Halifax, Nova Scotia

“ Halifax, the capital, where Howe was born, engrossed most of the social and political life of the province; in fact, it was the province. The only other port in Nova Scotia proper that vessels could enter with foreign produce was Pictou. A few Halifax merchants did all the trade. Halifax was an old city, as colonial cities count. It was near Great Britain as compared with Quebec, Kingston, or Toronto; much nearer, relatively, then than now. The harbour was open all the year round, giving unbroken communication with the mother country. ”

“ Halifax is important not only as the capital of Nova Scotia, but as the leading seaport of Canada on the Atlantic coast. It has a magnificent harbour whose even depth is a joy to the navigator; it is curiously free from extremes of temperature, the coldest day of one average year being but eight degrees below zero (in February) , the warmest day falling in early September when the mercury registered eighty-seven degrees. The evenings are always cool. ”

“ Another time I should be inclined to cut out both Yarmouth [70] and Halifax and lay the time out dreaming the length of some country road or drifting along the edge of one of the beautiful bays.
The histories tell us that Halifax was settled in 1746 at the solicitation of the New England colonies, in order to crowd out the French, who were inclined to use the harbor as a naval base from which to harry said colonies. The extensive fortifications on Citadel Hill are the pride of Nova Scotia, but there is no attempt to make the hill attractive outwardly. ”

“ There is now maintained a garrison of two thousand men and a strong fleet at Halifax, and the sailor and the soldier are picturesque features of the streets. The city has pleasant parks and suburbs, but everything is subordinated to the grim necessities of the fortress, although in all its noted career Halifax has never been the scene of actual warfare.
The Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia is indented by numerous bays that are good harbors, most of them having small towns and fishery stations. The western 300 portal of Halifax harbor is Chebucto Head and Cape Sambro, with dangerous shoals beyond. ”

“ Halifax, Nova Scotia.—The fishery here is extremely good, one company only having 1400 or 1500 quintals of good dry fish ready to ship for a foreign market, and others also have been very successful. Mr. Brown, gardener to Governor Cornwallis, with his son and four others, going out two or three miles from the town, were beset by the Indians, who killed him and his son ”

“ Catastrophe and Social Disintegration The City of Halifax—Terrific nature of the explosion—Destruction of life and property—The subsequent fire and storms—Annihilation of homes—Arresting of business—Disintegration of the social order.
Halifax is the ocean terminal of the Dominion of Canada on her Atlantic seaboard. It is situated at the head of Chebucto Bay, a deep inlet on the southeastern shoreline of Nova Scotia. It is endowed by nature with a magnificent harbor, which as a matter of fact is one of the three finest in the world. In it a thousand vessels might safely ride at anchor. ”

“ The money collected for Liquor Licences in the town, between 31st May, 1784, and 31st May, 1785, amounted to £531. Mr. Francis Shipton was Clerk of Licences.
Three vessels were fitted out during the summer of 1786 for the whale fishery,—the schooners Parr and Lively, and the ship Romulus.
This year the merchants and shipowners formed themselves into a society called the Halifax Marine Association, for the benefit of trade. The following year Nova Scotia was erected into a Bishop's See. ”

“ Though, owing to the growth of Sydney and other outports, it no longer monopolizes the foreign trade of the province, Halifax is still a thriving town, and has the largest export trade of the Dominion in fish and fish products, the export of fish alone, in 1904, amounting to over three-fifths that of the entire Dominion. ”

“ Used to drink himself some in his earlier days. “You know how it is with sailors.” Like his namesake of long ago, he appears to have sown his share of dragons’ teeth. New York is a damn fine town. Halifax is a—well, it would hardly do for polite ears to hear what he thought of Halifax. I finally edged around my new found friend and left him standing [50] in the middle of the road still telling of his adventures. He was one of the most willing talkers I have met in some time.
The way to Petite Riviere, which was possibly seven or eight miles, does not seem to have left any impression. ”

