Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/174

 resolutions passed unanimously. In this manner was parliamentary rule formally introduced into the colonies.

Lord Sydenham died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by Sir [q. v. Suppl.], who first organised in Canada government by means of a cabinet. The existing administration was threatened with defeat at the opening of the next session (1842). A reorganisation thereupon took place. Baldwin took office with Sir Louis Lafontaine. They accepted the portfolios of attorney-general for Upper and Lower Canada respectively, and became the actual leaders of the government, though their pre-eminence in the council was not official. Lafontaine took charge of the affairs of Lower Canada, while those of Upper Canada and matters common to the east and west fell into Baldwin's hands. Baldwin was defeated on return to his constituents after accepting office, but was chosen by acclamation to represent Rimouski in Lower Canada. The French Canadians seized the opportunity to express their appreciation of his services on their behalf. Baldwin and Lafontaine's administration, which lasted from September of 1842 to September of 1843, marks the first period of cabinet government in Canada.

With Sir Charles Bagot's successor, Sir [q. v.], who professed his adherence to responsible government in Lord Sydenham's understanding of the term, Baldwin and his colleagues came into conflict. The occasion was the making of certain local appointments by the governor on his own authority. The council remonstrated, and, as their remonstrances were of no avail, resigned. The house which was then sitting approved their action by a vote of two to one. A session of turmoil was brought to an early close, followed by a ministerial interregnum that lasted nearly nine months. At length Metcalfe gathered together a tolerably complete cabinet, dissolved the house, and entered the electoral arena with all the force he could command. He defeated Baldwin by a small majority, and set William Henry Draper (1801-1877) in power. But Draper proved no less tenacious than Baldwin of the rights of his position, and the ultimate effect of Metcalfe's action was to strengthen responsible government in the parliamentary sense of the term, which was not thenceforth called in question in Canada.

After four years in opposition Baldwin resumed office in March 1848 with Lafontaine under the governor-generalship of Lord Elgin. The administration, known again as the Lafontaine-Baldwin government (although Baldwin was never nominally prime minister), was once more framed on the basis of a double leadership. As in his earlier administration, Baldwin took charge of Upper Canada and matters common to east and west. The amount of constructive legislation effected was unprecedented in Canada. Among the special measures associated with Baldwin's name in his own section, Canada west, now the province of Ontario, are: equal division of intestates' land among claimants of the same degree; the organisation of the municipal system substantially as it now exists; the establishment of Toronto University on a non-sectarian basis; the erection of division or small-debt courts, of the courts of common pleas and chancery. He had a principal share also in the following acts, which were of common benefit to both sections of the colony: the taking over of the post-office from the imperial authorities; the settlement of the civil list question; the freeing and enlargement of the canals; the opening of the St. Lawrence following the repeal of the British navigation laws; the abolition of the old preferential tariff. One act of his administration aroused great opposition in the province. Known as the Rebellion Losses Bill, its purpose was to compensate those persons in Lower Canada who had suffered loss from the rebellion of 1837-8, and were not actually guilty of treason. A similar statute had been passed for Upper Canada. The bill was held to be unjust to the loyal population, but it was really an act of local justice. Out of the agitation arose a movement, chiefly among the English-speaking people, for the annexation of Canada with the United States. Baldwin met this with determined boldness; nor was he less hostile to a demand for Canadian independence, a subsidiary reflex of the same discontent. Since 1850 there has been no serious leaning in either of these directions in British North America.

The occasion of Baldwin's retirement was a motion to inquire into the working of the court of chancery, which had just been established. The house rejected the motion, but, as a majority from Upper Canada favoured it, he interpreted their vote as an expression of non-confidence in him. He resigned his portfolio to the regret both of opponents and colleagues. In the ensuing elections (1801) he again solicited the suffrage of his old constituency, the North Riding of York, but was defeated by one of his nominal supporters. In fact, new issues or phases of issues were arising, and, as time went on, there was a widening breach be-