HOWE, John, journalist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1753; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1835. He was associated with Mrs. Margaret Draper (q. v.) in the publication of the "Boston News Letter" in 1775-'6. He adhered to the royal cause, and, when Boston was evacuated by the British troops, he retired to Newport, whence he removed to Nova Scotia. He established a newspaper at Halifax, and was postmaster-general and king's printer.--His son, William, born in 1786; died in Halifax in January, 1843, was assistant commissary-general.-Another son, John, died in Halifax in 1843, was postmaster-general and proprietor of the "Halifax Gazette."--A third son, Joseph, Canadian statesman, born near Halifax, 13 December, 1804; died in Halifax, 1 June, 1873, began, when thirteen years old, to learn printing in the "Gazette" office, and in 1827 purchased part of the "Weekly Chronicle," which was continued under the title of the "Acadian." Selling his interest in this paper in January, 1828, he became sole editor and proprietor of the "Nova Scotian." In 1830 Mr. Howe's "Legislative Review" appeared and attracted wide notice. In 1835 he published an article censuring the local government, and was indicted for libel, but acquitted. In 1836 he was elected to parliament for the county of Halifax, and in 1840 he became a member of the provincial cabinet. Soon afterward the system that he had attacked and exposed was abolished, and Halifax was granted a municipal charter. In 1848 Mr. Howe became provincial secretary, in 1854 relinquished this office to superintend the construction of the first railway in Nova Scotia, and in 1863 became premier of the province. He at first opposed the absorption of Nova Scotia into the Dominion of Canada, but, after obtaining the best possible terms for his province, he entered the Dominion cabinet in 1869 as president of the council, and in 1870 became secretary of state and superintendent-general of Indian affairs. In 1873 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, but survived his appointment only a few weeks. Mr. Howe had acted upon several occasions as colonial agent in Great Britian, and had once been compelled to fight a duel for some statement he had published reflecting upon an opponent. He was one of the best public orators that Canada has produced. See his "Speeches and Public Letters," edited by William Armand (2 vols., Boston, 1858).