Let his eye range through the noble galleries where the sculptors have left their statues; where the painters have hung in rich profusion the noblest works of art. Wine, we are told, clouds the faculties and deadens the imagination. Yet it was drank by those benefactors of their race; and we cannot, with their masterpieces before us, believe the assertion, till their works have been eclipsed by artists trained up under this rigorous legislation. Has Maine turned us out yet a statue that anybody would look at; a picture that anybody would buy? Look at the deliverers of mankind; the heroic defenders of nations. Was Washington a member of the temperance society? Did not Wallace "drink the red wine through the helmet barred?" Who will undertake to say that Bruce, on the morning on which he won the battle of Bannockburn, that Tell, on that day when he shot the apple off his son's head, had not tasted a glass of whiskey or a stoop of wine?

If then, sir, all that is valuable in the past if heroism, and architecture, and oratory, sculpture and painting- if all that has bulwarked freedom and embellished life—has come down to us with the juice of the grape; if no age or nation has been long without it, I think it behooves the advocates of this bill to show us some country where their system has been tried; some race of men who drank nothing but cold water.

I turn to the learned member's own profession. I ask him to show me two such lawyers, two judges so eminent, as Lords Eldon and Stowell; the one the wonder of the admiralty, as the other was of the equity Court. Yet it is on record that at the very time when these men were oppressed with Herculean labors when day after day they were delivering judgments so masterly and profound that they defy all criticism-each of these great jurists drank his five bottles of port a day. I certainly woul1 not advise the learned member for Annapolis to try, in this country, an experiment so hazardous. In the moist climate of England this might be done, but not in the dry atmosphere of Nova Scotia. I have sometimes seen him, however, when a few glasses would have done him good. Indeed, I often fancy that, both in the Senate and at the Bar, his wit is not so poignant, or his logic so acute, as in the olden time when he used to take his glass of wine.

My honorable colleague and friend from Cumberland, whose sincerity in this cause I entirely respect, quoted to us last winter the passage from Scripture, "If eating meat causes my brother to offend then will I eat no more." But would my honorable friend shut up all the butchers' shops and forbid by law the sale of meat, for fear somebody would eat too much? Again, he told us "we have tried moral suasion, and have failed." If so, who is to blame? If a speaker here fails to convince his audience,

do we permit him to coërce them into belief by force of law? I resist this bill because it is a violation of the voluntary principle. Because it is defended by the old arguments by which fanatics and persecutors in all ages have sought to propagate religious opinions. Hoping to save men's souls (more precious than their bodies), Catholics have burnt Protestants, and Protestants Catholics. The right of private judgment was denied. The right of one human being to coërce others into belief, as it is now sought to coërce them into temperance, has been tried a thousand times, and has failed, as this attempt will fail.

From the spring of 1854 to that of 1857, Mr. Howe discharged the duties of Chairman of the Railway Board. He was ably assisted by the Hon. Jonathan McCully, by William Pryor, John H. Anderson, Thomas Tobin, and Perez M. Cunningham, Esquires. Under their joint management and supervision, the Western Road from Halifax to Windsor, and the Eastern Road as far as Truro, were located by James R. Forman, Esq., Chief Engineer, and placed under contract. The first section out of Halifax was opened on the 8th of February, 1855, and the event was celebrated by a railway ride and a banquet at the Four-mile House, which was attended by members of both branches of the Legislature, and by the chief executive and municipal officers of the Province. Mr. Howe presided, and in proposing the health of His Excellency, Sir Gaspard Le Marchant, who from 1852 to 1858 administered the Government of the Province in a constitutional and impartial manner, paid to that officer this well merited tribute of respect:

Again, gentlemen, it becomes my pleasant duty to announce another toast; but before giving it, I will take the liberty of reading a short note which I received from the Lieutenant Governor this morning with great regret. After stating his inability to attend, in consequence of a sudden attack of illness, His Excellency adds:

"Would you oblige me by conveying my deep and sincere regret at the impossibility of my attending the Railway Commissioners in their proposed excursion of to-day.

"Should the opportunity offer itself in the course of the afternoon, you would infinitely oblige me, by stating the cause of my absence and the great mortification it occasions me not to be present, to express person

ally what I have so repeatedly assured you and the Commissioners of, that no man in the country feels a warmer interest in the perfect success of our railway engagements than myself, from the deep conviction that the works are now inseparably blended with the future happiness and prosperity of Nova Scotia."

While, gentlemen, I regret the absence of His Excellency, it affords me pleasure to propose his health. In these warlike times we may remember that he has descended from a race of soldiers. We read, day by day, of those splendid charges of our cavalry before Sebastopol. Sir Gaspard's father introduced and brought to perfection the system by which that cavalry was trained. He practised what he taught. Even the splendid charges at Balaclava have not eclipsed that by which our Governor's father won the battle of Salamanca. Sir Gaspard himself has won the military rank which he enjoys. In the conflicts of Spain he was the companion in arms of that distinguished officer, Sir De Lacy Evans. I will not in any way trespass on topics forbidden, but no man is more prepared to speak of his course of conduct since he assumed the reins of government in Nova Scotia. Identified with no party, but above them all he has administered public affairs with firmness, intelligence and impartiality; extending to all classes, ranks and shades of opinion, the same manly and generous consideration; and if at this festive board all these are gathered, may we not presume that it is chiefly owing to his example.

