Tag: Joseph Howe

Posted on Posted in Dartmouthians, Democracy, History, Legislative, Wise Words

On moving the eleventh resolution, on the 3rd of March (1837), Mr. Howe made a speech that is worth preserving, for various reasons. Those who defended the old system of government assumed, first, that the institutions of the United States had failed to secure liberty and happiness, and that by yielding responsible government, republican institutions would be at once introduced. Mr. Howe combated both these arguments. While he did justice to our neighbours, and ascribed to the practical working of their purely elective institutions the great prosperity and freedom which they enjoyed, he showed that responsible government was not republicanism, …

Speech on Elective Councils (Senate) More…

Posted on Posted in Dartmouthians, Democracy, History

Without such hazards of giving offense, we can never arrive at anything that approaches political truth, perhaps a key to the bubble wrap of political correctness that can be used to strangle the dissent of today. Joseph Howe, as a perpetual rabble-rouser, understood this better than most, and he was willing to “die by the sword” under charges of seditious libel in order to advance the human condition of his country. “It is sometimes said, the mother country has its great charter, its Bill of Rights, and why should we not have a charter, or some such written guarantee for …

“At some hazard of giving offence” More…

Posted on Posted in Coup, History

CONFEDERATION(To the Editor of the Star).SIR,-Although I have not yet seen the pamphlet published by Mr. Howe, in opposition to the proposed confederation of the British North American Provinces, you will, I hope, permit me to correct several misstatements of facts into which you have inadvertently been betrayed, by the perusal of Mr. Howe’s brochure, in your article in the “Star” of the 21st inst., upon a question involving the most important consequences, both to British North America and the Parent State. A scheme of confederation, providing for the Union of the British North American provinces under one Government and …

Dr. Tupper’s Letter More…

Posted on Posted in Dartmouthians, History

BUSINESS DIRECTORY FOR DARTMOUTH.OFFICIALS Hon. J.W. Johnston, Judge in EquityHon. Joseph Howe, Commissioner of FisheriesLawrence Hartshorne, City TreasurerCol. Sinclair, A.G.M.James H. Thorne, Dep. Prov. Sec. and Chief Clerk MINISTERSRev. John B. Woods, St. Peter’s ChurchRev. O. M. Grindon, English Church BARRISTERSJ.W. Johnston, Junr, Office, HalifaxAlexander James, Office, HalifaxJ. G. Foster, Office, Halifax PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONST.B. Des Brisay, M.D., corner of King and Quarrel stsR.S. Campbell, M.D., {Dealer in Patent Medicines, Paints, Oils, &c.L.E. Van Buskirk, M.D.W.H. Weeks, King Street MERCHANTSAllan, J.W, Grocer and Dealer in LumberBrown, J.C, {General Dealer in Groceries and Liquors, &c.Bettinsen, J, Groceries and Boarding HouseElliott, J.B., …

Dartmouth Business Directory, 1864 More…

Posted on Posted in History, Legislative, Self Government

“Writing in the posthumously published final version of his historical chronicle of early Halifax town, lawyer-archivist Thomas Beamish Akins condemned the infamous 1820 state trial, R. v. Wilkie, in these memorable words: An anonymous pamphlet was published from the press of A.H. [Anthony Henry] Holland, charging the magistrates of the town with malpractices, which caused much excitement. It was discovered to have been written by Mr. William Wilkie, of Halifax. He was indicted for libel, tried at the Easter term of the Supreme Court [17 April 1820] and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor in the House of …

Sedition in Nova Scotia: R. v. Wilkie (1820) and the Incontestable Illegality of Seditious Libel before R. v. Howe (1835) More…

Posted on Posted in History, Legislative, Self Government

“Nova Scotia had found [in Joseph Howe] not only its John Wilkes but also its Charles James Fox.” — W.S. MacNutt, 1965 “In a seminal article published in 1974, Kenneth McNaught described Howe as one of Canada’s “two most significant cases involving political freedom of the press” — the other being Dixon for seditious libel arising from the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. McNaught failed to mention an important early New Brunswick case (Hooper, 1830), where the proprietor-editor of the British Colonist (Saint John) was prosecuted for seditious libel after publishing, under the author’s suggestive Puritan nom-de-plume (“Hampden”), a letter …

Sedition In Nova Scotia: R. v. Howe and the “Contested Legality” of Seditious Libel More…

Posted on Posted in Academic Avenues, Coup, History

THE HON. JUDGE PATTERSON “UNDER the above title Mr. Laurence J. Burpee has edited and published a series of letters written by Howe while in England in 1866-7, opposing the passage of the British North America Act, to William J. Stairs, one of the Vice Presidents of the League. Howe was himself the President, and its Constitution which Mr. Burpee gives in an Appendix is unmistakably his work. In expressing his thought in crisp sentences, where every word tells, there was in Nova Scotia no one aut similis aut secundus to the great Tribune.” “True to its claim to represent …

Joseph Howe and the Anti-Confederation League More…

Posted on Posted in Academic Avenues, History

“In 1822 public subscription libraries had been opened in Yarmouth and Pictou, preceding by only twelve years those literary and scientific societies which were established in both places in 1834. In 1824, the Halifax Public Library appeared; and in 1831 the Mechanics’ Library and Institute. The first lecture in the Institute was given in January, 1832; and, during the next quarter of a century, every phase of literature and science was discussed in this institute, which might well have been called the University of Halifax. From the parent organization branches spread to Dartmouth, Upper Stewiacke and Truro.” “Rather, it seems …

The Intellectual Awakening of Nova Scotia More…

Posted on Posted in Academic Avenues, History

“Though Murdoch was a lawyer by profession and for several years a successful practitioner at the Bar, his tastes were essentially literary and historical . It was as a scholar and a gentleman that he impressed his contemporaries . One of these writing in the Acadian Recorder of October 11, 1863, under the pseudonym of Max, gives a very sympathetic view of Murdoch in contrast to other lawyers of his day. He describes him as, not tall, with a finely moulded head, considerably bald, soft hazel eyes, a kindly intelligent face, and a mouth that has “a peculiar twist while …

Nova Scotia’s Blackstone More…

Posted on Posted in Coup, Dartmouthians, Democracy, History

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin: In January 1872 Dartmouth purchased a second-hand Hand Fire Engine in St. John, N. B., which went into service here after considerable repair work was done at Adam McKay’s boiler shop. R. B. Morris of the yirginia Tobacco Company (page 58) instituted a series of winter lectures at his factory on Church Street for the cultural improvement of employees and their families. Results of trotting races at the Dartmouth Lakes together with names of officials appeared in the “Halifax Citizen” in February. The list includes names of well known horsemen of …

1872 More…