part in developing the Rifle Association of the Province of Ontario, and

erelong became its President. He subsequently became President of the

Dominion Rifle Association, and was instrumental in sending the first

team of representative Canadian riflemen from this Province to England

in 1870, to take part in the annual military operations at Wimbledon. A

team has ever since been sent over annually by the Dominion, and Mr.

Gzowski has generally made a point of accompanying them himself. In

November, 1872, as a mark of appreciation of his services in connection

with the development of the Rifle Association, he was appointed

Lieutenant-Colonel of the Central Division of Toronto Volunteers; and in

May, 1873, became a Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff. His last and

highest promotion came to him in May, 1879, when he was appointed

Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

For many years past Colonel Gzowski has been the possessor of large

means, acquired by his own industry and talents, and sufficient to

enable him to indulge in a dignified repose for the remainder of his

life. He is, however, possessed of a stirring nervousness of temperament

which impels him to action, and has never ceased to engage in

engineering projects of greater or less magnitude. This sketch would be

very incomplete without some reference to an enterprise which is

entitled to rank among the grandest public works of the Dominion; viz.,

the International Bridge over the Niagara River at Buffalo. The charters

for the construction of this great enterprise were granted by the

Legislature of Canada and the State of New York as far back as the year

1857, but were permitted to lie dormant owing to the difficulty of

obtaining the funds necessary to carrying out so gigantic a project. The

capital was at last raised in England in 1870, and the contract was let

to Colonel Gzowski and his partner, the Hon. D. L. Macpherson, who

forthwith began the work of construction. The engineering difficulties

to be encountered were very great, and at certain seasons of the year

the work had to be totally suspended. The bridge was finally completed

and opened for the passage of trains on the 3rd of November, 1873, and

the entire cost of construction was about $1,500,000. It stands as a

perpetual memorial of the great skill and enterprise of the contractors.

After its completion Colonel Gzowski wrote and published a full account

of the enterprise from its inception, accompanied by elaborate plans and

illustrations. Sir Charles Hartley, in a work published in England in

1875, bears testimony to the fact that "the chief credit in overcoming

the extraordinary difficulties which beset the building of the piers of

this bridge is due to Colonel Gzowski, upon whom all the practical

operations devolved." A still higher testimony comes from Mr. Thomas

Elliott Harrison, President of the (British) Institute of Civil

Engineers, who, in an annual address read before the Institute on his

election to the Presidency in the session of 1873-4, referred to the

International Bridge as one of the most gigantic engineering works on

the American continent, and made a special reference to the difficulties

met with in subaqueous foundations, as described in Colonel Gzowski's

volume.

Colonel Gzowski's career in Canada has been one of extraordinary

success, but any one who has watched its progress will admit that his

success has been chiefly due to his high personal qualifications. In

politics he has acted with the Conservative Party, but he is known for

the moderation of his views, and has never identified himself with any

of the purely party factions of the time. Though frequently importuned

to enter public life he has hitherto refrained from doing so, preferring

to confine his attention to professional and financial enterprises. He

has a luxurious home in Toronto, where he occasionally dispenses a

sumptuous hospitality, and where he appears perhaps to greater advantage

than elsewhere. He has entertained most of the Governors-General of his

time, all of whom have been numbered among his personal friends. Of late

years much of his leisure has been passed in England, where several of

his children reside, and where he has many warm friends. He has been

honoured with special marks of the royal favour, and might doubtless, if

so disposed, aspire to high dignities. Her Majesty has not a more loyal

subject than Colonel Gzowski, and should occasion arise he would, we

doubt not, buckle on his sword in defence of British and Canadian rights

no less readily than he embarked his all, half a century ago, on behalf

of the nation to which he belongs by right of birth.

On the 29th of October, 1839, he married Miss Maria Beebe, daughter of

an eminent American physician. This lady, by whom he has had five sons

and three daughters, still survives.

THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L.

Dr. Rand, who has long been one of the foremost educationists in the

Maritime Provinces, was born at the seaport town of Cornwallis, situated

on an arm of the Basin of Minas, King's County, Nova Scotia, in the year

1835. His life has been passed in educational pursuits, and affords but

few incidents for biographical purposes. His boyhood and early youth

were spent in attending the common schools, whence he passed to the

Horton Collegiate Academy. After spending some time as a student at the

last-named seat of learning he became a teacher there. He also entered

the University of Acadia College, where he graduated in the honours

course in 1860. During the same year he was appointed to the Chair of

English and Classics in the Provincial Normal School at Truro, where he

distinguished himself by his enthusiastic devotion to his work, and by

his intelligence, aptitude and zeal in developing the best methods of

instruction. In 1863 he received his Master's degree from the University

of Acadia College. His Doctor's degree is honorary, and was conferred

upon him by the same institution in 1874.

Upon the passing of the Educational Act of 1864, the subject of this

sketch was selected by the Government of the day for the position of

Provincial Superintendent of Education. Upon him accordingly devolved

the task of putting the new law into operation. The Act of 1864 was one

of the most important measures, bearing on the moral and material

interests of the Province, that was ever introduced there. "It struck at

the very root of most of the evils which tend to depress the

intellectual energies and moral status of the people. It introduced the

genial light of knowledge into the dark recesses of ignorance, opened

the minds of thousands of little ones--the fathers and mothers of coming

generations--to a perception of the true and the beautiful, and placed

Nova Scotia in the front rank of countries renowned for common school

educational advantages."[9] Previous to the time when it came into

operation the school system of the Province was pitiably inefficient.

Its inefficiency was startlingly demonstrated by the census of 1861,

from which it appeared that more than one-fourth of the entire

population of the Province were unable to read. Of 83,000 children

between the ages of five and fifteen, there were 36,000 who were unable

to read. A large majority of the children in the Province did not attend

school, and did not receive any educational training whatever. Teachers

were poorly paid and inefficient. The schoolhouses were frequently

unhealthy, and were almost always uncomfortable and unsightly. To

Dr.--now Sir Charles--Tupper, belongs in great measure the credit of

having brought about a more satisfactory state of things. It was by his

Ministry that the Educational Act of 1864 was passed, and he

himself, though well aware that he seriously risked his popularity by

promoting it--for it introduced direct taxation--repeatedly declared

that even if it should cost him place and power he would regard its

introduction as the crowning act of his public life. After some

negotiation between himself and Messrs. Archibald and Annand, the

leading members of the Opposition, it was agreed that party differences

should for the nonce be laid aside, and that the Education Act should

become law.

[Illustration: THEODORE H. RAND, signed as Theodore H. Rand]

Such was the state of affairs at the time when Mr. Rand was appointed to

the office of Superintendent of Education. For some time his task was no

light one, for the law was unpopular among the masses, who abhorred the

idea of direct taxation. He applied himself to his duties with great

energy, and travelled the Province from end to end, disputing, arguing,

and finally convincing. He found, however, that some clauses of the Act

were impracticable, and others unnecessary. He prepared a measure which

formed the basis of the amended Act of 1865. His energy and vigour

carried all before them, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing

opposition disappear. A _Journal of Education_ was established, a new

and uniform series of school books was introduced, and commodious

schoolhouses were erected. A system of examination and of grading was

introduced by Mr. Rand, and his plan was so well thought of that its

main features have been adopted in other Provinces of the Dominion.

He continued to fill the position of Superintendent of Education in Nova

Scotia during five and a half busy years. In 1870 he was removed from

office "apparently for political reasons, and under circumstances which

created a great deal of dissatisfaction at the time amongst the friends

of education in the Province." After his retirement he proceeded to

Great Britain, chiefly with a view to acquiring additional knowledge on

educational matters, and to familiarizing himself by observation with

the practical working of the English school system. During his absence

he visited many important schools in England, Scotland and Ireland, and

had conferences with some of the leading educationists of the realm.

In 1871 the New Brunswick Legislature passed an Act, to come into

operation on the 1st of January, 1872, introducing the Free School

system into that Province. The provisions of this Act were very similar

to those of the Nova Scotia measure, and Mr. Rand's success in

introducing the system into the adjoining Province had been such that it

was deemed desirable to secure his services in New Brunswick. In

September, 1871, three months before the Act came into force, he was

offered the position of Chief Superintendent of Education for New

Brunswick by the Government of the day. He accepted, and entered upon

his duties with his accustomed energy. He has ever since filled the

position, and persons who are entitled to speak with authority aver that

he has done for education in New Brunswick all, and more than all, that

he had previously accomplished for education in Nova Scotia. He now

enjoys the distinction of having brought into operation in two Provinces

an enduring and efficient system of public education.

He is President of the Educational Institute of New Brunswick, and a

member of the Senate of the Provincial University. The Baptist

Convention of the Maritime Provinces (of which, in 1875-6, he was

President) elected him in 1877 one of the Governors of the University of

Acadia College. His time is entirely devoted to his educational duties,

and he has reason for self-gratulation at the satisfactory results which

have attended his efforts in the two Provinces which have been the scene

of his labours.

THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON.

Mr. Cameron was for many years the best-known Nisi Prius lawyer at the

Bar of his native Province, and his personal appearance is familiar to a

greater number of persons than is that of any professional man in

western Canada. For some years prior to his elevation to the Bench he

was also prominent in political life, but it was at the Bar that his

greenest laurels were won, and it is by his professional achievements

that he will be longest remembered. He was born at Dundas, in the county

of Wentworth, on the 2nd of October, 1822. His father, the late Mr. John

McAlpin Cameron, was, as his name imports, of Celtic stock. The latter

emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland to Upper Canada in 1819, and

settled at Dundas, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1826 he

became Deputy Clerk of the Crown for the Gore District, and removed to

Hamilton. He subsequently entered the service of the Canada Company, and

remained in it for many years. He died at his home in Toronto, at an

advanced age, in 1866. His wife, the mother of the subject of this

sketch, was English. She was a native of the county of Northumberland,

and her maiden name was Miss Nancy Foy. She died in Toronto many years

ago.

The subject of this sketch was the youngest of his family, and was the

only member of it born on this side of the Atlantic. He was named after

Mr. Matthew Crooks, of Ancaster, a brother of the Hon. James Crooks, and

an uncle of the present Minister of Education. At the time of the

removal of the family from Dundas to Hamilton he was about four years of

age; and he soon afterwards began to attend his first school, which was

a small local establishment presided over by a Mr. Randall. Later, he

was placed at the Home District Grammar School, on the corner of Newgate

and New Streets--now Adelaide and Jarvis Streets--Toronto, where many

boys who subsequently became distinguished in Canadian public life

received their early training. In 1838 he entered Upper Canada College,

where he remained nearly two years. His educational career was cut short

in 1840 by an accident which was destined to affect the whole course of

his future life. One day, while out shooting with two of his

schoolfellows in the neighbourhood of Toronto, one of the latter, who

does not seem to have been a very skilful marksman, carelessly fired off

his gun at an inopportune moment, and young Cameron received the charge

in his ankle, part of the joint of which was completely blown away. He

was conveyed home, and was confined to his room for months. It was out

of the question that he should ever recover the perfect use of his

disabled ankle, and it was announced to him that he must never hope to

walk again without the assistance of a crutch. It must have been a cruel

blow to him, for he was a boy of joyous nature, full of activity and

life, and by no means given to injuring his health by close application

to his studies. From this time forward his habits and train of thought

underwent a change. There were no more frivolity and thoughtlessness, no

more shooting expeditions, no more of the active sports and pastimes of

happy boyhood. Life, thenceforward, was to be contemplated from its

serious side. He did not return to college. His choice of the legal

profession was largely due to the fact that his two elder brothers, John

and Duncan, had already embraced that calling. He entered the office of

Messrs. Gamble & Boulton, barristers, of Toronto, and served the term of

his articles there. He studied with much diligence, and gave evidence of

great aptitude for his chosen profession. In Trinity Term, 1848, he was

admitted as an attorney and solicitor, and in Hilary Term of 1849 he was

called to the Bar.

He at once began to go on circuit, and he had not been many months at

the Bar before he was in the very front rank. When it is borne in mind

that his competitors were such men as Henry Eccles, John Hillyard

Cameron, Philip Vankoughnet, and the present Mr. Justice Hagarty, it

will be admitted that a young man who could hold his own against such

rivals must have possessed exceptional abilities. Mr. Cameron's most

salient qualifications consisted of a competent knowledge of his

profession, a subtle power of analyzing evidence, a ready command of

language, an impressive utterance and delivery, and--more than all--a

manner which was open and confidential without being familiar, and which

to most jurymen was suggestive of honest conviction. Though of somewhat

contracted physique, he contrived to get through an amount of work which

few men endowed with greater robustness of frame could have

accomplished. His popularity grew apace, and erelong his practice was

second to that of no man at the Bar of this Province. His popularity and

practice were not confined to any particular neighbourhood, but extended

throughout the whole of western Canada; and the only two counties in

which he has not held briefs are the counties of Lanark and Renfrew. His

briefs embraced every variety of pleading, civil and criminal. In all

sorts of cases, and with all classes of jurors, he was thoroughly at

home, and his efforts were generally crowned with that best proof of

ability--success.

At the outset of his career at the Bar he was perhaps more assiduous in

his attendance at assizes in the Gore District than elsewhere, as his

brother John practised his profession in Hamilton--and afterwards in

Brantford--and was able to throw a good many briefs in his way. As the

years passed by, the question became, not how to obtain briefs, but how

to get through the labour they imposed. Mr. Cameron, however, is not

only endowed with great capacity for hard work, but has a genuine liking

for it. His exceeding quickness of perception and apprehension was very

often displayed during his career at the Bar, and it was said of him

that he could acquire a more accurate knowledge of his case after it had

been opened than most of his competitors could obtain by a week's

preparation.

Soon after completing his legal studies Mr. Cameron formed a partnership

with his former principal, the late Mr. William Henry Boulton. Several

years later he entered into partnership with the Hon. William Cayley,

who held the portfolio of Minister of Finance in the Government formed

under the auspices of Sir Allan Macnab in 1854. Mr.--now Dr.--Daniel

McMichael was subsequently admitted, and the firm of Messrs. Cayley,

Cameron & McMichael long had a business second to that of no firm in the

Province. The partnership subsequently underwent various modifications,

but its members have always maintained its position as one of the

leading legal firms in Toronto.

The first ten years of his legal career were devoted by Mr. Cameron

almost exclusively to his profession. He then began to take part in

municipal affairs. In 1859 he represented St. James's Ward in the

Toronto City Council. In January, 1861, he was an unsuccessful candidate

for the mayoralty. He was possessed of strong political convictions, and

was frequently importuned to enter Parliament. He was a very pronounced

Conservative in his views, as his father before him had been, and at the

general election of 1861 he offered himself to the electors of North

Ontario as a candidate for a seat in the Assembly. He secured his

return, and sat in the House until the general election of 1863, when,

upon presenting himself to his constituents for reëlection he was

defeated. A vacancy occurring in the representation for North Ontario in

the summer of 1864, he once more offered himself as a candidate, and was

on this occasion returned. He continued to represent North Ontario in

the Assembly until Confederation, when he was unsuccessful in his

attempt to secure his return for the House of Commons. He accordingly

accepted office in the Sandfield Macdonald Coalition Administration in

Ontario, and was returned for East Toronto, in which constituency he

resides, and which he continued to represent in the Local Legislature

until the close of his Parliamentary career. He held the offices of

Provincial Secretary and Registrar from July, 1867, until the 25th of

July, 1871, when he became Commissioner of Crown Lands. The latter

office he held until the fall of the Government in the following

December, in consequence of the adverse vote of the House on the

railroad subsidy question. Upon the formation of a new Government under

the premiership of the Hon. Edward Blake, Mr. Cameron became leader of

the Opposition, and continued to act in that capacity for a period of

four years. His Parliamentary career was marked by sterling honour and

integrity, and by inflexible devotion to his Party. Mr. Cameron is one

of the few men who have taken a very prominent part in public life in

this country during the last few years, and yet have escaped charges of

political corruption and dishonesty. No man in Canada believes him to be

capable of a corrupt or dishonest act, for the advancement either of his

own interests or those of his Party. It must be confessed, however, that

he was not seen at his best on the floor of Parliament. Some of his

political ideas are widely at variance with prevailing tendencies, and

some of his Parliamentary utterances had an unmistakable flavour of the

lamp. The Halls of the Legislature were not a thoroughly congenial

sphere for him, and the full measure of his strength was seldom or never

put forward there. He was sometimes commonplace, and sometimes carping

and fretful. Before a jury, on the other hand, he was always a

formidable power, and was always master of himself. His duties as a

Cabinet Minister were somewhat onerous, but his capacity for hard work

enabled him to get through them more easily than most persons could have

done under similar circumstances, and his attendance on circuit was

never interrupted for any considerable time. His preëminence at the Bar

was undisputed, and his influence over juries suffered no diminution. He

had been a Queen's Counsel since 1863, and a Bencher of the Law Society

of Ontario since 1871; and when he was elevated to the Judicial Bench on

the 15th of November, 1878, the appointment was regarded by the legal

profession and the country at large as a fitting tribute to his

character and professional standing. His rank is that of Senior Puisné

Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. As a Judge, he displays the same

characteristics by which he was distinguished while at the Bar, viz.,

quickness of perception, and a ready grasp of the main points of an

argument. He has rendered several important judgments, the points of

which are well known to members of the legal profession.

Mr. Cameron was concerned in organizing the Liberal-Conservative

Association of Toronto, and was President of it from the time of its

formation until his elevation to the Judicial Bench. He was also

Vice-President of the Liberal-Conservative Convention held in Toronto in

September, 1874. Apart from his strictly professional and political

duties, Mr. Cameron has held various positions of more or less public

importance. As far back as 1852 he was appointed by the Hincks-Morin

Government a Commissioner, jointly with the late Colonel Coffin, to

inquire into the causes of the frequent accidents which had then

recently occurred on the Great Western Railway. He was one of the

original promoters and Directors of the Dominion Telegraph Company, and

of several prominent Insurance Companies. He is a member of several

social, charitable and national associations, including the Caledonian

and St. Andrew's Societies. He is a widower. On the 1st of December,

1851, he married Miss Charlotte Ross Wedd, of Hamilton, who died on the

14th of January, 1868. He has a family, the members whereof all reside

with him in Toronto.

THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART.

The name of Sir Louis Lafontaine is intimately associated in the public

mind with that of his friend and associate Robert Baldwin. What the

latter was in Upper Canada, such was Sir Louis in the Lower

Province--the leader of a numerous, an exacting, and a not always

manageable political party. These two statesmen were the leading spirits

on behalf of their respective Provinces in two Governments which are

known in history by their joint names. Their personal intimacy and

active co-operation extended over only about ten years, but the bond of

union between them during that period was closely knit, and their mutual

confidence was complete. They fought side by side with perfect fealty to

each other and to the State, and their retirement from public life was

almost simultaneous. Their mutual relations, both public and private,

were marked by an almost chivalrous courtesy and respect, and even after

they had ceased to take part in the struggles with which both their

names are identified, they continued to think and speak of each other

with an enthusiasm which was not generally supposed to belong to the

nature of either.

Sir Louis was in some respects the most remarkable man that Lower Canada

has produced. Though he identified himself with many important measures

of Reform, the temper of his mind, more especially during his latter

years, was eminently aristocratic and Conservative. His disposition was

not one that could properly be described as genial. He was not a perfect

tactician, and had not the faculty of making himself "all things to all

men." Coriolanus himself had not a more supreme contempt for "the

insinuating nod" whereby the elector is wheedled out of his vote. His

demeanour was generally somewhat cold and repellent, and though he was

thoroughly honourable, and respected by all who knew him, he was not a

man of many warm personal friends. In the sketch of Robert Baldwin's

life we have given Sir John Kaye's estimate of that gentleman's

character and aspirations, as reflected in the letters and papers of

Lord Metcalfe. The estimate is so wide of the mark that our readers will

probably be disposed to place little reliance upon Sir John's capability

for gauging the public men of Canada. In the case of the subject of the

present sketch, however, Lord Metcalfe's biographer has contrived to

stumble upon a much more accurate judgment. Speaking of Mr. Lafontaine,

during his tenure of office as Attorney-General for Canada East, in

1843, he tells us that "all his better qualities were natural to him;

his worse were the growth of circumstances. Cradled, as he and his

people had been, in wrong, smarting for long years under the oppressive

exclusiveness of the dominant race, he had become mistrustful and

suspicious; and the doubts which were continually floating in his mind

had naturally engendered indecision and infirmity of purpose. But he

had many fine characteristics which no evil circumstances could impair.

He was a just and an honourable man. His motives were above all

suspicion. Warmly attached to his country, earnestly seeking the

happiness of his people, he occupied a high position by the force rather

of his moral than of his intellectual qualities. He was trusted and

respected rather than admired." If we omit the reference to indecision

and infirmity of purpose, we may accept the foregoing as being, so far

as it goes, a not inaccurate estimate of the character of Mr.

Lafontaine. The excepted reference, however, shows how little the writer

could really have known of the subject of his remarks. So far from being

undecided or infirm of purpose, Mr. Lafontaine was almost domineering

and tyrannical in his firmness. He was very reluctant to receive

discipline, and was generally disposed to prefer his own judgment to

that of any one else. It will be news, indeed, to such of his colleagues

as still survive, to learn that Sir Louis Lafontaine was infirm of

purpose. Sir Francis Hincks, who is able to speak with high authority on

the subject, declares in one of his political pamphlets that he never

met a man less open to such an imputation. Other equally trustworthy

authorities have borne similar testimony, and indeed the whole course of

his political life furnishes a standing refutation to the charge. Sir

Louis was intellectually far above most of those with whom he acted, and

he was endowed by nature with an imperious will. He brooked

contradiction, or even moderate remonstrance, with an ill grace. Had he

been of a more conciliating temper he would doubtless have been vastly

more popular. His sincerity and uprightness have never, so far as we are

aware, been called in question.

[Illustration: LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, signed as L. H. LAFONTAINE]

He was born near the village of Boucherville, in the county of Chambly,

Lower Canada, in October, 1807. He was the third son of Antoine Menard

Lafontaine, of Boucherville, whose father sat in the Lower Canadian

Legislature from 1796 to 1804. His mother's maiden name was Marie J.

Bienvenu. There is nothing to be said about his early life. He studied

law, and in due time was called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and settled

in Montreal. He succeeded in his profession, and while still a very

young man achieved a prominent position and an extensive practice. He

accumulated considerable wealth, which was augmented by an advantageous

marriage, in 1831, to Adèle, daughter of A. Berthelot, a wealthy and

eminent advocate of Quebec. He entered political life in 1830, when he

was only twenty-three years of age, as a Member of the Legislative

Assembly for the populous county of Terrebonne. He at this time held and

advocated very advanced political views, and was a follower of Louis J.

Papineau. He was not always subordinate to his leader, however, and as

time passed by he ceased to work cordially with Mr. Papineau. Their

differences were of temperament rather than of principle, and erelong a

complete estrangement took place between them. Mr. Lafontaine, however,

still continued to advocate advanced radicalism, not only from his place

in Parliament, but through the medium of the newspaper press. He

continued to sit in the Assembly as representative for Terrebonne until

the rebellion burst forth, in which he was so far implicated that a

warrant was issued against him for treason, and he deemed it wise to

withdraw from Canada. He fled to England, whence he made good his escape

across the channel to France. His residence there, unlike that of

Papineau, was only of brief duration. He returned to his native land in

1840, having gained wisdom by experience. He was opposed to the project

of uniting the Provinces, and spoke against it from the platform at

Montreal and elsewhere with great vehemence; but after the passing of

the Act of Union he acquiesced in what could no longer be avoided, and

in 1841 he offered himself once more to his old constituents of

Terrebonne, as a candidate for a seat in the Parliament of the United

Provinces. His candidature was not successful, but, chiefly through the

instrumentality of Robert Baldwin, who had just been honoured with a

double return, he was on the 21st of September elected for the Fourth

Riding of the county of York, in Upper Canada. It will be understood

from this alliance that Mr. Lafontaine's views had undergone

considerable modification. He now perceived that the rebellion of 1837-8

had been not merely a crime, but a political blunder, as there had never

been any chance of its becoming permanently successful. With regard to

the Union of the Provinces, he looked upon it as a scheme which had been

forced upon the Lower Canadian French population, but which, having been

accomplished, might as well be worked in common between his compatriots

and Canadians of British origin. By taking a part in the work of

Government he would not only win an honourable position, but would be

able to obtain many favours and concessions for Lower Canadians which he

could not hope to obtain as a private indvidual. Actuated by some such

motives as these, he in 1842 joined with Mr. Baldwin in forming the

first Ministry which bears their joint names, he himself holding the

portfolio of Attorney-General for the Lower Province. Having vacated his

seat on accepting office on the 16th of September, he was on the 8th of

October following reëlected for the Fourth Riding of York. He

represented that constituency until November, 1844, when he was returned

to the Second Parliament of United Canada by the electors of Terrebonne.

He sat for Terrebonne until after his acceptance of office as

Attorney-General for Lower Canada in the second Baldwin-Lafontaine

Administration, formed in March, 1848, after which he was returned for

the city of Montreal, which he thenceforward continued to represent in

Parliament so long as he remained in public life.

Soon after Mr. Lafontaine's acceptance of office, in the autumn of 1842,

he proposed to Sir Charles Bagot, who was then Governor-General, that an

amnesty should be granted to all persons who had taken part in the

rebellion in 1837-8. To this proposal His Excellency was not disposed to

assent without careful consideration, and probably until he could

communicate with the Imperial Government. Mr. Lafontaine then urged

that, if an amnesty was for the present considered unadvisable, the

various prosecutions for high treason pending at Montreal might be

abandoned. To this Sir Charles, after careful consideration, expressed

his willingness to assent, except in the single case of the

arch-conspirator, Louis Joseph Papineau. Mr. Lafontaine had long ceased

to sympathize with Mr. Papineau's political views, but he was not

disposed to acquiesce in the proposed exception, and for a time the

negotiations fell through. It was subsequently renewed, but before any

definite steps could be taken in the matter the Governor-General's

health gave way, and he rapidly sank into his grave. After the accession

of Sir Charles Metcalfe, Mr. Lafontaine urged his proposal upon the new

Governor, and finally succeeded in carrying his point. Mr. Lafontaine,

as Attorney-General, was instructed to file a _nolle prosequi_ to the

indictments against Mr. Papineau, as well as to those against other

political offenders. He obeyed his instructions with promptitude, and

Mr. Papineau soon afterwards returned to this country. Erelong the "old

man eloquent" found his way into Parliament, where he for several years

made himself a thorn in the flesh to some of his old colleagues of the

ante-Union days.

The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry resigned office in November, 1843,

in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of Sir Charles Metcalfe. All

the circumstances connected with this resignation are narrated at

sufficient length elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Lafontaine remained in

Opposition until March, 1848, when he and his colleagues again came into

power. During the interval he had steadily held his ground in the

estimation of the Reform element in the French Canadian population, of

whom he was the acknowledged leader. The history of the second

Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration[10] in which Mr. Lafontaine held the

portfolio of Attorney-General East, has been given in previous sketches,

and there is no need for repeating the details here. It was Mr.

Lafontaine who, in February, 1849, introduced the famous Rebellion

Losses Bill, which gave rise to so much heated debate in the House, and

to such disgraceful proceedings outside. Mr. Lafontaine, as the actual

introducer of the Bill, came in for his full share of the odium

attaching to that measure. His house in Montreal was attacked by the

mob, and although the flames were extinguished in time to save the

building, the furniture and library shared the fate of those in the

Houses of Parliament, with the fate of which readers of the sketch of

Lord Elgin are already familiar. After much wilful destruction of

valuable property the rioters waxed bolder, and proceeded to maltreat

loyal subjects in the streets in the most shameful manner. Mr.

Lafontaine himself narrowly escaped personal maltreatment. A second

attack was made upon his house. The military, or some occupants of the

house, finding it necessary to use extreme measures, fired upon the mob,

wounding several, and killing one man, whose name was Mason. For a few

minutes after this time it seemed not improbable that Mr. Lafontaine

would be torn in pieces. Yells rent the air, and it was loudly

proclaimed that a Frenchman had shed the blood of an Anglo-Saxon. The

hour of danger passed, however, and Mr. Lafontaine escaped without

personal injury. The unanimous verdict of a coroner's jury acquitted him

of all blame for the death of the misguided man who had fallen a victim

to his zeal for riot. The verdict had a quieting effect upon the public

mind. Meanwhile the Governor-General had tendered his resignation, but

as his conduct was approved of both by the Local Administration and by

the Home Authorities, he, at their urgent request, consented to remain

in office. In consequence of this disgraceful riot, however, it was not

considered desirable to continue the seat of Government at Montreal. The

Legislature thenceforth sat alternately at Toronto and Quebec, until

1866, when Ottawa became the permanent capital of the Dominion.

Notwithstanding all the excitement, and the opposition to which he was

subjected, Mr. Lafontaine generally contrived to carry through any

measure which he had very much at heart. There were certain popular

measures, however, which he never had at heart, and to which, although

the leader of a professedly Liberal Administration, he could never be

induced to lend his countenance. After Responsible Government had become

an accomplished fact, there was no measure so imperatively demanded by

Upper Canadian Reformers as the secularization of the Clergy Reserves.

In the Lower Province the measure most desired by the people was the

abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. To neither of these projects would

Mr. Lafontaine consent. He had an immense respect for vested rights, and

does not seem to have fully recognized the fact that so-called vested

rights are sometimes neither more nor less than vested wrongs. Yet,

notwithstanding his hostility to these measures, he continued to hold

the reins of power, for he was regarded as an embodiment, in his own

person, of the unity of the French-Canadian race. He was, however, like

his colleague, Robert Baldwin, too moderate in his views for the times

in which his later political life was cast. The progress of Reform was

too rapid for him, and he finally made way for more advanced and more

energetic men. His retirement from office and from political life took

place towards the close of 1851. After his retirement he devoted himself

to professional pursuits, and continued to do so until the death of Sir

James Stuart, Chief Justice of the Lower Province, in the summer of

1853, left that position vacant. On the 13th of August Mr. Lafontaine

was appointed to the office, and on the 28th of August, 1854, he was

created a Baronet. In 1861, having been a widower for some years, he

married a second time, his choice being Jane, daughter of Mr. Charles

Morrison, of Berthier, and widow of Mr. Thomas Kinton, of Montreal. He

continued to occupy the position of Chief Justice until his death, which

took place on the morning of the 26th of February, 1864. During his

tenure of that office he also presided at the sittings of the Seignorial

Tenure Court. He attained high rank as a jurist, and his decisions,

which were always delivered with a weighty impressiveness of manner, are

regarded with very great respect by his successors, and by the legal

profession generally.

Mr. Robert Christie, the historian of Lower Canada, contrasts the

political character of Mr. Lafontaine with that of his early colleague,

Mr. Papineau. Mr. Christie knew both the personages well, and was quite

capable of discriminating between them. "Mr. Lafontaine," he says, "it

is pretty generally admitted, has, by consulting only the practicable

and expedient, acted wisely and well, amidst the difficulties that beset

his position as Prime Minister, and upon the whole, though there are

derogating circumstances in the course of it, his administration has

been eminently successful. It was, in fact, from the impetuous and blind

pursuit of the impracticable and inexpedient, that Mr. Papineau lost

himself, shipwrecking his own and his party's hopes, and, with his

example and failure before him, it is to Mr. Lafontaine's credit that he

has had the wisdom to profit by them."

Sir Louis had no issue by his first wife. By his second wife he had one

son, to whom he was very much attached, and upon whom he looked as the

transmitter of his name, and of the title which he had so honourably

won. The little fellow, however, died in childhood, and the title became

extinct. Lady Lafontaine still resides in Montreal.

JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.

Dr. Schultz has had some adventurous passages in his life, and has

played a by no means insignificant part in the history of the Prairie

Province. He was born at Amherstburgh, in the county of Essex, Upper

Canada, on the 1st of January, 1840. He is a son of the late Mr. William

Schultz, a native of Denmark, who was for many years engaged in business

as a merchant at Amherstburgh. His mother was Eliza, daughter of Mr.

Willam Riley, of Bandon, Ireland.

After receiving his primary education at the public schools of

Amherstburgh, he entered Oberlin College, Ohio. This institution was

then held in high consideration by many persons in this country, and

some of our prominent men have been educated there. Mr. Schultz remained

there long enough to pass through the Arts course. Having chosen the

medical profession as his future calling, he studied medicine at Queen's

College, Kingston, and afterwards at the Medical Department of Victoria

College, in Toronto. He had conceived the design of emigrating to

Mexico, with a view to practising his profession there, but after

graduating as M.D., in the spring of 1860, he relinquished that design,

and found his way, by the rude and toilsome route then in vogue, to the

Red River Settlement. The community there at that time consisted of

about eight thousand persons, separated from the city of St. Paul,

Minnesota, by a distance of 550 miles of country, a great part of which

was owned by the Ojibway and Sioux Indians. There was of course no

railway in that part of the world in those days, and anyone undertaking

to travel from St. Paul to Fort Garry entered upon a journey which was

not only toilsome but perilous. The barbarians all along the route were

fierce and intractable, not much given to discriminating between

subjects of Great Britain and those of the United States. Between the

latter and the Indians there was much ill-feeling, and murders and

assassinations of white travellers were matters of frequent occurrence.

After enduring many hardships, Dr. Schultz reached Fort Garry, and there

commenced the practice of his profession. He soon afterwards entered

upon the traffic in furs, a pursuit which was very profitable in those

days, but which was still held as a monopoly by the Hudson's Bay

Company. The great Company doubtless well knew that it would not much

longer be permitted to enjoy its monopoly, but it was not disposed to

encourage rivalry, and looked upon Dr. Schultz's interference with no

friendly eye. There are of course two sides to this question. The

Company's agents were sometimes overbearing and tyrannical in resisting

the encroachments of free-traders. On the other hand, it was scarcely to

be expected that they would encourage or quietly submit to interference

with what they regarded as the Company's exclusive rights. In spite of

all opposition, however, Dr. Schultz continued to carry on his

operations with great profit to himself for some years. His negotiations

with the Indians and half-breeds rendered it necessary that he should

traverse a wide extent of country, and he thus gained an accurate

knowledge of the topography of the North-West, as well as an intimate

acquaintance with Indian manners, traditions, and customs.

In the spring of 1862 Dr. Schultz was unfortunate enough to be away from

home when the terrible Sioux massacre occurred in Minnesota, completely

cutting off connection between its frontier settlements and Fort Garry,

and spreading devastation and terror throughout the whole of the

North-West. The Doctor, after waiting some time at St. Paul, where he

had been transacting business, attempted the passage through the Indian

country by the "Crow Wing" trail, as it was called. After many days and

nights of cautious travelling, and one capture by the Indians, from

which he owed his release to his ability to convince the savages that he

was English and not American, he arrived safely at Pembina, whence he

made his way to Fort Garry. In 1864 he became the owner and editor of

the _Nor'-Wester_, the pioneer newspaper of the North-West, and laboured

hard through its columns to make the great agricultural value of the

country known. His policy was, of course, diametrically opposed to that

of the Hudson's Bay Company, and as time passed by, the hostility

between that Company and himself became very bitter and implacable. He

subsequently disposed of the _Nor'-Wester_ to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by

whom the paper was conducted at the time of the outbreak to be presently

referred to.

In 1868 Dr. Schultz married Miss Agnes Campbell Farquharson, formerly of

Georgetown, British Guiana. He soon afterwards built the house which was

destined to become historical for the defence against Riel and his

insurrectionary force. In the autumn of 1868 he greatly extended the fur

business in which he was engaged, sending expeditions for that purpose

to the far north and west. The following autumn brought with it the

first mutterings of the Red River Rebellion, and it was seen that Dr.

Schultz was a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents

were sent to him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly

accused him of having been the means of bringing about connection with

Canada, and in the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous

future for him whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked

upon as their leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was

unfortunate, too, in the situation of his residence and trading post,

which were the nearest buildings to Fort Garry, and within easy range of

the field guns which Riel afterwards planted to force the giving up of

the Canadian Government provisions. Upon the actual breaking out of the

insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered severely, both in person and in

purse. His pecuniary losses were recompensed to him by the Government,

but the bodily privations to which he was subjected were the means of

inflicting a shock upon his constitution, the effects of which are still

to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of Fort Garry by the

insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were placed under

surveillance. About fifty of these assembled for mutual safety at Dr.

Schultz's house, about eight hundred yards from the Fort. Here they were

besieged by several hundred of Riel's followers for three days. The

siege does not seem to have been incessant or very active, but there

were more than two hundred armed French half-breeds who kept continually

on the watch, and the inmates were prevented from egress. It is said

that two mounted six-pounders were drawn by the insurgents outside the

walls of Fort Garry, with their muzzles pointed in the direction of the

beleaguered house. The little force inside the building was too small to

enable the besieged to make a permanent resistance, and at last they

were compelled to surrender. They were then marched by the rebels to

Fort Garry and imprisoned there. Dr. Schultz himself, who was the

especial object of Riel's hatred, was placed in solitary confinement,

under a strong guard. His wife, who had insisted on remaining by his

side, was at first permitted to share his imprisonment, but after a few

days she was forcibly separated from him, and it seemed not unlikely

that this separation had been effected by Riel with a view to wreaking

his vengeance on the Doctor by taking his life. Riel himself alleged

that there was no intention of harming any of the prisoners, but that he

considered it desirable to separate Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, lest the

husband should be enabled to escape through the instrumentality of his

wife, who of course was not a prisoner, and who was permitted ingress

and egress at all reasonable hours. Dr. Schultz, however, placed little

reliance on the word of the arch-insurgent. Knowing the sentiments with

which he was regarded by Riel, he felt that his life was liable to be

sacrificed at any moment, and he determined to make an attempt to

escape. This purpose, after being confined for nearly three weeks, he

successfully accomplished. Mrs. Schultz contrived to secretly convey to

him a pen-knife and a small gimlet. With these inadequate means he made

an opening through his cell, large enough to enable him to pass through

into the inner quadrangle of the Fort. On the night of Sunday, the 23rd

of December, 1869, he cut into strips the buffalo-robe which served for

his bed, fastened an end to a projection in his cell, passed through the

opening he had made in the wall, and prepared to descend to _terra

firma_. While he was making the descent one of the strips of buffalo

skin snapped, and he was precipitated violently to the ground. The fall

rendered him temporarily lame, and caused him great suffering, but even

in this disabled condition he managed to scramble over the outer wall

near one of the bastions, and found himself at liberty. He stole away in

the dead silence of night, and after a toilsome march of some hours in a

blinding snow-storm, took refuge in the house of a friendly settler in

the parish of Kildonan. There, in the course of the next few weeks, he

and other Canadians organized a force about six hundred strong, with a

view to releasing their friends who were still imprisoned at Fort Garry.

Everything being in readiness for action, a message, demanding the

release of the prisoners, was despatched to Riel. The demand was

vigorously backed up by the influence of Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, a

prominent citizen of Red River, and Miss McVicar, a young lady from

Canada who was on a visit to the settlement. These two called upon Riel

at Fort Garry, and begged him to avert the bloodshed which would

certainly result if he persisted in detaining the prisoners. Riel, under

the combined influence of his interlocutors and the demand which had

been made upon him by the Canadian forces, displayed the better part of

valour, and promptly released the captives. He was determined, however,

to recapture Dr. Schultz, and sent out several expeditions to discover

his whereabouts. He declared that he would have Dr. Schultz's body, dead

or alive, if it was to be found in the Red River Settlement.

Disappointed at the non-success of his emissaries, Riel started out

himself at the head of an expedition, to scour the settlement, and to

recapture the object of his enmity. The expedition reached the Stone

Fort, or Lower Fort Garry, about midway between the capital of the

settlement and the entrance of Red River into Lake Winnipeg. They

entered the enclosure, and searched every nook and corner of the Fort.

Ill would it have fared with Dr. Schultz had he been discovered there;

but he was far away, and was every hour increasing the distance between

Riel and himself. A large meeting of loyalist settlers had been held, at

which Dr. Schultz was requested to proceed to Canada, and to lay the

real state of affairs before the people there. Such a mission involved

grave perils and hardships, for all the roads leading to Minnesota were

closely guarded by the insurgents, and certain death would have

overtaken the Doctor had he again fallen into their hands. He

determined, however, to make the attempt by way of Lake Superior. On the

21st of February, accompanied only by an English half-breed named Joseph

Monkman, he started on his perilous expedition. News of his having done

so came in due course to the ears of Riel, who sent out scouts in every

direction to intercept him. The Doctor and his companion eluded their

vigilance, and with snow-shoes on their feet struck across the frozen

south-easterly end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Winnipeg River.

They made their way past the rushing cascades of that stream to the Lake

of the Woods; thence across to Rainy Lake, and thence across the

northern part of the State of Minnesota to the head of Lake Superior.

Numerous camps of Indians were encountered on this adventurous march,

and from time to time guides were obtained from the latter. "Over weary

miles of snow-covered lakes; over the watershed between Rainy Lake and

the lakes of the Laurentian chain; over the height of land between Rainy

Lake and Lake Superior; through pine forests and juniper swamps, these

travellers made their way, turning aside only where wind-fallen timber

made their course impossible. Often saved from starvation by the

woodcraft of Monkman; their course guided by the compass, or by views

taken from the top of some stately Norway pine, they found themselves,

after twenty-four weary days of travel, in sight of the blue, unfrozen

waters of Lake Superior. They had struck the lake not far from its head,

and in a few hours presented themselves to the astonished gaze of the

people of the then embryo village of Duluth, gaunt with hunger, worn

with fatigue, their clothes in tatters, their eyes blinded with the

glare of the glittering sun of March." They then learned for the first

time of the terrible event which had occurred at Fort Garry since their

departure--the murder of the unfortunate Thomas Scott. From Duluth they

made their way to Toronto, whither news of their adventures had preceded

them. On the 6th of April an indignation meeting was held in Toronto, at

which a stirring address was delivered by Dr. Schultz, wherein the whole

nature of the Red River difficulty was reviewed. Resolutions expressive

of indignation at Scott's murder, and calling aloud for active

Government interference, were passed. Similar meetings were held, and

similar resolutions passed in Montreal, and in various other cities and

towns in both the Upper and Lower Provinces. The expedition under

Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley was soon afterwards set on foot, but

the account of it has no special bearing upon Dr. Schultz's life, and

need not be given here. The Doctor soon afterwards returned to Manitoba,

where he has ever since resided, and where he exercises a potent

influence over public affairs.

