Mr.
President, and Honorable
Gentlemen of the
Legislative Council :
Mr.
Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of
Assembly:
1. It has been in good fortune, in other portions
of the British Empire, to have
been brought in contact, and to have enjoyed much intercourse, With
Members of their Legislatures The recollections connected therewith, and the results
of such
mutual acquaintance, induce me to look forward with
pleasure
to the establishment here of similar agreeable relations between Her Majesty's
Representative in Nova
Scotia and the Members of this Legislature.
2. I rejoice that our first rneeting takes place at a
moment so auspicious to the material prosperity of the
Province, that I am enabled to congratulate you at
once on the late bountiful harvest, and on the unprecedented increase of your
revenue, as well as the remarkable development of your
most important Exports and Imports.
3. This unusual degree of prosperity is
the more
fortunate, occurring, as it does, at the
time when you
are
invited to consider one of the gravest questions- probably the gravest and most
momentous question-
ever submitted to the Legislature
of this Province.
You are thus enabled to bring to its
consideration a
greater amount of deliberate and
calm reflection than
if harassed by any disturbing
pressure of less fortunate circumstances.
4. At
the opening of last Session, the Officer then
administering the Government
alluded to the identity
of the interests of the British North American Maritime Provinces, and laid before
you a proposal for
devising means of effecting their Union under one
Government. The consideration which you then gave
to the question led to a resolution requesting the
Officer administering the Government to appoint
Delegates, not exceeding five in number to confer on
that subject with Delegates from New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island.
5. It became my duty, on receiving
permission from
Her Majesty's Government, to
give effect tothe Resolution. Therefore, with a view to a full and fair discussion,
I endeavored to bestow
a national character
on the Delegation by requesting the aid of prominent
representatives of the two great leading parties in the
Province. I have directed the report presented to me
by those gentlemen
to be laid 'before you; you
will
thence learn their reasons for deferring the final consideration of the subject, which
you had submitted to
them, till another proposal, which had been made in
the interim, had been first disposed
of, namely, that
of a general Union of British
North America.
6. When invited by the Governor General
to send
Delegates to Quebec to discuss that wider question, I
considered it my duty to obtain previously the consent of Her Majesty's Government.
I then appointed,
on behalf of this Province, the same gentlemen who
had represented her interests in the first Conference.
The second Conference commenced its sittings at
Quebec
on the 10th October, and did not conclude
them till the 29th of that month.
7.
The result of their labors, proposing a Union of
British North America, on certain conditions embodied in seventy-two Resolutions,
has already been made
public, and will now be officially communicated to
you with all the correspondence connected therewith.
8. The highest authority on such a
subject, the
Colonial Minister of the Crown, has recorded
his
opinion of the labors of the Delegates.
and has given
them credit for the warmest sentiments of loyalty, as
also for conducting their deliberations with a patient
sagacity, which enabled them to arrive at common
conclusions on the most involved
and diiiicult questions.
9. I feel assured that, irrespective of
any political
difference of opinion, such
encomlums from such a
quarter, on British North American statesmen,
must
be deeply gratifying to that
great body of Her Majesty's subjects, who are proud to identify themselves
with the welfare and reputation of these Provinces.
10. A copy of the Despatch of the Secretary of
State, containing those opinions,
and conveying the
general approval by Her Majesty's Government of
the Quebec Resolutions as " the
best framework of a
measure to be passed " by the
imperial Parliament,"
for the purposes therein more fully adverted to, was
received by me on the 22nd December, and
by my
orders was published the same day for general information. You have, therefore, been
for many weeks
in possession of the views of Her Majesty's Government, and the country has for a
stil longer period
enjoyed the opportunity for
discussing the expendiency
of the project of Union.
11. It is not my province, and I have no mission
to do more than afford you the freestscope for consideration of a proposal which seriously
involves your own
prospects, and in reference to which you
should be
comptent to interpret the wishes and
determine the
true interests of the country. I feel
assured, however,
that whatever he the result of your deliberations. you
will deprecate attempts to treat in a narrow spirit, or
otherwise than with dispassionate care and prudence,
a question so broad, that in reality it covers the ground
of all parties and precludes it
from becoming the
measure of merely one Government or one party.
2 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
12. I need only observe further, without
in the
least intending thereby to
influence your ultimate determination, that it is obviously
convenient, if not
essential, for the Legislatures
of all the Provinces
concerned to observe uniformity in the mode of ascertaining their respective, decisions
on a question
common to all. I have, therefore, desired
to be laid
before you some correspondence
between the Governor General and myself on that.
point.
