The Widow's Demise Read Free Page B

suspect.”
     
     

TWO

    The meeting began sharply at eleven o’clock the next
morning. It took place in the spacious parlour of Baldwin House. As
the day was warm, no fire burned in the fireplace with its façade
of Italian marble and great oak mantelpiece. A portrait of Robert
Baldwin’s distinguished father, William Warren Baldwin, hung over
it. Baldwin senior had designed his townhouse and several other
buildings in Toronto, architecture being one of his pursuits in
addition to medicine and the law. His son confined himself to the
law and politics. One of his great achievements so far was to
effect an alliance between the radical rouge party of
Quebec, led by Louis LaFontaine, and the Reform party of Upper
Canada, now Canada West with the merging of the two provinces into
one Canada. When the new united Parliament had met during May of
this year (1841), the alliance had held, despite the absence of the
French leader, who had been defeated in the riding of Terrebonne.
That election had been marred by fraud and violence. But the
coalition of leftist parties, French and English, had resulted in
its being the largest single group in the Legislative Assembly,
able to use its majority to favour those bills compatible with
their platform and to defeat those bills of Governor Poulett
Thomson, Lord Sydenham, that contradicted their views. The Baldwin
forces had scored a major triumph by introducing a set of proposals
for responsible government whereby the Executive – the Governor and
his ministers (the cabinet) – would be subject to the authority of
the major party in the elected Assembly. While these proposals were
vetoed by the Governor, he felt obligated to introduce proposals of
his own, which turned out to be not dissimilar to Baldwin’s. But
Fate had intervened. On September 4 Lord Sydenham fell from his
horse and was severely injured. He was not expected to live.
Parliament had been prorogued as the death-watch began.
    “Welcome, gentlemen,” Robert said, beginning
the proceedings. “We’re here to discuss the nomination meeting
tomorrow afternoon in the fourth riding of York, and to discuss the
campaign in general.”
    He looked about the room at the seated
gentlemen with some satisfaction. Present were Francis Hincks, Marc
Edwards, Louis LaFontaine and Gilles Gagnon – stalwart associates
all.
    “Any news on Lord Sydenham?” Hincks
asked.
    “He’s not doing well,” Robert said. “He’s
suffering badly, I’m afraid.”
    “What a tragedy,” Louis said.
    “For him and for us,” Robert said. “His
proposals on responsible government represent the pinnacle of our
hopes.”
    “Lord knows who his replacement will be,”
Hincks said. “With the Tory government of Sir Robert Peel making
the decision.”
    “Peel is a traditional Tory?” Louis
asked.
    “Very much a reactionary,” Robert said.
    “Well, Lord Sydenham’s proposal is still on
the table,” Marc said. “And when we get Louis elected, our
coalition will not merely seem to be a reality, it will be.”
    “The current executive can’t last,” Hincks
said.
    “And the next administration will be a
LaFontaine-Baldwin one,” Marc said.
    “Which brings us to the election,” Robert
said. “The nomination meeting will be held at the site of the poll,
Danby’s Crossing, up north on Yonge Street. Hincks and I will give
nomination speeches, to be followed by your address, Louis.”
    “The question before us,” Gagnon said, “is
who will say what and why.”
    “I thought I would go into Louis’ background
as a lawyer and an entrepreneur,” Hincks said, “with an emphasis on
the positive role he played before the Rebellion.”
    “Do we play down the Rebellion itself.?”
Gagnon said.
    “We need to emphasize that he was not a
combatant,” Robert said, “that he supported the political aims of
the revolt and played a significant role in the aftermath, working
to free political prisoners and advising Lord Durham.”
    “Many of the