Chapter VI: Canada (2)

It is painful to turn from reviewing the progress of the European
population and their descendants established in this portion of
America, to contemplate the condition and prospects of the aboriginal
tribes. It cannot, I fear, be affirmed with truth, that the difficult
problem of reconciling the interests of an inferior and native race
with those of an intrusive and superior one, has as yet been
satisfactorily solved on this continent. In the United States, the
course of proceeding generally followed in this matter has been that
of compelling the Red man, through the influence of persuasion or
force, to make way for the White, by retreating farther and farther
into the wilderness; a mode of dealing with the case which necessarily
entails the occasional adoption of harsh measures, and which ceases to
be practicable when civilisation approaches the limits of the
territory to be occupied. In Canada, the tribes have been permitted to
dwell among the scenes of their early associations and traditions, on
lands reserved from the advancing tide of White settlement, and set
apart for their use. But this system, though more lenient in its
operation than the other, is not unattended with difficulties of its
own. The laws enacted for their protection, and in the absence of
which they fall an easy prey to the more unscrupulous among their
energetic neighbours, tend to keep them in a condition of perpetual
pupillage, and the relation subsisting between them and the
Government, which treats them, partly as independent peoples, and
partly as infants under its guardianship, involves many anomalies and
contradictions. Unless there be some reasonable ground for the hope
that they will be eventually absorbed in the general population of the
country, the Canadian system is probably destined in the long run to
prove as disastrous to them as that of the United States. In 1846 and
1847 the attempt was first made to establish among them industrial
boarding schools, in part supported by contributions from their own
funds. If schools of this description be properly conducted, it may, I
think, be expected that, among the youth trained at them, a certain
proportion at least will be so far civilised, as to be capable of
making their way in life without exceptional privileges or restraints.
It would be, I am inclined to believe, expedient that any Indian,
showing this capacity, should be permitted, after sufficient trial, to
receive from the common property of the tribe of which he was a member
(on the understanding of course that neither he nor his descendants
had thenceforward any claim upon it), a sum equivalent to his interest
in it, as a means to enable him to start in independent life. The
process of transition from their present semi-barbarous condition
could hardly fail to be promoted by a scheme of this description if it
were judiciously carried out.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Relations with the United States.]

No sketch of a Governor's life in Canada would be complete which did not contain some account of his relations with the great neighbouring republic.

We have seen that, at the beginning of his government, Lord Elgin's cares were increased by threats, and more than threats, of interference on the part of 'sympathisers' from some of the American States; and that he looked upon the likelihood of lawless inroad, not to speak of the possibility of lawful war, as affording solid reason for England's maintaining a body of troops in the Colony. But it must not be supposed that his attitude towards the Government or people of the States was one of jealousy or hostility. The loyal friendliness of the Government in repressing the intemperate sympathies of certain of its citizens, he cordially acknowledged; and with the people he did his utmost to encourage the freest and friendliest intercourse, social and commercial, not only in order that the inhabitants of the two countries might provoke one another to increased activity in the good work of civilisation, but also that they might know and understand one another; and that he might have in the public opinion of the United States that intelligent support which he despaired of finding in England, owing to the strange ignorance and indifference which so unfortunately prevails there on all colonial subjects.

The following letters refer to some of the occasion on which mutual civilities were interchanged:

_To Mr. Crampton, British Minister at Washington._

Montreal, May 21, 1849.

[Sidenote: their loyal conduct in 1849.]

I am much indebted to you for your letter of the 10th, conveying an
intimation of the intentions of the American Government with reference
to improper interference on the part of American citizens in Canadian
affairs, which is so honourable to General Taylor and his cabinet. If
I should receive any information leading me to believe that any such
interference is contemplated, I shall not fail to communicate with you
at once on the subject. My impression is, that there is not at present
much to be apprehended on that score; for although there is unhappily
considerable excitement and irritation in Canada, the subject in
dispute[8] is not one which is likely to conciliate much sympathy
among our neighbours. I do not, however, less highly appreciate the
good feeling and cordiality evinced by the Executive Government of the
United States.