For nearly ten years past Dr. Schultz has been engaged in active

political life. At the first general election after Manitoba became part

of the Dominion, he was elected to represent the county of Lisgar (which

comprises most of the old Lord Selkirk Settlement) in the House of

Commons. The following year he was appointed a member of the Executive

Council of the North-West Territories, which sat in Winnipeg under the

Presidency of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. In this capacity

he was able to utilize his knowledge of the Indians and their wants much

to their advantage, in the passage of a Prohibitive Liquor Law for the

whole of the North-West, and in other measures for the amelioration of

their condition. He was reëlected to represent Lisgar at the general

election of 1872, and again at that of 1874, and again by acclamation at

the last general election. He is a member of the Dominion Board of

Health for Manitoba, a Director of the Manitoba Southwestern

Colonization Railway, one of the Board of Examiners of the Manitoba

Medical Board, a Director of the Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway, and

of the Great Northwestern Telegraph Company. He is moreover one of the

largest land owners in the Province. He is enthusiastic in his views as

to the future of Manitoba, and of the North-West generally, and takes an

active interest in promoting the welfare and prosperity of that part of

the Dominion. Of late years his health has been somewhat less robust

than formerly. This result is partly due to a native energy which

frequently impels him to overtax his physical strength, and partly,

doubtless, to the sufferings and privations above referred to. The

North-West, however, has upon the whole been propitious to the Doctor.

His speculations have made him a thoroughly independent man, so far as

worldly wealth is concerned, and he can well afford to take repose for

the remainder of his life. He is a member of the Liberal-Conservative

Party, and a staunch supporter of the Government now in power at

Ottawa.

THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON.

Judge Burton was born at the town of Sandwich, the most ancient of the

Cinque Ports, in the county of Kent, England, on the 21st of July, 1818.

He was the second son of the late Admiral George Guy Burton, R.N., of

Chatham. He received his education at the Rochester and Chatham

Proprietary School, under the late Rev. Robert Whiston, LL.D., a Fellow

of Trinity College, Cambridge, who subsequently occupied the position of

Head-Master of the Grammar School at Rochester, and who was the author

of several works remarkable for sound scholarship and independence of

thought. Mr. Burton has always held his tutor in honoured remembrance,

and to this day is accustomed to speak of him with the respect due to

his great learning and attainments.

In 1836, the year before the breaking out of Mackenzie's rebellion, Mr.

Burton, then a youth of eighteen, came over to Upper Canada and repaired

to Ingersoll, in the county of Oxford, where he began the study of the

law in the office of his paternal uncle, the late Mr. Edmund Burton, who

then carried on a legal business there. The gentleman last named had

formerly held an office in connection with the Admiralty, and had been

stationed at the mouth of the Grand River during the War of 1812, '13,

and '14. After the close of the war he devoted himself to the law, and

spent the rest of his life in Upper Canada. His presence in this country

was doubtless to some extent the cause of his nephew's emigration from

England. The latter spent the regular term of five years in his uncle's

office in Ingersoll. Upon the expiration of his articles, he was called

to the Bar, in Easter Term, 1842, and settled down to the practice of

his profession in Hamilton, where he was not long in acquiring a large

and lucrative business. He identified himself with the Reform Party in

politics, and took an active part in various local elections. He was

frequently importuned to enter Parliament, but he preferred to confine

his best energies to his professional duties, and, as the years passed

by, his business assumed such dimensions that he had full occupation for

his time. He formed various partnerships, but was always the guiding

spirit of the firm, and became known from one end of the Province to the

other as a sound and learned lawyer. His connexion with Mr. Charles A.

Sadleir lasted for many years, and the firm of "Burton & Sadleir" was

one of the best known in the western part of the Province. On the 9th of

June, 1850, Mr. Burton married Miss Elizabeth Perkins, daughter of the

late Dr. F. Perkins, of Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica, and niece

and adopted daughter of the late Colonel Charles Cranston Dixon, of the

90th Regiment.

The life of an industrious lawyer, though interesting to himself and his

clients, is uneventful, and there is not much to be said about Mr.

Burton's professional career, except that it was a remarkably successful

one. He had many wealthy merchants and corporations for his clients, and

was regarded as an adept in the law relating to railway companies. He

was for many years Solicitor for the City of Hamilton; also for the

Canada Life Assurance Company, of which he is at present a Director,

having been elected to that position soon after his elevation to the

Judicial Bench. In 1856 he was nominated a Bencher of the Law Society of

Upper Canada, and when that body became elective by the profession at

large, under the Ontario Act of 1871, he was elected to the position. In

1863 he was invested with a silk gown.

His elevation to the Bench took place on the 30th of May, 1874, when he

was appointed a Judge of the Court of Error and Appeal. He then removed

to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. Upon the elevation of Mr.

Justice Strong to a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court at Ottawa, in

October, 1875, Mr. Burton became, and still continues to be, the Senior

Justice of the Court of Appeal for this Province. He has filled his

position worthily, and with acceptance to the public and profession. He

has delivered many important judgments. One of these, in the case of

_Smiles vs. Belford et al._, is of special interest to persons connected

with literary pursuits. The plaintiff was the well-known Scottish

writer, Samuel Smiles, author of "The Life of George Stephenson,"

"Industrial Biography," and various other works of a similar character

which have enjoyed great popularity among the young. The defendants were

a firm of publishers in Toronto. The case came before Judge Burton in

the month of March, 1877, by way of appeal from a judgment previously

rendered by Vice-Chancellor Proudfoot; and the effect of Judge Burton's

decision was to affirm the Vice-Chancellor's conclusions. It was held

that it is not necessary for the author of a book who has duly

copyrighted the work in England under the Imperial statute 5 and 6

Victoria, chapter 45, to copyright it in Canada under the Canadian

Copyright Act of 1875, with a view of restraining a reprint of it there;

but that if he desires to prevent the importation into Canada of printed

copies from a foreign country he must copyright the book in Canada. The

judgment is an elaborate one, and well worthy of the careful perusal of

literary men.

LORD DORCHESTER.

Prominent among the band of heroes who accompanied Wolfe on his

memorable expedition against Quebec in 1759 was a gallant hero who held

the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army, and whose name was

Guy Carleton. He was an intimate personal friend of General Wolfe, and

was at that time thirty-seven years of age, having been born in 1722, at

Strabane, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. He had embraced a military

career in his earliest youth, and had already done good service on more

than one hotly-contested field. He had served with distinction under the

Duke of Cumberland on the Continent, and had acquired the reputation of

a brave and efficient officer. He was destined to attain still higher

distinction, both in military and civil affairs, and to preserve for his

king and country the realm which Wolfe died to gain. He has been called

"the founder and saviour of Canada," and if these terms are somewhat

grandiloquent, it must be admitted that they are not altogether without

justification. "If," says a well-known Canadian writer, "we owe to Wolfe

a deep debt of gratitude for the brilliant achievement which added new

lustre and victory to our arms, and placed the ensign of Great Britain

on this glorious dependency of the empire, where he fought and bled and

sacrificed a life his country could ill spare, we assuredly, also, owe

much to those brave and gallant men who preserved this land when

conquered, through dint of hard toil, watchful vigilance, and loss of

blood and life."

Guy Carleton's friendship with Wolfe, who was four years his junior,

dated from their early youth. There are many friendly and affectionate

references to him scattered here and there throughout Wolfe's published

letters, and it is evident that their friendship was founded upon the

highest mutual respect and esteem. Wolfe seems to have lost no

opportunity of pushing his friend's fortunes, and to his patronage the

Lieutenant-Colonel was indebted for many signal marks of favour. When

the General was appointed to take charge of the operations against

Quebec, he was informed by Pitt that he would be allowed to choose his

own staff of officers. He accordingly forwarded his list of names to the

Minister, and among them was that of Colonel Carleton, to whom he had

assigned the office of Quartermaster-General. Carleton, however, had

made himself obnoxious to the King by passing some slighting remarks on

the Hanoverian troops--a most heinous offence in the eyes of the

Elector. When the Commander-in-Chief submitted the list to the

Sovereign, His Majesty, as was expected, drew his pen across Carleton's

name, and refused to sign his commission. Neither Pitt nor Wolfe was

likely to humour the stubborn monarch's whim. Lord Ligonier was

therefore sent a second time into the royal closet, but with no better

success. When his lordship returned to the Prime Minister he was

ordered to make another trial, and was told that on again submitting the

name he should represent the peculiar state of affairs. "And tell His

Majesty likewise," said Mr. Pitt, "that in order to render any General

completely responsible for his conduct, he should be made, as far as

possible, inexcusable if he should fail; and that, consequently,

whatever an officer entrusted with a service of confidence requests

should be complied with." After some hesitation Ligonier obtained a

third audience, and delivered his message, when, obstinate and

unforgiving as the old King was, the sound sense of the observation

prevailed over his prejudice, and he signed the commission as requested.

And so it came about that Colonel Carleton accompanied the conqueror of

Quebec in the capacity of Quartermaster-General on that memorable

expedition, which was fraught with such important consequences to both.

The story of the siege of Quebec is already familiar to readers of these

pages. The only further reference to that siege necessary to be made in

this place is to chronicle the fact that Colonel Carleton was severely

wounded in the hand on the plains of Abraham, and was only a few paces

distant from his commander when the latter received his death-wound. For

his services on that eventful day he was advanced to the dignity of a

Brigadier-General. The next important event in his life necessary to

record was his accession to the Governorship of Canada, as successor to

General Murray. He was already regarded with great favour by the

colonists, who had begun to look up to him as a protector. His character

and conduct have been variously judged, some attributing his wisdom and

gentleness to native goodness of heart, others to a prudent and

far-seeing policy. There is no necessity for inquiring too curiously

into his motives. Suffice it to say that he was regarded with the

highest favour and admiration by the colonists. The Government of his

predecessor, General Murray, had, at the outset, been an essentially

military Government, and had been the reverse of popular with French

Canadians generally. During his _regime_ the French Canadians seem to

have been morbidly given to contemplating themselves as a conquered

people, and to have been ever ready to avail themselves of any pretext

for establishing a grievance. Nor were such pretexts altogether wanting.

The civil and criminal law of England had been introduced into the

colony by royal proclamation, and Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas,

and Chancery had been established for its administration. Now, the law

of England was a system of which the French Canadians knew nothing, and

for which they could hardly be expected to have much enthusiasm. Trial

by jury was an especial bugbear to them. It was incomprehensible to them

that any man who was conscious of the goodness of his cause should wish

to be tried by twelve ignorant men; men who had never studied the

principles of law, and who were very imperfectly educated. That a suitor

should prefer such a tribunal to an erudite judge, whose life had been

spent in the study of jurisprudence, was, to the French Canadians of

those days, pretty strong evidence that the said suitor had little

confidence in the justness of his plea. Moreover, trials were carried on

in the English language, of which the French Canadians in general knew

little more than they knew of English law. A native litigant was

compelled to plead through an interpreter, and not seldom through an

interpreter who could be bribed. Even the higher officials of the courts

were sometimes appointed for political reasons, and were utterly unfit

for positions of trust. It is not too much to say that there were

flagrant instances in which judicial decisions were literally bought and

sold. General Murray's report on the condition of the colony, published

after his return to England in 1766, affords indisputable evidence that

the alleged grievances of the French Canadians were not wholly

imaginary. The ex-Governor cannot be suspected of any undue prejudice in

favour of the native population. He describes the British colonists of

the Province as being, with a few exceptions, the most immoral

collection of men he had ever known. Most of them, he alleged, had been

followers of the army, of mean education, or soldiers disbanded at the

reduction of the troops, who had their fortunes to make, and who were

not very solicitous as to how that end was accomplished. They were

represented as persons little calculated to conciliate the natives, or

to increase the respect of the latter for British laws. The officials

sent out from the mother country to conduct the public service are

described as venal, mercenary, and ignorant. "The Judge fixed upon to

conciliate the minds of 75,000 foreigners to the laws and government of

Great Britain," says the report, "was taken from a jail." Both the Judge

and the Attorney-General were unacquainted with the Civil Law and with

the French language. The chief offices of state were filled by men

equally ignorant, who had bought their situations for a price. Such a

state of things was little calculated to endear British rule to the

French Canadians. The picture is a dark one, but hardly darker than the

facts justified. And such was the posture of affairs when Guy Carleton

succeeded to office as Murray's successor.

He was wise enough to perceive that such a system could not be lasting,

and just enough to desire the establishment of a better one. Scarcely

had he succeeded to office before he made some important changes among

the higher state officials. He deposed two obnoxious councillors, and

set up two better men in their stead. He then turned his attention to

law reform. Previous to the Conquest, the law in vogue in the Province

had been a modification of the Civil Law known as the "Coutume de

Paris." This system, abridged and modified so as to meet the

requirements of the colony, he set himself to reëstablish. Under his

direction some of the leading French lawyers set to work at the task of

compilation. Upon the completion of this work he crossed over to

England, taking the compilation with him for the approval of the

authorities there. He met with strong opposition, and for some time it

seemed doubtful whether he would be able to accomplish the object of his

mission. He was subjected to repeated examinations before the law

officers of the Crown, and before Committees of the House of Commons.

Thurlow, the Attorney-General, opposed the measure with all the forensic

learning he could summon to his aid. The Mayor and Corporation of London

also threw the weight of their influence into the same scale. The great

Edmund Burke exhausted against it all his unrivalled powers of rhetoric.

Finally a compromise was effected, and the famous "Quebec Act" was

passed. It repealed all the provisions of the royal proclamation of

1763, annulled all the acts of the Governor and Council relative to the

civil government and administration of justice, revoked the commissions

of judges and other existing officers, and established new boundaries

for the Province. It released the Roman Catholics in Canada from all

penal restrictions, renewed their dues and tithes to the Roman Catholic

clergy from members of their own Church, and confirmed all classes

except the religious orders and communities in full possession of their

property. The French laws were declared to be the rules for decision

relative to property and civil rights, while the English law was

established in criminal matters. Both the civil and criminal codes were

liable to be altered or modified by the ordinances of the Governor and a

Legislative Council. This Council was to be appointed by the Crown, and

was to consist of not more than twenty-three, nor fewer than seventeen

members. Its power was limited to levying local or municipal taxes, and

to making arrangements for the administration of the internal affairs of

the Province; the British Parliament reserving to itself the right of

external taxation, or the levying of duties on imports and exports.

Every ordinance passed by this Council was to be transmitted within six

months, at farthest, after enactment, for the approbation of the King,

and if disallowed, was to be void on its disallowance becoming known at

Quebec. Such were the principal provisions of the Quebec Act, under

which Canada was governed for seventeen years. There can be no doubt

that its enactment was largely due to Carleton's representations, and it

is not to be wondered at if, when he returned to Canada in the autumn of

1774, he was received with rapturous enthusiasm by the French Canadians,

who made up nearly the entire population of the colony. The Legislative

Council, composed of one-third Catholics and two-thirds Protestants, was

inaugurated. The "Continental Congress," which was then in session at

Philadelphia, made vain overtures to the Canadians to join them in

throwing off the British yoke. The French Canadians believed that they

had more to lose than gain by a change. They had not even yet much love

for British institutions, but they thought they saw a disposition on the

part of the Imperial authorities to accord to them some measure of

justice, and were not disposed to rebel. They were moreover greatly

attached to the Governor who had fought so gallantly on their behalf.

"The man," says M. Bibaud, "to whom the administration of the Government

had been entrusted had known how to make the Canadians love him, and

this contributed not a little to retain, at least within the bounds of

neutrality, those among them who might have been able, or who believed

themselves able, to ameliorate their lot by making common cause with the

insurgent colonies."

A time soon arrived when the fealty of the French Canadians was to be

subjected to a stern and an effectual test. On the 19th of April, 1775,

the revolt of the American colonies assumed a positive shape, and the

skirmish at Lexington took place. The colonists then proceeded to strike

what they believed would prove a deadly blow to Great Britain on this

continent. American forces under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict

Arnold passed over to Canada, believing that they would find the country

an easy prey. Crown Point, which was invested with a very small

garrison, was compelled to yield to the invaders. A similar result

followed the attack of the Americans on Fort Ticonderoga, and the

capture of the only British sloop of war on Lake Champlain gave them

entire supremacy in those waters. Then General Carleton manned himself

"to whip the dwarfish war from out his territories." He at once

determined to recover the forts which had been lost, and proceeded to

raise a militia. But when he appealed to the French Canadians to flock

to the side of their seigniors in accordance with the old feudal customs

for which they professed so much veneration, and which he himself had

been instrumental in restoring to them, he found that he could not count

upon their aid. The seigniors, indeed, were most of them chivalrous and

willing enough, but the peasantry refused to lift hand in a quarrel

which was not of their seeking. Much eloquence has been wasted in

attempting to prove that the French Canadian habitans refused on

principle to rally at this juncture. It has been said that their hearts

warmly sympathized with the struggle of the Americans for freedom, and

that they believed that to aid Great Britain would be to strike a blow

at liberty itself. The facts of the case do not justify any such

assumption. Looking back upon that memorable rebellion by the light of

the hundred years which have elapsed since its occurrence, there are not

many right-thinking persons of British blood who will be disposed to

regret its issue. But the "shot heard round the world," of which Emerson

so eloquently sings, produced no echo in the hearts of French Canadians.

They were simply indifferent. They had no stomach to draw their swords

and perform military service in behalf of a cause which did not appeal

to their enthusiasm. Whatever sympathies they had were undoubtedly

enlisted on the side of the Americans, but these were too weak to impel

them to endanger their lives. They had enjoyed an interval of peace, and

many of their most pressing grievances had been redressed. They owed a

debt of gratitude to their Governor, and they were willing to repay it

by passive fealty; but they were as lukewarm as erst were the people of

Laodicea. It was in vain that the seigniors mustered their tenants and

expatiated on the nature of feudal services, and the risk of

confiscation which they would incur by refusing to render such services

in this hour of need. They almost to a man denied the right of their

seigniors to exact military services from them. In a word, they refused

to fight. The Governor was thus placed in an extremity. He had only two

regiments of troops at his disposal--the 7th and the 26th. Their

combined strength was about 850 men. The British colonists were even

less disposed to draw sword than the native Canadians. The American

Congress believed the Canadian people to be favourable to their cause,

and resolved to strike a blow which should be decisive. They despatched

a force of nearly 2,000 men into Canada by way of the River Richelieu,

under the command of Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. Another

expedition, consisting of a force of 1,100 men, under Colonel Benedict

Arnold, was simultaneously despatched from Boston to Quebec by way of

the Rivers Kennebec and Chaudière. The campaign was not badly planned.

The larger of these forces was to capture the forts on the way from

Albany to Montreal. Upon reaching Montreal that town was to be captured

and invested, after which a descent was to be made to Quebec and a

junction formed with Arnold.

Carleton's situation was sufficiently embarrassing to have dismayed a

man less abundant in energy and less fertile of resource. It only

spurred him on to increased exertion. His two small regiments were

divided between Montreal and Quebec. The colonists, both British and

French, had refused to assist him, and it was doubtful if many of them

would not join the ranks of the invaders. Having proclaimed martial law,

he invoked ecclesiastical aid. The priests were believed to be

all-powerful with the French Canadian population, and he knew that he

could count upon the coöperation of the priesthood. He appealed to De

Briand, Bishop of Quebec, to rouse the peasantry of his diocese. The

Bishop complied with his wishes, and put forth an encyclical letter

enjoining the people to bestir themselves in defence of their country

and their religion. Even this appeal was in vain. The French Canadians

still remained apathetic. Many of the British colonists openly professed

their sympathy with the Americans. The Governor then sought to raise a

militia by offering liberal land-bounties. This appeal to the cupidity

of the colonists was more effectual than the appeals of a more

sentimental nature had been, inasmuch as a few volunteers promptly

enrolled themselves. Valuable assistance also came in from another

quarter. The Province of New York had by this time become an unsafe

place of residence for persons of British proclivities. Colonel Guy

Johnson, who had just succeeded to the position of British Colonial

Agent for Indian Affairs in North America, was compelled to seek safety

in Canada. He was accompanied by Joseph Brant and the principal

warriors of the Six Nations, who had resolved to "sink or swim with the

English." These warriors, with Brant at their head, formed themselves

into a Confederacy, and rallied to the side of Governor Carleton. The

American armaments were meanwhile steadily advancing to the attack.

Early in September the forces under Schuyler and Montgomery reached

Isle-aux-Noix. Proclamations were sown broadcast among the Canadians, in

which it was stated that the invaders had no design whatever on the

lives, the properties, or the religion of the inhabitants, and that

their operations were directed against the British only. General

Schuyler having returned to Albany, the chief command devolved on

Montgomery, who invested Fort St. John, and sent a detachment of troops

to attack the fort at Chambly, while Ethan Allen was despatched with a

reconnoitring party towards Montreal. Allen being informed that the town

was weakly defended, and believing the inhabitants to be favourable to

the American cause, resolved to attempt a capture. Carleton had already

arrived at Montreal to make dispositions for the protection of the

frontier. Learning, on the night of the 24th, that a party of Americans

had crossed the river, and were marching on the town, he despatched all

his available force, consisting of about 275 men, nearly all of whom

were volunteers, against the enemy. The American force, which was only

about 250 strong, was compelled to surrender. Allen and his detachment

thus became prisoners of war. They were at once sent over to England,

where they were confined in Pendennis Castle. Meanwhile General

Montgomery was besieging forts St. John and Chambly. Both these

fortresses, after a brief and ineffectual resistance, were compelled to

surrender. Nearly all the regulars in Canada thus became prisoners of

war, and there was nothing to prevent the Americans from advancing upon

Montreal, which they at once proceeded to do. To defend it with any hope

of success was utterly out of the question, and Carleton, anticipating

Montgomery's intention, burned and destroyed all the public stores, and

left the town by one way just as the Americans entered at the other.

During the night he had a narrow escape from the enemy, who were

encamped at Sorel, and whose sentinels he had to pass in an open boat.

This he successfully accomplished, and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of

November. He hastily made the most judicious arrangements in his power

for the defence of the place. He expelled from the city all those who

were disaffected. Arnold had meanwhile made his desolate march through

the wilderness, and though his forces had suffered terrible privations,

and had been greatly reduced in number by starvation and other perils of

the march, he was now in a position to coöperate with Montgomery. The

united forces succeeded in gaining the city on the 4th of December, and

after concocting their plans, they divided their strength, so as to

attack the city in several places. The siege lasted throughout the

month. Montgomery waited for a night of unusual darkness to make a

daring attempt upon the city from the south. Arnold entrenched himself

on the opposite side of the city. The provisions of the besiegers began

to fail, their regiments were being depleted by sickness, and their

light guns made but little impression on the massive walls. At last an

assault was ordered. It took place before dawn on the 31st of December

(1775). In the midst of a heavy snow storm Arnold advanced through the

Lower Town from his quarters near the St. Charles River, and led his 800

New Englanders and Virginians over two or three barricades. The Montreal

Bank and several other massive stone houses were filled with British

regulars, who guarded the approaches with such a deadly fire that

Arnold's men were forced to take refuge in the adjoining houses, while

Arnold himself was badly wounded and carried to the rear. Meanwhile

Montgomery was leading his New Yorkers and Continentals north along

Champlain Street by the river side. The intention was for the two

attacking columns, after driving the enemy from the Lower Town, to unite

before the Prescott Gate, and carry it by storm. A strong barricade was

stretched across Champlain Street from the cliff to the river; but when

its guards saw the great masses of the attacking column advancing

through the twilight, they fled. In all probability Montgomery would

have crossed the barricade, delivered Arnold's men by attacking the

enemy in the rear, escaladed Prescott Gate, and gained temporary

possession of the place, but that one of the fleeing Canadians, impelled

by a strange caprice, turned quickly back and fired the cannon which

stood loaded on the barricade. Montgomery and many of his officers and

men were struck down by the shot, and the column broke up in panic and

fled. The British forces were now concentrated on Arnold's men, who were

hemmed in by a sortie from the Palace Gate, and 426 officers and men

were made prisoners. The remnant of the American army was compelled to

retreat to some distance from the city. On being reinforced, however,

during the winter, they made a stand for another attack on Quebec, but

disease and famine at last compelled them to retreat. In the spring,

reinforcements arrived from England, and Carleton having first possessed

himself of Crown Point, launched a fleet on Lake Champlain, which, after

several actions, completely annihilated that of the Americans. Further

reinforcements soon afterwards arrived from England under the command of

Major-General Burgoyne, who thenceforward took the military command. He

succeeded in gaining some rather unimportant victories, but was finally

compelled to surrender at Saratoga, with his force of 6,000 men. This

may be said to have put an end to the war. The French Government

recognized the new Republic as an independent nation, and all hope of

keeping the latter under British subjection was abandoned.

Governor Carleton, who had done so much to preserve Canada from falling

into the hands of the Americans, and whose efforts, considering his

limited resources, had been almost incredibly successful, was not a

little chagrined at being superseded in his military command. He

considered that he had been slighted by the Government, and that his

brilliant successes had merited a different reward. And he was right. To

him, more than to any other man, is due the praise of having prevented

Canada from becoming, at least for the time, a part of the American

Republic. Mr. J. M. Lemoine, the historian of Quebec, pays a

well-merited compliment to his memory. "Had the fate of Canada on that

occasion," says Mr. Lemoine, "been confided to a Governor less wise,

less conciliating than Guy Carleton, doubtless the 'brightest gem in the

colonial Crown of Britain' would have been one of the stars of

Columbia's banner; the star-spangled banner would now be floating on the

summit of Cape Diamond."

With a heart smarting under a keen, if not loudly-expressed sense of

injustice, Carleton demanded his recall. His successor, Major-General

Haldimand, having arrived in Canada in July, 1778, Carleton surrendered

the reins of Government to him and proceeded to England. The ministry of

the day, however, mollified his resentment, and paid assiduous court to

him. Various honours and substantial emoluments were conferred upon him.

In 1786 he was raised to the peerage of Great Britain, by the title of

Baron Dorchester of Dorchester, in the County of Oxford--a title still

borne by his descendant, the fourth Baron. During the same year he was

requested to once more take charge of the Canadian Administration. He

consented, and came over to this country as Governor-General and

Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in America. He retained both

these positions for ten years--a period marked by many important civil

reforms, and by the passing of the Constitutional Act of 1791, whereby

Canada was divided into two separate Provinces. Lord Dorchester's tenure

of office tended to still further endear him to the Canadian people, and

to this day his name is held in affectionate remembrance by the

inhabitants of the Lower Province where he resided. He took his final

departure from our shores in the summer of 1796, amid the heartfelt

regret of the people over whose affairs he had so long presided. Upon

reaching England he retired to private life, and did not again take any

prominent part in public affairs. His old age, like that of King Lear,

was "frosty, but kindly," and for twelve years he lived a life of

cheerful and dignified repose. He continued to correspond with friends

in Canada, and in one of his letters, still extant, expresses a wish to

revisit the scenes of his past achievements, and mayhap to lay his bones

among them. The wish, however, was not gratified. He died, after a brief

illness, on the 10th of November, 1808, in his 83rd year.

He married, on the 22nd of May, 1772, Maria, daughter of Thomas, second

Earl of Effingham, by whom he had a family of seven children. His three

eldest sons died in his lifetime. He was succeeded by his grandson,

Arthur Henry, son of his third son, Christopher.

THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND,

_C.B., K.C.M.G._

Among the hundred passengers who landed from the _Mayflower_ at Plymouth

Rock, on the 22nd of December, 1620, was a God-fearing Quaker named John

Howland. He seems to have been unmarried at the time of his emigration;

or at any rate his wife, if he had one, did not accompany him on the

expedition. He settled in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and left

behind him a numerous progeny, whose descendants are to be found at the

present day in nearly every State of the Union. From him, we understand,

the subject of this sketch claims descent. The father of Sir William was

Mr. Jonathan Howland, a resident of Dutchess County, in the State of New

York. The latter was in early life a farmer, but subsequently engaged in

commercial pursuits at Greenbush, in Rensselaer County, on the west bank

of the Hudson River. He died at Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, in the

year 1842. The maiden name of Sir William's mother was Lydia Pearce. Her

family resided in Dutchess County, and were well-known and influential

citizens. This lady still survives, and has attained the great age of

ninety-four years. Soon after the death of her husband she took up her

abode in Toronto, where she has ever since resided.

The subject of this sketch, who was the eldest son of his parents, was

born at the town of Paulings, Dutchess County, New York, on the 29th of

May, 1811. He was brought up to farm work, but early displayed an

aptitude for commercial life. After attending at a public school, and

afterwards for a short time at the Kinderhook Academy, he determined to

embark in a mercantile career. In the autumn of the year 1830, when he

was barely nineteen years of age, he came to Canada, and settled in the

village of Cooksville, on Dundas Street, in the township of Toronto.

Here he obtained a situation as assistant in a country store of the

period. In this store was kept the post-office for the village, the

management of which largely devolved upon his own shoulders. The postal

system in this Province had not then been very elaborately systematized.

The mails for the whole of the western part of the Province passed over

this route. The mail-matter for the different offices was not

classified, but thrown into a bag, from which each successive postmaster

selected such matter as was addressed to his office. The state of the

roads was generally such that the mails had to be carried on horseback.

Young Mr. Howland's duties required him to get up at one o'clock in the

morning to receive the mail, which arrived at Cooksville at that hour.

He was accustomed to select the mail-matter himself from the bag, after

which he would hand the outgoing mail to the carrier, who then passed on

westwardly to Dundas and Hamilton. Such was the primitive method of

handling His Majesty's mail in Upper Canada in the year of grace 1830.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that Mr. Howland, after such practical

experience of the necessity for reform, should have allied himself with

the Reform Party when he began to take a share in the politics of the

country.

His share in politics, however, lay as yet far distant. For some years

he devoted himself exclusively to laying the foundation of the princely

fortune which he subsequently realized. A man with such a remarkable

faculty for success in mercantile life was not likely to remain long an

assistant in a country store. Erelong we find him embarked in business

on his own account, in partnership with his younger brother, Mr. P.

Howland, now of Lambton Mills. Their operations were conducted with the

most careful circumspection, and were so successful that they soon had

several establishments in the townships of Toronto and Chinguacousy. In

addition to a general commercial business they engaged in lumbering,

rafting, the manufacture of potash, and other pursuits incident to

pioneer mercantile life. Their operations increased in volume yearly,

and they became, both commercially and otherwise, men of mark in their

district. The subject of this sketch for some time kept the post office

at Stanley's Mills. Although the quantity of matter distributed by the

mails was infinitesimal in those days as compared with the present, a

country postmaster had no sinecure. The greatest difficulty he had to

encounter was the collection of postage on letters. Those, be it

remembered were the days of high postage. The rate on a single-weight

letter from Great Britain to Upper Canada was 5_s._ 9_d._

sterling--equal, in round numbers, to about $1.50. From Quebec, the rate

was 1_s._ 6_d._ sterling; and the rates from other places were

proportionate. There was little money in the Province, and commercial

transactions largely took the form of barter. The postmaster was

constantly compelled to give credit, for it was an altogether

exceptional thing for a settler to have so large a sum as 5_s._ 9_d._ in

ready money; and to refuse to deliver mail-matter to a poor but

deserving settler would have been neither gracious nor politic for a man

keeping a country store. In this way the postmaster was frequently

compelled to wait for his money for a year, and he was fortunate if he

was not then compelled to receive payment in ashes or produce.

At the time of the rebellion Mr. Howland had become a prosperous man,

and his operations were still extending. There was a good deal of

feeling in his neighbourhood that Mr. Mackenzie had been badly used by

the Family Compact Party, and that many reforms were needed in the body

politic. A deputation of these malcontents waited upon Mr. Howland, and

endeavoured to enlist him in the insurrection which broke out in

December, 1837. Mr. Howland, however, was too wise to connect himself

with an enterprise which never had any chance of being permanently

successful. Moreover, he had not then been naturalized, and as an alien,

he did not deem that he had any right to engage in political contests of

any kind. His naturalization took place soon after the Union of the

Provinces. He did not, however, take any very active part in the

periodical election contests until the general election of 1848, when

Mr. James Hervey Price successfully opposed the Conservative candidate

in the West Riding of the county of York, just prior to the formation of

the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration. Mr. Howland's sympathies

were with the Reform Party, and he worked hard to secure Mr. Price's

return. He thenceforward took a not inactive part in all the election

contests, and always on the side of the Reform Party, with which he

became identified. He had meanwhile removed to Toronto, and had embarked

in a large wholesale business, with large interests in the produce,

milling, and other branches of trade. Among his commercial friends he

enjoyed a high reputation for capacity and genuine business worth. He

became a magnate among the wholesale merchants of Toronto, and amassed a

fine fortune which has steadily augmented. His political views became

more pronounced, and he supported the wing of the Reform Party led by

Mr. Brown after the disruption in its ranks. He soon came to be looked

upon as an eligible candidate for Parliament. His eligibility was proved

at the general elections of 1857, when he was returned to the Assembly

by the constituency of West York, in which he had resided for many

years. He continued to sit for that constituency during the whole of his

Parliamentary career, which was terminated by his acceptance, in 1868,

of the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ontario.

In Parliament, though a steady supporter of the Reform Party, Mr.

Howland was by no means demonstrative in enforcing his views, and was

doubtless valued as a party man chiefly because of his respectability

and personal influence. When the Reform Party came into power in April,

1862, under the leadership of the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald and

Louis Victor Sicotte, Mr. Howland was offered the post of Minister of

Finance, which he accepted and held for a year, when he was succeeded by

the Hon. Luther H. Holton in the Macdonald-Dorion Cabinet, which was

then formed. In that Cabinet Mr. Howland was assigned the office of

Receiver-General. He held this position until the defeat of the

Government in 1864. He was not a member of the Coalition Government as

formed in June of that year, and consequently was not present either at

the Charlottetown Convention, which assembled on the 1st of September,

or at the famous Quebec Conference that met on the 10th of the following

month, at which, during eighteen days' deliberation, the "Seventy-two

resolutions" were agreed to. He was, however, an active and most

influential supporter of the Reform wing of the Coalition; and on the

elevation of the Hon. Mr. Mowat to the Bench in November, 1864, he

succeeded that gentleman as Postmaster-General, and became a member of

the Executive Council. He continued to be Postmaster-General until the

retirement of the Hon. Alexander T. Galt in August, 1866, when he

succeeded the latter as Finance Minister. This office he held till the

Union, when, on the formation of the first Dominion Government, on the

1st of July, 1867, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, and

Minister of Inland Revenue.

In the discharge of his public duties while a Minister of the Crown, Mr.

Howland accompanied Mr. Galt on the mission to Washington, in 1865,

concerning the then proposed renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty. This

mission is memorable for its political rather than its commercial

results, for while with respect to the latter it merely taught Canada

that she must rely upon herself, with respect to the former it almost

led to the breaking up of the Coalition, and to the indefinite

postponement of Confederation. That these grave political results were

merely threatened, instead of having become realities, was largely due

to Mr. Howland, who, considering the gravity of the situation, and

endorsing, also, the Cabinet policy on the Reciprocity question, refused

to follow his leader out of the Government. He accepted instead a

commission to fill up the vacancy created by Mr. Brown's resignation

with an Upper Canada Reformer, thereby preserving the balance of parties

as established in 1864. Mr. Howland was one of the three delegates

representing Upper Canada at the London Conference at which the Union

Act was framed; and for his services there, as well as generally for the

prominent part he had taken in promoting Confederation, he was one of

the two Upper Canada Ministers decorated with the Order of the

Companionship of the Bath, on the 1st of July, 1867.

There was another conference which Mr. Howland attended in 1867, and one

of much political significance--the great Reform Convention held at

Toronto in June, for the purpose of reuniting the Reform Party and

abolishing the alliance with the Conservatives. Messrs. Howland and

McDougall were both present, and vigorously contended against the

restoration of party lines on the old basis; and their course there and

subsequently at political gatherings throughout the country no doubt did

much towards determining the result of the general election held during

the summer of that year.

The work of confederating the British American Provinces was one of

compromise among the statesmen, the political parties and the people

concerned. Nobody, perhaps, got exactly what he wanted; no Province

secured the full realization of its own views; no political party was

able to put its hand upon the scheme, as first framed at Quebec in 1864,

or as subsequently re-modelled in London in 1866-67, and say, "this is

exactly what we wanted." Concessions were made to Conservative opinion

and to Reform opinion; to Protestant feeling and to Catholic feeling; to

the necessities of the several Provinces according to geographical or

other reasons; and in a great degree to the divergent views on

constitutional government held by the representative men who took part

in the negotiations. When, therefore, Mr. Howland, who had been a

leading spirit at the inception of the scheme, claimed that those who

had so far matured it as to fit it for the consideration and judgment of

the Canadian Legislature had deserved well of their country for the

political and personal sacrifices they had made in the cause of general

harmony, he claimed no more than was due to him and his colleagues, and

no more than was, at the time, freely accorded by their supporters.

Mr. Howland's health, which had not been very robust for several years,

became so enfeebled that he desired to retire from the double drudgery

of Parliamentary and Ministerial life; and in July, 1868, he was

appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario, which position

had been, from the Union up to that time, held by Major-General Stisted,

under an _ad interim_ appointment similar to that which had been

conferred on the first Lieutenant-Governors of New Brunswick and Nova

Scotia. Concerning Mr. Howland's tenure of office as Lieutenant-Governor

there is nothing to be said except that he discharged his duties with

ability, and with acceptance to the people. He continued to be

Lieutenant-Governor until the month of November, 1873. In 1875 his

services were again called into requisition by the Government of the day

to report on the route of the Baie Verte Canal.

On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Howland was created a Knight of the Order

of St. Michael and St. George, by the present Governor-General, acting

on behalf of the Sovereign.

He still continues to superintend the most important details of his

great wholesale commercial business in Toronto, and in his seventieth

year preserves a physical and intellectual vigour such as is seldom

found in persons who have passed middle age. He is President of the

Ontario Bank, and of various prosperous mercantile and insurance

companies. He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in

1843, was formerly a Mrs. Webb, of Toronto. She survived her marriage

about six years. By this lady he has several children, one of whom is a

partner in the business, which is carried on under the style of Sir

William P. Howland & Co. Sir William's second wife, whom he married in

1866, was the widow of the late Captain Hunt, of Toronto.

THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D.,

_R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF HALIFAX._

The successor of the late Archbishop Connolly was born at Kilmallock, in

the county of Limerick, Ireland, on the 21st of July, 1821. He received

his education at various schools in his native land, and in 1840, when

he was nineteen years of age, he emigrated to the Province of Nova

Scotia, where he has ever since resided. Soon after arriving in the

Province he was appointed a teacher in St. Mary's College, which had

then recently been established in Halifax by Dean O'Brien. While holding

that position he studied theology, and in 1845 was ordained to the

priesthood. He has ever since been an assiduous promoter of education,

and of the interests of the faith which he professes. His labours have

been conducted with a quiet energy which has been productive of not

unimportant results, but which has not been the means of making him

widely known, as his distinguished predecessor was, beyond the limits of

Nova Scotia. In or about the year 1853 he founded a Society of St.

Vincent de Paul in Halifax, over which he thenceforward exercised a

personal supervision. He subsequently became Vicar-General of the

Diocese of Halifax, an office which he held for some years, and in the

exercise of which he displayed the same quiet zeal which characterizes

all his public actions. Upon his retirement he was presented with an

address, numerously signed by Protestants, as well as by the adherents

of his own faith, expressive of strong regret for his resignation, and

of appreciation of his services.

[Illustration: MICHAEL HANNAN, signed as M. HANNAN ALY. OF HALIFAX]

Upon the death of Archbishop Connolly, on the 27th of July, 1876, all

the Roman Catholic bishops of the Province united in signing a

recommendation to His Holiness in favour of Dr. Hannan's appointment to

the Archiepiscopal See of Halifax. The recommendation was acted upon,

and on the morning of Sunday, the 20th of May, 1877, he was consecrated

and installed at St. Mary's Cathedral, Halifax, with imposing

ceremonies, Bishop Conroy, Papal delegate, acting as consecrating

bishop. His tenure of office has not been marked by any event of special

interest to the public. He devotes himself to the duties pertaining to

his high office, is kind and benevolent to the suffering poor among his

flock, and continues to interest himself in the cause of education,

though, unlike his predecessor, he is in favour of separate educational

training for Protestants and Roman Catholics. "Dr. Hannan's mind," says

a contemporary writer, "is of a different stamp from that of his

illustrious predecessor--not different in degree, but in mould.

Archbishop Connolly was emotional and impetuous, fervid and eloquent,

with a clear head and a warm Irish heart, which sometimes carried him

away. Dr. Hannan, on the other hand, is calm and equable, with a

judgment naturally sound and solid, a temper not easily ruffled, and a

sagacity seldom at fault."

GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A.

The life of Professor Young has been even less eventful than commonly

falls to the lot of persons of purely scholastic pursuits. He was born

on the 28th of November, 1818, at the border town of

Berwick-upon-Tweed--one of the few walled towns to be found in Great

Britain at the present day. In his boyhood he attended the schools of

his native town, whence he passed to the High School of Edinburgh. He

subsequently entered the Edinburgh University, and attended the lectures

of Professor Wilson--the "Christopher North" of _Blackwood's

Magazine_--who then occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy there. During

his early years he was an industrious student, and displayed that great

aptitude for mathematical and philosophical inquiry by which his

subsequent career has been distinguished. After obtaining his degree he

was for some time employed as a mathematical teacher in the Dollar

Academy, Clackmannanshire. After the Disruption of the Scottish National

Church, in 1843, he entered the Theological Hall of the Free Church,

which had just been opened at Edinburgh, and became a candidate for the

ministry, attending the lectures of the late Dr. Chalmers and other

eminent divines. After his admission to the ministry he was placed in

charge of the Martyr's Church, Paisley, but remained there only a few

months, having resolved to emigrate to Canada where he had many friends

among the ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church. This

resolution was carried out in 1848. Immediately upon his arrival in this

country he was inducted into the pastorate of Knox Church, Hamilton,

where he remained three years, at the expiration of which he resigned

his charge, and accepted the Professorship of Mental and Moral

Philosophy in Knox College, Toronto. His fondness for philosophical

studies, and his wide acquaintance with philosophical literature, marked

him out as peculiarly fitted for such a position. The sphere of his

duties gradually widened, and in addition to Mental and Moral Philosophy

and Logic, he soon had under his charge Exegetical Theology and the

Evidences of Christianity--departments which are now in charge of

Principal Caven and Professor Gregg.

