It is sometimes said that it is vain to expect a high ideal in public life, that the same principles that apply to social and private life cannot always be applied to the political arena if party government is to succeed; but this is the doctrine of the mere party manager, who is already too influential in Canada as in the United States, and not of a true patriotic statesman. It is wiser to believe that the nobler the object the greater the inspiration, and at all events, it is better to aim high than to sink low. It is all important that the body politic should be kept pure and that public life should be considered a public trust. Canada is still young in her political development, and the fact that her population has been as a rule a steady, fixed population, free from those dangerous elements which have come into the United States with such rapidity of late years, has kept her relatively free from any serious social and political dangers which have afflicted her neighbours, and to which I believe they themselves, having inherited English institutions and being imbued with the spirit of English law, will always in the end rise superior. Great responsibility, therefore, rests in the first instance upon the people of Canada, who must select the best and purest among them to serve the country, and, secondly, upon the men whom the legislature chooses to discharge the trust of carrying on the government. No system of government or of laws can of itself make a people virtuous and happy unless their rulers recognize in the fullest sense their obligations to the state and exercise their powers with prudence and unselfishness, and endeavour to elevate and not degrade public opinion by the insidious acts and methods of the lowest political ethics. A constitution may be as perfect as human agencies can make it, and yet be relatively worthless while the large responsibilities and powers entrusted to the governing body—responsibilities and powers not embodied in acts of parliament—are forgotten in view of party triumph, personal ambition, or pecuniary gain. "The laws," says Burke, "reach but a very little way. Constitute government how you please, infinitely the greater part of it must depend upon the exercise of the powers which are left at large to the prudence and uprightness of ministers of state. Even all the use and potency of the laws depend upon them. Without them your commonwealth is no better than a scheme upon paper, and not a living, active, effective organization."



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

For accounts of the whole career of Lord Elgin see Letters and Journals of James, Eighth, Earl of Elgin, etc., edited by Theodore Walrond, C.B., with a preface by his brother-in-law, Dean Stanley (London 2nd. ed., 1873); for China mission, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan by Lawrence Oliphant, his private secretary (Edinburgh, 1869); for the brief Indian administration, The Friend of India for 1862-63. Consult also article in vol. 8 of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed.; John Charles Dent's Canadian Portrait Gallery (Toronto, 1880), vol. 2, which also contains a portrait; W.J. Rattray's The Scot in British North America (Toronto, 1880) vol. 2, pp. 608-641.

For an historical review of Lord Elgin's administration in Canada, see J.C. Dent's The Last Forty Years, or Canada since the Union of 1841 (Toronto, 1881), chapters XXIII-XXXIV inclusive, with a portrait; Louis P. Turcotte's Le Canada Sous l'Union (Quebec, 1871), chapters I-IV, inclusive; Sir Francis Hincks's Reminiscences of His Public Life (Montreal, 1884) with a portrait of the author; Joseph Pope's Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, G.C.B. (Ottawa and London, 1894), with portraits of the great statesman, vol. 1, chapters IV-VI inclusive; Lord Grey's Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration (London, 2nd ed., 1853), vol. 1; Sir C.B. Adderley's Review of the Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration, by Earl Grey, and Subsequent Colonial History (London, 1869).

For accounts of the evolution of responsible government in Canada consult the works by Dent, Turcotte, Rattray, Hincks, Grey and Adderley, just mentioned; Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America, submitted to parliament, 1839; Dr. Alpheus Todd's Parliamentary Government in The British Colonies (2nd ed. London, 1894); Bourinot's Manual of the Constitutional History of Canada (Toronto, 1901); his Canada under British Rule (London and Toronto, 1901), chapters VI-VIII inclusive; Memoir of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Lord Sydenham, etc., by his brother G. Poulett Scrope, M.P., (London, 1843), with a portrait of that nobleman; Life and Correspondence of Charles Lord Metcalfe, by J.W. Kaye (London, new ed., 1858).

