The Makers of Canada: George Brown

The Makers of Canada: George Brown Lewis, John Published: 1906 Categorie(s): Non-Fiction, Biography & autobiography, History, Social science, Political science Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30546 1 Copyright: This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com Strictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes. 2 PREFACE The title of this series, "Makers of Canada," seemed to impose on the writer the obligation to devote special attention to the part played by Ge-orge Brown in fashioning the institutions of this country. From this point of view the most fruitful years of his life were spent between the time when the Globe was established to advocate responsible government, and the time when the provinces were confederated and the bounds of Canada extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The ordinary political contests in which Mr. Brown and his newspaper engaged have received only casual notice, and the effort of the writer has been to trace Mr. Brown`s connection with the stream of events by which the old legislat-ive union of Canada gave place to the confederated Dominion. After the establishment of responsible government, the course of this stream is not obscure. Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada is inadequately represented and is dominated by its partner. Various rem-edies, such as dissolution of the union, representation by population and the "double majority," are proposed; but ultimately the solution is found in federation, and to this solution, and the events leading up to it, a large part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown was also an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the country lying west to the Rocky Moun-tains, and to this work reference is made. Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse strong friendships and strong animosities. These have been dealt with only where they seemed to have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir John A. Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems to be a profitless task for a biographer to take up and fight over again quarrels which had no public importance and did not affect the course of history. The period covering Mr. Brown`s career was one in which the political game was played roughly, and in which strong feelings were aroused. To this day it is difficult to discuss the career of the Hon. George Brown, or of Sir John A. Macdonald, without reviving these feelings in the breasts of political veterans and their sons; and even one who tries to study the time and the men and to write their story, finds himself taking sides with men who are in their graves, and fighting for causes long since lost and won. The writer has tried to resist the temptation of build-ing up the fame of Brown by detracting from that of other men, but he has also thought it right in many cases to present Brown`s point of view, not necessarily as the whole truth, but as one of the aspects of truth. 3 In dealing with the question of confederation, my endeavour has been simply to tell the story of Brown`s work and let it speak for itself, not to measure the exact proportion of credit due to Brown and to others. It is hard to believe, however, that the verdict of history will assign to him a place other than first among the public men of Canada who contributed to the work of confederation. Events, as D`Arcy McGee said, were prob-ably more powerful than any of them. If any apology is needed for the space devoted to the subject of slavery in the United States, it may be found not only in Brown`s life-long oppos-ition to slavery, but in the fact that the Civil War influenced the relations between the United States and Canada, and indirectly promoted the con-federation of the Canadian provinces, and also in the fact, so frequently emphasized by Mr. Brown, that the growth of the institution of slavery on this continent was a danger to which Canada could not be indifferent. Among the works that have been found useful for reference are John Charles Dent`s Last Forty Years (Canada since the union of 1841); Gray on Confederation; Coté`s Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada; Dr. Hodgins` Legislation and History of Separate Schools in Upper Canada; the lives of Lord Elgin, Dr. Ryerson and Joseph Howe in "The Makers of Canada" series; the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie`s Life and Speeches of the Hon. George Brown; the Hon. James Young`s Public Men and Public Life in Canada. Mr. Mackenzie`s book contains a valuable collection of letters, to which frequent reference is made in the chapters of this book dealing with confederation. The account of the relations of the Peel government with Governor Sir Charles Bagot is taken from the Life of Sir Robert Peel, from his correspondence, edited by C. S. Parker. The files of the Banner and the Globe have been read with some care; they were found to contain an embarrassing wealth of most interesting historical material. To Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the Toronto Free Library, and to Mr. Avern Pardoe, of the Library of the Legislative Assembly, I am deeply indebted for courtesy and assistance. JOHN LEWIS. 4 Chapter 1 FROM SCOTLAND TO CANADA George Brown was born at Alloa, a seaport on the tidal Forth, thirty-five miles inward from Edinburgh, on November 29th, 1818. His mother was a daughter of George Mackenzie, of Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis. His father, Peter Brown, was a merchant and builder. George was edu-cated at the High School and Southern Academy in Edinburgh. "This young man," said Dr. Gunn, of the Southern Academy, "is not only en-dowed with high enthusiasm, but possesses the faculty of creating en-thusiasm in others." At the risk of attaching too much significance to praise bestowed on a school-boy, it may be said that these words struck the keynote of Brown`s character and revealed the source of his power. The atmosphere of the household was Liberal; father and son alike hated the institution of slavery, with which they were destined to become more closely acquainted. "When I was a very young man," said George Brown, denouncing the Fugitive Slave Law before a Toronto audience, "I used to think that if I ever had to speak before such an audience as this, I would choose African Slavery as my theme in preference to any other topic. The subject seemed to afford the widest scope for rhetoric and for fervid ap-peals to the best of human sympathies. These thoughts arose far from here, while slavery was a thing at a distance, while the horrors of the sys-tem were unrealized, while the mind received it as a tale and discussed it as a principle. But, when you have mingled with the thing itself, when you have encountered the atrocities of the system, when you have seen three millions of human beings held as chattels by their Christian coun-trymen, when you have seen the free institutions, the free press and the free pulpit of America linked in the unrighteous task of upholding the traffic, when you have realized the manacle, and the lash, and the sleuth-hound, you think no more of rhetoric, the mind stands appalled at the monstrous iniquity, mere words lose their meaning, and facts, cold facts, are felt to be the only fit arguments." 5 ... - tailieumienphi.vn