e Chairman. He was soon taught that
the high position which he occupied, backed, as it was, by the support
of the party in power, could not shield him from the consequences of his
refusal. Upon motion of Dr. Baldwin a resolution was adopted that the
Solicitor-General had been guilty of a high contempt and breach of the
privileges of the House. He was placed at the bar, where he showed more
sense of propriety than had been shown by his predecessor. He had no
desire to wear a crown of martyrdom, and did his utmost to purge himself
of his contempt. He pleaded that he had intended no disrespect to the
Committee, nor any breach of the privileges of the Assembly, and
concluded by saying that he stood ready to answer, if the House so
desired. The House acted magnanimously, not choosing to humiliate a
beaten man any farther than was necessary for the due vindication of its
own authority. John Rolph, seconded by Dr. Ambrose Blacklock, one of the
members for Stormont, moved that the Solicitor-General be admonished by
the Speaker, and discharged on payment of fees to the Sergeant-at-Arms.
The motion was carried, and it only remained for the culprit to submit
to the mild discipline which he had been adjudged to bear.

But there was reason for believing that that discipline would be a
trying ordeal for the Solicitor-General. The Speaker who was to
pronounce the admonition was no commonplace piece of clay, trained to
the set phrase of office, like the previous occupant had been. He was no
less a personage than Marshall Spring Bidwell, who, with perhaps the
single exception of John Rolph, was the most eloquent and powerful
speaker in the Province. When moved to righteous anger, he was capable
of administering a scorching reproof, and if a man is ever justified in
taking his antagonist at a disadvantage, ample justification was to be
found in the present instance. Mr. Bidwell had reason to hate the very
name of Boulton, and might well be expected to avail himself of such an
opportunity of darting the hot iron into his enemy's soul. There was a
feud of long standing between the Bidwells and the Boultons. The
Bidwells had sustained serious wrong and insult at the hands of the
Boultons, and the Boultons hated the Bidwells with the hatred which
small natures always feel towards higher natures which they have
wronged. It was a Boulton who had been despatched to Massachusetts in
1821, to hunt up evidence as to the alleged misconduct of the el