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gratitude and praise, swollen by the voices of his countrymen in all parts of the colony, did not burst upon him as he departed from among them, his administration of the Canadian provinces is not the less to be regarded as a great success. He could not complete his work. The Almighty Providence, which had so afflicted him, forbade that he should do more; but he had done what, perhaps, no other man, under similar circumstances, would have effected. He went to Canada at what may be called the turning-point of the career of the colony. A little too much concession, or a little too much resistance to the inevitable progress of Liberalism, would have severed the Canadian provinces from the British Empire. It was not Metcalfe's duty to consider whether the colony were ripe for independence, or whether such independence would advantageously or injuriously affect the interests of the parent state; but it was his duty, as the representative of the Crown, to maintain the existing connexion, to support the presumed interests of the empire, and to encourage and protect the more loyal portion of the colonial community. In attempting this, he was brought into antagonism with what may be called the popular or democratic party. Metcalfe was called a popularity-seeker; but here, although he aimed at accomplishing what he believed would eventually produce the greatest good of the greatest number, the immediate effect of his measures was to embroil him, if not with the people, at least with the dispensers of popularity. In Canada as in Jamaica, he had been guided and sustained by the same prevailing sense of duty.

METCALFE'S GOVERNMENT OF CANADA. 605

And he had endeavored, by the same means, to bring about the same ends. He had endeavored to do justice to all men without distinction of political party or religious creed. He had endeavored to reconcile all parties to each other, and to cement their attachment to the Crown. But the bitterness of contending factions rendered the work of conciliation difficult; and, with the strongest desire to possess himself in peace with all, he found that he must either be at war with the most powerful and active party in the colony, or become a traitor to the Crown. These hostile circumstances brought into action, and displayed to full advantage, a quality which he possessed in very rare perfection, and which he would exercise, under strong compulsion, at any sacrifice of self. His mildness and gentleness were so conspicuous, both in public and private life, that it is probable his Canadian opponents did not suspect the existence of that indomitable resolution which they forced him to display. But it was by this resolution, not shutting out conciliatory measures when it was possible to resort to them with effect, that he stemmed the tide of usurpation which, but for the resistance he opposed to it, would utterly have destroyed the bonds which united the Canadian provinces to the mother country. For the full development of his policy he trusted to the operation of time. But the great affliction which struck him down in the midst of his career of usefulness, compelled him to leave incomplete that which he would have completed, had not the Almighty, for his own wise ends, laid an arresting hand upon the arm of his faithful servant.

CHAPTER XVI.

[1845-1846.]

THE END.

Metcalfe's Return to England-Residence in Mansfield-street-Progress of his Malady-The Oriental Club Address-Removal to Malshanger-Addresses from Canada and India-His last Days-Death-Character of Charles Metcalfe.

THE story of Charles Metcalfe's life is now nearly told. On the 16th of December, 1845, he again found himself on English soil. He arrived in great suffering. Death had by this time become to him merely "a question of time." It was obvious to the eminent professional gentlemen who were called in to his aid, that curative surgery could do nothing for him-conservative surgery little.

He was conveyed at first to his old resting-place -Mivart's Hotel. But a private residence was presently secured for him in Mansfield-street. It was expedient that he should remain in London, in order that he might have such benefit as the best surgical skill and medical advice in the country could afford. He was frequently visited by Sir Benjamin Brodie and Mr. Liston. Mr. Martin and Mr. Pollock were in daily attendance.

LAST RESIDENCE IN LONDON.

607

He was conscious that nothing could check the ravages of the frightful disease that was destroying him. He had ceased even to entertain a hope that it would be permitted to him to take his seat in the House of Lords. The Garter King-of-Arms wrote to him with a formula of the prescribed ceremony. And Court robe-makers sought his Lordship's patronage. But he smiled sorrowfully as he thought, now that the dreams of his ambitious youth had been realised, and the doors of Parliament thrown wide open to him, that he would never be suffered to cross the threshold.

He was never free from acute pain, except when under the influence of strong narcotics. But his patience and fortitude under this continual affliction were something beautiful to contemplate. He never uttered a word of complaint. Excepting in an increased gravity of manner there was nothing to indicate the extreme suffering he endured. All his old tenderness-his consideration for others-his pure unselfishness-still beautified his daily life. It was a privilege to attend upon one so grateful for small kindnesses, so unwilling to give trouble, so resigned under every dispensation. There were many on whom the spectacle of Metcalfe's heroic endurance had a grand and an abiding moral effect. Some of his oldest friends wrote to him, that if it should ever please God so to visit them, the lesson which he had taught them would not be thrown away.

He never betook himself to the sick-room, but, as far as his infirmities would allow him, went about

his daily avocations, or rather lived his habitual life, with little outward alteration. He received visits from his friends. He dictated letters. He took an interest in what was read to him. He seldom missed his accustomed drive in the Park. Many remember his closed carriage, and the glimpses which they caught of the poor bandaged face within it.

The expressions of sympathy, which came to him from all quarters, and in all possible shapes, must have touched the very core of his heart. One particular manifestation of the general commiseration which his sufferings excited, is worthy of notice. He was continually receiving letters, some from friends and some from strangers, suggesting different remedies which had been tried with success in cases similar to his own. One correspondent recommended Mesmerism, which had cured Miss Martineau; another, Hydropathy, at the "pure springs of Malvern;" a third, an application of the common dock-leaf; a fourth, an infusion of couch grass; a fifth, the baths of Docherte, near Vienna; a sixth, the volcanic hot springs of Karlsbad; a seventh, a wonderful plaster made of rose-leaves, olive oil, and turnip-juice; an eighth, a plaster and powder in which some part of a young frog was a principal ingredient; a ninth, a mixture of copperas and vinegar; a tenth, an application of pure ox-gall; an eleventh, a mixture of Florence oil and red precipitate; whilst a twelfth was certain of the good effects of Homeopathy, which had cured the wellknown "Charlotte Elizabeth." Besides these varied remedies, many men and women, with infallible

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