During his Professorship in Knox College, Professor Young contributed

some remarkable papers on philosophical subjects to the pages of the

_Canadian Journal_. One of these, containing a brief exposition of some

points in the Hamiltonian philosophy of matter, reached the hands of Sir

William Hamilton himself, the most eminent exponent of the Scottish

philosophy. The latter was so impressed by the merits of the paper that

he addressed to the author a long and very complimentary letter, in

which he bore testimony to Professor Young's power of grasping and

elucidating the most abstruse points in a philosophical system of which

he was not the originator. Such a testimony, from such a source, must

have been highly gratifying to Professor Young, for Sir William was not

a man given to wasting his words, and would certainly not have written

such a letter to a stranger had he not been very greatly impressed by

the merits of the article in the _Journal_. Various other articles from

his pen have from time to time appeared in the same periodical, and

every one of them bears the stamp of a mind which, to parody Iago's

well-known saying, is "nothing if not mathematical." While on the

subject of authorship it may be mentioned that in 1854 a theological

work from his pen was published at Edinburgh, under the title of

"Miscellaneous Discourses and Expositions of Scripture." In 1862 he

published in the _Home and Foreign Record_ a paper on "The Philosophical

Principles of Natural Religion," which evoked much favourable comment

alike from the religious and secular press at the time of its

publication.

After discharging his professorial duties in connection with Knox

College for about ten years with much zeal, and with great satisfaction

to all persons concerned, Professor Young resigned his position on the

Staff. In taking this important step he gave proof of an honesty and a

genuine manliness of purpose which are worthy of the highest

commendation. His philosophical researches had brought about a state of

mind which, in his own opinion, rendered him unsuited to the position of

a teacher of divinity. He was no longer in entire sympathy with the

doctrines which he was called upon to expound to the students. How far

the divergence extended we have no means of knowing, nor is it a

question into which the public have any right to inquire. A man's

theological beliefs are between himself and his Maker. It is sufficient

to say that Professor Young resigned his Professorship and his

connection with the ministry, and this without having any other means of

livelihood in prospect. "His course," says a contemporary writer, "was

characterized by an amount of intellectual candour and moral courage

which do him credit, and is in striking contrast with the practice of

those who, on finding themselves at variance with the communion to which

they belong, and in the attitude of drifting away from their dogmatic

moorings, have neither the discretion to await in silence the end of

their own intellectual struggle, nor the courage of their convictions,

and the resolution requisite for placing themselves at any sacrifice in

a position to speak and act on them without restraint." He soon

afterwards found a suitable field for the exercise of his talents. The

position of Inspector of Grammar Schools was offered to, and accepted by

him, and for more than four years he discharged the duties of that

office with a diligence and success which have been attended with great

benefit to the public, and which have won wide recognition. His tenure

of office, indeed, may be said to mark an important epoch in the

educational history of this Province. At the time of his appointment,

the Grammar School system was singularly inefficient. The fact of its

inefficiency had long been acknowledged by leading educationists, but no

one had indicated anything like an adequate remedy. Mr. Young's official

reports not only exposed the defects of the system, but suggested the

requisite legislation whereby those defects might be removed. His

reports for the years 1866 and 1867 were deemed of sufficient importance

to be published in full in the Chief Superintendent's Report for the

latter year, and they were the means of bringing about a revolution in

the whole Grammar School system. Most of the suggestions embodied in

them have since been acted upon by the Legislature, and the School Acts

of 1871, 1874 and 1877 are to a large extent founded upon them.

Having accomplished so much, Professor Young resigned his Inspectorship,

and once more accepted the position of Professor of Philosophy in Knox

College, but his duties during his second tenure of the Professorship

did not involve the teaching of Theology. Upon the death of the late Dr.

Beaven, in 1871, he succeeded to the Chair of Metaphysics and Ethics in

University College, Toronto, which he still retains. His incumbency has

been marked by most gratifying results. The subjects taught by him are

by many persons regarded as dry and uninteresting. Professor Young's

lectures are so much the reverse of this that they are sometimes

attended as a matter of choice by persons who never approach the

building in which they are delivered for any other purpose. To render

metaphysics and ethics acceptable to persons who have no special object

to serve by pursuing such studies is an achievement of which any

Professor might justly feel proud. His department, which was formerly

the most unpopular in the University, has become one of those most

resorted to by candidates for honours. He is equally popular as a

teacher and as an examiner, and is said to be one of the most erudite of

men in the literature of his department. He is also very eminent as a

mathematician, and has made original discoveries in that branch of study

which, in the estimation of persons who are capable of forming an

opinion, entitle him to rank among the foremost of living

investigators.

THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER.

Judge Fournier is the son of William Fournier, of Bécancour, in the

Province of Quebec. He was born at St. François, Rivière du Sud,

Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a

pupil of the Abbé Ferland. At an early age he entered the law office of

the late Hon. R. E. Caron, as a student. At the age of twenty-two he was

called to the Bar of Lower Canada. In 1857 he married Miss Demers. In

1863 he was created a Queen's Counsel, and in the course of his

professional career has been Batonnier and President of the General

Council of the Bar of the Province of Quebec. He was one of the

principal editorial writers engaged on _Le National_, a Liberal journal

which was published at Quebec in 1856-7-8. His writings were

characterized by great breadth of view and vigour of expression, and his

editorials exerted considerable influence. In 1854 he was an

unsuccessful candidate in the Reform interest for the constituency of

Montmagny, in the Canadian Assembly. In 1857 he contested an election

for the same Chamber, for the City of Quebec, and was again defeated. He

was an unsuccessful candidate for Stadacona Division in the Legislative

Council in 1861, and for De la Durantaye division in the same House, in

1864. He was first returned to Parliament in 1870, when he was elected

to the Commons for Bellechasse. This seat he held until his appointment

to the Bench. He also sat for Montmagny in the Quebec Assembly from the

general election of 1871 until the 7th of November, 1873, when he

resigned, on taking office in Mr. Mackenzie's Administration as Minister

of Inland Revenue. He was sworn of the Privy Council on that day, and on

the 8th of July, 1874, was appointed Minister of Justice. On the 19th of

May, 1875, he was transferred to the Postmaster-Generalship of the

Dominion, where he remained until his elevation to the Bench, as a

Puisné Judge of the Supreme Court, in October of the same year. Among

the measures introduced and carried through Parliament by M. Fournier as

Minister of Justice, the most notable are the Supreme Court Bill and the

Insolvency Act of 1875. In his judicial capacity he has been concerned

in two very important causes. The first of these is the famous Jacques

Cartier contested election case, decided in April, 1878, in which

Justices Taschereau and Henry coincided with Justice Fournier in the

opinion that the seat of the Hon. Mr. Laflamme should not be vacated,

and that the appeal should be dismissed. The Charlevoix contested

election case forms the second. Justice Strong delivered an elaborate

judgment, sustaining the plea of the Hon. Hector L. Langevin, that

judgments as preliminary objections were not appealable. Justices

Fournier and Taschereau dissented from this opinion, but Chief-Justice

Richards and Justice Henry concurring, Mr. Langevin was confirmed in his

seat.

THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE.

In view of the fact that this gentleman's name has a very fair chance of

immortality in this Province, it is to be regretted that so little is

accurately known about him, and that only the merest outline of his

career has come down to the present times. Many Canadians would gladly

know something more of the life of the first man who filled the

important position of Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and the desire for

such knowledge is by no means confined to members of the legal

profession. He was the faithful friend and adviser of our first

Lieutenant-Governor, and it is doubtless to his legal acumen that we owe

those eight wise statutes which were passed during the first session of

our first Provincial Parliament, which assembled at Newark on the 17th

of September, 1792.

Nothing is definitely known concerning Chief-Justice Osgoode's ancestry.

A French-Canadian writer asserts that he was an illegitimate son of King

George the Third. No authority whatever is assigned in support of this

assertion, which probably rests upon no other basis than vague rumour.

Similar rumours have been current with respect to the paternity of other

persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little

importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of

March, 1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford,

in 1770, when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a

somewhat prolonged attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he

graduated and received the degree of Master of Arts in the month of

July, 1777. Previous to this time he had entered himself as a student at

the Inner Temple, having already been enrolled as a student on the books

of Lincoln's Inn. He seems at this time to have been possessed of some

small means, but not sufficient for his support, and he pursued his

professional studies with such avidity as temporarily to undermine his

health. He paid a short visit to the Continent, and returned to his

native land with restored physical and mental vigour. In due course he

was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards published a technical work on

the law of descent, which attracted some notice from the profession. He

soon became known as an erudite and painstaking lawyer, whose opinions

were entitled to respect, and who was very expert as a special pleader.

At the Bar he was less successful, owing to an almost painful

fastidiousness in his choice of words, which frequently produced an

embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have been a personal

friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's appointment as

Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy may possible

have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as Chief-Justice

of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in the same

vessel with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon reaching

Upper Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at Kingston,

passed on to Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied the

party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued

to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province, which was

of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and

his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of

civilized life, seem to have been unbearable to his sensitive and social

nature. In 1795 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province,

where he continued to occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he

resigned his position, and returned to England. His services as

Chief-Justice entitled him to a pension of £800 per annum, which he

continued to enjoy for rather more than twenty-two years. For historical

purposes, his career may be said to have ceased with his resignation, as

he never again emerged from the seclusion of private life. He was

several times requested to enter Parliament, but declined to do so.

During the four years immediately succeeding his return to England he

resided in the Temple. In 1804, upon the conversion of Melbourne

House--a mansion in the West End of London--into the fashionable set of

chambers known as "The Albany," he took up his quarters there for the

remainder of his life. Among other distinguished men who resided there

contemporaneously with him were Lord Brougham and Lord Byron. The latter

occupied the set of chambers immediately adjoining those of the retired

Chief-Justice, and the two became personally acquainted with each other;

though, considering the diversity of their habits, it is not likely that

any very close intimacy was established between them. In conjunction

with Sir William Grant, Mr. Osgoode was appointed on several legal

commissions. One of these consisted of the codification of certain

Imperial Statutes relating to the colonies. Another involved an inquiry

into the amount of fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of

King's Bench, which inquiry was still pending at the time of Mr.

Osgoode's death. He lived very much to himself, though he was sometimes

seen in society. He died of acute pneumonia, on the 17th of January,

1824, in the seventieth year of his age. One of his intimate friends has

left the following estimate of his character:--"His opinions were

independent, but zealously loyal; nor were they ever concealed, or the

defence of them abandoned, when occasions called them forth. His

conviction of the excellence of the English Constitution sometimes made

him severe in the reproof of measures which he thought injurious to it;

but his politeness and good temper prevented any disagreement, even with

those whose sentiments were most opposed to his own. To estimate his

character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know him well; his

first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But no person

admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem

which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He died in

affluent circumstances, the result of laudable prudence, without the

smallest taint of avarice or illiberal parsimony."

He was never married. There is a story about an attachment formed by him

to a young lady of Quebec, during his residence there. It is said that

the lady preferred a wealthier suitor, and that he never again became

heart-whole. This, like the other story above mentioned, rests upon mere

rumour, and is entitled to the credence attached to other rumours of a

similar nature. His name is perpetuated in this Province by that of the

stately Palace of Justice on Queen Street West, Toronto; also by the

name of a township in the county of Carleton.

THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS.

At the present day, the name of the Hon. William Morris is less

frequently in men's mouths than it was half a century ago, but it is a

name of much significance to any one familiar with the ecclesiastical

history of this country. There was a time when there were three

prominent political leaders in Western Canada, agreeing in no respect

but in the possession of great abilities and indomitable energy. These

were John Beverley Robinson, who led the Church of England party, better

known by the name of the "Family Compact;" Egerton Ryerson, who headed

the Methodist, which was then the Liberal party; and William Morris, who

led the Scotch Presbyterians with all the gravity and sagacity which are

usually attributed to that class and creed. The first and last named of

these leaders were in Parliament, and guided its rival parties. The

second, from the lobby and the press, exercised, perhaps, greater

influence than either. Mr. Robinson was the most accomplished, Mr.

Ryerson the most versatile, and Mr. Morris the most determined and

persevering. Mr. Robinson contended for the supremacy of the Church of

England, and her exclusive right to the Clergy Reserves, with the

hauteur of a cavalier. Mr. Ryerson, in seeking a share of all good

things for his co-religionists, identified them with the people, and

consequently had it in his power to use the strong plea for equal

justice, which finally prevailed. Mr. Morris sought a share of the

Clergy Reserves for his own Church only, upon the plea that the Church

of Scotland was, by the Act of Union between England and Scotland, as

much an established Church as the Church of England. There have been

many exciting times in the history of Canada, but none has called forth

more powerful exhibitions of feeling, or, we may add, more ability than

the Clergy Reserve struggle--when the Upper Canada Parliament sat at

Little York, with the gentlemen above named for its leaders, and when

the press was directed by Messieurs Ryerson, Mackenzie, Cary and

Collins. Nor did the then leaders sink into oblivion. Mr. Robinson

became Chief Justice of Upper Canada, an office which he filled with

credit from the time of his appointment in 1829 down to his death in

January, 1863, embracing a period of nearly thirty-four years. Mr.

Ryerson became Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, in which

capacity he served his country faithfully from 1844 to 1876. Mr. Morris

became Receiver-General of United Canada, an office in which it would

have been well for the country if he could have been permanently

retained. Possessed of an integrity which gave perfect security that he

would participate in no jobs himself, he had at the same time that

knowledge of men and of business, that patient industry, and that

discriminating judgment which would permit no others to peculate. He

was a model Receiver-General. Such is the characterization of an able

and discriminating writer of twenty and odd years ago, and his remarks

will stand the test of time. The late Mr. Morris was not, perhaps, what

would be called a man of modern ideas, but he was a man of stainless

honour and thorough conscientiousness of purpose. He initiated one of

the most important movements known to Canadian history, and took a

foremost part in the agitation consequent thereupon. He left his mark

upon his time, and transmitted to his posterity a name which is justly

held in respect. For the following particulars of his career, we are

largely indebted to his eldest son, the Hon. Alexander Morris, who has

himself attained to a high place in public life, and whose career has

been sketched in a former portion of this work.

The subject of this memoir was born at Paisley, in Lanarkshire,

Scotland, on the 31st of October, 1786. When he was about fifteen years

of age he emigrated to Upper Canada with his parents, who settled in

Montreal, where his father embarked in a general mercantile business.

This business involved a considerable shipping interest, and was carried

on by Mr. Morris the elder for some years with much success. In process

of time a catastrophe occurred which materially crippled his resources,

and rendered it necessary that he should resort to a new and hitherto

untried occupation. Having lost a homeward bound ship in the Straits of

Belle Isle, and no part of the cargo having been insured, owing to the

carelessness of an agent, and having sustained other heavy losses, he

was compelled to close his business in Montreal, and retire to a farm

near Brockville. In 1809 he died, leaving large debts in Montreal and in

Glasgow. His son William, the subject of this sketch, remained at

Brockville with his brother and the younger members of the family,

helping to support them by his exertions, till the war of 1812 with the

United States commenced, when he left his business and joined a militia

flank company as an Ensign, having received his commission from General

Brock. In October of that year he volunteered, with Lieutenant-Colonel

Lethbridge, in the attack of the British forces on Ogdensburg, and

commanded the only militia gun-boat that sustained injury, one man

having been killed and another wounded at his side by a cannon shot. In

1813 he was present at and took an active part in the capture of

Ogdensburg, having been detached in command of a party to take

possession of the old French fort then at that place--an achievement

which he successfully accomplished. His comrades in arms, some of whom

are still living, speak in high terms of his soldierly bearing, and of

the affection with which he inspired his men, during this early portion

of his career. He continued to serve till 1814, when a large body of

troops having arrived in the Colony from the Peninsula, he left the

militia service, and returned to Brockville, to assist his brother in

the management of the business there.

In 1816, he proceeded with the military and emigrant settlers to the

Military Settlement near the Rideau, and there commenced mercantile

business, at what is now the substantial and prosperous town of Perth,

but which was then a wilderness. He continued for some years to bestow

his active attention on the mercantile business conducted at Perth by

himself, and at Brockville by his brother, the late Mr. Alexander

Morris. In 1820 an incident took place that marked the character of the

man, and was an index to all his future career. In that year, he and his

brother received two handsome pieces of plate from the creditors of

their late father in Glasgow, for having voluntarily, and without

solicitation, paid in full all the debts owing by the estate. Such

respect for a father's memory indicated a high-toned rectitude that

deserved and could not fail to command success. In this year, also, the

political career of Mr. Morris commenced, he having been elected by the

settlers to represent them in the Provincial Parliament. He soon took an

active and prominent part in that assembly, and in 1820 took one of the

leading steps in his political life, when he moved and carried an

address to the King, asserting the claim of the Church of Scotland to a

share of the Clergy Reserves under the Imperial Statute 31 Geo. III.,

cap. 31. With no hostility to the Church of England, but yet with a

sturdy perseverance and a strong conviction of right, he urged the

claims of his own Church, basing them upon the Act of Union between

England and Scotland. The Colonial Government resisted his pretensions,

but sixteen years afterwards the twelve Judges in England decided in

effect that Mr. Morris was right. In 1835 he was elected for the sixth

time consecutively to Parliament for the county of Lanark. In 1836 he

was called to a seat in the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. In 1837

he proceeded to the Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, with a

petition to the King and Parliament from the Scottish inhabitants of the

Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, asserting their claims to equal

rights with those enjoyed by their fellow-subjects of English origin. He

was selected for this mission by a meeting of delegates from all parts

of the Province held at Cobourg. Subsequently he received from the

Scottish inhabitants of the Province a handsome piece of plate, bearing

an appropriate inscription as a token of their approbation of his public

services.

During the troubles of 1837 and 1838 he was actively engaged in drilling

and organizing the militia of the county of Lanark, of which he was

Senior Colonel, and twice sent to the frontier detachments of several

regiments, going in command on one occasion himself. In 1841 he was

appointed Warden of the District of Johnstown, under the new Municipal

Council Act, and carried the law into successful operation. In 1844, he

was appointed a member of the Executive Council in Sir Charles

Metcalfe's Administration, and also Receiver-General of the Province. He

was a most efficient departmental officer, and proved himself to be what

Lord Metcalfe described him--a valuable public servant. While

Receiver-General, he introduced into that department a new system of

management, and paid into the public chest while he held the office

£11,000 as interest on the daily deposits of public money--an advantage

to the public which had never before been attempted. In 1846 he resigned

the office of Receiver-General, and was appointed President of the

Executive Council, the duties of which office he discharged with great

efficiency and vigour. In 1848, on the retirement of the Administration

of which he was a member, he retired to private life, with health

impaired by the assiduous attention he had given to his public duties.

Till the year 1853, when he was seized with the disease which eventually

terminated his career, he continued, when his health permitted, to take

an active part in the proceedings of the Legislative Council.

He was a clear, logical, vigorous speaker, and was always listened to

with respect; and having a very extensive knowledge of Parliamentary law

and practice, he did much to establish the character of legislation in

that branch of the Legislature of which he was so long a member; and

owing to his high moral character and his firm adherence to principle,

he wielded a very beneficial influence in that body. Few public men pass

through a life as long as his was, and carry with them more of public

confidence and respect than did Mr. Morris. He died on the 29th of June,

1858, in the seventy-second year of his age.

THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY McGEE.

Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the most brilliant orators known to Canadian

Parliamentary history, was born at Carlingford, in the county of Louth,

Ireland, on the 13th of April, 1825. He was the fifth child and second

son of Mr. James McGee, an official in the Coast Guard Service, by his

wife, Dorcas Catharine Morgan. The latter was the daughter of a

bookseller in Dublin, who had been connected with the troubles of '98,

and who had been brought to ruin and imprisonment as a member of that

body known, by a strange misnomer, as "United Irishmen." The real or

fancied wrongs of the patriotic bookseller had made a profound

impression upon the susceptible mind of his daughter; an impression

which was never effaced, and which descended, by hereditary

transmission, to her children. The subject of this sketch, like his

little brothers and sisters, was taught at a very early age to hate the

name of the Saxon, and to long for the emancipation of Ireland from the

thraldom of her hereditary foe. His paternal grandfather had also been a

participant in the ill-advised attempt of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; and

when James McGee accepted employment in the Coast Guard Service we may

be sure that he was not actuated by any profound enthusiasm for the

duties of his position. He seems, however, to have discharged those

duties acceptably to his superior officers, and to have attained to a

position which enabled him to provide a comfortable home for his family.

The wrongs of his country were nevertheless a fruitful theme of comment

in James McGee's domestic circle, and the family traditions on both

sides of the house were constantly retailed for the benefit of the

younger members. Reared among such influences, it is not to be wondered

at if young Thomas D'Arcy grew up to manhood without any very fervid

sentiments of loyalty to the British crown. The mischief wrought by his

early training was great, and was destined to exercise a baneful

influence upon his future life. It was only after many years of severe

discipline, and after he had reached an age to think and reflect for

himself that he was able to unlearn the pernicious teachings of his

childhood. He never ceased to regard the land of his birth with the

affection of a large-hearted patriot, but he grew, in course of time, to

rate at their true value the wild revolutionary projects which for many

years impeded his intellectual advancement, and engrossed so large a

share of his energies. He outgrew the follies of his early youth, and

learned wisdom in the school of experience. He conceived nobler and more

practical schemes for the advancement of the race from which he sprang;

and there is abundant reason for believing that, had his life been

spared, he would have developed into a broad and enlightened

statesman. His untimely death was a loss to the "New Nationality"

which he had helped to call into existence, and a grievous, almost

irreparable loss to the Irish race in Canada. The assassin who sent him

to his doom perpetrated a crime against humanity, but more especially

against his fellow countrymen settled in this Dominion, when he shed the

blood of Thomas D'Arcy McGee.

[Illustration: THOMAS DARCY McGEE, signed as T. D. McGEE]

He was, of course, reared in the faith of his ancestors, and was

throughout his life a zealous adherent of the Roman Catholic Church. He

was christened, in honour of his godfather, Mr. Thomas D'Arcy, a

gentleman who resided in the neighbourhood of Carlingford, and who was a

personal friend of the family. His mother, who was possessed of a good

education, took a pride in directing his infant studies, and by her he

was taught to read and write. He seems to have been her favourite son,

and he returned her affection with all the enthusiasm of an ardent and

poetic nature. She was a melodious singer, and delighted to hold her

little boy on her knee while she sang to him those heart-stirring old

ballads which stir the blood like the blast of a trumpet. Sometime in

1833, when he was eight years of age, his father was promoted to a more

lucrative office than he had previously held. This promotion

necessitated the removal of the family to the historic old town of

Wexford, where the subject of this sketch began to attend a day-school.

We have no accurate information as to the course of study pursued by

him, but as this establishment afforded the only scholastic training

which he ever received, it is tolerably certain that he must have made

good use of his time, for in after years he gave evidence of possessing

a fair share of that peculiar knowledge which is seldom, if ever,

acquired outside the walls of the schoolroom. The family had not long

been settled at Wexford when it was deprived of its maternal head. The

memory of his dead mother was ever afterwards cherished by young McGee

with a hallowed fondness which found frequent expression. "Through all

the changeful years of his after life," says Mrs. Sadlier, "her gentle

memory shone like a star through the clouds and mists that never fail to

gather round the path of advancing life."[11]

Notwithstanding the hindrances under which his genius was developed,

Thomas D'Arcy McGee from a very early age gave unmistakable evidence of

the possession of uncommon abilities. He learned his lessons, whatever

they were, with astonishing rapidity, and without any apparent mental

effort. He was endowed with an ardent imagination, delighted in poetry,

and had ever at command a flow of that brilliant eloquence and wit which

are the especial birthright of so many of the sons of Erin. He read

much, and remembered everything of importance that he read. He had an

especial fondness for the history and literature of his native land, and

was never weary of declaiming to his youthful associates about

"Ireland's Golden Age." He lived an imaginative life, and indulged in

all sorts of wild dreams about the future of his race. He had his full

share of ambition, however, and saw no means whereby he could acquire

fame and influence at home. Like many another clever young Irishman, he

cast longing eyes across the Atlantic, to that favoured land where

hundreds of thousands of his race have found refuge from the buffetings

of adverse fortune. When he was seventeen years of age he emigrated to

the United States, accompanied by one of his sisters. After a brief

visit to a maternal aunt who resided at Providence, Rhode Island, he

repaired to Boston, whither he arrived in the month of June, 1842. A few

days later came the annual Fourth of July celebration, which afforded

him an opportunity of addressing a large crowd of his

fellow-countrymen. His various biographers unite in describing his

eloquence on this occasion as something marvellous. When it is borne in

mind that he was only seventeen years of age, and that his audience was

chiefly composed of emotional Irishmen, ready to applaud any sentiment

from the young orator's lips, so long as it was sufficiently

anti-British in its tone, a considerable discount from the

commonly-accepted estimate is permissible. The speech was probably a

fervid, audacious, emotional effort, partaking largely of the

"spread-eagle" character, and addressed to the prejudices of the

audience rather than to their calm judgments. It answered the speaker's

purpose, however, by attracting a due share of attention to himself. A

day or two later he obtained employment on the staff of the Boston

_Pilot_, a weekly newspaper which was then, as now, the chief exponent

of Irish Roman Catholic opinion in New England, and which was then, and

for many years afterwards, controlled and published by Mr. Patrick

Donahoe. To its columns young McGee contributed some "slashing"

articles, and numerous short poems on national subjects, all of which

were eminently calculated to compel admiration from its readers. Two

years later he succeeded to the chief editorship. He had meanwhile

acquired a good deal of additional knowledge as to the proper functions

of a journalist, and had adopted a somewhat more chastened style than he

had brought with him across the Atlantic. He had also begun to make a

figure on the lecture platform, and had thrown himself with great

enthusiasm into the agitation on the subject of "Repeal," which was then

at its height both in Ireland and in America. His efforts on behalf of

this movement reached the ears of the great Liberator, Daniel O'Connell

himself, who, at a public meeting held in Ireland, referred to young

McGee's editorials and metrical effusions in the _Pilot_ as "the

inspired writings of a young exiled Irish boy in America." The result of

the notoriety thus gained was an offer to Mr. McGee from the proprietor

of the _Freeman's Journal_, of Dublin, to take the editorship of that

widely-circulated paper. The offer was accepted, and early in 1845, at

the age of twenty, our poet-journalist returned to his native land, and

"took his place in the front rank of the Irish press." His connection

with the _Freeman's Journal_, however, was not of long duration. The

line of editorial action prescribed by the management was altogether too

moderate for the radical young Irishman, who had had it all his own way

during his three years' sojourn in the United States, and who believed

himself well fitted to instruct his fellow-countrymen on all subjects,

whether political or otherwise. Mr. O'Connell had laid down certain

limits beyond which the National or Old Ireland Party must not pass. Of

that Party the _Journal_ was the accredited organ, and the editor thus

found himself out of harmony with his position. The Liberator was too

Conservative for him, and was seeking the enfranchisement of Ireland by

what he regarded as too slow a process. Conceiving himself to be fully

competent to instruct Mr. O'Connell as to the political necessities of

Ireland, he was not disposed to submit to dictation. The doctrine of

"moral force" advocated by the _Journal_ had no charms for him. He was

young, enthusiastic, and governed almost entirely by his imagination.

After a brief interval he withdrew from his editorial position, and

allied himself with the "Young Ireland" Party, as it was called. This

alliance brought him into intimate relations with Mr. Charles Gavan

Duffy, known to us of the present day as the Hon. Sir Charles Gavan

Duffy, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Australia. Mr.

Duffy, in conjunction with Thomas Davis and John Dillon, had several

years before this time established the _Nation_, at Dublin. The _Nation_

was written with that brilliancy of genius and that absence of judgment

which are not unfrequently found allied. It numbered among its

contributors many of the brightest young spirits in Ireland. It went far

beyond Mr. O'Connell and the _Freeman's Journal_ in its demands, and

notwithstanding the ability displayed in its columns, it was neither

more nor less than a disseminator of sedition. With the fortunes of this

paper, and of the "Young Ireland" Party whose platform it advocated, Mr.

McGee now associated himself. His excuse, as well as that of most of his

collaborateurs, is to be found in the attributes of youth. He himself

had not completed his majority, and very few members of the party were

ten years older. They were chiefly composed of briefless but brilliant

young barristers, fiery journalists, and hot-headed students. Their

scheme, in course of time, developed into an association which was

grandiloquently styled "The Irish Confederation," towards one of the

wings whereof Mr. McGee occupied the position of secretary. He

contributed spirit-stirring ballads and editorials to the _Nation_,

delivered vehement harangues to the committees, and went about as deep

into the insurrection as Smith O'Brien himself. He was necessarily

brought into intimate relations with Charles Gavan Duffy, who, in his

recent work entitled "Young Ireland," thus describes the effect produced

respectively upon himself and Davis by a first acquaintance with young

Thomas D'Arcy McGee: "The young man was not prepossessing. He had a face

of almost African type; his dress was slovenly, even for the careless

class to which he belonged; he looked unformed, and had a manner which

struck me as too deferential for self-respect. But he had not spoken

three sentences in a singularly sweet and flexible voice till it was

plain that he was a man of fertile brains and great originality: a man

in whom one might dimly discover rudiments of the orator, poet and

statesman hidden under this ungainly disguise. This was Thomas D'Arcy

McGee. I asked him to breakfast on some early day at his convenience,

and as he arrived one morning when I was engaged to breakfast with

Davis, I took him with me, and he met for the first and last time a man

destined to influence and control his whole life. When the Wicklow trip

was projected, I told Davis I liked this new-comer and meant to invite

him to accompany me. 'Well,' he said, 'your new friend has an Irish

nature certainly, but spoiled, I fear, by the Yankees. He has read and

thought a good deal, and I might have liked him better if he had not

obviously determined to transact an acquaintance with me.'"

The French Revolution of February, 1848, rendered these misguided young

men more impulsive and less discreet than ever, and they wrote,

published and uttered the most bloodthirsty diatribes against the

legitimate authorities. They held meetings at which motions of

congratulation to the Provisional Government of France were passed. At

one of these meetings Thomas Francis Meagher advocated the immediate

erection of barricades and the invocation of the God of battles.

Everybody knows the sequel, which would have been tragical had it not

been so inexpressibly ludicrous. The Confederation appointed a

formidable War Directory, and the redoubtable O'Brien himself took the

field at the head of his troops. It was a perilous time for the hated

Saxon, but somehow or other the hated Saxon did not seem to realize his

danger. When the insurgents broke out into open rebellion, a few

policemen were sent out against the portentous Confederacy, which was

soon scattered and dispersed to the four winds. O'Brien himself was

arrested in a cabbage garden near Ballingarry. He was tried on a charge

of high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. The sentence was

commuted to transportation for life, and as soon as the Government could

do so with any show of decency, it permitted him and his fellow-rebels

to return to their native land. The subsequent history of some of the

leaders in this insurrection is instructive, as showing how little

unanimity of sentiment there was among them, and how little fitted they

were to be entrusted with the management of a great enterprise. O'Brien

had already shown by his unconstitutional conduct in Parliament that he

was lamentably devoid of self-control and common sense. A man labouring

under such deficiencies may very safely be left to destroy his own

influence in his own way. While in exile he fretted and fumed, but,

unlike some of his colleagues, had the manliness to keep his parole. It

must be confessed, however, that his motive for keeping it was not of

the highest. He kept it, according to his own admission, merely because

he did not want to do anything that would render it impossible for him

to return to Ireland. When the American Rebellion broke out, in 1861, he

issued a manifesto from Ireland--whither, by the clemency of the

Government which he had sought to subvert, he had been permitted to

return--on behalf of the Confederacy. John Mitchel, another leading

spirit in the fiasco of 1848, also became a fanatical champion of the

slaveholders. Thomas Francis Meagher took a military command in the army

of the North. Others headed the riots in New York, massacred a goodly

number of negroes and other peaceable citizens in the streets, and did

their utmost to destroy all law and order. "These," says Miss Martineau,

"are apt illustrations of the spurious kind of Irish patriotism, which

would destroy Ireland by aggravating its weakness, and by rejecting the

means of recovery and strength."

Mr. McGee's share in the treasonable schemes of the Confederation

rendered it impossible for him to remain in the British Islands without

constantly encountering the danger of arrest. A few months before the

collapse of the Ballingarry demonstration he had married, and his

complicity in the insurrection thus brought trouble upon another besides

himself. For some of his public utterances on the platform at Roundwood,

in the county of Wicklow, he was seized by the police; but as all

custodians of the peace were instructed to deal leniently with prisoners

who had not actually been taken with arms in their hands, he was allowed

to go his way. Nothing mollified by this mild treatment, he started for

Scotland, to stir up treason among the Irish population there. During

his sojourn in Glasgow he received intelligence of the bursting of the

bubble which he had assisted to inflate, and of the capture of O'Brien.

Hearing that a reward was offered for his own apprehension, he skulked

about from place to place in various disguises, and after some delay,

crossed over to the North of Ireland, where he took refuge in the house

of Dr. Maginn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry. He had an interview

with his wife, after which he sailed for the United States in the guise

of a priest. On the 10th of October, 1848, he landed at Philadelphia,

but soon made his way to New York, where, with the assistance of some of

his compatriots he established a weekly newspaper called the _New York

Nation_. This enterprise started with fair prospects of success, for the

editor was well known to the Irish of New York and its vicinity, and was

regarded by them with a high degree of favour, as a man of strong

anti-British proclivities. The contents of the paper realized the most

sanguine anticipations of its readers, so far as their tone of fanatical

hostility to England was concerned; but the editor's want of judgment

once more involved him in difficulties. In commenting editorially on the

causes of the failure of the Irish insurrection in which he had borne a

part, he threw the blame on the Roman Catholic hierarchy, whose

influence, as he truly alleged, had been put forward to dissuade their

parishioners from joining the ranks of the insurgents. Bishop Hughes, of

New York, felt aggrieved on behalf of the Irish priesthood, and took up

their cause in the local press. It was, of course, not difficult for him

to show that the clergy had acted wisely in discountenancing an

insurrection of the success of which there had never been even the most

remote possibility. There were rejoinders from Mr. McGee in the columns

of the _Nation_, and surrejoinders by the Bishop in various newspapers.

The former must surely have seen that he had made a false move, but he

had not the good sense to profit by the knowledge by either withdrawing

from his position or holding his tongue. The religious sympathies of his

compatriots, and their profound reverence for the priesthood, were

forces against which he contended in vain. He lost caste with the better

class of his fellow-countrymen in America, and came to be regarded by

them as an unsafe mentor. According to their view of the matter, a Roman

Catholic who set himself up to criticize the clergy of his Church was

little better than an atheist. He was a man to be shunned, and, if

necessary, to be put down. The upshot of the controversy was the ruin of

the prospects of Mr. McGee's journal, the publication whereof was soon

discontinued.

He had meanwhile been joined by his young wife and infant daughter. His

prospects during these months were exceedingly problematical. In 1850,

however, he removed to Boston and began to publish the _American Celt_,

a paper which was of precisely the same cast as the defunct _New York

Nation_ had been. It was full to the brim of hatred and rancour against

Great Britain, and its "mission" seemed to be to influence all the evil

passions of the Irish race in America. By degrees, however, Thomas

D'Arcy McGee began to feel the influence of the civilized atmosphere in

which his life was passing. He figured conspicuously on the lecture

platform, and was necessarily brought into contact with men of good

intellect and high principles. These persons felt and expressed respect

for his abilities, but declined to sympathize with, or even to discuss,

the merits of English rule in Ireland. They tacitly refused to consider

that subject as an absorbing theme for discussion on this continent. He

received much wise counsel, the tenor of which led him, for the first

time in his life, to reflect seriously upon the errors of his past

career. He was apt enough to learn, and gradually the idea began to dawn

upon his mind that all the wisdom and justice in the world are not

confined to Irish bosoms. He began to perceive that there are nobler

passions in the human heart than revenge, and that if a man cannot make

circumstances conformable to his mind, the first thing in his power is

to conform his mind to his circumstances. "The cant of faction," says

Mrs. Sadlier, "the fiery denunciations that, after all, amounted to

nothing, he began to see in their true colours; and with his whole heart

he then and ever after aspired to elevate the Irish people, not by

impracticable Utopian schemes of revolution, but by teaching them to

make the best of the hard fate that made them the subjects of a foreign

power differing from them in race and in religion; to cultivate among

them the arts of peace, and to raise themselves, by the ways of peaceful

industry and increasing enlightenment, to the level even of the more

prosperous sister-island."

This radical change of opinion was not brought about in a day, nor in a

year. The progress of the mental revolution was slow, but certain, and

by degrees the past of Thomas D'Arcy McGee stood revealed to him in all

its insufficient barrenness. He fought against his

steadily-strengthening convictions as long as he could, but his judgment

and good sense at last won the day. In the month of August, 1852, he

liberated his mind in a letter published in the _Celt_, and addressed to

his friend Thomas Francis Meagher. In that letter he unfolded with much

frankness the process by which he had been led to modify his opinions,

and referred to the scheme of the past as "the recent conspiracy against

the peace and existence of Christendom." His emancipation was complete,

and from this time forward there was an entire revolution in the tone of

all his writings and public speeches. Instead of writing diatribes

against the irrevocable he adopted "Peace and good will among men" as

his motto. Amicable relations were restored between him and the Roman

Catholic hierarchy, and erelong, at the request of the late Bishop

Timon, of Buffalo, he removed the office of publication of the _Celt_ to

that place. He continued the publication for about five years after the

removal, during which time he made many friends and achieved a fair

share of worldly prosperity. He was a diligent, albeit rather a fitful

student, and amassed a considerable fund of political and general

knowledge. His paper was regarded as the chief exponent of Irish

Catholic opinion on this continent, and as a standard authority on all

matters connected with Irish affairs. Some of his ablest lectures were

composed and delivered during this period, and some of them were the

means of greatly extending his reputation. Among those which evoked the

most flattering criticism from the press, those on "The Catholic History

of America," "The Irish Reformation," and "The Jesuits" occupy the

foremost place. The many demands upon his time did not prevent him from

engaging in various laudable enterprises for ameliorating the moral and

social condition of his countrymen in America, and from putting forth

many valuable suggestions for their guidance. It was his special object,

says one of the most sympathetic of his critics, to keep them bound

together by the memories of their common past, and to teach them that

manly self-respect which would elevate them before their

fellow-citizens, and keep them from political degradation. He strove to

make them good citizens of their adopted country, lovers of the old

cradle-land of their race, and devoted adherents of what to them was

"the sacred cause of Catholicity." Among other schemes vigorously

propounded by him for their material advancement was that of

colonization--"spreading abroad and taking possession of the land;

making homes on the broad prairies of the all-welcoming West," instead

of herding together in the tenement houses of the large cities. In

furtherance of this project he organized a Convention at Buffalo at

which he addressed the assembled representatives with great eloquence.

He began, however, to experience the pecuniary difficulties inseparable

from the conduct of a newspaper which declines to ally itself with any

political party, for he had persistently held aloof from the troubled

sea of party-politics in the United States. These difficulties

increased, and were sometimes so great as to occasion serious

embarrassment. His future prospects were not bright, and he looked

forward with some anxiety. When matters had reached a pretty low ebb

with him he was advised to change his base of operations. His

journalistic pursuits and his platform experiences had brought him into

contact with many prominent Irish Canadians, with some of whom he had

formed warm personal friendships. By these gentlemen he was urged to

take up his abode in Montreal, where, as he was informed, the want of a

ruling mind such as his was sensibly felt by the rapidly-increasing

Irish population. It was further represented to him that the

appreciation he had met with in the United States had been by no means

commensurate with his deserts, and that his compatriots in Canada stood

in urgent need of his services. To such representations he was not

disposed to turn a deaf ear, more especially as the pecuniary outlook in

Buffalo was far from encouraging. After careful deliberation he assented

to the proposal which had been made to him, disposed of his interest in

his newspaper, and removed to Montreal with his family early in 1857.

The manner of his reception in Montreal was such as could not fail to be

highly gratifying to his feelings. His fellow-countrymen vied with each

other in doing him honour, and in affording him material support. He

established a newspaper called the _New Era_. His acquaintance with

Canadian affairs at this date was not very wide, and he was compelled to

take a somewhat non-committal stand on many questions which the public

had at heart. On one subject, however, he spoke with no uncertain sound.

He advocated with great energy and eloquence the scheme of an early

union of the various British colonies in North America. The _New Era_

did not realize, in a pecuniary sense, the expectations of its founder,

but as matters turned out, its success or non-success was a matter of

little importance. At the next general election Mr. McGee, after a close

contest, was returned to Parliament as the representative of Montreal

West. The publication of the newspaper was discontinued, and he devoted

himself to his duties as a legislator.

From the time of first taking his seat in Parliament he was a

conspicuous figure there; but it must be confessed that during the

earlier sessions of his Parliamentary career he did little to inspire

the public with any belief in his profound statesmanship. He arrayed

himself on the side of the Opposition, and attacked the then-existing

Cartier-Macdonald Administration with all the fiery eloquence at his

command. "It was observed," says Mr. Fennings Taylor, "that he was a

relentless quiz, an adroit master of satire, and the most active of

partisan sharpshooters. Many severe, some ridiculous, and not a few

savage things were said by him. Thus from his affluent treasury of

caustic and bitter irony he contributed not a little to the personal and

Parliamentary embarrassments of those times. Many of the speeches of

that period we would rather forget than remember. Some were not

complimentary to the body to which they were addressed, and some of them

were not creditable to the person by whom they were delivered. It is

true that such speeches secured crowded galleries, for they were sure to

be either breezy or ticklish, gusty with rage, or grinning with jests.

