t repudiated the contention with sarcastic contempt. There were
various other grounds of dispute, but this great question overshadowed
and practically included all. It cannot truly be said that there was
much perceptible progress in reform during the session; indeed material
progress was impossible so long as the Government controlled the
Legislative Council, and while the Executive Councillors held on to
office in spite of the hostile votes of the Assembly. The way towards
reform was however paved by the debates. Never before had the Government
of Upper Canada been subjected to the incessant criticism of a watchful
and vigorous phalanx of censors within the walls of Parliament. They
were not wise enough to read the signs of the times, and would yield
nothing to the demands of their opponents. They still believed in the
efficacy of repression, and the next few years were marked by a series
of high-handed persecutions which did more to speed the progress of
reform than all the eloquence of Rolph and Bidwell could have effected
in half a century.

As for Mackenzie, he would doubtless have been dealt with as Gourlay had
been, could such a course have been adopted towards him with safety.
Isaac Swayzes in abundance might no doubt have been found to swear that
the obnoxious personage had not been a resident of the Province for the
preceding six months. Doubtless, also, phrases had been used in the
_Advocate_ which, isolated from the context, might have been tortured
into something like sedition. But the party in power were not so dull as
to be unable to perceive that _that_ experiment must not be repeated.
The Liberal schoolmaster had been actively at work within the last few
years, and any attempt to re-enact that glaring iniquity would, to say
the least, be attended with serious risk to the actors. The most
feasible method of disposing of the noisy little firebrand presented
itself in the shape of successive indictments for libel, to which his
aggressive and unguarded mode of writing would be certain to expose him.
It is of course impossible to obtain direct evidence of an express
conspiracy on the part of the Government to destroy him by such means. A
conspiracy of that nature would not be likely to take the shape of a
written contract which might be produced against the contracting parties
in the future. Nor would the parties to such a conspiracy be likely to
leave any written traces of it behind them. Still, anyone who h