view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey,
and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote:

"Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased
considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is
called responsible government will by no means prove to its
advantage.... The institutions of Newfoundland have been of late in
various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably
elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to
the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary
to the future extension of popular government."

Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852,
observed:

"Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the
conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of
the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed
to you by Lord Grey in the despatch already mentioned. I consider, on
the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are
confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland."

The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the
Colonies had informed the Governor that "Her Majesty's Government has
come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from
Newfoundland those institutions and that civil administration which,
under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in
all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they
are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as
soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the