William Whiteway

William Vallance Whiteway

Sir William Vallance Whiteway KCMG (born April 1, 1828 in Buckyett , Totnes , Devon , England , † June 24, 1908 in St. John’s , Newfoundland ) was a Canadian lawyer and politician of the Conservative Party and later the Liberal Party, the 1878 to Was Prime Minister of the Crown Colony of Newfoundland three times in 1885, 1889 to 1894 and 1895 to 1897 . Whiteway made a particular contribution to the construction of the railway in Newfoundland ( Newfoundland Railway ) and the first dry dock in St. John's. On the other hand, he led numerous negotiations with Great Britain regarding fishing rights on the French coastal region of Newfoundland and with Canada regarding possible accession to the Canadian Confederation.

Life

Lawyer, member and speaker of the House of Representatives

Whiteway began his political career in 1859 with the support of entrepreneur and later Prime Minister Charles Fox Bennett

Whiteway came from an English merchant family with longstanding business connections to Newfoundland and began working as a clerk in St. John's in 1843 after completing his education at the Grammar School in Totnes and a private school in Newton Abbot . He later studied law and, after being admitted to the bar in Newfoundland, began working as a lawyer in 1852. Early in his career he became a supporter of the Conservative Party , led by Hugh William Hoyles , through his relationships with respected merchants, his involvement in the Anglican Church and Freemasonry . His law firm's clients included personalities such as Charles James Fox Bennett . He was one of the most famous merchants of the Crown Colony, promoter of the first copper mine in Tilt Cove and from 1870 to 1874 himself Prime Minister of Newfoundland.

With Bennett's support, Whiteway began his political career and was elected to the Newfoundland House of Representatives for the first time in the 1859 elections in the Twillingate and Fogo constituency , which also included Tilt Cove . Since then, he has become increasingly convinced that Newfoundland has considerable mineral and agricultural potential, and at the same time he has promoted an improvement in communications in the north of the island.

1865 Whiteway underwent a recognition by the new conservative government of Prime Minister Frederic Bowker Terrington Carter when he was appointed Queen's Counsel ( Queen's Counsel ) was appointed and the House of Representatives elected him speaker. He expressed his views on the Canadian Confederation shortly after the results of the Québec Conference were published in December 1864. His support for a union with Canada, however, outraged Bennett, who was one of the leading opponents of the Confederation. Their bitter dispute was also carried out in the daily newspapers of St. John's and ultimately reduced his chances of being reelected as a member of the House of Representatives.

Electoral defeat in 1869, re-election to the House of Representatives in 1873 and Solicitor General

During the tenure of Prime Minister Frederick Carter , Whiteway served as Solicitor General from 1874 to 1878

In the 1869 elections, Whiteway and his supporters faced the combined opposition of Bennett and the local trading houses and suffered a heavy electoral defeat, while Bennett succeeded Frederick Carter in January 1870 as Prime Minister. Whiteway's support for the Confederation was based on his belief that union would enhance the Crown Colony's opportunities for economic diversity and prosperity, while also breaking its isolation. On the other hand, he hoped for an expansion of political possibilities. After the Confederation was rejected by the election of 1869, however, he failed to actively support it and again focused his commitment on colonial issues. Although he was no longer an MP, he remained connected to the Conservative Party and belonged to a group that wanted to replace the Bennett government and its Anti-Confederation Party by all means. For this reason, the Conservatives combined end-confederation assurances with sectarian attacks on the government to remind Protestants that Bennett trusted the votes of Catholic voters.

In the House of Representatives elections in 1873, Bennett's majority was drastically reduced, while Whiteway was re-elected to the House of Representatives in Trinity Bay constituency . On January 31, 1874, Carter took over the post of Prime Minister for the second time after Bennett's majority had dissolved and his party feared a weakening in the new elections scheduled for the fall of 1874.

