ice to interfere in any matter of the
kind; but the peculiarity of it may excuse me on the present occasion. I
allude to the appointment of Mr. Bidwell as one of the new judges in
Upper Canada. The recent history of Europe affords many illustrations of
circumstances being seized upon by despots to compel the departure of
valuable and dreaded men from their own country. You know that it was
under such circumstances that Mr. Bidwell was compelled to leave Canada.
You know that it was the order of the Imperial Government to elevate Mr.
Bidwell to the Bench, that prompted Sir Francis Head to adopt the
course towards him that he did. You know, likewise, how long, and
faithfully, and ably, Mr. Bidwell laboured to promote the principles of
civil and religious liberty which are now established in Upper Canada;
and that at a time when great responsibility and obloquy attached to
such advocacy. Mr. Bidwell was the author, as well as the able advocate
of the laws by which the religious denominations in Upper Canada hold
Church property, and by which their ministers solemnize matrimony. I
believe he has never altogether abandoned the hope of returning to
Canada; but I believe he has felt that he was entitled to the offer of
that position, which the Home Government contemplated conferring upon
him in 1837. I felt it too delicate a question to propose to Mr. Bidwell
when I saw him the other day; but my friend Mr. Francis Hall, of the New
York _Commercial Advertiser_ (who sees and converses with him every
week), expressed his full conviction that Mr. Bidwell would accept a
Judgeship in Upper Canada--that Mr. Bidwell had constantly taken the
Canadian Law Reports, and procured the Canadian and English Statutes,
and kept up his reading of them as carefully as if he had lived in
Canada. I believe the appointment of Mr. Bidwell would be an honour to
the Canadian Bench, and an act of moral and political gratitude most
honourable to any party, and of great value to Upper Canada. You are
aware of the reasons for which I feel a deep interest in this subject,
and which will, I trust, excuse in your mind the liberty I
take--believing, as I do, that it will be as grateful to your feelings
as it will be noble in your character, to remember a man to whom our
common country is so much indebted.

To this letter Mr. Baldwin replied, on the 20th September

With respect to the principal object of your letter, you need not,
I assure you, have