The Workings of My Own Mind
The Private Correspondence of the Governor-General of Canada, 1839–66
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12929893 |
|---|---|
| Authors | GED MARTIN (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 63-86 |
| Publication date | 2009-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1757-8078 • E-ISSN: 0269-9222 |
| Publisher | Liverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3828/bjcs.22.1.4 |
| OpenAlex | W2068855303 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 6 |
Historians of nineteenth-century British–Canadian relations use the rich archive of Colonial Office despatches, supplemented by the private correspondence of governors-general and colonial secretaries where such collections survive. This article contends that, from 1839 to 1866 – the period of the Canadian Union – the private correspondence constituted a parallel channel of communication, operating on a quasi-official and semi-continuous basis. Private correspondence was used to discuss issues too sensitive for the official record, material that was deliberately omitted from despatches. The correspondence was controlled by the secretary of state, who shared it at his discretion with political colleagues and bureaucrats. Its major shortcoming lay in the difficulty of securing continuity of information between successive ministers, as was shown in the British response to the Canadian federation initiative of 1858. Private correspondence gradually became less important after Confederation as Canada ceased to be a problem to British policy-makers. The correspondence between governors-general and colonial secretaries should be considered apart from current historical debate on imperial networks
Art · Colonialism · Discretion · Governor · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Canadian Identity and History · Engineering · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Law · Public Administration · Scottish History and National Identity
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The Colonial Office View of Canadian Federation, 1856–1868
A Letter on the West by sir Edmund Head
The Duke of Newcastle and British North American Affairs, 1859–64
Africa and the Victorians
The British government, sir Edmund head, and British North American confederation, 1858
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,09 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2015 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |