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 «»? 
 
 SOME REMARKS 
 
 
 UPON 
 
 SIR CHARLES BAGOT^S 
 
 CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 BY THE REVEREND DR. RYERSON 
 
 OF VICTORIK COLLEGE, COBOURG. 
 
 < 
 
 
 » 
 
 Kingston: 
 PAINTED BY DESBARATS 8c DERBISHERE. ' 
 
 1843. 
 
 
 
 
 •l 
 
 
 ■* ^ 
 
 •<^ 
 
 * 
 
^' -*^ 
 
 
 -;?& 
 
Tn£ follov7ing notice aijd observaiionp appeared originally in the columns of 
 the Kingston Chn icle as a letter to the Editor. For the greater convenience 
 of perusal, and in compliance with the wish of several admirers of the sentiments 
 and composition, they have been printed in their preseni furiii, permission having 
 been first obtained from the Reverend author, who is not otherwise, excepting 
 only by this consent, connected with the present publication. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 The views expreseed in the following article, which was written better than 
 M fortnight since, have been recently sanctioned by the highest authorities — 
 Lord Stanley and Sir Charles Metcalfe. In a late Speech in the House 
 of Commons, Lord Stanley stated that the acts of Sir Charle-s Bagot were 
 in unison with, and in conformity to the instructions he had received from Her 
 Majesty's Government. In Sir Charles Metcalfe's replies to the inhabitants 
 of the Gore, Talbot, and Wellington Districts, His Excellency "deprecates that 
 spirit which leads to reproachful and other unjust imputations against our fellow 
 countrymen, whom we are in duty bound to love and to cherish ;" expresses his 
 "anxious desire that all parties would forget and forgive past injuries and offen- 
 ces," — that " they would lay aside their dissensions, and unite with heart and 
 hand to advance the prosperity and happiness of the community," and that he 
 "looks with hope to the united efforts of all classes of the community acting in 
 harmony, as the surest foundation for general prosperity and liappiness." 
 
 These authoritative declarations were unknown to me when I wrote the fol- 
 lowing article, it is therefore no small salisfaction to iearn. that what I had 
 conceived and endeavoured to illustrate as adapted to the best interests of the 
 United Province, may not merely be stated in reference to the administration of 
 Sir Charles BagoL but may be regarded as the settled and avowed policy of 
 Her Majesty's Government and Her Majesty's Representative in Canada. 
 
 As the subject of which I have briefly written, belongs not to a party, but 
 relates to Canada, I deem no apology necessary for me, (who advocate the 
 supremacy of no party, but the interests of all,) in attempting to supply a 
 desideratum which I have not seen supplied from any other quarter. As a 
 Minister and Member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. I feel g' ateful to Sir 
 Charles Bagot ; and for both his private virtues and public acts, I believe he has 
 a claim to the grateful remembrance of United Canada. 
 
 Victoria College, May 15, 1843, 
 
 Postcript. — Sir Charles Bagot, unhappily expired at 3 o'clock on the 
 morning of the 19th May, whilst theise ol servations in their present form were 
 passing through the Press. 
 
^\\{ OIIAHLKS BAGOT AiNl) HIS CANADIAN 
 
 OOVERNMENT. 
 
 On the appointment of a new Governor General of Canada, the ad- 
 ministration of His Excellency Sir Charles Bagot hecomes a subject of 
 history ; and as such it deserves a respectful notice, whether we consi- 
 der the nature of the policy involved, the interests atiected, or the rank 
 and character of the illustrious Statesman, who, like his noble prede- 
 cessor, seems destined, by a mysterious Providence, to close his earthly 
 career with his Canadian Government. I ventured to ofTer an humble 
 tribute of respect and gratitude to the memory of Lord Sydenham on his 
 premature removal : similar feelings prompt me to offer a similar tribute 
 to Sir Charles Bagot on his premature departure. 
 
