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The Journey Begins: The Lure of Travel, the New — and Leonard Tilley

Here Mercy Coles’s first big journey away from home, away from Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes, starts. Here, at twenty-six years of age, Mercy would encounter the possibility of a future — of, one imagines, a desired married life, beyond the limitations of her father’s home, perhaps beyond the borders of her small island. Although Mercy wouldn’t be considered too old to marry, the fact that four of her seven sisters were already either married or about to be, and another was of marriageable age, would no doubt make her feel the pressure of time and opportunity, especially as she had no apparent suitors waiting for her.

As the journey starts, we have our first, and rather unexpected, romantic lead. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley — who, his biographer C.M. Wallace in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography pointedly says, has been “stigmatized as a colourless druggist and temperance advocate” — was forty-six years old, and a widower of two years with seven children. He is first (and last) up.

Reminiscences of Canada in 1864

By Mercy Coles

Wednesday 5th October /64

Left Charlottetown at 8 am. Arrived at Shediac [New Brunswick] at half past 2. I was very ill it was so rough. Monk came off in a small boat and was taken on board off Summerside. Found a special train waiting for us at Shediac, arrived at St John at 1/2 past six. Mr. Tilley and Mr. Steeves* at the Hotel to receive us. Ma, Pa, Mr. Tilley and I went to see Mrs. Perley.** Mr. Tilley did not come in.

Thursday [October 6, 1864, Saint John, NB]

We had a walk before breakfast and came on board New Brunswick. I am going to share a stateroom with Miss Alexander. Arrived at Eastport at 12, went on shore and dined, left at 1 for Portland [Maine].***

Friday morning, [October 6], Portland, Preble House.

We arrived here this morning after being 24 hours on board the New Brunswick. I went to bed at 6 and was just up in time this morning. We had an awful stormy night. We leave here in the Grand Trunk Railroad at one o’clock. We parted with Mr. Haines**** at the wharf, he was very attentive and kind.

Saturday, [October] 8th

We arrived at Island Pond last night at half past 9.***** We got up this morning at half past 4. We have just started in cars again and one might just as well try to write on horseback. We saw some beautiful scenery coming through New Hampshire, it was too dark to see the White Mountains. Mr. Tilley helped me admire it. It is rather a joke, he is the only beau of the party and with 5 single ladies****** he has something to do to keep them all in good humour [emphasis mine].

Saturday Afternoon, October 8, Quebec

We arrived here yesterday at ½ past 5. There was no person there to meet us as they did not expect us to arrive for half an hour. We drove to the Russell House first. They told us the St. Louis was taken for the delegates, so we came here. I changed my dress and when I came down I found Mr. Brown in the drawing room. Mr. Bernard******* had been in a few minutes before, in a minute Mr. Cartier, John A. Macdonald and McGee arrived. Before dinner was announced we were introduced to the Newfoundland Delegates, Mr. Shea and Mr. Carter. Mr. Cartier took Ma into dinner. John A. took Mrs. Pope. We had a splendid dinner and I enjoyed it. We had been travelling in the cars from half past 6 till half past 5. From Richmond to Somerset we only came at the rate of 9 miles an hour. A special train met us there and we came into Point Levi flying.

How can I describe my first impression of Quebec. It was pouring rain when we landed. We were shut up in a little cab, Ma, Miss Fisher and myself. I was in dread the whole time the horse would fall down, however he brought us here all right. It is a very nice Hotel and every comfort one can wish for. I sent Mrs. Penney a letter I had for her from Mrs. Walker.

We have been for a drive around Spencer Wood.******** It is a very pretty road. You see the valley below with the River St. Charles winding along. We saw Wolfe’s Monument on the Plains of Abraham and a monument to the brave who fell at the taking of Quebec, we did not go into the Cemetery as they do not admit carriages on Sunday and the snow was on the trees so thick it would not have been pleasant. We went to the Cathedral this morning. Bishop Williams preached. The music was very good, the organist played a very fine voluntary. Pa, Ma, Mr. Tilley and I sat just together [emphasis mine].

Wolfe’s monument, Plains of Abraham, Quebec City, 1865. Visitors kept taking pieces of the original monument. As a result, in 1849 it had to be replaced by a new column, which was surrounded by an iron fence topped with spikes to discourage souvenir hunters.

Place d’Armes and English Cathedral, Quebec City, 1860. This is Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, where “Bishop Williams preached” on Sunday, October 9, 1864. It was constructed in 1804, and was the first Anglican cathedral to be built outside the British Isles.

Basilica of Notre Dame de Québec, Quebec City, 1859. Mercy Coles referred to the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec as the “French Cathedral.” The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, which she and her family attended while in Quebec, was often called the “English Cathedral” by the people in Quebec City. This reflected the ethnicity of the parishioners who attended, since the English were more likely to be Protestant, while the French were more likely to be Roman Catholic.

