JAMAICA.
SHIPWRECK--DEATH OF LADY ELGIN--POSITION OF A GOVERNOR IN A WEST INDIAN
COLONY SUCH AS JAMAICA--STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION IN THE ISLAND--QUESTIONS
OF FINANCE, EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE, THE LABOURING CLASSES, RELIGION, THE
CHURCH--HARMONISING INFLUENCES OF BRITISH CONNEXION--RESIGNATION
--APPOINTMENT TO CANADA.
[Sidenote: Shipwreck.]
[Sidenote: Death of Lady Elgin.]
Lord Elgin sailed for Jamaica in the middle of April 1842. The West Indian
steamers at that time held their rendezvous for the collection and
distribution of the mails not, as now, at St. Thomas, but at a little
island called Turk's Island, a mere sandbank, hedged with coral reefs. The
vessel in which Lord Elgin was a passenger made this island during the
night; but the captain, over anxious to keep his time, held on towards the
shore. They struck on a spike of coral, which pierced the ship's side and
held her impaled; fortunately so, for she was thus prevented from backing
out to sea and foundering with all hands, as other vessels did. Though the
ship itself became a total wreck, no lives were lost, and nearly
everything of value was saved; but from the shock of that night Lady
Elgin, though apparently little alarmed at the time, never recovered. Two
months afterwards, in giving birth to a daughter, now Lady Elma Thurlow,
she was seized with violent convulsions, which were nearly fatal; and
though, to the surprise of the medical men, she rallied from this attack,
her health was seriously impaired, and she died in the summer of the
following year.
[Sidenote: Position of a Governor in a West Indian colony]
There are probably few situations of greater difficulty and delicacy than
that of the Governor of a British colony which possesses representative
institutions. A constitutional sovereign, but with frail and temporary
tenure, he is expected not to reign only but to govern; and to govern
under the orders of a distant minister, who, if he has one eye on the
colony, must keep the other on home politics. Thus, without any power in
himself, he is a meeting-point of two different and generally antagonistic
forces--the will of the imperial government and the will of the local
legislature. To act in harmony with both these forces, and to bring them
into something of harmony with each other, requires, under the most
favourable circumstances, a rare union of firmness with patience and tact.
But the difficulties were much aggravated in a West Indian colony in the
early days of Emancipation.
[Sidenote: such as Jamaica.]
Here the local legislature was a democratic oligarchy, partly composed of
landowners, but chiefly of overseers, with no permanent stake in the
country. And this legislature had to be induced to pass measures for the
benefit of those very blacks of whose enforced service they had been
deprived, and whose paid labour they found it difficult to obtain. Add to
this that, in Jamaica, a long period of contention with the mother-country
had left a feeling of bitter resentment for the past, and sullen
despondency as regards the future. Moreover, the balance had to be held
between the Church of England on the one hand, which was in possession of
all the ecclesiastical endowments, and probably of all the learning and
cultivation of the island, and, on the other hand, the various sects,
especially that of the Baptists, who, having fought vigorously for the
Negroes in the battle of Emancipation, now held undisputed sway over their
minds, and who, as was natural, found it difficult to abandon the position
of demagogues and agitators.
Lord Elgin was at once fortunate and unfortunate in coming after the most
conciliatory and popular of governors, Sir C. Metcalfe. The island was in
a state of peace and harmony which had been long unknown to it; but the
singular affection, which Metcalfe had inspired in all classes, made them
look forward with the most gloomy forebodings to the advent of his
successor.
[Sidenote: State of opinion in the island.]
Moreover, to use Lord Elgin's own language, a tone of despondency with
reference to the prospects of the owners of property had long been
considered the test of a sincere regard for the welfare of Jamaica. He who
had been most successful in proclaiming the depression under which the
landed and trading interests laboured, had been held to be in the popular
acceptation of the term the truest friend to the colony.