They were therefore the raw materials out of which mirth is

manufactured, and consequently they ruffled tempers that were remarkable

for placidity, and provoked irrepressible laughter in men who were

regarded as too grave to be jocose. Of course they were little

calculated to elicit truth, or promote order, or attract respect to the

speaker. Mr. McGee appeared chiefly to occupy himself in saying

unpleasant and severe things; in irritating the smoothest natures, and

in brushing everybody's hair the wrong way." The personalities in which

he permitted himself to indulge were frequently in the worst conceivable

taste, and he raised up for himself many enemies. It began to be

suspected that this brilliant Irishman, whose advent into Canadian

political life had been heralded with so loud a flourish of trumpets,

was no heaven-born statesman, after all. He said some clever things in

the course of his speeches, and a good many other things that were

neither clever nor sensible. There was an evident desire on his part to

attract attention to himself, and his self-consciousness was sometimes

so marked as to be positively offensive. It was difficult to say why he

had joined the ranks of the Opposition. Of the local politics he, at the

time of his entry into Parliament, knew little or nothing, and there was

not much in common between him and the leaders of the Party to which he

had attached himself. The latter could not feel as though their ranks

had been very powerfully strengthened by such an accession. As the years

passed by, however, D'Arcy McGee became more tractable, and--be it

said--more sensible. He never entirely overcame his fondness for

displaying his Irish wit on the floor of the House, but he taught

himself to be more amenable to certain rules of debate which are tacitly

recognized among the members of all grave deliberative assemblies. To

put the matter in plain English, he less frequently transgressed the

bounds of decorum and sober good-breeding. With increase of years came

increase of knowledge as to the needs of the country, and as to the

proper functions of a legislator. His intellectual vision became keener,

and his views acquired breadth. It began to be apparent that there was a

serious side to his character, and that he could rise to a high level

upon a great occasion. No one had ever doubted that he possessed a

goodly share of genius, but he began to show that he also possessed more

practical qualifications for a statesman. Though largely endowed with

the poetical temperament, he did not disdain to interest himself in such

prosaic matters as statistics, and could make an effective speech of

which figures formed the main argument. His oratory, though florid and

discursive, began to exhibit symptoms of a genuine manly purpose. He

studied law, and in 1861 was called to the Bar of the Lower Province,

though he never seriously devoted himself to the practice of that

profession. He continued to fight in the Opposition ranks until the

downfall of the Cartier-Macdonald Ministry in the month of May, 1862. In

the Administration which succeeded, under the leadership of John

Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte, he accepted office as

President of the Council. After the resignation of the Hon. A. A.

Dorion, he also acted for some time as Provincial Secretary. Upon the

reconstruction of the Administration in the following year he was not

invited to take a portfolio, and his dissatisfaction at the cavalier

treatment to which he had been subjected soon began to make itself

apparent. He crossed the House, and voted against the new Government,

accompanying his votes with remarks the reverse of complimentary to the

Premier. Upon the formation of the Taché-Macdonald Government, which was

nothing if not Conservative, in March, 1864, Mr. McGee became Minister

of Agriculture; a position which he continued to hold until the

accomplishment of Confederation. He had thus completely changed sides,

though it does not appear that his party convictions had undergone any

material modification, and it was alleged, with some show of truth, that

he was actuated more by pique than by principle.

In the proceedings which resulted in Confederation Mr. McGee took a

conspicuous and an honourable part. The union of the British North

American Provinces, as we have seen, had been advocated by him from the

time of his first arrival in the country. Independently of his speeches

in the House, which were among the most brilliant efforts evoked by the

occasion, he did good service by his writings in the public press, and

by lectures and addresses delivered by him in various parts of Canada

and the Maritime Provinces. In order that he might be relieved from

pecuniary cares by which he was sometimes beset, his friends throughout

the country organized a fund on his behalf, and purchased and presented

him with a comfortable, well-appointed homestead in Montmorenci Terrace,

St. Catherine Street, Montreal, wherein he and his family found a

resting-place during the remaining years of his life. He was thus

enabled to address himself to his cherished projects with comparative

freedom from anxiety.

In 1865 he repaired to England as a Member of the Executive Council to

confer with the Imperial Government upon the great question of

Confederation. During his absence he, after an interval of seventeen

years, once more set foot on his native land, and paid a visit to

Wexford, the home of his boyhood, where he was the guest of his father.

During his sojourn at Wexford on this occasion he delivered an eloquent

speech on the condition of the Irish race in America. He publicly

deplored the part he had played in the troubles of 1848, and enlarged

upon the demoralized condition of his countrymen in the United States as

compared with those resident in Canada. He proclaimed his conviction

that the time for fruitless attempts at insurrection was past, and that

he for his part should regard traitors to Great Britain as the enemies

of human progress. This deliverance gave grievous offence to the Irish

citizens of the United States, by many of whom D'Arcy McGee was

thenceforward denounced as a renegade to his principles. This sentiment

was strengthened by McGee's righteous denunciations of the Fenian horde

who menaced our shores in the summer of 1866, and who shed the blood of

some of our promising young men. At the general election of 1867 these

utterances were called into requisition as an election cry. Mr. McGee

had not accepted a portfolio in the first Government under

Confederation, which had just been formed, but had waived his claim to

office in favour of another Irish Catholic, Mr. Kenny, of Nova Scotia.

McGee, however, though he was thus complaisant, had no intention of

retiring immediately from public life, and once more offered himself to

his constituents in Montreal West. That constituency was the abode of

the local "Head Centre" of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the Fenian

influence there was considerable. Mr. McGee's utterances had made him

the object of the inveterate hatred of that body, and it was determined

that he should be ousted from the seat which he had held ever since his

entry into political life in Canada. Mr. Devlin, an Irish Catholic, and

a prominent member of the Montreal Bar, was brought out as an opposition

candidate, and the most shameless devices were resorted to to secure

that gentleman's return. "Every vile epithet calculated to rouse

ignorant Irish Catholics,"--says the author of "The Irishman in

Canada,"--"was hurled at McGee. He had, as his manner was, gone right

round from denying the existence of Fenianism in Montreal, to

exaggerating the extent of it, and denouncing it, not in undeserved

terms, but in terms which seemed violent from a man of his past history.

He won his election, but by a majority which convinced him that his

power had greatly waned. He had, however, the consolation that if he had

lost popularity, he had lost it in enlightening his countrymen." He had

felt it to be his duty to place Fenianism in its proper light before his

fellow-countrymen in Canada. He knew that the order was powerless for

good, and that it would entail pecuniary loss, if not absolute ruin,

upon many well-meaning but ignorant and misguided persons. So far as the

Fenian scheme contemplated an invasion of Canada, he regarded it with

all the scorn and abhorrence of a loyal subject. For this he was

denounced by the Fenians, and held up to execration as one who had sold

himself to the spoiler.

Before the opening of the first session of the Dominion Parliament he

was attacked by a long and severe illness, which brought him to death's

door, and from which he only recovered in time to attend at the opening

of the session. It was noticed that there was a decided change, not

merely in his physical appearance, but in the workings of his mind. He

had formerly been addicted to frequent indulgence in strong drink. He

had now become rigidly abstemious and regular in all his habits. He

seemed to be pervaded by a seriousness which almost amounted to

melancholy. His friends believed these characteristics to be something

deeper than the temporary humours of convalescence. His serious

indisposition had made him reflect, and his situation was one which

afforded ample food for reflection. Ever since the delivery of the

Wexford speech he had been in receipt of frequent anonymous letters in

which he was anathematized as a traitor, and warned to prepare for

death. Some of these came from Ireland. The envelopes of a few of them

afforded evidence of their having been posted in Montreal; but by far

the greater number came from the United States. He affected to console

himself with the proverb that "threatened men live long," but he could

not bring himself to regard these truly fiendish communications with

indifference. He knew the desperate character of the class of Irishmen

from whom they emanated, and he shuddered as he reflected that he had at

one time been the idol and fellow-worker of such as they. The shadow of

his impending doom was upon him. During the interval between rising from

his bed of sickness and the opening of the session in November he had

determined to retire from public life in the course of the following

year, and to devote the rest of his days to literary pursuits. His

determination was not destined to be carried out. He took a part in the

debates while the session was in progress, and some of the most

statesmanlike utterances that ever passed his lips were delivered during

this, the last winter he was ever to see. On the evening of the 6th of

April he occupied his usual place in the House, and made a brilliant and

effective speech on the subject of the lately-formed Union. A little

after two o'clock on the following morning he left the House in company

with two of his political friends, and proceeded in the direction of the

place where he lodged--the Toronto House, on Sparks Street, kept by a

Mrs. Trotter. When the three had arrived within a hundred yards of Mr.

McGee's destination they separated, each betaking himself to his own

lodging-house. Mr. McGee, having reached his door and inserted his

latch-key, was just about entering, when the sound of a pistol-shot was

heard by his landlady, who was awaiting his arrival. She hurried to the

door, and opened it, to find Mr. McGee's body lying prone across the

sidewalk. The alarm was given, and a crowd soon collected on the spot.

The body was raised, but the assassin's bullet had done its work. The

ball had entered the back of the head and passed through the mouth,

shattering the front teeth, and producing what must have been instant

and painless death.

The miscreant at whose hands D'Arcy McGee met his fate was a Fenian

named Patrick James Whalen. He was subsequently arrested, tried, found

guilty, and hanged at Ottawa.

Had Mr. McGee lived another week he would have completed his forty-third

year; so that he was still a young man, and had his life been spared

there is good reason to believe that he would have made an abiding mark

in literature. During his lifetime he published many volumes, but they

were for the most part written under disadvantageous circumstances, and

merely afford indications of what he might have achieved in literature.

His poems have been collected in various editions; but the work by which

he is best known is his "Popular History of Ireland," originally

published in two volumes at New York in 1863, and since reprinted in

various forms.

[Illustration: DAVID ALLISON, signed as David Allison]

DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D.,

_SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA._

Doctor Allison was born at Newport, Hants County, Nova Scotia, on the

3rd of July, 1836. By both lines of descent he belongs to that thrifty

Scoto-Irish stock to which the central counties of Nova Scotia are

largely indebted for their progress. On the paternal side he belongs to

a family which has displayed much aptitude for public affairs, his

grandfather and father both having occupied seats in the Provincial

Legislature. His brother, Mr. W. Henry Allison, after occupying a seat

in the same Body for several terms, at present represents the county of

Hants in the House of Commons.

His preliminary education was received at the Provincial Academy at

Halifax--since re-organized and developed into Dalhousie College--and at

the Wesleyan Academy, Sackville, N.B. His school-boy days at Halifax

were contemporaneous with a period of great political excitement, and a

race of orators rarely surpassed in any colonial legislature--Howe,

Johnston, Young, Uniacke--enlivened the Assembly room of the Province

with their eloquence. Frequent attendance on the discussions waged by

these masters of debate gave to the young student's mind a strong and

permanent leaning towards political and constitutional studies. At

Sackville, where he studied four consecutive years, the basis of a broad

and liberal training was firmly laid. Twenty-five years ago,

institutions of learning really doing educational work of a high order

were not so numerous in the Maritime Provinces as they now are, and the

Academy at Sackville, distinguished for its high standard and energetic

methods, attracted patronage, not only from Nova Scotia and New

Brunswick, but from Newfoundland and "the vexed Bermoothes." During his

connection with this school, he was thus brought into contact with many

young men who have since won distinction in Provincial life. His

academic career ended, he was determined (we suppose) by denominational

proclivities to seek University training and honours at the Wesleyan

University, Middletown, Conn., U.S., where his career was in a high

degree successful and brilliant. For some years after graduation, in

1859, he filled the post of classical instructor at Sackville, first in

the Academy, and from 1862 to 1869 in the Mount Allison College, an

institution organized in that year under charter obtained from the

Legislature of New Brunswick. The resignation of the Presidency of the

College by the Rev. Dr. Pickard, in 1869, gave its Board of Governors an

opportunity of showing their appreciation of his scholarship and

character. He was unanimously elected President, and thenceforward for

nine years devoted himself with assiduity and success to the duties of

that position.

The work of a classical teacher, especially in a country college, does

not attract much public attention, and however effectively performed

cannot furnish much material for biographical remark. It is enough to

say that Professor Allison taught the classics with great efficiency,

illuminating the otherwise dull page with the illustrative light of

history, philosophy and literature. On his accession to the Presidency

of the College he exchanged the Chair of Classics for that of Mental

Science, and his lectures on that subject as delivered to successive

classes would, if published, secure for their author no mean reputation

as an acute and independent thinker. During the nine years of his

Presidency at Sackville he bore a heavy load of responsibility. The work

of endowing the College and generally improving its financial condition

was no light one. The intense intercollegiate competition of the Lower

Provinces rendered it necessary to infuse new vigour into the teaching

staff. The unsettled condition of the "higher education" question, and

the somewhat feverish state of the public mind regarding it, obliged one

occupying his position to be on the alert, ready with pen or voice to

attack or defend as circumstances might require. It is sufficient to

affirm, that when in 1878 he resigned his office for a new sphere of

responsibility, no College in the Maritime Provinces had for its years a

better record than his, and no college officer a wider or more enviable

reputation for varied scholarship and progressive tendencies of mind.

On a vacancy arising in the office of Superintendent of Education for

the Province of Nova Scotia in 1877, all eyes were turned to him.

Enjoying to a flattering extent the confidence of the friends of the

Sackville Institution, he naturally hesitated, but finally yielded when

appeals from the leaders of public opinion on all sides were joined to

the independent attractions of the offered post. The two years during

which he has administered the educational affairs of the Province show

clearly that he possesses a delicate appreciation of the elements of the

problem which he is required to solve. Reforms should, if possible,

follow one another in logical sequence. If the new Superintendent is

moving too slowly for some and too fast for others, he is probably

moving as all his really sincere and well-informed critics would wish

him to do, were their opportunities for taking in the whole situation as

good as his. Since his appointment he has aroused throughout the

Province a fresh interest in the cause of popular instruction, not only

by his masterly reports, but by the vigorous use of his abundant gift of

public speaking.

On assuming office as Superintendent, Dr. Allison found the important

sphere of intermediate education out of proper relation to the higher

and lower departments of instruction. A system of self-terminated common

schools of an elementary type, and a system of colleges mainly without a

trustworthy source of supply, he refused to believe adapted to the wants

of his Province and the genius of the age. His efforts to secure a

better distribution of educational appliances, and better inter-working

of educational forces, have already, we believe, been crowned with some

success. Though not without aptitudes for other departments of public

service, he has hitherto refused to listen to all propositions involving

departure from the strict path of educational effort and usefulness.

Dr. Allison is a man of broad political sympathies. Residing in the

United States during those years of intense feeling which immediately

preceded the great Civil War, and having abundant opportunity of hearing

those passion-stirring appeals by which fiery orators accelerated the

awful crisis, his early prepossessions towards political and historical

studies were greatly strengthened. The reading and thought spent in this

direction have no doubt resulted in the formation of strong,

well-developed opinions. If, as some suspect, these opinions are

somewhat radical, they are held in judicious equilibrium by the

practical conservatism of his conduct. The liberality of his religious

sentiments admirably qualify him for a position in relation to which the

distinction of creeds is ignored. He is a member of the Methodist Church

of Canada, and as a lay representative has taken a prominent part in the

two General Conferences of that influential denomination, and has been

appointed a delegate to the General Congress of Methodism to be held in

London in 1881. This is the sphere of private opinion and action, but

even in that he has always thrown his influence in favour of fraternity

and peace. As regards public relations, the universal confidence in his

impartiality is a prime element of his strength.

He received the degree of B.A. in 1859, and of M.A. in 1862, in due

course from the Wesleyan University, and in 1873 the honorary degree of

LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Victoria College,

Cobourg, Ont. In 1876 he was appointed by the Executive Government of

Nova Scotia a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Halifax. In the

hope of unifying and improving the higher education of the Maritime

Provinces Dr. Allison had given the scheme for establishing such a

University, modelled on that of London, an earnest, and at a critical

juncture, most valuable support, and still vigorously sustains the

experiment of an Examining University as under the circumstances of the

case contributing to the satisfactory solution of a difficult problem.

That the proposed scheme was open to some of the objections vigorously

urged against it by the Rev. Mr. (now Principal) Grant and others he did

not attempt to deny. But who could propose any measure directed towards

the improvement of advanced education in Nova Scotia which was not open

to objection? The existing Colleges, five or six in number, were feeble

and ill-equipped, but they had become strongly entrenched in the

affections of religious denominations, whose unwillingness to surrender

real or seeming advantages in connection with these institutions was

proportioned to the sacrifices by which these advantages had been

secured. Assuming this unwillingness of the Colleges to surrender their

chartered privileges, as the first and indeed fundamental condition of

the establishment of a genuine Provincial University to be inexpugnable,

the projectors of the University of Halifax sought to give a steady and

appreciable value to Collegiate degrees conferred in the Province, to

reduce to something like order the chaos of divergent systems, and to

send down into the strata of primary and intermediate education an

uplifting influence from above. Should even these more limited objects

be unattained through the failure of the Colleges to practically aid a

measure designed at least in part for their benefit, it may in the end

appear that the indifference of these institutions was not dictated by

the highest wisdom even as regards their own interests.

THE HON. THOMAS GALT.

Judge Galt is the second son of the late John Galt, who was for some

time the Canadian Commissioner of the Canada Company, and who was the

author of numerous dramas and works of fiction which once enjoyed great

popularity. Some account of the life of the late Mr. Galt has been given

in the sketch of the life of his youngest son, the Hon. Sir Alexander

Tilloch Galt, which appeared in the second volume of this series.

The subject of this sketch was born in Portland Street, Oxford Street,

London, England, where his father at that time resided, on the 12th of

August, 1815. His early life was passed alternately in England and in

Scotland. He received his education at various public and private

schools. He was for about two years a pupil at a private establishment

at Musselburgh, a small seaport town in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.

The late Hon. George Brown was also a pupil at this establishment. Mr.

Galt was removed from Musselburgh in 1826, and placed under the tuition

of Dr. Valpy, a classical scholar of high reputation. In 1828 he came

out to Canada, and was for two years a pupil in the establishment of Mr.

Braithwaite, at Chambly, where he had for fellow-pupils, the present

Bishop of Niagara and the late Thomas C. Street. In 1830 he returned to

Great Britain, where he spent three years, when, having nearly completed

his eighteenth year he emigrated to Upper Canada, and settled in what

was then Little York. This was in the autumn of 1833, and in the month

of March following, Little York became the city of Toronto, with William

Lyon Mackenzie as its first mayor. Mr. Galt has ever since resided in

Toronto, and has thus had his home in our Provincial capital for more

than forty-seven years.

Upon his arrival at Little York he entered the service of the Canada

Company, of which his father had been one of the original promoters, and

most active spirits. He remained in that service about six years, when,

having resolved upon studying law, he entered the office of

Mr.--afterwards the Hon. Chief Justice--Draper, where he remained until

his studies had been completed. During a part of this period he occupied

the position of chief clerk in the office of his principal, who was then

Attorney-General for Upper Canada. In this capacity it fell to his duty

to prepare the indictments, which required not merely an accurate

knowledge of the criminal law, but a close familiarity with the highly

technical system of criminal pleading which prevailed in those days. In

Easter Term, 1845, he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, and

immediately afterwards settled down to the practice of his profession.

He was possessed of excellent abilities, a fine presence, and a

remarkably prepossessing manner, which qualifications combined to place

him in a foremost position before he had been long engaged in practice.

He became solicitor for numerous corporations and public companies, and

had always a very large business.

In October, 1847, when he had been at the Bar somewhat more than two

years, he married Miss Frances Louisa Perkins, youngest daughter of the

late Mr. James W. Perkins, who had formerly held a position in the Royal

Navy. By this lady he has a family of nine children. In 1855 he became a

Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and in 1858 he was appointed

a Queen's Counsel, simultaneously with the Hon. Stephen Richards. He

from time to time formed various partnerships, one of which was with the

late Hon. John Ross. Another was subsequently formed with the late Hon.

John Crawford, who some years later became Lieutenant-Governor of

Ontario.

While at the Bar, in addition to a very extensive and profitable civil

practice, he took a front rank as a criminal lawyer, for which

distinction his past experience in the office of Attorney-General Draper

had eminently fitted him. He was engaged in the celebrated case of

_Regina_ vs. _Brogden_, which many readers of these pages will not fail

to remember. The prisoner was a well-known lawyer of Port Hope, who was

tried at Cobourg for shooting one Anderson, the seducer of his wife. A

year or two later he represented the Crown in another historical

criminal case which was tried at Cobourg, wherein the prisoner, Dr.

King, was convicted of poisoning his wife. In 1863 he appeared for the

Crown at Toronto against that well-remembered malefactor William

Greenwood. There were three indictments against the prisoner, two for

murder and one for arson. On the first indictment for murder the

prisoner was acquitted. On that for arson, which was prosecuted by Mr.

Galt, he was convicted. With the other indictment for murder Mr. Galt

was not concerned. The prisoner, however, was convicted, and sentenced

to be hanged, but committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.

Mr. Galt was appointed to his present position, that of a Puisné Judge

of the Court of Common Pleas for Ontario, on the death of the late Judge

John Wilson, in 1869. His sixty-five years seem to sit very lightly upon

him, and he is still distinguished by a fine, dignified, and most kindly

presence. In addition to the attainments properly belonging to him as an

eminent lawyer, he is known as a master of style, and his judgments are

marked not less by their depth of learning than by the stateliness of

the diction in which they are written.

The most important criminal case over which he has been called upon to

preside since his accession to the Bench was that against Mrs. George

Campbell, who was tried at the assizes held at London, in the autumn of

1872, for murdering her husband under most revolting circumstances. She

was convicted, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law.

THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND,

_M.A., LL.D., BISHOP OF MONTREAL._

Bishop Bond, Dr. Oxenden's successor in the See of Montreal, was born at

Truro, a seaport of the county of Cornwall, England, in the year 1815.

He received his education partly in Cornwall, and partly in London, at

various public and private schools. He was a diligent student, and

displayed much fondness for, and proficiency in, the classics, as well

as considerable aptitude for elocution. In his early youth he emigrated

from England to the Island of Newfoundland, where, after a brief period

spent in secular pursuits, he studied for holy orders under the

direction of Archdeacon Bridge. In 1840, under the advice and influence

of the late Rev. Mark Willoughby, he proceeded to Quebec, where, upon

the completion of his studies, he was ordained Deacon; and in 1841 he

was ordained Priest at Montreal, by the late Right Rev. George

Jehoshaphat Mountain, Bishop of Quebec. Immediately after his ordination

he again proceeded to Newfoundland, where, on the 2nd of June, in the

last-mentioned year, he married Miss Eliza Langley, with whom he

returned to Montreal. For some years subsequent to his ordination he was

a travelling missionary, with residence at Lachine, near Montreal. Under

instructions from Bishop Mountain he organized several missions in the

Eastern Townships, and in addition to his clerical duties interested

himself in organizing schools in connection with the Newfoundland School

Society, establishing eleven in the township of Hemmingford alone. In

1848 he was appointed to the large and important parish of St. George's,

Montreal, as assistant to Dr. Leach. His connection with that parish

subsisted without interruption for a period of thirty years. He

successively became Archdeacon of Hochelaga, and (later) Dean of

Montreal. While holding the office of Dean he took an active interest in

the Volunteer force, being chaplain of the 1st or Prince of Wales's

Regiment. He was out at Huntingdon during the raid of 1866, and in 1870

marched with the regiment from St. Armand's to Pigeon Hill.

On the 1st of July, 1878, the Right Rev. Ashton Oxenden, who had held

the bishopric of Montreal since 1869, resigned his position; and on the

16th of January following (1879) Dean Bond was elected as his successor

by the Synod of the Diocese. His consecration took place in St. George's

Church, Montreal, on the 25th of January, 1879, in the presence of the

Bishops of Fredericton, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Algoma, Ontario and

Niagara; the consecration sermon being preached by the Right Rev. John

Travers Lewis, Bishop of Ontario. He was installed in the Episcopal

Throne, in the Cathedral Church at Montreal, on the day following his

consecration, upon which date he likewise performed his first Episcopal

act by administering the rite of confirmation in the church of his old

parish of St. George's.

[Illustration: WILLIAM BENNETT BOND, signed as W. B. MONTREAL]

Bishop Bond has a fine and commanding presence, is an eloquent preacher,

and an excellent platform speaker. He is very popular among the

clergymen of his diocese, and takes a warm interest in promoting their

welfare. His only published work, so far as known to the present writer,

is a sermon on the death of his old friend the Rev. Mark Willoughby,

already mentioned, which was published at Montreal in 1847.

Bishop Bond is President of the Theological College of the Diocese of

Montreal. He received his degree of M.A. from Bishop's College,

Lennoxville, and that of LL.D. from the University of McGill College,

Montreal.

The Diocese over which Bishop Bond's jurisdiction extends was originally

constituted in 1850. Montreal was the Metropolitan See of Canada from

the year 1860, (when letters patent were issued to the late Dr.

Fulford), until Bishop Oxenden's resignation as above mentioned, in the

month of July, 1878.

THE HON. LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, D.C.L.

It is permitted to few persons to achieve, and permanently retain, so

high and well deserved a reputation as for nearly half a century has

attached to the name of the late Judge Wilmot. In the course of his long

and active public career he was called upon to play many important and

difficult parts. In none of them did he encounter failure, and in most

of them he achieved an unusual degree of credit and success. Alike as a

lawyer and a legislator, as Premier and Attorney-General, as a member of

Parliament, and as the leader of a not always manageable political

party, as a Judge and as a Lieutenant-Governor, he stamped his name upon

the history of New Brunswick. Robert Baldwin and Joseph Howe are not

more intimately identified with the cause of popular rights in the

histories of Upper Canada and Nova Scotia than is Lemuel Allan Wilmot in

the history of his native Province. One of whom so much can truthfully

be alleged must be admitted to have been a remarkable man. His life was

passed in the conscientious discharge of multifarious duties; and in

whatsoever aspect it may be viewed, it was a life which it is thoroughly

wholesome to contemplate. He was a man, and as such he doubtless had the

imperfections incidental to humanity; but happy is that individual upon

whose memory rests no graver charge than imperfection. He was often

placed in positions which subjected his manhood to a crucial test, and

never failed to come out of the ordeal without blemish. In recounting

the various phases of his public life, it never becomes necessary for

the biographer to apologize for acts of corruption; and his personal

character has left behind it a memory without a stain.

The two families to which he owed his origin were both identified with

the struggle of the American colonies for independence. His paternal

grandfather was Major Lemuel Wilmot, of Long Island, a U. E. Loyalist,

who held a commission in the Loyal American Regiment, engaged in much

active service on behalf of his king and country, and, soon after the

close of hostilities, settled under British rule, on the banks of the

St. John River, near Fredericton, in the then recently-formed Province

of New Brunswick. After his migration, the Major married Miss Elizabeth

Street, a sister of the Hon. Samuel Street, of the Niagara District. One

of the fruits of this marriage was the late Mr. William Wilmot, of

Sunbury, N.B., who married Miss Hannah Bliss, a daughter of Mr. Daniel

Bliss, and a descendant of Colonel Murray, of St. John, whose name also

figures conspicuously in the history of the U. E. Loyalists. Several

children resulted from this latter marriage, one of whom, Lemuel Allan

Wilmot, who was born in the county of Sunbury, on the 31st day of

January, 1809, is the subject of the present memoir.

[Illustration: LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, signed as L. A. WILMOT]

The incidents of his early boyhood, so far as known to the writer of

these pages, were few, and of little material interest to the

public. He was educated at the Fredericton Grammar School, and

afterwards at the Provincial University of that town. His career at

college was more remarkable for diligence than for brilliancy, though he

became a good classical scholar, and kept up his acquaintance with the

principal Greek and Latin authors throughout his after life. He was fond

of athletic exercises and aquatics, devoting sufficient attention to

such matters to build up a sound and vigorous constitution. He also

belonged to one of the local volunteer companies, and acquired

considerable proficiency in military drill. Upon leaving the University

he chose the law for a profession, and after the usual course of study

was admitted as an Attorney in 1830, immediately upon coming of age. He

settled down to practice in the Provincial capital, and in 1832 was

called to the Bar. He was not a born orator, and during the early years

of his professional life had to contend with a diffidence of manner and

a slight impediment in his speech. It is said that when he first

announced his determination to qualify himself for the Bar, his father,

referring to the last-mentioned infirmity, endeavoured to dissuade him

from a pursuit in which his stammering tongue would inevitably place him

at a great disadvantage. The young man, however, was self-confident, and

his subsequent career proved most incontestably that his confidence was

not misplaced. All things are possible to a man endowed with a strong

will, and a fixed determination to succeed. Young Wilmot possessed both

these qualifications for forensic success, and had also other advantages

which contributed to place him in the high rank which he eventually

attained at the New Brunswick Bar. He had a fine and commanding

presence, keen susceptibilities, a clear, ringing voice, a capacious

memory, and an unusual amount of industry. There was a strong vein of

poetry in his character, and he was possessed of a considerable share of

histrionic power. Aided by such adjuncts, and backed by a constitution

of unusual vigour, he well knew that his success was only a question of

time and unremitting labour. He applied himself with indefatigable

diligence to every case entrusted to him, and did not disdain to make

himself master of the minutest details. He never went into court until

he had seen his way through his case. He soon overcame the defect in his

utterance, and there was a sincerity and self-assurance about his manner

of addressing a jury which told greatly in his favour. In less than two

years from the date of his call to the Bar he had an assured practice

and position. His mind grew with the demands from day to day made upon

it, and at an age when many lawyers of greater brilliancy are content to

wait for fame, Mr. Wilmot had succeeded in establishing a reputation

which was co-extensive with his native Province. His fame was not of

ephemeral duration, but grew with his increasing years, and long before

his retirement from practice he was recognized as the most eloquent and

effective forensic orator of his day in New Brunswick. In an obituary

notice of him, published shortly after his death in a Boston newspaper,

we find the following strong testimony to his professional attainments:

"As an advocate at the Bar, few in any country could surpass him. The

court was full when it was known that Wilmot had a case. He scented a

fraud or falsehood from afar. He heard its gentlest motions. He pursued

it like an Indian hunter. If it burrowed, he dragged it forth, and held

it up wriggling to the gaze and scorn of the court. When he drew his

tall form up before a jury, fixed his black, piercing eyes upon them,

moved those rapid hands, and pointed that pistol finger, and poured out

his argument, and made his appeal with glowing, burning eloquence, few

persons could resist him." This estimate is worth quoting, as, though

florid, and doubtless overdrawn, it conveys a not altogether inaccurate

idea of his power as an advocate. If he was not a counsel whom "few in

any country could surpass," he was at all events a counsel who could

hold his own against such forensic luminaries as Archibald, and Stewart,

and Johnson, all of whom were orators of the highest rank at the Bar of

the sister Province of Nova Scotia, and all of whom were in frequent

request in the courts of New Brunswick. Against one or more of these he

was constantly pitted, and it is high praise to say, as may be said with

perfect truthfulness, that he was able to maintain his argument with

credit against the best of them.

With such endowments, it was a matter of course that he should sooner or

later enter the political arena. He had been only two years at the Bar,

when (in 1834) he was elected by acclamation to represent the county of

York in the New Brunswick Assembly. His return under such circumstances

was a notable event, for he was only twenty-five years of age, and was

the first candidate ever returned by that constituency without a

contest. Prior to his return he held several political meetings in

different parts of the county, at which he addressed the people in a

fashion to which they had theretofore been wholly unaccustomed. He

described the fundamental points of the constitution, and showed that

the rights of the people had been systematically violated for a great

many years. It is said that during one of these addresses a member of

the ruling faction rode up to the hustings and demanded that Wilmot

should be pulled down, or that he would yet become Attorney-General of

the Province. The story sounds too good to be true. However that may be,

he was not long in making his presence felt in the Assembly. He arrayed

himself as the champion of Liberal principles--principles which had a

much more slender following in those days than they have had in later

times. The Family Compact had an existence in New Brunswick, as well as

in the other British American colonies, and any aspiring young

politician who refused to bow his head beneath the yoke, had to make up

his mind for a large measure of obloquy and determined opposition. Young

Wilmot had to bear his share of the burdens which fell to the lot of all

advocates of popular rights in the days when Responsible Government was

sneered at by those in authority. The New Brunswick oligarchy were

somewhat less besotted and tyrannical than were those of Upper Canada

and Nova Scotia, but there were abuses which called imperatively for

removal, and grievous wrongs which cried aloud for redress. All the

important offices were in the hands of the members of the Compact and

their sycophants, and the only road to public preferment lay through

their favour. Political power was confined to the Legislative and

Executive Councils; for, although there was a Body called the Assembly,

which was supposed to be the guardian of the rights of the people, it

was a shadow without substance. Its votes produced no direct influence

upon the advisers of the Sovereign's representative in the colony, who

were permitted to keep their places of power and emolument, no matter

how distasteful themselves and their policy might be to the popular

branch of the Legislature. This oppressive domination was not confined

to secular matters, but extended likewise to matters ecclesiastical.

There was a dominant State Church. Dissenters were regarded by the

adherents of that Church with disfavour, and were sometimes treated with

contumely. A dissenting minister was not permitted by law to solemnize

matrimony, and if he did so he was subject to fine and imprisonment. It

is said that Mr. Wilmot's father, William Wilmot, who was a member of

the Assembly, was refused admission to the House upon the ground that he

was in the habit of conducting religious services on the Sabbath day.

It at one time seemed not improbable that the subject of this sketch

would be subjected to a similar indignity. The latter was a Dissenter

from conviction. He had been awakened to an active sense of religion by

the ministrations of the Rev. Enoch Wood, now of Toronto, but then

pastor of the Methodist Church in Fredericton. No account of Mr.

Wilmot's life which does not take cognizance of the devotional side of

his character can give anything like an accurate estimate of the man.

Further reference to it will be made at a later stage. When he first

took his seat as a member of Parliament he felt that it was incumbent

upon him to contend, not only for his political freedom, but for his

rights as a member of a religious body which was practically proscribed.

The oligarchy, it is to be presumed, well knew that the end of their

reign was at hand, but they fought every inch of the ground with a

spirit and determination worthy of a better cause. There is no need to

go through the _minutiae_ of the struggle. Though differing as to local

details, the principles at stake in New Brunswick were precisely the

same as in Upper Canada and Nova Scotia, and readers of the sketches of

Robert Baldwin, Lord Metcalfe, and Joseph Howe, are sufficiently

informed as to how much was involved in those principles. Mr. Wilmot

soon became the acknowledged leader of the Reformers of his native

Province, and to his vigour, eloquence, and statesmanship the successful

establishment of Responsible Government there in 1848 is mainly due. In

this connection it would be unjust to omit a reference to the late Hon.

Charles Fisher, Mr. Wilmot's colleague in the representation of York

County, who for some years prior to his death in the month of December

last occupied a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick.

A sketch of Mr. Fisher's life will appear in due course in these pages,

but a casual reference to him in this place seems to be imperatively

called for. Throughout all the contest which resulted in the triumph of

Liberal principles, and in the establishment of Executive

Responsibility, Mr. Fisher seconded his leader, Mr. Wilmot, with a

loyalty and integrity which entitle him to a high place in the

Provincial annals. His learning and eloquence gave him great influence

in Parliament, and his name is associated with some of the most

important legislation in the colonial jurisprudence, as well as with the

cause of popular freedom. To Lemuel Allan Wilmot and Charles Fisher the

inhabitants of New Brunswick owe a heavy debt, and their names will

deservedly go down to posterity side by side.

The struggle for Responsible Government may be said to have begun in

earnest in New Brunswick about the time when Mr. Wilmot first entered

the Assembly of that Province in 1834. It proceeded with unabated ardour

until the resignation of Sir Archibald Campbell, the

Lieutenant-Governor, in 1837. In 1836 Mr. Wilmot proceeded to England as

a co-delegate with Mr. William Crane on the subject of Crown Revenues

and the Civil List, and then for the first time laid the grievances of

his compatriots before the Imperial Government. Lord Glenelg, the

Colonial Secretary, was well inclined towards the colonies, and treated

the two New Brunswick delegates with much kindness and courtesy. The

state of affairs submitted by them was taken into careful consideration,

and the Assembly's view of the situation was approved of. At Lord

Glenelg's suggestion, a Bill was drafted which granted all the most

important reforms prayed for, and was transmitted to Sir Archibald

Campbell for his approval. The approval was not forthcoming, and Sir

Archibald quietly tendered his resignation. Messrs. Wilmot and Crane

were received with an ovation upon their return to New Brunswick, and

were the heroes of the hour. Next year they were again despatched to

England with an address to the King, in which it was prayed that Sir

Archibald Campbell might be recalled--the fact of his having sent in his

resignation not having transpired. They were received with as much

favour as before, and were informed that the contumacy of Sir Archibald

would not be permitted to thwart the popular will. During this second

visit they enjoyed the honour of being presented at Court to King

William IV. His Majesty, upon Mr. Wilmot being presented to him,

condescended to make some inquiries as to his family and ancestry. Mr.

Wilmot availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded to make a set

speech in the presence of royalty, in which he "burst the awful barriers

of State, and, in loyal phrase, thanked His Majesty for generous

consideration of colonial interests."[12]

The delegates had good reason to congratulate themselves upon the

success of their mission. Sir John Harvey, an English officer who had

served with distinction in Upper Canada, and in various other parts of

the world, was sent out as Lieutenant-Governor, and the Civil List Bill

became law. The House of Assembly of New Brunswick, by way of testifying

its appreciation of Lord Glenelg's conduct, had a full-length portrait

of him painted, and suspended behind the Speaker's chair, where it hangs

to the present day. Upon the return of Messrs. Crane and Wilmot from

their second mission a vote of thanks was unanimously passed by the

Assembly in recognition of their diplomatic services. They also received

more substantial marks of favour. Mr. Crane was called to the Executive

Council, and Mr. Wilmot was invested with a silk gown. For the time,

Liberal principles were decidedly in the ascendant. The passing of the

Civil List Bill had a most mollifying effect upon public opinion. New

Brunswick was spared the turmoil of a rebellion such as disturbed the

peace of Upper and Lower Canada. There was not even any attempt at

insurrection, nor apparently any feeling of sympathy with the violence

begotten of the times. Mr. Wilmot, whose martial spirit has already been

hinted at, raised and commanded a troop of volunteer dragoons, which

performed despatch duty pending the border troubles of the time; but he

was happily never called upon to take part in any active measures of

suppression.

During Sir John Harvey's four years' tenure of office as

Lieutenant-Governor, the internal affairs of the Province of New

Brunswick were carried on with but little friction between the branches

of the Legislature. The Reform Party were gratified with the signal

victory they had gained in the matter of the Civil Service Bill, and

were not disposed to be captious without serious cause. Sir John Harvey

was a popular Governor, and his moderate policy reäcted upon both the

political parties. Soon after the accession of Sir William Colebrooke,

in 1841, the old hostilities began to re-appear. It was a time of great

commercial depression. For several years the public funds had been spent

somewhat lavishly, and the Provincial credit had begun to suffer. An era

of economy and Conservatism set in. At the general elections of 1842 the

Reform Party made a determined stand on the question of Responsible

Government. Mr. Wilmot, who had sat in the Assembly for the county of

York for a continuous period of eight years, again presented himself to

the electors of that constituency. Tremendous efforts were made by his

opponents to oust him, and the contest was one of the sharpest ever

known in the annals of New Brunswick. He and his colleague, Mr. Fisher,

were successful in securing their election, but the state of public

opinion was abundantly proclaimed by the fact that these two were the

only successful Reform candidates in an Assembly consisting of forty-one

members. The progressive party was badly beaten, but not disheartened,

and a banner bearing the motto "Responsible Government," was unfurled in

the streets of Fredericton. The two Reformers had to maintain the sole

burden of Opposition on their shoulders during the following session.

Notwithstanding their numerical weakness, they made their influence

powerfully felt in the Assembly.

In 1844 Mr. Wilmot was offered a seat in the Executive Council. He

accepted it, without portfolio, but did not long retain his place, owing

to a circumstance which compelled his resignation. The

Lieutenant-Governor, without consulting his Ministers, appointed his

son-in-law, Mr. Reade, to the office of Provincial Secretary. This

proceeding, which was a direct subversion of the doctrine of Responsible

Government, gave offence, not to Mr. Wilmot alone, but to three other

members of the Council. After a fruitless remonstrance with Sir William

Colebrooke, they all four promptly resigned their seats. The Colonial

Secretary declined to confirm Mr. Reade's appointment, and another

gentleman less distasteful to the Assembly became Provincial Secretary.

From this time forward a Liberal reaction may be said to have set in. At

the general election of 1846 a fair proportion of Liberal candidates was

returned, among whom were Mr. Wilmot and his colleague, Mr. Fisher.

Responsible Government, however, was not yet an accomplished fact,

though its accomplishment was nigh at hand. In 1847, the Colonial

Secretary, Earl Grey, in a despatch to Sir John Harvey, who was at that

date Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, clearly defined the principles

upon which the Government of that colony should be carried on. The

principles enunciated were precisely those for which the Reformers had

all along been contending. It was declared that members of the Executive

Council should be permitted to hold office only so long as they

possessed the confidence of a majority of the people, as signified by

the votes in the Assembly. The heads of the various departments, it was

said, should retain office only during pleasure; and Government

officials were neither to be permitted to occupy seats in the

Legislature nor to be removable on a change of Government. These

concessions implied neither more nor less than Responsible Government.

The principles were evidently as applicable to New Brunswick as to Nova

Scotia. Soon after the opening of the session in 1848 Mr. Fisher

introduced a resolution approving of Earl Grey's despatch, and accepting

its doctrines on behalf of the Province. The debate which followed was

big with the fate of New Brunswick. Many of the more advanced

Conservatives coincided with the principles enunciated, and supported

the resolution, which was finally carried by a large majority. Thus was

Responsible Government finally adopted in New Brunswick.

The speeches made by Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wilmot during this debate were

emphatically the speeches of the session. That of Mr. Wilmot was

published in pamphlet form and circulated throughout the Maritime

Provinces. It was considered as sufficiently important to be noticed in

the _North American Review_, published at Boston, Massachusetts, where

it was stated that "He (Mr. Wilmot) possesses brilliant powers, and as a

public speaker ranks with the most effective and eloquent in British

America."

Mr. Wilmot was called upon to form a new Government, which, though the

result of a coalition, was of a Liberal complexion. He himself became

Premier and Attorney-General. During his tenure of office his name is

associated with several important Legislative measures, among which may

be mentioned the Consolidation of the Criminal Laws (1849), and the

Municipal Law (1850). During the latter year he attended as the

representative of his Province at the International Railway Convention

held at Portland, Maine, where he delivered a speech which we have not

read, but which, judging from the encomiums which have been lavished

upon it, must have been an effort of very uncommon eloquence. Mr.

Lathern, in the work already quoted from, says of it: "There were many

able and eloquent speeches at that Portland Convention, from

Parliamentary and public men, but to Attorney-General Wilmot, by common

consent, was awarded the palm of consummate, crowning oratory. He

carried the audience by storm. To people across the border, accustomed

to political declamation, it was a matter of amazement that their most

brilliant men should be completely eclipsed. It was a still greater

cause of mystery how a style of oratory, of the imaginative and

impassioned type, regarded as peculiarly a production of the chivalrous

and sunny South, could have been born and nurtured amidst the frigid

influences and monarchical institutions of a bleak and foggy forest

Province. There were accompanying advantages which stamped the effort as

supreme of its kind. Dramatic action, consummate grace of rhetorical

expression, a voice of matchless power and wondrous modulation,

contributed to the heightened effect. To a very considerable extent the

eloquence was impromptu, and therefore largely took its caste and

complexion, apt allusions, and rich surprises, from the immediate scene

and its surroundings. That magnificent burst of oratory swept over the

audience like fire amongst stubble, and like the tempest that bends

forest trees. Reporters are said to have dropped their pencils, and

yielded to the magnetic, resistless spell; and the people, gathered in

dense mass, were wrought into a frenzy of excitement and enthusiasm."

