not be any disadvantage to me. But, as to my work here, -there is the rub. Is it to be all undone ? On this point I must speak frankly. I have been possessed (I use the word advisedly, for I fear that most persons in England still consider it a case of possession) with the idea that it is possible to maintain on this soil of North America, and in the face of Republican America, British connection and British institutions, if you give the latter freely and trustingly. Faith, when it is sincere, is always catching; and I have imparted this faith, more or less thoroughly, to all Canadian statesmen with whom I have been in official relationship since 1848, and to all intelligent Englishmen with whom I have come in contact since 1850 -as witness Lord Wharncliffe, Waldegrave, Tremenheere, &c. &c. Now if the Governor ceases to possess this faith, or to have the faculty of imparting it, I confess I fear that, ere long, it will become extinct in other breasts likewise. I believe that it is equally an error to imagine with one old-fashioned party, that you can govern such dependencies as this on the antiquated bureaucratic principle, by means of rescripts from Downing Street, in defiance of the popular legislatures, and on the hypothesis that one local faction monopolises all the loyalty of the Colony; and to suppose with the Radicals that all is done when you have simply told the colonists "to go to the devil their own way.' I believe, on the contrary, that there is more room for the exercise of influence on the part of the Governor under my system than under any that ever was before devised; an influence, however, wholly moral-an influence of suasion, sympathy, and moderation, which softens the temper while it elevates the aims of local politics.

It is true that on certain questions of public policy, especially with regard to Church matters, views are propounded by my ministers which do not exactly square with my pre-conceived opinions, and which I acquiesce in, so long as they do not contravene the fundamental principles of morality, from a conviction that they are in accordance with the general sentiments of the community.

It is true that I do not seek the commendation bestowed on Sir F. Head for bringing men into his councils from the Liberal party, and telling them that they should enjoy only a partial confidence; thereby allowing them to retain their position as tribunes of the people in conjunction

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with the prestige of advisers of the Crown by enabling them to shirk responsibility for any acts of government which are unpopular. It is true that I have always said to my advisers, "while you continue my advisers you shall enjoy my unreserved confidence; and en revanche you shall be responsible for all acts of government."

But it is no less certain that there is not one of them who does not know that no inducement on earth would prevail with me to bring me to acquiesce in any measures which seemed to me repugnant to public morals, or Imperial interests; and I must say that, far from finding in my advisers a desire to entrap me into proceedings of which 1 might disapprove, I find a tendency constantly increasing to attach the utmost value to my opinion on all questions, local or general, that arise.

TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, SIR GEORGE GREY. QUEBEC, December 18, 1854.

I readily admit that the maintenance of the position and due influence of the Governor is one of the most critical problems that have to be solved in the adaptation of Parliamentary Government to the Colonial system: and that it is difficult to over-estimate the importance which attaches to its satisfactory solution. As the Imperial Government and Parliament gradually withdraw from legislative interference, and from the exercise of patronage in Colonial affairs, the office of Governor tends to become, in the most emphatic sense of the term, the link which connects the Mother-country and the Colony, and his influence the means by which harmony of action between the local and imperial authorities is to be preserved. It is not, however, in my humble judgment, by evincing an anxious desire to stretch to the utmost constitutional principles in his favour, but, on the contrary, by the frank acceptance of the conditions of the Parliamentary system, that this influence can be most surely extended and confirmed. Placed by his position above the strife of parties-holding office by a tenure less precarious than the ministers who surround him-having no political interests to serve but that of the community whose affairs he is appointed to administer-his opinion cannot fail, when all cause for suspicion and jealousy is

removed, to have great weight in the Colonial Councils, while he is set at liberty to constitute himself in an especial manner the patron of those larger and higher interests-such interests, for example, as those of education, and of moral and material progress in all its branches —which, unlike the contests of party, unite instead of dividing the members of the body politic. The mention of such influences as an appreciable force in the administration of public affairs may provoke a sneer on the part of persons who have no faith in any appeal which is not addressed to the lowest motives of human conduct; but those who have juster views of our common nature, and who have seen influences that are purely moral wielded with judgment, will not be disposed to deny to them a high degree of efficacy.

THE ANNEXATION MOVEMENT

THE frequent changes in British economic policy, which culminated in 1846 in the repeal of the Corn Laws, and the consequent withdrawal of the preference given to Canadian wheat and flour, bore hard on Canadian farmers and millers, especially as colonial shipping was still hampered by the Navigation Acts. An acute commercial crisis followed, and was the cause of the issue early in 1849 of the celebrated Annexation Manifesto, which is given below. This document emanated from Montreal, the chief commercial and shipping town of the province, and was largely signed by prominent business men of both political parties.1 With it are given some explanatory letters of Lord Elgin.

So much of the discontent as was legitimate disappeared on the repeal of the Navigation Acts in June, 1849, and on the negotiation by Lord Elgin in 1854 of a Treaty of Reciprocity in natural products with the United States. The question of peaceful annexation did not again become an issue in Canadian politics till 1887

1. Nine hundred and sixty-nine signatures were appended. Among them were those of two Queen's Counsellors and of several Justices of the Peace. Of these all who did not explicitly disavow their signatures were removed from office by the Governor. General, with the approval of his Cabinet.

In after-years, when Conservative speakers frequently attempted to brand their opponents with " disloyalty," a reminder that in his petulant youth the speaker had signed this manifesto was a not unusual retort. See an interesting account of the feeling of the time by Sir John Macdonald, who was pressed to sign, but refused, in Joseph Pope, Sir John Macdonald, vol. i., pp. 71, 72.

1891, when a movement in its favour again originated in commercial considerations, and again passed away.

TO THE PEOPLE OF CANADA,

The number and magnitude of the evils that afflict our country, and the universal and increasing depression of its material interests, call upon all persons animated by a sincere desire for its welfare to combine for the purpose of inquiry and preparation, with a view to the adoption of such remedies as a mature and dispassionate investigation may suggest.

Belonging to all parties, origins, and creeds, but yet agreed upon the advantage of co-operation for the performance of a common duty to ourselves and our country, growing out of a common necessity, we have consented, in view of a brighter and happier future, to merge in oblivion all past differences, of whatever character, or attributable to whatever source. In appealing to our fellow colonists to unite with us in this our most needful duty, we solemnly conjure them, as they desire a successful issue and the welfare of their country, to enter upon the task, at this momentous crisis, in the same fraternal spirit.

The reversal of the ancient policy of Great Britain, whereby she withdrew from the colonies their wonted protection in her markets, has produced the most disastrous effects upon Canada. In surveying the actual condition of the country, what but ruin or rapid decay meets the eye! Our provincial Government and civic corporations embarrassed; our banking and other securities greatly depreciated; our mercantile and agricultural interests alike unprosperous; real estate scarcely saleable upon any terms; our unrivalled rivers, lakes, and canals, almost unused; whilst commerce abandons our shores ; the circulating capital, amassed under a more favourable system, is dissipated, with none from any quarter to replace it! Thus, without available capital, unable to effect a loan with foreign states or with the mother country, although offering security greatly superior to that which readily obtains money both from the United States and Great Britain, when other than colonists are the applicants. Crippled, therefore, and checked in the full career of private and public enterprise, this possession of the British Crown-our country-stands before