a just provision would not be made for His
Majesty's Government by his faithful Commons, there is nothing in the
country to justify it, and as it encroached upon the privileges of the
Legislature there is no language of censure too strong against
it."--_Seventh Report of Grievance Committee_, p. xlii.

[150] See _The Colonial Advocate_ of April 3rd, 1828.

[151] I can find no confirmation of the statement made by Mackenzie, and
re-echoed by subsequent writers, about the excessive fears of the
Government at this juncture, and the preparations made by them to resist
an uprising of the people. There were no grounds for any such fears, nor
for any anticipations of an uprising. The people were long-suffering,
and were by no means ripe for revolt.

[152] If any evidence were needed of this obvious truth, it is furnished
by Mackenzie's career in the Canadian Parliament after his return from
exile. He was there brought into contact with politicians of a
succeeding generation, most of whom knew him by tradition only. His
misfortunes, and the manifold sufferings he had been compelled to
endure, impelled most of the contemporaries to regard him with a large
measure of forbearance, and he was permitted to indulge a license of
speech which would not have been tolerated in any other member. He
adopted precisely the same _role_ as of yore, and delivered himself with
great vehemence on matters which he did not understand. The inevitable
result was that the Assembly soon ceased to attach any weight to his
opinions. He had lived long enough to repudiate many of his old
doctrines, and to eat many of his past words. His views on Tuesday were
frequently the very opposite to what they had been on Monday, and
neither were any indication of what they would be on Wednesday. Members
ceased to attach any importance to his statements, or to think of them
as calling for serious consideration. He came to be regarded as a sort
of unlicensed jester who might be permitted to amuse the House by his
antics when there was no pressing business on hand; but as to any real
influence, he had no more than the junior messenger. It took him several
years to find this out, and when it was brought thoroughly home to him
he resigned his seat. Had the Family Compact politicians of fifty to
sixty years ago been as wise in their generation as the members of the
Assembly during the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Parliaments of United
Canada, they would have ceased to defend