and

CONFERENCE VS. CIRCUS

The circus of 1864 was a greater attraction than the now famous 1864 meeting in the Provincial Building.

0n the first day of September, 1864, two dozen men met in the Colonial Building, Charlottetown, to discuss the union of the separate Maritime Colonies. The room in which they sat has come down to us as the Confederation.Chamber, and is revered by all modern Islanders. Not so our ances- tors in 1864. They were not attracted by the great event, nor excited by its historical significance; and so we must point out to our readers that the meeting in the Chamber was

So insignificant an affair that it was almost completely overshadowed, in popular taste, by another momentous attrac- tion -— a travelling circuso

It appears that the Nova Scotia delegates, who reached Charlottetown in the "Heather Bell" on the after— noon of August 31, were not officially met on the landing, and were left to find their own.way as best they could.

The Island Government later attempted to justify itself for this discourtesy by claiming that the Nova Sco- tians had arrived unexpectedly early; but the apposition papers set up a howl, accusing the local members with having been at the circus instead of attending to their preper duties - which charge may have been well founded, for it was never answered effectivelye

The visitors from Upper Canada - and these "foreignr ere" were not invited — arrived September 1, and were officially met and welcomed by the Colonial Secretary, Hon. W. H. Pope, who rowed out to meet them with all the dignity and decorum that he could muster under the circumstances.

Some of the members of the unofficial Upper Cana— dian delegation were lodged in the Franklin House; the others were compelled to remain on board ship, the town's accommodations being taken up by country folk who had poured in to see, not the birth of a nation, but a travelling

circus. LOCOC I