Page:Canadian notabilities 2.djvu/30

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dishonest he was guilty of some dissimulation. While professing to approve of Responsible Government he was constantly shewing his hostility to it, he had no sympathies in common with its advocates, and chose his associates and advisers from among the members of the defunct Compact. He endeavoured to exalt his own office by circumscribing the power of the Cabinet. He was wont to sneer at the pretensions of his Ministers, and in one of his letters he compares his position to that of an Indian Governor compelled to rule by means of a Mahommedan Ministry and a Mahommedan Parliament. It will readily be believed that there could be little unanimity of sentiment between such a man and Robert Baldwin. Their natures were thoroughly antagonistic, and this began to be apparent ere the new Governor-General had been many weeks in the country. They had several warm discussions as to the right of patronage. Mr. Baldwin, on behalf of himself and his colleagues, urged—what one would have thought must be sufficiently obvious in a country boasting of Responsible Government—that public appointments should be made in accordance with the will of the people. Sir Charles utterly scouted such a doctrine. He claimed that, as the representative of the Crown, the right of patronage was vested in himself alone. He was defective in perception, and surrendering himself to evil counsellers, formed most erroneous ideas as to the character and aims of the members of the Government. How erroneous those ideas were is sufficiently apparent from the language of his biographer Mr.—afterwards Sir John William—Kaye. The latter gentleman never was in Canada, and knew nothing of Mr. Baldwin except what he gathered from the papers of Lord Metcalfe. His estimate of Mr. Baldwin may therefore fairly be taken to have been that of Lord Metcalfe himself. People who are well-informed as to his life and character may well open their eyes when they read that Robert Baldwin was "the son of a gentleman of Toronto, of American descent, who had formerly been a member of what was called the 'Family Compact;'"—that "the elder Baldwin had quarrelled with his party, and with the characteristic bitterness of a renegade had brought up his son in extremest hatred of his old associates;" —that "the son grew up to be an enthusiast—almost a fanatic;" —that "he was to the last degree uncompromising and intolerant;"—that "he seemed to delight in strife;"—that "the might of mildness he laughed to scorn;"—that "he was not satisfied with a victory unless it was gained by violence;"