[OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. 309
TUESDAY, May 1.
The House met at 3 o'clock.
Mr MILLER said he wished to avail himself of
this opportunity of replying to some of the slanders and misrepresentations which
had appeared
in reference to himself in a portion of the public
press. A fortnight ago, or thereabouts, an exciting debate had taken place in which
the hon
member for East Halifax had occupied a po ition
in which no member of that House ever stood
before, presenting a spectacle which must convince the country that if there was a
man whose
utterances were entitled to no respect, it was that
gentleman. On that occasion Mr Annand had
brought two charges against his (Mr M's) veracity, which had been conclusively met
and exposed
on the instant; — first as to the conversation with
hon Geo Brown, in reference to which he (Mr A)
had said that the report of the conversation as detailed by him (Mr M) was incorrect;—the
second
in reference to the Inverness petitions Yet, on
the following day, the hon member had the hardihood to announce in the Chronicle that
he had
succeeded in bringing home a charge against him.
If the individual who inspired that journal made
this charge publicly, in his proper person, it
would be harmless as the idle words, because
to enable one man to injure another by fixing any
charge on him, it was requisite the accusation
should proceed from an individual who possessed
some character—otherwise the attempt merely exhibited the baseness of the source
from which the
charge proceeded, and would recoil on him who
made it.
At the instance of Mr S. Campbell the galleries
were cleared, but subsequently re-opened.
Mr Miller continued:—He did not feel it necessary to make these observations merely
because
Mr Annand, in the Chronicle, had slandered him,
but because there were many persons who were
not sufficiently intelligent to discriminate between
the statements of that journal, which were merely
the effusions of the member for East Halifax, and
the public opinion which it pretended, however
falsely, to reflect. He asked who was there less
able than the member for East Halifax to make
improper charges, or who should be more backward in maligning and slandering another?
That
member's name recently appeared appended to an
address to Her Majesty the Queen, the
first paragraph of which contained an
expression of the loyalty of those who
signed it, and yet one had only to turn back his
recollection a short time to recall the period when
the hon member expressed the wish that the day
would come when "the stars and stripes would
wave over citadel hill!" Was the man who
could utter such a traitorous sentiment as that in a
position to makes charge against another ?—
Within a few weeks the same member had been
guilty of a similar crime, and had been heard
expressing the wish in the public streets "that
50,000 Fenians would land in Canada." And
nevertheless this was the man who applied the
term " traitor" to members who were acting in
accordance with the declared wishes and policy
of the Queen's Government and the best interests of the country. The humiliating apology
made by the hon member, suffused with shame
as he stood when charged with these expressions,
was ample proof of the correctness of the assertions in reference to the position
which he occupied. The man who thus stood convicted of
treason by his own admission was the man who
used the press under his control to disseminate
falsehoods, scatter seditious sentiments, broadcast over the country, and create
the worst feelings for the worst purposes. Mr. Annand had
brought forward letters from his friends to exculpate himself from this last charge
of treasonable conduct, but it would be recollected that
those letters conclusively established his guilt.—
The hon member had suppressed them in the
publication of his speech, and had declined to
lay them on the table. But what more ? In his
speech on the Resolution for Union that gentleman had asserted that he had been offered
"money
place and preferment " if he would support Confederation. These words were taken down
by a
number of gentlemen, "and were telegraphed to
Mr Brown who pronounced the assertion a " villainous falsehood." At the conclusion of that
speech he (Mr M) rose and stated a report of that
conversation given to him by Mr Annand at the
time, and the reply then made wad that he had
not related correctly what was reported as having
passed, while on the following day the member
for East Halifax admitted that his (Mr M's) statement was substantially correct. These
facts appeared in the official reports. That hon member
had done more—he denied having used the
word money in connection with Mr Brown's
name. A dozen gentlemen instantly con
tradicted him from their notes, and the official report shewed that his denial was
incorrect. What was the veracity of such a
man worth? If he, Mr. Miller, had been compelled to admit himself guilty of traitorous
310
DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS
language, and was convicted of untruthful
statements on the floors of Parliament, and
had to confess that a gentleman whom he had
flatly contradicted had substantially told
the truth, and at the same time to withdraw
a slander against another man there would
have been good foundation for impugning
his veracity; that was not his case. The
member for East Halifax feeling the humiliation of his position saw the necessity
of
drawing attention from himself to others,
and did what no honorable man under the
same circumstances would do—he meanly
revealed the secrets of confidential intercourse, which was in keeping with his
conduct from beginning to end, and had excited the disgust even of his friends. It
was such conduct that had induced one
member after another in the Legislature, to scout the hon. member's leadership as
they were obliged to do out of consideration for their own character and position.
