_habitans_ of the Lower Province, strong in their connexion with the
past, and the British settlers, whose energy and enterprise gave
unmistakable promise of predominance in the future. Canada had, within a
few miles of her capital, a powerful and restless neighbour, whose
friendly intentions were not always sufficient to restrain the unruly
spirits on her frontier from acts of aggression, which might at any time
lead to the most serious complications. Moreover, in Canada representative
institutions were already more fully developed than in any other colony,
and were at this very time passing through the most critical period of
their final development.

[Sidenote: Rebellion of 1837.]
[Sidenote: Lord Durham's Report.]
[Sidenote: Lord Sydenham.]
[Sidenote: Sir C. Bagot.]
[Sidenote: Lord Metcalfe.]

The rebellion of 1837 and 1838 had necessarily checked the progress of the
colony towards self-government. It has since been acknowledged that the
demands which led to that rebellion were such as England would have gladly
granted two or three hundred years before; and they were, in fact,
subsequently conceded one after another, 'not from terror, but because, on
seriously looking at the case, it was found that after all we had no
possible interest in withholding them.'[1] But at the time it was
necessary to put down the rebels by force, and to establish military
government. In 1838 Lord Durham was sent out as High Commissioner for the
Adjustment of the Affairs of the Colony, and his celebrated 'Report' sowed
the seeds of all the beneficial changes which followed. So early as
October 1839, when Poulett Thomson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, went out as
Governor, Lord John Russell took the first step towards the introduction
of 'responsible government,' by announcing that the principal offices of
the colony 'would not be considered as being held by a tenure equivalent
to one during good behaviour, but that the holders would be liable to be
called upon  to retire whenever, from motives of public policy or for
other reasons, this should be found expedient.'[2] But the insurrection
was then too recent to allow of constitutional government being
established, at least in Lower Canada; and, after the Union in 1840, Lord
Sydenham exercised, partly owing to his great ability, much more power
than is usually enjoyed by constitutional governors. He exercised it,
however, in such a manner as to pave the way for a freer system, which was
carried out to a great extent by his successor, Sir Charles Bagot; who,
though bearing the reputation of an old-fashioned Tory, did not scruple to
admit to his counsels persons who had been active in opposing the Crown
during the recent rebellion; acting on 'the broad principle that the
constitutional majority had the right to rule under the constitution.'[3]
Towards the end of 1842, Sir C. Bagot found himself obliged by continued
ill-health to resign; and he was succeeded by Lord Metcalfe--a man, as has
been before noticed, of singularly popular manners and conciliatory
disposition, but whose views of government, formed in India and confirmed
in Jamaica, little fitted him to deal at an advanced age with the novel
questions presented by Canada at this crisis. A quarrel arose between him
and his Ministry on a question of patronage. The ministers resigned,
though supported by a large majority in the Assembly. With great
difficulty he formed a Conservative administration, and immediately
dissolved his Parliament. The new elections gave a small majority to the
Conservatives, chiefly due, it was said, to the exertion of his personal
influence; but the success was purchased at a ruinous cost, for he was now
in the position, fatal to a governor, of a party man. Even from this
situation he might perhaps have been able to extricate himself: so great
was the respect felt for his rare qualities of mind and character. But a
distressing malady almost incapacitated him for the discharge of public
business, and at length, in November 1845, forced him to resign. At this
time there was some apprehension of difficulties with America, arising
from the Oregon question, and, in view of the possibility of war, Mr.
Gladstone, who was then at the Colonial Office, appointed Lord Cathcart,
the commander of the forces, to be Governor-General.

[Sidenote: Lord Cathcart.]

When the Whig party came into power, and Lord Grey became Secretary for
the Colonies, the Oregon difficulty had been happily settled, and it was
no longer necessary or desirable that the colony should be governed by a
military officer. What was wanted was a person possessing an intimate
knowledge of the principles and practice of the constitution of England,
some experience  of popular  assemblies, and considerable familiarity with
the political questions of the day.'[4] After much consideration it was
decided to offer the post to Lord Elgin, though personally unknown at the
time both to the Premier and to the Secretary for the Colonies.

