Document Information

Date: 1866-06-19
By: Fenwick Williams
Citation: Despatch from Lieutenant-Governor Fenwick Williams to Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, No. 51 (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).
Other formats: Click here to view the original document (PDF).

No.20.

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

(No.51.)

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 transmit an address to Her Gracious Majesty the Queen from certain of the inhabitants of the county of Annapolis.

I have, &c.

(Signed) W.F. WILLIAMS.

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

Enclosure in No. 20.

To the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty.

The petition of the inhabitants of the county of Annapolis.

Humbly showeth —

THAT Annapolis is the oldest English settlement in the Province of Nova Scotia, containing 17,000 inhabitants, four regiments of militia, and a large amount of tonnage bearing the flag of England.

That the people of this county have discharged all the duties of loyal British subjects, have sent members to the Provincial Parliament for more than a century, and under Your Majesty’s beneficent rule are prosperous and content.

That they view with great distrust attempts recently made to annex them to the Province of Canada, with which they have no natural connexion and very little trade.

That a scheme of Confederation arranged at Quebec in 1861, without the consent of the constituencies, who have never been consulted, would be an invasion of their rights, and would, if sanctioned by Your Majesty’s Government, create wide-spread dissatisfaction in this loyal and happy province.

The prayer of the people of Annapolis is, that no change in the institutions of the country may be made until it has been submitted to the test of public opinion, and that Your Majesty will sacredly guard the rights which we have loyalty exercised and enjoyed so long until by all the forms sanctions by the usage of the mother country they have been deliberately resigned.

[…], Chairman.

J.C. TROOP, Secretary.