In the discharge of his public duties while a Minister of the Crown, Mr. Howland accompanied Mr. Galt on the mission to Washington, in 1865, concerning the then proposed renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty. This mission is memorable for its political rather than its commercial results, for while with respect to the latter it merely taught Canada that she must rely upon herself, with respect to the former it almost led to the breaking up of the Coalition, and to the indefinite postponement of Confederation. That these grave political results were merely threatened, instead of having become realities, was largely due to Mr. Howland, who, considering the gravity of the situation, and endorsing, also, the Cabinet policy on the Reciprocity question, refused to follow his leader out of the Government. He accepted instead a commission to fill up the vacancy created by Mr. Brown's resignation with an Upper Canada Reformer, thereby preserving the balance of parties as established in 1864. Mr. Howland was one of the three delegates representing Upper Canada at the London Conference at which the Union Act was framed; and for his services there, as well as generally for the prominent part he had taken in promoting Confederation, he was one of the two Upper Canada Ministers decorated with the Order of the Companionship of the Bath, on the 1st of July, 1867. There was another conference which Mr. Howland attended in 1867, and one of much political significance--the great Reform Convention held at Toronto in June, for the purpose of reuniting the Reform Party and abolishing the alliance with the Conservatives. Messrs. Howland and McDougall were both present, and vigorously contended against the restoration of party lines on the old basis; and their course there and subsequently at political gatherings throughout the country no doubt did much towards determining the result of the general election held during the summer of that year.