SIMCOE arrived at Niagara on July 26th, 1792. He had chosen this place for his temporary capital more on account of its convenient position than from any importance it had attained as a centre of settlement. It had the one advantage of being under the guns of Fort Niagara, but this would turn to a disadvantage as soon as the stars and stripes should float from its bastion. It had not even the distinction of being the head of the portage, that was at Queenston. In fact, when Simcoe's eyes first fell upon it, Niagara, or Newark as he afterwards christened the place, consisted of two houses. Besides these there were the barracks of Butler's Rangers and Navy Hall, a building erected during the War of Independence by order of Haldimand for the accommodation of the officers of the naval department on Lake Ontario. It was a log building, constructed after the usual method and without any provision for comfort or even convenience. But with such changes and additions as the artificers of the regiment could make, it remained during Simcoes term the official residence of the governor. The building was reshingled, partitions were altered, chimneys and fire-places were constructed, new window-sashes were provided, the interior walls were plastered and the woodwork painted. The repairs were estimated to cost £473 5s. 2d., labour £116 5s., and material £357 Os. 2d. There are references in sketches of early Niagara to a residence that was erected for the governor, but such a house never existed. In Navy Hall, with its straitened accommodation and homely appearance, Simcoe earned on the business of his government, entertained his guests, and was the kingly representative of a king. While the alterations were in progress, the governor lived in three marquees which, as Mrs. Simcoe says in her journal, "were pitched for us on the hill above the house, which is very dry ground and rises beautifully, in parts covered with oak bushes; a line turf leads into the woods, through which runs a very good road leading to the falls. The side of our hill is terminated by a very steep bank covered with wood, a hundred feet in height in some places, at the bottom of which runs the Niagara River."

The first months at Navy Hall were occupied in a careful survey of all the necessities of the new government and the infant settlements. The bills to be presented to the first assembly had to be considered and framed, and the policy that the governor was to adopt had to be debated, if not fixed. The meeting of parliament gave an opportunity for consultation with the members from the widely separated ridings, and when it adjourned on October 15th, 1792, the governor had gained a knowledge of the conditions of life in the various parts of his province, he had met and appraised its principal men, and had weighed the materials that he must use in founding his state.

One of Simcoe's earliest civil measures was the appointment of lieutenants to the more populous counties of the province. He intended thus to promote an aristocracy, and further to render the government of Upper Canada an exact transcript of that of England. In the hands of these lieutenants he placed the recommendatory power for the militia and. the magistrates. He reported this step to Dundas on November 4th, but it was not commented upon either favourably or unfavourably until he laid before the Duke of Portland, on December 21st, 1794, a plan for the incorporation of Kingston and Niagara. Then the duke criticized both measures, the tendency of which he found to be "to fritter down his direct power and to portion it out among corporations and lieutenants, who on many occasions may be disposed to use it in obstructing the measures of government." The duke argued that " the power of the person having the government is the power of this country, but such subordinate powers are not ours, and we have no connection with them, or direct influence over those who exercise them. They are rather means and instruments of independence." It was a characteristic of Simcoe to hold stoutly his own view, despite contradiction, and he opposed the duke with the argument that the American war was brought on by the "usurpation of civil authority by committees who dealt with power arbitrarily. ' He wished to check the elective system from operating so universally as in the United States, and asked hereditary titles for his lieutenants of counties, an aristocracy being the truest safeguard against sedition. He asked for instructions: will these offices die out or simply be abolished? Whereupon, having a great horror of sedition and democratic tendencies, the duke allowed the governor to retain his lieutenants. The last one that Simcoe appointed was Robert Hamilton, to be lieutenant of Lincoln; his successors did not renew the appointments and the office, a useless one, was allowed to disappear.

A very early interest was taken in agriculture, and on October 21st, 1702, it was ordered by the council that an annual fair should be held at Newark on the second Monday of each October, to last for six days. This minute was passed on a Sunday, and it is curious to observe that the advent of that day never hindered the performance of public business of the most ordinary character.

Upon February 4th. 1703, Simcoe began an official tour through his western domain. It was the first of three important journeys he made in order that he might understand thoroughly the topography of the country for military purposes, and also that he might be made aware by personal inspection of the resources of the land for cultivation and settlement. His company consisted of Major Littlehales, Captain FitzGerald and Lieutenant Smith of the 5th Regiment, and Lieutenants Talbot, Gray, and Givins. They began their journey in sleighs. The roads were wet, as the season had been unusually mild. The first objective point was the Mohawk village on the Grand River, which they reached about noon on the seventh. Here they attended service, in the mission church on Sunday the 10th, and left the village at noon on the same day. As they were now to follow Indian trails they left their sleighs and proceeded on foot with Brant and twelve of the Mohawks. They wore moccasins but not snowshoes. They tramped over land now covered with fine farms and opulent towns, then crowded with a thick growth of forest. Each night they slept in wigwams constructed by the Indians, and lived upon the trapper's fare of pork and hard bread. They passed Indian burial grounds, trees that bore picture-writing, discovered springs of salt and petroleum, assisted in hunting raccoons, squirrels, and lynxes, came upon an encampment of Chippewas making maple sugar in their ancient fashion. They rescued a man that was starving, sometimes lost themselves for hours in the interminable forest, enjoyed strange food in the flesh of the raccoon and squirrel, and rejoiced in the civilized fare of the Moravian settlement of the Delawares. For days they lived the life of trappers, exposed to the fickle humours of the weather. At length, on February 18th, they met twelve or fourteen carioles and drove to Detroit. Here the governor examined the fort and military works and reviewed the 24th Regiment.

The party left Detroit on the morning of Saturday, February 23rd, and began the return journey. Upon March 2nd they had reached a point upon the river Thames (La Tranche as it had been called before Simcoe's time), where they halted for a day as the governor wished thoroughly to examine the place and its surroundings. It was the site of the present city of London, and there Simcoe fixed the situation of the capital of the province.

Major Littiehales, whose short diary of the journey gives a lively picture of its incidents, thus describes the spot: "We struck the Thames at one end of a low flat island, enveloped with shrubs and trees; the rapidity and strength of the current were such as to have forced a channel through the mainland, being a peninsula, and to have formed the island. We walked over a rich meadow and came to the forks of the river. The governor wished to examine this situation and its environs, and we therefore remained here all the day. He judged it to be a situation eminently calculated for the metropolis of all Canada. Among many other essentials it possesses the following advantages: command of territory, internal situation, central position, facility of water communication up and down the Thames 200 into Lakes St. Clair, Erie, Huron and Superior; navigable by boats to near its source, and for small crafts probably to the Moravian settlement; to the northward, by a small portage, to the waters flowing into Lake Huron, to the south-east by a carrying-place into Lake Ontario and the river St. Lawrence; the soil luxuriantly fertile, the land rich and capable of being easily cleared and soon put into a state of agriculture; a pinery upon an adjacent high knoll, and other timber on the heights well calculated for the erection of public buildings; a climate not inferior to any part of Canada."

After this day's halt they proceeded on their way without misadventure, but suffering from severe cold and incessant snow-storms. They arrived at Navy Hall on Sunday, March 10th. The opinions that are expressed by Major Littlehales as to the desirable situation for the capital of the province on the Thames are reflected from those of the governor. He viewed the country, chiefly from the military standpoint, as a wedge of territory driven down into an enfolding foreign country that might at any time become hostile. His capital should therefore be fixed within defences and removed from the water front of the lakes which might be swept by an enemy's fleet. The point chosen on the Thames seemed to him to offer all possible advantages, and he at once began a military road from Burjington Bay to the forks of the river. This road, that he called Dundas Street, after the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, secretary of state for the colonies, was begun in the summer of 1793; an officer and one hundred men of the Queen's Rangers were engaged during the autumn pushing the road westward from the lake ; and in the autumn of 1794 it was completed as far as the Grand River. It was designed to form a permanent communication between York, or Toronto, at which place an arsenal was to be established, and London, a link between the chief military centre and the capital. The west and the great water highways of the lakes lay open and accessible to London by the waters of the Thames. The road after this western beginning was to be extended to the east, following the contour of Lake Ontario to the Pointe au Baudet and the confines of the province.

After resting through April, the governor, with a company of officers, set out for Toronto harbour on Thursday, May 2nd, skirting the shores of the lake in open boats rowed by the soldiers. They arrived probably on the next day, and spent nine or ten days in a thorough survey of the harbour and the shores. The schooners Caldwell and Buyalo accompanied the party, and their sails were probably the first ever furled in the chief harbour of Ontario. After Simcoe had satisfied himself as to the nature of the harbour and the advantages of the situation for a naval station he returned to Navy Hall, arriving at two o'clock on Monday, May 13th. Four days after, the commissioners appointed by the United States to treat with the Indians arrived at Niagara; they did not leave until nearly the middle of July.

