The Widow's Demise by Don Gutteridge Read Free Book Online

flawed
banking system, the blatant patronage and de facto rule of the
Family Compact elite, and the stagnated economy – would be helped
or hindered by tossing French and English into the same stew-pot.
Certainly, the alliance of LaFontaine’s rouge and Baldwin’s
Reform was a positive start. But of course it could only succeed if
they could get Louis elected to the Legislative Assembly. Robert
Baldwin had taken the fourth riding of York by two hundred votes
last April. He had high hopes that Louis’ campaign in the same
riding would be a cakewalk.
    Danby himself was on the verandah to greet
them.
    “Welcome, gentlemen,” he said. “Do come into
the lounge and take a glass of Champagne.”
    “You go ahead,” Marc said to Robert. “I’m
going into the tavern to test the lay of the land.”
    “All right, Marc. A good idea.”
    “Your counterparts have already arrived,”
Danby said.
    “Well, then, “ Hincks said. “Let’s go in and
say hello.”
    Marc hitched up his horse and walked down the
verandah to the tavern entrance. Taking a deep breath, he went in.
The place was jammed. It was all smoke and loud voices, punctuated
by the clink of glasses and thump of flagons on the bar and tables.
The clientele was mostly farmers, and they were getting primed for
the nominations. Marc went up to the bar and ordered an ale. When
it came, he hunched over it, anonymous, and listened hard. Snatches
of conversation floated by.
    “I’m no Tory, but I’ll be damned if I’ll vote
for a Frenchman. I don’t give a damn that he’s a pal of Robert
Baldwin.”
    “Frenchmen are all the same. You can’t trust
‘em.”
    “I heard what they did to their English
neighbours in Quebec.”
    “Yeah. They burned barns and hay-stacks.”
    “I even heard they cut the tails off horses
and cows.”
    “And the poor buggers couldn’t swat the flies
off of them and went crazy and drowned themselves.”
    “They couldn’t beat the English army so they
took it out on their English friends.”
    “But the soldiers torched their churches,
remember.”
    “Because they hid out the rebels in them and
used them to store arms and ammunition.”
    “The priests were on their side all the
way.”
    “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.”
    “And I’ll bet the Pope was in on it,
too.”
    “But the French had the same grievances we
did.”
    “They never had it so good. Looked after by
the Church from cradle to grave.”
    “What about this LaFontaine? I heard he was
too much of a coward to fight.”
    “That’s right. He never lifted a finger.”
    “But he was on their side, eh? He used his
lawyer’s savvy to get the rebels out of jail after the Rebellion
was over.”
    “And he went around making speeches against the union bill.”
    “Does he know what side he’s on?”
    “Why should we trust him?”
    “But I’ve always voted Reform. And Baldwin
says we got to get the man elected – for our own good.”
    “Well, I may decide not to vote at all.”
    “I still say we got to draw the line at
Frenchies. Let LaFontaine find a riding in Quebec to elect him.
What are we to think of a guy who gets defeated in his own
county?”
    “But I heard there were goons and dirty
tricks in Terrebonne.”
    “There’s always goons and dirty tricks. It
goes with the territory.”
    “I say we give a good listen to the speeches
today. Baldwin and Hincks are gonna nominate LaFontaine. Let’s see
if they can make a Frenchman into somebody we can vote for.”
    “Yeah. We been Reformers all our lives.”
    Marc moved to the other end of the bar where
another group sat around to tables pulled together. He sipped on
his ale.
    “Surely they could’ve found somebody better
than Dingman.”
    “Well, his wife is well-connected, eh?”
    “With Baldwin backin’ the Frenchie, we’re
facin’ an uphill fight.”
    “The man’s a Papist. That’s all we need to
know about him.”
    “Dingman needs to remind people of that every
chance he can.”
    “And