m his country, and
then deprived of his professional character and privileges without a
trial! I passed a sleepless night.

The late Mr. Henry Cassidy was then mayor of Kingston; a staunch
Churchman and Conservative. His wife was a relative of mine, so a sort
of family intimacy existed between us. Mr. Cassidy had been a student in
Mr. Bidwell's law-office and was now his law agent. Mr. Bidwell enclosed
to Mr. Cassidy the correspondence which had taken place between himself
and Sir F. Head and Attorney-General Hagerman, and Mr. Cassidy had shown
it to me. The morning after I saw the article in the _Patriot_,
proposing the erasure of Mr. Bidwell's name from the books of the Law
Society, I went to Mr. Cassidy, saying that I had not closed my eyes all
night, in consequence of Sir F. Head's article in the _Patriot_; that I
was the only person besides himself who knew the facts of the case, and
though I had been assailed by the newspapers of the party with which Mr.
Bidwell had been connected, I felt it in my heart to prevent a gross act
of injustice and cruelty being inflicted upon a man, in his absence and
helplessness, who had introduced and carried through our Legislature the
laws by which the different religious denominations held their Church
property, and their ministers solemnized matrimony. I asked Mr. Cassidy
if he would allow me the use of the letters which Mr. Bidwell had
enclosed to him, justifying his own innocence, and showing the injustice
done him by the misstatements of Sir F. Head. After some hours of
deliberation, Mr. Cassidy consented. I sat down, and over the signature
of "A United Empire Loyalist," I detailed the case, introducing as
proofs of Mr. Bidwell's innocence the injustice proposed to be inflicted
upon him, referring to Mr. Attorney-General Hagerman's own letter, and
appealing to the Law Society, and the country at large, against such
injustice and against such violation of the rights of a British subject.
I got a friend to copy my communication, so as not to excite
suspicion.[63] It was the first article that had appeared in the public
press after the rebellion, breathing the spirit of freedom, and
advocating British constitutional rights against illegal oppression.[64]

The effect of this article upon the public mind was very remarkable. As
an example, Mr. John Campbell, member of the Legislative Assembly for
the County of Frontenac, despairing of the liberties of the country
under the "tory"