On May 27th Simcoe received the dispatch announcing the declaration of war with France. It warned him to make definite plans for the defence of the province against suspected American aggression, and as soon as the commissioners had left for the Miami he took the first steps to carry them out. He transferred the Queen's Rangers to the harbour that a few weeks before he had surveyed, and prepared himself to follow. He was delayed for some time by the serious illness of his son Frank, but he sailed with Mrs. Simcoe and his family on July 29th, and arrived at Toronto on the next day. Here they lived in a wigwam after the Indian fashion, and the governor superintended the erection of huts for the soldiers. The general orders of August 26th, 1793, officially changed the name of Toronto to York, "in consideration and compliment of the Duke of York's victories in Flanders." But nearly a year before this date the name York had been attached to the position where the capital of the province was destined to stand. The town was laid out on an ambitious scale, and the building regulations for the time and circumstances were exacting. No lot was to be granted on the front street unless the holder was prepared to erect a house forty-seven feet wide, two stories high, and built after a certain design.

It is evident that after his arrival the governor decided to spend the winter at York, and seeing that no proper accommodation could he provided, on August 28th he ordered that his canvas house and all its apparatus should be sent over from Niagara in the schooner Onondaga, that was engaged in transporting from that place to York military stores. In this canvas house which, before his departure from London in 1791, he had purchased from Captain Cook, the navigator, he and his family spent the winter of 1793-4. The house appears to have been constructed in two sections upon a wooden framework fastened by screws. It could not have been very commodious, but for winter use it was boarded upon the outside; the dead air space between the canvas and the boards would check the penetrating cold, and the house, intended for use in warmer climes, made a comfortable shelter from the Canadian winter.

By September 20th Simcoe had completed his plans for the defence of the country. He rejected Kingston as an arsenal, as he found that it coidd not be " so fortified as to protect shipping." He therefore settled upon York as the arsenal for Lake Ontario. His careful preliminary survey and subsequent residence at the place had confirmed his opinion that it was the best harbour on the lakes and might readily be " made very strong at a slight expense, and in the progress of the country impregnable." Long Point was to be the arsenal 204 for Lake Erie, opposed to any establishment the Americans might place at Presqu'ile. London was to be the capital and "mart of all the independent Indian nations. In the present situation of affairs the extension of the settlements from it to Burlington Bay on the one side, to Long Point and Chatham on the other, will in a short space effectually add the influence of command over all the nations within the British territory." This capital was to be fortified and strongly occupied; defences were to be erected at York and Long Point; blockhouses at Bois Blanc Island and Maisonville's Island, or, if Detroit was abandoned, at Chatham. York was to guard its harbour with a fortress mounting heavy guns and ten-inch howitzers. The military road was to connect all posts by a well constructed and permanent highway. A harbour had been reported three miles south of Matchedash Bay, and if a way could be opened from York another independent communication by a short portage to the head waters of the Thames, so it was stated, could be secured with London. These plans were transmitted to Dundas and Clarke almost simultaneously; the support of the commander-in-elnef was strenuously demanded for the system, v Sir Alured Clarke might have allowed these well-wrought, exact schemes of the governor to go unopposed, but it was not for him to pass upon them. Just as they were well fixed in Simcoe's mind he withdrew from the government, and Lord Dorchester assumed control on September 23rd, 1793. From this date begins the discord that embittered the remaining three years of Simcoe's sojourn in Upper Canada, made his duty a task, and checked his enthusiasm. In Simcoe's mind the whole future welfare of the province was rooted in his military system. He, in imagination, saw populous towns spring up around the garrisoned posts; military discipline, be there war or peace, was the model upon which communities were to be founded. Judge then of his chagrin when he saw Dorchester treat his plans as worthy of little consideration. One by one his recommendations were disapproved of, gradually his troops were withdrawn, prop after prop vanished, until Ins schemes lay before him as confused and ineffectual as a flattened house of cards. Dorchester's military policy, frequently stated and as often met by Simcoe with complete non-comprehension, was simply that after the signing of Jay's Treaty no large number of troops was needed in Upper Canada; that "a wise administration of justice and natural advantages " are more powerful for the welfare of a province than an expensive military establishment; that so long as war continued with France, Lower Canada was the proper station for all available troops.

