LITMIR.BIZ

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purpose of being inaugurated. The morning was unpropitious. There had been a tremendous storm during the night, and the snow had drifted so much that it seemed doubtful whether a sleigh could go from hence to town (about four miles). I said that I had no notion of being deterred by weather. Accordingly, I got into a one-horse sleigh, with very small runners, which conveyed me to the entrance of the town, where I was met by the Mayor and Corporation with an address. I then got into Lord Cathcart's carriage, accompanied by the Mayor, and a long procession of carriages was formed. We drove slowly to the Government House (in the town), through a dense mass of people—all the societies, trades, &c., with their banners. Nothing could be more gratifying. After the swearing in, at which the public were present, the Mayor read another address from the inhabitants. To this I delivered a reply, which produced, I think, a considerable effect, and no little astonishment on some gentlemen who intended that I should say nothing. I have adopted frankly and unequivocally Lord Durham's view of government, and I think that I have done all that could be done to prevent its being perverted to vile purposes of faction.

      Various circumstances combined to smooth, for the time, the waters on which Lord Elgin had embarked. The state of political parties was favourable; for the old Tories of the British 'Family Compact' party were in good humour, being in enjoyment of the powers to which they claimed a prescriptive right, while the 'Liberals' of the Opposition were full of hope that the removal of Lord Metcalfe's disturbing influence would restore their proper preponderance. Something also was due to his own personal qualities. Whereas most of his immediate predecessors had been men advanced in years and enfeebled by ill-health, he was in the full enjoyment of vigorous youth—able, if need were, to work whole days at a stretch; to force his way through a Canadian snow-storm, if his presence was required at a public meeting; to make long and rapid journeys through the province, ever ready to receive an address, and give an impromptu reply. The papers soon began to remark on the 'geniality and affability of 'his demeanour.' 'He is daily,' they said, 'making new 'friends. He walks to church, attends public meetings, 'leads the cheering, and is, in fact, a man of the people.' Before long it was added, 'Our new governor is 'the most effective speaker in the province;' and, thanks to his foreign education, he was able to speak as readily and fluently to the French Canadians in French as to the English in English. Added to this, his recent marriage was a passport to the hearts of many in Canada, who looked back to the late Lord Durham as the apostle of their liberties, if not as a martyr in their cause.

      [Sidenote: Provincial politics.]

      But though the surface was smooth, there was much beneath to disquiet an observant governor. It was not only that the Ministry was so weak, and so conscious of its weakness, as to be incapable even of proposing any measures of importance. This evil might be remedied by a change of administration. But there was no real political life; only that pale and distorted reflection of it which is apt to exist in a colony before it has learned 'to look within itself for the centre of power.' Parties formed themselves, not on broad issues of principle, but with reference to petty local and personal interests; and when they sought the support of a more widespread sentiment, they fell back on those antipathies of race, which it was the main object of every wise Governor to extinguish.

      The following extracts from private letters to Lord Grey, written within a few months of his arrival, reflect this state of things. Though the circumstances to which they refer are past and gone, they may not be without interest, as affording an insight into a common phase of colonial government.

      Hitherto things have gone on well with me, much better than I hoped for when we parted. I should have been very willing to meet the Assembly at once, and throw myself with useful measures on the good sense of the people, but my ministers are too weak for this. They seem to be impressed with the belief that the regular Opposition will of course resist whatever they propose, and that any fragments of their own side, who happen not to be able at the moment to get what they want, will join them. When I advise them, therefore, to go down to Parliament with good measures and the prestige of a new Governor, and rely on the support of public opinion, they smile and shake their heads. It is clear that they are not very credulous of the existence of such a controlling power, and that their faith in the efficiency of appeals to selfish and sordid motives is greater than mine.

      Nevertheless, we must take the world as we find it, and if new elements of strength are required to enable the Government to go on, it is I think very advisable to give the French a fair opportunity of entering the Ministry in the first instance. It is also more prudent to enter upon these delicate negotiations cautiously and slowly, in order to avoid, if possible, giving the impression that I am ready to jump down everybody's throat the moment I touch the soil of Canada.

      I believe that the problem of how to govern United Canada would be solved if the French would split into a Liberal and a Conservative party, and join the Upper Canada parties which bear corresponding names. The great difficulty hitherto has been that a Conservative government has meant a government of Upper Canadians, which is intolerable to the French, and a Radical government a government of French, which is no less hateful to the British. No doubt the party titles are misnomers, for the radical party comprises the political section most averse to progress of any in the country. Nevertheless, so it has been hitherto. The national element would be merged in the political if the split to which I refer were accomplished.

      The tottering Ministry attempted to strengthen its position by a junction with some of the leaders of the 'French' party; but the attempt was unsuccessful:

      I cannot say that I am surprised or disheartened by the result of these negotiations with the French. In a community like this, where there is little, if anything, of public principle to divide men, political parties will shape themselves under the influence of circumstances, and of a great variety of affections and antipathies, national, sectarian, and personal; and I never proposed to attempt to force them into a mould of my own forming.

      You will observe that no question of principle or of public policy has been mooted by either party during the negotiation. The whole discussion has turned upon personal considerations. This is, I fancy, a pretty fair sample of Canadian politics. It is not even pretended that the divisions of party represent corresponding divisions of sentiment on questions which occupy the public mind; such as Voluntaryism, Free Trade, &c., &c. Responsible government is the only subject on which this coincidence is alleged to exist. The opponents of the Administration are supposed to dissent from the views held by Lord Metcalfe upon it, though it is not so clear that its supporters altogether adopt them. That this delicate and most debatable subject should furnish the watchwords of party is most inconvenient.

      In enumerating the difficulties which surround such questions as Union of the provinces, Emigration, &c., you omit the greatest of them all; viz.: the materials with which I have to work in carrying out any measures for the public advantage. There are half a dozen parties here, standing on no principles, and all intent on making political capital out of whatever turns up. It is exceedingly difficult, under such circumstances, to induce public men to run the risk of adopting any scheme that is bold or novel.

      Keenly alive to the evil of this state of things, Lord Elgin was not less sensible that the blame of it did not rest with the existing generation of Canadian politicians, but that it was the result of a variety of circumstances, some of which it was impossible to regret.

      Several causes (he wrote) co-operate together to give to personal and party interests the overweening importance which attaches to them in the estimation of local politicians. There are no real grievances here to stir the depths of the popular mind. We are a comfortable people, with plenty to eat and drink, no privileged classes to excite envy, or taxes to produce irritation. It were ungrateful to view these blessings with regret, and yet I believe that they account in some measure for the selfishness of public men and their indifference to the higher aims of statesmanship.

      [Sidenote: Responsible government.]

      The comparatively small number of members of which the popular bodies who determine the fate of provincial administrations consist, is also, I am inclined to think, unfavourable to the existence of a high order of principle and feeling among official personages. A majority of ten in an assembly of seventy may probably be, according to Cocker, equivalent to a majority of 100 in an assembly of 700. In practice,

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