“ The coast is dangerous between Boston and Halifax. The captain was up both nights.
Sunday morning, at seven.—I was aroused by the discharge of a brace of cannon, and on coming on deck I found we were in Halifax harbour. Population of this place is 20,000. Governed by Lord Falkland. Nova Scotia is about 300 miles in circumference. Staple of the town, fish: I should have thought dogs, for I saw some hundreds. It is a mean-looking town: nearly all wood houses: a very good fort and government-house. ”

“ Halifax was essentially a naval and military town. As such it was proud of its great traditions. It was into Halifax Harbour, on Whitsunday 1813, just as the bells were calling to church, that the Shannon towed the Chesapeake. Captain Broke had been wounded and the first lieutenant killed, and the Shannon was commanded by a Halifax boy, her second lieutenant. Of these glories no one was prouder than Howe. 'On some of the hardest fought fields of the Peninsula,' he said, 'my countrymen died in the front rank, with their faces to the foe. ”

“ Sir John, having left a garrison to take care of his conquest, soon returned with his little army to Halifax. Several Halifax merchants availed themselves of the opening afforded to make money, sent agents with supplies of goods to establish shops at Castine, etc. The British authorities collected the Revenue of Maine while in occupation, which amounted to a considerable sum of money. This fund was placed by the colonial minister in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, who appropriated it in various ways as he thought most for the benefit of the country. ”

“ The province supports a normal school and schools of agriculture and of horticulture at Truro, and has voted $100,000 for a College of Technology at Halifax.
Commerce and Manufactures.—Nova Scotia is naturally a sea-going province, and till about 1881 had the largest tonnage, in proportion to population, in the world. Since then, her shipping has greatly diminished, though Halifax is still one of the chief winter ports of the Dominion, and Sydney is also a favourite port of call for steamers in need of “bunker” coal. The water-power provided by the rivers supports many manufactures. ”

“ At the general elections held in September, 1878, he was first elected to represent Halifax in the House of Commons at Ottawa, and occupied a place in that house until his appointment to the position of lieutenant-governor on the 4th July, 1883, and this office he has since held with dignity and satisfaction to the people of Nova Scotia. While in political life he was a member of the Liberal-Conservative party. For some years he was president of the Halifax School Association, a society originated for the purpose of working reforms in the school system of his province ”

“ He was the author of a well-written pamphlet on the resources of Nova Scotia, written in 1748,{231} with a view to encouraging British emigration to the province. Capt. Little left a daughter, who died unmarried at Halifax early in the present century.
John Baptiste Moreau, designated gentleman and schoolmaster in the book of the settlers, had been originally a Roman Catholic priest, and Prior of the Abbey of St. Matthew at Breste. He joined the expedition under Cornwallis in 1749, and went to Lunenburg with the settlers in 1752. ”

“ Robert Fletcher arrived at Halifax from London in 1760, with new printing materials and a valuable collection of books and stationery. He opened a book store and printing house near the parade, published a newspaper and printed for the government. Until this time there had been no book store in the province. Fletcher executed his printing with neatness, and raised the reputation of the art in Nova Scotia. He remained in Halifax until 1770, then sent his printing materials to Boston for sale and went into other business. ”

“ The winter of 1797-8 was again very severe. The heavy falls of snow rendered the road from Halifax to Windsor impassable. The Prince ordered the troops to clear the road between the town and his residence on the Basin. The supply of fat cattle from the country for the troops was retarded for a long time by the state of the roads.
{121} It was proposed to raise a fund in the town to be at the disposal of Government for the purposes of war. The inhabitants subscribed a sum approaching £4000 towards this fund; the officers of the Royal Nova Scotia Fencible Regiment, £200. ”

“ In the following year New Brunswick was divorced from Nova Scotia and made an independent province, and a short time afterward Fredericton became the seat of New Brunswick government. Immigrants from Old and New England continued to arrive in Nova Scotia and permanent settlements were established whose names still abide. From 1776 to 1784 and during the Napoleonic wars Halifax was the centre of considerable naval and military agitation. In 1793 a provincial regiment was enlisted and precautions were taken for the defence of the capital against a sea attack by the French. ”

