Part 25

With such endowments, it was a matter of course that he should sooner or later enter the political arena. He had been only two years at the Bar, when (in 1834) he was elected by acclamation to represent the county of York in the New Brunswick Assembly. His return under such circumstances was a notable event, for he was only twenty-five years of age, and was the first candidate ever returned by that constituency without a contest. Prior to his return he held several political meetings in different parts of the county, at which he addressed the people in a fashion to which they had theretofore been wholly unaccustomed. He described the fundamental points of the constitution, and showed that the rights of the people had been systematically violated for a great many years. It is said that during one of these addresses a member of the ruling faction rode up to the hustings and demanded that Wilmot should be pulled down, or that he would yet become Attorney-General of the Province. The story sounds too good to be true. However that may be, he was not long in making his presence felt in the Assembly. He arrayed himself as the champion of Liberal principles--principles which had a much more slender following in those days than they have had in later times. The Family Compact had an existence in New Brunswick, as well as in the other British American colonies, and any aspiring young politician who refused to bow his head beneath the yoke, had to make up his mind for a large measure of obloquy and determined opposition. Young Wilmot had to bear his share of the burdens which fell to the lot of all advocates of popular rights in the days when Responsible Government was sneered at by those in authority. The New Brunswick oligarchy were somewhat less besotted and tyrannical than were those of Upper Canada and Nova Scotia, but there were abuses which called imperatively for removal, and grievous wrongs which cried aloud for redress. All the important offices were in the hands of the members of the Compact and their sycophants, and the only road to public preferment lay through their favour. Political power was confined to the Legislative and Executive Councils; for, although there was a Body called the Assembly, which was supposed to be the guardian of the rights of the people, it was a shadow without substance. Its votes produced no direct influence upon the advisers of the Sovereign's representative in the colony, who were permitted to keep their places of power and emolument, no matter how distasteful themselves and their policy might be to the popular branch of the Legislature. This oppressive domination was not confined to secular matters, but extended likewise to matters ecclesiastical. There was a dominant State Church. Dissenters were regarded by the adherents of that Church with disfavour, and were sometimes treated with contumely. A dissenting minister was not permitted by law to solemnize matrimony, and if he did so he was subject to fine and imprisonment. It is said that Mr. Wilmot's father, William Wilmot, who was a member of the Assembly, was refused admission to the House upon the ground that he was in the habit of conducting religious services on the Sabbath day. It at one time seemed not improbable that the subject of this sketch would be subjected to a similar indignity. The latter was a Dissenter from conviction. He had been awakened to an active sense of religion by the ministrations of the Rev. Enoch Wood, now of Toronto, but then pastor of the Methodist Church in Fredericton. No account of Mr. Wilmot's life which does not take cognizance of the devotional side of his character can give anything like an accurate estimate of the man. Further reference to it will be made at a later stage. When he first took his seat as a member of Parliament he felt that it was incumbent upon him to contend, not only for his political freedom, but for his rights as a member of a religious body which was practically proscribed. The oligarchy, it is to be presumed, well knew that the end of their reign was at hand, but they fought every inch of the ground with a spirit and determination worthy of a better cause. There is no need to go through the _minutiae_ of the struggle. Though differing as to local details, the principles at stake in New Brunswick were precisely the same as in Upper Canada and Nova Scotia, and readers of the sketches of Robert Baldwin, Lord Metcalfe, and Joseph Howe, are sufficiently informed as to how much was involved in those principles. Mr. Wilmot soon became the acknowledged leader of the Reformers of his native Province, and to his vigour, eloquence, and statesmanship the successful establishment of Responsible Government there in 1848 is mainly due. In this connection it would be unjust to omit a reference to the late Hon. Charles Fisher, Mr. Wilmot's colleague in the representation of York County, who for some years prior to his death in the month of December last occupied a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. A sketch of Mr. Fisher's life will appear in due course in these pages, but a casual reference to him in this place seems to be imperatively called for. Throughout all the contest which resulted in the triumph of Liberal principles, and in the establishment of Executive Responsibility, Mr. Fisher seconded his leader, Mr. Wilmot, with a loyalty and integrity which entitle him to a high place in the Provincial annals. His learning and eloquence gave him great influence in Parliament, and his name is associated with some of the most important legislation in the colonial jurisprudence, as well as with the cause of popular freedom. To Lemuel Allan Wilmot and Charles Fisher the inhabitants of New Brunswick owe a heavy debt, and their names will deservedly go down to posterity side by side.

