interest. As yet the idea of an armed rising against the Government had
not been seriously hinted at among the Reformers of the capital.
Profound sympathy, however, was felt and expressed among them for the
Lower Canadians, who made no secret of their determination to rebel in
case certain resolutions adopted by the British Parliament, at the
instance of the Ministry, were acted upon. These resolutions had been
adopted in consequence of the Lower Canadian Assembly's persistent
refusal to grant supplies. They authorized the seizure of certain funds
in the hands of the Provincial Receiver-General, and the application of
them to the general purposes of the Provincial government. Papineau and
his adherents had been maddened by this proceeding, and were actively
engaged in preparations for an outbreak. The Upper Canadian Reformers
warmly sympathized with their neighbours, and passed resolutions
condemnatory of the obnoxious resolutions. On the 5th of July,
Mackenzie, in the _Constitution_, reviewed the state of affairs in the
Lower Province with exceeding boldness. He discussed the probability of
an outbreak there, and the chances of success, very clearly indicating
his own opinion in the affirmative as to both contingencies. Other
Reform papers expressed strong opinions in favour of Papineau's side of
the quarrel, but, with the exception of the _Constitution_, none of them
ventured to predict and hope for the success of the rebel arms. The fact
is, that a comparatively small number of Upper Canadian Reformers were
either ripe for or desirous of rebellion. They were aroused to hot
anger, and were prepared to advocate the most radical measures of
agitation. Their hostility, however, was not chiefly directed against
Great Britain, but against Sir Francis Head and those by whom he was
surrounded. It was felt that the Home Office had failed in its duty, but
the more intelligent were ready to make allowances for the ignorance
respecting Canadian affairs of a Minister three thousand miles away.
Such were the sentiments of Robert Baldwin and hundreds of other persons
the sincerity of whose Reform principles were equally free from doubt.
Dr. Baldwin felt and expressed less moderation than his son, though he
was not the man to venture upon what he could not have regarded
otherwise than as a hare-brained scheme of rebellion, more especially
when his chief allies would be composed of the Mackenzie element of
Radicals. Rolph and Bidwell