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SB jKjg«w':pjK-^?ss!S8B:jwewwy'!TH*=e»f,w?»*Ti.^ :%'m^%"U. W'' J To the Electors of the County of Hants. Gentlemen — You have at present a duty to perform which sur- pasoOcj in importance any that you have ever dis- charged as an electoral body. It requires, there- fore, attention proportioned to its importance. Howsoever you may act, it is sure to affect your- selves immediately, or at any rate very soon, and its effects will be felt by your [posterity. Should you err in choosing a wrong representative for the Dominion Parliament, do not for a moment imagine that it is a small matter; and should you be so for- tunate as to elect the proper person, you will do a blessed thing for yourselves, for the Province, and for posterity, and history will celebrate the wisdom of your judgment. Everything must or ought to be done by you with calmness and after mature de- liberation. But I am ready to admit that this is a time when it is peculiarly difficult to act with calmness. The very greatness of the event to some extent disturbs the mind, and makes us liable to be swayed more by prejudice than by reason; and it is with a view to diminish this danger that I, though with much diffidence, take the liberty of addressing to you some reflections which ought to influence you in making choice of your representative. And I do it the m.ore readily, because I see unprincipled poli- ticians using their bes^ exertions to arouse those an- gry passions which every good citizen would wish to I I ' see allayed on such an occasion. But to them it is a small matter whether you are led to commit an irretrievable blunder, provided they thereby secure some selfish ends or gain a party triumph. The election over, everything of moment to these adven- turers is finished; but your concernment then scarcely begins, and, who can calculate its end ! In the minds of some of the electors a prejudice exists against Mr. Howe, and although it cannot be strong, as it is merely a shrub transplanted from Halifax, which has not yet taken root, I shall not pass it over with the contempt it perhaps deserves, but ex- amine its character, and show you how essential it will be for you to discard it utterly from your minds. It is not surprising indeed that a preju- dice should Jiave arisen against the Hon. Joseph Howe ; because to have to bear such prejudices is one of the misfortunes attending a far-seeing wis- dom that boldly utters its convictions. A similar prejudice arose against the great Edmund Burke, which cost him his seat — a similar prejudice arose against Sir Robert Peel when he became the judi- cious advocate of Free Trade — a similar prejudice arose against the present Prime Minister of Eng- land in that University that gloried in his genius — and a similar prejudice arose against Lord Macau- lay, the most brilliant of writers and the purest of statesmen, in the capital ot Scotland. Everybody knows how the electors of Edinburgh afterwards re- pented their temerity in rejecting him, and how they made the most honorable amends in their power by re-electing him as their representative in Parlia- ment, without putting him to the trouble of a can- vass, or even a desire expressed on his part to be elected. Yon will repent likewise, if you now vote amiss: but the Hon. Mr. Howe is not in the prime of youth, and afterwards your contrition may be able only to manifest itself in useless self-reproaches. The Morning Chronicle, Mr. Howe's ablest op- ponent, attempts to make a strong point out of the honorable gentleman's inconsistency in first seekinc: and then abandoning Repeal ; but it is an easy mat- ter to show that this argument is weak in anyone's hand, and is perfectly suicidal when wielded by the Chronicle. For if inconsistency, in [changing from one view to another, be b;id, who so guilty as this organ of opinion, that, ever since its inception, was filled with praises of the Hon. Mr, Howe's abilities and virtues, and now turns about to batter him with volleys of opprobrious epithets ? If change of opinion be necessarily wrong, then the Chronicle, instead of doing the hon. gentleman all the harm in its power, should get its best contributors to write their best contributions in his favor. But the fact in, there could scarcely be a greater mistake than to suppose that consistency in the continued pursuit of one line of conduct, is necessarily the only way to be consistent with high principle. The true man is not he who never changes his opinion, but he who exercises his best faculties to discover at all times what is true, and then acts upon what he believes to be the truth, even should it be in opposition to his whole past career. In proportion as he succeeds in discerning what is true, ho is a wise man, and as he acts upon it he is a good one. Before we con- demn a change of opinion, it is therefore essentially mmmmsmsm mom 4; 6 requisite that wo consider the nature of tho change and the motives that led to it. Your duty demand.!, then, an examination of the causes that led to Mr. Howe's present attitude towards Eepeal. It is up- on a misconception of tliese causes that the present opposition to him is based. It is said that Mr. Howe changed his opinion in order that lio might got " a situation ;" not because he bo]icv(Ml tliat Repeal was hopeless, and agitation in its behalf could only injure the interests of the industi'iou:^ citizen. Now, if thia be correct, then Mr. Howe deserves all, and more than all, the hard things that have been said of him, and is fit not to be the representa- tive of an honest, intelligent, and industrious con- stituency like that of Hants, but only to be the spokesman of a gang of