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CHAP. 1] ORIGIN AND HISTORY 
when British officers were punished for doing their duty, 
British emigrants were defrauded of their property, and 
British merchants discouraged in their lawful pursuits. 
The Legislature therefore claimed only what the Secretary 
of State conceded, full responsibility in local matters subject 
to the fact that the Governor was not responsible to them 
but to the Crown only. 
Lord Sydenham died of an accident before he could be 
salled upon to realize the ideal of the Legislature,! but his 
Successor, Sir C. Bagot, who had been Ambassador to Russia 
when the famous attempt of that Government to claim as 
mare clausum the waters of Behring Sea led to the protests 
of the United States and England, which were to be used 
with such effect by the latter in the arbitration over the 
fur seals in 1894, did his best to live up to the maxims of 
the resolutions, and so did his successor, Lord Metcalfe, whose 
views of government, however, formed in India and Jamaica, 
rendered him hardly an ideal selection for the post. He 
quarrelled with his Ministry on a question of patronage; 
the Government resigned, and with the greatest difficulty 
he formed a Conservative administration and dissolved and 
appealed to the country. His high character and his energy 
Secured him a majority, but he had utterly disregarded the 
réle of a constitutional Governor,2 and it was not unfortunate 
for his reputation that he had to retire through ill-health 
in 1845. The difficulties with America over the Oregon 
boundary caused his successor to be chosen for his military 
qualities, but on Lord Cathcart’s retirement Lord Elgin was 
shosen by the Whig administration for the post. 
It was certainly Lord Elgin who first consistently applied 
the maxims of responsible government in practice.? He was 
* His last exploit was carrying a Municipal Districts Bill in the teeth of 
much opposition ; see Egerton and Grant, op. cit., pp. 287, 288. 
* His views as expressed in 1843 are given in Egerton and Grant, 
Op. 295, 296. Cf. below, p. 21. 
* See extracts from his correspondence, ibid., pp. 310-34. Cf. also 
Earl Grey, Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration, i. 203 ; 
Munro, Constitution of Canada, p- 20; Egerton, Canada, pp. 191 seq. 
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