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appointed by the Crown . This Executive Council was composed of members of both Houses—principally of the Lower House , to which they declared themselves directly ^ responsible . This , in fact , was that Responsible Government of -which subsequently somuch was heard in all discussions -on Canadian affairs . The responsibility was the responsibility of theExet entire Council to a majority in the House of Assembly . They professed to govern the vince through that majority . They represented , indeed , the representatives of the ptople , and , therefore , governed through and for the community . So far was this . theory of Responsible Government sufficiently sound—but when , it carne to be reduced *~ to practice , there were some obtrusive difficulties in the way of its successful application . And among the most difficult questions which suggested themselves was this—What , under such a state of things , was to become of the Governor-General ?
This question filled Metcalfe ' s mind ; and when he addressed himself to its solution , it was natural that he should have considered , in the first instance , how his predecessors iad dealt -with the difficulties which he was now called upon to -encounter . ' The name of Responsible Government was , at all events , nothing new to the North-. American Colonies . It had been talked of by Lord Durham ; and tried by Lord ; Bydenham and Sir Charles Bagot . In one of his first despatches Metcalfe said : — " JVow , I conceive , " he said , " is the first time when the scheme of Responsible Go" vernment , as here construed , has come forward to be carried fully into effect in any colony . Lord Durham had no difficulty in writing at leisure in praise of Responsible Government , which had no effect daring his administration , and was treated by him as
a general question , -without any definition of the details by which it was to be carried into effect . Lord Sydenham put the idea in force without suffering himself to be much restrained by it ; and for the greater part of his administration it had no existence , and -was only coming into operation when he died . Sir Charles Bagot yielded to tie coercive effect of Lord Sydenham ' s arrangements ; and thence Responsible Government , as understood by its extreme advocates , is said to be Sir Charles Bagot ' s policy ; but though he yielded to the extent of calling certain parties into Ms Council , he had not the least intent of surrendering his power into their hands ; and for the remainder of his time the contest was staved off by his illness ; but that very cause leadered it more certain for his successor . Now comes the tug of -war * and supposing absolute submission to be out of the question , I cannot say that I see the end of the struggle if the parties alluded to really mean to maintain it . "
He found himself a name- ^ not a governor . Sir ChaTles Bagot had been - an invalid ; and the Executive Council had usurped all the power . Metcalfe at once contended that there was no parallel between the home Govern ihent by par ; ty , and the colonial Government by party ; that the Governor-General ought not to be a cypher ; and that the two svstet as must be incompatible . He had therefore anew experiment in constitutions to rhake , .. He found that there were three parties in the colony , and more than three race 3 of men . He found that there was a loyal Conservative party ; a Xibaral , or Reform , party ; and a French-Canadian party . The first was composed principally of
Englishmen ; the second , of Englishmen , Irishmen , and people of American stock ; the third consisted entirely of the old French settlers , who since the union of ' the two Canadas had been gradually rising in importance . It was only among the first of these three parties that loyalty , as signifying attachment to the mother country , existed in any force . It was only , therefore , with that party that Metcalfe , as the representative « f . the Imperial Government , could properly sympathise . But that party was < the Opposition of the day . The Reformers and the French-Canadians constituted . tie majority in the Representative Assembly , and , therefore , the Executive Council— -the Responsible Government '—which Metcalfe found in the proviuce was composed of the leading men of those two Radical parties .
