Robert Fleming Gourley was a graduate of St. Andrews’, University, Scotland. When he was crossing Niagara river, after being exiled, he asked for a brush to brush Canadian dust off his feet. Perhaps it will please some to see a little sketch of him, as he was a public man and gloried in that he had the honor of being sentenced both by the Canadian Government and the British. Exiled from Canada, he became a champion of popular rights in England. Lord Brougham opposed his schemes and he whipped His Lordship in the lobby of the House of Commons, for which breach of privilege of house he wad sentenced by the House. He preserved the whip as a precious relic in his house at Mt. Elgin. [We presume it would not have been prudent to have allowed an able agitator to disturb the country when Canada was but in its infancy, just entering the second quarter of the present century.] Mr. Gourley owned several farms in Dereham and thought he would like to represent Oxford in 1858, after an absence from Canada of about one third of a century. Every one thought he was too old but the old gentleman being in exuberant spirits, having just been married as he said to a young wife, he would prove to them all there was life in the old dog yet.
There came to Oxford Robert Gourley,
In his old age his health was poorly;
He was a relic of the past,
In his dotage sinking fast;
Yet he was erect and tall
Like noble ruined castle wall.
In early times they did him impeach
For demanding right of speech,
Now Oxford he wished to represent
In Canadian parliament,
But him the riding did not honor,
But elected Doctor Connor.