se the cry of infidelity to frighten the farmers in the country.'

Johnston, in evident alarm at the success of Howe's agitation, persuaded
the governor to dissolve the House and hold a general election. At the
same time he himself, with great courage, resigned his life-membership of
the Legislative Council, and offered himself as a candidate for the
Assembly. A hot election followed, in which both Howe and Johnston were
returned at the head of approximately equal numbers.

By this time Howe had learned his lesson. A half-way house might be a
useful stopping-place, but could not be a terminus. A unanimous Cabinet
was a necessity, and a unanimous Cabinet was possible only if backed by a
unanimous party. He therefore offered Lord Falkland either to resign, or
to form a Liberal administration from which Johnston and those who
thought with him should be excluded. This Lord Falkland could not see,
nor yet could Johnston. The latter 'unequivocally denounced the system
of a party government, and avowed his preference for {80} a government in
which all parties should be represented.' At last, on Falkland's urgent
request, Howe consented to remain in the government till the House met.
A few days later the governor suddenly appointed to the Executive Council
Mr Almon, a high Tory and Johnston's brother-in-law. It was too much;
Howe and his Liberal colleagues at once resigned.

Was he in the right? With Almon as a man they had no quarrel. Howe and
Johnston were both well qualified to serve their native province. Why
should one consume his energy in trying to keep out the other? The
answer is that a government is not merely composed of heads of separate
departments. It is a unity, responsible for a coherent policy, and as
such cannot contain two men, however estimable, who differ on political
fundamentals. It is Howe's merit that he saw this, while Johnston and
Falkland did not. After all, their loud cries for a non-party
administration only meant an administration in which their own party was
supreme. Howe was wholly in the right when he said that Johnston's
epitaph should be, 'Here lies the man who denounced party government,
that he might form one; and professing justice to all parties, gave every
office to his own.'

{81}

There followed three years of hard fighting. Johnston formed an
administration, which was sustained by a majority varying from one to
three. Debates of thirteen and fourteen days were c