Lord Elgin | Page 2

possessed to a remarkable degree
those qualities of mind and heart which enabled him to cope most
successfully with the racial and political difficulties which met him at
the outset of his administration, during a very critical period of
Canadian history. Animated by the loftiest motives, imbued with a deep
sense of the responsibilities of his office, gifted with a rare power of
eloquent expression, possessed of sound judgment and infinite
discretion, never yielding to dictates of passion but always determined
to be patient and calm at moments of violent public excitement,
conscious of the advantages of compromise and conciliation in a
country peopled like Canada, entering fully into the aspirations of a
young people for self-government, ready to concede to French
Canadians their full share in the public councils, anxious to build up a
Canadian nation without reference to creed or race--this distinguished
nobleman must be always placed by a Canadian historian in the very
front rank of the great administrators happily chosen from time to time
by the imperial state for the government of her dominions beyond the
sea. No governor-general, it is safe to say, has come nearer to that ideal,
described by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, when secretary of state for the
colonies, in a letter to Sir George Bowen, himself distinguished for the
ability with which he presided over the affairs of several colonial
dependencies. "Remember," said Lord Lytton, to give that eminent

author and statesman his later title, "that the first care of a governor in a
free colony is to shun the reproach of being a party man. Give all
parties, and all the ministries formed, the fairest play.... After all, men
are governed as much by the heart as by the head. Evident sympathy in
the progress of the colony; traits of kindness, generosity, devoted
energy, where required for the public weal; a pure exercise of
patronage; an utter absence of vindictiveness or spite; the fairness that
belongs to magnanimity: these are the qualities that make governors
powerful, while men merely sharp and clever may be weak and
detested."
In the following chapters it will be seen that Lord Elgin fulfilled this
ideal, and was able to leave the country in the full confidence that he
had won the respect, admiration, and even affection of all classes of the
Canadian people. He came to the country when there existed on all
sides doubts as to the satisfactory working of the union of 1840,
suspicions as to the sincerity of the imperial authorities with respect to
the concession of responsible government, a growing antagonism
between the two nationalities which then, as always, divided the
province. A very serious economic disturbance was crippling the whole
trade of the country, and made some persons--happily very few in
number--believe for a short time that independence, or annexation to
the neighbouring republic, was preferable to continued connection with
a country which so grudgingly conceded political rights to the colony,
and so ruthlessly overturned the commercial system on which the
province had been so long dependent. When he left Canada, Lord Elgin
knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the two nationalities were
working harmoniously for the common advantage of the province, that
the principles of responsible government were firmly established, and
that the commercial and industrial progress of the country was fully on
an equality with its political development.
The man who achieved these magnificent results could claim an
ancestry to which a Scotsman would point with national pride. He
could trace his lineage to the ancient Norman house of which "Robert
the Bruce"--a name ever dear to the Scottish nation--was the most
distinguished member. He was born in London on July 20th, 1811. His
father was a general in the British army, a representative peer in the
British parliament from 1790-1840, and an ambassador to several

European courts; but he is best known to history by the fact that he
seriously crippled his private fortunes by his purchase, while in the East,
of that magnificent collection of Athenian art which was afterwards
bought at half its value by the British government and placed in the
British Museum, where it is still known as the "Elgin Marbles." From
his father, we are told by his biographer,[2] he inherited "the genial and
playful spirit which gave such a charm to his social and parental
relations, and which helped him to elicit from others the knowledge of
which he made so much use in the many diverse situations of his after
life." The deep piety and the varied culture of his mother "made her
admirably qualified to be the depository of the ardent thoughts and
aspirations of his boyhood." At Oxford, where he completed his
education after leaving Eton, he showed that unselfish spirit and
consideration for the feelings of