William H. Needham, whose name has already appeared
in this volume, did not lay claim to any high political principles; but
having retired some time before to private life, he found in the
confederation struggle a good opportunity of getting into the
legislature. He was a man of very considerable ability, and had his
principles been only equal to his knowledge and talents, he might have
risen to the highest position in the province. But his course on many
occasions made the public distrustful of him, and he died without having
enjoyed any of those honours which men of far less ability have
obtained. John James Fraser, afterwards governor of New Brunswick, was a
man of a different stamp, and seems to have been a sincere opponent of
confederation from conviction. The same may be said of John C. Allen,
afterwards chief-justice of the province, a man whose sterling honesty
has never been questioned.

CHAPTER VIII

DEFEAT OF CONFEDERATION

The result of the election was the most overwhelming defeat that ever
overtook any political party in the province of New Brunswick. Out of
forty-one members, the friends of confederation succeeded in returning
only six, the Hon. John McMillan and Alexander C. DesBrisay, for the
county of Restigouche; Abner R. McClelan and John Lewis for the county
of Albert; and William Lindsay and Charles Connell for the county of
Carleton. Every member of the government who held a seat in the House of
Assembly, with the exception of the Hon. John McMillan, the
surveyor-general, was defeated. The majorities against the confederation
candidates in some of the counties were so large it seemed hopeless to
expect that any future election would reverse the verdict. Both the city
and county of St. John, and the county of York, made a clean sweep, and
returned solid delegations of anti-confederates. With the exception of
the two Carleton members, the entire block of counties on the River St.
John and the county of Charlotte, forming the most populous and best
settled part of the province, declared against the Quebec scheme. On the
north shore, Westmorland, Kent, Northumberland and Gloucester
pronounced the same verdict, and, on the day after the election, the
strongest friends of confederation must have felt that nothing but a
miracle could ever bring about a change in the opinion which had been
pronounced with such emphasis and by so overwhelming a majority. Yet
fifteen months later the verdict of M