"
"But, Edward, you must wait till I _do_ know him," said Rose with some
emphasis. "I know your friend by sight only, and have never spoken to
him; though, I confess, I have heard a good deal of him in the recent
election, and much that is favourable, though papa has taken a great
dislike to him on account of his political opinions."
"Ah, papa's Tory prejudices would be sure to do injustice to Dunlop,"
Edward rejoined; "but, I fear," he added, "there is need in the
political arena of Upper Canada of just such a Reformer as he."
At this stage of the conversation the old Commodore was observed on
the veranda, and Tredway approached the group to announce that lunch
was on the table.
Commodore Macleod, as may be inferred from his son's remark about his
father's Tory prejudices, was a Tory of the old school, a member of
the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, and a firm ally and stiff
upholder of the Provincial Executive, who had earned for themselves,
by their autocratic rule, the rather sinister designation of "the
Family Compact." As a trusted friend and loyal supporter of the
oligarchy of the day, whom a well-known radical who figured prominently
in the later history of the Province was wont to speak of as that army
of placemen and pensioners, "Paymasters, Receivers, Auditors, King,
Lords and Commons, who swallowed the whole revenue of Upper
Canada"--the reference to a man of the type of young Dunlop, who
aspired to political honours, was particularly distasteful, and sure
to bring upon the object of his bitter animadversion the full vials of
his wrath.
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