In the ordinary course Mr. Foley,
the assumed leader of the Opposition, would have been sent for. It was
the opinion of the Honorable John Ross that he ought to have been. But
the Governor, considering, I suppose, that the scanty majority was led
by Sandfield Macdonald, sent for him. All sides believed that it would
be a ministry of a month. But this astute descendant of Highlanders
managed to stay in for nearly two years: two years of no good: two
years of plausible postponement of all that the Duke had been so
loyally working for in the interest of Canada. Personally, I had no
reason to complain as regarded Grand Trunk legislation. Sandfield
Macdonald promised to carry our Bill, and he honourably fulfilled his
promise. The Bill passed; Lady Watkin and I sailed from Boston for
England on the 7th June.
But the refusal of the Canadian Parliament to vote money for defence
had created a very bad impression in England. England had made large
sacrifices in filling Canada with troops and stores, at a critical
time - and it was naturally said, in many quarters, "Are these people
cowards? Are they longing for another rule?" Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, when
Mr. Rose and I called upon him at his lodgings, in St. James's Place,
during my short stay in London, said, "I do not see what we can do. Had
Canada helped us at all, we could have succeeded.
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