* * * * *

_To the Earl Grey_

Toronto, June 14,1850.

[Sidenote: Mutual Courtesies.]

Our expedition to the Welland Canal went off admirably, the only
drawback being that we attempted too much. Mr. Merritt, who planned
the affair, gave it out that we were to pass through the canal, and to
touch at Buffalo on our way from Lake Erie to the Falls of Niagara, in
one day. On this hint the Buffalonians made preparations for our
reception on the most magnificent scale.... As might have been
expected, however, what with addresses, speeches, and mishaps of
various kinds, such as are to be looked for in canal travelling on a
large scale (for our party consisted of some three hundred), night
overtook us before we reached Lake Erie, and Buffalo had to be given
up. I very much regret this, as I fear the citizens were disappointed.
Some of our party went there the next day, and were most hospitably
received.

* * * * *

_To the Earl Grey._

Toronto, August 16, 1850.

Our Session has closed with great _éclat_. On Thursday week our
Buffalo friends, with other persons of distinction from different
parts of the Union, arrived here, to the number of about two hundred.
They were entertained that evening at a ball in the City Hall, which
did great credit to the good taste and hospitality of the hosts. Next
day there was a review in the forenoon and a fête at my house, which
lasted from half-past four to twelve. I succeeded in enabling a party
of five hundred to sit down together to dinner; and, what with a few
speeches, fireworks, and dances, I believe I may say the citizens went
away thoroughly pleased.[9] On Saturday, at noon, many of the party
assisted at the prorogation.

These matters may seem trivial to you among the graver concerns of
state; nevertheless, I am sanguine enough to hope that the courtesies
which have passed this year between the Buffalonians and us will not
be without their fruit. The bulk of those who came here from Buffalo,
including the Mayor--a very able man and powerful speaker--are of the
democratic party, and held some years ago very different views from
those which they expressed on this visit. They found here the warmest
and most cordial welcome from all, Her Majesty's representative not
excepted. But they saw, I venture to say almost with certainty,
nothing to lead them to suppose that the Canadians desire to change
their political condition; on the contrary, the mention of Her
Majesty's name evoked on all occasions the most unbounded enthusiasm;
and there was every appearance of a kindly feeling towards the
Governor General, which the Americans seemed not disinclined
themselves to share.

'To render annexation by violence impossible, and by any other means
as improbable as may be,' is, as I have often ventured to repeat, the
polar star of my policy. In these matters, small as they may appear, I
believe we have been steering by its light. Again, as respects
ourselves. I trust that the effects of this Buffalonian visit will be
very beneficial. I took occasion in my speeches, in a joking way which
provoked nothing but laughter and good humour, to hint at some of the
unreasonable traits in the conduct of my Canadian friends. I am sure
that the Americans go home with very correct views as touching our
politics, and with the best sentiments towards myself. It is of very
great importance to me to have the aid of a sound public opinion from
without, to help me through my difficulties here; and, as I utterly
despair of receiving any such assistance from England (I allude not to
the Government but to the public, which never looks at us except when
roused by fear ignorantly to condemn), it is of incalculable
importance that I should obtain this support from America.

[Sidenote: Boston Jubilee.]

In the autumn of 1851, the inhabitants of Boston held a Three Days' Jubilee, to celebrate the completion of various lines of communication, by railroad and steamship, destined to draw closer the bonds of union between Canada and the United States; and Lord Elgin gladly accepted an invitation to be present. Writing on September 26, 1851, he mentions having 'met there all the United States, President included;' and describes a 'dinner on the Boston Common for 3,500 persons, at which many good speeches were made, Everett's especially so.' He adds:--

Nothing certainly could be more cordial than the conduct of the
Bostonians throughout; and there was a scrupulous avoidance of every
topic that could wound British or Canadian susceptibilities.

To the general harmony and good feeling no one contributed more than Lord Elgin himself, by his general courtesy and affability, and especially by his speeches, full of the happiest mixture of playfulness and earnestness, of eloquence and sound sense, of ardent patriotism with broad international sympathies. 'It was worth something,' he wrote afterwards, 'to get the Queen of England as much cheered and lauded in New England as in any part of Old England;' and the reflection faithfully represents the spirit of expansive loyalty which characterised all his dealings with his neighbours of the States.

