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TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT
MAJESTY
THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA
May it pleaseYour Majesty :
We, Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Representatives of your loyal Province of
Nova Scotia, are reluctantly compelled again to approach Your Majesty with a
statement of grievances, which, while they have been annually, during the last
three years, laid at the foot of the Throne, still remain
unredressed.
The chief cause of all
the evils of which the British North American Colonies have complained, has
been the want of harmony between the Executive and Representative Branches of
the Government. The state to which this Province has been brought by the
Official Compact, who had, for many years, monopolized all the power and
patronage within it, was fully disclosed by this House in 1837. Your Majesty
at once recognized the justice of our complaints, and gave positive orders to
your Representative in this Colony to obviate the possibility of their
recurrence, by calling around him, into the Executive and Legislative
Councils, those who possessed the confidence of the country.
Had this been done,
and had Your Majesty's commands, conveyed in the Despatches of Lord Glenelg,
been executed by the Lieutenant-Governor, the hopes they raised among a loyal
and intelligent population would have been realised, and Your Majesty would
not have been, at this time, called upon to vindicate your high authority, and
do justice to your People, between whom and your Royal favour subordinate
functionaries have hitherto interposed.
In almost every
essential particular the principles laid down by Lord Glenelg, in 1837, were
violated by Sir Colin Campbell ; and directions, too plainly. expressed to
admit of their being misunderstood, were either overlooked, or so perverted as
to strengthen and consolidate the power of the small and exclusive party, of
whose acts, and dangerous ascendancy, the Representatives of the People had
complained.
This Assembly, being most anxious to avoid any appearance
of disrespect to Your Ma‑
jesty's Representative, did not, in
their subsequent remonstrances,
venture to attribute this
daring violation of Your Majesty's express commands to His Excellency the
Lieutenant‑
Governor. They charged
it, as they, conceived they had a right to do, upon his advisers;
and they sympathised -.with an Officer,
surrounded by a Council and Heads of Departments, who, their tenure of
office being permanent, under the Colonial Constitutions as then understood, had nothing
to fear and every thing to hope, from sacrificing his reputation to protect their own
emoluments and power.
Your Majesty will,
therefore, readily conceive with what delight and satisfaction this 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 influences by
which he had been tramelled. 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 to be given to the
Lieutenant-Governor, in order to make the exercise of the Prerogative most
beneficial and satisfactory to the People, he was to be held responsible to
the Sovereign for the tranquillity of the Colony committed to his charge, and
for the harmonious action of the Executive and Legislative Branches of the
Government. In order, therefore, that His Excellency Sir Colin Campbell might,
without unnecessary delay, exercise the powers confided, for the redress of
grievances of which this House had so frequently complained, we passed, on the
5th February last, the following Resolutions which were presented to His
Excellency on the 10th of the same month :
" Resolved, That for many years the best interests of this Province
have been jeopardized, and its progress retarded, by the want of harmony
between the different Branches of the Government ; and the absence of that
cordial co-operation between the Representatives of the People and those who
conducted the local administration, which, in the view of this Committee, is
highly desirable, if not indispensable, in every British Colony, to which a
Constitution, modelled after that of the Mother Country, has been granted by
the Crown.
Resolved, That during the struggle, which, since 1837, this House
has maintained, with a view to reduce the expenses, improve the Institutions,
and purify the Administration of the Country, it has been met at every step by
an influence, which while it was beyond the control of this Assembly, has wielded the whole power and
patronage of the Government, to
baffle its efforts, and thwart-the wise and benevolent policy avowed by Her
Majesty's Ministers.
Resolved, That in approaching many of
the important questions to be disposed of in the present Session, the House of
Assembly feels embarrassment and difficulty, which it would be unwise to
conceal, either from the Government or the Country at large ; and that it can
anticipate no satisfactory settlement of those questions, until the Executive
Council is so remodelled, as to secure to the House of Assembly, the aid of
the local Administration in carrying out the views of
the Assembly and in facilitating any negociations which it may be necessary to
conduct with Her Majesty's Government :
Therefore resolved, That the House of Assembly, after mature and' calm
deliberation, weary of
seeing the Revenues of the 'Country and the time of its Representatives
toasted, the People of.Nova Scotia misrepresented to the Sovereign, and the
gracious boons of the Sovereign marred in their transmission to the People, do
now solemnly declare that the Executive Council, as'
at present
constituted, does not enjoy the confidence of the Commons."
The following Answer was
returned:
". Mr.. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,
The subject you have
presented to my consideration in this Address, has in all essential respects been already
brought under the notice of Her Majesty's Government, in Re-solutions of the House of
Assembly passed in its-last Session.
