n of his
injunctions left no alternative but to obey. Had Wilmot at once declared
the impracticability of Lord Stanley's schemes he might have been
recalled, but the responsibility of an utter failure would have rested
with his chief. The interested reports of his subordinate officers
unfortunately enabled him to hold out hopes of success which were never
realised and to furnish an excuse for his condemnation. The governor was
impatient of contradiction. He had been accustomed to debate; but the
sarcasm which falls harmless on the floor of St. Stephen's Chapel, in a
colony cuts to the bone. He forgot that the head of a government can
hardly say too little of men or measures. In a conflict of words, to an
executive chief victory and defeat are alike pernicious.

The usual order had been given that the governor, during his residence
in the colony, should enjoy the complimentary distinctions of office. It
was commonly understood that his stay would be prolonged; but he died
soon after his retirement (Feb. 3, 1847), in the sixty-fourth year of
his age. The treatment he had received from the colonial-office, and his
death far from the honored sepulchre of his fathers and the scenes of
his early political fame, produced a general sentiment of regret. All
the houses of business showed marks of mourning. A public funeral,
attended by the administrator and the newly-arrived governor, was
thronged by the citizens. It had been officially arranged that, except
the ministering priest, the clergy of all denominations should walk in
their several classes, but in one body, and the archdeacon, the
moderator, and the vicar-general, as representatives of the three
endowed churches, abreast. The Anglican clergy evaded this plan by
stepping up before the coffin. When, however, the bearers were in
motion, the catholic priests, by a rapid evolution, shot a-head of the
procession. An ornamented Gothic tomb was erected in St. David's
burial-ground to the memory of Sir Eardley Wilmot by subscription. It
stands near the highway. His remains were interred close to the tomb of
Collins.

Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot was descended from the ancient family of
Eardley of Audely, Staffordshire. He was grandson of Wilmot, lord chief
justice of the court of common pleas--a judge celebrated for justice and
piety. Sir E. Wilmot was twice married,--first to Elizabeth, daughter of
Dr. Parry, of Bath; and afterwards to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir R.
Chester