 The work of each was sui generis : each has been compelled to 
 retire before completing it ; but each has done enough to enhance his 
 own previously high reputation, 
 Canada. 
 
 and secure the grateful remembrance of 
 
 Lord Sydenham had a Constitution of Government to establish : 
 Sir Charles Bagot had a system of Government to work. Lord Syden- 
 ham had two Provinces to unite : Sir Charles Bagot had two Provinces 
 to cement. The former had an administration to create : the latter had 
 an administration to establish. The one had to inspire the country with 
 hope and confidence : the other had to inspire it with charity and en- 
 terprise. Lord Sydenham fell amidst the regrets of the people of Upper 
 Canada : Sir Charles Bagot retires amidst the sympathies and blessings 
 of the people of United Canada. The one was admired as a States- 
 man : the other is esteemed as a Father. 
 
 What Lord Sydenham did for Canada has long since been record- 
 ed : what Sir Charles Bagot has done for Canada remains to be told 
 — though posterity alone can estimate it. 
 
 Sir Charles Bagot has created throughout the length and breadth 
 of United Canada the settled and delightful conviction, that its gov- 
 ernment is henceforth to be British as well as Colonial,^ — and as such, 
 the best on the Continent of America ; that Canadians are to be gov- 
 erned upon the principles of domestic, and not of trans-atlantic policy ; 
 that they are not to be minified as men and citizens, because they are 
 colonists : that they are (to use the golden words of Sir Robert Peel) 
 " to be treated as an integral portion of the British Empire." This 
 
[•■• J 
 
 has often lu-cii avowed from tlio liiglicst qumleis in Canada : Sir 
 Charles Hagot has illnstralcd it, and eslahlishod tlio universal belief oi 
 it. Tho proof of this assertion is fourul in tho entire absence throughout 
 the press of Canachi, of any allusion to the governments of a neighbouring 
 llepublir, except to evince our own more favoured and happy condi- 
 tion. This single fact, so amazing to any one who possesses the requisite 
 information to contrast the former and present s[)irit of a large portion of 
 the Canadian press — indicates in language as conclusive as it is gratify- 
 ing, all the diderences between a settled and an unsettled state of thing;* 
 — between a strong and a weak Government — between a discontented 
 and a happy people. 
 
 Sir Charles Bagot has also, by his appointments to oflice, and gene- 
 ral policy, furnished practical proof that a dillerence oi^religious opini<Mi 
 in Canada is no longer to be made the execrable ground of jjolitical jiro- 
 scription, and the fruitful source of civil discord. While a section of not 
 the most numerous sect arrogantly and schismalically avow exclusive 
 claim to the name and attributes of Christian Church and loyal faith, and 
 deal out both religious and civil anathemas against their nior > numerous, 
 and, in many instances, more intelligent and virtuous fellow Christians 
 and subjects, the policy of Sir Charles Bagot, in trampling down the 
 selfish arrogance of the sectary, and embracing virtue and merit under 
 every form of religious faith, exhibits the morning splendour of a bright- 
 er day for Canada, when " Ephraim may no longer envy Judah, nor 
 Ju(iah vex Ephraim ;" when the very variety of for'n — as in the works 
 of nature — may evince the more cler -ly the essential unity of essenco 
 and the community of origin and destination. Thus by conferring a 
 common protection and privilege, to make the Throne the centre of at- 
 traction to the aflections and interests of every form of faith, claiming 
 origin in the Bible, and to place the strength of the government in the 
 affectionate attachment of a united people rather than in the bayonets of 
 . ail armed soldiery, is the noblest work of both charity and patriotism. 
 N(j one can contemplate the calamitous past without sympathizing with 
 the sentiment of the Poet, — 
 
 " En quo discordia cives 
 
 Perduxit miser os /" 
 Whilst none can survey the present aspect of our civil and social rela- 
 tions, and especially under the auspicious advent of a second Pollio, 
 M'ithout exclaiming with the same Poet, — 
 
 < " Incipiunt magni procedere menses ; 
 
