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very beneficial tendency, as evincing a fostering care for the colony which can hardly fail to be highly appreciated.

I have to apologise for some repetition in this despatch of sentiments nearly the same as those expressed on former occasions on which I have noticed the same subject. It is one which has unavoidably occupied much of my attention, and is brought before me continually by daily occurrences. I feel that the little power of usefulness that I might have had under different circumstances is obstructed by the plan of administration introduced into this colony; but that any attempt to remove the impediment would most probably be still more injurious. I have therefore dilated on the peculiarity of my position more frequently than may seem necessary; and I trust that I shall not again trouble your Lordship on this topic.

[The anticipations shadowed forth in the preceding despatch were soon fulfilled. Sir Charles Metcalfe said truly that "the chief difficulty of his position was to act according to his sense of what was right without breaking with his Council." In a preceding despatch he had spoken of the requirements of his Council, and the impossibility of submitting to them consistently with the duty that he owed to the Imperial Government. “I anı required," he said, "to give myself up entirely to the Council; to submit absolutely to their dictation; to have no judgment of my own; to bestow the patronage of the Government exclusively on their partisans; to proscribe their opponents; and to make some public and unequivocal declaration of my adhesion to these conditions, including the complete nullification of her Majesty's Government." But he was not disposed to purchase peace on such terms as these. As the autumn advanced, the prospect of a rupture with the Executive Council seemed more and more imminent: "At the end of November the crisis came. The question which precipitated it at last was a question of patronage. Metcalfe had appointed to his personal Staff a French-Canadian officer who was distasteful to Mr. Lafontaine. appointment was intended to conciliate the French-Canadian_community, but it offended their chief. The leaders of both parties in the Council then waited on the Governor-General, intent on advancing the pretensions of the Executive. They demanded that the Governor-General should make no appointment without the sanction of his Ministers. During two long sittings, on the 24th and 25th of November, Baldwin and Lafontaine pressed their demands with energy and resolution; but Metcalfe, in his own placid way, was equally energetic and resolute. On the 26th of November,

The

all the members of the Council, with the exception of Mr. Daly, finding that they could not shake the firmness of the Governor-General, resigned their offices, and prepared to justify their conduct to Parliament and the colony at large."]

CLXI

EARL GREY TO LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR SIR JOHN HAVREY,

K.C.B.1

[Trans. Imperial Blue Books relating to Canada, 1844-48, Vol. XV.] Extracts from a Despatch from Earl Grey to Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Harvey, K.C.B., dated

Downing Street, 3 November, 1846.

I have received your Despatch of the 15th September, marked "Private and Confidential," in which you communicate to me your views upon the state of affairs which you have found on arriving in Nova Scotia.

1 This and the despatch which follows contain the scheme of "full responsible government" as worked out in Nova Scotia by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Harvey, and in Canada by Lord Elgin.

Circumstances prevented me from answering your Despatch, as you wished me to have done, by the packet which left England on the 3d instant; but the interval which has since elapsed has enabled me to devote more time to the consideration of the questions which you have brought under my notice than the brief space between the arrival and the departure of the North American packet would have allowed me to do.

I perceive, from your representation of the position of affairs in Nova Scotia, that there are questions to be determined in respect to the government of that province of no ordinary difficulty, and that it is of the utmost importance that the first measures of your administration should be preceded by the most careful deliberation. The knowledge which I possess of the local politics of Nova Scotia is at present too limited to enable me, with confidence in my own judgment, to give you any positive and detailed directions as to the course which circumstances may require you to adopt in the present conjuncture; but though it is out of my power to give you such instructions, there are certain general principles which ought, as I conceive, to govern your conduct in this and in similar cases; and which, as they admit of being stated, ought, I think, to be communicated to you for your guidance.

I shall advert first to the important topic of the composition of the Legislative Council. In making appointments to this body, it ought undoubtedly to be the object of the administrator of the Government so to compose it as to make it fairly represent the opinion of the majority of the intelligent members of the community; but supposing the selection of the present members to have been ill-advised, and that the Council in consequence is not in harmony with public opinion, the question arises, what is then the proper course to be adopted? Under such circumstances there are two considerations to which it is necessary to advert. First, that it is impossible to allow the Legislative Council to obstruct permanently the passing of measures called for by public opinion, and sent up by the popular branch of the Legislature. Secondly, that it is a serious evil to be compelled to make an addition to the members of this body for the purpose of changing the character of the majority; since each such addition creates both a precedent and a necessity for a similar and perhaps larger addition whenever a change in public feeling gives the ascendancy to a new party in the assembly. It is difficult to reconcile these almost conflicting considerations, but this, in my opinion, may be attempted with the greatest hopes of success, by adopting as a rule that an addition is not to be made to the Legislative Council with a view to changing the character of the majority, except under circumstances of clear and obvious necessity. An anticipation that public business will be impeded because there is a majority in the Legislative Council attached to the political party which has not the confidence of the colony is insufficient to justify the appointment of additional members. Practical inconvenience must have actually arisen, and to a serious extent, before resort can with propriety be had to any measure for increasing the number of the Council. If that body be found obstructing pertinaciously the progress of public business, and the passing of laws which public opinion demands, an addition to it would then be felt to be a just and necessary measure, and would not excite the same indignation, on the part even of those against whom it might be directed, as would be the case if adopted on lighter grounds; while the probability is that the members of the Legislative Council, knowing that if it should become necessary this measure must ultimately be resorted to, will shrink from creating the necessity by obstinately opposing themselves to the real opinion of the intelligent classes of the community.

