a with this
view when a mob of "gentlemen" stormed his printing office in York.
Like all other assaults of the kind, it was, of course, a night attack,
and being well managed was quite successful! It was not. In the broad
light of day, the press was captured and destroyed, and the type of the
_Colonial Advocate_ seized and thrown into Lake Ontario. Nor was
this all. Mr. Mackenzie's family and his infirm old mother received the
most brutal treatment.[36] The authorities took very little notice of
the occurrence. But Mr. Mackenzie appealed to a jury, who, "to the no
small discomfiture of the tories, from Sir Peregrine Maitland, down to
the lowest menial employed in the political shambles," gave exemplary
damages. This had some effect, but not the weight which punishment for
the crime would have produced. The risk of having to pay for damages
would certainly not have prevented similar violence. The employees or
relatives of the Executive Councillors, the Judges, the Attornies, and
Solicitors General, and of such distinguished families at home would
have continued to destroy presses to this day, gaining more by the
suppression of truth and the prevention of free discussion, than they
lost in damages, had not an obstacle stood in their way, which it was
dangerous to encounter. The liberal press took up a bold position. The
speeches in the Assembly, by the leading independents, told upon the
country. A spirit of retributive justice had been stirred up, which
awed and intimidated the ruling compact. Open violence could not again
be resorted to. The subtleties of the law were, however, brought into
requisition. Under a show of justice and a pretended bridling of
licentiousness, the press might be muzzled or compelled to play one
monotonous hymn of praise to the powers above. The libel laws were
sufficiently odious to accomplish anything. Mr. Mackenzie was
prosecuted for libel. Prosecution followed prosecution, and where truth
constitutes a libel, it is surprising how he escaped. The juries would
not convict. The eyes of the whole country had been opened, and the
conspiracies against the public liberties were observable. Besides, Mr.
Mackenzie defended himself, and gave his persecutors nothing to boast
of in the rencontres. He never failed to improve these occasions. He
entered into every swindling transaction with greater severity than he
could have done in his newspaper. Mackenzie always succeeded in an
appeal to the people. Th