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Macdonald was well served, nevertheless. He claimed to have kept a copy of every letter he sent (largely true, his personal letters excepted) and to be able to put his hand on every letter he received (substantially untrue, according to his confidential secretary and biographer, Joseph Pope). After Macdonald’s death, Pope, besides writing three books about him, devoted his retirement to sorting out what he called Macdonald’s “appalling mass of correspondence.” Between 1914 and 1917, Pope handed over 714 “bundles” of letters to the then Public Archives. Later rearranged professionally, these letters form the foundation of LAC’s collection of Macdonaldiana. There are gaps: during his stints in opposition, 1862 to 1864 and 1873 to 1879, Macdonald wrote and kept little. Additional material has been added over the years—the most recent, quoted in this book, being Macdonald’s letter to a British lawyer on April 9, 1867, expressing his concern about possible American military action against the putative new nation. Gaps have been filled and the collection enriched, but the basic record is pretty much as it was a century ago.
Suggestions have been made that Pope was unduly protective of his former master, particularly because, after handing over his “bundles,” he burned the rest. Pope insisted there was nothing in the residue that “could not stand the light of day.” This is probably true. Pope, although a fierce defender of Macdonald, included in his books letters and papers that showed him in an adverse light; Queen’s University principal George Munro Grant carped in his review of Pope’s 1894 biography that it contained information about public figures that “contribute[d] nothing of the slightest consequence to our knowledge of the man or of the times.”
All this material about Macdonald resides in the LAC cardboard boxes bearing the descriptor MG26-A. Besides Macdonald’s outgoing letters (preserved in the form of copies of the originals, then stored in “letter-boxes”), the collection includes incoming letters from close to one hundred individuals with whom Macdonald corresponded regularly, and also his memoranda to the governor general and to the cabinet, state papers and ephemera such as railway tickets and programs for state occasions.
One invaluable aid to researchers exists now, as wasn’t the case for Donald Creighton, who had to work entirely from the original handwritten letters and before the invention of the photocopier. In the early 1960s, the then National Library committed itself to publishing all of Macdonald’s annotated correspondence. Two volumes were completed, covering the years 1836 to 1861. In the mid-1970s the project was halted for lack of funds. In fact a third volume, extending to mid-1867, was all but completed by this time; its contents are in the archives—Vol. 589, Macdonald Fonds. In addition, Pope published a selection of Macdonald’s correspondence containing some 750 letters, as well as those in his Memoirs. The historian Keith Johnson (editor of the National Library volumes) has published in the book Affectionately Yours the 205 extant letters exchanged between members of Macdonald’s family.
To any researcher these materials are all an immense boon. But they are incomplete. For Macdonald’s entire post-Confederation term, nothing has changed since Creighton’s day (laptop computers and photocopiers notwithstanding). Macdonald’s later letters are available on microfilm, but often these are almost unreadable due to the passage of time and the poor quality of the original technology.
Here, Macdonald has been served less well than have two contemporaries of lesser consequence to Canadians. As a result of a federal grant, the writings of Louis Riel have been published. As the result of another federal grant, Queen’s University in Kingston, which owes its existence in part to Macdonald, is engaged in publishing the writings of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (the seventh volume came out in 2006, with about as many still to go). Yes to Riel, of course. Yes likewise to Disraeli, Queen’s having acquired a valuable collection of his writings. But why not Macdonald’s life record? (The author must declare an “interest,” since the research for Volume Two of this work will be a good deal slower.)
A last observation in this bibliographical note. Primary sources, such as original letters, are of course the vein of gold for which every historian searches. In fact a great many of the secondary sources listed in the succeeding pages contain primary material that their authors have panned, either from Macdonald’s original “appalling mass” of material or from other contemporary sources. The great majority of the books and articles and theses by professional historians listed below postdate Creighton’s research of the 1950s. This author thus has been able to peer both ahead and backwards by standing on the shoulders of a great many first-rate post-Creighton researchers. Whenever it seemed appropriate, a particular author has been mentioned in the text or in a footnote. The purpose of this note is to thank all the others who have helped do the work from which this book has emerged.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Almost all of Macdonald’s outgoing letters up to Confederation Day have been published in LAC’s (then the National Library) two volumes for the period 1834 to 1861 or can be easily accessed in the intended third volume for the period 1862 to May 1867.
