[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—Your correspondents, while doing full justice to Charles Buller and Lord Durham, have neglected the part played in the reconstruction of Canada by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. According to the epigram of the time, "Wakefield thought the Report, Buller wrote it, and Durham signed it." Nor did Durham himself minimise the influence of Wakefield. "I have never erred," he said, " except when I rejected Wakefield's advice." But Wakefield, unhappily for England, was then under a cloud, and his name might not be quoted in a State paper. It is not strange, therefore, that, honoured by his chief, he has been half-forgotten by the world. "Oh no, we never mention him," wrote Lord Durham to his Government,"his name is never heard. Really if it were not very inconvenient, all this would be very ludicrous." After all, he who thinks and he who signs a Report deserve the greatest measure of credit. The hand that holds the pen is but an accident. And while Lord Durham proved his courage in choosing Wakefield for an adviser, Wakefield by his counsel amply justified the courage of his chief. Moreover, the Spectator, whose first editor allowed himself to be inspired by the author of "A Letter from Sydney," is in duty bound to take its share in rescuing from oblivion the farthest-sighted and most determined of
our Colonial statesmen.—I am, Sir, &c., K.
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