This Territory Stretches From The Atlantic To The Pacific Ocean, And
(Including Newfoundland) Is Estimated To Contain A Total Area Of Some
Four Million Square Miles.
As matter of mere surface, and probably of cultivable area, also, more
than half the Northern Continent of America owes allegiance to the
Crown and to Queen Victoria.
So may it remain. So it will remain if we
retain the Imperial instinct. These noble provinces are confederated
into a vast dominion, with one common Law, one Custom House, and one
"House of Commons" - by a simple Act of the Imperial Parliament, the
Confederation Act of 1867, passed while Lord Beaconsfield was Prime
Minister and the Duke of Buckingham Colonial Minister. This union was
effected quietly, unostentatiously, and in peace; and (circumstances
well favouring) by the exertions, influence, and faithfulness to
Imperial traditions, of Cartier, John A. Macdonald, John Ross, Howe,
Tilley, Galt, Tupper, Van Koughnet, and other provincial statesmen, who
forced the Home Government to action and fired their brother colonists
with their own enthusiasm.
At home, all honour is due to a great Colonial Minister - the Duke of
Newcastle.
Taking up, some years ago, a tuft of grass growing at the foot of one
of the grand marble columns of the Parthenon at the Acropolis at
Athens, I found a compass mark in the footing, or foundation - a mere
scratch in the stone - made, probably, by some architect's assistant,
before the Christian era. I make no claim to more than having made a
scratch of some sort on the foundation stone of some pillar, or other,
of Confederation. And I throw together these pages with no idea of
gaining credit for services, gratuitously rendered, over a period of
years and under many difficulties, to a cause which I have always had
at heart; but with the desire to record some facts of interest which,
hereafter, may, probably, be held worthy of being interleaved in some
future history of the union of the great American provinces of the
British Empire. I have another motive also: I should wish to contribute
some information bearing upon any future account of the life of the
late Duke of Newcastle. He is dead: and, so far, no one has attempted
to write his biography. That may be reserved for another generation. He
was the Colonial Minister under whose rule and guidance the foundations
of the great measure of Confederation were, undoubtedly, laid; and to
him, more than to any minister since Lord Durham, the credit of
preserving, as I hope for ever, the rule of her Majesty, and her
successors, over the Western Continent ought to attach. For, while the
idea of an union, of more or less extent, was suggested in Lord
Durham's time - probably by Charles Buller, - and was now and then
fondled by other Governors-General, in Canada, and by Colonial
Ministers at home - the real, practical measures which led to the
creation of one country extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific were
due to the far-sighted policy and persuasive influence of the Duke.
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