Making due allowances for the unconscious exaggeration of a writer who

seems to have revered Mr. Wilmot as his "guide, philosopher and friend,"

the Portland speech must have been an effort of which any orator might

justly feel proud. During this same year (1850) Attorney-General Wilmot

visited Washington as a delegate from his Province on the subject of

International Reciprocity; and a few months later, in company with the

Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Edmund Head, he attended a meeting of the

Canadian Government held at Toronto, for the purpose of discussing

important matters relating to the British North American colonies.

In the month of January, 1851, he retired from the Administration, and

accepted a seat on the Judicial Bench, as a Puisné Judge of the Supreme

Court of New Brunswick. At the time of his appointment to this position

the still higher office of Chief-Justice was vacant, and he, as

Attorney-General might not unreasonably have expected to succeed to that

dignity. His acceptance of the less exalted position was the cause of

some surprise, as he would have had the entire Reform Party of the

Province at his back in any dispute with the Lieutenant-Governor, and

might have brought much pressure to bear upon him. His acceptance was

probably due to the fact that politics are an uncertain pursuit, and

that there was no saying what the morrow might bring forth. He never

experienced defeat on the hustings in the whole course of his sixteen

years of political life, but at the last election for York he had been

returned by a very slight majority. He was sensitive to public opinion,

and had no ambition to remain on the stage until he might possibly be

hissed. He was at this time enabled to retire with honour, and the

consciousness that he retained public confidence and respect. Other

reasons may probably enough have influenced him. His professional

business had necessarily suffered through his constant attendance upon

his Parliamentary and official duties. His income had dwindled down to

less than a third of what it had once been, and his expenses had greatly

increased. The position of a Puisné Judge is a high and honourable one,

such as no lawyer, however eminent, need disdain to accept. His choice

was made, and for more than seventeen years thereafter he discharged his

duties as a Judge with usefulness and dignity. During this interval he

frequently delivered lectures before Mechanics' Institutes and Lyceums

in St. John, Fredericton and elsewhere; and some of these discourses

were as remarkable for learning and eloquence as any of his public

utterances. His convictions as a Protestant were unusually strong, and

some of his remarks on sectarian themes occasionally caused irritation

among persons whose theological faith differed from his own, but in no

case does the irritation seem to have been more than temporary. His

exemplary life, and his evident sincerity of purpose, induced even

opposing theologians to allow him a latitude of expression which would

scarcely have been tolerated in an ordinary personage. During his tenure

of office as a Judge he also took an active part in forwarding the cause

of education, and in support of many voluntary associations of a

benevolent and religious character. Among numerous other offices

conferred upon him, he was appointed a Member of the Senate of the New

Brunswick University, from which he received the degree of D.C.L.

Though Judge Wilmot had been for many years removed from the arena of

politics, it was well understood that he was a firm friend of British

American Union, and ardently desirous to see Confederation prove a

lasting success. From his high local standing, from the judicial

position he had held so long having raised him above the confines of

political party strife, and from his acknowledged abilities, he was

singled out for the office of first Lieutenant-Governor of his native

Province, under the new order of things which came into being on the 1st

of July, 1867. The appointment was not made until rather more than a

year afterwards, during which period the duties of Lieutenant-Governor

were performed by Major-General Charles Hastings Doyle, probably for the

same reasons that assigned to some of the other Provinces military

Governors during the first year of Union. When, however, the appointment

was made on the 27th of July, 1868, it gave very general satisfaction

throughout New Brunswick. It was felt that such an appointment was a

fitting tribute to a man who had spent the greater part of his life in

the public service, and who had at all times preserved his honour

untarnished. There is not much of special interest to tell about his

Lieutenant-Governorship. His public addresses, and even his official

speeches in connection with the opening and closing of the Legislature,

were distinguished by sentiments of fervent patriotism, and by the

expression of broad and enlightened ideas as to the duty of the people

in sustaining the consolidation of British power on this continent. He

held office until the expiration of his term, on the 14th of November,

1873, when he received a pension as a retired Judge, and laid down his

governmental functions, with the public respect for him undiminished.

The remainder of his life was passed in retirement, from which he only

emerged for a short time in 1875, when he succeeded the Right Hon. H. C.

E. Childers, as second Commissioner under the Prince Edward Island

Purchase Act of that year. He was nominated as one of the arbitrators in

the Ontario and North-West Boundary Commission, but did not live long

enough to act in that capacity. During the last two or three years of

his life he suffered from chronic neuralgia of a very severe type, and

was sometimes prevented from stirring out of doors. As a general thing,

however, he continued to take active exercise, and to lend his

assistance in the organization of religious and benevolent enterprises,

and he did so up to within a few days of his death. He died very

suddenly at his house in Fredericton, on the afternoon of Monday, the

20th of May, 1878. While walking in his garden after returning from a

drive with some members of his family he was attacked by a severe pain

in the region of the heart. He entered his house and medical aid was at

once summoned, but he ceased to breathe within a few minutes after the

seizure. The immediate cause of death was presumed to have been rupture

of one of the blood vessels near the heart.

Reference has been made to the religious side of Judge Wilmot's

character, but something more than a passing reference is necessary to

enable the reader to understand how greatly religion tended to the

shaping of his social and public life. It has been seen that he first

began to take an active interest in spiritual matters in 1833, the year

after his call to the Bar. The interest then awakened in his heart was

not transitory, but accompanied him through all the phases of his future

career. This is not the place to enlarge upon such a theme, but it is in

order to note that his spiritual experiences were of an eminently

realistic cast. "Through the whole course of my religious experience"

(to quote his own words), "I never once had a doubt in regard to the

question of my personal salvation. The assurance of my acceptance as a

child of God, and the firmness of my confidence, are such that Satan

cannot take any advantage on that side, and cannot even tempt me to

doubt or fear in regard to the reality of my conversion." This

conviction strengthened with his advancing years, and left its impress

upon all his acts. He bestirred himself actively at class-meetings, and

for more than forty-four years taught a class in Sunday-school. Only the

day before his death he took part in these exercises for the last time.

Though a sincere and zealous member of the Methodist Church, he was no

bigoted sectarian, but interested himself in the prosperity of all

religious bodies, and fraternized with the clergy of all denominations.

He had a critical knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures such as few laymen

can pretend to, and his own copy of the Bible bears on almost every page

traces of his diligent study of what he regarded--and that in no mere

metaphorical sense--as the Word of God.

Judge Wilmot was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Balloch,

daughter of the Rev. J. Balloch. His second wife, who still survives,

was Miss Black, a daughter of the Hon. William A. Black, of Halifax, a

member of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia. It may also be

mentioned, in conclusion, that during the visit of the Prince of Wales,

in 1860, Judge Wilmot raised and commanded a troop of dragoons for

escort duty, for which service he personally received the thanks of His

Royal Highness.

THE HON. HENRY ELZÉAR TASCHEREAU.

Judge Taschereau is the eldest son of the late Pierre Elzéar Taschereau,

who, prior to the union of the Provinces, was for many years a member of

the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and after the union, of that

of the United Provinces. His mother was Catherine Hénédine, a daughter

of the late Hon. Amable Dionne, who was at one time a member of the old

Legislative Council. He is descended from Thomas Jacques Taschereau, a

French gentleman who settled in the Province of Quebec many years before

the Conquest. Various members of the Taschereau family have achieved

high distinction in Canada, no fewer than seven of them having occupied

seats on the Judicial Bench. The present Judge was born at the

Seignorial Manor House, Ste. Marie de la Beauce, on the 7th of October,

1836. He was educated at the Quebec Seminary, and after completing his

scholastic education, studied law in the office of his cousin, the Hon.

Jean Thomas Taschereau. The last named gentleman was one of the most

eminent lawyers in his native Province, and became a Puisné Judge of the

Supreme Court of the Dominion upon its formation in 1875. He was

superannuated about two years ago.

Upon the completion of his legal studies, in October, 1857, the subject

of this sketch was called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and immediately

afterwards entered into partnership with his cousin, the eminent jurist

already mentioned, at Quebec. He attained high rank in his profession,

and subsequently formed partnerships with M.M. William Duval and Jean

Blanchet. He entered political life in 1861, when he was elected to a

seat in the Legislative Assembly for his native county of Beauce. He

continued to represent that constituency until Confederation, when, at

the general election of 1867, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the

House of Commons. During the same year he was appointed a Queen's

Counsel. The following year he was appointed Clerk of the Peace for the

District of Quebec, but resigned that office after holding it only three

days. For some time afterwards he confined his attention to professional

pursuits. On the 12th of January, 1871, he was appointed a Puisné Judge

of the Superior Court for the Province of Quebec, and held that position

until his forty-second birthday--the 7th of October, 1878--when he was

elevated to his present position--that of a Puisné Judge of the Supreme

Court of the Dominion.

He is the author of several important legal works, the most noteworthy

of which is "The Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of 1869,

32, 33 Vic., for the Dominion of Canada, as amended and in force on the

1st November, 1874, in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia,

New Brunswick, Manitoba, and on 1st June, 1875, in British Columbia;

with Notes, Commentaries, Precedents of Indictments, &c., &c." This

work extends to two volumes, the first of which, containing 796 pages,

was published at Montreal in 1874. The second volume, containing 556

pages, was published at Toronto in 1875. Both volumes display much

erudition, and have been highly commended by competent legal

authorities; among others by Mr. C. S. Greaves, an English Queen's

Counsel, who is one of the most eminent living writers on Criminal

Jurisprudence. In 1876 Judge Taschereau published "Le Code de Procédure

Civile du Bas Canada, with Annotations," which has also received high

commendation from legal critics.

On the 27th of May, 1857, he married Marie Antoinette Harwood, a

daughter of the Hon. R. U. Harwood, a member of the Legislative Council,

and Seigneur of Vaudreuil, near Montreal, by whom he has a family of

five children. Judge Taschereau resides at Ottawa, and is joint

proprietor of the Seigniory of Ste. Marie de la Beauce, which was

conceded to his great-grandfather in the year 1726.

[Illustration: ALFRED GILPIN JONES, signed as A. G. JONES]

THE HON. ALFRED GILPIN JONES.

Mr. Jones, the leader of the Reform Party in the Province of Nova

Scotia, and one of the most prominent citizens and merchants of Halifax,

is descended from an English family, the head of which emigrated from

England to Massachusetts during the early years of the history of that

colony, and settled in Boston. The family resided in New England until

the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, when they espoused the royalist

side in the quarrel, and endured their full share of the persecutions of

that memorable period. Stephen Jones, the grandfather of the subject of

this sketch, was a graduate of Harvard College, who accepted a

commission in the King's American Dragoons, and fought in the royal

cause until the proclamation of peace. He then, like many scores of his

compatriots, gathered together what property he could save out of the

wreck, and removed, with his family, to Nova Scotia, where he

thenceforward resided until his death, which took place in 1830. His

son, the father of the subject of this memoir, was named Guy Carleton

Jones, in honour of Lord Dorchester. He was a man of influence and good

social position in the county of Digby, where he held the office of

Registrar of Deeds.

Alfred Gilpin Jones was born at Weymouth, in the county of Digby, Nova

Scotia, in 1824. He received his education at Yarmouth Academy, and

after leaving school embarked in commercial life in Halifax, where, in

course of time, he became a member of the firm of Messrs. Thomas Kinnear

& Sons, West India commission merchants. He subsequently founded the

firm of Messrs. A. G. Jones & Co.--engaged in the same trade--of which

he has long been the senior partner. His commercial ventures were

prosperous, and he became, and now is, one of the most extensive

ship-owners in the Maritime Provinces. He was known as a man of energy

and public spirit, and took a keen interest in all the political

questions which agitated the country for some years prior to the

formation of the Dominion. Like many of his compatriots, he was a

strenuous opponent of the Confederation scheme, and spoke and wrote

against it with much vigour. He regarded the terms upon which Nova

Scotia was admitted into the Union as financially disadvantageous to

that Province; and he disapproved of the plan adopted by the Tupper

Administration to impose those terms upon the people. When Confederation

finally became an accomplished fact, and when further opposition could

be productive of no practical result, he acquiesced in the new order of

things, and gave a loyal support to all measures for advancing the

interests of the new nationality.

He soon afterwards entered public life, for which he has since proved

himself to be in many respects well fitted. At the first general

election after the Union, in 1867, he offered himself as a candidate

for the representation of the city and county of Halifax in the House of

Commons. He was subjected to a well-organized and powerful opposition,

but he was returned at the head of the poll, and continued to represent

the constituency until the general election of 1872. On first taking his

seat he identified himself with the minority led by Messrs. Mackenzie,

Holton, Blake, and Dorion, his commercial experience and independent

character securing for him at once a recognized position in the House of

Commons. He continued to support the Liberal policy there as long as he

remained in Parliament. At the general election of 1872 he was again a

candidate for the representation of Halifax, but on this occasion he was

unsuccessful, and he remained out of Parliament until the general

election of 1874, by which time Mr. Mackenzie's Government had come into

power. At that election no serious attempt at opposition was offered to

his return. His claims as a member of the new House to a seat in the

Privy Council were considered incontestable, but he declined all

invitations to exchange his position as a private member of the House

for the charge of a Department, although frequently solicited to do so.

In the session of 1876 the seats of several members were attacked for

alleged violations of the Independence of Parliament Act. Among the

members whose seats were assailed were Mr. Jones and his relative the

Hon. William Berrian Vail, the representative of the county of Digby in

the House of Commons, who held the portfolio of Minister of Militia and

Defence in the Government of the day. These gentlemen had, in the

interest of their Party, taken shares in a Halifax newspaper and

printing establishment, which had obtained a certain amount of

advertising and printing from the Government. Neither Mr. Jones nor Mr.

Vail had ever derived, or expected to derive, any pecuniary profit from

their connection therewith, but the decisions of the Select Standing

Committee on Privileges and Elections in other cases led to the

conclusion that they must also be held to be disqualified, and,

therefore, subject to the heavy penalties imposed by the statute in that

behalf if they ventured to sit and vote in the House of Commons. They

both accordingly resigned their seats and appealed to their constituents

for reëlection. Mr. Vail was defeated in Digby by Mr. John Chipman Wade,

the Conservative candidate, and at once tendered his resignation as a

member of the Government. Mr. Jones, whose election was still pending,

was prevailed upon to accept the vacant portfolio. He was sworn in

before Sir William O'Grady Haly, as Administrator of the Government of

Canada, at Halifax, on the 23rd of January, 1878. This event stimulated

the opposition to his return which had already been inaugurated by his

political opponents. Mr. Matthew H. Richey, the Mayor of Halifax, a very

popular citizen, was brought out in opposition to him. The conflict was

short, but most exciting, and resulted in Mr. Jones's election by a

majority of 208 votes, six days after his acceptance of office. He at

once entered upon his official duties, and displayed in his new sphere

of action a great capacity for an efficient administration of the public

service. He exhibited a very ready grasp of departmental details, and a

familiarity with Militia organization highly useful and important in

connection with his relations to that branch of the public service.

During the progress of the session he engaged in several active passages

of arms with Dr.--now Sir Charles--Tupper, who made somewhat telling

references to a speech made by Mr. Jones at a meeting in Halifax just

prior to Confederation, and during a period of great political

excitement. This speech afforded Dr. Tupper an opportunity for impugning

the loyalty of the new Minister of Militia, of which the former did not

neglect to avail himself very early in the session. The reply of Mr.

Jones was vigorous, eloquent, and aggressive, and although the subject

was more than once revived at later stages of the discussions it was

felt that Mr. Jones had fully held his own in the wordy warfare. The

latter remained in Mr. Mackenzie's Government as Minister of Militia and

Defence so long as that Government remained in power, and was looked

upon as one of its shrewdest and most capable members. At the general

election held on the 17th of September, 1878, he shared the fate of many

other members of the Party to which he belongs. He was opposed by his

former antagonist, Mr. Matthew H. Richey, who was returned by a

considerable majority. He did not present himself to any other

constituency, and has since remained out of Parliament, though he

continues to take an active part in the direction of the Reform Policy

in Nova Scotia, and will doubtless be heard from at future election

contests.

Mr. Jones is a Governor of the Halifax Protestant Orphans' Home. He is

also a Governor of Dalhousie College; a Director of the Nova Scotia

Marine Insurance Company, and of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company. He

was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st "Halifax" Brigade of Garrison

Artillery for several years. He has been twice married; first, in 1850,

to Miss Margaret Wiseman, daughter of the Hon. W. J. Stairs, who died in

February, 1875; and secondly, in 1877, to Miss Emma Albro, daughter of

Mr. Edward Albro, of Halifax.

THE HON. JOHN NORQUAY,

_PREMIER OF THE PROVINCE OF MANITOBA._

Mr. Norquay is a native of the Red River country, and has taken a

conspicuous part in public affairs ever since the admission of the

Province of Manitoba into the Confederation in 1870. He was born a few

miles from Fort Garry, on the 8th of May, 1841. His father, the late Mr.

John Norquay, whose namesake he is, was a farmer, and a man of some

influence in the colony. The future Premier followed in his father's

footsteps, and has devoted the greater part of his life to farming

pursuits, although public affairs have for some years past engrossed

much of his time. He received his education at St. John's Academy, under

the tutelage of Bishop Anderson, and took a scholarship there in 1854.

In June, 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth Setter, the second daughter of

Mr. George Setter Jr., a native of Red River. He entered public life

immediately after the admission of Manitoba to the Union, having been

returned at the general election of 1870 as the representative of the

constituency of High Bluff in the Local Legislature. He continued to sit

for that constituency until the general election of 1874, when he was

returned for St. Andrew's, and he has ever since represented that

constituency in the Local House, having been reëlected by a large

majority in 1878, and having been returned by acclamation at the last

general election for the Province held on the 16th of December, 1879.

Upon the formation of the first Local Government in Manitoba, on the

28th of January, 1871, under the Premiership of the late Hon. James

McKay, Mr. Norquay accepted the portfolio of Minister of Public Works,

to which was subsequently added that of Minister of Agriculture. He held

office until the 8th of July, 1874, when he resigned, with the rest of

his colleagues. Upon the formation of the new Ministry on the 2nd of

December in the same year, under the Hon. R. A. Davis, Mr. Norquay

accepted a seat in it without portfolio. When Mr. Royal resigned the

office of Minister of Public Works, and became Attorney-General of the

Province, in May, 1876, Mr. Norquay succeeded to the vacant portfolio,

and retained it until October, 1878. During the month last named, Mr.

Davis, the Premier, retired from public life, and thereby rendered

necessary a reconstruction of the Government. Mr. Norquay was called

upon to carry out this reconstruction, which, in conjunction with Mr.

Royal, he successfully accomplished, he himself becoming Premier and

Provincial Treasurer. During his tenure of office as Minister of Public

Works, in 1878, he visited Ottawa while the Dominion Parliament was in

session, on business connected with the educational interests of his

native Province, and for the purpose of bringing about an adjustment of

certain accounts between the Government of Manitoba and the Governor

and Council of the District of Keewatin.

The Government formed, as above mentioned, in October, 1878, remained

intact until the month of May, 1879, when a difference of opinion arose

between Messrs. Norquay and Royal. The latter, who held the office of

Minister of Public Works, and Mr. Delorme, who was Minister of

Agriculture, both resigned their portfolios, and thus left the

Government with only three members. Overtures were made to several

French members of the House to accept the portfolios thus rendered

vacant, but these overtures were not successful. Mr. Norquay then

addressed a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Cauchon, in which he

requested that his Government might be permitted to retain office, and

that the public business might be proceeded with. It was further

requested that the filling of the vacant offices might be deferred until

after the close of the session. To this application the

Lieutenant-Governor declined to accede, upon the ground that his

compliance would be contrary to the spirit and meaning of the

Constitution, more especially as some of the proposed legislation of the

session was very important, and had not been foreshadowed to the people

at the previous elections. The two vacant offices were accordingly

filled by English members, and a round-robin was signed by all the

English members of the House in which the latter pledged themselves to

support a new line of policy announced by the Government. The session

proceeded; and a Bill was passed redistributing the seats. The House was

dissolved in the following October, and on the 16th of December a

general election was held in the Province. Mr. Norquay was returned by

acclamation by his constituents in St. Andrews, and all the other

members of the Government were elected except Mr. Taylor, one of the new

accessions, who was defeated. His portfolio--that of Minister of

Agriculture--was accordingly offered to the Hon. Maxime Goulet, member

for La Vérandrye, who accepted office, and returned to his constituents

for reëlection, when he was returned by acclamation Mr. Norquay's

Government, being fully sustained, has ever since remained in power. The

lines of party in Manitoba are by no means analogous to those in the

other Provinces, but they are rapidly assimilating, and practically

speaking Mr. Norquay's Government may be said to be a Conservative one.

At the general election for 1872 Mr. Norquay was an unsuccessful

candidate for the representation of Marquette in the House of Commons.

He has not since attempted to obtain a seat in that House, but has

confined his attention solely to Provincial affairs. He is a member of

the Board of Health, and also of the Board of Education for Manitoba. He

is a man of much natural intelligence, and enjoys a large measure of

public confidence and respect. Though not an orator, he is a ready

speaker, both on the platform and in the House, and has hitherto proved

fully equal to the requirements of his position.

THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT.

Readers of this work have already made the acquaintance of the

Cartwright family in the sketch of the life of the late Bishop Strachan.

The Hon. Richard Cartwright, the grandfather of the subject of this

sketch, was a United Empire Loyalist of English descent, who, soon after

the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, emigrated, with his family,

from the Province of New York to the wilderness of what soon afterwards

became Upper Canada. He acted for some time as secretary to Colonel

Butler, of the Queen's Rangers, and after the close of the war settled

at Kingston, where he became a man of mark and influence. He was

possessed of considerable acquirements and mental capacity. Soon after

the division of the Provinces, in 1791, he was appointed to the

important office of a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of

which position he discharged, without any remuneration, for some years,

and in a manner alike honourable to himself and beneficial to the

public. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in the Province

he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council, and was

thenceforward most assiduous in his attendance to his Parliamentary

duties. He was also a Colonel of militia, and took an active part in the

promotion of all matters for the advancement of the public interests.

His services to the cause of education have already been touched upon in

the sketch of the life of Bishop Strachan. He died in 1815. His son, the

father of Sir Richard, was the Rev. R. D. Cartwright, who was at one

time Chaplain to the Forces at Kingston. The latter married Miss

Harriett Dobbs, by whom he had four children, the eldest of which is the

immediate subject of this sketch.

Richard John Cartwright was born at Kingston, Upper Canada, on the 4th

of December, 1835. He was educated, first at Kingston, and afterwards at

Trinity College, Dublin. He was brought up to business habits, and has

been connected with various important financial enterprises. He was a

Director, and afterwards President, of the Commercial Bank of Canada;

and was also a Director of the Canada Life Assurance Company. He

displayed great aptitude in dealing with financial matters, on which he

was, and is, regarded as one of the highest authorities in this country.

He also interested himself in matters connected with the militia, and in

1864 published at Kingston, a pamphlet of 46 pages, entitled "Remarks on

the Militia of Canada." In the month of August, 1859, he married Miss

Frances Alexander, eldest daughter of Colonel Alexander Lawe, of

Cheltenham, England, by whom he has a numerous family.

From his earliest youth he took a keen interest in the political

questions before the country, and was a man of great influence on the

Conservative side, to which he was attached by training and early

association. His entry into Parliamentary life dates from the year

1863, when he was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly for the

united counties of Lennox and Addington. He took his seat as an

Independent Conservative, and for some years rendered a loyal support to

his leader, the present Sir John A. Macdonald. Throughout the various

coalitions formed for the purpose of carrying out the scheme of

Confederation, no grave differences of opinion seem to have arisen

between Mr. Cartwright and those with whom he acted. Upon the

accomplishment of Confederation Lennox and Addington became separate

constituencies, and at the first general election held under the new

order of things, in 1867, Mr. Cartwright was returned to the House of

Commons as the representative of the county of Lennox. It soon

afterwards began to be whispered that he was not thoroughly in accord

with the Party with which he had always acted, with reference to some

important public questions. Soon after the opening of the session of

1870 the whispers received confirmation from Mr. Cartwright's own lips,

as he formally notified the leader of the Government that while he had

no intention of offering a factious opposition, his support could no

longer be counted upon. On the introduction by Sir Francis Hincks, who

had recently accepted the office of Minister of Finance, of his banking

scheme, Mr. Cartwright gave it his most determined opposition, as

tending in his opinion to undermine the security of the banking

institutions of the country. During the same session he supported Mr.

Dorion's motion deprecating the increase of the public expenditure, and

in 1871 he seconded Sir A. T. Galt's more emphatic declaration to the

same effect. His vote was also recorded in successive divisions against

the terms of union with British Columbia, and in 1872 he supported the

Opposition leaders in their efforts to amend the objectionable

provisions of the Bill providing for the construction of the Canadian

Pacific Railway. The rupture between him and the Government Party was by

this time complete; and it is no slight tribute to the estimation in

which he was held by his constituents that he was able to carry them

with him in his secession. At the general election of 1872 he was

opposed by the Hon. J. Stevenson, the Speaker of the Legislative

Assembly of Ontario under the Sandfield Macdonald _regime_, but defeated

that gentleman by a majority of 711. During the following session Mr.

Cartwright acted uniformly with the Opposition, and towards its close he

delivered a powerful speech on the assumption by the Dominion of the

debt of Ontario and Quebec, in the course of which he reviewed the whole

financial policy of the Government, and criticized it in severe

language.

[Illustration: RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT, signed as R. J. CARTWRIGHT]

Upon the formation of Mr. Mackenzie's Reform Government in November,

1873, after the Pacific Scandal disclosures, and the consequent downfall

of Sir John Macdonald's Government, Mr. Cartwright accepted office as

Minister of Finance, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His acceptance

of office of course compelled him to return to his constituents for

reëlection. He had to encounter a very bitter opposition, but succeeded

in carrying his election by a larger majority than he had ever had

before. At the general election held in the following year he was

returned by acclamation.

At the time of his accession to office as Finance Minister the condition

of the exchequer was such as to require a readjustment of the tariff,

with a view to additional customs duties. Such a task is not a grateful

one for a Minister to undertake, and Mr. Cartwright necessarily came in

for a due share of hostile criticism from the supporters of the recently

deposed Government. In 1874, 1875 and 1876 he visited England on

business connected with the Finances of the Dominion. During the

session of 1878 he introduced and successfully carried through the House

an important measure respecting the auditing of the Public Accounts.

This measure, which was modelled on an English Act, provides for the

appointment of an Auditor-General, removable, not at pleasure, but on an

address by both Houses of Parliament. Its object was to make the

Auditor-General thoroughly independent, and thereby to inspire the

public with entire confidence in the public accounts. The Bill also

provides for the appointment of a Deputy Minister of Finance.

Mr. Cartwright's abilities as a Finance Minister will of course be

viewed differently according to the political bias of the reviewer. It

may be said, however, that in the opinion of his own political adherents

he is one of the ablest financiers that Canada has ever produced, and

that he successfully tided the country over a period of great political

depression without imposing any unnecessary burdens upon the people. As

a Parliamentary speaker and debater he is deservedly entitled to the

high rank which he enjoys. Finance is not a subject provocative of any

very lofty flights of oratory, but Mr. Cartwright's Budget speeches were

marked by a thorough mastery of his subject, and by clear and impressive

diction. He took a prominent part in the political campaign of 1878, and

some of his speeches at that time are among the ablest of his public

utterances. He of course opposed with all his might the protective

policy of the Party now in power. The electors of Lennox, like those of

many other constituencies, were desirous of testing the promises of the

advocates of the "National Policy," and at the general elections held on

the 17th of September Mr. Cartwright was defeated by Mr. Hooper, the

present representative, by a majority of 59 votes. Mr. Horace Horton,

the member-elect for Centre Huron, having accepted an office in the

department of the Auditor-General, resigned his seat, and Mr.

Cartwright, on the 2nd of November, was elected by a majority of 401

votes for that constituency, which he still continues to represent in

the House of Commons.

On the 24th of May, 1879, Mr. Cartwright was created a Knight of the

Order of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture held in Montreal

by the present Governor-General, acting on behalf of Her Majesty.

[Illustration: THEODORE ROBITAILLE, signed as Theodore Robitaille]

THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE,

_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC._

The Hon. Theodore Robitaille is by profession a physician and surgeon,

and, prior to his elevation to the position of Lieutenant-Governor, was

commonly known throughout the Province of Quebec as "Doctor" Robitaille.

He is descended from an old French family which has long been settled in

the Lower Province, and several members whereof have seen service in the

cause of the British Crown. One of his grand-uncles acted as a chaplain

to the Lower Canadian Militia Forces during the War of 1812, '13 and

'14, and several other members of the family fought on the loyal side

during that struggle. Another grand-uncle, Jean Robitaille, occupied a

seat in the old Canadian Legislature from 1809 to 1829.

The father of the Lieutenant-Governor was the late Mr. Louis Adolphe

Robitaille, N.P., of Varennes, in the Province of Quebec, where the

subject of this sketch was born on the 29th of January, 1834. He

received his education at the Model School of Varennes, at the Seminary

of Ste. Thérèse, at the Laval University, Quebec, and finally at McGill

College, Montreal, where he graduated as M.D. in May, 1858. He settled

down to the practice of his profession at New Carlisle, the county seat

of the county of Bonaventure. Three years later--at the general election

of 1861--he was returned in the Conservative interest to the Canadian

House of Assembly as representative for that county. He continued to sit

in the Assembly for Bonaventure until Confederation. At the general

election of 1867 he was returned by the same constituency to the House

of Commons, and was reëlected at the general election of 1872. Early in

the following year he was offered the portfolio of Receiver-General,

which he accepted, and was sworn into office on the 30th of January. His

acceptance of office was fully endorsed by his constituents in

Bonaventure, who reëlected him by acclamation. He held the

Receiver-Generalship until the fall of the Macdonald Ministry in the

following November. His tenure of office was not marked by any feature

of special importance. At the general elections of 1874 and 1878 he was

again returned for Bonaventure, so that at the time of his appointment

as Lieutenant-Governor he had represented that constituency in

Parliament for a continuous period of about eighteen years. He also

represented Bonaventure in the Local Legislature of Quebec from 1871 to

1874, when he retired, in order to confine himself to the House of

Commons. His long Parliamentary career was not distinguished by any

remarkable brilliancy or statesmanship, but he acquired much Legislative

experience, and was a useful member of the House. He was known for the

moderation of his views, and was personally popular with the

representatives of both political parties.

Upon Mr. Letellier's dismissal from office, as related in previous

sketches, Dr. Robitaille was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the

Province of Quebec. He was sworn into office by the Governor-General on

the 26th of July, 1879, and has ever since discharged the functions

incidental to that position. He was succeeded in the representation of

Bonaventure County by Mr. Pierre Clovis Beauchesne, who now sits in the

House of Commons for that constituency.

On the 30th of September, 1879, Lieutenant-Governor Robitaille paid a

visit to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where he had been a student more

than twenty years previously. He was received with great enthusiasm, not

only by the students of the Seminary, but by the people of the town

itself; and he received very flattering addresses from the Mayor of the

town, as well as from the President of the College. Both the town and

the College expressed their sense of having a share in the high honours

to which their former townsman and fellow-student had attained. About a

month later he was presented with a highly congratulatory address from

more than a thousand of his old constituents in Bonaventure. The address

was signed by the local clergy of all denominations, and by adherents of

all shades of political opinions.

In the month of November, 1867, Dr. Robitaille married Miss Marie

Josephine Charlotte Emma Quesnel, daughter of Mr. P. A. Quesnel, and

grand-daughter of the late Hon. F. A. Quesnel, who was for many years a

member of the Legislative Council of Canada.

THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE.

Mr. Blake, who for more than six years past has worthily filled the

position of Senior Vice-Chancellor for Ontario, is the second son of the

late William Hume Blake, and younger brother of West Durham's present

representative in the House of Commons. Some account of the lives of

both the father and eldest son has already appeared in this series, and

the reader is referred to those accounts for various particulars more or

less bearing upon the life of the subject of the present memoir. Samuel

Hume Blake was born in the City of Toronto, on the 31st of August, 1835,

soon after his father's removal thither from the Township of Adelaide.

Like his elder brother, he received his earliest educational training at

home, under the auspices of Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Wedd, and other private

tutors. The account given in the first volume of this work of the sort

of training bestowed by the father upon Edward Blake is equally

applicable to the training of the younger son, whose proficiency in

elocution was noticeable from his earliest childhood. From the hands of

private tutors he passed, when he was about eight years old, to Upper

Canada College, where he remained for five years. In those early days he

was a more diligent student in the ordinary scholastic routine than his

elder brother, and was specially conspicuous above most of his

fellow-students for the quickness of his intellectual vision, and the

almost amazing facility he displayed in mastering the daily tasks which

fell to his share. His mind seems to have matured very early, and his

intellectual precocity was such that when ten years old he could

converse intelligently, even on subjects requiring careful thought and

reflection, with persons of much more advanced years. The study and

practice of elocution, in which he was encouraged and directed by his

father, always had special charms for him, and the ease and grace of his

public deliverances while at school procured for him a high repute both

with his teachers and fellow-scholars. Mr. Barron, the Principal of the

College, used to hold him up in this respect as an example to the other

boys, and was wont to remark that Master Samuel Blake was the only boy

in the institution who really knew how to read with taste and

intelligence. He also received a high tribute to his elocutionary powers

from a more exalted quarter. Soon after Lord Elgin's arrival in this

country he attended a public examination at the College, at which young

Samuel Blake was deputed to recite Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope." The

selection was peculiarly appropriate, as the closing line of the poem

contains, as every Canadian schoolboy knows, a glowing tribute to "the

Bruce of Bannockburn." Lord Elgin's family name and lineage, doubtless,

led to the selection of this poem for recitation on the occasion of his

visit. His Lordship was fully sensible of the implied compliment, and

not only availed himself of the opportunity to highly commend young

Blake's elocution, but in the course of his address to the scholars paid

a glowing tribute to the character and public services of William Hume

Blake, to whose judicious training the son's success in declamation was

largely attributable.

Like his elder brother he had been destined for the legal profession,

but his own tastes, combined with the fact that his health was not very

robust, induced him to turn his thoughts to commercial life. The firm of

Ross, Mitchell & Co., was then at the height of its prosperity, and the

establishment formed an excellent field for the acquisition of a

thorough mercantile training. When just emerging from boyhood, Samuel

Blake bade adieu to Upper Canada College, and entered the establishment

as a clerk. There he remained four years, taking his full share of such

work as came to his hand. He thereby not only obtained an insight into

the doings of the commercial world which has stood him in good stead in

the different sphere to which the subsequent years of his life have been

devoted, but, more important still, the actual physical labours which he

was compelled to perform were the means of building up his constitution

and endowing him with much bodily vigour. His tastes, however, had

meanwhile undergone a change, and he had resolved to follow in his

brother's footsteps. His term of apprenticeship having expired, he

passed his preliminary examination before the Law Society, and entered

the office of his uncle, the late Dr. Skeffington Connor, as a student

at law. He at the same time began to read for a University degree, and

with unflagging industry contrived to carry on both his professional and

scholastic studies contemporaneously. In the year 1858 he graduated as

B.A., and in Michaelmas Term of the same year he was admitted as an

attorney and solicitor. He at once entered into partnership with his

brother Edward, the style of the firm being "E. & S. H. Blake." On the

2nd of February, 1859, he married Miss Rebecca Cronyn, third daughter of

the late Right Rev. John Cronyn, Bishop of the Diocese of Huron. In

Hilary Term, 1860, he was called to the Bar. Like his brother, he

devoted himself almost exclusively to the Equity branch of the

profession, in which he soon attained to an eminent position.

The splendid professional and financial successes achieved by the legal

firm of which he was a member have been sufficiently indicated in the

sketch of the life of Edward Blake. Of that firm, under its various

phases, Mr. S. H. Blake continued a member until Mr. Mowat's resignation

of the Vice-Chancellorship of Ontario, towards the close of 1872. The

position thus rendered vacant was promptly offered by the Premier, Sir

John A. Macdonald, to the subject of this memoir, who, after careful

deliberation, resolved to accept it. Only a few months before he had

been invested with the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel. During the

progress of the year he had also for the first time taken part in

political life. Frequent overtures had at various times been made to him

to emulate his brother's example by accepting a seat in Parliament.

These overtures he had persistently declined, but during the long and

heated contest preceding the general election of 1872 he consented to

supply the place of his brother--who was then absent in Europe for the

benefit of his health--by going down to the country and addressing his

constituents on the hustings and elsewhere. His political speeches

afforded unmistakable evidence of his ability to adapt himself to novel

circumstances. They showed an accurate knowledge of the country's past

political history, and of the nature of the various issues then before

the public. His views on all the questions of the day were of course

fully in accord with those of his brother, and in expatiating upon them

he displayed the same grasp and breadth which have always marked the

public utterances of the present member for West Durham.

Sir John Macdonald's political opponents have alleged that his offer of

so exalted a position as a Superior Court Judgeship to so young a man

was prompted by political expediency, and a desire to mollify the

powerful opposition of Edward Blake in the House of Commons. The

allegation, unless supported by stronger evidence than has yet been

produced, is not creditable to those who make it. Even Sir John's

bitterest foes will not deny that he has on more than one occasion

proved himself above party considerations, and in the matter of public

appointments has set an example of disinterestedness which other

Canadian statesmen would do well to emulate. Sir John, moreover, was

shrewd enough to know that Edward Blake was much too high-principled a

man to allow personal or family considerations to interfere with his

honest discharge of his public duties. In the instance under

consideration there is no need to search for any ulterior motive. The

appointment of Samuel Hume Blake to the Vice-Chancellorship was one

which commended itself to those who were most competent to pronounce

upon it--the legal profession of Ontario. In certain branches of his

profession he has had no superior in this country. In the early years of

his practice he devoted himself specially to chamber matters; but later

on, and more particularly after his brother had embarked in political

life, he was called upon to conduct, in the capacity of first counsel,

many of the heaviest cases before the court. As a counsel, his rapid

perception, and his faculty of reviewing evidence, were perhaps his most

noticeable characteristics. He was also, notwithstanding his youth, a

well-read lawyer, of excellent judgment and discrimination, and his

opinions were always regarded with the greatest respect, alike by Bench

and Bar. His appointment was a just and proper tribute to his fine

abilities, his unflagging industry, his great capacity for work, and his

high personal character. When he first took his seat on the Bench he was

the youngest judge who ever sat in any of the Superior Courts of his

native Province, and his elevation was due to a Prime Minister with

whose political views he has never been in accord. Instead of trying to

find sinister motives in such an appointment it is surely more

reasonable, as well as more becoming, to say that the appointment was

creditable alike to the Premier and to Mr. Blake.

Honourable as is the position of a Vice-Chancellor, there were,

notwithstanding, good reasons why Mr. Blake should hesitate before

accepting it. Ever since Edward Blake's entrance into political life the

large and steadily-increasing business of the firm had imposed

additional duties upon the younger brother. The additional duties were

of course accompanied by additional emoluments, and for several years

prior to 1872 his professional income had ranged from $12,000 to $15,000

per annum. As Vice-Chancellor his income would be only $5,000. This, to

a young man with an increasing family, who had largely fought his own

way in the battle of life, was in itself a serious consideration. On the

other hand there was the fact that his labours would be materially

lightened, and that he would have more time to bestow upon religious and

philanthropical objects in which he has always taken a deep interest.

His health, too, had begun to feel the effects of the ceaseless toil to

which he had for years subjected himself, and rest would be equally

grateful and beneficial. He finally concluded to accept the appointment,

and on the 2nd of December, 1872, became junior Vice-Chancellor. On the

elevation of his senior, Mr. S. H. Strong, to a seat on the Bench of

the newly-constituted Supreme Court of the Dominion, in 1875, Mr. Blake

succeeded to the position of senior Vice-Chancellor.

As an Equity Judge Mr. Blake has fully sustained the high reputation

which previous to his elevation he had acquired at the Bar. His tenure

of office has been marked by unwearied diligence, careful and patient

investigation of authorities, rigid conscientiousness, and that high

sense of the dignity of the judicial position for which the Ontario

Bench has long been distinguished. His judgments display all the

qualities of a profound and painstaking jurist. They are couched in a

phraseology which is always clear, and which not unfrequently rises to

eloquence. Some of them are regarded by persons who are entitled to

speak on such matters with authority as models of forensic reasoning. A

mere enumeration of the important cases which he has been called on to

decide in the few years which have elapsed since his elevation to the

Bench would alone occupy much space. The case of _Campbell_ vs.

_Campbell_, owing to its peculiar character, is perhaps the one best

known to the general public. There have been many others, however,

involving much more abstruse points, on which his great learning and

industry have been exercised, and which are regarded as conclusive in

logic as well as in law.

At the urgent solicitation of the Local Government of Ontario, Mr. Blake

consented, early in 1876, to act as one of the Commissioners for

carrying out the Tavern License Law in Toronto. The position was one

calling for the exercise of great judgment and discrimination, but it

was also one very distasteful to him. It was urged upon him as a matter

of duty, however, and as such he regarded it. To say that he discharged

the duties incidental to this position with efficiency, uprightness, and

satisfaction to the authorities is merely to assert what every one in

Toronto knows to be true. He brought to his task the same high qualities

which have always distinguished him both in professional and private

life, and the people of Toronto had abundant reason to feel thankful

that he consented to act.

Mr. Blake is a prominent member of the Church of England, and has ever

since his youth given much time and attention to ecclesiastical affairs.

Anything connected with the Church possesses for him a living interest.