Nothing could be more alien to the spirit of inquiry and enterprise which
leads to practical improvement. In an enervating climate, with a
proprietary for the most part non-resident, and a peasantry generally
independent of their employers, much encouragement is requisite to induce
managers to encounter the labour and responsibility which attends the
introduction of new systems; but, by reason of the unfortunate
prepossession above described, the announcement of a belief that the
planters had not exhausted the resources within their reach, had been
considered a declaration of hostility towards that class.
And truly (wrote Lord Elgin himself) the _onus probandi_ lay, and
pretty heavily too, upon the propounder of the obnoxious doctrine of
hope. Was it not shown on the face of unquestioned official returns,
that the exports of the island had dwindled to one-third of their
former amount? Was it not attested even in Parliament, that estates,
which used to produce thousands annually, were sinking money year
after year? Was it not apparent that the labourers stood in a relation
of independence towards the owners of capital and land, totally
unknown to a similar class in any fully peopled country? All these
were facts and indisputable. And again, was it not equally certain
that undeserved aspersions were cast upon the planters? Were they not
held responsible for results over which they could exercise no manner
of control? and was it not natural that, having been thus calumniated,
they should be somewhat impatient of advice?
From the day of Lord Elgin's arrival in the colony, he was convinced that
the endeavour to work a change on public opinion in this respect, would
constitute one of his first and most important duties; but he was not
insensible to the difficulties with which the experiment was surrounded.
He felt that a new Governor, rash enough to assert that all was not yet
accomplished which ingenuity and perseverance could achieve, might have
perilled his chance of benefiting the colony. Men would have said, and
with some truth, 'he knows nothing of the matter; his information is
derived from A. or B.; he is a tool in their hands; he will undo all the
good which others have effected by enlisting the sympathies of England in
our favour.' He would have been deemed a party man, and become an object
of suspicion and distrust.
It was soon found, however, that the new Governor was as anxious as his
predecessor had been to conciliate the good will and promote the interests
of all ranks of the community in a spirit of perfect fairness and
moderation. The agitation of vexed constitutional questions he earnestly
deprecated as likely to interrupt the harmony happily prevailing between
the several branches of the legislature, and to divert the attention of
influential members of the community from the material interests of the
colony to the consideration of more exciting subjects. 'I do not
underrate,' he said, 'the importance of constitutional questions, nor am I
insensible to the honour which may be acquired by their satisfactory
adjustment. In the present crisis of our fortunes, however, I am impressed
with the belief that he is the best friend to Jamaica who concentrates his
energies on the promotion of the moral well-being of the population, and
the restoration of the economical prosperity of the island.'
[Sidenote: Questions of finance]
The finances of the colony were at this time in a state to require the
most careful treatment. At a moment when the recent violent change in the
distribution of the wealth of the community had left the proprietary body
generally in a depressed condition, the Legislature had to provide for the
wants of the newly emancipated population, by increasing at great cost the
ecclesiastical and judicial establishments; and at the same time it was
necessary that a quantity of inconvertible paper recently set afloat
should be redeemed, if the currency was to be fixed on a sound basis.
Under these conditions it was not easy to equalise the receipts and
expenditure of the island treasury; and the difficulty was not diminished
by the necessity of satisfying critics at home. Before long an occasion
arose to test Lord Elgin's tact and discretion in mediating on such
questions between the colony and the mother-country.
Towards the end of 1842 a new tariff was enacted by the legislature of the
island. When the Act embodying it was sent home, it was found to violate
certain economical principles recently adopted in this country. An angry
despatch from Downing Street informed Lord Elgin that it was disapproved,
and that nothing but an apprehension of the financial embarrassments that
must ensue prevented its being formally disallowed. In terms almost
amounting to a reprimand, it was intimated that the adoption of such
objectionable enactments might be prevented if the Governor would exercise
the legitimate influence of his office in opposing them; and it was added,
'If, unfortunately, your efforts should be unsuccessful, and if any such
bill should be presented for your acceptance, it is Her Majesty's pleasure
and command that you withhold your assent from it.'
