IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) t 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^12^ 12.5 ui Ibi ^ US. 12.0 u li M ^m 6" ^ .J* ^V /^ ^^ Sciences Corporation 23 VWST MA?!v ST«'W WiBSTIR,N.Y. 14SM! (716)172-4303 '^ ^ ? 4% V V ^ ^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVi/ICMH CoSlection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical IVIicroraproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachniquaa at bibiiooraphiquaa Tha Inatituta has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagas in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. D D □ n D D Colourad covars/ Couvarture da couiaur I I Covars damagad/ Couvarture andommagia Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculAe I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiques en couleur □ Coloured init (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couieur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couieur Bound with other material/ Belli avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de lu distortion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted 7rom filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttas lors d'une restauration apparaissant dana le texte, mais, loraqua ceia 6tait possible, cos pagea n'ont pas 6t6 fiimias. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires; L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaira qu'il lui a 4t4 poaaibia de aa procurer. Las details da cat axamplaira qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographiqua, qui peuvent modifier une image raproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthoda normale de filmaga aont indiquAs ci-dassous. t I I Coloured pages/ D Tnis item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au tau» de rMuction indiquA ci-dessous. Pagea da couieur Pagea damaged/ Pages endommagtea □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restauries et/ou pelliculAes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color4es, tachettes ou piqu< Pages d6color4es, tachettes ou piquias Pages Pages ddtachdes Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of prir Qualit6 inigala de I'impression includes supplementary matarii Comprend du mat6riel suppiimentaira Only edition available/ Seule Edition diaponibia I I Pages detached/ r^ Showthrough/ I I Quality of print variea/ I I includes supplementary material/ r~n Only edition available/ 1 f f b t s f s c Pagea wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissuea, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best possible image/ Lea pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une peiure, etc., ont M filmtes d nouveau de fa9on d obtenir la meilleure image poaaibia. 7 a 7 V d a b ri n n 10X 14X 18X 22X 28X 30X 1 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here he* been reproduced thenk* to the generoeity of: Librery of the Public Archives of Canede L'exempiaire filmA fut reproduit grice h le gAnArosit* de: La bibliothique dee Archives publiqucs du Canada The imngee eppearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition end legibility of the originel copy and in iceeping with the filming contract specifications. Las imsges suivantes ont M reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de le condition et de la netteti de I'exempleire film*, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covert^ are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illuetrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copiee are filmed beginning on the first psge with e printed or illustreted impree- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couvertura en pepler eet imprimAe sont film6s en commen^ant per le premier plat at en terminant soit par la dernlAre pege qui comporte une emprelnte d'impression ou d'iilustrstion, soit par le second plat, seion le ces. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmte en commen^ant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustrstion et en terminant par la dernlAre pege qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shell contain the symbol -^»> (meening "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol ▼ (meening "END"), whichever applies. Un dee symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernlAre imege de cheque microfiche, seion le ces: le symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le synboie ▼ signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, cherts, etc., mey be filmed et different reduction retios. Those too lerge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning ir the upper left hend corner, left to right and top to bottom, ae many frames as required. The following diegrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, pienches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre film^s A dee taux de r6duction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grsnd pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich6, 11 est film* A partir de I'engle supArieur gauche, de geuche d droite, et de haut en bee, en prenant le nombre d'images ntcesseire. Lee diagrammes suivants illustrent le mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I ^ it 1 I INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. REVIEW OF The Attorney General's Speech, AT BRiD8ET0WN. ** Six hours to sleep, Four spend in prayei to law's grave study ', the rest on lying fii six, '■' -^■■^ ■ .:'■- ■■;.■-)'■'' ' *■ ■ ■■ ■'•*'■• . vl;:, HALIFAX, N.S. PRINTED AT THE NOVASCOTIAN OFFICE. 1845. ■%' ■ : .iOi^ :'ki ;jri u^ii'Yi.iUL'it'] t i'li ,i;'J <..i ■!) r- ,.'i ;' '- Oil ,d .'/:. .A A '^1 I .i A li ■ > LETTER I. To MAJOR CHIPMAN, Esq. Chaikman or van MsKfiNa held at tiik Pine Grove, County or ■' >>> ' AnKAroi.is, ON THB 27th Sept. 1844. srii— ■'I Mr. Attorney Genera) Johnston having published 2G columns of oomment on the proceedings of the Meeting at the Pine Grove, over which you presided, and upon my public conduct and personal affairs, I feel myself called upon to re> view this production, as 1 did his Speech at Mason's Hall in 1840, in order that all those who take an interest in the topics discussed, may be enabled ito judge for themselves how much disingenuousness and false logic a Crown Ofiiccr may crowd into a Pamphl«t,-and how constantly the oracles of truth nay rest upon the lips, without sinking deeply into the heart. Mr. Johnston's pamphlet may be divided into 4 parts : 9 columns relate to the origin of the Pine Grove Meeting, and to the doings and sayings thereat; 8 to general politics, and the proof of the strange assertion, that the principles of Colo- nial Government, which now obtain in Nova Scotia, (lifter essentially from those I have advocated, and are identical with those professed by the learned gentleman himself; 6 columns are devoted to the defence of his vote upon the Parish Bill, and four to a criticism on my conduct, in reference to the controversy uhout the publication of the Christion Messenger. Upon each of these topics I shall have something to say — and I shall be much surprised if I do not prove, that, upon each and all, the Attorney General had better have held his peace. With reference to the Pino Grove Meeting, it appears to be the aim of the learned gentleman to show, 1st. That there was something irregular and wrong in the manner of calling that Meeting. 2dly. That it was a thinly attended and conlrniplible demonstration. 3dly. That disingenuous and unfair statements were made there, by those who addressed the <,udi«nce ; and by the Libetal Press in commenting upon the proceedings; and 4tbly. That those who werepres«;nt were wanting in manliness, in not attend- ing the Meeting afterwards called at Biidgetown. I shall deal with these charges in their order : and first let me enquire, was there anything irregular or wrong in the manner in which the Pine Grove Meeting was assembled? To decide this question, I shall quote, first, the ex- ample set by the people of Eritain — next, the precedents accumulated by the Tories, and other friends of the Attorney General, in this Province ; and lastly, the examples furnished by the learned gentleman himself. In the Mother Country two modes of eliciting, or shewing the strength of, public opinion, upon political, or other questions of general interest, are adopted — both have been sanctioned by thousands of precedents, and eitlier may be followed by any portion of the People of Nova Scotia, without any body having the right to complain. By one of these, all the inhabitants of a County, a Township, a City, or a Ward, may be assembled by public notice, for free dis- cussion, and for the decision of any question, upon which those who are invited . e supposed not to have made up their minds. This mode has generally been preferred by the Liberals of Nova Scotia, nearly all the meetings called by them having been of that character, within the last ten years. MeetingN may also be called, of those only who have made up their minds upon a question, with a view to mutual counsel and combine'! action fur the advanoemeDt of that question, or the promotion of the ohjeot in which all, or nearly all, are supposed to have agreed. This is the mode which appears to have been chiufly in vogue among the friends of the Attorney General, as far back as my memory extends. It was adopted by the gentlemen who callvd the Pine Grove Meeting. Those who fancy that the Attorney General's complaints on this head are well founded, have only to take up the English papers, in which they will find a Meeting of the Free Churchmen of Edinburgh — of the Chartists of Birmingham — of the Repealers of Dublin — of the Corn- Law Agriculturists of Yorkshire — of those who are friendly to Sir Robert Feel at Tarn worth, or to Tom Dunscomb, at Westminister, advertized or no> ticed, if not in the same sheet, certainly in the same file. Nobody thinks of attending these Meetings who is not included in the invitation — if any do, and attempt to interfere, they are generally turned out. According to British precedent, then, the Liberals of Annapolis, who assembled at the Pine Grove, did nothing irregular or wrong — the individual who violated all rule, was he who came there without an invitation, who disgusted the people with his frt« volocis complaints and mana!u*'ies to break up the Meeting; and who, when over* whelmed with a simultap-.-ous burst of feeling, called forth by bis petulence of temper, was sufiered to go foaming down the aisle, without any body proposing, (as that individual's friends did, at the Hotel Meeting last spring, when a per- son interfered,) " to turn him out." By assembling in the mode which pleased them best, it is clear, then, that the Liberals of Annapolis followed the practice of the Mother Country, and that Mr. Johnston, by intruding himself upon them, courted, if he did not deserve, worse treatment than he received. Let us try the question now by the example of those who are the Attorney General's very particular friends. In March, 1840, when the Tories of Halifax saw the old system of Govern- ment, which the Liberals had laboured to destroy, and the Attorney General to uphold, tumbling about their ears, they put forth placards calling a Meeting at Mason Hall, on the 28th, of *' all those who did not concur with the Assems biy in the late Address to the Throne ;" and, under that notice, which neees* sarily excluded the four Members of the Town and County, and all the Liberal Members of Assembly, they met, and passed Resolutions and Addresses con- demnatory of their conduct, and *' thousands of copies," says the report of the period, ** were immediately printed and circulated throughout the country, chiefly throqgh the agency of persons holding commissions under Government, or most decided Tories, calling upon the people to condemn the Assembly, be-> fore the Address to the Queen, or the debates upon which it was founded, bad been read by the population who were called on to pronounce an opinion." Here was an attempt at deception, by a party with which the Attorney General was then, and is now, entirely identified, calling for his most indignant reprobation — an attempt to forestall public opinion, and deceive the people, before the means of judging fairly were in their hands — but this was done against, not by the Liberals, and of course Mr. Johnston thought it was all right. Those who called the Pine Grove Meeting, watted till the people had had the debates of the Legislature for six months in their hands, and then met, not to forestall public opinion, but to express sentimeuts calmly and deliberately formed; The same system was followed by the same party throughout the samraer of 1640. At Yarmouth, if I remember right, a Meeting was called, in the absence uf the Members ; and wherever they were afraid to convene meetings. Addresses were circulated, which, being signed by a few Tories and oflScials, were trum* peted forth to the world as conveying the opinions of the people. Has Mr. Johnston forgotten the spirit and the acts of that period ? when this " newly arranged machinery of addresses,*' was put in motion — when parties of the people were ** artfully assembled, and skillfully managed" — when " their sympa* thics were enlisted by pathetic tales** about republicanism and rebellion — when to these Addresses, " privately circulated," signatures were obtained by *'fraud"~when tliie Germans in Lunenburg were told that they would be morohed to Halifax to (]er«nil tlic country, and tlie Acadians to the weUward w«r« told that all who did nut ftign would be thippeb out of the Province, at their forefathera had been in 1755. These were the tricks and " frauds " of lt:«40, and with these the whole party which sought to sustain the old system, at the head of which stood the Attorney General, were completely inentified. Then, when the House of Assembly was *■ insulted, lampooned, and vilified" — when fourteen columns of defamation appeared in one of the Papers, now supporting the Attorney General, in a single week — when the Province was agitated to its centre, whoever heard this cant* ing lawyer whining about *'the ingathering of the harvest" being an em- ployment " much more appropriate for the peasantry than political controver- sies ?" When the Legislature was asking, by constitutional means, for ltespon« sible Government, and Johnston & Co. were seeking by " agitation " to put it down, who ever heard of "artful demagogues" — of the evils of ** fostering a spirit of excitement *' — or of*' creaiing the occasions for political meetings, without just cause, being an evil injurious in its immediate efiects, and deeply and permanently mischievous in its ultimate consequences?" All this was right whea the British acorn, just appearing above the fresh soil of Nova Scotia, was to be crushed with an iron heel ; yet the people of Annapolis have no right to assemble in open day, and express their feelings constitutionally, without being lectured by the Attorney 6eneral| when an attempt is making to tear the young sapling up by the roots. Have they not ? let us see who shall hinder them, till the vigorous and umbrageous Tree adorns these noble Provinces* and until this "artful lawyer " is remembered but as the worm, which defiled with its slime the virgin leaf, and broke its fangs against the roots which it could not destroy. Having shown that the Liberakof Annapolis did nothing more than Britons in the Mother Country do every day ; and that they did aothinn half so bad aa the supporters of Mr. Johnston and the old system did in 1840, let me now shew that all the *' agitation " which has disturbed the tranquility of Nova Scutiat during the last eighteen months, is attributable to him ; and that all the meetings attended by him in 18^13, and called by bis supporters previous to the Wilmot Meeting, were of an exparte, and not of a public character. After the general Election in 1840, I publicly declared my desire to have no more agitation; and called on the people to peacefully develope the new principles, without reference to the angry feelings and animosities of the past. I faithfully kept this pledge. For three years, though frequently invited to festive or political gathennga in the interior, i invariably declined— and at- tended but one public meeting, assembled to prevent an £x- Mayor, and the Halifax Tories, from wresting the prerogative, and the freedom of his own table, from Lord Falkland ; and at which I was called to eonfront nearly every man, in Halifax, who now aids him to trample upon my public character, and the principles of the Constitution. Who commenced the agitation which attU continues ? Mr. Attorney General Johnston. The House of Assembly, which had steadily supported Lord Falkland's Government, had expressed an opinion adverse to that of this '* artful lawyer," upon the question of education. What was the consequence? Hardly bad the Session closed, when Mr. Johnston commenced a tour of agitation, at- tending meetings at Yarmouth, Onslow, and Bridgetown, at all of which he abused the Bouse of Assembly, and at some moved resolutions aimed at nyself, at that time his colleague in the Government. You will observe that none of these meetings were open and public, called by Sheriffs, in Court Houses, for fair, manly discussion— they were all exparte meetings, ostensibly of the " Education Society,'* convened in Baptist Meeting Houses, and chiefly attended by those who had already made up their minds. At but one did the gentlemen assailed venture to appear, and at that one they were beaten, al- though afterwards, when the feelings of the people came to be fairly expressed, they were triumphantly returned to the Assembly. These meetings, then, were the commencement of the new agitation — they were exparte, and all attended ^-•Sr hy tlie Attorney (u'lioriil; niiJ yet the spceclieH were put iurih, in newspafcri and pamphlett, as conveying the sentiinrnfs of the people in the dUtricts where they were held. These racotingfi necessarily led to other movoinenis on the opposite side. With the eipress permiwiun of the Lieut«.naut Oovernor, I aubeequently at» tended seven, sii of which were public meetings, for free discussion, open to all, and at every one the enemy was beaten. You will perceive, therefore, that Mr. Johi H lately wrote to say, that, although I alhould have no objections to meet the Attorney General at a general meeting in the midst of his Constituents, yet that I doubted the utility of calling an exparte meeting — that, as a day had been fixed, I would attend, but that I thought some of the other gentlemen invited, would not. This was all that was known, done or said, about the meeting, pre* vious to our leaving Halifax. Mr Young, from the 6rst, informed me, that be would not be able to attend without much inconvenience, in consequence of his brother's absence from the Province. During all the time we were in King's County together, Mr Youug held the same lansuage, down to within an hour of my leaving Kentville; anL then only yielded to the representations made by psrties, who had been led to believe tliat an active canvass, to defeat the objects of the meeting, had been set on foot, and that all the leading " agitators" of the West, lay and clerical, were to assemble at Wilmot to give us battle. The Attorney- General complains that Mr. Young changed bis