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The Scot in British North America
Chapter VI. The Maritime Provinces from 1837 to 1867 Part A


The political struggles through which the Eastern Provinces were to pass followed mainly upon the same lines as those in Canada, with the important difference that in the former there was no appeal to physical force. Party feeling ran high down by the sea, yet in the end all crucial differences were adjusted under constitutional forms. There was no rebellion there, no arbitrary suspension of provincial autonomy. Taking the three provinces in turn it is natural to begin with Nova Scotia. Perhaps the first note of the impending storm – the first observable ripple upon the surface – appeared in connection with the Council. This somewhat anomalous body combined in itself not only legislative, but executive and judicial, authority. Its president was the Chief of Justice of the Province; it advised the Governor as modern Cabinets do; and it also constituted a second Chamber. Moreover, its doors were closed against the public, and results only were made known by Black Rod at the bar of the Assembly. So early as 1834, Mr. Alexander Stewart had brought the subject before the House, but nothing was done at that time. In 1836, however, a general election took place, and now the Opposition commanded a majority. Messrs. Joseph Howe and William Annand were returned for Halifax, and found themselves side by side with a compact and resolute party.

The Council was at once the subject of an attack courteously conducted. A resolution was adopted complaining first, of the constitution of that body, and secondly, of the secret character of its deliberations. The Upper House affected to regard the Assembly’s action as a breach of its privileges, whereupon the veteran Reformer, John Young ("Agricola"), of whom mention has already been made, submitted a motion in which the House disclaimed any intention of wounding the Council’s dignity. It was certainly high time that some change should be made. Two family connections, according to Mr. Howe, embraced five seats in that body, and five others were co-partners in a single mercantile firm. A dead-lock ensued which resulted in an appeal on both sides to the Home Government. Shortly after, the Council opened its doors to the public.

Another matter of vital importance was the necessity of complete legislative control over the casual and territorial revenues of Nova Scotia. The Assembly properly insisted upon the power of the purse-strings. The quit-rents belonging to the Crown had already been surrendered conditionally. In 1838, despatches from Lord Glenelg, Colonial Secretary, were received, in which the Home Government surrendered all the revenues, ordered the removal of the Chief Justice from the Council, and sanctioned, though with reluctance, the separation of the Executive from the Legislative Council. The Governor to some extent thwarted the Assembly by his nominations to the Executive, and the result was the commencement of a heated agitation for responsible government. Reference has already been made to Lord John Russell’s despatch to Sir John Harvey, Lieutenant~Governor of New Brunswick. Apart from Lord Glenelg’s admissions, it was taken to be a complete acknowledgment of Colonial autonomy. The Nova Scotian Governor, however, persistently ignored the instructions from Downing Street, and therefore, nothing remained for it in 1840 but to buckle on armour for the strife.

The efforts to secure responsible government in the Maritime Provinces had received a powerful stimulus from recent events in Canada. The mission of Lord Durham had roused public men to action, and a delegation waited on His Lordship from the Provinces, at the head of which was the Hon. Mr. Johnston, of Halifax. They had been invited to do so; and, during the interview, unfolded their complaints. Mr. (now Sir) William Young placed in the Earl’s hands a formal statement of the case. The chief subjects dealt with were the Crown Lands Administration, American encroachments on the fisheries, the enormous expense of the Customs, the extravagant salaries of officials, [The Provincial Secretary had 1,000 pounds sterling, besides holding the lucrative office of Registrar of Deeds. – Campbell’s History of Nova Scotia, p. 326.] and the composition of the lately severed Executive and Legislative Councils. It will be observed that the last topic touched the vital question upon the solution of which depended the practical autonomy of the Province. International disputes apart, the whole matter resolved itself into this: Were the lands and revenues of the colony to be the property of the people, controlled by their representatives and administered by Ministers possessing the confidence of those representatives?

There were two difficulties in the way of responsible government: first, the vacillating conduct of the Colonial office, and secondly, the perverse action of particular Governors. The changes which occurred, from time to time, in Downing Street, were incompatible with consistency. Even the same Minister not unfrequently altered his views and gave contrary instructions at different times. It was Lord Glenelg who, in 1837, first enjoined the selection of public servants acceptable to the majority. But Sir Colin Campbell systematically disregarded the mandate. [The writer was led into the error, by trusting to a current history, of confounding this ruler with Lord Clyde. There were, in fact, two distinct Colin Campbells, and had nothing in common but the name and the martial profession.] In October, 1839, Lord John Russell, contrary to his prior action in 1836, clearly laid down the principles of responsible government in a despatch to Sir John Harvey, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. Messrs. Howe, Young, and the other Reformers of Nova Scotia, rationally contended that this definition of colonial policy should be held to apply to all the Lower Provinces, although only one was directly referred to. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, kept on in the even tenor of his way, in spite of remonstrances from the Assembly. The year 1840 witnessed the culmination of the struggle. A series of resolutions, embodied in an address, were passed, in which the necessity for a radical change in the constitution of the Executive Council was insisted upon. Mr. Uniacke, the only Minister who was acceptable to the House, resigned. Sir Colin, however, was not to be moved, and nothing remained to be done, but to solicit his recall. This extreme step was adopted with reluctance, because personally the Lieutenant-Governor was liked by men of all parties; yet, as a necessity, it was taken firmly, though with studied care and moderation.

In March, a sort of pitched battle was fought before the electors of the town and county of Halifax. The contest was unequal. On one side were Messrs. Howe, Annand, Forrester and Bell, and on the other, a speaker of great power, Solicitor-General Johnston. All of these men, with the distinguished exception of Joseph Howe, were, we believe, Scots by birth or extraction. Ten days after, the Colonial Secretary broadly propounded the doctrine that the majority ought to be represented in the Council. At the same time, that fatal want of clearness in decision, characteristic of Downing Street, seemed to temper its counsels. In England, the entire Ministry must necessarily retire, unless tempted to try the hazard of a general election, so soon as it loses the confidence of the House. The old traditional notion that, in some sort of sense, the Governor occupied a better position than the Crown still haunted the minds of Colonial Secretaries, and served to prolong the controversy, and, in a mischievous way, to throw obstacles in the way of a foregone conclusion, as will speedily be seen; for the end was not yet.

Meanwhile Sir Colin Campbell had been recalled, [A pleasing incident is related of his last levee. Mr. Howe attended, and, after a bow, was retiring, when Sir Colin stretched out his hand, with the remark, "We must not part in that way, Mr. Howe; we fought our differences of opinion honestly; you have acted like a man of honour. Here is my hand." Notwithstanding the heat of the struggle, the bluff soldier withdrew from the scene, with undiminished popularity as a courteous, hospitable and generous man.] and was succeeded by Viscount Falkland. His Excellency proceeded at once to act in obedience to the views recently expressed by the Colonial Secretary in Parliament. It seems difficult to reconcile the Ministry’s position with any tenable or workable theory of Responsible Government. The Executive was still to be chosen according to the Governor’s will; but he was to allow the party of the majority some representation in it, when vacancies occurred. The idea that there should be a homogeneous Cabinet, selected by the leader of the majority, would have been rejected at once. In September, 1840, the Council was entirely composed of the anti-Reform party, and, by all constitutional usage, should have been dismissed en masse. Instead of getting rid of them and giving carte-blanche for the formation of a Ministry to Mr. Howe, Lord Falkland cashiered four members, retained the rest, and appointed Messrs. Howe and McNab as representatives of the majority in the Council. That this was a measure of justice may be admitted; but that Responsible Government was firmly established by seating two Reformers side by side with six opponents can hardly be conceded.

