nt of this expedition,
and is very interesting reading. It won for him wide notoriety, and led
to his being commonly referred to in the current literature of the time
as "Galloping Head." His adventurous career had left an indelible stamp
upon his character. He was rash, impetuous, inconsiderate and
superficial, fond of producing dramatic effects, and ever with an eye to
some _coup de theatre_. He had not been a Poor-Law Commissioner long
enough to have become thoroughly settled down when a king's messenger
arrived at his Kentish abode about midnight, with a missive offering him
the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. He seems to have
at first had sufficient good sense to decline the proffered honour; but
he allowed himself to be talked into accepting it by Lord Glenelg and
his under-secretary, Mr. Stephen. As I have said elsewhere: "The result
of an appointment made under such circumstances was disaster to the
Province, and something nearly approaching ignominy to himself. As a
civil administrator in a disturbed and grievance-ridden colony, he was
altogether out of his proper element, and furnished a signal instance of
the round peg in the square hole. His administration extended over
little more than two years, but during that period he contrived to
embroil himself with his own Executive, with the Home Government from
which he had received his appointment, and with pretty nearly every one
who was desirous of promoting the cause of political liberty in Upper
Canada. He also contrived to do an amount of mischief which left traces
behind it for many years after he had ceased to have any control over
Canadian affairs. And yet it would be most unjust to represent him as a
deliberately bad or ill-intentioned man. He was simply a weak man out of
his proper sphere."[203] That a man of such mental endowments should
have been sent out to stem the tide of Upper Canadian discontent, and to
conciliate noisy Radicals of the Mackenzie stamp, is in itself
sufficient proof that a huge official blunder of some sort was
committed. What was wanted was a statesman, and a man of Liberal
political views. Had there been any, even the slightest inquiry, it
would have been ascertained that Sir Francis hardly knew the meaning of
the word statesman, and that he had no political views whatever. It is
hardly going too far to say that on all current political subjects,
whether pertaining to the colonies or the mother country, his mind