[BURPEE} HOWE AND THE ANTI-CONFEDERATION LEAGUE 437 
tion,®* and the religious rivalries and antagonisms of the two Provinces. Annand will 
mail all these papers that our friends may see exactly how the game stands. 
On the other side you will find a sharp article, pitching into me, in this morning’s - 
Star, founded on Tupper’s views of my inconsistencies. All this will be set right by 
Annands’ Pamphlet which will be circulated on Monday. 
The Star is said to be Bright’s organ, and as the franchise is the great question 
with them, they have shifted their ground since the publication of the first article, 
and are evidently disposed to back Tupper because they have been told that he 
opposed the limitation of the franchise in Nova Scotia.ÿ7 Of course, in such a battle 
as we are fighting we must be prepared for blows and fortunately I have had so many 
that another thump or two makes but little odds. I may by and by, if it is worth 
while, review the criticisms of the Press, but if we can turn the rascals’ flanks by a 
Parliamentary enquiry into the whole subject we shall have carried our point. We 
send the Star that you may see both sides. 
In my letter of yesterday I expressed a hope that we might be able to get home 
by the end of the month. We shall work to accomplish this, but it is by no means 
certain. The subject is assuming such proportions that I may have to visit the 
large towns and do much work should the fellows happen to agree’ and things 
take an unfavorable turn. We hope this may be avoided, but nobody just now can 
tell what may turn up in all this month. 
- Believe me 
Yours truly, 
JOSEPH HOWE. 
Private. 25 Saville Row, 
12th Nov., 1866. 
Sir John C. D. Hay, Bart. 
My dear Sir John, 
I send you Tupper’s pamphlet with Annand’s answer to it and Botten and 
Webber’s Book. 50 
Referring to our conversation of Thursday evening I wish to call your attention 
to two or three points. 
1. The opposition to Confederation in Nova Scotia did not originate with me. 
For weeks after the convention broke up at Quebec I took no part in the controversy, 
nor did I express any opinion, even to my personal friends, until the delegates set 
systematically to work to make the people of the Provinces believe that I was in 
favour of their scheme.*! I then wrote just what was necessary to disabuse the 
56 On the Separate School Question in Canada before Confederation, see Lewis, George Brown, 
121-23, 144-45, and Pope, Memoirs, I, 138, 170-72, II, 248. 
57 See Tupper, Recollections, 46, 51. 
58 There were at the time some differences of opinion between the Maritime Provinces delegates 
and those from Canada, as to the Intercolonial, and provincial subsidies. The delicate situation 
during the London Conference has been described by Lord Blachford. Parkin, Macdonald, 126-7. 
5 Rt. Hon. Sir Jotin Charles Dalrymple-Hay, born 1821, rear-admiral 1866, vice-admiral 1875, 
admiral 1878, Lord of the Admiralty 1866-68, represented Stamford in Parliament, 1866-80. 
60 See Bibliography No. 52. 
61 Such a statement was not without justification. Howe had advocated Confederation as early 
as 1849. Grant, Tribune of Nova Scotia, 137. As leader of the Government of N. S. he had moved a 
resolution in the Legislature in the session of 1861 looking to a conference on the question of union of 
the provinces. Campbell, Nova Scotia, 435. On August 13, 1864, he made a speech at Halifax in 
which he said: ‘‘I have always been in favour of uniting any two, three, four or the whole five of the 
provinces. . . . Iam pleased to think the day is rapidly approaching when the Provinces will be 
united, with one flag above our heads, one thought in all our bosoms, with one Sovereign and one 
constitution.” Speeches, II, 433-34. ‘‘Nova Scotia,’’ says Munro, ‘‘was the first province to propose 
confederation.”” Constitution of Canada, 25. 

