. Dr. Rolph did not
attend, being kept away by professional duties. It was suggested by
James Lesslie, one of the aldermen from St. David's Ward, that the
Doctor was indifferent as to the mayoralty, and that he would be quite
willing to waive any claims to the position which he might be supposed
to have. It was further suggested that the interests of the Reformers
would be best promoted by the elevation of the editor of the _Advocate_
to the chief magistracy. Mackenzie, it was urged, had been treated with
shameful indignity by the Assembly, and had been held up to contempt by
the official party generally. He had been maligned at the Home Office as
a personage whom the Secretary could not admit to his presence
consistently with due respect to himself and his office. He had been
represented as a snarling little upstart who, by the votes of the lowest
and most rascally section of the Radicals, had been placed in a position
unsuited to his character and belongings. It had been especially urged
against him in England that the better class of Reformers held aloof
from and thoroughly despised him. There could be no doubt that by such
representations as these Mackenzie had been subjected to much unmerited
obloquy and annoyance during his sojourn in the old country. The present
conjuncture of affairs, it was said, afforded an excellent opportunity
for atoning to him for what he had endured, and at the same time for
scoring a double victory for Reform principles. His elevation to the
chief magistracy of the capital city of Upper Canada would furnish the
most conclusive answer that could possibly be made to the abuse and
slander wherewith he had been assailed. The position was one of high
honour and dignity. It would be impossible to represent the occupant of
that position as the mere tool and mouthpiece of a low Radical clique,
or as a person whom no gentleman could admit to a conference. There was
much plausibility about these arguments, and they had the more weight
inasmuch as Dr. Rolph was said to be personally indifferent about the
matter. Dr. Rolph, moreover, needed no accession of dignity. He could
certainly derive none from being elected to the mayoralty, and could
very well afford to waive his claims. This view of the matter finally
prevailed, and it was agreed, before the adjournment of the caucus,
that, provided Dr. Rolph were a consenting party, Mackenzie should be
the first mayor of Toronto.

When the matter was submi