the Home
Government. In the selection of persons for public offices his
Excellency was to be guided exclusively by the comparison of the claims
of the candidates by reason of past services or personal qualifications;
and as a general rule no person was to be appointed to office who was
not either a native of the Province or a settled inhabitant of it.
Exceptions to this latter rule were admitted where a knowledge of some
particular art or science was demanded, and where no Provincial
candidate could be found possessing the necessary qualifications. His
Excellency was also left free from restriction in the choice of those
officers immediately attached to his own person. There were various
other directions, not necessary to be specified, on the subjects of
patronage and pensions, salaries and fees, and the Provincial Post
Office. The Clergy Reserves question was dealt with in the most general
manner, no definite course being suggested; and the instructions on this
subject are absolutely devoid of historical or other value. With regard
to the Land-Granting Department, it was assumed that some of the
grievances had been remedied. Reference was made to a despatch of Lord
Ripon's on the subject, and it was stated that any ambiguity therein was
to be removed, while prompt obedience to the instructions embodied
therein was inculcated. Upper Canada College, established by Sir John
Colborne only five years before this time, had already become a ground
of offence to many Reformers. The Assembly, in their Address to His
Majesty, had declared that it was upheld at great public expense, with
high salaries to its principal masters. They had expressed the opinion
that the Province in general derived very little advantage from it, and
that it might be dispensed with. On this subject Lord Glenelg remarked
that there was no desire to retain any charge for the establishment more
than sufficient to suitably provide for the effective performance of the
teachers; but the advantages of such an institution, it was said, ought
to be great, and if the Province derived no benefit from it the
explanation was to be found in some error of management susceptible of
remedy. His Lordship remarked that he should deeply lament the abolition
of a college "of which the defects would appear so remediable, and of
which it does not seem easy to exaggerate the benefits." As for King's
College, which was another educational bone of contention between the
two bran