These qualities, added to the reputation of a wise and liberal Governor, won for him an unusual amount of regard from the American people. At a dinner given to him in London, during his short visit to England in the spring of 1854--a dinner at which the Colonial Secretaries of five different Governments, Lord Monteagle, Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, Sir J. Pakington, and the Duke of Newcastle met to do him honour--no one spoke more warmly or more discriminatingly in his praise than the American Minister, Mr. Buchanan.

[Sidenote: Speech of Mr. Buchanan.]

'Lord Elgin,' he said, 'has solved one of the most difficult problems
of statesmanship. He has been able, successfully and satisfactorily,
to administer, amidst many difficulties, a colonial government over a
free people. This is an easy task where the commands of a despot are
law to his obedient subjects; but not so in a colony where the people
feel that they possess the rights and privileges of native-born
Britons. Under his enlightened government Her Majesty's North American
provinces have realised the blessings of a wise, prudent, and
prosperous administration; and we of the neighbouring nation, though
jealous of our rights, have reason to be abundantly satisfied with his
just and friendly conduct towards ourselves. He has known how to
reconcile his devotion to Her Majesty's service with a proper regard
to the rights and interests of the kindred and neighbouring people.
Would to Heaven we had such governors-general in all the European
colonies in the vicinity of the United States!'

[Sidenote: Reciprocity Treaty.]

A signal proof of his popularity and influence in America was given a few months later, on the occasion already referred to, when he visited Washington for the purpose of negotiating the Reciprocity Treaty; and, chiefly by the effect of his personal presence, carried through, in a few weeks, a measure which had been in suspense for years.

In returning from this visit he was received with special honours at Portland, the terminus of the international railway which he had exerted himself so much to promote; and he used the opportunity not only to please and conciliate his entertainers, but also to impress them with the respect due to the Canadians, as a flourishing and progressive, above all as a loyal, people. Speaking of the alienation which had existed, a few years earlier, between the Provinces and the States, he said:[10]

[Sidenote: Speech at Portland.]

When I look back to the past, I find what tended in some degree to
create this misunderstanding. In the first place, as I believe, the
government of these provinces was conducted on erroneous principles,
the rights of the people were somewhat restrained, and large numbers
were prevented from exercising those privileges which belong to a free
people. From this arose, very naturally, a discontent on the part of
the people of the Provinces, with which the people of the States
sympathised. Though this sympathy and this discontent was not always
wise, it is not wonderful that it existed.

What have we now done to put an end to this? We have cut off the
source of all this misunderstanding by granting to the people what
they desired--the great principle of self-government. The inhabitants
of Canada at this moment exercise an influence over their own
destinies and government as complete as do the people of this country.
This is the only cause of misunderstanding that ever existed; and this
cannot arise when the circumstances which made them at variance have
ceased to exist.

The good feeling which has been so fully established between the
States and the Provinces has already justified itself by its works. In
the British Provinces we have already had many evidences to prove your
kindness towards us; and within the last seven years, more than in any
previous seven years since the settlement of the two countries.

Let me ask you, who is the worse off for this display of good feeling
and fraternal intercourse? Is it the Canadas? sir, as the
representative of Her Majesty, permit me to say that the Canadians
were never more loyal than at this moment. Standing here, on United
States ground, beneath that flag under which we are proud to live, I
repeat that no people was ever more loyal than are the Canadas to
their Queen; and it is the purpose of the present Ministers of Her
Majesty's Government to make the people of Canada so prosperous and
happy, that other nations shall envy them their good fortune.

This was the last occasion of his addressing American citizens on their own soil; nor did the course of his after-life bring him often in contact with them. But the personal regard which he had won from them descended, some years later, as a valuable heritage to his brother, Sir Frederick, when appointed to the difficult post of Minister at Washington after the close of the American Civil War.[11]

[Sidenote: Parting from Canada.]

