GREAT BRITAIN'S BREAD UPON THE WATERS 



221 



He was the son-in-law of the great 

 Earl Grey and was the real draftsman of 

 the great reform laws of 1832. He was 

 hot-tempered, vain, impatient of criti- 

 cism, and entirely unrestrained in the 

 expression of his real opinions and in 

 that diplomacy which would have given 

 him far greater influence in the politics 

 of his day. He was regarded by the 

 people of England as their friend and 

 representative, when the people were not 

 as powerful as they are now. He was 

 excluded from ministries because it was 

 thought that no ministry could get along 

 with him, however much their policies 

 agreed in general outline with his. 



When Lord Melbourne and Lord John 

 Russell asked the Earl of Durham to go 

 to Canada he was most reluctant to do 

 so ; but the ministry, Lord Melbourne, 

 and others pledged themselves to back 

 him in every way and gave him almost 

 unlimited power to deal with the situa- 

 tion. When he reached there, he found 

 it impossible to convict the rebels among 

 Papineau's followers before a French 

 jury, and finally they were induced to 

 admit their guilt. He pardoned all but 

 Papineau and a dozen others, against 

 whom he entered a decree of exile to the 

 Bermudas, with a penalty of death if 

 they returned. 



This disposition of the cases was well 

 received in Canada and was approved in 

 private letters of Melbourne and the 

 other ministers. Lord Brougham, how- 

 ever, who was then in the House of 

 Lords and the bitter enemy of Durham, 

 contended that this was contrary to the 

 British constitution and wholly beyond 

 Durham's authority. He was supported 

 by Lord Ellenborough. The ministry 

 ignominiously deserted Durham, repu- 

 diated his action, and acquiesced in 

 Brougham's demands. Durham at once 

 resigned and returned to England after 

 five months' service. The government 

 studiously refused to give him the ordi- 

 nary courtesies that a returning governor 

 general was in the habit of receiving. 

 His figure was a pathetic one. He was 

 but 48 years of age, with an ability sec- 

 ond to none in England ; but his life 

 seemed a complete failure and within two 

 years he died — a broken-hearted man. 



A REMARKABLE STATU PAPER 



During his five months, however, he 

 had seen clearly into the difficulties of 

 Canadian government, and left a report 

 which has been pronounced by high au- 

 thority to be one of the greatest state 

 papers in British history, and which 

 really has been the basis of the highly 

 successful policy pursued by Great Brit- 

 ain since in dealing with those peoples 

 who have remained a part of her so-called 

 empire, but who have inherited, because 

 of their Anglo-Saxon origin, their love of 

 popular government and of individual 

 liberty. 



He recommended .that the Upper and 

 Lower Canadas be governed by a single 

 Parliament and with local self-govern- 

 ment for each province, and he fore- 

 shadowed the union of all of the British 

 provinces in North America. He urged 

 the adoption of responsible govern- 

 ment — that is, the executive control by 

 the leaders of the majority in the legis- 

 lature. He said : "The Crown must sub- 

 mit to necessary consequences of rep- 

 resentative institutions, and if it has to 

 carry on the government in union with a 

 representative body, it must consent to 

 carry it on by means of those in whom 

 that representative body has confidence." 



He said : "The constitution of the gov- 

 ernment, the regulation of foreign rela- 

 tions and of trade with the mother coun- 

 try and the other British colonies and 

 foreign nations, and the disposal of the 

 public lands are the only points on which 

 the mother country requires control." 



Local municipal government, in Dur- 

 ham's view, bore an important relation- 

 ship to general government. He had 

 noted the absence of adequate municipal 

 institutions in Lower Canada. He said : 

 "A general legislature which manages the 

 private business of every parish, in addi- 

 tion to the common business of the coun- 

 try, wields a power which no single body, 

 however popular in its constitution, ought 

 to have — a power which must be destruc- 

 tive of any constitutional balance." 



He thought that by establishing an 

 adequate system of local government the 

 general government would be relieved of 

 those matters which are not its proper 