Prime Minister Carter named Whiteway Solicitor General in his new administration on January 31, 1874 . In this capacity he was instrumental in preparing the Newfoundland case before the Fisheries Commission in Halifax with the assistance of the Canadian Minister of Navy and Fisheries Albert James Smith in 1877. This commission assessed the financial difference between the fishing rights granted to the United States in British-North American waters under the Treaty of Washington of 1871 and the rights granted to the British in US waters. Whiteway filed a $ 2,880,000 claim for Newfoundland in the Tribunal, which eventually settled the Crown Colony for $ 1 million. The won sum earned him formal recognition by the House of Representatives. Much of the proceedings also concerned the value of Newfoundland bait in the event of access by foreign inshore fishermen, so he subsequently viewed the bait issue as a possible approach to negotiating not only with US but also with French fishermen whose presence in Saint- Pierre and on the west and northeast coasts of Newfoundland (the French treaty area) caused persistent problems. Both Whiteway and Carter were convinced that the colony's boom depended on a change in the old rights of France, especially since surveys by the Scottish geologist Alexander Murray suggested that the so-called Treaty Coast would contain valuable natural resources.

The Carter administration pushed for the appointment of judges and land permits in the region, with the British Colonial Office responding with considerable reluctance to such demands. Out of frustration at this attitude, to the annoyance of the then governor of the Crown Colony , John Hawley Glover , he made remarks about the disadvantages of the connection with the British Empire and what advantages might result from an annexation by the USA. He wanted to point out the disappointment of the colony towards Great Britain, in order to achieve a greater willingness of the British government to satisfy the interests of Newfoundland compared to other, more important countries.

First term as Prime Minister 1878 to 1885

Negotiations with France and Great Britain

Whiteway took over the post of Prime Minister from Frederick Carter in April 1878. As the most important plans of his government, he pointed out that for the future development of Newfoundland, in the case of the rural resources, two things were necessary: ​​first, a railway was to be built through the island to open up the inland, and second, an agreement had to be reached with the French, which allowed industrial development on the west coast. Furthermore, he wanted to develop St. John's into a large port and in this context defended the construction of dry docks there . However, these plans were dependent on cooperation with the imperial government in London , which was the only one able to negotiate with the French and which, he hoped, would also support the railway and dock plans for strategic reasons.

In 1879 Whiteway presented his plans in London and received approval from the Colonial Ministry, which saw him as a more willing partner than the other Newfoundland politicians with regard to the problems with the French coastal region. A meeting was then arranged between him and the French Foreign Minister William Henry Waddington , in which he impressed the British ambassador with his "ability, tact and indeed moderation". However, no concrete agreements were reached, so the British government refused to support the construction of docks and railways on the grounds that such work was of domestic rather than imperial importance.

However, the government of Whiteway, who was beaten Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for his services in negotiations with the Halifax Fisheries Commission in 1880 and henceforth added the name "Sir", later received several other concessions: 1881 the colonial government was given sole authority to appoint judges on the French treaty coast and to issue land permits in this region. In addition, the settlers on the west coast were given the right to participate in the 1882 elections.

Railway construction plans

The process of incorporating the coast into the colonial administration's framework work began under Carter, and Whiteway intended to link the two sides of the island through its railroad project. However, the British government not only refused financial support, but also refused permission for a terminus on the west coast. For this reason, he moved away from the original plan and instead planned an east coast railway line, which could eventually be part of a railway line for the entire island.

His proposal to build a narrow-gauge railway from St. John's to Halls Bay was approved by the House of Representatives in 1880. In the period that followed, tenders were ordered, site surveys were carried out and a heated public debate reached new political areas. The first dissenting votes came from among the conservative Whiteways supporters when some fish wholesalers voiced serious concerns about “an experience so new, so expensive, so different from our usual habits and desires, and at the same time so irretrievable in its results, good or bad sei “('an experience so new, so expensive, so divergent from our ordinary habits and wants, and at the same time so irretrievable in its results for good or evil'). Ultimately, they feared that the plan would lead to colonial bankruptcy and confederation, and the process would seriously damage their businesses.

Whitewey and the railroad supporters, on the other hand, were not very concerned now that they could count on the support of the liberal opposition , now led by Joseph Ignatius Little . In early 1881 the government considered buying two tender tenders, with Whiteway preferring an offer made by Albert L. Blackman for a syndicate from New York City . However, this got him into trouble with Ambrose Shea , a leading liberal who, in turn, backed a Canadian offer.

