ted the control of all matters of a local or sectional
character, and some joint authority charged with such matters as are
necessarily common to both sections of the province."

The hopes that had been aroused by this convention were disappointed,
or rather deferred. When Brown, in the following session of the
legislature, brought forward resolutions in the sense of those adopted
by the convention, he found coldness and dissension in his own party,
and the resolutions were defeated by a large majority. Subsequently
Mr. Brown had a long illness, retired from the leadership, and spent
some time in England and Scotland. In his absence the movement for
constitutional change was stayed. But "events stronger than advocacy,"
in Mr. McGee's words, were operating. Power oscillated between the
Conservative and Reform parties, and two general elections, held
within as many years, failed to solve the difficulty. When federation
was next proposed, it had become a political necessity.

CHAPTER XIV

LAST YEARS OF THE UNION

In 1860, Mr. Brown contemplated retiring from the leadership of the
party. In a letter to Mr. Mowat, he said that the enemies of reform
were playing the game of exciting personal hostility against himself,
and reviving feelings inspired by the fierce contests of the past. It
might be well to appoint a leader who would arouse less personal
hostility. A few months later he had a long and severe illness, which
prevented him from taking his place in the legislature during the
session of 1861 and from displaying his usual activity in the general
election of the summer of that year. He did, however, accept the hard
task of contesting East Toronto, where he was defeated by Mr. John
Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one. Mr. Brown then
announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement
without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some public
advantages, he said, might flow from that decision. Those whose
interest it was that misgovernment should continue, would no longer be
able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Admitting that he had used
strong language in denouncing French domination, he justified his
course as the only remedy for the evil. In 1852 he could hardly find
a seconder for his motion in favour of representation by population;
in the election just closed, he claimed fifty-three members from Upper
Canada, elected to stand or fall by that measure. He ha