The difficulty at that time was the difficulty arising from the application of responsible government. Lord Durham, who was the author of the phrase "responsible government," recommended responsible government, and the British Government conceded it in principle under the Act of 1840. But when it came to the practical application they flinched at the issue, and they had strong support from a very influential body of opinion in Canada, who represented the very best classes of the people, but who happened to be quite wrong on this particular question, though they were quite sure that they were right. I think that it is the people who have all along been perhaps suspect in their imperialism who have kept the British empire together. The objection of the British government to responsible government was put in a form which could not be answered and never has been answered—How can a British governor be responsible and obedient to a locally elected legislature if its policy should differ from the policy of the imperial government which he represents? There was no answer logically and when finally, after ten years of turmoil, the British government threw up its hands and sent Lord Elgin out here with instructions, not as in the case of his predecessors not to recognize responsible government, but to accept it in its fullest terms, it was accepted in England as a matter of course that it was the prelude to the early separation of Canada from England. Sir Wilfred Laurier, in a speech on imperial questions, said that the attitude of Canada towards England, say from 1850, for the next twenty years, was the attitude of Ruth: "Entreat me not to leave thee." Those were the days when a Prime Minister of England in the House of Commons—Lord John Russell—took great credit to himself because in making the colonies—and he was referring specially to Canada—fit for independence England would have the consolation of saying that she had contributed to the happiness of the world. Lord Elgin, who was Governor-General of Canada at the time, wrote a letter in which he made some very satirical remarks about this statement saying, "Wherefore this foreboding? I should be led to imagine that the prospect of these sucking democracies, after they had drained their old mother’s life blood, leaving her in the lurch and setting up as rivals just at the time when their increasing strength might render them a support instead of a burden, is one of the most cheering which has of late presented itself to the English imagination" (laughter). Those were the days when Disraeli wrote to the Foreign Secretary, "These wretched colonies"—looking at Canada all the time—"will all be independent in a few years and are a millstone round our necks" (laughter). Those were the days when the permanent head of the Colonial Office addressed a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, who had just returned from a tour of Canada as the confidential adviser of the Prince of Wales, who had come