Halifax Citizen, Tuesday May 16, 1865

by

Another fine illustration of the integrity of Canadian politicians, has been recently given to the public in the correspondence on Confederation submitted to the Legislature at Fredericton. In a despatch dated the 4th inst, Governor Gordon of New Brunswick calls Lord Monck’s attention to the fact that the Canadian government had altered an important clause in the Quebec convention report, so as to give it a meaning entirely different from that it was intended to bear. Clause 24 of the report reads as follows :-

24. The local Legislatures of each Province may from time to time alter the Electoral Districts for the purpose of Representation in the House of Commons, and distribute the Representatives to which the Province is entitled in any manner such Legislature may think fit.

That is the version certified by Sir E.P. Tache, as “a true copy,” and in that shape it was not only sent to the legislatures of the Maritime Provinces, but was also laid before both Houses of the Imperial Parliament. In the copy of the report and resolutions submitted to the Canadian Parliament, however, the text is altered by changing three words and interpolating four others:

24. The local Legislature of each Province may from time to time alter the Electoral Districts for the purpose of Representation in such Legislature, and distribute the Representatives to which the Province is entitled in such local Legislature in any manner such Legislature may see fit.

This alteration is of vital importance. The resolution as it originally stood, gave the several Provinces the right to arrange or alter the constituencies for the election of representatives to the federal House of Commons; as surreptitiously altered by the Canadians, it restricts this power to the making of alterations in the constituencies electing members of the local legislature only. Governor Gordon asked Lord Monck for an explanation of the discrepancy, but no reply to the request has been vouchsafed. The alteration in the text of this resolution, is one of those curious things that could not possibly be the result of accident. The words must have been interpolated by design, but what the design was, we must leave to some one more skilled in the mysteries of Canadian intrigue and dishonesty than ourselves to decide.

Halifax Sun and Advertiser, April 12, 1865. Page 1 Column 1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=D90uR9ClOh8C&dat=18650415&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

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