Lord Elgin | Page 9

approbation of the Queen than by maintaining the harmony of the
executive with the legislative authorities." The governor-general was
instructed, in order "to maintain the utmost possible harmony," to call
to his councils and to employ in the public service "those persons who,
by their position and character, have obtained the general confidence
and esteem of the inhabitants of the province." He wished it to be
generally made known by the governor-general that thereafter certain
heads of departments would be called upon "to retire from the public
service as often as any sufficient motives of public policy might
suggest the expediency of that measure." It appears, however, that there
was always a reservation in the minds of the colonial secretary and of
governors who preceded Lord Elgin as to the meaning of responsible
government and the methods of carrying it out in a colony dependent
on the crown. Lord Sydenham himself believed that the council should
be one "for the governor to consult and no more"; that the governor
could "not be responsible to the government at home and also to the
legislature of the province," for if it were so "then all colonial
government becomes impossible." The governor, in his opinion, "must
therefore be the minister [i.e., the colonial secretary], in which case he
cannot be under control of men in the colony." But it was soon made
clear to so astute a politician as Lord Sydenham that, whatever were his
own views as to the meaning that should be attached to responsible
government, he must yield as far as possible to the strong sentiment
which prevailed in the country in favour of making the ministry
dependent on the legislature for its continuance in office. The
resolutions passed by the legislature in support of responsible
government were understood to have his approval. They differed very
little in words--in essential principle not at all--from those first
introduced by Mr. Baldwin. The inference to be drawn from the

political situation of that time is that the governor's friends in the
council thought it advisable to gain all possible credit with the public in
connection with the all-absorbing question of the day, and accordingly
brought in the following resolutions in amendment to those presented
by the Liberal chief:--
"1. That the head of the executive government of the province, being
within the limits of his government the representative of the sovereign,
is responsible to the imperial authority alone, but that nevertheless the
management of our local affairs can only be conducted by him with the
assistance, counsel, and information of subordinate officers in the
province.
"2. That in order to preserve between the different branches of the
provincial parliament that harmony which is essential to the peace,
welfare, and good government of the province, the chief advisers of the
representative of the sovereign, constituting a provincial administration
under him, ought to be men possessed of the confidence of the
representatives of the people; thus affording a guarantee that the
well-understood wishes and interests of the people--which our gracious
sovereign has declared shall be the rule of the provincial
government--will on all occasions be faithfully represented and
advocated.
"3. That the people of this province have, moreover, the right to expect
from such provincial administration the exercise of their best
endeavours, that the imperial authority, within its constitutional limits,
shall be exercised in the manner most consistent with their
well-understood wishes and interests."
It is quite possible that had Lord Sydenham lived to complete his term
of office, the serious difficulties that afterwards arose in the practice of
responsible government would not have occurred. Gifted with a clear
insight into political conditions and a thorough knowledge of the
working of representative institutions, he would have understood that if
parliamentary government was ever to be introduced into the colony it
must be not in a half-hearted way, or with such reservations as he had
had in his mind when he first came to the province. Amid the regret of
all parties he died from the effects of a fall from his horse a few months
after the inauguration of the union, and was succeeded by Sir Charles
Bagot, who distinguished himself in a short administration of two years

by the conciliatory spirit which he showed to the French Canadians,
even at the risk of offending the ultra loyalists who seemed to think, for
some years after the union, that they alone were entitled to govern the
dependency.
The first ministry after that change was composed of Conservatives and
moderate Liberals, but it was soon entirely controlled by the former,
and never had the confidence of Mr. Baldwin. That eminent statesman
had been a member of this administration at the time of the union, but
he resigned on the ground that it ought to be reconstructed if