80 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



V. Honourable Joseph Howe. — As I recall the ])ortrait of the most 

 fiimous Nova Scoliun of his time — famous for the brilliancy of his 

 eloquence and liis wide popularity in the province where he struggled suc- 

 ccasfully for the people's rights — 1 can still see in my mind's eye the face 

 and tigure of Josejih Ifowe, when he stood by the clerk's table in the 

 session of 18GU, answering Dr. Tupper, who was the most formidable 

 opponent the Liberal leader ever met in the political field. Howe was 

 claiming the victory for the Liberal party at the elections in 1859 — a 

 claim which was denied by Dr. Tupj)cr, then provincial secretary. Much 

 excitement existed in political circles on account of the government being 

 defeated by a small majority, made up of a few members who held cer- 

 tain offices and were notoriously ineligible. The Conservatives endea- 

 voured to force Lord Mulgrave, then lieutenant-governor, to interfere 

 and even to go as far as to grant them a dissolution on the ground that 

 the members in question were disqualified and could not legally sit. Lord 

 Mulgrave refused to interfere in a matter which was clearl}^ within the 

 exclusive jurisdiction of the House itself, and the Conservative party 

 never forgave him when the government was forced to resign and the 

 Young-Howe administration was formed, as a consequence of his action. 

 Mr. Howe, on the occasion to which I am referring, was defending the 

 attitude of his party, which was using the votes of the disqualified men to 

 come into office. Then, as always when excited, he had thrown his coat 

 back on his shoulders and denounced his opponents with his forefinger 

 pointed at them individually, and with all that scornful accent which his 

 voice could assume on momentous occasions. He was a very ready and 

 versatile debater, but his greatest and most readable speeches were the 

 results of careful study and preparation, although never written out in 

 full and memorized. He used notes, but not to a very great extent, 

 depending chiefiy on his memory of the arguments that he had previously 

 passed through his mind when preparing for a debate. Although I 

 reported many of his speeches in the years when I sat at a desk with the 

 late premier of Canada on the floor of the old chamber, a little beyond 

 where the Speaker's chair is now placed, I never saw a manuscript of 

 any of them; but he was a merciless corrector of proofs, and gave the 

 printers a great deal of trouble, although he had been in his young days, 

 a compositor and knew something of the trouble of " over-running" in 

 his long journalistic experience. The fact is, he was a very keen critic 

 of his own performances, and attached great importance to the literary 

 finish of his speeches and to their easy reading — an explanation of the in- 

 terest and pleasure one can now take in the published volumes of his 

 addresses. He did not speak entirely for the present but for future 

 generations. His massive head was set on a sturdy framework, his eyes 

 were always full of passionate oxj)ro8sion, his voice had a fulness and a 

 ring of which he had a most complete mastery, his invective was as 