His predilections in this way are so well known that he was long ago

christened by one of his friends "the Archbishop," and by the members of

his own family he is still sometimes jocularly so called. During the

existence of the Church Association he was one of its most energetic

officials. At the time of its dissolution, and for some years

previously, he occupied the position of its Vice-President. He has been

a Sunday-school teacher for nearly a quarter of a century, and is much

esteemed and beloved by the members of his classes. Though not given to

doing his alms before men, it is well known that his works of kindness

and philanthropy are abundant, and that he has been the means of

rescuing many of his fellow-creatures from a life of sin and

degradation. He is, and has long been, President of the Irish Protestant

Benevolent Society, and is connected with various other Christian and

charitable enterprises. He takes a conspicuous part in the proceedings

of the Young Men's Christian Association of Toronto, and frequently

presides at public meetings held for social and philanthropical objects.

[Illustration: ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ, signed as ALY. ARCH. of St. BONIFACE]

THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ,

_R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE._

Archbishop Taché belongs to one of the oldest and most remarkable

families of Canada; one that can refer with just pride to its ancestry,

among whom are ranked Louis Joliette, the celebrated discoverer of the

Mississippi, and Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, the hardy explorer of

the Red River, the Upper Missouri, and the Saskatchewan country; while

several others are conspicuous in Canadian annals for eminent services

rendered in their respective spheres. Jean Taché, the first of the name

in Canada, arrived at Quebec in 1739, married Demoiselle Marguerite

Joliette de Mingan, and occupied several influential positions under the

French _regime_. He was the possessor of a large fortune, but was ruined

by the Conquest which substituted English for French rule. His son

Charles settled in Montmagny, and had three sons, Charles, Jean

Baptiste, and Etienne Pascal. The last-mentioned became Sir Etienne

Pascal Taché, and died Premier of Canada in 1865. Charles, the eldest of

the three, after having served as Captain in the regiment of Voltigeurs

during the war with the United States, took up his residence in

Kamouraska. He married Demoiselle Henriette Boucher de la Broquerie,

great grand-daughter of the founder of Boucherville, and grand-niece of

Madame d'Youville, the foundress of the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. Three

sons were born of this marriage: Dr. Joseph Charles Taché, a well-known

Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the

Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Taché, Sheriff of St.

Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Taché, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the

subject of the present sketch.

The Archbishop was born at Rivière du Loup (en bas), Quebec, on the 23rd

of July, 1823. At the tender age of two years and a half he lost his

father. Madame Taché, after the death of her husband, repaired with her

young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la

Broquerie. Madame Taché was endowed with many of the qualities that

constitute the model wife and mother, and made it the sole aim of her

life to have her sons follow in the path of duty and honour trodden by

their forefathers. From his infancy young Alexandre displayed fine

natural qualities, crowned by a passionate love for his mother. This

affection has lost nothing of its intensity, and to the present day the

mere mention of his mother strikes the tenderest chord of his feelings.

At school and at college he was noted for his genial character, amiable

gaiety and bright intellect. He received his higher education at the

College of St. Hyacinthe. Having completed his course of classical

studies, he donned the ecclesiastical habit, went as a student to the

Theological Seminary of Montreal, and subsequently returned to the

College of St. Hyacinthe as Professor of Mathematics.

Meanwhile the arrival of the disciples of De Mazenod, founder of the

Order of the Oblates, threw a new light on the vocation of Alexandre

Taché. Being the great-great-grandson of Joliette, and having been

brought up in Boucherville, in the very house whence the celebrated

Jacques Marquette had started for his western missions--having moreover

been sheltered by the same roof under which Marquette had registered the

first baptism administered in the locality[13]--it is no wonder that the

spirit of those renowned personages still hovered around the young

ecclesiastic, indicating a life of self-denial, to be endured in the far

North-West. He entered the novitiate at Longueil, in October, 1844. The

mission of the Oblate Fathers, which now extends from the coast of

Labrador to the shores of British Columbia, and from the Gulf of Mexico

to the Arctic Sea, was then in its infancy in Canada. In 1844 the

Hudson's Bay and North-West Territories were detached from the diocese

of Quebec, and the Right Reverend Joseph Norbert Provencher, who had

been exercising his zeal throughout those vast regions, was appointed

Apostolic Vicar. The venerable prelate had toiled, with a very small

number of co-labourers, during the twenty-six previous years, in

evangelizing the scattered tribes. Bishop Provencher was convinced that

to give more extension to his work it was necessary to secure the

services of a religious order, and fixed his choice on the Oblates. His

proposal was so much the more readily accepted that it was suited to

carry into practical effect, to a more than ordinary degree, the motto

of the Order--_Pauperes evangelizantur_. This decision awakened a flame

in the heart of the novice Taché. His first impulse was to offer his

services in the generous undertaking. It was not without dread and

apprehension that he harboured the idea, for he was but twenty-one years

of age. So far, he had known in life naught but what was congenial to

his affectionate nature: the pure joys of home, the tenderness and

solicitude of an almost idolized mother. He had grown up in the sunshine

of universal affection, and his feelings had never been chilled or

nipped by deception or unkindness. The struggle was a difficult one;

but, in the designs of Providence, his love for his mother was made the

means of determining his resolution. The act of his life which has

enlisted the most tender sympathies is certainly that which found him at

the shrine of filial piety, offering to the Almighty the sacrifice of

home and country, and of all that he held dearest on earth; begging, in

return, the recovery of his mother from a dangerous illness under which

she was then labouring. Madame Taché was restored to health, and was

spared for twenty-six years to witness the elevation and popularity to

which her beloved son was destined.

On the 24th of June, 1845, the national feast of French Canadians, while

all around was exultant with joy and festivity, the young missionary,

accompanied by the Rev. P. Aubert, took his place in a birch bark canoe

for a foreign shore. A page from the pen of the Bishop of St. Boniface

in his work "_Vingt Années de Missions_," published some years ago,

vividly describes his feelings on the occasion:--"You will allow me to

tell you what I felt as I receded from the sources of the St. Lawrence,

on whose banks Providence had fixed my birthplace, and by whose waters I

first conceived the thought of becoming a missionary of the Red River. I

drank of those waters for the last time, and mingled with them some

parting tears, and confided to them some of the secret thoughts and

affectionate sentiments of my inmost heart. I could imagine how some of

the bright waves of this river, rolling down from lake to lake, would

at last strike on the beach nigh to which a beloved mother was praying

for her son that he might become a perfect Oblate and a holy missionary.

I knew that, being intensely pre-occupied with that son's happiness, she

would listen to the faintest murmuring sound, to the very beatings of

the waves coming from the North-West, as if to discover in them the

echoes of her son's voice asking a prayer or promising a remembrance. I

give expression to what I felt on that occasion, for the recollection

now, after the lapse of twenty years, of the emotions I experienced in

quitting home and friends, enables me more fully to appreciate the

generous devotedness of those who give up all they hold most dear in

human affection for the salvation of souls. The height of land was as it

were the threshold of the entrance to our new home, and the barrier

about to close behind us. When the heart is a prey to deep emotion it

needs to be strengthened. To sooth mine, I brought it to consider the

uncultured and savage nature of the soil we were treading. . . . I

calculated, or at least accepted, all the consequences thereof. I bade

to my native land an adieu which I then believed to be everlasting, and

I vowed to my adopted land a love and attachment which I then, as now,

wished to be as lasting as my life."

The missionaries reached St. Boniface on the 25th of August, after a

long and tiresome journey of sixty-two days. On the first Sunday after

his arrival the young ecclesiastic, who had during the voyage reached

the required age of twenty-two years, was ordained Deacon, and on the

12th of October following he was raised to the Priesthood. The next day

Father Taché pronounced his religious vows. This was the first time that

the vows of religion were pronounced in the far North-West, and it is

worth noting, once more, that the young Oblate then performing the

solemn act was related to the discoverer who first hoisted the banner of

the cross in those remote regions--the illustrious Varennes de la

Verandrye. Shortly after his ordination Father Taché was appointed to

accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle à la

Crosse, a thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. They started on the

8th of July, 1846, and after a harassing journey that lasted two months

they arrived at their destination. The young missionary went heart and

soul into his work. Having heard of an Indian Chief who lay dangerously

ill at Lac Vert, a place ninety miles distant, and who desired to be

baptized, he hastened through dismal swamps and pine forests to perform

that sacred office. On his return, after four days' rest, he undertook

the voyage to Lac Caribou, 350 miles north-east of Isle à la Crosse, and

was the first who ever reached that desolate spot to announce the Gospel

of Peace. There he had the happiness of instructing and baptizing

several poor Indians. His next missionary expedition was to Athabasca.

On his way thither he was warned of the fierce and savage character of

the Indian tribes who frequented that region, but, nevertheless, he

courageously pursued his weary journey of 400 miles to the end. A great

missionary triumph awaited him. In the course of three weeks he baptized

194 Indian children of the Cree and Chippeweyan tribes. These happy

beginnings inspired Father Taché's zeal to pursue with continued ardour

his apostolic career. The annals of the "Propagation of the Faith"

contain soul-stirring accounts of the labours accomplished by the young

missionary. His travels were through the wilderness, where no hospitable

roof offered a shelter. After a long day's walking through deep snow, or

running behind a dog sled, with nothing to appease his hunger but the

unpalatable pemmican, he had to seek repose on the cold ground, with the

canopy of heaven overhead. Still, he affirms that he counts among the

happiest days of his life those passed in his first Indian missions in

the North-West, and relates how his heart beat with joy when, at a

journey's end, he was welcomed by the untutored savages whom he desired

to win to Christ.

While Father Taché was thus giving proofs of his zeal and ability, and

seeking to extend the reign of the Master who had chosen him, his

superiors were admiring his remarkable endowments. The young clergyman

who sought oblivion was being marked out for an exalted dignity. The

keen eye of the venerable bishop of the North-West had remarked the

brilliant talents of his young missionary, and experience has shown how

judicious was his choice in selecting Father Taché, then only twenty-six

years of age, as his coadjutor and future successor. It is easy to

imagine the latter's surprise on receiving the news of his promotion to

the episcopate. At the call of his bishop he repaired to St. Boniface. A

letter from his Religious Superior awaited him there, instructing him to

sail immediately for France for his consecration. His first meeting with

the founder of the Oblates was marked by signs of mutual appreciation.

Bishop Taché received the episcopal consecration on the 23rd of

November, 1851, in the Cathedral of Viviers, in Southern France, at the

hands of the Bishop of Marseilles, Monseigneur De Mazenod, assisted by

Monseigneur Guibert, now Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, and Monseigneur

Prince, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. Bishop Taché left immediately for Rome.

The paternal encouragements of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., and repeated

visits to the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, imparted renewed

strength to the energy of the young prelate. He started in February for

the remote scene of his labours. He spent a few weeks in Lower Canada,

where the liveliest sympathies were lavished upon him. Every one was

impatient to see and to hear the young bishop of the Indians of the

North-West. In the month of June he reached St. Boniface. Bishop

Provencher, feeling that his end was near, had thought of retaining his

coadjutor near him, but the strong reasons adduced by the missionary

bishop prevailed. Monseigneur Taché, on taking his departure for Isle à

la Crosse, knelt to ask the blessing of Monseigneur Provencher. The

venerable prelate gave expression on that occasion to the following

prophetic words:--"It is not customary for a bishop to ask for another

bishop's blessing, but as I am soon to die, and as we shall never again

meet in this world, I will bless you once more on this earth, while

awaiting the happiness of embracing you in heaven."

Father Taché's elevation to the episcopal dignity increased his

responsibilities, and gave a new impulse to his zeal and devotion to the

good cause, while the unction of a divine commission gave efficacy and

power to his efforts. From his residence at Isle à la Crosse the prelate

made frequent excursions to visit different tribes. The following

playful but truthful description, in his own words, of his dwelling

place, and of his mode of travelling, gives an idea of what he had to

endure, and how he bore it:--"My episcopal palace is twenty feet in

length, twenty in width, and seven in height. It is built of logs

cemented with mud, which, however, is not impermeable, for the wind and

the rain and other atmospheric annoyances find easy access through its

walls. Two windows of six small panes of glass lighten the principal

apartment, and two pieces of parchment complete the rest of the luminary

system. In this palace, though at first glance everything looks mean and

diminutive, a character of real grandeur, nevertheless, pervades the

whole establishment. For instance, my secretary is no less a personage

than a bishop--my 'valet de chambre' is also a bishop--my cook himself

is sometimes a bishop. The illustrious _employés_ have countless

defects, but their attachment to my person endears them to me, and I

cannot help looking at them with a feeling of satisfaction. When they

grow tired of their domestic employments I put them all on the road, and

going with them, I strive to make them cheery. The entire household of

his lordship is _en route_, with two Indians, and a half-breed who

conducts a team of four dogs. The team is laden with cooking utensils,

bedding, a wardrobe, a portable altar and its fittings, a food basket,

and other odds and ends. His lordship puts on a pair of snow shoes which

are from three to four feet in length, real episcopal pantofles,

perfectly adapted to the fine tissue of the white carpet on which he has

to walk, moving with more or less rapidity according to the muscular

strength of the traveller. Towards evening this strength equals zero;

the march is suspended, and the episcopal party is ordered to halt. An

hour's labour suffices to prepare a mansion wherein his lordship will

repose till the next morning. The bright white snow is carefully

removed, and branches of trees are spread over the cleared ground. These

form the ornamental flooring of the new palace; the sky is its lofty

roof, the moon and stars are its brilliant lamps, the dark pine forests

or the boundless horizon its sumptuous wainscoting. The four dogs of the

team are its sentinels, the wolves and the owls preside over the musical

orchestra, hunger and cold give zest to the joy experienced at the sight

of the preparations which are being made for the evening banquet and the

night's repose. The chilled and stiffened limbs bless the merciful

warmth of the kindled pile to which the 'giants of the forest' have

supplied abundant fuel. Having taken possession of their mansion, the

proprietors partake of a common repast; the dogs are the first served,

then comes his lordship's turn, his table is his knees, the table

service consists of a pocket-knife, a bowl, a tin plate, and a

five-pronged fork, which is an old family heirloom. The _Benedicite

omnia opera_ is pronounced. Nature is too grand and beautiful in the

midst even of all its trying rigours for us to forget its Author;

therefore, during these encampments our hearts become filled with

thoughts that are solemn and overpowering. We feel it then to be our

duty to communicate such thoughts to the companions of our journey, and

to invite them to love Him by whom all those wonderful things we behold

around us were made, and to give thanks to Him from whom all blessings

flow. Having rendered our homage to God, Monseigneur's 'valet de

chambre' removes from his lordship's shoulders the overcoat which he has

worn during the day, and extending it on the ground calls it a mattress;

his cap, his mittens and his travelling bag pass in the darkness of the

night for a pillow; two woollen blankets undertake the task of

protecting the bishop from the cold of the night, and of preserving the

warmth necessary for his repose. Lest they should fail in such offices,

Providence comes to their aid, by sending a kindly little layer of snow,

which spreads a protecting mantle, without distinction, over all alike.

Beneath its white folds sleep tranquilly the prelate and his suite,

repairing in their calm slumbers the fatigues of the previous day, and

gathering strength for the journey of the morrow; never dreaming of the

surprise that some spoiled child of civilization would experience if,

lifting this snow mantle he found lying beneath it bishop, Indians, the

four dogs of the team, etc., etc., etc." The above description is

applicable not merely to a solitary journey made by Bishop Taché, but to

those habitually performed by him; and as it gives an excellent idea of

the nature of primitive travel in the North-West we have quoted it at

length.

On the 7th of June, 1853, the first Bishop of St. Boniface breathed his

last, worn out by a life of toil and usefulness. His coadjutor received

the sad tidings while making the pastoral visitation of the diocese. The

stroke was a severe one, and it was with dread and mistrust in himself

that Bishop Taché entered upon the office of titular bishop of an

immense territory. Nevertheless, at the call of the new bishop zealous

co-labourers came forth to share a high and holy mission. Colleges,

convents and schools were founded, while those already existing were

supported to a great extent by the generosity of the prelate himself,

ever ready to endure the severest privations for the sake of his flock.

At his request the Sisters of Charity opened an asylum for little orphan

girls, while the orphan boys shared the lodgings and table of the

bishop, until provision could be made for them. Missionary posts were

established and extended three thousand miles distant from St. Boniface.

The visitation of the diocese at necessary intervals became, for the

Bishop of St. Boniface, an impossibility. In 1857, accordingly, the

prelate made a voyage to Europe to obtain a coadjutor. The Rev. Father

Grandin was appointed to this office. In 1860 the Bishop of St. Boniface

undertook a long and trying journey to confer with his coadjutor at Isle

à la Crosse, on the propriety of subdividing the diocese, and of

proposing the Rev. Father Faraud for an episcopal charge. The plan was

adopted and sanctioned by proper authority. The districts of Athabasca

and Mackenzie became a Vicariate Apostolic, confided to the zeal of

Monseigneur Faraud. Bishop Taché had to suffer more during that journey

than can be easily imagined by those unacquainted with the climate and

the mode of travelling in that country. From that time his health began

to fail, but left his indomitable energy unimpaired, as was needed for

the trials which awaited him in the not distant future. Alluding to the

morning of the 14th of December, 1860, he writes as follows:--"We left

our frosty bed at the early hour of one a.m. to continue our journey. We

travelled until ten in the forenoon, and then halted to rest, and to

partake of a little food. We found it almost impossible to kindle a

fire; at last we partially succeeded. I sat beside the dying embers,

cold and hungry and wearied; a peculiar sadness oppressed me. I was then

nine hundred miles from St. Boniface." This sadness might have seemed a

premonition of what was occurring at St. Boniface on the same day and at

the same hour. The episcopal residence and the cathedral were in flames,

and with them everything they contained was reduced to ashes. With what

grief did the bishop witness the scene of destruction on his return

after his painful journey! He writes as follows to the Bishop of

Montreal:--"You may judge, my Lord, of my emotion when, on the 23rd of

February, after a journey of fifty-four days in the depth of winter,

after sleeping forty-four nights in the open air, I arrived at St.

Boniface, and knelt in the midst of the ruins caused by the disaster of

the 14th of December, on that spot where lately stood a thriving

religious establishment. But the destruction of the episcopal

establishment was not the only trial which it pleased God that year to

send us. A frightful inundation invaded our Colony, and plunged its

population in profound misery. What should the Bishop of St. Boniface do

in presence of these ruins, and under the weight of so heavy a load of

affliction, but bow down his head in Christian and loving submission to

the Divine will, whilst blessing the hand that smote him, and adoring

the merciful God who chastised him?"

The soul of the Bishop of St. Boniface, though sorely tried by the above

disasters, as well as by the distress of seeing his flock looking to him

for assistance, was not cast down. He lost no time in taking the

necessary steps to repair the calamities which had occurred. He went to

Canada and to France to raise funds, and success crowned his efforts.

Mr. Joseph James Hargrave, in his work on "Red River," alluding to the

burning of the cathedral and episcopal residence, says:--"This check

has, however, through the ability of the bishop, been turned almost into

a benefit, for a much superior church has been raised on the site of the

old one, and the handsome and commodious stone dwelling-house which has

replaced the other is, in more than mere name, a palace."

In 1868 all the crops in the Red River settlement were destroyed by

innumerable swarms of grasshoppers. The same year the buffalo chase, one

of the principal resources of the country at the time, was a complete

failure. Famine was the result. The most energetic efforts were made to

mitigate the distress, and timely aid from abroad prevented, in many

cases, death from starvation. A Relief Committee was appointed, and

among the members were the clergymen of the different religious

denominations, to whom it belonged to see to the wants of their

respective congregations. While it is true that all these gentlemen

acted their part well, it is but fair to add that Bishop Taché was the

most active; ever devising new means, at his own expense, to preserve

his people from starvation, and securing seed for the ensuing spring

when the resources of the committee were insufficient.

Famine is often a forerunner of political disturbance in a country.

During the spring of 1869 a universal feeling of dissatisfaction and of

uneasiness prevailed in the colony, when it became known, through the

public press, that transactions were being carried on between Her

Majesty's Government, that of the Dominion, and the Hudson's Bay

Company, for the transfer of the Red River country to Canada, while the

authorities of Assiniboia and the population of the colony were entirely

ignored by the negotiating parties. This wounded the susceptibilities of

the inhabitants, among whom a spirit of sullenness and disaffection

began to appear. The surveyors sent from Canada to lay out the land were

not allowed to prosecute their work, and when the newspapers of Ontario

and Quebec brought intelligence to Fort Garry that a Commission under

the Great Seal of Canada had been issued on the 29th of September, 1869,

appointing the Hon. William McDougall to be Lieutenant-Governor of the

North-West Territories, and that the Honourable gentleman was _en route_

with a party, and taking with him three hundred and fifty breech-loading

rifles with thirty thousand rounds of ammunition, the dissatisfaction

became exasperation. The French Half-Breeds took up arms and sent a

party to the frontier to meet Mr. McDougall and order him back. Such was

the beginning of the outbreak.

Bishop Taché was at this time absent in Europe, attending the sitting of

the [OE]cumenical Council at Rome. When the troubles in the North-West

became known to the Canadian Government at Ottawa, it was thought

desirable to secure His Lordship's services. His influence over the

French Half-Breeds was known to be all-powerful, and he was regarded as

the one man for the crisis. He was communicated with by cablegram, and,

recognizing the urgency of the case, he at once set out for Canada. Upon

reaching Ottawa he had a conference with the Government, and received

instructions authorizing him to proceed at once to the North-West, and

to offer the rebels an amnesty for all past offences. He lost no time in

repairing to Fort Garry, but five days before his arrival there the

murder of Thomas Scott--"the dark crime of the rebellion"--had been

committed. Bishop Taché, while deploring that ruthless piece of

butchery, did not conceive that his instructions were affected thereby.

He recognized the Provisional Government, entered into negotiations with

Riel, and was instrumental in restoring peace. He unconsciously

exceeded his powers, and made promises to the rebels in the name of the

Canadian Government which, in the absence of express Imperial authority,

the Canadian Government itself had no power to make. All this, however,

was done from the best of motives, for the purpose of preventing further

bloodshed, and without any idea that he was exceeding the authority with

which he had been invested. A great deal has been said and written

against Bishop Taché in connection with this troublesome episode in the

history of Red River. The Archbishop has informed the author of this

sketch that his intention is to personally prepare a full account of

what he knows respecting that episode. Meanwhile, suffice it to say to

those who would know the part played by him, that His Grace has already

published two pamphlets on the subject, the first in 1874, and the

second in 1875. The latter portrays the painful feeling experienced by

His Grace at the way he was treated by the authorities after he had

succeeded in appeasing the dissatisfied people, and in bringing them to

enter into negotiations, the results of which were satisfactory to the

Government of Canada, as well as to the old settlers of Assiniboia. It

is impossible, in reading those pages, not to be convinced that the

prelate acted with the utmost good faith, and with the interests of the

country at heart. "The Amnesty Again, or Charges Refuted," clearly

demonstrates how deeply the author felt that he had been unjustly

treated. Few men, if any, in Canada, occupying such a high position,

have been attacked so unfairly as Bishop Taché. There is not a man of

sense acquainted with His Lordship and with the country in which he has

laboured so indefatigably during the last thirty-five years that would

venture to repeat the accusations brought against him at the time in

reference to the Red River disturbances. Some of those who had accused

him experienced a complete transformation in their ideas on forming His

Lordship's acquaintance, and could not help sharing in the universal

respect which surrounds him.

On the 22nd of September, 1871, Bishop Taché was appointed Archbishop

and Metropolitan of a new ecclesiastical province--that of St. Boniface,

which comprehends the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, the Diocese of St.

Albert, and the Vicariates Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie and British

Columbia. As already stated, Archbishop Taché's health began to fail

during his harassing journey in the winter of 1860. The calamities above

mentioned, the losses to be repaired requiring unceasing toil, and,

above all, it may be said, the mental suffering of the three previous

years, hastened the progress of the disease which seized Archbishop

Taché in December, 1872, and kept him bedridden during the whole winter.

The malady has since partially subsided, but His Grace still suffers

constantly, more or less, and his strength is by no means equal to what

his appearance would indicate.

In 1875 Archbishop Taché received a remarkable token of the sympathy he

commands in the Province of Quebec. On the 24th of June, the thirtieth

anniversary of his departure from Montreal, and the twenty-fifth of his

election to the episcopate, His Grace was made the recipient of a very

uncommon and valuable gift, that of a splendid organ for his cathedral.

The instrument, which cost about $3,000, was built in Montreal by Mr.

Mitchell, who accompanied it to St. Boniface, at the expense of the

donors, to place it in the loft prepared for it there, "to raise its

rich and melodious tones, as the expression of the feelings of the

numerous friends and admirers of a holy missionary, a devoted bishop,

and a noble citizen."

In 1877 Lord Dufferin visited the Province of Manitoba. Many looked

forward with a certain anxiety to see the attitude the Archbishop of St.

Boniface would take towards or receive from the Governor-General. That

feeling was caused by the recollection of what Lord Dufferin had written

to England with regard to Bishop Taché, and of how His Grace had

repudiated His Excellency's assertions in the pamphlet alluded to above.

Those better acquainted with His Grace knew quite well that every other

feeling would be silenced in order to give vent only to that of profound

respect towards the representative of Her Majesty, and for them it was

no matter of surprise to see His Grace, contrary to his practice, appear

daily in public, when an opportunity afforded itself, to testify his

respect for the illustrious visitor. This, of course, was felt by Lord

Dufferin, who shortly after wrote to a friend: "I left Bishop Taché very

well and in good spirits. Nothing could have been kinder than the

reception he gave me." It may even be said that Lord Dufferin seemed

eager to express his esteem for the venerable prelate. The second day

after His Excellency's arrival he was at the Archiepiscopal Palace of

St. Boniface, and answered as follows to an address from the Archbishop

and Catholic clergy of the locality:--

"MONSEIGNEUR et MESSIEURS,--I need not assure you that it is with great

satisfaction that I at length find myself within the jurisdiction of

Your Grace, and in the neighbourhood of those localities where you and

your clergy have for so many years been prosecuting your sacred duties.

Your Grace, I am sure, is well aware how thoroughly I understand and

appreciate the degree to which the Catholic Priesthood of Canada have

contributed to the progress of civilization, from the earliest days till

the present moment, through the length and breadth of Her Majesty's

Dominion, and perhaps there is no region where their efforts in this

direction are more evident or more strikingly expressed upon the face of

the country than here in Manitoba. On many a previous occasion it has

been my pleasing duty to bear witness to the unvarying loyalty and

devotion to the cause of good government and order of yourself and your

brethren, and the kindly feeling and patriotic harmony which I find

prevailing in this Province bear unmistakable witness to the spirit of

charity and sympathy towards all classes of your fellow-citizens by

which Your Lordship and your clergy are animated. To myself individually

it is a great satisfaction to visit the scene of the labours of a great

personage for whom I entertain such a sincere friendship and esteem as I

do for Your Grace, and to contemplate with my own eyes the beneficial

effects produced by your lifelong labours and unwearying self-sacrifice

and devotion to the interests of your flock. I trust that both they and

this whole region may by the providence of God be long permitted to

profit by your benevolent ministrations. Permit me to assure Your Grace

and the clergy of your diocese that both Lady Dufferin and myself are

deeply grateful for the kind and hearty welcome you have prepared for

us." These words, falling from the lips of the immediate representative

of Her Majesty, during an official visit, should go some distance

towards compensating Archbishop Taché for all the unfair accusations

brought against him, and they were a source of heartfelt pleasure to the

large audience surrounding the Governor-General on that occasion. During

the same year an American writer who visited Manitoba, and published a

pamphlet on the country, was taken by the well-known merits and pleasant

intercourse of Monseigneur Taché, of whom he says:--"Of Bishop Taché,

the Archbishop of this great domain, who resides at this mission (St.

Boniface), much, very much, might be said. His travels, labours and

ministry have been extensive and acceptable. Still a few words of the

Psalmist will better express him as he is than any words of mine. 'The

steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his

way. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that

man is peace.' And so it seems to be with him, in the peaceful air of

this Mission, which, with his kindly, genial way, seems to make the

above-quoted words particularly appropriate, and to cause one to

sincerely wish that 'his days may be long in the land, which the Lord

his God hath given him.'"

In 1879 the friends of the Archbishop dreaded that the wishes expressed

in the last quotation would not be realized. All through the month of

April in that year His Grace was far from well, and on the 2nd of May,

while assisting at a literary entertainment held at the college in

honour of his festal day, he was seized with a severe attack of the

chronic disease from which he suffers. For a whole week much anxiety

prevailed relative to his recovery. Happily he got over the attack, and

three months of rest passed in the Province of Quebec restored His Grace

to his usual condition of health. The Archbishop had proposed crossing

the Atlantic for his decennial visit to Rome, and also to attend the

General Chapter of the Oblate Order. Sickness did not permit His Grace

to make the intended voyage, which would have been the sixth one made by

him to Europe. Archbishop Taché often complains of having lost most of

his energy and activity; nevertheless it is easy to see that he is not

idle concerning the interests of his flock. Last year witnessed the

erection of a splendid college in St. Boniface, a spacious and beautiful

convent in Winnipeg, the new and grand church of St. Mary in the same

city, besides the chapels of Emerson, St. Pie, St. Pierre, and many

other improvements in different localities; and when we know the active

part Archbishop Taché has taken in all these improvements, and the

considerable assistance afforded by him, it must be admitted that his

force is not exhausted. His zeal, energy and activity may be measured to

a certain degree by the following synopsis of what has been accomplished

since his arrival in the country. When Father Taché was ordained Priest

at St. Boniface, in 1845, he was only the sixth Roman Catholic clergyman

in the British Possessions from Lake Superior to the Rocky

mountains--that is to say in the whole diocese of St. Boniface. There

were but two parishes and one mission established in the colony of

Assiniboia, viz.: St. Boniface, St. François Xavier, and St. Paul; and

two missions in the North-West Territories. At present there are in the

same country an Archdiocese, a Diocese and a Vicariate Apostolic,

Archbishop, three Bishops, twenty Secular Priests, sixty-two Oblate

Fathers, thirty Oblate Lay Brothers, three Brothers of the Congregation

of Mary, sixty-five Sisters of Charity, and eleven Sisters of the Holy

Names of Jesus and Mary. There are eighteen parishes in Manitoba, and

more than forty established missions in the North-West Territories.

The above figures will convey some idea of the progress made by the

Roman Catholic religion in the North-West during the last thirty-five

years, and as Archbishop Taché has presided over its affairs for nearly

thirty years as Bishop or Archbishop it is impossible to doubt that he

has displayed a great deal of energy, activity and ability, as well as

much Christian kindness and sympathy.

[Illustration: JAMES COX AIKINS, signed as J. C. AIKINS]

THE HON. JAMES COX AIKINS.

The life of the Minister of Inland Revenue has been rather uneventful.

His father, the late Mr. James Aikins, emigrated from the county of

Monaghan, Ireland, to Philadelphia, in 1816. After a residence of four

years in the Quaker City he removed to Upper Canada, and took up a

quantity of land in the first concession north of the Dundas Road, in

the township of Toronto, about thirteen miles from the town of York.

This was sixty years ago, when that township, like nearly every other

township in the Province, was sparsely settled. There was no church or

place of worship in the neighbourhood, and the itinerant Methodist

preachers were for some years the only exponents of the Gospel that were

seen there. Mr. Aikins, like most Protestants in the north of Ireland,

had been bred to the Presbyterian faith, but soon after settling in

Upper Canada he came under the influence of these evangelists, and

embraced the doctrines of Methodism. His house became a well-known place

of resort for the godly people of the settlement, and services were

frequently held there.

The subject of this sketch is the eldest son of the gentleman above

named, and was born at the family homestead, in the township of Toronto,

on the 30th of March, 1823. He was brought up on his father's farm, and

was early inured to the hardships of rural life in Canada in those

primitive times. He united with the Methodist Body at an early age, and

has ever since been identified with it. He attended the public schools

in the neighbourhood of his home, and afterwards spent some time at the

Upper Canada Academy at Cobourg, which subsequently developed into

Victoria College and University. At the first collegiate examination,

which was held on the 17th of April, 1843, he figured as one of the

"Merit Students." After completing his education he settled down on a

farm in the county of Peel, a few miles from the paternal homestead, and

there remained until about eleven years ago, when he removed to Toronto,

where he has ever since resided. In 1845, soon after leaving college, he

married Miss Mary Elizabeth Jane Somerset, the daughter of a

neighbouring yeoman in Peel. He embraced the Reform side in politics,

and was for many years identified with the Reform Party. His life was

unmarked by any incident of public interest until 1851, when he was

nominated as the representative of his native constituency in the

Assembly. Not feeling prepared for public life at this period he

declined the nomination; but at the general elections held in 1854 he

offered himself as a candidate on the Reform side in opposition to the

sitting member, Mr. George Wright, of Brampton. His candidature was

successful, and he was elected to the Assembly. Upon taking his seat he

recorded his first vote against the Hincks-Morin Administration, and

thus participated in bringing about the downfall of that Ministry. He

took no conspicuous part in the debates of the House, but for some years

continued to act steadily with the Party to which he had allied himself.

He voted for the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, and his voice

was occasionally heard in support of measures relating to public

improvements. He continued to sit for Peel until the general election of

1861, when, owing to his action on the County Town question, which

excited keen sectional opposition, he was defeated by the late Hon. John

Hillyard Cameron. The following year he was elected a member of the

Legislative Council for the "Home" Division, comprising the counties of

Peel and Halton. His majority in the county of Peel alone, where he had

sustained defeat only a few months before, was over 300. He continued to

sit in the Council so long as that Body had an existence. When it was

swept away by Confederation he was called to the Senate of the Dominion,

of which he still continues to be a member. His political views, it is

to be presumed, had meanwhile undergone some modification, as he

accepted office, on the 9th of December, 1867, as Secretary of State in

the Government of Sir John Macdonald, and has ever since been a follower

of that statesman. During his tenure of office the Dominion Lands Bureau

was established, for the purpose of managing the lands acquired in the

North West, chiefly from the Hudson's Bay Company. The scope of the

Bureau has since been extended, and it has become an independent

Department of State under the control of the Minister of the Interior.

The Public Lands Act of 1872 is another measure which dates from Mr.

Aikins's term of office, the measure itself having been in great part

prepared by Colonel John Stoughton Dennis, Surveyor-General. The

disclosures with reference to the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter

resulted, in November, 1873, in the overthrow of the Government. Mr.

Aikins participated in its downfall, and resigned office with his

colleagues. Upon Sir John Macdonald's return to power in October, 1878,

Mr. Aikins again accepted office as Secretary of State, and retained

that position until the month of November, 1880, when there was a

readjustment of portfolios, and he became Minister of Inland Revenue,

which office he now holds. Though he is not an effective speaker, and

makes no pretence to being either brilliant or showy, he has a cool

judgment, and has administered the affairs of his several departments

with efficiency. He is attentive to his duties, is shrewd in selecting

his counsellors and assistants, and has considerable aptitude for

dealing with matters of detail. These qualities, rather than any

profound statesmanship, have placed him in his present high position.

During his residence in the township of Toronto Mr. Aikins held various

municipal offices, and is still Major of the Third Battalion of the Peel

Militia. He is President of the Manitoba and North West Loan Company,

and Vice-President of the National Investment Company. He likewise holds

important positions of trust in connection with the Methodist Church.

THE HON. FELIX GEOFFRION, N.P., P.C.

Mr. Geoffrion is the son of Felix Geoffrion. His mother was the late

Catherine Brodeur. He was born at Varennes, Province of Quebec, on the

4th of October, 1832. From 1854 to 1863 he was Registrar for Verchères.

In the latter year he was elected member of the House of Assembly for

that county--a position which he continued to hold until the

Confederation of the Provinces in 1867, from which date he has been

returned to the House of Commons regularly at every general election. He

has held the Presidency of the Montreal, Chambly and Sorel Railway,

conducting the duties of his office with more than average executive

ability. In 1874 he did signal service to the country by moving, from

his place in Parliament, for a Select Committee to inquire into the

causes of the difficulties existing in the North-West Territories in

1869-70. He became Chairman of this important Committee, and prepared

the report which was afterwards submitted to Parliament--a report which

was remarkable for the clear and concise character of its statements,

and for its fulness of detail. In politics Mr. Geoffrion is a Liberal,

and the warm and active support which he gave to the late Administration

induced Mr. Mackenzie to offer him the portfolio of Minister of Inland

Revenue, on the elevation of the Hon. Mr. Fournier to the Department of

Justice. On the 8th of July, 1874, he was sworn of the Privy Council of

Canada, and on returning to his constituents after accepting office he

was reëlected by acclamation. Though by no means showy, his

administration of affairs was characterized by executive ability of a

high order, as well as by much tact and judgment. He brought to bear on

the duties of his office well-trained business habits, a cautious

reserve, and a talent which almost amounted to genius in departmental

government. In 1876 he became seriously ill, and for a while his life

was despaired of. He rallied, however, and was convalescing when his

physicians advised rest and freedom from the cares and perplexities of

office. He was compelled, therefore, to resign his seat in the Ministry,

much to the regret of his colleagues, who were warmly attached to him.

His resignation took place in December, 1876, and he was succeeded by

Mr. Laflamme. He retained his place in Parliament, however, and at the

general election in September, 1878, he was again returned for his old

constituency, which he has continued to represent uninterruptedly for a

period embracing more than seventeen years. Mr. Geoffrion has all the

elements of the practical politician, and is by profession a Notary

Public in large and lucrative practice.

In October, 1856, he married Miss Almaide Dansereau, of Verchères, the

youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Dansereau.

THE HON. JOHN YOUNG.

The late Mr. Young was in every sense of the word a representative man.

He was representative of the best and most solid side of the Scottish

character, and furnished in his own person a standing answer to the

question which has so often been asked--"Why do Scotchmen succeed so

well in life?" He succeeded because he was steady, sober, of good

abilities, hard-headed, patient, and persevering; and because he did not

set up for himself an impossible ideal. Any man similarly equipped for

the race of life will be tolerably certain to achieve success; and it is

because these characteristics are more commonly found combined among

Scotchmen than among the natives of other lands that Scotchmen are more

generally successful. John Young began life at the foot of the ladder.

He was content to advance step by step, and made no attempt to spring

from the lowest to the topmost rung at a single bound. He was content to

work for all he won, and his winnings were not greater than his deserts.

He left a very decided impress upon the commercial life of his time in

his adopted country, and will long be remembered as a useful and

public-spirited man. In the industrial history of Montreal he played an

important part for forty years, and to him more than to any one else she

owes whatever of mercantile preëminence she possesses. His restless

enterprise impelled him to conceive large schemes, to the carrying out

of which he devoted the best years of his busy life. He would have been

no true son of Scotland if he had been altogether unmindful of his own

interests, but it may be truly said of him that his own aggrandizement

was always subordinated to the public welfare. In the face of strong

opposition, he advocated projects which were much better calculated to

benefit the public than either to advance his own interests or to

conduce to his personal popularity. He was no greedy self-seeker, and

despised the avenues whereby many of his contemporaries advanced to

wealth and position. There was a "dourness" about his character which

would not permit him to bid for popularity. He was independent,

self-reliant, and fond of having his own way, as men who have

successfully carved their own path in life may be expected to be; but he

was always ready to prove that his own way was the right one, and

generally succeeded in doing so. He was a theorist, and some of his

theories were the result of his own intuition, rather than of any mental

training. They were held none the less firmly on that account. People

may differ in opinion as to the soundness of some of his views on trade

questions, but no one will dispute that his advocacy of them was sincere

and disinterested, and that in economical matters he was in many

respects in advance of his time. He has left behind him an honourable

name, and monuments to his memory are to be found in some of the most

stupendous of our public works.

He was born at the seaport town of Ayr, in Scotland, on the 11th of

March, 1811. Hugh Allan, who was also destined to be prominently

identified with the commerce of Montreal, had been born about six months

previously, at Saltcoats, a few miles to the northward, and in the same

shire. The parents of John Young were in the humble walks of life, and

he was early taught to recognize the fact that it would be necessary for

him to make his own way in the world. He was educated at the public

school of his native parish, which he attended until he had entered upon

his fourteenth year. He was at this time much more mature, both

physically and mentally, than most boys of his age, and succeeded,

notwithstanding his youth, in obtaining a situation as teacher of the

parish school at Coylton, a little village about four miles west of Ayr.

Here, for a period of eighteen months, he instructed thirty-five pupils.

It would have been safe to predict that a boy of fourteen who could

preserve discipline over such a number of scholars, many of whom must

have been nearly or quite as old as himself, might safely be trusted to

make his way in life. He saved enough money to pay his passage across

the Atlantic, and in 1826, soon after completing his fifteenth year, he

bade adieu to the associations of his boyhood, and set sail for Canada.

He had not been many days in the country ere he obtained a situation in

a grocery store, kept by a Mr. Macleod, at Kingston, in the Upper

Province. He served his apprenticeship to the grocery business, and then

entered the employ of Messrs. John Torrance & Co., wholesale merchants,

of Montreal. After remaining as a clerk in this establishment for

several years, he, in 1835, formed a partnership with Mr. David

Torrance, a son of the senior partner in the firm of John Torrance &

Co., and took charge of the Quebec branch of the business, which was

carried on under the style of Torrance & Young. He remained in business

in Quebec about five years, during the last three of which he carried on

business alone, the firm of Torrance & Young having been dissolved in

1837.

In the autumn of 1837, we find him tendering his services to the

Government as a volunteer, to aid in the putting down of the rebellion.

It appears that he had previously been one of the signatories to a

memorial presented to the Earl of Gosford, the Governor-General,

pointing out the advisability of adopting some efficient means of

defence against the treasonable operations of Mr. Papineau and his

adherents. He was enrolled as a Captain in the Quebec Light Infantry on

the 27th of November, and did duty with his company during the ensuing

winter in keeping night-guard on the citadel. This is the only

noteworthy public incident connected with his residence in Quebec. In

1840 he returned to Montreal, and entered into partnership in a

wholesale mercantile business with Mr. Harrison Stephens, under the

style of Stephens, Young & Co. The business was largely devoted to the

Western trade, and Mr. Young thus had his attention prominently directed

to the subject of inland navigation. His observations on this and

kindred subjects were destined, as will presently be seen, to have

important results. His interest, however, was not confined to economic

questions. He watched the progress of events with a keen eye, and soon

began to be recognized by the citizens of Montreal as an enterprising

and public-spirited man. He first came conspicuously before the public

of Montreal towards the close of the year 1841. The birth of the Prince

of Wales on the 9th of November had given rise to a gushing loyalty on

the part of the inhabitants, and a large sum of money was raised to

commemorate the event by a costly banquet. Mr. Young's loyalty was

undoubted, but his patriotism took a practical and philanthropical

shape. At a largely attended public meeting he opposed the expenditure

of a large sum in providing a feast which would leave no beneficial

traces behind it. He advocated the application of the fund to the

purchase of a tract of three hundred acres of land in the neighbourhood

of the city, and to the erection thereon of an asylum for the poor. His

motion to this effect was carried by a considerable majority, but it was

subsequently rescinded, and the money was spent as had first been

proposed. It may be mentioned in this connection that when the Prince of

Wales visited Montreal nearly nineteen years afterwards, Mr. Young was

Chairman of the Reception Committee.