The struggle for Responsible Government may be said to have begun in earnest in New Brunswick about the time when Mr. Wilmot first entered the Assembly of that Province in 1834. It proceeded with unabated ardour until the resignation of Sir Archibald Campbell, the Lieutenant-Governor, in 1837. In 1836 Mr. Wilmot proceeded to England as a co-delegate with Mr. William Crane on the subject of Crown Revenues and the Civil List, and then for the first time laid the grievances of his compatriots before the Imperial Government. Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, was well inclined towards the colonies, and treated the two New Brunswick delegates with much kindness and courtesy. The state of affairs submitted by them was taken into careful consideration, and the Assembly's view of the situation was approved of. At Lord Glenelg's suggestion, a Bill was drafted which granted all the most important reforms prayed for, and was transmitted to Sir Archibald Campbell for his approval. The approval was not forthcoming, and Sir Archibald quietly tendered his resignation. Messrs. Wilmot and Crane were received with an ovation upon their return to New Brunswick, and were the heroes of the hour. Next year they were again despatched to England with an address to the King, in which it was prayed that Sir Archibald Campbell might be recalled--the fact of his having sent in his resignation not having transpired. They were received with as much favour as before, and were informed that the contumacy of Sir Archibald would not be permitted to thwart the popular will. During this second visit they enjoyed the honour of being presented at Court to King William IV. His Majesty, upon Mr. Wilmot being presented to him, condescended to make some inquiries as to his family and ancestry. Mr. Wilmot availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded to make a set speech in the presence of royalty, in which he "burst the awful barriers of State, and, in loyal phrase, thanked His Majesty for generous consideration of colonial interests."[12]

The delegates had good reason to congratulate themselves upon the success of their mission. Sir John Harvey, an English officer who had served with distinction in Upper Canada, and in various other parts of the world, was sent out as Lieutenant-Governor, and the Civil List Bill became law. The House of Assembly of New Brunswick, by way of testifying its appreciation of Lord Glenelg's conduct, had a full-length portrait of him painted, and suspended behind the Speaker's chair, where it hangs to the present day. Upon the return of Messrs. Crane and Wilmot from their second mission a vote of thanks was unanimously passed by the Assembly in recognition of their diplomatic services. They also received more substantial marks of favour. Mr. Crane was called to the Executive Council, and Mr. Wilmot was invested with a silk gown. For the time, Liberal principles were decidedly in the ascendant. The passing of the Civil List Bill had a most mollifying effect upon public opinion. New Brunswick was spared the turmoil of a rebellion such as disturbed the peace of Upper and Lower Canada. There was not even any attempt at insurrection, nor apparently any feeling of sympathy with the violence begotten of the times. Mr. Wilmot, whose martial spirit has already been hinted at, raised and commanded a troop of volunteer dragoons, which performed despatch duty pending the border troubles of the time; but he was happily never called upon to take part in any active measures of suppression.

During Sir John Harvey's four years' tenure of office as Lieutenant-Governor, the internal affairs of the Province of New Brunswick were carried on with but little friction between the branches of the Legislature. The Reform Party were gratified with the signal victory they had gained in the matter of the Civil Service Bill, and were not disposed to be captious without serious cause. Sir John Harvey was a popular Governor, and his moderate policy reäcted upon both the political parties. Soon after the accession of Sir William Colebrooke, in 1841, the old hostilities began to re-appear. It was a time of great commercial depression. For several years the public funds had been spent somewhat lavishly, and the Provincial credit had begun to suffer. An era of economy and Conservatism set in. At the general elections of 1842 the Reform Party made a determined stand on the question of Responsible Government. Mr. Wilmot, who had sat in the Assembly for the county of York for a continuous period of eight years, again presented himself to the electors of that constituency. Tremendous efforts were made by his opponents to oust him, and the contest was one of the sharpest ever known in the annals of New Brunswick. He and his colleague, Mr. Fisher, were successful in securing their election, but the state of public opinion was abundantly proclaimed by the fact that these two were the only successful Reform candidates in an Assembly consisting of forty-one members. The progressive party was badly beaten, but not disheartened, and a banner bearing the motto "Responsible Government," was unfurled in the streets of Fredericton. The two Reformers had to maintain the sole burden of Opposition on their shoulders during the following session. Notwithstanding their numerical weakness, they made their influence powerfully felt in the Assembly.

