"want of energy to attempt to occupy the attention of the country upon "real improvements, or to lead the Legislature in the preparation and adop"tion of measures for the benefit of the colony. It does not appear to "have occurred to any one that it is one of the first duties of the Govern"ment to suggest improvements where they are wanted. That the constitu"tion having placed the power of legislation in the hands of an Assembly "and a Council, it is only by acting through these bodies that this duty can "be performed, and that if these proper and legitimate functions of Gov"ernment are neglected, the necessary result must be, not only that the "improvements which the people have a right to expect will be neglected, "and the prosperity of the country checked, but that the popular branch of "the Legislature will misuse its power, and the popular mind be easily led "into excitement, upon mere abstract theories of government, to which "their attention is directed as the remedy for the uneasiness they feel." In this view of the proper functions of the Executive Council I entirely concur; but I greatly doubt whether they could be adequately discharged by a Council composed of only two or three persons holding offices in the public service, and of gentlemen serving gratuitously. It is hardly possible to expect that those so serving should devote any large portion of their time to their public duties, and it therefore appears to me highly desirable that salaries should be assigned to at least one or two seats in the Executive Council. On such terms as these, which I have thus detailed, it appears to me that the peculiar circumstances of Nova Scotia present no insuperable obstacle to the immediate adoption of that system of parliamentary government which has long prevailed in the mother country, and which seems to be a necessary part of representative institutions in a certain stage of their progress. I have thought it due to you to enter thus fully into the practical difficulties to be encountered in giving effect to those general principles which, in my despatch of the 3d of November, I laid down for your guidance in the selection of your responsible advisers. I am in hopes that the present despatch will leave you in no doubt as to the course to be pursued by you in the event of any changes of which you may anticipate the contingency. I owed it to you to make myself clearly understood on this point; and I trust that what I have now said, will be regarded by your Council as amounting to such a declaration of my views as was requested by them in their letter of the 30th January. [Trans. T. Walrond, Letters and Journals of Lord Elgin, 2nd Edn., London, 1873.] Several causes 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. 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 1 For Elgin's rule in Canada, see Bourinot, Lord Elgin, and G. M. Wrong, Lord Elgin, KK 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, however, it 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 ques tionable 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 intended 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 quasimonarchical 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. CLXIV ELGIN TO LADY ELGIN,' 1847 [Trans. T. Walrond, op. cit.] 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 GovernorGeneral 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. CLXV ELGIN TO EARL GREY [Trans. Imperial Blue Books relating to Canada, Vol. XV.] My Lord, Government House, Montreal, I regret to state that rioting, attended with some consequences much to be regretted, though happily with no injury to life, or, except in one instance, to person, has taken place in the city of Montreal during the last few days. I hasten to furnish your Lordship with an account of what has actually occurred, lest you should be misled by exaggerated reports conveyed through the United States. 2. In consequence of the unexpected arrival of vessels with merchandize at the Port of Quebec, it became necessary for me to proceed, on a short notice, to Parliament, on Wednesday last, in order to give the Royal Assent to a Customs Bill which had that day passed the Legislative Council; and I considered that, as this necessity had arisen, it would not be expedient to keep the public mind in suspense by omitting to dispose, at the same time, of the other Acts in which the two branches of the local Parliament had at an earlier period of the session concurred, and which still awaited my decision. Among these was the Act to provide for the indemnification of parties in Lower Canada whose property was destroyed during the Rebellion in 1837 and 1838, with respect to which, as your Lord. ship is aware, much excitement has unhappily been stirred. 3. I herewith enclose, for your Lordship's perusal, a printed copy of the Act in question, and I shall not fail by the first mail to furnish you with full information respecting its character and objects, the circumstances which led to its introduction, and the grounds on which I resolved after much reflection, to sanction it. No money can be paid under it as indemnity for a considerable period, so that Her Majesty's power of disallowance can be exercised with effect, should Her Majesty be so advised, notwithstanding the course which I have taken. As I am writing this Despatch in haste, with a view to its transmission by way of New York, I shall confine myself for the present to a statement of the proceedings by which the peace of the city has been disturbed. Daughter of Lord Durham. 4. In order, however, to render this narrative intelligible, I must premise that for some time past the House of Assembly, as at present constituted, has been the object of bitter denunciation, and not unfrequently of reckless menace, on the part of a certain portion of the press of the province, and more especially of that of Montreal. Your Lordship will probably recollect that the body in question is the product of a general election which took place about 18 months ago, under the auspices of the political party now in opposition, and after a dissolution, to which I had recourse on their advice, for the purpose of strengthening them in their position as a Government. The result of this measure was in the las! degree unfavourable to those who had recommended it; not, however, so much so in Lower Canada, where the complexion of the representation was little affected by the dissolution, as in the Upper Province, where several constituencies, among which were some of the most populous, rejected conservative in favour of liberal candidates. On a question of confidence raised at the commencement of the session, immediately after the general election, the Administration was defeated by a majority of more than two to one, and a change of Government, as a matter of course, ensued. 