to both parties, placing in his cabinet seven Conservatives and six
Liberals. The Liberals included the names of Mr. W. P. Rowland and Mr.
William MacDougall for Ontario. A large number of the Liberals of
Ontario, including George Brown and Alexander Mackenzie, opposed this
arrangement, called a public meeting in Toronto, and passed resolutions
in favour of a strictly party government on the old lines. It declared
hostility to the proposal for a coalition, and resolved to oppose
Messrs. Rowland and MacDougall, should they accept office under Mr.
Macdonald. This decision was carried out, but these gentlemen were both
elected by good majorities. In this first ministry there were five
members from Ontario, four from Quebec, two from Nova Scotia, and two
from New Brunswick: S. L. Tilley and Peter Mitchell.

The wisdom of the course adopted will be apparent when it is remembered
that the question of confederation was not settled or carried on party
lines, some of the Conservatives opposing and some Liberals supporting
it. This was clearly the case in New Brunswick, as shown by the last two
elections held there. About one-third of the Liberal party, and a like
proportion of the Conservative party, opposed confederation at the
second election. To have formed the first government on a party basis
would have necessitated the selection of some men who were opposed to
the union, and whose efforts might not have been devoted to making it a
success.

{FIRST CONFEDERATION MINISTRY}

The first confederation ministry was a very strong one. The Hon. John A.
Macdonald became premier and minister of justice; the Hon. George E.
Cartier was minister of militia and defence; Alexander T. Galt was
minister of finance; the Hon. William MacDougall was minister of public
works; the Hon. W. P. Rowland was minister of inland revenue; the Hon.
A. J. F. Blair, president of the privy council; the Hon. Alexander
Campbell, postmaster-general; the Hon. J. C. Chapais, minister of
agriculture; the Hon. Hector L. Langevin, secretary of state. The Hon.
Mr. Tilley became minister of customs and the Hon. Mr. Mitchell minister
of marine and fisheries, while the two Nova Scotia representatives,
Messrs. Archibald and Kenny, became respectively secretary of state for
the provinces and receiver-general.

It will thus be seen that the Maritime Provinces had four
representatives out of thirteen members of the cabinet, and this
proportion has generally been maint