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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? Union Prospects and Deliberative Debate in Nova Scotia’S Public Sphere, 1863-1864

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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? Union Prospects and Deliberative Debate in Nova Scotia’S Public Sphere, 1863-1864 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? Union Prospects and Deliberative Debate in Nova Scotia’s Public Sphere, 1863-1864 by David C. Martin Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2014 ©Copyright by David C. Martin, 2014 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………….…………………………………….......iv Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………….....v Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………………...1 Chapter Two: Liberalism Defined: A Framework for Exploring the Deliberative Deliberative Democracy…………………………………………………………………16 2.1 Defining A Political and Intellectual Liberalism……..……………….…..16 2.2 Newspapermen of the Public Sphere………………..………….…………30 2.3 A Thoroughly Liberalized Press……………………..……...….…………33 2.3 Colonial Loyalism........................................................................................38 Chapter Three: Large Streams from Little Fountains Flow...: Entrenching Liberal Values Values and the Development of Nova Scotia’s Bourgeois Public Sphere……………….45 3.1 Planters, Pre-Loyalist Settlers and Loyalist Migrants..…………...……….46 3.2 The Scots Arrive…………………..………………………………………48 3.3 The Pious and Devout…………………..…………………………………51 3.4 The Merchants Settle…………………...…………………………………54 3.5 Nova Scotia’s Public Press…..……………………………………………56 3.6 Joseph Howe and Seditious Libel……….……….………………………..63 3.7 The Colonial Press to the 1860s………...…………………………………70 Chapter Four: Second Thoughts are Ever Wiser: The Union Dialogue of Nova Scotia’s Scotia’s Public Sphere: an Exercise in Deliberative Democracy………………………76 4.1 Nova Scotia and Union Historiography……………………………………77 4.2 Preparation for Union, Proposed Methodologies and Scholarly Longings for for Classification…………………………………………………………..84 4.3 External Factors.............................................................................................94 4.3 Nova Scotia, Political Union and the French Canadian...............................101 ii Chapter Five: Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Regional Identity and Maritime Union in Union in Nova Scotia’s Deliberative Public Press…………………………………...106 5.1 Maritime Union Historiography……...…………………………….……107 5.2 Ancient Forecasts, Regional Sentiments and Maritime Union…………111 5.3 Maritime or Atlantic Statehood: Regional Union and Newfoundland…117 5.4 Economics and Governance………………………………...……………120 5.5 Disillusionment, a Regional Conference and the Union Message………122 Chapter Six: Conclusion………...……………………………………………………130 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….……137 Appendix A: Directory of Publications Consulted……………………………..………150 iii Abstract This thesis explores Nova Scotia’s 1863-1864 public union debates and examines the roles of political liberalism and loyalism in the colony’s deliberative public sphere. It argues that these debates were thematically broad, deliberative and sophisticated. The costs and benefits of political union were examined and effective argumentation determined the positions of open-minded and receptive individuals. Though shaped largely by the colonial elite, the debates provide a meaningful example of deliberative democracy in action. Multiple schemes were considered as colonials simultaneously deliberated the consequences of a regional Maritime variant, alongside the wider B.N.A. scheme. Contrary to conventional scholarly wisdom, evidence suggests that a spirited and meaningful assessment of union prospects was indeed had by the colony’s leading citizens. It further indicates that rather than being brandished as conservative and parochial, these deliberative colonists should be appreciated as executors of reflective agency, arbiters of public opinion and sponsors of the people’s sovereignty. iv Acknowledgements My sincerest thanks extend first and foremost to Professor Jerry Bannister whose guidance has made my time at Dalhousie both instructive and personally rewarding. Without his efforts this thesis would most assuredly lack its purpose, structure and polish and I very much doubt that it could have been completed on schedule. Professors Shirley Tillitson and Peter Twohig also deserve my sincerest gratitude for providing excellent revisions and feedback throughout the writing process. I am equally indebted to both Valerie Peck and Tina Jones who have together helped me over more administrative hurdles than I am able to count. I would also be remiss if I did not thank the wonderful staff at Nova Scotia Archives and at Dalhousie’s Killam Memorial Library for their assistance throughout the year. Finally, I must thank