Simcoe, without command, had to bow to superior authority, and he made his submission with an ill grace. Almost the last words he penned at Vork were these addressed to the Duke of Portland on June 18th, 1796: "I have long seen with patience that nothing but my public duty could possibly justify or support the unsafe and hollow footing on which has rested all that is dear to a man who prefers his untainted character to his existence. . . . In the civil administration of this government I have no confidence whatsoever in any assistance from Lord Dorchester."

But in the summer of 1793, these things were not dreamed of, and Simcoe, with a buoyant spirit, prepared to discover a road to the harbours reported south of Matchedash Bay. For some time he was detained by an attack of gout, but at length, on September 23rd, he set out northward. He walked the thirty miles to Holland River, took canoe through Lac aux Claies (renamed Simcoe by the governor in honour of his father) and then ran the Severn into the waters of the large inlet of Lake Huron now called Georgian Bay. Skirting the shore he examined the harbour of Pene-tanguishene, which he found commodious and of a depth everywhere sufficient to float the largest lake-craft he could imagine. But a north-west wind was rolling the waters of Huron into the gap, and the survey could only be conducted under the lee of the islands. It was found hazardous to remain longer, and as the provisions began to fail, he returned with difficulty to York. The street or long portage that was to be the outcome of this journey was called Yonge Street after Sir George Vonge, the secretary of state for war and member of parliament for Honiton in the county of Devon. Simcoe hoped to complete it by the autumn of 1794, but it was not finished by the Queen's Rangers until April, 1796.

He deemed that the new route for the northwest posts would supersede the old canoe way by the Ottawa and French Rivers, that it would draw from the part of Upper Canada adjacent to York supplies for Michilimackinac which then were furnished by Detroit and surrounding settlements. It would, lie thought, complete the circular communication with London by way of the head-waters of the river that flows into the harbour of Penetanguishene and the head-waters of the Thames, that lie so many miles apart. The saving, if this route were used for the transport of goods to the north-west posts and for the fur trade, instead of the established communication by way of the. Ottawa, was estimated at £18 2s. 3d. per ton. A canot de motive will carry one hundred pieces weighing ninety pounds each, equal to four tons and a few pounds, freight per ton Lacbine to Michilimackinac by the Ottawa, £47 16s. 8d. A bateau will carry three tons, freight per ton La-chine to Michilimackinac by the York and Yonge Street route, £29 14s. 5d.; saving £18 2s. 3d. Simcoe's expectations regjirding the permanent value of this route were never met, and Penetanguishene, which he expected to develop into the most "considerable town" in Upper Canada, has been dwarfed by its neighbours.

The winter was passed uneventfully at York amid the felling of trees and the squaring of timber. There were the usual difficulties to contend with, heightened by the blunders of the supply officers who sent axes from England that were poorly tempered and would not hold an edge, and mill machinery with the parts confused and broken. A sawmill, with but one saw, was put together from these heterogeneous materials and the frame of an old mill, and with its help and the strong arm of the Rangers Toronto was founded.

One of the schemes that formed in Simcoe's mind at this time was the establishment of government farms. The need of horses was evident. He determined to establish the farms in chosen situations. The labour was to be supplied by the soldiers, and the farms would produce sufficient to pay wages and provide "sustenance for a few horses necessary to the service." These horses, used as pack and dispatch animals, would destroy the dependence upon the Indians for such service, and would end their extortionate charges. None of these farms were established. During the next spring the governor was occupied upon duty more extensive and of deeper importance, and this plan was allowed to lapse like many another that could not be carried out with the resources at his command.

It was early in March that Simcoe received at York Lord Dorchesters dispatch that was, so far as the governor of Upper Canada was concerned, a declaration of war with the States. He threw himself into the action with his accustomed vigour, and at once dispatched a plan of campaign to the commander-in-chief. He hurried runners to the Indian villages and ordered canoes to he in readiness at the forks of the Thames, where London now stands, and m less than three weeks he was on the Miami River. The incidents of this invasion have been set forth in a preceding chapter; the journey is again mentioned to complete the itinerary of Simcoe's movements. The summer and autumn of 1704 were crowded with activities and with the excitement of apprehension, if not of actual conflict. April 27th saw Simcoe again at Navy Hall and May 5th at York, where he went to design at least a mock defence, as nothing substantial was possible. The legislature was opened on June 2nd, and Simcoe was at Navy Hall until early in September, when he again set out for the Miami with Brant. He arrived at the bay on September 27th, accompanied by McKee, the Indian superintendent. He found Wayne withdrawn beyond all danger of attack, the posts under Colonel England watchful and prepared, and the Indians cowed but suspicious and disunited.