mind; but yet he tells us that he changed his own. He first * wrote to prepare his friends to ettend, and ho would be there ;' then, when he saw the nature of the notice, " he determined not to attend, and sent forward letttcrs to that effect." But, after a restless night at Sheffield's, he finally determined, at Gibbon's, to go after all. He changed his mind twice, as circumstances chan^^d around him — he wrote two setts of letters ; Mr. Young changed his but once, and wrote no letters at all — yet Mr. Young is to be blamed and abused, and Mr. Johnston is to have neither fickleness nor deception attributed to him. If I were to give a latitude to my imagination, as the Attorney General baa done to bis, I might be pardoned for suspecting that something like the real state of the case was this : that the learned Leader meant, from the first, to be governed by circumstances— that when he first wrote to Annapolis, his hope and intention were to muster his forces and overwhelm us— that when he got his letters thenee, he found that that could not so easily be done, and then he determined not to attend. But a lucky or unluck> atVer-thought was pro- bably this, that if the meeting-house could be closed, and the people compelled to assemble in the o^itn air, the presence of the learned f^entleman on the ground, with a few technical objections and plaunibilities, might possibly throw the meeting into confusion, or procure an adjournment. To sound the people, and watch the chances of the game, an emissary was sent forward to Sbeffield's<— but he found the Liberals more staunch and determined than was probably expeet* ed, and hence the perturbed slumbers of the " chief actor'* in the piece, when lie MrWcd ncnr the scene or exliibitloa. " Tlio night I spent at Shiifnold'i," he nnyt, **wnR anything hut comfortable." I have no doubt it wa« ai unoom« t'urlnblv, aa that which a great frivnd of Reiponiibia Gowrnmrnt ipcnt in hia tent befor* the battle of Doiworth i I heanl a good many moans myself, and 1 came to the conclusion, eithrr that his speech was nut quite prepared, or his plan of operations was not yet arranged to his satisfaction. The Atty. General seems to think that gentlemen, respectfully invited by the Yeomanry of Annapolis, have no right " to meddle with the concerns of a coun* ty with which they have no connexion." He miftht as well aver that they have no right to accept nn invitation to a dinner in any County where they do not reside. To whom does the County of Annapolis belong : to the Att'y, General, or to the sturdy Yeomanry who have improved it by their industry, and vivify it by their intelligence ? To tho latter, I presume, and what right has he to dictate to them who they shall invite, or where and when they shall assemble ? What right has he to restrain .Mr. Young or myself from mingling with any portion of the people of this free Country, whenever we choose, eUher by invitation or at the dictatca of our own minds, whether questions of public po« licy are to bo di«cuss"d, or scenes of social intercourse and friendly communion nre tt be enjoyed ? For the general interests, and political elevation, of the People ^f Annapolis, both Mr. Young and I have toiled for many years; and I have yet to learn that they are the " miserable aerfs" of the Att'y. General, or that I, a native of Nova Scotia, am to ask his permission to exchange opi- nions with any portion of my fellow Countrymen. The Attorney General tells us that he knew Mr. MoNab's *' sense of propri> cty, would prevent that gentleman from making an exhibition of himself at the Pine Grove meeting," and that Mr. Uniacke was also restrained from appear- ing there by " feelings of gentlemanly courtesy." Now may I not ask where washisown "sense of propriety," when he intruded himself among Mr. Mo^ Nab's constituents at Mason's Hall, and hopped about the table, foaming at the mouth, when they resented his intrusion? Where was his sense of prO'< pricty, when he told the people in the Barn at Bridgetown, that Mr. McNab'a attempt to turn him out led to Mr. Almon's appointment, when that gentleman speut some days, after the Elections, in aiding Lord Falkland to retain his old Council, Mr. Johnston being of the number? Where were the feelings of gen- tiemanly " courtesy," and non-intermeddling with other people's Counties, when the Attorney General'a own co-adjutora in the work of agitation, wrote letters to Mr. Uniacke's County, to stir up opposition to bis return, putting him to the expense of £600 or ^£700 ? We are told that the demonstration at the Pine Grove was " poor and ineffective"— that it was " fruitless, abortive and insigniticant," that a fifth of the people went off with the Attorney General, and that not more than 250 remained. This is the amount of his statement. His friends, who write for that veracious miscellany, the Christian Messenger, have declared that the meeting was composed of the " scrapings of the County," and that " notmor* than 30 Freeholdera were present." Now, it does so happen, that I have in r.y possession. Requisitions signed by 600 names, and that, including others not forwarded to me, the whole number of signatures is 720. Those who know the County well declare that among these are 600 Free-< holders, including many of the most extensive Farmers, wealthy Capitalists and Traders, and a very large proportion of the public spirit and intelligence of the County of Annapolis. I believe that these documents, and those who have examined them, tell the truth, and that the Attorney General and the Christian Messenger do not. Judging from what I saw in \. timot, I do not hesitate to say, that a more numerous or respectable body of men I have rarely seen assembled, at any meeting in the rural districts of Nova Scotia — and that, if U be true that the A< )rDey General's friends, assembled, after ten days' can« vas and solicitation, in the Barn at Bridgetown, did not exceed 250, he would have been ahamefully beaten at Wilmot, if every man of them had been at hia back. When duly ** exaggerated and misrepresented" by the Tory and Mes- senger Press, these 250 peopb are magnified into a " great mass meeting" (Ivcuivo of (ho ktaiiding of the Attorney (Jonerul io hit own County, uflcr (en days ipent in drumming up his furcei ; but when two ttrangers me«t, hy inviu- tion, double the number at the Pine Grovei oh I that ia quite another thing, and those who tell us that '* truth is powerful and will prevail," call it an abortive and iniigoiAoant afTair. All this may leem strange to Rimpio people — to you, who know tht truth, it will seem pnssing strange | but I munt confess it does not much nurpriso m«. Men of a peculiar organization, long hackneyed at the Uar.are accustomed to defend, almost indiscriminately, right or wrong, provid«d they are paid for it. I have heard the learned Attorney General Just as eloquent when his brief embodied a case of flagrant injustice, as when he was upholding the soundest principles o( law. I am aware that there is a species of forensic morality by which all this is Justified to • tender conscience. We would have less reason to eomplair, how* ever, if this species ot morality were confined to theCourts; but, unfortunately, except in mindsof singular expansion, (and the Attorney General 'sdoesinot hap» pen to be one of these,) the habit is apt to become so inveterate, that *' artful law* yers,*' even when they become legislators or ** agitators,'* rar>;ly regard truth in the abstract, or state fairly both sides of any question ; but aok themselves what is expedient ? what will make in favour of our side ? how little truth will do, to make the public swallow a volume of misrepresentation 7 This vice of his profession (for it is happily not an essential quality in the advocate) runs through the whole of the Attorney General's Bridgetown Speech, and disfi* putes it, to a greater extent than any former production, even by the same au< thor, which it has been my fortune to read. When he turns to Bridgetown, or to the sayings and doings of his own party, in town or country, he looks through the small end of the Telescope, and all is magnified to the proper di< mensiont; when he looks towards the Pine Grove, or to the doings and sayings of the Liberals, he puts the large end to his eye — sees every thing diminished, or, what answers his purpose quite as well, sees nothing at all. The Attorney General tells us that he saw 100 Freeholders, who were not at the meeting. Who doubts it? But when he tells us that, "deducting his friends, who, from curiosity, continued at it,'* ho doubts if there were an equal number remaining"; you »nd 1 know, that, in u meeting crowded to overflowing, which roust have included some hundreds of Freeholders, there was but a single dissenting voice when the Resolutions passed. The learned gentleman complains that Mr. Young and I went to his County to *' dictate to the people," to sow "discontent and suspicion." Now what are the facts ? That we went there by the spontaneous invitation of tho inha> bitants ; and that, when we got there, we refused to interfere or address the people, on the topics of the day, until they had expressed their own opi- nions, and passed Resolutions complimentary to the Ex-Councillors, and the Members who had sustained them. Mr. Johnston complains that we proclaimed " that the whole County was converted ;" but he knows that I frankly told him, in presence of the meeting, " that, as be was the Representative of the County, I was bound to assume that he had a majority to sustain him." I never said, and do not now say, that there was a majority of the Freeholders at the Pine Grove ; neither do I believe that there wai in the barn at Bridgetown. It is not improbable that the same amount of expenditure, and the free use of the same means, backed by all the influence of Government, may secure him a majority at the next Election, against a comparatively poor man, who is not a practised bpeaker. But what will this prove ? Not that 700 people did not sign the Wilmot requisitions, or that there are not 5C9 or 600 Freeholders, who do not approve of bis public conduct. But, we are told that one o! J gentleman signed the Requisition, because he was assured that there was nothing political in it. The old gentleman, it ap- pears, can write ; and all I have to say e jout his case is, that I presume he can also read, and that he ought to have read what be signed, and judged for him* self. Then it seems that some wai; of an Irishman hoaxed an acquaiatance, by telling him a story about fish; when it turned out that the object was to bring r some udd fiiih rroin ilalifus, instead ul' somo licrringii from Uigliy. This wa» certainly wronj;, but I doubt if thcro Imvc t|pt been more fuUelioods told, to get signatures to Torj Addresses, and Cullego I'ctitions, than ever wcie told by .femmy White. It ia •mtising to remark tho coolness with nrliich the first Crown Officer turns to his friend Morris, and tells him, of course "it would not become mc to sanction any breach of the Queen's peace,'* but if you kick White, I don'-t think the Jury will give heavy damages. A great deal of merriment, it appears, was created by a paragraph from a New Brunswick Paper; but any body who reads it can see, either that the Gdi< tor was hoaied by some person from Annapolis, or that he was turning the whole affair into ridicule, by aomo whimsical exaggerations. What a pity it ia that the learned gentleman cannot *' muzzle the Press" of New Brunswick. The Attorcey General asserts that sixty people followed him from the WiN mot Meeting. I have the authority of a highly respectable friend, who de< elares that there vrcre not twenty. As to what the learned gentleman " laugh* ingly said" outside, I know nothing, but my friend asserts be was foaming with rage ; and certain it is,if he diii laugh, it auat have been on the other aide of kis face, from that which was turned to me, when he went raging down the aisle, for I doubt if a smile illumined that side for the next four and twenty hours. Tlic learned gentleman is very indignant at his Constituents, for hissing him at the Pine Grove ; and we are favoured with a column of declamation against hissing in general and in his own case in particular. I cannot say 1 approve of the practice, and the Attorney General knows that I did my best to restrain the sibilant propensities of bis audience — but hissing is one of the rights of British Subjects, and unless Mr. Johnston can muule the people as well as the Press, I cannot see how he is to prevent it. How are people to rid themselves of bad actors, or uninvited intruders, except by somo harmless expressions of disapprobation ? He calls it a " polite accomplishment" — no doubt the Anna- polis people thought it so, when they had heard that a friend of his once set the example of hissing Lord Falkland, at a festive, not a political entertainment; and that his good friends, the Halifax Tories, had exhibited tbeir proficiencj on several memorable occasions. And yet we hear the person, who, at this moment, is sustained by these very Tories, and could not bold his political po. sition one hour but for their support, declaring that " be hails" the people who never hiss — " the men of correct principles, and decent manners, as his friends. " The Attorney General's ear trumpet is something like his telescope— it has a big and small end — when the Tories hiss he turns *' the small end of the horn," and fancies he hears soft music ; but when the Liberals take part in this "polite accomplishment,** he turns the other end, and the effect is so overwhelming, that he suddenly warns the people of '* threatening dangers that may y€t overtake their best and dearest interests." If it has really come to this, that the people of Nova Sootia cannot hiss a cross grained Attorney, who thrusts himself into a meeting uninvited, and loses his temper before he has spoken twenty words, then the British bull dogs are muBsled sure enough. The Atty. General seems to complain of the speeches made at the Pine Grove Meeting,but he has failed to prove tha. any personal attacks were made u^)on him —that imything was said there which ought not to have been said*— that would not have been said if he had been presei:t, or that esnoot be fully substantiated. Falling b;ick upon some alleged private conversations of Mr. Young, be at- tempts to be witty and satirical ; and, referring to the triumphs of the Govern- «nent over the Opposition, he makes this extraordinary assertion, '* beaten they were, I repeat, on every occasion."— This is another grave and unparalleled falaehood. Let me first frankly record the Ministerial triumphs, and then shew that Mr. Johnaton waa defeated on several occasions, of so much importance, that few but himself, in the face of kucb defeats, would baveciunif to office. During tlM three Sessions that the Liberals sat in Lord Falkiand's Council, 10 GovcrcraeDt measures were introduced, and all but one « ei« carried through both branches. Almost every sum of money askrd for by the Government was voted, and while a vote of want of confidence vas rejected by a majority bi ia • of 42 ta 6, a Tot* of approTsl of lh« prineiplct and poUey of tbt OovtroBicnt WM Mrriad by • majorilj of 40 to 8. Tbt ftHrmal antwtrto tbt optoiog Spttcb rttrtly oceupitd nort tbao a tinglt foraooon. Contraat tbit ttata of tbioga with tbt OavtrDBfitnC Itgitlttion uodtr Mr. Johntton'a Itadtnbip. Tbt aoawtr to tbt optoiog Spttth wm tariiad by a in^fority of on*, alktr a fortnight'a dabatt, io wbitb a ajratam of Eittutiva tanvattand intinidatioB irat itMrtad to. uDptsralltlfd io tbt bUtorj of tbu Provinct ;— tbt uneonttitutional throat of ditsolution bting most iodeetnti j tmploytd. Oo tbt Rttolutiont, fur •ffirmio^ tbt prioeiplts of tha ntar tysttoit tbt Go* vernatnt wtrt dtftattd io Committtt, and only got tbtir amendmtnt on tbt JouroaU by an uUimttt majotity of 2, tbt Sptakcr being in tbt Chair. A dircot Vott of Confidtnot in tbt retired Counoillora vaa only rejected by a mijority of 3, tbt Speaker being in the Chair ; while tbt Resolution* which declared that, in retiring, they had aHorted no ** prttenaions" which tht boust ditapprovtd, was carried by a unanimous vote. In tbt SumiBtr Seuion, tht Capt Breton question was taken out of tha hands of tht Government by a decided majority, and a vote of want of oonfi* denco was staved off by a prorogation. These are the triumphs, of which tht Attorney Central boasts; let mt now notiet tht dtfeats which he has failed to record :— - On tbt Parish Bill, for which, though not a Government measure, both Mr. Johnston and Mr. Dodd voted, they were defeated by a majority of 21 to 18. On tbt general principle of the Civil List Bill, the preserving to present in- cumbenta the whole amount of salaries received, and which was tried on the first division, they were beaten by a large majority. Tbt motion madt by tht Attorney Gencral.to give to Sir Rupert D. Gtorgt J£l2iOpet annum, in addition to his fees as Regutrar, they were compelled to abandon; and, on a subsequent motion to give ^937 instead ofj£700, for which Mr. Dodd and tht Attorney General voted, they were again defeated. The motion to add jC12A to the amount which Mr. Nutting receives in fees, and of which I shall have something more to say by and bye, the Members of Government were compelled to abandon. On the Registrar's Bill, a measure repeatedly defeated by the Atty General, while in the Legislative Council, find upon which both be and Mr Dodd vo rtprestotations, if not positive untruths, would bt borstd btfort bis fidlows,and whipped into sooot rtgaid for tht ninth eoamaadmeBt. But,wtarcsnetringly told that Mr. Young, often ** emptied tht rtd btoeb> ta." Iftbia wart trut, tht Attornty Gtattal ahould havtbttn tht last to notita tht dtaertioaa ; for ha ought to have remembered tleariog tbt btoebts himacif, on stvtral mtmorablt ooeaaiona— ba ought alao to bavt spared tht feel iogs of at least ttairtt of bis own supporters, who rarely riat without producing a rush to tht lobMi* of tht Heust. I do not mean to insinuate t bat tht art of bting ttdiouB it eonfined to titber party ; but, from what 1 have seen of hia own pcrfoinaanetc, I am ltd to hopt that tht Itarned Attorney General took tha prceautic^- to " lock tha barn door " before bt began hit fivt hours' 10 Mr. Young, w« ar* told, «rat ambitiout " to fli tliv «rond«ring gai* of m country audiciictt." What took Mr. Johnjton to Yai mouth, to Onslow, to Bridgetown ? To " fix the wondering gat* of a country audience,"— to figure in (be Christian Mcssehger as a "great Lawyer," and a "great Liberal." But then what iarigbt in Mr. Johnston, is wrong in Mr. Young*-the leader can see the mote in his neii;hbour's eye, but cannot see the beam in his own. I oome new to the triumphant vauntingsof the Attorney General over my absence from the Bridgetown Meeting. These may have been in good taste, but I can scarcely think so. During fifteen years of public life, seven of them passed in the Legislature, I am not aware that I ever shrunk from fair and manly encounter, either in the Press, at Public Meetings, or on ihe floors of the Assembly, whenever any man, however elevated or able, chose to qucs' tion the sou.idness of my opinions, or the correctness of my public conduct. It has been my fortune to difler and contend with men who need nevr vail their plumes to Mr. Johnston. It was my duty in 1840 to measure weapona with him more than once ; and, in the Sessions of 1844. I believe that, whether the assailant, or standing on the defensive, he had even Ies4 to brag of in the debates than he had on the divisions. Mr. Johnston knew then, right welli when he was making his boasting harangue at Bridgetown, that if I had had notice, I would have been there—nobody who knows me can doubt it for an instant. Why was I not there? For this simple reason, that I was standing in the Court House at Amherst, confronting his colleague Mr. Stewart, before the people of Cumberland, ere I knew one word of the Bridgetown Meeting— the notice of which had only appeared in the Morning Post of the previous Tuesday, and which was to come off thai very day. But, says Mr. Johnston, the mails that reached Halifax on Friday night, might'have brought the intelli- gence—if so, why did not the notice appear in Saturday^ Morning Post, or even in the Recorder of Saturday afternoon ? Answer this, to the satisfaction of the public, thou "artful "lawyer. No such notice appeared — aosuohin'< telligence reached Halifax. I saw fifty eitisens on Saturday, who knew nothing of the Meeting, or I should have heard of it. I left on Saturday afternoon for Cumberland, was detained by bad weather at Horton on Monday, where I met 20 persons, not one of whom had heard a syllable of the Meeting at Bridgetown. By Monday's Mail the notice, no doubt, arrived in town, as it appeared in the Post of the following morning, some 48 hours after I had left Halifax; and before the Post could have reached Morton on Tuesday afternoon, 1 had crossed the Bay, and was addressing the people of Parrsborough. Yet the Attorney General tells me I bad " abundant notice." Two years ago I should have said that the learned gentleman was mistaken, now I am com- pelled to acknowledge that I believe he has deliber».tely asserted what be knew to be untrue. But we are told, that I ought to *< have kept myself disengaged." My answer is very simple. I waited eight days after the Pine Grove Meeting,and hearing nothing from Mr. Johnston, or any body else in Annapolis, I conclud- ed that he had, as 1 have expressed it elsewhere, *' either found himself fo strong that ft meeting was unnecessary, or so weak that he deemed it impolitic to hold one." May f not here observe, that, if a Meeting waa contemplated, ■ day, or two, or three, after the adjournment at the Pine Grove, public notice should have been given ; and eight days ought not to have been suffered to elapse, leaving barely time for the gentlemen challenged to reach Bridgetown by eoach,the cbal-< lenger being all the time on the ground mustering his forces. Nutwithbtanding the disadvantages which must have arisen from the unnecessary delay ,had I been in Halifax when the notice appeared, on the Friday 1 should have been in the Barn qt Bridgetown ; and although my Speech might not have been as \oug as that of the Attorney General, I think I may venture to say, that, like an Isish- man's Shillelah, what there was of it^ would have beec very much to the purpose. We are told, however, (hat the Attorney General offered to meet us on the u Monday aftvr tlit Meeting al tli* Pine Orovo. H« did, but I h«td furmed ulber «ngagemenls at I came along, which would occupy all the time I eould spare, and Mr. Young was compelled to be in town by Sundiiy night. Besides, would it have been fair to the 600 or 700 people, who had given up ■ Friday in Harvest, and many of whom had travelled long distances, to have asked ithem to turn out again on the following Monday ? It would have been most unreao sonable, not to ity cruel, to have done so ; many might have come, but many more could not, and the knowledge of this probably influenced the Attorney General in making the proposition. Being most desirous to meet the Attorney General, face to face, before any audience, not packed and held together by the influence of government, on the 4th November I addressed to him the following note :— Ar- il A UFA X, Nov. 4, 1844. 1 have waited, with much patience, for the eoneluding portion of your speech, delivered at the Bridgetown meeting on the lOtb October, before addressing this note to you. As three weeks have elapsed, and the whole has not ap- peared, I feel that a longer silence on my part, with reference to what has already been printed, may be misunderstood ; and I now beg to express my regret that I had left Town for Cumberland before the notice of that meeting was published, «nd to declare my readiness to review your speech, in your pre> sence, at any meeting you may choose to call, at any central place, in any County of Nova Scotia, Annapolis included, at any time between the 16th and 80th of this month. T have the honor to be. Sir, Your obedient servant, JosirH Howe. To the Hon. Attorney (reneral Johnston. . ^t This challenge, you will perceive, was not to meet me, at Musquodoboit, or in any part of my own County, after I had had ten days to muster forces— it left tbe time, and place, to be fixed by the party invited, and it gave hivn the range of 17 eounties, his own included. No answer having been returned to this invi- tation, and the Bridgetown Speech having dragged its slow length along over twenty six columns of the MorningPost,! am compelled to take the open ground which the public Presa affords, and to address, in this mode, an audience, to whose deliberate judgme..! I have never been afraid to appeal. Notwithstanding the advice given in the Nova Scotian, I think the *' Wood- berries, Fitxrandolphs, and Baths," did right not to attend the Meeting at Bridgetown, for this plain reason — that many of the questions were to turn upon facts and references, with which it was not to be expected that even intel- ligent men, residing in the interior, could be sufficiently armed to unravel the sophistries of the Attorney General. Had they gone, and outvoted him, the ** practiced libellers" who write for him in the •• debased Press" which the Government supports with the People's money, to abuse the People's friends, would still have claimed the majority, as they did at the eight meetings in Hants and Cumberland, at every onai of which the supporters of the Government were fairly beaten. The affair stands very well as it is— the Attorney General has glorified himself on the barn floor, and thrashed every body that was not there ; and, depend upon it, before I am done with him, I will give tbt public the benefit of the few grains of wheat that I find in his 26 columns of cbjsfT. Totirs truly, JOSEPH HOWE. Halifax December 9, 1844. ■siilii^i-^^ ivlc^itl ii^lA ■ -v'J *h VI ■ 1* itr mmmmmmmmm ■ I". I .li'V" / ' !■ ,, 'Ml, ' • ., ( ,'.' •wi''! 'I'H ,rh '(<•') ,i--, •)•>» ;*4''« Vii;.(»uJ-'i » i(«f • '■ nil lit '' LETTER II. I.l't!<- •..••J^ •» ji.'t'i, I think it is Seneca, who mj«, that *' not only the frequent hearing and Meing of a wise maft delight us, but the very encounter of him luggett* pro* fitable eontemplationa. " If this be true, and the Attorney General really be a wise man, I am likely to be largely benefitted ; but I must own, that at every step I take, in wading through his Bridgetown argument, I am led to doubt his wisdom, however much I may discover of that small cunning, which States* men often want, and are always better without, though mere special pleaders have it in great abundance. Mr. Johnston complains that I repeated, at Wilmot, • great many things which be refuted last winter— and toM a great many ol<^ stories, which hn had already explained. He assumes, with great complacency, that all his expla* nations in the Assembly were satisfactory, and that no distinct charge baa ever yet been preferred against him, which he has not triumphantly refuted. This was the language he held on the floor of the Assembly, when he made an attack upon the Liberal Press last July, and what was the consequeuce? That Mr. Annand, whose Press had been assailed, immediately preferred against him 17 distinct accusations, not one of which ha* been satisfactorily answered to this hour. That Mr. Johnston made a long speech last winter— that he was frequently interrupted— that he attempted to explain away a great many things, and to make out • case for himself and the government, is most true t that b« pro* dueed conviction in any body's mind, not previously prejudiced in bis favor, or operated upon by the influence which bis position at the moment gave bim» I never knew until I read of it in the pamphlet. The Attorney General eautiona his audience not to be * misled and affeeted by my artfully arranged sentences.' This is excellent advice, coming from an old Attorney, notoriously the creature of preparation and arrange* ment ; and applied to a Mechanic, who rarely copies any thing be writes — as rarely studies what he is to say, and whose only care about his sentences \% that each should contain the truth. The Attorney General has favoured the world with a sort of Histori* cal Sketch, illustrative of our relative positions, principles, and claimato public confidence. The objects in view appear to have been various : Isc— Toshow, that be and his friwnds we/e wise, consistent, and admirable politicians, down to the arrival of Lord Sydenham in this Province. 2d.— To show that Lord Sydenham, afier due enquiry into the past, ap* proved of the acts of the old Administration— disapproved of the conduct of the Reformers, threw overboard my prineiplea, and adopted those of Mr. Johnston. 3d.— That Lord Falkland's Administration was conducted, from 1840 to 1843, upon those principles, adopted by Lord Sydenham from Mr. Johnston; and that it has, since then, been conducted upon other and diflTerent priaeiples, embodied in the Doddcan Confession of faith. 4tb— Tbnt the principle of Responsible Government, at advocated by my- self, was abandoned when I took a seat in Council. Stb.— lliat aome heterodox opinions, which I had agreed to modify, in order to obtain a seat in Council, are still cherished, in violation of good fiiith. 6th.— That Lord Falkland's Council was broken up, in consequence of a series of attacks, by the Liberal Press, and Liberal Members, to all of which 13 t was a party, tn violatiun uf the faith I owed to my culUagues 'and th« head cf the Ouvernment. 7th. — That I gafe, in the Spring of 1843, notice of a mction, " aimed at tha Government of which I was a Member." 8th.— That t mnde the assertion, that Lord Falkland had promised to fill up "all the vacancies in the Executive Council" from the Liberal party an atsertion to which His Lordship gave a flat contradiction. If I understand what Mr. Johnston has been at, in all the speeches he has made, for the last twelve months, and what his friends have been essaying, in the wearisome lucubration* with which they have deluged the Tory and Messenger Press, the object has been to prove these eight charges. I rejoice that they have at last been brought out before the Couutry, in a shape that ad- mits of my dealing with them, without any chance of their heir g withdrawn by bold denials, or frittered away by subtle evasion. The Bridgetown Speech has been reported with great care — two months having been spent in tl e pro« cess — the accuracy of the report has been publicly acknowledged, and I am at liberty to deal with it, as I would with a formal indictment, drawn up hy a Crown Officer, in discharge of his official duties. Now, if I take these eight oharges, and show that the whole have been reared upon a superstructure of falsehood — that there is not a single one of them that is nut only untrue, but that has not its origin in a base and unwarrantable perversion of all the facts of tha ease, what will the public think of the man, who has been twelve months sewing these rotten leaves together, to cover his political nakedness ? In order to show whether Mr. Johnston, and the party which now sustain him, or Mr. Howe and the Liberals, established, by their conduct, previous to 1841, the fairer claim to be regarded as rational, eonsistt-nt, and useful public men, it wilt be necessary to refer to a few facts which the Attorney General has not recorded. The first time that I ever beard of Mr. Johnston figuring upon the stage of publie life, was when he attempted to '* wrest the prerogative" from the Bishop of Nova Scotia, and to appoint a Rector to St. Paul's Church: thereby taking from the head of the Church a power, in the matter of patron- age, analogous to that which he has lately accused the Liberals uf wishing to take from the head of the Government. The Bishop, and the Governor, for the time being, resisted ** bis pretensions," and this reckless innovater rushed out of the Church, declaring that owls and bats would roost in it i and, after fleundering about for some time, adopted another creed — turned a theological battery, called the Christian Messenger, upon the Church of his fathers, for a number of years ; and finally, when it suited his interests, or when his passiona were to be gratified in another line, became the champion of the Church — the political ally of the highest Tories in it, and the advocate of their Parikh Bills. Yet this man has the modesty to prate of "eiisting institutions," and a regard for the *' peace of the country" — when his first act was the disturbance of the public peace — an attack upon existing institutions; and his consistency is ex* hibited in returning to the Bishop's side, like a beaten hound, after a vain attempt to pndermine his authority. The next utoe I marked Mr. Johnston, figuring beyond the purlieus of the Couk>ts, waa in 1836, when I saw him addressing a meeting of the Constituency of Halifax, and actiag with the official and old Tory party, nho had met for the purpose of concerting how they might defeat Forrester, Bell, and Annand, at the elections then ia progress, and return Messrs. Lawson, Murdoch, and Starr. Neither of us were in the Legislature at that time— he was then •arning the honors which he 'afterwards received from the loeal Govern* meat, and I was just entering upon the discbarge of those duties which secured to ne the confidence and support of my countrymen, from 1837 down to 1840. Thit was the first time that Mr. Johnston and I ever confronted each other. There be stood, at one end of the room, surrounded by nearly all those who, during the subsequent four years, stoutly resisted the introduetion of almost every change which the Reformera advoeated— .and there stood I, backed by those who, in the coming struggles, were to carry me forward, from victory to 14 vletnry, in tpitt »l tlia determined opposition of tbv mm w« there oppotsd^ Now, let ui >up(;oie that Mr. Johnston and hit allies had auceeeded un this occaiion: that Bell, and Forrester, and Annand, had been defeated ; and that nimilar defeats, by the efibrti of the same party, had thinned our ranks in other parts of the Province, and the Tories had obtained a majority, does any body bflieve that the chanfjes which have taken place— the improvementu which havo been secured— the principles which havo been introduced, would have been ours in 1840, or that Ileitponxible Government would at this moment have been established in British America? No-^had Mr. Johnston and his party sue* ceeded in their plans, the Liberals would have struggled for the next four years, as some of them had struggled for the previous six, in a powerless and almost hopeless minority— Responsible Government would have been indefinitely postponed — Nova Scotia would have been in no position to avail herself of Durham's Report— or of Russeti's Despatches, and the Governor General would never have set his foot upon our shores, Yet this man, whose Country is only benefitted when he is beaten — whoso defeats have produced a harvest of good, which would have been lost had he been victorious, has the assurance to claim for himself and his party the merit of what has been done, not only without his aid, but in spite of his teeth. I start, then, with this assertion! that when Mr. Johnston first appeared on tha stage in 1836, it was in connection with that party in Halifax, who, from that time, down to the arrival of Lord Sydenham, upheld the old principles and practices of Administration — resisted almost every improvement; and, bad they obtained a majority, would have thrown the influence of Nova Sootia into the wrong scale, in the struggle for Responsible Government. Now, what was the state of Nova Scotin at this period ? The House of As- sembly shall describe it. In what spirit did the Liberals of that day, who then, as now, were accused of "needlessly agitating a peaceful Country," of sowing "sedition and rebellion, with all their fearful consequences, "—in what spirit did these men, (who had beaten, at the Elections, Mr. Johnston and his Mason Hall confederates,) approach the Throne? "The People of Nova Scotia,'' aays the Address of 1837, <* turn to their Sovereign, as to the Father of all his People — who rears, wherever practicable, Institutions favourable to freedom, and fosters that love of justice — that nice sense of the relative duties of the Government and the governed, which distinguish the Parent State." In this spirit, and looking to the Mother Country as their model, the Liberals commenced their work. The Executive and Legislative Councils were one and the same — holding seats for life— legislating with closed doors, but one member residing in the in- terior, and none of them depending upon public confidence, local or Parliamen- tary, for their positions. *• The practical effects of this system, have been," tiays the Assembly, "in the highest degree injurious to the best interests of the Country," "the efforts of the Representative Branch," in many instances, " being neutralized, and rendered of no avail." In praying a remedy for these, and other evils, which they variously illustrated, the Liberals, (who had just beaten the party with whom Mr. Johnston was identified— with whom he was associated at the Meeting I have described— by whom he was shortly after promoted — with whom he continued toco-operate till the summer of J840 — by whom he has been backed and upheld since last December,) thus shadowed fiUt the nature of the changes they desired: — *' While this House has a due rever'ince for British institutions, and a de< sire to preserve to themselves and their children the advantages of that const! • tution, under which their brethren on the other side of the Atlantic have en« Joyed so much prosperity and happiness; they cannot but fuel that those they represent but slightly participate in these blessings. They know that the spii it of that Constitution— (Ae genitu of those Institutions, is eomplrte reaponiibi- iity to thtPeople, by wbotfe resources, and for whose benefit, tb«y are maintain- ed. But in this Colony, the People and their Representatives are powerless. exereiting upon the local Government very little influence, and posseising no ef- feetval eonlrol— In England, the People, by one vcte of their Rrprttentativen, 15 cAn ctiange tliv MinUtrjr, and alter any eoiirs* of policy injurious to (heir inter' •9ti ; Ikto, the Miniitry are your Mnjeity's Council, enmbining Legislative, Judicial, and Eiecutive powera—holdinjf their seal$ for I'fe, thmiffh nominnlly at the pleasure of tlie Crown ; and often treating with indiflerenco the