
and self-reliant by our northern climate, cannot fail, under
the kind protection of Britain, to rise into position, power,
and importance among the nations. Then, again, even in
our infancy, we find that our lakes and our Atlantic fish
eries have given the new Dominion a- marine— a navy, in
fact — but one devoted to the peaceful prosecution of a large
industry that yet gives the Dominion no insignificant rank
among the nations of the world, and gives us, taking ton
nage as the test, the third mercantile navy in the world.
Looking next at the volume of our trade, he (Mr. Morris)
found that the imports of the Dominion in 1865 were $70,-
068,744, and the exports $68,296,208. But this was neither
the time nor place to enlarge on such questions. He would
simply, in view of what he had stated, adopt the language of
the late Judge Haliburton, better known as Sam Slick, and
say : " Now take these facts and see what an empire is here.
Surely the best in climate, soil, mineral and other produc
tions, in the world, and peopled by such a race as no other
country under heaven can produce. Here, sir, are the bun
dle of sticks ; all they want is to be well united." United
they now are, and it is our duty to see that the alliance is
made firm and sure, and indissoluble ; and such it will be if
it be built up on the great principles of British justice and
equal rights to the varied classes of our great community.
And now, if the audience would bear with him, he would
allude, in passing, to some of the advantages that would ac
crue from this union — this marriage, whose wedding feast
we were celebrating. One immediate result had taken place.
Intercolonial trade had been revived, and would receive a yet
greater impetus. Last fall, some 200,000 barrels of Canadian
flour went into consumption in the Acadian provinces, sup
planting the American article ; and already Canadian capital
was busy developing Nova Scotian coal fields ; and so, as in
tercourse increased, with one tariff, one Government, one
common aim and object, trade would advance and prosper.
The West Indian trade, too, would be re-opened and extend-
9

ISO ifoVA BftlTANNlAi
ed. Twenty years ago Canada possessed a large trade with
those islands, and it would conduce to mutual interests were
it to be revived and extended. There is yet another aspect
in which the results of union will be most beneficial, and
that is the intercolonial point of view. Whether we view
it as regards trade relations, or as affecting intercolonial ob
ligations, it is alike important. When the Reciprocity Treaty
was last negotiated— a measure which was beneficial to both
countries — the committee of commerce of tho United States
House of Representatives, while noting the fact " that the
isolated and disconnected condition of the various Govern
ments of these Provinces to each other, and the absence of
their real responsibility to any common centre, were little
understood" rejoiced in the declaration, "that no advantage
gained by the treaty with the Maritime Provinces can be
admitted as offsets in favour of Canada. Each province
made its own bargain and received its separate equivalent."
Now, all this has been changed. No longer isolated and dis
connected, but one people, should our neighbours de
sire to negotiate with us for a treaty for reciprocal trade
and commerce, on fair and equitable terms, the Do
minion, strong in the conviction of our ability to stand
alone, which experience has given us, will approach the
United States, holding in one common hand our navi
gation of the lakes and the St. Lawrence — our expen
sive canal system — our vast stores of lumber — our fisher
ies, and our coasting trade — and we will ask to make a
common bargain, and to offer as a common equivalent the
advantages which we unitedly possess. And, again, passing
from the Trade to the Intercolonial aspect of the question,
enormous gain has accrued to us. Our position hitherto
has been most disadvantageous, and, at times, critical.
Bound to Britain by the ties of origin and our affectionate
loyalty — and, by the way, in these trans-Atlantic provinces,
this sentiment becomes a power, even our young people
speak of Britain as " home." And the celebration of St.
George's, St. Andrew's and St. Patrick's days, proves how
warmly men's hearts cleave to the fatherland, and how the
memories of the old churchyards, where their fathers' bones

speeches and addresses. 131
lie mouldering, are cherished. Yes, in Canada, loyalty to
our Queen and her person is a real pervading power influ
encing our entire people, and hence a source of strength,
and a bulwark against the designs of our powerful neigh
bours — designs which her leading statesman, Mr. Seward,
urged the prosecution of while we were " yet incurious of
our destiny" — a stage which we have happily, however,
passed. And yet, with entire self-government — with re
sponsible Ministers and Parliamentary Government, the
relation of these colonies to the Parent State has been
fraught with danger, for each little colony has held in its
own hand the power of peace or war between the two great
nations — parent and daughter — Britain and the United
States. During all the long, stern, American civil war —
during all that terrific struggle — Canada, Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick might at any time have precipitated those
two nations into war. And well it was that at the time of
the St. Alban's raid Canada rose to an adequate conception
of her international duties — lined her frontier with volun
teers, and checked by her Alien Act the designs of those
who, having obtained her shelter and enjoyed her hospital
ity, were using her shores as a basis against a nation with
whom Britain was at peace. But all this is changed ; and,
henceforth, one central power will rule from the far west
ern boundary of Ontario to Halifax. Henceforth, Britain
will have only one Government to deal with, instead of
three ; and henceforth, in all matters of trade and commerce,
of defence, of international obligation, of common progress,
one central power will govern and control. Still, though
much had been accomplished, the work is not yet done. The
Union is yet a paper one. It has to be welded and cement
ed. It has to find lodgment and firm dwelling-place in the
hearts of our people, and to that the energies and the efforts
of every true patriot must be devoted. And, as time passes,
other provinces have to be brought in. Sturdy, self-reliant
Prince Edward Island — the garden of the Dominion, as it
will be — has to be won over. Newfoundland, six days only
from Britain, by a fast steamer, with her fisheries and her
undeveloped mineral riches, has to be welcomed to the

132 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Confederacy. The old highway by the Ottawa, and thence
to the Bed Eiver and the S.iskatchewan ; and then, linking
the Atlantic and Halifax on the East, with Victoria and
the Pacific in the far West, the Atlantic and Pacific Rail
way has to be constructed through British territory, and the
colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island added
to our Confederation, and then we will have arrived at re
sults which I regard as absolutely certain in the future, and
which, in 1859,* I thus looked forward to ; —
" W^ith two powerful colonies on the Pacific, with another
or more in the region between Canada and the Rocky
Mountains, with a railway and a telegraph linking the At
lantic with the Pacific, and absorbing the newly opened and
fast developing trade with China and Japan, and our inland
and ocean channels of trade becoming such a thoroughfare
of travel and of commerce as the world never saw before,
who can doubt of the reality and the accuracy of the vision
which rises distinctly and clearly defined before us, as the
Great Britannic Empire df the North stands out in all its
grandeur, and in all the brilliancy of its magnificent future !
Some hard, matter-of-fact thinker, some keen utilitarian,
some plodding man of business, may point the finger of
scorn at us, and deem all this but an empty shadow — but the
fleeting fantasy of a dreamer. Be it so. Time is a worker
of miracles — aye, and of sober realities too ; and when we
look east and west and north, when we cause the goodly
band of the Northmen frora Acadia, and Canada, and the
North-West, and British Columbia, the Britain of the
Pacific, to defile before us, a noble army of hearty spirits
encased in stalwart forms — who are the masters of so vast
a territory, of a heritage of such surpassing value ! and
when we remember the rapid rise into the greatness of one
of the powers of the earth of the former American Colo
nies, and look over their progress, who can doubt of the
future of these British Provinces, or of the entire and palp
able reality of that vision which rises so grandly before us
of the Great British Empire of the North — of that new
"^ See the close of Lecture II., ante.

speeches and addresses. 133
English-speaking nation which will at one and no distant
day people all this Northern continent — a Russia, as has
been well said, it may be, but yet an English Russia, with
free institutions, with high civilization, and entire freedom
of speech and thought — with its face to the South and its
back to the pole, with its right and left resting on the At
lantic and the Pacific, with the telegraph and the iron-road
connecting the two oceans 1 Such is the vision which passed
before Queen Victoria, when she said to the Commons of
England : ' Her Majesty hopes that this new colony in the
Pacific may be but one step in the career of progress by whi ch
Her Majesty's dominions in North America may ultimately
be peopled, in an unbroken chain from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, by a loyal and industrious population of subjects of
the British Crown.' Such was the patriotic vision that
passed before the eye of Roebuck, when, on the shores of
Galway, he exclaimed : ' We lost the United Provinces of
New England ; we lost them, but our good fortune enabled
us to make a Northern America. Our great North American
colony stretches now from Halifax to Vancouver Island. Up
the St. Lawrence, along the lakes, through the Saskatchewan,
across the Rocky Mountains, the flag of England is predom
inant. The language of England goes from Halifax to
Vancouver Island ; the institution of England will reach
thence as far as habitable land goes, even to the poles, and
we shall have such a dominion as the world never saw ! '
Yes, such is the vision which is present to us, and to
many others ' to the manner born,' whose all and whose
destiny are here. Yes, we know and feel, and are assured,
that if the people of these British Provinces are but true to
themselves, and if the people and the statesmen of Britain
but act aright their part, then this dream will be realized,
and that perhaps ere the men of this generation have all
passed from this fleeting scene."
And now,, a last word or two, and he would have done.
He rejoiced in the accomplishment of the Union we have
met to celebrate, because he believed that it would tend to
the perpetuation, for generations, of our close and intimate
eoijaeotioi} witl} Qld ijngland. In favour of close and inti-

134 NOVA BRITANNIA.
mate Union with Britain, and the growing up under her
shelter to power and strength, we have one and all declared.
And, to accomplish this, British and Colonial statesmen
have laboured. Let us, then, each and all, strive to accom
plish this our destiny — let us cherish the virtue of patriot
ism—let us take as our motto, " Our Queen and Our Coun
try " — let us each realize our responsibility as citizens of a
country of such promise, and each in our own sphere do our
part, however humble, towards the accomplishment of so
noble an enterprise — the building up of a British Dominion,
with self-government and free institutions, extending from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. And, meanwhile, in view of so
exalted a destiny as is possible for us, let us, one and all,
with all the fervour of true patriotism, and the earnestness
of true, leal-hearted, British North Americans, send forth
the aspiration, " So mat it be ! "

SPEECH ON the RESOLUTIONS FOR THE ACQUISITION OF THE
NORTH-'WEST TERRITORY.
[At the first general election held under the new order of
things, Mr. Morris was returned to the House of Commons for
his old constituency of South Lanark. The first Parliament of
the Dominion was formally opened on the 8th of November,
1867. On the 4th of December the Hon. William Mc
Dougall, Minister of Public Works, introduced a series of
resolutions based on the 146th section of the British North
America Act, with a view to the acquisition of the North-
West Territories by the Dominion. These resolutions gave
rise to a prolonged debate, in which all the leading members
took part. The Hon. Joseph Howe, member for Hants,
Nova Scotia, spoke very strongly against the proposed
acquisition. The Hon. L, H. Ifoltoii took a similar stand.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES, 133
and moved an amendment to the effect that it was inex
pedient to adopt the resolutions until the claims with which
the Territories were burdened should be known. The dis-
cussion extended over an entire week, when, on the 1 1 th of
the month, a vote was taken, and the amendment was
defeated by a majority of 63. The vote stood 104 to 41;
The following speech in support of the resolutions was made
by Mr. Morris, on the night of Thursday, the 5th.j
Mr. Morris said that before addressing himself to the reso
lutions before the Chair^ — the importance of which could not
well be exaggerated — he would refer to the position taken
up by the member for Hants.* That honourable gentleman
told the House and the country that he once had entertained
the dream of British American Colonial Union, and of a
British Pacific Railway, linking the Atlantic with the Pacific,
but that he had thrown all that overboard as " deck cargo."
He (Mr. Morris) was sorry to hear the declaration, and yet
the illustration was most apt. The member for Hants had
pictured himself as the skipper of a little craft, who, imagin
ing that a storm was impending, set to work diligently to
lighten his vessel by throwing overboard his deck cargo. He
(Mr. Morris) very much feared, however, that the deliberate
judgment of the public of the Dominion would be, that when
the "deck cargo" was thrown overboard — when the grand
idea of Colonial Union, which the honourable gentleman had
expatiated on in such glowing terms in his noble speech pub
lished in London in 1859 — was cast to the waters, there
would be no car-go of any value left on board the smack of
the member for Hants. He (Mr. Morris) recollected reading
with a glow of honest pride the utterances of the member for
Hants, in tha.fc speech, giving expression as he then did, to
the feelings of colonists, and battling manfully for colonial
union and colonial elevation, and for the maintenance of
the integrity of the Empire. But now all this was changed.
* The Honourable Joseph Hgwe,

