It was obvious then that the United Provinces of Canada had, in 1839, still some distance to travel before their social, religious, and political organization could be regarded as satisfactory. Individually and collectively poor, the citizens of Canada required direct aid from the resources of the mother country. Material improvements in roads and canals, the introduction of steam, {69} the organization of labour, were immediately necessary. Education in all its stages must receive encouragement and recognition. Religion must be freed from the encumbrance of a vexatious controversy. Municipal institutions and local government had still to be introduced to teach the people the elements of self-government; and a broader system of colonial legislation and administration substituted for the discredited rule of assemblies and councils at Toronto and Quebec. There was racial hate to be quenched; and petty party jealousies to be transmuted into more useful political energy. A nation was at its birth. The problem was whether in Great Britain there were minds acute and imaginative enough to see the actual dangers; generous enough not to be dissuaded from trying to avert them by any rudeness on the part of those who were being assisted; prophetic enough to recognize that Anglo-Saxon communities, whether at home or across the seas, will always claim the right to govern themselves, and that to such self-government none but the community actually affected may set a limit. [1] Robinson, _Life of Sir John Beverley Robinson_, Bart., pp. 75-6. [2] _Report of the Agent for Emigration_, Toronto, January, 1841. "The passage extended to seven complete weeks," writes a Scottish settler, Robert Campbell, in 1840, "and to tell the truth we were weary enough of it." MS. letter, _penes me_. [3] _Conditions and Prospects of Canada in 1854_, London, 1855. [4] Poulett Scrope, _Life of Lord Sydenham_, pp. 141-2. [5] Richardson, _Eight Years in Canada_, p. 117. [6] See an interesting letter of January, 1838 in Christie, _History of Lower Canada_, v. 109. [7] _Lord Durham's Report_, Appendix B. (ed. by Lucas), iii. p. 84. [8] Kaye, _Papers and Correspondence of Lord Metcalfe_, p. 453. Metcalfe undoubtedly overestimates the influence of these men, as compared with the church, over the habitant class. [9] _Lord Durham's Report_ (ed. by Lucas), Appendix D, iii. p. 284. [10] _Ibid_. p. 267. [11] M'Taggart, _Three Years in Canada_, i. p. 249. [12] Kaye, _op. cit._ p. 407. [13] Mrs. Jameson, _States and Rambles in Canada_, vol. ii. p. 189. [14] Strickland, _Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West_, vol. i. p. 135. [15] _Lord Durham's Report_, ii. pp. 242-59. [16] M'Taggart, ii. pp. 242-5. [17] See a despatch of Lord Metcalfe on the effect of Irish agitation on the tranquillity of Canada, Kaye, _op. cit._ pp. 432-4.