Lord Elgin replied by a temperate representation, that it was but natural
that traces of a policy long sanctioned by the mother-country should
remain in the legislation of the colony; that the duties in question were
not found injuriously to check trade, while they were needed to meet the
expenditure: moreover, that the Assembly was, and always had been,
extremely jealous of any interference in the matter of self-taxation:
lastly, that 'while sensible that the services of a Governor must be
unprofitable if he failed to acquire and exercise a legitimate moral
influence in the general conduct of affairs, he was at the same time
convinced that a just appreciation of the difficulties with which the
legislature of the island had yet to contend, and of the sacrifices and
exertions already made under the pressure of no ordinary embarrassments,
was an indispensable condition to his usefulness.'
The Home Government felt the weight of these considerations, and the
correspondence closed with the revocation of the peremptory command above
quoted.
[Sidenote: Education.]
The object which Lord Elgin had most at heart was to improve the moral and
social condition of the Negroes, and to fit them, by education, for the
freedom which had been thrust upon them; but, with characteristic tact and
sagacity, he preferred to compass this end through the agency of the
planters themselves. By encouraging the application of mechanical
contrivances to agriculture, he sought to make it the interest not only of
the peasants to acquire, but of the planters to give them, the education
necessary for using machinery; while he lost no opportunity of impressing
on the land-owning class that, if they wished to secure a constant supply
of labour, they could not do so better than by creating in the labouring
class the wants which belong to educated beings.
The following extracts from private letters, written at the time to the
Secretary of State, contain the freshest and best expression of his views
on these and similar questions of island politics:--
In some quarters I am informed, that less desire for education is
shown now by the Negroes than during the apprenticeship; and the
reason assigned is, that it was then supposed that certain social and
political advantages would accrue to those who were able to read, but
that now, when all is gained, and all are on a par in these respects,
the same zeal for learning no longer prevails. It has been suggested
that a great impulse might be given in this direction, by working on
the feeling which existed formerly; confining the franchise for
instance to qualified persons who could read, or by some other
expedient of the same nature. This being an important constitutional
question, I have not thought it right to give the notion any
encouragement; but I submit it as coming from persons who are, I
believe, sincere well-wishers to the Negro. It is not very easy to
keep children steadily at school, or to enforce a very rigid
discipline on them when they are there. Parents who have never been
themselves educated, cannot be expected to attach a very high value to
education. The system of Slavery was not calculated to strengthen the
family ties; and parents do not, I apprehend, exercise generally a
very steady and consistent control in their families. The consequence
is, that children are pretty generally at liberty to attend school or
not as they please. If the rising generation, however, are not
educated, what is to become of this island? That they have withdrawn
themselves to a considerable extent from field labour is, I think,
generally admitted. It is therefore undoubtedly desirable that all
legitimate inducements should be held out, both to parents and
children, to encourage the latter to attend school.
In urging the adoption of machinery in aid of manual labour, one main
object I have had in view has ever been the creation of an aristocracy
among the labourers themselves; the substitution of a given amount of
skilled labour for a larger amount of unskilled. My hope is, that we
may thus engender a healthy emulation among the labourers, a desire to
obtain situations of eminence and mark among their fellows, and also
to push their children forwards in the same career. Where labour is so
scarce as it is here, it is undoubtedly a great object to be able to
effect at a cheaper rate by machinery, what you now attempt to execute
very unsatisfactorily by the hand of man. But it seems to me to be a
still more important object to awaken this honourable ambition in the
breast of the peasant, and I do not see how this can be effected by
any other means. So long as labour means nothing more than digging
cane holes, or carrying loads on the head, physical strength is the
only thing required, no moral or intellectual quality comes into play.
But, in dealing with mechanical appliances, the case is different;
knowledge, acuteness, steadiness are at a premium. The Negro will soon
appreciate the worth of these qualities, when they give him position
among his own class. An indirect value will thus attach to education.