136 NOVA BRITANNIA.
The member for Hants had thrown overboard his deck cargo,
and expected all others to do the same. The Pacific Rail
road, according to him, was a dream, and yet the American
people with indomitable energy were turning that dream into
a reality They did not sneer as it as " deck cargo," nor
should we. Dream it might be called, and yet the construc
tion of a Pacific Railroad was not one whit so unlikely as
was twenty years ago the construction of the Grand Trunk.
He (Mr. Morris) believed that the present generation would
not pass away before this great idea would be realized, and a
railway would link the Acadian Provinces on the Atlantic
with the Pacific coast, and pass through a chain of commu
nities of British freemen. But the member for Hants told us
that we were " a nation without an army or a navy," that we
were defenceless against our powerful neighbours, and that
Britain and British statesmen wanted to throw us off. He
(Mr. Morris) deeply regretted that such language should fall
from the lips of so prominent a colonist, and he felt con
strained to repudiate such sentiments. " A pation without
an army or a navy." Were we not an integral portion of the
British Empire, and if trouble came — if that direst of cala
mities did ensue — a war between two nations of the same
blood and lineage, did we not know that the army and navy
of Britain would battle in our defence. The member for
Hants told us that we were defenceless, and that Britain
wished to cast us off. And what was the authority he gave
for such a statement 1 The speech of a nobleman, in the
House of Lords, whose name even was not given to us, but
a speech which, if the member for Hants had correctly re
ported it, was simply disgraceful to any British peer. He
(Mr. Morris) could not allow such a statement to pass with
out contradiction, and he felt it to be a duty to place before
the country the opinions of leading statesmen as declared in
the debate on the Intercolonial Railway in the House of
Lords, as the most marked contrast to the views of the ano
nymous nobleman of the member for Hants. He had a re
port of the debate before him. [The speaker was here inter
rupted by cries of " Read, read ! "J Earl Russell pointed out
the analogy between the position of Portugal— when assailed

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 137
by France and Spain, aud our ancestors thought fit to keep
their treaty with Portugal and defend her — and the position
of Canada relatively to the United States.
" That was a time," said Earl Russell, " when the Sovereign of France
was the greatest generg,l of modern times, and had the largest^ armies at
his disposal. You vrould think, then, that the case was hopeless, for here
were 300,000 or 400,000, who could always be sent under one of the great
marshals of the empire ag'ainst her, and Portugal must be cut off. But
we, too, had a great general, but above all, -we had spirit and determin
ation to defend Portugal, because she was our friend and ally, and that
defence succeeded. There still remains the Treaty, there still remains
Portugal, and I defy you to say that the defence of Canada is a bit more
difficult than the defence of Portugal was at that time."
And, Sir, the noble Lord closed his eloquent speech by
this emphatic declaration on the defence question : —
" I don't think that there is any such great difficulty in point of policy
as should induce us to do that which is dishonourable, for it would be
dishonourable to desert ihe Queen's subjects when they look to you for protec
tion. " I
[Hon. Mr. Howe — But did the member for Lanarksee the
wigging which a general officer gave Lord Russell next day
in the Times ?]
Mr. Morris — No, he had not seen it, but he was sure that
the noble Lord had treated the anonymous officer with the
contempt he deserved.^ And he would now quote the views
of the Commander of the British Forces on this subject. The
Duke of Cambridge said : —
" I do hope, therefore, that the feeling which has been so nobly shown
in Canada, and the gallantry with which the Militia and Volunteers
have come forward on every occasion when their services were needed,
will be appreciated here, and that we should hold out the hand of friend-
ship to the new Confederation, which, I believe, will also add to the
security of "the Empire. I repeat that we must not be led away by the
notion that the colony is indefensible. I believe on the contrary there
will be means to defend it, and I shall rejoice not only at the Confeder
ation which this Bill is to ratify, but also at the military chain of defence
which the Bill will complete, and which is so essential to the mainten
ance of our Empire in these large, valuable, and injportant possessions."
Not to weary the House, he would only further quote the
manly declaration of the Colonial Secretary, the Duke of
Buckingham, in closing the debate : —
" It would be found that in the event of Canada being exposed to
danger, the people of England would rally round the colony, and dbfe.nd it
WITH AI,L THE rOWEB AT THB COMMAND OF OBEAT BBITAIN."

138 NOVA BRITANNIA.
These were refreshing views. They had the ring of the
British metal about them ; and be chose — and he knew the
House, and the country too, would choose — to understand
them as the real sentiments of Britain and Britain's states
men, with regard to the defence of the Dominion. He pre
ferred to take such views as the expression of the sentiments
of Britain, rather than the unsupported statements of the
member for Hants. The member for Lambton * had said
the other night that he would not live in this country on
sufferance. He (Mr. Morris) united in that sentiment, and
did not believe that such was our position. He had no sym
pathy with the craven spirit which was constantly crying
out that Canada was defenceless. It would not be, as the
member for Hants had more than once depicted it, a contest
between four millions and thirty millions. It would be a
contest between four millions and thirty millions, with all
the power and might of Great Britain cast into the scale
with the four millions. And if the struggle ever came, which
he trusted it never would, yet when he reflected on the gal
lant fight which the eight millions of the South had for four
years, alone and unaided, maintained against the overwhelm
ing numbers of the North, he felt that the contest would by
no means be an unequal one, aud he had entire confidence
that our connection with the British Empire could and would
be maintained, and that we would yet rise to strength and
power under the protection of the old British flag. But now
he would pass from this subject, which from a sense of
duty he had felt constrained to deal with, and not with
any feeling of hostility to the member for Hants, and
would for a short time take up some of the topics contained
in the resolutions. And, first, he would allude to the ques
tion of communication between Canada and the North- West.
He had understood the member for Wellington Centre to
state that the distance to be overcome to establish commu
nication between Canada and Fort Garry was 800 miles.
Was he right in so understanding him 1
[Dr. Parker replied that he meant Lake Huron.]
"* JJr, Ale^fander M^cHen^ie,

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 139
Mr. Morris — Then the honourable member had placed a
most erroneous view of the distance to the Territory before
the country. The actual stretch of country to be overpassed
between Fort William, on Lake Superior, and Fort Garry,
the principal station in the Red River country, was 500 miles,
of which 132 was land carriage, and 367 was water naviga
tion. And while this was the case, the distance from St.
Paul, in the United States, to Fort Garry was 558 miles, and
that a land journey which occupied sixteen days. Let, then,
the old Canadian highway to the Red River be re-opened ;
the old road over the portage be restored, and steamers be
placed on the connecting lakes and rivers, and the commu
nication from Lake Superior to Fort Garry could be made in
six days, an immense advantage in point of time, as well as
in facility of access. But not only was this so, but the inter
mediate country was decidedly favourable for occupation,
containing, as it did, large areas of cultivable land. Sir
George Simpson, in his Overland Journey Round the World,
says of the river which empties Rainy Lake into the Lake of
the Woods, that " In a stretch of 100 miles, it is not inter
rupted by a single impediment, while the current is not
strong enough to materially retard the ascending traveller."
Professor Hind estimates the area of arable land in the Kainy
River valley at 200,000 acres, apart from detached areas on
the route between the Kaministiquia and the Rainy River.
With such a navigation, and with a country on its banks
which Sir George Simpson declared was no less favourable
to agriculture than the waters themselves to navigation, we
can enter into the region which rose before Sfr George when
he exclaimed : —
" Is it too much for the eye of Philanthropy to discern though the vista
of Posterity this noble stream, connecting as it does the fertile shores (^f
two spacious lakes, with crowded steamboats on its bosom and populous
towns on its borders ? "
Nor was this a solitary testimony ; for Professor Hind, who
had visited the country on behalf of the Canadian Govern
ment, reported that the country in the region in question
" is as well adapted for settlement as any other part of North
An^eripa. The climate is good, the soil in general fertile,

140 NOVA BRITANNIA.
water power is to be had in abundance, and in the woods
there are many valuable kinds of timber." With such an
intermediate country, and with such facilities for water
communication, he (Mr. Morris) advocated the opening up
of the land and water lines of travel — the survey of the
arable land, and then the immediate throwing of it open,
free to actual settlers, so as to create centres of population
along the highway to the Red River from Canada. And if the
intermediate country is desirable for settlement, what should
be said of the great fertile belt of the British North-West, as
it is now popularly known in the United States, with its
little civilized population of 12,000 ] Professor Hind de
scribed the Valley of the Red River as " a Paradise of
fertility," and found it impossible to speak of it in any
other terms than those of astonishment and admiration.
He also reported that as an agricultural country, it would
one day rank among the most distinguished. " Introduce,"
said he, " the European or Canadian climate into the settle
ment, and in a very few years the beautiful prairies of the Red
River and the Assiniboine would be white with flocks and
^herds." Such, then7 is the country which the Queen and Par
liament of England offer to hand over to the Queen and Par
liament of Canada, and shall we not accept the magnificent
gift ? Shall we not re-open the old French trail, and be pos
sessors of a land which we have inherited from French
Canada 1 Have the sons become degenerate, and are they
unable to press forward where their forefathers led 1 Assur
edly not. Canada was bound to the North-West by the ties
of discover}', possession, and interest. Long years ago the
Jesuit Fathers and the early French pioneers and traders
passed up the Ottawa from Montreal into the valleys of the
Red River of the North and the Saskatchewan, and settled
themselves there with an enterprise which we would do well
to follow. Surely, Sir, with the advance which railways and
steam have given us we can follow where the early French
settlers found their way. The country is ours by right of
inheritance, and he trusted that the people of Canada would
do what they could to retain for themselves and their poste
rity the great country to which they were bound by so raany

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 141
ties of interest and sympathy. Holding these views, he
thought that the Government proposed to deal practically
with the great question in the resolutions under considera
tion — proposed to approach the British Crown, and claim that
under the Confederation Act this great country should be
handed over to the Dominion, subject to a reservation of the
rights of the Indians, and to a recognition of such rights as
the Hudson's Bay Company might be able to establish. This
leads one to consider the position of that company,or rather of
their successors. The company claimed " all the country, the
waters of which fall into the Hudson's Bay." Not assuming
for a raoment the validity of the charter, the charter itself
expressly excluded from its operation " all the lands already
actually possessed by or granted to any of our subjects, or
possessed by the subjects of any Christian Province or State,"
At the time that King Charles the Second granted the charter
to the " Hudson's Bay adventurers," Canada was possessed by
France, and "the subjects" of that "Christian State" had
taken possession of the fertile region of the Red River and
the Saskatchewan. By the right, then, of inheritance, did
Canada claim the larger portion of the fertile belt, and he
therefore endorsed the policy of the Government. He trusted
that Canada would assert her claim to every inch of soil
which she lightfully owned, but would at the same time re
cognise any legal claim which could be established by other
claimants. He- did not believe in the doctrine that might
was right. He did not believe in depriving any company or
person, by the strong hand of power, of any real substantial
rights, but at the' same time he would not wrongfully sur
render one iota of the rights of Canada. To carry out these
views, he hoped that prompt steps would be taken to settle
the real boundaries between Canada and the Hudson's Bay
Territory, and that thereafter such rights as the Hudson's
Bay Company should be found to be possessed of to the
remainder of the Territory should be acquired on just terras.
He also urged again, as he had already done, the opening up
of a highway for travel between the Dominion and the Red
River country, and that established, he would throw open
the fertile glades and prairies of the fertile belt, and give

