[bourinot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA. 69 



on the importance of the North American colonies to Great Britain.^ 

 Sir Brenton'sson John, clerk of the legislative council, was also for years a 

 well known figui-e in Halifax society, though his only claim to celebrity 

 was the fact that he had in his youthful days fought a harmless duel^ 

 with the great Liberal, Joseph Howe, who fired into the air. Howe had, 

 in his opponent's opinion, reflected upon his father in the course of a 

 criticism of the salaries of the bench at a time when there was a fierce 

 conflict going on between the popular leaders in the assembl}^ and the 

 united legislative and executive councils, of which the chief justice was 

 the most prominent member. 



Judge Lewis Wilkins, the grandson of the loyalist, Isaac Wilkins, 

 was a familiar tigure for years on the streets of Halifax. In his general 

 intercourse with men, and in his public utterances he assumed a great 

 deal of dignity, which sometimes was called pomposity by his sarcastic 

 friends, though it was well carried off" by a tall and erect form. He was 

 too apt in his speeches on the floor of parliament to sacrifice substance to 

 form, and his witty brother gauged him fairly well on one occasion when 

 in repl}^ to the question — " Was not that a sound speech, Martin ?" 

 " Yes, Lewis, all sound." Still he was a learned lawyer and had 

 scholarly tastes, which were characteristic of many men in the old times 

 of Nova Scotia. Somehow old fashioned courtesy and graceful conver- 

 sation are not so much cultivated in these practical days as in the old 

 times, when common school education was confessedly wretched, but 

 individualism was nevertheless stimulated by the habits of study and 

 reflection, which men gave to every subject. 



In those days I was editor of the Halifax Reporter and at the same 

 time chief ofiicial reporter of the debates of the assembly. Under these 

 circumstances I had the advantage of hearing some of the best men and 

 reporting them as well, in association at first with the father of Sir John 

 S. D. Thompson, and subsequently with that able man himself, who was 



Justice of the supreme court of Canada, Sir J. W. Ritchie, was a Knight Bachelor, 

 Sir Adams Archibald, Sir John Thompson, Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper and Sir John 

 G. Bourinot received the K.C.M.G. Sir J. W. Dawson was a Knight Bachelor. Baron 

 Halliburton was a G.C.B. before elevated to the Lords. The distinction of Knight 

 Bachelor is chiefly official in its character, and is consequently conferred as a rule on 

 judicial functionaries. The recipient has to pay a fee and has no right to decorations. 

 The Orders are given, free of all expenses, for imperial or other special services, and 

 carry with them a star and badge. The distinguished order of St. Michael and St. 

 George is chiefly intended for services in the dependencies of the crown, and has the 

 following motto on a badge (suspended by a Saxon-blue ribbon, with a scarlet 

 stripe), Auspicium melioris œvL Sir John Thompson was a " Right Honourable '' 

 as a member of the Queen's Privy Council. 



1 This essay is reprinted in the Reverend George Hill's " Memoir of Sir Brenton 

 Halliburton, late chief justice of the province of Nova Scotia," published at Halifax 

 in 1864. The essay also appeared in pamphlet form at Halifax in 182.5 and in Lon- 

 don, 183 L 



-See "Life and Times of the Hon. Joseph Howe, with brief references to some 

 of his prominent contemporaries, by G. E. Fenety, St. John, N.B., 1834." I find no 

 reference to this incident in Howe's " Speeches and Letters." 