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I come now to the second question which you have submitted to me in your Despatch, namely, the propriety of dissolving the present House of Assembly.

I am of opinion that under all the circumstances of the case, the best course for you to adopt is to call upon the members of your present Execu

tive Council to propose to you the names of the gentlemen whom they would recommend to supply the vacancies, which I understand to exist, in the present Board. If they should be successful in submitting to you an arrangement to which no valid objection arises, you will of course continue to carry on the government through them, so long as it may be possible to do so satisfactorily, and as they possess the necessary support from the Legislature. Should the present Council fail in proposing to you an arrangement which it would be proper for you to accept, it would then be your natural course, in conformity with the practice in analogous cases in this country, to apply to the opposite party, and should you be able, through their assistance, to form a satisfactory Council, there will be no impropriety in dissolving the Assembly upon their advice; such a measure, under those circumstances, being the only mode of escaping from the difficulty which would otherwise exist of carrying on the government of the province upon the principles of the constitution.

The object with which I recommend to you this course, is that of making it apparent that any transfer which may take place of political power from the hands of one party in the province to those of another is the result not of an act of yours but of the wishes of the people themselves, as shown by the difficulty experienced by the retiring party in carrying on the government of the province according to the forms of the constitution. To this I attach great importance; I have therefore to instruct you to abstain from changing your Executive Council until it shall become perfectly clear that they are unable, with such fair support from yourself as they have a right to expect, to carry on the government of the province satisfactorily, and command the confidence of the Legislature.

Of whatsoever party your Council may be composed, it will be your duty to act strictly upon the principle you have yourself laid down in the memorandum delivered to the gentleman with whom you have communicated, that, namely, "of not identifying yourself with any one party," but instead of this, "making yourself both a mediator and a moderator between the influential of all parties." In giving, therefore, all fair and proper support to your Council for the time being, you will carefully avoid any acts which can possibly be supposed to imply the slightest personal objection to their opponents, and also refuse to assent to any measures which may be proposed to you by your Council, which may appear to you to involve an improper exercise of the authority of the Crown for party rather than for public objects. In exercising, however, this power of refusing to sanction measures which may be submitted to you by your council, you must recollect that this power of opposing a check upon extreme measures proposed by the party for the time in the government, depends entirely for its efficacy upon its being used sparingly, and with the greatest possible discretion. A refusal to accept advice tendered to you by your council is a legitimate ground for its members to tender to you their resignation, a course they would doubtless adopt should they feel that the subject on which a difference had arisen between you and themselves was one upon which public opinion would be in their favour. Should it prove to be so, concession to their views must, sooner or later, become inevitable, since it cannot be too distinctly acknowledged that it is neither possible nor desirable to carry on the government of any of the British provinces in North America in opposition to the opinion of the inhabitants.

Clearly understanding, therefore, that refusing to accede to the advice of your council for the time being upon a point on which they consider it their duty to insist, must lead to the question at issue being brought ultimately under the decision of public opinion, you will carefully avoid allowing any matter not of very grave concern, or upon which you cannot reasonably calculate upon being in the end supported by that opinion, to be made the subject of such a difference. And if, unfortunately, such a difference should arise, you will take equal care that its cause and the grounds of your own decision are made clearly to appear in written documents capable of being publicly quoted.

The adoption of this principle of action by no means involves the necessity of a blind obedience to the wishes and opinions of the members of your Council; on the contrary, I have no doubt that if they see clearly that your conduct is guided, not by personal favour to any particular men or party, but by a sincere desire to promote the public good, your objections to any measures proposed will have great weight with the Council, or should they prove unreasonable, with the Assembly, or, in last resort, with the public.

Such are the general principles upon which the constitutions granted to the North American colonies render it necessary that their government should be conducted. It is, however, I am well aware, far easier to lay down these general principles than to determine in any particular case what is that line of conduct which an adherence to them should prescribe. In this your own judgment and a careful consideration of the circumstances in which you are placed must be your guide; and I have only, in conclusion to assure you that Her Majesty will always be anxious to put the most favourable construction upon your conduct in the discharge of the arduous duties imposed upon you by the high situation you hold in Her service.