5. This alteration in the political complexion of the Assembly, and the change of Government consequent upon it, were therefore clearly and distinctly traceable to a revulsion of sentiment in the British constituencies of Upper Canada. In Lower Canada nothing had occurred to account for either. This circumstance has, however, failed to secure for the decisions of the popular representative body either forbearance or respect from a certain section of those who profess to be emphatically the supporters of British interests. To denounce the Parliament as French in its composition, and the Government as subject to French influences, has been their constant object, and the wildest doctrines have been broached with respect to the right which belongs to a British minority of redressing by violence any indignity to which it may be subjected from such a source. I have now before me an article that appeared in one of the principal English newspapers of Montreal at a very early period of the session, of which I transcribe the concluding paragraph, as illustrative of the temper and language in which, even at that time, and before the public mind had been excited by the discussion of the Rebellion Losses Bill, a portion of the press ventured to criticise the proceedings of the local Parliament. The article treats of a measure affecting the townships, to which, I believe, no great objection was raised in Parliament. It terminates, however, in the words "We are very glad of it-the sooner the cloven foot is made "visible the better; the obvious intention of that majority, composed of "Frenchmen, aided by traitorous British Canadians, is to force French in"stitutions still further upon the British minority in Lower Canada. The "intention is obvious, as we said, and we are glad that it is openly shown. "We trust that the party of the Government will succeed in every one of "their obnoxious measures. When French tyranny becomes insupportable "we shall find our Cromwell. Sheffield, in the olden times, used to be "famous for its keen and well-tempered whittles; well, they make bayonets "there now, just as sharp and just as well-tempered. When we can stand "tyranny no longer, it will be seen whether good bayonets in Saxon hands "will not be more than a match for a mace and a majority." 6. To persons accustomed to the working of constitutional government in well-ordered communities, it may seem incredible that such_language should be employed by the organs of any respectable party in reference to a body comprising the freely-chosen representatives of a constituency. formed on a most popular basis; but the cause of the anomaly is apparent enough to all who are acquainted with the history of Canada. For a series of years the popular representative body and the Executive, supported by the Legislative Council, were, in the Lower Province especially, in a condition of almost constant antagonism. To revile the one was the surest test of patriotism; to denounce the other, of loyalty. In a society singularly democratic in its structure, where diversities of race supplied special elements of confusion, and where consequently it was most important that constituted authority should be respected, the moral influence of law and Government was enfeebled by the existence of perpetual strife between the powers that ought to have afforded to each other a mutual support. No state of affairs could be imagined less favourable to the extinction of national animosities, and to the firm establishment of the gentle and benignant control of those liberal institutions which it is England's pride and privilege to bestow upon her children. 7. I am not without hope that a steady adherence to the principles of constitutional government, and the continuance of harmony between the co-ordinate branches of the Legislature, may lead in process of time to the correction of these evils; meanwhile, however, I must ascribe mainly to the cause which I have assigned the tone of arrogant defiance with which the resolutions, not of the Government only, but also of the Parliament are treated by parties who happen for the moment to be unable to make their views prevail with either, and the acts of violence to which this inflammatory language has in the present instance led. 8. That many persons conscientiously disapprove of the measure respecting rebellion losses in Lower Canada which has been introduced by the Government, and which the local Parliament has passed by large majorities, and that in the minds of others it stirs national antipathies and recollections of former conflicts, which designing politicians seek to improve to their own selfish ends, cannot I fear, be doubted. It is therefore emphatically a measure which should have been approached with calmness and caution, by all at least who are not directly interested in the issue. Unfortunately, however, this has been by no means the case. Not only have appeals to passion of the most reckless description proceeded from the local press, but they have received encouragement from quarters from which they had little right to look for it. Passages such as the following, in which a London journal of influence treats of the British population as affected by the measure in question:-"They are tolerably able to take "care of themselves, and we very much misconstrue the tone adopted by the “English press and English public in the province if they do not find some "means of resisting the heavy blow and great discouragement which is "aimed at them," are read with avidity, and construed to mean that sympathy will be extended from influential quarters at home to those who seek to annul the obnoxious decision of the local Legislature, whatever be the means to which they resort for the attainment of that end. 9. The scenes by which the city of Montreal has been lately disgraced, are the natural fruits of an agitation of this character, operating on a people of excitable temper, who have been taught to believe that a race which they despise, and over which they have been wont to exercise dominion, has obtained through the operation of a constitutional system an authority which it could not otherwise have acquired. Hence, more especially, their vehement indignation against me personally, and the conviction, in many cases I doubt not perfectly sincere, that I have been guilty of a serious dereliction of duty because I have not, as my predecessors have often done before me, consented to place myself in the front of an agitation to counteract the policy of Parliament. The nature of the constitutional doctrines which practically obtain in this section of the community is curiously exemplified by the fact, that it is not the passage of the Bill by an overwhelming majority of the representatives of the people, or the acquiescence of the Council, but the consent of the Governor which furnishes the pretext for an exhibition of popular violence. 10. When I left the House of Parliament after giving the Royal Assent to several Bills, to which I have referred, I was received with mingled cheers and hootings by a crowd by no means numerous which surrounded the entrance to the building. A small knot of individuals consisting, it has since been ascertained, of persons of a respectable class in society pelted the carriage with missiles which they must have brought with them for the purpose. Within an hour after this occurrence, a notice, of which I enclose a copy, issued from one of the newspaper offices, calling a meeting in the open air. At the meeting inflammatory speeches were made. |