Robert Baldwin

Canadian politician

• Born: May 12, 1804
• Birthplace: York, Upper Canada (now Toronto, Canada)
• Died: December 9, 1858
• Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Baldwin worked for reform policies that led to responsible government in Upper Canada and, as part of the mid-century “Great Ministry,” with Louis Hippolyte La Fontaine, upheld the idea of biculturalism in forging the eventual responsible government established in Canada.

Early Life

Robert Baldwin’s family was of English origin, but its members were established members of the Church of Ireland in Cork before emigrating to Upper Canada in 1799. Robert Baldwin’s grandfather was a widower; two sons and four daughters arrived in Canada with him, while one daughter and two sons remained in Ireland.

The eldest son, William Warren Baldwin, earned a degree in medicine from the University of Edinburgh and opted to relocate in the capital, York, rather than remain on his father’s sizable acreage. When his medical practice did not prove sufficiently absorbing, Baldwin pursued the study of law. In 1803, he received his license to practice law, and that same year he opened a school and married Margaret Phoebe Willcocks, daughter of an old family friend who had also emigrated from Cork. In 1804, the couple gave birth to their first child, Robert. All told, four Baldwin sons were born to William and Phoebe, but only Robert and William Augustus lived to adulthood.

Through the next several years, William Baldwin acquired considerable wealth and acreage through his legal practice, several fortuitous bequests, and even some architectural undertakings. Following the War of 1812, he continued to prosper in all of his endeavors; in 1818, he built an elegant country home, Spadina House.

William’s son Robert was educated by the noted Anglican rector John Strachan, and, in 1820, Robert became a clerk in his father’s law office. Soon, he was assuming considerable responsibility during William’s frequent absences, and when he was admitted to the bar in 1825, he became a full partner; the firm became W. W. Baldwin and Son. All this success, however, was secondary to Robert’s deep and abiding love for his cousin, Augusta Elizabeth Sullivan, daughter of William’s sister, Barbara, who had remained in Ireland until after the War of 1812. During a two-year separation, Robert wrote passionate and emotional letters to Eliza, revealing an affection that would remain undimmed to the end of his life.

Although the Baldwin family had the wealth, property, and connections to be a secure part of the Family Compact of Upper Canada, an oligarchical body that cooperated with the British governor, William Baldwin thoroughly rejected that association. By 1824, partly because of his Irish heritage, which excluded him from the largely Scottish clique that dominated the Family Compact, and partly because of the influence of Robert the Emigrant, an Irish Whig supporter of parliamentary reform, William had become influential in the reform movement. Young Robert was also active in the movement, although not as active as two of his friends, Marshall Bidwell and John Rolph.

Robert’s personal life took a blissful turn when he married his beloved Eliza in 1827. The following year political controversies made his professional life more adventurous. Libel charges against Francis Collins, publisher of the radical Canadian Freeman, and the subsequent dismissal of Judge John Walpole Willis brought Baldwin and Rolph into the midst of the reform agitation which was raging against Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland.

Life’s Work

The increased interest in the reform movement led both William and Robert to seek seats in the parliament of Upper Canada in the general election of 1828. Although William gained the seat in Norfolk County, Robert lost the riding of York, where two other, more avid reformers, William Lyon Mackenzie and Jesse Ketchum, were elected. Robert remained active in the reform movement, however, and gained the riding of the town of York in 1829, in an election held when John Beverly Robinson resigned to become chief justice. His incumbency was brief, because Parliament was dissolved when George IV died in June of 1830, and both Baldwins fell victim, in the next election, to a lessening of reform interest.

For the next few years both Baldwins were preoccupied with their law practices, property management, and architectural concerns. When the large home at Spadina burned in 1834, William built a new mansion in Toronto and rebuilt Spadina as a country home, completing both by 1836. Meanwhile, Robert was engaged in estate planning and legal activities, and was occupied with a growing family. Two sons and two daughters were born during a six-year period: Phoebe Maria (1828), William Willcocks (1830), Augusta Elizabeth (1831), and Robert (1834). The last birth was difficult for Eliza and left her in a weakened condition.

Although the reform movement had regained favor, neither of the Baldwins sought election in 1834. The radical element of the party, led by Mackenzie, seemed to have embraced a republican philosophy more compatible with American interests than with British. This was entirely unsatisfactory to the Baldwins, who still sought a system of responsible cabinet government.

