The Influence of the Crown in the Evolution of Responsible Government

HE Durham Report will always remain a turning point inBritish colonial policy.In its recommendations lay the genesis of responsible government.The ultimate wisdom of that policy is not now doubted, but at the time it met with considerable opposition and misunderstanding, even in comparatively Liberal quarters in England.In Canada its complete realization was not secured until ten years after the publication of the Report.The years between 1839-1849 are, therefore, of considerable importance in Canadian history.The evolution from representative to responsible government meant ten years of bitter contention and party controversy.The struggle was not so much whether or not Canada was to enjoy responsible government, but what interpretation of that theory was to hold the field.The four governors of that period, $ydenham, Bagot, Metcalfe, and Elgin, as well as the leaders of the Canadian Reform party, all agreed that they were following the principles enunciated in the Durham Report, but they all differed when they considered how those principles were to be put into practice.This fact is on the surface peculiar when it is remembered that the language of the Durham Report is remarkably clear and dogmatic in tone, quite unlike the usual blue book, and contains none of the reservations and ambiguities which are natural to the discreet politician.What is the explanation?Professor Morison, in a recent book, 1 traces the evolution of Canadian self-government during this period.Brilliant and suggestive as the book is, he nevertheless fails to reconcile the difference between the conception of responsible government as understood by Metcalfe and by Elgin.He is inclined to emphasize the limitations imposed by Durham. 2 He argues with effect that Metcalfe was quite right in claiming that he

Crown (dentistry) · Government (linguistics) · Linguistics · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Legal principles and applications · Materials Science · Philosophy

• Province and nation

  Philip Goldring•The Journal of Imperial &…•1980

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