The purpose of this trip was "to crush the spirit of disaffection in the Canadian militia there," but he found that the company called out had gone to Fort Miami. As he found all danger from Wayne's approach to Detroit past, he disbanded two hundred militia that had been levied, and after a council with the tribes he returned to Navy Hall.

In pursuance of the plan to conduct a personal inspection of all sections of the province, Simcoe left Niagara, by way of York, for Kingston, where he spent the winter and spring of 1794-5. His wife and family sailed at a more clement season and upon a more comfortable craft for Quebec, where they spent the winter. The governor did not leave Navy Hall until November 14th. It was late in the month before he left York, and, in an open boat, proceeded to Kingston, where he arrived on December 4th. The journey was hazardous by reason of the furious storms that at this season spring upon the lake, and make it a peril for all mariners. Everywhere the shore ice had taken, and the Bay of Quints was closed. The days were bleak with the lake winds laden with moisture, with sudden flaws of rain or sleet; the nights were cold and cheerless upon the dark forest-clad shores, between the howling of the wolves and the grinding of the small ice broken by the waves. He made his port, however, without serious misadventure, and spent the winter actively at Kingston. He found the town much improved after the lapse of nearly three years. Many stores for the sale of provisions and merchandise had been opened. New wharves had been constructed to accommodate the lake shipping, and others had been planned. He found that the fur trade had waned somewhat, and that general trade was taking its place.

He resided in the officers' quarters, and thence many of his most important dispatches are dated. Many claims of the Loyalists had to be investigated and adjusted. He was for these months of the sojourn at Kingston in the heart of the province, for, although the peninsula was considered of the greatest military and strategical importance, the eastern district was more populous and prosperous. He became acquainted with the resources of the district and of the lands upon the Ottawa. He found time and courage to lay his hand upon the abuses in the commissariat department. The purchase of llour for the garrisons had for some time been in the hands of contractors who bought from whom they pleased, favouring their friends, and the settlers had petitioned against the favouritism and extortion, every member of the assembly having set his hand to the document. Simcoe appointed Captain McGill to be agent for purchases in the province, under the authority of the secretary of the treasury, Rose, and ordered all sub-agents to take orders from him. He hoped through the fair and honest action of this officer to equalize prices and to destroy the abuses of the department. But again Dorchester intervened, and appointed Davison to supply the troops under a contract from the victualling office. Simcoe felt himself degraded and humiliated before the assembly, but avowed himself absolved from all responsibility. It was only a temporary check, however, for on November 3rd, 1795, Captain McGill was appointed agent of purchases, and carried on the duties of his office for some years.

The month of February was spent at Johnstown, a small hamlet a few miles east of Prescott. Simcoe writes to Dorchester from that place that he had planned a road to the forks of the Rideau in order to establish settlements surveyed in 1790 and 1791. He also states that he intended to investigate personally the water communication with the Ottawa, and he notes the importance of this route for civil and military reasons. But all exploratory schemes were abandoned, and early in March the governor returned to Kingston accompanied by Mrs. Simcoe, who joined him at Johnstown after her winter in Quebec. She thus describes their residence: "We are very comfortably lodged in barracks. As there are few officers here we have the mess-room to dine in and a room over it for the governor's office, and these, as well as the kitchen, are detached from our other three rooms, which is very comfortable. The drawing-room has not a stove in it, which is a misfortune, but it is too late in the winter to be of much consequence. We have excellent wood tires."

