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Date: 1866-04-01
By: Montreal Herald
Citation: “THE GLOBE ON THE LUNENBURG ELECTION”, Montreal Herald (4 January, 1866)
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THE GLOBE ON THE LUNENBURG ELECTION.

—There was a just expectation in the minds of its readers that, on account of recent events, to which it is not necessary more particularly to allude, the Globe’s editorial columns would speedily become more interesting than they have been since the Manager has refused, partly from fear of conflagration and partly out of respect to the nervous portion of the audience, to allow the further use of literary blue fire and tin thunder in working up the tempest scenes. Tom Moore once made an indignant Protestant complain of the miseries of a position like that which has been occupied by the Globe during the past few months, something in this style:—

“Yes, muzzle was the word, Sir John,

These fools have clapped the muzzle on,

The boldest mouth that ’ere ran o’er

With slaver of the times of yore.

Was it for this that back I went

As far as Lateran and Trent,

To prove that rogues who damned us then,

Ought now in turn be damned again?”

And after all—only to be made to hold his tongue. Now, that complaint described very fitly what we have all of us felt to be the unhappy case of the Globe and its proprietor during some months past, and we have recently began to feel that the muzzle being once more removed, the music might be expected to recommence. At present, however, it appears that the stiffness arising from long restraint has not entirely disappeared with the removal of what we may figuratively describe as the material fetter. We only see the first signs of returning voice after a period of enforced silence, and thus, in speaking of the recent Lunenburg election, where the Confederation candidate was so badly defeated by a majority of some six hundred votes, our Western contemporary gets no farther insight into its significance than is implied in the statements that this is “apparently a “severe blow against Federation in “Nova Scotia; but it is more apparent than real,” and that “it would be in “vain to deny that the present opponents of “the Quebec plan in Nova Scotia are numerous and influential.” Thus, one of the New York newspapers said during the discussion on the belligerent rights of the South, and after the battle of Bulls Run,—“They “are belligerents and no mistake.” However, for those who are acquainted with the utterly uncompromising style of our contemporary in matters of assertion, it will be felt that this admission of the “apparently severe blow” received by confederation, is an advance towards the freedom of speech which once conferred so much interest on the organ of the ex-President of the Council. That it has not entirely regained its liberty, however, is manifest, not only from the mildness with which he states the direct fact; but also from the manner in which he softens this statement by the recounting of circumstances which are thrown in for the purpose of abating its importance. Thus the Globe asserts, that after all this apparent blow is not real, because it is rather the triumph of the liberal than of the anti-Confederate party, and yet this pretended liberal organ expresses regret at the defeat of the conservatives. Again, we are informed that it is no wonder that the Conservatives were beaten, because the county was remarkable for a long attachment to the liberal side of politics, notwithstanding that he has to admit that the other side on mere party issues carried the County at the last election by a majority of seven hundred. But if the County is naturally and steadily liberal, the Conservative return at the last election must have been only accidental, and if so, how is it that the Globe is sure that it required an obnoxious School law to change the opinions of the electors. The throwing in of this circumstance seems to have the disadvantage of a form of argument which proves too much, and we may very safely conclude that if the other causes had been sufficient to account for the phenomenon, we should not have heard of this. The next time such an election takes place, we have no doubt that the Globe’s statement of the fact will be more trenchant. It will speedily become necessary to prepare the heart of the People to insist on the federation of the two Canadas, and in order to that the Globe will have to show the impossibility of expecting anything from the larger scheme before the next meeting of our own Parliament. The statement made about the great blow to Confederation, is the beginning of what we have to expect from our contemporary in the immediate future, when the muzzle shall have been fully removed, and the old theatrical properties shall have been fitted up and once more brought into requisition.