 Te duce^ si qua manet sceleris vestigia nostri, 
 
 Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras.''^ 
 
 But that which, as it appears to me, will invest the name of Sir 
 Charles Bagot with the brightest halo of glory, and render his adminis- 
 tration the greatest benefit to Canada, is the very point on which he has 
 been most assailed — namely, his effacing the lines of former party de- 
 
 »ri)oi 
 
 
 i 
 
 '5 
 
ill ad a : Sir 
 *nl belief o\i 
 throughout 
 iighbouring 
 nppy condi- 
 lio rcqiiisito 
 portion of 
 t is gratily- 
 te ol' things 
 lisconlontc'd 
 
 , and geno- 
 ous opinion 
 i)litical [iro- 
 cHon ol' noi 
 r exclusive 
 il fiiith, and 
 .' nil me roll s, 
 
 Christians 
 ; down the 
 nerit nnder 
 of a briohf- 
 ludulij nor 
 
 the works 
 of t'ssenco 
 inferring a 
 entre of al- 
 claiming 
 nent in the 
 jayonets of 
 
 latriotism. 
 izing \\[\U 
 
 ocial rela- 
 Pollio, 
 
 me of Sir 
 i adminis- 
 ch he has 
 party de- 
 
 marcation, his countenance to chisses of the cojnmunity, and scUjction of 
 inchviduals for civil (Mnph)ytni'nts, uptin the ground of personal qualifica- 
 tion and public inlUuiiice, without reference to former party associutions 
 or political predilections. 
 
 It has heen alleged that Sir Charles Bagot has encouraged and pro- 
 moted the disartected and the disloyal — a charge which, as may be easily 
 shown, involves a fallacy in argument, if not falsehood in fact. The 
 proof of the allegation is laid in transactions which took place (to give 
 the longest period) between the years 1830 and ISIO Were all that 
 has been s'ated, with every real or imaginary aggravation, correct, it 
 would amount to no proof in the present instance. The general appli- 
 cation made of such statements, involves a sophism termed by the School- 
 men — a dido secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter — maintaining that 
 what may have been true in certain circumstances, is true absolutelv 
 and under all circumstances — arguing that because the inhabitants of 
 Great Britain have at ditferent times shown themselves disalfectcd to 
 partial and despotic government, they are therefore disalfected to mo'i- 
 archical government of every kind. To render the proof satisfactory 
 and complete in the present case, it must be shown that the same system 
 of government existed in Upper and Lower Cana<la from 1830 to 1840, 
 which has obtained in United Canada since the latter period. If sec- 
 tions of the inliabitants of either or both Provinces have manifested dis- 
 alfcction to a former system of government, the Imperial Parliament has 
 partici[)ated in that disallection hy repealing the old system of govern- 
 ment and establishing a new one, as dillerent from the old as was the 
 British Constitution after the revolution of 1G88, administered according 
 to the " Bill of Rights," by William and Mary, from what it had heen 
 under the reHmc of the I'udors and Stuarts. The bitter arrows there- 
 fore, which have been aimed at Sir Charles Bagot and portions of the 
 t.anadian pe(^ple, bound with equal force from the immediate objects 
 of attack against Her Majesty and the Imperial Parliament. If the old 
 systems of Canadian Government have been abolished by the supreme 
 authorities of the Empire, the party distinctions and organizations en- 
 gendered under them ought, of course, to be abandoned — which was 
 indeed one essential object in the establishment of the new system. 
 No man, therefore, whom the law protects ought to be judged by what 
 may have been his views and conduct in respect to an abrogated system 
 of government, but by his views and conduct in respect to the present 
 established system. Surely no man in Canada ought to be condemned 
 and proscribed for a dislike to what has been abolished, and therefore 
 practically condemned hy Her Majesty and the Imperial Parliament. 
 The discrimination of Sir Charles Bagot in these things which so widely 
 differ, and his moral courau?, and orcnerous humanitv, and Britisli 
 Statesmanship, in acting upon that discrimination, present him in advan- 
 tageous contrast with his impugivn-:, and suggest to the reflecting mind 
 