wishea of the People and the representations of the Commons." This showing up of the old system, and demand of " responsibility to the Commons"— the spirit of the English constitution, the genius of British In- atitutions, was made in 1037, befor Mr. Johnston had entered the Govern- ment, fAree i/ear$ before he made the $peech he boaits of, at Masons' Hall, and hut a month or two after he stood in full conclave with the Halifni Tories who did their belt to prevent the return of the very men who urged that con- $titutional demand. The question here arises, is Mr. Howe, who was thus associated, and thus employed, when our Institutions were confessedly so defective, the safer guide and the truer friend to the people of Nova Scotia; or Mr. Johnston, wiio, in 1 836, voted and acted with the Tories; who stood with his arms folded, and did nothing, down to 1838 — and then aguin openly acted with those by whom the introduction of these constitutional principles was stoutly opposed. But, says the Attorney General, Lord Sydenham formed the Government in 1840, not upon the principles put forward by the Liberate, but upon those enunciated three years after in my speech at Mason Hell. This I distinctly deny, and I marvel at the powers of face with which the assertion was hasarded in the Barn at Bridgetown. For what did the Liberal? ask in the Address of 1837 ? For '* responeibility of the Council to the people and their Repretentativee" — for *' influence and control over the acts of the local Government"— for " power to change the Minitlry, and liter any course of policy injurious to their in* terests." This is what was claimed by the Liberals three years before Mr. Johnston made his speech— fAt's was obtained, in spite of his exertions, but a few months after that speech fell still boii, from the Press. These guard*, securities, and privileges, yielded by Sydenham, sanctioned by Falkland, were proclaimed by mean the Hustings in 1840, were announced by every member of Government in the Lower House in 1841, were established by Lord Sydmham himself by formal Resolution, in the summer of that year- were reiterated again, by the members of Lord Falkland's Government, in the Confidence debates in 1842; and yet were c/entect, and attempted to be frittered away, by Messrs. Johnston ^ Stewart, fot eighteen months after the people of Nova Seotia were in full possession of them, and were never distinctly acknowledged, until,tn orrfer to hold their places, ihose gentlemen were compelled, sorely against their will, to swallow the Doddean Confession of Faith. Yet we are told that )c liitittelf with a tomitlimtnt lik« iWitt from Lord Falkluitd'$ iUmtrioiu patron, for the imbeeiU nod uaconstitution^l denunciation rcocntiy •ini«d at hit head, and aticmptvd to ba justifiad bjr tha Ally Oenaral. Inthia worki "eonduaivt alike to tha honor of iba Croarn, and tha welfare of Hie Majaaty'a auljecta," Mr Howe wiia a prime moTer, and Mr Johnaton had no hand— yet the latter ia a aafar guide* and greater benefaetor, to tha Crown and Country, and the former • dan« geroua demagogue, *' seeking only hia own interest and advancamcut. " Let me trace the hiatory of theia two men, in oonnretion with aubacquent arrangements, and aee who showed a disposition to grasp at offioa— to aacriflca principle— to aecure party objeota. <* Some time in the Summer of 1837, (aaya Mr. Howe, in hia aiplanationa on the floor of the Houae, in 1841), Sir Colin Campbell did me tha honor to ask my advice respecting the formation of hia Couneila. I furnished a aketch of two Couneila, on tht prineipU of not giving a triumph to ang party— placing in the Legialativa Council men who represented all denominations ,and inter- ests, one to come from each County where that was praetieable — it also pro«i« ded honorably for each Member in the old Councils, by seating them at one of the two Boards— the plan gave no unfair preponderance to any party, and of theaeata in tha Executive Council, only appropriated one to thoae with whom 1 had been accustomed to act, that one was In favour of Mr. Huntington." *' When the aketch was handed in, Sir Colin remarked, with franknata and kindness, that he ( Mr. H.)had taken no seat for himself. His answer was, that changes had been pressed by the party with which he aeted, and h» wa» anjioui that they ihould be $hitldtd from ang $uipieion ofinttrtattd viewt \a so doing. If he took a place himself, he wouid be charged with having that in view, while he waa urging changes. He felt it his duty to stand aloof, fch iciog iter- o*i« nt af forms t>i« last ; and by whicli Diutnters have b«en rttiMd to an elttvatioiii that thay have attained not only without the aid of the Attorney General, but in ipito of the bitter opposition of thoae with whom be was acting in 1836» whom he again Joined in 1S38 — whose acta and policy he defended down to 1840, and with whom he stands completely identified in 1644. To illustrate still further the position in which the Dissenters were left by Mr. Johnston, and found by Mr. Howe, 10 years his junior, let me copy ■ passage from the Address of 1637:— *' While the population of this Province is composed, as appears by the last census, taken in 1827, of 28,659 members of the Episeopal Church, and 115,- 195 Dissenters, which proportions may be assumed as fair at the present time, the appointments to the Council have secured to the members of the Church, embracing but one fifth of the population, a clear and decided majority at the Board. They have now in that body nine members : The Presbyterians, who nut-numbered them by about Mine Thousand, have but two— the Catholics, who are nearly equal, but one — while the Baptists, amounting by the census of the same year to 19,790, and the Methodists to 9,498, and all other Sects and Denominations, are without any of their members in a Body whose duty it is to legislate for all. " Your Majesty will readily perceive that, whether designed or net> the mere circumstance of one body of Christians having such an overwhelming influence in the Legislative and Executive Council, has a tendency to excite a suspicion that, in the distribution of patronage, the fair claims of the Dissenting popula- tion, founded upon their numbers, respectability and intelligence, are frequently overlooked. " By the arrangements of 1838, consequent on the receipt and violation of Lord Glenelg's Despatches, the old rule of »y$ttmatie injuttic* to DUtenttri was pertinaciously adhered to. The Address of 1838, moved by Mr. Howe, and sustained by the Huotingtons, and Youngs, and Doyles, and most of those men who have been driven by the appointment of Mr. Johnston's Brother- in- Law into opposition to the Government, contains this passage: *' One point to which the attention of the Crown was called in the Address of last Session, was the preponderence in the Councils of the Country, given to one religious body, embracing but a fifth of the population, over those of which the other four-fifths were composed. The reasonableness of this complaint was fully acknowledged. ** It is impossible,'* said the Colonial Secretary, in the Despatch of the SOth April, "that distinctions so invidious should not be pro* duetive of serious discontent.'* The directions given upon this point were clear and explicit. Recommendations were to be "altogether uninfluenced by any considerations of the relation in which the proposed Councillors might stand towards the Church of England, or any other Society of Christians'*— care was to be taken " to avoid, as far as possible, such a selection as might even appear to have been dictated by motives of this description" — and ** even the sem* blanoeof undue favour to any partieulnr Church" was to be avoided. These commands, founded in justice and sound policy, were reiterated at the close of the Despatch of the 3ist October, in which your Mi^esty directed that the new Councils should be composed, *' not only without reference to distmetions of religious opinions, but in such a manner as to afford no plausible ground for the suspicion that the choice was influenced by that consideration." Such being the gracious intentions of your Miyesty — intentions, which, if once fairly car- ried out, would forever remove from4he Province those jealousies that the appa- rent preference, given by the local Government to one class of Christians over all others, is but too well calculated to inspire — your loyal subjects observe with surprise and regret, that in the new Executive Council, as lately remu* delled, five of the nine Gentlemen of which it is composed, are members of the Church of England — and that eight out of the fifteen who form the Legisla- tive Council, are also members of that Church, his Lordship the Bishop being one." If it be said that Mr. Johnston was not bound to attack the system of ex* elusion, by vbii.h Diiaentets suffered, previous to 1837) because be was not in 18 1 1 thi Hous«, my aniwcr is. that, if ht bad Mt m *' warmlj" aa did Huntington, and othars, b* might have gone thara ; or ha might hava attaekad tha abuia aa Mr. Howt did, in tha Praaa; at all aTtnta, from the moment that thaie man evinced • fearlaaa determination to abate the nniaanee, thajr should have had the cordial and ardent srmpathy and oo-oparatioa of tbia '• warm hearted" if not rash Diuentar. What had they ? Whilt com- bining (Mr MJfjoritjf, thev saw biro plaj/ing optnlv into tha hamd$ qf th$ Halifax 2br Howe bad written a Pamphlet, and be bad to throw that overboard. This said Pamphlet bas always been a sad stumblinff block in the way of our Nova Sootian Tories, notwithstanding it waa received with general favour by the Colonial and British Press—notwithstanding thai the people of North America saw in it a faithful portraiture of the evils wbieh afflicted them, and a hopeful foreshadowing of the remedies by wbieh health and vigor were to be ensured hereafter. It is just becaaae Mi^. Ifowv wrote tbia Pamphlet, and because, without pertinaciously adhering to everj detail, or raising an argument on every phrase, he bas endeavoured to give • praetical application to the leading principle wbieh ruoa th/pugh the whole, that such men as Ryerson and Buchanan, who ttouttg defend ih* Governor Geng- ral, have called him *• the father of Responsible Oovermcnt," a title wbieh he Iton, It >• tbit they ■tlon eom<» lifax ct«r- kiDff both but 10 n«y«r atpirtd to,*nd doai not d«wrv«{ and to wbieh h« only li«r« r*f«rt, toihow that othari, who ara quit* at good judgta aa tba Atty. Gtntral, tomttiuiM aay eivil thinga, which are a fair offMt to the eofnplimaoU paid bim at Bridgatown. But l«t ma now at* what is tha m^in priiuipit, mmniiu through thit I^mphht,in ordtr that we nnay aioertain bow mueb of it waa abandoned, and whtthtr th« rtalpUh and vital primeipU hat not bun ptetervtd, in the ajttem of Rtaponaibla Government lanetioned and carried out by Sydenham, Falkland. Bagot, and Metoalf:- • " In England," laya Mr. Howe, addrcuing Lord John Ruaaoll, •* the OoYerAment ii invariably entruated to men whose principles and policy the mate of those who possess the elective franchise approve, and who are sustained by a majority in the House of Commons. The Sovereign may bo personally hostile to them— a minority in the House of Lords may oppost them in that august assembly, and yet they govern the Country, untri, from • doAeieney of talent, or conduct, or from ill fortune, they find their re> presentativa majority diminiriiad, and soma rival combination of able and in<> fluential men in condition to displace them. If satisfied that the Commons truly reflect the opinions of the constituency, they resign— if there is any doubt, a dissolution is tried, and the verdict of the country decides to which f tarty its destinies ar* to be confided. You, in common with every Englishman iving at home, are so familiar with the operation of the system, and so en« grossed with a participation in the ardent intellectual eompetition it oeeasions, thftt perhapa you seldom pause to admhre what attracts as littU attention aa tin air yon breathe. The Cabman, who drives paat St Paul's a doaen timea a day, seldom gaaes at its ample outline or eKcellent proportions! and yet thev impress the Colonist with awe and wonder, and make him regret that be bu left no such ediflee in the west." Here we have very distinctly shewn what it waa the Nova Scotians wanted— it will h* for Mr Johniton to lAow that we havt not got iti nay, that we had it not, on the very day Mr. How* went into the Council, although it took the former eighteen months of gropings, and reservations, and denials, before he found out, or would tell the people, what they had got. *'As a politician then, your Lordship's only care ia to place or retain your party in the ascendant in the House of Commons. You never doubt for an in- stant that, if they are si, they must influence the policy and dispense the patro- nage of the Government. This aimple and admirable principle of letting the ma- jority govern, you carry out in all your Corporatious, Clubs, and public Com* paniea and Associations, and no more suspect that there is danger in it, or that the minority are injured when compelled to submit, than you see iigustioe in awarding a cup at Epsom or Doneaster to the horse which wins rather than to the animal which has lost the race. The effects of this system are perceptible everywhere. A Pear of France, under the old regime, if he lost the smiles of the Court, suffered a sort of political and social annihilation— a Peer of Enga land, if uqjustly slighted by th« Sovereign, retires to his estate, not to mourn over an irreparable stroke of fortune, but to devote his hours to study, to rally bis friends9 to connect himself with some great interest in the 3tate, wbo^ aocinnulating strength may beer him into t^ counsels of his Sovereign, without any aacrifioc of principle or diminution of self respect. A commoner feels, in England, not as commoners used to feel in France, that honors and influenee are only to be attained by an entire prostration of spirit— the foulest adulation .^he must utter aubaervianey to boundless prerogatives, arbitrarily ezereiaed •— bpt that they are to be won, in open arenas, by the exercise of those manly qualitiaa wbieh eonmand respect, and by the exhibition of the ripene4 fruits of aaaidtoous intelleetoal eultivation, in the presence of an admiring iMtiOD, whose deoidon-ensurea sttoeess. Henee there is a sdf poised and vigorous independ. cqee in the Briton's cbaraetier, by whidi bf atrangely eontrasta with all his European aeigbbora. His deae«ndantt in ,tbe (^olonies, notwithstanding the diffiedlletfoftheirpoaition, still bear to John Ba$ yielded. What said Mr. Howe, with the Governor General at his elbow ? " What, then, are the views, and what are the principles, upon which the Government is to be hereafter conducted ? Our readers will, perhaps, be sur* prised, when we state, that the system which is to be enforced by HisExoeU lencv, is exsetly what the friends of what is called Responsible Government would have created, eould they have acted without reference to the pre-existing positions and claims of those already in office, and at the Council Board, and whose feelings and emoluments they always endpavored, if possible, to spare. There is a slight difference between what we contemplated, and whnt his Exi ccllency is about to form, whioh we shall frankly state ; but this is more than compensated by other admirable features of the plan, for which the majority never ventured to stipulate— but which, while they make the system complete, wilt, or we are much mistaken, be more acceptable to the Reformers, and more distasteful to their opponents, that any form of Responsible Government that our Assembly ever offered for their acceptance." What said he a month afker, io answer to same criticisms of :he Canadian Tories? " Some of these papers do not seem to understand the causes of the rapid subsidence of popular excitement, which followed the Governor General's vikit to Nova Scotia ; and, for lack of koowlege, or with some more mischievous de> sign, are endeavouring to propagate the idea that he came into the Province like a stern conqueror, and that Reform and Responsible Government fell before him. The Montreal Gazette has written a good deal of nonsense, in the hope of makinp this apparent— but its Editor evidently either does not know what he is writwg about, or is anxious to mislead his readers. The fact is, that had the Governor General come into Nova Scotia, in any such spirit, or with any such intentions, he would have found men here juit as stern and determined as himself— men who would never have furnished, by the violence of their conduct, the smallest pretext to the people to desert them, or to the GoTern- ment to suspend their constitution, but who would have continued to embarrass and oppose every administration that persisted in upholding the old system of Government which 'public opinion condemned.' But Mr. Thompson came in no such spirit — and with no such objects. He came to prove to the Nova- seotians that the Representatives of Sovereignty ' have their duties as well as their rights. ' He came to vindicate, not only the power of the Imperial au- thorities, but their justice — their knowledge of constitutional usages and re- quirementsv-thcir appreciation of the loyalty and intelligence of the British Americans, The moment that the leaders of the people were assured of this— the moment that they found they had to deal with a man who felt as keenly as they did themselves the absurdity. of the old system they had laboured to over* 21 turn — who did not pretend, for a iinglo iiHlaiit, that it wai to bo cnniiriued— * who admitted, to th«i fulleit eitent, the truly Britiih prinoiplv, thnt ih«re thoulU be etringent reipontlbility pcrvnding every operation of the loeal (Jovernmeni, they felt that they alio had * thuir duties ai well »% their righli '—and that agreeing in the main, as they did, with the Governor General, the first of these dutiea waa to laerifico any more personal feeling ' 'hich the previous strugglo had uoeusioned, and, without standing pertinaoio' ily upon points of detail, or contending about diflVrent modes of arriving at the lame thing, they were bound to aid a man, sincerely labouring to improve their institutions, in carrying out Responaible Government in the way in which Uvr Mnjesty's Government hud determined to concede it. " To say that Responsible Governmont has been surrendered by the Nova Scotia Reformers, or that it has bocn put down by the Governor General, is to do injustice to both parties, and to assert what is not true. The Governor General found, on enquiry into the past, that fur much less than he was prepared to concede, a receipt in full would have been given Sir Culin Campbell, over and over again, for and on account of all claims upon what is called Responsible Oovt>rnment— and the Reformers found that, though difTering a little in theory, the Governor Genaral'a system was essentially the same as, and in some respects better than, their own. "A mutual good understanding, withoutany compromise of principle, or for< feiture of political advantage, on cither side, was the inevitable result of mutual explanations— and nothing can disturb the harmony which has been produced, but some piece of had faith, of which no person suspects that either is capa- ble, except perhaps those who dislike or fear them both.'