CANADA.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TC.O. 882
1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
THE present condition of Canada is a very remarkable one in the history of British Colonial Dependencies. After a long period of what may now be termed misgovernment, and a rebellion, from the effects of which a country does not readily recover, an era of contentment, prosperity, and loyalty has ensued to which it is difficult to find
■ parallel. Much of this is attributable to the form of government, usually denominated Responsible Government, which prevails in this as well as in the other North American Provinces, and to the vigorous energies of a population derived from the mixed races of Great Britain, Ireland, and France. But this flourishing state will best be confirmed by ascertained facts, which I will briefly submit.
Responsible Government was established in Canada on the re-union of the two Provinces, though it can scarcely be said to have been thoroughly adopted before the administration of Sir C. Bagot, who succeeded Lord Sydenham. In his time, and in that of his successors, especially in Lord Elgin's, the system fully obtained, and it has worked most satisfactorily. Closely observing the model of the British Constitution, ministers retire when adverse majorities affirm their inability to carry on the Government to the satisfaction of the country, and they are succeeded by men in whom greater confidence is reposed. All legislative enact- ments, as in the mother country, require the formal assent of the Crown before they can become the law of the land; and as a prudent avoiksoo is observed by the Imperial authorities in all interfadenes with legislation purely domestic, so dosrebe local Parlia ment submit with a good grace to that control over its laws which is only 'enrolled by the Chewb matters of prerogative, or when principles are vio-