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§0 t^e ^onontble i\t ^omtnons of ^rtut ^ritain vivii ^tthntt, 
 in §»rliaii»t(t assentblcb. 
 
 The Petition of the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia Humbly Siieweth : 
 
 That the Province of Nova Scotia is one of the oldest Colonies of Great 
 Britain, ai. i one of the nearest to the Mother Country. 
 
 That when the American Revolution separated thirteen English Colonies 
 from the Crown, Nova Scotia stood tru'j to her allegiance, and furnished a 
 home for the Loyalists who sacrificed their property and their prospects in the 
 American States' for the sake of British connection. 
 
 That, ever since, during the political agitations which have disturbed this 
 Continent,— especially during the War of 1812, and the Canadian Rebellions 
 of 1837-8,— Nova Scotia has been steadfast in her loyalty ; and that when the 
 neighbouring Province of New Brun.^wick was menaced from the American 
 side in 1839. the Legislature of Nova Scotia unanimously placed the whole 
 revenues and resources of the country at the disposal of the Lieutenant-Governor 
 for the defence of tlie British flag upon the frontier. 
 
 That this people have discharged, in other respects, the duties of British 
 subjects to the satisfaction of the Crown. They have sent representatives to 
 the Provincial Parliament since 1758, for a quarter of a century have 
 enjoyed Responsible Government in as full and ample a measure as have their 
 fellow-subjects in the most favoured parts of the Empire, and have preserved 
 from degcnerary and abuse their Constitutional rights and free institutions. 
 
 That the people of this Province, from their Maritime position, have 
 developed the pursuits of Shipbuilding, Navigation, Commerce, and Fishing, into 
 prosperous activity. Their agricultural resources are rich and varied, while the 
 vast mineral wealth which underlies the whole area of the country is a special 
 guarantee of its future prosperity under favourable political conditions. The 
 gold mines of Nova Scotia, without rising to the character of dazzling lotteries 
 to attract a promiscuous or disorderly population from abroad, have proved 
 steadily remunerative f> a regular department of native industry, and a profitable 
 investment for foreig capital. The great iron mines, already discovered, 
 give earnest, in connection with its coal fields, of manufacturing capabili- 
 ties not inferior to those of any counlry of similar extent. It has the 
 thickest coal seams in the world, and their area is extensive, afi'ording fairground 
 for the presumption, that for the purposes of peace or way Nova Scotia's 
 continued connection with Great Britain would prove of mutual ad van age. 
 Possessed of these resources, the people desire closer relations with the 
 Mother Country, in order to be able to enjoy more largely the benefits, as well 
 as share more fullv the responsibilities, of the Empire ; and already the 
 Province has enrolled 60,000 cflaeient Militia and Volunteers to assist m the 
 maintenance of British power on this Continent, and sends to sea 440,000 tons 
 of shipping, built and owned within the Province, bearing the flag of England, 
 and manned bv more than 20,000 seamen. 
 
 That Nova Scotia has no controversies with the Mother Country, the other 
 Provinces, or with the population of the neighboring United States ; and highly 
 prizes the privileges, so long enjoyed, of regulating her ov/n Tariffs, and conduc- 
 ting trade, but lightly burthened, with the British Islands and Colonies in all 
 parts of the worldjand with Foreign Countries. 
 
 That the people of Nova Scotia are prepared to entertain any propositions 
 by which (preserving to them the Institutions they now have, and the privileges 
 they enjoy.) greater facilities tor commercial and social intercourse with other 
 States and Provinces may be secured, and they are willing, whenever their own 
 coasts and harbors are safe, to aid Her Majesty's forces to preserve from aggres- 
 sion the Provinces in the rear. 
 
 I5ut they view with profound distrust and apprehension schemes, recently 
 propounded, by which it is proposed to transfer to the peojile of Canada the 
 control of the "^Government, Legislation/and Revenues, ot this loyal and happy 
 Province, and they venture respectfully^ to crave from your honorable Htuse 
 justice and protection. 
 