* Ttiis was written fearlessly by Mr. Howe, in a paper which he knew the Governor General regularl) road, on the 27th of August, only a month after he had left Halifax, and when, if there was any miatahey Mr. Howe's contem* plated promotion could have been stayed by a tingle line. But did Mr Howe receive any reprimand ? No — though in the autumn of 1840, he received a letter from Lord Sydenham, thanking him for the manliness and candour he had evinced throughout the whole affair. Fortunately I have an authority better than anything that was ever said or written in Nova Scotia — and having hung this artful Lawyer in a chain of evi< dence, let me now break him upon a wheel, every spoke of which is furnished by Lord Sydenham himself:— In 1841, in order that the uew principles and policy should be rationally ex* plained, previous to the meeting of the Canadian Parliament, a " Monthly Review-~-devoted to the Civil Government of Canada," was brought out in Toronto, under the immediate patronage of the Governor General. The politi- cal articles in this work, if some of them were not written by his own hand, were, I have been assured, prepared by those in his confidence, and submitted for hib inspection. I take from these one or two passages : ** The question, then, now is — how are the interests of the People to be ascertained? Partly through an honest desi'e in the Executive to learn and promote them— (we may certainly presume so much) — but chiefly through the People's Representatives. The Executive is to be kept in harmony with them, partly by the action of the public mind, as through the Press, public meetings, private representations, &c. but also chiefly through the action of the Repre^ sentativea of the People on the Executive. The mode of that action is well known, as by vo»e, petition, address, remonstrance, stopping the supplies, refusing to proceed to business. But what concerns us here, is, that action of the Representatives on the Executive, by which, through a vote of want of con- fidence, they can change its character and action, by producing a change of Ministry — in •ther words we are conducted to the question of Responsible Government." • • • • • . " The resignation of theGovernmentoffleera, or their change of policy, when in a settled minority rn the Legislature, will follow as a matter of course, from 22 r? nl the new position they lustain— for thej cannot keep it unlets they can com mandaniidoritY'" Here then m Colonial Responsible Government, eipU'"* i under the au< thorityof the Governor General, in Jaruary, 1841 ; and yet » vras not till tb« spring of 1842, that Mr. Johnston •"'' Mr. Stewart eould be induced to thus eiplam it. Why did they do it then ?— becausa, after 18 months of miserable evasion and miantatements. either they or Mr. Howe would hate left the CouneUt if the question bad not been satisfactorily set at rest. Though I have shown to you, my old and valued friend, that I thrice declin- ed seats in Council, previous to 1840— let me now show you that the covert and " artful" insinuation, that I modified my opinions in order to obtain a seat, in that yepr, is a bare-faced untruth, made out of whole cloth. In the Session of 1841, I gave tb's account of the matter: " T owed many grateful recollections to the party wi>a whom I had acted, for the kindness and confidence they exhibited, and felt that if any was to make personal sacrifices it should be myself. As there might not be seats for all at first, I advised the Governor General to appoint Mr. Huntington and Mr. Young, and leave me uut,pledging myself,while they continued members of the Government, it should huve my active assistance. More I could not do, and I now make these state* vavnU, that they may go eibtoad, and be contradicted if poteible. This mode of arrangement was pressed, but Hie Excellency expreae^ a poeitioe wi$h that I should take a seat, and I felt that to refuse might put myself and the party I acted with in a false position. With some reluctance [consented to go ta, ir tub GBMXKAL raiMcirLis waaB to h caaaiiD out, and with tk4 understanding that one or both of the Gentlemen mentioned should he placed in th«i Councilt &c." This speeeb was made in the Session of 1841, while Lord Sydenham was alive, and watching all our proceedings with lively interest. At the close of that Session he bore honourable testimony to my services, and when I went to Canada in the spring of that year, receiveid me with a warmth and cordiality wbieh I shall never forget, though he is in his grave: had I lied, or meanly compromised er misrepreiented him, I should have stayed at home, for 1 should have been asbansed to have looked him in the face. Tet when I went into the Council, " with soine reluctance, at Lord Syden* ham's express wish, stipulating before I went that the general principles Were to be carried out," and having thrice before declined, Mr. Att'y. General Johnston ** degrades** himself by proclaiming the monstrous falsehood, that J. gave up my principles to obtain a neat in a Council, where bis own (which no human being to this hour can understand) were tc be the rule of Admfaiistration. His principles 1 1 Sir Richard Steele tells us, that he re- membered, when all England was shaken by an L-irthquake, there was an impudent Mountebank vrho sold pills, which he told the Country people wer* ** VCT fi^od against an earthquake"— yet I doubt if this man is not beaten all hollow by another Mountebank, who puffed his principles among the ** Country People," on a certain barn door, until they were made to believe they were the only preservative against the internal convulsions with which Nova Scotia was threatened. They may be *' good against an Earthquake," but certainly, so far as I have ever been able to study them, they are good for nothing else. Youn truly, JOSEPH HOWE. LETTER III. SIR-- 1 trust I have shown, that the Attorney General, having commenced life as a reokless agitator and innovator, is the last person who should use bard terms to those, who, whether right or wrong, happen to follow his eiarople. That, had he and the Tories sucoeeded in their plans in 1836, there would have been no Liberal majority from thence to 1840 — no refot natory Resolu- tions—no Addresses — no Delegations — no Governor General reviewing our political history, or improving our Institutions. That though iVIr Johnston may have shown a splenetic hostility to the Church, when his passions were inflamed, and a subserviency to its require* ment^ when a political alliance was the object, that nearly all the steps by which DisteAters have advanced from a degrading and unjust position, to an honor' able and fair equality, were gained without his assistance, and all cf them in spite of the determined opposition o! those with whom he has been associated, and is, at this moment, principally sustained. That, however much the language may have varied, in which the Liberals pressed their views, or whatever diversity of mode may have been snggeated in the discussions of a series of years, the objects aimed at in the apeecbes and Addresses of the Liberals, from 1837 to 1840, and in Mr. Howe^s Pamphlet, were— " Rkspomsibilitt or thi Covncix. to the Ftorvt avo their Rbprbsbk- TATIVES. " " iMFtDBNCK AMU CONTROUL OVER TUB ACTS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT.*' POWBR "TOCUAMQETHE MlMlSTRT, AMD ALTER AMT COURSE OF FOLICT INJU- RIOUS TO THEIR INTBRBSTS.'* That None of these /unc/amento/ points of Responsible Government, werg yieldtd by Mr. Howe in the negociations with Lord Sydenham, or in the ea- planation of his policy, written while his Lordship was here. That, on the contrary, in thnt article, it was boldly proclaimed, that **more was to be given: than had ever been demanded ;" and, in another, written be* fore the new Council was formed '*that Lord Sydenham felt as keenly as the Liberals did themselves, the ttbturdity of the old ryatem they had laboured to destroy— (Aa< Ae did not for a moment pretend that it wan to be continued — that HE admitted, to the fu lest extent, the truly British principle, •Ma< Mere Hhotdd be stringent Retpontibility pervading every operation of the local Govern* tnent. That the leading principles of Responsible Government, as now recognised and acted upon in Brivish America, vrere laid down in a Review, published under the immediate patronage of Lord Sydenham, in January, 1841 ; and. That, so far from Mr. Howe having sacrificed principle, to obtain a seat in Coun'sil, in thr Session of our Legislature which immediately followed Lord Sydenham's visit, Mr. H. declared in his place, that be had gone in ' with reluctance, at the Governor Oeneral'a express wish," it being understood "that the general prineiplea were to be carried out." These points, I trust I have made, my dear Sir, so plain, that any boy on the V^ilmot Mountain may carry the chain of facta in hia bead, sa easily «a be wauld canj a Surveyor's chain in his hand. I feel that I might here leave thia pari of the ease, and that no man would require any further evidence to prove that when Mr. Johnston sought to justify 24 II 'i m hiinseir by the strange a->serti.)n that Mr. Howe alaiiduned Uesponsiblo Go> '.■rnment in 1840, in order to obtain a seat in Council, and did not obtain it till 1842, he was attempting to " fix the wondering gaze of a country audience," nut as SignAr Blitz would fix it. by an ingenious deception, but after the t'nbhion of Munchausen, by a bold violation of the moral law. Here I might n>st the case, and here I would rest it, only that it gives me pleasure to take this Attorney General, nccustcmed to disport himself in the Courts, with friendly Judges before him — Conservative Jurors beside him, and admiring juniors and clerks behind him — it gives me pleasure to take thjs man, and iiifting him before the enlarged tribunal to which he has ventured to appeal, teach the hoys of Nova Scotia to laugh at his * pretensions.'* The first witness that 1 shall call, to prove that the leading features of Res- ponsible Government were secured, and not abandoned, in 1840, is Sir John Harvet, who, speaking of Lord John Russell's Despatch, (which Sir Colin, aided by Mr. Johnston's advice, would not act upon, but which' Lord Sydenham and Lord Falkland did) — says, " I hail this Despatch, as conferring a new, and in my judgmtnt, an improved Constitution upon these Colonies." Wc gut this new and improved Constitution in 1840, yet Mr Johnston aays, we got nothing but what was in his speech at Mason Hall, made in defence of the old Administration which was swept away, and the old practices, which the Governor General "did not for a moment pretend were to be continued." My next witness is Cuofton Uniacke, Esq. who, after a deliberate* review nf all the Despatches and public documents then before the Country, thus ex- pressed his views of the fundamental and complete character of the contem- plated change : " Has not every thing which a loyal and enlightened subject of Her Majesty can require, been granted by the Government of the Mother Country? la not Responsible Government, in the rational sense of the term, here granted to the Colonies 9 It would be puerile to dispute about term* — whether it is to be called Responsible Government, a Cabinet, or a Ministry, is of no importance: the essence of the British Constitution has been infused into the system of Colonial Government by these Despatches, and the local afTaiiS of the Provinces will be hereafter administered in the purest spirit of British liberty." 'J'hisis Mr. Crofton Uniacke's view of what was gained in 1840; yet Mr. Johnston, who had, from 1836 to 1840, acted or sympathized with those who opposed every concession, and who made his speech to crush the Liberal party, in the spring of 1 840, tells us his views, and not ours, were approved — that w . did not get what we bad been asking for in our own Addresses and Pamphlets, but only got what he had recommended in his speech. If so, then Sir John Harvey and Mr. Crofton Uniacke must have been grossly mistaken ; but the public will not believe they were, till Mr. Johnston shows in what part of bis speech "a new and improved Constitution "—" Responsible Government".— " the e!:sence of the British Constitution," and " the purest spirit of British liberty'* are recommended. We think he will be puzzled tu find them : none of these things were in the '* artful" Attorney's head, and I am not much sur- prised that none of them came out of it. I come now to the explanations, made' on the floor of the Lower House by the members of Lo.d Falkland's Government in the session of 1841, while Lord Sydenham was rtill alive, that we may ascertain whether, in their opinions, the fundamental principle of Responsible Government was, or was not, then in operation : " Formerly,'* said Mr. Howe, ^*no vote of the Fouse could displace Members of Council, now it was admitted that the declaration of want of confidence would cause immediate resignation. That was a great change, and it would operate in producing the harmony which ought to exist between the Government and the Legislature. He was proud to declare on the Hustings that his consti- tuents had tb« double privilege of electing a member of the House, and of the Counuii, for without their suffrages a seat in neither could be obtained. He now said to the Assembly, that in their confidence and support rested the claims of all in those branches, to the honor which the Croipn tho'jffht proper to confer," 25 iGo- it Ice." the light take rith \tmg and peal, fhich jord rring Hera the extent of the change wua broadly explained, and the great priw ciple propounded in the Address of 1837, and in the Pamphkt of 1839, declared to have been secured, and to be in full operation. Mr. Archibald, then Attorney General, described the change, as "a diiTerent mode from that hitherto in operation, of carrying on the Government. * * A change had been made in the Administration for the purpose of carrying out eomtitutional principles, in the new spirit that had been infused. * • * At the recent Election he told his oonstitueuts that their votes gave the double honour of a seat in the House and Executive Council, and he nou> told the House that if they withheM their confidence, as far as he was personally concerned, he would willingly resign." Mr. B. SBitTH asked, " if the House passed a vote of want of confidence, whether the members of Government would feel bound to retire— was that the principle on which they accepted office 9" Mr. Uniacke described the old state of things, and the " deficiency of the old Constitution, which was apparent," from the absence of responsibility to the Legislature. " The responsibility now understood, and recognized, was a Government carried on according to the well understood wishes of the people." " Respecting a vote of want of confidence, if he felt that he had lost the con - fidenee of those wlih whom he usually acted, he would state to His Excellency the fact, and his inability to serve in the manner that was to be expected when he got his seat, and should tender his resignation. * * * If measures'were urged by the Executive which he and his eoUeagues could not approve, they would not attempt to defend them, but would retire. * * * If the House would give a friendly support to the existing Administration, it might be en- abled to advance the interests of the Country — if they withheld support, the Go- vernment should be changed, or the representatives of the people sent back to their constituents." Mr. DoDD said *'that, if a resolution passed at the present time, similar to that of last year, he would not hesitate what course he should pursue as a member of the Council. He would call on His Excellency and say that he had not the influence which His Excellency reckoned on, that the confidence of the As- sembly had been withdrawn, and he should tender his resignation." Ma. DtwoLF was "not under responsibility before,^' as a member of Sir Colin's Administration — he was now "acting under a different form of Govern- ment." ** He would be sorry to hold his seat, if he thought such occupation would be in opposition to the wishes of the Assembly." Ma. Howl, towards the close of the debu ;, again stated, that " a false posi- tion, followed by a resolution of that House, withdrawing their confidenoe, would be followed by the resignation of the whole Council. The Governor n^'^vht say that be would not accept the resignations till he had tried whether tht- ..j- sembly had expressed the well understood wishes of the people, and then that final appeal should be made. * * The patronage was spoken of, and it was allowed that the Governor appointed to every office, but the members of the Coun« oil had to defend his appointments, and thus became responsible for his making such as could be defended.