In January of 1836, just before a new lieutenant governor, Sir Francis Bond Head, arrived in Upper Canada, Eliza Baldwin died. Robert was emotionally devastated by her death; always reserved and introspective, he suffered from severe depression for the rest of his life.

Less than two weeks after Eliza’s death, Bond Head recognized the need to extend the Executive Council beyond the Family Compact and offered seats to John Rolph and to Robert. Although his personal desire was to decline, Robert heeded the advice of his father, Rolph, and Bidwell, and accepted the position in February of 1836. The appointment was short-lived, as differences between Bond Head and the Council led to the resignation of all six councillors on March 12. The action was significant, however, because they were functioning according to the Baldwin idea—performing in unison as a responsible cabinet.

Neither Robert nor William stood for election in 1836, and in the hope that a change of scene might lessen his deep depression, Robert left, in June, for an extended stay in England and Ireland. The trip had some political ramifications, as he spent time in London trying to persuade the Colonial Office that responsible government, with the Executive Council functioning as a parliamentary cabinet, was feasible for Upper Canada. He found little knowledge of, or interest in, Canada at the Colonial Ministry, although some Whig sympathies did exist. After a sentimental sojourn in Ireland, he returned home in February to find Tory control being angrily challenged by the radical Mackenzie, who was perceived to hold Yankee-type republican tendencies. Moderate voices went unheeded as economic depression and a bank crisis brought on calls for forceful rebellions in both Upper and Lower Canada. The Mackenzie Rebellion rose out of this unrest in 1837 but was suppressed by the British militia.

The crisis prompted Lord Durham’s arrival in Upper Canada from England. William Baldwin outlined for him Upper Canada’s problems while Robert had drawn up a succinct plan for responsible government. This information formed the core of Durham’s 1839 report, which enumerated the wrongs in Canada and recommended responsible government and a union of the two Canadas.

Union took precedence under Durham’s successor, Governor Sydenham, and was implemented by imperial authority in 1840. The underlying intent was to demonstrate to the French Canadians the benefits of their assimilation into Anglo-Canadian society. The bait was the possibility that the French could share in controlling public affairs if and when responsible government became a reality.

William Baldwin expected that responsible government would be immediately forthcoming, but major emphasis was put upon realigning the Executive Council. Reluctantly, Robert accepted the position of solicitor general in the new government without a council seat.

After the union became effective in 1841, reformers began to question the wisdom of Robert Baldwin remaining as solicitor general. The March, 1841, election demonstrated that corruption and intimidation could still return a nonreformist majority to Upper Canada. Only Baldwin and five other dedicated reformers were elected. After refusing the oath of supremacy because he denied the position of a foreign prelate, Baldwin demanded from Sydenham that French Canadians be given four cabinet posts. Thoroughly irritated with Baldwin, Sydenham accepted a resignation which Baldwin had offered only as a threat.

In the ensuing session of Parliament, which met in Kingston, Baldwin continued to insist upon the rights of the French Canadians. His popularity in Upper Canada was threatened as even Francis Hincks became sympathetic to the Sydenham ministry. Even though Baldwin assisted Louis Hippolyte La Fontaine, the French party leader, in gaining the seat from fourth York, he was unsuccessful in attempting to push total bicultural institutions. The sincerity of his endeavors was illustrated by the fact that all Robert Baldwin’s children were sent to French schools in order that they never be embarrassed, as he was, by the handicap of monolingualism.

Baldwin continued his relentless drive for responsible government against Sydenham’s adamant opposition. When Sydenham died in September of 1841, the new governor, Sir Charles Bagot, was persuaded by his advisers that the French Canadian leaders and Robert Baldwin must be brought into the ministry. In September of 1842, both La Fontaine and Baldwin entered the ministry. In November, Bagot became ill and Baldwin and La Fontaine functioned as copremiers of the province. Relations with Bagot’s successor, Sir Charles Metcalfe, deteriorated steadily. In November of 1843, the Executive Council resigned and the reformers carried only twelve seats, including Baldwin’s, in Upper Canada.

For Robert, the party’s defeat followed a period of depression that had come with the death of his father. Having rejected the idea of permanently retiring from politics, Robert rallied for a strong session in the 1844-1845 parliament. The tendencies toward depression, which had been evident since his wife’s death in 1836, were growing increasingly troublesome and eventually became incapacitating. His frequent mentions of resignation were not idle threats, but honestly expressed doubts of his own capabilities.

