Desperate Acts (4 page)

“And I’m waitin’ fer my knighthood.”

“But if I knew anythin’ about these
robberies, I’d tell ya. You know that, don’t ya?”

Cobb grinned, stood up, dropped a three-penny
piece on the table, and said, “I believe ya, Nestor. That’s an
advance – to help inspire ya, an’ tide ya over till yer cousin’s
boat comes in.”

“Thanks, Cobb. You always been good to
me.”

Cobb was about to leave when something made
him turn and say, “This so-called cousin of yours – he got a
name?”

Looking quite pleased with the way their
conversation had progressed and culminated, Nestor said, “Albert.
Albert Duggan.”

***

“Before we begin, gentlemen, allow me to summarize
our progress to date, and then indicate my own thought as to how we
might proceed over the coming weeks.” Robert Baldwin – essentially
a private, and even shy, man – was nonetheless given the rapt
attention of those assembled in the parlour of Baldwin House on
this mid-October evening.

“The floor is yours,” Francis Hincks said.
“I’ve had my say in the editorial columns of the
Examiner
,”
he added with a smile, alluding to the radical newspaper he had
founded and still operated.

Robert smiled at his friend, political ally
and next-door neighbour. “As some of you know in detail, the
success of our campaign in the countryside over the course of the
summer and early fall has been beyond our best hopes for it. The
dozens of ‘Durham meetings’ and associated rallies have not only
produced a sizeable majority for the cause of responsible
government and the union of the two provinces, but resulted also in
an unprecedented number of petitions and well-argued letters to the
papers. Much of this success is due to Marc Edwards here, as he has
been the tireless author of pamphlets and speeches – the principal
source of those well-reasoned petitions and cogent letters.”

The dozen men – sitting members of the
current, Tory-dominated Assembly, former members like Robert and
his father, the present chair of the Legislative Council (Robert’s
cousin, Robert Baldwin Sullivan), and several young Reform
adherents like Hincks – turned now to Marc and nodded their
agreement.

“Our new governor, Mr. Charles Poulett
Thomson, of whom more in a moment,” Robert continued, “has brought
with him the terms of a Union Bill approved by the Mother
Parliament on condition that it is ratified by both Quebec and
Upper Canada. As Quebec is still under direct rule by the
Governor’s Special Council, the terms will be forced on her despite
the fierce opposition there. Hence, the torch has been passed to
us. What happens in our Assembly and our Legislative Council in the
next few weeks will determine whether we continue to live a
constrained political and economic existence under the rule of the
old-guard Tories and subject to the whims of successive governors
or whether we evolve towards political independence and a system of
governance which reflects the will of the majority in the elected
Assembly. All we’ve ever asked is to have a cabinet form of
government modelled on the British system.”

“It’s too bad you’re not in the Assembly
now,” said the sitting member for Northumberland County from his
seat by the bow window.

“I don’t think the most important work will
be done there,” Hincks said, looking at Robert for
confirmation.

“Francis is right. All the eloquence or
irrefutable logic in the world won’t change the mind of people like
John Strachan or Hagerman or Crookshank – dyed-in-the-wool Tories.
It’s the handful of moderates in the middle that we must pursue and
win over before the Legislature opens next month.”

“How do you propose to approach them?” Robert
Sullivan said. “I will need some cogent arguments myself if I am to
persuade the old fogies in the Legislative Council to do their
duty.”

Robert’s cousin was an odd figure
politically. Just a year ago he had spoken out against the union
idea and ensured the defeat of a bill proposing it. He publicly
disparaged French-speaking citizens and their leaders. But he had
recently become persuaded that Upper Canada was now strong enough
on its own to survive any fusion of the two provinces and to
dominate its politics, especially since the British proposal before
them guaranteed that Upper Canada’s huge debt would be absorbed and
paid off – at the expense of the French.

Robert eagerly addressed his cousin’s
question. “Our first argument, always, will be that the Union Bill
is the will of the home government and by extension the will of the
Crown.”

