SATURDAY, April 15.
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
The House of Assembly met this morning at
11 o'clock, and the Provincial Secretary immediately moved a resolution to adjourn
until
Monday next. He said:—I need not say that
this House has been deeply shocked by the
intelligence which has just been received of
the death of President Lincoln.  Both branches of the Legislature having been on
Thursday
last informed that His Excellency would come
down at 3 o'clock for the purpose of assenting
to several Bills which have passed, I felt it my
duty, proposing as we do, to adjourn this
House, to put myself in communication with
His Excellency who entirely concurs in the
appropriateness of this House marking its sympathy with the people of the United States,
who have thus lost their Chief Magistrate, and
their deep abhorrence of the crime by which
he had been removed. The House is aware
that when exactly four years ago this day the
first intelligence reached this country of the
commencement of hostilities in the American
Republic, this House placed on record its sentiments by the following resolution:—
Resolved unanimously that the House of Assembly
of Nova Scotia have heard with deep regret of the
outbreak of civil war in the United States, that this
House, without expressing any opinion upon the
points in controversy between the contending parties
sincerely lament that tjose who speak their language,
and share their civilization should be shedding each
other's blood, and offer up their prayers to the Father
of the Universe for the speedy restoration of peace."
This resolution sufficiently marked the feelings with which this House viewed the
begining of hostilities which have so long and so
terribly distracted the neighboring republic.
It is not to be denied that as that struggle ad
246 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
vanced, when the people of British North
America. witnessed the heroic resistance
that
a comparatively small number of
men in the
Southern States made against overwhelming odds, a large amount of sympathy was excited
in the minds of
many—that sympathy which is always excited when a small body is seen contending
with great bravery against superior numbers—
in favour of the South. But although that
feeling has existed to some extent—although
there have been persons in this country who
believe that the material
interests of British
America would be promoted by a separation
between the Northern and
Southern States,
and that great Republic being thus divided
into two governments; yet I am
confident
that there is not a British subject in British
America who will learn the untimely death
of President Lincoln and the circumstances under which it has occurred
without the feeling of the most unfeigned sorrow and the most profound regret.
It is well known that President Lincoln was
elected the President of the United States of
America by the intelligent and
freely expressed voice of the people of that great country;
and no man who has observed the course that
he has pursued can entertain a doubt that he
has regarded it as a conscientious duty—a
duty
from which, under no circumstances, he was able
in the slightest degree, to shrink—to maintain
the sovereignty of his government over the
entire country. That he has persistently pursued that policy with an inflexibility
of determination and strength of purpose which must
for ever mark him as a man of commanding talents, no one can deny, and I am satisfied
that the sentiment of the people, and of those
who are placed over the people, throughout
British North America, will agree in the
opinion
that he has been actuated by a conscientious
discharge of what we believed to be a patriotic
duty in that crisis of his country's history.
Under these circumstances I feel that it is
right that the neighboring governments in B. N.
America should, as far as their means would
permit, exhibit on the present occasion their
deep sympathy with the people of the neighbouring states who have lost their Chief,
Ruler, and, at the same time, mark their deep
abhorrence of the atrocious crime by which
he has been removed. I have, therefore, to offer to the House the following resolution:
Resolved unanimously:
that this House have
heard with the most profound regret that the
President of the United States of America has
fallen by the hand of an
assassin, and that, as
a. mark of sympathy with the people who
have thus been deprived of their Chief Ruler,
and of their abhorrence of the atrocious crime
that has been committed, this House do adjourn until Monday next.
Mr. Stewart Campbell, who seconded the resolution,
said:—On any ordinary occasion I should regret the absence of the learned
member for Colchester, who occupies a position in this
House which would peculiarly call upon him to second any resolution
demanding the united action of all parties in this House. But this
resolution is of no party, and requires not that any particular individual
should second it. It is indeed one that need not be formally
ascended by the lips, for it is sustained by the feelings of every gentleman
around these
benches. The hon. Provincial Secretary has referred to
the awful tragedy of which we have just received the painful intelligence,
in terms so feeling, and so appropriate and just, that although
according to parliamentary usage, I have undertaking my present duty, but
little observation is requisite on my part to confirm or endorse those
sentiments. We all feel, Sir, that an occurrence has taken place which at
the present age of the world is not only an outrage upon an individual
and a nationality, but is an ourage upon mankind and the civilization of the world
at large; and although we belong to
another Empire than that in which this dreadful scene has been enacted, we
are deeply moved by the awful fact that there has been a gross outrage
committed against those feelings which are and ever will be, respected
in every country that prides itself in the possession of the
privileges of civilization and the blessings of christianity. I think the
course taken by the government in adjourning this House as a mark and
testimony of its feelings on the present melancholy occasion is extremely appropriate,
and will be sure to meet with the cordial
approval of every member in this House and of every man in this country.
The resolution passed unanimously, and
the
house adjourned.
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