talents, wrote bluntly to say that he "had an entire want of political
confidence in all of his colleagues except Mr. Dunn, Mr. Harrison, and
Mr. Daly."[48] In view of his later action, his critics charged him
with error in thus accepting an office which placed him in an
impossible position; but Baldwin's ready answer was: "The head of the
government, the heads of departments in both provinces, and the country
itself, were in a position almost anomalous. That of the head of the
government was one of great difficulty and embarrassment. While he
(Baldwin) felt bound to protect himself against misapprehensions as to
his views and opinions, he also felt bound to avoid, as far as
possible, throwing any difficulties in the way of the governor-general.
At the time he was called to a seat in the Executive Council, he was
already one of those public servants, the political character {112}
newly applied to whose office made it necessary for them to hold seats
in that Council. Had he, on being called to take that seat, refused to
accept it, he must of course have left office altogether, or have been
open to the imputation of objecting to an arrangement for the conduct
of public affairs which had always met with his most decided
approbation."[49] At worst, the Solicitor-General can only be blamed
for letting his abnormally sensitive conscience lead him into political
casuistry, the logic of which might not appear so cogent to the
governor as to himself, when the crisis should come. How sensitive
that conscience was, may be gathered from the fact that his acceptance
of office in 1841 was accompanied with an avowal of want of confidence,
made openly to those colleagues with whom he disagreed. It was further
illustrated when he made a difficulty with Sydenham over taking the
Oath of Supremacy, which, in a country, many of whose inhabitants were
Roman Catholics protected in their religion by treaty rights, declared
that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or
ought to have any jurisdiction, {113} power, superiority, pre-eminence
of authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual within this realm."[50]

The crisis came, as Baldwin expected it to come, when parliament met.
Already, as has been seen, the French Canadians had organized their
forces and formed the most compact group in the Assembly, while the
little band of determined reformers from Upper Canada made up in
decision and principle what they lacked in numb