The situation of the colonies remaining to Britain on this continent in the first half of the 19th century was not cheering. Upper Canada was largely virgin forest, with struggling towns and widening clearings: Lower Canada was alien in speech and religion; both passed through the throes of rebellion. The great West was supposed to be uninhabitable. The provinces by the sea were poor, thinly each with its own government and its own tariff wall against the rest. The 20th century dawns on a united and prosperous country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. For years Howe pointed out the value of union, for the object lesson of the Great Republic was hard•to mistake. But here, as in the case of the 13 colonies, before and after they achieved their independence, each province had its own pride, interests and jealousies. Besides these, the geographical barriers to union seemed insur mountable; but the locomotive engine changed the face of affairs and provided the solution of the problem. The universal fever for building railways reached the provinces. The first rail way in Nova Scotia united Windsor, Halifax and Truro; the first in New Brunswick, Saint John and Shediac. A bolder idea was to join the provinces, inland and seaboard, by an inter colonial railway. If united for commerce, why should not the colonies be united for govern ment? It cannot be said that anywhere in the Mari time Provinces was there a popular movement in favor of union. It was the thought of a few strong, far-seeing men, with powers of persua sion, like Macdonald in the West and Howe in the East. Nova Scotia has the honor of leader ship in bringing about the Charlottetown confer ence. When the question came up in 1867, Howe was in opposition, and Tupper carried the reso lution through the House. By a curious irony of fate, Howe was now led to combat the very measures he had fought for so long. He took advantage of his opponent's failure to submit such an important measure to the verdict of a popular election and he roused the people into fury against confederation. They were bought and sold, he told them, for 80 cents a head, the price of a sheepskin.k' In the next election, the great issue was repeal of the union, Howe car ried the country, and Tupper was the only conservative returned. Howe tried every legal means to detach his province from the union, but the British government refused to recon sider the measure it had just sanctioned, and Howe would not appeal to Washington, or have recourse to arms. He sought "better terms° for his province from the Dominion government, and entered the Macdonald ministry to assist in working out the problems of the new experi ment in government. Though not a consistent, Howe was a great man; with all his faults, he loved Nova Scotia well, and Nova Scotia will long cherish his memory.
New Brunswick.— The waterway of the Saint John as a greater Indian road, attracted the attention of the French fur traders early in the 17th century. La Tour fixed his headquar ters at its mouth. It is still the main artery of the province. There were also French settle ments on the rivers and harbors, such as the Miramichi, the Restigouche, Baie Verte. Petite Rochelle was partly fortified; the town at Beau bien's Point had 200 houses and a chapel. These settlements were not permanent There was a small colony from Massachusetts at Mauger ville on the Saint John in 1760; but the history of New Brunswick as a political unity begins with the close of the American Revolutionary War.
In some respects, the struggle of the 13 colonies for independence was a civil war: for all the colonists were not of the same mind. Some of the best regiments on the King's side were raised in America. For instance, Fanning,
the second governor of Prince Edward Island, at one time judge of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, raised and commanded "The King's American Regiment)) When the Briesh cause was lost, such forces were disbanded, and the citizen soldiers, impoverished by eight years of war, could not or would not live under the new government. Many of the official class, the Episcopal clergy and their humble followers were also on the losing side. For the defeated, there was no mercy; the fierce republicans would not let them live in the country. After the surrender at Yorktown (q.v.) thousands of these unfortunates flocked to New York and other seaports. No provision was made for them in the terms of peace; but public sympathy was aroused on their behalf, the British Parlia ment took generous measures for their relief, Sir Guy Carleton stood their friend. Ships were provided to carry them away, large grants of land were made to them in the loyal colonies, with tools, supplies and provisions for one, two, or three years. Some went to England, but the great majority found homes in the northern wildernesses. There some 30,000 exiles, many of the educated and cultured classes, found refuge. In American history these are the Tories, traitors to their country; in Canadian history, they are the United Empire Loyalists, the makers of the new Dominion. More than any . other class of emigrants, they formed present Canadian sentiment and institutions.
The great emigration took place in 1783. On 18 May a fleet of 19 transports, with some 3,000 Loyalists on board, reached the mouth of the Saint John. Here a great stream of 450 miles pours through a narrow breach in the rocks into a small harbor, where the flood-tide rises 26 feet, and ebb leaves the great ships aground. All round are desolate hills masking the fertile region beyond. This unpromising site the Loyalists chose for their city. They were men of the 8th, 98th, 194th regiments, the New Jersey Volunteers, and the Queen's Rangers. The grantees' list show good substantial English names. The ((fall fleets brought 1,200 more, and Parrtown, so called in honor of Governor Parr, of Novi Scotia, began its career with a popula tion of 5,000. Politically, it was situated in Sunbury County, Nova Scotia. Soon the Loyal ists showed active discontent at Governor Parr's delay in making out their grants, and in giving them representation in the House of Assembly and, in spite of his opposition, they succeeded in persuading the British government to erect their county into a separate province with a royal governor, council and House of Assembly of their own. This was done in 1784, and the province of New Brunswick was created by royal charter, with Col. Thomas Carleton, brother of the famous Sir Guy Carleton (q.v.) for governor. His commission and instructions were practically the same as those given to Cornwallis in 1749. This council of 12 members exercised both executive and legislative func tions. The first House of Assembly, of 26 mem bers, was elected, not without riot, in 1785, and met for the first time in the following January. In this yehr, Parrtown was incorporated as Saint John (q.v.) ; it was the first city in British Amenca to receive a charter. It is modeled on the charter of New York and gives the mayor the office of garbling spices and the right to appoint the bearer of the great beam. No emi grant or other person could sell goods without first obtaining the freedom of the city. From the founding of the province until 1832, no changes were made in the constitution. As in Nova Scotia, the prevailing ideas were high Tory; and popular rights received little atten tion.