was not attempted to submit the question to the polls, as was done in New Brunswick, indeed such a course would have been fatal to its progress; but it was eventually sanctioned by a large vote of the two houses.  A strong influence was exerted by the fact that confederation was approved by the imperial government, which sent out Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars as lieutenant-governor with special instructions that, both Canada and New Brunswick having given their consent, it was proposed to make such changes in the financial terms as would be more favourable to the maritime provinces.  In Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland it was not possible for the advocates of federation to move successfully in the matter.  The opposition to the scheme of union, as proposed at Quebec, was so bitter in these two provinces that the delegates found it useless to press the matter in their legislatures.

In the meantime, while confederation was on the eve of accomplishment, the people of Canada were subjected to an attack which supplied the strongest possible evidence of the necessity for a union enabling them to combine for purposes of general defence as well as other matters of national importance.  In the month of April, 1866, the Fenians, an Irish organisation in the United States, made an insignificant demonstration on the New Brunswick frontier, which had no other effect than to excite the loyal action of the people of the province and strengthen the hands of the advocates of confederation.  In the beginning of June a considerable body of the same order, under the command of one O’Neil, crossed from Buffalo into the Niagara district of Upper Canada and won a temporary success near Ridgeway, where the Queen’s Own, a body of Toronto Volunteers, chiefly students and other young men, were badly handled by Colonel Booker.  Subsequently Colonel Dennis and a small detachment of militia were surprised at Fort Erie by O’Neil.  The knowledge that a large force of regulars and volunteers were marching against him under Colonel Peacock forced O’Neil and his men to disperse and find their way back to the United States, where a number were arrested by the orders of the Washington government.  The Eastern Townships of Lower Canada were also invaded but the raiders retreated before a Canadian force with greater rapidity than they had shown in entering the province, and found themselves prisoners as soon as they crossed the frontier.  Canada was kept in a state of anxiety for some months after these reckless invasions of a country where the Irish like all other nationalities have always had the greatest possible freedom; but the vigilance of the authorities and the readiness of the people of Canada to defend their soil prevented any more hostile demonstrations from the United States.  The prisoners taken in the Niagara district were treated with a degree of clemency which their shameless conduct did not merit from an outraged people.  No persons were ever executed, though a number were confined for a while in Kingston penitentiary.  The invasion had the effect of stimulating the patriotism of the Canadian people to an extraordinary degree, and of showing them the necessity that existed for improving their home forces, whose organisation and equipment proved sadly defective during the invasion.