the nation at large." It was well remarked that to embody, represent, and interpret the affectionate feeling of all classes and of all parties in Britain towards their Canadian fellow subjects would be an easy task to one who could express so vividly and so feelingly as Lord Dufferin did at Belfast this sentiment of a common inheritance of patriotism, transcending and effacing all local interests and jealousies. The glowing language in which he described the aspects and resources of the Dominion, and pointed to its magnificent destinies, was no burst of idle rhetoric, but the thoughtful outpouring of one for whom the responsibility of watching over the peaceful conquests of civilization was a labor of love, and an inspiring privilege. Nor was it forgotten that the cordial fervor with which the chief of the Executive of Canada and the representative of the British Crown anticipated the prospects of fulfilling the duties of neighborly hospitality and good-will towards the great kindred nation was less characteristic of the tact and temper which promised to make Lord Dufferin's administration in Canada a happy epoch in the Western world.

That Lord Dufferin was a patriot in the highest sense of the word was proven by his great services in the cause of the regeneration of Ireland when Mr. Gladstone took office in 1872, and introduced those large measures of church and land reforms with which his name has become so closely identified. Lord Dufferin recognized the necessity of these changes long before the masses of the Irish people were enabled to regard with complacent equanimity the sight of a Protestant nobleman advocating the disestablishment and disendowment of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the passing of comprehensive measures of land reform. Born, as Lord Dufferin was, of a noble family, and living the greater part of his life in the most Protestant county in Ireland, it required no small amount of courage to stand forth the sole champion of religious equality and tenant right amongst the nobility of his province. He never stooped to court popular favor.. He pandered to no prejudices for the sake of acquiring an ephemeral popularity.

At Derry, Lord Dufferin was presented with an address by the Mayor and Corporation on behalf of the citizens, expressing their appreciation of his high character and great abilities, and congratulating him on his appointment to the elevated position of Governor General of the Dominion of Canada. A luncheon given to their Excellencies was attended by all the notabilities of the city and the adjoining country, and on 13th June they left the council chamber where

the luncheon was given and were conveyed to the Allan steamship, Prussian, bound to Quebec, where they arrived on the morning of Tuesday, 25th June, 1872.

CHAPTER II.

CONTENTS.

66

Sketch of the early government of the British North American Provinces-Rise and Progress of "Constitutional" or Responsible" Government-Maritime Provinces in 1839-Lord Durham, Governor General, May, 1838, to November, 1838 -His Report-Lord Sydenham, October, 1838, to September, 1841-Union of Upper and Lower Canada determined on-Lord Sydenham's Rule-Sir Charles Bagot's Administration, January, 1842, to March, 1843-Lord Metcalfe's Rule, March, 1843, to November, 1845-The Government of Lord Elgin, 1847 to 1855-Rebellion Losses Bill-Beautiful Farewell Address of Lord ElginSir Edmund Head, Governor General, January, 1855, to 1861-Movement for Confederation of the British North America Provinces-Lord Monck, 1861 to 1868-The two Canadas, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Confederated 1st July, 1867-British Columbia moving for Confederation-Sir John Young, afterwards Lord Lisgar, Governor General, 1868 to 1872Cession of North-West Territories to the Dominion-British Columbia and Vancouver Island enter Confederation, 20th July, 1871-The Earl of Dufferin appointed Governor General-Arrives at Quebec, 25th June, 1872-Farewell Speech of Lord Lisgar.

THE history of the Imperial rule in British North America is the history of a paternal Government, gradually changing from a semi-military to a personal character, and from a personal to the counterpart of the constitution under which the parent country is now governed.* Like its great exemplar, the Constitution of these Colonies has been changed from time to time, to meet the needs of an ever varying population; the growth of liberty with us has kept pace with the growth of liberty in the parent state, and each accession to popular power in Britain has been gradually, but surely, followed by a fresh

*In Canada this form of government is known as “Responsible Government." This, strictly speaking, is inaccurate. The proper term is "Constitutional Government," but the former phrase has perhaps become too well established now to be discarded.

accession to popular power in her great colonies of North America. The ready willingness of the parent state to permit this accession is the simple secret of the almost passionate loyalty of the Canadian of 1878 to the British Crown. The rebellion of 1837-8 is but a seeming contradiction of this general statement, since it was brought about not by the unwillingness of the Imperial power to grant the reasonable demands of a minority, but by the ill-advised measures of the Colonial Executive itself.