Private conversations had thus been
revealed by Mr. Annand whenever they
suited him, without any justification on his
part. No men can, for any time, act politically together without confidential communications
which subsequent differences
justified neither in revealing. He Mr. M. had
been acting with the anti-Confederate party
against the Quebec scheme, but only against
that scheme, and had then much confidential intercourse with Mr. Annand and
others, but the first man had yet to hear
any of it disclosed. A different course was
now necessary in self-defence. Fortunately he had not placed himself in Mr. Annand's
power, and could defy his malice.
The hon. gentleman had produced a paper
to shew that a statement made by him in
reference to the Inverness petitions was
incorrect, and had asserted that he, Mr
Miller, had denied sending such petitions
into the country. The House knew he had
done nothing of the sort, but boldly avowed
that up to early in the present Session every
exertion, he could use, and every means
within his power were put forward to defeat
Confederation on the Quebec basis. He
wished to get that scheme before the people, because he knew it would be defeated.
If this paper proved anything it only was
that those petitions were sent into Inverness
six days after instead of a few days before
the meeting of the Legislature, but that paper was written before the Legislature
met ;
when it had been handed to the printer he
could not say. Mr. Annand had subsequently to admit the charge in reference to
the two petitions, in connection with which
the dispute arose, was unfounded,he himself
having sent those petitions to Inverness,
and, as a further proof, they were returned
to him when signed. Even without this
admission, any charge from such a quarter
would require some further evidence than
the assertions of a man whose statements
had been publicly branded as villianous
falsehoods. The discrepancy was of little
consequence, whatever it was. Mr. Annand had said, in one of his speeches, that
if it were not that he, Mr. M., had been so
careful of the expenditure of a few shillings,
the petition for Inverness would have been
sent by him. Did not this shew that the
subject was talked over before the franking
privilege was possessed by members? But
Mr. Annand knowing what he did should
be the last to charge penuriousness on him.
No member was less open to such a charge.
In reference to it he, Mr. M., would state a
few undeniable facts ; three years ago when
he had gone to run his election, it had been
stated that he had received a large sum of
money from the Liberal party to secure the
County of Richmond. He had to meet this
slander everywhere during his canvass, but
the truth was that every sixpence of his expenditure on that occasion had been borne
by himself, and that contest was fairly
gained without the slightest understanding
existing anywhere with reference to his
subsequent action.
If any one here or elsewhere could contradict him let it be done. He could further
say that his opposition to the Quebec scheme
had cost more than any five of the richest
merchants of Halifax who had the credit of
contributing so largely in support of the
anti-union cause. He, Mr. M., had gone
into the country during the busy seasons
for weeks to canvass and hold public meetings at a heavy personal expenditure, every
cent of which came out of his own pocket,
although there was a fund from which his
expenses might be paid but which he always declined to touch. This contrasted
strongly with the conduct of a member who
would not go on a flying visit to one of the
western counties for two or three days
without having his expenses paid, but who
now made this charge of penuriousness
against one who he knew had acted with a
disinterestedness ill-becoming his means.
In going to Lunenburg he left his business
at much loss and incurred much hardship
and inconvenience and still contributed to
the election fund sufficient to meet his own
expenses, refusing to have anything to do
with the bag which was carried by the
Editor of the Citizen who had since given
no account of the contents although called
OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
311
upon so to do. Mr. McDonald put nothing
into the fund whatever he may have taken
out, yet he was one of the men to impute
corruption to others. The member for East
Halifax, a few days ago, had taken up
much of the time of the House in defining
his position, but it could be defined in half
a dozen words : his position was that of the
fag of another man. It was notorious that
Mr. Annand had no idea or will of his own
but had drawn all his inspiration during
the twenty odd years he had been in public
life from a well known source. He was
simply a puppet in the hands of
another. When the House met that
gentleman's object was to become the
leader of the Anti-Confederate party;
and it was generally supposed that
when in England he had represented
himself in that character to Mr. Cardwell,
who must have conceived a very poor
opinion of that party from that circumstance.