An additional important source of pre-Confederation material is contained in LAC’s volumes of correspondence between Macdonald and particular individuals. Among these collections, the most important are Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau, E.W. Biggar, William Hume Blake and George Brown, all packed into Vol. 188 of the MG26-A Macdonald Fonds; Alexander Campbell, Vol. 194; George-Étienne Cartier, Vol. 202; Richard Cartwright, Vol. 204; Alexander Galt, Vol. 216; Archbishop Lynch, Vol. 228; D’Arcy McGee, Vol. 231; Gilbert McMicken and Allan MacNab, jointly, Vol. 246; Étienne Taché, Vol. 273; Leonard Tilley, Vol. 276; Charles Tupper, Vol. 282.
Other pre-Confederation volumes in the Macdonald Fonds are grouped under the heading of “Subject Files.” Among these are Quebec Conference, Vol. 46; London Conference, Vol. 47; B.N.A Act drafts, Vols. 48, 49; Fenians, Vol. 56–58; Governors General Head, Vol. 74, and Monck, Vol. 75; Minutes of Council, Militia and Defence, Vol. 103; Intercolonial Railway, Vol. 120; Reciprocity, 1865–66 (Vol. 145); Visits to England, Vol. 161.
Other relevant private papers, mostly in the LAC collection, are George Brown, LAC (MG24-B40); Isaac Buchanan, Hamilton Public Library; Edward Cardwell, Public Records Office, London (30/48); Alexander Campbell, Ontario Archives (F-23); Mercy Coles, Diary, LAC (MG24 B66); Alexander T. Galt, LAC (MG27-ID8); James Gowan, LAC (MG27–1E17); John Rose (Macdonald Papers, Vol. 258–59); and Charles Tupper, LAC (MG26-F).
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES/SPEECHES
Debates of the Legislative Assembly of United Canada, 1842–1856. (Transcripts of subsequent legislature debates to 1867 are in the process of being published by the Parliamentary Library.)
Parliamentary Debates on the Subject of the Confederation of the British North America Provinces, 3rd Session, 8th Provincial Parliament of Canada. Quebec: Hunter, Rose & Co., 1865.
Address of the Hon. John A. Macdonald to the Electors of the City of Kingston, with Extracts from Mr. Macdonald’s Speeches Delivered on Different Occasions in the Years 1860 and 1861. No Publisher, 1861.
An invaluable selection of material on both the Confederation Debates and the equivalent debates in the provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Manitoba, British Columbia) is contained in Janet Ajzenstat, ed., Canada’s Founding Debates (Toronto: Stoddart, 1999).
OFFICIAL SOURCES
Specific relevant official sources are quoted in the notes for each chapter, such as, in Chapter 13, Governor General Head’s memorandum on what it takes to govern Canada. In fact a great many documents and official communications of the period are in readily available books and articles. Among these:
Bliss, Michael. Canadian History in Documents, 1763–1966. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
Browne, G.P. Documents on the Confederation of British North America. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1969.
Doughty, Arthur G., ed. “Notes on the Quebec Conference, 1864” Canadian Historical Review 1, no. 1 (1920).
/> Elgin, James Bruce, Earl of. The Elgin-Grey papers, 1846–1852. Edited by Arthur G. Doughty. Ottawa: Printer to the King, 1937.
Forbes, H.D., ed. Canadian Political Thought. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 1985.
Granatstein, J.L., and Norman Hillmer. First Drafts: Eyewitness Accounts from Canada’s Past. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2002.
George Brown to his wife, 13 Sept. 1864, (George Brown Papers, pp. 1029–36), Canadian Historical Review 48, no. 1 (1967): 110.
Morton, W.L. Monck Letters and Journals, 1863–1868: Canada from Government House at Confederation. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1970.
Ormsby, W.G. “Letters to Galt Concerning the Maritime Provinces and Confederation” Canadian Historical Review 34, no. 2 (1953).
Pope, Joseph, ed. Confederation: Being a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Documents Bearing on the British North America Act. Toronto: Carswell, 1895.
