e government possessed confidence in
another place--I thought it was not my duty to excite opposition to
measures which they thought it might be proper to adopt; and therefore I
took them all upon their recommendation. Very possibly I was wrong in so
doing; indeed, it appears that I was wrong; but I took the course which
I then considered it my duty to take. I declared that I would not follow
the example of those who, being convinced of the certainty that the
country would be involved in a war, yet thought proper to oppose all
measures that were necessary for carrying on that war. Neither would I
deny assistance to those who were absent, and who were carrying on the
government to the best of their ability; but I would give the government
a fair support, in order to pacify a country which might be in a state
of war or rebellion. That was the course which I followed on the
occasion alluded to by the noble viscount. With respect to the Earl of
Durham, I am personally unacquainted with him; and I considered that the
noble viscount and her majesty's government ought to have known best who
was the person most qualified to act as governor of Canada.

_August 9, 1838._

* * * * *

_Lord Durham's Ordinance[20] a grossly illegal Act._

A grossly illegal act has been committed--not a mere technical error, or
one having reference to small or nice points of law, but an illegal act
of great magnitude, and relating to points of the most grave
importance--an act so clearly illegal, that no man capable of
understanding the first principles of justice can doubt of its
impropriety. It is impossible that the people of this country can suffer
any man to be driven into banishment without trial, or that they can
allow him, afterwards, to be condemned to death, without having been
convicted of any crime but that of returning to his own country.

[Footnote 20: The Earl of Durham, governor-general of the Canadas, had
issued an ordinance, transporting to Bermuda Dr. Nelson and seven
others, guilty by confession of high treason, and subjecting them to
death if they returned to Canada. Lord Brougham, actuated, as was
asserted by some, by personal feeling against Lord Durham, protested
against this act in the face of the country. His speech on the occasion
was one of the most powerful he ever delivered. It is scarcely necessary
to add that Lord Durham immediately and precipitately resigned his
governorship.]

_A