It was the duty of the Government, remarked
the young tribune, to calm, not to augment, the fever of popular
excitement by acts of an arbitrary and autocratic character,--such as
instigating ridiculous prosecutions, and casting doubt on the loyalty
of men who had long and faithfully served the Crown, and whose only
fault was to set their country above their party.
That the existence of Upper Canada as a colony of the Crown--Dunlop
continued--was imperiled by paying some exigent actors from the other
side of the line the compliment of calling for a national air dear to
republican hearts and ears, he did not for a moment believe. He was,
at the same time, he affirmed, keenly sensitive to the beguiling
effects of enlivening music, and--falling into a lighter vein--he
confessed that he did not know what might be the consequence if the
members of the Government organized themselves into a well-trained
minstrel troupe and entered the neighbouring Republic singing the
pathetic airs of the Old Dominion, artfully interspersed with the
soul-stirring strains of the "British Grenadiers" and "Rule Britannia.
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