such as Viger and Draper , who took seats in the Council , and got Government into organisation . The Governor-General thus was acquiring the prestige of heating nis opponents , and the elections -were in his favour The lest was easy . It was a conquest of good temper—and that saved Canada to England . ,
The difficulty of managing all these discordant parties without a Council Metcalfe ttrughl have overcome ; but the interposition of the Council rendered the work almost « tfx impossibility . Determined , as far as he could , to abstain from identifying 1 himself "¦ w ith any party , and to render equal justice to all , lie still felt that the very Catholicity which he desired to infuse into his administration , might become in itself a new source of difficulty and embarrassment . " The course which I intend to pursue , " lie wrote , soon after he had assumed the charge of the Government , " with regard to all parties , is to treat all Alike , and to make no distinctions aa far as depends on my personal conduct , unless I discover , which I do not at present , that pr inciples and motives
are concerned which render a different course proper . " But he presently added : " If I had a fair open field , I should endeavour to conciliate and bring together the good men of oil parties , and to win the confidence and co-operation of the legislative bodies by measures calculated to promote the general welfare in accordance with public feeling ; but fettered as I am by the necessity of acting -with a Council brought into place by a coalition of parties , and at present in possession of a decided majority in the Repreaentative Assembly , I must , in some degree , forego my own inclinations in those respects ; although I may still strive as a mediator- to nWixy the bitterness of party-spirit . "
There was very little British loyal element in his council . The leading men , Sullivan , Daly , Morin , Aylwiin , Lafontaine , and Baldwin , * wove of Irish , French Canadian , or American origin , —decided rebels , if " possible . Metcalfo understood it , and decided not to allow the province to drift away from the Crown ho served . At the period O'Connelhsin was at its "height in Ireland : had there been a successful rebellion in Ireland , Metcalfe calculated that the Irish would pour into Canada from the United States , and supply opportunely rebels of all sorts wanted for a collision with . him . Tue ^ ollision came soon enough , but not after this faahion . Metcalfe made » n appointment ; his council disapproved of the selection : he was firm ; they resigned . There wns the test of the exact position . Canada was not free yet ; the English Crown wna not yet disposed to grant that practical Republicanism at present enjoyed by the province , and ao much still doairod in England , The excitement m Canada was intense : the Parliament was prorogued : the people held public meetings , and there was at least abspluto freedom in talking , writing , and addressing .
Xo all remonstrances MotciUfo returned rhetorical ami dignified replies ; staling the differences between English and Canadian constitutional ! circumstances , and contending that it wag for the public good he should not allow a party , which mis not the colony , to be absolute in a < olony containing so many parties and so many interests The ex-councillors , in return , laughed nt his pedantry , aind nick-named him " Old Squaro-toes . " The public mind deliberated ; there wna no rebellion ; Metcsalfe won . He could now hare thrown lumstilf on the Conservative party ; but he declined to govern by party . even when the party could Imve carried him easily through . Ho attempted a coalition , —sum as that of Sir Alan M'Nub ; but that -was premature ; some hold jmen came to his aid , and ho carried on gorernmont by a aort of comjni esion—tilling vacant places with unpledged men ; and , in the end , he wan driven to the danger of dissolving the Assembly . Ho ttms fast mucking perffpnal fronds in hjo uauo ] yray , anu at last he got half a do ? : an ioying fronds
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THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA . The Tricolor on the A ilas ; or , A Igeria and the French Conquest . From the German of Doctor Wagner , By Francis Pulszky . Nelson and S 0113 . The awkward and unsuitable title to this volume , will give few readers any correct idea of its contents . Doctor Moritz Wagner , a Bavarian naturalist , lived three years , in Algeria , and published , in 1841 , an account of his experiences there . This -work Mr . Pulszky now introduces to the English public . He has condensed the first volume of the original , has translated the second , has furnished an account of recent events from the capture of Constantine to the surrender of Abd-el-Kader , and has added a statement of the present condition of Algeria , taken from the official French Report published in 1883 . The book thus compiled has no very remarkable merits , and no very glaring faults . Those portions of it which describe tlie native races of Algiers , are the best in a literary point of view ; but as they go over ground which has been , for the most part , long since occupied by previous travel-writers , they are not so likely to interest the general reader
as the last division of tic volume , which is devoted to narrating the history of the French . Conquest and occupation of Algeria . This portion of Doctor Wagner ' s subject has , in England at least , the merit of some freshness to recommend it . We know too little , in this country , about what the French have done , and are doing in Algeria—the famous training-school foa * the officers and soldiers of the army , with which we are how allied . It is only justice to Mr , Pulszky s translation and compilation to say , that it will supply the general reader with all the main points of information which ke can req-uire on the subject of the French settlements in Algeria . Of the style in which this information is conveyed ^ we will say » othing . Mr . Pulszky is a , foreigner , and , as a writer of English , has , therefore , claims to our indulgence which we most willingly allow . We shall be doing his book the best service in our- power , 5 f we abstain from criticising it too minutely , and if we extract , instead , some of the passages which appear to give it a fsiir title to the attention of the general reader . JJet us begin with a truthfuHooking description of