Major General Gore was unable to attend, but wrote to Mr. Howe to say:

"If I can get over my letters and dispatches for the mail to leave to-morrow, I shall be glad to witness your triumph, for such it will be, and in which I shall rejoice, for you are highly deserving of it, and I assure you that if a soldier's praise is welcome to you, you have mine."

In returning thanks for his own health, which was proposed by Mr. Doyle, Mr. Howe said:

in

That his worthy friend, the member for Halifax, had somewhat broken upon the order of the regular toasts. He was quite sure that no person felt more pride and pleasure than his old friend and colleague, Mr. Doyle, of whom he might truly say that he was the only man he ever knew who had not an enemy; whose humor never flagged; whose wit never wounded; who, by common consent, was everywhere welcome; and who, if ubiquity and immortality could be conferred by universal

suffrage, everybody would vote should enliven every scene of festivity down to the end of time. I am quite sure if he lived so long, the last trump would only drown the ring of merry voices over his last jest. For myself I thank you heartily for the manner in which you have drank my health. This day's triumph is not mine exclusively. I have been but an humble fellow worker of the miracle which has puzzled my learned friend. It would be gross egotism if I claimed any other credit. I am about to propose a toast to the two branches of the Legislature. Among the living, who sit around me, how many are there, who, by their advocacy of a common policy, have brought about a great result. But the dead ought not to be forgotten, who zealously labored, in one form or other, to stimulate railway enterprise. Without the coöperation of these men - without the skill of our engineers, the enterprise of contractors, and the zeal and energy of my fellow commissioners, what could I have done? I should much mistake my duty if I sought to appropriate, or permitted my friend to attribute to me, all the credit. which results from our common labors. To have been the associate of these men, in such work, I consider sufficient distinction. If I have a hope beyond, it is to connect my name with the works themselves. I think it was Apelles, who, calling upon a friend, and finding him absent, traced a line so beautiful upon his door that his friend, on his return, knew that the artist had been there. Hereafter, when these lines of beauty and utility cross our country, carrying animation and vigor into every district enlarging the prosperity and developing the resources of the Province, perhaps some of my countrymen, or their children, may occasionally exclaim, "Howe has been here." Fill a bumper now gentlemen, to "the two branches of the Legislature," and although some of you may be compelled to drink your own healths, believe me that you might be much worse employed. Though not so crowded as some other legislative chambers, our Council and Assembly fairly reflect all the good and evil of our country. From what I have seen abroad or read of elsewhere, I believe them to include as much integrity, intelligence, patriotism, and manly independence, as are to be found in any Parliaments in any part of the world. We have our party battles and conflicts it is true, but show me a country where these 'do not exist and I will show you a despotism. Out of these conflicts of opinion, spring enlarged principles of action, measures of public utility, and often, I am proud to say, among the combatants themselves, mutual respect. A note of menace from abroad unites us; a touch of nature from either side, "makes the whole house kin." If we have our rugged paths of political ambition, we have our green spots of the soul that the eye loves to rest on."

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After the storms of public life, which divide us as the billows are divided, comes the burst of sunshine, which hallows, as it does now, the interchange of courtesies, and the celebration of some festival in which we all have a common interest.

The road to Windsor and thirty-two miles of the Eastern road were opened for traffic in the spring of this year. On the 8th of June, a number of Mr. Howe's friends and admirers assembled at Windsor, and, in presence of his constituents, presented him with £1,000, and a handsome complimentary address.

The Reciprocity treaty, which largely extended the commercial relations between the United States and the British Provinces of North America, was signed by Lord Elgin at Washington on the 5th of June, 1854. For the success of this measure, both countries are largely indebted to J. D. Andrews, Esq., who devoted many years of life to its accomplishment. He repeatedly visited all the Provinces, and communicated freely with the Colonial Governments; by his personal exertions he interested those who led them, and also the prominent statesmen of the Republic, in the question. A flood of light was poured upon it from the able and elaborate reports and statistical tables prepared under his direction for the information of Congress. Though offence was given by some misconception which arose at the time, and in consequence of which Nova Scotia was left unrepresented at Washington; it is but fair to Lord Elgin, and to all parties concerned, to acknowledge that this Treaty has greatly extended the trade and commerce of the two countries.

The Russian war broke out in 1854. The allied armies were thrown into the Crimea, and their numbers were thinned by great battles, by incessant labor, and combats in the trenches. The British troops, being less numerous than the French, and covering too much ground, suffered most. Large quantities of indispensable supplies, were wrecked in the port of Balaclava, at the beginning of the winter of 1855, too late to be replaced before much suffering and mortality had resulted. A want of skill and administrative capacity in the higher military authorities was also apparent, and aggravated the sufferings of the