pickpockets. If in that case he were not merely elected, but if he even got a dozen votes, I would look upon it with regret. On the other hand, if there be not an atom of truth in this allegation, Jdoes not any one who harbors ill will towards the hon. gentleman on account of it, commit a sin against his God by hating whom he should love and respect? Everything in Mr. Howe's past life, both as a pul)Uo man and a private gen- tleman, convinces mo that nothing short of a rn'ra- clc could have induced him to malce the change of which his enemies accuse him. And 1 do not be- lieve in miracles. None of you believes that if he throws a stone into the air it will fly towards the moon instead of fallino- back towards the earth, or that the Avon may flow back some day towards t.ho mountains from which it came. If these things wore to happen, they would 1)0 miracles in the ma- terial world, in which you or I do not believe; and a miracle in the moral world is just as unlikely to happen as one in the material. Yet Mr. Howe's conversion, if it be of the kind alleged, would be a miracle, in which you would not believe, were it not for the barefaced assurances of a number of seem- ingly respectable people, who say that they do be- lieve it. Who would believe that a general, who dirfplaycd on a thousand battle fields all the higher qualities of a military genius — fortitude in the midst of dangers, sagacity in foreseeing, and promp- titude in acting — should all of a sudden fail, even in the vulgar courage of a private soldier; or that a clergyman of the Gospel, who passed his youth with the purest morality, and his manhood in acts of frelf-denial prompted by the purest piety, should in his old age become a skulking adulterer? And yet incredible as these results would be they are nothing more so than what some people would have you be- lieve concerning Mr. Howe. Ever since he began to take a part in public affairs, were his best efforts not constantly devoted to the cause of the people ? Did he not brave the menaces of the powerful, and withstand the strongest temptations that money can create, at a time when one is most likely to be seduced by it, to serve his country ? Has he not been the principal party engaged in passing a series of measures for the establishment of, and resisting a series of encroachments on, the liberties of the people, any one of which would give its author an honorable place in histoiy ? We see the wisest Eng- Lsh historians prodigal in their enconiums of "HMBHa ( ' 8 Hampden boc.ausG lio rofiisctl to pay ship money ; of the seven bisliops bcoauso thoy woulcl not road the King'a declaration ; and of Mcintosh for his un- 11 inching advocacy of the liberty of the pi ess. But Mr. IIowo has done for Nova Scotia, not merely so much as one of these did for England, but more than all of them put together. He set tli j freedom of the press on a sure and permanont foundation — he procured E-esponsible Government for the colony — he corrected innumeraltle abuses that crej)t into every public department in the Province — and last but not leait he destroyed the old corrupt municipal system of Halif.ix. He thus secured Nova Scotia for ever ^from government in any department by oligarcixies, and we cannot fully estimate the bless- ings, certainly we ^can never repay the instrument, of so great a deliverance. These oligarchies, anni- hilated by Mr. Howe, have all the conceivable evils ot government inherent in them. They are neither controlled by public sentiment nor directed by an enlightened conscience. They will sanction the most pernicious measures, because no one feels the responsibility of an act to which he was only a minor party. The public service is looked upon as a means of supporting themselves and their relations upon a splendid charity ; and if ever they should extend their patronage to an outsider, it is only after he has proved, by meanness of conduct crnd and profession, that he is fitted to become the un- scrupulous instrument of an unscrupulous authority. But such a clique is always powerful, and can never be matched except by genius, by integrity, and by elevated patriotism. But Mr. Howe did more than X 9 reform governmental abuses for Nova Scotia. T need not enumerate \m various labors in behalf of railway and steamboat communication, agricultural improvements, and the extcuKion of her trade and i;omnierco, because they are too well known to re- (juiro a rehearsal. What, I a.sk, could then support a man in the discharge of such duties to his coun- try, but the purest devotion to her cause, especially when we consider that all the while high plin.js and abundance of money were ready to l)ecom(! his if ho would only cease from his labors of love? A. Governorship ho could get almost any time, and at a period of life Avhen money is most alluring, he re- jected with scorn a bribe of £50,000 if he would only let the people work for themselves. I believe a man oi Mr. Hov/e's means who could do this, to be iiicorrui'tible on the score of money. And is the reward of all these noble services to be not that Nova Scotians v;tll not confer an office of dignity and emolument upon their benefactor, but that they will do what in them lies to deprive hhn of such when conferred by others, and believe that a life so })ure in youth and manhood has in its older days be- come base and treacherous ? Never, never, will they bring such an ugly stai upon their national character ; because a people tuat are as deservedly respected as widely as they are known, are not likely to commit an act which would make them as widely despised. But I take another view of the matter, to show you how impossible it is there could be any truth in this foolish story