Every successful effort made by enterprising and intelligent
individuals to substitute skilled for unskilled labour; every premium
awarded by societies in acknowledgment of superior honesty,
carefulness, or ability, has a tendency to afford a remedy the most
salutary and effectual which can be devised for the evil here set
forth.
[Sidenote: Agriculture.]
With the view of awakening an interest in the subject of agricultural
improvements, Lord Elgin himself offered a premium of 100_l_. for the
best practical treatise on the cultivation of the cane, with a special
reference to the adoption of mechanical aids and appliances in aid or in
lieu of mechanical labour. In forwarding to Lord Stanley printed copies of
eight of the essays which competed for the prize, he wrote as follows:--
Much, I believe, is involved in the issue of this and similar experiments.
So long as the planter despairs,--so long as he assumes that the cane can
be cultivated and sugar manufactured at profit only on the system adopted
during slavery,--so long as he looks to external aids (among which I class
immigration) as his sole hope of salvation from ruin--with what feelings
must he contemplate all earnest efforts to civilise the mass of the
population? Is education necessary to qualify the peasantry to carry on
the rude field operations of slavery? May not some persons even entertain
the apprehension, that it will indispose them to such pursuits? But let
him, on the other hand, believe that, by the substitution of more
artificial methods for those hitherto employed, he may materially abridge
the expense of raising his produce, and he cannot fail to perceive that an
intelligent, well-educated labourer, with something of a character to
lose, and a reasonable ambition to stimulate him to exertion, is likely to
prove an instrument more apt for his purposes than the ignorant drudge who
differs from the slave only in being no longer amenable to personal
restraint.[1]
One of the measures in which Lord Elgin took the most active interest was
the establishment of a 'General Agricultural Society for the Island of
Jamaica,' and he was much gratified by receiving Her Majesty's permission
to give to it the sanction of her name as Patroness.
I am confident (he writes to Lord Stanley) that the notice which Her
Majesty is pleased to take of the institution will be duly
appreciated, and will be productive of much good.
You must allow me to remark (he adds) that moral results of much
moment are involved in the issue of the efforts which we are now
making for the improvement of agriculture in this colony. Not only has
the impulse which has been imparted to the public mind in Jamaica been
beneficial in itself and in its direct effects, but it has, I am
firmly persuaded, checked opposing tendencies, which threatened very
injurious consequences to Negro civilisation. To reconcile the planter
to the heavy burdens which he was called to bear for the improvement
of our establishments and the benefit of the mass of the population,
it was necessary to persuade him that he had an interest in raising
the standard of education and morals among the peasantry; and this
belief could be imparted only by inspiring a taste for a more
artificial system of husbandry. By the silent operation of such
salutary convictions, prejudices of old standing are removed; the
friends of the Negro and of the proprietary classes find themselves
almost unconsciously acting in concert, and conspiring to complete
that great and holy work of which the emancipation of the slave was
but the commencement.
[Sidenote: The labouring classes.]
On a general survey of the state of the labouring classes, taken after
he had been a little more than a year in the island, he was able to give
a most favourable report of their condition, in all that concerns material
prosperity and comfort of living.
The truth is (he wrote) that our labourers are for the most part in
the position of persons who live habitually within their incomes. They
are generally sober and frugal, and accustomed to a low standard of
living. Their gardens supply them in great measure with the
necessaries of life. The chief part, therefore, of what they receive
in money, whether as wages or as the price of the surplus produce of
their provision grounds, they can lay aside for occasional calls, and,
when they set their minds on an acquisition or an indulgence, they do
not stickle at the cost. I am told that, in the shops at Kingston,
expensive articles of dress are not unusually purchased by members of
the families of black labourers. Whether the ladies are good judges of
the merits of silks and cambrics I do not pretend to decide; but they
pay ready money, and it is not for the sellers to cavil at their
discrimination. The purchase of land, as you well know, is going on
rapidly throughout the island; and the money thus invested must have
been chiefly, though not entirely, accumulated by the labouring
classes since slavery was abolished. A proprietor told me the other
day that he had, within twelve months, sold ten acres of land in small
lots, for the sum of 900_l_. The land sold at so high a price is
situated near a town, and the purchasers pay him an annual rent of
50_s_. per acre, for provision grounds on the more distant parts
of the estate. Again, in most districts, the labourers are possessed
of horses, for which they often pay handsomely. A farm servant not
unfrequently gives from 12_l_. to 20_l_. for an animal which
he intends to employ, not for purposes of profit, but in riding to
church, or on occasions of festivity.