Gov. Glover and others speculated that Whiteway was guilty of a conflict of interest, claiming that Blackman's financiers were the same as those behind the recently formed Newfoundland Consolidated Copper Mining Company , of which Whiteway is director, and which expected profits from the railroad business. The Prime Minister firmly denied such allegations and led Blackman's offer through the cabinet and a heated debate in the House of Representatives that highlighted new political directions. Provoked by the petition of merchants against the railroad, he made a public populist promise to “raise the working class to their proper position in the body politic”. The Blackman Syndicate began operating in 1881 under the name Newfoundland Railway Company and signed two additional agreements with the government in 1882. The first concerned a charter to build a direct standard-gauge railway through the island as part of a transatlantic short-line system, while the second dealt with a contract to build a dry dock in St. John's.

"Politics of Progress", election success in the 1882 elections and government crisis

These intentions were the central theme in the campaign for the elections to the House of Representatives in 1882. Whiteway's Conservative Party, which was now in an open and formal alliance with the Liberal Party and extolled the virtues of the new 'Policy of Progress' , faced a structureless New Party under James Johnstone Rogerson . It was trade-oriented, exclusively Protestant, and had the difficult task of convincing voters that Whiteway's political intentions were unwise and dangerous. This project failed, so that Whiteway won with a clear majority.

However, the second Whiteway cabinet failed within three years. The Blackman Syndicate turned out to be undercapitalized and inefficient. At the end of 1882 the railway company was in financial difficulties, so that work on the main line stalled in the spring of 1884 and the company went bankrupt soon afterwards . The dry dock contract was transferred to another company and construction of the direct rail link never started. Rather, the colony fell into a fundamental economic crisis. During this time, the New Party reformed to attack the government and called for a suspension of potentially costly projects such as railroad construction and, on the other hand, a concentration on fisheries, which suffered from the difficult competitive conditions on the salt fish markets in Europe . The New Party believed that the main reason for these difficulties was the expansion of subsidized French fishing in the Newfoundland Bank and called for an attack on French fishermen by preventing the export of bait fish from the south coast of Newfoundland.

Robert Thorburn , Whiteway's rival of the Reform Party in the mid 1880s

In contrast, Whiteway continued to argue that the development of the island's interior and west coast were of primary importance and that an agreement with the French was preferable to economic warfare. In fact, between 1883 and 1884 the Whiteway government and the British Colonial Office were discussing an agreement whereby the French would lose the treaty coast and gain access to Newfoundland baitfish in exchange. A draft of this convention was subsequently adopted by France, whereupon the New Party labeled it suicide policy and its party leaders mobilized Protestant opinion against Whiteway's reliance on Catholic support.

This strategy was supported by religious tensions in the context of riots in Harbor Grace in December 1883. 19 Catholics were arrested and charged with the murder of four members of the Protestant Orange Order . Their acquittal in two proceedings in which Whiteway represented the prosecution led to the break of the Conservative-Liberal coalition . In early 1885, the representatives of the Order of Orange in the House of Representatives issued a statement describing the proceedings as a “disgraceful failure of justice”. Whiteway's subsequent behavior was shaped by his desire to remain Prime Minister and also by a latent anti-Catholicism . He assumed that his best chance of maintaining power would be to break away from his Catholic supporters and applied to chair a united Protestant party . For this he drafted a declaration that avoided criticism of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland , but on the other hand contained attacks on Catholics. His Catholic supporters, such as Ambrose Shea and Robert John Kent , were forced into the opposition, while Whiteway failed to gain the presidency of the Protestant Party.

Instead, a reform party was formed with the compromise candidate Robert Thorburn as party leader. In early October 1885, Whiteway resigned and also waived a candidacy in the subsequent House elections. In return he was given a seat on the Legislative Council and the President of the Supreme Court was replaced. On the other hand, he has been widely criticized for abandoning his party and for his weakness in not standing for election to the general assembly. In the following years he withdrew completely from political life.

Return to politics and failed plans to join the Canadian Confederation

In July 1887, Robert Bond and Alfred Bishop Morine , who sat as his independent supporters in the opposition in the House of Representatives, asked him to return to politics, otherwise both would seek other political allies or would resign themselves. In September 1887, Whitewey announced his return to politics.

