ately but quite directly,
and there are critics of Sydenham who hold that his answer--for it was
his voice that spoke--surrendered the whole position. That answer took
the form of resolutions, moved by the most moderate reformer in the
Assembly, S. B. Harrison:

(i) That the head of the provincial executive {120} government of the
province, being within the limits of his government the representative
of the Sovereign, is not constitutionally responsible to any other than
the authority of the Empire.

(ii) That the representative of the Sovereign, for the proper conduct
and efficient disposal of public business, is necessarily obliged to
make use of the advice and assistance of subordinate officers in the
administration of his government.

(iii) That in order to preserve the harmony between the different
branches of the Provincial Parliament which is essential to the happy
conduct of public affairs, the principal of such subordinate officers,
advisers of the representative of the Sovereign, and constituting as
such the provincial administration under him ... ought always to be men
possessed of the public confidence 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.

(iv) That the house has the constitutional right of holding such
advisers politically responsible for every act of the Provincial
Government of a local {121} character sanctioned by such government
while such advisers continue in office."[59]

Of Sydenham's own doctrine of colonial government the outlines are
unmistakeable. A governor-general existed, responsible for his actions
solely to the imperial authority. Under that government the people had
full liberty to elect their representatives, through whom their desires
could be made known. It was the duty of the governor-general to
consult, on every possible detail, the popular will. Sydenham
therefore held it essential that the governor-general in Canada should
be one trained in the Imperial Parliament to interpret and to guide
popular expression of opinion; and he believed that in such
parliamentary diplomacy the governor-general would have to make many
minor surrenders. But he never recoiled from a position, which was
also that of Durham, that, as the proclamation of Union asserted, the
grant