In politics, as well as in commercial matters, Mr. Young entertained

liberal views. At the general election of 1844 he was appointed

Returning Officer, a position which was far from being a sinecure. The

memorable struggle between Sir Charles Metcalfe and his late ministers

was then at its height, and was maintained with relentless bitterness on

both sides. Party spirit all over the country was of the most pronounced

character, and in Montreal it had reached a point bordering on ferocity.

Upon Mr. Young devolved the task of preserving peace and order

throughout the city, as well as the securing of a fair and free exercise

of the franchise. To accomplish these results was a formidable task. It

was known that secret and unscrupulous political organizations were at

work, and it was not believed possible that the contest could be carried

on without rioting and bloodshed. The city was invaded by large bodies

of suspicious-looking persons from beyond its limits, some of whom were

known to be armed. The aid of the troops was called in, and Mr. Young

instituted a rigorous search for secreted weapons. Wherever he found any

he took possession of them, without pausing to inquire whether he was

acting within the strict letter of the law. His nerve, coolness and

resolution stood the city in good stead at that crisis. His arrangements

were effective to a marvel. Peace was preserved, and not a single life

was lost. His services on this occasion were specially acknowledged by

Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, as well as by Sir

Richard Jackson and Sir James Hope, the officers commanding the forces

in Canada.

In 1846, Sir Robert Peel, roused by the addresses of Mr. Cobden, Mr.

Bright, and other leaders of the Anti-Corn-Law League, became a convert

to the doctrines of Free Trade, and carried the famous measure whereby

those doctrines were imported into the law of Great Britain. The tidings

of the passing of this measure were received by the bulk of the Canadian

population with dissatisfaction. Trade questions were but little

understood in Canada by the general public in those times, and a

protective policy was commonly regarded as an absolute necessity. On the

other hand Mr. Young, the late Luther H. Holton, and others conspicuous

in the mercantile world of Montreal, were out-and-out Free Traders, and

received the intelligence with much satisfaction. A club known as the

Free Trade Association was organized by them in Montreal for the purpose

of making Free Trade principles popular. Mr. Young became President of

this Association, which included many of the leading thinkers of

Montreal. A weekly newspaper, called _The Canadian Economist_, was

started under its auspices, for the purpose of disseminating Free Trade

views, and educating the people in the doctrines of political economy.

To this paper, which was published for about sixteen months, and which

exerted a great influence upon public opinion, Mr. Young was a frequent

contributor. During the same period he devoted himself vigorously to

advocating the deepening of the natural channel of the St. Lawrence,

where the river widens itself into Lake St. Peter. By his personal

observations and representations he succeeded in inducing the

Government to abandon the attempt to construct a new channel, and to

deepen and widen the natural one, whereby the largest ocean steamers

were enabled to reach the wharfs of Montreal. The accomplishment of all

this was a work of some years, but Mr. Young, as Chairman of the

Montreal Harbour Commission, never ceased to urge upon the Government

the necessity of its completion. He also devoted himself to the carrying

out of other public works of importance, some of which were accomplished

at the expense of the Government, and others out of his own resources

and those of his friends. The public benefits conferred by him upon the

city of Montreal, and in a less degree upon the Province at large, were

far-reaching and incalculable. When the St. Lawrence Canals were opened

for traffic, in 1849, he despatched the propeller _Ireland_ with the

first cargo of merchandise over the new route direct to Chicago; and on

her return trip she brought the first cargo of grain direct from Chicago

to Montreal. His commercial ventures were by this time conducted on a

very large scale, and the first American schooner which found its way

eastward by means of the new canals was freighted with his merchandise.

There was a sudden and tremendous increase in the shipping-trade between

the West and Montreal, and there were frequent attempts to prevent the

unloading of cargo by artificial means. Mr. Young applied to the

Government to interpose, and the result was an organized Water Police

which soon put a stop to the ruffianism of the obstructionists.

Mr. Young was also one of the original projectors of the Atlantic and

St. Lawrence Railway, connecting Montreal and Portland; and was a

zealous promoter of the line westward from Montreal to Kingston. When

these two schemes became merged in the Grand Trunk Line, he suggested a

bridge across the St. Lawrence at Montreal. He even went so far as to

suggest the precise place where it was most advisable that the bridge

should be constructed, and at his own expense employed Mr. Thomas C.

Keefer to make a plan and survey. The prejudice against the scheme,

however, was very great, and Mr. Young was compelled to uphold it by

means of numerous pamphlets, newspaper articles, and public speeches, as

well as by private influence, with extraordinary zeal and pertinacity.

The physical difficulties to be encountered, the financial

considerations, and the political complications arising out of the

relations between the Grand Trunk and the Government, were all serious

obstacles to success, while professional controversies raged hotly over

the various points connected with the engineering operations for the

completion of such an undertaking. After encountering an amount of

opposition which would have discouraged a less persistent man, he

succeeded in obtaining favour for his project, and the final result was

the construction of the Victoria Bridge, which spans the river at the

exact spot which he had first suggested.

Another of his schemes was the construction of a canal connecting

Caughnawaga, on the St. Lawrence, with Lake Champlain. This was for a

time taken up by the Government with much favour, and several surveys

were made by different engineers at great cost to the public. After

proceeding thus far, the project was permitted to lapse, though a

kindred scheme has since been carried to a successful completion.

Several other important schemes of his for developing the resources of

the country were characterized by the Government of the day as plausible

in theory, but really impracticable.

His entry into political life interfered, for a time, with the

realization of some of his favourite projects. He first came

conspicuously before the public as a politician at the general election

of 1847, when he proposed Mr. Lafontaine as member for Monteal. During

the ensuing campaign he threw the whole weight of his influence into the

scale on Mr. Lafontaine's behalf, and the latter was returned by a

considerable majority. When Mr. Lafontaine and his colleague, Mr.

Baldwin, retired from public life in 1851, Mr. Young was invited by Mr.

Hincks to enter Parliament and accept a seat in the Cabinet. He

accordingly offered himself to the electors of Montreal as Mr.

Lafontaine's successor. His candidature was warmly opposed. His Free

Trade opinions were objectionable to certain classes in the

constituency, and his advocacy of the Caughnawaga Canal scheme, which

some held to be inimical to Montreal interests, was another ground of

opposition. His well known desire to promote what is now called the

Intercolonial Railway also awakened hostility. The contest was close,

but he was returned at the head of the poll. In the month of October

following he was sworn in as Commissioner of Public Works in the

Hincks-Morin Administration, and at the same time became a member of the

Board of Railway Commissioners. He soon afterwards proceeded with Mr.

Hincks and Mr. Taché to the Maritime Provinces, to promote the

construction of the Intercolonial, although he differed with some of his

colleagues as to the route to be adopted. He favoured the route over the

St. John River to St. John, and thence to Halifax. About the same time,

or very shortly afterwards, he recommended the establishment of a line

of Atlantic steamers, subsidized by the Government. The construction of

lighthouses, the shortening of the passage to and from Europe by the

adoption of the route _viâ_ the Straits of Belleisle, and the

development of the magnificent water powers of the Ottawa, were all

matters that received his attention during his tenure of office. He

differed from Mr. Hincks as to the plan on which the Grand Trunk Railway

should be constructed, and opposed its construction by a private

corporation. Mr. Hincks, however, had his own way about the matter,

although, in deference to Mr. Young's views, the subsidy to the Company

was reduced £1,000 per mile. After remaining in the Cabinet about eleven

months Mr. Young withdrew, owing to a difference of opinion with his

colleagues with respect to placing differential tolls on American

vessels passing through the Welland Canal. He opposed the imposition of

increased duties on foreign shipping as being in his opinion vicious in

principle. The question of Free Trade was involved in the dispute, and

Mr. Young was not disposed to give way an inch. The single report

presented by him to the House during his Commissionership is full of

valuable matter, and plainly shows the bias and texture of his mind.

He continued to sit in the House as a private member throughout the

then-existing Parliament. At the general election of 1854 he was again

returned for the city of Montreal. During the ensuing sessions, though

he did not accept office, he was a very serviceable member of

committees. In 1856 he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts,

and introduced some important improvements in the method of tabulating

items. At the general election of 1858 he declined re-nomination, as his

health was far from good, and he was desirous of repose from public

life. In 1863 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Montreal West, his

successful opponent being the late Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Nine years

elapsed before he again offered himself as a candidate for Parliamentary

honours. In 1872 he once more came out for Montreal West, when he was

returned by a majority of more than 800. Two years later he bade a final

adieu to political life, in order to give his undivided attention to

various commercial and industrial enterprises with which he was

connected. He continued, however, to take a keen interest in public

affairs, and to do his utmost to promote the interior trade of Canada

and the carrying trade of the lakes and St. Lawrence. He never ceased to

advocate the establishment of reciprocity between Canada and the United

States. In 1875 he was Chairman of a commission appointed to consider

the bearing a Baie Verte canal would have on the interests of Canadian

commerce; and after a very exhaustive inquiry he prepared a report

unfavourable to the project.

In addition to the projects already mentioned in the course of this

sketch as having been actively promoted by Mr. Young, he did much to

enhance the due representation of Canada at the various International

Exhibitions, and the last public appointment filled by him was that of

Canadian Commissioner to the International Exhibition at Sydney,

Australia, in 1877. He also took an active interest in ocean telegraphy,

and in the improvement of the harbours of Canada. After his retirement

from Parliament he filled the office of Flour Inspector of the Port of

Montreal on behalf of the Government. He continued to identify himself

with every local measure of public importance down to the time of his

death, which took place at his home in Montreal, on Friday, the 12th of

April, 1878. The funeral, which was attended by a great concourse of

influential citizens, was on the 15th. The local press did due honour to

his memory, and bore unanimous testimony to the fact that Canada, and

more especially the city of Montreal, had sustained a grievous loss by

his death.

A few additional incidents in Mr. Young's career may as well be added in

this place. He was twice sent to Washington as Canada's representative

to bring about satisfactory trade relations between this country and the

United States. The first of these missions was undertaken in 1849,

during the existence of the Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration. The

second was fourteen years afterwards, during the tenure of office of the

Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Government, in 1863. He also made frequent

trips to Great Britain, generally on private business of his own, but

sometimes on quasi-diplomatic missions connected with industrial

matters. He was twice shipwrecked; once during a passage in the _Anglo

Saxon_, of the Allan Line, on her passage from Liverpool to Quebec; and

once during a passage on the Inman steamer _City of New York_, bound for

Liverpool.

It has been seen that he was a Reformer in political and commercial

matters. In theology his views were not less liberal. He was brought up

a strict Presbyterian, but had scarcely reached manhood ere he discarded

many of the tenets of that Body. He embraced Unitarianism, and was

largely instrumental in spreading Unitarian doctrines in the city of his

adoption. As a writer, his style was homely and unpolished, but terse

and vigorous. His writings did much to form public opinion in Canada on

matters connected with Free Trade, and on commercial matters generally.

In addition to his frequent contributions to the newspaper press he

published numerous pamphlets on trade and industrial topics, and

contributed the article on Montreal to the eighth edition of the

_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.

THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D.,

_BISHOP OF NOVA SCOTIA._

Bishop Binney is a son of the late Rev. Dr. Binney, formerly Rector of

Newbury, Berkshire, England. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1819, but was

sent to England in his youth, for the purpose of receiving a thorough

university education. He was placed at King's College, London, where he

made great progress in his studies, and obtained high standing. After

spending some time there, he entered Worcester College, Oxford, where he

obtained a Fellowship. He graduated in 1842, taking first-class honours

in mathematics and second-class in classics. During the same year he was

ordained a Deacon, and in 1843 was ordained to the Priesthood. He

obtained from his College the degree of M.A. in 1844.

In 1846 he was appointed Tutor of his College, and in 1848 was appointed

Bursar. The See of Nova Scotia having become vacant in 1851, he was

nominated Bishop of that Province, and on the 25th of March in that year

he was consecrated at Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted

by the Bishops of London, Oxford, and Chichester. He immediately

afterwards proceeded to Halifax, where he has ever since resided. His

first exercise of the Episcopal office was at an Ordination whereat six

candidates were admitted to the Diaconate, and one to the Priesthood.

In 1855 Bishop Binney married Miss Mary Bliss, a daughter of the Hon. W.

B. Bliss, a Puisné Judge of Nova Scotia. Independently of the high

position which he occupies, he is regarded as one of the foremost men

connected with the Church of England in this country. His classical,

mathematical and theological erudition are of a very high order, and he

is said to be intellectually the peer of any colonial Bishop now living.

His Anglicanism is high, but his views on ecclesiastical matters

generally are broad and statesmanlike, and he is regarded with great

reverence by the clergy and professors of all creeds in his native

Province. By his own clergy he is universally beloved, and a great part

of his life since his elevation to the Episcopal Bench has been devoted

to the promotion of their spiritual and temporal welfare. His name will

be long held in remembrance for his successful exertions on behalf of

the Church of England in Nova Scotia. Many of his sermons and charges to

the Clergy display a high degree of eloquence, and several of them have

been published. A Pastoral Letter, including important correspondence

between himself and the Rev. George W. Hill, the present Chancellor of

the University of Halifax, was published in that city in 1866.

[Illustration: HIBERT BINNEY, signed as H. NOVA SCOTIA]

The See of Nova Scotia, over which Bishop Binney's jurisdiction extends,

formerly embraced a very wide area, including the Provinces of Upper and

Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and the Island of Newfoundland. It is now

confined to the Province of Nova Scotia and the Island of Prince Edward.

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER.

Mr. Fraser is a Canadian by birth, but is of Celtic origin on both

sides. His father, Mr. John S. Fraser, was a Scottish Highlander who

emigrated to Canada a few years before the birth of the subject of this

sketch, and settled in the Johnstown District. His mother, whose maiden

name was Miss Sarah Burke, was of Irish birth and parentage.

He was born at Brockville, the chief town of the United Counties of

Leeds and Grenville, in the month of October, 1839. His parents were in

humble circumstances, and could do little to advance his prospects in

life. He was a clever, brilliant boy, however, and from his earliest

years was animated by an honourable ambition to rise. He struggled

manfully to obtain an education, and did not hesitate to put his hand to

whatever employment would further this end. When not much more than a

child he was apprenticed to the printing business in the office of the

Brockville _Recorder_. How long he remained there we have no means of

ascertaining, but he succeeded, by dint of perseverance and good natural

ability, in obtaining what he so much desired--an education. He

determined to study law, and in or about the year 1859 he entered the

office of the present Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, the Hon.

Albert N. Richards, who then practised the legal profession at

Brockville. Here he studied hard, and laid the foundation of his future

success in life. Having completed his term of clerkship, he was admitted

as an attorney and solicitor in Easter Term, 1864. He settled down to

practice in Brockville, where he was well known, and where he soon

succeeded in acquiring a good business connection. In Trinity Term,

1865, he was called to the Bar. Even during his student days he had

taken a keen interest in the political questions of the times, and had

worked hard at the local elections on the Liberal side. He had not been

long at the Bar ere he began to be looked upon as an available candidate

for Parliament. At the first general election under Confederation, held

in 1867, he offered himself as a candidate for the Local House to the

electors of his native town. He was defeated by a small majority, but

made a good impression upon the electors during the canvass, and

established his reputation as a ready speaker on the hustings. At the

general election held four years later he offered himself to the

electors of South Grenville, but was again unsuccessful, being defeated

by the late Mr. Clark. Two years previous to this time he had, as an

Irish Catholic, taken a conspicuous part with Mr. John O'Donohoe and Mr.

Jeremiah Merrick, of Toronto, Mr. McKeown, of St. Catharines, and

others, in forming what is known as the Ontario Catholic League. This

League was formed under the impression that the co-religionists of its

promoters in this Province were not receiving the amount of patronage

to which they were entitled by reason of their numbers and influence.

Within a short time after the elections of 1871, Mr. Clark, who had

defeated Mr. Fraser in South Grenville, died, and the constituency was

thus left without a representative in the Ontario Legislature. Mr.

Fraser accordingly offered himself once more to the electors in the

month of March, 1872, and was returned at the head of the poll. A

petition was filed against his return, and he was unseated, but upon

returning to his constituents for reëlection in the following October he

was once more successful. A year later he was offered a seat in the

Executive Council, as Provincial Secretary and Registrar, which he

accepted. He returned for reëlection after accepting office, and was

reëlected by acclamation. He retained this position until the 4th of

April, 1874, when he became Commissioner of Public Works. The latter

position he still retains. In the conduct of this important department

Mr. Fraser has displayed administrative talents of a high order, and has

proved himself a most capable public official. He originated, prepared,

and successfully carried through the Act giving the right of suffrage to

farmers' sons. He is a ready and fluent debater, and is always listened

to with respect by the House, where he is regarded as one of the

representative Roman Catholics of Ontario. His position, both in the

House and out of it, has been honestly won, and his influence among his

colleagues in the Government is fully commensurate with his abilities.

He was reëlected for South Grenville at the general election of 1875. At

the general election held in June, 1879, he again contested the South

Riding of Grenville against Mr. F. J. French, of Prescott, but was

defeated by a majority of 137 votes. In his native town of Brockville he

was more successful, 1,379 votes being recorded for him as against 1,266

for his opponent, Mr. D. Mansell. He now sits in the House as member for

Brockville. He is President of the Roman Catholic Literary Association

of Brockville, and takes a warm interest in municipal affairs.

In 1876 Mr. Fraser was created a Queen's Counsel. His wife was formerly

Miss Lafayette, of Brockville.

SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G.

Mr. Fleming's connection with some of our most stupendous public works

has been the means of making his name known in every corner of the

Dominion. Though not a Canadian either by birth or education, he is

permanently identified with Canadian enterprise, and his name is

distinctly and permanently recorded in our country's annals. He was born

at the seaport and market-town of Kirkcaldy, in Fifeshire, Scotland--a

distinction which he shares in common with the illustrious author of

"The Wealth of Nations." His father was an artisan named Andrew Greig

Fleming. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Arnot. The families to

which both parents belonged have been settled on the shores of Fife for

more than a century, and the names of Fleming and Arnot are common there

at the present day. The subject of this sketch was born on the 7th of

January, 1827. In his childhood he attended a small private school in

Kirkcaldy, and afterwards, when he was about ten years of age, passed to

the local grammar-school. He displayed much aptitude for mathematics,

and made great progress in that branch of study. When he was still a

mere boy he was articled to the business of engineering and surveying,

and after serving his time began to look about him for suitable

employment. He was fond of his profession, and conscious of his ability.

His prospects were not such as to satisfy his ambition, and in 1845 he

emigrated to Canada, and took up his abode in the Upper Province. For

some years after his arrival in this country his prospects did not seem

much more alluring than before. There was comparatively little

employment of an important character for a man of Mr. Fleming's

attainments in those days, and he made but slow headway. He resided for

some time in Toronto, and took an active part in the founding of the

Canadian Institute, "for the purpose of promoting the physical sciences,

for encouraging and advancing the industrial arts and manufactures, for

effecting the formation of a Provincial museum, and for the purpose of

facilitating the acquirement and the dissemination of knowledge

connected with the surveying, engineering, and architectural

professions." Soon afterwards--in 1852--he obtained employment on the

engineering staff of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, the first

section of which (from Toronto to Aurora) was opened to the public on

the 16th of May, 1853. Mr. Fleming took a conspicuous part in the work

of construction, and in process of time was promoted to the position of

Engineer-in-Chief of the line. He remained in the employ of the company

(the name of which was changed in 1858 to that which it has ever since

borne--the Northern Railway Company) about eleven years. During much of

this period he also did a good deal of professional work in connection

with the Toronto Esplanade, and other important enterprises. In his

professional capacity he visited the Red River country, to examine as to

the feasibility of a railway connecting that region with Canada. At the

request of the inhabitants there he proceeded to England on their behalf

in 1863, as bearer of a memorial from them to the Imperial Government,

praying that a line of railway might be constructed which would afford

them direct access to Canada, without passing over United States

territory. Upon Mr. Fleming's arrival in London he had repeated

conferences on the subject with the late Duke of Newcastle, who was then

Colonial Secretary. How this project was indefinitely postponed, and was

subsequently merged in the greater scheme of a Trans-continental line of

railway, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is well known to

every reader of these pages. Immediately after Mr. Fleming's return to

Canada in 1863 he was appointed by the Governments of Canada, Nova

Scotia, New Brunswick, and subsequently by that of the mother country,

to conduct the preliminary survey of a line of railway which should form

a connecting link between the Maritime Provinces and the Canadas. The

project of constructing such a road, though agitated at various times,

did not take a practical shape until the accomplishment of

Confederation, when the work of construction was made obligatory upon

the Government and Parliament of Canada by the 145th clause of the Act

of Union. The whole of this great undertaking was successfully carried

out under Mr. Fleming's supervision as Chief Engineer, and the

Intercolonial was opened throughout for public traffic on the 1st of

July--the natal day of the Dominion--1876. A few weeks later Mr. Fleming

published a history of the enterprise, under the title of "The

Intercolonial: an Historical Sketch of the inception and construction of

the line of railways uniting the inland and Atlantic Provinces of the

Dominion."

When British Columbia entered the Dominion, on the 20th of July, 1871,

it was agreed that within ten years from that date a line of railway

should be constructed from the Pacific Ocean to a point of junction with

the existing railway systems in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Mr.

Fleming's services in connection with the Intercolonial Railway marked

him out as the most suitable man in the Dominion to prosecute the

preliminary surveys of the Canadian Pacific. Accordingly his services

were secured by the Government for that purpose, and he was appointed

Chief Engineer. In the summer of 1872 he started across the continent on

a tour of inspection. He was attended by a capable staff of assistants.

Among the latter was the Rev. George M. Grant, the present Principal of

Queen's College, Kingston, who accompanied the expedition in the

capacity of Secretary. The party left Toronto on the 16th of July, 1872,

and travelling by way of Sault Ste. Marie, Nepigon, Thunder Bay,

Winnipeg, Forts Carlton and Edmonton, the Rocky Mountains, Kamloops and

Bute Inlet, reached Victoria, B.C., on the 9th of October following.

Those who wish to inform themselves as to the literary and social

aspects of that momentous journey may consult Mr. Grant's journal, as it

appears in the pages of "Ocean to Ocean." Those who wish to know the

scientific and more practical results of the expedition can only become

acquainted with them through Mr. Fleming's elaborate report.

Mr. Fleming continued to be the Government Engineer until about a year

ago, when he resigned his position, owing as it is understood, to some

difference of opinion with the Government as to the location of the line

of the Canadian Pacific Railway. His topographical knowledge of the

country is unrivalled, and his professional standing is such as might be

expected from the importance of the great public works which he has

superintended. In recognition of his talents, and of his services to

Canada and the Empire, Her Majesty some time ago conferred upon him the

dignity of a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

In addition to the work on the Intercolonial already mentioned, and to

many elaborate and voluminous reports upon the various enterprises

wherewith he has been connected, Mr. Fleming has contributed numerous

interesting and instructive papers to the _Canadian Journal_ and other

scientific periodicals. He has also written many articles on subjects

connected with his profession for the daily press. Within the last few

months a proposition of his with respect to the establishment of a new

prime meridian for the world, 180° from Greenwich, has been approved of

by the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, Russia, the

secretary whereof recently conveyed information of the fact in a letter

addressed to the Governor-General of Canada.

In the autumn of last Year (1880) Mr. Fleming was elected Chancellor of

Queen's University, Kingston, and upon his installation delivered a very

eloquent inaugural address.

On the 3rd of January, 1855, he married Miss Ann Jean Hall, daughter of

the Sheriff of the county of Peterboro'.

THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON,

_SPEAKER OF THE SENATE._

Senator Macpherson is a member of the famous sept whose hereditary feud

with the McTavishes forms an episode in the history of the Highland

clans, and likewise forms the groundwork of one of the most

characteristic of Professor Aytoun's ballads. He is the youngest son of

the late David Macpherson, of Castle Leathers, near Inverness, Scotland,

where he was born on the 12th of September, 1818. He received his

education at the Royal Academy of Inverness. He was enterprising and

ambitious, and upon leaving school, in his seventeenth year, he

emigrated to Canada, where one of his elder brothers had long been

established in a very lucrative business as the senior partner in the

firm of Macpherson, Crane & Co., of Montreal. The business carried on by

this firm was known in those days as "forwarding," and consisted of

conveying merchandise from one part of the country to another. They

performed the greater part of the carrying business which is now

conducted by the various railway companies, and their operations were on

a very extensive scale. Their wagons were to be found on all the

principal highways, and their vessels were seen in every lake, harbour,

and important river from Montreal to the mouth of the Niagara, and up

the Ottawa as far as Bytown. The future senator entered the service of

this firm immediately after his arrival in the country, and remained in

it as a clerk for seven years, when (in 1842) he was admitted as a

partner. He directed such of the operations of the firm as came under

his supervision with great energy and judgment, and achieved a decided

pecuniary success. When the railway era set in, and threatened to divert

the course of trade from its old channels, he seized the salient points

of the situation, and began to interest himself in the various railway

projects of the times. In conjunction with the late Mr. Holton and the

present Sir Alexander Galt, he in 1851 obtained a charter for

constructing a line of railway from Montreal to Kingston. This scheme

was subsequently merged in the larger one of the Grand Trunk, and the

charter which had been granted to the Montreal and Kingston Company was

repealed. The principal members of that Company, including the subject

of this sketch, then allied themselves with Mr. Gzowski, under the style

of Gzowski & Co., and on the 24th of March, 1853, obtained a contract

for constructing a line of railway westward from Toronto to Sarnia. Mr.

Macpherson then removed to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. The

result of the railway contract was to make him thoroughly independent of

the world, and it is only justice to himself and his partners to say

that the contract was faithfully carried out.

In conjunction with Mr. Gzowski, Mr. Macpherson has since engaged in the

construction of several important undertakings, among which may be

mentioned the railway from Port Huron to Detroit, the London and St.

Mary's Railway, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River at

Buffalo. Mr. Macpherson was also a partner in the Toronto Rolling Mills

Company which was conducted with great success until the introduction of

steel rails caused its products to be no longer in great demand.

[Illustration: DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON, signed as D. L. MACPHERSON]

Mr. Macpherson has never been known as a very pronounced partisan in

political matters, though his leanings have always been towards

Conservatism, and on purely political questions he has been a supporter

of that side. The structure of his mind, however, unfits him for dealing

effectively with party politics, and he never appears to less advantage

than when he ascends the party platform. His natural bent is the

practical. He believes in building up the country by means of great

public works, and in making it a desirable place of residence. His entry

into public life dates from October, 1864, when he successfully

contested the Saugeen Division for the Legislative Council. He was at

first opposed by the Hon. John McMurrich, who had represented the

Division for eight years previously. That gentleman, however, retired

from the contest, and another Reform candidate took the field, in the

person of Mr. George Snider, of Owen Sound. His opposition was not

serious, and Mr. Macpherson was returned by a majority of more than

1,200 votes. He sat in the Council for the Saugeen Division until

Confederation, when, in May, 1867, he was called to the Senate by Royal

Proclamation. He has ever since been a prominent member of that Body,

and has taken an intelligent part in its discussions. His speeches on

Confederation, and on the settlement of the waste lands of the Crown,

were broad and liberal in tone, and won for him the respect of many

persons who had previously known nothing of him beyond the fact of his

being a remarkably successful railway contractor. In 1868, at the

instance of the Ontario Government, he was appointed one of the

arbitrators to whom, in the terms of the British North America Act, was

to be referred the adjustment of the public debt and assets between the

Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. With him were associated the Hon.

Charles Dewey Day, on behalf of the Province of Quebec, and the Hon.

John Hamilton Gray--now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of

British Columbia--on behalf of the Dominion. The case on the part of

Ontario was elaborately prepared by the Hon. E. B. Wood. Senator

Macpherson discharged his duties as an arbitrator with perfect fairness

and impartiality, alike to the Dominion and to the Province which he

represented. The conclusion arrived at by him and the arbitrator on

behalf of the Dominion, however, was not accepted by Mr. Day on behalf

of the Province of Quebec. It was accordingly contended by that Province

that the award was nugatory for want of unanimity. The matter was

appealed to the Privy Council in England, and the decision of that body

was confirmatory of the award. In 1869 he published a pamphlet on

Banking and Currency, which was widely read and commented upon.

After British Columbia became an integral part of the Dominion in 1871,

Senator Macpherson entered into negotiations with the Government at

Ottawa with a view to obtaining the contract for constructing the

Canadian Pacific Railway. A rival applicant for the contract was Sir

Hugh Allan of Montreal. The subsequent history of the negotiations is

too well known to need much recapitulation in this place. The Government

contracted obligations to Sir Hugh Allan which were nullified by its

fall in the month of November, 1873. Senator Macpherson not unnaturally

felt himself aggrieved at the treatment to which he had been subjected,

and for some time the cordial relations between him and his old

political associates were interrupted. After a brief interval, however,

harmony was reëstablished between them, and Senator Macpherson's support

has ever since been loyally accorded. During the five years' existence

of the Mackenzie Administration his opposition to that Administration

was very conspicuous. On the 19th of March, 1878, he called attention in

the Senate to the public expenditure of the Dominion; more especially to

that part of it which is largely under administrative control. He

arraigned the Government policy as extravagant and indefensible, and his

remarks gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate. Senator Macpherson's

speech on the occasion was considered by the Conservative Party as being

one of exceptional power and research. It was published in pamphlet

form, and distributed broadcast throughout the land. It was used as a

campaign document during the canvass prior to the elections of the 17th

of September, and was replied to by the Hon. R. W. Scott, Secretary of

State. On another occasion during the same session the Senator assailed

the policy of Mr. Mackenzie's Government with respect to the

construction of the Fort Francis Lock, and other public works in the

North-West. On the 10th of February, 1880, he was elected Speaker of the

Senate, which position he now holds. Almost immediately after his

election he was prostrated by a serious illness, and in order that

business might not be interrupted he temporarily resigned office, the

duties of which were for the time discharged by the Hon. A. E. Botsford.

In the month of June, 1844, he married Miss Elizabeth Sarah Molson,

eldest daughter of Mr. William Molson, of Montreal, and granddaughter of

the Hon. John Molson, who owned and (in 1809) launched _The

Accommodation_, the first steamer that ever plied in Canadian waters. By

this lady he has a family. He is connected with various important public

and financial institutions, being a member of the Corporation of

Hellmuth College, London; a Director of Molson's Bank; and of the

Western Canada Permanent Building and Savings Society. He has been

Vice-President of the Montreal Board of Trade, and President of the St.

Andrew's Society of Toronto.

JAMES YOUNG.

The present representative of North Brant in the Ontario Legislature is

a native Canadian who has made a creditable reputation for himself in

various walks of life. His Parliamentary career has been more than

moderately successful, and ever since his first entry into public life,

his speeches in the House have been listened to with an attention seldom

accorded to those of members of his age. As a public lecturer he enjoys

a more than local reputation, and as a journalist he deservedly occupies

a place in the front rank.

He is of Scottish descent, and is the eldest son of the late Mr. John

Young, who emigrated from Roxboroughshire to the township of Dumfries,

in what was then the Gore District, in 1834. His mother's maiden name

was Jeanie Bell. The late Mr. Young settled in Galt, where he engaged in

business, and resided until his death in February, 1859. The subject of

this sketch was born in Galt on the 24th of May, 1835, and has ever

since resided there. He was educated at the public schools in that town.

He early displayed great fondness for books, and has ever since found

time for private study, notwithstanding the multifarious labours of an

exacting profession.

In his youth he had a predilection for the study of the law, but finding

it impracticable to carry out his wishes, he chose the printing

business, which he began to learn in his sixteenth year. When he was

eighteen he purchased the Dumfries _Reformer_, which he thenceforward

conducted for about ten years. Under his management this paper--the

politics whereof are sufficiently indicated by its name--attained great

local influence, and was the means of making him known beyond the limits

of the county of Waterloo. During the earlier part of his proprietorship

the political articles in the paper were written by one of his friends,

Mr. Young himself taking the general supervision, and contributing the

local news. Upon the completion of his twentieth year he took the entire

editorial control, which he retained until 1863, by which time his

labours had somewhat affected his health. He then disposed of the

_Reformer_, and retired from the press for a time. He soon afterwards

went into the manufacturing business, and became the principal partner

in the Victoria Steam Bending Works, Galt, which he carried on

successfully for about five years.

During his connection with the _Reformer_ he had necessarily taken a

conspicuous part in the discussion of political questions, and his paper

was an important factor in determining the results of the local election

contests. He frequently "took the stump" on behalf of the Reform

candidate, and was known throughout the county as a ready and graceful

speaker. He took a conspicuous part in municipal affairs, and for six

years sat in the Town Council. He was an active member of the School

Board, and devoted much time to educational matters. He also took

special interest in commercial and trade questions, on which he came to

be regarded as a competent authority. In 1857 the Hamilton Mercantile

Library Association offered a prize of fifty dollars for the best essay

on the agricultural resources of the country. Mr. Young competed for,

and won the prize, and the essay was immediately afterwards published

under the title of "The Agricultural Resources of Canada, and the

inducements they offer to British labourers intending to emigrate to

this Continent." It was very favourably reviewed by the Canadian press,

and was the means of greatly extending the author's reputation. Eight

years later (in 1865) the proprietors of the Montreal _Trade Review_

offered two prizes for essays on the Reciprocity Treaty, which was then

about to expire. Mr. Young sent in an essay to which the second prize

was awarded. His success on this occasion procured him an invitation to

the Commercial Convention held that year at Detroit, and he thus had an

opportunity of hearing the great speech of the Hon. Joseph Howe.

He first entered Parliament in 1867, when he was nominated by the

Reformers of South Waterloo as their candidate for the House of Commons.

Mr. Young would have preferred to enter the Local Legislature, but

accepted the nomination, and addressed himself vigorously to the

campaign. It was the first election under Confederation, and he was

opposed by Mr. James Cowan, a Reform Coalitionist, who was also a local

candidate of great influence. Mr. Young had to encounter a fierce

opposition, the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, the Hon. William

McDougall and the present Sir William Howland taking the field on one

occasion on behalf of Mr. Cowan. These formidable opponents were

courageously encountered by Mr. Young single-handed, or with such local

assistance as could be procured. He was elected by a majority of 366

votes. When Parliament met in the following November he made his maiden

speech in the House on the Address. He also took a conspicuous part in

the debates of the session, and materially strengthened his position

among his constituents. He was twice reëlected by acclamation; first at

the general election of 1872, and again in 1874, after the accession to

power of Mr. Mackenzie's Government. Of that Government he was a loyal

and earnest supporter throughout. He was Chairman of the Committee on

Public Accounts for five consecutive sessions, and after the death of

Mr. Scatcherd became Chairman of the House when in Committee of Supply.

Among his principal speeches in Parliament were those on the

Intercolonial Railway, the Ballot, the admission of British Columbia,

with special reference to the construction of the Pacific Railway in ten

years, the Treaty of Washington (which was unsparingly condemned), the

Pacific Scandal, the Budget of 1874, the naturalization of Germans and

other aliens, and the Tariff question. Soon after entering Parliament he

proposed the abolition of the office of Queen's Printer and the letting

of the departmental printing by tender. This was ultimately carried, and

effected a large saving in the annual expenditure. In 1871 he submitted

a Bill to confirm the naturalization of all aliens who had taken the

oaths of allegiance and residence prior to Confederation, which became

law. In 1873 he brought in a measure to provide for votes being taken by

ballot. The Government subsequently took up the question and carried it.

On two occasions the House of Commons unanimously concurred in Addresses

to Her Majesty, prepared by him, praying that the Imperial Government

would take steps to confer upon German and other naturalized citizens in

all parts of the world the same rights as subjects of British birth, the

law then and still being that they have no claim on British protection

whenever they pass beyond British territory. In 1874 he proposed a

committee and report which resulted in the publication of the Debates of

the House of Commons, contending that the people have as much right to

know how their representatives speak in Parliament as how they vote.

At the election of 1878, chiefly through a cry for a German

representative, he was for the first time defeated. In the following

spring, the general election for the Ontario Legislature came on, and

Mr. Young was requested by the Reformers of the North Riding of Brant,

to become their candidate in the Local House. He at first declined, but

on the nomination being proffered a second time, he accepted it, and was

returned by a majority of 344. He still sits in the Local House as the

representative of North Brant.

For many years Mr. Young's services have been in request as a writer and

public speaker. He has contributed occasionally to the _Canadian

Monthly_, and has been a regular contributor for many years to some of

our leading commercial journals, the articles being chiefly upon the

trade and development of the country. He has also appeared upon the

platform as a lecturer upon literary and scientific subjects. As a

political speaker he has been heard in many different parts of the

Province, throughout which he now enjoys a very wide circle of

acquaintance. He has held and still holds many positions of honour and

trust. He is a Director of the Confederation Life Association, and of

the Canada Landed Credit Company; has been President, and is now a

Vice-President of the Sabbath School Association of Canada; is President

of the Gore District Mutual Fire Insurance Company; has for ten years

been President of the Associated Mechanics' Institutes of Ontario; and

is a member of the Council of the Agricultural and Arts Association.

Last year Mr. Young wrote and published a little volume of 272 pages,

entitled "Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement

of Dumfries." Apart from the fact that works of this class deserve

encouragement in Canada, Mr. Young's book has special merits which are

not always found in connection with Canadian local annals. It is written

in a pleasant and interesting style which makes it readable even to

persons who know nothing of the district whereof it treats. In religion,

Mr. Young is a member of the Presbyterian Church. From his youth he has

had a marked attachment to Liberal opinions in political matters. He

regards the people as the true source of power, and believes in the

famous dictum of Canning, that if Parliament rejects improvements

because they are innovations, the day will come when they will have to

accept innovations which are no improvements. On the Trade question he

occupies moderate ground, believing that the true fiscal policy for a

young country like Canada is neither absolute Protection nor absolute

Free Trade, but a moderate revenue tariff incidentally encouraging

native industries. He strongly favours the Federal element in the

Constitution, and the retention of the Local Legislatures, but advocates

the reform of the Senate. He earnestly desires to continue the present

connection with Great Britain, but believes that if this should ever

become impossible, Canada has a destiny of its own, as a North American

power, which all true Canadians will seek earnestly to support. During

1875 Mr. Young was offered the appointment of Canadian Commissioner to

the Centennial Exhibition of the United States, but declined this as

well as other positions, so that he might be perfectly untrammelled in

his action as one of the representatives of the people.

On the 11th of February, 1858, Mr. Young married Miss Margaret McNaught,

daughter of Mr. John McNaught, of Brantford.

THE HON. PETER PERRY.

Mr. Perry's name is not widely known to the present generation of

Canadians; to such of them, at least, as reside beyond the limits of the

district in which the busiest years of his life were passed. Students of

our history are familiar with the most salient passages in his public

life, and regard his memory with respect, for he was a genuine man, who

did good service to the cause of constitutional government. A few of his

old colleagues are still among us, and can remember his vigorous,

earnest eloquence when any conspicuous occasion called it forth. For the

general public, however, nothing of him survives except his name. This

partial oblivion is one of the "revenges" wrought by "the whirligig of

time." From forty to fifty years ago there was no name better known

throughout the whole of Upper Canada; and, in Reform constituencies,

there was no name more potent wherewith to conjure during an election

campaign. Peter Perry was closely identified with the original formation

of the Reform Party in Upper Canada, and for more than a quarter of a

century he continued to be one of its foremost members. During the last

ten or twelve years of his life he was to some extent overshadowed by

the figure of Robert Baldwin, whose lofty character, unselfish aims, and

high social position combined to place him on a sort of pedestal. But

Peter Perry continued to the very last to be an important factor in the

ranks of his Party. He was a man of extreme opinions, and was never slow

to express them. The exigencies of the times were favourable to strong

beliefs. The politician who halted between two opinions in those days

was tolerably certain to share the fate of the old man in the fable, who

in trying to please everybody succeeded in pleasing nobody. Peter Perry

stood in no danger of such a doom. He made a good many enemies by his

plain speaking, but he was likewise rich in friends, and could generally

hold his own with the best. He was implicitly trusted by his own Party,

and was always ready to fight its battles, whether within the walls of

Parliament or without.

He was a native Upper Canadian, and was born at Ernestown, about fifteen

miles from Kingston, in the year 1793, during the early part of Governor

Simcoe's Administration. His father, Robert Perry, was a U. E. Loyalist,

who came over from the State of New York a few years before this time,

and settled near the foot of the Bay of Quinté. Robert Perry was a

farmer, well known in that district for his enterprise, public spirit,

and devotion to his principles. He died just before the consummation of

the Union of the Provinces. His son was brought up to farming pursuits,

and early had to struggle with the many difficulties which beset the

path of the founders of Upper Canada. The only means of tuition for boys

in the rural districts in those days were the public schools, and

throughout his life the subject of this sketch laboured under the

disadvantages inseparable from an imperfect educational training. He

grew up to manhood with little knowledge derived from books, and

continued to devote himself to agricultural pursuits until he had

reached middle life. When he was only twenty-one years of age he married

Miss Mary Ham, the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist of that neighbourhood.

This lady, by whom he had a numerous family, is still living, and has

reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. John Ham Perry, who

long held the position of Registrar of the county of Ontario, is one of

the fruits of this marriage.