142 NOVA BRITANNIA.
actual settlers free grants of land to tempt them to build up
horaes for themselves and their children in that vast country.
He would organize a local government there, and give the
people the benefit of a constitutional authority, and so aid
thera in the great work of colonizing that fertile region. We
have been told. Sir, that we have no need of this country,
and that our land in Canada is not yet taken up. But what
are the facts 'i The good lands of Canada have passed from
the hands of the Government, and the farmer in our old
Provinces is unable to settle his family around him — is un
able to acquire land for his sons, except at prices beyond his
reach. The result is, that from east and west, from Ontario
and Quebec, our young men are going (against their will, for
they would rather reraain under British rule) to people
Wisconsin and Minnesota, going to people and strengthen a
foreign power, and already the boast of the American press
is that the New Dominion has neither enterprise nor energy
enough to occupy the fertile belt, and that the overflow of
American settlement frora Minnesota and Dacotah will place
its ownership beyond the reach of diplomacy. Shall this
boast, Mr. Speaker, be realized 1 Or shall we rise to an ap-
¦ preciation of our manifest destiny, and go up to possess this
land of promise ? He trusted that the House would decide
at once to accept the Territory, and he firraly believed that if
it did so, the time would speedily come when, as we had
already seen, the dream of Colonial and Imperial patriots, so
far realized, as to Acadia and Canada joined hand in hand
under one government, so we would yet see this great British
Colonial Union established on a firm, stable and indissoluble
basis, and extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Speech at Perth, on Re-election by Acclamation,
AFTER Accepting Office in the Dominion Gov
ernment, AS Minister of Inland Revenue,
[In the month of November, 1869, at the request of the
Premier, Sir John Macdonald, Mr. Morris accepted office as
Minister of Inland Revenue, and was sworn in as a member

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 143
of the Privy Council. Upon returning to his constituents
in South Lanark for re-election he was returned by accla
mation. The following is a newspaper suramary of the
speech made by him at Perth on the occasion.]
Why was he here to-day 1 It was because he had, after
full knowledge of the position, felt himself free to accept a
seat in the Government of the Dominion, along with the
Hon. Messieurs Dunkin and Aikins, both raen of high char
acter. He had entered the Government, and he now asked
their approval of the step. He would remind them that
there was a wide contrast between the present time and that
on which they first elected him — between the then and the
now. Then all was exciteraent. Party was arrayed against
party, representation by population was the battle cry, and
no party was strong enough to govern the country. The
governraents were weak, and weak governments were the
curse of a country. What is wanted is what the people
have now, a strong government and a vigorous opposition.
Very different was the state of affairs when an attempt was
made to find a solution for the difficulties of the position.
Sir John Macdonald and George Brown carae together, and
he was glad to have been one of the raen who brought them
together. The lion and the lamb lay down together, and
these men honestly endeavoured, in a large spirit of patriot
ism, to give the country peace, and find for it a future. No
one party could claim the merit of what was done. The two
great parties united in the effort to bind into one harmonious
whole the disconnected provinces of Britain on this conti
nent, to prevent them being annexed to the United States,
and to make them a source of strength to Great Britain ; and
thus the Coalition Government of 1864 was formed, the Hon.
Messieurs Brown, Mowat and Macdougall entering into an
alliance with Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George Cartier.
It was succeeded by the Dominion Government under the
Premiership of Sir John Macdonald. That Governraent was
formed on a broad and liberal basis. The Premier recog
nized the necessity of the position, and looked above and
beyond previous parties. He called to the councils of Her

144 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Majesty leading men of all parties. From Nova Scotia came
the veteran statesman, Howe, who fought the battle of re
sponsible government ih Nova Scotia, and whom (though he
had shivered a lance with hira) he was right glad to welcorae
to the side of British American Union, and Kenny, a mer
chant of Irish Catholic origin. New Brunswick contributed
her leading man, Tilley, a life-long Reformer, and a man of
irreproachable character. Lower Canada contributed Cartier
and Langevin, the former of whom had risked the whole
position of his life to carry Confederation ; and Ontario was
represented, as they knew, by Sir John A. Macdonald and his
colleagues, one of whom was addressing them. And this he
would say for the Premier, that he defied any man to point
to any instance in his long public career in which he had
preferred his private interests to those of the public, or had
advantaged himself at the public cost. That much he felt
bound to say for Sir John. The Governraent was still a
coalition one in every sense of the word, and it had a great
work before it, that of welding and cementing the Union
already formed, and bringing into it the great fertile belt of
the North-West, and rendering the Union acceptable to the
people from Halifax to Fort Garry.
He stood before them that day an advocate now, as he
had been at his first connection with them, of this 'tJnion.
On that hustings, eight years ago, he had proposed union
as a remedy for the position in which the country stood.
And in his first speech in Parliament he had used this lan
guage, when speaking on the question of representation by
population : " He had confidence that men would be found
able to raeet the question fairly, and to corae down with a
measure satisfactory to the country. It might be that that
measure would be one which would bring together the differ
ent provinces of British North America into a union, forraed
on such a basis as would give to the people of each province
the right to raanage their own internal affairs, while at the
same time the whole should provide for the management of
matters of common concern, so as to secure the consolidation
of the Britannic power on this continent." And to-day he
stood before them a member of the Cabinet of the Dominion,

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 145
and claimed credit for its policy. He claimed that Confed
eration had been a real success. It had given Canada power
and strength, whether as regards our relations to Great
Britain as an integral portion of the Empire, or as concerned
trade and public relations with the United States. It had
given us the entire control of our own affairs, and two years
of Confederation had, under Sandfield Macdonald, given the
Province of Ontario a surplus of $1,500,000. The Dominion
Government, too, had been able, in the face of a falling re
venue, to close the last financial year with, as Mr. Rose
stated, a sraall but real surplus of $300,000. That gentle
man had laid down the policy of economy and retrench
ment. He had declared that the expenditure must be
regulated by the revenue, and that deficits must be avoided,
and he had acted on that principle. But there was real
work to be done, while the finances of the country were to
be administered as a prudent man would do with his own.
Immigration was to be fostered and encouraged, and he
thought that an immigration of rich and poor should be
sought for. The tenant farmer with means should be
brought out, as well as the farm labourer. The small farraer
from the country coald buy the cleared lands of those who
wished to colonize with their families the fertile West, and
so the whole Dominion would be benefited. The Dominion
had a vast country to enter upon — a country of ex'cellent
climate and fertile soil. There were at the moment difficul
ties. Governor Macdougall was debarred entrance by the
French Metis. But these obstructions would pass away be
fore a firra and conciliatory course, and a thorough respect
for the rights of the present inhabitants of the Red River
country, who would come to see that their interests and ours
were one and identical. He trusted that a wise and kind
policy would be pursued towards the Indian population of
the North-West. We in Canada could place in proud con
trast to the conduct of the Araerican people our dealings
with the Indian race during the last fifty years.
He would not detain thera long, though there were many
topics he was tempted to dwell on. He thought there was
a bright future before the country, in a close and intimate
10

146 NOVA BRITANNIA.
alliance with Great Britain. He believed that the Canadian
people were as lightly taxed as any people in the world. He
desired no change of connection, and believed the people
did not, but were contented as they were. They ought in
deed to be so, and ought more fully to understand the con
trast between our position and that of the United States.
There, since the war, according to Mr. Wells, the cost of
living had advanced 90 per cent., while the value of labour
had risen only 50 per cent., bringing a terrible pressure on
the poor and labouring men. The United States tariff
averaged 48 per cent., while ours was but 15 per cent. But
he would not pursue the contrast further. He hoped to
live to see the Dominion extending from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, peopled by a loyal, a happy and a prosperous com
munity. He believed that the Governraent would do its
duty by the people, and he, as one of thera, was now on his
trial, and he hoped to corae back to them at the general
election and ask their approval of the conduct of the Gov
ernment of which he was a meraber, and receive it because
it had merited their support. By that he was ready to stand
or fall.
The election was over, aind he would only say that he
trusted that all hard feelings would pass away, and that po
litical oppo'nents would meet, as he was ready to do with
thtm in every-day life, on terras of personal friendship.

[The duties incidental to the control of a widely-extended
ministerial Departraent were discharged by Mr. Morris with
energy and zeal for nearly three years, when, owing to the
unsatisfactory condition of his health, and the imperious
mandate of his medical adviser, he resigned his portfolio,
and retired, for a time, from the cares and worries of political
life. He had, however, seen his long-cherished hopes real
ized. The great Confederation ^which he had so persistently
and so eloquently foreshadowed ten years before, had be-

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 147
come a living reality. The claims of the Hudson's Bay
Coinpany had been definitely ascertained and adjusted, and
their widespread domain had been surrendered. British
Columbia had entered the Dominion, and an agreement had
been made to construct a transcontinental line of railway
connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. The dreams of the
past had become the waking visions of the present. The
North-West Territories had been received into Canada's
capacious bosom, and a territorial government was in pro
cess of organization there. The Red River settlement had
been erected into a distinct Province, under the narae of
Manitoba. It was necessary that some trained constitu
tional lawyer should proceed to that Province in the capacity
of Chief Justice, to organize a judicial aud municipal sys
tem, and to make the raajesty of the law respected by the
turbulent spirits who had set all law and order at defiance.
Mr. Morris, who had taken so conspicuous a part in bring
ing about the new order of things, was fixed upon as the
fitting agent to carry out these important objects. He
received the appointment of Chief Justice of Manitoba, and
it was arranged that he should shortly proceed to the scene
of his labours.
The ties which had long subsisted between Mr. Morris
and his constituents were of an altogether exceptional
character. The meraory of his father was still warmly
cherished in Lanark, and his own course had been such as
not only to fully justify the confidence reposed in him, but
to make the people proud of their representative. Reform
ers and Conservatives, who agreed upon nothing else, united

148 NOVA BRITANNIA.
in sounding his praises, and in expressing regret at his re
tirement. Mr.' Morris, as may be readily understood, was by no
means insensible to the state of feeling prevalent in his
constituency, and deemed it fitting to make a public exposi
tion of the circumstances. In pursuance of this conviction,
he issued the foUowhig]
Farewell Address to the Electors of the South
Riding of Lanark'.
Gentlemen :
After a period of eleven years, during which I have en
joyed, as your representative, your unwavering support and
generous confidence, which, I b'elieve, I still retain, it is
with deep regret that it becomes- my duty to intimate to
you that I shall not, at the approaching general election, be
come a candidate for your suffrages.
I have found the wear and tear of political life, the man
ageraent of one of the large receiving Departments of the
Government, and the anxiety, labour, and attention requi
site for the discharge of the duties of a member of a Cabinet
charged with the well-being of the affairs of the Dominion,
too great a strain on my constitution, and I have therefore
been compelled, in obedience to the decided representations
of my medical advisers, to withdraw, for a time at least,
from active public life.
This decision has not been a hasty one, as upwards of a
year ago I tendered my resignation, but was prevailed upon
by the friendly urgency of the Premier and ray colleagues
to withdraw it, in the hope that I might be enabled to con
tinue in the discharge of my duties. Time has shown, how
ever, that the hope has not been fully realized, and I have
been cornpelled again to ask for a release from the honour
able position of a niember of the Government of the Domin
ion. This has been acceded to, and I have been offered and
have accepted the position of Chief Justice of the Province

speeches and addresses. 149
of Manitoba, to which new land I propose shortly to proceed,
in the belief that in helping to mould the institutions and
develope the resources of that country, which will soon be
thickly peopled, I shall find a wide field for usefulness in
the future, and be, moreover, fully restored to my wonted
health. Under these circumstances I have to bid you fare-
Well, and to thank you for all your kindness to me in the
past. In retiring from political life, I do so at an auspicious
period. The consolidation of the Dominion, under the statesmen
who have wisely guided its rising fortunes, has gone on
steadily. The vast North- West and the rising Province of
British Columbia have been added to Canada. The revenue
is ample to raeet all demands upon it, and the country in
all its interests is prosperous. .
Under such circumstances I return to private life, confi
dent that the Dominion has entered on a bright career, and
assured that, as years roll on, the wisdom of the policy of
uniting the scattered British Provinces of North Araerica
under one control (which, as you will recollect, I advocated
at my first election in 1861) will beamply proved, and Can
ada, growing in strength and power, will be recognised as
the right arm of Britain, artd the bonds of affection and
sympathy between our country and the Parent State will
day by day grow stronger.
Again thanking you for your past confidence, and wishing
you and yours all of good,
I have the honour to be.
Your obedient servant,
ALEXANDER MORRIS.
Perth, 9th July, 1872.

