Speech in favor of repeal, January 13th, 1868

“Let me say in conclusion that I have not instigated these meetings. Every action taken in Nova Scotia will in some quarters be attributed to me, and we will be told that the feeling is the result of my organized agitation. I had scarcely got home to Dartmouth when I got an invitation to attend the meeting there. This meeting sprung from the simultaneous feeling of the community, and it would be a great mistake to suppose that that feeling, in all its depth and strength, originates in the intellectual action of one man. If I had been drowned on my passage from England, the electoral returns would hardly have been reduced by a single seat; if I were to die tomorrow the people of Nova Scotia would go on with steady, steadfast roll of thought in this highly intellectual struggle for freedom.”

Howe, Joseph. Annand, William. Chisholm, Joseph Andrew. “The Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe” Halifax, Canada: The Chronicle publishing company, 1909. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b724784?urlappend=%3Bseq=553