182 HISTORY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. mended that the house should adopt a resolution to the effect that the people's representatives felt it to be their duty to oppose a union with the Dominion of Canada , and to express their opinion that the people of the island, while loyal in their attachment to the Crown and government of Great Britain, were, nevertheless, almost unanimously opposed to any change in the constitution of the colony,—which resolu¬ tion was carried by nineteen to four votes. The next movement of importance in reference to the question of union was taken by the government, of which the Honorable Mr. Haythorne was the leader, on the second of January, 1873, when the executive council adopted an important minute containing new propositions, with a view to the un:'on. ^f t^e island with the Dominion of Canada . It was stated in the minute, that if Canada would accord liberal terms of union, the government of Prince Edward Island would bo prepared to advise an immediate dissolution of the house, in order to give the people an opportunity of deciding whether they would go into confederation, or submit to the taxation required for railway purposes. The document was forwarded to the gov¬ ernor-general and submitted to the privy council of the Dominion, who suggested that a deputation should be sent to Ottawa by the government of the island, for the purpose of holding a conference on the subject of the proposed union. The Honorable Mr. Haythorne and the Honorable David Laird were accordingly appointed as delegates, representing the interests of the island ; but they were not authorised to pledge either the government or the colony to any proposi¬ tion that might be made by the Dominion of Canada . The delegation had several interviews with a sub-committee of the council, when the various questions connected with the important subject were fully discussed ; and a minute of the