d fought a ten
years' battle without faltering. He advocated opposition to any
ministry of either party that would refuse to settle the question.

The Conservative government was defeated, in the session following the
election, on a militia bill providing for the maintenance of a force
of fifty thousand men at a cost of about one million dollars. The
American Civil War was in progress; the _Trent_ affair had assumed a
threatening appearance and it was deemed necessary to place the
province in a state of defence. The bill was defeated by the defection
of some French-Canadian supporters of the government. The event caused
much disappointment in England; and from this time forth, continual
pressure from that quarter in regard to defence was one of the forces
tending towards confederation.

John Sandfield Macdonald, who was somewhat unexpectedly called upon to
form a ministry, was an enthusiastic advocate of the "double
majority," by which he believed the union could be virtually
federalized without formal constitutional change. Upper Canadian
ministers were to transact Upper Canadian business, and so with Lower
Canada, the administration, as a whole, managing affairs of common
interest. Local legislation was not to be forced on either province
against the wish of the representatives. The administration for each
section should possess the confidence of a majority of representatives
from that section.

Brown strongly opposed the "double majority" plan, which he regarded
as a mere makeshift for reform in the representation, and he was in
some doubt whether he should support or oppose the Liberal ministers
who offered for re-election. He finally decided, after consultation
with his brother Gordon, "to permit them to go in unopposed, and hold
them up to the mark under the stimulus of bit and spur."

In July 1862, Mr. Brown sailed for Great Britain, and in September he
wrote Mr. Holton that he had had a most satisfactory interview with
the Duke of Newcastle at the latter's request. They seem to have
talked freely about Canadian politics. "His scruples about
representation are entirely gone. It would have done even Sandfield
[Macdonald] good to hear his ideas on the absurdity of the 'double
majority.' Whatever small politicians and the London _Times_ may say,
you may depend upon this, that the government and the leaders of the
Opposition perfectly understand our position, and have no thought of
changing the relations between