for any one
to try to palliate the deeds of the rebels, or to seek to lessen the
odium which covered their real, or even supposed allies and friends. Dr.
Ryerson, however, desired to bring out the facts connected with Mr.
Bidwell's banishment, and to change the current of public feeling on the
subject--but it was not wise to send letters to the press in his own
handwriting, or in any other way suffer it to become known that he was
the author of the letters in defence of Mr. Bidwell. Under these
circumstances he asked me to copy them, and take them to the _Herald_
office--then the most liberal paper in Upper Canada. I was proud of the
confidence placed in me, and copied the several letters, and went with
them to the publisher. The letters were signed in words which I have not
since seen, but which remain impressed upon my memory, and which were as
follows:--

"I am Sir, by parental instruction and example, by personal feeling and
exertion,

A United Empire Loyalist"

The letters constituted an eloquent defence of Mr. Bidwell, who
certainly took no part in the counsels of those who were afterwards
engaged in the rebellion, when it became evident that they intended to
push matters to extremes.

The incident made a great impression on me at the time, and was the
beginning of a friendship with which Dr. Ryerson honoured me, and which
ended only with his life.

A. Campbell.

Ottawa, 29th December, 1882.

[64] The defence was afterwards reprinted in a pamphlet on the 10th of
May, 1838, with the following title: "The Cause and Circumstances of Mr.
Bidwell's Banishment by Sir F. B. Head, correctly stated and proved by A
United Empire Loyalist." Kingston, 1838, pp. 16.

[65] Some time after Sir George Arthur's arrival as Governor, he sent
for me, and stated that his object in doing so was to request me, for
the sake of the Government and the country, to withdraw the letter I had
written in answer to Attorney-General Hagerman; that it greatly weakened
the Government; that my power of argumentation was prodigious, but he
believed I was mistaken; that Mr. Bidwell had called to pay his respects
to him at Albany, on his way to Canada; and that he (Sir George)
believed Mr. Bidwell was guilty, as far as a man of his caution and
knowledge could be concerned in the rebellion; and though my argument on
his behalf seemed to be irresistible, he believed