** Here, then, we have all the Members of Lord Falkland's Government in .841, (their first Session) explaining Responsible Government in the Assem^ biy exactly as it was explained in June following by the members of Lord Sydenham's Administration — as it was subsequently explained in the Dodd>< ean Confession — as it has since been explained by Sir Charles Metcalf, and the best writers and speakers on both sides in Canada. Yet the Attorney Ge« neral tells us that it was abandoned in 1840, and was not established till 1842. If so, then was be acting with colleagues, a majority of whom either did not know what they were about, or were practicing upon the country a barefaced deception. But, it may be said, the Attorney General and Mr. Stewart explained it after a different fashion, in the Legislative Council. They did, and it would have been much better had they been compelled at once (as they were in the follow., ing year) by spins open public declaration, to uonform to the upinians of their 26 'll I' ' - 1' colleagues. But thoro were various reasons why it was most desirable that the futile efTorts of a minority in Council to impede, by vague generalities, the on* ward march of the Government, should be treated with indifTerence. Mr. Johnston, in his place in the Legislative Council, took a world of pains to show that the British Govarnment, so far from intending to yield the Res<> ponsibility claimed by the House over the Members ot the Executive Council^ were very hostile to the principle. He touk occasion to tell us that Lord Glenelg had negatived the opinion " contained in the Address of the Aasembly, that that body should exercise a cuntroul corresponding to that of the Com- mons ove> the Ministry." Who denied this ? or who ever said it was granted in 1837? But the question is — had not our 'louse, and the Parliament of Canada} this controul in 1841, and have they not had it ever since ? We were told that in 1 839 the Minister again ** put his hand oti thd dawnine of responsibility," as developed in our Resolutions. Perhaps so, but Lord John Russell's Despatches, and Lord Sydenham's visit, followed in the train of events, and by that time it was broad day light. Referring to the Assembly's reading of Lord John Russel's Despatch, Mr. Johnston said, ** they considered that that Despatch gave power to change and temodisX, to as to produce harmony between the hrancheH. * * * By the Ad« dress, the Governor w.is called upon to dismiss his advisers as the result of a vote of want confidence ; that would be a recognition of direct responsibility. Would anything justify his Excellency in conceding such a request f Now it does so happen that, under this very Despatch, Lord Sydenham. Lord Falkland, Sir Charles Bagoi, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, have claimed and exercised this very power *' to change and remodel," which Mr. Johnston had the hardihood tu declare it did not give — and that this *' result of a vote of want of confidence" was clearly recognized in Lord Sydenham's Review, in the previous January, by Mr, Johnston's colleagues in the House the week before he made this Speech, by the Canada Resolutions in June following, but waa mper recognized by Mr. Johnston till 1 842. In referring to recent changes, he declared that " responsibility, as developed in the Assembly's Address of 1840, had not been conceded.'' Now let us en- quire how it had been developed— the document shall speak for itself: '* The chief cause," say the Liberals of that day, "of the evils of irhich ^he North American Colonies have complained, has been the want of harmony between the Executive and Representative Branches of the Government." "Your Ma* jesty will therefore readily conceive with what delight and satisfaction the House read the Despatch of Lord John Russell, of the 16th October, by which the power was given to the Lieutenant-Governor to shake himself free of the in- fluences by which '^e had been trammelled. They recognized in that document no new and dangerous experiment, but a recurrence to the only principles upon which Colonial Governments can be safely carried on. They saw that while great powers were to be confided — while an unlimited range of selection was co be given to the Lieutenant Governor, in order to make the exercise of the pre- rogative most beneficial to the People, he was to beheld responsible to the Sove- reign for the tranquility of the Colony committed to his charge, and for the Adrmo- nious action of the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Government." These were our views of the principles " developed " in Lord John Russell's Despatch— the correctness of our reading was denied by Mr. Johnston in 184f —who in British North America will deny it now? ^To take such a view of Lord Falkland's position under it, was " inconsistent with Colonial relations '* — yet this was the view Lord Falkland took himself— thiit all the Members of his Government, in the Lower House, took,— that was boldly propounded in the Doddean Confession of Faith, and the Canada lleso> lutions ; yet, Mr Johnston, deeming that view for 18 months after he entered the Governtnent, " inconsistent with Colonial relations," did not resign. ^ The vight of dismissal by. votes of want of confidence. Was not aiteotly nega- tived, but strangely obscured in the following passage — " the change siiriply was, that it became the duty of Her Majesty's Representative to ascertain the wishes and feelings of the People through their llopresentatiyes, and make the inea« 27 ttho on* tains Res* ncil, jord ibly, Joro» id in ladfl, ning iord in of sum of Oovarnment conform to these, as far as was oon&istcnt with bis duty to the Mother Country. This was not to he effected by any declaration that he should do so, not by any po'oer of the Assembly to say that it was not done.'' &o. • • (« Some sueh power*' as passing votes of want of confidence, '* existed," but " the system was not that sought last year," when the Assembly passed one. " The power of the Executive Council was, heretofore, very indefinfte. How far they would be now considered responsible, would depend on the dis- cretion of those who administered the Government," the House of Assembly and the People having no discretion in the matter. These were Mr. Johnston's notions of Responsible Government in 1841. Let any man contrast them with the expositions of the new policy given by Mr. Howe in July and August — by the Canada Review in January — by biii Colleagues in the Lower Housp, by Sir John Harvey and Mr. Crofton Uniackc, and the migerable spirit of grudging equivocation in which they were, conceived, will be apparent. 'Sir John says, "a new and improved Constitution has been given." Mr. Johnston says there is no such thing. '* Responsible Government, in the rational sense of the term, has been hare f ranted to the Colonies," says Mr. Crofton Uniacke : — To grant it, says Mr. ohnston, would be " incompatible with Colonial relations." " More has been granted than was ever asked of Sir Colin Campbell," said Mr. Howe, with Lord Sydenham by his side. *' They asked for the dismissal of the Council," said Mr. Johnston, after Lord S. had gone away, " and no such power has been g!ven." *' Through a Vote of Want of Confidence, the Representatives of the People can change the character and action of the Executive, by producing a change of Ministry," says the Governor General's Canada Rsview. " The House is to have no power to say that anything has not been done, or shall be done,'* says Mr. Johnston; "everything depends on the discretion of those who administer the Gevernment." Now, my dear Sir, let rae ask you, and through you, my countrymen, whether I, who agreed with ail these authorities— ^t Mr. Johnston, who differed with them all, and agreed with nobody but Mr. Stewart, misunderstood or misstated the principles upon which we entered the Government in 1840 ? Mr. Stewart's dislike of the new changes, to which be had conformed much in the same spirit that a Jacobite conformed to the Bill of Rights in 1688, was less artfully disguised. <* No change," he said, " had been made in the Con- stitution of the country, and the principles of Responsibility had not been con* ceeded. Responsible Governo^eut in a Colony was Responsible nonsense— it was independence. If the Jlesponsible Government aimed at elsewhere, sup- posing the Debates were correctly reported, were granted by a Minister, he would deserve to lose his head." These strange avowals of ignorance, or "antagonism," as you may readily suppose, weakened the neif Government, — and, it is not too much to say, that they engendered distrust in many minds whose cordial support would have been much earlier given to Lord Falkland. My belief is, that they would hate shattered the Administration in its first Session, bpt for the promptitude with which they were met, and directly negatived in the Lower House. The moment the Reports appeared, having taken the proper steps to ascerta'a, that, on my part, there was uo mistake, I made the following Speech inthe A isembly,in the presence of ray Colleagues : The Speaker (Mr. Howe) «« wished to ask indulgence, while he corrected som'e statements which had gone abroad from another place. He stood 'n that House to maintain his position against insinuation or attack, come from what quarter it might— he considered his station there, and as a member of the Government, honorable, but his character as a public man, able .o maintain his consistency before the world, was far dearer to bim than any other considers- tion, and he trusted it would always continue so. An impression which had {;one abroad from another place, was, that he, as one of the majority of the 4St ^otise, was anxious to establish a form of Government, characterized under 26 ii^ l':\ S :i| I the term Responsible Government, witich had been described as ' reponsibls nonsense,* and which differed widely from the system now established. Other views were also given of the objects of that majority. In his place, that day, in behalf of that majority, *'o demanded proof of the assertion. In no docu> ment issued from the last Assembly were the words Responsible Government onee used. The very form of Government which that majority preisedfor, wot the precise Jorm which had been obtained. He held the report, of a debate that occurred elsewhere in his hand, and there it appeared that the majority had been charged with seeking some chimera, described as ** direct responsibility" — the fact was, that the reapontibilily strove for they had now secured. A vote of that House now, might place the Governor in this position : he should discharge his Council, change his policy, or dissolve the House. That was the system which every man of the majority had in view, and it was truly British.-— Sir Colin Campbell would do neither of the three. He evaded the despatch by which the new policy was announced. ,His Council would not resign — he would not dismiss them — he shrunk from dissolving the House ; and finally all parties in the Colony shirted the responsibility off* their own shoulders to those of the Secretary of State. That system was at an end. The responsibility now rested on the Governor and his Council, and whether it waa called direct or indirect, it was sufficient to ensure good government." Then followed a reference to an individual opinion, on a point of detail, not involving the main principles here laid down, which had been corrected by the Governor General's experience, the "responsibility*' being declared, however, to be " nearly as great in the one case as in the other. " Here then, were the principles under which Mr. Howe took office, broadly^ distinctly, and fearlessly stated, and a challenge given to Messrs. Johnston and Stewart, to contradict him upon authority if they could — to dismiss him if they dared. Neither the one nor the other was attempted — the question was set at rest for the year ; and a few months after, I had the satisfaction to hear the Go- vernor General's own Ministers, with his entire sanction, make sinailar declara. rations in the Parliament at Kingston. Previous to the meeting of the Legislature in 1842, the Honourable Wm. Young, the present Speaker of the House, was sworn in and took bis seat as a member of Lord Falkland's Administration. Mr. Young's opinions were well known— he had been forjmany years a staunch supporter of the leading princi- ples of Responsible Government. Was he told that he must modify or throw aside his principles and adopt those of Mr. Johnston, as propounded in hia speech at Mason's Hall? No>~and I if be bad been, he would have stared— bowed, and declined the proffered honour in 1842, as Mr, Howe would have done in 1840. In the course of the debates upon the Confidence Resolution, Mr. Young said " that be had toiled with the Liberal Party— he had suffered not a little with, and for it — he had no' sacrificed hia principles--he was there to carry them out as he had ever held them. His opinion was, that the Constitutional Government introduced into the Province was a vast and wholesome change on the old system." "A Vote ofWant of Confidence would lead to a tender of resignation— that hud been conceded by all.'* I might quote many other passages from Mr. Young's Speeches to prove that he felt that he had taken a seat under the obligation to carry out his own principles, and those professed by the Reformers down to 1 840, and by the Admi' nistration up to the mometit when he joined it, and not those put forth by Mr. John- ston in the Speech at Mason's Hall. Enough, however, has been said to show, that the less the latter jsays hereafter, in his rack and manger orations, about his Speech and his pripciples, the better ; unless be can show that any of his Col- leagues had a cop^ of the former, or really understood vvhat the latter were, from the time they entered the Government with him till the formal promulga* tion 6f the Doddean Confession of Faith ; which ratified and confirmed those they h^d openly avowed for IS months, io the very teeth of his varied attempts at disguise and ^reservation. How came this said C9nfes$ion into eiisteneie ? A combination of Tories and Liberals deferred the Bankrupt Bill, and taunts were thrown out which led to \m ao bi« tlier i-y. cu* nent th* moving of a Resolution, with a view to determine whether th^ Adminlf trttion had or had not the confideiiee of the House. A spirited debate arose* during whioh the principJit and policy of the Administration were eiplaiaed bj the members of OoTernment in the Assembly, as they had ever explained titem since it$ formation. Thereupon the House resolved, by an immense mnjority, "that the principles and policy of the present Administration, as explained by the members of Government, (not a word having been said about the Mason Hall speech, and neither Mr. Johnston nor Mr. Stewart having explafned any. thing) were satisfactory; and, if adhered to, would entitle it to ihe approbation and support of the Legislature and people of Nova Scotia. " The passage of this resolution was decisive of the standing and position which the Government had attained ; and liord Falkland rbse to a political elevation, in the Province, in Canada, and in England, of which any nobleman might be justly proud. Had all parties acted from this moment with discre- tion and good faith, there would have been an end of his difficulties. But hardly bad the members of Government in the Lower House secured the eon- fidenee of that body, by their explanations of principle and policy, when Messrs. Johnston and Stewart gave another version, in the Legislative Council, and the Government, in one day, was divested of every honorable attribute, and lay like a wreck on the waters, shattered, in mid career, by the ignorance or treach- ery of her own crew. A vote against the Government would have been moved, and would have been carried, but for the prompt assurances given by Messrs. Uniacke, Youn^i^, McNab, and myself, that some decisive step should be taken, to determine the question whether the people of Nova Scotia were to have Responsible Government, as explained by us, or by the Attorney General, and Mr. Stewart. One news- paper extract will be sufficient to show the state of feeling at this moment : " These palpable contradictions, on a point in which so many are interested, are very unfortunate. They keep alive agitation and bitter feelings; they cause distrust of those who should enjoy confidence ; they unsettle men's minds, and give the painful feeling that where all was supposed just, and simple, and established, there may be juggling and vagueness. A member of Go' ▼ernment in the popular Branch stands up, and describes the responsibility of Lord Falkland's Administration, in local matters, to be similar to that of the British Ministry to the Commons. Another member of Government at the other end of the building, declares, as solemnly, that there is not, and cannot be, more responsibility than we had undei Sir Colin Campbell's instructions. What are the people to think of this? What steps should the Executive take to explain their position, and rid their body of the chameleon character it is made to assume ? <' Under Mr. Stewart's mode of Government the Country might prosper, under that of the Hon, Speaker, we think better grounds of prosperity would exist; but let us know which is the mode ; — a state of uncertainty, and conflict, and distrust of the Government, is incoropatable with well being. If Cqali« tion is to mean eon trad iolion, and vagueness, and difference of opinion, on the roost important organic points, then all parties must rafly for something mure certain and respectable." -ri;- i And all parties would have rallied, and the Government wdutd have been rent in pieces in less than a week, or been overwhelmed by a vote of want of QQ|nfi> dence, had not the crisis been promptly met. What '* step was taken?" What restored confidence? What rid the Administration of its "chamelion eharac- ter,"~-of its " contradiction and vagueness " on *' important organic poinu?" jj, Th« CoMFUsioM or Faith. What transpired behind the scenes, in the preparation and discussion of this document, need not be drawn into this argument, but what is palpable and known to the public, I am quite at liberty to deal with. The first question then, that arises, i8->n;Ao< drew forth this auth&ritativ* and official dedanUion 9 And tba answer is, that it could not have been elicited by the explanations of principle and policy, made in the Lower House for the previoua eighteen 30 I) uontha, for tbe«e were gener»llj approved, and hid Just won to the tide of the Ooyernmept 40 men in a Houae of 51 ; and therefore it must have been render- ed oeeeseary bj the *' eootradiction and vagueness" of some persons ntw- vamp- ing an old S^ecA mad* at Mtuon Hall. The next question i%-^whatprineiplei did tkia doeummt affirm and conflrmf And the answer is— those of the Reformers and Responsible Government veo ; those reeognised by Lord Sydenham, Lord Falkland, Sir John Harvey, Mr. Ccofton Unia^ke* and the Mvnhen of Council in the Lower Houet'^^aii not tboat developed in the Masons* Hall Speech, and so pertinaciously adhered to by Meurs. Stewart and Johnston. I trwst I have now, my dear sir, conducted your mind, by evi' denee, elear as a sun beam, resistless as an avalanche, to the inevitable cou« TiotioO, that while Mr. Johnston, to retain hie place in the new Covncil, saw five of his Colleagues deliberately "saerifioed," and r;ate up all the difference between the cid eyatem and the new-~l entered the Administration eecurinp every eeeential element of Reeponeible Government — that, for eigb^en months, / explained it$ priuciplest in presence of a majority of my Colleagues, in one simple uniform manner ; and that my explanatioiu were ultimately confirmed by the official declaration of the whole Council, which bears as much resemblance to the Masons' Hall Speech, as the healthy new-born Babe, passed all 4anger, does to the foul drug intended to produce abortion. ,,^^, ^^ Yourii truly, , , • t;;' «>•>■>?: f'.tJxjifiU ./,ti»i-»lf 7t? rw>r; JOSEPH HOWE. '^ :■'■' .:'■■■.■.■•■.'' ,:..:. „;.... .,< •.'■S'-JU .•■'.IV ; J«9/i^?»i»r Kill i.. , f/i«o»'jMi ^i« rmttrm ih >'i'iU' «"■•• "^irr y;**!^! - vv'. <•\\^•,v^ LETTER IV. 'lUpi SIR^ *.VI. ■'.