For comparisons between the parliamentary government of Great Britain or Canada, and the congressional system of the United States, see Walter Bagehot's English Constitution and other political essays (New York, 1889); Woodrow Wilson's Congressional Government (Boston, 1885); Dr. James Bryce's American Commonwealth (London, 1888); Bourinot's Canadian Studies in Comparative Politics, in Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., vol. VIII, sec. 2 (old ser.), and in separate form (Montreal, 1891). Other books and essays on the same subject are noted in a bibliography given in Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., vol. XI, old ser., sec. 2, as an appendix to an article by Sir J.G. Bourinot on Parliamentary Government in Canada.

The reader may also profitably consult the interesting series of sketches (with excellent portraits) of the lives of Sir Francis Hincks, Sir A. MacNab, Sir L.H. LaFontaine, R. Baldwin, Bishop Strachan, L.J. Papineau, John Sandfield Macdonald, Antoine A. Dorion, Sir John A. Macdonald, George Brown, Sir E.P. Tache, P.J.O. Chauveau, and of other men notable from 1847-1854, in the Portraits of British Americans (Montreal 1865-67), by J. Fennings Taylor, who was deputy clerk of the old legislative council, and later of the senate of Canada, and a contemporary of the eminent men whose careers he briefly and graphically describes. Consult also Dent's Canadian Portrait Gallery, which has numerous portraits.



INDEX

A

Amnesty Act, 91.

Annexation manifesto, 80, 81.

Annexation sentiment, the, caused by lack of prosperity and political grievances, 191 f.

Archambault, L., 186.

Aylwin, Hon. I.C., 45, 50, 53, 187.



B

Badgley, Judge, 187.

Bagehot, on public interest in politics, 250, 251; on the disadvantage of the presidential system, 253, 254.

Bagot, Sir Charles, favourable to French Canadians, 30; 31.

Baldwin, Hon. Robert, 28; aims of, 31, 45, 50, 51; forms a government with LaFontaine, 52; his measure to create the university of Toronto, 93, 94; resigns office, 103; death of, 104; views on the clergy reserves, 160, 162.

Blake, Hon. W.H., 50, 53, 69.

Boulton, John, 123.

Bowen, Judge, 187.

Brown, Hon. George, 110; editor of Globe, 111; raises the cry of French domination, leads the clear Grits, 112; enters parliament, 113; his power, 114; urges representation by population, 117; 125, 137, 138; his part in confederation, 225.

Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, on the disadvantages of congressional government, 255-257.

Buchanan, Mr., his tribute to Lord Elgin, 123, 124.



C

Cameron, John Hillyard, 50, 112.

Cameron, Malcolm, 50, 53, 110, 113, 117, 126, 134, 163.

Canada Company, 145.

Canada, early political conditions in, 17-40; difficulties connected with responsible government in, 26; the principles of responsible government, 228; a comparison of her political system with that of the United States, 241 f.

Canning, Earl, 217.

Caron, Hon. R.E., 43, 53, 109, 113, 126, 187.

Cartier, Georges Etienne, 135, 136, 226.

Cathcart, Lord, succeeds Lord Metcalfe as governor-general, 38.

Cauchon, 126, 164.

Cayley, Hon. W., 140, 163.

Chabot, Hon. J., 126, 141, 164, 186.

Chaderton, 48.

Chauveau, P.J.O., 46, 50, 109, 113, 126, 141, 164.

Christie, David, 110.

Church of England, its claims under the Constitutional Act., 145, 150 f.

Church Presbyterian, its successful contention, 153.

Clergy Reserves, 101, 102, 103, 119, 127; secularization of, 142; the history of, 143, f.; report of select committee on, 147; Imperial act passed, 158, 159; its repeal urged, 161; value of the reserves, 161-162; full powers granted the provincial legislature to vary or repeal the act of 1840, 167; important bill introduced by Sir John A. Macdonald, 168.

Colborne, Sir John, his action on the land question, 154; the Colborne patents attacked and upheld, 155, 156.

Company of the West Indies, 175.

Craig, Sir James, 1, 19.



D

Daly, Dominick, 35.

Day, Judge, 187.

Delagrave, C., 187.

Denslow, Prof., 254.

Derby, Lord, his views of colonial development, 121.

Dessaules, 108.

Dorchester, Lord, 1.

Dorion, A.A., 108, 134.

Dorion, J.B.E., 108.

Doutre, R., 108.

