's letter of the
1st November. From private information she had been led to expect that
Lord Metcalfe would not be able to continue at his irksome post.[26]
He will be an immense loss, and the selection of a successor will be
most difficult. The Queen hopes that there will not be too great a
delay in making the new appointment, as experience has shown that
nothing was more detrimental to the good government of Canada than the
last interregnum after Sir Charles Bagot's death; it would certainly
likewise be desirable that Lord Metcalfe should be able personally
to make over his Government to his successor, whom he could verbally
better put in possession of the peculiarities of his position than
any instructions could do. It strikes the Queen to be of the _greatest
importance_, that the judicious system pursued by Lord Metcalfe (and
which, after a long continuation of toil and adversities, only
now just begins to show its effect) should be followed up by his
successor.

The Queen knows nobody who would be as fit for the appointment as Lord
Elgin, who seems to have given great satisfaction in Jamaica, where he
has already succeeded Lord Metcalfe, whose original appointment there
had _likewise_ taken place under circumstances of great difficulty,
which his prudence and firmness finally overcame.[27]

[Footnote 26: He retired from the Governor-Generalship of
Canada through ill-health.]

[Footnote 27: Lord Stanley, in reply, submitted a private
letter from Lord Elgin, expressing a wish to return home; Earl
Cathcart was provisionally appointed Governor-General.]

_Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel._

OSBORNE, _28th November 1845._

The Queen is very sorry to hear that Sir Robert Peel apprehends
further differences of opinion in the Cabinet, at a moment of
impending calamity; it is more than ever necessary that the Government
should be strong and united.

The Queen thinks the time is come when a removal of the restrictions
upon the importation of food cannot be successfully resisted. Should
this be Sir Robert's own opinion, the Queen very much hopes that none
of his colleagues will prevent him from doing what it is _right_ to
do.

[Pageheading: THE CORN LAWS]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _4th December 1845._

Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave
to acquaint your Majesty that a leading paragraph in the _Times_ of
to-day, asserting