Page:Canadian notabilities 2.djvu/27

 but he again resolved that there should be no misunderstanding as to his position. He accordingly, on the 19th of the month, replied to Lord Sydenham's letter as follows:

"With respect to those gentlemen," (referring to the members of the Council), "Mr. Baldwin has himself an entire want of political confidence in all of them except Mr. Dunn, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Daly He deems it a duty which he owes to the Governor-General at once to communicate his opinion that such arrangement of the Administration will not command the support of Parliament."

By writing a letter couched in such language, Mr. Baldwin must certainly have meant to reserve to himself perfect freedom of action. He believed that the proper time for action would be when he was in possession of the facts as to the political situation, and this he could not possibly be until the assembling of Parliament. Here again, however, his perfect good faith towards all men was signally displayed. It would manifestly be disingenuous were he to accept a seat in the Council without acquainting his colleagues with his opinions. To Lord Sydenham he had, as we have seen, been sufficiently explicit already. He now wrote to each individual member, with the exception of the three gentlemen already named, acquainting them straightforwardly of his utter want of confidence in them politically.

The course pursued by him in this often-debated matter was thoroughly consistent throughout.

When the members of the Parliament of the United Provinces met at Kingston, on the 13th of June, 1841, and previous to the opening of the session, Mr. Baldwin called together a meeting of the Liberal members from both sections. The summoning of such a meeting was a political necessity, for many of the members from the different Provinces were totally unacquainted with each other, and were very imperfectly acquainted with each other's views on the questions of the day. One of Mr. Baldwin's principal objects was to ascertain how far the Government possessed the confidence of the Liberal Party of the United Provinces. It was soon apparent that very few of the members felt any confidence whatever in the Government as a whole, although even the members from the Lower Province were almost unanimous in expressing confidence in Mr. Baldwin himself. Here again his course seemed perfectly clear. He must cease to hold office in a Government which had not the confidence of the people. Either there must