ct, it is fair to assume that
Lord Glenelg was sincerely anxious to do his best for Upper Canada, and
to confer the appointment upon the best man within his reach. How
ignominously he failed to carry out his wishes in this particular is
known to every student of Upper Canadian history; but what is not known,
either to students of history or anyone else, is--What was the motive
power which directed his choice? By what whimsical combination of
circumstances it came about that the appointment was finally offered to,
and accepted by, one of the most unlikely men in the three kingdoms, is
one of those official riddles which appear to defy solution. The fact
remains, that the post of Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada was
conferred upon Sir Francis Bond Head, a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian
Guelphic Order, a retired half-pay Major, an Assistant Poor-Law
Commissioner for one of the Kentish districts, and the author of several
entertaining but exceedingly superficial books of travel. To no one was
the appointment a greater surprise than to Sir Francis himself. He must
have felt the utter absurdity of the thing--that he had no claim to such
a post, and was disqualified from filling it with credit. He neither
knew nor cared anything about Canada. He was altogether ignorant of
politics. He had never joined any political party; never attended a
political discussion; never even voted at an election or taken any part
in one.[194] So far as any knowledge of the British constitution was
concerned, he had as little as any Englishman of decent education could
possibly have. He had no claim upon the Government; was not acquainted
with any member of it; and had never so much as seen Lord Glenelg in his
life.[195] It is certainly not strange that he should have been, as he
says,[196] "altogether at a loss to conceive" why this appointment
should have been offered to him.

From that day down to the present time the circumstance has puzzled
wiser heads than his, and there have been various attempts to solve the
mystery. A tradition is said to be current in the Colonial Office that
the appointment was the result of a singular misapprehension of
identity, and the late Mr. Roebuck assured Sir Francis Hincks that such
was really the fact.[197] A "distinguished Imperial statesman" also
assured Sir Francis that he had heard the same statement,[198] which was
to the effect that the person for whom the appointment was really
intended was the kinsma