The Dominion of Canada took its place among the federal states of the world on the first of July, 1867.  Upper and Lower Canada now became known as Ontario and Quebec, while Nova Scotia and New Brunswick retained their original historic names.  The first governor-general was Viscount Monk, who had been head of the executive government of Canada throughout all the stages of confederation.  He was an Irish nobleman, who had been a junior lord of the treasury in Lord Palmerston’s government.  He was a collateral descendant of the famous general of the commonwealth, created Duke of Albemarle after the Restoration.  Without being a man of remarkable ability he was gifted with much discretion, and gave all the weight of his influence to bring about a federation, whose great benefits from an imperial as well as a colonial point of view he fully recognised.

The prime minister of the first federal government was naturally Sir John Macdonald, who chose as his colleagues Sir George E. Cartier, Sir S.L.  Tilley,—­to give them all their later titles—­Sir A.T.  Galt, Sir W.P.  Howland, Mr. William McDougall, Mr. P. Mitchell, Sir A.G.  Archibald, Mr. A.F.  Blair, Sir A. Campbell, Sir H.L.  Langevin, Sir E. Kenny, and Mr. J.C.  Chapais.  Mr. Brown had retired from the coalition government of 1864 some months before the union, nominally on a disagreement with his colleagues as to the best mode of conducting negotiations for a new reciprocity treaty with the United States.  The ministry had appointed delegates to confer with the Washington government on the subject, but, while Mr. Brown recognised the desirability of reciprocal trade relations with the United States on equitable conditions, he did not deem it expedient to appear before American statesmen “as suitors for any terms they might be pleased to grant.”  A general impression, however, prevailed that this difference of opinion was not the real reason of Mr. Brown’s resignation, but that the animating motive was his intense jealousy of Sir John Macdonald, whose dominant influence in the government he could no longer brook.

The governments of the four provinces were also regularly constituted at this time in accordance with the act of union.  The first lieutenant-governor of Ontario was Lieutenant-General Stisted, of Quebec, Sir Narcisse Belleau; of Nova Scotia, Lieutenant-General Sir Fenwick Williams, the hero of Kars; of New Brunswick, Major-General Doyle, but only for three months.  With the exception of the case of Quebec, these appointments were only temporary.  It was considered prudent to select military men in view of the continuous reports of Fenian aggression.  Sir William Howland became, a year later, lieutenant-governor of Ontario, Major-General Sir Francis Hastings Doyle of Nova Scotia in the fall of 1867, and Hon. L.A.  Wilmot, of New Brunswick in July 1868.  The first prime minister of Ontario was Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald, who had been leader of a Canadian ministry before confederation.