DAVID SUTHERLAND HalifaxMerchants and the Pursuitof Developme t, 7S-$5o THEIMAGE of the businessmanin Canadianhistory is in a stateof flux. Once viewed as the architectof nationhood,more recently he has tended to be portrayedas the agentof continentalassimilation.• Until now, assessmentof entrepreneurialperformance has largely concen- trated on activitieswithin centralCanada. This paper seeksto broaden the geographicscope of the inquiry by analyzingthe eighteenth-and early nineteenth-centurydevelopment strategy of the merchantcom- munity in Halifax, Nova Scotia.The inquiry seeksto establishthe extentto whichthis east-coast business Elite consciously attempted and in fact succeededin building a northern regional economydistinct from that of the United States.The analysisfocuses on the period betweenthe end of the American Revolutionand the coming of free trade. 2 Any assessmentof Halifax's functionmust begin with acknowledg- ment of its distinctivegeographic characteristics. Although endowed with a large,secure, ice-free harbour and situatedadjacent to the major transatlanticshipping lanes, the port suffersone crucialliability. Un- like the ports of the St Lawrence, Halifax lacks river accessto the • For classicstatements of the opposingpoints of view,see Donald Grant Creighton, TheEmpire of the St. Lawrence (Toronto • 956); R. Tom Naylor, TheHistory of Canadian Business,•867-•9•4, 2 vols. (Toronto •975). 2 Generalstudies dealing with Maritime regionaleconomic development include Harold AdamsInnis, TheCod Fisheries: The History of an InternationalEconomy (To- ronto • 94o); Gerald Sandford Graham, SeaPower and BritishNorth America, ß783 -• 82o: A Studyin BritishColonial Policy (Cambridge, Mass. • 94 •); Andrew Hill Clark, Acadia:The Geography of EarlyNova Scotia to ß 760 (Madison,Wisc. • 968); Robin F. Neill, 'NationalPolicy and RegionalDevelopment: A Footnoteto the Deutsch Reporton Maritime Union,'Journalof CanadianStudies, IX, •974, • •-•o. CanadianHistorical Review, LIX, 1, 1978 OOO8-3755/78/O3OO-OOO•$O•.=5/O ¸University of Toronto Press 2 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW a4joininghinterland. It is trapped on the Atlantic coast,shut off from the resourcesof the interior by a barrier of rock, swamp,and scrub forest.Communication by seais interruptedby stormsand iceduring winter. During the rest of the year, Maritime coastalwaters have traditionallyplayed host to an internationalfishing and commercial fleetcompeting all toovigorously for controlof regionalresources and markets.Geography and the presenceof external rivals meant that, through the first quarter centuryafter its founding in • 749, Halifax functionedas an isolatedimperial military garrison, having only mini- mal commercialcontact with the neighbouringregion. a The RevolutionaryWar contributeddecisively to a redefinition of Halifax's identity. Loyalistmerchants, crowding into the Nova Scotia capital early in the •78os, becamethe focusof a lobby demanding implementationof a comprehensiveregional development strategy, one that envisionedthe Maritimesbeing transformedinto a 'new' New England, playing the role of supplybase and market for the British Caribbean.Those based in Halifax sawtheir port emergingas a second Boston,thriving on the West Indies carryingtrade and functioningas chief commercialentrep0t within the Marltimes.4 Implementationof this developmentprogramme demanded the eliminationof competi- tion from 'old' New England,a taskcolonial lobbyists believed could be accomplishedthrough the application of mercantilist restrictions againstAmerican businessenterprise. Their aspirationsreceived at leastpartial support from the British government.While conceding American access to the inshore fisheries of British America under the Treaty of Paris, the London authorities did introduce imperial Orders-in-Councilbarring Americanvessels from British Caribbean ports.• Thus emboldened,Halifax entrepreneursembarked during the • 78oson an effort to build their port into a regionalcommercial metropolis. 3 Ian Brookes,'The PhysicalGeography of the AtlanticProvinces,' in TheAtlantic Provinces,ed. Alan G. Macpherson(Toronto •97•), •-45; JohnWarkentin, 'The AtlanticRegion,' in R. Cole Harris and John Warkentin,Canada before Confederation (Toronto •974), •69-•3 •; Arthur Hill Clark, 'Contributionsof its Southern Neighboursto the Underdevelopmentof the MaritimeProvinces Area, • 7 •o- • 867,' in TheInfluence of theUnited States on Canadian Development: Eleven Case Studies, ed. Richard A. Preston(Durham, r4c•97•), •64-84 4 William StewartMacNutt, The Atlantic Provinces: The Emergence of ColonialSociety, ß7 ß 2-ß 857 (Toronto •965), 86-• • •; Harold Hampden Robertson,'The Commer- cial Relationshipbetween Nova Scotiaand the BritishWest Indies, •788-•8• •; The Twilightof