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Later on, when the ashes of
insurrection were still hot, and the commonwealth required a firm but
humane hand to allay civic strife, another Scot—a descendant of the
Bruce—James, Earl of Elgin, was sent out. This * brilliant orator and
successful statesman lived to see his arduous
mission on Canadian soil rewarded by his
Sovereign ; high diplomatic functions were entrusted to him in China and
Japan ; his courage and foresight, on the breaking out of the Indian
mutiny in 1857, by daring in the
nick of time, to divert from China the British expeditionary forces sent
out and ordering them to Calcutta, ‘twas thought, saved India to England.
In September, 1851, in company with
a much respected friend, F. X. Garneau, the Canadian historian, and a
crowd of guests invited to the Boston Jubilee, it was our good fortune to
attend the great civic entertainment tendered in the Boston Common, by the
hospitable city Government of Boston to Lord Elgin his Cabinet and twenty
thousand guests. Though several of the master minds of the Great Republic.
Hon. Daniel Webster, Hon. Mr. Everett, Mr. Putnam and others, entranced
their many hearers by their powerful or graceful oratory, we can yet
recall the sentiments of pleasure with which the audience, and of pride,
with which ourselves in particular, listened to the flowing periods of our
Vice-Roy. It was not the first, it was not the last triumph his eloquence
achieved on United States Territory.
His able biographer furnishes the
following anecdote: "Some years afterwards, says Walrond, when speaking of
these festivities, the Mayor of Buffalo said: "Never shall I forget the
admiration elicited by Lord Elgin’s beautiful speech on that occasion.
Upon the American visitors (who it must be confessed, do not look for the
highest order of intellect in the appointees of the Crown) the effect was
amusing. A sterling Yankee friend, while the Governor was speaking, sat by
my side, and occasionally gave vent to his feelings as the spech
progressed, each sentence increasing in beauty and eloquence, by such
approving exclamations as "He’s a glorious fellow! He ought to be on
our side of the line! We would
make him mayor of our city!" As some new burst of eloquence breaks from
the speaker’s lips, my worthy friend exclaims "How magnificently he talks!
Yes, by George! we'd make him governor, governor of the State!" As the
noble Earl, by some brilliant hit, carries the assemblage with a full
round of applause, "Ah !" cries my Yankee friend, with a hearty slap on my
shoulder, by Heaven, if he were on our side, we’d make him
President—nothing less than President !"
(LETTERS AND JOURNALS of
James, Eighth Earl of
Elgin, edited by Theodore Walrond, C. B.,
1873. P. 160. (See
Appendix
Letter G.) |
