the dismissal of Boulton and Hagerman, a
proceeding which had wonderfully exhilarated his mind; and his
depression had been correspondently deep upon learning that the one had
been promoted and the other reinstated. He had hoped to see Mr. Rolph
appointed to the Solicitor-Generalship, and, if his word is to be
credited, he really seems to have had some grounds for believing that
such an appointment would be made.[168] He afterwards declared that he
had "good reasons for believing" that Mr. Rolph's appointment had
actually been made out and transmitted to Canada, but that Sir John
Colborne and Chief Justice Robinson had prevented it from taking
effect.[169]

As has already been seen,[170] Mackenzie, during his absence in England,
had once more been elected to represent the County of York in the
Assembly. Upon the first meeting of Parliament after his return he
presented himself as a member. There was however a persistent
determination that he should not be permitted to take his seat. The
hostile majority in the House professed to believe that they had a right
to exercise a discretion as to who should be permitted to sit therein.
Mackenzie, they alleged, had libelled the House by libelling a majority
of its members, and he had neither made nor attempted to make any
reparation or apology. The Clerk, acting most probably on instructions,
refused to administer the oath to him. A resolution was adopted that he
should not be permitted to sit or vote as a member during the session,
and a writ for a new election was ordered. Again did he return to his
constituents, and again was he returned without opposition. The electors
of York were by this time heartily tired of the farce, the perpetual
re-enactment whereof had the effect of partly disfranchising them by
leaving them with only one representative in the Assembly instead of
two. They were nevertheless fully resolved not to yield their undoubted
rights without some further assertion of them. The member of their
choice was under no legal disability. They were advised that there was
no constitutional justification for the action of the Assembly. They
declared that they owed it to themselves and those who were to come
after them not to submit tamely to injustice of such a nature. The
election being over, a considerable body of them escorted him to the
Houses of Parliament. But a short time had elapsed since the last
expulsion, and the Legislature was still in session. The members