ism rather as a thing of deeds and
acts than of opinion, gave whatever radicalism he may have professed a
bureaucratic character. He described himself not inaptly to a friend
thus: "A man who is for the abolition of the corn laws, Vote by Ballot,
Extension of the Suffrage, Amelioration of the Poor-laws for the
benefit of the poor, equal rights to all sects of Christians in matters
of religion, and equal rights to all men in civil matters...; and (who)
at the same time, is totally disqualified to be a demagogue--shrinks
like a sensitive plant from public meetings; and cannot bear to be
drawn from close retirement, except by what comes in the shape of real
or fancied duty to his country."[1] Outside of the greater figures of
the time, he was one of the first citizens of the Empire, and Bagot, as
he thought of possible successors, only dismissed the suggestion of
Metcalfe's appointment because it seemed too good news to be true.
Nevertheless Sir Charles Metcalfe had one great initial disadvantage
for work in Canada. Distinguished as were his virtues, a very little
discernment in the home government might have discovered the obstacles
which must meet an absolutely efficient, {161} liberal administrator in
a country where democracy, the only possible principle of government
for Canada, was still in its crude and repulsive stage. The
delimitation of the frontier between Imperial control and Canadian
self-government required a subtler and more flexible mind than
Metcalfe's, and a longer practice than his in the ways of popular
assemblies. Between March, 1843, when he assumed office, and the end
of 1845, when he returned to die in England, Metcalfe's entire energy
was spent in grappling with the problem of holding the balance level
between local autonomy and British supremacy. His real contribution to
the question was, in a sense, the confusion and failure with which his
career ended; for his serious practical logic reduced to an absurdity,
as nothing else could have done, the position stated so firmly by
Russell in 1839.

Sir Charles Metcalfe came to Canada at a moment when responsible
government in its most extended interpretation seemed to have
triumphed. In Upper and Lower Canada the reforming party had accepted
Bagot's action as the concession of their principle, and the two chief
ministers, Baldwin and La Fontaine, were men resolute to endure no
diminution of their share of responsibility. Bagot's {162} illness ha