LITMIR.BIZ

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is far otherwise. The defection of two or three individuals from the majority of ten puts the administration in peril. Thence the perpetual patchwork and trafficking to secure this vote and that, which (not to mention other evils) so engrosses the time and thoughts of ministers, that they have not leisure for matters of greater moment. It must also be remembered that it is only of late that the popular assemblies in this part of the world have acquired the right of determining who shall govern them—of insisting, as we phrase it, that the administration of affairs shall be conducted by persons enjoying their confidence. It is not wonderful that a privilege of this kind should be exercised at first with some degree of recklessness, and that, while no great principles of policy are at stake, methods of a more questionable character for winning and retaining the confidence of these arbiters of destiny should be resorted to. My course in these circumstances is, I think, clear and plain. It may be somewhat difficult to follow occasionally, but I feel no doubt as to the direction in which it lies. I give to my ministers all constitutional support, frankly and without reserve, and the benefit of the best advice that I can afford them in their difficulties. In return for this I expect that they will, in so far as it is possible for them to do so, carry out my views for the maintenance of the connexion with Great Britain and the advancement of the interests of the province. On this tacit understanding we have acted together harmoniously up to this time, although I have never concealed from them that I intend to do nothing which may prevent me from working cordially with their opponents, if they are forced upon me. That ministries and Oppositions should occasionally change places, is of the very essence of our constitutional system, and it is probably the most conservative element which it contains. By subjecting all sections of politicians in their turn to official responsibilities, it obliges heated partisans to place some restraint on passion, and to confine within the bounds of decency the patriotic zeal with which, when out of place, they are wont to be animated. In order, however, to secure these advantages, it is indispensable that the head of the Government should show that he has confidence in the loyalty of all the influential parties with which he has to deal, and that he should have no personal antipathies to prevent him from acting with leading men.

      I feel very strongly that a Governor-General, by acting upon these views with tact and firmness, may hope to establish a moral influence in the province which will go far to compensate for the loss of power consequent on the surrender of patronage to an executive responsible to the local Parliament. Until, however, the functions of his office, under our amended colonial constitution, are more clearly defined—until that middle term which shall reconcile the faithful discharge of his responsibility to the Imperial Government and the province with the maintenance of the quasi-monarchical relation in which he now stands towards the community over which he presides, be discovered and agreed upon, he must be content to tread along a path which is somewhat narrow and slippery, and to find that incessant watchfulness and some dexterity are requisite to prevent him from falling, on the one side into the néant of mock sovereignty, or on the other into the dirt and confusion of local factions.

      Many of his letters exhibit the same conviction that the remedy for the evils which he regretted was to be found in the principles of government first asserted by Lord Durham; but there is a special interest in the expression of this sentiment when addressed, as in the following extract, to Lord Durham's daughter:—

      I still adhere to my opinion that the real and effectual vindication of Lord Durham's memory and proceedings will be the success of a Governor-General of Canada who works out his views of government fairly. Depend upon it, if this country is governed for a few years satisfactorily, Lord Durham's reputation as a statesman will be raised beyond the reach of cavil. I do not indeed know whether I am to be the instrument to carry out this work, or be destined, like others who have gone before me, to break down in the attempt; but I am still of opinion that the thing may be done, though it requires some good fortune and some qualities not of the lowest order. I find on my arrival here a very weak Government, almost as much abused by their friends as by their foes, no civil or private secretary, and an immense quantity of arrears of business. It is possible, therefore, that I may not be able to bear up against the difficulties of my situation, and that it may remain for some one else to effect that object, which many reasons would render me so desirous to achieve.

      [Sidenote: Irish immigration,]

      With these cares, which formed the groundwork of the texture of the Governor's life, were interwoven from time to time interests of a more temporary character; of which the first in date, as in importance, was connected with the flood of immigration consequent on the Irish famine of 1847.

      During the course of the season nearly 100,000 immigrants landed at Quebec, a large proportion of whom were totally destitute, and must have perished had they not been forwarded at the cost of the public. Owing to various causes, contagious fever of a most malignant character prevailed among them, to an unexampled extent; the number confined at one time in hospitals occasionally approached 10,000: and though the mortality among children was very great, nearly 1,000 immigrant orphans were left during the season at Montreal, besides a proportionate number at Grosse Isle, Quebec, Kingston, Toronto, and other places.

      In this manner 'army after army of sick and suffering people, fleeing from famine in their native land to be stricken down by death in the valley of the St. Lawrence, stopped in rapid succession at Grosse Isle, and there leaving numbers of their dead behind, pushed upwards towards the lakes, in over-crowded steamers, to burthen the inhabitants of the western towns and villages.'[5]

      The people of Canada exerted themselves nobly, under the direction of their Governor, to meet the sudden call upon their charity; but he felt deeply for the sufferings which it entailed upon the colony, and he did not fail to point out to Lord Grey how severe was the strain thus laid on her loyalty:—

      [Sidenote: a scourge to the province.]

      The immigration which is now taking place is a frightful scourge to the province. Thousands upon thousands of poor wretches are coming here incapable of work, and scattering the seeds of disease and death. Already five or six hundred orphans are accumulated at Montreal, for whose sustenance, until they can be put out to service, provision must be made. Considerable panic exists among the inhabitants. Political motives contribute to swell the amount of dissatisfaction produced by this state of things. The Opposition make the want of adequate provision to meet this overwhelming calamity, in the shape of hospitals, &c., a matter of charge against the Provincial Administration. That section of the French who dislike British immigration at all times, find, as might be expected, in the circumstances of this year, a theme for copious declamation. Persons who cherish republican sympathies ascribe these evils to our dependent condition as colonists—'the States of the Union,' they say, 'can take care of themselves, and avert the scourge from their shores, but we are victims on whom inhuman Irish landlords, &c., can charge the consequences of their neglect and rapacity.' Meanwhile I have a very delicate and irksome duty to discharge. There is a general belief that Great Britain must make good to the province the expenses entailed on it by this visitation. 'It is enough,' say the inhabitants, 'that our houses should be made a receptacle of this mass of want and misery: it cannot surely be intended that we are to be mulcted in heavy pecuniary damages besides.' The reasonableness of these sentiments can hardly be questioned—bitter indignation would be aroused by the attempt to confute them—and yet I feel that if I were too freely to assent to them, I might encourage recklessness, extravagance, and peculation. From the overwhelming nature of the calamity, and the large share which it has naturally occupied of the attention of Parliament and of the public, the task of making arrangements to meet the necessities of the case has practically been withdrawn from the department of the Civil Secretary, and fallen into the hands of the Provincial Administration. In assenting to the various minutes which they have passed for affording relief to the sick and destitute, and for guarding against the spread of disease, I have felt it to be my duty, even at the risk of incurring the imputation of insensibility to the claims of distress, to urge the necessity of economy, and of adopting all possible precautions against waste. You will at once perceive, however, how embarrassing my position is. A source of possible misunderstanding between myself and the colonists is furnished by these untoward circumstances, altogether unconnected with the ordinary, or, as I may perhaps venture to term them, normal difficulties of my situation.

      On

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