"It is well known to many persons that the late Lord Durham, up to the time of his departure from Canada, expressed himself strongly opposed to the Union of the then two Provinces. I accompanied Sir George Arthur on a visit to Lord Durham, late in the autumn, and a very few days only before he threw up his Government and embarked for this country. In a conversation I had with him, he spoke of the Union as the selfish scheme of a few merchants of Montreal—that no statesman would advise the measure—and that it was absurd to suppose that Upper and Lower Canada could ever exist in harmony as one Province.
"In returning to Toronto with Sir George Arthur, he told me that Lord Durham had expressed to him similar opinions, and had at considerable length detailed to him reasons and arguments which existed against a measure which he considered would be destructive of the legitimate authority of the British Government, and in which opinion Sir George declared he fully coincided.
"I am, Sir,
"(Signed) C. A. Hagerman.
"Sir F. B. Head, Bart."
"4. From the Earl of Durham.
"Quebec, Oct. 2nd, 1838.
"Dear Sir,
"I thank you kindly for your account of the meeting [in Montreal], which was the first I received. I fully expected the 'outbreak' about the Union of the two Provinces:—It is a pet Montreal project, beginning and ending in Montreal selfishness.
"Yours, truly,