vast importance to the empire.

The first impulse in favour of confederation in the minds of the members
of Lord Palmerston's cabinet seems to have developed about the time when
it became evident that the result of the civil war in the United States
would be the defeat of the southern confederacy and the consolidation
of the power of the great republic in a more effectual union than that
which had existed before. No one who was not blind could fail to see
that this change of attitude on the part of the United States would
demand a corresponding change in the relations of the British colonies
towards each other; for from being a mere federation of states, so
loosely connected that secession was frequently threatened by states
both north and south, the United States, as the result of the war, had
become a nation with a strong central government, which had taken to
itself powers never contemplated by the constitution, and which added
immensely to its offensive and defensive strength.

{A MISSIONARY OF UNION}

In 1863, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a member of the Canadian cabinet and a man
of great eloquence and ability, visited St. John and delivered a lecture
in the Mechanics' Institute Hall on the subject of the union of the
colonies. His lecture was fully reported in the _Morning News_, a paper
then published in that city, and attracted wide attention because it
opened up a subject of the highest interest for the contemplation of the
people of the provinces. Shortly afterwards a series of articles on the
same subject, written by the author of this book, appeared in the
columns of the _Morning News_, and were widely read and quoted. These
articles followed closely the lines laid down for the union of the
colonies by the late Peter S. Hamilton, of Halifax, a writer of ability
whose articles on the subject were collected in pamphlet form and
extensively circulated. Thus in various ways the public mind was being
educated on the question of confederation, and the opinion that the
union of the British North American colonies was desirable was generally
accepted by all persons who gave any attention to the subject. It was
only when the matter came up in a practical form and as a distinct
proposition to be carried into effect, that the violent opposition which
was afterwards developed against confederation began to be shown.

An event occurred in the summer of 1864 which had its effect on the
question of confederation. Up to that t