[BURPEE] HOWE AND THE ANTI-CONFEDERATION LEAGUE 425 
You will endeavour to make Her Majestys Government sensible that the people 
of this Province are contented and happy as they are, but that if changes for which 
they see no necessity are to be discussed, then those changes should be matured with 
great deliberation, propounded in clear and explicit terms, and that before any meas- 
ure is submitted to the Imperial Parliament it ought to be accepted by the people 
whose future it is to affect. 
. Should Her Majesty’s Government, as we cannot doubt they will, acquiesce 
in the reasonableness of this policy, you will inform us at your earliest convenience. 
Should we be disappointed you will then take whatever steps you may consider 
prudent and legitimate to have the true interests of our country understood by the 
people and parliament at home. 
Should it appear desirable other gentlemen will be sent home to assist you? 
and Petitions to the House of Commons, now being extensively signed® will be for- 
warded by the next and subsequent mails. 
We have the honor to be, 
Sir, 
; Vours truly, 
(Signed by the officers of the League of the Maritime Provinces). 
Cork, July 13, 1866. 
Wm. J. Stairs, Esq. 
My dear Stairs,° 
I landed here this morning after a charming passage of seven days and a half; 
and was startled by the News which must have reached you by this time of the re- 
tirement of the Whigs and of the formation of a new Ministry under Lord Derby.1° 
Under those circumstances it is fortunate that I am on this side, as I know his Lord- 
ship personally and will put myself at once in communication with him and with the 
new Colonial Secretary the Earl of Carnarvon.! The Departmental elections are 
nearly over. I presume that the new Ministers will wind up the Parliamentary bus- 
iness as rapidly as possible, so as to get breathing time. If not sustained, which is 
probable enough they will I suppose dissolve. 
Europe is in a blaze of warlike excitement. The Prussians have won a great 
battle! and are carrying everything before them. 
My impression is that the Colonial Delegates will still come over and by force 
of numbers try to get the New Ministry pledged and carry everything before them. 
But they may not. At all events the change gives us unpledged men to deal with and 
increases our chances of fair play. I know Sir John Pakington™ who is at the head 
7 The other delegates of the League sent to London were William Annand and Hugh McDonald. 
8 These petitions are referred to later in Howe’s letters to Stairs. 
* William J. Stairs, born at Halifax about 1820, died 1897. Son of William Stairs, a famous Hali- 
fax merchant of the first half of the last century. One of the founders of the League of the Maritime 
Provinces, of which he became vice-president. Appointed to Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, 
1867. His son, John F. Stairs, represented Halifax in the House of Commons, 1853-1896. 
10 14th Earl of Derby (1799-1869). Succeeded Earl Russell in 1866 on the defeat of the Reform 
Bill. 
1 4th Earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890). Resigned from the Cabinet the following year as he could 
not agree with his colleagues on the question of Parliamentary Reform. 
12 The battle of Kôüniggratz, ending the Austro-Prussian War. 
1 Sir John Pakington, Baron Hampton (1799-1880), 