1.8] 
 
 iho germ and fountain of incstiiimhlo blessings wliicli iirc yet lo julorn 
 and enrich the social system of Cnnnda. 
 
 t 
 
 But were the case less clear — wore tho Caiiadiis uniler the sarnn 
 Constitution of Government now as in former years, and also under iho 
 same system of administration — wore the only dillerence in the former 
 and present state of things a ditrerence in the strength of the Govern- 
 ment and in the weakness of its enemies, arising from the past complete 
 triumph of the former and the com[)lete defeat of the latter, and an 
 amazing revolution of feeling in the great body of the communily, and 
 admitting the truth of what has been alleged against individuals and 
 parties ; still the course of Sir Charles Bagot's short administration 
 would, 1 am persuaded, be equally the diclates of a sound policy and 
 noble generosity. The present argumentation of this (juosfion in the 
 abstract is, I am aware, prohibited by the blindness of [)assion, and llie 
 obliquity of prejudice, and the sidtishiiess of party ; but even when ab- 
 stract reason and truth will not convince the illustrations and analogies 
 of history may impress. 
 
 How did the famous Spartan Legislator treat that portion of his 
 wealthy fellow citizens who had been disallected to his system o'l gov- 
 ernment ? On their submission the remembrance of their previous disaf- 
 fection was obliterated, and even Alcander who, in the paroxism of re- 
 bellion, had put out the eye of Lycurgus, was forgiven, received into the 
 household of the illustrious statesman whom he had maimed, and Ity 
 kindness was converted from a dangerous enemy into a faithful friend 
 and useful servant. Can that which all ages have proclaimed as the 
 highest gloiy of Lycurgus, be the deepest reproach of Sir Charles Bagot ? 
 
 After Attica had been desolated during a long pori(Kl of anarchy 
 and civil war, what was the policy of the immortal Thrasybulus, on his 
 triumph over his enemies, and rc-establishment of the ancient form o*' 
 the government ? Did Thrasybulus pursue the policy which has been 
 strenuously urged upon Sir Charles Bagot? Nay, as Rollin says, 
 " Thrasybulus rising above those resentments from the superiority of his 
 more extensive renins, and the views of a more discerning and profound 
 policy, foresaw that by acquiescing in the punishment of the guilty, eter- 
 nal seeds of discord and enmity would remain, to weaken by domestic 
 divisions the strength of a republic which it was necessary to unite 
 against the common enemy, and occasion the loss to the state of a great 
 number of citizens, who might render it important services with the 
 very view of making amends for past behaviour. Such conduct after 
 great troubles in a state has always seemed to the ablest politicians the 
 most certain and ready means to restore the public peace and tranquillity." 
 Thrasy'ulus recalled the exiles, and at the same time proposed the cele- 
 brated amnesty by which the citizens engaged upon oath that all past 
 transactions should be buried in oblivion. *' This," says the eloquent 
 
 (C 
 
 l! 
 
'•' I 
 
 vet Id iulorn 
 
 3r lliu SHiiin 
 M) under tliu 
 n the former 
 llie Goverri- 
 ast com|)lete 
 ter, and an 
 tnunity, and 
 viduals and 
 Iministriitiun 
 1 policy and 
 ;Mti«»n in the 
 on, and (he 
 n when ah- 
 1(1 analogies 
 
 (ion of his 
 L'ln of (r^^\■^ 
 vious disaf- 
 xism of re- 
 ed into the 
 n], and hy 
 iful friend 
 led as the 
 les Hagot ? 
 
 f anarchy 
 
 I us, on his 
 
 nt form o«" 
 
 has been 
 
 Ilin savs» 
 
 rity of his 
 
 profound 
 
 ilty, eter- 
 
 domestic 
 
 ' to uin'tc 
 
 'f a great 
 
 with the 
 
 luct after 
 
 clans the 
 
 juillity." 
 
 the cele- 
 
 all past 
 
 eloquent 
 
 I historian, " is one ol the (inest events in iuiciont history, worthy oi 
 the Athenian lenity aiul lionevolenco, and has served as a model to suc- 
 cessive ages in good governments." 
 
