Constitutional Statesmanship: Lord Durham and the Creation of a New Colonial Paradigm, 1839–1841

Abstract

No one is fully prescient, Durham included. His Report did not anticipate the degree to which the French Canadians would be unwilling to submerge themselves into a British whole and the role which religion would play in maintaining the distinctive society. But nor did he anticipate the willingness and ability of the two communities to work together to achieve tangible results for the new country, while the underlying racial resentment remained largely intact. Despite eruptions, occasionally violent, fuelled by that resentment, the growth of the country which he envisioned has taken place and the outcome has been beyond what he could have imagined. The full assimilation which he anticipated has not occurred, although French Canada has gradually moved in the direction of urbanization and adoption of commerce at the expense of the traditional farming orientation. The diminution of the Church influence and the increasing adoption of English as the new lingua franca of the world may yet have an impact which cannot be fully estimated. The existence of Quebec within Canada has provided much greater ability and political leverage to maintain the French language than would ever have been possible were Quebec to have existed separately, completely surrounded by the predominantly English-speaking United States and English Canada.

Keywords

• Lord Durham
• Canadian rebellions
• responsible government
• Act of Union