 That the Province of Canada lies as far from Nova Scotia as Austria 
 docs from England, and there exists no reason why a people who live at such 
 a distance, with whom we have but little commerce, who have invested no 
 capital in our country, who are unable to protect it, and are themselves shut off 
 from ocean navigation by frost for iiyc months of the year, should coritroi car 
 Legislation and Government. 
 
 ^ 
 
That in 1864 the Government of Nova Scotia, without any authority from 
 the Legislature, and without any vidence of the consent of the people, sent 
 delegates to Canada to arrange in secret conference at Quebec a political union 
 between the various Provinces, That these delegates concealed the result of 
 their conforence from the people until it became incidentally made public in 
 another Province, and that, to this hour, they have never unfolded portions of the 
 Scheme, having the most essential relation to the peculiar interests and local 
 government of Nova Scotia subsequent to Confederation. 
 
 That the Selieme, when at last made public, was received with great 
 dissatisfaction in Nova Scotia, that the opposition to it has been constantly on 
 the increase, and has been intensified by the conduct of the government and 
 the delegates, who now propose to call in the aid of Your Honourable House, 
 to assist them to overthrow, by an arbitrary exercise of power, free Institutions 
 enjoyed for a centiiry, and never abused. 
 
 That the objections of the people to the proposed Confederation Scheme 
 affect not merely minor local details but the radical principles of the plan. The 
 people cannot recognize the necessity for clu;nge in their present tranquil, pros- 
 porou^and free condition. They cannot believe that the proposed Confederation 
 with t/ie distant Co'oiiy of Canada will prove of any practical benefit, either for 
 defence or trade ; while, from the past history rf that country, its sectional 
 troubles, and its eccentric political managoincnt and financial embarrassments, 
 they have groat reason to fear that Confederation would be *^o them a most dis- 
 astrous change, retarding their ])rogress, and rendering their prolonged connec- 
 tion with the Crown precarious if not imposhible. Foruiing, as she does now, a 
 portion of the Empire, Xova Scotia is already Confederated with fifty other 
 Stati's and Provinces, enjoys free trade with two himdred and fifty millions of 
 people, living under one flag, and owning the authority of one Sovereign. 
 She has no desire to part witii her self-control, or to narrow her commercial 
 privileges by placing herself uuiler the dominion of a sister Colony, with an 
 exposed frontier, frost-bound for a third of the year, and with no Navy to defend 
 the Maritime Provinces when her ])ort3 are open. 
 
 The Scheme of Government framed at (Quebec is unlike any other that History 
 .shows to have been successful. It secures neither the consolidation, dignity 
 and independent power of Monarchy, nor the checks and guards which ensure 
 to the smaller states self-<i;overnnient, and controllina- influence over the Fedei'al 
 authorities, in the neighboring Kcpublic. By adctpting the Federal principUe 
 sectionalism in the five Provinces is perpetuated ; by the timid and imperrec/^ 
 moile in which that principle is ap|»lie.l, the p(M)plo, whose minds have been 
 unsettled by this crude experiment, may bo tlriven tt) draw contrasts, and nourish 
 aspirations of which adventurous and powerful neighbors will not be slow to 
 take advantage ; and the people (jf Nova Sctotia have no desire to peril the 
 integrity of the Empi;e, with the blessings tluw now enjoy, or to try now 
 experiments, which may complicate foreign relations, and yet add no real strength 
 to the Provinces it is jiroposed to combine. 
 
 The ])eople object also to the financial arrangements ;i-< especially burthen- 
 some and unfair tct tliis Province. IT ing long enjoyed the control and 
 benefitted by the expenditure of their own revenues, they cannot approve a 
 scheme that will wrest tlie greater part of these from their hands, to keep up 
 costly and ciimljl-rous Feder.il machinery, and to meet the liabilities of Canada. 
 
