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Ontario History

A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning Star of Memory by Michael S. Cross Chris Raible

Volume 105, Number 1, Spring 2013

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050754ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1050754ar

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Publisher(s) The Historical Society

ISSN 0030-2953 (print) 2371-4654 (digital)

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Cite this review Raible, C. (2013). Review of [A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning Star of Memory by Michael S. Cross]. Ontario History, 105(1), 136–137. https://doi.org/10.7202/1050754ar

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 136 ONTARIO HISTORY

A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning Star of Memory By Michael S. Cross

Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2012. 430 pages. $39.95 hardback. ISBN 978-0-195449-54-9.

ere at last: a comprehensive, sym- fully obeyed, though much of the time his pathetic, appreciative but not heart was not in it. He was, as Cross notes, uncritical biography, the fruit the “most reluctant of politicians, the most Hof a life-long study by retired Dalhousie private of men.”(40) professor Michael Cross. Alas, Robert As a politician, Baldwin was something Baldwin is hardly a Canadian household of a visionary. He understood that Cana- name, notwithstanding recent efforts by dian order and good government required to recognize him, along English-French cooperation—hence his with Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, as first early alliance with LaFontaine. He promot- among the founders of our country. How- ed municipal government; he supported ever, in contrast to Saul’s lauding them as public education; he successfully secular- “the architects of democ- ized the provincial uni- racy and non-violent poli- versity. Yet he was hardly tics,” Cross admits that his a democrat—he opposed portrayal of Baldwin has electoral reform. Instead, “a somewhat different em- he trusted the social sta- phasis.” (368) bility of landed property His father, Dr. Wil- owners, believing that liam Warren Baldwin, rose “the wealth and prestige by merit and marriage to they enjoyed also im- become an early member posed social responsibil- of York’s establishment, a ity for the general good.” status that Robert inher- (73) In Parliament, he ited. Though qualified by resisted efforts by his fel- faith, property and patri- low reformers to promote otism, the Baldwins were economic development too liberal in attitude for through government ex- inclusion in the élite group penditures; he was more popularized by William interested in constitu- Lyon Mackenzie as the “.” tional principles than roads and bridges. Loyalty to his own Baldwin family, along Baldwin’s life, in part, is the story of with a faith in British law, were the defin- the eventual achievement of “responsible ing characteristics of Robert’s life. government”—long heralded as the dis- He was, according to his father, des- tinguishing feature of the Canadian con- tined to political leadership, “the only man stitution in contrast to the irresponsible under Gods [sic] providence that was fit- excesses of American republicanism. The ted for these struggles.” (64) The son duti- concept was first articulated (apparently)

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in the 1820s by father W.W. Baldwin, and a truce message to Mackenzie.) Also, Bald- explicitly proposed by Lord Durham in win was an able lawyer, yet the dramas of his 1839 Report. Cross describes, in fas- his defence of York editor Francis Collins, cinating and often dramatic detail, Robert charged with seditious libel in 1829, or of Baldwin’s successful efforts in the to John Montgomery, charged with treason make the ideal a reality. in 1838, are barely mentioned. However, Surprisingly, to this reviewer at least, such slights seem trivial when compared to Cross makes but slight acknowledgement Cross’s otherwise full presentation of Bald- that the 1841 Union was accompanied win’s personal and political life as a whole. by alterations to the pattern and practice Another omission—a quibble per- of provincial government. The former Ex- haps—is the book’s lack of a bibliography. ecutive Council became a “Ministry,” its The notes offer full citations as well as wor- members no longer advisors but ministers, thy comment, but a complete listing of all heads of government departments. Moreo- primary and secondary sources would have ver, these ministers were not simply trusted been useful. citizens, they had to be elected members of Perhaps the most striking feature of the Assembly. Though not by statute, as this biography is its emphasis on the cen- put into practice by Lord Sydenham and tral importance in Robert’s life of his mar- his successors, British forms were thus ex- riage; a decade of bliss followed by two ported to . This transformation was decades of grief after Eliza’s 1836 death surely an essential first step toward of any in childbirth. Every chapter begins with a notion of —yet brief epigraph noting Eliza’s continued in- Baldwin had nothing to do with it. fluence. Robert’s unremitting sense of her Responsible government was not sim- presence in his consciousness, his devo- ply a lofty ideal, it was an earthy insistence tion to her memory, almost borders on the that political power—particularly total pathological. Robert kept a personal diary control of patronage appointments—be and carefully preserved of all their intimate held by the elected majority political party, correspondence and personal treasures. not by British colonial officials. Baldwin at The fact that so many Baldwin private pa- times felt forced to act as a ruthless party pers are today accessible enabled Cross to leader, though he usually left to his col- present far more of his subject’s internal league the darker, messier life than is found in most biographies. duties of winning elections. All in all, in this splendid portrayal Laudably comprehensive as this work Robert Baldwin comes across as not par- is, it gives rather short shrift to some - as ticularly likeable, but nonetheless totally pects of Baldwin’s life. It does not, for ex- admirable. In recent years we have been ample, explore Mackenzie’s long dislike blessed with fresh, full-scale biographies of of Baldwin, originating in their contested two of his contemporaries, Thomas D’Arcy election of 1828. Cross describes the 1849 McGee and John A. Macdonald. Dare we burning of Parliament quite hope for comparable treatments of oth- wonderfully, but he barely touches the ers—of Francis Hincks, John Strachan or 1837 Rebellion. (He does note—three dif- ? ferent times, no less—Baldwin’s naiveté in trusting and Lieutenant Gov- Chris Raible ernor Bond Head when recruited to carry Creemore, Ontario

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