Description The Patriot of Pictou

The Patriot Of Pictou

By Roland H Sherwood

  In Laurel Hill cemetery in thee Town of Pictou stands a monument to an early citizen who, perhaps more than any other ,an in the province of Nova Scotia , fought by his able pen for responsible government in the province.

Although the whole of the province had ample reasons to honor the memory of this man, his grave remained unmarked for a number of years following his death in 1840.
The fine gravestone that today marks his last resting place, stands there through the comtributed generosity of former lawyer friends who raised the money for the granite grave marker.

   That man was Jotham Blanhard.

The early community of Pictou, as indeed, the whole province of Nova Scotia , was fortunate in having such a fearless newspaper editor as Blanchard, for it was he who penned the editorials that fought the rule of the few at Halifax, and championed the causes of the common man.

   The newspaper edited by Jotham Blanchard was the first in Pictou County, and the first published outside the city of Halifax. It was published in the house of James Dawson on Water Street , Which is now Pictou's main business street, for the first two years. It then moved to Church Street in an old stone building which, along with others of the type , still stand as historic homes in the shiretown of Pictou county.

  The First Issue came off the press on Friday morning, December 7, 1827, carrying the masthead of " The Pictou Patriot", which, later, gave the name of " The Patriot of Pictou" To its fearless and able editor.
 

After the first two issues the name, "Pictou patriot" was changed, at the suggestion of Dr. Thomas McCulloch, Pictou's pioneer educationalist , to " The Colonial Patriot."

This Early Pictou newspaper began under the ownership of William Milne, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and J.S. Cunnabel of Halifax.

The paper's first and only editor, Jotham Blanchard, was born in New Hampshire in 1801, moved with his parents to Truro, and later to Pictou. He was one of the first students at Pictou Academy under Dr.Thomas McCullouch. Later he studied law under Thomas Dickson, esq., and was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar October 18th , 1821, and soon became well knownas a lawyer of unusual ability.

As the anonymous editor of " the Colonial Patriot" his fearless and caustic writing were sometimes credited to , or blamed on , Dr. Thomas McCulloch, the Founder of Pictou Academy. After three years of publication, Jotham Blanchard, in order to protect Dr. McCulloch, announched that he had writtenevery word of the editorials that had appeared in the " Colonial Patriot."

Jotham Blanchard was a tall, distinguished-looking man, an able scholar, fearless in his views on Provincial matters, which were ahead of his time, and he wrote with a facile pen.
In the first issue of the young newspaper Blanchard wrote, in part,. . .". . . that we shall advocate what we consider sound and just principles; and if we find the Government or any branch of it deviating from these, we shall not fail to proclaim it. . . it is an important point to keep the eyes of the people open to their rights are overlooked . . . we shall at all times, however, when oppurtunity permits, be happyto raise our voice in behalf of the whole province of Nova Scotia , without reference to east or west , north or south . . ." And that is just what Jotham Blanchard did. From the very first issue his editorials advocated the rights of the people, and criticized the Council of Twelve, the ruling body at Halifax. Such views, expressed by the upstart Patriot were indeed radical for the times.
The Pictou paper had a wide influence in the province , and even Joseph Howe, an able writer himself ho always referred to the Patriot editor as " That Pictou Scribbler,"admitted that the views expressed over the years by the Patriot had helped to mouldd his politics.
The very first issue of the Patriot set vicious tongues to wagging, so that the second issue carried the warning to its readers that the editor knew he would be accused of disloyalty and charged with radicalism.

Editor Blanchard's editorial stated that great men of the past had been charged with the same, and . . . " If we then, of 'The Colonial Patriot' suffered from the same species of slander, we shall suffer in good company, and we perfer suffering in a good cause to prosperity in a bad one."

From its first issue, " The Colonial Patriot" under the driving editorship of Jotham Blanchard , advocated the public rights of the people , with more control over public affairs. These were views which no other newspaper in the province were administered by the Council Of Twelve at Halifax. To this group, Halifax and their own interest were all important; the remainder of the province and its people recieved little consideration. The council of Twelve ruled with undisputed authority until Pictou's " Colonial Patriot", and Jotham Blanchard , entered the field and began the fight for the rights of the people.
Pictou Academy was the storm centre of political controversy those days, and Jotham Blanchard''s able pen, writing on subjectss never before touched by the conservative Halifax press, soon began to create reaction in official circles.

While Editor Blanchard was gaining many readers for his paper, he was also creating personal enemies.

The Population of the Province of Nova Scotia in 1827 was 123,848, and of that number the district of Pictou had 13,949, with the shiretown itself having 1,439.

Pictou was not the largest or oldest town in the province at that time, as Lunenburg , Yarmouth, Liverpool, Digby and Annapolis followed Halifax in that order.