The parting of Lord Elgin from Canada was spread, so to speak, over several years; for though he did not finally quit its shores till the end of 1854, from 1851 onwards he was continually in expectation of being recalled; and, towards the end of 1853, he came to England, as we have already seen, on leave of absence. The numerous speeches made, and letters written on the occasion of these different leave-takings, contain ample proof how cordial was the feeling which had grown up between the Colony and its Governor. It may be enough to give here two specimens. The first is an extract from a farewell speech at Montreal, listened to with tears by a crowded audience in the very place where, a few years before, he had been so scandalously outraged and insulted.[12]

[Sidenote: Farewell to Montreal.]

For nearly eight years, at the command of our beloved Queen, I have
filled this position among you, discharging its duties, often
imperfectly, never carelessly, or with indifference. We are all of us
aware that the period is rapidly approaching when I may expect to be
required by the same gracious authority to resign into other, and I
trust worthier, hands, the office of Governor-General, with the heavy
burden of responsibility and care which attaches to it. It is fitting,
therefore, that we should now speak to each other frankly and without
reserve. Let me assure you, then, that the severance of the formal tie
which binds us together will not cause my earnest desire for your
welfare and advancement to abate. The extinction of an official
relationship cannot quench the conviction that I have so long
cherished, and by which I have been supported through many trials,
that a brilliant future is in store for British North America; or
diminish the interest with which I shall watch every event which tends
to the fulfilment of this expectation. And again permit me to assure
you, that when I leave you, be it sooner or later, I shall carry away
no recollections of my sojourn among you except such as are of a
pleasing character. I shall remember--and remember with gratitude--the
cordial reception I met with at Montreal when I came a stranger among
you, bearing with me for my sole recommendation the commission of our
Sovereign. I shall remember those early months of my residence here,
when I learnt in this beautiful neighbourhood to appreciate the charms
of a bright Canadian winter day, and to take delight in the cheerful
music of your sleigh bells. I shall remember one glorious afternoon--
an afternoon in April--when, looking down from the hill at Monklands,
on my return from transacting business in your city, I beheld that the
vast plain stretching out before me, which I had always seen clothed
in the white garb of winter, had assumed, on a sudden, and, as if by
enchantment, the livery of spring; while your noble St. Lawrence,
bursting through his icy fetters, had begun to sparkle in the
sunshine, and to murmur his vernal hymn of thanksgiving to the
bounteous Giver of light and heat. I shall remember my visits to your
Mechanics' Institutes and Mercantile Library Associations, and the
kind attention with which the advice which I tendered to your young
men and citizens was received by them. I shall remember the undaunted
courage with which the merchants of this city, while suffering under
the pressure of a commercial crisis of almost unparalleled severity,
urged forward that great work which was the first step towards placing
Canada in her proper position in this age of railway progress. I shall
remember the energy and patriotism which gathered together in this
city specimens of Canadian industry, from all parts of the province,
for the World's Fair, and which has been the means of rendering this
magnificent conception of the illustrious Consort of our beloved Queen
more serviceable to Canada than it has, perhaps, proved to any other
of the countless communities which have been represented there. And I
shall forget--but no--what I might have had to forget is forgotten
already; and therefore I cannot tell you what I shall forget.

The remaining extract is from parting words, spoken after a ball which he gave at Quebec on the eve of his final departure in December, 1854.

[Sidenote: Farewell to Quebec.]