“Precisely,” Hincks said. “The Tories have
spent the past five years proclaiming that
they
are the
loyalist party and branding us as an American cabal who secretly
want a republic unfettered by monarchist ties.”

“Secondly, I suggest that we unsettle the
placeholders – the appointed ministers and petty officials who have
achieved near life-tenure under the aegis of the Family Compact and
their cronyism – by emphasizing that the bill creates a permanent
civil list and, at the same time, calls for all other major
appointments to be held at the pleasure of the current governor.
Moreover, when a new governor arrives, as he has just done, he will
be free to
replace
the sitting ministers and senior civil
servants.”

“But won’t that induce the present ministers
and Executive Councillors to oppose the bill?” someone on the other
side of the room asked.

“Not if we stress that His Excellency, Mr.
Poulett Thomson, has been sent here to make sure that the bill
passes
,” Hincks said with some relish. “In short, their own
tenure at this moment depends upon their pleasing the current
governor, who may be here for many years, and who holds their fate
in his hands.”

Murmurs of approval greeted this sly
stratagem.

“The unrepentant Tories will hang fire
anyway,” Robert added, “but moderates like Merritt and Sherwood
will be looking ahead, not behind. We just want to give these
fellows a bit of a push.”

“And we should also point out to Sherwood and
his group that the provinces are to be equally represented in both
upper and lower houses, even though Quebec has a third larger
population,” Hincks said.

“True,” Robert Sullivan said, “but most
Tories and many ordinary folk feel that that is still far too great
a reward for a populace who revolted against the Crown and who,
even now, have been deemed so unfit for parliamentary government
that their Assembly has been suspended and they require supervision
by a special council. How do we counter such a view?”

It was a good question, and gained more power
for having been put by a man who agreed with the sentiment behind
it.

“Simple,” Hincks replied, glancing ever so
furtively over at Robert beside him and receiving the briefest nod
of approval. “We will tell them that a sizeable minority elected
from Quebec will perforce be English members, and that so long as
we English stick together on important issues – whatever happens to
party alignments – there is absolutely no danger that the French
can ever outvote us.”

Robert reached over and picked a macaroon out
of the bottomless dish on the table beside him – to hide his
embarrassment at this necessary piece of sophistry.

“And, we should add,” Robert Sullivan said, “
that within a decade our population will have overtaken theirs, and
we can
then
move to rep-by-pop, eh?” He seemed inordinately
pleased with this possibility.

At this point, Clement Peachey, the solicitor
and workhorse of the Baldwin and Sullivan firm, cleared his throat
and said in his customary diffident but clear-headed manner, “Have
we not, Robert, been avoiding the main issue?”

Robert smiled. “More like leaving the hardest
part to last.”

“You’re referring to responsible government?”
Dr. Baldwin said. He had been sitting on Robert’s right, taking
everything in but saying nothing so far. His opinion, of course,
was appreciated above all others because in addition to being a
physician, a lawyer (and Bencher of the Law Society), an architect
and a politician, he had espoused the notion of a cabinet-form of
responsible government for the province three decades ago, had
tirelessly argued for it, and had raised his son Robert to carry on
the fight, should he himself falter. “As we all know now, despite
Lord Durham’s explicit recommendation on behalf of the concept,
there is no reference to it in the terms of the Union Bill we are
expected to debate and approve.”

“But that doesn’t mean it’s been taken off
the table,” Robert hastened to add. “My father has just returned
from an audience with His Excellency at Government House.
Father?”

William Warren Baldwin, a striking figure at
any time, sat forward in his chair and commanded the strict
attention of the gathering. The significance of his conversation
with the man who represented the Crown and its near-absolute power
did not have to be underlined.

“We talked for two hours,” Dr. Baldwin said.
“The Governor was extremely courteous, gracious even. He is a
merchant and a politician, in fact and by inclination. That makes
him critically different from the military governors we’ve had in
the past. He is highly intelligent, at ease with abstract ideas and
principles, and takes much pleasure in serious dialogue. At the
same time, of course, he is a man of great subtlety and possible
subterfuge.”

