Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

36 HISTORY OF THE BANKarrival of Lord Durham, 1 he started a newspaper called theExaminer for the purpose of advocating the union of theCanadas. In 1841 he was elected to represent the County ofOxford in the first legislature of united Canada as a supporterof the La Fontaine-Baldwin Reform group, and in 1842 wasmade Inspector-General, as the Minister of Finance was thencalled. The construction of the Grand Trunk and GreatWestern Railways was largely facilitated by the encouragementwhich he gave to these projects. His career furnishesone of the few instances in which Great Britain has selected acolonial statesman as a governor of another colony. In 1855he was offered and accepted the post of Governor of theWindward Islands, and in 1862 he was promoted to the veryimportant office of Governor of British Guiana. On theexpiration of his term of office he visited Canada with nointention of making a permanent stay. It was then that thehappy inspiration came to Sir John A. Macdonald of asking himto remain and to attempt the task of devising a uniformbanking law for Canada. He consented, and was sworn inas Minister of Finance toward the close of 1869.The resolutions which Mr. George Hague and otherbankers had drawn up during the previous session for presentationto Mr. Rose, and which had been rejected by him,stated emphatically that neither a government note system,nor a system modelled on that of the National banks of theUnited States, was desirable.They pointed out that the followingprovisions would, without curtailing discount facilitiesor weakening the gold reserves behind the currency, afford thenote holder ample protection:^ohn George Lambton, first Earl of Durham (1792-1840), an early advocate ofParliamentary reform in the British House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal in LordGrey's ministry, came to Canada as Governor-General the year following the rebellionof 1887. His policy of conciliation was severely criticised by the Home Government,and he resigned, returning to England towards the end of 1838. Shortly afterwardshe presented to Parliament his famous "Report on the Affairs of British NorthAmerica," which formed the basis of the Act of Union between Upper and LowerCanada passed in 1840, and has remained one of the great landmarks in theconstitutional history of the British Empire.