he exultantly broke out:

The blood of no brother, in civil strife poured,
In this hour of rejoicing encumbers our souls!
The frontier's the field for the patriot's sword,
And cursed is the weapon that faction controls!

In conclusion we must ask ourselves, was it worth while? Was the winning
of Responsible Government a good thing? We are apt to take this for
granted. Too many of our historians write as if all the members of the
Family Compact had been selfish and corrupt, and all our present
statesmen were altruistic and pure. Both propositions are equally
doubtful. A man is not necessarily selfish and corrupt because he is a
Tory, nor altruistic and pure because he calls himself a Liberal or a
Reformer. It is very doubtful whether Nova Scotia is better governed
to-day than it was in the days of Lord Dalhousie or Sir Colin Campbell.
Native Nova Scotians have shown that we do not need to go abroad for lazy
and impecunious placemen. But two things are certain. Nova Scotia is
more contented, if not with its government, at least with the system by
which that government is chosen, {90} and it has within itself the
capacity for self-improvement. Before Joseph Howe Nova Scotians were
under tutors and governors; he won for them the liberty to rise or fall
by their own exertions, and fitted them for the expansion that was to
come.

[1] The full text of this speech will be found in Chisholm, _Speeches and
Letters_, vol. i, p. 144.

[2] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 223.

[3] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 252.

[4] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 432.

[5] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 531.

[6] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 594.

[7] Chisholm, _Speeches and Letters_, vol. i, p. 600.

{91}

CHAPTER V

RAILWAYS AND IMPERIAL CONSOLIDATION

In 1825 a train of cars, carrying coal, drawn by a steam locomotive,
ran from Stockton to Darlington in Lancashire. In a week the price of
coals in Darlington fell from eighteen shillings to eight shillings and
sixpence. In 1830 the 'Rocket,' designed by George Stephenson, ran
from Liverpool to Manchester at a rate of nearly forty miles an hour,
and the possibilities of the new method of transportation became
manifest. But the jealousy of the landed interest, eager to maintain
the beauty and the privacy of the countryside, retarded till the
forties the growth of English railw