de la constitution,’ in reply to proposals of organic change; though I fully expect that, like those who raised this cry in 1791, he will yet, if he lives, find himself and his state-ship floundering among rocks and shoals, towards which he never expected to steer.

Three years later he held the same language to the Duke of Newcastle.  Writing on March 26, 1853, to inform him that the Bill for increasing the representation had been carried in the Assembly by a large majority, he adds:—­

The Lords must be attended to in the next place.  The position of the second chamber in our body politic is at present wholly unsatisfactory.  The principle of election must be introduced in order to give to it the influence which it ought to possess; and that principle must be so applied as to admit of the working of Parliamentary Government (which I for one am certainly not prepared to abandon for the American system) with two elective chambers.  I have made some suggestions with this view, which I hope to be able to induce the Legislature to adopt.

When our two legislative bodies shall have been placed on this improved footing, a greater stability will have been imparted to our constitution, and a greater strength, I believe, if England act wisely, to the connection.

[Sidenote:  The Act passed.]

The question did not come before the British Parliament till the summer of 1854, after Lord Elgin’s visit to England, during which he had an opportunity of stating his views personally to the Government.  At his instance they brought in a Bill to enable the Colonial Legislature to deal with the subject; and the measure was carried, with few dissentients, although vehemently denounced by Lord Derby in the House of Lords.  The principles of colonial policy which Lord Durham had expressed so powerfully in 1888, and on which Lord Grey and Lord Elgin had been acting so consistently for many years, had at last prevailed; and many of those who most deprecated the proposed reform as a downward step towards pure democracy, yet acknowledged that, as it had been determined upon by the deliberate choice of the Colony, it ought not to be thwarted by the interference of the mother-country.

[Sidenote:  Speech of Lord Derby.]

In the course of the speech above referred to, Lord Derby made use of the following eloquent words:—­

I have dreamed—­perhaps it was only a dream—­that the time would come when, exercising a perfect control over their own internal affairs, Parliament abandoning its right to interfere in their legislation, these great and important colonies, combined together, should form a monarchical government, presided over either by a permanent viceroy, or, as an independent sovereign, by one nearly and closely allied to the present royal family of this country.

I have believed that, in such a manner, it would be possible to uphold the monarchical