Draper, Hon. Mr., forms a ministry, 35; retires from the ministry, 43.

Draper-Viger ministry, its weakness 44, some important measures, 45; commission appointed by, 64.

Drummond, L.P., 109, 113, 126, 141; his action on the question of seigniorial tenure, 186.

Dumas, N., 186.

Durham, Lord, 2, 14; his report, 15, 23, 25; compared with Elgin, 15; his views on the land question, 144, 145, 148, 154, 155; his views on Canada after the rebellion, 191; his suggestions of remedy, 192, 193.

Duval, Judge, 187.



E

Educational Reform, 87-89.

Elgin, Lord, his qualities, 3-4; conditions in Canada on his arrival, on his departure, birth and family descent, 5; his parentage, 6; his contemporaries at Eton and Oxford, estimate of, by Gladstone, 7; by his brother, 7-8; enters parliament, his political views, 8; appointed governor of Jamaica, death of his wife, 9; mediates between the colonial office and the Jamaica legislature, 12; resigns governorship of Jamaica, returns to England, 13; accepts governor-generalship of Canada, marriage with Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, 14; compared with Lord Durham, 15; creates a favourable impression, recognizes the principle of responsible government, 41; appeals for reimbursement of plague expenses, 48; visits Upper Canada, 49; comments on LaFontaine-Baldwin ministry, 52-53; correspondence with Lord Grey, 55; hostility to Papinean, 56; on the rights of French Canadians, 55-56; his commercial views, 57-60; his course on Rebellion Losses bill, 71-78; attacked by mob, 74; his course sustained by the imperial parliament, 78; visits Upper Canada, 79; raised to the British peerage, 80; his condemnation of annexation manifesto, 81; refers to causes of depressions and irritations, 82; urges reciprocity with United States, urges repeal of navigation laws, 82; his views on education, 88-89; his views on increased representation, 118-119; his views on the Upper House, 120; visits England, 123; tribute from United States minister, 123-124; visits Washington and negotiates reciprocity treaty, 124; advises repeal of the imperial act of 1840, 164, 165; his efforts against annexation, 189-190, 194, 195; his labours for reciprocity, 196; visits the United States, 197; receives an address on the eve of his departure, 203; his reply, 204-205; his last speech in Quebec, 205-208; returns to England, 209; his views on self-defence, 209-212; accepts a mission to China, 212; his action during the Indian mutiny, 213; negotiates the treaty of Tientsin, 214; visits Japan officially, 214; negotiates the treaty of Yeddo, 214; returns to England, 215; becomes postmaster-general under Palmerston, 215; becomes Lord Rector of Glasgow University, 215; returns to China as Ambassador Extraordinary, 215; becomes governor-general of India, 216; tour in northern India, 218; holds Durbar at Agra, 218; Uahabee outbreak, 218; illness and death, 219; views on imperial honours, 222; on British connection, 229, 231; views on the power of his office, 231-232; beneficial results of his policy, 233, 235; on the disadvantages of the United States political system, 257, 258.



F

Feudal System, the, in Canada, 172, f.

Free Trade, protest against, from Canada, 39, 45; effects of, on Canada, 57-58.

French Canadians, resent the Union Act, 23, 24; resent portions of Lord Durham's report, 23; increase of their influence, 31.



G

Garneau, 123.

Gavazzi Riots, the, 125.

Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W.E., his opinion of Lord Elgin, 7; 78.

Gore, Lieut.-Governor, 146.

Gourlay, Robert, 147.

Grey, Lord, colonial secretary, 13; 36, 77; views on clergy reserves, 165.



H

Haldimand, Governor, 97.

Head, Sir Francis Bond, 1, 22.

Hincks, Sir Francis, appointed inspector-general, 31; 38, 50, 53, 100, 101; views and qualities of 107, forms a ministry, 107; 112, 113, 126, 127, 128, 133, 134, 135, 136; becomes a member of the Liberal—Conservative ministry, 140, 141; views on the clergy reserves, 163, 165, 166, 196; appointed governor of Barbadoes and Windward Isles, appointed governor of British Guiana, 220, 222; receives Commandership of the Bath, 222; retirement, 222; receives knighthood 222; becomes finance minister, 223; final retirement, 223; his character and closing years, 223-224.

