government, that Conservatism that is the mark of the Tory. His brothers were pronouncedly Conservative, and, it is said, voted and worked against him both in his campaigns in the city of Halifax and throughout the Province. This illustrious Nova Scotian was born in 1804 in a one-and-a-half story house which was situated on the eastern bank of the North-West Arm of Halifax Harbour. It was a beautiful spot with the Atlantic coming in and flowing out, stirring the imagination of the youthful dreamer. The rugged shores, the forest-clad slopes fronting his home and the sandy bays were to him sources of perpetual joy. Wordsworth, with all his love for nature, was not more deeply impressed by his surroundings than was this young Nova Scotian. He delighted to fish and to swim in the streams, to gather wild flowers in the meadows. He loved to go forth with rod and gun and spear and he spent much of his time sailing on the waters of the harbour near his home. As a result he grew up robust in frame and with an ardent love of nature. His home was situated at a considerable distance from Halifax, and he found it no easy matter to attend school regularly. However, up to his thirteenth year he went to school in the city during the summer months, but in the winter season was forced to remain at home. He was not a brilliant student, and to many of his comrades he seemed to be "a regular dunce." At thirteen he was apprenticed to the printing trade in the office of the Gazette under his half-brother, John. He was now to lay the foundation of his future career. At this time Halifax was intensely aristocratic; no upstart could find an entrance into the charmed circle of society in the city. The leaders in this society drew large salaries and spent the money with a lavish hand among the despised trades-people of the Province. Government House was the centre of this aristocratic life, and it was the aim of every young Nova Scotian to win an entrance to that exalted place. The printer's apprentice could have but little hope. However, he had something that neither wealth nor ancestry can purchase-genius. While still under twenty he tried his hand at poetry, and one poem of his, Melville Island, gained the notice of the Lieutenant Governor. So strong was it and so much promise did the Lieutenant-Governor see in his lines that he invited the young printer to Government House. No doubt Melville Island and the reception it got had much to do with shaping Ilowe's future career. Howe rapidly progressed in his profession and in 1827, in partnership with James Spike, purchased the Weekly Chronicle. The name of this paper was changed to the Acadian, and its pages were devoted to work of a literary character. It was not a success, and Howe, desiring to enter upon a wider field of journalistic activity, disposed of his interest and purchased the Nova Scotian. With the establishing of this paper a new era began in the politics of the Maritime Provinces. Howe was a fighter by nature and at once, with due caution, began to attack the abuses of his time. It is not too much to say that he ranks first among the journalists that British North America has produced, and his influence, despite the limited audience he appealed to, was greater than that of any other Canadian journalist, not even excepting George Brown. When he began to conduct the Nova Scotian he found a system of affairs in his country that no freedom-loving man could endure. The people had representative institutions in name only. There was a monopoly of office and a "Family Compact" quite as strong as the one that held Upper Canada in its grip. The Governor was sent from England. He had an advisory board of twelve members and this little circle of aristocrats ruled the Province. Of this the late Mr. George E. Fenety writes: "They were all 'Honorables,' and would have no intercourse with the people's representatives, unless to cross them and clog the Royal assent to any measure that did not harmonize with their prejudices. If one of them died, another was put in his place having the most influence. If the head of a department passed away, his office was quickly filled by one of his own kith and kin; and so on in every case. The continuity or tenure was indisputable. Those officials were only amenable to themselves and to the Governor; and if the latter proved to be a simple or weak man, as some of them were, he was easily brought over to their way of thinking. Thus all the offices in the country were in the hands of those twelve irresponsible men, whose individual salaries or appurtenances arising from their positions, were large enough to maintain their families in regal splendor, of course at the expense of 'the people' who were as much under their sway as the people of Russia now are under their Czar. The subordinate clerkships in the various departments were dealt with in the same manner that is all the employees were appointed by the irresponsible heads, whether good, bad or indifferent, and nobody outside the circle could utter a word of protest. Then the Press was shackled or held under the same restraining bondage-not but that there was freedom for the expression of independent thought, even to make war upon 'the compact," but the publishers knew too well that it was at the risk of losing prestige and patronage, or incurring the displeasure or withdrawal of countenance of those who were linked in some way with the parties assailed." It was against this society that Howe took up his editorial pen. He was fearless in his attacks, and although frequently threatened with the law and with physical chastisement he continued in his good work. While doing it he gained an intimate acquaintance with the people of the Province. He was his own business manager, and in the interests of his paper journeyed from one end of Nova Scotia to the other. The breezy letters he wrote about his travels were only second to Judge Haliburton's delightful sketches of Nova Scotian characters. And Judge Haliburton, by the way, was to find his first introduction to the public through the pages of the Nova Scotian. For the first time in the history of Nova Scotia the freedom of the press and the right of the press to express itself on great public questions was battled for. Howe attended the meetings of the Legislative Assembly and gave a fair and unbiased report of the proceedings; but his editorial comment on the work of the house was eagerly read, as eagerly as were George Brown's editorials at the time of the Representation by Population agitation. He did more to mould public opinion through the editorial pages of the Nova Scotian than did any of the people's representatives from their places in the House. His reportorial work in the Legislative Assembly did much to educate him for his great career as a reformer. He was prosperous now and felt himself in a position to marry, and so in 1828 he was wedded to a daughter of Captain John McNab. |