PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.
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Mr. HOWAT would give his support to the amendment. The hon. Attorney General seemed to complain
that we would not exempt the Volunteers from burdens imposed upon other people. He
was going to
draw the Volunteers into the service with kindness.
Then if one of these same Volunteers wished to be
made a Constable, there was the fact of his being a
Volunteer to exclude him from that appointment, or
any other public duty which others had to bear?
Some hon. members referred to him as the third member for Charlottetown; but certain
men in the city
seemed to claim more privileges than they were entitled to. He hoped to see the day
when persons from
the country would exercise more power in this House
than they did now.
Mr. HOWAT said we were not to be frightened,
or bribed into it, which he believed was attempted to
be done. Now were we going to put military service
upon the people until they were aware of it.
Mr. PROWSE remarked that no doubt the House
Government wished us to go into Confederation, and
would like to see the whole military force of the Colonies put together. If we wished
to avoid this, we
would have to give due attention to our military defences. He did not see how we could
treat this Bill
lightly, in the face of the telegram which he had just
taken from the Report's desk.—"Earl Derby says
the Government will not make public the real history
of the recent Fenian uprising, on account of apprehended trouble with certain Foreign
Governments
which are involved in the plot." When hon. members
considered this announcement, he did not think they
would say that it was a matter of indifference whether
we gave attention or not to military preparations.
He believed would justly compel us to go into Confederation from a military necessity,
if in these matters
we did not do our duty. He would not give the Volunteers more privileges than the
Militia. He understood that the Bill was similar to the Act in operation
in Nova Scotia, and if they, who were going into
Confederation, gave such attention to these duties,
sure we who were not going into it, should be prepared to keep ourselves out of trouble.
He would
heartily support the Bill.
Hon. LEADER OF THE GOVERNMENT thought
that if the Volunteers were to throw up their arms every
time they took offence at something, there was not much
dependence to be placed in them. He would like them
to know more about the duty they owed to their superior
officers. He did not hesitate to say again that in so far
as the present manner of calling out the Militia was
concerned, it was nothing but a piece of "tomfoolery."
When called out and put through the drill, what was the
result ? A few might have learned to wheel a little better than the others, but the
bulk of them paid very little
attention to the drill, and were none the better qualified
for the discharge of military duties ; and he would still
say that it was wrong to be calling out the Militia for
ten or fifteen days, when the people could ill afford to
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132
lose the time. He considered it a serious matter to interrupt the agricultural mercantile,
and mechanical pursuits of the whole people for such a period, when it was
well known that fifteen days' drilling would never
qualify them for soldier's duty; but the volunteers could
meet and drill as often as they pleased. If a foreign
invasion was to take place, or was likely to happen it
would be different; every man would then be in earnest,
and would feel it to be a please and a duty to do all in
his power for the defence of the country. But at present
there was no more necessity for anything of the kind,
than there was for our getting alarmed at the telegram
read by the hon. member for Murray Harbor. The terror
of Fenianism must not frighten us into foolish acts. As
to the Bill, he thought hon, members opposite were under
a mistake, and had been fighting with a phantom. The
Bill brought down by the Government last year had been
amended in committee, and surely members of the Government might submit an amendment
to this one. It
had been said that indifference on the part of the Government in this matter might
be usual as an argument for
Confederation. The Government had not shown indifference on military matters. They
intended to support the
volunteers, and this they had made manifest in the appropriation for that service.
Before the general election the
late Government were going to do something for the
volunteers, but these becoming offended. threatened their
representative or the Government with their opposition.
Again if the Commander-in-Chief did that they considered
not fully right, they would not retain their arms. Men so
acting lost respect for themselves. It was too much like
a Bull's Run affair. He hoped, bye-and-bye, that the
Volunteers would do better than to throw down
their arms one day and take them up another. As to
the exemption from statute labor, it was but three shillings a year, and was not a
matter worth an exemption.
If the bulk of the people on a road in the winter were
exempted, there would not be enough to turn out to break
the roads, and travelling for a time might be entirely
stopped. In the summer it would not be of so much
importance.
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133
them rather go naked than vote for him (Dr. Jenkins.)
Hon. Mr. HENDERSON was surprised at the
manner in which the hon. Leader of the Government
was acting in relation to his Bill. There appeared
to be some misunderstanding between him and His
Excellency the Lieut. Governor. He was astonished
that some hon. members should contend that raw
recruits were as good as trained soldiers. They might
with equal justice, say that the shop boy with one
day's acquaintance with his business was as good as
the trained clerk. He did not understand how the
Militia movement could be regarded as a Confederate
"dodge." Confederation was a new question, while
Militia acts were of old standing. Though he did
not advocate carrying the matter of Militia training
too far, still it was absurd to suppose that people
could be prepared for action in the field with only
a few days' notice.
Hon. ATTY. GENERAL would assure the hon.
member for Murray Harbor, that there was no misunderstanding with His Excellency in
the matter of
this Bill. all anxiety on that point might be dismissed.
The amendment that the words "and the performance of the Statute labor," be struck
out of the clause,
was then put and carried.
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