A dissolution of the House left the balance of parties much as before. Mr. Howe was elected Speaker, but resigned in 1843 to become Collector of Colonial Revenues. Mr. (now Sir W.) Young succeeded him in the chair. During this year pseudo-responsible government was put to a crucial test. A majority of the Council were of the old type, and, being alarmed at the growing agitation on educational and other subjects, precipitated a dissolution. Messrs. Howe, Uniacke and McNab, who had protested against this step, at once resigned. The immediate cause of their secession, however, was the appointment of Mr. Almon to a seat in the Cabinet. This was clearly a reactionary move. Lord Falkland claimed perfect freedom in the matter of official selections, and strange to say his recalcitrant advisers appear to have explicitly admitted the claim. The reason assigned for Mr. Almon’s nomination was that, it would demonstrate His Excellency’s confidence in the Premier, Mr. Johnston, who was the new Minister’s brother-in-law. Not a word about the confidence of the Assembly. In February, 1844, the new House met and Mr. Wm. Young was promptly reelected Speaker. Notwithstanding this proof of Opposition strength, the Governor carried his point by a majority of two or three votes. [They appear to have managed matters strangely in those days. Mr. Howe left the Cabinet to become Speaker, and then went back again apparently, although there is no evidence before us that he did so. He then left the Chair to become a Minister. Mr. Young succeeded him, and stepped down in turn to be Minister; resigned and again became Speaker. Moreover, according to Mr. Campbell (History, p. 353), he actually opposed the Address while Speaker in the Parliament of 1844.]

Lord Falkland, of whose good intentions there can be no doubt, then took the extraordinary step of requesting, through an intermediary, the return of the ex-Ministers to office. But, although he avowed himself desirous of reforming the Government, he required of the three gentlemen a pledge that they would abstain from agitation, and further that they should renounce the notion that the Governor stood in a similar position to the Sovereign so far as the House was concerned. ["He also insisted as a condition of acceptance, on an express disavowal of the theory advanced in the Assembly that the representative of the Sovereign stood in the same relation to the representative of the people of the colony which he governed that the monarch does to the House of Commons in England."] In other words he, His Excellency, desired first to muzzle the three ex-Ministers, and to extort an express recantation of the first principle of Responsible Government. Of course, Messrs. Howe, Uniacke and McNab at once declined office upon such humiliating conditions. There was thus a Metcalfe struggle, on a smaller scale in Nova Scotia, and the parallel was farther made good by an experimental tour of Lord Falkland in search of popular backing. The result was not quite satisfactory, but His Excellency could plead a set-off in the shape of an approving despatch from the Colonial Secretary. In August, 1846, after a prolonged controversy of a personal character with Mr. Howe, which was not conducted with much dignity on either side, Lord Falkland retired, and was succeeded by Sir John Harvey.

The new Lieutenant-Governor saw clearly the unsatisfactory position of affairs, and naturally inclined to that facile expedient—the dernier ressort of perplexed viceroys—a coalition. He had extremely rational views of his own about the composition of the Council; but, unfortunately, they were not acceptable to at least one of the parties concerned. Both were nearly equal on a division in the House, but Sir John Harvey would not hear of equal representation in the Cabinet. At the same time he desired something like unanimity at the Board, and, therefore, objected to the notion that the policy of the Government should be decided upon by a majority of votes. Moreover he was a sort of Civil Service reformer in his way, and advocated a fair disposal of public patronage, irrespective of party. A political millennium of that sort, however, was not to be; and is to all appearance as far away now as it was thirty-five years ago. One seat in the Cabinet, and the Solicitor-Generalship were thrown to the malcontents; but, as might have been expected, were at once declined. The Opposition leaders urged that they could not be fairly asked to act with men in whose general policy they had no confidence; and suggested an immediate appeal to the people.

A new election was ordered, therefore, and the House met in January, 1848. Mr. William Young was again elected Speaker by a majority of six votes, and on the Address, a vote of non-confidence in the Ministry passed by twenty-eight to twenty.one. Mr. J. W. Johnston, the Premier, a man of great ability and weight, at once resigned. With this vote, the old colonial system, which had died hard, here as elsewhere, finally passed to its rest, to be embalmed in the museum of historical antiquities.

His Excellency sent, not for Mr. Howe, but Mr. Uniacke, who at once formed a Liberal administration which included the obnoxious chief, as well as Messrs. Bell, McNab and George R. Young, who formed the Scottish element. Hence-forward, for some years, politics ran smoothly enough. The people of Nova Scotia, having secured popular government, settled down to the work of material progress. In 1850, Mr. Johnston made a slight diversion by proposing a string of resolutions, asserting that as the Colonial Office had transformed the constitution, England ought pay the Governor’s salary; and that the Legislative Council should be made elective. The purpose of the latter resolution was eminently conservative beneath the surface, because it aimed at the establishment of a counterpoise to the supremacy of the Assembly as definitively established, under Responsible Government. The House, however, was not in the humour for organic changes, and the resolutions were negatived on a vote of twenty-six to fourteen.

In 1849, Halifax celebrated its centenary. Mr. Beamish Murdoch, the historian, of the Province, whose name sufficiently proclaims his nationality, was the orator of the day. During the political lull of the next few years, the public men of Nova Scotia devoted their attention to the improvement of their educational system, the development of mines, the construction of railways, and the consolidation of the laws. The last of these undertakings was entrusted to a commission, on which Messrs. Young (subsequently Chief Justice of the Province), J. W. Ritchie (now Chief Justice of the Dominion Supreme Court), assisted by James Thomson, were of Scottish extraction. Attempts to secure Imperial aid to an Intercolonial Railway, which promised well at the outset, failed, on the accession to power of Lord Derby, because the Home Government thought the proposed line too close to the frontier. The fishery question again excited attention, and the citizens of Halifax, under the presidency of Mr. Andrew McKinlay, the Mayor, protested against any concession of Nova Scotian rights. Meanwhile Sir John Harvey had died at his post, in March, 1852.