[Sidenote: Principles of Colonial Government.]

The principles on which Lord Elgin undertook to conduct the affairs of the
colony were, that he should identify himself with no party, but make
himself a mediator and moderator between the influential of all parties;
that he should have no ministers who did not enjoy the confidence of the
Assembly, or, in the last resort, of the people; and that he should not
refuse his consent to any measure proposed by his Ministry, unless it were
of an extreme party character, such as the Assembly or the people would be
sure to disapprove.[4] Happily these principles were not, in Lord Elgin's
case, of yesterday's growth. He had acted upon them, as far as was
possible, even in Jamaica; and in their soundness as applied to a colony
like Canada he had that firm faith, grounded on original conviction, which
alone could have enabled him to maintain them, as he afterwards did,
single-handed, in face of the most violent opposition, and in
circumstances by which they were most severely tested.

[Sidenote: Crossing the Atlantic.]

It was fortunate that Lord Elgin had arranged to leave his bride in
England, to follow at a less inclement season; for he had an unusually
stormy passage across the Atlantic--'the worst passage the ship had ever
made.'

Writing on the 16th of January to Lady Grey he says:

Hitherto we have had a very boisterous passage. On the 13th we had a
hurricane, and were obliged to lie to--a rare occurrence with these
vessels. It was almost impossible to be on deck, but I crept out of a
hole for a short time, to behold the sea, which was truly grand in its
wrath; the waves rolling mountains high, and the wind sweeping the
foam off their crests, and driving it, together with the snow and
sleet, almost horizontally over the ocean. We lay thus for some hours,
our masts covered with snow, pitching and tossing, now in the trough
of the sea, and now on the summit of the billows, without anxiety or
alarm, so gallantly did our craft bear itself through these perils.

The ship is very full, with half a million of specie, and a motley
group of passengers: a Bishop, an ex-secretary of Legation and an
ex-consul, both of the United States; a batch of Germans and of
Frenchmen; a host of Yankees, the greater part being bearded, which
is, I understand, characteristic of young America, particularly when
it travels; some specimens of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and
the Rocky Mountains, not to mention English and Scotch. Every now and
then, at the most serious moments, sounds of uproarious mirth proceed
from a party of Irish, who are playing antics in some corner of the
ship. Considering that we are all hemmed in within the space of a few
feet, and that it is the amusement of the great restless ocean to
pitch us constantly into each other's arms, it is hard indeed if we do
not pick up something new in the scramble.

[Sidenote: First impressions.]

On the 25th of January he landed at Boston, and proceeding next day by
railway and sleigh, reached Montreal on the 29th. On the 31st he wrote
from Monklands, the suburban residence of the governor, to Lady Elgin:--

Yesterday was my great day. I agreed to make my entrance to Montreal,
for the purpose of being inaugurated. The morning was unpropitious.
There had been a tremendous storm during the night, and the snow had
drifted so much that it seemed doubtful whether a sleigh could go from
hence to town (about four miles). I said that I had no notion of being
deterred by weather. Accordingly, I got into a one-horse sleigh, with
very small runners, which conveyed me to the entrance of the town,
where I was met by the Mayor and Corporation with an address. I then
got into Lord Cathcart's carriage, accompanied by the Mayor, and a
long procession of carriages was formed. We drove slowly to the
Government House (in the town), through a dense mass of people--all
the societies, trades, &c., with their banners. Nothing could be more
gratifying. After the swearing in, at which the public were present,
the Mayor read another address from the inhabitants. To this I
delivered a reply, which produced, I think, a considerable effect, and
no little astonishment on some gentlemen who intended that I should
say nothing. I have adopted frankly and unequivocally Lord Durham's
view of government, and I think that I have done all that could be
done to prevent its being perverted to vile purposes of faction.