In 1827 there was a serious depression in Pictou, as the financial crisis of 1825-26 in England was being felt, for the pictou area depended a great deal on its luber trade with the old Country.

Even in the best of times, with the small and scattered population , it was difficult to secure the money to conduct even a conventional newspaper. To add to these difficulties by vexing those in government at Halifax was beyond the aim or desire of newspaper owners in Nova Scotia in the 1820's. But not Jotham Blanchard and the Colonial Patriot.
Regradless of empty coffers and delinquent subscribers, Blanchard's vigorous and independent pen wrote the editorials that were eagerly read and discussed by the people. But regradless of its lofty cause, the Colonial Patriot couldn't be published without funds.When the unpaid bills piled up, publisher William Milne was thrown in jail under the Debtoers' Act. On August 5, 1829, the patriot carried a supposedly jail-written public message from the publisher, which had all the ear-marks of the Blanchard style humor. . .
"Being now confined to jail on account of percuniary embarrassment, is compelled to call upon persons indebted to him, for the immediate discharge of their accounts."

Apparently not too many subscribers responded to the publisher's plea. On August 12 Milne was still in jail, and the Patriot carried the message to the delinguents . . . " We have taken our confinement to jail so hard this week that we have not been able to give out usual article on prvincial politics,". . . " It is very little to the credit of our subscribers that we are now in the hands of the sheriff. We will not therefore allow them any longer to affront themselves . And we give them this notice, that there are only two ways; either they send us the money, or come and live with us. In the case we shall have them under our own eye, and if, between the treadmill and breaking stones for the streets by way of relaxation, we do not work it out of them, we shall have only ourselves to blame . . . "
But there was some compensation for the publisher, jailed as he was. He fell in love with the sheriff's daughter, and they were married. Finally, friends came to the aid of the publisher, paid his debts, and he went free to continue the paper and give his able editor, Jotham Blanchard, the medium to continue the fight for the rights of the people, even those who still owed for subscriptions and advertisements.

IN THE HALIFAX press, Blanchard was accused of , " assailing all that was respectable and subverting the very foundations of society."

Blanchard's own character was under attack. In pictou, those who opposed him, on political grounds, burned him in effigy.Blanchard Wrote in part ". . . we cannot adequately express out gratitude to those numerous merchants and other gentlemen for this signal honor. To be ranked with popes and Kings and Dukes and Governors is an honor, which does not come the way everyday to editors. . . "

In the year 1830, the great conflict between the Council of Twelve and the House of Assembly in Nova Scotia took place, and an election was called. Editor Blanchard was a candidate in that election.

In Halifax the candidates of the Council of Twelve carried everything before them, but in the province at large the people had worked the issues into a keen competition.
In Pictou county the elecetion questions revolved around Pictou Academy religion, kirk and anti-burghers.

Pictou and Colchester were then part of Halifax County.Voting took three weeks, with the polls moving from place to place. The polls opened in Halifax and ran for 10 days, then two days at Onslow, near Truro, and nine days in Pictou.

Voting was done vocally, a voter standing up and calling out the name of his preferred candidate, with a clerk writing it down.That election was not fought with just words.Oftimes members of different groups,kirk and anti-burghers,were locked in physical struggle, after fortifying themselves with rum that was conveniently available.

Jotham Blanchard was well, Known in Pictou County; beyond he was a stranger. But he was an eloquent and personable speaker, and by the forces of his arguments in favor of the common people he was able to sway to his support many of those who heard him. Blanchard was elected and became an energetic member of House.

One of his greatest verbal battles in the House was for the abolishment of the Debtors' Act, the defeat of which wasn't accomplished for many years thereafter.

In 1813 , Blanchard was chosen to go to England to present the claims of Pictou Academy , Which he did with success.

Although Blanchard continued to fight for the rights of the people of the province , the newspaper, The Colonial Patriot , which he so ably edited, ceased publication in 1833, but he continued to servve in the House of Assembly until his death in 1840 at the age of 39 years.
Today, few people know the location of the grave of this outstanding man of Pictou in the early days.In the shiretown in which he labored so diligently, there is not one school, street, building or development that carries the Blanchard name.

The only monument to the memory of this man who, perhaps more than any other, fought for responsible government in Nova Scotia, stands in beautiful Laurel Hill Cemetery, overlooking the towh he loved and fought for ably with his pen in the stirring days of the 1800's.

Not far from Blanchard's last resting place stands Pictou Acadmey , a institution of learning that he championed to success and between the academy and laurel hill cemetery stands the new junior high school. But Jotham Blanchard, " The Patriot of Pictou" remains unhonored and un sung - the forgotten " Patriot of Pictou."