As to any aggressions from without, I shall throw the responsibility
of repelling them upon Her Majesty's troops in the first instance. And
I shall be disappointed, indeed, if the military here do not give a
very good account of all American and Irish marauders.

With respect to internal commotions, I should like to devolve the duty
of quelling them as much as possible upon the citizens. I very much
doubt whether any class of them, however great their indifference or
disloyalty, fancy the taste of Celtic pikes, or the rule of Irish mob
law.

Happily the dangers which there seemed so much reason to apprehend were
dispelled by the policy at once firm and conciliatory of the Governor:
mainly, as he himself was never wearied of asserting, owing to the healthy
and loyal feeling engendered in the province by his frank adoption and
consistent maintenance of Lord Durham's principle of responsible
government. It was one of the occasions, not unfrequent in Lord Elgin's
life, that recall the words in which Lord Melbourne pronounced the
crowning eulogy of another celebrated diplomatist:--'My Lords, you can
never fully appreciate the merits of that great man. You can appreciate
the great acts which he publicly performed; but you cannot appreciate, for
you cannot know, the great mischiefs which he unostentatiously prevented.'

[Sidenote: Navigation Laws.]

In the course of the discussions on the Repeal of the Navigation Laws, to
which reference is made in the foregoing letters, an incident occurred
which attracted some attention at the time, and which, as it could not be
explained then, ought, perhaps, to be noticed in this place.