Out of the very circumstances which were apparently calculated to do much injury to Canada, her people learned lessons of wisdom and self-reliance, and were stimulated to go vigorously to work to carry out that scheme of national development which had its commencement in the Quebec conference of 1864, and was constitutionally inaugurated in 1867 when the provinces entered on the new era of federal union.
[1] The delegates to the Quebec conference, held the following positions in their respective provinces:
_Canada_: Hon. Sir Etienne P. Taché, M.L.C., premier; Hon. John A. Macdonald, M.P.P., attorney-general of Upper Canada; Hon. George Etienne Cartier, M.P.P., attorney-general of Lower Canada; Hon. George Brown, M.P.P., president of the executive council; Hon. Alexander T. Galt, M.P.P., finance minister; Hon. Alexander Campbell, M.L.C., commissioner of crown lands; Hon. Jean C. Chapais, M.L.C., commissioner of public works; Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee, M.P.P., minister of agriculture; Hon. Hector L. Langevin, M.P.P., solicitor-general for Lower Canada; Hon. William McDougall, M.P.P., provincial secretary; Hon. James Cockburn, M.P.P., solicitor-general for Upper Canada; Hon. Oliver Mowat, M.P.P., postmaster-general.
_Nova Scotia_: Hon. Charles Tupper, M.P.P., provincial secretary and premier; Hon. William A. Henry, M.P.P., attorney-general; Hon. Robert B. Dickey, M.L.C.; Hon. Adams G. Archibald, M.P.P.; Hon. Jonathan McCully, M.L.C.
_New Brunswick_: Hon. Samuel L. Tilley, M.P.P., provincial secretary and premier; Hon. Peter Mitchell, M.L.C.; Hon. Charles Fisher, M.P.P.; Hon. William H. Steeves, M.L.C.; Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P.; Hon. Edward B. Chandler, M.L.C.; Hon. John M. Johnson, M.P.P., attorney-general.
_Prince Edward Island_: Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P., premier; Hon. George Coles, M.P.P.; Hon. Thomas Heath Haviland, M.P.P.; Hon. Edward Palmer, M.P.P., attorney-general; Hon. Andrew Archibald Macdonald, M.L.C.; Hon. Edward Whelan, M.L.C.; Hon. William H. Pope, M.P.P., provincial secretary.
_Newfoundland_: Hon. Frederick B. T. Carter, M.P.P., speaker of the House of Assembly; Hon. Ambrose Shea, M.P.P.
[2] In the autumn of 1871, a body of Fenians were prevented from raiding the new province of Manitoba by the prompt action of the troops of the United States stationed on the frontier.