 No doubt many a resentful and aspiring Athenian objected to the 
 policy of Thrasybulus in thus treating alike the friends and enemies of 
 the ancient Government : but history has long since {)lace(l it amongst the 
 most perfect specimens of masterly statesmanship, and refined humanity. 
 Thrasybulus required by oath, what Sir Charles Bagot has often r'?coni- 
 mended as a duty ; and those who admire the conduct of the fornu r, 
 ought to respect that of the latter. 
 
 Judicious historians record as almost the only redeeming feature of 
 the reign of the feeble and indolent Claudiua, that he passed an act of obli- 
 vion for all former otlences against the state, and exhibited for a time a 
 disposition to govern impartially ; and for no part of his administration has 
 the able and amiable Vespasian been iiore honoured than for his giving 
 a general pardon to all who had been found in arms against him — in al- 
 lowing every citizen access to his person in order to state his griev- 
 ances — and in declaring, as Tyti.er says, " war against that vile race 
 of pensioned informers, which had multiplied so exceedingly during the 
 preceding reigns." Julius Cresar's celebrity as a genetal and a conquer- 
 or over armies and provinces, is surpassed by his conquest over his own 
 personal resentments and party feelings (after having grown up and lived 
 amidst all the asperities of both) — when he ^^ pardoned alt who had 
 carried arms against him, made no distinctions with regard to par- 
 ties,^"* and avowed in one of his speeches, " I will not renew the massa- 
 cres of Sylla and Marius, the very remembrance of which is shocking 
 to me. Now that my enemies are subdued, I will lay aside thepword, 
 and endeavour hy my good offices, to gain over those who continue to 
 hate mc." 
 
 Such an example may, with personal honor and and public advan- 
 tage be imitated by every philanthropist and Christian in Canada, as it 
 has been by Sir Charles Bagot. # 
 
 If we turn from Roman to English History, we meet with ex- 
 amples, even during its less enlightened periods, which ought to silence 
 and shame the proscribing spirit of our times. 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke, who, durin^ the minority of Henry HI. 
 (1217) was protector of the Kingdom, is admitted to have been the 
 ablest statesman and general of his age. Yet, after suppressing h 
 rebellion which luf^ commenced during the latter part of the reign of 
 King John, that distinguished nobleman (to use the words of Hume) — 
 " received the rebellious barons into favour ; restored them to their pos- 
 sessior- : and endeavoured by an equal behaviour, to bury all past 
 animosities.''^ Of th , illustrious Edward I. who had extinguished a 
 
 I - 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 i 
 
 iU 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 most formidable rebellion, beaded by Leicester, at the i'amotis battle of] 
 Kveshuin, (1266), tbe following facts are related by Hume ; 
 
 "Adam de Gnnrdon, a courageous baron, maintained bimself' 
 (luring some time in the forests cf Hampshire, committed depredations 
 in the neighbourhood^ and obliged the Prince to lead out a body of 
 troops in that country against him. Edward attacked the camp of the 
 rebels ; and being transported by the ardour of battle leaped over the 
 fence with a few followers and encountered Gourdon in single combat. 
 Tl:e victory was long disputed by the valiant combatants : but ended at 
 last in the Prince's favour, who wounded his antagonist, threw him 
 from his horse, and took him prisoner. He not only gave him his life^ 
 but introduced him thot very night to the Queen^ procured him his 
 pardon, received him into his favour, and ivis ever after faithfully 
 served by him^ 
 
 It was b; the career of half a century thus commenced, and by a 
 course of legislation and government harmonizing with such acts, that 
 liHS obtained for Edwanl, both from Historians and Statesmen, the 
 appellation of the " English Justinian." How can an act that enno- 
 bles the name of Edward I., be disreputable in Sir Charles Bagot ? 
 