In 1844 Mr. Wilmot was offered a seat in the Executive Council. He accepted it, without portfolio, but did not long retain his place, owing to a circumstance which compelled his resignation. The Lieutenant-Governor, without consulting his Ministers, appointed his son-in-law, Mr. Reade, to the office of Provincial Secretary. This proceeding, which was a direct subversion of the doctrine of Responsible Government, gave offence, not to Mr. Wilmot alone, but to three other members of the Council. After a fruitless remonstrance with Sir William Colebrooke, they all four promptly resigned their seats. The Colonial Secretary declined to confirm Mr. Reade's appointment, and another gentleman less distasteful to the Assembly became Provincial Secretary. From this time forward a Liberal reaction may be said to have set in. At the general election of 1846 a fair proportion of Liberal candidates was returned, among whom were Mr. Wilmot and his colleague, Mr. Fisher.

Responsible Government, however, was not yet an accomplished fact, though its accomplishment was nigh at hand. In 1847, the Colonial Secretary, Earl Grey, in a despatch to Sir John Harvey, who was at that date Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, clearly defined the principles upon which the Government of that colony should be carried on. The principles enunciated were precisely those for which the Reformers had all along been contending. It was declared that members of the Executive Council should be permitted to hold office only so long as they possessed the confidence of a majority of the people, as signified by the votes in the Assembly. The heads of the various departments, it was said, should retain office only during pleasure; and Government officials were neither to be permitted to occupy seats in the Legislature nor to be removable on a change of Government. These concessions implied neither more nor less than Responsible Government. The principles were evidently as applicable to New Brunswick as to Nova Scotia. Soon after the opening of the session in 1848 Mr. Fisher introduced a resolution approving of Earl Grey's despatch, and accepting its doctrines on behalf of the Province. The debate which followed was big with the fate of New Brunswick. Many of the more advanced Conservatives coincided with the principles enunciated, and supported the resolution, which was finally carried by a large majority. Thus was Responsible Government finally adopted in New Brunswick.

The speeches made by Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wilmot during this debate were emphatically the speeches of the session. That of Mr. Wilmot was published in pamphlet form and circulated throughout the Maritime Provinces. It was considered as sufficiently important to be noticed in the _North American Review_, published at Boston, Massachusetts, where it was stated that "He (Mr. Wilmot) possesses brilliant powers, and as a public speaker ranks with the most effective and eloquent in British America."

Mr. Wilmot was called upon to form a new Government, which, though the result of a coalition, was of a Liberal complexion. He himself became Premier and Attorney-General. During his tenure of office his name is associated with several important Legislative measures, among which may be mentioned the Consolidation of the Criminal Laws (1849), and the Municipal Law (1850). During the latter year he attended as the representative of his Province at the International Railway Convention held at Portland, Maine, where he delivered a speech which we have not read, but which, judging from the encomiums which have been lavished upon it, must have been an effort of very uncommon eloquence. Mr. Lathern, in the work already quoted from, says of it: "There were many able and eloquent speeches at that Portland Convention, from Parliamentary and public men, but to Attorney-General Wilmot, by common consent, was awarded the palm of consummate, crowning oratory. He carried the audience by storm. To people across the border, accustomed to political declamation, it was a matter of amazement that their most brilliant men should be completely eclipsed. It was a still greater cause of mystery how a style of oratory, of the imaginative and impassioned type, regarded as peculiarly a production of the chivalrous and sunny South, could have been born and nurtured amidst the frigid influences and monarchical institutions of a bleak and foggy forest Province. There were accompanying advantages which stamped the effort as supreme of its kind. Dramatic action, consummate grace of rhetorical expression, a voice of matchless power and wondrous modulation, contributed to the heightened effect. To a very considerable extent the eloquence was impromptu, and therefore largely took its caste and complexion, apt allusions, and rich surprises, from the immediate scene and its surroundings. That magnificent burst of oratory swept over the audience like fire amongst stubble, and like the tempest that bends forest trees. Reporters are said to have dropped their pencils, and yielded to the magnetic, resistless spell; and the people, gathered in dense mass, were wrought into a frenzy of excitement and enthusiasm." Making due allowances for the unconscious exaggeration of a writer who seems to have revered Mr. Wilmot as his "guide, philosopher and friend," the Portland speech must have been an effort of which any orator might justly feel proud. During this same year (1850) Attorney-General Wilmot visited Washington as a delegate from his Province on the subject of International Reciprocity; and a few months later, in company with the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Edmund Head, he attended a meeting of the Canadian Government held at Toronto, for the purpose of discussing important matters relating to the British North American colonies.

