Simcoe, where
the feeling of discontent was strongest, and where there was much talk
about rebellion against the Government, no one seems to have realized or
believed that there would be any actual outbreak.

There could be no doubt, however, that the Reformers in both town and
country were more thoroughly in earnest than they had ever been before.
Energetic measures were in favour among them, and the number of
advocates of passive endurance was very small. There were regular
communications between them and the opponents of the Government in Lower
Canada. They held frequent meetings, at which schemes of agitation were
discussed, and where every member was encouraged to speak his mind
without fear or favour. A very frequent place of meeting in Toronto was
Elliott's tavern, on the north-west corner of Yonge and Queen Streets. A
place for holding more secret and confidential caucuses was the brewery
of John Doel, situated at the rear of his house on the north-west corner
of Adelaide and Bay Streets.[276] Towards the end of July a number of
leading Radicals assembled at Elliott's for the purpose of discussing
the draft of a written Declaration, which was intended to embody the
platform of the local members of the party. It reads very much like a
cautious parody on the Declaration of Independence of the United States,
upon which it was evidently modelled. It set forth the principal
grievances of which the Reform party complained; declared that the time
had arrived for the assertion of rights and the redress of wrongs; and
expressed the warmest admiration of Papineau and his compatriots for
their opposition to the British Government. It further expressed the
opinion that the Reformers of Upper Canada were bound to make common
cause with their fellow-citizens in the Lower Province; and to render
their cooeperation more effectual it recommended that public meetings
should be held and political associations organized throughout the
country. Finally, it recommended that a convention of delegates should
be held at Toronto to consider the political situation, "with authority
to its members to appoint commissioners to meet others to be named on
behalf of Lower Canada and any of the other colonies, armed with
suitable powers as a congress to seek an effectual remedy for the
grievances of the colonists." Mr. Lindsey,[277] doubtless upon the
authority of Mackenzie, represents this Declaration as having been the
joint work of Dr. Rolph