George Brown (Canadian politician)
George Brown (November 29, 1818 – May 9, 1880) was a British-Canadian journalist, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation. He attended the Charlottetown (September 1864) and Quebec (October 1864) conferences.[1] A noted Reform politician, he is best known as the founder and editor of the Toronto Globe, Canada's most influential newspaper at the time, and his leadership in the founding of the Liberal Party in 1867. He was an articulate champion of the grievances and anger of Upper Canada (Ontario). He played a major role in securing national unity. His career in active politics faltered after 1865, but he remained a powerful spokesman for the Liberal Party. He promoted westward expansion and opposed the policies of Conservative Prime Minister John A. Macdonald.
George Brown
Office Established
November 29, 1818
Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
May 9, 1880 (aged 61)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Journalist, publisher, politician
Early life[edit]
Scotland[edit]
George Brown was born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, on November 29, 1818. His father, Peter Brown, ran a wholesale business in Edinburgh and managed a glassworks in Alloa.[2] His mother was Marianne (née Mackenzie).[3] George was their eldest son; he had two older sisters, two younger sisters and four younger brothers, although three of the brothers died in infancy. He was baptised in St. Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease.[3] He lived in Alloa until he moved to Edinburgh before he turned eight.[2] He attended Royal High School, then transferred to the Southern Academy of Edinburgh.[4]
Upon graduation his father wanted George to attend university but George convinced his father to let him work in the family's business. He briefly lived in London to be taught by agents of the business before returning to Edinburgh.[5] He joined the Philo-Lectic Society of Edinburgh, where young men would meet and discuss topics in a parliamentary debate.[6] Brown's father also worked as a collector of assessments. Some of the funds he collected for the municipality were mixed with his business bank accounts, and in 1836 some of the funds in these accounts were lost in business speculations. Peter was not accused of corruption, but he sought to repair his reputation and recoup the lost funds. He attempted to collect from people he lent money to but was unable to after the onset of the economic depression in 1837. Peter decided to emigrate to New York City to seek business opportunities and rebuild his reputation.[7] George accompanied his father to North America, and they left Europe in May 1837.[8]
New York City[edit]
The Browns landed in New York in June 1837.[9] Peter opened a dry goods store on Broadway and George worked as his assistant. The following year, Brown's mother and sisters immigrated to New York and the family lived in a rented home on Varick Street.[10] When the store grew larger, George travelled to New England, upstate New York, and Canada to continue growing their business.[11] In July 1842 Peter published the first edition of a newspaper called the British Chronicle, which advocated a Whig-Liberal political ideology and published articles on British news and politics. As circulation increased in Canada, the paper devoted articles to the political news in the Province of Canada.[12] George became the paper's publisher in March 1843 and travelled to New England, upstate New York, and Canada to promote the paper. While in Canada, Brown spoke with politicians and editors in Toronto, Kingston, and Montreal. Brown might have also been writing articles for the paper; J.M.S. Careless, a historian, notes that a series of articles called "A Tour of Canada" were published in the same writing style of Brown's later articles while Brown was in Canada.[13]
Peter Brown supported the evangelical faction during the Disruption of 1843 within the Church of Scotland.[2] These members separated from the Church of Scotland in May 1843 and formed the Free Church of Scotland. While George was touring Canada, they asked him to present an offer to his father: to move publication of the British Chronicle to Upper Canada in exchange for a bond of $2500.[14] George supported the proposal, as he felt there were more opportunities to succeed in Canada.[2] He thought that there was hostility towards the paper in New York because of the paper's focus on Britain. Upon meeting Reform politicians in his travels through Canada, George felt that they would support his paper should it relocate to the province. George convinced his father to move to Canada and they published the last issue of the British Chronicle on July 22, 1843.[15]
Election defeat and marriage[edit]
Brown became sick in 1859 and its residual effects continued into 1860, exasperated by the stress of leading the Reform faction in parliament and growing financial concerns with his businesses.[86] Brown's health deteriorated and in the winter of 1861, he stayed in his bed for over two months to recover, missing the entire 1861 parliamentary session.[87] An election took place later that year, in which the Toronto Reform Association nominated Brown to be their candidate in the constituency of Toronto East.[88] Brown struggled to campaign, with his health not fully recovered, although he returned to giving passionate speeches by the end of the campaign.[89] He also struggled with having accomplished few of his proposed policies while he was a legislator. His Conservative opponent, John Willoughby Crawford, also campaigned on similar policies to those that Brown advocated for, stating that if elected he would be a member of the ruling party and could accomplish policies that Brown struggled with as an opposition legislator. Crawford won the election, ending Brown's tenure as a legislator.[90]
Although Conservative factions successfully won another majority of seats in the parliament, their position was weak and only a few votes against the government could cause it to be disbanded. Even though Brown was defeated, he was still seen as a leader of the Liberal movement in Western Canada and inquired with his Liberal eastern counterparts about forming a government should the Conservative coalition be defeated. When his inquiries were rejected, Brown used the opportunity to withdraw from public life, refusing requests to speak at rallies.[91] In 1862 Brown's illness was still affecting him and he decided to recover in Great Britain. He spent a month in London;[2] while there he had a chance meeting with Tom Nelson, a schoolmate of his in Royal High School. Nelson convinced Brown to visit him in Edinburgh, where he met his sister Anne. Brown moved to a location close to the Nelson home, and began courting Anne.[92] Five weeks after their first meeting, on November 27,[93] they were wed at the Nelson's home.[2] The couple departed to Toronto just over a week later.[94]
Confederation[edit]
Brown attended the Charlottetown Conference where Canadian delegates outlined their proposal for Canadian Confederation with the Atlantic provinces. On September 5, 1864, Brown outlined the proposed constitutional structure for the union. The conference accepted the proposal in principle and Brown attended subsequent meetings in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick to determine the details of the union.[2]