In the month of January, 1851, he retired from the Administration, and accepted a seat on the Judicial Bench, as a Puisné Judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. At the time of his appointment to this position the still higher office of Chief-Justice was vacant, and he, as Attorney-General might not unreasonably have expected to succeed to that dignity. His acceptance of the less exalted position was the cause of some surprise, as he would have had the entire Reform Party of the Province at his back in any dispute with the Lieutenant-Governor, and might have brought much pressure to bear upon him. His acceptance was probably due to the fact that politics are an uncertain pursuit, and that there was no saying what the morrow might bring forth. He never experienced defeat on the hustings in the whole course of his sixteen years of political life, but at the last election for York he had been returned by a very slight majority. He was sensitive to public opinion, and had no ambition to remain on the stage until he might possibly be hissed. He was at this time enabled to retire with honour, and the consciousness that he retained public confidence and respect. Other reasons may probably enough have influenced him. His professional business had necessarily suffered through his constant attendance upon his Parliamentary and official duties. His income had dwindled down to less than a third of what it had once been, and his expenses had greatly increased. The position of a Puisné Judge is a high and honourable one, such as no lawyer, however eminent, need disdain to accept. His choice was made, and for more than seventeen years thereafter he discharged his duties as a Judge with usefulness and dignity. During this interval he frequently delivered lectures before Mechanics' Institutes and Lyceums in St. John, Fredericton and elsewhere; and some of these discourses were as remarkable for learning and eloquence as any of his public utterances. His convictions as a Protestant were unusually strong, and some of his remarks on sectarian themes occasionally caused irritation among persons whose theological faith differed from his own, but in no case does the irritation seem to have been more than temporary. His exemplary life, and his evident sincerity of purpose, induced even opposing theologians to allow him a latitude of expression which would scarcely have been tolerated in an ordinary personage. During his tenure of office as a Judge he also took an active part in forwarding the cause of education, and in support of many voluntary associations of a benevolent and religious character. Among numerous other offices conferred upon him, he was appointed a Member of the Senate of the New Brunswick University, from which he received the degree of D.C.L.

Though Judge Wilmot had been for many years removed from the arena of politics, it was well understood that he was a firm friend of British American Union, and ardently desirous to see Confederation prove a lasting success. From his high local standing, from the judicial position he had held so long having raised him above the confines of political party strife, and from his acknowledged abilities, he was singled out for the office of first Lieutenant-Governor of his native Province, under the new order of things which came into being on the 1st of July, 1867. The appointment was not made until rather more than a year afterwards, during which period the duties of Lieutenant-Governor were performed by Major-General Charles Hastings Doyle, probably for the same reasons that assigned to some of the other Provinces military Governors during the first year of Union. When, however, the appointment was made on the 27th of July, 1868, it gave very general satisfaction throughout New Brunswick. It was felt that such an appointment was a fitting tribute to a man who had spent the greater part of his life in the public service, and who had at all times preserved his honour untarnished. There is not much of special interest to tell about his Lieutenant-Governorship. His public addresses, and even his official speeches in connection with the opening and closing of the Legislature, were distinguished by sentiments of fervent patriotism, and by the expression of broad and enlightened ideas as to the duty of the people in sustaining the consolidation of British power on this continent. He held office until the expiration of his term, on the 14th of November, 1873, when he received a pension as a retired Judge, and laid down his governmental functions, with the public respect for him undiminished. The remainder of his life was passed in retirement, from which he only emerged for a short time in 1875, when he succeeded the Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers, as second Commissioner under the Prince Edward Island Purchase Act of that year. He was nominated as one of the arbitrators in the Ontario and North-West Boundary Commission, but did not live long enough to act in that capacity. During the last two or three years of his life he suffered from chronic neuralgia of a very severe type, and was sometimes prevented from stirring out of doors. As a general thing, however, he continued to take active exercise, and to lend his assistance in the organization of religious and benevolent enterprises, and he did so up to within a few days of his death. He died very suddenly at his house in Fredericton, on the afternoon of Monday, the 20th of May, 1878. While walking in his garden after returning from a drive with some members of his family he was attacked by a severe pain in the region of the heart. He entered his house and medical aid was at once summoned, but he ceased to breathe within a few minutes after the seizure. The immediate cause of death was presumed to have been rupture of one of the blood vessels near the heart.