The Government continued in power until after the general elections of 1858, which materially altered the relative strength of parties. Messrs. Howe and Fulton were defeated in Cumberland by Dr. Tupper and Mr. A. McFarlane, and in the following year a vote of non-confidence was carried by twenty-eight to twenty-one. Mr. Johnston was once more called upon to form a Cabinet, with Dr. Tupper, and amongst his colleagues, were Messrs. Stayley Brown and John McKinnon, John Campbell and Charles J. Campbell, all of Scottish birth or origin. The new Government went vigorously to work, especially upon the coal question, which was at last settled by the vesting of all the mines under Provincial control. The Assembly was dissolved in 1859, and the Opposition claimed a majority. When the House met in January, 1860, a dispute at once arose regarding the eligibility of some of the members. The Attorney-General then proposed Mr. Wade, as Speaker, and Mr. Young nominated Mr. Stewart Campbell, the latter being elected by a majority of three. The next step was a motion of want of confidence, which was carried by a majority of two. The Government, however, contended that five or six members were ineligible, because at the time of the election they held offices of profit and emolument under the Crown. Ministers, therefore, advised a dissolution, which the Lieutenant-Governor declined to grant. A change of administration was the result, and Messrs. Young and Howe found themselves once more in power. In 1863 another embarrassment took place after a general election, and the Johnston party once more took office. In this Cabinet were the two Johnstons, James McNab, J. McKinnon and Alexander McFarlane, whilst Jas. McDonald was Commissioner of Railways.

The first measure of importance was the Education Act of 1864 introduced by Dr. Tupper and passed into law. Thence-forward the burning issue was Confederation. Mr. Howe had previously moved in the matter, but without effect; but now in 1864, the Government despairing of a general union of the B. N. A. Provinces, proposed a meeting of delegates to arrange for a union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The legislatures agreed upon this course, and the conference met at Charlottetown on the 1st of September. They were joined there by Mr. (now Sir) J. A. Macdonald, Hon. George Brown, Messrs. Galt, Cartier, McGee, Langevin, Macdougall, and Campbell, from Canada. The larger project now engaged the public mind, and the result was a second meeting at Quebec in October, whereat the basis of Confederation was agreed upon. But the end was not yet. At this time New Brunswick stood in the way, for that Province had, at the polls, pronounced decisively against the proposed union. Dr. Tupper, despairing of success, proposed that, in the meantime, the old negotiations for a smaller union should be continued. Strange to say a sudden change took place in 1866 in the views of the New Brunswick legislature, and resolutions in favour of B. N. A. union passed both Houses.

The subject was at once revived in Nova Scotia, and resolutions were adopted in favour of confederation by a vote of thirty-one to nineteen in the Assembly, and thirty to five in the Council. There was, however, a rift in the lute, and both parties at once nerved themselves for the struggle. Messrs. Annand and Hugh Macdonald joined Mr. Howe in London to oppose the scheme, and were met by Dr. Tupper and five other friends of union. Mr. Howe occupied a vulnerable position since he had previously been a warm friend of the scheme, but he had an active and able champion in Mr. Annand. He and his colleagues did not hesitate to condemn the union as "an act of confiscation and coercion of the most arbitrary kind," and predicted that at the general elections to be held in the coming May, only three counties out of the eighteen would return friends of confederation. Nevertheless, the assembled delegates of all the provinces settled the terms of union at a meeting in London during December. The Bill passed in March, and the Dominion of Canada was formally constituted on the 1st of July.

In March of that year the Nova Scotia Legislature assembled, and the anti confederationists immediately put forward a protest against the Union. The Hon. Stewart Campbell, seconded by Mr. Killam, and supported by Mr. Annand, proposed an amendment to the Address, setting forth that the delegates had transcended their powers, and demanding that the British North America Act should not have any operation in the Province "until it has been deliberately received by the Legislature and sanctioned by the people at polls." On the Government side the struggle was carried on by Dr. Tupper, Mr. Shannon, and others. On a division only sixteen voted for the amendment, and thirty-two against it. The party in power, however, had yet to face the electors. In July a local Government had been organized under the leadership of Mr. Blanchard, and the general elections took place in September. The result showed that Mr. Annand had even overstated the strength of the confederation party, since Dr. Tupper alone was returned to the Commons, whilst Mr. Blanchard and only one supporter found seats in the Assembly. The "Antis" had carried thirty-six seats out of thirty-eight in the latter body. Of course a change of Government was inevitable, and at the head of the new Cabinet appeared the Hon. Mr. Annand.

Naturally the first step taken in the new House was the passage of resolutions for an address to the Crown, expressing the widespread discontent of Nova Scotia at what was styled "a fraud and an imposition;" declaring that the people of the Province did not desire "to be in any way confederated with Canada"; and praying that the royal proclamation be revoked and the Imperial Act repealed, so far as it related to Nova Scotia. A one-sided debate followed, lasting twelve days, and the resolutions were carried with only two dissentient voices. Messrs. Howe, Annand and two others being sent to England to urge compliance with the prayer of the Address, they were confronted by Dr. Tupper. As might have been expected, the Colonial Secretary declined to accede to the prayer of the Provincial Legislature, stating his reasons at length in a despatch to his Excellency, Lord Monck. The Local Government replied, asserting the "constitutional rights" of the Province, and protesting vehemently against the Imperial Act. [The concluding words may be given as of historic value: - "They should proceed with the legislative and other business of the Province, protesting against the Confederation, boldly and distinctly asserting their full purpose and resolution to avail themselves of every opportunity of extricating themselves from the trammels of Canada; and, if they failed after exhausting all constitutional means at their command, they would leave their future destiny in the hands of Him who judges the people righteously, and governs the nations upon earth." – Campbell’s History, p. 462.] Mr. Bright moved in the Imperial Commons in June for a Commission to enquire into Nova Scotia’s discontent; but his motion was negatived in a thin House by one hundred and eighty-three to eighty-seven.

Still, although twice defeated in England, the anti-confederationists appeared to be secure in their own Province. Soon after the return of the delegates, however, a schism occurred in their ranks. Mr. Howe, who had returned from London, as he went thither, a determined opponent of the Union, suddenly resolved to make terms with the Dominion Government, and was joined by Mr. A. W. McLelan, M.P. for Colchester. The result was that, in return for an increased subsidy to the Province, these gentlemen, and those who acted with them, accepted the situation; but, although they were subjected to much obloquy, there can be no doubt that their motives were above suspicion. As Mr. Campbell remarks, perhaps as much cannot be said for the "minor satellites" who went over with them. [History, p. 406.] Mr. Howe entered the Dominion Government as Secretary of State for the Provinces, and subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of his native Province, in which position he died on the 1st of January, 1873, on the verge of three score and ten. He had only been installed in Government House a few weeks before his death. [It may be useful to add here the census of Nova Scotia by origins in 1871: - Scots, 130,741; English, 113,520; Irish, 62,851; French, 32,833; German, 31,942.]

A few biographical notices of prominent public men of Scottish birth or extraction, as full as the scanty accounts at command will permit, may be given here. Mention has already been made of the Youngs who figure so conspicuously in Provincial annals. Sir William is the son of the late Hon. John Young, well known as the author of the letters of "Agricola." The former was born at Falkirk, Stirlingshire, on July 27th, 1799, and educated at Glasgow. His family removed to Nova Scotia, where the father opened a store. In 1820 the son abandoned business and commenced the study of law, for which he had been originally intended, under Mr. Charles Fairbanks, a lawyer of considerable note. He was admitted to the bar in 1826, and in 1835 as barrister in Nova Scotia. Soon after his call he entered into partnership with his two brothers, George R. and Charles. He, as has been seen, was a member of the Legislature, and afterwards served as a Minister in the Uniacke Cabinet of 1848. George was an author of no mean repute, and founded the Nova Scotian newspaper. Charles became subsequently a Judge in Prince Edward Island, prior to which he occupied a prominent position in public life, as will be seen hereafter.