* .u. Having disposed of Ave out of the eight count, of the Attorney Gene« ral's political Indictment — those which remain may be less elaborately dealt with. Let me begin with the attempt to fasten upon me the odious obarge, of a participation in the attacks of the Liberal Press, and Liberal Mem« bars, on the Government, during the time I held a seat in the Council. I meet this at the very outset, with an indignant and flat deniisl— and I as« sure you That I not only never wrote a line, attacking the Government eolleetively, or one of my Colleisgues individually, until I retired from the Council; but That, white in the Government, 1 wrote mpre in defence of it, and in et> planation land justification of its acts and policy, than all the other Membera of Council, the Attorn I. y General included. As date^i cod faets, relative to these Newspaper attacks and controversies, have been artfully mystified in the Western Counties, I may as' well avail myself of this opportunity, to show, that all the jealouty and ill feeling which tht^ otfcofioned, are clearly traeeMe to Mr Johntton and his friends. Lord Falkliind's Council weis formed in October, 1840. I edited the Nova- Scotian till the ehd of 1841, and, during the whole of that period of sixteen months^ steadily supported, with my pen, the Government of which I was a member. Did one of my colleagues, now in the admimstration, do aa much? Their pens have been busy enough for the last twelve months-^nof one ofthemt with ipy l^nowle'dge, wrot4'a liiiie during the previous three years aitda half, to de- fend eithinr the Governor tf the Gotemmenii although the Tory Papers, which since l\*ye patronized theih, teeined with virulent abuse of Lord Falkland and his Adtelmtitratibn. Mr. Johnston says / accused htm in the Hen^e^, and at Wilmo^ of waiting in these pwera. This is untrue. . What I saiid, and wbi^ cannot be deniisdi WM this : . - . j. ' •• -■" "• • ■ ■ '•■'■-■ ■ ,'u'i. ua., ii'^i.ijan : 31 That I defendod the whole Government in the Press fcr fifteen monthsi repeatedly palliating or justifying his own conduct. That, after I sold the Nova Scotian, I ooensionally defended or explained the policy and acts of the Government in the Newspapers. That, althou{(h the Editors of the Recorder, against whom Mr. Johntton had brought aomt frivolouM and vexatioua libel suit, might have attacked him person* ally, the Nova Scotian, for two entire years, gave a steady support to the Go« vernment ; and that, af^er the vote of confidence, and down to the summer of 1842, all the Liberal Newspapers — the Recorder, Nova Scotian, Eastern Chro« nicle, Register, Yarmouth Herald, and Spirit of the Times, hoivever nuch they may have indulged in fair criticism, generally upheld the Administration. That, do^n to this period, toAiVeMs Mettenger gave little or nd political support, theTory papers, confessedly maintained and directed by the party with which Mr J. was identified from 1 836 to 1 840, and by whom he has been supported for the last twelve months, violently assailed the Government as a whole, and the Liberal Members of it in particular. That while the Times and Pictou Observer attacked Lord Falkland, hit Secretary, his servants, in the most indecent manner, and pbured forth weekly libels against his Council, Her Majesty* s Attorney General suffered the writers and publishers to go unscathed, althbugh bis aid was afterwards not wanting to crush Liberal papers by libel suits, and imprison Liberal Printers, Thia may have been all right, but yet it seems to involve some inconsistipncy, and to require«xplanation. What I said in the House — repeated at Wilmot, and what cannot be denied, was, that all the later attacks of the liberal papers, (favourable, and friendly, and supporting the governmont, down to the autumn of 1842) werd courted, provoked, and occasioned, by the folly of Mr. Johnston and his friends. You ask me how ? In the spring of 1842. seven severe, covert, and personal attacks, upon Mr.' Wm. Young and myself, were printed in the Christian Messenger, a paper edited by two intimate friends of Mr. Johnston, one of them an ofilber of the Government. These letters appeared in the official organ of the Saptist body, months before either Mr. Nugent or I had uvitten one Kne offensive to any Bap- tist : — thus commenced the Baptist quarrel in the newspapers, and it is clear that Mr. Johnston's friends began it themselves. But, what struck away from the Admnistration the support of nearly all the Liberal Papers, and openly proclaimed to the whole Pi'ovince that there were jea- lousy, and ill suppressed hostility, in the Gobtmment, was the publication of the Attorney General's gratuitous, uncalled Ibr, and insidious attAck upon myself, in the Recorder of Oct. 1842. The moment that letter appeared, the siftnal was given for all the Attor- ney General's friends to attack me, and fbr all mine io «ttack him ; and neither were slow t6 shotver their blows upon the wedge t^hich ha had so recklessly planted, and to widen the reht to which he had so indecently called their atten* tion. From that moment. Lord Falkland, who, but a few months before, had sttfod elevated and secure, with a united Council, and <* troopH of friends," was surrounded with distraction, suspicion and doubt, and alaw those upon whom h fjrtft VI > his Administration had rested, openly warring with each oihet. What I have said, th6u, and here repeat, is ' ' Ist—Thait I wrdte fbr two years in defence of my colleagues and the Go* verntnent, white not onte'of them took a single step to stay the torrent of mis- represehtatiou, which, during all that time, descended on LordF^kland and the MeiinbeTs of Council, from the press which now sustains Mr. Jdioston. 2d.'— That the Editors of the Messenger defamud Mr. Johnsttni'seollieayues for many consecutive weeks, before a line was written or skbctioned by me inju« riotis to him, or oiTensive to any Baptist. Sd—i-Tbat do#ti to the time ^henhis own dttabk^upon^tppentd:, I bad generously deftnded hitn, and the whole GovemthMt,f .fMiT <: >imW Tha rula of my intareourta with old fritndtt ai all of (bam wall knaw, wat thia— whila all tha battar faalhiga of our natura wara oallad out, by tha manao* ry of old acanaa, and old aompanionahipt, in whioii wo had borna honorabta la- bort, and had a right tb honorabia priida,~tha oharaetar. tha atraoitb, and tha parraaoaoaa of tha Adminittration, wara paramount to all othar aonaidarationa. How waa thit shown, ty a trnriu of public and privOU aeti, ao eonaiatant and notoriuua, aa to overwhelm this attful slanderer with shame and aonfusion of faea7 Hardly had I taken a seat in the Government when I eama in aontaet with Young, Huntinfton. Forrester and Goudga, and passed through an ordeal wkiah aartainty would hav* been leas severe, if there had been any *' looking baek," In tha same in wbieh tha phrase ia used by the Attorney Oeneral—if there had been treachery to my aollaagues, and a aacret understanding with old friends. No I it was Just bfoauie the Liberals were o« hoiUMt and at mmeh in tarnett when they dijfired, as they wera whan they agrttdi that these ool- iisioos were so painful«-but eaeh and all took oonsaiantioua views, and acted upon them without shrinking, and without ditguisa. ' Did I weaken the Government, when, after deliioding and explaining its poliay Ihroufbout tha Session of 1841, a vast majority of these same old frienda cam* to its aid« and rejected a vote of wsnt of confidence ? Did MeNab, and YouOg, and I, deacrt our colleagues, when we brouftht nine of these old friends to support the Bankrupt Bill, and all tho«e who make thaaharge, brought but ~Mayhaw Bcckwitb and Stephen Thorne, men over whom the Attorney General u known td have no injlutnot, toting ayanut ua? Did wa desert Lol Camp ? Did wa weakenthe Government, or oompramisa Lord Falkland, in 1849, when the Attornay OeMrara particular firiand, Mr. Dewwlf^ with whom he had andhaa >o littla •* interconrae " and ''influence '— upon whdm he was mys- teritr-afcr.»i»i:|r'n'».r) orft to »fii"''/ 34 clurfrft **tbat I in tilt i ! - W '■ Ltt aw noir «s«niln« Mr. Jolinitun** n Spring of I848» notis* of • il>alir«« aiimd at th» tiovOTiiMtiH ■ Mcmbw :"— a f«w BimpU •xpUnationt will wt thU ■•ttvrin ittprftftr liglrt. In Um MDOfitioa of tbc Oovtroor Otttarar* poliajr, written wHIla Im w«a bartt and tavtatd bybim.»U was dUitiactljr alaltd, Ibat, whb a viatr toearfy out RfipaMlbla Oovamaitnli "tha BaatUtlva'CoiinoU waa to baoora^iad of Haada pt Dtpartntanti, and laading Mambota of both BranahM of tba L*- .gialalura,"«~boldlog thair wati and offleas on tha tanura of public aonfid«na«i Lord Sydonbam farnvd hit own Council of Heads of Dapartthentii MmoviNg that* wbo itaod in tha way. Lord Falkland, aa Mr. Sttwart a«o wad in tha LtgUlalive Counoili had full power to itnd hit chief olBo«ri to the Huitinga, or obliga tham to ratira. Thia waa not urgtd on Lord Sydarthiini, but it Was undtrttoed than, and waa the daolarad policy of Lord Falkland, tbat^ka vaiaan- ciaa oaourrtdi oa tba aiiganoien of tba Oovcmmant rtndarad it daiirabliat the Saerataayt the Traaiurer, tha Surveyor Oaneral, and tha Halifax Collector of Eaoiat, aboold bo brought into tho QoTatmaent, holding aeata in tba Lcgiala- tura, to maka tba ayateoa complata. . t m u o . ' ' i'^ Tba Collcatorahip of £xoiaa fell vacant. Folla#tltg ent tba mtr iyateni, and witb. tha aaaent of my OoUeaguai, tbo' pfllea waa gi^n to ma ; it ha ing di»> tinotly undaratood, and so avowed in tha House, that it waa to be held' by tba tanura of publia oonfidanaiit 'while I jretainad asy aaat in Counell. Te#aroa' the aloaa of Iha SassioBi I have reason to believe, that aU bop* ol aty ahaadonlng my prinoiplei, or the intercsta of tbe Country, had fkded from thaorindattf aartain paraona; and it waa balieaed that, if I aouldiM tbelved in tlte Eldeise Offlae, two good tbinga«ronld In dona: lut. That I abauld be foreed out of tb* Govemmant irtd tho Ltgielatora, and my influeoaein both beeruabAd. 2dly. Tliat my retirement to an oAetal position, in violation of tha rule laid down, would deat oy Ueaponsible Government in Nova Saotia. Tbia waa tba scope of Mt, Martbali'a notice of nkotlon, a few days before the dote of tba Saisioo of 1B48. I have no copy of it, but if I remember aright, it went tadtoiavek that in future no Collector of Eieise should llold a aeat in tbe Assembly. The moment that this notice was given, I saw elaarly thai it aould only be fltat hy a general Resolution, riiiaini tbe quattioar-wlretbet the new ayatem of Bespnnstbla Government, eondaoted, as the Canadian 'Resolu- tions of 1641 express it) by a Frovineial Aminiatratient or the old, advtf* oatcd by tbe Torice, and which Mr. Johnaton liaa of late dona bia bieet to restore* abonid Im carried on in thu Previnaa. Hiving beard' that aome movement waa eontemplated, I had prepared a ttotide { ^ but npt> knowing what tbe Reaolution was, or from what qiwrter it waa to aome, 1 neither thought aeriously about it, notf bad such definite infbhaatioh im would have IJaraaed the aab}eet of oonaultation with my ooUac^uea, or tha Head of the Goeeniment. When Mr. Marshall rose, andgavem:«i or 00 tb« flrit v«>anaiM occurring, oiid that, iharaaAtr juatio* ihould bu dona to tjitin. Tbia •rranfcaineot waa aoquitMtd in by Lord Falkbindt wbu fur thrcN ysarjiaotsd up toit— ncvar batiftating toaxpraaa hit opinion, bot that th« Liberal Tarty w«r« to Iiakh *' all tb« so^ta/' but that tbty w«r« to bavf •'juatiao." ,.ii: Tb« quflition ia» thtn~.waa iIm arrangamoni entered in 1840 viulatcd by Mr< Almoa'a ap{.ointiB«nt^wh«n the Liberal IVty. cnobraeing half tbe new Ijouao and a friendly innjority in the old, bad bad but one member elevated to tbe Ei« eoutivti Council In three yeara, and would have atowjl, after th«t appoiotnent. repraaented but by Mr. MaNiib and myaelf 7 : (. '.,; , . ,u i > It waa } if Lord Sydenham were to riae from hUgmel^ W watdd declato lb«l neither the lettur |ior the apirit of bis aaauranco were tHpeetod laat De«emUer. Lord Falkland caDoot look tbe eountry in tbe faee. and aaaert* that Mr. Almon'l appowtmool di4 not give To tbo Tarty^tbat hod opposed tb« iptroduction of Roaponiiblo Government, 7 aeatt is CouaeU. To tho Party which hod advoca:ed»^aod Mtill maiotainod* tbe new principlesy 3 H«ia in CoQQoil. >; The best p/oof that faith was violated, and pledget broken* i»>tb» aanifilo faet.> that the Liberal Members resigned with the approbation c^ the entire Foirty. The beflt evidence that justice waa not done, ia, that Lord Falkland bad to offer the Liberal* y(ve seats in July, though bo thought two or three were enough ia Secembar. If Mr. Johnston can ditprov* either aaaerlion, " on Alitboitity," he will be quite as well employed, atin oontradietuig vvbat nobody ever Mid. I think 1 have now fairly met« and aniwcrcd* every charge referred to. in my second letter. That I have sadly taxed your patieneo. 1 know and feel, for tbe very reverse o( FalstalT's boaat may, be aaid of the Attornoy Ceneral-r-lM if not only tedious bimaelf, but tbe eovse of tediouancss in utbers. unist Una .!>it> • : ;---'l •.:-• ■ (, Wo hav« now to deal with the Tariiib Bill. Tho Avo eolumne wbieb the; At- tprney General put forth on Ihia iiibjeoti have been oo ably and trianpbaotly answered by Mr Annand, in the Nowaicotiana of tbo II th of Novembork add 2d of Deeembf r, tha^ I need doi nothing nero than give c brief ^iowi of tba ques- tion, aa it liffs In my wind. :^ Tba policy running through our ovfly legislation and adninatfation,aasutated that a majority of our People either belonged to tbe Chufob of England, or could, by th« legal fstablishment of that Qburch, and the opcoi patronage of ita members, be iucluded within the fold. In the first Session of fXWiLegialataitai^ I7&3,a Law poaaed establishing thv Episoopal Church-^and tbu year after attoo tli«r LaWf incorporating tbe Parish of St. Paul's. Any body> who fekkoM the truubie to examine theia Statiitus will find a spirit running through Ibem* which is directly at variance with tho settled determination of the People of ^Nova Scotia, oaexpretaed in all the publio acta of tbeir Represenutivea aincelSBd. Neither of these Acts would be passed by our Legislature,! < if kitroduoed to- morrow-*— why, Uwn, should either be indiveetly reoogniisdiot sanetioned, by any new ,eaatttf»ent ? Tbia was the fir«t fundamental ohjeetion to the Parish Bill->lhe now piarish, to.be created by it^ would have cone at once under the-, operation oiF, and bean olotbed with, all tbe, powar.« given to Ibci Qhorch and ita Paaiahea by tbeca tPIO-Laws.,-,,.,;-.,; ■ I ; ■" ft: i-' The 4ttornay Geseral *tg»f» that there; eouhl havo' been no.hi»m ia Ihia because the naar Act would o^ly have applied to old Parisbaft»but, by onttiag i :: fj r!' 36 ■ -i: I I. 1 '! :■.. i:1;^ '.!»• an old Pariib up into thrte or four, nnd giving to three or fcur Ntti of Churoh' vardMt'lb* ■•■• power that tbe Aet of 1759 gave to tS« Cburebwardens of Si, FauVst ia it not elcar that the Ilouaet which wottld \ i>nu thic Aot at all if it wore rot in cxiatenee, would thus b« indirectly creatin|r Pa>iih^ir and doing what direetly it would not dare to attempt ? To timplify thi» matter, lo that the bey* ean understand iw, let me show how tht. Townrhip iof Halifax, in which I resided, would have been affected by the passage of tueb a law, and how my consUtenoy as a Legislator i^juld have been damaged, baa I sustained it. Such a bill was handed to ihe some years ago, when I looked into the mat- ter, and made up my mind that it ought not to pass, for these reasons ; Because the creation, by the Legislature, 86 years ago, of one religions Cor- peration, with peculiar pritileses, and powers, that might or might not be abused, could form nt; jnutit. cation for my voting to nreate another, and setting a precedent, by which new life and efBoienoy would be given to a law that I would htve voted against had I lieeo in the ^.^ouse in 1759, and would vote to> morrow i;o repeal. Because, thdugh these powers minht be used rith comparative forbearariee and discretion, in a large town, like Halifax, where there are Method i«t, Baptist, Gatbolio, and Presbyterian plaoea of worship, to which all niay go, or pay^— and wtiere there is an active pubH; opinion to keep tbe over-tea^our in eheek, I oauld not answer for the discretion of the Cbureh'Wardefns at Madimond'a Plains, where there are no Presbyterian or Methodilt Chapels— for those of Mnsqnodoboit, wberethere are neither Baptist, Methbdiet, nor Catholic Cha- pels — or for those of Sambro o" Tilargaret's Bay, wher^ tiie scattered Membera of bpo or two dissenting Congregations, are too few and cob poor' to protect themselves, by the Krectiocof Churches, and paynend,'before they could be released fro;n the operation of the law, that Mr. Johnston, to escape fruaa an liwhwnrd ^sition, violitea law and grammar iu aiiake ua beliave had no power, etevtheoik Tiienaraes of these parties a,rc at hi'> serviee< 37 tOa That a Church of England Minister tckbowlfd/cd, bi-forn a Commi'.tee of the Houra of Asiombly, that he ht d collected the tax in Lunenburg. Th MoDougall, (a very sound one) in his place in the Legislctive Coun- cil,"refei'n;d to the Statute Book— and read laws of 1758, for excluding the Ca« tholio denomination from the Province. It; was true theo person to agree with him. For eighty- six years there is a, steady stream of authorities, confirming the right of the Churoh, by usor under the law ; and here co.nes the same eccentric indi- vidusU' ho could get nobody, from 1836 to 1842, to adopt his polit'cal prin- ciples, and cannot find a single soul to agree with him in his coostructiop •f.la*, ,.K.;iiV/.,». ^ai 'to «tn>jri '..) yd ij>((im>i-j./, . ' f{j ri:.;. -aiui i< hU}\iiL- .(■■lit JOSEPH HOWE, a /I hat; 'I .am ■ ■ '-'In ,<:, him,.;., I (,n .ia« ^iDu-jihr.s, tia »Hi ©4 iun.st>«.fm« ,' ■).< . iiKvic^n lie hufiW 0!>4rt'^«aTfivt«z.ii i»'js«J. awiiff I iviiia v-oif w;>Hi! ,-u.'i ril' ■ -ytttlln bi; .1" Uv ^AiJi fiuso'ld <>? 'Uk;c« tnit>:r,n mil 1 U» i»»i<'> •jKnl'^i^ ■t/lfl -.Tj'': "> lit I. .i"Ht ■ ..» .rfaifcl/T'Ja rim -n't m. Im..!-, .: ' . .^ j tj )-,. .',«.>£] y,}, ,,jo/»(nrr .j,)j .),.,n' v;»if( o* f 'Uir' Jixt »B»; ,,, .:.;.. , ,, , .. .i*!! OKI'/-/..-! Juir, ,o.>ijiKumi)«'t!, . The Attorney General asks, with well feigned sui'ivrise, " Why was a great poriion of the time engrossed, at the Wilmot meeting, with the old story bf Mr. Howe's quVrel with the Editors of the Christian MeMenger.** My answer is— heeauie the Nictanx Meetirf; House stiinds n*ar the Fine Grove ; and be- cause Mr. Howe hald heen defamed ^here, eighteen months hefbre, by Mr. John* ston's friends and Instruments, in relation to^ that very controrersy. It was natural therefore, that the person slandt^red and condemned in his abaente^ and without aheariiigi should avail himself of the first oppOHunitjr which prefieot^d itself, to bni'aVei and expose the misrepresentations, under cover of which rf M' lut^bns. prepared in A<;adla College, were passed at the Nietaux gWtheiring. That such a refutation was "anticipated,'*^ you and others know right well«.>-tbat my statements if ere tegord^d as conclusive and tatiffactbr^, itiay be inferfed' from the unanimity of the audient?^^ and- from the cordial assurances of tnany worthy people, who hid beetl, fur a time, misled. i ' < Mr. Jobnstop says that ** the tribunal appealed tbj (theiiUblic) Iiad already decided the question." They had :--and I believe thatlninety nine out of e^ery hundred', not belonging to his own cotnmunlon, had decided, that in refa'niQg my money: a part of it for six months, and the bulk of it for twelve f atte: your* "elf an curr?^ by those Editors — and no legal liability attaching to any body else? '^.'t, admitting, for the sake of argument, that those persons were not ?.>; ', Uable — that there . were looseness in the arrangen)ent, and over- cbtik-gcs ill the accounts $ I hold, that all these matters having been referred to Arbitrators— a sum fixed, and a day named, the day should have been kept, and the sum paid; and if this had been done, in January, the controversy could not have broken out in ^if^tii^ The story of the draft on the Secretary of the Missionary Doard, which Mr. Johnston attempts to mystify, is soon told, and so simple, that any busioess man can understand it ; and see that, whatever may be thought of the previous stages of the transa.-the Messenger people, and another individual. The Arbitration had been held in Augml, 1841 — the debt assumed by the Missionary Board— the u'^tuted items adjusted, and principles fixed which were; to govern a final setti' . h r, ttnd the 31<( of December ft llowing named dsthe time of pay- ment. Sup ^ .^ ! iG.'^e steps taken between any two mfrchants ia tialifdx, al( di^pui .',« . ' -.ie. , and the whole debt found to be due in 7b day^ | and sup> pose that tl^e i ' -r :i.o: wrote a polite note tct the debtor, informing him that he ha.