Various circumstances combined to smooth, for the time, the waters on
which Lord Elgin had embarked. The state of political parties was
favourable; for the old Tories of the British 'Family Compact' party
were in good humour, being in enjoyment of the powers to which they
claimed a prescriptive right, while the 'Liberals' of the Opposition
were full of hope that the removal of Lord Metcalfe's disturbing
influence would restore their proper preponderance. Something also was
due to his own personal qualities. Whereas most of his immediate
predecessors had been men advanced in years and enfeebled by
ill-health, he was in the full enjoyment of vigorous youth--able, if
need were, to work whole days at a stretch; to force his way through a
Canadian snow-storm, if his presence was required at a public meeting;
to make long and rapid journeys through the province, ever ready to
receive an address, and give an _impromptu_ reply. The papers soon
began to remark on the 'geniality and affability of 'his demeanour.'
'He is daily,' they said, 'making new 'friends. He walks to church,
attends public meetings, 'leads the cheering, and is, in fact, a man
of the people.' Before long it was  added, 'Our new governor is 'the
most effective speaker in the province;' and, thanks to his foreign
education, he was able to speak as readily and fluently to the French
Canadians in French as to the English in English. Added to this, his
recent marriage was a passport to the hearts of many in Canada, who
looked back to the late Lord Durham as the apostle of their liberties,
if not as a martyr in their cause.

[Sidenote: Provincial politics.]

But though the surface was smooth, there was much beneath to disquiet an
observant governor. It was not only that the Ministry was so weak, and so
conscious of its weakness, as to be incapable even of proposing any
measures of importance. This evil might be remedied by a change of
administration. But there was no real political life; only that pale and
distorted reflection of it which is apt to exist in a colony before it has
learned 'to look within itself for the centre of power.' Parties formed
themselves, not on broad issues of principle, but with reference to petty
local and personal interests; and when they sought the support of a more
widespread sentiment, they fell back on those antipathies of race, which
it was the main object of every wise Governor to extinguish.

The following extracts from private letters to Lord Grey, written within a
few months of his arrival, reflect this state of things. Though the
circumstances to which they refer are past and gone, they may not be
without interest, as affording an insight into a common phase of colonial
government.

Hitherto things have gone on well with me, much better than I hoped
for when we parted. I should have been very willing to meet the
Assembly at once, and throw myself with useful measures on the good
sense of the people, but my ministers are too weak for this. They seem
to be impressed with the belief that the regular Opposition will of
course resist whatever they propose, and that any fragments of their
own side, who happen not to be able at the moment to get what they
want, will join them. When I advise them, therefore, to go down to
Parliament with good measures and the prestige of a new Governor, and
rely on the support of public opinion, they smile and shake their
heads. It is clear that they are not very credulous of the existence
of such a controlling power, and that their faith in the efficiency of
appeals to selfish and sordid motives is greater than mine.

Nevertheless, we must take the world as we find it, and if new
elements of strength are required to enable the Government to go on,
it is I think very advisable to give the French a fair opportunity of
entering the Ministry in the first instance. It is also more prudent
to enter upon these delicate negotiations cautiously and slowly, in
order to avoid, if possible, giving the impression that I am ready to
jump down everybody's throat the moment I touch the soil of Canada.

I believe that the problem of how to govern United Canada would be
solved if the French would split into a Liberal and a Conservative
party, and join the Upper Canada parties which bear corresponding
names. The great difficulty hitherto has been that a Conservative
government has meant a government of Upper Canadians, which is
intolerable to the French, and a Radical government a government of
French, which is no less hateful to the British. No doubt the party
titles are misnomers, for the radical party comprises the political
section most averse to progress of any in the country. Nevertheless,
so it has been hitherto. The national element would be merged in the
political if the split to which I refer were accomplished.

