oment. The colonial secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton,
declined to authorize the conference without first consulting the other
provinces, and the government did not feel itself bound because of this
to resign or consult the constituencies. In other words, the question
did not involve the fate of the Cabinet. But Galt had gained a great
advantage. He had enlisted the support of Cartier, whose influence in
Lower Canada was henceforth exerted with fidelity to win over the
French to a policy which they had long resisted. The cause attained
additional strength in 1860 by the action of two other statesmen,
George Brown and John A. Macdonald, who between them commanded the
confidence of Upper Canada, the one as Liberal, the other as
Conservative leader. Brown brought before parliament resolutions
embodying the decisions of the Reform Convention of 1859 in favour of a
federation confined to the Canadas, and Macdonald declared
unequivocally for federative union as a principle, arguing that a
strong central government should be the chief aim. {20} Brown's
resolutions were rejected, and the movement so auspiciously begun once
more exhibited an ominous tendency to subside. The varying fortunes
which attended the cause during these years resembled its previous
vicissitudes. It appeared as if all were for a party and none were for
the state. If those who witnessed the events of 1860 had been asked
for their opinion, they would probably have declared that the problem
was as far from solution as ever. Yet they would have been mistaken,
as the near future was to show. A great war was close at hand, and, as
war so often does, it stimulated movements and policies which otherwise
might have lain dormant. The situation which arose out of the Civil
War in the United States neither created nor carried Confederation, but
it resulted, through a sense of common danger, in bringing the British
provinces together and in giving full play to all the forces that were
making for their union.

[1] Address to Canadian Club, Ottawa, 1906.

[2] _Union of the Colonies_, by P. S. Hamilton, Halifax, 1864.

[3] See the chapter, 'Parties and Politics, 1840-1867,' by J. L.
Morison, in _Canada and its Provinces_, vol. v.

{21}

CHAPTER III

THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION

A day of loftier ideas and greater issues in all the provinces was
about to dawn. The ablest politicians had been prone to wrangle like
washerwomen over a tub, colo