Ixxiv 



ing" is to be carefully followed except in peculiar emergences, he united 

 with these qualities a very conscientious loyalty to those with whom he 

 was placed in contact. To let every project which he initiated be thoroughly 

 known beforehand to his local advisers on the one hand, and to his supe- 

 riors in office at home On the other, was with him a fundamental rule of 

 conduct. And the result was, that, though often opposed on the one hand 

 and sometimes overruled on the other, he was always and thoroughly 

 trusted. 



The monotony of colonial life in a remote and thinly peopled province was 

 diversified, for Sir Edmund Head, by a strong love of nature and attach- 

 ment to outdoor pursuits. He had a taste for geology, and induced the 

 legislature of New Brunswick to employ Professor Johnston to survey the 

 province, and publish a report on its agricultural capabilities based on its 

 geological formation — a work of considerable local value. In later years 

 he took great interest in the geological survey of Canada, accompanied Sir 

 William Logan in his field operations, and took part in many a discus- 

 sion on the mysteries of the *' Laurentian strata." And besides his ad- 

 diction to landscape-art and the picturesque, he was, moreover, a very 

 eager and accomplished sportsman. Some of his happiest intervals of 

 busy life were spent in the wild backwoods of New Brunswick, with Lady 

 Head for his companion, geologizing, sketching, fishing, and shooting, 

 until the close of the late Indian summer called them back to official em- 

 ployment. 



In September 1854 Sir Edmund Head was promoted to the office of 

 Governor of Canada and Governor-General of British North America, on 

 the resignation of Lord Elgin. In this instance Lord Elgin had laid the 

 foundation of that system of government which was afterwards adminis- 

 tered by Sir Edmund. But the period of his administration was signalized 

 by serious difficulties and important changes. 



Not long after his assumption of the Governm.ent of Canada the Russian 

 war broke out (1854-56). It will be in the recollection of those who 

 watched the events of that anxious period into what embarrassment this 

 country was for a time thrown by the difficulty of obtaining soldiers for 

 our immediate demand, and how greatly that embarrassment was increased 

 by the apprehension on that subject, amounting to a panic, which took 

 possession of the public mind. "Well-meaning but over-zealous agents 

 suggested, and attempted, the levy of recruits among British subjects, not 

 only in our American colonies, but in the United States. Rightly or 

 wrongly, the jealous spirit of our kindred of the Repubhc was aroused by 

 the proposal, and by the very slight attempts which were made to carry it 

 into execution. Sir Edmund Head, accustomed as he was to deahng 

 with the Americans, saw at once its extreme danger and checked it imme- 

 diately, at all hazards to his own popularity, along the precarious line of 

 boundary between his colony and the States. 