[The following correspondence is submitted as illustrative
of the strong hold which Mr. Morris had gained upon the
affections of his leading constituents. Among the signa-

150 Nova Britannia.
tures to the complimentary letter inserted below are those
of sorae life-long and prorainent Reformers.]
" Perth, July 22nd, 1872.
" Dear Sir : — While congratulating you on your ap
pointment to the important position of Chief Justice of
Manitoba, we cannot but regret your departure from
among us ; and to give expression to the kindly feelings
entertained for you by all parties, we, on behalf of your
nuraerous friends, invite you to a public dinner, when we
hope to meet you and present an address embodying our
sentiments ofyour high moral worth, and our respect for you
as a citizen.
" We cannot allow this opportunity to pass without con
gratulating the people of Manitoba on your appointment to
their highest judicial office, feeling assured that the ability
and administrative capacity which you have so ably display
ed in the past will be devoted to their best interests in the
future. " Hoping you will be able to name an early day when it
will be convenient for you to accept our invitation, and
enable us to discharge a duty which we owe alike to you
and ourselves, " We have honour to be
" Your obedient servants,
" (Signed on behalf of the Committee,)
" James Shaw, Senator.
" Jas. H. Gould, Warden, Lanark.
" John Haggart, Mayor of Perth.
" Jas. Thompson, Sheriff.
" Thos. Mansfield.
" Wm. O'Brien.
" James Allan.
" H. D. Shaw, Secretary.
" To the Honourable Alexander Morris, Chief Justice of
Manitoba."

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 151

REPLY. "Perth, 29th July, 1872.
" Gentlemen : — I have the honour to acknowledge your
esteemed favour of the 22nd inst., in which, in order to give
expression to the kindly feelings entertained towards me by
all parties, you tender me a public dinner. I feel deeply
grateful for this expression of good will, but regret that as I
intend leaving for a preliminary visit to my new sphere of
duties on Wednesday next, I must ask you to postpone
until some convenient season, prior to ray filial departure
from among you, the friendly gathering you propose to
convene. " I cannot, however, now refrain from giving utterance to
the sorrow I feel, that circumstances beyond my control
have compelled me to contemplate my withdrawal to another
Province of the Dominion from araong a coraraunity with
whom I had hoped to pass my life, frora whom I have re
ceived every mark of confidence and kindness, and among
whom I can reckon, of all classes and parties, so many true
friends. I will only further express for you and those you
represent every kind wish, and hoping to have the pleasure
of raeeting with you on sorae future day,
" I am yours faithfully,
"ALEXANDER MORRIS.
"To the Hon. James Shaw, Senator.
James H. Gould, Warden of Lanark.
John Haggart, Mayor of Perth.
James Thompson, Sheriff.
Thos. Mansfield, Esq.
Wm, O'Brien, Esq,
James Allan, Esq.
H. D. Shaw, Sec'y of Coraraittee."

152 NOVA BRITANNIA.
CHARGE, AS CHIEF JUSTICE, TO THE FIRST GRAND JURY
OF MANITOBA.
[The following was the first address of Mr. Morris, first
Chief Justice of Manitoba, to the first Grand Jury of the
Court of Queen's Bench of that Province. The organization
of that Court was one of the earliest duties which devolved
upon hira in his official capacity. Prior to that time the only
judicial tribunal in existence in the Prairie Province was the
Quarterly Court, as it was called — a rather primitive forum,
which had been established under the direction of the Hud
son's Bay Company, and which remained in existence up to
a short time before the organization of the Court of Queen's
Bench. Mr. Morris prepared a series of rules, introducing
the English practice into the newly-established tribunal.
Shortly before the holding of the first session of the
Court, election riots of a serious character had taken place,
on a contest for the House of Commons between Mes
sieurs D. A. Smith and J, C. Schultz, and much pro
perty, including all the printing offices, had been destroyed
or sacked. Hence the tone of part of the address, which
was delivered in the month of October, 1872. A leading
paper thus spoke of the charge : " It is given to com
paratively few men to see the full realization of early hopes
and aspirations, and to fewer still to be privileged in
moulding the destiny which they themselves pictured as of
the future. Mr. Morris has had both those advantages,
and his first charge in his official character has the ring
about it of a man who can not only dream of national
grandeur, but who has the will and character to aid in its
development."]

speeches and addresses. 153
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury :
It is my duty, and I may add my privilege, now to open
the first term of the Court of Queen's Bench for the Province
of Manitoba. The occasion is an interesting and important
one. In years to come it will be looked back upon as one
of the landmarks in the history of the rise and progress,
not alone of this Province, but of the North-West to which
it is the portal.
The establishment of social institutions — the laying of
the foundation of law and order — are always eras in the
history of a new country ; and respect for the laws, and
due and orderly regard for the requirements of civil power,
are prorainent characteristics of the races who are under the
British supreraacy.
Such respect I look for in Manitoba, and, in discharging
the functions I am called to exercise, it shall be my anxious
desire to know neither race, creed, nor party ; but to ad
minister the laws without fear, favour, or partiality ; and, so
acting, I am confident that the courts will be supported by
the. coraraunity. Every man who bas a stake in the coun
try has a direct interest in the impartial administration of
the law, and all such will rejoice that a court fully equipped
will henceforth interpret those Coramon, Dominion and Pro
vincial laws which regulate and control all the relations of
social life.
There is beyond question — and I ara enabled to speak
from an extended observation of various sections of Mani
toba — a brilliant future before British North- Western Ame
rica ; and, as an agricultural country, it must take the highest
rank. But to secure that rapid development which its ad
vantages entitle it to, and to attract that great influx of
population which its natural resources fit it for, there must
be stability in the institutions of the country, and there
must be confidence that British law and justice will be
found in full and entire force. To aid in giving that assur
ance wUl be my duty, and I have all confidence that the
people of this Province, of all classes, will rejoice that the
Court of Queen's Bench is now in full operation.

154 NOVA BRITANNIA.
And here, before passing to other subjects, I would re
mark incidentally that I look to the bar of Manitoba for
their aid in the discharge of my duties.
The esprit de corps inseparable from over twenty-one
years at the bar would naturally lead me to respect and up
hold the privileges of the bar, though I will be ready at all
times, while treating the bar with all courtesy, to uphold
the dignity of the bench ; and I therefore look for the most
kindly relations as likely to prevail between the bench and
the bar.
(The Judge here explained the functions of the Grand
Jury, and continued.)
I am glad to find that the cases to be submitted to you
are not of the gravest character of crirae.
(The Judge explained the nature of the cases referred to,
and proceeded.)
I would rejoice if your duties were confined to these cases,
but, I apprehend that it will be the duty of the Crown
Prosecutor to ask you to find true bills against certain par
ties charged with participation in the recent attacks upon
certain printing offices in Winnipeg, and the destruction of
property therein ; and with other offences connected with
the recent disturbances which took place during the elec
tion in the County of Selkirk for the Parliaraent of the
Dorainion of Canada. Should such be the case, it will be
your duty to weigh the evidence subraitted to you, calmly
and dispassionately, and to say whether these parties shall
be put on their trial before the court and a jury of their
countrymen. I cannot refrain from saying that it is a matter of deep
regret that such occurrences should have taken place. The
men who either participated in, or craftily devised the com
mission of such offences, apart from the heinousness of the
acts committed, did a most serious damage to the country in
which they dwell.
If Manitoba is to be prosperous, there raust be peace and
order ; there must be confidence in the administration of the
laws, and there raust be a fearless execution of those laws
against all offenders, be they who they may.

SPEECHES And ADDRESSES. ISo
I trust that henceforth British subjects in this Province
will remember that free men are freest when they yield a
ready obedience to the law ; and that raen of all classes in
Manitoba will resolve to work out the destiny of the Pro
vince by the use of the free institutions of the country,
without resort to acts which only bring disgrace upon those
who commit thera, and discredit upon the fair farae of the
British Erapire.
And now I disraiss you to your labours, assured that you
will enter on your duties with a firra resolve to do what is
right and j ust.

[After holding the office of Chief Justice about two
months, Mr. Morris was appointed Administrator of the
Government, the Lieutenant-Governor (the Hon. A. G.
Archibald) being meanwhile absent on leave. Towards the
close of the year Mr. Archibald resigned, and, on the 5th
day of December, 1872, Mr. Morris succeeded him as Lieu
tenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-West Terri
tories. Mr. Morris retained this office for the full term of
five years, during which the Province of Manitoba advanced
frora the position of a remote and primitive settlement on
the frontier to that of a well-settled and prosperous commu
nity. On the creation of the District of Keewatin, Mr.
Morris becarae ex officio Lieutenant-Governor thereof. He
was also appointed Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs
in the Manitoba Superintendency, and a Special Coramis-
sioner for the making and revision, of certain treaties with
the Indians of the North-West.]

156 nova BRITANNIA.

SPEECH AT THE ANNUAL DINNER ON ST. ANDREW'S DAY,
GIVEN BY THE SELKIRK ST. ANDREW'S SOCIETY.
The Chairman, the Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne, gave —
THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MANITOBA
This toast, he said, will I know be drunk with pleasure.
The Chief Justice and Administrator of the Government
has endeared himself to us all since his coraing among us.
This is the first tirae we have had the honour of meeting
him on an occasion such as this, and we may hope not only
that he will enjoy himself, but that he will be spared to see
many returns of the day we honour.
Band — "Bonnie Charlie's now awa." Song — "For he's
a jolly good fellow."
Chief Justice Morris rose amid prolonged cheers, and
said : — This is almost the first opportunity I have had of
meeting an asserably of friends in this vast North-West.
The scene to-night, Mr. Chairman, carries rae back some ten
years in life. As I look around, I recollect ten years ago
meeting with friends on an occasion such as this. At this
festive board, I am struck with the fact that I ara sitting in
the corapany of young raen, and I cannot but realize that I
ara becoming somewhat of a patriarch. I can recollect well
the impulses with which at one time I threw myself into
similar organizations. The first dinner of the kind I ever
attended was one given in Montreal, when my father occu
pied the chair. At that time politics ran high, and it so
chanced that the President of the St. Patrick's Society, Mr.
Hincks, was among the guests, and there were very hard
feelings occasionally between the societies. I have lived to
see the day when I sat down by that gentleman's side as hia
colleague, and a truer, trustier colleague I never had.
As the country advanced, it was found that the broad plat
form of the interests of this great Dominion was one on
which all could take a stand, and, Mr. Chairman, we took
our stand there. I ara, gentlemen, a Scotchman — of three

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 157
generations, if you will ; but I was always taught to believe
that Scotchman as I was by descent — Englishman as I was
by the ties of fealty and allegiance to the Sovereign — that I
was first, and above all, a Canadian. Hence I entertained
at the outset a prejudice against societies such as this, I
was a Canadian in ray heart's core, even when I was laughed
at for predicting such a future for Canada as is now within
her grasp. I was told at one meeting in Montreal that I
had Canada on the brain. Well, gentlemen, a great raany
others have Canada on the brain now. I had a prejudice
against such national societies, because I believed that
in a new coraraunity like ours, where various races were
mingling to advance a common future, these societies
might tend to disunion. But experience has shown me
the contrary. The man who cherishes recollections of his
early home and people is none the less a Canadian bpcause
he is loyal to recollections that give hira all the character
istics of his race. And my experiences of Scotchmen,
Englishmen and Irishmen, show me that they are no less
British subjects because they bear in raind the traditions of
the past, and endeavour to emulate the noble deeds of their
predecessors. But there is another phase of these societies,
which we cannot overlook. Commencing at the lowest rung
of the ladder in one of them — the largest in the Dominion of
Canada — and working my way to the highest, I found that
a society such as this has enormous power for good.
The Scot is proud. Few ever heard a Scotchman or woman
admit they had no money. They may accept a charity, Mr.
Chairman, but it will be forced on them. Hence the neces
sity for associations such as this to seek out and succour
the needy. Having thanked them cordially for the hearty
reception accorded him, his Honour said — I have taken
some part in the politics of my native coimtry, and I must
confess that one of the severest trials of my life was to leave
active political life. I have done so, and have come to this
new land. I come with raany others, and I hope we are all
resolved to play here that part which will redound to our
credit. None of us has come here, Mr. Chairman, and
noticed the resources of this country, but must feel that

158 NOVA BRITANNIA.
there is a great future before it. True, it is a hard, cold
cliraate ; but this hard North- Western climate makes a
hardy, powerful race of men. You will ever find the north
ern races powerful in this world of ours. And here let me
say that I rejoiced to-night to hear the sentiments to which
the U. S. Consul gave utterance; for I believe that the
greatest hope of civilization is that these two great races —
or two great branches of the one race — the people of Great
Britain and the people of the United States — should be
found in accord, and working together in the future. In
that future I think that we, too, have a part to play. The
people of British North America have, I believe, a great
future, as well as our cousins across the line. They are a
people by themselves — of themselves — with their own char
acteristics, as we have ours. I believe that the one glorious
Empire of Britain will continue — that the Scotchman, the
Irishman and the Englishman will continue to raaintain
peace — that the far-scattered colonies of Australia, India
and Canada will still be gathered round it, daughters of
the Parent State — adding to its strength and greatness,
and aiding heartily to advance the interests of the great
Empire of which they forra a part. That is my aspiration
— and I know it is the aspiration of the people of the
Dominion. While on the best of terms with our cousins
across the line, let us never forget that we are subjects of
that old British Crown, and that there we owe our alleg
iance, and that all our endeavours should be devoted
towards transmitting our new Dominion as a glorious
heritage to our children's children.

