At the period of which we are writing, there was much need of wise
moderation on the side of the governed as well as on that of the
governing class. But of moderation there was little; and the nature of
the evils complained of, the non-conciliatory attitude of the ruling
oligarchy, and the licence which a "Free Press,"--recently introduced
into the colony,--gave in formulating charges of corruption, and in
loosening the tongue of invective, made it almost impossible to
discuss affairs of State, save in the heated terms familiar to
irritated and incensed combatants. It was at this period that the
young land-surveyor, Allan Dunlop, entered the Legislative Assembly
and took his seat as member for the Northern division of the Home
District. Though warmly espousing the cause of the people in the
ever-recurring collisions with the different branches of the
Government, and as warmly asserting the rights and privileges of the
popular Chamber in its struggles with the autocracy of the Upper
House, the young Parliamentarian was equally jealous of the reasonable
prerogative of the Crown, and temperate in the language he used when
he had occasion to decry its abuse.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44