Until this great work is completed, our dominion is little more than a geographical expression - Sir John A. Macdonald

Travel through the eras of  history and the development of the various nations that make up Canada today.

The Charlottetown conference which gave concrete form to proposals for Confederation of Canada at the time was as much renown for the feasting and revelry that went on as for its political outcome.

One of the entertainment highlights of the affair was a luncheon given by colonial secretary William Henry Pope at his comfortable gabled home.

Pope, a staunch advocate of Confederation, was born at Bedeque, P.E.I., May 29, 1825. He received most of his education in England, but returned to the island to read law under the tutelage of Edward Palmer, later to be a fellow Father of Confederation.

In 1847 Pope was called to the island bar. In 1859 he was named the island's colonial secretary, even though he lacked a seat in the Legislative Council. From 1863 through 1867 he represented Belfast in the island assembly. With his long hoped for Confederation a fact as P.E.I. was concerned in 1873, he was appointed county judge for Prince count on the island and held office until his death at Summerside, on Oct. 7, 1879.

In 1851, he married Helen Debrisay of Charlottetown and they had eight children, of whom the eldest was to become Sir Joesph Pope, private secretary, biographer and literary executor of Sir John A. Macdonald and for many years a leading Canadian diplomatic and political figure.