MANITOBA COLLEGE.

[The regular term of Manitoba College was brought to a
close with great eclat on the 20th of December, 1872,
Lieutenant-Governor Morris distributing the prizes. The
forraal closing took place at three o'clock, and coramenced

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 159
with the presentation to the Lieutenant-Governor of the
College Address, which was as follows :]
To His Excellency, the Honourable Alexander Morris, D.C.L., a
member of Her Majesty's I'i ivy Council for Canada, and
Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-Western
Territories.
May it Please your Excellency :
As representing the teaching and examining board of
Manitoba College, we welcome your Excellency to our clos
ing exercises to-day, and 'beg to tender you our hearty con
gratulations upon your appointment to the responsible posi
tion of Lieutenant-Governor in our young province. While
joining with the people in welcoming you to our midst as
one having the character of an upright politician, a public-
spirited citizen, a thorough Canadian in feeling, and a
Christian man, we also especially congratulate ourselves in
having in you a friend of education, and a patron of learn
ing. Educated, as we all have been, in the same province
of the Dominion from which you came, we cannot but hope
that the educational ideas prevalent there, which have been
found sound and good, may find their place in this, the van
guard province of the North-West, and that your Excellency
may be largely instrumental in shaping a sound and com
prehensive system of primary and higher education for the
land you have been called to govern. We have undertaken
our work here with the hope of supplementing, so far as the
ordinary wants of the province require, the education begun
in the public schools established under government sanction.
We are striving to give an education thoroughly adapted to
the wants of the province, not forgetting the noble future
which seeras in store for our new land ; and we hope to de
velope as the circumstances of the country require, believ
ing that in time we will see, built up in the wilds of the
North, an educated and prosperous "Nova Britannia." And
whilst it is our aim to train the students under our care in
the different branches of a higher secular education, we are

160 NOVA BRITANNIA.
also striving, by surrounding them with healthful influences,
and by giving instructions in Bible truths, to lay in them
the foundation of a manly, well-balanced and religious char
acter. We hope that you, and in due time, your family,
may spend many happy days in our midst, and that the bles
sing of God may rest upon you in your efforts to advance
the best interests of the province, vouchsafed as his blessings
are to the man Scelerisque purus et integer vitce.
(Signed), Rev. Geo. Bryce, M.A.,
Principal.
Rev. Thos. Hart, M. A.,
Professor of Classics.
Rev. John Black,
Examiner in Classics.
Alexander Mackenzie,
Commercial Master.
Mr. Morris's Reply.
To the Rev. G. Bryce, M.A., &c.. Principal of Manitoba College,
and others.
Gentlemen :
I receive with much satisfaction your address of welcome.
I confess that I was not prepared to find that such efficient
measures had been adopted in this province for securing to
the people the benefits of coramon as well as higher educa
tion. The efforts that have been raade in the past in this
direction testify to the foresight and energy of those early
pioneers who settled in the then lonely wilds of Manitoba,
and ventured the bold enterprise of building up here a col
ony of British freemen. Their descendants, and the whole
people are, I am glad to see, following in their footsteps —
determined to secure for the young the priceless benefits of a
sound education ; and it will be a source of rauch satisfac
tion to me if I can in any way aid or encourage so excel
lent a work. I have observed with much interest the
efforts that you, gentleraen, have raade, and are making, in

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 161
behalf of Manitoba College. The building in which we
meet is an evidence of the liberality and earnestness of the
people of this locality, who have, I understand, erected it at
their own cost. Such a proof of earnestness must be cheer
ing to you, while it must, on the other hand, rejoice the
people that they have been enabled to secure so efficient a
staff of able and experienced teachers. I have always sym
pathized with the teacher in his work. Often slighted, too
often depreciated, the faithful teacher has yet the satisfac
tion of knowing that his work will live after him, and that
the influence of his character and his teaching will endure
after he has ceased from his labours. Holding such views,
I wish you and the college over which you preside all suc
cess. I trust it will take deep root in the soil, and become
one of the raost useful and vigorous of the institutions of our
North-West, and shall esteera it a pleasure if, at any time,
or in any way, I can promote its interests, or extend its
usefulness.

Address from Kildonan.
To His Excellency the Honourable Alexander Morris, a member
of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, Lieutenant-Gov
ernor of the Province of Manitoba.
May it please your Excellency :
We, the inhabitants of the Parish of Kildonan, in public
meeting assembled, beg to approach your Excellency with an
address of welcome and congratulation on your accession to
the Lieutenant-Governorship of our Province ; and we avail
ourselves of this your first public appearance among us to
present the same. We sincerely rejoice in your Excellency's
appointment to the high dignity of representing Her Ma
jesty in this portion of her wide domains. Your character
as a raan and a statesraan has become generally known
among us, and the line of conduct you have pursued in an
il

162 nova BRITANNIA.
other capacity since your arrival in the province has in
every respect tended to confirra the favourable opinions we
have been led to entertain ; and, difficult as the situation of
affairs may be, we do trust that the administrative ability, the
prudence and caution, the love of impartial justice, and, we
will add, the Christian principle and temper by which we
believe your Excellency to be characterized, will, by the
blessing of God, secure for yourself and for the province a
happy and successful administration. We feel confident
that your Excellency will do all that is in your power to
secure equal civil and political rights to all, to assist in per
fecting the educational system of the country, to give en
couragement to immigration, and to enforce faithfully the
administration of the laws for the repression of vice and
crime, so that our land raay be blessed with a large, intelli
gent and contented population, and that good order, quiet
ness and security may everywhere prevail ; and we further
fondly hope that through the wisdom given to you and your
advisers, the various and somewhat conflicting elements of
which the population of this province is composed may be
fully harmonized and brought to work together for the com
mon good and the advancement of the whole. We cannot
doubt that it is interesting to your Excellency to find your
self tp-day in the centre of the original Selkirk Settlement,
and among the representatives of those who, more than fifty
years ago, laid the foundation of the first civilized commun
ity amid the wastes of Rupert's Land ; and we persuade
ourselves that you will rejoice with us in the successful
issue of our efforts to place our families in a position of
worldly comfort, to provide for ourselves the ordinances of
religion, and, by the help of friends at home and abroad, to
establish efficient seminaries for the education of the young.
In conclusion, allow us to express our heartfelt pleasure at
seeing your Excellency among us on the present occasion ;
our ardent wishes that your health may be fully restored
and preserved ; that you may soon have the joy of being sur
rounded by your family-in a happy and comfortable Mani
toba home; that your administration of the Government raay
be raost prosperous and successful ; and that the blessing of

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 163
the Alraighty for time and for eternity may ever rest on
you and yours.
Signed on behalf and by order of the meeting,
John H. Bell,
Secretary.
John Sutherland,
Chairman.
REPLY.
To the Hon. John Sutherland, Chairman, and John H. Bell,
Esq., Secretary, on behalf of the inhabitants of the Parish of
Kildonan :
Gentlemen :
I have the pleasure of receiving your kind and cordial ad
dress of welcome, and thank you most sincerely for so hearty
an expression of good will. Springing myself frora a Scot
tish faraily, who immigrated to the older Province of Que
bec in the year 1801, and finally settled in Ontario some
two years afterwards, I rejoice to find rayself here, among
the progeny of those earnest men who braved the long jour
ney from their native soil to this North-West ; conquered
the greatest difficulties, aided in building up a thriving cen
tre of civilization, and transmitted to their descendants their
sturdy integrity of character, their love of education, their
loyalty to their sovereign, and their attachment to the relig
ious principles of their forefathers. Years ago ray attention
was directed to the North-West possessions of the Crown.
I made their history and resources ray study. I conjectured
their future as part of a great Britannic Confederation, and
now, God sparing rae, it shall be my endeavour, in the exe
cution of the trust with which I have been honoured, to do
what I can to advance the material and social interests of
Manitoba, and to aid in attracting to it the overcrowded
population of the old world, as well as enterprising settlers
from the other provinces of the Dorainion ; and I will esteem
it a privilege to take part in the great work of laying the
foundations of free institutions in these territories on so firm

164 nova BRITANNIA.
a basis that our children's children may enjoy the precious
heritage of civil and religious freedom. I thank you for
your expression of confidence, and for your kindly aspira
tions for the welfare of myself and faraily, and looking for
ward to the future, I can only say that, while with you I
appreciate the difficulties of the position I have assuraed, I
do not shrink from i'meeting them, for I hope that by a
course of strict and firm impartiality, by an earnest desire-
to know no distinction of race or creed, by zealous efforts to^
cultivate a good understanding between the two races who-
have peopled Manitoba, and between them and the immi
grants who come among us, I shall be able to obtain the
confidence and support of the whole community.

ADDRESS FROM MARQUETTE.
[The following address was presented to his Honour by a
deputation consisting of Messrs. Kenneth Mackenzie, Charles
Mair, Hugh Grant, and Jafties Macdonald, gentlemen for
merly from Ontario, now resident in Marquette.]
To His Excellency the Honourable Alexander Morris, Ldeutenant-
Governor of Manitoba, etc., etc. : —
We, the inhabitants of the County of Marquette from*
Poplar Point westward, beg leave to congratulate you upon
your appointment to the Lieutenant-Governorship of this
Province, and most heartily welcome you to your new and
responsible sphere of duty.
We are all aware that at an early period you were one of
the first to direct attention to this great country, and to ad
vocate its fitness for settleraent. We feel on that account a
special gratification at your appointment, and cherish a
warm hape that, as your efforts in the past have been con
stantly directed towards the acquisition of this territory, so
in the future your experience and impartiality will contri-

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 165
bute largely to make it a fitting home for loyal, industrious,
¦and peaceable men.
We are not ignorant of the difficulties which surround
your administration, and that the fundamental work which
lies before you is of a nature to task your abilities to the
utmost. Yet we feel confidence in your integrity and firm
ness, and trust that by these means you will retain, as you
have already secured, the confidence and approbation of the
people. It is with a view to these difficulties that we approach
your Excellency, believing that so long as you govern with
a single eye to the prosperity of the whole people, tolerating
no unjust concession to any class or creed, it is our duty to
strengthen your hands, and to tender you our warmest sym
pathy and support. We fervently unite in the hope that
your labours may be productive of the highest good, and that
when you lay down your functions you raay do so araidst
the regrets of a thankful and prosperous people, in a prov
ince which shall then be an honour to the Dorainion and a
¦credit to the Empire.
In conclusion, we trust that your family raay be spared to
join you in safety and comfort, and that a kind Providence
will sustain you and thera in health and strength, and in the
enjoyment of every spiritual and temporal blessing.
REPLY.
Gentlemen : — I thank you for your cordial and inspirit
ing address. It is true that sorae fourteen years ago, while
yet in private life, I coramenced to advocate, both in the
press and on the platform, the opening up of the territories
of Great Britain in the North- West, and the placing them
under the control of some forra of constitutional govern
ment, and that I continued to advocate such a course during
the whole of my public career, little dreaming that under
Providence I would ever be called upon to take an actual
part in giving practical effect in this new land to the views
I had so long previously held. You can understand that
the great work of developing the resources of Manitoba and

166 NOVA BRITANNIA.
the North-West, the attracting to these territories of a large
and thrift}- population, and by wise and judicious executive
action, and, so far as I have right legitimately to take part
therein, by liberal and practical legislation, rendering the
people of the country, whether native born or immigrants,
contented, prosperous and satisfied with the administration
of public affairs, will be to rae alike a labour of love and of
highest duty.
In that work I know, as you justly say, that I will have
difficulties to contend with, as I have even already had,
but 1 shall encounter them cheerfully, and shall endeavour
in all circumstances to do what is right and just, relying, as
I have done and now do, on meeting from the whole people,
without distinction of origin, creed, or party, just such a
wise toleration and generous forbearance as your address, I
am glad to see, indicates that you are animated by.
I thank you for your expression of personal confidence
and as.'iurances of syrapathy and support, and cheered and
encouraged thereby, I shall persevere in the task I have laid
out for myself, and, God sparing me, when I have served the
Crown for the terra of my appointment, should I then de
cide on removing from Manitoba, I shall hope to leave be
hind rae a contented and prosperous people, enjoying the
benefits of good government and facilities of railroad com
munication to the fullest extent. I sincerely trust, also,
that I shall be able to count many personal friends among
the inhabitants of the province.
I appreciate your kind wishes for ray family, whom I
expect soon to be enabled to bring to Manitoba ; and in
conclusion, I wish you one and all, most cordially, all that
can be desired of good, both teraporal and spiritual.

