The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-03 00:00:00

The MARQUIS of LORNE as GOVERNOR-

GENERAL of CANADA.

Times has the following leader on the acceptance of
the post of Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada by
the Marquis of Lorne :
We publish with great pleasure the announcement
that the Marquis of Lorne has accepted the office of
Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada, and will
enter upon his duties in immediate succession to the
Earl of Dufferin. The announcement will be hailed
with enthusiasm by the Canadians, and in this country
it will be regarded with the greatest satisfaction.
The Ministry were apparently placed in a posi-
don of some embarrasment by the fact that Lord
Duffcrin's term of office, which a wise and whole-
some rule of the Colonial service limits to six
years, expired a few weeks ago. It was felt that
it would be difficu.t to select any successor for Lord
Dofferin who would not find his reputation over-
shadowed by the memory of that most popular of
Governors. There was, however, one kind of selection
which was at once impressive and likely to produce
substantial political advantages. A direct connection
between the Throne and the representative of the
Queen's authority in Canada was certain to be wel-
comed by the colonists all the more warmly because
their loyalty has of late been stirred up by the
eloquent and imaginative appeals of the retiring
Governor-General. The choice of the husband of
one of her Majesty's daughters to represent the
sovereignty of the Queen in Canada is an appeal
to sentiments and traditions of Imperial unity and
historic pride that have recently acquired fresh life
and vigour.
It is very satisfactory to learn that the Marquis of
Lorne has not declined the responsibilities involved in
the succession to Lord Dufferin. The services it is in
his power, and not less in that of the Princess Louise,
to render to the Empire are great, and the opportunity
of rendering them is worth purchasing at the cost of
some inconvenience. Never was there a better chance
of completing and consolidating a work that has been
well begun. The feelings of the Canadians—and the
same may be said of nearly all the colonists—towards
the mother country were a few years ago curiouely
mingled. Their attachment to "home," which is one
of the striking characteristics of Englishmen and
their descendants in newly-settled countries, was
crossed by irritation at what they considered the
coldness and neglect, social as well as political, of
which they had to complain. They were convinced
that the dominant party in the Imperial Parliament
was longing and searching for an excuse to get rid of
them. They bitterly resented this; but, unfortunately
a game of cross purposes, in which several Colonial
Secretaries took part, prevented the colonists from
showing that a certain hostile school of politicians at
home were in the wrong. Those politicians contended
aliab the colonists wished to do nothinw fnr thorn.olroo.
but to throw every responsibilty and every expense
upon the mother country. When that period of vacilla-
tion and recrimination came to an end, and it was
settled that the colonies should undertake the task of
self-defence as well as the duties of self-
Fovernment, the obstacles to a cordial understand-
ing rapidly disappeared. Canada in particular has
shown a high and generous public spirit, which Lord
Dufferin has known how to cultivate and guide. The
sentiment of loyalty, not only to the monarchical
principle but to the person of the Sovereign, which
has always been powerful in Canada, is now freed from
any alloy of suspicious dissatisfaction with the policy
of the Colonial Office. It will not be forgotten how
fervid was the enthusiasm with which the Prince of
Wales some years ago was received by the Canadians.
The Princess Louise is certainly not wanting in the
winning qualities which distinguish the members of
the Royal House. But, in truth, there is no need to
speculate upon the influences of individual character.
For the great body of the Canadians it is enough to
know that a daughter of the Queen is among them,
holding her court in her mother's name. They will
finally rid themselves of the lurking and haunting sus-
picion that, as colonists, they are the poor relations of
the Imperial household.
The task which the Marquis of Lorne has under
taken does not require great powers of statesmanship
in the ordinary sense of the term, but it calls for a
rare combination of qualities which no man can sum-
mon to his aid at will. Lord Dufferin was the model
of a Governor-General of Canada. His cultivated
intelligence, disciplined by practical experience of
public affairs at home, was stimulated by a quick and
rich imagination, which gave breadth, warmth, and
colour to his oratory. Yet his tact, his balance of
judgment, his strong sense of equity, and his fine
temper were never found wanting. The first duty
of a Colonial Governor is to hold himself above and
away from local parties, but a second and hardly
less important duty is to avoid chilling the
sympathies and hurting the susceptibilities of the
people by a too rigid reserve. Lord Dufferin steered
cle ,r of excess and defect in both particulars. The
Marquis of Lorne, however, has great advantages in
attempting the same career. His wife's exalted rank
will naturally raise him high above the level of local
intrigues, and will at the same time prevent condescen-
sion from having inconvenient consequences. The
principal function of the Governor-General in Canada
is to keep alive the sense of areal and intimate connexion
between the colonists and the mother country, and the
colonists cannot doubt that such a connexion exists
when they see among them one of the Princesses of
the Royal Family of England. The Governor-General-
ship opens a career for the Marquis of Lorne that
may be some compensation for the political activity
from which his marriage cut him off at home. He is
well known to be intelligent and cultivated, with an
interest in the Colonial Empire of England, of which
he gave proof in his early travels and writings. He
inherits the political reputation of one of the " govern-
ing families" of Great Britain, and in Canada, so
abundantly peopled by Scottish settlers, his heirship
of the McCallum More will count for a good deal.
But the most significant consequences of the Marquis
of Lorne's appointment will be, if we are not mistaken,
the effect on public opinion in Canada of its bare
announcement It will be hailed, we have no doubt,
as the most popular act of policy that the Imperial
Government has ever carried out since the Dominion
was founded.

A Reutcr's telegram from Ottawa says that the
Canadian Press welcome the appointment of the
Marquis of Lorne as Governor-General of Canada in
warmly loyal terms.