I wish I could address you in such strains as I have sometimes
employed on similar occasions, strains suited to a festive meeting;
but I confess I have a weight on my heart, and that it is not in me to
be merry. For the last time I stand before you in the official
character which I have borne for nearly eight years. For the last time
I am surrounded by a circle of friends with whom I have spent some of
the most pleasant days of my life. For the last time I welcome you as
my guests to this charming residence which I have been in the habit of
calling my home.[13] I did not, I will frankly confess it, know what
it would cost me to break this habit, until the period of my departure
approached; and I began to feel that the great interests which have so
long engrossed my attention and thoughts, were passing out of my
hands. I had a hint of what my feelings really were upon this point--a
pretty broad hint too--one lovely morning in June last, when I
returned to Quebec after my temporary absence in England, and landed
in the Coves below Spencerwood (because it was Sunday, and I did not
want to make a disturbance in the town), and when with the greetings
of the old people in the Coves who put their heads out of the windows
as I passed along, and cried 'Welcome home again,' still ringing in my
ears, I mounted the hill and drove through the avenue to the house
door. I saw the dropping trees on the lawn, with every one of which I
was so familiar, clothed in the tenderest green of spring, and the
river beyond, calm and transparent as a mirror, and the ships fixed
and motionless as statues on its surface, and the whole landscape
bathed in a flood of that bright Canadian sun which so seldom pierces
our murky atmosphere on the other side of the Atlantic. I began to
think that persons were to be envied who were not forced by the
necessities of their position to quit these engrossing interests and
lovely scenes, for the purpose of proceeding to distant lands, but who
are able to remain among them until they pass to that quiet corner of
the Garden of Mount Hermon, which juts into the river and commands a
view of the city, the shipping, Point Levi, the Island of Orleans, and
the range of Lawrentine; so that through the dim watches of that
tranquil night, which precedes the dawning of the eternal day, the
majestic citadel of Quebec, with its noble train of satellite hills,
may seem to rest for ever on the sight, and the low murmur of the
waters of St. Lawrence, with the hum of busy life on their surface, to
fall ceaselessly on the ear. I cannot bring myself to believe that the
future has in store for me any interests which will fill the place of
those I am now abandoning. But although I must henceforward be to you
as a stranger, although my official connection with you and your
interests will have become in a few days matter of history, yet I
trust that through some one channel or another, the tidings of your
prosperity and progress may occasionally reach me; that I may hear
from time to time of the steady growth and development of those
principles of liberty and order, of manly independence in combination
with respect for authority and law, of national life in harmony with
British connection, which it has been my earnest endeavour, to the
extent of my humble means of influence, to implant and to establish. I
trust, too, that I shall hear that this house continues to be what I
have ever sought to render it, a neutral territory, on which persons
of opposite opinions, political and religious, may meet together in
harmony and forget their differences for a season. And I have good
hope that this will be the case for several reasons, and, among
others, for one which I can barely allude to, for it might be an
impertinence in me to dwell upon it. But I think that without any
breach of delicacy or decorum I may venture to say that many years
ago, when I was much younger than I am now, and when we stood towards
each other in a relation somewhat different from that which has
recently subsisted between us, I learned to look up to Sir Edmund Head
with respect, as a gentleman of the highest character, the greatest
ability, and the most varied accomplishments and attainments.[14] And
now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have only to add the sad word Farewell. I
drink this bumper to the health of you all, collectively and
individually. I trust that I may hope to leave behind me some who will
look back with feelings of kindly recollection to the period of our
intercourse; some with whom I have been on terms of immediate official
connection, whose worth and talents I have had the best means of
appreciating, and who could bear witness, at least, if they please to
do so, to the spirit, intentions, and motives with which I have
administered your affairs; some with whom I have been bound by the
ties of personal regard. And if reciprocity be essential to enmity,
then most assuredly I can leave behind me no enemies. I am aware that
there must be persons in so large a society as this, who think that
they have grievances to complain of, that due consideration has not in
all cases been shown to them. Let them believe me, and they ought to
believe me, for the testimony of a dying man is evidence, even in a
court of justice, let them believe me, then, even I assure them, in
this the last hour of my agony, that no such errors of omission or
commission have been intentional on my part. Farewell, and God bless
you.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: At home.]

The two years which followed Lord Elgin's return from Canada were a time of complete rest from official labour. For though, on the breaking up of Lord Aberdeen's Ministry in the spring of 1855, he was offered by Lord Palmerston the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, with a seat in the Cabinet, he declined the offer, not on any ground of difference from the new Ministry, which he intended to support; but because, having only recently taken his seat in the House of Lords, after a long term of foreign service, during which he had necessarily held aloof from home politics, he thought it advisable, for the present at least, to remain independent. He found, however, ample and congenial occupation for his time in the peaceful but industrious discharge of home duties at Broomhall. Still his thoughts were constantly with the distant Provinces in which he had laboured so long.