William Young began his public career in 1832, when he was elected as one of the members for Cape Breton, and subsequently for Inverness and Cumberland also. During the entire years of his political life, Mr. Young signalized himself as a pronounced Reformer, protesting against the Imperial claim to quit-rents, and its possession of the coal mines, struggling for reform in the anomalous Legislative Council, and also for shorter Parliaments. He was also an ardent champion of the rights of Nova Scotia fishermen against infringements by the Americans and French. When the struggle for responsible government opened, there could be no doubt of the position to be occupied by him. He at once espoused the cause with ardour, and was sent to visit Lord Durham, in company with Mr. Johnston. Again in 1839 he was once more a delegate to England to press reform upon the Home Government in the matter of customs, excise and crown lands. When the conflict occurred with Sir Colin Campbell, Mr. Young threw all his energy and eloquence into the scale. In company with Mr. Howe, he and Messrs Forrester and Bell, who were "brither Scots," assailed the arbitrary action of the Lieutenant-Governor, both in and out of the House

In 1843, he was elected Speaker in place of Mr. Howe, who had accepted office, but early next year he vacated the chair in order to take his place in the Executive Council. In a new House he was again elected to the Speakership amidst general applause The contest, as already related, continued under Lord Falkland’s administration, and was only terminated by the arrival of Sir John Harvey as Lieutenant Governor. Meanwhile Mr. Young was one of the foremost of the combatants. He had not only fought valiantly at home, but visited the Reformers of Upper Canada, and received the honour of a banquet from Mr. Baldwin and his brother Liberals at Toronto. Early in 1848 the prolonged controversy came to a close. Mr. Young was again elected Speaker, and Mr. Howe was once more in power. In 1850 he was a member of a commission to consolidate the laws of the Province, and in 1857, became, on Mr. Howe’s appointment to the Railway Board, Premier and Attorney-General. An injudicious letter from Mr. Howe which had given great offence to the Roman Catholics, caused a defeat of the Government; but at the general election in 1859, the tables were again turned. The Opposition candidate for Speaker triumphed and Mr. Young was reappointed Premier and also President of the Council. In 1860, he succeeded Sir Brenton Haliburton as Chief Justice of the Province, and soon afterwards was also made Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. He received the honour of knighthood, in recognition of his long public and judicial services, in 1868. Sir William Young occupied his seat on the bench until 1881, when he retired, as Chief Justice, to be succeeded by the Hon. James McDonald, Minister of Justice.

His career has been in every respect an honourable one. In Parliament and on the platform, he was always eloquent and his conduct on the Bench reflected the highest credit on his learning and ability. No subject, as has been well remarked, [Canadian Portrait Gallery, iv. 47.] was foreign to him. He distinguished himself as a student in arts, letters and science, as well as in politics and jurisprudence. A speech at the Dufferin banquet was one of the latest of his public efforts. Sir William was a Governor of Dalhousie College, and for some years President of the North British Society. One of his St. Andrew’s Day addresses lies before us and gives a fair idea of the learning and eloquence he could display on public occasions. He is a man of fine presence, and at the age of over eighty, is still hale, firm of step, and bright in eye. In 1880, Sir William and Lady Young celebrated their golden wedding. He had been fifty years married, and almost as long in the service of his fellow-countrymen.

The Hon. William Annand was born at Halifax, of Scottish parentage, in 1808, and received his education there. In 1837, he was elected along with Mr. Howe to the Nova Scotia Assembly for Halifax county, and remained ever afterwards a staunch ally of the Reform leader. Mr. Annand took part in all the struggles for responsible government, and for complete autonomy of the colony, and in the prosecution of railway and telegraph enterprises. His influence in public affairs was largely due to his connection with the press—he being proprietor of the Morning Chronicle and Nova Scotian, published at Halifax. In May, 1844, Mr. Howe joined him in the redaction, and both together assailed with vigour the attitude of Lord Falkland. In some instances, Mr. Howe, at all events, transgressed against the ordinary amenities of political controversy. Amongst other questions in which Mr. Annand moved at an early date, was the endowment of denominational colleges, and he succeeded in getting a vote against it in the Assembly, on a division, of twenty-six to twenty-one. When Sir John Harvey succeeded to the Lieutenant-Governorship, the triumph of responsible government was complete, yet Mr. Annand did not appear in the list of the Uniacke Ministry of 1848, but for some years held the lucrative post of Queen’s Printer. After the general election of 1859, however, Mr. Annand took office under his old chief as Financial Secretary. In 1863 the Government was defeated at the polls; and Dr. Tupper became Premier. From 1864 onwards Mr. Annand, as we have seen, devoted all his energies against confederation. He opposed the Quebec Conference, went to England to obstruct its consummation, and subsequently to urge the repeal of the Act. At the elections of 1867 he suffered a defeat. He had been called to the Legislative Council of his own Province, but resigned to prevent Dr. Tupper from being returned to the Commons for Cumberland. The attempt was a bold one, but failed. The Doctor received 1368 votes; Mr. Annand, 1271. Considering all things, the majority was not a large one, and the defeated candidate had the satisfaction of knowing that his opponent was the only confederate in the Nova Scotian delegation to Ottawa: On the seventh of November in that eventful year, Mr. Annand was called upon to form a Provincial Government and became Premier, and Treasurer, but subsequently resigned the latter office in favour of Mr. Stayley Brown.

It may now be as well to note some of the minor members of Mr. Annand’s party, with short, biographical references. The Hon. Stayley Brown, just mentioned, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, where he was born in 1801. The family emigrated to Nova Scotia and settled in Yarmouth about the year 1813. He was a merchant of ability and success, and, without serving any apprenticeship in the Assembly, was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1843. In January, 1856, Mr. Brown became Receiver-General in the Conservative Administration of the Hon. Jas. W. Johnston, and held office till the break-up of the Cabinet in 1860. During about ten months from March, 1874, he was Speaker of the Council; then entered the Local Cabinet as Treasurer of Nova Scotia. The Hon. Daniel Macdonald boasts descent from the Lords of the Isles, but was personally born at Antigonish, N. S., in 1817. A lawyer by profession, he had arrived at the age of fifty, when he first entered the Legislature in 1867. In 1872, he became a Cabinet Minister, taking the department of Public Works, and in 1875, the Attorney-Generalship. The Hon. Colin Campbell belongs to one of the Argyle families of Campbell. His grandfather, who settled in America in 1770, was a public man in Nova Scotia, and a M. P. P. as far back as 1793. Colin was born in 1822 at Shelburne, N. S., and was educated at Digby and Weymouth. A ship-owner and merchant, he served on the Directorate of an Insurance Company, and also as local bank agent. Mr. Campbell originally belonged to the Howe party, but was attracted by the retrenchment schemes of Dr. Tupper, and went over to the Conservative party. He sat for Digby from 1859 to 1867, when he was one of the many rejected on the question of Confederation, being defeated by Messrs. Vail and Doucett. In 1871, however, he regained his seat by a large majority, and again in 1875, but in 1878 he once more suffered misfortune: and is not now in the House. In 1875 he was made an Executive Councillor, and had a portfolio under Mr. Annand.

