. Peter Robinson, George H. Markland,
and Joseph Wells) resigned. They complained that they were held
responsible for measures which they never advised, and for a policy
to which they were strangers. In reply the Governor stated in
substance that he alone was responsible for the acts of his
government, and was at liberty to have resource to their advice
only when he required it; but that to consult them on all questions
would be "utterly impossible." This answer was referred to a
Committee of the House of Assembly, which brought in a report
censuring the Governor in the strongest terms. On the 14th March,
Sir F. B. Head appointed Messrs. R. B. Sullivan, William Allan,
Augustus Baldwin, and John Elmsley, as his new Executive Council.
On the 17th the House declared its entire want of confidence in the
new Council, and stated that in retaining them the Governor
violated the instructions of the Colonial Secretary to the
Governor, to appoint Councillors who possessed the confidence of
the people. Much recrimination followed; at length Sir F. B. Head
dissolved the House, and directed that a new election be held.

In regard to this election, Dr. Ryerson, in the "Epochs of Canadian
Methodism" (page 226) says:--

Sir F. B. Head adroitly turned the issue, not on the question of
the Clergy Reserves, or of other practical questions, but on the
question of connection with the mother country, and of
Republicanism vs. Monarchy, as had been recommended by Messrs. Hume
and Roebuck, and advocated by Messrs. Mackenzie and Papineau. This
was successful, inasmuch as those Reformers who would not disavow
their connection with Messrs. Mackenzie, Hume and Roebuck, lost
their election; for though not more than half a dozen had any
sympathy with the sentiments of Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, Papineau,
and Mackenzie, they did not wish to break the unity of the Reform
party by repudiating them, and suffered defeat in consequence at
the elections. The successful candidates, generally, while they
repudiated Republican separation from the mother country, promised
fidelity to the oft-expressed and well-known wishes of the people
in the settlement of the Clergy Reserve question, which, however,
they failed to fulfil.

In a letter to Dr. Ryerson, from Hallowell, his brother William said:--