Читать книгу A Narrative - Sir Francis Bond Head - Страница 9
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CHAPTER II.
The History of my Appointment to the Government of Upper Canada in November, 1835.
It had blown almost a hurricane from the S.S.W.—the sheep in Romney Marsh had huddled together in groups—the cattle, afraid to feed, were still standing with their tails to the storm—I had been all day immured in New Romney with the board of guardians of the Marsh Union; and though, several times my horse had been nearly blown off the road, I had managed to return to my lodging at Cranbrook; and, with my head full of the unions, parishes, magistrates, guardians, relieving officers, and paupers of the county of Kent, like Abon Hassan, I had retired to rest, and for several hours had been fast asleep, when, about midnight, I was suddenly awakened by the servant of my lodging, who, with a letter in one hand, and in the other a tallow candle, illumining an honest countenance, not altogether free from alarm, hurriedly informed me, “That a king’s officer had come after me!”
What could possibly be the matter in the workhouse of this busy world I could not clearly conceive; however, sitting up in my bed, I opened the letter, which, to my utter astonishment, was from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, expressing a wish that {24} I should accept the government of Upper Canada; and that, if possible, I would call upon him with my answer, at half-past eight the following morning, as at nine o’clock he was to set out for Brighton, to see the King.
As I was totally unconnected with every member of the Government, and had never had the honour even of seeing Lord Glenelg in my life, I was altogether at a loss to conceive why this appointment should have been offered to me. However, as it appeared there was no time to be lost, I immediately got up, and, returning to London in the chaise of the King’s messenger who had brought me the communication, I reached my own house at Kensington at six o’clock, and having consulted with my family, whose opinions on the subject of the appointment I found completely coincided with my own, I waited upon Lord Glenelg at his residence, at the hour appointed (half-past eight), when I most respectfully, and very gratefully, declined the appointment.
To this determination Lord Glenelg very obligingly replied, by repeating to me his wish to be enabled to submit my name to the King for so important and difficult a trust: he begged me to reconsider the subject; and, in order that I might be enabled to do so, he requested me to go and converse with his under-secretary, Mr. Stephen, who, his Lordship said would give me every information on the subject.
Nothing could be more uncongenial to my habits, {25} disposition, and opinions than the station that was offered to me: while, on the other hand, as regarded my appointment in the poor-law commission, never had I been engaged in a service the duties of which had so completely engrossed my mind. Rightly or wrongly, it now matters not, I fancied that, against prejudice and clamour, I should eventually succeed in the noblest, and to my mind the most interesting, of all services, that of reviving the character and condition of the English labourer; and as, notwithstanding the unpopularity of the new Act, I had, thanks to the magistrates, yeomanry, and farmers of the county of Kent, carried it into effect by acclamation, the pleasure as well as interest of the task was daily increasing.
If the poor-law commissioners had expressed the slightest wish to remove me from Kent to any station of greater difficulty, or even of danger, it would of course have been my especial duty not to have declined; but, as the Colonial Office had not the slightest claim upon me, and as I was really grossly ignorant of everything that in any way related to the government of our colonies, I continued, so far as my own wishes, and even interests were concerned, to adhere to my opinion.
Still, however, I did not like to persist in refusing my humble services to the King’s Government, after they had been twice required of me; and accordingly, walking towards Downing-street, under this confliction {26} of feelings, it was with considerable reluctance that I entered the door of the Colonial Office.
In obedience to a principle which I need not repeat, I at last, without any further reference to my family, expressed to Mr. Stephen that I would undertake the duty; and accordingly a letter was, without delay, despatched to Brighton to Lord Glenelg, who, on receiving it, immediately submitted to the King my name, of which his Majesty was graciously pleased to approve.
I must now mention a few details which, though not very interesting to relate, had perhaps better not be withheld from the public.
In my interview with Mr. Stephen I learnt that, from motives of economy, which, in a moment of so much alleged danger, I could not clearly comprehend, there would be a difficulty in continuing to me an aid-de-camp, and that, not only was I to receive 500l. a-year less salary than my predecessor, but that, instead of his military remuneration, which amounted, I understood, to nearly 1000l. a-year, was to forfeit to the Government my half-pay as major in the army.
With respect to these arrangements, I at once very distinctly observed to Mr. Stephen that, although it was, of course, utterly impossible for me even to imagine what would be the official expenses to which I should be subjected, yet that, as so many governors, one after another, were supposed to have failed in {27} their missions, and as the difficulties which had overcome them were declared to have increased rather than to have diminished, I considered it was unreasonable, as well as imprudent, in the Government to ask me to encounter them with diminished means. I told Mr. Stephen that to go without an aid-de-camp to a disturbed colony, where the Governor had always been seen to have one, would in my opinion be impolitic; and I added that, as I was altogether below my predecessors (Sir Peregrine Maitland and Sir John Colborne) in military rank, and that as I was to be divested of the command of the troops, I thought the civil elevation of a baronetcy ought to be conferred upon me.