Reid, J.H. Stewart, Kenneth McNaught, and Harry S. Crowe. A Source-book of Canadian History. Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1959.
“Sir Edmund Walker Head’s Memorandum on the Choice of Ottawa as the Seat of Government of Canada” Notes and Documents, Canadian Historical Review 16 (1935).
Smith, Wilfrid. Introduction to “Charles Tupper’s Minutes of the Charlottetown Conference” Canadian Historical Review 48, no. 1 (1967).
Waite, Peter B. “Ed Whelan’s Reports from the Quebec Conference” Canadian Historical Review 42, no. 1 (1961).
———. Pre-Confederation. Canadian Historical Documents Series, vol. 2. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1965.
Whelan, Edward. The Union of the British Provinces, a Brief Account of the Several Conferences Held in the Maritime Provinces and in Canada, in September and October, 1864, on the Proposed Confederation of the Provinces. Charlottetown, 1865.
NEWSPAPERS
The complete reports of the Toronto Globe for the period 1844 to 1867 are available on-line at the Toronto Public Library website, www.tpl.toronto.on.ca.
Extensive extracts from newspaper reports of the period are contained in: Silver, Arthur I. “Quebec and the French-Speaking Minorities, 1864–1917.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, 1973.
———. The French-Canadian Idea of Confederation, 1864–1900. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
Waite, Peter B. The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864–1867: Politics, Newspapers, and the Union of British North America. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962. (Included is an extensive list of all relevant newspapers for the period, pp. 334–38.)
SECONDARY SOURCES
BOOKS ABOUT MACDONALD AND FAMILY CONSULTED DURING THE RESEARCH
(A prime source of biographical and related material about all of the major figures of the time is the authoritative Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vols. 7 to 14.)
Adam, G. Mercer. Canada’s Patriot Statesman: The Life and Career of the Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald. Based on the work of Edmund Collins, revised. Toronto: Rose, 1891.
Angus, Margaret. John A. Lived Here. Kingston: Frontenac Historic Foundation, 1984.
Biggar, E.B. Anecdotal Life of Sir John Macdonald. Montreal: Lovell, 1891.
Bliss, Michael. Right Honorable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Chrétien. Toronto: HarperPerennial Canada, 2004.
Collins, Joseph Edmund. Life and Times of the Rt. Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, Premier of the Dominion of Canada. Toronto: Rose, 1883.
Creighton, Donald Grant. John A. Macdonald. Vol. 1, The Young Politician, and vol. 2, The Old Chieftain. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1952.
———. John A. Macdonald, Confederation and the West. Winnipeg: Manitoba Historical Society, 1967.
Johnson, J.K. Affectionately Yours: The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald and His Family. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1969.
———. “John A. Macdonald.” In The Pre-Confederation Premiers: Ontario Government Leaders, 1841–1867, edited by J.M.S. Careless. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980.
———. John A. Macdonald: The Young Non-Politician. Ottawa: CHA Papers, 1976.
———, ed. The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald, 1836–1857. Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1968.
Johnson, J.K., and Carole B. Stelmack, eds. The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald, 1858–1861. Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1969.
Maclean, W.F. “The Canadian Themistocles.” Canadian Magazine 4 (1894): 253–60.
Macpherson, J. Pennington. Life of the Right Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald. Saint John, N.B.: Earle Pub. House, 1891.
Newman, Lena. The John A. Macdonald Album. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1974.
Parkin, George R. Sir John A. Macdonald. T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1909.
Phenix, Patricia. Private Demons: The Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006.
Pope, Joseph. Correspondence of Sir John Macdonald. Toronto: Doubleday, Page, 1921.
———. The Day of Sir John Macdonald: A Chronicle of the First Prime Minister of the Dominion. Toronto: Brook, 1915.
———. Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, First Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada. Toronto: Musson, 1894.
Reynolds, Louise. Agnes: A Biography of Lady Macdonald. Toronto: Samuel Stevens, 1979.
Smith, Cynthia M., with Jack McLeod, eds. Sir John A.: An Anecdotal Life of John A. Macdonald. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Swainson, Donald. Macdonald of Kingston: First Prime Minister. Toronto: A Personal Library Publication, produced exclusively for Nelson, 1979.
