with the
ideas of English radicalism, and had an intense hatred of Toryism in
every form. He possessed little of that strong common sense and power of
acquisitiveness which make his countrymen, as a rule, so successful in
every walk of life. When he felt he was being crushed by the intriguing
and corrupting influences of the governing class, aided by the
lieutenant-governor, he forgot all the dictates of reason and prudence,
and was carried away by a current of passion which ended in rebellion.
His journal, _The Colonial Advocate_, showed in its articles and its very
make-up the erratic character of the man. He was a pungent writer, who
attacked adversaries with great recklessness of epithet and accusation.
So obnoxious did he become to the governing class that a number of young
men, connected with the best families, wrecked his office, but the
damages he recovered in a court of law enabled him to give it a new lease
of existence. When the "family compact" had a majority in the assembly,
elected in 1830, he was expelled five times for libellous reflections on
the government and house, but he was re-elected by the people, who
resented the wrongs to which he was {350} subject, and became the first
mayor of Toronto, as York was now called. He carried his grievances to
England, where he received much sympathy, even in conservative circles.
In a new legislature, where the "compact" were in a minority, he obtained
a committee to consider the condition of provincial affairs. The result
was a famous report on grievances which set forth in a conclusive and
able manner the constitutional difficulties under which the country
laboured, and laid down clearly the necessity for responsible government.
It would have been fortunate both for Upper Canada and Mackenzie himself
at this juncture, had he and his followers confined themselves to a
constitutional agitation on the lines set forth in this report. By this
time Robert Baldwin and Egerton Ryerson, discreet and prominent
reformers, had much influence, and were quite unwilling to follow
Mackenzie in the extreme course on which he had clearly entered. He lost
ground rapidly from the time of his indiscreet publication of a letter
from Joseph Hume, the English radical, who had expressed the opinion that
the improper proceedings of the legislature, especially in expelling
Mackenzie, "must hasten the crisis that was fast approaching in the
affairs of Canada, and which would termina