drawn from all groups, a party of compromise and good sense to support
him and his ministry; and finally, he claimed for himself the central
authority without any modifying conditions. Concerning the ultimate
seat of that authority he never hesitated. Whatever power he had came
from the Home Ministry as representing the Crown, and to them alone he
acknowledged responsibility. For the rest, he had to carry on the
Queen's government; that is, to govern Canada so that peace and
prosperity might remain unshaken; and as a first condition he had to
defer to the wishes of the people. But it cannot be too strongly
re-asserted that he refused to surrender one iota of his
responsibility, and that the ideal which he set for himself was a
combination of governor and prime-minister. The efficiency {89} of his
system was to depend on the honestly benevolent intentions which the
governor-general cherished towards the people, and on the fidelity of
both the ministry and the parliamentary majority established and
secured through belief in those intentions.

The new system met with an astounding success. The scheme of Union was
laid before both Houses. On the thirteenth of December the Council,
which had hitherto been the chief obstacle, approved of the scheme by
fourteen votes to eight, the minority consisting of Toronto 'die-hards'
with the Bishop, recalcitrant as usual, at their head. Ten days later,
the governor-general was able to assure Russell that the Lower House
had, after some strenuous debates and divisions, assented also; the
only change from his own outline being an amendment that "such part of
the civil list as did not relate to the salaries of the judges, and the
governor, and the administration of justice, which are made permanent,
should be granted for the lifetime of the Queen, or for a period of not
less than ten years."[19] On one point, not without its influence in
embittering opinion among the French, {90} Parliament and Governor were
agreed, that while the debates in the Union parliament might be
conducted in either English or French, in the publication of all
records of the Legislature the English language only should be
adopted.[20]

Swept on by this great initial success, Poulett Thomson determined if
possible to settle the Clergy Reserve trouble out of hand. As has been
shown above, this ecclesiastical difficulty affected the whole life of
the community; and its settlement would mean peace, such as