LORD ELGIN AND CANADA.
Lord Elgin. By Sir John George Bourinot. "The Makers of Canada" Series. (T. C. and E. C. Jack. 21s. net.)—The late Sir John Bourinot fortunately lived to complete and revise this interesting monograph, and so it represents the carefully pre- pared and deliberate views of one of the greatest authorities on Canada upon the part played in the history of the Dominion by one of the first of Governor-Generals, who was also in many respects one of the most remarkable men of his time. Lord Elgin went to Canada at a critical period in the history of the two nationalities composing it, when there were grave doubts as to the success of the Union of 1840, and when the Mother-country was so little thought of that independence and annexation to the United States were freely talked of, even by Canadians who were otherwise genuinely patriotic. Happily Lord Elgin was tem- peramentally and in every other way fitted for the task he undertook. He followed in the wake and completed the work of Lord Durham. By giving adequate scope to the practice of responsible government, he removed all causes for irritation against Great Britain, strangled the annexation movement, and removed commercial embarrassment by giving a stimulus to Canadian trade by the repeal of the Navigation Laws and the adoption of reciprocity with the United States. This was a work of time and of infinite patience. Sir John Bourinot shows at great length, and with the utmost amplitude of detail, the difficulties which Lord Elgin had to encounter, and which led to his life being once threatened by a mob. He does this with a sincerity, a gravity, and an absence of polemical bitterness which render his book one of the most valuable contributions to Canadian history that have ever been published. As regards the future of the relations between the Dominion and her great neighbour, the following words, coming from so high an authority, deserve to be quoted:—" Canadians depend on them- selves—on a self-reliant, enterprising policy of trade—not on the favour or caprice of any particular nation. They are always quite prepared to have the most liberal commercial relations with the United States, but, at the same time, feel that a Reciprocity Treaty is no longer absolutely essential to their prosperity, and cannot under any circumstances have any particular effect on the political destiny of the Canadian confederation, whose strength and unity are at length so well assured."
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