nglish
ministers now turned most serious attention to the constitutional
defects of the colony, and decided to make a full and authoritative
inquiry. Gosford's successor, Sir John Colborne, was now recalled;
and on April 24th, 1838, the Earl of Durham sailed for Canada as High
Commissioner, and he proved to be the keenest statesman, save
Frontenac, who had figured in the history of the country.

[Illustration: THE HON. LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU]

Lord Durham was at this time forty-six years of age, and into that
comparatively short life he had already crowded a remarkable political
record. At twenty-one he entered the House of Commons as member for
the county of Durham, at once identifying himself with the party of
parliamentary reform--indeed, he is even credited with the drafting of
the first Reform Bill. An experience of five years in the cabinet with
Grey and Palmerston, and of two years as ambassador at St. Petersburg,
marked him out as a politician and diplomatist of the first rank. A
certain stateliness and formality of character appears, however, to
have made him many enemies in England, and they did not scruple to
gratify their dislike or jealousy during his mission to Canada. Their
enmity is echoed in a trivial paragraph in _The Times_, describing an
incident which happened on the outward journey:--

"A letter from Portsmouth states that on the evening of
Lord Durham's arrival in Portsmouth, his lordship and
family dined at one table and his staff at another, in
the same room and at the same hour. We suppose we shall
soon hear of Lord Durham's reviving the old custom of
arranging his guests above and below the
salt-cellar."[46]

On the 27th of May, 1838, H. M. S. _Hastings_ and a squadron of
gunboats and frigates dropped anchor in the harbour of Quebec. Flags
were flying gaily from tower and bastion to welcome the High
Commissioner, who was attended ashore by a retinue eclipsing in
brilliance even that of the Duke of Richmond, and further guarded by
two cavalry regiments, on their way to reinforce the regular forces in
the country. As such a suite could not be accommodated in the old
Chateau, Parliament House was fitted up as a residence; and here Lord
Durham established himself with a magnificence suitable to a monarch,
but unusual in a viceroy of Quebec. On his daily drives he was
accompanied by three or four equerries in scarlet and gold, who
galloped before his carriage to clear