brought forward a similar resolution; though it did not take Weakness of Miniseffect, by receiving the sanction of the home Government, try. till some years later. No one. of the Ministry possessed any special popularity, and the success at the elections, such as it was, had been mainly due to respect for the GovernorGeneral. It is remarkable,' Metcalfe admitted, ' that none of the Executive Council, although all estimable and respectable, exercise any great influence over the party which supports the Government.' He had motives for not Moreover the Ministry was far from being a united body. Differences regarding a bill for creating a University of Upper Canada led to its withdrawal. Under this bill the Church of England King's College, Toronto, the Presbyterian Queen's College, Kingston, and the Methodist Victoria College, Cobourg, would have been affiliated to the new University. It was clear that loyalty to Metcalfe was the one bond which kept the party together. On this ground, and because he thought that the compact union of the French might eventually be dissolved, if only it could be proved that a mere opposition to men, not measures, could not prevail, Metcalfe refrained from resigning, though he was fighting Metcalfe's a deadly disease, which was eating into his life. received a peerage from the home Government as a proof of resigning. their warm approval of his administration; but, in the event of the triumph of the La Fontaine-Baldwin party, he was determined to resign, as he was unable to give his confidence to the leaders of that coalition. But, as we have seen, there was a worse enemy at work than hostile politicians. There is something very tragic in the manner in which Durham, Sydenham, Bagot, and Metcalfe were each in turn, after having laboured for Canada, struck down. The manner in which, with death steadily approaching, Metcalfe stuck to his post was worthy of some Spartan hero. In June, 1845, Lord Stanley wrote that he must leave the question of his resignation entirely in his hands, only instructing him not to allow public At last His character. considerations unduly to overweigh the consideration which he owed to himself. In November Metcalfe received an official acceptance of his resignation, whenever he should care to use it. Lord Metcalfe left the decision to his Council, who all, resigned, though they were deeply grieved at the necessity, besought him to depart. It may be that in his views of colonial government he did not altogether apprehend the trend of events. Oriental precedents may have too much influenced him, as when he compared himself to an Indian Governor called upon to rule through the agency of a Mahomedan Ministry and a Mahomedan Parliament. Nevertheless, no one in his own way fought a more gallant fight for imperial interests, and he was rewarded by the devoted attachment of those to whom the imperial connexion was dear. Apart from political opinions, there were many who could speak of his patient consideration, his inexhaustible kindness, and his boundless generosity. A rich man and a bachelor, he held himself only the steward of all he possessed. Nor was he censorious in his judgements of others; when Colonel FitzGibbon, who had done good service which had been already rewarded, being of a spendthrift nature, again approached the Government and was refused, Metcalfe, of his own initiative, gave him twice the sum which he had ventured to ask. They who approached him the most nearly,' his biographer writes, 'who lived in the most familiar intercourse with him, and were admitted the most intimately within the influence of the habitual tenderness of his nature and playfulness of his spirit, were those not only to lavish upon him the truest love, but to regard him with the greatest admiration.' Whatever were his political mistakes, the presence of such an Englishman in their midst must have drawn the Canadians closer to the country which had produced him. AUTHORITIES The Act of Union is printed in Houston, op. cit. Parliamentary Papers; the more important are printed in Egerton and Grant, op. cit. 2 vols. The Last Forty Years. Canada since the Union of 1841. Toronto, N.D. The first volume deals at considerable length with the events of this period. Life of Lord Sydenham. By G. Poulett Scrope. 1844. Lord Sydenham. By A. Shortt, in 'Makers of Canada' Series. Toronto, 1908. Life and Correspondence of Lord Metcalfe. By Sir J. W. Kaye. 2 vols. 1854. View of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government of Canada. By E. Gibbon Wakefield? 1844. Baldwin, Hincks, La Fontaine. By S. B. Leacock, in ‘Makers of Canada' Series. Toronto, 1907. Le Canada Sous l Union. Par Louis P. Turcotte. Quebec, 1871. Life of Sir John Beverley Robinson. By Major-General C. W. Robinson. 1904. The movement for government in Nova Scotia. CHAPTER II RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN THE MARITIME IN the last Book we have noted the beginning of the responsible demand for responsible government in the Maritime Provinces. We have seen that by 1840 it seemed as though the battle was won, Lord John Russell recognizing that a general system should be adopted under which the leaders among the majority of the Assembly should be included in the Executive Government. There were special reasons why Nova Scotia should take the lead in this matter. Mr. Joseph Howe had put the case for responsible government in four letters to Lord John Russell, which are to this day the most luminous and powerful statement of the defects of the old system of government which has ever been written. Moreover, the Maritime Provinces had remained staunch in their loyalty, and, when the rebellion in Canada was imminent, Howe had taken good care publicly to dissociate himself from such allies. The resignation of Sir Colin' Campbell secured the introduction of a new system. His successor, Lord Falkland, was a Whig, and might be expected to support the new policy. Unfortunately Lord Falkland, without the strength of Sydenham, shared his belief that it was the duty of the Governor, himself raised above party, to govern through a composite Ministry which should reflect the best in all parties. Howe, indeed, although he had moved a resolution in the Assembly demanding the recall of Sir Colin Campbell, was accepted as a member of the Executive Council; but his colleagues for the most part were men of directly contrary opinions. The unedifying spec tacle was seen of a Ministry mainly occupied in fighting fiercely with each other. in On the questions of undenominational education and Divisions sectarian colleges, Howe and his colleagues were at hope- Ministry. less issue; and political life resolved itself into a contest between two parties represented in the same Ministry. Howe proposed, with reason, that the general election of 1842 should decide which party was to govern; but that election having ended in a nearly drawn game, the Ministry met the new Parliament without the resignation of either section of its members. It had been a condition of Howe's entering the Government that, when vacancies occurred, they should be filled from the Liberal ranks; the appointment, therefore, of a strong Tory to the Executive Council gave Howe and his two Liberal colleagues a reason for resigning. The Government as then constituted possessed a majority of one in the Assembly, so that responsible government, after a fashion, might he held to be already at work. Howe threw himself with vigour into a fierce political Falkland campaign to upset the Government. Unfortunately, the and Howe. matter was complicated by a personal quarrel between him and the Governor. Howe's downright and brusque manners had shocked and scandalized the courtly Lord Falkland, who sought to indulge his personal prejudices by accepting Liberal ministers on condition that Howe was excluded. Considering Howe's great personal popularity, and the influence which by his personality no less than by his eloquence he exercised over his countrymen, no course could have been more foolish. Howe, amongst whose shining merits absence of egotism could not be counted, did not scruple to take up the gage; and henceforth poured on the unhappy Governor a torrent of invective and ridicule, from which, in 1846, he took refuge by resignation. His successor, Sir John Harvey, who already in New Brunswick had shown his appreciation of the new order of things, at |