The Portland daily press., 1869-02-02
The Anti Confederation Movement In
N0va ~cofia.


The Anti Confederation Movemsnt in
| Nova scotia.
Our Democratic-Republoa city contempt
rary is Of so conservative turn of mind that
1t would instantly irown down any attempt to
dlsparage the character orimpugn the motives
OF his Satanic Majesty, as the reckless act
OF an unprincipled man whose central idea
was to bring reproach upon respectable
journalism" We have several times in var
ious ways brought the incorrigible Pecksniff OF
Federal Street. to grief and shame by expos
ing the hypocrisy and malignity that Insp =,
its habitual sanctmonous snuhe'u NJ
the matter of its attempting 10
Howe of Nova Sofia under its pastepoard eggs
II aiso,osos its y,Inerablity in manner that
:: a...oaodonted even in the disastrous
| sore head annals
Tho nrblic know little and care less about our
contemporary, but Mr.. Howe has had his brief
hour on the worlds stage and really deserves
little attention as successful political adven-
turer, VINO, like many another man, has
brought himself into notice by his advocacy of
the popular cause, and afterwards availed him
sell OF the prominence and influence thus OBJ
tanned, for his own selfish and ambitious pur-
| FN"So w tIlc ueSl6Cl, aDdHuOumeuJ anu uHdi
betrayal of the people, In the early part of
1867 conference consisting of delegates from
all the provinces since consolidated into the
Dominion of Canada was in session in Eng
land for the purpose of agreeing with the I'm
perial government upon terms of confedera-
alton. To England at the same time went our
Mr. Howe, in company with one Armand, to
protest most theoretically against the whole
scheme. Their protest was not needed. The
confederation scheme was consummated, and
so far as Nova Scotia is concerned it was in
| the situation of Kansas under the Lecompton
| constitution. The measure never received the
ratification of the popular vote. No opportu-
nifty for an expression of the popular will was
| ever given. At the next election for members
of the local legislative body only one Union
member was returned. There sprang up
repeal party. There was much furious talk
and the the words annexation" and "revo-
luton" were audibly spoken. Mr.. Howe was
the man who did more than. all others to ex-
cite wrathful public feeling Things looked
very serious-so serious, indeed, that the Do
minion government began to manipulate Mr.
Howe, having, as it has since proved, better
knowledge of their man thai the world at
large had. At length the tentative movements
| of the Canadian government resulted in
| meeting in Portland few weeks ago between
| Mr.. Howe and Mr.. Mcclellan of Nova Scotia
and Mr.. Rose, the Canadian Minister of Fl
nance. This meeting produced an immediate
explosion in Nova Scotia, where Mr.. Howe's
withdrawal from the ranks of the "repealers"
| had been known for some months and most
| bitterly and violently denounced. We copied
paragraph from a Montreal paper saying
| that Mr.. Howe came 10 Portland to be bought.
| Our unamia5le contemporary, being out OF
matter for quarrels and raging with pain from
| its chronic sore head, seized upon this para
| graph Friday morning for the purpose of eu-
| logiziDg Mr.. Howe and snarling in its canine
way at the Press. Mr.. Howe was San honora-
BILE man"-he came to Portland, forsootb, to
negotiate "a reciprocity treaty." going to the
Falmouth Hotel and thence to Ottawa for
that purpose! 1t was shame to speak dis
paragingly of that eminent statesman We
replied exposing the insanely preposterous po-
sltion of our neighbor of the abraded capital
And yesterday came news from Ottawa, not
that Mr.. Howe had obtained concessions from
the Dominion to Nova Scotia,-no even that
he had merely consented to act for the interest
of all the provinces in negotiating reciproc-
ty treaty with the United States,-but that he
has accepted from the hated Dominion the DO
sttfon Of President Of fhe PriUy Council for
himself!
Our controversial neighbor justifies him
still, and in default of any argument in his
behalf evades the charges against him by re-
citing some creditable octs of his past lfe-
Do we justify Arnold s or Andrew Johnson's
or VIM. H. Stewards treason to the people in
this way? Are the hero of the earlier years
of the Revolution, the great apostle of "the IT.
repressible conflict" and "the Moses of the
colored men" still saints in the American cal
endar? The Advertiser says that Mr.. Howes
| undertaking was to make as equitable an ar
| rangement as possible for Nova Scotia as
| portion of the Dominion, and our dispatches
of Saturday announced that satisfactory ar
rangement with the Ottawa Cabinet had been
| contaminated Satisfactory" "Satisfacto-
| ry" to whom? To Mr.. Howe undoubtedly,
| who has sworn many time and oft, like our
| American Seymour, that he never, never, neu-
er would take office under the Canadian gov
ernment. No indeed, he could not-his honor
forbade. Yet here we have genuine Blue
|
| consent,-consented."
The Advertiser says that the 'rea sons which
| Mr.. Howe gives for abandoning a hopeless
| struggle, are sufficient to account for his
course Now nothing in the world but
Howe's sale to the Dominion has made the
struggle "hopeless." See how the Quebec
Morning Chronicle, rabid confederation pa
| er, openly exults in the blow under which the
repealers are staggering: "Rejected in Eng
land, without the hope of better things in the
event of future appeals, and overmatched in
| the Dominion, the Repealers must have lost
much confidence in their enterprise, and be-
come pretty familiar of late with the prospect
of eventual defeat. The detection Of Mr.. Ho,oe
a0ds a great bl0ao to them, diUidi'ag and denaor
alizing their forces to greater extent than many
s,lppose" Yet Mr.. Howe is an honorable
man"-praised, too, for abandoning a ship he
has scuttled for the sake of the spois. How
infamous the honorable man" is may be Judged
| from the fact that the same confederation pa
| per from which we have quoted above used
| the following significant language before the
| purchase of Mr. Howe was effected: "There is
some talk of Mr.. Howe receiving place in the
| Cabinet at present. We don't think he would
be aoiSe, for his interests and reputation, to
accept one Far better that the policy of recon-
Cling Nova Scotia should escape even the
| shadow of a suspicion of connection with the
| purchase, or substantial advantage of any of
| her public men,"
When mans sudden change of opinion is
Immediately followed by some great personal
| gain, there Is the strongest possible presump-
ZION raised against bis integrity-so strong as
to amount to proof positive" anywhere
| AN ORTHoGRAPHICAL PUzzLE.-A bit of or
biography is in circulation in some of the lit
erary and other circles of Boston, and has
found its way to Portland, and some of those
| interested are making a considerable number
of mistakes as they dash it off hurriedly in a
manner which implies that they are sure that
they cannot be otherwise than correct The