Public men and public life in Canada; the story of the Canadian confederacy, being recollections of Parliament and the press and embracing a succinct account of the stirring events which led to the confederation of British North America into the Dominion of Canada . Sir Francis Bond Head, then Gover-nor-General, had been the main cause of all the strifeand bloodshed, had been dethroned and Durhams famous Report, as already men-tioned, resulted in the union of Upper and LowerCanada, but the wise recommendation of this en-lightened statesman in favour of conferring uponCanadians a
Public men and public life in Canada; the story of the Canadian confederacy, being recollections of Parliament and the press and embracing a succinct account of the stirring events which led to the confederation of British North America into the Dominion of Canada . Sir Francis Bond Head, then Gover-nor-General, had been the main cause of all the strifeand bloodshed, had been dethroned and Durhams famous Report, as already men-tioned, resulted in the union of Upper and LowerCanada, but the wise recommendation of this en-lightened statesman in favour of conferring uponCanadians a full measure of Responsible Govern-ment remained for several years in uncertainty. Under the governorship of Lord Sydenham, andespecially of his successor. Sir Charles Bagot, thisgreat reform was recognized and partly latter gentleman, although Conservative, held tothe principle that the majority in the Legislatureshould rule, and finally invited the Hon. L. H. La-fontaine, the Hon. Robert Baldwin, and several oftheir Reform colleagues to accept office, so that hisgovernment might be brought into harmony with,and command the support of, a majority of thepeoples representatives. His Excellencys offer was 30 STRUGGLES FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. Louis H. Lafontaine. finally accepted, and the first Lafontaine-Baldwinadministration was installed in power amidst manysigns of popular was the position ofaffairs when Sir Charles Met-calfe arrived from Jamaica toassume the Governor-General-ship in March, 1843. He hadbeen trained in the arbitraryrule of India, knew little ofparliamentary government, andsecretly prompted, it is be-lieved, by Downing Street re-actionaries, whose stupidityand blundering had long been proverbial. HisExcellency arrogantly began to exercise the pre-rogatives of the Crown, notonly without the consent ofhis constitutional advisers, butwithout even consulting action of Sir Charles,whether inspired by LordStanley, then
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