In 1866 the Legislature of New Brunswick met under exciting circumstances. Governor Gordon, in his speech, announced that it was the earnest wish of the Queen that the Provinces should unite in one confederacy, and strongly urged the question upon the Legislature. The Smith-Hatheway Administration was willing to meet the royal wish half-way, provided that New Brunswick obtained better terms in the compact than those offered in the Quebec scheme. But the public were not disposed to abide by the half-way marches of the Ministry or even to tolerate its existence. The Legislative Council passed an address expressing the desire that the Imperial Government might unite New Brunswick and the other Provinces in a federative union. The Ministry were obliged to resign, and the Governor called on Mr. [now Sir] Leonard Tilley to form an administration. A dissolution followed, and to the same length which the Province had before gone in opposing confederation it now went in supporting the scheme. This election had a marked influence on the fortunes of confederation in other quarters. "The destiny of British North America, indeed," says Mr. Archer, "was decided in New Brunswick." Nova Scotia appointed delegates to London to perfect a measure of union. Meanwhile the little Province in the Gulf [Prince Edward Island] remained refractory, while her more rugged sister out on the edge of the Atlantic [Newfoundland] was listless. The little meadow Province afterward fell before the wooer, but the "ancient colony" chose, as it seems, perpetual celibacy.
In November, 1866, the Canadian delegation, consisting of Messrs. John A. Macdonald, George E. Cartier, A. T. Galt, W. P. Howland, William McDougall, and H. L. Langevin, went to England, where they were to meet the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick delegates to discuss the confederation plan. The Nova Scotia delegates were Messrs. Tupper, Archibald, Henry, McCully, and Ritchie; those of New Brunswick were Messrs. Tilley, Mitchell, Fisher, Johnson, and Robert Duncan Wilmot. The delegates met at 'vVestminister palace on December 4th, and, by preeminence, the chair was given to the Hon. John A. Macdonald during the conference. The conference sat till December 24th, after which the assemblage were in a position to proceed with the structure of a constitution. Though some of the ablest men the colonies ever produced were instrumental in framing the new charter, Mr. Macdonald, it was readily admitted, was the master-head. Many a time during the progress of the negotiations conflicting interests arose, which, but for careful handling, might have wrecked the scheme; and here the matchless tact of the Attorney-General of Canada West preeminently asserted itself.
Several concessions were made to the Maritime Provinces, and a more uniform and equitable feature was given to the whole. The Nova Scotia delegates were confronted by the colossal figure of Joseph Howe, who poured out a stream of fiery eloquence against the confederation; but those who were present say that Doctor Tupper turned the orator's arguments back with such force and clearness that the Imperial Government never for a moment wavered in concluding what was its duty to Nova Scotia. After the conclusion of the discussion on the general scheme, the conference, in conjunction with the Imperial law officers, prepared certain draft bills, which were afterward fused into a harmonious whole, and submitted to the Imperial Parliament on February 5th following. On March 29th the amalgamated bill received the royal assent; and on April 12th another Imperial act was passed, authorizing the commissioners of the treasury to guarantee interest on a loan not to exceed three million pounds sterling, which sum was to be appropriated to the construction of an intercolonial railway between Halifax and the St. Lawrence. The union was not considered perfected by the constitutional ceremony, and needed a firmer linking by the bonds of iron. On May 22d a royal proclamation was issued giving effect to "The British North America Act," and appointing the first day of July following as the date on which it should come in force.
“Christ's ... yoke is an easy yoke; his burden like the burden of wings to a bird, that makes her fly the higher.”
–Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax