r that I explain that
it has not been with his will that these imputations have been so long
pointed at me, and that it has only been by earnest remonstrance that
I have prevented his vindicating me in public long ere now. No man in
Toronto, perhaps, is more generally known in the community, and I
think I could appeal even to his political opponents to say if there
is a citizen of Toronto at this day more thoroughly respected and
esteemed. With a full knowledge of all that has passed, and all the
consequences that have flowed from a day of weakness, I will say that
an honester man does not breathe the air of heaven; that no son feels
prouder of his father than I do to-day; and that I would have
submitted to the obloquy and reproach of his every act, not fifteen
years, but fifty--ay, have gone down to the grave with the cold shade
of the world upon me, rather than that one of his gray hairs should
have been injured."

Public opinion was strongly influenced in Mr. Brown's favour by this
incident. "The entire address," said a leading Conservative paper next
day, "forms the most refreshing episode which the records of the
Canadian House of Commons possess. Every true-hearted man must feel
proud of one who has thus chivalrously done battle for his gray-haired
sire. We speak deliberately when asserting that George Brown's
position in the country is at this moment immeasurably higher than it
ever previously has been. And though our political creed be
diametrically antipodal to his own, we shall ever hail him as a credit
to the land we love so well."

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, p. 161.

CHAPTER X

THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE"

By his advocacy of representation by population, by his opposition to
separate schools, and his championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr.
Brown gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the general
elections of 1857 he was elected for the city of Toronto, in company
with Mr. Robinson, a Conservative. The election of a Liberal in
Toronto is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr. Brown's
violent conflict with the Roman Catholic Church contributed to his
victory, if it was not the main cause thereof. His party also made
large gains through Upper Canada, and had a large majority in that
part of the province, so that the majority for the Macdonald
government was drawn entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds
occurred in Russell county, where names were