g
governed" rather than governing themselves.

Perhaps, after all, it was not so much the Constitution of Canada that
caused the conflict as the clash between the old-time feudalism and the
spirit of modern, aggressive democracy. The United States _fought_
this question out in 1776. Canada _wrestled_, it cannot be called a
_fight_, the same question out in 1837.

It is necessary to give one or two cases of individual persecution to
understand how the disorders flamed to open rebellion.

One Matthews, an officer of the 1812 War, living on a pension, had
incurred the distrust of the governing ring by expressing sympathy with
the agitators. Now to be an agitator was bad enough in the eyes of
"_the family compact_," but for one of their {415} own social circle to
sympathize with the outsiders was, to the snobocracy clique of the
little city of ten thousand at Toronto, almost an unpardonable sin.
Such sins were punished by social ostracism, by the grand dames of
Toronto not inviting the officer's wife to social functions, by the
families of the upper clique literally freezing the sinner's children
out of the foremost circles of social life. Many a Canadian family is
proud to trace lineage back to some old lady of this tempestuous
period, whose only claim to recognition is that she waged petty
persecution against the heroes of Canadian progress. Now the annals of
the times do not record that this special sinner's wife and children so
suffered. At all events Matthews' spirits were not cast down by social
snobbery. He continued to sympathize with the agitators. The "_family
compact_" bided their time, and their time came a few months later,
when a company of American actors came to Toronto. A band concert had
been given. When the British national air struck up, all hats were
off. Then some one called for "Yankee Doodle," and in compliment to
the visitors, when the American air struck up, Matthews shouted out for
"hats off." For this sin the legislative council ordered the
lieutenant governor to cut off Matthews' pension, and, to the
everlasting shame of Sir Peregrine Maitland, the advice was taken,
though Matthews had twenty-seven years of service to his credit.
Matthews appealed to England, and his pension was restored, so that in
this case "_the family compact_" for political reasons was pretending
to be more British than Great Britain. It was not to be the last
occasion on which "the loyalty cry" was to be