REPLY TO ADDRESS FROM INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTY OF
LISGAR, IN PUBLIC MEETING ASSEMBLED.
Gentlemen : — I most cordially thank you for the address
of welcome and congratulation upon my appointment as

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 167
Lieutenant-Governor of this Province. I am gratified to
find that my presence here, as the representative of our
beloved Queen, has given you satisfaction, and I trust that
during ray administration of the affairs of this country a
spirit of union and concord will prevail among all classes of
Her Majesty's subjects, and that the welfare of the entire
coraraunity will be promoted. For many years I have taken
a deep interest in this North-West, and it is therefore with
raore than ordinary pleasure that I find myself called upon
to participate in the work of developing its immense re
sources and opening it up for settleraent. The trust con
fided to our keeping by Providence is a weighty and ira
portant one ; but 1 feel well assured that, if we all strive
zealously to do our duty as loyal subjects of that great era
pire of which we forra a part, we shall succeed, and that a
bright and happy future will be before us, filled with hope
and promise, not only to ourselves, but to the world at
large. For rayself, I can only say that I shall endeavour so to
discharge the duties of ray position as to realize the antici
pations to which you gave expression in your address, and
it will be my constant desire and aim to promote the happi
ness aud prosperity of the people of Manitoba and the
North-West. I thank you for your kind wishes towards the raembers
of my family. With you, I trust that I shall soon have
them with me here. Most fervently do I hope that the
blessing which you crave for rae and raine raay descend
upon you, and upon all the people over whose destinies I am
called upon to preside.

REPLY TO ADDRESS FROM CERTAIN LOYAL METIS* OF THE
COUNTIES OF PROVENCHER AND LISGAR.
Gentlemen : — I thank you very sincerely for the address
which you have presented to me, congratulating rae upon
my appointraent as Lieutenant-Governor. * French Half-Breeds.

168 NOVA BRITANNIA.
I am sent here to represent Her Majesty the Queen, and
I can assure you that the earnest desire of the authorities is
to deal fairly by the people.
For myself, I have but one object in view, viz., to proraote
the welfare of the country by every means in ray power ; and
I trust and believe that the time has corae when the people
of all races and creeds, the Metis, the old settlers and the
new-coraers alike, will work together to secure peace and
tranquillity, and to advance the best interests of our Pro
vince. It will be my earnest endeavour to act impartially towards
all, without distinction of party, and to secure equal rights
for the inhabitants of Manitoba, whose happiness I have
most warmly at heart.
I echo your hope that during my administration of affairs
a large development of the resources of the country will
take place, and a high degree of prosperity raay be attained,
in which I trust you will all share.

The North-West Council.
[On the 2nd of January, 1873, the Governor- General in
Council, pursuant to the provisions of the 34th Vic, ch. 16,
sec. 3, appointed a Council to aid the Lieutenant-Governor
of the North-West Territories in the Administration of
affairs, with such powers as might from time to time be
conferred upon them by order of his Excellency in Council.
The Hon. M. A. Girard, of Fort Garry, was named as the
senior member. The other gentlemen appointed were the
Hon. Donald A. Sraith, Henry J. H. Clarke, Pascal Brfeland,
Alfred Boyd, John Schultz, M.D., Joseph Dubuc, A. G. B.
Bannatyne, William Frazer, Robert Harailton and William
J. Christie. This Council met for the first time on the 8th

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 169
¦of March (1873), and were instructed in their duties by
Lieutenant Governor Morris. These duties they continued
to discharge until the North-West Territories were erected
into a separate government, when they were relieved from
their responsibilities.
At a special and last meeting of the Council, held at Fort
G-arry, on the 23rd of November, 1875, there being present
the. Honourable Messieurs Girard, McKay, Brfeland, Boyd,
Dubuc, Frazer, Tait, Bannatyne, Kennedy, Delorrae, and
McTavish, the Lieutenant-Governor delivered the following
Address : — ]
Gentlemen : — I have now to address you in corapliance
with the rules you have adopted for the regulation of the
proceedings of the Council.
You met, for the first time after the formation of the
Council, on the 8th of March, 1873, when I thus addressed
you: —
' ' I have much pleasure in calling you around me to assist me in the
administration of the affairs of the North- West Territories. The duties
which devolve upon you are of a highly important character. A coun
try of vast extent, which is possessed of abundant resources, is entrusted
to your keeping : a country which, though at present but sparsely settled,
is destined, I believe, to become the home of thousands of persons, by
means of whose industry and energy that which is now almost a wilder
ness will be quickly transformed into a fruitful land, where civilization
and the arts of peace will flourish. It is for us to labour to the utmost
¦of our power, in order to bring about, as speedily as possible, the settle
ment of the North-West Territories, and the development of their re
sources, and at the same time to adopt such meaaures as may be neces
sary to insure the maintenance of peace and order, and the welfare and
happiness of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects resident in the Ter
ritories." ,
In again asserabling you to meet, in what may prove to
be the last, or nearly the last, meeting of the present Coun
cil, I have quoted these words for the purpose of congratu
lating you on the efforts you made to carry into effect the
objects which I placed before you at your first meeting.

170 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Before proceeding to the ordinary work of the Session, I
therefore think this a fitting ocaasion to review the work
the Council has accomplished, and to place on record the
results of its legislation and of its suggestions. The present
Council is now only acting provisionally, and a new Coun
cil is to be organized, partly nominative by the Crown, and
partly elective by the people, with the view of exercising its
functions under the presidency of a resident Governor within
the Territories themselves. I ara confident that that Coun
cil will take up the work you began, and have so zealously
endeavoured to carry out, and I trust that they will prove
successful in their efforts to develop the Territories, and at
tract to them a large population.
Though you had many difficulties to contend with, you
surmounted raost of thera, and will have the gratification
of knowing that you, in a large measure, contributed to
shape the policy which will prevail in the Government of
the Territories, and the administration of its affairs.
At your first meeting, you passed an Act to prohibit, ex
cept under certain restrictions, the importation of spirituous
liquors into the Territories, and the Parliament. of the Do
minion has since adopted your views, and given effect to
them by the passing of a law of similar import to that
formed by you.
I am glad to say that this measure has proved effective,
and will, I believe, contribute largely to the promotion of
the well-being of the population of the Territories, and to
the prevention of disorder and crime. You also made pro
vision for the appointment of Justices of the Peace, and in
connection therewith you represented to the Government
of the Dominion that the criminal laws of the Dominion
should be extended to the Territories, and that a Mounted
Police Force, under military discipline, should be estab
lished in the Territories for the maintenance of peace
and order therein, and the enforcement of the laws.
You have had the satisfaction of seeing these suggestions
adopted, and of knowing that the Police Force which you
proposed has proved, and is proving, of the greatest service
in the Territories.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 171
Such were sorae of the results of your first meeting, and
your subsequent sessions were not unproductive of good. I
will only mention, generally, some of the more important
subjects you dealt with.
You were, and are, of opinion that the Militia Battalion
in Manitoba should be maintained, and should be so in
creased that an effective force should be available in the
Territories. You proposed that treaties should be made with the In
dians of the plains at Forts Carlton, Pitt, and Qu'Appelle,
and you suggested that schools should be provided for, that
agricultural implements and cattle should be given to the
Indians, and that teachers should be furnished to teach them
the arts of agriculture.
You have seen a treaty concluded at Qu'Appelle, and I am
glad to inform yon that treaties will be made next season at
the other points indicated.
You urged . that Stipendiary Magistrates should be ap
pointed, resident in various portions of the Territory, clothed
with powers to deal with certain classes of criminal offences,
and also with a limited jurisdiction as regards civil causes,
and that a resident Judge, with Queen's Bench ¦ powers,
should be appointed to deal with graver matters, with an
appeal to the Court of Queen's Bench, in the Province of
Manitoba, in certain cases.
Your recommendation as to Magistrates has been adopted
by the Dorainion, and though power has been given to the
Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba to hold
Courts in the Territories, this can only be regarded as a pro
visional measure, so that I doubt not your proposal will be
eventually carried into efi'ect.
You called attention to the necessity of steps being taken
to punish the actors in the Cypress Hill tragedy, and your
recommendation has been acted on by the Privy Council,
with the best effect as regards the Indian population.
You proposed that a monthly mail should be established
between Fort Garry and Fort Edmonton, for the conveni
ence of the public, and it is to be hoped that the private
mail now carried for the use of the Police and the Pacific

172 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Railway service may prove the precursor of a much-needed
boon to the people of the North-West.
You asked that a reserve should be granted to the Nor
way House Indians, who had been deprived of their raeans
of livelihood by the introduction of steam navigation, and
your request has, during the past season, been granted.
You urged that measures should be adopted to collect cus
toms duties in the region of the west known as the Belly
and Bow River country, and your representations were com
plied with.
You passed laws for the appointment of Coroners, for car
ing for orphan children, for regulating the relations of mas
ters and servants, for " the prohibition of the importation of
poisoiis into the Territories, and of their use in hunting
game." You asked that the existing highways, portages, and
watering places in the Territories should be set apart for
public uses, and that as soon as treaties with the Indians
were completed, surveys should be made of the lands where
settlement had, taken place, and some of these subjects have
been dealt with by the Privy Council, but others still re
main for their action. Such, then, is a brief review of the
work that you have accomplished, and I can safely tell you
that you have reason to be well satisfied with the results of
your executive and legislative action, for during your re
gime, raost important steps have been taken towards the
establishment of law and order in the Territories, and to
wards the creation of respect araong the people for the
authority of the Crown.
The foundation has now been laid for peace, security,
the advanceraent of the settleraent of the vast region you
have ruled over, and for the securing of the good will of the
Indian tribes, and I can only express my confident trust that
those who follow you will rear, wisely and well, a noble
superstructure on the basis that you have established.
I will now, in conclusion, ask you to enter upon the ordi
nary work of the session, and will suggest that you should,
before you separate, lay down sorae raode of dealing with a
subject which is of the utmost importance, as respects the

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 173
relations of the Government of the Queen with the Indian
tribes, and as regards their raeans of livelihood, while they
are passing through the transition process of being prepared
to earn a living frora the soil. I mean the regulation of the
buffalo hunt, in such a way as to prolong the subsistence
afforded to the native tribes by the wild cattle of the North-
West, and thus to give time for their gradual civilization,
and for the acquisition of the arts of agriculture. I would
also suggest that you should adopt measures to prevent the
spread of prairie and forest fires.
You will now proceed to the discharge of your duties, and
I am confident that harraony will prevail among you, and
that you will exhibit the same desire to advance the best
interests of the Dominion which has hitherto actuated you..