Mercantilismin the BritishEmpire' (unpublished $4^ thesis, Dalhousie University, •975), •-•8 5 Innis, CodFisheries,•o, •7-8; Graham,Sea Power, •9-55; Alfred Le RoyBurt, The UnitedStates, Great Britain andBritish North America from theRevolution to theEstablish- mentof Peaceafter the War of • 8 • 2 (New Haven •94o), 4•-7o HALIFAX MERCHANTS 3 The developmentprogramme achievedonly marginal initial suc- cess.Given their small population and pioneering economy, the Maritimescould not immediatelyduplicate the role of New England. Suppliescontinually had to be imported in large quantitiesfrom the United Statesboth for local consumptionand for resaleto the Carib- bean.Halifax merchantsfound themselvesessentially playing the role of middlemen,handling a two-wayflow of goodsbetween the island plantersand the United States,an arrangementwhich yielded profits but which left the Maritimesvulnerable to external pressures.6 Those pressuresbecame manifest early in the 179osfollowing outbreak of war betweenBritain and revolutionaryFrance. In order to reducecosts and easesupply shortagesin its Caribbeanpossessions, the British governmentrelaxed restrictions against the entry of Americanvessels into the islandports. 7 ResurgentAmerican competition in the crucial West Indies carrying trade, combinedwith their exploitationof the northern fisheriesand extensivesmuggling operations throughout the Maritimes,severely curtailed commercial enterprise in Halifax. Mer- chantsin the Nova Scotiacapital built up and maintained an extensive network of trade relationswith the outport communities,but they entered the nineteenth century without having establishedanything approachingcommercial hegemony over the neighbouringregion? The lastphase of the Napoleonicwars proved remarkably fortunate for Halifax. After 18o7 hostilitiesproved increasinglydestructive to American commercial interests. At the same time, French curtailment of timberexports from the Balticcreated a growingBritish demand for Maritime and Canadiantimber. The resultingexpansion of regional trade with both the British Caribbeanand Great Britain greatlystimu- lated the level of commercialactivity at Halifax.9 Trade becameeven more briskfollowing the outbreakof war betweenthe United Statks and Great Britain in •8•2. Speculationin prize goodsyielded large 6 Forreference to proclamationsadmitting American vessels to NovaScotJan ports see GeorgeFrederic Butler, 'Commercial Relations of NovaScotia with the United States,• 783- •83o' (unpublished•4a thesis, Dalhousie University, •934), 3-8. Public Archivesof Nova Scotia[PaNs], RG 3 •, folders3 •-3, Halifax light duties, • 786, indicatesthe followingdestination for vesselsdeparting Halifax (notcounting coast- ingand fishing voyages): Great Britain, 9; BritishNorth America,66; BritishWest Indies,49; United States,66; other, 5 7 Graham,Sea Power, 56-73; Robertson,'Nova Scotia and the BritishWest Indies,' 29-59 8 David AlexanderSutherland, 'The Merchantsof Halifax, • 8 • 5- • 85o: A Commer- cialClass in Pursuitof MetropolitanStatus' (unpublished PI-I D dissertation,Univer- sityof Toronto •975), •3-23 9 William StewartMacNutt, NewBrunswick: A History,•784-•867 (Toronto •963). PaNs,RG • 3, vol.4o, indicatesa markedquickening of commercialactivity in Nova 4 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW incomes,while even greaterprofits were derived from the large-scale illicit trade with New England which persistedthroughout the dura- tion of hostilities.•ø Wartime conditionsin Halifax were summedup by one local newspaperwhen it declaredin •8•4: 'Happy stateof Nova Scotia!amongst all this tumult we have lived in peaceand security; invadedonly by a numeroushost of Americandoubloons and dollars, which have sweptaway the contentsof our storesand shopslike a torrent.'• • Halifax entrepreneursregarded this prosperity not asan ephemeral Scotiaafter 1805: Date Country Imports (tons) Exports (tons) 1805 Great Britain 4651 2902 British West Indies 4561 4853 British North America 7610 7779 United States 4442 4290 Other 528 252 Total 21,792 20,076 1811 Great Britain 17,431 16,986 British West Indies 11,652 13,554 British North America 17,227 11,864 United States 1853 356 Other 1988 654 Total 50,151 43,414 lO Walter RonaldCopp, 'Nova Scotian Trade during the War of 1812,'Canadian HistoricalReview,xvIII, 1937, 141-55 . VANS,RC 13, vol. 40, detailsthe extentof wartime boom in Nova Scotia: Date Country Imports (tons) Exports(tons) 1812 Great Britain 26,590 27,332 British West Indies 9197 11,183 British North America 8361 15,514 United States 4105 9925 Other 1702 335 Total 49,955 64,289 1814 Great Britain 25,393 14,476 British West Indies 14,356 25,867 British North America 21,803 37,077 United States 1011 2081 Other 1924 346 Total 64,487 79,847 11 AcadianRecorder, 14 May 1814