EDITION DE LUXE TORONTO MORANG & CO., LIMITED 1907 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1907 by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture...

The contest for responsible government which was carried on in all the provinces of British North America for so many years resembled in some of its features a modern battle, where the field of operations is so wide that it is impossible for a general to cover it with his eye or to keep control of all the movements of his subordinates. In such a case, everything depends on the ability of the generals who command the different army corps, who, operating in remote parts of the field, must take the

The agitation for an improvement in the constitution of New Brunswick began long before L. A. Wilmot was born. The first man who took a prominent stand for reform in the legislature was Mr. James Glenie, a member for the county of Sunbury from 1792 to 1809. Mr. Glenie, who was a Scotchman and a man of much ability, had been an officer in the Royal Engineers during the Revolutionary War. His efforts to obtain reforms were met by the friends of the governor, Mr. Carleton, with the most violent opp

Wilmot acquired a good legal practice soon after his admission to the bar, and was recognized as a highly successful advocate in cases before a jury. In the opinion of the legal profession he never was a deeply read lawyer, either as a barrister or as a judge, but in the conduct of a case at nisi prius he could hardly have been surpassed. He had the gift which has been possessed by all great advocates, of seizing on the leading feature of a case, and, regardless of all minor issues, pressing it

In the session of 1840 Sir John Harvey, the lieutenant-governor, communicated to the legislature a despatch which he had received from Lord John Russell a short time before. This dealt with the question of the tenure of public offices in the gift of the Crown throughout the British colonies. Lord John had been struck by the fact that, while the governor of a colony was liable to have his commission revoked at any time, the commissions of all other public officials were very rarely recalled excep

Among the questions in which Wilmot took a deep interest was that of education. His views on this subject were far in advance of those of most of his contemporaries. Education was in a very unsatisfactory condition in the province of New Brunswick when he entered public life, and it continued in that condition for many years afterward. If we may judge from the statute-book, the founders of the province had very little appreciation of the advantages of education, for no law was passed with a view

The political career of Samuel Leonard Tilley did not begin until the year that brought the work of Lemuel Allan Wilmot as a legislator to a close. Both were elected members of the House of Assembly in 1850, but in the following year Wilmot was elevated to the bench, so that the province lost his services as a political reformer just as a new man, who was destined to win as great a reputation as himself, was stepping on the stage. Samuel Leonard Tilley was born at Gagetown, on the St. John River

Shortly after the general election, Chief-Justice Chipman, who had been in infirm health, resigned his office, and a vacancy was thus left on the bench of the supreme court of the province. In the natural course, this office ought to have gone to the attorney-general, Mr. L. A. Wilmot, but this appointment was not made. The council were unable to unite in any recommendation to the governor, who consequently laid all the facts before the home government and in reply received instructions to give

The House which had been elected in 1850 was dissolved after the prorogation in 1854, and the election came on in the month of July. It was a memorable occasion, because it was certain that the topics discussed by the House then to be elected would be of the very highest importance. One of these subjects was the reciprocity treaty, which at that time had been arranged with the United States through the British government. This treaty provided for the free interchange of certain natural products

The result of the election was the defeat of the government. Mr. Tilley lost his seat for St. John city, and the Hon. James Brown, the surveyor-general, was rejected by the county of Charlotte, so that two of the principal members of the executive were not in their places when the House was called together in July. The city of St. John, and the city and county of St. John, sent a solid phalanx of six members opposed to prohibition, and an Act repealing the prohibitory liquor law was passed by a

The imperfect means of communication between the Maritime Provinces and Canada had long been recognized as a great evil, and very soon after the introduction of railways into England a line of railway was projected to run from St. Andrews, in New Brunswick, to Quebec. The transfer of a considerable tract of territory, which had been believed to be in New Brunswick, to the state of Maine, under the terms of the Ashburton Treaty, gave a check to this enterprise, and financial difficulties afterwar

The delegates appointed by the government of New Brunswick for the purpose of representing the provinces at Charlottetown in the convention for a union of the Maritime Provinces, were the Hon. Messrs. Tilley, Steeves, Johnson, Chandler and Gray. The first three were members of the government, while Messrs. Gray and Chandler were leading members of the Opposition, so that the arrangement had the assent of the leaders of both political parties and was in no sense a party movement. The Nova Scotia

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 Assembl

Among the causes that had assisted to defeat confederation in New Brunswick, when the question was first placed before the people, was the active hostility of the lieutenant-governor, Mr. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, a son of that Earl of Aberdeen who was prime minister of England at the outbreak of the Crimean War. Mr. Gordon had been a strong advocate of maritime union and had anticipated that he would be the first governor of the united province of Acadia, or by whatever name the maritime union wa

One of the great objects of confederation was the construction of the Intercolonial Railway from St. John and Halifax to Quebec. It was thought that there could be no real union between the several colonies of British North America unless a good means of communication existed, and such a means was to be obtained only through the construction of this line of railway. The Intercolonial Railway, as we have seen, had been a part of the policy of successive governments in the province for many years,

The British North America Act, by which the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were bound into a confederation, came into force by royal proclamation on the first day of July, 1867. When it is considered how vast and vital a change this measure brought about, it is surprising that it produced so little excitement anywhere. With the exception of one or two demonstrations which were made with flags by persons hostile to confederation, it was received in the province

Mr. Tilley took up his residence in the old Government House, Fredericton, and he must have been struck with the changed aspect of affairs from that presented under the old régime, when lieutenant-governors were appointed by the British government and sent out from England to preside over the councils of a people of whom they knew little or nothing. Most of these former governors had been military men, more accustomed to habits of command than to deal with perplexing questions of state. They loo