the first time laid out in the island. The irritation of the merchants
at home was intense, and the name of Peter Ougier, a west country
merchant, ought to go down to posterity. In his evidence before the
committee, he protested with real emotion: "They are making roads in
Newfoundland: next thing they will be having carriages and driving
about." Sir Thomas Cochrane was regarded as the best Governor ever
sent to Newfoundland. He was "the first real administrator and ruler
of the colony. An eminently practical man, he not only organized
improvements, he personally superintended their execution. His
activity was unbounded; in the early mornings he was out on horseback
inspecting the roads, directing his workmen, laying out the grounds at
Virginia, having interviews with the farmers, giving them practical
hints about agriculture; everywhere he impressed his strong
personality on colonial affairs. He was very sociable, and his
hospitality was unstinted." Indeed, the historian of the island can
point to only one mistake committed by the Governor, the bad taste
shown in the erection of Government House, which "looks more like a
prison than the Vice-regal residence ... it is a huge pile of
unredeemed ugliness."[35]

In England, in the early thirties, reform was in the air. The blow was
struck at the right time, and in 1832--the year of the great Reform
Bill--Parliament passed a measure creating in Newfoundland a
representative assembly. The island was divided into nine electoral
divisions, each of which was to have one or more representatives,
according to population. There were, in fact, fifteen members. The
first election passed off quietly in the autumn of the same year. Dr.
Carson, the father of Home Rule, stood for St. John's, and Mr Justice
Prowse has usefully noted that he was defeated. The fickleness and
ingratitude of the people were never more dramatically illustrated.