[riddell] upper CANADA A CENTURY AGO 7 



Barnabas Bidwell, who had been Attorney-General of Massa- 

 chusetts, 1807-1810, and a member of Congress, fled to Upper Canada 

 in 1812, having been charged with embezzlement. He was elected 

 as a member of the Legislative Assembly for Lennox and Addington 

 at a by-election, November 5, 1821; petitioned against as an alien, 

 he was unseated by the House, January 4, 1822; at the election 

 ordered, the Returning Officer refused to accept the nomination of 

 Marshall Spring Bidwell, his son; and of the two other candidates, 

 Matthew Clark and Thomas Williams, the former was elected, 

 February, 1822. Clark was unseated, February 14, 1823, and at 

 the new election Marshall Spring Bidwell and George Ham were the 

 candidates. Ham was declared elected on a poll 518 to 505, but was 

 unseated on petition, December 8, 1823. A new election was ordered 

 by the House, but the Parliament was dissolved. At the ensuing 

 general election in 1824, Marshall Spring Bidwell was returned a 

 member for this constituency along with Peter Perry, another advocate 

 of responsible government. 



The right of immigrants from the United States to vote and to be 

 Members of the House was a burning question which agitated the 

 Province for years; it resulted in the Act of (1824) 4 George IV, c. 

 3 (U.C.), which efrectually excluded such as Barnabas Bidwell, but 

 qualified his son.^'* 



Another matter which caused the Legislature much concern was 

 the difficulty with Lower Canada over the proportion of duties to be 

 paid by that Province to Upper Canada. 



Practically all the goods imported into Upper Canada from the 

 British Isles came up the St. Lawrence and Lower Canada levied a tariff 

 upon such goods; and an arrangement was entered into through 

 Commissioners appointed by the Governors (see the Upper Canada 

 Act (1793), 33 George III, c. 9), whereby Upper Canada refrained 

 from imposing duties upon goods coming through Lower Canada and 

 the two Provinces divided the duties levied by Lower Canada. Com- 

 missioners were appointed in 1793, 1796, 1801, 1804, etc., down to 

 1817^ — ^when the arrangement made by the last-mentioned Com- 

 missioners expired in 1819 a very considerable agitation arose between 

 the Provinces. Lower Canada kept all the money. 



"The subsequent career of Marshall Spring Bidwell is too well known to call 

 for comment here. The facts concerning the elections, etc., will be found set out 

 in 10 Ont. Arch. Rep. (1913) — Kingsford's account is inaccurate. 



I have discussed this matter somewhat fully in my article, "The Tragedy of 

 the Bidwells." 