13. Scarcely
less important or urgent is the question of internal defense. Much progress was made
last year in the general enrolment of the Militia force
of the colony, which numbered upwards
of 56,000
men; of whom nearly 42,000
turned out for inspection
and drill. When the heavy, direct tax, paid
by those
men and also by the Volunteers,
both in time and
labor, is considered, we must
all feel that the country
owes them a special debt
of gratitude.
14. Nevertheless,
though they have exhibited much
military aptitude, no adequate means have yet been
taken to render etfective the excellent material of that
large force. Without arms, accontrements,
uniforms,
or any advantage except a few hours drill in each
year, a succession of years similarly
employed would
teach them little more. A step in advance is necessary to fit them fort he most ordinary
service in the
field. This Province can no longer
expect to contribute for its defense only a
fortieth part of the annual
disbursements of Her Majesty's Commissariat chest
at Halifax. Nor do I for a
moment suppose you can
either expect or wish the
ample freedom which you
enjoy here, to be always exempt
from those honorable obligations which its preservation
entails elsewhere.
15.
I have therefore directed Estimates to be prepared for placing the Militia in
a more efficient state,
and feel confident that whatever may be the necessary
cost, you will regard the defence of the Country not
as a burthen, but a privilege and a sacred
duty to be
cheerfully performed. '
Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly:
16.
The Public Accounts will also be submitted for
your inspection, and the General
Estimates be prepared with every attention to economy which the
exigencies of the Public Service
permit.
Mr. President,
and Honorable Gentlemen by the Legislative Council:
Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly :
17. You will, I am satisfied, have heard with regret
that. proceedings are in progress
to terminate the Reciprocity Treaty, which has conferred
such extensive
benefits on the trade both of this Province and the
neighboring States, whilst it has also
essentially promoted the most friendly
relations betwtcn the two
countries. I have directed the correspondence
on
that subject to belaid before you,
18. Strongly impressed with the advantage of
making the great natural resources of this
Colony
better understood in the principal commercial centres
of Europe, I have promised a
limited amount of aid
to a committee of gentlemen who are now employed
in securing a due representation
of this Province at
the International Exhibition to
be held in Dublin
during the present year. I
anticipate your hearty cooperation in promoting such a national object, when
the papers upon this subject shall have been brought
under your consideration.
19. some
modification of the law passed
last Session for the better encouragement of Education
will
be laid before on, and no doubt you will
gladly endeavor to render more available
and better adapted
to the wants of the country,
certain provisions of a
measure which so materially concerns
the education
of the great body of the people. I count on that important subject receiving the most
enlightened consideration at your hands.
20. In accordance with the Act passed last Session
providing for the extension ol the tuilway to Picton,
that work was put under contract, and will be completed with all possible dispatch.
21. Proposals for the construction of Railways to
the border of New Brunswick and to Annapolis, will
also
require your consideration.
22. The grant
of last Session on account of Saint
Peter's Canal has been
expended, and a full Report
on that work will be laid before you
at an early day.
23. I regret to be obliged to inform you that the
crowded state of the Hospital for the Insane has
made it impossible to provide
adequate accommodation for the care of these who
unfortunately need an
asylum of that description. I trust the appeal thus
made to the sympathy of the Legislature will lead to
the extension of an Institution so
indespensible.
24.
You will be gratified to learn
that. the traffic on
the Provincial Railways continues to exhibit a marked and steady improvement over
any previous year,
and that the increasing sale of the Crown Lands,
and
extended working of the Coal
and Gold Mines, all
evidence a high degree of prosperity.
25.
These fortunate circumstances, enhanced as
they are by the continuance of peace, will no doubt
facilitate your discharge of those public duties for
which I have called you together,
and must awaken
in us all a grateful recognition of the indulgent bouuty
of that Providence whichhas bestowed so
many blessings on this Province.
26.
I now declare this Session opened.
Having
returned to the Assembly Room,
the Speaker read the Speech to the House.
Hon. PROV. SEC. laid on the table the
election writs for the Counties of Annapolis and
Picton.
Mr. Ray
and Hon. James McDonald were
then presented and sworn in, in
the presence
of Hon. M. B. Almon, Hon. J. H.
Anderson,
and Hon. A. Keith, acting as Commissioners.
Dr. Hamilton
laid on the table, pro forma,
a bill for the better protection
of the estates
and rights of married women.