While Bond planned for Whiteway to lead a revitalized Conservative Party, the Nova Scotia native Morine was more interested in getting approval from him to plan Newfoundland's entry into the Canadian Confederation. At the suggestion of Morine, the Canadian Treasury Secretary Charles Tupper visited St. John's in October 1887 to hold talks with the Thorburn administration as well as with Bond and Whiteway on the question of joining the Confederation. At the time there was hope that membership would be supported by a coalition of the Whiteways Party and a pro-confederation faction within the Reform Party , the most prominent member of which was then Attorney General James Spearman Winter . However, membership failed in 1888 when Bond concluded that joining his party in favor of the Confederation would be unwise and therefore put pressure on Whiteway to resist Morine's influence. Tupper then reported to Canadian Prime Minister John Macdonald that Whiteway's change of mind had caused the Confederation to fail, which was actually a major factor on the issue. However, this was not the only reason, as few Newfoundland politicians would have sacrificed their careers in favor of a union with Canada.

Second term as Prime Minister 1889-1894

Election campaign and victory in 1889

Although Whiteway could have returned to the House of Representatives through a by-election in the fall of 1888 , he decided against it in order to focus on building a party for the elections scheduled for 1889. After the old Catholic Liberal Party had ceased to exist in 1886, Whiteway now appropriated the liberal label. However, the party manifesto and slogans such as “Vote for the Friend of the Workingman and the Apostle of Progress” were direct successors to the conservative election campaigns of the 1878 and 1882 elections, such as the evening paper evening Telegram noted. The attractiveness of the liberal election campaign with its promise to end railroad construction, combined with the unpopularity of the Reform Party government, gave Whiteway an electoral victory. For the first time in a general election in Newfoundland, secret balloting was used, allowing the prejudice of a class to which the Liberals appealed with their anti-mercantile attacks to be expressed.

Although the election had taken place in November 1889, it was over a month before Whiteway was able to take office for the second time. Although his party and cabinet were made up of relatively inexperienced men and he was the only one who previously held a government position, he was no longer the energetic and dominant force as he was in his first term. The collapse of his previous administration and his time outside of active politics left him dependent on the support of cabinet members such as Robert Bond, who became Colonial Secretary, and Augustus William Harvey . His party was prone to faction formation, so his government suffered from a lack of determination, particularly in dealing with difficult foreign policy matters.

Dispute over fishing rights

The rejection of the draft Whiteway-negotiated agreement on the French coast by the new party and the enforcement of the Bait Act of 1887 heralded a period of intense disagreement over the treaty coast . The central question now was that neither the French nor other fishermen had the right to catch and process lobsters in this region. Based on past experience, the British government thought Whiteway was more conciliatory than its predecessors, but found him stubborn instead, for two reasons: On the one hand, Bond and Harvey exercised significant influence within the party and refused any further concessions to the French from. Second, the Reform Party formed outside the party organization, the Patriotic Association ( Patriotic Association ) to the Government by a by coming to express patriotism embarrass. The reason for this was the signing of an Anglo-French modus vivendi in March 1890 to manage the lobster fishery, which in its final form had not received any colonial approval and, on the other hand, seemed to make concessions to France. This situation was made more difficult by the realization that there was no legislation in place to enable the British government to enforce the treaties on the French coast of Newfoundland.

The British Colonial Office tried to convince Newfoundland to pass the necessary bill, but any chance of cooperation was thwarted when the British government, under pressure from Canada, refused to grant permission to draft a reciprocity agreement that Bond negotiated with the United States in late 1890 would have. Although he was not a supporter of such a reciprocity agreement, Whiteway nevertheless joined the violent protests in St. John's and, with his government, refused to grant bait fishing licenses to Canadian fishing vessels.

Disputes with Canada

Canada responded once more by offering the idea of ​​a confederation, but without success. In London, the British Empire was preparing to pass legislation to enforce the French Treaties. The Newfoundland House of Representatives sent a delegation headed by Whiteway to prevent the passage of this bill. On April 23, 1891, Whiteway addressed the House of Lords , offering temporary regulations for the 1891 session, while regulations for permanent law were to be adopted later, although it seemed difficult to get the St. John's House of Representatives out of it convince. There Bond spread a mood of patriotism and that it would be the most acceptable compromise. However, the dispute with Canada was not resolved, so that finally in December 1891 a tariff war broke out between the two neighboring countries.