THE QU APPELLE TREATY.
[During his tenure of office as Lieutenant-Governor, it
fell to Mr. Morris's lot to conclude various important trea
ties with the Indians of the North-West. A full account of
these treaties, and of Lieutenant-Governor Morris's share in
them, will be found in his work entitled " The Treaties of
Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West
Territories," published in Toronto in 1880. In the sixth
chapter will be found an account of the circumstances at
tending the negotiation and conclusion of the Qu'Appelle
Treaty, in September, 1874. After the conclusion of the
ceremonial, the French Half-breeds of the district delivered
a laudatory address to the representative of Her Majesty,.
to which he made the following]

174 NOVA BRITANNIA.

REPLY.
To Augustin Brebant, Baptiste Davis and others, Half-breeds
of the Lakes Qu'Appelle and environs.
Gentlemen : — I have the honour to acknowledge your
address, dated September 11th, presenting rae your respects,
and submitting to me certain petitions with regard to var
ious raatters.
I thank you for your expression of satisfaction towards
the governraent of the Queen, whose servant I ara, and for
the respect you have expressed for rayself.
With regard to your petition, to keep the land that you
have taken along the river, I shall present it before the
Privy Council of Canada in Ottawa, and I have coramuni-
cated your wishes to the Minister of the Interior who is with
me. I can, however, assure you that I ara confident the Gov
ernraent will with great pleasure respect the rights of the
Half breeds to the lands which they have cleared and culti
vated, because it has always been the custom to regard the
rights of actual possessors Of lands. The same reraark ap
plies to the possessors of the Roman Catholic Mission, and
I think that the zeal of those devoted men who follow the
Half-breeds and Indians in the vast lands of our North-
West should be recognised by giving thera a certain portion
of land suitable for their object.
With regard to the lands which the Half-breeds wish to
take in future, I would remark that as we have just raade
a treaty with Indians, it will be necessary to raake the re
serves for thera as soon as possible, with the view of leaving
the other lands open, to be taken up by settlers.
With regard to the chase, you have the same rights that
the other subjects of the Queen have, and I shall be happy
to put before the North-West Council, charged as that
Council is with the governraent of these Territories, your
views on the chase, so as to see if it be necessary to make
sorae good laws and provision for the regulation of buffalo

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 175
hunting. This subject is of great importance to the Half-
breeds, to the Indians, and to the whole country ; and I be
lieve that the North-West Council will be ready to give
the matter their most serious consideration. ,
It is the wish of the Government to establish its author
ity everywhere in these vast territories of the Queen,
and I would be glad if the Council and Government in Ot
tawa are able to find competent persons having your confi
dence, and capable of executing the "laws that the Parlia
ment of Ottawa has a right to raake, frora time to time, or
those that the North-West Council, in the exercise of their
powers as a Local Legislature, may enact, but I do not
think that the Privy Council will be willing to give the
power of raaking laws to such small coraraunities as the
Half-breeds and others in these remote territories.
I am very glad to know your disposition towards the
Indians, and I hope that the treaty which the Queen's
Commissioners have just had the good fortune to make with
them will greatly tend to propagate a spirit of contentment
among the Half-breeds and Indians.
With the best disposition towards you, and wishing you
all prosperity, I have the honour to be
Your obedient servant,
Alexander Morris.
Fort Qu'Appelle, Sept. 16, 18-74.

[The following account of the proceedings connected with
the signing of the treaty at Fort Pitt, on the 7th of Septem
ber, 1876, is extracted from the ninth chapter of the work
above referred to.] September 7th.
At ten in the moming the Governor and Commissioners,
escorted by the Mounted Police, proceeded to the treaty tent
a short distance from Fort Pitt. About eleven o'clock the

176 nova BRITANNIA.
Indians commenced to gather, as at Carlton, in a large semi
circle. In front were the young men, galloping about on
their horses, then the Chiefs and head men, followed by the-
raain body of the band, to the number of two or three hun
dred. As they approached, the manoeuvres of the horsemen
became more and more excited and daring, racing wildly
about so rapidly as to be barely distinguishable ; unfortun
ately, from some mischance, two horses and their riders
came into collision with such tremendous force as to throw
both horses and men violently to the ground. Both horses-
were severely injured, and one of the Indians had his hip put
out of joint. Fortunately, Dr. Kittson, of the police, was
near by, and speedily gave relief to the poor sufferer. The
ceremonies, however, still went on. Four pipe-stems were
carried about and presented to be stroked in token of good
feeling and amity (during this performance the band of the
Mounted Police played " God save the Queen "), blessings.
invoked on the whole gathering, the dances performed by
the various bands, and finally the pipes of peace smoked by
the Governor and Commissioners in turn. The stems, which
were finely decorated, were placed with great solemnity on
the table in front of the Governor, to be covered for the-
bearers with blue cloth.
The Chiefs and head raen now seated themselves in front
of the tent, when the Governor addressed them :
" Indians of the plains, Crees, Chippewayans, Assiniboines-
and Chippewas, my message is to all. I ara here to-day as
your Governor under the Queen. The Crees for raany days
have sent word that they wanted to see sorae one face to
face. The Crees are the principal tribe of the plain Indians,
and it is for me a pleasant duty to be here to-day and re
ceive the welcome I have from them. I am here because
the Queen and her Councillors have the good of the Indians
at heart, because you are the Queen's children, and we must
think of you for to-day and to-morrow. The condition of
the Indians and their future has given the Queen's Council
lors much anxiety. In the old provinces of Canada, from
which I carae, we have many Indians. They are growing in
numbers, and are, as a rule, happy and prosperous. For a

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 177
hundred years red and white hands have been clasped to
gether in peace. The instructions of the Queen are to treat
the Indians as brothers, and so we ought to be. The Great
Spirit raade this earth we are on. He planted the trees
and raade the rivers flow for the good of all his people,
white and red. The country is very wide, and there is room
for all. It is six years since the Queen took back into her
own hands the governraent of her subjects, red and white,
in this country. It was thought her Indian children would
be better cared for in her own hand. This is the seventh
time in the last five years that her Indian children have
been called together for this purpose. This is the fourth
time that I have raet ray Indian brothers, and standing here
on this bright day with the sun above us, I cast ray eyes to
the east down to the great lakes, and I see a broad road
leading frora there to the Red River. I see it stretching on
to Ellice, I see it branching there, the one to Qu'Appelle
and Cyprus Hills, the other by Pelly to Carlton. It is a wide
and plain trail. Anyone can see it, and on that road, tak
ing, for the Queen, the hand of the Governor and Corarais
sioners, I see all the Indians. I see the Queen's Councillors
taking the Indian by the hand, saying : "We are brothers, we
will lift you up, we will teach you, if you will learn, the
cunning of the white raan." All along that road I see In
dians gathering, I see gardens growing and houses building ;
I see thera receiving money frora the Queen's Commissioners
to purchase clothing for their children. At the same time
I see them enjoying their hunting and fishing as before. I
see them retaining their old mode of living, with the Queen's
gift in addition.
" I met the Crees at Carlton. They heard my words there,
they read my face, and through that my heart, and said my
words were true, and they took ray handon behalf of the
Queen. What they did I wish you to do. I wish you to
travel on the road I have spoken of, a road I see stretching
out broad and plain to the Rocky Mountains. I know you
have been told many stories, some of them not true. Do not
listen to the bad voices of raen who have their own ends to
serve. Listen rather to those who have only your good at
12

17S NOVA BRITANNIA. >
heart. I have come a long way to meet you. Last year I
sent you a message that you would be raet this year, and I
do not forget my promises.
"I went to Ottawa, where the Queen's Councillors have
their council chamber, to talk, among other things, about
you. "I have come seven hundred miles to see you. Why
should I take all this trouble ? For two reasons. First, the
duty was put upon me as one of the Queen's Councillors, to
see you with ray brother Commissioners, Hon. W.J. Christie
and Hon. James McKay. The other reason is a personal one,
because since I was a young raan my heart was warra to tiie
Indians, aud I haye taken a great interest in them. For more
than twenty-five years I have studied their condition in the
present and in the future. I have been many years in public
life, but the first words I spoke in public were for the In
dians, and in that vision of the day I saw the Queen's white
men understanding their duty. I saw them understanding
that they had no right to wrap themselves up in a cold
mantle of selfishness, that they had no right to turn away
and say, 'Ami my brother's keeper ? ' On the contrary, I
saw them saying, ' The Indians are our brothers, we must
try to help them to make a living for theraselves and their
children.' I tell you, you must think of those who^will
come after you. As I came here I saw tracks leading to
the lak^s and water-courses, once well beaten, now grown
over with grass. I saw bones bleaching by the wayside. I
saw the places where the buffalo had been, and I thought
What will become of the Indian 1 I said to myself. We must
teach the children to prepare for the future ; if we do not,
but a few suns will pass, and they will melt away like snow
before the sun in spring-time. You know my words are
true ; you see for yourselves and know that your numbers
are lessening every year. Now, the whole burden of my
message from the Queen is that we wish to help you in the
days that are to come. We do not want to take away the
means of living that you have now. We do not want to tie
you down. We want you to have homes of your own where
your children can be taught to raise for themselves food

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 179
from the mother earth. You may not all be ready for that,
but some, I have no doubt, are, and in a short tirae others
will follow. I am here to talk plainly. I have nothing to
hide. I am here to tell you what we are ready to do. Your
tribe is not all here at the present time. Some of the princi
pal Chiefs are absent. This cannot be avoided. The Country
is wide, and when the buffalo come near you raust follow
them. This does not matter, for what I have to give is for
the absent as well as for the present. Next year, if the
treaty is made, a Commissioner will be sent to you, and you
will be notified of the times and places of meeting, so that
you will not have long journeys. After that,'two or three
servants of the Queen will be appointed to live in the country
to look after the Indians, and see that the terms of the
treaty are carried out.
" I have not yet given you my message. I know you
have heard what your brothers did at Carlton, and I expect
you to do the same here, for if you do not you will be the
first Indians who refused to take my hand. At Carlton I
had a slight difficulty. One of the Chiefs dreamt that in
stead of raaking the treaty at the camp of the great body of
the Indians, I made it at his, and so his people stood aside.
I was sorry for him and his people. I did not wish to go
and leave them out. I sent him word after I had made the
treaty, and brought him in with the others. When I went
to the North-west angle I met the Chippewa nation. ' They
were not all present, but the absent ones were seen the next
year. I told them ihe message frora the Queen, and what
she wished to do for them. In all four thousand Indians
accepted the treaty, and now, I ara glad to say, many of
them have homes and gardens of their own. The next
year I went to Qu'Appelle, and saw the Crees and Chip
pewas, and there tive thousand understood us and took our
hands. Last summer I went with Mr. McKay to Lake
Winnipeg, and there all the Swampy Crees accepted the
Queen's terms. Now I have stroked the pipe with your
brothers at Carlton as with you.
" Three years ago a party of Assiniboines were shot by
Araerican traders. Men, women and children were killed.