MOORISH AND FRENCH COFFEE-HOUSES ITT ALGIERS . Among the places which I recommend every tourist to visit at Algiers , I must especially mention the Moorish coffee-houses , of which , in the upper part of the city alone , there are above sixty . I spent an hour there almost every evening , and * I seldom regretted my visit ; for , whoever is interested in the people and their lauguage , finds instruction here . 3 STo place is more favourable for the acquirement of the Arabic language . Even if not much talk is going on , still the Moors are here less taciturn than anywhere else . The long rows of different guests , sitting with crossed \ vgs , offer a most interesting opportunity for the study of physiognomies . At the side of the immoveably calm Moor , or K \ irugli in gaudy Turkish garb , we behold a sable negro in the same style of attire , but mostly of dirty yellow material . Next to him is a fine tall Arab with sunburnt face , his mighty frame clad in white garments , and a rope of camel ' s hair twisted round his head . Then again we notice a short grown Kabyle , ragged , wild , with piercing glance , or a Mozabite of the Sahara , and a
Biskari from , the Belad-el-Jerid , and among them again , a Frenchman in regimentals , or clad according to Paris fashion , adapting himself to every society , and everywhere happy by , his merry turn of mind . The finest Moorish coffee-house was formerly situated in the Rue de 3 a Marine , not far from the large mosque . It had a hall partitioned into several galleries , and supported by columns which could accommodate hundreds of people . Another coffee-house of the same style , though not as sp acious , \ 3 a . w as late as at the close of I 836 , in the street Bab-a-Zun . Now , however , both . h . avo disappeared . European speculators have bought these houses , and have ra , foed stately buildings in their stead—hotels and store-houses , which enrich Algiers v ? ith some good French architecture , but have impoverished it of specimens of biuUHng characteristically Moorish , for among all yet existing coffee-houses there is n ( vt one as remarkable for its style as those which have been destroyed . The pre . sotu . fc onea , are lengthy vaults without marble columns , furnished only -with two rows of stone benches which are covered with mats , braided of palm-leaves . On theae the guests sit down in the
wellknown Oriental way . The kitchen , a small smoky ooraer , is in a niche at the outside of the vault . The coffee is served in small china cups , resting on tin stands , an «| mixed for the French , with moist sugar ; it is pretty strong and of pleasant flavour ; the Bediment fills almost half ttw » pirn , It is offered together with a red earthenware pipe on o long tube ., filled with excellent tobacco . The whole costs one sou ( about one halfpenny ) ) it is , hardly possible to fancy a cheaper treat . The proprietor of a larger coffee-house usually uttlo troubles himself with his business ; but , sitting at the entrance with calm gravity , he greets his European guest with "Good evon-ing , sir , " and his own co-religionists with the warmer welcome , ?? Peace he upon thee 5 " and then he shouts to the servants , " Bring coffee , bring a pipe . " The cook is wsually a negro , the waiters , Moorish lads with milk-white and rosy faces , who , instead of Hue turban , wear a red skull-cap on their completely shorn heads . The larger coffeehouses have regularly music in the evening ; the orchestra is placed close to the lcitchen , from the smoking kettles of which the musicians receive from time to time
invigorating coffee . The instruments of thcae African artists are most usually a throoeorded violin , called Tobebb , several pipes and guitars , and a peculiar kind of drum , tho tarr , which , however , is oftener heard in the streets ; the brass instruments , lik » - wiao , which deafen ua at the celebration of tho Bairam , and at nuptials , are excluded from the coffee-honaea . Here on « aeeka Tepoae ; nnd a soft monotonous lulling musto , which ia well adapted to tho idle enjoyment of the assembly , dooa not disturb vague contemplation , or scare away tho misty dreams , in which tho fertile imagination of those effeminate Moots delights , who do not wish to be roused hero by energetic sounds * to the remembrance of tho clattering arms and tho chivalrous feats of their ancestor ? . A celebrated coffee-house stands near to the Roman Catholic Church , whoro wo mostly met with many Europeans , « s the coffee b excellent , tho society interestin g , and the
orchestra very good . Its conductor is nn old Moor , who handles Iuh instrument , tlvo violin , with peculiar originality , and tho play of hia features , tho movements of hi » head , accompanied by grave and monotonous gestures , aro strikingly funny . Ho was one of the musicians to the last I > oy , and for sixty years ho hnu over enlivened ftll tho festivals of Algiora . In consequence , ho is likowiso highly respected , and » welcome friond to tho families whom he has cheered and comforted by hio eounda In tho dnyn of joy nnd of woo ; at tho nuptinla , when his melodies directed the steps of tho dancers , and at tho ftinerafo , when hid atringa uttered the flame melancholy monotonous pounds ¦ which seem to match equally tvoII tho fcojimga of regret aa of calm enjoyment . ? n the coffeo-ho-uso of tho Dlvan-utrcet , wo sometimes saw dancing girls , oinging to tho musSo . The proprietor of thia cofloo-houao ia tho brother of tho Brnham Slmualw th <} ejwoM "
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928 T HE LE A DER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 928, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2058/page/16/
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