 It is known that Henry V., — the most heroic monarch in English 
 History — found the Kingdom covulsed by the contests which had been 
 commenced by his Father, Henry IV., between the houses of York and 
 Lancaster — to the latter of which Henry himself belonged. Yet, says 
 Hume, — " The King seemed ambitious to bury all party distinctions 
 in oblivion ; the instruments of the preceding reign, who had been ad- 
 vanced for their blind zeal for the Lancastrian interests, more than from 
 their merits, gave place every where to men of more honourable cha- 
 racter ; virtue seemed now to have an open career, in which it might 
 exert itself; the exhortations as well as example of the Prince, gave it 
 encouragement ; and all men were unanimous in their attachment to 
 Henry." How much more honourable to Henry, and beneficial to the 
 nation was such a policy, than the partial and prescriptive policy which 
 has been pressed upon Sir Charles Bagot, and than the party policy 
 which characterized the otherwise most useful reign of Henry VII., 
 of the same House with Henry V. After referring to the union of the 
 two Houses by the marriage of Henry VII. with Elizabeth, heir of the 
 House of York, Hume says — " instead of embracing the present happy 
 opportunity of abolishing these fatal distinctions, of uniting his title with 
 that of his consort, and of bestowing favour indiscriminately on the 
 friends of both families, he carried to the thro.ie all the partialities 
 which belong to the head of a faction, and even the passions which are 
 carefully guarded against by every true politician in that situation. To 
 exalt the Lancastritin party, to depress th." adherents of the House of 
 
 York 
 IwhoU 
 
[ '1 ] 
 
 York, were still the favourite objects of his pursuit; and through the 
 whole course of his reign, he never forgot his early prepossessions." 
 
 U will be a dark day for United Canada, should its Governor become 
 " the head of a faction," and not of the moderator of factions ; but Sir 
 1 Charles Bagot, disregarding the littleness of party faction, and acting 
 upon the maxim which even Buonaparte had the discrimination and 
 wisdom to adopt — " tell me not what a man wa*, but what bets now," — 
 has pursued a course which has added brilliancy to the noblest acts of 
 the most renowned Statesmen ot Greece and Rome and England ; a 
 course the recollection of which no doubt sweetens his hours of retire- 
 ment and suffering, and will embalm his name in the grateful remem- 
 brance of Canada when the tongue of calumny shall have been silenced, 
 and the breath of faction shall have been extinguished, amid the gratulu- 
 tions of a united and happy people. 
 
 Cicero has compared the Statesman to a Pilot, whose aVt consists in 
 managing every turn of the winds, and applying even the most j)erversc 
 to the progress of his voyage. Thus did Sir Charles Biigot — when he 
 failed (in consequence, as it appears to me, of their own ])rejudices and 
 resentments) to connect with his administration a now hostile party in 
 Upper Canada, be made it the occasion of jittaching to his Government 
 the entire Frencn population of the Lower Province — a measure which 
 all preceding Governors had failed to accomplish, which at once ren- 
 dered the reduction of the Military Force in this Country safe and 
 expedient, and which has made his Government, by the moral power of 
 its identity with the mass of the people, the strongest that ever existed 
 in Canada. 
 
 Whilst it has been theoretically admitted upon all sides, that our 
 French fellow subjects are fairly v^ntitled to a representation in the 
 Councils of the Sovereign, as well as of the people. Sir Charles JJagot 
 has been assailed with unwonted bitterness for the selections which he 
 lias made — charge as consistent and as rational as it would be to admit 
 the right of the People of Great Britain to a representation in the Execu- 
 tive Councils of the nation, and then denounce Her Majesty for selecting 
 such men as a Peel and a Wellington ; since the same British principles 
 of state policy, and the same means of information which suggested to 
 Her Mfljesty, Sir Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington, as the 
 most influential and appropriate advisers of the Crown in behalf of the 
 people of Great Britain, suggested to Sir Charles Bagot certain indivi- 
 duals whom he has selected as the most influential and appropriate 
 advisers of the Crown in behalf of the French People of Canada ; a 
 measuie so just, so wise, so expedient, as to induce the Hon. Mr. 
 Draper, not only to advise it, but to regard his own retirement from 
 the power and emoluments of office as not too great a sacrifice for its 
 
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 accomplishment — tliereby furnishing a noble example of genuine pa- 
 triotism and the highest ppssibje encomium on Sir Charles Bagot's policy. 
 
