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Date: 1866-06-19
By: Fenwick Williams
Citation: Despatch from Lieutenant-Governor Fenwick Williams to Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, No. 49 (19 June 1866) in UK, Parliament, Correspondence respecting the Proposed Union of the British North American Provinces (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1867).
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No.18.

COPY of a DESPATCH from Lieut.-Governor Sir W. F. WILLIAMS, Bart., K.C.B., to the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.

(No.49.)

Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 19, 1866.
(Received July 2, 1866.)
(Answered No. 2. July 6, 1866. p. 82.)

SIR,

I HAVE the honour herewith to enclose an address to Her Gracious Majesty the Queen from the inhabitants of the Northern District of Queen’s county.

I have, &c.

(Signed) W.F. WILLIAMS.

The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.,
&c. &c. &c.

Enclosure in No. 18.

To the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty.

The petition of the inhabitants of the northern district of Queen’s county,

Humbly showeth —

THAT the inhabitants of this district live by the cultivation of the soil, and are content to share with Your Majesty’s subjects elsewhere the common blessings which their British citizenship included.

In Nova Scotia loyalty to the Sovereign, respect for the law, and devotion to the national flag are universal sentiments. Its people prize highly the right of self-government which they have long enjoyed, and are content with their participation in the organization and glory of the empire.

Revolutionary changes in the framework of their Government proposed by a Convention which assembled at Quebec in […], met no favour from the people of Nova Scotia, who view with distrust and indignation the passage of a resolution giving power to a committee to change or break down the institutions of this Province without the people having expressed any desire for such a measure, and without securing to them the constitutional right to accept or reject it at the polls.

There is no reason why Nova Scotia should be subject to the domination of Canada.

Your Majesty’s subjects in this province, proud, self-reliant, and happy, prepared to defend the just authority of the Crown, and bearing the national flag all over the world would be broken in spirit and rendered discontented and restless if controlled by a Legislature in which they could never command a majority and by a distant authority which they could rarely hope to influence.

The prayer of the people of the North Queen’s , therefore, is that the institutions under which they have lived and prospered may be preserved, and that no radical changes may be sanctioned by the Imperial Government which have not been approved by the electors at the polls.

STEPHEN SMITH. Chairman.
JOSEPH B. HARLOW, Secretary