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Prehistory | 2 Worlds Meet | New France | England Arrives | Clash of Empires | Revolution | British America | Reform/Revolt | Responsible Government | Confederation | Nation Building | Laurier | The Great War | Roaring 20's | Great Depression | WWII | The Peace | Cold War | Trudeau | PC's in Power | Modern Canada
Fathers of Confederation | Maritime Union | George Brown | Pan Federalism | US Civil War | Canada's Proposals | St Lawrence Cruise | Charlottetown | The Quebec Conference | The London Conference | July 1st 1867
The party of representatives of the Canada's cruised down the St Lawrence River to Prince Edward Island to attend the Charlottetown Conference. They were well stocked with Champagne, goodwill and arguments for a general confederation of the British Colonies.
The cruise also gave some time to the Canadian representatives to refine their proposals and strategy so that when hey arrived at Charlottetown they not only had finely crafted arguments and plans to put on the table but had hammered out a consensus among themselves and were able to appear as a united front to the Maritime delegates.
"Our party from Quebec consisted of Cartier, John A., Galt, McDougall, Campbell, Langvin, McGee and myself...We had great fun coming down the St Lawrence having fine weather, a broad awning to recline under, excellent stories of all kinds, an unexceptionable cook, lots of books, chessboards, backgammon, and so fourth."...
Having dressed ourselves in correct style, our two boats were lowered man-of-war fashion and being each duly manned with four oarsmen and a boatswain, dressed in blue uniforms, hats, belts, etc, in regular style, we pulled away for shore and landed like Mr, Christopher Columbus who had the precedence of us in taking possession of portions of the American continent.
A Letter from George Brown to his wife concerning the cruise down the St Lawrence to the Charlottetown conference - Sept 13, 1864
