England,
some experience of popular assemblies, and considerable familiarity with
the political questions of the day.'[4] After much consideration it was
decided to offer the post to Lord Elgin, though personally unknown at the
time both to the Premier and to the Secretary for the Colonies.

[Sidenote: Principles of Colonial Government.]

The principles on which Lord Elgin undertook to conduct the affairs of the
colony were, that he should identify himself with no party, but make
himself a mediator and moderator between the influential of all parties;
that he should have no ministers who did not enjoy the confidence of the
Assembly, or, in the last resort, of the people; and that he should not
refuse his consent to any measure proposed by his Ministry, unless it were
of an extreme party character, such as the Assembly or the people would be
sure to disapprove.[4] Happily these principles were not, in Lord Elgin's
case, of yesterday's growth. He had acted upon them, as far as was
possible, even in Jamaica; and in their soundness as applied to a colony
like Canada he had that firm faith, grounded on original conviction, which
alone could have enabled him to maintain them, as he afterwards did,
single-handed, in face of the most violent opposition, and in
circumstances by which they were most severely tested.

[Sidenote: Crossing the Atlantic.]

It was fortunate that Lord Elgin had arranged to leave his bride in
England, to follow at a less inclement season; for he had an unusually
stormy passage across the Atlantic--'the worst passage the ship had ever
made.'

Writing on the 16th of January to Lady Grey he says:

Hitherto we have had a very boisterous passage. On the 13th we had a
hurricane, and were obliged to lie to--a rare occurrence with these
vessels. It was almost impossible to be on deck, but I crept out of a
hole for a short time, to behold the sea, which was truly grand in its
wrath; the waves rolling mountains high, and the wind sweeping the
foam off their crests, and driving it, together with the snow and
sleet, almost horizontally over the ocean. We lay thus for some hours,
our masts covered with snow, pitching and tossing, now in the trough
of the sea, and now on the summit of the billows, without anxiety or
alarm, so gallantly did our craft bear itself through these perils.

The ship is very full, with half a million of specie, and a motley
group of p