y, 5 August, 1843.

[6] Metcalfe to Stanley, 13 May, 1845.

[7] Metcalfe to Stanley, 6 August, 1843.

[8] Metcalfe to Stanley, 13 May, 1845.

[9] Kaye, _Life of Lord Metcalfe_, ii. pp. 367-8.

[10] _Ibid._ ii. p. 369.

[11] See Hincks, _Lecture on the Political History of Canada_; and
Dent, _The Last Forty Years_. The latter work was written under the
influence of Sir Francis Hincks, whose comments on it are contained in
the inter-leaved copy in the possession of the Canadian archives.

[12] Metcalfe to Stanley, 26 December, 1843.

[13] _A Letter on the Ministerial Crisis, by the old Montreal
Correspondent of the Colonial Gazette_, Kingston, 1843.

[14] Quoted from Ryerson, _Story of my Life_, pp. 332-3.

[15] Ryerson, _op. cit._ p. 323.

[16] See above, p. 116.

[17] Viger was defeated in the election of 1844.

[18] Kaye, _Papers and Correspondence of Lord Melcalfe_, p. 426.

[19] See, for the whole intrigue, _Correspondence between the Hon. W.
H. Draper and the Hon. B. E. Garon; and, between the Honbles. L. H. La
Fontaine and A. N. Morin_, Montreal, 1840.

[20] The Rev. John Ryerson to Egerton Ryerson, February, 1844, in _The
Story of my Life_.

[21] Metcalfe to Stanley, 23 December, 1843.

[22] Montreal Gazette, 23 April, 1844.

[23] _Montreal Daily Witness_, 7 March, 1896, containing reminiscences
by Dr. William Kingsford.

[24] Young, _Early History of Galt and Dumfries_, p. 193.

[25] Metcalfe to Stanley, 23 November, 1844.

[26] Elgin-Grey Correspondence: Elgin to Grey, 9 December, 1847.

[27] Stanley to Metcalfe, 18 May, 1844.

[28] _Hansard_, 30 May, 1844.

[29] Kaye, _Life of Lord Metcalfe_, ii. pp. 405-9.

[30] Metcalfe to Stanley, 13 May, 1845.

{187}

CHAPTER VI.

THE GOVERNORS-GENERAL: LORD ELGIN.

The year which intervened between Metcalfe's departure and the arrival
of Lord Elgin at the beginning of 1847, may be disregarded in this
inquiry. Earl Cathcart, who held office in the interval, was chosen
because relations with the United States at that time were serious
enough to make it desirable to combine the civil and the military
headship in Canada in one person. In domestic politics the
governor-general was a negligible quantity, as his successor confessed:
"Lord Cathcart, not very unreasonably perhaps, has allowed everything
that required thought to lie over for me."[1]

But the arrival of Elgin changed the whole aspect of affairs, and
introduced the most