een ours on that well-fought field. I
recall those olden times merely to mark the fact that here sit to-day
the descendants of the victors and the vanquished in the fight of 1759,
with all the differences of language, religion, civil law and social
habit nearly as distinctly marked as they were a century ago. Here we
sit to-day seeking amicably to find a remedy for constitutional evils
and injustice complained of. By the vanquished? No, sir, but
complained of by the conquerors! [French-Canadian cheers.]

Here sit the representatives of the British population claiming
justice--only justice; and here sit the representatives of the French
population, discussing in the French tongue whether we shall have it.
One hundred years have passed away since the conquest of Quebec, but
here sit the children of the victor and the vanquished, all avowing
hearty attachment to the British Crown, all earnestly deliberating how
we shall best extend the blessings of British institutions, how a great
people may be established on this continent in close and hearty
connection with Great Britain.

{88}

In thus proclaiming the aim and intent of the advocates of
Confederation in respect to the Imperial link, Brown expressed the
views of all. It was not a cheap appeal for applause, because the
question could not be avoided. It came up at every turn. What was the
purpose, the critics of the measure asked, of this new constitution?
Did it portend separation? Would it not inevitably lead to
independence? and if not, why was the term 'a new nationality' so
freely used? In the opening speech of the debate Macdonald met the
issue squarely with the statesmanlike gravity that befitted the
occasion:

No one can look into futurity and say what will be the destiny of this
country. Changes come over peoples and nations in the course of ages.
But so far as we can legislate, we provide that for all time to come
the sovereign of Great Britain shall be the sovereign of British North
America.

And he went on to predict that the measure would not tend towards
independence, but that the country, as it grew in wealth and
population, would grow also in attachment to the crown and seek to
preserve it. This prophecy, as we know, has proved true.

{89}

The fear of annexation to the United States figured likewise in the
debate, but the condition of the Republic, so recently in the throes of
civil war, was not such as to give rise to serious a