[herrington] first legislative assembly of ONTARIO 237 



It was not at all surprising therefore that he should be presented 

 with a petition signed by one hundred and fifty men of all parties 

 requesting him to accept the nomination. Although the elections 

 were not to be held until August the old parties began in April to hold 

 their conventions and select their candidates. As the province was 

 starting out with a clean slate there were no clearly defined issues be- 

 tween the parties, no battle cries, no political scandals. There was, 

 however, a determined effort to revive the old party lines and, in 

 many instances, where party feeling had formerly been high, the old 

 following fell into line under the old leaders; but, if asked why they did 

 so, no better reason could be assigned than the personal feeling for the 

 respective local leaders and a long nourished antipathy towards the 

 other side. A local paper published in Napanee under date of April 

 25th, 1867, in commenting editorially upon the party affiliations said : 

 "We have waded through a great deal of heavy reading of late in 

 perusing the proceedings of the various conventions and the speeches 

 of candidates to learn on what principles the parties now base their 

 foundations; but so far the search has proved a futile one. Nowhere 

 have we seen principles of either party laid down, nor do we much 

 expect to see it." 



It was not many weeks before the same editor had returned to the 

 old party fold and filled his columns with matter, which must have 

 commended itself to his mind, as showing good and sufficient reasons 

 why the candidate of his party should be supported; but in reading 

 over the editorials and correspondence at this late date, unbiased by 

 the prejudices of his day, our search for the underlying principles has 

 also "proved a futile one." The air was full of elections both provin- 

 cial and federal ; but there was no general policy distinguishing one party 

 from the other. At first there were four candidates in the field in 

 Lennox for the local house; but a few weeks before the election one 

 retired in favor of Stevenson, leaving in the field the regular nominees 

 of the two old parties, at least so they announced themselves, and 

 Stevenson, the independent candidate. The party lash was freely 

 used and, lacking other pertinent matter, the orators of the day did 

 not hesitate to indulge in personalities that had little or no bearing 

 upon such public questions as were discussed or upon the fitness of 

 the respective candidates. As the polling day approached the party 

 lines were tightly drawn; but the voters displayed better judgment 

 than the party leaders and the party press and voted for the man they 

 believed would best serve their interests. This independent spirit, 

 which we occasionally witness in the masses and which enables them 

 to rise above party affiliations, inspires a confidence that, in spite of 