Hincks-Morin, ministry formed, 108; its members, 113; its chief measures, 114-120; reconstructed, 125-126; dissolves, 131; resigns, 136.

Holmes, 50.

Holton, L.H., 108, 134.

Hopkins, Caleb, 110.

Howe, Joseph, his assertion of loyalty, 22, 51, 92, 101; on imperial honours and offices, 221; appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, 221.

Hudon, Vicar-General, 48.

Hundred Associates, 175.



I

Immigrants, Irish, measures to relieve, 46-47; bring plague to Canada, 47-48.

Imperial Act, authorizes increased representation, 122.



J

Jamaica, Lord Elgin, governor of, 9-13.

Jameson, Mrs., her comparison of Canada and the United States, 191-192.

Judah, H., 186.



L

Labreche, 108.

LaTerriere, 164.

Laflamme, 108.

LaFontaine-Baldwin cabinet, 1842, 31; resignation of, 35; the second government, its members, 53; its importance, 54; dissolved, 85; some of its important measures, 85-103.

LaFontaine, Hon. Hippolyte, and the Union Act, 24; aims of, 32, 44, 45, 50; forms a government with Baldwin, 52; his resolutions, 67-68; attack upon his house, 76; resigns office, 104; becomes chief justice, receives baronetcy, his qualities, 105; views on the clergy reserves, 162, 164; conservative views on seigniorial tenure, 185; 187.

Lebel, J.G., 187.

Lelievre, S., 186.

Leslie, Hon. James, 53.

Leslie, John, 110.

Liberal-Conservative Party, the, formed, 137.

Lytton, Lord, his ideal of a governor, 4.



M

MacDonald, Rt. Hon. Sir John Alexander, reveals his great political qualities, 43, 44, 50, 110, 114, 118, 127; his argument on the Representation Bill, 132, 137, 139,140,163; views on the clergy reserves, 163; takes charge of the bill for secularization of the reserves, 168; monuments to his memory, 225-226.

Macdonald, John Sandfield, 50; his rebuff to Lord Elgin, 127-129, 135.

Mackenzie, William Lyon, 17; leader of the radicals, 21; 22, 51; returns to Canada, 91; his qualities, 91-92; 103, 112, 127.

MacNab, Sir Allan, 31, 50, 51, 68; attitude on Rebellion Losses Bill, 75; 110, 137, 139; becomes a member of the Liberal-Conservative ministry, 140; his coalition ministry, 140; 141, 224.

McDougall, Hon. William, 110.

McGill, 45.

Meredith, Judge, 187.

Merritt, William Hamilton, 50, 97.

Metcalf, Sir Charles, succeeds Bagot as governor-general, 32; his defects, 32, 33, 37; breach with LaFontaine-Baldwin ministry, 34, 35; created baron, death of, 37.

Mills, Mayor, dies of plague, 48.

Mondelet, Judge, 187.

Montreal, ceases to be the seat of government, 78.

Morin, A.N., 32, 43, 50, 51, 109, 113, 126, 127, 133, 140, 141; favours secularization of the clergy reserves, 166; 187

Morris, Hon. James, 113, 126.

Morrison, Joseph C., 126.



N

Navigation laws, 38, 45; repealed, 83.

Nelson, Wolfred, 22, 50, 91.

Newcastle, Duke of, secretary of state for the colonies, 167.



O

Ottawa, selected as the seat of government, later as the capital of the Dominion, 79.

P

Pakington, Sir John, adverse to the colonial contention on the clergy reserve question, 165, 167.

Palmerston, Lord, 212, 213.

Papineau, Denis B., 35, 44, 66.

Papineau, Louis Joseph, 17; aims of, 20, 21; 22; influence of, 50, 51; 56, 66, 90, 91, 117; his final defeat, 134.

Peel, Sir Robert, 78.

Price, Hon. J.H., 50, 53, 160, 161.

Postal Reform, 85, 86.

Power, Dr., 48.



R

Railway development, under Baldwin and LaFontaine, 99-101; under Hincks and Morin, 114-117.

