rst number of the _Advocate_. In that number Sir
Peregrine Maitland, the Lieutenant-Governor, was accused of indolence,
and of being the cause why Upper Canada was less progressive than her
enterprising republican neighbour. He was referred to as one who, after
spending his earlier days in the din of war and the turmoil of camps,
had gained enough renown in Europe to enable him to enjoy himself, like
the country he governed, in inactivity; whose migrations were, by water,
from York to Queenston and from Queenston to York, like the Vicar of
Wakefield, from the brown bed to the blue, and from the blue bed to the
brown. Such comparisons as these could not be expected to find much
favour with Sir Peregrine, more especially as they notoriously contained
more than a _soupcon_ of truth. The faction naturally sympathized with
the Lieutenant-Governor, and only waited a suitable opportunity to give
adequate expression to their abhorrence of Mackenzie and his doctrines.
As for Sir Peregrine, he was ready enough to cooeperate with his
supporters in any proceeding for the suppression of this free-spoken and
most objectionable little Radical, who dared to wag his plebeian tongue
against the son-in-law of a Duke. An occasion for the first overt act of
hostility was afforded by certain rites connected with the erection of
the monument on Queenston Heights to the memory of Major-General Sir
Isaac Brock. The construction of the monument having been determined
upon, and considerable sums of money having been granted by Parliament
for the purpose, commissioners were appointed to superintend the work,
which was duly proceeded with. The second funeral of the dead hero, and
the removal of his remains from Fort George, had been fixed for the 18th
of October (1824), being the twelfth anniversary of the battle; but in
the interim some of the local magnates of the Niagara District resolved
that the foundation-stone should be laid with masonic honours. The 1st
of June was appointed for this ceremonial, and on that date a
considerable number of persons assembled on the Heights to witness it.
Mr. Mackenzie, who, it will be remembered, then resided at Queenston,
seems to have taken an active part in the proceedings, and this with the
full consent and approval of the committee of management. A glass
vessel, hermetically sealed, and enclosing a number of coins and a copy
of _The Upper Canada Gazette_, together with the recently-issued first
number of _Th