n going on fast
_from_ the province. Every man's property worth only half what it was.
When I look to the state of government, and to the departmental
administration of the province, instead of being surprised at the
condition in which I find it, I am only astonished it has been endured
so long. I know that, much as I dislike Yankee institutions and rule,
I would not have fought against them, which thousands of these poor
fellows, whom the Compact call rebels, did, if it were only to keep up
such a Government as they got.... Then the Assembly is such a House!
Split into half a dozen parties. The Government having _none--and no
one man_ to depend on! Think of a house in which half the members hold
places, yet in which the Government does not command a single vote; in
which the place-men generally vote against the Executive; and where
there is no one to defend the Government when attacked, or {87} to
state the opinion and views of the Governor."[15]

With the eye of a political strategist, Poulett Thomson prepared his
alternative system, a curious kind of despotism, based, however, simply
on his own powers of influencing opinion in the House. It was plain to
him that the previous governments had wantonly neglected public
opinion.[16] It was also plain that the populace had regarded these
governments as consisting not of the governor with his ministers under
him, but of the Family Compact clique in place of the governor.[17]
The system which he proposed to substitute expressed very fully his
working theory. Responsible government in the sweeping sense of that
term employed by the reforming party he resisted, holding that, whether
against his ministers, or the electors, he must be personally
responsible for all his administrative acts. At the same time he
assured parliament that "he had received her Majesty's commands to
administer the government of these provinces in accordance with the
well-understood wishes and interests of the people, and to pay to their
feelings, {88} as expressed through their representatives, the
deference that is justly due to them."[18] To secure this end, he
called public attention to the despatch from Russell, definitely
announcing the change of tenure of all save judicial and purely
ministerial places, thereby making it clear that no man would be
retained in office longer than he seemed acceptable to the governor and
the community. Then he set to work to build up, out of moderate men