d
given additional strength to their authority, and Gibbon Wakefield, who
was then a member of Assembly, believed that Baldwin had already taken
too great a share of responsibility to be willing to occupy a secondary
place under an energetic governor.[2] Indeed an unwillingness to allow
the governor-general his former unlimited initiative becomes henceforth
a mark of the leaders of the Reformers, and La Fontaine, who had
resented Sydenham's activity as much as his anti-nationalist policy,
protested against the suggestion that Charles Buller should be sent to
Canada, because he "apprehended that Buller would be disposed to take
an active part himself in our politics."[3] There seemed to be no
obstacle in the way of a complete victory for reforming principles.
The French remained as solidly as ever a unit, and under La Fontaine
they were certain to continue to place their solidarity at the disposal
of the Upper Canada reformers. The latter, _ultras_ and moderates
alike, were too adequately represented, in all their shades and
aspects, in the cabinet, to be willing to shake its power; and {163}
the sympathetic co-operation between Irishmen in Canada, and those who
at that time in Ireland were beginning another great democratic
agitation, made the stream of Hibernian immigration a means of
reinforcing the Canadian progressives. One of the best evidences of
the growth of Reform was the persistent agitation of the Civil List
question. Following up their action under Bagot, the reformers
demanded the concession of a completer control than they seemed then to
possess over their own finances, and a more economical administration
of them. The inspector-general, in a report characterized by all his
admirable clearness, stated the issue thus: "It is impossible for any
government to support a Civil List to which objections are raised, and
with justice, by the people at large; first, on the ground that its
establishment was a violation of their constitutional rights; second,
that the services provided for are more than ought to be placed on the
permanent Civil List; third, on the ground that the salaries provided
are higher than the province can afford to pay with a due regard to the
public interests, and more especially to the maintenance of the public
credit."[4]

{164}

Metcalfe, then, found in Canada a ministry not far from being
unanimous, supported by a union of French and British reformers; and he
ought to have realiz