3-011-554 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Province Building, Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island, [Canada], 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. G. P. Roberts, of St. John. 'It may be remembered that this October convention at Quebec was preceded in September by a less formal and authoritative gathering at Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, where the subject was first mooted and the preliminaries of negotiation agreed upon. We are enabled...to publish an Illustration of that event, which must hereafter be esteemed one of great historical interest. We refer to the view of Province House, Charlottetown, the building in which the deputies of Upper and Lower Canada, with all the maritime provinces, held their first meeting..."It appears," says a correspondent at Quebec, "that there are in reality no difficulties in the matter that threaten to be insurmountable, since all the colonies are desirous of union if their local Legislatures be preserved for local purposes. It is suggested, moreover, that the confederation ought to be known by one distinct name, which might be either 'Canada' or 'Acadia.' The colonists desire that their union may be erected into a Viceroyalty under the British Crown, and they would like to have one of the Royal Princes to reign over them".' From "Illustrated London News", 1864.