THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 173 



esting and somewhat critical experiences in 

 both domestic and foreign affairs. The insur 

 rectionary movements in Canada in the late 

 thirties were followed, as we have seen, by the 

 establishment of a new constitution in 1841, 

 under which the two provinces were united 

 into one. Party strife continued in the new 

 system to centre about the same question that 

 had been the core of controversy in the old, 

 namely, how far the governor-general and his 

 ministers should be subject to popular control. 

 The problem was difficult. The administra 

 tion of the colony must be subject to the con 

 trol of the home ministry; how could it be 

 subject at the same time to the direction of 

 the majority in the legislative assembly? How 

 could the connection with the British Empire 

 be secure if Canadian policy must be deter 

 mined by a majority that might follow a Papi- 

 neau or a Mackenzie? So long as the Tory 

 cabinet of Sir Robert Peel held sway at West 

 minster, with Lord Stanley at the Colonial 

 Office, the old system continued to prevail in 

 Canada. The popular opposition grew steadily 

 stronger and more demonstrative as the fear 

 of renewed violence wore away. The Whig 

 cabinet that succeeded Peel in 1846 sent as 