The Hon. Hugh McDonald sprang from the McDonalds of the Keppeck in the Scottish Highlands. He was born at Antigonish in 1826. In 1855 he was called to the bar, and received the honours of the silk in 1872. After a preliminary defeat Mr. McDona1d obtained a seat in the Nova Scotia Assembly for Inverness in 1859, and filled the seat until 1862, in which year he declined the SolicitorGeneralship. In 1863 the Howe party were beaten at the general elections, one of the victims being Mr. McDonald. He next appears as one of the anti-confederation delegates to London in 1866, with Messrs. Howe and Annand. In the following year the strong tide against the union raised Mr. McDonald to the Commons, to which he was elected for Antigonish by an overwhelming majority over the Hon. Mr. Henry. In June, 1873, he was sworn in as President of the Privy Council, and next month became Minister of Militia. On the eve of the resignation of the Macdonald Government, he was raised to the Nova Scotia Bench, as Judge of the Superior Court of Nova Scotia, a position he still occupies.

The Hon. James McDonald, now Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, also belongs to a Highland family settled in Pictou many years ago. He was born at East River, in that county, on the 1st of July, 1828, and educated at New Glasgow. Unlike his namesake he was from the first a Conservative, and a friend of Confederation so soon as it became a vital question. He was called to the bar in 1857, and became Q.C. in the year of the union. Mr. McDonald sat for his native county from 1859 to 1867. In June, 1863, he was appointed Commissioner of Railways when Dr. Tupper’s administration was formed, and towards the close of the following year succeeded Mr. LeVisconte, who had retired, as Financial Secretary and Cabinet Minister. This appointment, says Mr. Campbell (p. 560), proved an important accession to the administrative capacity and strength of the Government. The year 1867 was an unfortunate one for unionists, and Mr. McDonald, fared like the rest of his party, save Dr. Tupper, in the Dominion contest. A candidate for Pictou, he was defeated by Col. Carmichael, the latter’s majority being nearly three hundred and sixty. At the local elections of 1871 he once more obtained a seat in the Nova Scotia Assembly, but resigned in the following year to try conclusions with his old opponent for the Commons. This time he was triumphantly returned, with Mr. Doull, by a majority of two hundred and five over Mr. Carmichael. Once more in the year 1874, he was marked out for defeat, and as one of Sir John Macdonald’s supporters when the latter passed under the Pacific Railway cloud, was once more rejected, though by a slender majority. [The vote stood, Jas. W. Carmichael, 2178; John A. Dawson, 2124; Robt. Doull, 2123; Jas. McDonald, 2110.] In 1878, the tables were again turned, and Mr. McDonald, under cover of the National Policy, was victorious by a majority of over three hundred. When the Liberal-Conservative Cabinet was formed, the member for Pictou was appointed Minister of Justice, and, on appealing to his constituents, re-elected by acclamation. This office he continued to fill until May, 1881, when, on the retirement of Sir William Young, Mr. McDonald was raised to the Bench as Chief Justice of Nova Scotia.

The Hon. John William Ritchie, Judge in Equity of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, is a brother of Chief Justice William Johnston Ritchie, of the Dominion Supreme Court. Their father, Thomas Ritchie, was also a Judge, though of an inferior Court. Mr. Ritchie was born at Annapolis, on the 26th of March, 1808, and educated at Pictou. Having adopted the legal profession, he was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1832, and to that of Prince Edward Island in 1836. For some years Mr. Ritchie was Law Clerk to the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, and in May, 1864 became a member of that body—a position he retained until the union. So far back as 1850, he had served on the Commission to consolidate and simplify the laws of the Province, and subsequently, with Messrs. Howe and Gray, to adjust the tenants’ right question in Prince Edward Island. It does not appear that he was ever an ardent politician; still he was a sufficiently prominent public man to be one of the Tupper delegation to London in favour of confederation in 1865. In the Cabinet which brought about confederation, he served as Solicitor-General with a seat in the Cabinet. When the Union had been consummated, Mr. Ritchie was called to the Dominion Senate, and remained in that position until June, 1870, on his appointment as Judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. When Judge Archibald left the Bench to assume the Lieutenant-Governorship of the Province, in 1873, Judge Ritchie was promoted to the post of Judge in Equity, which he still fills with dignity and credit, notwithstanding his advanced years. Of his brother, the Chief Justice, it will be necessary to speak under the New Brunswick section of this chapter.

The Hon. James William Johnston, whose name figures so conspicuously in the history of Nova Scotia, as a statesman, lawyer, and judge, was the son of Dr. Johnston, of Edinburgh University, a loyalist immigrant who settled in Jamaica. There, at Kingston, in 1792 (29th August), Mr. Johnston was born. He was sent to Scotland to be educated, and, after his return, the family removed to Nova Scotia. Admitted to the bar in 1815, he began the practice of his profession at Kentville. He subsequently entered into partnership with the Hon. Mr. Robie. Mr. Johnston’s rise was rapid, and he soon attained a first place at the Nova Scotia bar—a position he retained until his elevation to the Bench. His oratory was fervid and effective, and he peculiarly excelled at cross-examination. On one occasion, "his bursts of impassioned eloquence seemed to sweep as with the force of a tornado, bearing down all before them."[The Canadian Biographical Dictionary: Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, p. 532.] In 1833 he was made Solicitor-General, but the office was not political, and it was not until 1838 that at the urgent desire of Sir Colin Campbell he accepted a seat in the Legislative Council, and began his public career. Into the political arena Mr. Johnston carried the same ability and earnestness which had distinguished him at the bar. He was a Conservative, one might almost say, by heredity, and regarded with suspicion proposed changes in the constitutional system of the Province. In 1843, on his appointment to the Attorney-Generalship, Mr. Johnston resigned his seat in the Council, and was elected M.P.P. for Annapolis, which he represented without a break until his elevation to the Bench. In him Lord Falkland found an able and ready champion with tongue and pen; and in the conduct of his defence he exhibited consummate tact. But the spirit of the times was too strong for even his distinguished ability, and after the elections of 1847 he found himse1f compelled to resign. In 1850 Mr. Johnston took the singular step of proposing that as the constitution of the Province had been radically changed by Downing street the Lieutenant-Governor ought, in future, to be paid by the Imperial authorities. Of course the motion was defeated, and by a vote of twenty-six to fourteen. In 1856 the Liberal Government fell from power, chiefly owing to its attitude towards the Catholics, and. Mr. Johnston once more formed a Government, with Dr. Tupper, Messrs. McKinnon, Stayley Brown and the two Campbells. In 1857, in company with the present Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, [The Archibalds ought by rights to have been Scots, and no doubt were so originally, but they appear to have tarried during several generations in the North of Ireland. Hence it would seem to be stretching a point to claim them.] he proceeded to England in order to secure the abolition of the monopoly in mines. In 1860 the Liberals were again in power, but in 1863 Mr. Johnston for the last time formed a Government, from which in the same year he retired, on being appointed Judge of the Supreme Court. On the bench, although advanced in years, he displayed the same clear and vigorous intellect that had achieved so much and it remained unimpaired to the last. Judge Johnston was in England when Lieutenant-Governor Howe died in 1873, but the Dominion Government at once offered him the high position. Although eighty-one years of age, twelve years Mr. Howe’s senior, he at first accepted the office, but found that it would be impossible to leave England. He died at Cheltenham on the 21st of November in the same year. Mr. Johnston was the first in the Maritime Provinces to suggest a confederation of the Provinces. In 1854 he moved a resolution in its favour, and was thus the earliest to bring the subject before any Legislature. [Mr. (now Sir) A. T. Galt took a similar course in 1858.] The hon. gentleman was, like Mr. Mackenzie, of Ontario, a Baptist, and a strenuous advocate of a prohibitory liquor law. His whole career, political bias apart, was an eminently useful and honourable one. It may be added that his grandfather, who originally settled at Savannah, Georgia, believed himself entitled to the dormant title of Marquis of Annandale—a name he gave to his estate in the South. As a loyalist, he left the country, and after a short sojourn in Britain finally settled in Jamaica, as already stated. The Hon. Mr. Johnston’s son, bearing the same name, is now Judge of the County Court of the City and District of Halifax.