The tottering Ministry attempted to strengthen its position by a junction
with some of the leaders of the 'French' party; but the attempt was
unsuccessful:

I cannot say that I am surprised or disheartened by the result of
these negotiations with the French. In a community like this, where
there is little, if anything, of public principle to divide men,
political parties will shape themselves under the influence of
circumstances, and of a great variety of affections and antipathies,
national, sectarian, and personal; and I never proposed to attempt to
force them into a mould of my own forming.

You will observe that no question of principle or of public policy has
been mooted by either party during the negotiation. The whole
discussion has turned upon personal considerations. This is, I fancy,
a pretty fair sample of Canadian politics. It is not even pretended
that the divisions of party represent corresponding divisions of
sentiment on questions which occupy the public mind; such as
Voluntaryism, Free Trade, &c., &c. Responsible government is the only
subject on which this coincidence is alleged to exist. The opponents
of the Administration are supposed to dissent from the views held by
Lord Metcalfe upon it, though it is not so clear that its supporters
altogether adopt them. That this delicate and most debatable subject
should furnish the watchwords of party is most inconvenient.

In enumerating the difficulties which surround such questions as Union
of the provinces, Emigration, &c., you omit the greatest of them all;
viz.: the materials with which I have to work in carrying out any
measures for the public advantage. There are half a dozen parties
here, standing on no principles, and all intent on making political
capital out of whatever turns up. It is exceedingly difficult, under
such circumstances, to induce public men to run the risk of adopting
any scheme that is bold or novel.

Keenly alive to the evil of this state of things, Lord Elgin was not less
sensible that the blame of it did not rest with the existing generation of
Canadian politicians, but that it was the result of a variety of
circumstances, some of which it was impossible to regret.

Several causes (he wrote) 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.

[Sidenote: Responsible government.]

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 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 questionable 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 intend 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 quasi-monarchical 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 _neant_ of mock sovereignty, or on the other
into the dirt and confusion of local factions.

Many of his letters exhibit the same conviction that the remedy for the
evils which he regretted was to be found in the principles of government
first asserted by Lord Durham; but there is a special interest in the
expression of this sentiment when addressed, as in the following extract,
to Lord Durham's daughter:--

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
Governor-General 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.

[Sidenote: Irish immigration,]

With these cares, which formed the groundwork of the texture of the
Governor's life, were interwoven from time to time interests of a more
temporary character; of which the first in date, as in importance, was
connected with the flood of immigration consequent on the Irish famine of
1847.

During the course of the season nearly 100,000 immigrants landed at
Quebec, a large proportion of whom were totally destitute, and must have
perished had they not been forwarded at the cost of the public. Owing to
various causes, contagious fever of a most malignant character prevailed
among them, to an unexampled extent; the number confined at one time in
hospitals occasionally approached 10,000: and though the mortality among
children was very great, nearly 1,000 immigrant orphans were left during
the season at Montreal, besides a proportionate number at Grosse Isle,
Quebec, Kingston, Toronto, and other places.

In this manner 'army after army of sick and suffering people, fleeing from
famine in their native land to be stricken down by death in the valley of
the St. Lawrence, stopped in rapid succession at Grosse Isle, and there
leaving numbers of their dead behind, pushed upwards towards the lakes, in
over-crowded steamers, to burthen the inhabitants of the western towns and
villages.'[5]

The people of Canada exerted themselves nobly, under the direction of
their Governor, to meet the sudden call upon their charity; but he felt
deeply for the sufferings which it entailed upon the colony, and he did
not fail to point out to Lord Grey how severe was the strain thus laid on
her loyalty:--

[Sidenote: a scourge to the province.]