 For many years the commercial policy of Nova Scotia has been essentially 
 different from tiiat of Canada. The latter country, ))artly from necessity arising 
 out of financial embarrassments, and ])arlly as an indirect premium on her 
 own manufactures, has adopted a tariff varying from 20 to 30 per cent, on 
 imported goods. 
 
 Alniost surroundedyas Nova Scotia is by the ocean, her people are favour- 
 ably situated for enjoying free commercial intercourse with every section of the 
 British Empire, and witii those foroign ountrieS open to her commerce by the 
 enlightened [)olicy of the Parent State ; of this privilege she has availed 
 hersLdf, by imitating, as far as lo(\'il circumstances would permit, the liberal 
 and free trade policy of the Mother Country — ten ))er cent, being the advalorem 
 duty collected under the Nova Scotia tariff on goods imported into the Province. 
 Tlie proposed sitheme of union will give Canada, by ln'r large preponderance in 
 the Legislature, the power to shape the taritt' for the whole Confederacy accord- 
 ing to her inland ideas and necessities, so as to levy the same onerous duties 
 on British goods imparted into Nova Scotia as are now exacted by Canada. 
 
 That since the Confederation scheme has been announced, there have 
 been special parliamentary elections in three out of the eighteen counties of this 
 Province, and in all three it has been condemned at the polls. 
 
/ 
 
 That in I860 the scheme was condemned at nearly every public meeting 
 hold by the delegates to discuss it, and numerous petitions against it.s adoption 
 were presented to the Provincial Parliament, and only one in its favor, until 
 the leader of the {government declared the mea.su re to be " impracticable". 
 
 That at the opening of the late Session no reference to Confederation was 
 made in the speech of the Lieutenant Governor, and down to a late period the 
 people of Xova Scoti.i were led to believe that the scheme had been abandoned. 
 A Resolution was introduced toward the close of the t^cst^ion, clothing the (iov- 
 crnment with power to apjioint Delegates, who, in connection with Delegates 
 from the other Provinces, are to frame a scheme of Government, to which it is 
 proposed to ask the sanction of your Honorable Ilouhse before it has been .sub- 
 mitted to the Legislature that it may a.inihilate, or to the people, whose legal 
 and constitutional rights and powers'^it may transfer or circumscribe. 
 
 The undersigned, menaced by a measure that may be revolution- 
 ary/repose implicit confidence in the protection of the Imperial Parliament. 
 T\dy deny the authm-ity of their own Legislature, invested with limited powers 
 for a definite term, to deprive them of rights earned by their ancestry by the 
 most pt.'nful sacrifices, wisely exercised* and never abused. for more than a 
 century, and which they had no legitimate authority to aliennte or break down. 
 They believe that any scheme of Government, framed by a Committee of 
 Delegates and forced upon the Provinces without their revision or ai)proval, 
 would generate wide'spread dissatisfaction among a loyal and contented people ; 
 who will not fail to reilect, that no change can be made in the constitution of any 
 of the neighboring States which has not first been approved by the electors ; and 
 that important measures, alfecting Imperial policy or institutions, are rarely 
 attempted till they have been submitted for acceptance or rejection by the 
 people whose interests they are to affect. 
 
 Your petitioners therefore pray that Your Right Honorable House will be 
 pleased to defer all action in fa\our of Confederation in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment until the people of Nova Scotia shall have exercised and enjoyed their 
 Constitutional privilege to express their opinions at the polls, or that Your 
 Honorable House may be pleased to direct that a Special Committee shall 
 sfeftH inquire into alfthe features of the proposed scheme ot Confederation, as 
 it is likely to affect the several Provinces in their relations to each other and 
 to the Mother Country ; or that the people of Nova Scotia be permitted to 
 appear by counsel at the Bar of Your Honorable House to defend their interests 
 and Institutions. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. 
 
 >/