With his career at Jamaica we have no special concern,
and it need not detain us. It may be remarked, in passing, that he remained
there four years, during which period--owing, doubtless, in some measure to
the sudden death of his wife soon after their arrival in the island--he
led a somewhat secluded life. He quitted his post in 1846, and returned to
England. Almost immediately after his arrival there Lord Grey, the Colonial
Secretary, offered him the position of Governor-General of British North
America. He accepted it, says his biographer, not in the mere spirit of
selfish ambition, but with a deep sense of the responsibility attached to
it. It was arranged that he should go to Canada at the beginning of the
new year. In the interval, on November 7th, he married Lady Mary Louisa
Lambton, daughter of the first Earl of Durham, whose five months' sojourn
in this country in the year 1838 was destined to produce such important and
beneficial effects upon our Constitution. Lord Elgin was wont to say that
"The real and effectual vindication of Lord Durham's memory and proceedings
will be the success of a Governor-General of Canada who works out his views
of government fairly.
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