No wonder Brock pined at inaction while his more fortunate friends were leaving him far behind in the race for glory. It was not glory alone that his ardent soul desired, but a chance to use the powers that he knew were his. The chance was nearer than he thought, and he found it in the common path of duty. Soon after Sir George Prevost's arrival in Canada as governor-general and commander-in-chief, Major-General Brock was appointed president and administrator of the government of Upper Canada during Lieutenant-Governor Gore's absence in England. He entered on his new office in what to him was a fateful month, October 9th, 1811. {161} CHAPTER XIII THE NEW GOVERNOR To be a major-general, and governor, and commander-in-chief of a province at the age of forty-two was no doubt an enviable position, but, with the irony of fate, just as he had reached it, an unlooked-for financial misfortune, involving his whole family, came upon Isaac Brock. Apart from the personal loss to himself, there was besides a threatened rupture of friendship between his brothers which touched his tender heart most keenly. The story of the misfortune is as follows: In June, 1811, a firm of London bankers and merchant brokers failed. Isaac Brock's eldest brother, William, was the senior member of the firm, and it was from this brother that he had received about three thousand pounds for the purchase of his commissions. William Brock had no children, and never intended to ask for the repayment of this sum. Unfortunately the loan appeared on the books of the firm, and General Brock was on the list of its debtors. The news of the failure came with double poignancy to Brock, on account of the difficulties in which it involved him, and also on account of the distress which had overtaken his favourite brother. Savery Brock was also a loser by the failure, which {162} was aggravated by a coolness and estrangement that arose between William and his brother Irving, who was also connected with the firm. [Sidenote: An unexpected misfortune]