Whiteway's major policy ambition was the construction of the transinsular railway spanning the island which was begun in 1881 and which he believed would spur economic development of the colony.

Leading the dissenters was James Spearman Winter, Whiteway's Solicitor-General and grand master of Newfoundland's Orange Order.

The Orangemen joined with Robert Thorburn, an opponent of Whiteway's railway who felt that the colony should focus on the fishery, to form the Reform Party and win the 1885 election on a Protestant Rights platform.

On April 3, 1894, while the trials were still underway, Whiteway asked Governor of Newfoundland Sir Herbert Murray to dissolve the House of Assembly for a new election.

Whiteway himself had been found guilty, his seat declared vacant, and under the provisions of the law, he was barred from seeking election to the House of Assembly or sitting in government.

[citation needed] The Governor enabled Goodridge to remain in office by continually proroguing the House in order to prevent the government's fall through a Motion of No Confidence.

[citation needed] By-elections were held throughout the fall in which the Liberals retained the seats they had been disbarred from, losing just two, while picking up two from the Conservatives in return.