During the Quebec Conference, Brown argued for separate provincial and federal governments. He hoped the provincial government would remove local concerns from the federal government, which he thought were more politically divisive.[2] He also argued for an appointed Senate because he saw upper houses as inherently conservative and believed they protected the interests of the rich. He wished to deny the Senate the legitimacy and power that naturally follow with an electoral mandate.[97] He was also concerned that two elected legislative bodies could create a political deadlock, especially if different parties held a majority of seats in each body. The result of the Quebec Conference was the Quebec Resolutions. Brown presented the Quebec Resolutions in a speech in Toronto on November 3. Later that month, he travelled to England to begin discussions with British officials about Canadian confederation, the integration of the North West Territories into Canada, and the defence of British North America from possible American invasion.[2]
Brown realized that satisfaction for Canada West could only be achieved with the support of the French-speaking majority of Canada East. In his speech in support of Confederation in the Legislature of the Province of Canada on February 8, 1865, he spoke glowingly of the prospects for Canada's future,[98] and he insisted that "whether we ask for parliamentary reform for Canada alone or in union with the Maritime Provinces, the views of French Canadians must be consulted as well as ours. This scheme can be carried, and no scheme can be that has not the support of both sections of the province."[99] Although he supported the idea of a legislative union at the Quebec Conference,[100] Brown was eventually persuaded to favour the federal view of Confederation, which was closer to that supported by Cartier and the Bleus of Canada East, as it was the structure that would ensure that the provinces retained sufficient control over local matters to satisfy the need of the French-speaking population in Canada East for jurisdiction over matters that it considered to be essential to its survival. Brown remained a proponent of a stronger central government, with weaker constituent provincial governments.[101]
In May and June, Brown was part of a delegation sent to London to continue discussions about confederation with British officials. The British government agreed to support Canadian confederation, defend Canada if attacked by the US, and help with establishing a new trade agreement with the US. In September, Galt and Brown represented the Province of Canada at the Confederate Trade Council, a meeting of Canadian colonies to negotiate common trade policies after the colonies' reciprocity trade agreement with the United States was terminated. During the meeting, Brown spoke with Maritime delegates to gather support for the Canadian confederation, as support for the project was decreasing in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He supported the council's resolution to pursue trade policies that reduced tariffs with the US. The administration for the Province of Canada disagreed and sought to increase tariffs on American goods. Brown, frustrated with his cabinet colleagues over this issue, resigned from the Great Coalition on December 19.[2]
Brown renewed relationships with Rouge colleagues to strengthen the Reform party's political prospects in Canada West. He lost an election in Southern Ontario for a seat in the new legislature. He determined that too many Reformers joined Macdonald and the Conservatives during the Great Coalition, and the public supported this non-partisan administration. He declined to run in safer constituencies and went on a holiday to Scotland.[2]
Post-parliamentary career[edit]
In 1866, Brown bought an estate near Brantford, Upper Canada, and herded shorthorn cattle. He continued writing and editing the Globe and was consulted by Grit officials in issues concerning provincial and Canadian politics. Brown fought numerous battles with the typographical union from 1843 to 1872. He was forced to pay union wages after tense negotiations and strikes.[102]
In 1874, Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie asked Brown to negotiate a new reciprocity treaty with the US. He negotiated with the United States Secretary of State Hamilton Fish from February until June 18, when a draft of their treaty was proposed in the US Congress. The Congress did not pass the bill into law and it was set aside when Congress adjourned four days after the treaty was proposed.[2]
Brown was appointed to the Canadian senate in 1874 and attended his first session the following year. He supported Mackenzie when Edward Blake and the Canada First movement expressed their frustrations with Mackenzie's leadership. His attendance in the senate was sporadic as he focused on the business affairs at his ranch. He travelled to England in February 1876 to raise capital to create a new company based on raising cattle, and obtained a charter for the new company upon his return to Canada in May. His company struggled to be financially successful and two fires in December 1879 destroyed many of the buildings on the property.[2]
Political philosophy and views[edit]
Brown was raised as a member of the Church of Scotland. Canadian historian J. M. S. Careless described the family's faith as further from the Calvinist interpretation of the bible and more closely followed the tenets of the evangelical movement of the 1800s. Brown advocated for a Puritan separation between politics and religion; he believed that political liberty could only be achieved if religious institutions were not involved in politics, and while he believed everyone should be Christian, he thought political institutions should not influence religion.[104] In 1850, although he was against giving state money to religions in clergy reserves, he was willing to tolerate it in order to maintain an allegiance between the Upper Canadian Reformers and French Canadian Catholic Reformers.[105]
Brown was against slavery and believed that the largest fault of the United States was the enslavement of people in American southern states. He was part of the Elgin Association, a group of mostly Free Kirk people that purchased land in Kent county for escaped slaves to live on. He also wrote editorials in The Globe defending a settlement of escaped slaves in Buxton from hostile white inhabitants in Kent.[106] He was also an executive member of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada.[107]
Throughout the Province of Canada's existence, Brown advocated against dissolving the union. In the 1850s he was worried that a dissolved union would cause the St Lawrence River, a major thorough way for trade, to be hampered by the two jurisdictions imposing different rules on their section of the river. When choosing how to transport their goods, farmers to the west of Upper Canada might use the Erie Canal in the United States instead (as this route would have one set of rules) and potentially setting up American annexation of those lands.[60] Instead, Brown wanted a federal union that would have jurisdiction over joint concerns while each section would create laws for their own territory.[108] Brown advocated for representation by population as a way to ensure the French population did not have out-sized power. He wanted to maintain the defensive and trade advantages that a unified province would have and looked to incorporate the Maritime provinces into the union.[109]