During the spring Simcoe suffered from a serious and prolonged illness, and' it was not until May 15th that he was able to travel. He left the town upon that day, and arrived at York on the twenty-sixth of the same month. Here there was as yet no proper accommodation for him, and, after a thorough inspection of the winter's work and the condition of the settlers who had come to take up lands upon the line of Yonge Street, he sailed across the lake to Niagara, and there he spent the summer and entertained, between June 22nd and July 30th, his distinguished visitor the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. The only trip that he made during this season was to Long Point, where he fixed upon the site of the proposed town, located the barracks and a pier for the use of the war-sloops and gunboats. Upon his return he went up the Grand River as far as a point known locally as Dochstaders, where he portaged into the Chipewyan or Welland River, and by this way reached his headquarters. He preferred the route above the usual course, by way of the Niagara River to Fort Erie. The furious rapids above the falls wearied the soldiers, toiling like galley-slaves at the oars of the bateaux.

On the last day of November, 1795, he arrived at York, where he purposed spending the winter. York had increased to twelve houses gathered near the Don, the barracks were two miles from the town near the harbour; two blockhouses had been erected at the entrance to the roadstead. A chateau had been prepared for the governor which was called Castle Frank, after his son and heir. It was situated upon a ridge overlooking the Don at some distance from the barracks and the town, with which it was connected by a carriage road and bridle-path. The building was constructed of small, well-hewn logs, with a massive chimney, and a portico formed by an extension of the whole roof. The windows were protected by massive shutters. It remained standing until 1829, when it was destroyed by fire. This house was intended as a pavilion in the woods, which the family might visit for pleasure or to enjoy alfresco entertainments. It was not fitted for use as a residence, and the governor continued to live in the canvas house boarded and banked as during the winter of 1793-4. It was his intention, as soon as practicable, to erect a temporary government house at York, with accommodation for the legislature in wings. The officers of the government he ordered to York on February 1st, 1790. They were granted one hundred acres of land each, and were expected to settle in their new home without delay. But all establishments at York were considered as merely temporary; London had not as yet been deposed, it was the potential capital of the province.

The winter passed in the midst of activities. The Queen's Rangers were busy felling trees and squaring timber for the new government buildings, and detachments of the same troop were working their way towards Lake Simcoe through the forest, slowly building Yonge Street. As soon as the ice had left the harbour Simcoe sailed for Niagara, and arrived at Navy Hall on April 30th. The session of the legislature lasted from May 10th to June 20th, upon which day he returned to York.

During the spring and early summer he was anxiously awaiting a reply to his application for leave of absence. Hardly had he reached York in the previous autumn when he presented his request to Portland in a letter dated December 1st, 1795. He felt compelled to request an extended leave owing to the state of his health. A slow fever was gradually consuming his strength, and his physicians thought he should avoid the heat of the approaching summer. He was urgent in his application and stated that the only alternative to leave was resignation. When the answer came to his application it was favourable and in most flattering terms. The leave was granted : "Such is the confidence," writes Portland on April 9th, 1796, "that His Majesty places in your attachment to his service and so satisfied is he with the unremitting zeal and assiduity you have uniformly manifested in promoting his interests and those of his subjects committed to your care." A gunboat was placed at his disposal for transport. Whatever the differences of opinion and misunderstandings with his immediate superior may have been, Simcoe must have felt that his policy and conduct had been approved generally by the government of which both Dorchester and himself were servants. He might turn his face towards home with the light heart and clear conscience of a man who has been approved in an earnest effort to do his duty with singleness of purpose. The letter granting his leave in such gratifying terms did not reach him until early in July. He immediately made preparations for departure. His successor, the Hon. Peter Russell, was sworn in as administrator on July 21st, and upon the same day Simcoe left York. The frigate Pearl was then lying at Quebec ready to sail upon August 10th, and the captain expected to carry as passengers Simcoe and his family. The Active, in which Lord Dorchester had taken passage, was wrecked upon the shore of Anticosti on July 15th, and when Simcoe arrived at Quebec he found that the Pearl had gone down the gulf to save the stores. Dorchester had sailed for Perce in a schooner and the Pearl, after salvage of the wreck at the island, was to call at Perce for him, and then proceed to England without returning to Quebec. Simcoe was therefore compelled to remain in the country until late in September, and it was not unt'i November that he arrived in London after an absence of nearly five years.

He was destined never to see the country again but his mind was never free from thoughts of it. That the government also connected him during his lifetime with plans for the administration of the colony is evident. Writing from Bath on October 14th, 1802, he says: "Ten days have not elapsed since I gave up all views of Canada for the present. It is about three years ago that the Duke of Portland invited me to succeed Prescott." He was reserved for even higher service which fate designed that he w as not to carry out.