Editing Robert Baldwin (section)

=== Responsible Government achieved ===
[[File:Incendie Parlement Montreal.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Joseph Légaré]], ''The Burning of the Parliament Building in Montreal'', 1849]]
{{main|Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal}}
At the general election which followed, the Governor-General was sustained by a narrow majority. The year-long political crisis had, however, made it clear that responsible government was inevitable; even the old Compact Tories, now reshaped into an incipient conservative party, demanded some form of responsible government.{{sfn|Careless|1967|p=95}} Metcalfe continued to govern until struck down by illness in 1846. The new Governor-General, [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]], was sent out specifically to acknowledge responsible government in the Canadas. In 1848 the [[Reform Party (pre-Confederation)|Reformers]] were again returned to power, and Baldwin and Lafontaine formed their second administration on March 11 and carried numerous important reforms, including the Amnesty Act which offered pardons to all those involved in the Rebellions of 1837–8, the creation of a secular [[University of Toronto]], and the introduction of municipal government. Their bravest achievement was to shepherd the Rebellion Losses Bill through Parliament in 1849. It sparked Orange riots, and the burning of the Parliament buildings as much of Europe was similarly engulfed in a [[Revolutions of 1848|wave of republican revolutions]] and counter-revolutions.