support Metcalfe in
pursuing the opposite course. Dr. Ryerson was also right in saying
that the government of Great Britain would be supported by parliament.
In May, 1844, the affairs of Canada were discussed in the British
House of Commons, and the governor's action was justified by Peel, by
Lord Stanley, and by Lord John Russell. The only dissentient voices
were those of the Radicals, Hume and Roebuck.

Metcalfe and his chiefs at home can hardly be blamed for holding the
prevailing views of the time, which were that the changes contemplated
by Durham, by Bagot, and by Baldwin were dangerous and revolutionary.
The idea that a colony could remain connected with Great Britain under
such a system of autonomy as we enjoy to-day was then conceived by
only a few men of exceptional breadth and foresight, among whom Elgin
was one of the most eminent.

The wise leadership of Baldwin and Lafontaine and the patience and
firmness of the Reformers are attested by their conduct in very trying
circumstances. Finding their demand for constitutional reform opposed
not only by the Canadian Tories, but by the governor-general and the
imperial government and parliament, they might have become
discouraged, or have been tempted into some act of violence. Their
patience must have been sorely tried by the persistent malice or
obstinate prejudice which stigmatized a strictly constitutional
movement as treason. They had also to endure the trial of a temporary
defeat at the polls, and an apparent rejection of their policy by the
very people for whose liberties they were contending.

In the autumn of 1844 the legislature was dissolved and a fierce
contest ensued. Governor Metcalfe's attitude is indicated by his
biographer.[1] "The contest," he says, "was between loyalty on the one
side and disaffection to Her Majesty's government on the other. That
there was a strong anti-British feeling abroad, in both divisions of
the province [Upper and Lower Canada] Metcalfe clearly and painfully
perceived. The conviction served to brace and stimulate him to new
exertions. He felt that he was fighting for his sovereign against a
rebellious people." The appeal was successful; Upper Canada was swept
by the loyalty cry, and in various polling places votes were actually
cast or offered for the governor-general. The _Globe_ described a
conversation that occurred in a polling place in York: "Whom do you
vote for?" "I vote for the governor-general." "There is no