[boueinot] CANADA DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA 25 



part of our constitution, which has much value in a country like ours, 

 where we fortunately retain the permanent form of monarchy in 

 harmony with the democratic machinery of our government. It would 

 be a great mistake to suppose that the governor-general is a mere roi 

 fainéant^ a merely ornamental portion of our political system, to be set to 

 work and kept in motion by the premier and his council. His influence, 

 however, as Lord Elgin has shown, is wholly moral, an influence of 

 suasion, sympathy, and moderation, which softens the temper while it 

 elevates the aims of local politics. If the governor-general is a man of 

 parliamentary experience and constitutional knowledge, possessing tact 

 and judgment, and imbued with the true spirit of his high vocation — and 

 these functionaries have been notabl}' so since the commencement of 

 confederation— -they can sensibly influence the course of administration 

 and benefit the country at critical periods of its history. Standing above 

 all party, having the unity of the empire at heart, a governor-general at 

 times can soothe the public mind and give additional confidence to the 

 country when it is threatened with some national calamity or there is 

 distrust abroad as to the future. As an imperial ofiicer he has large 

 responsibihties, of which the general public have naturally no very clear 

 idea, and if it were possible to obtain access to the confidential and secret 

 despatches which seldom see the light except in the colonial office, it 

 would be seen how much for a quarter of a century past the colonial 

 department has gained by having had in the Dominion men, no longer 

 acting under the influence of personal feeling through being made 

 personally responsible for the conduct of public affairs, but actuated 

 simply b}" a desire to benefit the countrv over which they preside and to 

 bring Canadian interests into unison with those of the empire itself. 



Self-government now exists in the full sense of the term. At the 

 base of the political structure lie those municipal institutions which, for 

 com])leteness, are not excelled in any other country. It is in the enter- 

 prising province of Ontario that the system has attained its greatest 

 -development. Ever}' village, township, town, city, and county has its 

 council composed of reeves or mayors and councillors or aldermen elected 

 by the people, and having jurisdiction over all matters of local taxation 

 .and local improvement, in accordance with statutory enactments. Under 

 the operation of these little local parliaments —the modern form taken 

 by the folkmote of old English times — every community, regularly 

 organized under the law, is able to build its roads and bridges, light the 

 streets, effect sanitarj- arrangements, and even initiate bonuses for the 

 •encouragement of lines of railway. 



The machinery of these municipalities is made to assist in raising 

 the taxes necessary for the support of public schools. Free libraries are 

 provided for in every municipality whenever the people choose — as in the 

 ■cities of Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph, and other places — to tax themselves 



