in Lower Canada; and it was the misrepresentations of the governing party and the outcries of the governed in both provinces, that induced the government of the United States to make war, on false pretences, upon the government of Great Britain. There were persecutions for opinion's sake in Upper as in Lower Canada. The newspaper was as odious to the government in one province as in the other. In 1806, a sheriff of the Home District, in opposition to the will of the Governor, voted at an election. He lost the shrievalty for his stubborn independence. Thrown upon his own resources, he established a newspaper, which he called _The Upper Canada Guardian, or Freeman's Journal_. He spoke with considerable freedom of the governor. He attacked the ministerial party. He exhibited abuses with wonderful dexterity and skill. The ex-sheriff, Joseph Wilcocks, was rapidly rising into note. It was time to restrain him. A Captain Cowan was induced to be his persecutor. The truth rapidly becoming dangerous to those whose business consists in concealing the truth, cannot always be told with safety. Wilcocks alleged that the Governor or his Executive Council had bribed several members of the Assembly with land, to induce them to vote against the interests of their constituents. Captain Cowan knew that the assertion was without foundation. Wilcocks was prosecuted but was acquitted, gained popularity in return for his persecution, and ultimately obtained a seat in parliament. There was no more freedom for Wilcocks in parliament than out of it. For some extra freedom of speech on the floor of the House, he was thrust into prison. Nevertheless, he acquired an ascendancy in the Assembly, to the great regret of the ministerialists. He became still more the object of governmental wrath, and when the war broke out, he was deprived of his paper. In 1812, he fought as a volunteer against the Americans. He was present at the battle of Queenston. He did all that within him lay, for his country and for his king; but the government of the province hated and persecuted him, so that starving and exasperated,[32] he deserted to the enemy, carrying with him a corps of Canadians. Joseph Wilcocks, who was an Irishman of good family, and who was persecuted by the office-men of Upper Canada, to the prejudice and without the knowledge of the British government, was driven into hostile opposition to Britain by the most petty and contemptible tyranny of a few fellow colonists holding office, and was killed during the siege of Fort Erie. Had war occurred while Sir James Craig held Bedard in gaol and kept the _Canadien_ printing press in the vaults of the Court House, at Quebec, it is difficult to say whether a feeling very different to that elicited by the prudent management of Sir George Prevost, might or might not have been exhibited. The government of the province should from the very outset have been only responsible to the people of the