Oft-ignored in the study of Canadian history or dismissed as a vestige of colonial status, the governor general's office provides essential historical insight into Canada's constitutional evolution. In the nineteenth century, as today, individual governors general exercised considerable scope in interpreting their approach to the office. The era 1847-1878 witnessed profound changes in Canada's relationship with Britain, and in this new book, Barbara J. Messamore explores the nature of these changes through an examination of the role of the governor general. Guided by outmoded instructions and constitutional conventions that were not yet firmly established, the governors general of the time - Lord Elgin, Sir Edmund Head, Lord Monck, Lord Lisgar, and Lord Dufferin - all wrestled with the implications of colonial self government. The imprecision of the viceregal role made the character of the appointee especially important and biographical details are thus essential to an understanding of how the new experiment of colonial self-government was put into practice. Messamore's book marries constitutional history and biography, providing illumination on some of the key figures of nineteenth-century Canadian politics.

"Though mainly a book of practice, it is, however, by no means a mere epitome of rules of procedure. Enlarging upon the example of Sir Erskine May, Mr. Bourinot outlines the whole political system of the Dominion; and within the wide field thus surveyed, there is much of the deepest interest to students and reformers of parliamentary institutions at home."--A. H. B. Constable, The Juridical Review 4 (1893) 273. "The object which the author has had constantly in view...is to give such a summary of the rules and principles which guide the practice and proceedings of the Parliament of Canada as will assist the parliamentarian and all others who may be concerned in the working of our legislative system. (...) It is, moreover, been the writer's aim, not only to explain as fully as possible the rules and usages adopted in Canada, but also to give such copious references to the best authorities...as will enable the reader to compare Canadian with British procedure." --Preface, xi. Sir John George Bourinot [1836-1902] founded the Evening Reporter with Joseph C. Crosskill in 1860 and was a founding member and honorary secretary of the Royal Society of Canada. He wrote many distinguished books on Canadian political history. Two of them, How Canada is Governed (1895) and Canada Under British Rule, 1760-1900 (1900), were standard references for decades. Thomas Barnard Flint [1847-1919] was a lawyer and politician in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was assistant clerk for the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1887-1891. In 1902 he was named Clerk of the House of Commons and remained in that position until 1918.

The Routledge Companion to European History since 1763 is a compact and highly accessible work of reference, with a fully comprehensive glossary, a biographical section, a thorough bibliography and informative maps.