right, all right. By faulty memory I may leave out a word or phrase but this is the way it went. I moved ‘that in the general legislature and its proceedings …’”
“By general legislature,” Carnarvon broke in, “you mean the upper, appointed federal body together with the elected House of Commons, the confederated House — as opposed to the colonial or subservient provincial legislatures. Am I right?”
“Correct. I moved that in the general legislature and in its proceedings both the English and the French languages may be equally employed. And also in the local legislature of Lower Canada and in the federal and lower courts of Lower Canada.”
Carnarvon was perplexed. “Why would you frame your resolution in such a way? It gives French a place in the federal level and obviously in Lower Canada, Quebec, but not elsewhere in the country?”
“Perhaps I can explain.” Macdonald couldn’t resist. “Alex’s motion, his resolution, recognized that a concession should be made to the French-speaking minority in our new capital city of Ottawa in exchange for a like concession to the English minority in Lower Canada.”
Carnarvon admitted, “Perhaps it’s the wine and port, but let’s see if I have it right. The proposed legal status of the French language in your asked-for national parliament will not be extended to the legislature and courts of any of the confederating provinces other than Lower Canada. Am I right?”
“That’s right, sir,” Macdonald continued. “Canada as it now stands — Canada West and Canada East — is bilingual only insofar as the debates and records of its legislature and the proceedings of the courts of Canada East are concerned. The French language had no legal standing in the courts of Canada West, nor in the courts or legislatures of any of the Maritime provinces, even in New Brunswick.”
“Even though New Brunswick has a large number of French-speaking people,” Cartier added.
“But they’re only a minority of the population.” Galt had to make that point.
“Yes, yes, of course,” Cartier agreed.
Macdonald, ever the moderator, decided it was time to move away from the highly sensitive issue of French language and culture. In any case, the conference had put the matter to bed. Rehashing it further over port and cigars in the presence of the Colonial Secretary would only increase antagonism and enmity.
“So, Harry,” he said, “while the conference is going well and the Maritime representatives seem to be getting along with us strange folk, the British in Upper Canada and the French in Lower Canada — we folk who seem to be able to live together notwithstanding our racial, cultural, religious and language differences — I must add that some unforeseen element, emotion, or event may yet appear that will destroy our purpose to unite all the British colonies in America in a single confederation.”
“John, you’re just a bag of wind who can’t resist making a speech.” Galt couldn’t avoid taking the friendly shot across Macdonald’s boozy bow. “And what he didn’t say, Harry, was the uniting all the British colonies will eventually include the North-Western Territories and those on the Pacific coast, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia.”
Macdonald grunted his agreement, saying, “Those two, Vancouver Island and British Columbia, are critically important to us. Without them, and without the North-Western Territories, our goal of a single unified nation from sea to sea will be lost.”
The Colonial Secretary’s cigar was down to a two-inch butt, having been consumed with pleasure as he listened to the three Canadians speaking, each with his own accent. In that splendid library Henry Carnarvon was hearing a hint of the multitude of languages and races that might someday be found in that land so large that an Englishman sitting on his tight, powerful little island with its empire cast all over the world like a golden net could not intellectually grasp or conceive of its enormous size. Even if he visited there, which Carnarvon (like virtually all the members of the Lords and Commons who would have to vote on the British North American legislation) had not, it would have been nigh impossible to comprehend the vastness, the kaleidoscope of the terrains of the British possessions in America.
“Well, now, the mention of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and for that matter, the North-Western Territories, brings me to what I said earlier about Seward and the Americans.”
“We hadn’t forgotten about that,” Macdonald reassured him. “You called it a Washington rumour.”
“Indeed, that’s all it is, a rumour. But it’s a very disturbing one, particularly from the point of view of your objective, which is also mine — the creation of a unified British North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
“And the Arctic,” Macdonald added. “The Arctic is a frozen wasteland, but it is land. The Hudson’s Bay Company is there and has possession of it, but the Arctic must be ours.”
“It must indeed,” Henry Herbert agreed. “The rumour comes by way of Her Majesty’s most able envoy in Washington, Sir Frederick Bruce.”
Cartier nodded. “We all know Sir Frederick. He travelled to Quebec to visit us last summer. An impressive man. Speaks French, Parisian French, without an accent!”
“Splendid. The rumour Sir Frederick has reported, if true, could have serious consequences for your confederation plans. I have to put it as bluntly as that, gentlemen.”
“For God’s sake, Harry, what are you talking about?” Galt’s voice was at an impatient near bellow.
“Well, Bruce, through his diplomatic network, has heard that the Russian ambassador to Washington has been called back to St. Petersburg to talk with the Tsar and his advisors about the purchase of Russian America by the United States. It seems that the Tsar wants to talk about selling it because Russia is in dire financial straits. That’s what Bruce has heard and I thought you people should know about it.”
Their brains muted by the evening’s long drinking session, the Canadians did not respond immediately to what they had heard. There was an extended silence as they absorbed the implications of Lord Carnarvon’s words.
Finally Macdonald brought his hands together, fingertips touching, and rolled his eyes upward in a prayer-like position of frustration, saying, “Those bastards! That Seward sonofabitch! He’s going to buy Russian America and force British Columbia and Vancouver Island to join the United States as part of his Manifest Destiny expansion.”
The colonials well understood the concept: The United States should expand to embrace all of North America. Indeed, at every opportunity it should reach out and take in the Atlantic islands on the east and whatever it could find in the Pacific.
“If Seward gets Russian America,” Cartier pronounced. “He’ll get Vancouver Island and British Columbia. I mean, my God, why would the people of those colonies stay with us, join us thousands of miles to the east, if they are not connected in any way except by a treeless plain and an impenetrable mountain range?”
“And the North-Western Territories?” Galt’s mind was reeling. “If Seward gets Russian America, he will gobble up everything west of Lake Superior. Everything!”
Cartier said what everyone else was thinking: “If Sir Frederick’s rumour is true, our plan for a British North America confederation from sea to sea could be completely derailed. British Columbia, Vancouver Island, and the North-Western Territories will fall to the United States either by persuasion or by aggression. And who’s
