governor contributed a bit of Monarchy, the
Council a bit of Aristocracy, the Assembly a bit of Democracy. All had
thus their fair share. Under Responsible Government, with all power in
the hands of the Legislative Assembly, the balance would be overthrown
and the democracy would be supreme. To Haliburton, control by the
democracy meant control by the crafty, self-seeking professional
politician, as he saw him, or thought he saw him, in the neighbouring
United States. The people, well meaning, but ignorant and greedy, were
at the mercy of the appeals to prejudice and pocket of these wily
knaves. Government should be the affair of the enlightened minority,
placed, as far as might be, in a position of security and freedom from
temptation. This government would not be perfect, for 'power has a
natural tendency to corpulency,' but it would be far superior to an
unbridled democracy.

[Illustration: THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON. From an engraving in the
Dominion Archives]

Speaking of the tree of Liberty, which had grown so splendidly in the
United States, {43} Haliburton makes an American say to Sam: 'The mobs
have broken in and torn down the fences, and snapped off the branches,
and scattered all the leaves about, and it looks no better than a
gallows tree.' Let the people attend to business, build their
railways, develop their water-powers, their farms, and their forests,
secure under the fostering care of the select few. 'I guess if they'd
talk more of _rotations_ and less of _elections_, more of them ar
_dykes_ and less of _banks_, and attend more to _top-dressing_ and less
to _re-dressing_, it 'ed be better for 'em. . . . Members in general
ain't to be depended on, I tell you. Politics makes a man as crooked
as a pack does a pedlar, not that they are so awful heavy, neither, but
it teaches a man to stoop in the long run.'

Such, then, was the system and theory of government in Nova Scotia.
Well defended as it was, it had one fundamentally weak point: the
people of Nova Scotia did not want it. Howe had no great regard for
the professional politician, whether in the legislature or in the
village store. 'Rum and politics are the two curses of Nova Scotia,'
he said. But he saw that it would be absurd to tell the people to let
well enough alone, when, rightly or wrongly, {44} they were
discontented with their government. The way to put an end to hectic
agitation was not to curse or to satirize poor human natu