He, Mr. M., had not of course attended the
caucus of the Liberal party at the opening
of the Session, nor had he attended any
caucus, but he was reliably informed that at
that meeting the member for East Halifax
had been left in a minority of one, himself
voting, on the proposition to supplant Mr.
Archibald by Mr. Annand as leader—a minority, it would be admitted, neither respectable
in point of numbers nor otherwise. From that day the hon. member had
commenced a most tortuous course in relation to Confederation, which clearly proved
that personal position was his sole aim.
He had told him, Mr. Miller, that he was
willing to give the whole thing up and that
he intended to visit Fredericton and communicate with Mr. Smith of New Brunswick
on a scheme of Union to be submitted to the
Legislature. That fact was notorious to
many in the city, and it dare not be denied.
For a whole week his departure for that
Province was expected,—he did not go for
reasons unnecessary to mention,but from the
day when his leadership had been repudiated he had been ready to adopt any compromise,
and had spoken to him to that effect. This was the action of the gentleman
who had yet to hear the first argument
in favor of Confederation. Early in March
Mr. Annand accosted him, Mr. Miller, at
the door of the Province Building, and signified his intention of coming down to the
House to define his position, espousing
Confederation; and proposing a resolution
by which the details of the scheme would
be left, as was then known to be the general wish of the friends of union, to the
Imperial Government. In the conversation
Mr. Annand added, " if you Eastern men
stick out, you will get into the same
difficulty that your people are in in
New Brunswick." Implying a threat as
he, Mr. Miller, believed, that the charges of
disloyalty and sympathy with Fenianism, which
had been made by an injudicious portion of the
Confederate press, of that province against certain
members of the Roman Catholic body who opposed Union, would be brought against gentlemen
representing the Eastern counties. These
he suspected to be the tactics about to be resorted to, and, recollecting the past,
he justly feared
them. Mr. Annand had at that time expressed
a fervent wish that "Mr. Howe would come
home." Whether that gentleman's arrival had
anything to do with the change in the hon. member's views and actions he would not
pretend to
say. He would admit that the tortuous cause
pursued by the hon. member had some influence on his (Mr. Miller's) action, but his
mind
was chiefly influenced by higher considerations.
About the same time the last hope of the renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty, by legislation
or otherwise had fled, the Fishery difficulty
was on our hands, Fenianism had assumed an
alarming attitude, and the necessity for action
became imminent. It was under this necessity that he reluctantly yielded his opinion
in reference to an appeal to the people—the only point
on which his opponents could charge him with
inconsistency, and which was justified by the
exigencies of the moment. After the Lunenburg election, in conversation, he had told
Mr.
Annand that he could not persevere in opposing all union, and that the time had come
for
effecting some compromise by which the objectionable features of the Quebec scheme
could
be got rid of. Mr. Annand agreed with him,
and the result of that conversation was the article of the 24th January, which appeared
in the
Morning Chronicle, suggesting a new Convention
to promote Union. Mr. A. afterwards communicated with Mr. Smith, and represented that
gentleman as desirous of a common platform
for compromise, as that article proposed. The
views therein stated were publicly to be taken
as the honest expressions of the hon. member,
but in conversation with others Mr. Annand
avowed that he was not sincere, and merely
desired to get the delegates into a snare by
inducing them to abandon the Quebec scheme.
