Part 6 (1/2)
Under Governor Prescott (1834) and Governor Harvey (1841) began organized attempts to foster the agricultural interest. Liberal grants of land were made to poor settlers, and considerable sums voted for the construction of roads. This was indeed a period of healthy activity, for the development of the seal fishery added in a variety of ways to the prosperity of the island, and the invention of steam, together with the establishment of a regular mail service, brought Newfoundland very much nearer to the home country.
On June 9th, 1846, came the last great fire but one which has ravaged the colony. By great misfortune it broke out when a high wind was blowing, and spread with fatal rapidity all over the town. Buildings, public and private, wooden and stone, were involved in a common destruction, and the last touch of horror came when the large oil vats fringing the harbour caught fire. The Custom House, the Church of St.
John's, the Courts and Gaol, the Theatre, the Bank of British North America, the Colonial Treasurer's Office, and the Savings Bank, were all destroyed. It was estimated that the aggregate amount of damage done was 1,000,000, and that upwards of 12,000 persons lost their homes. In this crus.h.i.+ng affliction the spirit shown by all cla.s.ses, from Governor Harvey downwards, was admirable. At a representative meeting of the citizens convened by the Governor it was resolved:
”That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and building materials which at present exists in this market.”
Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of 30,000 from the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away.
That year, 1846, was to be an _annus mirabilis_, for a storm, fiercer than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the s.h.i.+pping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives'
Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the ground.
About this time--thanks to the currents of excitement spread everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848--began a fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been granted to the other North American colonies, and which involved a larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the const.i.tution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular approval--or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority in the Legislature--and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey, and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote:
”Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is called responsible government will by no means prove to its advantage.... The inst.i.tutions of Newfoundland have been of late in various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary to the future extension of popular government.”
Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852, observed:
”Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed to you by Lord Grey in the despatch already mentioned. I consider, on the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland.”
The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the Colonies had informed the Governor that ”Her Majesty's Government has come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from Newfoundland those inst.i.tutions and that civil administration which, under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the part of the Legislature.” At the same time the numbers of members in the Representative a.s.sembly was, at the instance of the Imperial Government, increased to thirty.
It was not long before the Empire had an instructive lesson in the influence with which responsible government arms a colony. A natural _rapprochement_ between France and England followed the Crimean War, and a Convention was drafted dealing with the Newfoundland fisheries.
Against the proposed adjustment, involving a surrender by Great Britain of Newfoundland fis.h.i.+ng rights, local feeling was strong and unanimous. Pet.i.tion followed pet.i.tion, and delegation delegation. ”The excitement in the colony over the Convention of 1857 was most intense and widespread; the British flag was hoisted half-mast; other excited citizens flew American flags; everywhere there was burning indignation over this proposal to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.[40]
The resolute att.i.tude of those interested elicited from Mr H.
Labouchere, then Colonial Secretary, the welcome expression of a great const.i.tutional principle:
”The proposals contained in the Convention having been now unequivocally refused by the colony, they will of course fall to the ground; and you are authorized to give such a.s.surance as you may think proper, that the consent of the community of Newfoundland is regarded by Her Majesty's Government as the essential preliminary to any modification of their territorial or maritime rights.”
So vital is the appreciation of this principle to an Empire const.i.tuted like our own, that it is worth while to set out the resolution of the Newfoundland Legislature which killed the Convention:
”We deem it our duty most respectfully to protest in the most solemn way against any attempt to alienate any portion of our fisheries or our soil to any foreign power without the consent of the local Legislature. As our fishery and territorial rights const.i.tute the basis of our commerce and of our social and political existence, as they are our birthright and the legal inheritance of our children, we cannot under any circ.u.mstances a.s.sent to the terms of the Convention; we therefore earnestly entreat that the Imperial Government will take no steps to bring this treaty into operation, but will permit the trifling privileges that remain to us to continue unimpaired.”
In 1858 took place a real advance in the relations between different parts of the Empire, for in that year the east coast of Newfoundland (Trinity Bay) was connected with Ireland by a submarine cable. The messages then exchanged through Newfoundland between the Queen and the President of the United States mark the most decisive point in what has been called the shrinkage of the world. Eight years later a second Atlantic cable was successfully landed at Heart's Content.
A const.i.tutional crisis arose in 1860, which was followed by serious political disturbances. The Government, in which Mr Kent was Premier, introduced a measure to determine the colonial equivalent of imperial sterling in the payment of officials. The judges forwarded to the Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, a representation against the proposal; Mr Kent thereupon in the a.s.sembly accused the Governor of having entered into a conspiracy with the judges and the minority in the House against the executive. The Governor demanded an explanation which Mr Kent declined to give, adding that in his judgment he was not called upon to explain his utterances as a member of the Legislature to the Governor. Sir Alexander Bannerman immediately dismissed the Ministry, and invited the Opposition leader, Mr Hoyles, to form an Administration. The election took place in April, 1861.
