n the form of a despatch from the Colonial Office, enclosing copies of
instructions which had been sent to Sir Archibald Campbell,
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. It appeared that the strenuous
exertions of the Reformers of that Province had been crowned with
success. Sir Archibald had been directed to surrender to the Assembly
the casual and territorial revenues of the Crown, and to concede a
responsible Executive. This was not all. Sir Francis was himself
distinctly informed that what had been conceded in one British North
American Province could not be withheld from the rest. Scarcely had this
piece of intelligence been chewed and digested ere he received another
despatch which added to his discomfiture by confirming the previous one,
and by seating the obnoxious doctrine at his very door. He was
instructed that the Executive Councils in the various North American
colonies were thenceforward to be composed of individuals possessing the
confidence of the people. This, though not altogether unexpected, was
almost past bearing. He saw the house of cards which he had constructed
with such pains about to crumble before him. If this course were
persisted in, all his efforts to pack a House of Assembly would erelong
prove to have been made in vain; for no Assembly would permanently
uphold a clique of Councillors in whose appointment they themselves had
had no voice, and in whose principles they had no confidence. Sir
Archibald Campbell and he were entirely of one mind as to the vexed
question at issue, and they were both firmly determined to resist such a
policy to the last ditch. Of Sir Archibald's proceedings it is
unnecessary for this work to present any detailed account. It will be
sufficient to say that he preferred to resign his office rather than
obey the instructions he had received, and that he carried out this
resolve during the following year, when he was succeeded by Sir John
Harvey. Sir Francis Head meanwhile contented himself as best he could
with vehement protests addressed to the Home Office. "The more seriously
I contemplate the political tranquillity of this Province," he
wrote,[262] "the more steadfastly am I confirmed in my opinion that cool,
stern, decisive, un-conciliating measures form the most popular
description of government that can be exercised towards the free and
high-minded inhabitants of the Canadas." The style of his despatches did
not improve with time. It was wordy, bombastic and slang