Baldwin dedicated himself during the 1844-1845 session, however, to the cause of responsible government as a constitutional system that would allow Canadians to manage their own affairs. The reform party was too divided to challenge effectively the weak Tory leadership, even though Metcalfe was terminally ill and his replacement, Charles Murray Cathcart, was far less partisan than Metcalfe had been. Not until after the general election of 1848 could the reformers summon the strength to challenge the Tories on a confidence vote. In March of 1848, a vote of nonconfidence brought down the government, and Lord Elgin (who had succeeded Cathcart in January of 1847) called on La Fontaine, whose alliance with Baldwin created the so-called Great Ministry of 1848-1851.

The ministry was plagued by difficulties within the reform party, as well as by questions over provincial finances, brutality in Kingston Penitentiary, compensation for losses during the 1837 rebellions, and trade relations with both the Maritimes and the United States. Nevertheless, the reputation of the Great Ministry was well earned when responsible government was confirmed, when the Municipal Corporations Act passed, and when Canadian nationalism affirmed both actions by rejecting discussions of annexation with the United States, and by recognition of the bicultural aspect of Canadian society. In addition, Baldwin himself can be credited with the creation of the University of Toronto as a government-controlled, rather than church-controlled, institution.

In January of 1851, while Baldwin was under attack from both the Tories and the Clear Grits from within his own party, his mother died. Once more he was overwhelmed with deep depression, becoming seriously ill during the late spring of that year. On June 30, he announced his resignation. La Fontaine did the same, and the Great Ministry was ended. In the ensuing general election, Baldwin stood for reelection in North York but was soundly defeated.

Never again was Robert Baldwin an active participant in political affairs, although he remained important as a perennial potential candidate. Gradually he withdrew into a very private existence, obsessed by the memory of his wife and troubled with the problems of his children. In December of 1858, his wearied body finally gave out, and Robert Baldwin died, leaving a puzzling personal legacy but a solid, secure foundation for responsible government and French rights in Canada.

Significance

Throughout his life, Robert Baldwin was devoted to family responsibility, dedicated to Christian duty, and consumed by self-doubt. In his own view, he always came up short when he compared his accomplishments to those of his father—when he considered what he himself should have done, and what needed to be done for God and country. Early in life he thought he had found perfect happiness in marrying his cousin, Elizabeth. Her death, after only nine years of marriage, heightened his sense of failure and contributed to the melancholy bouts of depression which often left him dysfunctional.

Despite his self-perceived inadequacies, Baldwin persevered in obtaining a foothold for Dominion status for Canada and a degree of recognition for biculturalism that have since matured into the reality of Canadian identity.

Bibliography

Baldwin, Robert Macqueen, and Joyce Baldwin. The Baldwins and the Great Experiment. Don Mills, Ont.: Longmans, Green, 1969. Helpful work detailing the work of Robert and his father William toward responsible government for Upper Canada.

Baskerville, Peter A. Ontario: Image, Identity, and Power. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 2002. Illustrated survey of Ontario history includes information about Baldwin and La Fontaine.

Careless, J. M. S. “Robert Baldwin.” In The Pre-Confederation Premiers: Ontario Government Leaders, 1841-1867. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. Well-researched and well-written account utilizing Careless’s extensive familiarity with manuscript collections, personal papers, and histories of the period. The complex personality of Baldwin and inter-family relationships are well treated.

Cross, Michael, and Robert L. Fraser. “’The Waste That Lies Before Me’: The Public and Private Worlds of Robert Baldwin.” In Canadian Historical Association Historical Papers, 1983. Sensitive and insightful comparison of Baldwin the politician and Baldwin the family man. The title is taken from Baldwin’s own view of his remaining years after the death of his wife. Cross and Fraser relate Baldwin’s personal tragedy to his public difficulties.

Leacock, Stephen Butler. Baldwin, LaFontaine, Hincks: Responsible Government. Toronto: Morang, 1907, 1910.

Wilson, George E. The Life of Robert Baldwin: A Study in the Struggle for Responsible Government. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1933. Both of the above are interesting earlier works that focus on the role of Baldwin during the years following the Union Act.