of further borrowings. After Poulett
Thomson, Durham's successor, became acquainted with Upper Canada--'the
finest country I ever saw,' wrote the man who had seen all Europe--he
testified: 'The finances are more deranged than we believed in
England.... All public works suspended. Emigration going on fast
_from_ the province. Every man's property worth only half what it
was.' Decidedly the political and financial problems of Canada
demanded the highest skill for their solution.

While things had come to this pass in Canada, Lord Durham's Report on
Canada had been presented to the British House of Commons and its
proposals of reform had been made known to the British public. It
revealed the incompetency of Lord Glenelg as colonial secretary; he
resigned and made way for Lord John Russell, who was in hearty accord
with the principles and recommendations of the Report. The chief
recommendation was that the only possible solution of the Canadian
problem lay in the political union of the two provinces. At first the
British {33} government was inclined to bring about this desirable end
by direct Imperial fiat, but in view of the determined opposition of
Upper Canada, it wisely decided to obtain the consent of the two
provinces themselves to a new status, and to induce them, if possible,
to unite of their own motion in a new political entity. The essential
thing was to obtain the consent of the governed; but they were
turbulent, torn by factions, and hard to bring to reason.

For a task of such difficulty and delicacy no ordinary man was
required. Sir John Colborne was not equal to it; he was a plain
soldier, but no diplomat. He was raised to the peerage as Lord Seaton
and transferred. A second High Commissioner, with practically the
powers of a dictator, was appointed governor-general in his stead.
This was a young parliamentarian, of antecedents, training, and outlook
very different from those of his predecessors. Instead of the Army or
the county family, the new governor-general represented the dignity of
old-fashioned London mercantile life. Charles Poulett Thomson had been
in trade; he had been a partner in the firm of Thomson, Bonar and Co.,
tallow-chandlers. Now tallow-chandlery is not {34} generally regarded
as a very exalted form of business, or the gateway to high position;
but in the days of candles it was a business of the first importance.
Candles were then the only light for the stately homes of E