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LORD DURHAM

History records encounters between character and circumstance.

Review Questions

Vocabulary: ascension, inauspiciously, consternation, chaos, imperial, grievance, elegant, undisputed, subsidize, franchise, providentially, viscount, prestigious, inferiors, haughty, crisis, adicted, carbonic, pomp, legacy, hypersensitive, arrogant, disdain, contemporary, dissenter, autocratic, embrodiered, tranquility, pervaded, pageantry, skirling, reveille, animosity, denigration, rancor,

1. Why do you think the British government would have been embarrassed when word of the rebellions reached London?

2. Lord Melbourne's administration "was already weak." What does this mean?

3. (a)Account for Melbourne's true feelings regarding the Canadian colony.

4. Explain: 'Shades of 1776.'

5. What was the crux of the problem with the Canadian colonies?

6. "Conflicts raged within the cabinet." About what were the members of the same party arguing?

7. Why did Melbourne choose Durham for the Canadian problem? [The diagram below depicts the differences between representative [1792]and responsible [1849] government.]

8. "Better in Canada than in the cabinet." Why?

9. Durham maintained excellent relations with the men working his mines. What does this tell you about him?

10. Durham supported the great reform measures of his time. Identify and explain each of these.

11. Explain: (a) anarchy was imminent; (b) Durham's toast to the American president was worth a million pounds in public relations; (c) bring down the government; (d) Lord High Seditioner; (e) create municipalities to ensure control over the parish pump; (f) the legitimate aspirations of Canadians; (g) the literary reference: a doomed Don Quixote; (h) the idol of the hour would become the martyr of tomorrow.

12. Explain the difference between representative and responsible government.

13. Explain the difference between a Reformer and a Tory.

14 Why was responsible government referred to as "nothing less than a revolution?"

15. Durham showed great skill in his dealings with the Americans. How?

16. Explain the saying, "As I see thee, thy worth I deem."

17. Why did Durham leave Canada so abruptly?

18. Why was Durham's departure such a sad occasion?

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