The Hon. John McKinnon, already mentioned, is descended from the McKinnons of the Western Isles. His father emigrated to this Province (county of Sydney), from Inverness-shire. The family is Highland Catholic, and a younger brother of the same gentleman was Catholic Bishop of Arichat up to the time of his death in 1878. He, himself, has always been a farmer—one of the sturdy, old Scottish stock. He was born in November, 1808, at Dorchester, Antigonish, N.S., for which county he sits in the Assembly. He was a member of the Conservative Administration of 1857 and 1860. Again in July, 1867, he was appointed a member of the first Local Government, but the ill-fated Cabinet perished in the anti-confederate storm of that autumn. He, Mr. McKinnon, however, only suffered the loss of office, as he had been a member of the Legislative Council since 1857. In spite of the lack of educational opportunities he was a well-instructed man, and not thought disqualified for a place on the Board of Education, with Messrs. Tupper, Johnston, Henry and Ritchie as colleagues. As a magistrate also for forty years, and an agricultural commissioner, Mr. McKinnon has performed most valuable services.

Hon. Alexander Keith’s name has not hitherto appeared in these pages, yet at confederation, he became Speaker of Legislative Council. His father was chief of the Keith, and he himself was born on the 5th of October, 1795 at Falkirk in Caithness-shire. Like almost all Scots, he received a good education, and was then sent to Sunderland in England to learn the brewing and malting business. Five years after, in 1817, the family removed to Ha1ifax, and young Keith at once entered into a brewery partnership, persevering until he became sole owner of the business, and subsequently acquiring an independent fortune. Prior to the incorporation of the city, Mr. Keith was commissioner in the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards served as Mayor of the City of Halifax in 1843, 1853, and 1854; he was for a long period a Director of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Called to the Legislative Council in 1843, he sat that body for thirty years. In 1867 when the Local Legislature was constituted he became President of the Upper House. In the same year he was elected to the Dominion Senate, but declined the honour. The Presidency he held at the time of his death on the 14th December, 1873. Mr. Keith was an ardent Mason, filled high Offices in the craft, and was deeply respected by the brethren of the "mystic tie." His widow, with whom he lived forty years, a son and three daughters survive him, and live together, all but one married daughter, at "Keith Hall," the family homestead.

Another "old-stager," but a Haligonian by birth, is Hon. Alexander Stewart, who at the time of his death was Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Halifax. His father, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, arrived in Nova Scotia with his wife shortly previous to Alexander’s birth at Halifax on the 30th of January, 1794. He was the eldest of a family of three, the two sons afterwards becoming partners in the practice of law, and one daughter. His father died early, leaving the widow in poor circumstances; but she subsequently married again. Alexander was educated at the grammar school of Halifax, and he made the most of his opportunities. For some time he was employed as clerk in the Ordnance Department. This position did not satisfy young Stewart’s ambition. When he announced his intention of retiring, his chief remonstrated with him, remarking that in time he would rise to be head clerk. His reply was that he would not remain if he could not rise higher than the chief of the department himself. His next venture was in commerce. Entering a West India house, he soon became a member of the firm, and, in a few years, saved enough to retire and gratify his desire to enter the legal profession. Having studied at Halifax and Amherst, he was called to the bar in 1822. Meanwhile, on the principle, perhaps, that one good turn deserves another, he had been united to Sarah, sister of the Hon. Mr. Morse, who had married his sister. Mr. Stewart rose rapidly in his profession, practising in Cumberland County, and also in Westmoreland, N.B. In 1826, he was elected to the Nova Scotia Assembly, and represented Cumberland until 1837, when he was raised to the Legislative Council. In 1834, he made a powerful attack on the constitution of the Legislative Council, advocating open sittings and its separation from the Executive, [Campbell, p. 293.] and in the same year vigorously aided Mr, Young in urging the surrender of the quit-rents. [Ibid. p. 299.] In 1840, he became a member of the Executive Council. For some time past, Mr. Stewart had practised at Halifax, and in 1846 succeeded Mr. Archibald as Master of the Rolls and Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. The former position he vacated, on a pension, when the Chancery Court was abolished in 1855. In the following year he was honoured with the Companionship of the Bath,—the first colonist, it is said, so distinguished. The other Judgeship he retained until his death on New Year’s day, 1868. [It may not be amiss to quote a tribute to his character cited in the Canadian Biographical Dictionary, p. 414. "Stewart, physically, was a handsome man; and intellectually he stood high among Nova Scotia’s distinguished men forty or fifty years ago. There is not in our local legislature at present, a man of such startling eloquence and commanding ability. Were the equal of him, by some accident or chance, suddenly placed in our Assembly to-day, what a sensation would thereby be created! What a shaking up of dry bones! In the presence of such an eagle, there would be a fluttering among the sparrows." – New Glasgow Plaindealer.]

