Ixxv 



" I am not in the habit of boasting," he says in a private letter of this 

 date ; " nor do I pretend to have foreseen all the consequences ; but I sin- 

 cerely believe that if I had given in to some of the recruiting schemes, and 

 had thus generated a hostile feeling at Buffalo and along the frontier, war 

 would have been upon us before this time." The danger was averted ; 

 and Sir Edmund employed himself in promoting the more worthy plan of 

 raising troops openly in Canada itself. This was accomplished, or at least 

 initiated, by the levy of the "hundredth," or "Canadian " regiment. But 

 the termination of hostilities rendered its services unnecessary. It was a 

 strong proof, however, of the popularity of the measure in the colony, that 

 Sir Edward received between two and three hundred applications for officers' 

 commissions. 



The next question which engaged Sir Edmund Head's serious attention 

 was one of magnitude in itself, but rendered more difficult by the amount 

 of local interests and rivalries which were engaged in it. Upper and 

 Lower ("anada had been united into a single province, some years before, 

 under the administration of the colonies by Lord John Russell. But no 

 decision was arrived at respecting the permanent seat of the future govern- 

 ment. Since the union, therefore, the executive had been located, in alter- 

 nate years, at Quebec and at Toronto — a change attended with much in- 

 convenience to the public service. But to fix on a single capital was a de- 

 cision which the local ministries shrank from taking, naturally fearful, as 

 they were, of encountering the hostility of the rejected candidates. They 

 therefore acquiesced in the course advised by Sir Edmund Head, of referring 

 the question to the decision of the Queen, and praying her Majesty to se- 

 lect the site of their eventual metropolis. But the corporations of all the 

 towns, which conceived themselves to have a claim to this honour and ad- 

 vantage, were to be first admitted to urge their respective claims. Accord- 

 ingly, in the course of 185 7, Quebec, Toronto, Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, 

 and Hamilton gave in their several memorials, showing their respective ad- 

 vantages in point of population, commerce, position, and capabilities of 

 defence ; and the case in behalf of each was urged with considerable abi- 

 lity. Sir Edmund Head's opinion was in favour of Ottawa; and that 

 place was ultimately selected by the Queen in the Ministry of Lord Pal- 

 merston, but not without much careful investigation. The difficulties of 

 the question, however, did not cease here. The youthful democracy of 

 Canada were not easy to hold fast ; and a considerable disposition was 

 manifested to repudiate the decision which the Crown had taken on the 

 invitation of the colonial authorities themselves. This opposition was 

 surmounted, however, through the patience and tact of the Governor, as 

 well as the general good sense of the community, and the conviction 

 that (independently of the binding engagement into which they had 

 entered towards the Crown) the problem was really soluble in no 

 other way. Ottawa, situated on the frontier between the two ancient 