He let this caveat sink in.

“Be that as it may, he has been sent here to
get the Union Bill passed. And that fact for the first time
presents our party with the kind of advantage we have long hoped
for. His Excellency has assured me – and shown me corroborative
correspondence from his superiors in London – that some practical,
if unlegislated, form of cabinet government must evolve. He is
appalled, for example, that Sir George Arthur, as
lieutenant-governor here, has not really had a cohesive party in
the Assembly to reflect the views of his own executive. And so, Mr.
Thomson has, in effect, offered us a
quid pro quo.
We
support the principal terms of the Union Bill and actively work
towards its approval in the Assembly in return for a promise on his
part to help us find a way to let the will of the people operate
without abridging the absolute rights of the Crown and the mother
country.”

Although this news was not surprising, it
nevertheless silenced the room for a full minute.

“It’s all we’ve got,” Robert said quietly.
“Even
if
we manage to uphold our part of the bargain.”

“And a good part of that will entail our
deploying the kind of specific advice I’ve heard here this
evening,” Dr. Baldwin said more cheerfully. “His Excellency has
asked me to bring him arguments that are likely to persuade the
fence-sitters to jump to our side. He realizes that we here are an
essential source of these ‘persuasions’: his charm and diplomatic
skill should do the rest.”

“And above all,” Robert said in his
barrister’s summing-up voice, “we must make sure the moderates do
not feel threatened by any of this. Francis will continue in the
Examiner
to call for responsible government, as any sudden
change there will be viewed with extreme skepticism. However, in
our own conduct – in the Assembly and in our day-to-day contact
with fellow citizens – we will talk only about the compelling terms
of the Union Bill itself.”

Nothing further of any substance was left to
be said, and the meeting broke up ten minutes later. Its
participants to a man were decidedly happier at its conclusion than
they had been at its beginning.

***

Robert, Francis Hincks and Marc remained to mull
over what had transpired. Dr. Baldwin, unable to stop yawning, was
relieved to see Diana Ramsay pop her head in the rear doorway and
whisper that one of the boys was awake and asking for his
grandfather. Who was most happy to oblige. And Marc, as always, was
pleased to see just how attractive a young woman Diana really was
and why Brodie was smitten with her. Besides her darkly lustrous
hair, bold brown eyes and mature figure, the intelligence and
compassion in her expression and her tender concern for Robert’s
four children would have melted the stoniest heart. And evidently
she saw in Brodie some of the same qualities that Marc had
discovered in him last spring before and after Dick Dougherty’s
tragic and senseless death. He wished them well.

“So,” Hincks said when the three men were at
last alone, “we still keep our best strategy secret?”

“You know, Francis, how much I hate such
deceptions and the myriad small lies they spawn,” Robert said. “But
no-one outside this room must learn about your correspondence with
Louis LaFontaine in Montreal.”

“Do you honestly think there’s a chance that
he and his radical Rouge party would join our Reform caucus once we
get a united parliament?” Hincks said. “After all, his official
line at home is no union under any circumstances.”

“A view he holds passionately,” Robert said.
“And one he must adhere to resolutely until the fight is lost, as
he now suspects it is. Meantime, he must keep his French
compatriots on side.”

“And he writes that he is willing to discuss
the formation of a left-wing party,” Hincks said, “even though it
would toss into a single pot two languages, two cultures and two
religions.”

“And I believe him,” Robert said. “Once we
get this Union Bill approved and Mr. Poulett Thomson has had time
to choose a capital and get the essential infastructure in place,
we can arrange to meet with Louis and begin to hammer out the
details of a durable coalition. My argument to him will be that,
failing the establishment of a separate and democratic Quebec, his
best hope – our best hope – is a united parliament and a cabinet
responsible to the majority party in the elected Assembly.”