about abandoiiing Repeal to get "a situation." When Mr. Howe ac- cepted the situation, either he knew that Repeal I ' i 10 was hopeless, or he believerl that further efforts would obtain it. Now, what would have been the consequence to the honorable gentleman had his ex- ertions as a Kepealer proved successful? Why! would not that be, thatheshouKl succeed in demol- ishing Dr. Tupper's scheme of Confederation, in baf- fling all tho arts of the Canadians to maintain the Mcheme, in producing a compulsory conversion in the British Parliament, and finally become the idol of tho Anti-Union party in the Province? This would have been to raise him to a pinnacle of glory to which ho has not vet attained, and to have won for him a fame more extended than is likely lo be secured by his whole previous career, distinguished as that is. But fame is not all that he would get along with Repeal. He would obtain, not merely the Premiership of the Province, but if lie chose he might become a pluralist, and [thereb}'' treblo, aye even quadruple his present salary as President of the Council. It could not, therefore, be for the sake of "a situation" that he abandoned Repeal, nor -v^'as it for the sake of fame either, because he nev^jr ex- pected anything from the expression of his present views, beyond tho acknowledgment of his honesty? Since the realization ■[' any hope ibr Repeal would have been immensely more advantageous to him in point of fame and emolument, than the position which he now holds, we are compelled, there- fore, to look for another cause than the love of place — 01 his separation from the redoubtable League. The other cause is, the of. or horn of our dilemma, viz., that he know that Repeal was ■ mimaT"°""' """" 11 DEAD, and as a wise man and a true patriot, he iherx felt it his first duty to turn it to the best ad- Tantage for his country. And lastly, Mr. Howe c-ver and again, challenged his present opponents to aliow any mode by which Kepeal was even likeli/ ;o be obtained, but no answer. The fact is, they were as convinced of its hoplesness as he was, but they had not the courage to say so. They were also quite willing to go on agitating, and puddling, and scolding, in the intervals of their business Isours, because it pleased and cost them nothing. And mark more particularly, the self-denial of these patr'otic politicians. They deemed it expedi- ent to keep Mr. Howe away from Halifax altogeth- er,, and were anxious to send him to Washington in some capacity fitted to make himself and the Pro- vince the butt and the ridicule of civilized hu- manity for years to come. Do not, however, blame them for the absurdity of this, because the fault is nature's, in having made men so stupid as to be- lieve this to be good policy and sound sense; but you have a right, to blame them for the manner in which this stupid piece of business was to be paid for. Did these disinterested statesmen put their hands into their pockets to defray the ex- penses ? No ! nor one cent of them; but like all icnen of that class., proved themselves exceedingly liberal with what did net belong to them. They were to pay everything out of the taxes paid by jou, and which you yourselves require for so many useful purposes. And this leads me to another point on which some good people require informa- tion. They say Mr, Howe should have continued 12 I ' k. tlic agitation longer. If this were a difficult mat- ter to answer, I would reply, that Mr. Howe's sa- gacity knew best when the agitation should cease; but the reason for discontinuance is obvious to the smallest reflection. Mr. Howe saw that there was a double evil connecied with the further existence of a Eepeal party. The first was, that it drew the attention of the people away from their busine: 3; and the second, that the public money, instead of being applied to promote peace and industry, would be squanuored upon more than useless era- baf^'es Mid delegations. But now it is admitted by all sensible men, that Conteiieration is an established fact, and that we must make the best of it — not only the Province as a whole, but Hants in particular. And since the County cannot send every body to Ottiwa, her duty is to send the host ilepresentative possible. This is brought to a narrow issue, because it lies in selecting the best of two men — Monson Goudge, Esq., and the Hon. Joseph Howe. Mr. Goudge is a very estimable man, of respectable talent, and unblemished character; but by no means fitted to represent you at the present crisis. A minute com- parison between himself and the Hon. Mr. Howe is not likely to be instituted by any one. His friends, it is hoped, have not the Aveakncss, nor his oppo- nents, the cruelty to do that. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Howe has been the leading speaker at meetings in Nova Scotia, in Canada, in the United States, and in England, where Mr. Goudge would not bo called upon to nio\o a vote of thanks; that he delivered more good speeches than Mr. Goudge P 13 ever read, and refuted arguments which Mr. Goudge could not comprehend. What you re- quire now, is a man who is thoroughly experienced in the principles of political economy, and knows all the details of finance; who knows what the v/ants of Nova Scotia are, and can plead for them successfully on the floor of the Parliament in Ottawa. Send Mr. Howe, who possesses all these qualifications in an eminent degree, and your in- terests are safe in his hands. If you send Mr. Goudge, he will have to learn every thing; and you have yet to learn what are his capabilities of acquiring political knowledge. This is not a time to play at " heads or tails," but to act surely. I remain. Your obedient Servant, AN ELEOTOK. 4