The immigration which is now taking place is a frightful scourge to
the province. Thousands upon thousands of poor wretches are coming
here incapable of work, and scattering the seeds of disease and death.
Already five or six hundred orphans are accumulated at Montreal, for
whose sustenance, until they can be put out to service, provision must
be made. Considerable panic exists among the inhabitants. Political
motives contribute to swell the amount of dissatisfaction produced by
this state of things. The Opposition make the want of adequate
provision to meet this overwhelming calamity, in the shape of
hospitals, &c., a matter of charge against the Provincial
Administration. That section of the French who dislike British
immigration at all times, find, as might be expected, in the
circumstances of this year, a theme for copious declamation. Persons
who cherish republican sympathies ascribe these evils to our dependent
condition as colonists--'the States of the Union,' they say, 'can take
care of themselves, and avert the scourge from their shores, but we
are victims on whom inhuman Irish landlords, &c.,  can charge the
consequences of their neglect and rapacity.'  Meanwhile I have a very
delicate and irksome duty to discharge.  There is a general belief
that Great Britain must make good to the province the expenses
entailed on it by this visitation. 'It is enough,' say the
inhabitants, 'that our houses should be made a receptacle of this mass
of want and misery: it cannot surely be intended that we are to be
mulcted in heavy pecuniary damages besides.' The reasonableness of
these sentiments can hardly be questioned--bitter indignation would be
aroused by the attempt to confute them--and yet I feel that if I were
too freely to assent to them, I might encourage recklessness,
extravagance, and peculation. From the overwhelming nature of the
calamity, and the large share which it has naturally occupied of the
attention of Parliament and of the public, the task of making
arrangements to meet the necessities of the case has practically been
withdrawn from the department of the Civil Secretary, and fallen into
the hands of the Provincial Administration. In assenting to the
various minutes which they have passed for affording relief to the
sick and destitute, and for guarding against the spread of disease, I
have felt it to be my duty, even at the risk of incurring the
imputation of insensibility to the claims of distress, to urge the
necessity of economy, and of adopting all possible precautions against
waste.  You will at once perceive, however, how embarrassing my
position is.  A source of possible misunderstanding between myself and
the colonists is furnished by these untoward circumstances, altogether
unconnected with the ordinary, or, as I may perhaps venture to term
them, normal difficulties of my situation.

On the whole, all things considered, I think that a great deal of
forbearance and good feeling has been shown by the colonists under
this trial. Nothing can exceed the devotion of the nuns and Roman
Catholic priests, and the conduct of the clergy and of many of the
laity of other denominations has been most exemplary. Many lives have
been sacrificed in attendance on the sick and administering to their
temporal and spiritual need. But the aspect of affairs is becoming
more and more alarming. The panic which prevails in Montreal and
Quebec is beginning to manifest itself in the Upper Province, and
farmers are unwilling to hire even the healthy immigrants, because it
appears that since the warm weather set in, typhus has broken out in
many cases among those who were taken into service at the commencement
of the season, as being perfectly free from disease. I think it most
important that the Home Government should do all in their power by
enforcing the provisions of the Passengers' Act, and by causing these
facts to be widely circulated, to stem this tide of misery.

*       *       *       *       *

What is to be done? Private charity is exhausted. In a country where
pauperism as a normal condition of society is unknown, you have not
local rates for the relief of destitution to fall back upon. Humanity
and prudence alike forbid that they should be left to perish in the
streets. The exigency of the case can manifestly be met only by an
expenditure of public funds.

[Sidenote: The charge should be borne by the mother-country.]