Political pa.s.sions ran high, and the old feud between Romanists and Protestants was most unhappily revived. At the Protestant Harbour Grace the election could not be held at all, while at the Catholic Harbour Main a riot took place in which life was lost.
The new a.s.sembly was opened in May 1861, and showed a majority in favour of Mr Hoyles. It soon became clear that the pa.s.sions of the mob in St. John's were dangerously excited; Sir Alexander was hooted and stoned on his return from the a.s.sembly, and a little later an organized series of attacks was commenced upon the dwellings of well-known Roman Catholics. The magistrates thereupon called on the military, under the command of Colonel Grant. The soldiers marched out, eighty strong, and confronted the mob, which then numbered many thousands. Encouraged by their commander, the troops submitted with patient gallantry to insults and even to volleys of stones. Finally, it is alleged, a pistol was fired at them from the crowd. Then at last the order was given to fire; several persons were killed and twenty wounded. Among the latter, by great misfortune, was the Rev. Jeremiah O'Donnell, who had bravely and patiently tried to calm the mob.
The whole incident was unfortunate, but it is impossible to accept the contention that Sir Alexander Bannerman was guilty of an unconst.i.tutional exercise of the prerogative in dissolving the a.s.sembly. It will not seriously be maintained that the representative of the Queen could have maintained relations with a Minister who publicly insulted him in his public capacity, and then curtly declined to explain or withdraw his charges. As to the sequel, it is sufficient to say that the civil authorities would have been grossly wanting in their duty if they had failed to call out the soldiers, and that the mob were not fired upon until the extreme limits of endurance had been reached. That innocent persons should have been involved in the consequences is matter of great regret; but a.s.sociation with a lawless mob, even when the motive is as admirable as that of Father O'Donnell, necessarily admits this risk.
It cannot be doubted that deep-lying economic causes had much to do with political discontent. From the first the financial position of the colony had been unsound. The short prosperity of the winter months had produced a vicious and widely-spread system of credit. Soon a majority of the fishermen lived during the winter upon the prospective earnings of the coming season, and then when it came addressed themselves without zest to an occupation the fruits of which were already condemned. In this way a single bad season pauperized hundreds of hard-working men. Governor Waldegrave in 1797 had been struck by the failure of the law to provide for the poor, and owing to his exertions a voluntary system of poor relief was set on foot. By the time of Governor Gambier, in 1800, these measures had been discontinued and, indeed, permanence was not to be looked for in a system which depended upon voluntary support. The difficulty was that the Crown officers advised Governor Gambier ”that the provision of the Poor Laws cannot be enforced in Newfoundland; and that the Governor has no authority to raise a sum of money by a rate upon the inhabitants.”
The evil grew worse rather than better, and by the time of the great Governor Cochrane, in 1825, it had a.s.sumed the form of an inveterate social disease. Many able-bodied applicants for relief were provided with work in public employments, and the wholesome warning was added that those who refused such work would under no circ.u.mstances be ent.i.tled to relief. Governor Cochrane did not shrink from indicating the real cause of the distress. ”Those who are upon wages,” he wrote, ”receive a sum during the summer months, which, if properly husbanded, would, together with the produce of their own exertion after the fishery has ceased, be fully adequate to the support of themselves and families for the following winter. Yet I am led to believe that a large portion of this is dissipated before many weeks or days have elasped after the fis.h.i.+ng season has terminated, and in consequence of such profusion many families are left to want and misery.”
The generality of the system destroyed in time that healthy dread of pauperism which, as an economic factor, is of the highest national importance. The receipt of poor relief lost the stigma a.s.signed to it with rough justice by Anglo-Saxon independence, and in 1863, out of a total public expenditure of 90,000, the astounding proportion of 30,000 was expended upon the necessities of the poor.
Far-seeing observers had long before pointed out that the remedy for these disorders must be a radical one. Improvidence among the poorer cla.s.ses is familiar to economists in more experienced societies than that of Newfoundland, and may be accepted as a permanent element in the difficulty. The real hope lay in opening up, on remunerative lines, industries which would occupy the poor in the lean months. Nor was Newfoundland without such resources, if the capital necessary for their development could have been found. A penetrating railway system, by its indirect effects upon the mining and agricultural interests, would have done much to solve the problem of the unemployed. The difficulty was that the state of the public finances was in no condition to undertake costly schemes of betterment. In a later chapter we shall see the Government, after exhausting the resources of loans, looking to a desperate remedy to conquer its powerlessness for enterprise.