While the speech to the House of Lords was one of Whiteways' best, it was during the 1892 session that he experienced one of his greatest humiliations. His cabinet refused to accept the draft of the permanent law he had agreed upon in the negotiations in the summer of 1891 as a party or government bill. After all members of the government and with the exception of Harvey all members of the London delegation refused to support him, he had to introduce the bill as a personal proposal. This was rejected on the grounds that he showed the French too much concession. Whiteway's argument that the House of Representatives would break an agreement was ignored, as was his warning that Parliament's intransigence over a proposed UK guarantee on a loan to aid Newfoundland's development would be undone. Whiteway never gave Bond a leading role in the matter.

On the other hand, in the 1892 session, the House of Representatives decided to put an end to Bond's policy of retaliation against Canada. The two governments agreed to hold a conference to discuss the existing disputes. A meeting held in Halifax in November 1892 produced little success. The Whiteway-led Newfoundland delegation declined to discuss the Confederation, while the Canadian delegation declined to abandon its concerns about negotiating a separate Newfoundland-US reciprocity agreement. To Whiteway's annoyance, Newfoundland had to realize that it had to subordinate its foreign affairs to both Canadian and British interests.

Government construction work and election victory in 1893

Outside the political elite circles, foreign policy relations were of little importance. Far more important to most voters was the fact that the Whiteway administration had promised to resume building the railroad. In 1890 a contract was signed with Robert Gillespie Reid to complete the railway line to Halls Bay. In 1893 the government signed two further contracts with Reid, which provided for the continuation of the railway line to Port aux Basques on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland and for a guarantee of operation for a period of ten years. The rebuilding of St. John's after the great fire in 1892, in which large parts of the city and Whiteway's law firm were destroyed, also tied a relatively high number of workers.

This employment policy helped the government win the 1893 House of Representatives elections, despite numerous serious internal disputes in the event of cohesion. Because of its popularity with the electorate, there were no challengers to its leadership either. After a costly and bitter election campaign, Whiteway's party won the election with a comfortable majority.

Government crisis and resignation of the government in 1894

The opposition Tory Party was now led by Morine on strategic issues. In early 1894 these lawsuits filed allegations of corruption by Whiteway and sixteen other Liberals . The verdict in the first trial dismissed two Liberals from office after accused of manipulating public funds to influence voters. Whiteway was outraged that normal practices were condemned as corrupt and had to accept that all of the accused lost their seats.

For this reason, he asked the then Governor of the Crown Colony, John Terence Nicholls O'Brien , either to approve a bill that would compensate those affected by such a lawsuit, or to approve the dissolution of the House of Representatives. Governor O'Brien refused to interfere, so Whiteway resigned with his cabinet on April 11, 1894. He was replaced by a minority Tory Party government under Prime Minister Augustus Frederick Goodridge . Although there was no cause, the sessions of the House of Representatives were adjourned indefinitely while the court had to deal with the outstanding claims.

Whiteway's behavior during the following months was not very dignified, so that Governor O'Brien reported that "through rage and vindictiveness Sir W. Whiteway has gone off his head" ). In mid-June 1894, Whiteway led a protest group through Water Street in St. John's to protest against the collection of taxes after benefits were canceled. Violent acts were prevented only by the arrival of mounted police officers. This incident marked the height of political tension, which subsequently subsided. The government lost a temporary majority after electoral appeal procedures were completed and by-elections in the fall of 1894 resulted in Liberal members entering the House of Representatives, albeit not those who had been dismissed, such as Whiteway, who were excluded from the incumbent House of Representatives.

The Tory government of Prime Minister Goodridge lasted until December 13, 1894, when it resigned following the collapse of two local banks. Then the Liberal government was formed under Prime Minister Daniel Joseph Greene , which passed a law that removed the parliamentary exclusions of the defendant members of the House of Representatives. After this was confirmed by the governor, Greene and his government resigned on February 8, 1895.