Her Majesty's Ministers, after full consideration of the subject, and personal
conference with
Delegates; from your body authorized to advocate
your views, have expressed, in the Despatch which, by Her Majesty's command, I recently laid
before you, the judgment to which they had come,
on the matters of your
complaints.
Having no reason to-believe that any alteration has taken
place in the sentiments of Her Majesty's Government in this respect, I do not feel myself
at liberty to adopt any other course, than to refer you to the Despatch
already alluded to, as containing their decision. Justice, however, to the
Executive Council, leads me to say, that I have had every reason to be satisfied with the
advice and assistance which they have at all times afforded me.
It has ever been, and shall
continue to be, my earnest desire to concur in every measure which appears to me to be
conducive to the best interests of this Province."
Astonished and grieved, that,
while no notice had been taken by His Excellency of Lord John Russell's
Despatch, or of other public Documents, illustrative of the wise policy announced
by the new Colonial Secretary, reference only had been made to a Despatch of a
prior date, breathing a different spirit, and written by a nobleman who had
retired from the Colonial Office, this House called His Excellency's attention
to those important State Papers
in the following Address:
TO
HIS EXCELLENCY LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
SIR COLIN CAMPBELL
Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Military Order of
the Bath, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander in Chief in and over Her Majesty's Province of Nova-Scotia, and its Dependencies
THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
May it please your Excellency,
We, Her Majesty's dutiful and
loyal Subjects, the Representatives of the Province of Nova-Scotia, cannot but
express our unfeigned regret at the tenor of the reply, made by your
Excellency to the Resolutions, passed by a large majority of this House, on
the 5th instant.
It is true that some of the
complaints, urged in those Resolutions, had been pressed upon the attention of
Her Majesty's Government in former communications,-but we humbly conceive that
the Despatch of Lord John Russell, dated 16th October, and not that of his
predecessor in Office, dated 31st of August, to which Your Excellency refers,
is the one by which all parties in the Colonies, now and hereafter, are to be
governed. We believe that that Despatch, not only gives to Your Excellency the
power to re-model the Executive Council, but makes such changes as are
required to ensure harmony between the Executive and Legislative Branches of
the Government, imperative.
This House are at a loss to
conceive any "motives of public policy" more " sufficient"
to render an application of the principles of that Despatch to this Province
advisable, than the facts, that a majority of thirty to twelve of the Members
of the Representative Branch have avowed their want of confidence in Officers,
expressly referred to by the Colonial Secretary,-that they have declared it
impossible to deal wisely with measures of great importance to the
Government and the Country, until confidence between the Executive and the
Legislature be established,-and that, while the only efficient Representative
of the Local Government, in this House, has resigned his seat, no man of any
influence in this Assembly can be found to devote his talents to the service
of the Government, while 'a majority of the Executive Council persist in
retaining their seats, and Your Excellency declines to exercise the powers
confided by Lord John Russell's Despatch.
It is to this House a subject
of deep mortification, that while, in a neighbouring Province, His
Excellency Sir John Harvey recognizes the Despatch of the 16th October, as conferring a new and improved
Constitution on the Colonies, and has expressed his determination to act upon it,-while
in Canada the Governor General declares, that "he-has received Her
Majesty's commands to administer the Government of these Provinces, in
accordance with the well understood wishes and interests of the People, and to pay to their feelings, as
expressed through their Representatives, the deference that is justly doe to
them," that the people of Nova-Scotia are to be treated worse than the
people of New Brunswick ; and that, under
cover of a Despatch, written before the new policy was ;adopted, by .a Nobleman who no longer
presides over the Colonies, principles are to be applied to Nova-Scotia; whose
allegiance is unsullied, less. in accordance with the spirit and
practice of the British Constitution, than those which have been promulgated
for the Government of a Province but recently agitated by disaffection and
rebellion:
Should your
Excellency, upon re: considering this subject-upon 'referring to the Governor
General's Message of the 14th January, in which he declares “bis earnest,
and anxious desire to discharge the trust committed to him in accordance with
the principles" announced, still feel compelled to disappoint the just
hopes of the people of Nova-Scotia, this House will feel unfeigned sorrow ;
but, in the meantime, they trust they need not assure your Excellency of their
desire to preserve the tranquillity of the Province,
and to ensure the harmonious action of the different branches of the
Government."
The following Answer was given
:
Mr.
Speaker and Gentlemen of the
House of Assembly---
I have given to this
Address the deep consideration to which the opinion of the Representatives
of the People is justly entitled.
By adopting the course
you suggest, I should practically recognize a fundamental change in the
Colonial Constitution, which I cannot certainly discover to have been designed
by the Despatch of the, Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, of the 16th October, in the manner and to the extent supposed by you.
