at home" and also to the
legislature of the province, if it were so, "then all colonial
government becomes impossible." The governor, in his opinion, "must
therefore be the minister [i.e. the colonial secretary], in which case
he cannot be under control of men in the colony."

When the assembly met it was soon evident that the Reformers in that
body were determined to have a definite understanding on the
all-important question of responsible government; and the result was
that the governor-general, a keen politician, immediately recognised the
fact that, unless he yielded to the feeling of the majority, he would
lose all his influence. There is every reason to believe that the
resolutions which were eventually passed in favour of responsible
government, in amendment to those moved by Mr. Baldwin, had his approval
before their introduction. The two sets of resolutions practically
differed little from each other, and the inference to be drawn from the
political situation of these times is that the governor's friends in the
council thought it advisable to gain all the credit possible with the
public for the passage of resolutions on the all-absorbing question of
the day, since it was obvious that it had to be settled in some
satisfactory and definite form. These resolutions embodying the
principles of the new constitution of Canada, were as follows: (1) "That
the head of the executive government of the province, being within the
limits of his government the representative of the sovereign, is
responsible to the imperial authority alone, but that, nevertheless, the
management of our local affairs can only be conducted by him with the
assistance, counsel, and information of subordinate officers in the
province. (2) That, in order to preserve between the different branches
of the provincial parliament that harmony which is essential to the
peace, welfare and good government of the province, the chief advisers
of the representative of the sovereign, constituting a provincial
administration under him, ought to be men possessed of the confidence of
the representatives of the people; thus affording a guarantee that the
well-understood wishes and interests of the people, which our gracious
sovereign has declared shall be the rule of the provincial government,
will on all occasions be faithfully represented and advocated. (3) That
the people of this province have, moreover, the right to expect from
such provincial administration, t