Third term as Prime Minister 1895 to 1897

Negotiations with Canada

After Whiteway had become a member of the House of Representatives again in the vacant constituency of Harbor Grace , he took over the office of Prime Minister of the Crown Colony of Newfoundland for the third time on February 8, 1895.

The state of the country was hopeless as the bank collapse caused a severe, if temporary, disruption to trade and the government was on the verge of bankruptcy. Unable to increase a loan and unwilling to agree to a Royal Commission investigation as a necessary preliminary to British aid, the Whiteway administration sent a delegation to Ottawa in late March 1895 to re- examine the Confederation issue. The delegation was led by Robert Bond, as Whiteway himself suffered from severe nervous depression and internal complications caused by mental distress and overwork, caused by the events of the previous year where he lost $ 26,000 in the bankruptcy . Ultimately, however, these negotiations in Ottawa failed due to the thrift of Great Britain and the caution of Canada.

In a final attempt to stave off neglect and UK interference, Bond traveled to Montreal to seek a loan increase. With the support of the railway company Reid, he actually achieved a loan increase and qualified as a possible successor to the now 67-year-old Prime Minister.

Government crisis and election defeat in autumn 1897

The political positions of the Liberal government deteriorated over the next two years. The economic situation remained difficult and eliminating the effects of the bank failure proved protracted and contentious. The party's older members were at odds, the colony's new governor, Herbert Harley Murray , was hostile to the government, and moral views seemed to have collapsed. While Whiteway was in London in 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and a colonial conference, Bond and Attorney General Edward Patrick Morris made no preliminary planning for the elections scheduled for the fall of 1897.

The Liberal Party's election campaign was marked by the same propaganda as in previous years, but this time insufficient. The railroad was nearly ready, the price of fish at its lowest level in 45 years, and the promises of a new Newfoundland seemed insincere. On the other hand, the Tory Party led by James Spearman Winter an imaginative election campaign and won the House of Representatives elections with a comfortable majority in October 1897, while Whiteway suffered a defeat in his old constituency of Trinity Bay and was eliminated from the House of Representatives.

Whiteway did not resign with grace and dignity, but remained the de facto chairman of the Liberal Party until October 1899. At that time, Bond, who was leader of the party in the House of Representatives, assumed the position of chairman under circumstances that were voluntary by some and others were seen as forced. Bond finally took over the post of Prime Minister of the Crown Colony on March 6, 1900 as the successor to Winter.

Last years of life and opponents of Robert Bond

Shortly thereafter, open hostilities between Whiteway and Bond began. Whiteway was filing a lawsuit against the government at the time, claiming $ 21,000 for numerous long-term services. In November 1901 he had it published that he intended to return to public life. His support for a Tory Party candidate in a 1902 by-election showed that he was against the government of his internal party successor. The reason for this was apparently the way in which Bond withdrew the unpopular railway contract that Winter and Morine had signed with Reid in 1898. In 1904 he criticized the conditions for the colonization of the French coast as well as the forestry policy of Bonds.

Not wanting to accept the terms of support for opposition groups, he prepared to lead an independent party in the 1904 elections. Ultimately, he united his supporters with those of the United Opposition Party, for which numerous former prime ministers ran as candidates. However, both the party and all former prime ministers suffered an election defeat. Whiteway himself suffered a major defeat in his own candidacy, finishing only last among all applicants in the Harbor Grace constituency .

In addition to his political defeats, he also experienced numerous personal blows of fate in the last years of his life. In 1899 his daughter died from his first marriage in South Africa , while between 1905 and 1908 three of his six children from his second marriage died.

Web links

• Entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
• Remembering the Life of a Newfoundland Prime Minister

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Whiteway & search limits = The delegates before the House of Lords. Address by Sir William Whiteway . In: The Argus of April 25, 1891
2. ↑ Whiteway & search = limits Action by Sir William Whiteway . In: The Argus of April 30, 1891
3. ↑ Whiteway & search = limits Sir William Whiteway unseated . In: Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners' Advocate, July 27, 1894
4. ↑ Whiteway & search = limits Majority for Sir William Whiteway . In: The Argus of November 16, 1894
5. ↑ Whiteway & search = limits Newfoundland . In: Western Mail, November 5, 1897