red Hincks the post of inspector-general,
corresponding in effect to minister of Finance, and Hincks accepted it.
He offered the post of solicitor-general to Richard Cartwright
(grandfather of the Sir Richard Cartwright of a later day), who refused
it because Hincks was in the Cabinet. The position was finally filled
by Henry Sherwood, who was, like Cartwright, a Conservative. To
LaFontaine the governor offered the attorney-generalship in the most
courteous terms, but, for a number of reasons, LaFontaine declined to
accept it. Bagot's plan was to form a coalition government, which
should embrace all interests; but the Reformers refused to take their
place in a Cabinet which contained men of the opposite party. So
William Henry Draper, who had acted under Sydenham, continued as leader
of a composite Cabinet under Bagot.

The House met at Kingston on September 8, 1842. In the game of Ins and
Outs the debate on the Address is recognized as a trial of strength, as
a method of ascertaining which party is in a majority. It was found
that the Draper government did not command the confidence of the House;
and, after a spirited {77} fight, Draper resigned and made way for a
new ministry, led by LaFontaine and Baldwin. The principle involved,
which seems now the merest common sense, was then scouted as government
'by dint of miserable majorities.' Sullivan was the senior member in
the new ministry, though it is known by the names of its leaders. It
included Hincks and five other members of the previous Cabinet.

In accordance with another rule of the political game the new ministers
had to seek re-election. LaFontaine was peaceably returned for his
'pocket borough,' the fourth riding of York, but the candidacy of
Baldwin for Hastings had another issue. In those good old days of open
voting an election was no such tame affair as walking into a booth and
marking a cross on a piece of paper opposite a name. An election
lasted for days or even weeks. There was only one polling-place for
the district, and an election was rarely held without an election row.
It seems impossible that it is of Canada one reads: 'A number of
shanty-men having no votes were hired by Mr Baldwin's party to create a
disturbance. They did so and ill-treated Mr Murney's supporters. The
latter, however, {78} rallied and drove their dastardly assailants from
the field. Two companies of the 23rd Regiment were sent from Kingston
to keep the peace,