The steamer******** has not yet arrived with the rest of the party but they expect them today. Major Bernard tells me we are to have good times. There is to be a reception on Tuesday and a Public Ball on Friday. The first word almost he said was, “I hope you brought the irresistible blue silk.” I am very glad I brought the lace. Mrs. Penny has just been here, she is looking so well, she has invited Ma and I to come to see her after dinner. Mr. Galt, Mr. Cartier, Mr. Couchon, Mr. Cameron******** and a lot of other gentlemen were here at the same time. Mr. Galt gave me such a warm welcome to Canada.

Monday morning, October 10

The Steamer arrived last night with the rest of the delegates. Such a Babel when they came in. The two Misses Gray******** Mrs. and Miss [Emma] Tupper, Mrs. and Miss [Joanna] Archibald are the ladies. All the gentlemen are gone to the Conference. Mr. McDougall brought his daughter [Jessie] to see me and we went out shopping together. I bought an Opera Cloak. Paid 8 ½ dollars******** for it. It is very pretty. I am sewing the trimming on my velvet jacket. Dr. Tupper and Mr. Henry called to see Eliza******** when they were at Ch’Town. Mr. Whelan is here, we are going to luncheon. After luncheon Mr. Drinkwater******** called and he, Ma and I went for a drive. We went to see the French Cathedral, then we went to see the Seminary Chapel where all the fine paintings are. We drove round the Battery and then went to the Province Building to see the Library. We met Mr. Bernard in the hall, he introduced us to the sergeant-at-arms and the Clerk of the House [Mr. Lea]. The Library is nothing very wonderful. When we came back Mrs. Campbell the wife of the Hon. Mr. Campbell lunched with us.

When the gentlemen came from Conference they brought cards of invitation to Mrs. and Miss Tupper, Miss Gray and Mrs. Alexander to dine at Gov’t House. Ma and I have a card for Wednesday. I wonder Mrs. Pope was not invited before Mrs. Alexander? We made a kind of acquaintance with the organist at the Cathedral, Mr. Peirce. Mr. McDougall and his daughter dined with us. Papa and all the gentlemen who were not dining at Gov’t House were dining at the Strathcona Club.********

Mr. Drinkwater has promised to get me a bouquet for tomorrow night. It will be rather a stupid affair tomorrow night, so they say.

Wednesday morning, October 12

We all went to the Drawing Room last night******** quite a crowd when we all got together, all the ladies looked very well and were quite a credit to the Lower Provinces.******** Pa, Ma and I went together. A half dozen gentlemen wanted to take me into the room but I preferred to go in with Papa. The Governor General stood in the middle with his Private Secretary on his right hand. We did not require to have any cards. The Aides announced us each in turn. The Governor shook hands very friendly with each one. After all those who had the privilege of entrée were presented they formed a half circle, the rest of the people then walked in at one door, bowed to the Governor and passed out at the other. There were about 800 people presented and I was very tired before it was all over. Mr. Tilley took charge of me and walked about with me the whole evening [emphasis mine]. When we came home Ma and I went immediately to bed we were so tired. Ma wore her grenadine over black silk. I wore my blue silk. There were only 2 or 3 trains there.

It was not only Mercy who found Leonard Tilley attractive and worthy of romantic interest. Tilley, as Moore writes in his seminal book on Confederation, 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal, “has dropped almost completely off the radar screen of Canadian history.” In the 1930s historian W.M. Whitelaw noted that the little written on Tilley was “particularly distressing.”1 Leonard Tilley definitely bears a closer examination. Who was he? What was he like? And why were Mercy and Mrs. Alexander, at the very least, attracted to him? Tilley was just forty-six years old in 1864, and had been widowed two and a half years earlier. He had seven children, five of whom were still young. He was known for his good head and grasp of finances, not his charms. However, Mercy Coles’s comments provide us with new insight into Leonard Tilley, the man.

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, October 29, 1864. Tilley was supposed to accompany Mercy to have her photo taken, but Mercy notes that she missed this opportunity because she “was not punctual.” He went on ahead, and had his photograph done earlier that day, along with Emma Tupper and her mother, among others.

Known to history as Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, though he never used his first name, Leonard Tilley was born in 1818 in Gagetown, New Brunswick. He married at twenty-five, and was widowed by forty-four. His wife, Julia, died of cancer, and he’d been hit hard by her loss. His friend, the politician Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, recommended “[u]nremitting, anxious, hard-driven work.”

Now, in October 1864, we find him on his way to Quebec, happily playing the role of “the only beau … with five single ladies to look after.” Mercy writes of him spending his time with her, and also with Mrs. Alexander, the forty-year-old widowed sister of the PEI politician Thomas Haviland. These two were the oldest single women along for the Confederation conferences. It may be that he enjoyed the company of more mature women, or it may be that he was thinking of his five young motherless children still at home, and thought that Mercy or Mrs. Alexander seemed like the most viable options for his attention.

There isn’t much written about Leonard Tilley. Hardly anyone, it seems, has found him or his life interesting enough to examine, which is strange, as, at the very least, he was the premier of New Brunswick pre-Confederation, in federal politics post-Confederation, and lived through politically lively times. Mercy’s writings on Tilley offer a chance to give him a second look.

The view of Tilley that persists in history is not one of a visionary; he didn’t dream big. He was a storekeeper, a businessman, a bean-counter; in short, he was boring. But that can’t be the full story.