Whenever he appeared in public, whether at a dinner given in his honour at Dunfermline, or on occasion of receiving the freedom of the city of Glasgow, or in delivering a lecture at the annual opening of the Edinburgh Philosophical Institute--it was with the same desire of turning to account the knowledge gained abroad, for the advantage of the Colonies, or of the mother-country, or for the mutual benefit of both; with the same hope of drawing closer the bonds of union between them, and dispelling something of that cloud of ignorance and indifference which has often made the public opinion of Great Britain a hindrance rather than a support to the best interests of her dependencies.

[Sidenote: In the House of Lords.]

It was only very rarely that he took any part in the business of legislation; and of the two occasions on which he was induced to break silence, one was when the interests of Canada appeared to him to be imperilled by the rumoured intention of Government to send thither large bodies of troops that had just returned from the Crimea. He thought it his duty to protest earnestly against any such proceeding, as likely, in the first place, to complicate the relations of Canada with the United States, and, in the second place, to arrest her progress in self-dependence.

[Sidenote: Crimean War.]

The other occasion of his speaking was in May 1855, when Lord Ellenborough had moved an Address to the Crown, condemnatory of the manner in which the Crimean War had been and was being conducted. Having been out of England when hostilities were begun, he had not to consider the question whether it was a glorious, or even a necessary, war in which we were engaged; and his one feeling on the subject was that which he had previously expressed to the citizens of Glasgow.

My opinion (he then said) [on the question of the war] I can easily
state, and I have no hesitation in avowing it. I say that now we are
in the war, we must fight it out like men. I don't say, throw away the
scabbard; in the first place, because I dislike all violent metaphors;
and, in the second place, because the scabbard is a very useful
instrument, and the sooner we can use it the better. But I do say,
having drawn the sword, don't sheathe it until the purpose for which
it was drawn is accomplished.

In the same spirit he now defended the Ministry against Lord Ellenborough's attack; not on party grounds, which he took pains to repudiate, but on what he conceived to be the true patriotic principle--viz. to strengthen, at such a time, the hands of the existing Government, unless there be a distinct prospect of replacing it by a stronger.

After mentioning that he had not long before informed Lord Palmerston, that 'while he was resolved to maintain an independent position in Parliament, it was nevertheless his desire and intention, subject to that qualification and reserve, to support the Government,' he proceeded:

I formed this resolution not only because I had reason to believe that
on questions of public policy my sentiments would generally be found
to be in accordance with those of the present Government, nor yet only
because I felt I owed to the noble Viscount himself, and many at least
of his colleagues, a debt of obligation for the generous support they
uniformly gave me at critical periods in the course of my foreign
career; but also, and principally, because in the critical position in
which this country was placed--at a time when we had only recently
presented to the astonished eye of Europe the discreditable spectacle
of a great country left for weeks without a Government, and a popular
and estimable Monarch left without councillors, during a period of
great national anxiety and peril; when there was hardly a household in
England where the voice of wailing was not to be heard, or an eye
which was not heavy with a tear--it appeared to me, I say, under such
circumstances, to be the bounden duty of every patriotic man, who had
not some very valid and substantial reason to assign for adopting a
contrary course, to tender a frank and generous support to the
Government of the Queen.

Having come to that determination, he had now to ask himself whether circumstances were so altered as to make it his duty to revoke the pledge spontaneously given? To this conclusion he could not bring himself.

It seems to me (he said) these Resolutions divide themselves naturally
into two parts. The first part has reference to what I may call the
general policy of the Government with respect to the war; and that
portion of them is conceived in strains of eulogy and commendation--I
may almost say in strains of exultation. The Resolutions speak of firm
alliances, of brotherhood in arms, of a sympathetic and enthusiastic
people; but not a word of regret for national friendships of old
standing broken--desolation carried into thousands of happy
homes--Europe in arms--Asia agitated and febrile--America sullenly
expectant.

This exuberance of exultation, he said, was amply met by the exuberance of denunciation which characterises the latter part of the Address; but it was to his mind even less just than the former.