In short, my argument ran upon the theory that I thought I ought not to go into action without as many shot in my locker, and as much support, as my predecessors had had. I declared I wanted no more.
In reply, Mr. Stephen admitted the justness of my theory. He told me that I ought to have an aid-de-camp—that he thought I should be justified in insisting that my official expenses, as Lord Gosford’s had been, should be defrayed—that if a batch of baronets were to be created there would be no difficulty; but there were so many applications for the distinction, that he thought Lord Melbourne might feel he would create jealousy by a single appointment.
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The following day I did not see Lord Glenelg; but, as I had been apprized that, in order that the King’s promise to the Legislature of Upper Canada, to give his answer in January, should not be broken, it would be necessary I should sail in a very few days, I thought it advisable that, before I was gazetted, I should repeat in writing the requests I had made to Mr. Stephen. I accordingly did this, and myself delivered the communication to Mr. Stephen, who however advised me not to force it officially upon Lord Glenelg, but to leave him perhaps to speak to his Lordship on the subject.
I had, I think, only one short interview with Lord Glenelg before I went to the King, at which, though my attention was of course occupied with higher subjects, I very shortly submitted to his Lordship (in presence, if I recollect right, of Sir George Grey) the propriety of my being raised as nearly as possible to the same level as my predecessor, to which general theory Lord Glenelg with his usual kindness of manner replied, “There is much truth in what you say.”
On my arrival at Brighton, in order to be presented to the King, I explained the difficulty which had been raised about my aid-de-camp, to which it was replied, “You really ought not to go out without one!”
Everybody thus seemed to agree with my theory, and yet nothing was settled. At last Mr. Stephen {29} took me to Lord Howick, and after considerable trouble I was authorised to appoint Lieut. Halkett, of the Coldstream Guards, as my aid-de-camp.
As my time was very short, my attention was much engrossed in reading over a voluminous correspondence which was placed before me in the Colonial Office. I had to wind up, or rather to cut, the thread of my business with the Poor Law Commission, and had also my private affairs to settle; accordingly the day of my departure arrived without any terms with the Government having been satisfactorily settled. I had been subjected to considerable losses by being called upon so suddenly to break up my establishment; and for temporary outfit I had been thus subjected to expenses exceeding 500l.
In order that the King’s promise to the Legislature of Upper Canada should be fulfilled, instead of being sent, as had been customary, in a King’s ship, I was desired to proceed with my suite, which consisted of my aid-de-camp, my civil secretary, &c., by the packet to New York, from whence I was to transport them, as well as my baggage, in the depth of winter, through the United States to Canada; and, in order to indemnify me for all these losses, outfit, and expenses, I was offered on the morning of my departure 300l., of which, I was told, it would be necessary to retail 230l. for the fees of my commission.
With my suite I immediately set off for Liverpool, {30} and I was on board the New York packet, which was actually moving out of the harbour, when an official letter was delivered to me by post, cancelling the appointment of my aid-de-camp!
There was of course no time to remonstrate: however, as Lieut. Halkett, in order to join me, had obtained from the commanding officer of his regiment a year’s leave of absence, I begged he would employ it by accompanying me to Toronto as my guest, which he accordingly did.
My arrival in Upper Canada will form the subject of the next chapter. I will therefore merely here state that, in the very few words which passed between Sir John Colborne and myself on the subject of official expenses, Sir John mentioned to me, in general terms, that these expenses had, during the ten years he had administered the government, exceeded his salary of Governor; and I had scarcely thus learned that the theory I had asserted in the Colonial Office was a practical fact, when I found that, even before I was sworn in, I was debtor to Sir John Colborne 1050l. for stoves, kitchen apparatus, furniture of public rooms, &c., and that I should be required to pay another 1000l. for horses, carriages, sleighs, linen, liveries, additional furniture, &c.
Considering that our valuable North American colonies were supposed almost by everybody in England, and especially by the Government, to be on {31} the point of separating themselves from the parent state, I will merely ask, was it even politic in the King’s Government to despatch me on so forlorn a hope, not only without sufficient means, but, morally speaking, as destitute of ammunition as General Whitelock’s men were, when, without flints or fixed bayonets, they were wilfully marched towards inevitable defeat?
Whatever may be the opinion of the public on this subject, I shall always believe that, had I, inexperienced and unsupported, fallen as soon as I reached my post, his Majesty’s Government would have been liable to impeachment for the loss of our North American colonies. Nevertheless, I really do them the justice to believe that they were so intoxicated by the insane theory of conciliating democracy, that they actually believed the people of Upper Canada would throw up their hats and be delighted at the vulgarity of seeing the representative of their sovereign arrive among them as an actor of all work, without dignity of station, demeanour, or conduct: in short, like a republican governor, who, from his cradle, has been brought up to reckon “that all men are born equal”—that the fabric of human society has neither top nor bottom—that the protection of property of all description belongs to the multitude, and that the will of the mob is the real “law of the land.”