[boueinot] BUILPEES OF NOVA SCOTIA 189 



in Eng-land, but here it never is fought and never will be, until we have a 

 representation in Parliaiment or until the Liegislature votes £5,000 for a 

 luminous agitation of the quesition. I yield to the assoiciataon all thiat I have 

 ever said in its favour. I would do it jusitice to-morrow bad I power to do 

 injur>', but I do not believe that one Nova Sootian withiin tiie walls of Par- 

 liament would do more to reclaim our natural rights in a single year, than the 

 Législature could do, by remonsitranceB in seven. 



Take the question of the fisheries. Tour fisheries, including all the wiealth 

 that is within three marine miles of a coast fronting upon the ocean for 

 five thousand miles, are at this moment subject of negotiation. What have 

 you got to do with it ? What influence have you ? WhO' represents you 

 in London or in Washington ? or diisicusiseB the matter in your behalf ? The 

 British Minister, pressed upon by the United States on the one hand, and by 

 the prospect of a war with Russia on 'the other, may at this moimienit be 

 giving away our birthright. Tell me not of your protest against such an act 

 of spoliation. It would amount to nothing. Once committed, the act would 

 be iiirevooable, and your most valuable property would he bartered away 

 for ever. Sir, I know what gives influence to England, what confers power 

 here — the right and the opportunity of public disicussion. Your fisheries, if 

 given away to-morrow would scarcely provoke a dlscusisdon in the House 

 of Co-mmone ; but place ten North Amerioans there, and no minister would 

 dare to bring down a treaty by which they were sacrificed. Hoiwi often have 

 questions in which we took a deep and abiding interest been decided without 

 our knowledge, consultation or consent ? I am a freje trader, and I am glad 

 •that unrestricted commerce Is the settled policy of the mother country, as 

 it is of this. But can I forget how often the miniisteir of the day has brought 

 and carried out commercial changes Which have prostrated our interests, tout 

 in the adoption or modification of which we have had no voice ? Sir, with our 

 free Legis<latures, and the emulation and ambitious spirit of our people, such a 

 state of things can not last for ever. Is there a man who hears me, that 

 believes that ^the question of the fisheries can be settled well, or ought to 

 be settled at all, without those who are most initerested, being represented in 

 the negotiation ? 



What 13 taking place at this moment im the old world invests this argu- 

 ment with painful significance. Note© and diplomatic 'messages are fiying 

 from St. Petersburg to Vienna, and from Vienna to London. A despot is 

 about to break the peace of the world, under pretence of proteicting the Greek 

 religion. A fleet of Turkisih ships has been sunk in the BLack Sea. The 

 Cunard steamers have been taken off the mail routes to oarry troops to the 

 Meditenanean. To-morrow may come a declaration of war ; and when it 

 eomes, our six thousand vessels, scattered over the ocean, are at the mercy of 

 England's enemies. Have we been consulted ? Have we had a voice in the 

 Cabinet, in Parliament, or in any public department by whose action our 

 fleet is jeopardized ? No, sir, we have lexercised no more influience upon nego- 

 tiation s^the issue of which must penl our whole mercantile marine— ^:han if 

 we had had in danger but a single bark canoe. 



I do not complain of the statesmen of England. I believe that Lord John 

 Russell and the other membexs of the Cabinet are doing their best for the 

 honour of old England, and for the welfare of the Empire. But I will not 

 admit that they have the right, at the present day, to deal with subjects 

 which so largely affect the interests and touch the feelings of two million five 

 hundred thousand people, scattered over millions of square miles of land, 

 whose canvas whitens every sea — without our being consulted. 



(Mr. Howe next turned to the United Services, and showed how slight 

 was the chance of British Americans to rise in the army and navy. Their 

 brethren at home had more money to purchase ; they had all the Parliamen- 



