thought it
advisable to gain all possible credit with the public in connection
with the all-absorbing question of the day, and accordingly brought in
the following resolutions in amendment to those presented by the
Liberal chief:--

"1. That the head of the executive government of the
province, being within the limits of his government the
representative of the sovereign, is responsible to the
imperial authority alone, but that nevertheless the
management of our local affairs can only be conducted by him
with the assistance, counsel, and information of subordinate
officers in the province.

"2. That in order to preserve between the different branches
of the provincial parliament that harmony which is essential
to the peace, welfare, and good government of the province,
the chief advisers of the representative of the sovereign,
constituting a provincial administration under him, ought to
be men possessed of the confidence of the representatives of
the people; thus affording a guarantee that the
well-understood wishes and interests of the people--which
our gracious sovereign has declared shall be the rule of the
provincial government--will on all occasions be faithfully
represented and advocated.

"3. That the people of this province have, moreover, the
right to expect from such provincial administration the
exercise of their best endeavours, that the imperial
authority, within its constitutional limits, shall be
exercised in the manner most consistent with their
well-understood wishes and interests."

It is quite possible that had Lord Sydenham lived to complete his term
of office, the serious difficulties that afterwards arose in the
practice of responsible government would not have occurred. Gifted
with a clear insight into political conditions and a thorough
knowledge of the working of representative institutions, he would have
understood that if parliamentary government was ever to be introduced
into the colony it must be not in a half-hearted way, or with such
reservations as he had had in his mind when he first came to the
province. Amid the regret of all parties he died from the effects of a
fall from his horse a few months after the inauguration of the union,
and was succeeded by Sir Charles Bagot, who distinguished himself in a
short administration of two years by the conciliatory spirit