180 ffOVA fiUlTANNlA.
We reported the affair to Ottawa. We said the time has
corae when you must send the red-coated servants of the
Queen to the North-West to protect the Indian from fire
water, from being shot down by raen who know no law, to
preserve peace between the Indians, to punish all who break
the law, to prevent whites from doing wrong to Indians ;
and they are here to-day to do honour to the office which 1
hold. Our Indian Chiefs wear red coats, and wherever they
meet the police they will know they meet friends. I know
that you liave been told that if war carae you would be put
in the front. This is not so. Your brothers at Carlton asked
me that they might not be forced to fight, and I tell you, as
I assured them, you will never be asked to fight against
your will ; and I trust the time will never corae of war be
tween the Queen and the great country near us.
"Again, I say, all we seek is your good. I speak openly,
as brother to brother, as a father to his children, and I
would give you a last advice. Hear my words ; corae and join
the great band of Indians who are walking hand-in-hand with
us on the road I spoke of when I began — a road, I believe
in ray heart, that will lead the Indian on to a rauch more
comfortable state than he is in now. My words, when they
are accepted, are written down, and they last, as I have said
to the others, as long as the sun shines and the river runs.
I expect you are prepared for the raessage I have to deliver,
and I will wait to see if any of the Chiefs wish to'speak be
fore I go further."
Sweet Grass, the principal Cree Chief, rose, and taking
the Governor by the hand, said : " We have heard what the
Governor has said, and now the Indians want to hear the
terms of the treaty, after which they will all shake hands
with the Governor and Commissioners. We then want to go
to our camp to meet in council."
The Governor then very carefully and distinctly explained
the terras and proraises of the treaty as made at Carlton.
This was received by the Indians with loud assenting ex
clamations. On the 8th the Indians sent a message that they required
further tirae for deliberation, and the meeting was put off
until the 9 th.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 181
On the morning of the 9 th the Indians were slow in
gathering, as they wished to settle all difficulties and mis
understandings among themselves before coming to the
treaty tent. This was apparently accorapllshed about eleven
a. m., when the whole body approached and seated them
selves in good order, when the Governor said : —
" Indian children of the Great Queen, we meet again on
a bright day. You heard many words from me the other
day. I delivered you my message from the Queen. I held
out my hand in the Queen's narae, full of her bounty. You
asked time to consult together. I gave it to you very gladly,
because I did not come here to surprise you. I trust the
Great Spirit has put good thoughts into your hearts, and
your wise men have found my words good. I am now
ready to hear whether you are prepared, to do as the great
body of the Indian people have done. It is now for the
Indians to speak through those whom they may choose. My
heart is warm to you, and my ears are open."
Ku-ye-win (The Eagle) addressed the Indians, telling
them not to be afraid, that the Governor was to them as a
brother ; that what the Queen wished to establish through
him was for their good, and if any of them wished to speak
to do so.
After waiting tome time the Governor said, " I had hoped
the Indians would have taken me at my word, and taken
me as a brother and a friend. True, I am the Queen's
Governor ; that I am here to-day shows me to be your
friend. Why can you not open your hearts to me ? I have
met many Indians before, but this is the first time I have
had all the talking to do myself Now, cast everything
behind your backs, and speak to me face to face. I have
offered as we have done to the other Indians. Tell me now
whether you will take my hand and accept it. There is no
thing to be ashamed of, nothing to be afraid of Think of the
good of your children and your children's children. Stand
up now like wise raen, and tell rae if you will take what I
offered. I cannot believe it to be possible that you would
throw my hand back. Speak, and do not be afraid or
3,ghanie4,"

182 NOVA BRITANNIA.
Wee-KAS-KOO-KEE-SAY-yin (Sweet Grass) : — " I thank you
for this day, and also I thank you for what I have seen and
heard. I also thank the Queen for sending you to act for our
good. I ara glad to have a brother and friend in you, which
undoubtedly will raise us above our present condition. I
am glad for your offers, and thank you from ray heart. I
speak this in the presence of the Divine Being. It is all
for our good, I see nothing to be afraid of, I therefore accept
of it gladly, and take your hand to my heart. May this con
tinue as long as this earth stands and the river flows. The
Great. King, our Father, is now looking Upon us this day.
He regards all the people equal with one another ; He has
mercy ou the whole earth ; He has opened a new world to
us. I have pity on all those who have to live by the buffijlo.
If I am spared until this time next year I want this my
brother to coraraence to act for me, thinking thereby that
the buffalo may be protected. It is for that reason I give
you my hand. If spared, I shall commence at once to clear
a small piece of land for myself, and others of my kinsmen
will do the same. We will commence hand in hand to pro
tect the buffalo. When I hold your hand I feel as if the
Great Father were looking on us both as brothers. I am
thankful. May this earth here never see the white raan's
blood spilt on it by the red man. I thank God that we
stand together, that you all see us. I am thankful that I
can raise up my head, and the white raan and red raan can
stand together as long as the sun shines. When I hold
your hands and touch your heart, as I do now (suiting his
action to the words), let us be as one. Use your utmost to
help me and help my children, so that they may prosper."
The Chief's remarks were assented to by the Indians by
loud ejaculations.
Governor : — " I rise with a glad heart ; we have come
together and understood each other. I am glad that you
have seen the right way. I am glad you have accepted so
unanimously the offer made. I will tell the Queen's Coun
cillors what good hearts their Indian children have ; I
will tell them that they think of t)he good of their ghildren'g
children.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 183
. " I feel that we have done to-day a good work. The years
will pass away and we with them, but the work we have
done to-day will stand as the hills. What we have said and
done has been written down. My promises at Carlton have
been written down and cannot be rubbed out, so there can
be no mistake about what is agreed upon. I will now have
the terras of the treaty fully read and explained to you, and
before I go away I will leave a copy with your principal
Chief " After I and the Commissioners, for the Queen, have
signed the treaty, I will call upon your Chief and Council
lors to do the same; and before the payments are made by
Mr. Christie, I will give the Chiefs the medals of the Queen
and their flags.
" Some of your Chiefs and people are away. Next year we
will send raen near to where their bands live. Notice will be
given, and those who are away now will receive the present
of money we are going to give you the same as if they had
been here, and when you go back to the plains I ask you to
tell your brothers what we have done."
The Governor and Commissioners then signed the treaty
on the part of the Queen, and nine Chiefs and as many of
their Councillors as were with them signed on behalf pf the
ludians.

Speech at the Banquet to Lord Dufeeein,
AT Winnipeg.
[In the summer of 1877 the Governor-General, Lord
Dufferin, accompanied by Lady Dufferin, his daughter.
Lady Helen Blackwood, and a numerous suite, paid a
prolonged visit to Winnipeg and the North-West. The
visit extended over nearly three months, during which
interval His Excellency travelled over a great extent of
territory, familiarizing hiraself with the capabilities of the

184 nova BRITANNIA.
soil and the most urgent requirements of the people. On
sorae of the most important of his tours he was accom
panied by Lieutenant-Governor Morris. The Governor-
General won golden opinions wherever he went, and on his
departure from the Province for Ottawa, on the 29th of
September, a splendid banquet was tendered him at the
Town- Hall, Winnipeg. The guests, three hundred in nura
ber, included all the prorainent citizens of the Province, and
His Excellency raade one of the most telling of all his many
eloquent speeches on the occasion. It had been arranged
between Lieutenant-Governor Morris and the committee of
arrangements that he, Mr. Morris, should not be toasted, or
called upon to speak. This fact coraing to the ears of
Lord Dufferin, just as he was about to sit down to table,
he insisted upon such a modification of the arrangements as
would admit of the Lieutenant-Governor's health being
drunk. This, of course, involved the necessity of a speech
on Mr. Morris's part, which, moreover, was necessarily
delivered without any atterapt at preparation. The follow
ing, extracted frora Mr. Leggo's History of tlie Administra
tion of the Earl of Dufferin, is a fairly accurate report of it.]
Mr. Mayor, Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentleraen : —
For the first time since my experience of the community of
Winnipeg, I have to find fault with thera. I find rayself in a
position of embarrassment and difficulty. I came here as the
guest of the Mayor and Corporation of the City, which I
have seen grow frora a hamlet to its present goodly pro
portions, the harbinger of the future that I believe lies
before it as the city of the British North-West ; but
I do feel that it was not fair to mo that I should find
myself called upon in the presenge of the Chief Representa-

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 185
tive of the Crown, of which I am one of the subordinate re
presentatives, to respond without warning to the toast that
has just been drunk. Until my health was proposed I had no
knowledge that you were to do me the honour that you have .
so kindly done me. On the contrary it had been understood
that I was not to be called on. I make this explanation be
cause I feel it is due that I should thank you, not only for the
courtesy and kindness extended on this occasion, but far
more, for that respect, support and kindness, which have
strengthened rae for the difficulties I have had to encounter
during the past five years. I ask those around me to
cast back their glances, and contrast the past with the
present, and then rejoice that our difficulties, grave and
urgent as they were when I came among you, are past ; that
peace, order and harmony dwell among, and exist between
the different nationalities that corapose this our raixed cora
raunity ; and that all are aniraated by an affection and loyalty
deep in the hearts of our people towards Her Gracious Ma
jesty, and her illustrious and noble Representative whora we
have had the pleasure of raeeting to-day.
Gentleraen, it would be unbecoming in rae to trespass at
any length on your time and attention, and it would be the
more unbecoming that I should indulge in desultory remarks,
after the elaborate and eloquent eulogium of the Governor-
General of this great Dominion, that has been passed upon
your position as an outlying province. But as I stand here,
on, as it may be, the last occasion that I shall have the op
portunity of meeting such a large nuraber of those who
have been my fellow-citizens and associates for five years, I
cannot help saying that ray residence, my position in this
province, has been a pride and satisfaction to me. Twenty-
five years ago, when comparatively a young man, I directed
my studies to the future of the North-West of the Dominion.
I gleaned every source of information I could obtain, and
carae to the conclusion that there was here the back
bone of the future Dorainion. In my visions, I saw the
Pacific Railway stretching across the continent, and I saw
the Indian population in the far west feeling the throbbing
of the white man's heart, and learning the arts of civiliza-

186- NOVA BRITANNIA.
tion, and I saw the vast population of the old world peo
pling this land, and making it the granary of the globe. I
believed all this, and therefore it was with peculiar pride
that when ill health drove me from being a member of the
Cabinet of the Dominion to accept the position of the first
Chief Justice of Manitoba, renewed health enabled me to
accept the office of Lieutenant-Governor of this province
and the North-West Territories, in which it had been my
lot as a Minister of the Crown, and as a private citizen, to
take an active interest.
Gentlemen, ip all communities there are difficulties, in
all communities disagreements ; but I can say this, that I
earnestly trust that I leave this Province carrying with me
the good will of its people. If I do not it is not because
I have not honestly and justly striven to do my duty as
a servant of the Crown. There may be, there doubtless
will be, little ripples on the surface of the water ; but
all that I can say is this : that although I leave you, I
shall not carry with me a remembrance of any of the diffi
culties that have crossed my path in the past five years. I
leave this Province as one who feels that five years of his
life have been worked into its history, and that it is his
good fortune to carry away with hira the friendship of the
community ; and whatever my lot may be in the future, I
trust it will be found that the occasions will be suggested
to me in which I may be of service to you. But be that as
it may, when I mingle with the people of Ontario and Que
bec, as I will do when occasions arise in which I can give
advice, and direct the steps of those who may wish to seek
a home in this province of the Dominion, at all events, I
am indulging in no vain boast when I say you have a friend
who will endeavour to do what he can to advance your in
terests. And now, ere I take ray seat, asking your pardon
for the raanner in which I have addressed you, I cannot
help expressing the deep satisfaction with which I find
beside me to-day His Excellency ' and Her Excellency
Lord and Lady Dufferin. It is an era in the history of
this province. I know they have endeavoured to' master
our position, and right glad I was when I stood at St.

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 187
Peter's Indian Reserve to hear His Excellency tell those red
children of the Queen that Her Majesty had charged him
to enquire specially into their condition, and into the con
dition of the people of the country ; and glad I am that so
intelligent, so faithful a servant of the Crown, has been here
among us, who will be able to carry horae to the fountain
and source of honour the knowledge of the fact that here in
this province there dwells a community of the raost mixed
character that can be found in any country under the sun,
and that here, thanks to Providence, thanks to the good
sense of the community, to the spirit of conciliation and
adaptation to each other which has been developed among
us, there is peace, harraony and concord.
Gentlemen, I recollect that some twenty years ago, while
residing in the City of Montreal, at a dejeuner given to a
celebrated English author, a clergyman who now holds a
very prominent position in the city of London (England),
was called on to speak. 1 recollect his declining. He was
a Canadian like myself, though he is now in London, and I
recollect that after I had spoken, he rose to his feet and
said he'had not intended to speak till he heard his friend's
(Mr. Morris's) address, which convinced him that he had
"Canada on the brain." Well, gentleraen, I have had Mani
toba on the brain for the last five years, and I have only to
say that ray thoughts and intellect have been given in duty
to my Sovereign, and to my superior officer the Governor-
General, and to the interests of this Province. And I can
say that next to my duty to ray Queen, let ray hereafter be
short or long in it, will be found devotion to the interests of
Canada, Manitoba and the North West.

FINIS.