But by whom is this charge to be borne? You urge, that when the first
pressure is past, the province will derive, in various ways, advantage
from this immigration,--that the provincial administration, who
prescribe the measures of relief, have means, which the Imperial
authorities have not, of checking extravagance and waste; and you
conclude that their constituents ought to be saddled with at least a
portion of the expense. I readily admit the justice of the latter
branch of this argument, but I am disposed to question the force of
the former. The benefit which the province will derive from this
year's immigration is, at best, problematical; and it is certain that
they who are to profit by it would willingly have renounced it,
whatever it may be, on condition of being relieved from the evils by
which it has been attended. Of the gross number of immigrants who have
reached the province, many are already mouldering in their graves.
Among the survivors there are widows and orphans, and aged and
diseased persons, who will probably be for an indefinite period a
burden on Government or private charity. A large proportion of the
healthy and prosperous, who have availed themselves of the cheap route
of the St. Lawrence, will, I fears find their way to the Western
States, where land is procurable on more advantageous terms than in
Canada. To refer, therefore, to the 82,000 immigrants who have passed
into the States through New York, and been absorbed there without cost
to the mother-country, and to contrast this circumstance with the
heavy expense which has attended the admission of a smaller number
into Canada, is hardly just. In the first place, of the 82,000 who
went to New York, a much smaller proportion were sickly or destitute;
and, besides, by the laws of the state, ship-owners importing
immigrants are required to enter into bonds, which are forfeited when
any of the latter become chargeable on the public. These, and other
precautions yet more stringent, were enforced so soon as the character
of this year's immigration was ascertained, and they had the effect of
turning towards this quarter the tide of suffering which was setting
in that direction. Even now, immigrants attempting to cross the
frontier from Canada are sent back, if they are either sickly or
paupers. On the whole, I fear that a comparison between the condition
of this province and that of the states of the neighbouring republic,
as affected by this year's immigration, would be by no means
satisfactory or provocative of dutiful and affectionate feelings
towards the mother-country on the part of the colonists. It is a case
in which, on every account, I think the Imperial Government is bound
to act liberally.

[Sidenote: Lord Palmerston's tenants.]

Month after month, the tide of misery flowed on, each wave sweeping deeper
into the heart of the province, and carrying off fresh victims of their
own benevolence. Unfortunately, just as navigation closed for the season,
a vessel arrived full of emigrants from Lord Palmerston's Irish estates.
They appear to have been rather a favourable specimen of their class; but
they came late, and they came from one of Her Majesty's Ministers, and
their coming was taken as a sign that England and England's rulers, in
their selfish desire to be rid of their starving and helpless poor, cared
nothing for the calamities they were inflicting on the colony. Writing on
November 12, Lord Elgin says:--

Fever cases among leading persons in the community here still continue
to excite much comment and alarm. This day the Mayor of Montreal
died,--a very estimable man, who did much for the immigrants, and to
whose firmness and philanthropy we chiefly owe it, that the immigrant
sheds here were not tossed into the river by the people of the town
during the summer. He has fallen a victim to his zeal on behalf of the
poor plague-stricken strangers, having died of ship-fever caught at
the sheds. Colonel Calvert is lying dangerously ill at Quebec, his
life despaired of.

Meanwhile, great indignation is aroused by the arrival of vessels from
Ireland, with additional cargoes of immigrants, some in a very sickly
state, after our Quarantine Station is shut up for the season.
Unfortunately the last arrived brings out Lord Palmerston's tenants. I
send the commentaries on this contained in this day's newspapers.[6]

[Sidenote: The flood subsides.]

From this time, however, the waters began to subside. The Irish famine had
worked its own sad cure. In compliance with the urgent representations of
the Governor, the mother-country took upon herself all the expenses that
had been incurred by the colony on behalf of the immigrants of 1847; and
improved regulations respecting emigration offer ground for hope that the
fair stream, which ought to be full of life and health both to the colony
and to the parent state, will not again be choked and polluted, and its
plague-stricken waters turned into blood.

[Sidenote: Visit to Upper Canada.]

In the autumn of this year Lord Elgin paid his first visit to Upper
Canada, meeting everywhere with a reception which he felt to be 'most
gratifying and 'ncouraging;' and keenly enjoying both the natural beauties
of the country and the tokens of its prosperity which met his view. From
Niagara he wrote to Mr. Cumming Bruce:--

[Sidenote: Niagara.]