But even (he continued) if I could bring myself to believe, which I
have failed in doing, that censure might be passed in the terms of
these Resolutions upon Her Majesty's present Government without
injustice, I should still be unwilling to concur in them, unless I
could find some better security than either the Resolutions themselves
afford, or, as I regret to be obliged to add, the antecedents and
recorded sentiments of Noble Lords opposite afford, that by bringing
about the change of administration which these Resolutions are
intended to promote, I should be doing a benefit to the public
service. My Lords, I cannot but think that at a time when it is most
important that the Government of this country should have weight and
influence abroad, frequent changes of administration are _primâ
facie_ most objectionable. I happened to be upon the Continent when
the last change of Government in this country took place; and I must
say it appeared to me, that a most painful impression was created in
foreign states with respect to the instability of the administrative
system of this country by these frequent changes of administration. I
do think, indeed, that not the least of the many calamities which this
war has brought upon us is the fact, that it has had a tendency in
many quarters to throw discredit on that constitutional system of
Government of which this country has hitherto been the type and the
bright example among the nations.

After all, what is chiefly valuable to nations as well as to
individuals, and the loss of which alone is irreparable, is character;
and it appears to me that, viewed in this light, many of the other
calamities which we have had to deplore during the course of this war
have been already accompanied by a very large and ample measure of
compensation. To take, for instance, the military departments:
notwithstanding the complaints we have heard of deficiencies in our
military organisation, I believe we can with confidence affirm, that
the character of the British soldier, both for moral qualities and for
powers of physical endurance, has been raised by the instrumentality
of this war to an elevation which it had never before attained. In
spite of the somewhat unfavourable tone which, I regret to say, has
been adopted of late by a portion of the press of America, I have
myself seen in influential journals in that country commentaries upon
the conduct of our soldiers at Alma, at Balaklava, and at Inkerman,
which no true-hearted Englishman could read without emotion: and I
have heard a tribute not less generous and not less unqualified borne
to the qualities of our troops by eminent persons belonging to that
great military nation with which we are now so happily allied. To look
to another quarter--to contemplate another class of virtues not less
essential than those to which I have referred to the happiness and
glory of nations--I have heard from enthusiastic, even bigoted,
votaries of that branch of the Christian Church which sometimes prides
itself as having alone retained in its system room for the exercise of
the heroic virtues of Christianity,--I say I have frequently heard
from them the frank admission, that the hospitals of Scutari have
proved that the fairest and choicest flowers of Christian charity and
devotion may come to perfection even in what they are pleased to call
the arid soil of Protestantism. But, my Lords, can we flatter
ourselves with the belief that the character of our statesmen, of our
public men, and of our Parliamentary institutions has risen in a like
proportion? Is it not, on the contrary, notorious that doubts have
been created in quarters where such doubts never existed before as to
the practical efficiency of our much-vaunted constitution, as to its
fitness to carry us unscathed through periods of great difficulty and
danger? I believe, my Lords, that there is one process only, but that
a sure and certain process, by which these doubts may be removed. It
is only necessary that public men, whether connected with the
Government or with the Opposition, whether tied in the bonds of party
or holding independent positions in Parliament, should evince the same
indifference to small and personal motives, the same generous
patriotism, the same disinterested devotion to duty, which have
characterised the services of our soldiers in the field, and of the
women of England at the sick-bed. And, my Lords, I cannot help asking
in conclusion, if--which God forbid--it should unhappily be proved
that, in those whom fortune, or birth, or royal or popular favour has
placed in the van, these qualities are wanting, who shall dare to
blame the press and the people of England, if they seek for them
elsewhere?

From the tone of this speech it will be seen that Lord Elgin had not at this time joined either of the two parties in the State. He was, in truth, still feeling his way through the mazes of home politics to which he had been so long a stranger, and from which, as he himself somewhat regretfully observed, those ancient landmarks of party had been removed, 'which, if not a wholly sufficient guide, are yet some sort of direction to wanderers in the political wilderness.' While he was still thus engaged, events were happening at the other ends of the earth which were destined to divert into quite another channel the current of his life.

