Whether such personal grounds existed in the case of Barnabas
Bidwell cannot now be readily ascertained. It is however certain that he
was regarded by a host of clever and unscrupulous persons with a
bitterness of enmity almost amounting to ferocity. He seems to have made
no attempt to conciliate his foes, but treated them with a sort of
haughty contempt. In the year 1810 the weight of their anger descended
upon him like an avalanche. He was then, and he for some years
previously had been, Treasurer of the County of Berkshire,
Massachusetts. An accusation of a very serious nature was brought
against him. He was charged with having applied the public funds to his
own use, and with having falsified entries in his books in order to
cover up his malversations. It is difficult to get at the exact truth in
the matter. Mr. Bidwell's attention to public affairs had caused him to
neglect his private and professional business, which consequently had
not flourished. He was far from wealthy, and it is not improbable that
he was sometimes financially embarrassed. Whether he succumbed to
temptation, and dipped his hands into the treasury without leave, cannot
now be certainly declared. His own version of the matter was that he was
entirely free from blame, but that his enemies had deliberately woven a
subtle web about him from which he was unable to extricate himself, as
it would have been impossible for him, under the existing state of
things, to obtain justice. At all events, he seems to have felt himself
to be unable to face the situation. Learning that an indictment had been
laid, and that a warrant had been issued for his apprehension, he fled
from his native country, and took refuge in Upper Canada.

Accompanied by his family, consisting of a son and daughter, he settled
at the village of Bath, in the County of Addington, on the Bay of
Quinte. He soon obtained employment as a school teacher, and encountered
no difficulty in gaining a livelihood, though the humble role he was
compelled to play comported ill with his past experience and present
ambition. There is little doubt that he was an admirer of republican
institutions, and that he so remained to the end of his life, though his
admiration was thrown away in this country, and it was impossible for
him to return to his own. He was a useful man in the little community
where he resided, and his education and intelligence caused him to be
looked up to by people of all classes. H