I write with the roar of the Niagara Falls in my ears. We have come
here for a few days' rest, and that I may get rid of a bad cold in the
presence of this most stupendous of all the works of nature. It is
hopeless to attempt to describe what so many have been describing; but
the effect, I think, surpassed my expectations. The day was waning
when we arrived, and a turn of the road brought us all at once in face
of the mass of water forming the American Fall, and throwing itself
over the brink into the abyss. Then another turn and we were in
presence of the British Fall, over which a still greater volume of
water seems to be precipitated, and in the midst of which a white
cloud of spray was soaring till it rose far above the summit of the
ledge and was dispersed by the wind. This day we walked as far as the
Table Rock which overhangs one side of the Horse-shoe Fall, and made a
closer acquaintance with it; but intimacy serves rather to heighten
than to diminish the effect produced on the eye and the ear by this
wonderful phenomenon.

The following to Lord Grey is of the same date:--

Our tour has been thus far prosperous in all respects except weather,
which has been by no means favourable. I attended a great Agricultural
Meeting at Hamilton last week, and had an opportunity of expressing my
sentiments at a dinner, in the presence of six or seven hundred
substantial Upper Canada yeomen--a body of men not easily to be
matched.

It is indeed a glorious country, and after passing, as I have done
within the last fortnight, from the citadel of Quebec to the Falls of
Niagara, rubbing shoulders the while with its free and perfectly
independent inhabitants, one begins to doubt whether it be possible to
acquire a sufficient knowledge of man or nature, or to obtain an
insight into the future of nations, without visiting America.

A portion of the speech to which he refers in the foregoing letter may be
here given, as a specimen of his occasional addresses, which were very
numerous; for though the main purposes of his life were such as 'wrote
themselves in action not in word,' he regarded his faculty of ready and
effective speaking as an engine which it was his duty to use, whenever
occasion arose, for the purpose of conciliating or instructing. In
proposing the toast of 'Prosperity to the Agricultural Association of
Upper Canada,' he said:--

[Sidenote: Speech at an agricultural meeting.]

Gentlemen, the question forces itself upon every reflecting mind, How
does it come to pass that the introduction of agriculture, and of the
arts of civilised life, into this and other parts of the American
continent has been followed by such astonishing results? It may be
said that these results are due to the qualities of the hardy and
enterprising race by which these regions have been settled, and the
answer is undoubtedly a true one: but it does not appear to me to
contain the whole truth; it does not appear to account for all the
phenomena. Why, gentlemen, our ancestors had hearts as brave and arms
as sturdy as our own; but it took them many years, aye, even
centuries, before they were enabled to convert the forests of the
Druids, and the wild fastnesses of the Highland chieftains, into the
green pastures of England and the waving cornfields of Scotland. How,
then, does it come to pass, that the labours of their descendants here
have been rewarded by a return so much more immediate and abundant? I
believe that the true solution of this problem is to be found in the
fact that here, for the first time, the appliances of an age, which
has been prolific beyond all preceding ages in valuable discoveries,
more particularly in chemistry and mechanics, have been brought to
bear, under circumstances peculiarly favourable, upon the
productiveness of a new country. When the nations of Europe were
young, science was in its infancy; the art of civil government was
imperfectly understood; property was inadequately protected; the
labourer knew not who would reap what he had sown, and the teeming
earth yielded her produce grudgingly to the solicitations of an
ill-directed and desultory cultivation. It was not till long and
painful experience had taught the nations the superiority of the arts
of peace over those of war; it was not until the pressure of numbers
upon the means of subsistence had been sorely felt, that the ingenuity
of man was taxed to provide substitutes for those ineffective and
wasteful methods, under which the fertility of the virgin soil had
been well-nigh exhausted. But with you, gentlemen, it is far
otherwise. Canada springs at once from the cradle into the full
possession of the privileges of manhood. Canada, with the bloom of
youth yet upon her cheek, and with youth's elasticity in her tread,
has the advantage of all the experience of age. She may avail herself,
not only of the capital accumulated in older countries, but also of
those treasures of knowledge which have been gathered up by the labour
and research of earnest and thoughtful men throughout a series of
generations.

