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entertained no thought of rebellion, and was a loyal subject to her Majesty. It is, of course, unnecessary to say that none of the Baldwins ever sympathized with or countenanced the rebellion at any time.
In 1828 there was a general election, and Robert Baldwin, in conjunction with Mr. James E. Small, afterwards Judge of the County Court of the County of Middlesex, offered himself as a candidate for the County of York. Both these gentlemen were defeated by their opponents, Messrs. Willian Lyon Mackenzie and Jesse Ketchum. In July of the following year, however, Mr. John Beverley Robinson, member for the Town of York and Attorney-General of the Province, was promoted to the dignity of Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. Robert Baldwin once more presented himself as a candidate for legislative honours, this time as Mr. Robinson's successor in the representation of York. He was returned by a majority of forty-one votes. His opponent was the same Mr. Small who had been his coadjutor of the previous year. Mr. Mackenzie, who had opposed them both in l828, threw all his personal and journalistic influence into the scale in favour of Mr. Baldwin, and probably contributed not a little to the result. At the close of the poll the votes stood 92 for Baldwin and 51 for Small. A petition, praying that the election might be declared void, was presented by Mr. Small, upon the ground that the writ had been irregularly issued. The petition was successful, for the irregularity was fatal, the writ having been issued by the Lieutenant-Governor instead of by the Speaker of the House. Mr. Baldwin was unseated, but immediately presented himself for re-election. This time he was opposed by Mr. William Botsford Jarvis, Sheriff of the County. Mr. Jarvis was defeated, and upon the opening of the session on the 8th of January, 1830, Robert Baldwin, then in his twenty-sixth year, for the first time took his seat in Parliament.
It was about this time that the scheme of Responsible Government may be said to have first taken something like definite shape in Upper Canada. This great project, is inseparably associated with Robert Baldwin's name, though it is absurd to say, as has been said more than once, that he was the first to conceive the idea. There exists indisputable evidence that before Robert Baldwin had emerged from schoolboy life, both his father, Peter Perry, and other leading Reformers had laid down most of the general principles upon which Responsible Government is founded. It may be said,