[1] Mac Mullen's _History of Canada, p. 527._

[2] It Is a singular fact, as illustrating the tenacity and coherence of
the Church of Rome, that while all Protestant endowments were thus
indiscriminately swept away, no voice was raised against the
retention, by the Roman Catholic clergy, of the vast possessions left
to them by the old French capitulation.--_Mac Mullen, p. 528._

[3] Despatch of December 18, 1854.

[4] Despatch of August 16,1853

[5] Despatch of December 18, 1854.

[6] Despatch of December 18,1854. The abolition was shortly afterwards,
satisfactorily effected.

[7] Vide _supra_, p. 48.

[8] The Rebellion Losses Bill.

[9] Some years afterwards, when speaking of these festivities, the Mayor of
Buffalo said: 'Never shall I forget the admiration elicited by Lord
Elgin's beautiful speech on that occasion. Upon the American visitors
(who, it must be confessed, do not look for the highest order of
intellect in the appointees of the Crown) the effect was amusing. A
sterling Yankee friend, while the Governor was speaking, sat by my
side, who occasionally gave vent to his feelings as the speech
progressed, each sentence increasing in beauty and eloquence, by such
approving exclamations as "He's a glorious fellow! He ought to be on
our side of the line! We would make him mayor of our city!" As some
new burst of eloquence breaks from the speaker's lips, my worthy
friend exclaims, "How magnificently he talks! Yes, by George, we'd
make him governor--governor of the state!" As the noble Earl, by some
brilliant hit, carries the assemblage with a full round of applause,
"Ah!" cries my Yankee friend, with a hearty slap on my shoulder, "by
Heaven, if he were on our side, we'd make him President--nothing less
than President!"'

[10] The report of his words is obviously imperfect, but their substance is
probably given with sufficient accuracy.

[11] The great abilities of Sir F. Bruce, and the nobility of his
character, fitted him in a singular manner for this post. He died
suddenly at Boston, on September 19, 1867, too early for extended
fame, but not unrecognised as a public servant of rare value. The
_Times_, which announced his death, after commenting on the
calamitous fate by which, 'within a period of four years, the nation
had lost the services of three members of one family, each endowed
with eminent qualifications for the important work to which they
severally devoted their lives,' proceeded thus with regard to the
youngest of the three brothers. 'The country would have had much.
reason to deplore the death of Sir Frederick Bruce whenever it had
happened; but his loss is an especial misfortune at a time when,
negotiations of the utmost intricacy and delicacy are pending with a
Government which is not always disposed to approach Great Britain in a
spirit of generosity and forbearance. Seldom has a citizen of another
country visited the United States who possessed so keen an insight
into the political working of the Great Republic, and at the same time
ingratiated himself so thoroughly with every American who approached
Him.... Although naturally somewhat impulsive in temperament, he
invariable exhibited entire calmness and self-command when the
circumstances of his position led him into trial.... This
imperturbable temperament in all his official relations served him
well on many occasions, from the day when he succeeded to the
laborious duties relinquished by Lord Lyons; but never was it of
greater advantage than in the protracted and difficult controversy
concerning the Alabama claims. This discussion it fell to the lot of
Sir F. Bruce to conduct on the part of Her Majesty; and we divulge no
secret when we state that it was in accordance with the late
Minister's repeated advice and exhortations that a wise overture
towards a settlement was made by the present Government. He had
succeeded in establishing for himself relations of cordial friendship
with Mr. Seward and the President, and probably there are few outside
the circle of his own family who will be more shocked at the tidings
of his death than the astute and keen-eyed old man with whom he had
sustained incessant diplomatic fence.'

[12] It certainly was not without truth, that one of the local papers most
opposed to him remarked that 'Lord Elgin had, beyond all doubt, a
remarkable faculty of turning enemies into friends.'

[13] Spencerwood, the Governor's private residence.

[14] Sir Edmund Head, who succeeded Lord Elgin as Governor-General of
Canada in 1854, had examined him for a Merton Fellowship in 1833.
Those who knew him will recognise how singularly appropriate, in their
full force, are the terms in which he is here spoken of.