He thus played with the friends of union on
fair terms and the opponents of all union. Ho
had done more than that—he had frequently
when urged by him (Mr. M,), manfully to
adopt some scheme and deal fairly with the
question, replied that such a course would not
best subserve their own interests. But by
working on the prejudices of the people, and
exciting them against a union of the Provinces
he and his friends would have the best chances
of getting to Ottawa in case Confederation was
carried, as he believed it must be, and if it were
not: carried by the Government the Opposition
would have the honor of carrying it when they
came into power. Could he (Mr. M.), after
312 DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS
such dishonesty and tergiversation of the member for East Halifax be blamed for abandoning
at the right moment an associate so dishonorable whose every act was a deception,
and
whose only object was personal gain. He
was compelled to make these revelations in self-
defence. He asked the house and the people to
couple his statements with the charges of which
Mr. Annaud stood publicly convicted, should he
venture to deny them. A man whose utterances
had been stamped as "villianous falsehoods"
in one case was not worthy of much credit in
another. He (Mr. M.) was not surprised that the
anti-Confederate party should have assailed him
with such violence as they had done, or that
they should now desire to underrate the support
he gave them, and injure him in every possi
ble way. They had placed a different value on
his efforts as all knew until he felt he could
no longer co-operate with them. Their present
abuse and mis-representations were easily understood. They may not have felt his loss,
but certainly they presented a different front
after he adandoned them from what they did
before. They had on all important occasions
sought his services, and had unsought given him
a prominence that would have enabled him to
secure an honorable and lucrative position
when the party came into power, as all expected they would by holding together until
the general election. He had sacrificed these
chances, which were not remote; and perhaps
also his prospects in public life for some years
to come irom a sense of duty—but after all the
popular clamour, now attempted to be excited,
would soon subside, and before long the people
would be just to the men who had boldly grappled with the great question. He could,
therefore, treat lightly the insinuations about improper influences which were not
believed by the
men who made them, and were simply intended to mislead the country. Such charges could
only trouble one whose conscience told him
they contained some truth. Those who knew him
best, whether they approved or condemned his
recent action, would scout the base insinuations made against him. While such charges
could be easily made and were calculated to
leave an impression on the ignorant and depraved, no right thinking man would believe
them without proof, because it was impossible
to disprove an undefined charge of that nature.
He had refrained from making these observations until he had been coarsely and violently
assailed, and until further silence would have
been misconstrued. They would throw some
light on the honesty and consistency of the
member for East Halifax, and account for his
disappointment and temper at the course which
events had taken.
Mr. S MCDONNELL asked the Atty General
what had become of the resolution calling upon
Mr. Annaud to lay on the table letters which
he had read, as a part of his speech on a previous occasion. The very fact that other
members had sent petitions into his county proved
that he had never committed himself in opposition to union. He denounced the efforts
made by the member for East Halifax to mislead the public mind and create agitation
throughout the country, and stigmatised the
position in which that gentleman had placed
himself in the recent discussion on the subject
of Confederation.
Mr. MILLER said it would be a gross insult
to the House to suppose that any corroboration
was needed for the statements he had previously made. The certificate produced in
reference to the Inverness circular did not prove
that the document was not written before the
meeting of the House, which was the case. In
reference to the Lunenburg election, and in reply to remarks concerning one of the
members
for that county, he would state that the terms
upon which Mr. Hebb had agreed to run his
election were, that his expenses should be paid,
and that he should receive ÂŁ30, as was agreed
to be paid to Mr. Zwicker, and this money had
been actually given to one of the agents in compliance with the terms.
Mr. HEBB denied that he had been bribed to
run the election,—he had not been desirous of
undertaking the contest; if his wishes had
tended in that direction, he could have been in
the House eighteen years ago. Â A free election
had been offered him this time; and for the purpose of inducing his friends to desist
from
their entreaties, he said that he would require
to be paid the ÂŁ30, which Mr. Zwicker was reported to have got, but since receiving
the requisition he had not for a moment thought of
receiving the money and never should.
Mr. JOST introduced a bill to legalize assessment rolls of the county of Lunenburg.
Mr. HEBB complained that he had been unable to have the road scale for Lunenburg arranged
as he wished it. His colleagues would
not allow him to appoint his own commissioners. The scale had been handed in without
his
consent.
Messrs.
JOST and
KAULBACK said that they
had given every opportunity to the hon. member to consult with them in reference to
the
distribution of the road money.Â
Hon. ATTY. GENERAL introduced an act to
amend chap. 70, Provincial Railways; also, a
bill in reference to Crown Lands.