———. Sir John A. Macdonald: The Man and the Politician. 2nd ed. Kingston: Quarry Press, 1989.
Waite, Peter B. Macdonald: His Life and World. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1975.
———. Introduction to Donald Grant Creighton, John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician, the Old Chieftain. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
Wallace, W. Stewart. Sir John Macdonald. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1924.
Wilson, Keith. Hugh John Macdonald. Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1980.
GENERAL WORKS CONSULTED
(Abbreviations: Canadian Historical Association—CHA; Macmillan of Canada—Mac-C; McClelland & Stewart—M&S; McGill-Queen’s University Press—M-Q UP; Oxford University Press—OUP; University of Toronto Press—UTP)
Abrahamson, Una. God Bless Our Home: Domestic Life in Nineteenth Century Canada. Toronto: Burns & MacEachern, 1966.
Ajzenstat, Janet. The Once and Future Canadian Democracy: An Essay in Political Thought. Montreal: M-Q UP, 2003.
———, ed. Canada’s Founding Debates. Toronto: Stoddart, 1999.
Ajzenstat, Janet, and Peter J. Smith. Canada’s Origins: Liberal, Tory, or Republican? Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1995.
Akenson, Donald H. The Orangeman: The Life and Times of Ogle Gowan. Toronto: Lorimer, 1986.
Aldous, Richard. The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli. London: Hutchinson, 2006.
Batt, Elizabeth. Monck: Governor General, 1861–1868. Toronto: M&S, 1976.
Beck, J. Murray. Joseph Howe. Vol. 2, The Briton Becomes Canadian, 1848–1873.
Kingston: M-Q UP, 1982.
———. Joseph Howe, Anti-Confederate. Ottawa: CHA booklets, no. 17, 1968.
Berger, Carl. The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism, 1867–1914. Toronto: UTP, 1970.
———, ed. Approaches to Canadian History. Toronto: UTP, 1967
. Bissell, Claude T., ed. Our Living Tradition: Seven Canadians. Toronto: Published in association with Carleton University by UTP, 1957.
Black, Edwin R. Divided Loyalties: Canadian Concepts of Federalism. Montreal: M-Q UP, 1975.
Bliss, Michael. Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business. Toronto: M&S, 1987.
———, ed. Canadian History in Documents, 1763–1966. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
Bodelsen, C.A. Studies in Mid-Victorian Imperialism. New York: H. Fertig, 19
68.
Bonenfant, Jean-Charles. The French Canadians and the Birth of Confederation. Ottawa: CHA booklets, no. 21, 1966.
Bourne, Kenneth. Britain and the Balance of Power in North America, 1815–1908. LONDON: LONGMANS, 1967.
Brown, Craig. Upper Canadian Politics in the 1850s. Toronto: UTP, 1967.
Buckner, Phillip. Atlantic Canada before Confederation. 3rd ed. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1998.
———. The Transition to Responsible Government: British Policy in British North America, 1815–1850. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. Bumsted, J.M., ed. Interpreting Canada’s Past. Vol. 1, Pre-Confederation. 2nd ed. Toronto: OUP, 1993.
———. The Scots in Canada. Ottawa: CHA, Ethnic Groups in Canada, 1982. Calder, Jenni. Scots in Canada. Luath, 2003.
Callahan, James Morton. American Foreign Policy in Canadian Relations. Toronto: Mac-C, 1937.
Careless, J.M.S. Brown of the Globe. Vol. 1, The Voice of Upper Canada 1815–1859, AND VOL. 2, STATESMAN OF CONFEDERATION 1860–1880. TORONTO: Mac-C, 1959, 1963.
———. Careless at Work: Selected Canadian Historical Studies. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1990.
———. Colonists & Canadiens, 1760–1867. Toronto: Mac-C, 1971.
———, ed. The Pre-Confederation Premiers: Ontario Government Leaders, 1841–1867. Toronto: UTP, 1980.
———. The Union of the Canadas: The Growth of Canadian Institutios, 1841–1857. Toronto: M&S, 1967.
Carty, R. Kenneth, and W. Peter Ward, eds. National Politics and Community in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1986.