my principal supporter and personal champion Arshina Kassam. Without her love and constant support this thesis would not have been possible. v Chapter One: Introduction The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others. John Locke1 * * * * * Imagine if you will that the executive directors of a large company have called a staff meeting. Rather than the usual affair however, this get-together is intended to host a consultative and deliberative debate on potential schemes for corporate merger. A number of unification scenarios exist, and will have to be considered. The company could unite with a handful of regional competitors, or join in a larger conglomerate. It could amalgamate entirely, or maintain any number of independent organs. It is everyone’s hope that this symposium will consider the prospects in principle, thoroughly and carefully, for these are significant questions. The assembly’s decisions will impact the business in immeasurable ways. All could be affected: salaries, working conditions, its mandate, values, identity and institutions, as well as the businesses’ size and scope, and its involvement in the community. The meeting is open to all the company’s employees. Anyone, at least in theory, is able and encouraged to participate in the debate. Unfortunately however, there are segments of the workforce that will not be attending. Employees, who, for example, cannot afford to dedicate the time or those who are thought to lack the requisite knowledge or experience to contribute to the dialogue, will likely be absent. A rather large subsection of the workforce falls into this second category and, though not explicitly excluded from the debate, will be discouraged from participating. 1 This quote is drawn from John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman, (1689). 1 In reality, the meeting is likely to comprise the corporation’s executive, its middle management and most of its more highly educated employees. Regardless, it should be a considerable enough gathering to stimulate substantive and meaningful debate. In smaller groups, employees have already begun to discuss the questions at hand. Everyone knows that there are competing visions for the company’s future. A number of rival interests and the varied topics for consideration should naturally produce a spirited and evocative debate. The company’s executives are among those who hope for this sort of well- developed dialogue. They realize that a happy workforce is a productive workforce and that, should the wrong decision be made, it could lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction and division. Inherent in their corporate philosophy is the notion that a business is little more than its employees and therefore, in this way, the employees are collectively sovereign. If the entire workforce left the company, what would it be left with? There are those outside the corporation who doubt its ability to host an open and transparent debate, one of depth and substance. They question whether necessary conditions exist for this sort of deliberative dialogue to naturally manifest. Despite these detractors, the interchange exists as it has been described: open, genuine, deliberative, thematically broad and sophisticated. The fundamental argument of this paper is that the sort of dynamic just described, depicts (in both essence and substance) the political union dialogue hosted within Nova Scotia’s newspapers, and throughout the colony’s public sphere. In 1863 and 1864, before the specific structures of the Quebec Resolutions were introduced, this was precisely the sort of exchange that occurred.2 2 Approximately 2,000 contemporary newspaper articles were examined for this thesis. 2 The public sphere, to which this thesis will regularly refer, is defined as the intellectual space where private individuals could, in the eighteenth- and nineteenth- centuries, render opinion on matters of collective interest.3 Within this space, the colonial elite were able to discuss topics that they read, saw or otherwise experienced, and which elicited their insight or commentary. Aided by the contemporary growth of the print industry, the public sphere came increasingly to be accessed by way of the printed word.4 Though never exclusively contained by well-circulated publications, as conventional meeting places like shops and taverns continued to serve as points of contact, printed contributions were, most certainly by the mid-nineteenth-century, the most popular manner of access.5 The reach, breadth, speed of circulation and accessibility of newspapers and magazines contributed to the formation of a wider and more inclusive public sphere. Today, these periodicals allow historians to access the public spheres of years past, and provide insight into the thoughts, attitudes, concerns and debates that occupied the minds of their contributors. The public sphere was
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