The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-07-31

1t appears from our Canadian exchanges that
the new Governor General Edmund Head
is not popular among his colonial subjects.
One newspaper accuses him of i'll temper; ano-
Their lays ignorance and unwillinguess to learn
to bis charge; and a third contains letter from
an ex.member OF Parliament, Conrad Gugy,
rating him in sharp terms for variety OF real
or imaginary delinquencies. Altogether, it is
pretty plain that Sir Edmund is not destined to
enjoy bed of roses in his new home, and tine
chances are that we shall soon hear of his being
chased and hurried, and bullied by the Cana
dian mobs just as Lord Elg,n was.
Yet it does not appear that he has been guilty
Of any particular acts OF mischief. None OF
he journals at least specify any such; their
charges are general and vague; and their dis
like to him seems to rest on no grounds which
it was possible or convenient TO render public.
IF Sir Edmund Head had done any thing at
which the people could reasonably take offence,
we may take it for granted that we should have
heard OF it; the Canadian press enjoys q re-
markable degree Of liberty, and jobs are as
certain of exposure there as here. We must
therefore conclude that the new Governors
unpopularity is based on mere popular preju-
dice, and that he is abused for the sole reason
that he is Governor and is an Englishman.
Tie inference is the more natural as the ca
reer Of Lord Elgin in Canada establishes the
very same fact. Lord Elgin was man Of re-
markable abilities and rare habits of industry.
he was sincerely anxious to do his duty, and
was freer from bias or prejudice than almost
any Of the Governors England has sent to her
colonies. As compared with his predecessors
in Canada, he overtopped them by head and
shoulders. Yet probably none Of the Governors
Of Capada-not even the imbecile Gosford, or
the arbitrary Sydenham-h been so unpopu-
lar as Lord EIgin. The scenes of 1S49 at Mont
real are yet fresh in the public memory. The
pretext for the popular outbreak on that occa-
sion wss the signing by the Governor of an act
Of the Provincial Parliament which he would
have been unworthy of his office had he refused
10 sign; but the real cause of the trouble, aud
tie true secret Of the persistent dislike to his
person which the richer classes in Canada ap-
peared to cherish, was the anomaly of there
being Britieh Governor in Canada at all.
This was the true cause of Lord Elgin's failure.
He was out Of place. Any other man would
have been as much so; and man with less
courage and less tact than he might have as
certained the fact at greater cost than it in
volyed in his case. Had the Queen sent Sir
Robert Peel or Lord Palmerston to Canada,
The case would have been the same; either
would have failed, and the Canadians would
have called them all sorts of hard names, and
treated them as if they had been villains and
fools.
For the Canadians have reached the point
in their history where foreign control be-
comes burthensome. They imbibe de-
mocratic spirit from their youth. They neces-
sarily grow up republicans. All their institu-
tons republican, all their ideas predicated on
the theory of popular equality. Nothing more
natural than that they should feel an inward
repugnance to submit to the control of the
Englisbman-the foreigner who is sent among
them every few years with power to veto their
laws, control their government and play the
mifchief generally with their public affairs.
The Canadians zee plainly enough that they are
as fit for selfgovernment as the English, and
they ask themselves unconsciously why it
should happen, such being the case, that they
shoLld be obliged not only to give thirty-one
thousand odd dollars per aDnum to gentleman
whose only claim to their charity is his title
and his neediness, but to coAcede one-third of
their authority over the Province to a man far
less fit TO exercise it than any one of themselves
They have reached the point which the colonial
inhabitants Of this country reached about
twenty years before the revolution when their
whole history was series Of conflicts be.
tween the people and the royal governors, and
the best Of men, coming here in the capacity of
governor on the kings behalf were necessarily
hated and opposed BY the people. There we're