In exercising the
solemn trust committed to me by my Sovereign, I feel it my duty not to
establish a principle involving consequences of deep moment, on which any
uncertainty rests, until Her Majesty's Ministers shall have been consulted,
and the judgment of the Queen ascertained.
It is, therefore, my
intention, immediately to bring to the notice of Her Majesty's Government,
the. Address and Resolutions you have lately passed on the subject.
In the meantime, I
shall be constantly ready ,to yield my concurrence to any measures
you may adopt, which, in my judgment, are calculated to promote the welfare of
Her Majesty's loyal subjects, the People of this Province, whom you
represent."
This Reply, the
Assembly are most reluctant to avow, withered all the hopes which they had
cherished. It told them that the Officer who had violated the plain letter and
spirit of Lord' Glenelg's Despatches in 1837, was determined either not to
understand, or not to act on, the Despatch of Lord John Russell, and convinced
them that the views of your Majesty's Government would never be carried out
by Officers. hostile to its policy, and who, when commanded to call around
them those who possessed the confidence of the People, were determined to
persist in governing by the aid of those in whom the People had no confidence.
If, up to the period
when their final remonstrance was made to Sir Colin Campbell, this House conceived that
there was reason for dissatisfaction and distrust, the recent appointments
to the Legislative and Executive' Councils, have_ furnished further evidence
of a determination to perpetuate the system, of which this House has so
frequently complained. To some of these 'appointments to, the
Legislative Council, grave objections might be urged ; while, in the
appointment to the Executive Council, the House recognize a studious determination
to pass over every man possessing influence, and enjoying the confidence of.
the people, to do honor to an individual,
.of whose political conduct this House will not trust it-self to speak, but who certainly cannot bring 'to the
aid of a Government, which has
been for years inn minority; the smallest portion of influence
in the Commons.
This House,
notwithstanding these gross violations of the sound principles laid down by Your Majesty, for the.
government of British North America, have made ample provision for all branches,of the public
service, and for carrying out what they believe to be the, policy .of the '
Imperial Parliament, in order to bind in closer connection-with each other,
and with the Parent State, Your
Majesty's Colonies on this' Continent. They have not even declined-to grant a
sum, drawn in violation of their privileges, by Your Majestty’s Representative.
But these supplies have been voted because the
Representatives .of the people of Nova Scotia confidently relied
upon the justice and. firmness of their Sovereign. This House are most reluctant to believe that Your Majesty
will turn a deaf ear to the complaints of your people-that, while
the Governor General has been told that there is " no. surer
way of earning the approbation of the Queen, than by maintaining the harmony
of the Executive with the Legislative authorities"-a different rule will
be permitted to prevail in. Nova Scotia; or that the favour of the Crown will
be extended; in one Province, to policy the very reverse of that laid down for
the government of another.
It is true, that Nova-Scotia is a small Colony, and that
your Majesty may, if you see fit, govern it by the strong hand of power,
relying, in no degree, upon the affectionate attachment of its
inhabitants-but it is also, true, that in no portion of your
Majesty's dominions, are the powers of the Crown and the rights of the People
better understood; and in none is there a more determined spirit of
resistance, by all constitutional means, to a system of Government founded on
mere favoritism or injustice. From the position the people of Nova-Scotia
occupy in the centre of the lower Colonies, and availing themselves,
of the influence which their loyalty, their intelligence, their firmness and
their moderation; have acquired for them among the population of British North
America, they will never cease to appeal to the public opinion around them-to
contend against that system,-and to vindicate and assert, by every
means in their power, their rights as British subjects.
That your Majesty will join with this House in obviating
the necessity for such appeals -that you will repress these absurd attempts to govern
Provinces by the aid and for the exclusive benefit of minorities, this
Assembly confidently believe-and, in asking your Majesty to remove Sir Colin
Campbell, and send to Nova-Scotia a Governor who will not only represent the
Crown, but carry out its policy with firmness and good faith, the Representatives
of Nova-Scotia perform a painful duty to their Sovereign, and to their
Constituents-but recommend the only remedy which, they fear, can now be
applied to establish harmony between the Executive and Legislature of this
Province.
Resolved;
That the foregoing Address be signed by Mr.
Speaker, and be by him transmitted in duplicate to the Right Honorable Her
Majesty's Secretary of State, for the Colonies, to be laid at the foot of
the Throne.
Resolved,
That a Committee be appointed to
communicate a Copy of said Address to' His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor.
Ordered, That Mr. Howe, Mr. DesBarres, Mr. McDougall, Mr. Holland
and Mr. Lewis,. be a Committee for that purpose.
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