ountry. Mr. Attorney-General Robinson went beyond any former effort of
his life in the way of vituperation, and overleapt the bounds of the
commonest decency. He proclaimed himself to be the son of a United
Empire Loyalist who had fought and bled for his country, and as
therefore being no fit company for runaway felons and pickpockets. His
sympathy with himself was so great that the tears chased one another
down his cheeks as he was speaking. All the amiability which commonly
marked his intercourse with his fellowmen seemed to have utterly
departed from him, and he towered above his seat in a perfect whirlwind
of rage and fiery indignation. Mr. Bidwell's calm and temperate reply
was in striking contrast to the levin bolts which had been hurled at
him, and produced a marked effect upon his hearers. But the Compact
commanded a majority in the Assembly,[59] which sustained a motion for
his expulsion. And as it was well known that the electors of Lennox and
Addington would again return him, and that he could not be permanently
excluded by any ordinary means, it was determined to disqualify him by
special legislation. An Act was accordingly passed intituled "An Act to
render ineligible to a seat in the Commons House of Assembly of this
Province certain descriptions of persons therein mentioned."[60] Among
the persons declared ineligible were those who had held any of the
principal public offices in a foreign country, which was of course an
effectual disqualification for Barnabas Bidwell, who, as already
mentioned, had been Attorney-General of Massachusetts. It was a
veritable Act of Exclusion, aimed at a particular person, and it served
its purpose by keeping the obnoxious individual perpetually out of
public life.[61]

In consequence of Mr. Bidwell's expulsion a new election for Lennox and
Addington became necessary. The writ was issued, and, to the chagrin and
disgust of the supporters of the Government, a new champion of popular
rights appeared in the field in the person of Marshall Spring Bidwell,
the only son of the recently-expelled member. The new candidate was a
young man of twenty-three years of age. He was a native of
Massachusetts, and had accompanied his parents to Canada at the time of
their migration in 1810. At an early age he had given proofs of the
possession of splendid abilities. His father, who was exceedingly proud
of the bright boy, had cultivated his faculties to the utmost, and by
the time that Marsha