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.

Ralph Macleod was a grand specimen of the sturdy British seamen, who
contributed by their prowess to make England mistress of the seas. He
entered the navy during the war with Holland, and served under Lord
Howe, when that old "sea-dog," in 1782, came to the relief of
Gibraltar, against the combined forces of France and Spain. He served
subsequently under Lord Rodney, in the West Indies, and was a shipmate
of Nelson's in Sir John Jervis' victory over the Spanish fleet off
Cape St. Vincent. For his share in that action Macleod gained his
captaincy, while his friend Commodore Nelson was made a Rear-Admiral.
In 1797 he was wounded at Camperdown while serving under Admiral
Duncan, and retired with the rank of Commodore.

Early in the century, he married an English lady and came to Canada,
where for a time he held various posts on the naval stations on the
Lakes, and was with Barclay, on his flagship, _The Detroit_, in the
disaster on Lake Erie, in September, 1813. Narrowly escaping capture
by Commander Perry's forces at Put-in-Bay, he joined General Proctor
in his retreat from Amherstburg to the Thames, and was present at the
battle of Moravian Town, where the Indian chief, Tecumseh, lost his
life.