by his firm reliance on the harmonising influence of British connexion, and the power of self- adaptation inherent in our institutions.  On the one side he sees the model Republic of Hayti—­a coloured community, which has enjoyed nearly half a century of entire independence and self-rule.  And with what issues?  As respects moral and intellectual culture, stagnation:  in all that concerns material development, a fatal retrogression.  He beholds there, at this day, a miserable parody of European and American institutions, without the spirit that animates either:  the tinsel of French sentiment on the ground of negro ignorance:  even the ’sacred right of ‘insurrection’ burlesqued:  a people which has for its only living belief an ill-defined apprehension of the superiority of the white man, and, for the rest, blunders on without faith in what regards this world or that which is to come.

He turns his eyes to another quarter and perceives the cluster of states which have formed themselves from the breakup of the Spanish continental dominions.  What ground of consolation or hope does he discover there?

These illustrations of the working of free systems constructed out of the wreck of a broken-down African Slave Trade are not indeed encouraging; but neither do they, in my opinion, warrant despair.  I believe that by great caution and diligence, by firmness and gentleness on the part of the parent state, and much prudence in the instruments which it employs, a people with a heart and soul may be built up out of the materials in our hands.  I regard our local constitution as a fait accompli, and have no desire to remove a stone of the fabric.  I think that a popular representative system is, perhaps, the best expedient that can be devised for blending into one harmonious whole a community composed of diverse races and colour, and this conviction is strengthened when I read the observations of Sir H. Macleod and Governor Light, on the coloured classes in Demerara and Trinidad.  In colonies which have no assemblies, it would appear that aspiring intellects have not the same opportunity of finding their level, and pent up ambitions lack a vent.

In studying the play of the various forces at work around him, and in endeavouring to direct them to good issues, Lord Elgin found the best solace for the domestic sorrow which darkened this period of his life.  He lived chiefly in retirement, at a country-house called Craigton, in the Blue Mountains, with his sister, now Lady Charlotte Locker, and his brother Robert, who was also his most able and efficient secretary; seeing little society beyond that occasioned by official intercourse and receptions, which were never intermitted at Spanish Town, the seat of Government.  The isolation and monotony of this position, broken only once by a conference held with some of the neighbouring Governors on a question of common interest respecting immigration, could not fail to be distasteful to his active spirit; and when it had lasted over three years, it was not unnatural that he should seek to be relieved from it.  Early in 1845 we find him writing to Lord Stanley as follows:—­