that was condemned having been the year before strongly supported by both parties. 2. The general election was about to take place, and all parties were busy with canvassing and addresses. The Ultra-Radical party, which apparently draws its inspirations from the most "advanced" portions of the American democracy, adopted the line of attempting to bind their candidates by pledges on every question of the day. A very firm stand was made against this unconstitutional attempt at dictation, by some of the men of highest position in the colony, who refused to submit to what would utterly destroy the House of Representatives for every useful purpose as a deliberative body, by converting its members into a mere meeting of delegates to register the decisions of irresponsible committees.

These are the processes by which a real feeling is brought home to public men of their duties and responsibilities, by which statesmen are formed, and the public mind educated in the working of constitutional government. And it must be evident to any one who calmly observes what is passing in those provinces, that, in the

short time during which they can be considered to have been in possession of real responsible government, they have made great and important steps in its practical assertion according to its true theory. This consideration cannot but raise the Canadian people in the estimation of every Englishman who visits that colony, and of every one else acquainted with the privileges which they enjoy under their essentially free constitution.*

* It was, doubtless, a sense of this well-established and important fact that showed itself in the cordial and animated reception which the authorities and people of Boston gave, in the month of October last, to the Governor-General of these provinces, and to the large body of distinguished Canadians who accompanied him. The occasion was a railway celebration, on the completion of the Vermont central line from Montreal to Boston. The mayor and corporation of Boston, and other eminent persons of that city, had repaired to Montreal to invite the Queen's representative, the ministers and the leading members of the Canadian Parliament, the municipal authorities, and the most prominent individuals of the latter city, to a friendly fête in commemoration of an event pregnant with great prospective commercial advantages to both those wealthy communities. The invitation was accepted; the Governor-General, surrounded by his ministers, and a large assemblage of persons of distinguished position and character in Canada, was received by the authorities and the whole people of Boston, not only with the most munificent hospitality, but with marked demonstrations of honour and respect to himself as Her Majesty's representative, and the constitutional head of the Canadian people. The Canadian

The general results of the complete introduction of Constitutional Government in Canada

ministers also, and the distinguished individuals with them, met with a reception that spoke a sense of their being fully appreciated as representing a people holding a place among the free governments of the world. In that light the celebration was looked upon even by the local papers in distant parts of the Union, where I chanced at the time to see them, and it was spoken of in a very gratifying manner.

In point of fact, as I have undertaken to express an opinion on the present constitutional state of the government of Canada, I cannot withhold my conviction that it possesses a far greater degree of real freedom than it could acquire by any imitation, such as the ultra-Radical party are apparently aiming at, of any of the peculiarities of the constitution of the United States. The Executive in Canada, holding precisely the same relative position as the Crown with us, has far less direct power and patronage than the President of the United States. The ministerial responsibility, also, is far greater and more immediate than anything that can exist under the system of the United States Government. In Canada they are, as with us, members of Parliament, and ready and obliged to answer in their places any questions, and to meet any charges brought against them. The ministers of the United States are not permitted to enter the Legislature, nor can they be displaced by a hostile vote; during the whole term of their being ministers, they are entirely free to act in any way they choose, under the direction of the President (who may, if he pleases, act in the most important matters without them), and, if they satisfy him, it matters not to them what the rest of the nation may think of them or their measures. And it should be remembered also by that ultra-party, that the adoption of portions of the United States' system of government, without the whole, would form a constitution far less guarded by constitutional checks than that of the United States; for this

may, I think, be stated as follows:-First. That although many most estimable persons continue to think the experiment had better not have been tried, all now acquiesce in it, and are prepared to make the best of it; while the great majority of the community look with satisfaction and hopefulness on the change that has taken place from the old mode of administering the

simple reason, that the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States hold in their hands a supreme and arbitrary power of declaring what is and what is not consistent with the written constitution, and can, consequently, disallow and annul any attempt of any ultra-party to go beyond it. The British constitution, being an unwritten one, and the venerable result of the wisdom of successive ages, has no such arbitrary check; and while it rests on the good sense and moderation of an enlightened public opinion, will never need such. Let, however, numbers overbear weight of character and authority, and our constitution has no ulterior appeal, and must be swept away. Our needful and useful reforms have hitherto been kept within that dangerous boundary, and it is to be hoped ever will be. There was no constitutional point which I had an opportunity of discussing with able and intelligent men of all parties in the United States and in Canada, which was adverted to by them with greater interest than this; for it is there deeply felt, that, of all the nations of the civilized world, Great Britain alone has, through the shock of long-past as well as recent convulsions, preserved the principle of authority and the sentiments of respect and reverence, and has, therefore, the better chance of preserving, as of old, wisdom in her councils, and the blessing of Providence on her course.

affairs of the colony, and at the same time feel a not unjustifiable pride in the reflection that they now possess a system of government, in all the most important respects precisely analogous to that of the British Constitution. Secondly. That the Conservative party are recovering the good feeling that a large portion of them so entirely lost at the period of the unfortunate occurrences at Montreal in April, 1849,* of which a signal proof was very recently given in the presentation of an Address by the Mayor and Corporation of Montreal, and a large number of the inhabitants, to the Governor-General, on the occasion of his return from the gratifying and in all respects important reception at Boston. That address bespoke an entire oblivion and reconciliation in respect of the past. It was responded to in a spirit and in words that will long live in the hearts and memories of the people of Montreal.

* Most fortunately, and by the wise forbearance of those in authority, no blood was shed; and consequently no rankling wound was left in the breasts of either party. Had the British arms been called in to support by force either of the exasperated parties at that critical moment, half a century would not have effaced the mischief.