THE PEERAGE.

573

CHAPTER XV.

[1844-1845.]

THE PEERAGE.

Metcalfe's Difficulties-His Sufferings-Progress of his Malady—Intimation
of a Peerage-Letters from the Queen, Sir Robert Peel, and Lord Stanley
-Continuance in the Colony-Increased Sufferings-Correspondence with
Lord Stanley-Departure from Canada.

I AM afraid that I have conveyed but a faint im-
pression of the difficulties which beset Metcalfe's
path at this period of his career. He used to say,
that no one but himself and his friend and private
secretary, Captain Higginson, had any conception
of them. Only his fine temper, his high courage,
and his sustaining sense of rectitude, could have
enabled him to bear up against such trials. "I
never witnessed," said one who had had a long
personal experience of the anxieties and irritations
of Canadian politics*"I never witnessed such
patience under provocation. I am speaking now
of what I saw myself, and could not have believed

* Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield. "View of Sir Charles Metcalfe's Government of Canada."

without seeing. It was not merely quiet endurance, but a constant good-humored cheerfulness and lightness of heart in the midst of trouble enough to provoke a saint or make a strong man ill. To those who, like me, have seen three Governors of Canada literally worried to death, this was a glorious spectacle."

But rightly to understand what these heroic powers of endurance were, it must ever be borne in mind that they were exercised under the depressing influence of a malignant disorder which was eating into his life. On his first arrival in Canada some favorable symptoms had developed themselves; but they were evanescent and deceptive. Dr. O'Shoughnessy, who had accompanied him to Kingston, was compelled to return to England in the early summer of 1843. He was succeeded in the medical charge of Sir Charles Metcalfe by Dr. Bradford, of the 23rd Fusiliers, who pursued the same course as his predecessor-that recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie. In the autumn he in turn was called away by his military duties; -"and then," wrote Metcalfe, "having apparently derived no benefit from doctoring, I did without it for two or three months;"but at the end of that time he acknowledged that he had "rather worse success on the whole without the doctors than with them;"* and two eminent practitioners of Kingston were called in to attend him. Different remedies, external and internal, were applied; but apparently with no success. At the end of March, writing of the mode of treatment

* MS. Memorandum by Sir C. T. Metcalfe.

PROGRESS OF DISEASE.

575

adopted by these gentlemen, and of its results, he said to Mr. Martin:

"It is now left very much to nature.

It

has been nearly stationary, neither better nor worse, for nearly three months; but it got rapidly worse while the nitric acid and arsenic mixture was applied. The doctors have recommended my return to England, and I would gladly adopt that remedy if I could with propriety do so, but public duty puts that out of the question, and no personal consideration would induce me to quit my post at present."

Whilst Sir Charles Metcalfe was writing the letter from which this passage is taken, the gentleman to whom it was addressed was earnestly considering how assistance could best be afforded to the sufferer. The application of a strong caustic, known as chloride of zinc, had been strongly recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie; but the local practitioners, fearing its destructive effects, had hesitated to apply it. It appeared expedient, therefore, that a competent medical officer should be sent out from England to carry out the mode of treatment recommended by Brodie and Martin. The kindly solicitude which Lord Stanley had felt and expressed had been shared by the Queen, who declared her anxiety that some experienced surgeon should be sent out by the mail which was to leave England at the beginning of the following month. Mr. Martin and Mr. Brownrigg had both placed themselves in communication with the Colonial Secretary, and the result was that Mr. George Pollock,* House-Surgeon of St. George's Hospital, in whom both Brodie and

* Son of General Sir George Pollock, G.C.B.

Martin had unbounded confidence, was despatched by the April steamer to Canada.

On the 27th of that month Sir Charles Metcalfe wrote to Mr. Martin:

"I am most thankful to you and Sir Benjamin Brodie for all your kindness; and I shall be obliged to you if you will tell him that I am very sensible of it. Mr. Pollock is arrived. He is very agreeable and winning in his manners, and his conver sation, reputation, and experience afford encouragement. He is about to have a consultation with my other doctors, and will afterwards, I conclude, proceed to business. I shall put myself entirely in his hands, and abide by his judgment and treatment."

The most sanguine expectations were entertained in England that the remedy now prescribed by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and under minute instructions from him administered by one thoroughly ac quainted with its uses and capable of judging its effects, would produce the desired result. But the disorder had reached a stage at which no human skill could arrest its progress. As the year advanced, its ravages became more and more apparent -its effects more and more distressing. For some years it had been attended with little natural pain; but now it had not only become locally painful, but was attended with more remote symptoms of a most afflicting character. Towards the end of the year it entirely destroyed the sight of one of his eyes.

Until this calamity befel him, he had written all his public and private letters with his own hand. Even brief formal despatches, acknowledging or enclosing other communications, he had drafted him

LETTER TO MR. MARTIN.

577

self; but now he was, to his sore distress, compelled to use the hand of another. The last autograph despatch which I can find is dated December 21st, 1844. Not many days afterwards he transmitted to Mr. Martin the following painful account of himself:

SIR CHARLES METCALFE TO MR. J. R. MARTIN.

"Montreal, January 3, 1845.

"MY DEAR MARTIN,-I have three kind letters of yours unanswered. So long as I had the use of my eyes I hoped that a day would come when I could take up my pen and thank you for them; but to do that now I am obliged to borrow the aid of another hand, as my right eye is quite blind, and the other cannot be exerted with impunity. I am compelled to abstain almost entirely from reading and writing, both of which operations are performed for me; thus much is in explanation of my not writing to you with my own hand.

"Pollock has quitted me on his return to London. I am exceedingly sorry to part with him, not only as a medical adviser, of whose skill and judgment I have a high opinion, and who had acquired considerable experience regarding the state of my complaint, but also as a most agreeable companion in whose society I had great pleasure. Highly as I think of Pollock, I have lost all faith in chloride of zinc; that powerful but destructive remedy has been applied over and over again without efficacy to the same parts of my cheek.

"The disease remains uneradicated, and has spread to the eye and taken away its sight. This at least is my opinion, although I am bound to hesitate in entertaining it, as I am not sure that Pollock is satisfied of the extension of the actual disease to the eye, but if it be not the disease which has produced the blindness it must be the remedy. I am inclined, however, to believe that it is in reality the disease-both from appearances and from the continual pain. The complaint