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles James Campbell is a native Scot, having been born in Skye, in Inverness-shire, on Nov. 6th, 1819. He came to Nova Scotia in 1830 and engaged in commercial pursuits. For a generation past he has been engaged in developing the New Campbelltown coal mines; and was the first to send a cargo direct from Nova Scotia to Australia. In addition to these enterprises he has also busied himself with seal and herring fishing, oil-wells, gold mining, marble, lime, and salt-springs. Col. Campbell was unfortunate in his first entrance upon parliamentary life. He was elected for Victoria in 1851, but was unseated on petition. In 1855, he was returned once more, and sat till 1859 when he lost his seat for defending Catholic rights. In 1860, he was elected, but again unseated; three years after he was once more a member, only to lose his election in 1867 on account of his confederation views. Yet again, in 1871 Mr. Campbell headed the poll, and in the following year was elevated to the Legislative Council, of which he remained member about two years and a half. In 1874, he secured election to the Commons by a majority of eighteen, but was unseated on a recount. In 1876, he was once more returned, and sat until 1878, when he lost his seat by over a hundred vote although a Conservative He is a strong advocate of retaliatory duties, especially on coal, and generally on manufactures. During his brief career at Ottawa, Mr. Campbell strongly opposed the Mackenzie administration, and prophesied its defeat, although perhaps he did not foresee his own. As few men have met with more ups and downs in public life, so also, it may be said, there are few who have done so much to develop the resources of his country. Mr. Campbell has had a large family, for, although two children were removed by death, he has still six sons and two daughters, the younger of the latter still at school. His career, as a notable example of Scottish energy, thrift and intelligence, well deserves a more ample record.

The public career of Mr. Alexander Mackay is another example of the striking upheaval which occurred in Nova Scotia in the confederation year. His parents settled in the County of Pictou, from Sutherlandshire, in 1815, and he was born there at West River, three years afterwards. Educated at Pictou Academy, he resembled the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie in his earlier fortunes, having been a mason and builder. Later on he devoted himself to farming and trade. Since 1858 he has been a magistrate, but he does not appear upon the political arena until 1863. Mr. Mackay was a Conservative and supported Dr. Tupper in his struggle for union. During the political whirlwind of 1867, he was sacrificed to popular fury; but he found favour once more in 1872, and has since been returned at two general elections by acclamation. He is a crucial instance of Scottish energy and probity. Attached to the Church of his fathers with characteristic zeal, he has been an elder in the Kirk for more than twenty years; and in the words of a biographer, merits the title of "honest Scotchman" with emphasis.

Almost outside the sphere of politics, we may note, merely as a sample, for there are many like him, Mr. Donald Grant, of the same county. Well known as a builder and manufacturer, far and wide, he was originally the son of a carpenter from Inverness-shire, and of Sophia Macdonald, a Scottish daughter of the heatherland at Pictou. Equipped with so much of the rudiments as could be supplied, Mr. Grant commenced life as an apprentice to his father’s trade. Thence he gradually mounted the ladder, as a builder upon a small scale, and so on upward to the position of a manufacturer. Beginning life without a dollar, or with any other endowment save what Providence had vouchsafed, he has risen purely by energy, enterprise and thrift to be a power in the railway world of Nova Scotia. Mr. Grant, although a Conservative, has never been tempted into public life, although he has served in the municipal council of New Glasgow, and is, or was until recently, Warden there. His name and career seem worthy of record even thus briefly, because he is a specimen brick of the stiff Scottish clay which underlies the stable fabric of Nova Scotia.

There are still a considerable number of Scots whose names might well find a place here; but, unfortunately, the facts necessary to give sketches of them are very scanty. A few, however, may be mentioned. Mr. Robert Doull, at present one of the members for Pictou at Ottawa, hails from the extreme north of Scotland, having been born at Wick, Caithness, in 1828. He was still an infant in arms, when his parents left their native land to settle at Pictou. Like his father, Mr. Doull is a merchant, and also a magistrate, a Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, and a Director of the Pictou Bank. For fifteen years he was Treasurer for the county, and has occupied a prominent position in the Order of Odd-fellows. In 1872, Mr. Doull was elected first to the House of Commons as a Liberal Conservative. The events of 1873, however, had caused a reaction throughout the Dominion, and in March, 1874, a large majority were returned in favour of the Liberal Government, which, had assumed office in the previous November. The member for Pictou was one of the victims, but although the vote was heavy, he only lost his seat by a majority of one. [Mr. Dawson, also a Pictou merchant, received 2,124 votes; Mr. Doull 2,123.] In 1878, the wheel of fortbune once more turned in his favour and made him amends. On that occasion his majority was nearly two hundred and fifty.

Lieutenant-Colonel, the Hon. Stewart Campbell, Q.C., has also had his ups and downs. Like the Hon. Mr. Johnston, he is a native of Jamaica. He was the son of a militia General Officer, who distinguished himself during the rebellion there in 1832. Mr. Stewart Campbell was born in 1812, and, removing to Nova Scotia, received a call to the bar in 1835. Between 1863 and 1865, he served on the Commission to revise the statutes. In public life, besides filling some subordinate judicial offices, Mr. Campbell sat for Guysborough continuously from 1851 to 1867 in the Assembly, and from 1867 to 1874 in the Commons—a period of over twenty-three years. From 1854 to 1860, he served as Speaker of the Assembly. Mr. Campbell was politically a Liberal, but he had supported the Dominion Government since its formation, and when the re-action came, in 1874, he succumbed to Mr. Kirk, a supporter of the Opposition, and there his political career ended.

Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Kirk, as a Liberal, has also suffered from political vicissitudes. He is the grandson of a native of Dumfries-shire, who served in the British army during the American revolutionary war and settled in Nova Scotia. Mr. John Angus Kirk was born at Glenelg, Nova Scotia, in 1837, and was brought up a farmer. From 1867 to 1874, he sat for Guysborough in the Assembly, when he resigned to be a candidate for the same seat in the Commons. He succeeded in defeating the Hon. Stewart Campbell by a majority of over two hundred. In 1878, however, there was a reaction of another sort, and Mr. Kirk lost his seat by nearly one hundred and seventy votes.

Amongst the Senators, one may be mentioned who has passed from the scene. The Hon. John Holmes was born in Ross-shire as far back as March, 1789, and came to Nova Scotia in 1803. In 1836, he was elected M.P.P. for Victoria, and sat for it during eleven years, until 1847, when he suffered defeat. At the next general election he was more successful, and remained a member from 1851 to 1858. In the latter year he was elevated to the Legislative Council, in which body he continued until the Union. In 1867, when seventy-eight years of age, he was called to the Senate. He died about 1870, having been in public life, with the short exception referred to, for thirty-four years. The Hon. Alexander Macfarlane, Q.C., who appears to have succeeded Mr. Holmes, is a Nova Scotian of Scottish descent, the son of the late Hon. Donald Macfarlane, and born at Wallace, Nova Scotia, in June, 1817. He was called to the bar in 1844, and is now Surrogate of the Vice-Admiralty. Mr. Macfarlane sat for Cumberland from 1856 to the Union, and during the last two years of that period occupied a seat at the Council Board. He was one of the Nova Scotia delegates to the London Conference which settled the terms of Confederation. In 1870, he was called to the Senate, of which he is still a member.