 It was the Legislative measures that Lord S)'denham introduced and 
 accomplished, which invested his administration with the moist thrilling 
 interest and imposing splendour. Sir Charles Bagot has been denied 
 the privilege of introducing to the Legislature the measures, which, 
 Vvith the aid of his advisers, he had contemplated and prepared for the 
 good government and welfare of the Province. What he has done in 
 the ordinary exercise of the Executive functions, and the deep interest 
 he has manifested in bringing the University of King's College into 
 early and efficient operation, and in encouraging and supporting other 
 educational Institutions, indicate how much he would have done as a 
 Legislator, had opportunity been allowed him. Of the merits of rival 
 parties in Canada it is not my province to speak : but of Sir Charles 
 Bagot during his short Canadian administration, I may say what a ce- 
 lebrated historian has said of Scipio — 
 
 Nil non laudandum aut dixit, aut fecit, aut sensit. 
 
 If any one circumstance, iu addition to the consciousness of having 
 done his duty, and the expressions of gratitude and sympathy which 
 greet him from every part of the Province, can alleviate the sufferings 
 of Sir Charles Bagot and the disappointment of so premature a retire- 
 ment from office, it must be the respectful and affectionate references 
 which are daily made to him by his distinguished successoi. Sir 
 Charles Metcalfe. Indeed it is a spectacle of moral sublimity de- 
 lightful and affecting to the whole Country, to see two such Statesmen, 
 free from every feeling of personal jealousy, almost emulate each other 
 m expressions of confidence and hope on the one side, and of praise and 
 sympathy on the other. Were their spirit imbibed and their example 
 imitated by the entire population of Canada, how soon would the fulmi- 
 nations of bigotry and the criminations of party cease throughout the 
 land, and be succeeded by the purer language of Christian charity, and 
 the nobler acts of public patriotism. 
 
 While in the new Governor General I doubt not the people of the 
 united Province will find all that we have lost in his predecessor — a 
 Father, a Friend, and a Benefactor, — I should have done violence to my 
 own feelings, not to offer to the departing Sir Charles Bagot, this sin- 
 cere, though feeble tribute of respect and gratitude for the impartiality, 
 wisdom and excellence of his administration, and without adding, what 
 I believe to be, the prayer of United Canada, — May Jehovah-shammah 
 be with him ; may Jehovah-nisi defend him ; may Jehovah-jireh pro- 
 vide for him ; may Jehovah-shalom send him peace ! 
 
 
 ii ■ ,f iiBj" vi:i5 i 
 
 Victoria College, 
 
 v^^ May 1, 1843. 
 
 EGERTON RYERSON. 
 
genuine pa- 
 agot's policy. 
 
 trod uced and 
 lost thrilling 
 been denied 
 ires, which, 
 ared for the 
 has done in 
 eep interest 
 DoIIege into 
 )rting other 
 e done as a 
 rits of rival 
 Sir Charles 
 what a CC' 
 
 it. 
 
 t.A 
 
 s of having 
 ithy which 
 8 sufferings 
 re a retire- 
 references 
 lessor, SiK 
 )limity de- 
 Statesmen, 
 each other 
 praise and 
 r example 
 the fulmi- 
 ighout the 
 arity, and 
 
 )ple of the 
 Bcessor — a 
 jnce to my 
 , this sin- 
 ipartiality, 
 ing, what 
 -shammah 
 ireh pro- 
 
 ON.