Struggle for Civic Incorporation

For its first one hundred years, the goverance of Halifax remained firmly in the hands of His Majesty’s Council, or the infamous Council of Twelve, all appointed. They considered themselves not responsible to the citizens of Halifax, but solely to the colony’s Governor. Agitation for a charter of incorporation fi rst began in 1785 when mechanics, shopkeepers and other inhabitants unsuccessfully petitioned the Council to give Halifax the power to conduct its own local affairs. Such a corporate body would have meant the Council forfeiting its cherished control over the town, exercised through its appointment of magistrates or justices of the peace.

In what passed for civic administration of the day, no clear line divided administrative and judicial functions. At sittings of the Courts of Session, justices of the peace not only dealt with such town matters as poor rates, streets and markets, and the licencing of taverns, but also sat as a criminal court trying petty offences. When sitting as a criminal court, juries decided the verdict and the justices the punishment; the lash was freely used, with twenty or more lashes regularly administered for convictions for theft of no more than a pair of boots.

Some reforms were made. Halifax got a police court presided over by John George Pyke, who always dressed in drab knee breeches with gray yarn stockings and a snuff-coloured coat. He received eleven shillings and eight pence a day and had command of three police constables.

From its founding Halifax’s population and prosperity had ebbed and flowed with war. Prosperity came indeed during the long war with Revolutionary France and Napoleon from 1793 to 1815, when it was said Halifax’s streets were paved with gold. But with peace came a deep depression. Yet, also, with peace came what has been called an intellectual awakening when Nova Scotians sought, in the words of a former Provincial Archivist, D.C. Harvey, “to overhaul the entire ship of state, from the keel of commerce to the captain on the bridge”. No institution was more in need of reform than Halifax’s governance by appointed magistrates.

As owner and editor of the Novascotian newspaper, the youthful Joseph Howe had the means to arouse the populace against the prevailing abuses. In November 1834 and January 1835, he published two letters, signed “The People”, but written by his friend George Thompson, with sweeping indictments of the magistrates’ maladministration. When the second letter accused them of taking “from the pockets of the poor and distressed at least £1000” annually for the last thirty years and pocketing it themselves, the offended magistrates charged Howe with publishing a criminal libel.

All the lawyers Howe consulted told him that as the libel law then read, he had no chance. Howe chose to defend himself. In a packed and sympathetic courtroom (now the Legislative Library in Province House), for over six and half hours of rousing and often witty oratory, Howe laid bare the corruption and incompetence of the whole body of magistrates. Although Chief Justice Brenton Halliburton advised the jury that under the law Howe was guilty, it took barely ten minutes to fi nd Howe not guilty to loud cheers from the onlookers.

Howe’s triumphant victory led to his election to the House of Assembly and leadership of the Reformers, who sought constitutional reform and an end to oligarchical rule by the Council of Twelve. Halifax’s incorporation now became a major goal for Reformers. They succeeded fi nally when An Act to Incorporate the Town of Halifax passed on 10 April 1841.

Halifax’s first civic election was held on 12 May. After the polls closed The Times newspaper reported:

the candidates...did the thing handsomely by their supporters and many were the bottles of champagne cracked in their respective houses, in honor of the City of Halifax and many have been the prognostications since of mprovements that are to be made within the municipal bounds.

Next morning the newspapers carried the results, heartily approving of the worthy men elected. With the exception of one lawyer, all the other eleven elected were merchants. Among them were such notable names as Alexander Keith, John Duffus, Edward Allison, James Tremain, Stephen Binney, and John Leander Starr and Hugh Bell, the last two were members of the province’s Legislative Council.

Next: Prospering Halifax and a Coat of Arms