Rebellion Losses Bill, history of, 63-78; commission appointed by Draper-Viger ministry, 64; report of commissioners, 65; LaFontaine's resolutions, 67, 68; new commission appointed, attacks on the measure, 68; passage of measure, 70; Lord Elgin's course, 71 f.; serious results of, 73, 74; 203.

Reciprocity treaty with United States, urged by Lord Elgin, 82; treaty ratified, 142; signed, 198; its provisions, 198-200; beneficial results, 201; repealed by the United States, 201; results of the repeal, 202.

Richards, Hon. W.B., 50, 113, 128.

Richelieu, introduces feudal system into Canada, 175.

Richmond, Duke of, 2.

Robinson, Sir John Beverley, 105.

Rolph, Dr. John, 110, 112, 113, 126, 136.

Ross, Mr. Dunbar, 126, 141.

Ross, Hon. John, 113, 126, 141.

Roy, Mr. 48.

Russell, Lord John, 26; supports Metcalfe, 37; 78.

Ryerson, Rev. Egerton, defends Sir Charles Metcalfe, 36; his educational services, 89, 90; opposes Sydenham's measure, 157.



S

Saint Real M. Vallieres de, 31.

Seigniorial Tenure, 101, 102, 119, 126, 142; history of, 171 f.; originates in the old feudal system, 171-174; introduced by Richelieu into Canada, 175; description of the system of tenure, 175 f; judicial investigation by commission, 186, 187.

Sherwood, Henry, becomes head of ministry, 43; defeat of Sherwood cabinet, 50, 68, 159.

Short, Judge, 187.

Sicotte, 126; elected speaker, 135, 136.

Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor, 18.

Smith, Henry, 141, 187.

Spence, Hon. R., 140.

Stanley, Lord, 9; supports Metcalfe, 37.

Strachan, Bishop, established Trinity college, 95; refuses compromise on land question, 150, 154, 159; meets with defeat, 169.

Sullivan, Hon. R.B., 53.

Sydenham, Lord, appointed governor-general to complete the union and establish responsible government, 26-29; qualities of, 29; death of, 30; his canal policy, 96-99; his action on the land question, 156, 157.



T

Tache, Hon. E.P., 53, 109, 113, 126.

Trinity College, established, 95.

Turcotte, J.G., 186.



U

Union Act of 1840, its provisions, 22, 23; restrictions concerning use of French language removed, 61, 117; clauses respecting the Upper House repealed, 120.

United States, comparison of their political system with that of Canada, 241, ff.

University of Toronto, created from King's College, 94.



V

Vanfelson, Judge, 187.

Varin, J.B., 187.

Viger, Hon. L.M., forms a ministry, 35, 53, 66, 108.



W

Waldron, Mr., 215.

White, Thos., 139.

Winter, P., 187.

Woodrow, Wilson, on the United States system, 252; on political irresponsibility, 254, 255.



Y

Young, Hon. John, 113, 126.



NOTES

[1: He was bitten by a tame fox and died of hydrophobia at Richmond, in the present county of Carleton, Ontario.]

[2: "Letters and Journals of James, eighth Earl of Elgin, etc." Edited by Theodore Waldron, C.B. For fuller references to works consulted in the writing of this short history, see Bibliographical Notes at the end of this book.]

[3: Lady Elma, who married, in 1864, Thomas John Howell-Thurlow-Camming Bruce, who was attached to the staff of Lord Elgin in his later career in China and India, etc., and became Baron Thurlow on the death of his brother in 1874. See "Debrett's Peerage."]

[4: "The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration," by Earl Grey, London, 1857. See Vol. I, p. 205.]

[5: The "Life and Correspondence of Charles, Lord Metcalfe," by John W. Kaye, London, 1858.]

[6: "Reminiscences of his public life," by Sir Francis Hincks, K.C.M.G., C.B., Montreal, 1884]

[7: See "McMullen's History of Canada," Vol. II (2nd Ed.), p. 201.]

[8: These concluding words of Lord Elgin recall a similar expression of feeling by Sir Etienne Pascal Tache, "That the last gun that would be fired for British supremacy in America would be fired by a French Canadian."]

