" Indeed, Lawrence most eloquently states that a constitution on a mere piece of paper will not serve Nova Scotia and that the only constitution worth its weight is one that is "written upon the hearts of the people." Lawrence concludes by stating that "Our liberty, once taken away, may never return." Lawrence is highly opposed to the losses in freedom that the Confederation would represent for Nova Scotia. III. SPEECH by CHRISTOPHER DUNKIN-CANADIAN HOUSE of PARLIAMENT

The speech of Christopher Dunkin in the Canadian House of Parliament in February 1865 relates that the Confederation which has been proposed includes seventy-two resolutions and that these in actuality affirm way beyond another "seventy-two propositions, connected with almost every principle known to have reference to the theory and practice of popular government." Dunkin states that this is "a scheme" and one that is highly complex and broad as the imagination. Dunkin states that it is not enough to deal with abstraction of union or disunion or Federal vs. Legislative union because these generalities are "cheap and easy" and completely unreliable because "The only question, how is this plan, in its entirely going to work?" Dunkin acknowledges that this question is not a simple one in the answering. Dunkin affirms that he is a unionist and a unionist who has no desire to witness Upper and Lower Canadian disunion however, Dunkin relates that he does not want to see Upper and Lower Canadian in a worse place of disservice than already existed at that time. However, political change in the view of Dunkin must "come slow" just as in the case of institutional growth if that growth and change is to be healthy in nature. While Dunkin was clearly not against the Confederation it appears that, he was against the 'way' it was proceeding and clearly demonstrates the limitations that were inherent...

WAITE (1864-1867)
The work of Waite (1864-1867) relates that the debates surrounding the Confederation were quite "remarkable in many ways." In the documentation of the debates it was clear that the determination of the Canadian government "to give them all the weight the occasion demanded." Each and every member was allowed an opportunity to speak resulting in more than one-thousand "stout, double-columned pages" being recorded. The timing for the debates was critical according to Waite. Never in fact, has a debate been so fully documented. Waite relates that the Quebec Chronicle was noted to have woefully stated that the discussion surrounding the Confederation had grown "stale" since nothing new was being said. However, it is reported that Christopher Dunkin quite clearly gave an "exhaustive" speech, which clearly demonstrated that the Confederation was a "shambling, illogical mixture of compromises and rule-of-thumb methods." In fact, Dunkin very clearly related to the listeners that he doubted that 33 men could develop a constitution in a mere seventeen days that would be an integration of the best that was contained in the British and American governments. It is difficult for this writer to believe that this debate could have actually grown stale considering what was at stake in this debate.

Bibliography

From a speech by Joseph Howe at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 22 May 1867.

From a speech by William Lawrence in Nova Scotia House of Assembly

From a speech by Christopher Dunkin in Canadian House of Parliament 27 February 1865.

From P.B. Waite (1984-1967) the Life and Times of Confederation: Politics, Newspapers and the Union of British North America. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962.

Confederation and the Anti-Confederates in Early…