had been sent over to administer the Government, had stooped to
a barefaced violence and tyranny in excess of anything which could be
truly charged against the Tory Sir John Colborne. All the old abuses
were maintained in full vigour. The incubus of the Clergy Reserves was
not removed. Appointments to office were still made from one political
body only. The Legislative Council still had the power to paralyze the
efforts of the Assembly. The Assembly itself was at present as
retrograde as the Upper House, and it had been formed by a corrupt and
venal race of officials against whom there was no remedy. The Act to
prevent the dissolution of Parliament would probably have the effect of
maintaining the existing Assembly for years. To all these evils was now
superadded great commercial depression. And there seemed to be no
prospect of brighter times. The future seemed overcast and hopeless. Is
it any wonder if those who were compelled to contemplate the picture
from this dark point of view were forced to the conclusion that a change
of any kind must surely be for the better?

It is impossible to say at what precise date the idea of armed
resistance to authority was adopted among the rural Reformers, but I can
find no distinct trace of it until the 30th of June, when, at a secret
meeting held at Lloydtown, a resolution was passed to the effect that
constitutional resistance to oppression having been for many years tried
in vain, it behooved every Reformer to arm himself in defence of his
rights and those of his fellow-countrymen. Within a fortnight afterwards
resolutions of a similar character were passed by small gatherings in
other parts of the Home District. As yet, however, the idea of actual
rebellion does not seem to have taken definite shape in the minds of the
supporters of Mackenzie and Lount. At most, there appears to have been a
sort of understanding that recourse to arms was justifiable, and might
some day become expedient; but even this view of the case did not meet
with universal acquiescence, and the advocates of insurrection sometimes
found themselves confronted by hostile majorities, even among assemblies
of the most trusted Radicals.

But meanwhile Reformers in the cities and towns were beginning to bestir
themselves. Toronto was the headquarters of the Reform party of Upper
Canada, and it was natural that the adherents of that party throughout
the Province generally should contemplate their proceedings with