former party views, as one of the actors in the
struggle.

I was in England during the latter part of 1844 and 1845, when the Earl
of Derby was Colonial Secretary, and had more than one conversation
with him on Canadian affairs; and I know that the Earl of Derby had no
more intention or desire to abolish responsible government in Canada
than had Sir Francis Hincks himself. The Earl of Derby had, indeed,
fears lest the party in power, under the new system, should act upon the
narrow and prescriptive principles and spirit of the old tory party, and
wished to see that with the new system an enlarged policy would
extinguish the hatreds, as well as the proscriptions, of the past, and
unite all classes in the good government and for the advancement of the
country. This was the view of Lord Metcalfe; and this was the view
advocated in my letters in his defence, which may be appealed to in
proof that the essence of that contest was not responsible government,
but as to whether or not the distribution of the patronage of the Crown
should be dispensed upon the principles of party, or on those of justice
and morality.

I may add an illustrative and curious incident on this subject:--On the
passing of the Imperial Act for confederating the British North American
Colonies into the Dominion of Canada, and its proclamation, I wrote and
published an address to the people of Upper Canada in 1868, suggesting
to them to forget the differences of the past, and the principles and
spirit in which they should introduce the new system of government, and
build up for themselves a united and prosperous nation. A few days after
the publication of this address, I met in the street, an honourable
gentleman, who had been one of the party opposed to Sir Charles
Metcalfe, a member of a Liberal government, a life-long Reformer. He
complimented me on my recent address to the people of Upper Canada; but
added, "The great mistake of your life was the letters you wrote in
defence of Lord Metcalfe." I answered, "Do you think so?" "Yes," said
he, "that was the great mistake of your life." "And," said I, "you
approve of my recent public address?" "Yes," he answered, "I think it is
the best thing you ever wrote." "Well," said I, "do you know that that
address with the exception of the introductory and concluding
paragraphs, is a reproduction, word for word, of my third letter in
defence of Lord Metcalfe, counselling my fellow-countrymen as to the
principles