expansion, was the creed of all but one or two of the most capable and daring statesmen of the mid-Victorian age. Strangely enough, while they had exhausted the materials for their argument so far as these lay in Britain, they had all failed to regard the one really important factor in the situation--the inclinations of the Canadian people. For the connection of Britain with Canada depended less on what the ministers of the Crown thought of Canada than on what the Canadians thought of their mother country. [1] In Fenwick (Scotland), the Improvement of Knowledge Society discussed Canadian affairs on 1 January, 1839, when James Taylor proposed the sentiment, "The speedy success of the Canadian struggle for emancipation from British thraldom." The toast, according to the minute book, was enthusiastically honoured. [2] Elgin-Grey Correspondence: Elgin to Grey, 1 November, 1851. [3] Elgin-Grey Correspondence: Grey to Elgin, 11 May, 1849. [4] Allin and Jones, _Annexation, Preferential Trade, and Reciprocity_, Chap. IX. [5] _Responsible Government for the Colonies, London_, 1840. See the extract made by Wakefield in his _View of the Art of Colonization_, p. 279. [6] _The Autobiography of Sir Henry Taylor, passim._ [7] _Ibid._ ii. pp. 302-3. [8] Leslie Stephen, _Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen_, p. 49. "On the appointment of a Governor-general of Canada, shortly before his resignation of office, he observes in a diary, that it is not unlikely to be the last that will ever be made." [9] Wakefield, _Art of Colonization_, p. 317. [10] _Ibid._ pp. 312-3. [11] Froude, _Early Life of Carlyle_, ii. p. 446. [12] _Responsible Government for the Colonies_, p. 65. [13] _Responsible Government for the Colonies_, p. 37. [14] _Responsible Government for the Colonies_, p. 98. [15] I am inclined to accept John Stuart Mill's account of the authorship--"written by Charles Buller, partly under the influence of Wakefield." [16] Quoted by Hincks in _A Lecture on the Political History of Canada_, p. 9. [17] Kaye, _Papers and Correspondence of Lord Metcalfe_, pp. 414-15. [18] _Lord Durham's Report_ (Lucas), ii. p. 280. [19] See an admirable discussion of the point in Lucas's edition of the _Report_, i. p. 146 and ii. p. 281. [20] _Ibid._ ii. p. 282. [21] A speech by Charles Buller in _Hansard_, 30 May, 1844. [22] Arthur to Normanby, 21 August, 1839. [23] _Ibid._ 15 October, 1839. [24] Protest of the Duke of Wellington against the Third Reading of a bill, etc., 13 July, 1840. [25] Parker, _Life of Sir Robert Peel_, iii. pp. 382-3. [26] Stanley to Metcalfe, 18 June, 1845. [27] Gladstone to Cathcart, 3 February, 1846. [28] Gladstone's speech in Hansard, 14 June, 1849. [29] Parker, _Life of Sir Robert Peel_, iii. p. 389. [30] _Hansard_, 4 March, 1853. [31] _Memoirs of an Ex-Minister_, i. p. 344: Disraeli to Malmesbury, 13 August, 1852. [32] _The Speeches of the Earl of Beaconsfield_, ii. p. 530.