The course of political events in New Brunswick ran in much the same groove as the struggle in Nova Scotia, with two important exceptions. Party feeling did not run so high in the former Province, and the entire controversy touching responsible government was settled at an earlier date. [Fenety: Political Notes and Observations.] So early as 1832, the Executive Council was separated from the Legislative; but the Governor and his friends were still independent of popular control. The Crown Land Department was a close bureau, completely beyond any legislative influence. Out of the casual and territorial revenues, the dominant party could defray all current expenditure without reference to the Assembly. Having the power of the purse in their hands, the Executive might defy votes of non-confidence and treat with supreme indifference both the censures and remonstrances of the people’s representatives. Sir Archibald Campbell, who was at this time Lieutenant-Governor, like his namesake of Nova Scotia, was a bluff soldier, and tenaciously clung to the existing system. In 1836, Mr. L. Wilmot (a cousin of the present Lieutenant-Governor), assumed the leadership of the Reform party, and proved to be the Joseph Howe or William Young of New Brunswick. As usual the steps taken were simply tentative. At the outset all that was sought was a periodical account of the revenue; but this, once conceded, naturally involved legislative criticism and control over the expenditure. Still the old system died hard; and the conflict was prolonged during some years. The ruling clique had upon its side the Governor; and he was invariably backed by the Colonial office. Downing Street not only supported its agents, but laid down unconstitutional maxims by means of despatches. The procedure of any particular time was thus dependent upon the whim of the Colonial Secretary; his despatches were law, and objection to them was futile.

In 1837, in the absence of an expected missive from home, the Lieutenant Governor assumed a haughty demeanour and requested the House to pass the Civil List Bill with a suspensory clause, pending the pleasure of the Crown. The Assembly enquired whether Sir Archibald Campbell would assent to the Bill at the close of the Session, as the Houses had passed it, provided a favourable answer should arrive in the meantime. The Governor refused to give more than an indirect answer; but he had sent over Mr. Street, a trusty member of the Council, to "button-hole" the Colonial Secretary. The Assembly took alarm, and at once denounced the Governor by resolution, and demanded his recall. Messrs. Crane and Wilmot were sent to London, and the result of their representations was the retirement of Sir Archibald, and the arrival as Governor of Major-General Sir John Harvey. With his arrival, the struggle for responsible government practically terminated for the time in New Brunswick. The Civil List Bill was passed, and, amidst great rejoicing, the Assembly voted money to secure a full length portrait of Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary. For some years affairs proceeded calmly in the Province. So long as Sir John Harvey remained, nothing arose to mar the general content. But as Canada had its Lord Metcalfe, New Brunswick was fated to enjoy a ruler of the same type in the person of Sir William Colebrooke. His predecessor had been a pronounced Reformer, by his efforts the boundary dispute which before and afterwards caused infinite trouble to the Province, was temporarily adjusted, and he had left for Newfoundland amidst the universal regrets of the people. Sir William Colebrooke was a man of another stamp altogether, and changes in the Imperial government had materially altered the complexion of its policy towards the colonies. In addition to that, the Province was suffering from serious depression in the lumber-trade, and St. John had recently suffered from a destructive conflagration, such as unhappily we have seen repeated in recent times. A necessary consequence of these disasters was a falling-off in the revenue. The Assembly then appealed to the Imperial Government for a loan; but Lord Stanley (the late Earl Derby) roundly lectured them upon their wasteful expenditure. The revenues had been placed at their disposal, and already the large surplus had been frittered away. The Colonial Secretary broadly hinted that they had proved themselves incapable of managing their own affairs. Obviously a second political crisis was at hand. The cry of danger to responsible government was raised, but at the general election of 1842, it fell flat. The electorate generally was either indifferent or too strongly loyal, to heed the agitators. As in Canada, shortly after, the Conservatives triumphed, and Sir William Colebrooke, like Lord Metcalfe, received congratulatory addresses in large numbers from every quarter. He was hailed as the champion of monarchy and, for the moment, the party of progress was cast into the shade. In 1844 on a vacancy occurring in the Executive, he appointed a gentleman after his own heart, and distinctly of his own mere motion. At once four ministers resigned. Three of them, Messrs. Hugh Johnston, Chandler, and Hazen, freely admitted the prerogative right of the Governor, yet disputed the propriety of this special exercise of it. The position of affairs was certainly anomalous. Mr. Reade, the provisional appointee to the Provincial Secretaryship was not, properly speaking, a New Brunswicker, even by domicile. The office was not only a lucrative one, but held for life; and, therefore Mr. Wilmot and his friends hastened to employ this arbitrary display of prerogative on behalf of responsible government. The Reform party urged that so important an officer should be the head of a department, and a responsible adviser of the Crown, liable like other executive councillors to removal when the Cabinet had forfeited the confidence of the people’s representatives. It does not appear necessary to follow this controversy into detail. [For a full account of the cases, see Fenety’s Political Notes, vii., viii and ix.] It may suffice to remark that, in the end, the Assembly prevailed. The Colonial Office declined to confirm Mr. Reade’s appointment, and the Hon. Mr. Saunders obtained the office. At the same time, the reform sought for by Mr. Wilmot was not formally conceded for several years afterwards. All, therefore, that the year 1845 brought forth, politically, was a particular success, without express recognition of the principle at stake. The action of Sir William Colebrooke was all the more galling, because the appointment of Mr. Reade was a rather coarse reply to a direct vote of want of confidence in the Council, passed by twenty-two to nine in the Assembly at the beginning of a Session.

In and throughout 1847 the controversy raged with little or no effect; but in 1848, the friends of responsible government were materially aided by the despatch of Earl Grey to the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. On the 24th of February, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Ritchie both introduced resolutions which affirmed the principles of colonial government stated in the Colonial Secretary’s missive. The former gentleman’s motion was ultimately put to the vote and carried by twenty-four to eleven after an exciting and protracted debate. As in Canada, the Government party insisted that responsible government was in full force, notwithstanding the fact that appointments to the Council were made arbitrarily by the Governor, and that the votes of the majority were ostentatiously disregarded. As Mr. Fenety remarks [p.278.], the battle was really fought for New Brunswick in Canada and Nova Scotia, and the fact that in the final vote men of both parties united demonstrated the folly of farther resistance. At the same time the Province now under consideration was the first to insist upon the great weapon in the power of a representative assembly—the initiation of money grants. It also had long preceded Nova Scotia in the separation of the Legislative Council from the Executive. There only remained the inevitable battle for the spoils, in which both parties approved themselves equally sincere and in earnest. After the session of 1848, Sir W. Colebrooke retired and was succeeded by Sir Edmund W. Head, the first civilian who had ever occupied the Lieutenant-Governorship and the grandson of a U. E. Loyalist of 1783. The period of his Vice-royalty covers what may be called the speculative era, when the railway mania was in progress and the reciprocity treaty concluded. In 1852, the line of the Intercolonial Railway was agreed upon, but the Provinces concerned failed, as we have seen, to secure the Imperial guarantee. Nevertheless, the Grand Trunk of Canada, and the St. John and Shediac of New Brunswick, were put under contract. In 1854, Sir Edmund Head departed to encounter squalls in Canada, and gave place to Mr. Henry Manners-Sutton, who, in turn, was succeeded by the Hon. Arthur Gordon, in 1861.


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