The early Governors of the Provinces were usually, and almost necessarily, military men. The people were not, it was supposed, prepared even for the mild restraints which Britain imposed on a conquered territory. In those early days Constitutional Government in England, as now understood, was almost unknown. The power of the Sovereign was very great. Each Sovereign was anxious to retain it at its full height, and felt himself bound in honor to transmit it to his heir undiminished in extent and unreduced in strength. He looked upon the Colonies as part of his patrimony; they were to him an outlying possession, to be made happy, if possible, by gentle treatment, but to be made subservient to the great interests of the parent state, in any event, and to be held by a strong grasp, an iron one, if necessary, as an appanage of the Imperial Crown forever. Thus it was that restrictions were placed on Colonial industry. The trade measures of the Provinces were invariably shaped to meet the interests of the traders of Britain, and Pitt expressed in a sentence the whole policy of Britain to her Transatlantic Empire when he said "I will not permit even a horse shoe nail to be manufactured in America." This Imperial policy, has always been changed, when the colonists have made a firm demand for its modification. The early representatives of the Crown were chosen, therefore, more as guardians of the Sovereign's properties than as guardians of the rights of the colonist,-more as assertors of the Royal prerogative than of colonial freedom,-more for the purpose of increasing the profits of Home trade than for the purpose of winning the affections of a young people, struggling to create an independence for themselves and their families, and a form of government relieved from the heavy hand of a supervising power seated in a country differing from their own in the most vital essentials. As a rule these representatives of Imperial power knew but little of Constitutional Government, and their instructions did not require them to begin its study. They were sent out as governors, and they, not unnaturally, considered that the more the people were permitted to govern themselves, the less were

they governors. When, therefore, they found their subjects disposed to demand an increase of popular power, they instantly regarded the demand as an attack on that indefinable territory commonly known as the "prerogative of the Crown," and with a loyalty to their Sovereign, of which even we cannot well speak harshly, interposed the powers with which they were amply provided to resist the encroachments of the people.

But as the Provinces grew in population, they grew in wealth; as they grew in wealth, they grew in intelligence; as they grew in intelligence, they grew in power. They had passed from childhood,— they were now in young manhood; the old system of government was daily becoming more unsuited to the genius and wants of the people, and was therefore daily becoming more unpopular. The upheaval in England which resulted in the passing of the Reform Bill was felt wherever a British heart beat. The power of Colonial Governors in British North America was fast decreasing,-the people discovered that a peaceful but determined agitation in England was an engine which would sooner or later crush both monarch and aristocracy, and they were not slow to follow the example of the liberals of the old country.

It will probably surprise many of our young politicians to learn that even so late as 1829, during the Administration of Sir John Colborne, no less than twenty-one bills passed by the Assembly were thrown out in the Upper House, and in 1830 forty met the same fate; that among these was an Act repealing one by which the sum of £2,500 per year had been granted in perpetuity in aid of the civil list; that the Province in this, and many other points, presented the unconstitutional spectacle of a Government requiring no moneys from the Assembly; that the Legislative Council, a creation of the Executive, was not only not in harmony with the people as represented in the Lower House, but offered a violent and contemptuous opposition to their wishes; that no restraint could be imposed on the Executive by an annual vote of supply, or by the withholding of such a vote. In effect, the Governor, supported by an Upper House of his own choosing, was completely independent of the people.

It was in this year that we first hear of " Responsible Government" for Upper Canada. The Hon. Mr. Stanley, (subsequently the Earl of Derby), presented a petition in the British House of Commons, signed by three thousand inhabitants of Toronto, praying, among other things, "that they might have a local and responsible administration." In