Now, gentlemen, what is the inference that I would draw from all this?
What is the moral I would endeavour to impress upon you? It is this:
That it is your interest and your duty to avail yourselves to the
utmost of all these unparalleled advantages; to bring to bear upon
this soil, so richly endowed by nature, all the appliances of modern
art; to refuse, if I may so express myself, to convert your one talent
into _two_, if, by a more skilful application of the true
principles of husbandry, or by greater economy of management, you can
convert it into _ten_. And it is because I believe that societies
like these, when well directed, are calculated to aid you in your
endeavours to effect these important objects, that I am disposed to
give them all the protection and countenance, which it is in my power
to afford. They have certainly been very useful in other countries,
and I cannot see why they should be less serviceable in Canada. The
Highland Society of Scotland was the first instituted, and the proud
position which Scotland enjoys as an agricultural country speaks
volumes of the services rendered by that society. The Royal
Agricultural Society of England and the Royal Agricultural Society of
Ireland followed in its wake, and with similarly beneficial results. I
myself was instrumental in establishing an agricultural society in the
West Indies, which has already done much to revive the spirits of the
planters; and I shall be very much disappointed, indeed, if that
society does not prove the means, before many years are past, of
establishing the truth so important to humanity, that, even in
tropical countries, free labour properly applied under a good system
of husbandry is more economical than the labour of slaves.

[Sidenote: Change of Ministry.]

At the close of 1847 the Canadian Parliament was dissolved. When the new
Parliament met early in 1848, the Ministry--Lord Metcalfe's Ministry--
found itself in a decided minority. A new one was accordingly formed from
the ranks of the opposition, 'the members of both parties concurring in
expressing their sense of the perfect fairness and impartiality with which
Lord Elgin had conducted himself throughout the transactions' which led to
this result.[7]

[Sidenote: French _habitans_.]

The French Canadians, who formed the chief element in the new government,
were even at this time a peculiar people. Planted in the days of the old
French monarchy, and cut off by conquest from the parent state long before
the Revolution of 1789, their little community remained for many years
like a fragment or boulder of a distinct formation--an island enshrining
the picturesque institutions of the _ancien regime_, in the midst of
an ever-encroaching sea of British nineteenth-century enterprise. The
English, it has been truly said, emigrate, but do not colonise. No
concourse of atoms could be more fortuitous than the gathering of
'traders, sailors, deserters from the army, outcasts, convicts, slaves,
democrats, and fanatics,' who have been the first, and sometimes the only
ingredients of society in our so-called colonies. French Canada, on the
contrary, was an organism complete in itself, a little model of medieval
France, with its recognised gradations of ranks, ecclesiastical and
social.

It may, indeed, be doubted whether the highest forms of social life are
best propagated by this method: whether the freer system, which 'sows
itself on every wind,' does not produce the larger, and, in the long run,
the more beneficent results. But if reason acquiesces in the ultimate
triumph of that busy, pushing energy which distinguishes the British
settler, there is something very attractive to the imagination in the
picture presented by the peaceful community of French _habitans_,
living under the gentle and congenial control of their _coutumes de
Paris_, with their priests and their seigneurs, their frugal,
industrious habits, their amiable dispositions and simple pleasures, and
their almost exaggerated reverence for order and authority. Politically
speaking, they formed a most valuable element in Canadian society. At one
time, indeed, the restless anarchical spirit of the settlers around them,
acting on the sentiment of French nationality, instigated them to the
rebellion of 1837; but, as a rule, their social sympathies were stronger
than their national antipathies; and gratitude to the Government which
secured to them the enjoyment of their cherished institutions kept them
true to England on more than one occasion when her own sons threatened to
fall away from her.

By the legislative union of 1840 the barriers which had separated the
British and French communities were, to a great extent, broken down; and
the various elements in each began gradually to seek out and to combine
with those which were congenial to them in the other. But there were many
cross currents and thwarting influences; and there was great danger, as
Lord Elgin felt, lest they should form false combinations, on partial