232 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



came suddenly to the surface a day or two before the intended re- 

 ception, as the correspondence pubHshed at that time would indicate, 

 but that it had been brewing for some time, which made it all the 

 more indefensible. It is quite possible that this letter had no direct 

 connection with the determination of the Orangemen to display their 

 colors before the Prince; but it proves beyond any doubt that as early 

 as August 11th the committee were quarrelling among themselves. 

 This ill feeling would render a compromise on September 5th all the 

 more impossible. 



Although Mr. Stevenson took no active part in politics before he 

 moved to Napanee, yet he was a close observer of what was going on in 

 the political world. Had he been disposed to disregard the strife that 

 was being waged between the Family Compact and the champions of 

 responsible government, he could not have lived in Bath without hav- 

 ing his attention most forcibly called to the great issues of the day. It 

 was at Bath that the rebel banner, as it was called, of Marshall Spring 

 Bidwell was first flung to the breeze. Bidwell and Peter Perry, two 

 uncompromising opponents of the "Family Compact," were familiar 

 figures upon the streets of Bath. Bidwell had been brought up in that 

 village, which was his political headquarters, and Peter Perry lived 

 but a few miles distant in the township of Fredericksburgh. Polling 

 day was not such a tame afifair in 1836 as it is to-day. There was only 

 one polling place in the riding and that was at the village of Bath and 

 the voting extended over the entire week from Monday noon until 

 Saturday night. A board platform raised about six feet from the 

 ground, with a railing of boards around it and covered by a board roof, 

 a flimsy temporary affair known as the "hustings," was erected on a 

 vacant lot at the west end of the village but near to the main street. 

 The nominations took place on Monday morning, the returning 

 officer presiding. The respective candidates mounted the hustings 

 and presented their argurrients to the voters, who stood upon the 

 ground about the platform and proclaimed their opinions upon the 

 several points scored by the speakers with shouts of applause or cat- 

 calls. At one o'clock the nominations were closed and the voting 

 began under the direction of the returning ofifîcer, who at that time was 

 Isaac Fraser, former representative of the riding and the first registrar 

 of Lennox and Addington. He and his poll clerk sat behind a table 

 on the same platform from which the speeches had been delivered and 

 before them was an open book containing the names of all electors 

 entitled to the franchise with columns ruled to receive the entries of 

 the votes. About the platform were two or three constables to pre- 

 serve order and one or more of the four candidates and their repre- 

 sentatives, who followed closely the movements of the voter until the 

 fatal word was spoken indicating the candidates of his choice. 