“ The town was originally built of wood, plastered or stuccoed, but though the wooden houses largely remain, the public buildings are of stone. Inferior in natural strength to Quebec alone, the city and its approaches have been fortified till it has become the strongest position in Canada, and one of the strongest in the British Empire. ”

“ Aspinquid appeared in the Nova Scotia almanacks from 1774 to 1786. The festival was celebrated on or immediately after the last quarter of the moon in the month of May. The tide being low at that time, many of the principal inhabitants of the town, on these occasions, assembled on the shore of the North West Arm and partook of a dish of clam soup, the clams being collected on the spot at low water. There is a tradition that during the American troubles when agents of the revolted colonies were active to gain over the good people of Halifax, in the year 1786, were celebrating St. ”

“ From Nova Scotia some of the Loyalists who had come to Halifax on the outbreak of the Revolution, sent back most favorable accounts. There were, they said, great business opportunities as well as the mere necessities for subsistence. Saw-mills could be erected, and a great business carried on, with the West Indies. The fisheries would develop into a great industry. In fact they were assured, they might in our loyal province quietly enjoy a comfortable life, freed from the detested tyranny of seditious and rebellious demagogues. ”

“ It was late in February when Saunders' fleet, convoying Wolfe, his stores, and a few troops, sailed from Spithead. The winds being adverse and the seas running high, May had opened before the wild coast of Nova Scotia was dimly seen through the whirling wreaths of fog. It was a late season, and Louisburg harbor was still choked with ice, so that the fleet had to make southward for Halifax at the cost of much of that time which three years' experience had at length taught the British was so precious in all North American enterprises. ”

“ We are to breakfast, to finish packing, and take our leave of Captain Knight, from whom we part with emotions of regret. He will depart in the next steamer for St. Johns, and we start for Halifax by an inland route.
Here we are, on our way across the Island of Cape Breton, bound for Nova Scotia. Our baggage—trunks, carpet-bags, reindeer-horns, snow-shoes, plants, and mosses—in a one-horse wagon, goes ahead; we follow in another. We are delighted with the change from rolling waves to rolling wheels. We are delighted with our spirited nag. ”

“ To Nova Scotia an additional amount has since been granted. New Brunswick is entitled to receive, in addition to the above amount, $63,000 a year for ten years. To the existing Dominion debt is to be added $25,000,000 or $30,000,000 for the intercolonial railway to connect Halifax with Quebec, sections of which were built many years ago, and the remainder is now in course of construction, and the Pacific railway, the construction of which was one of the conditions of the accession of British Columbia to the union. ”

“ The ports on the western shore of Nova Scotia off the Bay of Fundy are subjected to extremely high tides - 20 to 25 feet, and generally afford only limited terminal facilities and have depths generally inadequate for docking transports. Tidal currents are strong. From Windsor, on the Avon River, to Halifax, there is one improved road and a branch of the Canadian Northern Railroad. The distance is about 50 miles, with high ground and good defensive positions in the center of the island. As a route of approach to Halifax it is considered inferior to the route from St. ”

“ But do the views of the Americans extend no further? Would they be satisfied if they obtained the Canadas? Most assuredly not. They are too vast in their ideas—too ambitious in their views. If Canada fell, Nova Scotia would fall, and they would obtain what they most covet—the harbour of Halifax. New Brunswick would fall, and they would have then driven us out of our Continental possessions. Would they stop then? No; they never would stop until they had driven the English to the other side of the Atlantic. Newfoundland and its fisheries would be their next prey ”

“ Nova Scotia is second only to Newfoundland in her exports of dried cod, and all her fisheries combined earn more than twelve million dollars a year. They include cod, haddock, mackerel, herring, halibut, pollock, and salmon. Lunenburg, down the coast toward Boston, is one of the centres of the deep-sea fishing industry, and its schooners compete on the Grand Banks with those from Newfoundland, Gloucester, and Portugal.
I talked in Halifax with the manager of a million-dollar corporation that deals in fresh fish. ”