Whence then are these funds derived? That the peasantry are generally
frugal and sober I have already observed. But they are assuredly not
called to tax their physical powers unduly, in order to achieve the
independence I have described. Although the estate I lately visited is
well managed, and the best understanding subsists between employer and
labourers, the latter seldom made their appearance in the field until
some time after I had sallied forth for my morning walk. They work on
the estate only nine days in the fortnight, devoting the alternate
Fridays to the cultivation of their provision grounds, and the
Saturdays to marketing and amusements. On the whole, seeing that the
climate is suited to their constitutions, that they experience none of
the drawbacks to which new settlers, even in the most fertile
countries, are subject, that they are by disposition and temperament a
cheerful race, I much doubt whether any people on the face of the
globe enjoy as large a share of happiness as the Creole peasantry of
this island. And this is a representation not over-charged, or highly
coloured, but drawn in all truth and sobriety of the actual condition
of a population which was, a very few years ago, subjected to the
degrading, depressing influences of slavery. Well may you and others
who took part in the work of emancipation rejoice in the success of
your great experiment.
But was it possible to indulge the same feelings of exultation when
contemplating their condition morally, and marking the indications of
advance towards a higher state of civilisation? In the island itself
controversy was rife as to the degree in which such results had been
already achieved, and the promise of further progress. Some of the more
enthusiastic and ardent of that class of persons who had been the zealous
advocates of the interests of the Negro population at a former period,
were now disposed to judge most hardly of their conduct. Their very
sympathy with the victims of the system formerly prevailing, led them to
conceive unbounded hopes of the benefits, moral and social alike, which a
change would effect; the admirable behaviour of the peasantry at the time
of emancipation, confirmed such anticipations; and they were now beginning
to experience disappointment on finding that all they looked for was not
immediately realised. These feelings, however, Lord Elgin did not share.
On the whole (he said) I feel confident that the moral results
consequent on the introduction of freedom, have been as satisfactory
as could in reason have been expected; and, notwithstanding the very
serious pecuniary loss which this measure has entailed in many
quarters, few indeed, even if they had the power to do so, would
consent to return to the system which has been abandoned. It is
gratifying in the highest degree to observe the feelings now
subsisting between those who lately stood to each other in the
relation of master and slave. Past wrongs are forgotten, and in the
every-day dealings between man and man the humanity of the labourer is
unhesitatingly recognised.
[Sidenote: Religion.]
We have seen how zealously Lord Elgin exerted himself to realise his own
hopes for the prosperity of the colony, by encouraging the spread of
secular and industrial education. Not that he regarded secular education
as all-sufficient. His sympathies[2] were entirely with those who believe
that, while 'it is a great and a good thing to know the laws that govern
this world, it is better still to have some sort of faith in the relations
of this world with another; that the knowledge of cause and effect can
never replace the motive to do right and avoid wrong; that our clergymen
and ministers are more useful than our schoolmasters; that Religion is the
motive power, the faculties are the machines: and the machines are useless
without the motive power.'[3] But, as a practical statesman, he felt that
the one kind of education he had it in his power to forward directly by
measures falling within his own legitimate province; while the other he
could only promote indirectly, by pointing out the need for it, and
drawing attention to the peculiar circumstances of the island respecting
it. The following are a few of the passages in which he refers to the
subject:--
[Sidenote: The Church.]
