[bourin-ot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA 75 



smoke of the dingy city of Halifax — a building which has for three- 

 quarters of a century been the centre of the political conflicts that have 

 always agitated a province noted for the virulence of iaction as well as 

 for the eloquence and genius of the men who have administered its public 

 affairs and spoken within its legislative halls. It was in 1811 that the 

 lieutenant-governor — that Sir George Prévost, whose name will be always 

 associated with the discreditable aliairs of Sackett's harbour and Platts- 

 burg in the war of 1812-14— laid the foundations of the new "Province 

 Building," between Hollis and Granville streets, and expressed the hope 

 that " the building would perpetuate the loyalty and liberalit}^ of the 

 people of Nova Scotia " ; a hope realized by the conduct of that people on 

 all occasions when they have been called to prove their fidelity to the 

 British empire. It was not, however, until 1819 that this edifice, then 

 justly considered the finest of its class in America, was formally opened 

 for the purposes of public business by the Earl of Dalhousie, afterwards 

 governor-general of Canada, who stated in the presence of a brilliant 

 assemblage that it would always remain " to the latest posterity a proud 

 record of the public spirit at this early period of our history." With the 

 growth of the British-American provinces in population and wealth this old 

 " Province Building " has been left behind, and now seems, at first sight, 

 small and inferior in accommodation, compared with the great structures 

 that have been raised at Toronto and Quebec ; but nevertheless it has a 

 certain grandeur of its own as we glance over its well-proportioned, 

 simple and massive exterior, only ornamented by stately Ionic columns, 

 surmounted by a well cut representation of the royal arms. The dark 

 tint that the stones have assumed in the court-e of years gives the whole 

 structure an appearance of antiquity which is quite refreshing in these 

 days of modern improvements, and recalls the many interesting historic 

 associations that cling to its venerable walls. The interior of the building 

 itself has been very little changed since the days it was opened with so 

 much ceremonj' by Lord Dalhousie, and it was described by a con- 

 temporary writer as "the most splendid legislative building" on the 

 continent. The building contains the two legislative chambers, a small 

 library and provincial offices, all of which are reached by gloomy 

 corridors and stairs redolent with the odours of age. No marble pillars 

 or tiled floors meet the eye as in later structures of a similar kind ; 

 but the whole aspect is sombre and uninviting until we look into the 

 handsome legislative cou?icil chamber/ which has fine proportions and a 



1 Around the walls of this historic chamber are portraits— some of great value 

 by famous painters— of George II. and Queen Caroline, George III., Queen Charlotte, 

 William IV., Chief Justices Sir Thomas Strange (by Benjamin West) and Sir Bren- 

 ton Halliburton, Judge Halliburton ("Sam Slick"), Sir W. Fenwick Williams, Sir 

 John Inglis, Major General Sir Charles Hastings Do3'le, the first lieutenant-governor 

 after Confederation. A brass tablet in honour of the famous navigator, John Cabot, 

 also occupies a conspicuous place on its walls. The four hundredth anniversary of 

 his voyage of 1497 was celebrated in Halifax by the Royal Society of Canada on the 