[9: Fifty years after these words were written, debates have taken place in the House of Commons of the Canadian federation in favour of an imperial Zollverein, which would give preferential treatment to Canada's products in British markets. The Conservative party, when led by Sir Charles Tupper, emphatically declared that "no measure of preference, which falls short of the complete realization of such a policy, should be considered final or satisfactory." England, however, still clings to free trade.]

[10: The father of the Hon. Edward Blake, the eminent constitutional lawyer, who occupied for many years a notable place in Canadian politics, and is now (1902) a member of the British House of Commons.]

[11: See her "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada." London, 1838.]

[12: "I am inclined," wrote Lord Durham, "to view the insurrectionary movements which did take place as indicative of no deep-rooted disaffection, and to believe that almost the entire body of the reformers of this province sought only by constitutional means to attain those objects for which they had so long peaceably struggled before the unhappy troubles occasioned by the violence of a few unprincipled adventurers and heated enthusiasts."]

[13: For a succinct history of this road see "Eighty Years' Progress or British North America," Toronto, 1863.]

[14: "Portraits of British Americans," Montreal, 1865, vol. 1., pp. 99-100. See Bourinot's "Parliamentary Procedure," p. 573n. The last occasion on which a Canadian speaker exercised this old privilege was in 1869, and then Mr. Cockburn made only a very brief reference to the measures of the session.]

[15: It was not until 1874 when Mr. Alexander Mackenzie was first minister of a Liberal government that simultaneous polling at a general election was required by law, but it had existed some years previously in Nova Scotia.]

[16: See "The Last Forty Years, or Canada Since the Union of 1841," by John Charles Dent, Toronto, 1881, vol. II., p. 309. Mr. White became Minister of the Interior in Sir John Macdonald's government (1885-88) but died suddenly in the midst of a most active and useful administrative career.]

[17: See remarks of Dr. Kingsford in his "History of Canada" (vol. VII., pp. 266-273), showing how unjust was the clamour raised by the enemies of the church in New England when a movement was in progress for the establishment of a colonial episcopate simply for purposes of ordination and church government.]

[18: A clause of the act of 1791 provided that the sovereign might, if he thought fit, annex hereditary titles of honour to the right of being summoned to the legislative council in either province, but no titles were ever conferred under the authority of this imperial statute.]

[19: Thirteen other patents were left unsigned by the lieutenant-governor and consequently had no legal force.]

[20: "Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Charles Lord Sydenham, G.C.B.," edited by his brother G. Poulett-Scrope, M.P.; London, 1843.]

[21: Sir Francis Hincks's "Reminiscences of his Public Life," p. 283.]

[22: See on these points an excellent article on the feudal system of Canada in the Queen's Quarterly (Kingston, January, 1899) by Dr. W. Bennett Munro. Also Droit de banalite, by the same, in the report of the Am. Hist Ass., Washington, for 1899, Vol. I.]

[23: "Spencerwood," the governor's private residence.]

[24: See article on Lord Elgin in "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (9th ed.), Vol. VIII., p. 132.]

[25: In the "North British Review," quoted by Waldron, pp. 458-461.]

[26: Lord Elgin's eldest son (9th Earl) Victor Alexander Brace, who was born in 1849, at Monklands, near Montreal, was Viceroy of India 1894-9. See Debrett's Peerage, arts. Elgin and Thurton for particulars of Lord Elgin's family.]

[27: See Mr. Howe's eloquent speeches on the organization of the empire, in his "Speeches and Public Letters," (Boston, 1859), vol. II., pp. 175-207.]

[28: See on this subject Todd's "Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies," pp. 313-329.]

[29: See Todd's "Parliamentary Government in England," vol. II., p. 101.]

[30: He was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1895 to 1899.]

[31: "Congressional Government," pp. 301, 332.]

[32:"The English Constitution," pp. 95, 96.]

[33: In the International Review, March, 1877.]

[34: "Congressional Government," p. 94.]

[35: "The American Commonwealth," I., 210 et seq.]

[36: Ibid., pp. 304, 305]

[37: ibid., Chap. 95, vol. III.]

[38: "Commentaries," sec. 869.]

[39: See Story's "Commentaries," sec. 869.]

THE END