Much has been done by the island legislature--more, I think, than
could reasonably have been looked for under the circumstances--towards
making provision for the religious necessities of the population. But
the daily formation of small mountain settlements, and the consequent
dispersion of large numbers in districts remote from the established
places of worship, adds greatly to the difficulty of extending to all
these humanising and civilising influences. The Church can keep its
footing here only by the exhibition of missionary zeal and devotion,
tempered by a spirit of Christian benevolence and conciliation. I
regret to say that some of the unhappy controversies which are vexing
the Church in England have broken out here of late. Discussions of
this nature are singularly unprofitable where the people need to be
instructed in the very rudiments of Christian knowledge, and where it
is so desirable to keep well with all who profess to have a similar
object in view.
A single bishop in a colony, where large funds are provided by the
State for Church purposes, and where he is beyond the reach of the
public opinion of England, exercises a very great and irresponsible
authority. If a zealous man, of extreme views on points of doctrine,
the clergy of the diocese, looking to him alone for advancement in
their profession, are apt to echo his sentiments; and the wide folding
doors of our mother Church, which she flings open for the reception of
so many, to use Milton's words, 'brotherly dissimilitudes that are not
vastly disproportioned,' are contracted, to the exclusion, perchance,
of some whom it were desirable to retain in our communion. If, on the
other hand, he be a man of but moderate piety, ability, and firmness,
the importunity of friends at a distance, who may wish to provide for
dependents or connections, and other considerations which need not be
enumerated, may tempt him to lower the standard of ministerial
qualification, of which he is, of course, the sole judge. It requires
a person of much Christian principle, and singular moderation,
discretion, and tact, to administer powers of this nature well. I have
every hope that the bishop whom you have sent us will prove equal to
the task. For the sake of humanity and civilisation, as well as for
the interests of the island, I fervently trust that I may not be
disappointed in my expectations on this head.
The complex and thwarting currents of interest and opinion that may exist
in a colony respecting the maintenance of a State Church are well
illustrated in the following extracts:--
Very soon after I arrived here, I felt satisfied that the conflicts of
party in the colony would ere long assume a new character. I perceived
that the hostility to the proprietary interests, which was supposed to
actuate certain classes of persons who had much influence with the
peasantry, was on the decline. Should a state of quiescence prove
incompatible with the maintenance of their hold on their flocks,
analogy led me to anticipate that the Established Church would, in all
probability, become an object of attack.
Considering the facility with which the franchise may be acquired, it
is not a little remarkable that the constituency should have hitherto
increased so slowly. This phenomenon has not escaped the notice of the
opponents of the union of Church and State, and they have ascribed it
to the true cause. They are sensible that all uneducated population in
easy circumstances, without practical grievances, are not likely to be
intent on the acquisition of political privileges. They have,
therefore, undertaken to supply them with a grievance, in order to
whet their appetite for the franchise, and also to provide them with
guides who shall instruct them in the proper use of it. But in
attempting to carry this scheme into effect they have encountered an
obstacle, which has, for the time, entirely frustrated their
intentions. The more educated and intelligent of the brown party
listen with disapprobation to the tone in which the Baptist ministers
and their adherents arrogate to themselves exclusively the title of
friends and leaders of the black population. Many persons of this
class have already embarked in public life; some, as members of
Assembly, have taken part in those transactions which are the object
of the bitterest denunciations of the Anti-Church party. A few are
Churchmen, others Wesleyans. The prospect of a Baptist oligarchy
ruling in undivided sway disquiets them. They have their doubts as to
whether, in the present stage of our civilisation, the peasantry of
this Island would evince much discrimination in their selection of a
religion if left in that matter entirely to themselves. In the
chequered array of colours which our religious world even now
presents, comprising every shade, from Roman Catholicism and Judaism,
to Myalism, and providing spiritual gratification for every eye, they
still think it, on the whole, desirable that predominance should be
given to some one over the rest. Many have experienced the bounty of
the legislature, which has been most liberal in affording aid to all
sects who have applied for it. They are not, therefore, as yet ready
for the overthrow of the Church Establishment. But I will not take
upon myself to affirm that, as a body, they are prepared to incur
political martyrdom in its defence.
