Happily the dangers which there seemed so much reason to apprehend were dispelled by the policy at once firm and conciliatory of the Governor: mainly, as he himself was never wearied of asserting, owing to the healthy and loyal feeling engendered in the province by his frank adoption and consistent maintenance of Lord Durham's principle of responsible government. It was one of the occasions, not unfrequent in Lord Elgin's life, that recall the words in which Lord Melbourne pronounced the crowning eulogy of another celebrated diplomatist:--'My Lords, you can never fully appreciate the merits of that great man. You can appreciate the great acts which he publicly performed; but you cannot appreciate, for you cannot know, the great mischiefs which he unostentatiously prevented.' [Sidenote: Navigation Laws.] In the course of the discussions on the Repeal of the Navigation Laws, to which reference is made in the foregoing letters, an incident occurred which attracted some attention at the time, and which, as it could not be explained then, ought, perhaps, to be noticed in this place. Lord George Bentinck, who led the opposition to the measure, saw reason to think that, in the published despatches from Canada on the subject, a letter had been suppressed which would have furnished arguments against the Government; and, under this impression, he moved in the House of Commons for 'copies of the omitted correspondence.' The motion was negatived without a division, on Lord John Russell's pointing out that it involved an imputation on the Governor's good faith; but the Premier himself was probably not aware at the time, how completely the mover was at fault, as is shown in the following letter from Lord Elgin to Mr. C. Bruce, who, being a member of Parliament and a strong Protectionist, had a double interest in the matter:--