CLXII

EARL GREY TO LIEUT-GOVERNOR SIR JOHN HARVEY, K.C.B. [Trans.: Imperial Blue Books relating to Canada, 1844-48, Vol. XV.] Downing Street, 31 March, 1847.

Sir.

I have already acknowledged the receipt of your Despatch of the 2d February, enclosing two letters to yourself from your Executive Council, and I now propose to communicate the conclusions at which I have arrived after that attentive consideration which I have felt due, as well to the intrinsic merits of the views stated by your advisers, as to the respectable source from which the statement emanates.

In doing so, it will be convenient that I should at the same time advert to the correspondence which, soon after your assumption of the government of Nova Scotia, you had with Mr. Howe and his friends.

Upon a careful comparison of these very able papers, in which the members of your Council and their political opponents have stated their respective views as to the manner in which the Executive Government of Nova Scotia ought to be conducted, I am led to the conclusion that there is not in reality so wide a difference of principle between the conflicting parties as would at first sight appear to exist, and that it may not be impossible to chalk out a system of administration to be hereafter adopted, to which, without the slightest sacrifice of consistency, both might assent.

On the one hand, I find that the members of your Council declare that they "desire in no degree to weaken the responsibility of the Provincial Government to the Legislature," and I gather from the general tenor of their papers of the 28th and 30th of January, that they are aware that, in the present state of affairs, and of public opinion in Nova Scotia, it is necessary that the Governor of the province should, in administrating its affairs, have the advice and assistance of those who can command the confidence of the Legislature, and more especially of that branch of the Legislature which directly represents the people.

On the other hand, I can hardly doubt that the gentlemen of the opposite party who have insisted so strongly upon the necessity of what is termed "responsible government," would admit the justice and importance of many of the arguments which have been used, in order to show the danger and inconvenience of making the general tenure of offices in the colonial service to depend upon the fluctuations of political contests in the Assembly. I am the more convinced that the gentlemen of the opposition will recognize the force of these arguments, because I observe in the

various papers in which they have stated their views, frequent references, either direct or implied, to the practice of this country, as that which affords the best model for imitation in laying down rules as to the manner in which the government of Nova Scotia should be carried on. Now there is scarcely any part of the system of government in this country which I consider of greater value than that, which though not enforced by any written law, but deriving its authority from usage and public opinion, makes the tenure of the great majority of officers in the public service to depend upon good behaviour. Although with the exception of those who hold the higher judicial situations, or situations in which judicial independence has been considered to be necessary, the whole body of public servants in the United Kingdom hold their offices technically during the pleasure of the Crown, in practice all but the very small proportion of offices which are distinguished as political, are held independently of party changes, nor are those who have once been appointed to them ever in point of fact removed, except in consequence of very obvious misconduct or unfitness. Thus, in fact, though the legal tenure, "during good behaviour," is rare, tenure during good behaviour, in the popular sense of the term, may be said to be the general rule of our public service.

The exception is in the case of those high public servants whom it is necessary to invest with such discretion as really to leave in their hands the whole direction of the policy of the empire in all its various departments. Such power must, with a representative government, be subject to constant control by Parliament, and is therefore administered only by such persons as from time to time enjoy the confidence of Parliament as well as of the Crown. These heads of departments, or Ministers, together with their immediate subordinates who are required to represent or support them in Parliament, are almost invariably members of one or other House, and hold their offices only as long as they enjoy the confidence of Parliament.

Though it is not without some inconveniences, I regard this system as possessing upon the whole very great advantages. We owe to it that the public servants of this country, as a body, are remarkable for their experience and knowledge of public affairs, and honourably distinguished by the zeal and integrity with which they discharge their duties, without reference to party feeling; we owe to it also, that as the transfer of power from one party in the State to another is followed by no change in the holders of any but a few of the highest offices, political animosities are not in general carried to the same height, and do not so deeply agitate the whole frame of society as in those countries in which a different practice prevails. The system with regard to the tenure of office which has been found to work so well here, seems well worthy of imitation in the British American Colonies, and the small population and limited revenue of Nova Scotia, as well as the general occupation and social state of the community, are, in my opinion, additional reasons for abstaining, so far as regards that province, from going further than can be avoided, without giving up the principle of executive responsibility, in making the tenure of offices in the public service dependent upon the result of party contests. In order to keep the Executive Government in harmony with the Legislature, it is doubtless necessary that the direction of the internal policy of the colony should be entrusted to those who enjoy the confidence of the Provincial Parliament, but it is of great moment not to carry the practice of changing public officers further than is absolutely necessary for the attainment of that end, lest the administration of public affairs should be deranged by increasing the bitterness of party spirit, and subjecting the whole machinery of Government to perpetual change and uncertainty.

In the practical application of these views, there will, I am aware, be room for considerable difference of opinion.

In this, as in all questions of classification, varying circumstances and the various views taken by different men, will give rise to discussions and occasional alterations with respect to particular offices. Your acquaintance with what has passed, and is passing in the mother country, will suggest to

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