things, though in this Province, owing to sparsity of population and
other local causes, the result did not immediately become apparent.
Simcoe was a strong-minded, as well as a conscientious man. He had a
policy of his own for the government of the country, both at large and
in detail, and during his _regime_ he carried out that policy as to him
seemed best. He from time to time went through the form of consulting
with his Executive Council, but, so far from receiving any impulse from
them, he invariably carried all before him at the Council Board, and was
the be-all and end-all of the Administration. He was, in short, a
beneficent despot, of high and disinterested views, who accomplished
much good for Upper Canada, and would doubtless have accomplished more
but for his too early removal. The moment his all-pervading influence
was gone, however, the mischief, as has already been seen, began to
work. President Russell granted public lands to Peter Russell, and
rapidly laid up a store of wealth. Where the head of the public service
was thus disposed to help himself, we may be sure that subordinate
officials were not slow to follow his example. Subsequent
Lieutenant-Governors were for the most part military men, with little
knowledge of the country's needs, and with a disposition to make their
voluntary exile as easy and agreeable--and withal as profitable--as
might be.[27] They naturally turned for counsel and assistance to their
Executive Councillors, who thus became the dispensers of patronage and
the supreme power in the State. The Crown's representative was a mere
tool in their hands. Their domination was complete. "A body of holders
of office thus constituted," says Lord Durham,[28] "without reference to
the people or their representatives, must in fact, from the very nature
of colonial government, acquire the entire direction of the affairs of
the Province. A Governor, arriving in a colony in which he almost
invariably has had no previous acquaintance with the state of parties or
the character of individuals, is compelled to throw himself almost
entirely upon those whom he finds placed in the position of his official
advisers. His first acts must necessarily be performed, and his first
appointments made, at their suggestion. And as these first acts and
appointments give a character to his policy, he is generally brought
thereby into immediate collision with the other parties in the country,
and thrown into more comp