^ drawn an utde; ht the amount, not on the day it wot. due,' hut at any date which miyht suit hit own cohveni4tice—^ind suppose ,t he debtor never answered his note — accepted his draft— ^or paid a farthing, for six , months after the day fixed for paynoent of the whole, what woi?ld be thought Of the transaction? Suppose he paid but a fourth of the amount for twelve moitths after ; and, in the meantiine, ripped up all th^ details in the. ne,wspapers, settled the year before by arbitration, and sought to destroy the character of the n^an thus dealing with him ? Such a transaction ' would staimp any party wi^h 'disgrace ip a fnercant'te Community; yet ^'u« was 1 treated by Mr. Johnston a friends^ who reaplvso .- . Nict^ux that toey were all right, and that I, Mus, giving them their oi^ii'iimrt'' pay it (Ubt dittifmined by arbifi-dtion, had been guilty of a gr^ve o,flreoce. iiiire is toe naked truth — the Attorney General cannot deny a word of it ; and the pubMc, with the facts before them, may judge of the tiransaettoti. My principal reasoo for discussing this afllair in \Vilmot, was, as ^ou vrdi know. Ifetfause it hiad been stated by a learned I*rpfessor, t^at a partial pay- nteril, and I to my own resources. , . < At the close of 1848. when public opinion forced the partita to pay the debt, a year after it had been declared due by the Arbitrators, Mr. Pryur lodged the balance at the Bank, and demanded to have the draft. I forbad the Cashier to give it to him, stating as my reason, that it having never been accepted, and treated with wily caution for fourteen months, h« should not have it then. He at first refused to pay over the amount due, and 1 then tendered the whole sum, necessary to discharge the bond. Finding that he had no remedy, and the officers of the Bank deciding that the draft was mine, he consented tp pay the money, taking receipts ; the draft, which the Attorney General says "he ob- tained,*' being jfiven toi j. These plain facts settled the quei ■" ' 1 'he minds of plain men in Wilmot, and they will weigh down, in the jc <' of plain men everywhere, all the sophistry of the learned Attorney Gene .i/^ Passing from this topic to that of the Civil List, Mr. Johnston wonders how that could have been introduced, as ,, the present Executive Councillors were ever as forward as Mr. Howe to diminish the pecuniary burdens of the Coun- try."— This is certainly a good joke. From 1838 to 1836, Mr. Howe turned attention, in the Nova Scotian, to the growing extravagance of our puhliii ex^ penditure — during all which time he was denounced as a liiitehievous dema« gogue, and an agrarian leveller, by some of the present Executive Coiincilldrs, and by the whole party which sustains them — yet "they were ever as forward.'* In 1837 Mr. Howe came into the House, and voted for almost every retrench- ment, by which about ^5000 a year w s struck from the annual appropriations. Which of the present Council put himself *' forward *' on that occasion — who of the party did not resist the growth of the public sentiment, by which thesj retrenchments werie obtained? The Civil List was then attacked, but the. Casual and Territorial Revenues were in the possession of the Govtrnroent, then in the hands of George, Robie, Dodd, and afterwards of Stewart and Johnston. From 1837 to 1840, these Revenues were demanded, in a succession of Bills and Addresses, and an adequate Civil List respectfully tendered by the People's Representatives. At every step of our progress we had to encounter the dogged and vitupera- tive opposition of the party now in power. The Bills were rejected by the Legislative Council, controlled by Johnston, Stewart, and Robie — counter addresses were forwarded to England — Stewart^ and Wilkins sent as a coun- ter delegation^ while Mr. Johnston denounced, at Macon's Hall, the salaries ex" torted from the House in 1 840, as too low, and " a breach of th« public honor," Yet he tells us now that he and his friends, who thus resisted every movement of the Liberal Party, **to diminish the pecuniary burdens of the Country," were as forward as Mr. Howe, who, down to this period, acted with the Liberals.. .., The salaries tendered in the Bill of 1840, included— '; * ' To Sir Rupert D. Georije £i 100, independent of his fees from the Registry. ■ To the Chief Justice, ^1 100, besides his Travelling Fees of a guinea • day. ^' Because the House did not give more, Mr. Johnston rejected the Bill, and denounced tho Liberals, in his speech at Mason's Bali, as violatpra of ''the pub- lic hpnor." Ilad this ISill been allowed to pass, the whole question would have been set. tied four years ago. Rut, a^ thill time, the Casual Revenue afforded a surplus— Responsible Gp- vernmenthad not been conceded, and Crown flflioera and Oiembeca of OpTeri^- ment could set the people at defiance. 41 and was Ttie ri'jeolion of this measure, and the remonstrances sent horn* in conse- iiuence, led to the withdrawal o( the question for the aubsequent three years, Air. Howe doing his best to remove the difficulties, down to the moment when he left the Council. But, Mr. Johnston says, '* that the Civil List was brought before the House, last session, in a manner more favourable to the Province than had been arranged or cjntemplated when I left the Council" — yet he boasted, on the floor of th^ House last session, that it bad been " brought forward" in the pre* cise manner recommended by roe " before I left the Council I" When it was introduced Mr. Johnston did his best to carry the highest salaries in the printed scale — Mr. Howe to obtain a reduced scale, by which upwards of £2000 might be, and was, after repeated divisions, saved to the Province. Mr. Johnston and his party, then, refused all compromise, and kept the sala- ries lip to the highest point down to 1840. Zi-:. Johnston and his friends embroiled the settlement of the whole question for years, by Addresses, and Speeches, and Delegations. Mr. Johnston and the ''present Executive Cuuncillors *' proposed and urged a scale of salaries, last Session, jC2000 higher than the Liberals gave them. Yet they were ever as " forward !" Now the simple truth is this, that the falling oiF in the Casual Revenue had thrown Mr. Johnston and his party, (so rampant and exacting in 1 840) at the mercy of the House ; and the appointment of h'w Brother in Law to the Councils, had so weakened the Government, that the consistent^ the pious, the high minded Attorney, who rejected £I100 for Sif, Rupert George, and £J 100 for the'Chief Justice, and denounced such paltry sums, as violations of the " public honor," gUd to accept £700 for Sir Rupert George, and £1000 (ot the Chief Justice ; and tiftitr be had, to bold his place, yielded' to these " violations of public honor,'* A thousand times more flagrant than those of 1840, had the mean- ness, in order to acquire popularity, to boast in the Bridgetown barn of retrenchments, which were made in spite of his teeth . But we are told that he baa ** handled the public money" than Mr. Howe. Let us try this boast out ; Mr. Howe served two years as a Member of Council, duties of Indian Commissioner, receiving ho salary at all. Mr. Johnston was a paid officer of the Government from the moment they entered it together. Ohl but he declined an increase of £100 to his salary as Solicitor General; so he did, after Mr. Howe had decliued an increase of £100 a year, to the annual vote as Speaker. But he consented to a reduction of his salary as At* torney General — yes, when the revenues were gone, the Government in a dilcmna— and the Liberals, whose opinions were well known, stood ready to re" duee it. He threw his eoncribution, as the Russian woman did her child, be- cause the vrolves were round the sledge. Har*. he declined the £750 when appointed to the office, some credit might have been taken ; but be took it as long as it could be got, and gave up just what he had not strengib to carry. The manner in which the Attorney General discusses his friend Mr. Nut- ting** emoluments, affords a fair specimen of his tact at 'ingenious mystification. One would suppose Uiit this officer, who " possesses no salary,'* who is paid by suitors, whose services ** are left unprovided," was a very ill usco^ individtul— a perfect martyr to the public service. What ar^ the focts ? In 1842 we find, from • very incomplete return, that Mr. Nutting received in that year in fees— more sparingly and discharged the ^1' fm^ 42 From Haliftti, Six other Countiei, As Clerk of the Crown, In the seme year he received, As Master io Chancery, £4bO 15i 602 125 135 15 3 I ' £662 15 3 tio that the ill used individual, who was, in tiiis very year, denouncing Mr. Howe in the Christian Messenger, as a renegade to his principles, guns over to the Government ibr a lucrative office, quietly pocketed all this money, and himself and his friends best know how much more, from the other Couno ties, whose returns are not here included. The public will now decide, be* tween me and the Attorney General, whether I, in estimating at Wilmot, the " emoluments," not " salary," of this individual, at £900 a year, was far wrong ; or whether be, in slurring the matter over, and endeavouring to create the impression that Mr. Nutting was poorly paid, has not been endea- vouring to delude the yeomanry of Nova Scotia. The question which arose last session, between the Government and Liberals, then, was simply this— whether Mr. Nutting should hereafter have £775 a year, or £900, and the smaller sum was given. Who, in the County of An« napolis— Baptist or Churchman— -Tory or Liberal, but will frankly admit that it is an ample compensation ? -^ Mr. Johnston labours to create the impression that the only question which divides the Opposition from the Government, is one " purely personal, and that involves no constitutional principle." No constitutional principle 1 When the Qtisen's Representative, having opened negociations with several gentle- ir.f , with a view to strengthen his administration ; and having been advised, by some of them, to take another individual into the arrangement, violates the con- fidential nature of such communications, discloses the secrets of his own oloset, and makes the independent advice given by those whom he bad consulted, a pretext for denouncing a Nova Scotian, and declaring publicly, that a person neither ashJng nor deiiring any favour of him^ should be deprived of hia common rights, and rendered ineligible to sit in Council, whether the People of Nova Scotia desired his services or not. If there is no principle involved here, and if a majority of the People's Representatives can be got to sustain such a viola- tion uf the Constitution, and of all the rules of ministerial negociation, then the sooner Nova Scotians bow their head& in meek submission, and give up Res- ponsible Government, the better. The reason given for this singular outrage, would have weight with our coun- trymen, if they did not know that the person thus accused of " lampooning" the Lieutenant Governor, was more " sinned against than sinning," — that he was driven to a line of self.defence and retaliation, by a course of systematic insult to himself, his friends, and family— which need not be repeated here, but which extended over a period of many weeks — before he found himself compel- led to teach all parties, that as a Governor has no authority to violate a ^40va- tootian's rights of person or property, neither is he justified in misrepresenting his conduct, nor hiring sbirri to stab his reputation. The Governors of Nova Scotia are not sent to rule the Province by their *' personal feelings," but according to "the well understood wishes of the People." I sacrificed my personal feelings, when I sat, for years, beside a ilember of Council to whom I did not speak. The Queen sacrificed her "personal feelings," when she dismissed Lord Melbourne, parted with the Ladies of her Bedchamber, and gave the Seals to Sir Robert Peel. George the Second did violence to his personal feelings, when he made William Pitt Secretary at War, but the nation reaped the advantage. William the Fourth forgot his personal feelings, when Lord Brougham rose to ihe Woolsack. The Constitution of England gives to the people a right to elevui^ to the Councils 43 of the Nation, those who poMscts their confidence— end patrlotie Sorcreigni reepcet the Conatitation,— the Conititution of thii Country makes the general ftood, end not the personal feelings of any iodiridual, the rule by which Admi- nistrations are to be formed. A subeerrtent Parliament may adopt a different rule, bat an intelligent and epiritcd people will know how to call them to a tigid aeoount. I think that I have now fairly met, and answered, all the material points of the Attorney General's Bridgetown speech. There are one or two passages, •nd aome ungentlemanly sneers, which demand a few vords of eiplanation or rebuke, and then I shall bring these letters to a close. : "^ Mr. Johnston wonders what I could have said in Wilmot, on the subject uf the Roman Catholic claims, and takes credit for offering " two seats in the Eiecutive Council to Catholics last summer, much luore than was done or attempted, in this respect, all the time Mr. Howe was in office.** Let me tell the Attorney General what I did sa; at the Pine Grove, and then the public will see at once how sandy and unstable is the foundation of the boast with which he has sought to tickle the ears, and win the support, of a body, who owe all the propositions made to them, not to the Attorney General's policy, but to the resistance of the Liberals, and to the despicable plight to which he was reduced by the retirement of their leaders from the Council. In December last, the Elections were ever,— yielding to the desire of the Lieutenant Governor, the Liberals had consented to remain in Council. Mr. Johnston's influence, at that moment, was all-powerful— he was. or was to be the Leader— he had the Governor's ear. There wer<: eight Members of Coun* eil, tod one vaeancy. Now, had this seat been offered to Mr. Doyle, Mr. Bren- nan, Mr. Tobin, or any other respectable Catholic, Mr. Johnston might have taken credit for regarding " the just claims of the Roman Catholics." What did the Attorney General do? He advised the Governor to fill up the only vacant seat, not with a Catholic, but with his Brother in Law. Suppose that Untaeke, McNab and Howe, had acquiesced— had not remonstrated— had not retired, is it not plain that the Roman Catholics would have got just nothing — neither the seat offered "in the winter,'* nor the "two in the summed?" When Mr. Johnston thought he was strong, he cared more for his Brother in Law than for all the Roman Catholics — when his own folly had got him into a dilemma, besought to buy them with one seat in the winter, and two in the summer. This is what Mr. Howe said at the Pine Grove— can the Bridge, town orator deny a single word, there spoken, and here repeated ? But Mr. Howo said more : He said, that, while Mr. Johnston's allies hadi at Liverpool and other places, denounced Mr. Young, and Mr. Howe, who had treated all Christians as one family, and fought for the rights of hll, without looking to the peculiar interests of either— while the Christian Mes' Sanger had upbraided the latter with "craicking the whip of Catholic aseettd* aney " over the Baptists, when he sought to equalize the grants to their Col' leges— that the Attorney General had illustrated the consistency of his prin- eiplct, and those of his party, by the most barefaced attempt to traAo with the Roman Catholies for political support, that had ever been made in this, or any other Country. I said this — dare Mr. Johnston deny it? We are told that the ** leading practical diffferenee" between Mr. Johnston's firiendt and the Lkoerals, is, whetheir or not the Country shall be ** governed by a faction." There is a good deal of truth in this; btit you will bear in miad, that the Liberals have ever contended that the Country should be! pt^ veriled liy and with the aid and eonlldenee of a working majority df the eotiatry *!s Repreaeotativea— that they have never attempted to eart7 on the GdvetditieMt by niaorltiea— to appoint their brothetS'inOaw over the heads of the Febj^le'i Rcpreaontativer—to hpld ofllee with fragteenfiry Cbuneils, knd majMitics of one. Mr. Johnston and his party havt odne all these things, and I Therefore leave you to Judge who it is that scek^ 4hd has sought, to govern ^'by a faction." 44 > WhBt Mr. Johnilon calls ">f«etion," in th« city and eountjr of Ha* HAii, if a VMt Diajoritjr of Ui« ownvri of veal Mtale* of tb* ^induatrioua. u;>right, iatalligant, and thming rocmlMra of tha mttropolitan eoranrtusi- tjr. If publie qutstions wera tu Iw aattltd aa in tha olden litnct thi* . body could drive tha Att rney Oenaral and *'bia faetion*' into the sra, in a lingla day* This body have returned all the member* for the Town and County of Halifax, but one, in four elections— and have formea tha base of, and oherished tha spirit that has animated, all the mora itnportant movcmanta of the Liberal party, wbieh have induced the British Oorern* mant *'to throw tha rein loosa" to her Colonies, and to eonced* to the "people increased checks and influence," in spite of the blundering. < ma* chioations of such obstruetiveri as the Attorney General. He likes noti the people of Halifai, and there is but little love lost— be professes gjt^t regard for the yeomanry of the interior, and shows. it by exalting bis ownfamil^ at the cost of the peace of the Provioce, and the stability of the Administratipa. But *' power— office— salary ''—these are the ends and objects of the . Libe* rals. This is modest language, applied to men, who, for ten or twelve years, have toiled for the general good, regardless of " power— office, or salary;'' who have had power, and withstood its highest fascination — who have held offices, and resigned them, in obedience to their principles— ^ho l^ve,l^afl fa- Isries, and preferred their ind' o^ndence. . This charjje against the |[n Mr. C^leyV Brother—" Offices "and "Salary." .! r ,/- ., ,n/; One of Mr. Johnston 'a Nephews Surgeon to the P<^r House, and afotber Clerjc to the ^I^egialative Council, &c. &o. and thus I npight go on, and tracing the Bridgetown deola^pier'a peculiar clique through their varied rpmififji^iqns, find them rejoicing in the posseuion of more salaries, paid out of the earnings of the people of Nova Scotia, than i^re now pr ever wqre l^^d by all tl^ '*■ gipat LiberaU" put together. cnr.,, . .; ! • Mr. Jolinston expressed bis surprise that Mr. A'oung, " fi Menoiber of a liberal profession, possessed of abundant pe^iuniary means," should. ; bt^ve ats tended tbe jPine Grove Meeting— but my *^ interests apd prospects, are ai stake —and agitatioB iathe staple." laomprebend ti;ie full malignity and qn^anness of tbe epeer ; and should ft el the, power of it, if this man had ever estaUisbe,d a elaiiinta charge me with mercenary motives, or, if my whole life ^id not give tbe lie to'the contemptible insinuation. Under Responsible Qovernment ptublio Qien, in North America,; a« io) !Engi>. Iand» mu^ oeoysioqtUy appiear in all the> (bounties, to explain tl^ir prioiqiB^fP — to attaak the poliey oftlikeir opponents— tq ^^part inform^tien; aif^ |>t» w}fi^4 /"■