1841  29 May  Halifax  

1412. Nathaniel W. White to his brother Cornelius. "Our dandy Governor has the highest quality of an English Gentleman, a chivalrous love of fair play,...The attempt last winter to get up a case in some shape of other against you has proved the best thing that could have happened, because it gave an opportunity for a thorough sifting...He now sees how it is & is as much disgusted with the agitation of the senseless & unprincipled as he is friendly to the combined activity & energy of the enlightened & good. The same is the case with the fiendish growl at Howland & his Co. commissr...Depend on it this is no Reign for charalatanism with any of its disgusting faces to thrive in. If the Whigs had half as good hearts as their Representative here. I could almost love them. His head won't bear close inspection, but when good motive & firmness of purpose are combined, 'tis surprising how little of what the world calls talent is required to govern well. I read the man very soon & when he memorials & petitions both as regards you & the School Story were doing their work, as their originators fondly hoped, most effectively, I saw at once the trap they were laying for themselves & quietly waited for time to spring it. This the old Scythe-armed gentleman has done & presented a sett of as ugly mugs as ever disgraced a bad cause. As to the Customs' appointms. you are also indebted for it to the knowledge he gained in the aforesaid inquiry of the former unfair conduct towards you when acting in that department, which I took special good care to make the most of. & I am sure you will have all his influence for your confirmn. He says candidly however that in the present critical state of the Ministry his influence or any other colonial influence may be unfortunately thwarted by the applications of Members of Parliament for their hungry relatives & hangers on, with which Ministers, are tormented in every Department...'Tis to be hoped however that another long legged Scotchman with influence will not be found to cross the Atlantic for £100 a year. As to giving up any of your other offices, I would not think of that until confirmed. Even then it will rest with yourself, for multiplicity of offices in the country is now too well understood to be made again a bugbear by the designing." Family messages. Holograph.
Enclosure: G. Durnford to N. W. White, dated 22 Apr. 1841., above.

White Family Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 Vol. 956 No. 1412