Scadding, "a Baldwin of Spadina. It is singular that the first inheritor of the newly-established patrimony should have been the statesman whose lot it was to carry through the Legislature the abolition of the right of primogeniture. The son grasped more readily than the father what the genius of the North American continent will endure, and what it will not." Dr. Baldwin, however, did not live to see this measure carried through Parliament. He died on the 8th of January, 1844, and the Act abolishing primogeniture did not become law until 1851. As, in the course of this sketch, we shall not again have occasion to make any extended reference to Dr. Baldwin, we may here state that he subsequently entered Parliament as member for Norfolk, and did good service to the cause of Reform in Upper Canada. He continued to take an active part in politics down to a short time before his death in 1844. In 1843, only a few months before his death, he was called to a seat in the Legislative Council. He was devotedly loyal to the Crown, but spoke manfully for the rights of the people whenever those rights were invaded—and they were very often invaded in those days. It was from him that his son enherited those principles which wrought such important changes on our Constituion, and which have so effectually served the cause of free thought, free speech, and free deeds in our land. The reverence which all Canadians justly feel for the name of Robert Baldwin is also due in no slight degree to the father, who early instilled into his son's mind the "one idea" which is inseparably associated with his name.
Meanwhile the legal business continued to be carried on under the style of "W. W. Baldwin & Son," the son being the active member of the firm. The business was large and remunerative, and included the prosecution of some of the most important causes before the courts in those days. On the 3lst of May, 1827, when Robert Baldwin had just completed his twenty-third year, he married his cousin, Miss Augusta Elizabeth Sullivan, a daughter of Mr. Daniel Sullivan, and a sister of Mr. Robert Baldwin Sullivan, a young lawyer who afterwards attained eminence in his profession, and was raised to the judicial bench. On the lst of March, 1829, young Sullivan formed a legal partnership with the Baldwins, and the style of the firm became "Baldwin & Sullivan."
Robert Baldwin had already begun to take an active interest in political affairs. Liberal principles had legitimately descended to him from his father, but he was also a constitutional