But apart from the difficulties--social, moral, and religious--at which we
have glanced, there was enough in the political aspect of affairs to fill
the Governor of Jamaica with anxiety. The franchise being within the reach
of every one who chose to stretch out a hand and grasp it, might at any
time be claimed by vast numbers of persons who had recently been slaves,
and were still generally illiterate. And the Assembly for which this
constituency had to provide members exercised great authority within its
own sphere. It discharged a large portion of the functions which usually
devolve upon an Executive Government; it initiated all legislative
measures, besides voting the supplies from year to year. What hope was
there that a body so constituted would wield such powers with discretion?
[Sidenote: Harmonising influence of British institutions.]
Lord Elgin's answer to this question shows that he already cherished that
faith in the harmonising influence of British institutions on a mixed
population, which afterwards, at a critical period of Canadian history,
was the mainspring of his policy.
A sojourner in this sea of the Antilles, who is watching with
heartfelt anxiety the progress of the great experiment of Negro
emancipation (an experiment which must result in failure unless
religion and civilisation minister to the mind that freedom which the
enactments of law have secured for the body), might well be tempted to
view the prospect to which I have now introduced you with some
feelings of misgiving, were he not reassured by his firm reliance on
the harmonising influence of British connexion, and the power of self-
adaptation inherent in our institutions. On the one side he sees the
model Republic of Hayti--a coloured community, which has enjoyed
nearly half a century of entire independence and self-rule. And with
what issues? As respects moral and intellectual culture, stagnation:
in all that concerns material development, a fatal retrogression. He
beholds there, at this day, a miserable parody of European and
American institutions, without the spirit that animates either: the
tinsel of French sentiment on the ground of negro ignorance: even the
'sacred right of 'insurrection' burlesqued: a people which has for its
only living belief an ill-defined apprehension of the superiority of
the white man, and, for the rest, blunders on without faith in what
regards this world or that which is to come.
He turns his eyes to another quarter and perceives the cluster of
states which have formed themselves from the breakup of the Spanish
continental dominions. What ground of consolation or hope does he
discover there?
These illustrations of the working of free systems constructed out of
the wreck of a broken-down African Slave Trade are not indeed
encouraging; but neither do they, in my opinion, warrant despair. I
believe that by great caution and diligence, by firmness and
gentleness on the part of the parent state, and much prudence in the
instruments which it employs, a people with a heart and soul may be
built up out of the materials in our hands. I regard our local
constitution as a _fait accompli_, and have no desire to remove a
stone of the fabric. I think that a popular representative system is,
perhaps, the best expedient that can be devised for blending into one
harmonious whole a community composed of diverse races and colour, and
this conviction is strengthened when I read the observations of Sir H.
Macleod and Governor Light, on the coloured classes in Demerara and
Trinidad. In colonies which have no assemblies, it would appear that
aspiring intellects have not the same opportunity of finding their
level, and pent up ambitions lack a vent.
In studying the play of the various forces at work around him, and in
endeavouring to direct them to good issues, Lord Elgin found the best
solace for the domestic sorrow which darkened this period of his life. He
lived chiefly in retirement, at a country-house called Craigton, in the
Blue Mountains, with his sister, now Lady Charlotte Locker, and his
brother Robert, who was also his most able and efficient secretary; seeing
little society beyond that occasioned by official intercourse and
receptions, which were never intermitted at Spanish Town, the seat of
Government. The isolation and monotony of this position, broken only once
by a conference held with some of the neighbouring Governors on a question
of common interest respecting immigration, could not fail to be
distasteful to his active spirit; and when it had lasted over three years,
it was not unnatural that he should seek to be relieved from it. Early in
1845 we find him writing to Lord Stanley as follows:--
[Sidenote: Resignation.]
I am warned by the commencement of the year 1845 that I have filled
the situation of Governor of Jamaica for as long a time as any of my
predecessors since the Duke of Manchester. The period of my
administration has not been marked by striking incidents, but it has
been one of considerable social progress. Uninterrupted harmony has
prevailed between the colonists and the local Government; and it may
perhaps, without exaggeration, be affirmed, that the spirit of
enterprise which has proceeded from Jamaica during the past two years
has enabled the British West Indian colonies to endure, with
comparative fortitude, apprehensions and difficulties which might
otherwise have depressed them beyond measure. Circumstances have,
however, occurred since my arrival in the colony, unconnected with
public affairs, which have materially affected my views in life, and
which made me contemplate with much repugnance the prospect of an
indefinitely prolonged sojourn in this place. Without dwelling at any
greater length on these painful topics, I venture to trust that you
will acquit me of undue presumption when I assure you, that in my
present forlorn and isolated position, nothing enables me to persevere
in the discharge of my duties, except the hope that my humble services
may earn for me your confidence and the approbation of my Sovereign,
and prove not altogether unprofitable to the community over whose
interests I am appointed to watch.
He remained, however, at his post for more than a year longer, and quitted
it in the spring of 1846 on leave of absence, with the understanding that
he should not be required to return to Jamaica.
[Sidenote: Appointment to Canada.]
During nearly the whole period of his government the seals of the Colonial
Office had been held by Lord Stanley, to whom he owed his appointment; and
at the break-up of the Tory party, in the beginning of 1846, they passed
into the hands of his old schoolfellow and college friend, Mr. Gladstone.
But he had scarcely arrived in England when a new Secretary arose in the
person of Lord Grey, to whom he was unknown except by reputation. It is
all the more creditable to both parties that, in spite of their political
differences, Lord Grey should first have endeavoured to induce him, on
public grounds alone, to retain the government of Jamaica, with the
promise of his unreserved confidence and most cordial support; and shortly
afterwards, should have offered to him the still more important post of
Governor-General of British North America. 'I believe,' wrote his
Lordship, in making the offer, 'that it would be difficult to point out
any situation in which great talents would find more scope for useful
exertion, or are more wanted at this moment, and I am sure that I could
not hope to find anyone whom I could recommend to Her Majesty for that
office with so much confidence as yourself.'
So splendid an offer, made in a manner so gratifying, might well overcome
any reluctance which Lord Elgin felt to embark at once on a fresh period
of expatriation, and to resume labours which, however cordially they may
be appreciated by a minister, are apt to meet with little recognition from
the public.
He accepted it, not in the spirit of mere selfish ambition, but with a
deep sense of the responsibilities attached to it, which he portrayed in
earnest and forcible words at a public dinner at Dunfermline:--
To watch over the interests of those great offshoots of the British
race which plant themselves in distant lands; to aid them in their
efforts to extend the domain of civilisation, and to fulfil that first
behest of a benevolent Creator to His intelligent creatures--'subdue
the earth;' to abet the generous endeavour to impart to these rising
communities the full advantages of British laws, British institutions,
and British freedom; to assist them in maintaining unimpaired, it may
be in strengthening and confirming, those bonds of mutual affection
which unite the parent and dependent states--these are duties not to
be lightly undertaken, and which may well claim the exercise of all
the faculties and energies of an earnest and patriotic mind.
It was arranged that he should go to Canada at the end of the year. In the
interval he became engaged to Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, daughter of the
first Earl of Durham. They were married on November 7th, and in the first
days of the year 1847 he sailed for America.
[1] It is impossible not to be struck with the applicability of
these remarks to the condition of the agricultural poor in some parts
of England, and the question of extending among them the benefits of
education.
[2] Vide inf. p. 156.
[3] See the speech of Mr. W.E. Forster, at Leeds, May 20, 1869.