Peter Perry took a warm interest in politics, and early acquired a local

reputation for much native sagacity and strength of character. He was a

fluent, although somewhat coarse, speaker on the platform, and was an

awkward antagonist to the local supporters of the Family Compact. He was

an intimate friend and coadjutor of Barnabas Bidwell and his son

Marshall, and in 1824 assisted in organizing the nucleus of the Reform

Party. During the same year he entered public life as one of the

representatives of the United Counties of Lennox and Addington in the

Assembly of Upper Canada. He soon established for himself a reputation

there as one of the most vehement champions of Reform. His denunciations

of the Compact were frequent and energetic, and the Party in power

dreaded his sharp and vigorous tongue even more than that of his friend

Marshall Spring Bidwell, who was his colleague in the representation of

Lennox and Addington. His first vote in the Assembly was recorded on

behalf of Mr. John Willson, of Wentworth, who was the Reform candidate

for the Speakership, and who was elected to that position as successor

to Mr. Sherwood. The vote on this question was a fair test of the

strength of parties in the Assembly, and for the first time the

adherents of the Compact found themselves in a minority. It will be

understood, however, that the victory of the Reformers was rather

nominal than real, as there was no such thing as Responsible Government

in those days, and the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir

Peregrine Maitland, were permitted to retain their places in the

Council, notwithstanding that they did not possess the confidence of a

majority in the Assembly. Against such a state of things the Reformers

of Upper Canada vainly struggled for many years. Mr. Perry was one of

the "fighting men," and hurled his anathemas broadcast during the

Administrations of Sir Peregrine Maitland and Sir John Colborne. His

speeches were like himself, bold and impetuous, and, notwithstanding the

strict party lines of the period, votes were frequently won by the sheer

force of his oratory. He continued to sit in the Assembly as one of the

representatives of Lennox and Addington for twelve years, when, in

consequence of Sir Francis Bond Head's machinations, all the most

prominent Reformers of Upper Canada were beaten at the polls. Mr. Perry

shared the fate of his colleagues, and before the close of the year

(1836) he abandoned the life of a farmer, and removed to the present

site of the town of Whitby, which was thenceforward known as "Perry's

Corners." He opened a general store there, and rapidly built up a large

and profitable business. Notwithstanding his extreme political opinions

he took no part in Mackenzie's Rebellion, and for some years after that

event he remained out of Parliament. He devoted himself to building up

his business, and was identified with every important improvement in the

district wherein he resided. He took an active interest in municipal

affairs, contributed liberally to the construction and improvement of

the public highways, and was justly regarded as a public benefactor. He

continued to fight the battles of Reform at all the local contests, but,

though frequently importuned to reënter Parliament, preferred to remain

in private life, until 1849. The constituency in which he resided, which

is now South Ontario, was then the East Riding of York. The sitting

member, up to the month of September, 1849, was the Hon. William Hume

Blake, of whom Mr. Perry was of course a vigorous supporter. Mr. Blake

was Solicitor-General in the Government, but at this juncture resigned

his portfolio to accept the Chancellorship of Upper Canada. Mr. Perry

consented to once more enter public life in the interest of his

constituents, and was returned by acclamation as Mr. Blake's successor.

At the time of his second entry into the Parliamentary arena Mr. Perry

was only fifty-six years of age, but he had passed a very busy life, and

had taxed his physical energies to the utmost. He was older than his

years, and was no longer the same man who had once so scathingly

denounced the Family Compact. For the first few months, however, he

applied himself with vigour to his Parliamentary duties, and made

several effective speeches. Age had not abated one jot of his advanced

radicalism. He allied himself with the extremists of the Reform Party,

and in consequence was not high in the favour of Mr. Baldwin, but there

was not, so far as we are aware, any personal difference between them.

Early in 1851 he found himself so much prostrated by physical weakness

that he was compelled to leave home for change of air and scene. He went

over to Saratoga Springs, New York, which was then the fashionable

watering-place of this continent. Its waters were supposed to possess

marvellous powers to restore youth to the aged and infirm, and Mr. Perry

remained there for several months. He had, however, literally worn

himself out in the public service, and it soon became evident that his

ringing voice would never again be heard within the walls of Parliament.

He gradually became weaker and weaker, and on the morning of Sunday, the

24th of August, he breathed his last. His remains were conveyed to his

home at Whitby for interment, where they were attended to their last

resting place by many of the leading men of Canada. He was a serious

loss to Whitby and its neighbourhood, the prosperity of which he had

done more than any other man of his time to advance. He was also mourned

as a public loss by the Party to which he had all his life been

attached, and glowing eulogies were pronounced upon his character and

public spirit, even by persons to whom he had always been politically

opposed.

THE HON. ADAM WILSON.

Judge Wilson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 22nd of September,

1814. He received his education there, and emigrated to this country in

the summer of 1830, when he had not quite completed his sixteenth year.

He settled in the township of Trafalgar, in the county of Halton, Canada

West, where he took charge of the mills and store of his maternal uncle,

the late Mr. George Chalmers, who represented the constituency in the

Legislative Assembly. He developed high capacity for mercantile

pursuits, in which he was engaged for somewhat more than three years.

He, however, resolved to devote himself to the legal profession, and in

the month of January, 1834, was articled to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin

Sullivan, a gentleman whose name is well known in the Parliamentary and

Judicial history of this Province, and who was then a partner of the

Hon. Robert Baldwin, the style of the firm being Baldwin & Sullivan. Mr.

Wilson completed his studies in that office, and in Trinity Term of the

year 1839 was called to the Bar of Upper Canada. On the 1st of January,

1840, he entered into partnership with Mr. Baldwin, and the connection

between them endured until the end of 1849, when Mr. Baldwin retired

from professional pursuits. On the 28th of November, 1850, he was

appointed a Queen's Counsel by the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government,

contemporaneously with the present Judges Hagarty and Gwynne, and with

the late Judge Connor and Chancellor Vankoughnet. During the same year

he became a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

He soon afterwards began to take a warm interest in the municipal

affairs of Toronto, and in 1855 was elected an Alderman of the city. In

1859 he was Mayor of Toronto, and was the first Chief Magistrate elected

by popular suffrage. In 1856 he was appointed a Commissioner for the

consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada and Upper Canada

respectively.

In politics Mr. Wilson was a member of the Reform Party, and had

frequently been importuned to allow himself to be put in nomination for

a seat in the Legislature. Being much occupied with professional and

municipal affairs he had declined such importunities, but upon the death

of Mr. Hartman, the member for the North Riding of the county of York in

the Canadian Assembly, on the 29th of November, 1859, that constituency

was left unrepresented, and Mr. Wilson, being again pressed to enter

political life, contested the representation of North York, and was

returned at the head of the poll. He took his seat in the House as an

avowed opponent of the Cartier-Macdonald Administration. He was again

returned by the same constituency at the next general election. In 1861

he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of West

Toronto. Upon the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte

Administration, in May, 1862, he accepted office therein as

Solicitor-General, and was reëlected by his constituents upon presenting

himself to them. He held the portfolio of Solicitor-General, with a seat

in the Executive Council, until the month of May, 1863. On the 11th of

the month he was elevated to a seat on the Judicial Bench as a Puisné

Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for Upper Canada. Three months later

(on the 24th of August) he was transferred to the Court of Common Pleas,

where he remained until Easter Term, 1868, when he was again appointed

to the Queen's Bench, as successor to the Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty, who

had been appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1871 Judge

Wilson was appointed a member of the Law Reform Commission. In the month

of November, 1878, he was himself appointed Chief Justice of the Court

of Common Pleas, a position which he now occupies.

While at the Bar he was regarded as second to no man in the Province in

certain branches of his profession; and his reputation has rather grown

than diminished since his elevation to the Bench. His learning, judicial

acumen and perfect impartiality are acknowledged by the entire

profession of this Province, as well as by his brethren on the Bench.

He is the author of a work entitled "A Sketch of the Office of

Constable," published in Toronto in 1861. Early in his professional

career he married a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Dalton, who was for

many years editor and proprietor of the _Patriot_, a once well-known

newspaper published in Toronto.

THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.

Sir Alexander Campbell is of somewhat conglomerate nationality, being a

Scotchman in blood and by descent, an Englishman by birth, and a

Canadian by education and lifelong residence. He is a son of the late

Dr. James Campbell and was born at the village of Hedon, near

Kingston-upon-Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1821.

When he was only about two years old his parents emigrated to Canada,

and settled in the neighbourhood of Lachine, where his childhood was

passed. He received his early education at the hands of a minister of

the Presbyterian Church, and afterwards spent some time at the Roman

Catholic Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. His education was completed under

the tuition of Mr. George Baxter, at the Royal Grammar School at

Kingston, in Upper Canada, whither his family removed during his

boyhood. He has ever since resided at Kingston, with the interests

whereof he has been identified for nearly half a century.

After leaving school he chose the law as his future profession, and in

1838 passed his preliminary examination as a student before the Law

Society of Upper Canada. He then entered the law office of the late Mr.

Henry Cassidy, an eminent lawyer of Kingston, and remained there until

the death of his principal, which took place in 1839. He then became the

pupil of Mr.--now the Hon. Sir--John A. Macdonald, with whom he remained

as a student until his admission as an attorney, in Hilary Term of the

year 1842. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Macdonald, under the

style of Macdonald & Campbell, and in Michaelmas Term, 1843, was called

to the Bar. This partnership endured for many years, and was attended

with very satisfactory results, both professional and otherwise. The

firm transacted the largest legal business in that part of the country,

and their services were retained on one side or the other in almost

every important cause. Mr. Campbell's own professional career, though

subordinate to that of his senior partner, was a highly creditable and

distinguished one. His success at the Bar secured for him a competent

fortune, and opened up to him other avenues to distinction. He served

his apprenticeship to public life in the years 1851 and 1852, in the

modest capacity of an Alderman for one of the city wards of Kingston. In

1856 he was created a Queen's Counsel. During the same year the

Legislative Council was made elective, and the Cataraqui division,

embracing the city of Kingston and the county of Frontenac, having with

eleven other divisions, come in for its turn to elect a member in 1858,

Mr. Campbell offered himself in the Liberal-Conservative interest, and

was returned by a very large majority. The vote polled in his favour

exceeded the united votes polled for his two opponents. In the Council

he soon achieved a commanding position. Though he had the courage of

his opinions, and did not hesitate to express them whenever any

occasion arose for doing so, his remarks were never characterized by the

acrimonious violence which was then too much in vogue. He spoke with

readiness, but never took up the time of his colleagues unless when he

had something definite to say. He was courteous and urbane to all, and

soon became a favourite with the Body, more venerable than venerated, to

which he had been elected. Early in 1863 he was chosen to fill the

important office of Speaker of the Council, which position he held until

the dissolution of Parliament in the summer of that year. During the

Ministerial crisis which ensued in March, 1864, he was invited by the

Governor-General to form a Cabinet, but declined the task, although the

Hon. John A. Macdonald, at a public dinner in Toronto, virtually

resigned in his favour. Mr. Campbell was probably of opinion that the

increase of honour would hardly counterbalance the great increase of

responsibility, as it was impossible in those times for any Government

to feel itself strong. He, however, accepted the office of Crown Lands

Commissioner in the Ministry then formed by the late Sir E. P. Taché and

John A. Macdonald. The Ministry was not of long duration, and Mr.

Campbell retained office with the same portfolio in the Coalition

Government which succeeded it, and which, in one form or another, lasted

till Confederation. He took an active part in the Confederation

movement, and was a member of the Union Conference which met at Quebec

in 1864. During the interminable debates on Confederation he was the

leading advocate of the project in the Upper House, and his remarks were

always characterized by tact, good sense and good breeding. He made no

effort at fine speaking, but appealed to the judgment and patriotism of

his auditors. He had a most persistent opponent in the Hon. Mr. Currie,

the representative of Niagara. Upon so many-sided and comprehensive a

measure as that of Confederation, it was no slight task to reply

off-hand to all sorts of hostile questions, many of which were skilfully

propounded with a sole view to embarrassing the man whose official duty

compelled him to answer as best he could. Mr. Campbell acquitted himself

in such a manner as to increase the respect in which he was held, and

his speech made on the 17th of February, 1865, in answer to the

opponents of Confederation, has been characterized by competent

authorities as the most statesmanlike effort of his life.

In May, 1867, Mr. Campbell was called to the Senate by the Queen's

proclamation, and since that time has been the leader of the

Conservative Party in the Upper Chamber. It may be said, indeed, that

his leadership virtually began as far back as 1864, when he first took

office in the Taché-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for

although Sir E. P. Taché was a member of the Legislative Council, and

was for a time Premier of the Coalition Government, as Sir Narcisse

Belleau was after him, neither of these men possessed the qualifications

needed for the position of a party leader, the duties of which were

therefore to a great extent left to be discharged by their younger, more

active, and better qualified colleague. "Sir John A. Macdonald," says a

contemporary writer, "showed a sound judgment when he gave to Mr.

Campbell the leadership of the newly-constituted Canadian Senate.

Assured from the first of the possession for many years of a majority in

the Chamber he had virtually created, it was necessary that his

lieutenant in the Upper House should be one who could be relied upon to

use his party strength with moderation, and to make all safe without

appearing needlessly to oppress or coerce the minority. . . . In the

conduct of the ordinary business of Parliament Mr. Campbell is an

opponent with whom it is easy to deal. Courteous in personal

intercourse, possessed of plain, practical common sense and good

Parliamentary experience, he is not one to raise obstructions when no

end is to be gained. As a speaker he would, in a popular legislature,

hardly be called effective, and he has certainly no claims to eloquence,

or to that faculty which forms a useful substitute for eloquence, and

which Sir John A. Macdonald possesses--of becoming terribly in earnest

exactly when a display of earnestness is needful to effect a purpose.

But the leader of the Conservative Senators speaks well, takes care to

understand what he is talking about, and infuses into his speeches, when

necessary, just as much force as is required to make them tell on his

followers, if they do not affect very strongly the feelings or

convictions of his opponents. He was the man for the situation, and has

played his part well."

On the 1st of July, 1867, Mr. Campbell was sworn of the Privy Council,

and took office as Postmaster-General in the Government formed by Sir

John A. Macdonald. He retained that portfolio about six years, when the

Department of the Interior, of which he then became the first Minister,

was created. In 1870 he proceeded to England on an important diplomatic

mission, the result of which was the signing of the Washington Treaty.

He did not long retain his position as Minister of the Interior, the

Government having been compelled to resign in November, 1873, by the

force of public opinion, which had been aroused by the disclosures

respecting the sale of the Pacific Railway Charter. During the existence

of Mr. Mackenzie's Government he led the Conservative Opposition in the

Senate, and upon the accession of the Conservative Party to power in the

autumn of 1878 he accepted the portfolio of Receiver-General. He

retained this position from the 8th of October, 1878, to the 20th of

May, 1879, when he became Postmaster-General. Four days afterwards he

was created a knight of St. Michael and St. George, at an investiture of

the Order held in Montreal by the Governor-General, acting on behalf of

Her Majesty. On the 15th of January, 1880, he resigned the

Postmaster-Generalship, and accepted the portfolio of Minister of

Militia. In the readjustment of offices which took place prior to the

assembling of Parliament towards the close of last year he resumed the

office of Postmaster-General, of which he is the present incumbent.

In 1855 he married Miss Georgina Frederica Locke, daughter of Mr. Thomas

Sandwith, of Beverley, Yorkshire, England. In 1857 he became a Bencher

of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was for some time Dean of the

Faculty of Law in the University of Queen's College, Kingston. He is

connected with several important financial enterprises, and is a man of

much social influence. He would probably have gained a much wider

reputation in the Canadian Assembly and the House of Commons than he has

been able to acquire in the less stirring atmosphere of the Legislative

Council and the Senate. He has, however, been a most useful man in the

sphere which he has chosen, and his retirement from public life would be

a serious loss to the Conservative Party, and to the country at large.

THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH.

The ex-Treasurer of the Province of Quebec is descended from one of the

old colonial families of Massachusetts, several members of which

attained considerable distinction in the early history of that colony.

The name of Colonel Benjamin Church, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, occupies

a very conspicuous place in the annals of New England warfare. He was

the first white settler at Seaconnet, or Little Compton, and was the

most active and noted combatant of the Indians during the famous war

against Metacomet, or King Philip, the great sachem of the Wampanoags.

In August, 1676, he commanded the party by which King Philip was slain.

The barbarous usage of beheading and quartering was then in vogue, and

it is said that Church decapitated the fallen monarch of the forest with

his own hands. The sword with which this act of barbarity is alleged to

have been committed is still preserved in the cabinet of the Historical

Society of Massachusetts, at Boston. Colonel Church kept a sort of rough

minute-book, or diary, of his exploits, and it was from these minutes,

and under his direction, that his son, Thomas Church, wrote his

well-known history of King Philip's War, which was originally published

in 1716, and which is still the highest original authority on that

subject. At a later period the members of the Church family (which was

very numerous and well connected) were conspicuous adherents of the Whig

Party, and at the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War

nearly all of them took the Republican side in the memorable struggle.

There were, however, two exceptions, and these two both enlisted their

services in the cause of King George III. One of them was killed in

battle in 1776. The other, Jonathan Mills Church, was captured by the

colonial army in 1777, and would doubtless have been put to death, had

he not contrived to escape from the vigilance of his captors. He made

his way to Canada, and ultimately settled in the Upper Province, in the

neighbourhood of Brockville, where he died at a very advanced age in

1846. His son, the late Dr. Peter Howard Church, settled at Aylmer, in

Ottawa County, Lower Canada, where he practised the medical profession

for many years. Dr. Church had several children, and his second son,

Levi Ruggles, is the subject of this sketch. The latter was born at

Aylmer on the 26th of May, 1836. He received his education at the public

schools of his native town, and afterwards attended for some time at

Victoria College, Cobourg. He chose his father's profession, and

graduated in medicine, first at the Albany Medical College, New York

State, and afterwards at McGill College, Montreal, where he gained the

Primary Final and Thesis Prizes, and acted as House Apothecary at the

General Hospital during the years 1856-7. Becoming dissatisfied with his

prospects, and believing that the legal profession presented a more

suitable field for the exercise of his abilities, he determined to

relinquish medicine for law. Acting upon this resolve, he studied law

under the late Henry Stewart, Q.C., and afterwards under Mr. Edward

Carter, Q.C., at Montreal, and was called to the Bar in the year 1859.

He commenced the practice of this profession in his native town, where

he has ever since resided, and where he has long since acquired high

professional standing and a profitable business connection, as well as a

large measure of social and political influence. He is a partner in the

legal firm of Fleming, Church & Kenney, and a Governor of the College of

Physicians and Surgeons in the Lower Province.

He entered public life at the first general election under Confederation

in 1867, when he successfully contested the representation of his native

county of Ottawa in the Local Legislature. He espoused the Conservative

side, and sat in the House throughout the existence of that Parliament.

He attended closely to his duties, both in the House and as a member of

various committees, and made a favourable reputation for himself as

acting Chairman of the Committee on Private Bills. In July, 1868, he was

appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Ottawa District, and retained that

position until his acceptance of a seat in the Cabinet somewhat more

than six years afterwards. At the general election of 1871, he did not

seek reëlection, and for some time thereafter confined his attention to

his professional duties. He was associated with Judge Drummond and Mr.

Edward Carter in the Beauregard murder case as Junior Counsel for the

defence. On the 22nd of September, 1874, he was appointed a member of

the Executive Council of Quebec, and accepted office as

Attorney-General. He was returned by acclamation for the county of

Pontiac, and enjoyed a similar triumph at the general election of 1875.

He continued to hold the portfolio of Attorney-General until the 27th of

January, 1876, when he became Provincial Treasurer, in which capacity he

repaired to England during the following summer, and negotiated a loan

on behalf of his native Province. He held office as Treasurer until

March, 1878, when the DeBoucherville Government was dismissed from

office by M. Letellier de St. Just, the then Lieutenant-Governor, under

circumstances which are already familiar to readers of these pages. Mr.

Church was one of the signatories to the petition addressed to Sir

Patrick L. Macdougall, who then administered affairs at Ottawa, praying

for the dismissal of M. Letellier from his position as

Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. At the last general election for the

Province, held in May, 1878, Mr. Church was opposed in Pontiac by Mr. G.

A. Purvis, but defeated that gentleman by a majority of 225 votes, and

still sits in the House for the last named constituency. On the 3rd of

September, 1859, he married Miss Jane Erskine Bell, of London, England,

daughter of Mr. William Bell, barrister, and niece of General Sir George

Bell, K.C.B.

CHARLES, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND,

_GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA._

The Duke of Richmond's administration of affairs in Canada was not of

long duration, but his high rank, and the melancholy circumstances

attending his death, have invested his name with an interest which would

not otherwise have attached to it. His rank was higher than that of any

other Governor known to Canadian annals, and his death was due to the

most terrible malady that can afflict mankind.

Charles Gordon Lennox, Duke of Richmond, Earl of March, and Baron

Settrington in the peerage of England; Duke of Lennox, Earl of Darnley,

and Baron Methuen in the peerage of Scotland; and Duc d'Aubigny in

France, was a descendant of King Charles the Second, by the fair and

frail Louise Renée de Querouaille, "whom," says Macaulay, "our rude

ancestors called Madam Carwell." He was the only son of

Lieutenant-General Lord George Henry Lennox, by Lady Louisa Ker,

daughter of the Marquis of Lothian, and nephew of the third Duke. He was

born in 1764, succeeded to the family titles and estates in 1806, and

married, in 1789, Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Gordon, by whom he

had a numerous progeny. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1807 till

1813, during the Secretaryships of the Duke of Wellington and

Mr.--afterwards the Right Honourable Sir Robert--Peel. Having displayed

much ability in the public service, he was appointed Governor-General of

Canada as successor to General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. He entered on

the duties of his office in the month of July, 1818, having been

accompanied across the Atlantic by his son-in-law, Major-General Sir

Peregrine Maitland, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the

Upper Province.

The Duke brought with him a good reputation. His Irish administration

had been remarkably successful, and it was believed that his tact, good

nature, and capacity for governing would be productive of happy results

in this country. He spent the remainder of the summer following his

arrival in a trip to the Upper Province, and after his return to Quebec

he was engaged in various diplomatic matters which consumed the greater

part of the following autumn. He met the Legislature for the first time

in January, 1819, when he opened the session with a speech which augured

well for his popularity. It was not long, however, before complications

arose. There was a gradually widening breach between the branches of the

Legislature as to their respective rights and privileges under the

constitution, and it soon became evident that the Governor-General was

not the man to heal this breach. Among the chief points in dispute was

the management of the colonial finances. When the estimates for the year

were presented, it was found that there was an increase of £15,000,

including an item of £8,000 for a pension-list. The Assembly became

alarmed, and referred the estimates to a committee. The committee cut

down several items of expenditure, including that relating to pensions.

The Upper House declined to pass the supply bill, as amended, and the

result was a practical dead-lock in public affairs. It was clear that

the Assembly had no confidence in the Executive. The session was

prorogued on the 12th of April, nothing of importance having been

accomplished. The Governor, in his prorogation speech, expressed his

dissatisfaction with the Assembly, and harangued that body in a fashion

which aroused much ill-will on the part of the members, who repaired to

their homes with a fixed determination to resist to the utmost all

attempts to infringe upon their rights. They were not destined, however,

to come into any further collision with his Grace the Duke of Richmond.

Soon after the close of the session he drew upon the Receiver-General on

his own responsibility for the necessary funds to defray the civil list.

Towards the end of the following June the Governor-General left Quebec,

on an extended tour through both the Provinces. He had a summer

residence at William Henry, or Sorel, in the county of Richelieu, on the

River St. Lawrence, where he made a short stay on his upward journey.

During his sojourn there he was bitten on the back of his hand by a tame

fox with which he was amusing himself. His Grace thought nothing of the

matter, although he experienced some uneasy sensations on the following

morning. He proceeded on his tour to the Upper Province, visited Niagara

Falls, York, and other points of interest, and reached Kingston on his

return journey about the middle of August. He had arranged to visit some

recently surveyed lots in what was then the back wilderness on the line

of the Rideau Canal, between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. He set out

from Kingston on the 20th of August accompanied by several members of

his staff. It had been calculated that the expedition would occupy

several days. On the morning of the 21st he began to suffer from a pain

in his shoulder. The pain steadily increased and he was recommended to

drink some hot wine and water. He did so, but found great difficulty in

swallowing it. In the evening he reached Perth, and found the pain

somewhat abated. He remained at Perth until the morning of the 24th,

when he resumed his journey, and proceeded on foot over a rugged country

of thirty miles, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn. He was much

overcome by fatigue and passed a restless night. On the 25th, he arrived

within three miles of Richmond West, on the Goodwood River, about twenty

miles from Bytown--now Ottawa. There he rested well during the night,

and walked to the settlement on the following morning. He felt much

relieved, and attributed his healthy sensations to his laborious

exercise. In a few hours he again complained of a returning illness, but

passed the night with so much composure that he continued his journey on

the following morning. It was noticed by his staff that he was moody and

irritable, very unlike his ordinary self, and that he displayed an

extraordinary aversion to water, when crossing the little streamlets in

the forest. He was advised by Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn to rest

himself and send for medical advice, but he continued his journey until

he reached a stream where a canoe was waiting to convey him a short

distance. He must have been sensible of the terrible fate impending over

him for several days before this time, but he bore up with much strength

of mind. Upon reaching the stream just mentioned he expressed his desire

to embark in the canoe, but declared that he did not think he should be

able to do so. He added, "Gentlemen, if I fail, you must force me." His

officers had no suspicion of the real state of affairs, and attributed

his dread of approaching the water to a sort of delirium induced by the

fatigue he had undergone, and the excessive heat of the sun. He was no

sooner seated in the canoe than his face displayed such mortal terror at

the near neighbourhood of the water that the truth flashed upon one of

his officers, who exclaimed: "By Heaven, the Duke has the hydrophobia!"

As the Duke proceeded down stream in the canoe, his officers walked

through the forest to the point where he was expected to disembark. As

they were threading their way along, they were horrified to see His

Grace dart across their path into the depths of the wood. They pursued,

and after a long chase overtook him. He was raving mad. They secured

him, and held him down until the paroxysm had passed, when, with much

self-possession, he explained his terrible situation, and requested them

to do whatever seemed to them best. They resolved to return with him to

the settlement, and began to retrace their steps. Upon reaching the

creek which they had crossed on the previous day, His Grace stopped, and

begged that they would not force him across the stream, as he felt that

he could not survive the effort of crossing the water. They accordingly

made a detour into the forest, and soon arrived at a little bush shanty,

where they requested the Duke to rest himself. The Duke expressed his

desire to take refuge in an adjoining barn, rather than in the shanty,

as the barn, he said, was _farther from water_. His wish was complied

with, and he sprang over a fence and entered the barn. There he spent a

terrible day, sometimes being quite calm and collected, but with

frequent recurrences of his malady. Towards evening he consented to be

removed into the shanty, where he was made as comfortable as

circumstances admitted of. His paroxysms returned frequently in the

course of the following night, and at eight o'clock on the following

morning--which was the 28th--death put an end to his sufferings. The

ruins of the old hovel on the banks of the Goodwood in which the Duke

expired, are, or recently were, still in existence. The spot is in the

county of Carleton, about four miles from Richmond, and near the

confluence of the Goodwood and Rideau rivers, about sixteen miles from

the junction of the Ottawa and Rideau.

His body was conveyed in a canoe to Montreal, where his family awaited

his return from his tour. It was subsequently removed in a steamer to

Quebec, where it was interred close to the communion table in the

Anglican Cathedral. Such was the tragical end of Charles Gordon Lennox,

fourth Duke of Richmond.

THE HON. CHARLES A. P. PELLETIER, C.M.G.

Mr. Pelletier was born on the 22nd of January, 1837, at Rivière Ouelle,

in the county of Kamouraska, in Lower Canada. He is a son of the late

Jean Marie Pelletier, by Julie Painchaud his wife. His maternal uncle,

the late Rev. C. F. Painchaud, acquired a Provincial reputation as the

founder of the College of Ste. Anne de la Pocatière, in the building of

which the reverend gentleman expended much of his fortune, and to

promoting the prosperity whereof he gave up many years of his life.

It was at Ste. Anne's College that the subject of this sketch was

educated. After going through all his classes in a highly creditable

manner, he entered Laval University in 1856 as a student at law, being

articled to L. de G. Baillairge, Q.C., the Attorney for the City of

Quebec. After the required lapse of time Mr. Pelletier passed such a

creditable examination that the University, on the 15th of September,

1858, conferred on him the degree of B.C.L. In January, 1860, he was

called to the Bar of his native Province, and for several years devoted

himself entirely to his profession, in partnership with his former

principal, Mr. Baillairge. In July, 1861, he married Suzanne A.

Casgrain, a daughter of the late Hon. C. E. Casgrain, member of the

Legislative Council of Canada. She died during the following year,

leaving one son. In February, 1866, Mr. Pelletier married Virginie A. de

Sales La Terrière, second daughter of the late Hon. Marc Paschal de

Sales La Terrière, M.D., who sat for many years in the Parliament of

Lower Canada, and afterwards in that of the United Provinces.

Mr. Pelletier was for some time Syndie of the Quebec Bar. The _Société

St. Jean Baptiste de Quebec_ has three times elected him as its

President, an honour seldom conferred more than once on the same person.

For several years he served in the Militia of Canada, and the last

Fenian raid found him in command as Major of the 9th Voltigeurs de

Quebec, which battalion he greatly contributed to organize and maintain

in a most efficient state. In 1867, immediately after Confederation, he

was unanimously chosen by the Liberal Party in the county of Kamouraska

as their standard-bearer, and was put in nomination for the House of

Commons. Having secured by his popularity a large majority over his then

opponent, the Hon J. C. Chapais, on a plea of informality in the

proceedings, a special return was made, and the constituency

disfranchised for some months. A short time afterwards the Returning

Officer was censured by the Committee on Privileges and Elections for

his partisan conduct in the matter. Another election having been

ordered, Mr. Pelletier was again chosen as the Liberal candidate, and

elected, in February, 1869, by a large majority, for the county of

Kamouraska, where party strife has always been very bitter, and where a

majority of twenty had previously been considered a decisive victory.

At the general election in 1872 Mr. Pelletier again defeated the

Conservative candidate, Mr.--now Judge--Routhier. In 1873, the Liberals

of Quebec East, having decided to wrest the constituency from the grasp

of the faction which had for several years previously controlled the

vote there, requested Mr. Pelletier to stand for the Division in the

coming contest for the Local Legislature. He acceded to the request, and

an active campaign was set on foot. The event was a memorable one. Both

parties strained every nerve to ensure the success of their respective

candidates, and a loose rein was given to the most violent passions.

Threats were freely indulged in, and on the day of nomination a shot was

fired at Mr. Pelletier on the hustings by some unknown hand. The bullet

grazed his forehead, and passed through the fur cap which he wore.

Nothing daunted by this reprehensible act, Mr. Pelletier continued to

prosecute his canvass with unabated vigour, and a week later he was

returned by a majority of more than 900 votes. In January, 1874, in

consequence of the operation of the Act respecting dual representation,

he resigned his seat in the Quebec Assembly, and remained in the Federal

Parliament. At the general election of 1874, which took place at the

advent to power of the Mackenzie Administration, after the retirement of

Sir John A. Macdonald's Ministry, Mr. Pelletier was returned by

acclamation for Kamouraska.

In December, 1876, the Hon. L. Letellier de St. Just resigned the

portfolio of Minister of Agriculture in the Dominion Government, and was

appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec. Mr. Pelletier

succeeded him in the Department of Agriculture, and was sworn of the

Privy Council in January, 1877, being appointed at the same time Senator

for the Grandville Division. As Minister of Agriculture Mr. Pelletier

was appointed President of the Canadian Commission at the Paris

International Exhibition of 1878, but was prevented on account of

pressing public business, from attending personally in Paris. He,

however, devoted his energies while in Ottawa towards making the

Canadian exhibit a success. For his services the British Government

created him a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. His

Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, President of the Royal Commission,

also acknowledged his services in a very complimentary letter, which was

accompanied by His Royal Highness's portrait.

In October, 1878, Mr. Mackenzie placed the resignation of himself and

Cabinet in the hands of Lord Dufferin. Mr. Pelletier in consequence

ceased to preside over the Department of Agriculture. In 1879 he was

created a Queen's Counsel, and since his retirement from the Mackenzie

Government he has devoted his time to his profession at the Quebec Bar.

Mr. Pelletier is a gentleman of great tact and urbanity of manner, and

his fine social qualities and unassuming demeanour have endeared him to

a wide circle of friends. His popular manners, and his constant

readiness to preach peace and good fellowship well qualify him as leader

of the French Canadian Liberals in the Senate. He has in no small degree

been the means of smoothing away that bitterness which for many years

marked political contests in Quebec and Kamouraska. An indefatigable

worker, Mr. Pelletier is recognized as one of the best election

organizers in the Province, and the proof of it lies in the fact that in

no county where he persistently worked did victory desert his banner in

1878. He is known as a fast and firm friend, and though he has been

mixed up in most of the political contests of the District of Quebec for

the past fifteen years, it is believed that he has not a single enemy in

the ranks of his opponents.

THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT.

Vice-Chancellor Proudfoot was born near Errol, a small village of

Perthshire, Scotland, situated about midway between Perth and Dundee, on

the 9th of November, 1823. He is the third son of the late Rev. William

Proudfoot, who was for many years Superintendent of the Theological

Institute of the United Presbyterian Church, at London, Ontario. The

late Mr. Proudfoot was one of the earliest missionaries sent out to this

country by the United Secession Church, as it was called. He came out

from Scotland with his family in 1832, and after a few months spent at

Little York, removed to London, where he organized a church in which he

officiated until his death, in January, 1851, when he was succeeded by

his second son, the present incumbent. His life was a busy and useful

one, and his services in the cause of theological education have left a

decided impress behind them. He was a man of strong political opinions,

and had before his emigration from Scotland been identified with the

Whig Party. In Canada his sympathies were entirely with the Reformers

throughout their long struggle to obtain Responsible Government and

equal rights for all. During the troubled times of the rebellion he was

subjected to a certain amount of persecution by the Tory Party, but as

he of course had no share in the rebellion, and was a loyal subject to

British connection, he escaped without serious annoyance. Early in 1838

he was informed by some officious friend that he was an object of

suspicion to the ruling powers, and that the Sheriff of the District had

been instructed to watch his movements carefully. With characteristic

intrepidity he at once repaired to the Sheriff's office, and entered

into conversation on the subject with that functionary. He professed his

perfect readiness to be taken into custody. The Sheriff, who held Mr.

Proudfoot's character in high respect, and who well knew that the

Government had nothing to fear from him, begged him to go quietly home

and think no more of the matter. He subsequently aided in establishing a

church in the neighbouring township of Westminster. Not long afterwards

the Theological Institute already referred to was projected. The

Presbyterian Body in this country had no regular seat of advanced

learning at that time, and candidates for the ministry were subjected to

serious drawbacks. Mr. Proudfoot and another clerical gentleman--the

Rev. Alexander Mackenzie--were entrusted with the training of students,

and out of this arrangement the Theological Institute was finally

developed. Many of the leading Presbyterian theologians of Canada

received their training at this establishment, and the name of Mr.

Proudfoot is a grateful remembrance to them at the present day.

The third son, the subject of this sketch, like his elder brothers, was

educated at home by his father, and did not attend any of the public

educational institutions. He chose the law for his profession in life,

and his studies were prosecuted with that end in view. In 1844 he passed

his preliminary examination before the Law Society of Upper Canada, and

immediately afterwards entered the office of Messrs. Blake & Morrison,

barristers, of Toronto, where he spent the five years prescribed as the

period of study for an articled clerk. After his call to the Bar, in

Michaelmas Term, 1849, he entered into partnership with the late Mr.

Charles Jones, and began practice in Toronto. This partnership lasted

about two years, when he was appointed Master and Deputy-Registrar of

the Court of Chancery at Hamilton. He had paid special attention to the

principles of Equity Jurisprudence, and had received much of his

training in those principles from Mr. Blake himself, under whose

supervision the Court of Chancery in this Province had been remodelled,

and who was at this time Chancellor of Upper Canada. He accordingly

removed to Hamilton, and conducted the local business of the Court for

three years, when he resigned his position and devoted himself

exclusively to practice. He formed a partnership with the late Mr.

Samuel Black Freeman and Mr. William Craigie, one of the leading law

firms in Hamilton, under the style of Messrs. Freeman, Craigie &

Proudfoot. Mr. Proudfoot had exclusive charge of the Equity business of

the firm, which attained large dimensions, and became one of the most

profitable in Western Canada. The partnership, which was formed in 1854,

lasted for eight years, and terminated in 1862, when Mr. Proudfoot

withdrew from the firm. He subsequently formed several other

partnerships, he himself continuing to devote himself entirely to

Equity. During the whole of his professional career he was an adherent

of the Reform Party, and used all his influence for the advancement of

Liberal principles. In 1872 he was appointed a Queen's Counsel by the

Ontario Government, but afterwards declined to have the appointment

confirmed by the Government of the Dominion.

His attainments as an Equity lawyer marked him as a fit recipient of

judicial honours, and on the 30th of May, 1874, he was appointed to a

seat on the Chancery Bench, as successor to Mr. Strong, who had been

transferred to the Court of Appeal. His judicial career has thoroughly

justified the wisdom of his appointment. He has presided over many

important cases, and has rendered some very elaborate and profound

judgments on matters connected with ecclesiastical law.

Mr. Proudfoot, in 1853, during his tenure of office as Local Master in

Chancery at Hamilton, married Miss Thomson, a daughter of the late Mr.

John Thomson, of Toronto. This lady, by whom he had a family of six

children, died in 1871. In 1875 he married his second wife, who was Miss

Cook, daughter of the late Mr. Adam Cook, of Hamilton. This lady died in

1878.

THE HON. JOHN JOSEPH CALDWELL ABBOTT,

_B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C._

Though Mr. Abbott's parliamentary career embraces a period of more than

twenty years, it is not as a legislator that the Canadian of the future

will be likely to remember him. The legislation of 1864 may be said to

have decided his future course, for from that year his rapid rise in his

profession may be dated, and his extraordinary success in the special

branch he had chosen, that of commercial law, first began to develop

itself prominently. Before that year he had won distinction at the Bar

as an able lawyer and a wise counsellor, but he was still undecided with

regard to his future, when a circumstance occurred which promptly

determined him. The Insolvent Act of 1864, which he prepared and carried

through the House with great ability, proved to be the turning point in

his fortunes, and though we have had other legislation on this subject

since then, the principles laid down by Mr. Abbott, when introducing his

measure, have been steadily retained in all later enactments. Before his

bill became law, the only system which existed was the Act under the

civil code, which had been found to be both cumbrous and costly in its

operation. The country had suffered for several years for the want of

something better, and accordingly when Mr. Abbott's Act came into force,

it was regarded by the mercantile community as a sterling piece of

legislation, and one which was well calculated to add materially to the

originator's legal reputation and standing. Mr. Abbott published about

the same time a manual which described fully his Act, with notes and the

tariff of fees for Lower Canada. This book and the measure itself gave

his name wide publicity throughout the Province, and for many years he

was the recognized exponent of the principles of the Act which governed

the law relating to bankruptcy. Merchants flocked to his office to

consult him on a measure which many believed could be explained by no

one else, and this formed the nucleus of a practice which has increased

from that day to this, to enormous proportions. He is still regarded as

the ablest commercial lawyer in the Province of Quebec.

He was born at St. Andrews, in the county of Argenteuil, Lower Canada,

on the 12th of March, 1821. His father was the Reverend Joseph Abbott,

M.A., first Anglican Incumbent of St. Andrews, who emigrated to this

country from England in 1818 as a missionary, and who during his long

residence in Canada added considerably to the literary activity of the

country. He had not been long in Canada before he married Miss Harriet

Bradford, a daughter of the Rev. Richard Bradford, first Rector of

Chatham, Argenteuil County. The first fruit of this union was the

subject of this sketch. The latter was carefully educated at St. Andrews

with a view to a university career, and in due time he was sent to

Montreal, where he entered the University of McGill College. He

distinguished himself highly at this seat of learning, and graduated as

a B.C.L. Shortly after he began the study of law, and in October, 1847,

was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. His professional success has

already been referred to.

His political life began in 1857, when he contested the county of

Argenteuil at the general elections of that year. He was elected a

member of the Canadian Assembly, but was not returned until 1859. He

continued to represent the constituency in that House until the Union of

1867, when he was returned for the Commons. He was reëlected at the

general elections of 1872 and 1874. In October of the last-named year he

was unseated, when Dr. Christie was chosen by acclamation. At the

general election of September, 1878, he was again a candidate, but again

sustained defeat at the hands of his old antagonist Dr. Christie. The

latter, however, was unseated, and in February, 1880, Mr. Abbott was

again elected for the county.

For a short time in 1862 he held the post of Solicitor-General in the

Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte Administration, and prior to his acceptance

of office he was created a Q.C. In 1864, while in Opposition, he was

instrumental in introducing two bills which have added to his fame as a

lawyer. The first of these was the Jury Law Consolidation Act for Lower

Canada. Its principal provisions were to simplify the system of

summoning jurors, and the preparation of jury lists. The other law which

he added to the statute book was the Bill for collecting judicial and

registration fees by stamps. This was the first complete legislation

that had taken place on the subject, and as in the case of his other

measures, the main principles have been retained in the subsequent

legislation which has followed. Besides these, and many less important

but useful measures, Mr. Abbott's political work consists of amendments

to Bills, suggestions and advice as regards measures affecting law and

commerce. His advice at such times has always proved of the greatest

value, and it is in this department of legislation that he has achieved

the most success. He is a good speaker, but of late years has made no

special figure in the House, either as an orator or a debater.

Mr. Abbott is Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of McGill

College, a D.C.L. of that University, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the

"Argenteuil Rangers," known in the Department of Militia as the 11th

Battalion--a corps raised by him during the patriotic time of the

"Trent" excitement. He is also President of the Fraser Institute of

Montreal, and Director or law adviser to various companies and

corporations.

Twice Mr. Abbott's name came before the public in a manner which gave

him great notoriety. He was the prominent figure, after Sir Hugh Allan,

in the famous Pacific Scandal episode. Being the legal adviser of the

Knight of Ravenscraig, all transactions were carried on through him, and

it was a confidential clerk of his who revealed details of the scheme

which culminated in the downfall of the Macdonald Cabinet. His second

conspicuous appearance on the public stage was in connection with the

Letellier case, when he went to England in April, 1879, as the associate

of the Hon. H. L. Langevin on the mission which resulted in the

dismissal of the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.

In 1849 he married Miss Mary Bethune, daughter of the Very Reverend J.

Bethune, D.D., late Dean of Montreal.

THE HON. JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON,

_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO._

The present Lieutenant-Governor of this Province is the namesake and

second son of the late Sir John Beverley Robinson, Baronet, a sketch of

whose life appears elsewhere in the present series. He was born at

Beverley House, the paternal homestead, in Toronto, on the 21st of

February, 1819. He was educated at Upper Canada College, and was one of

the earliest students at that seat of learning, which he attended while

it was presided over by the Rev. Dr. J. H. Harris, its first Principal.

His collegiate days, and indeed, the days of his boyhood generally, were

marked by robustness of constitution, and an excessive fondness for

athletics--characteristics which may be said to have accompanied him

through life. During Sir Francis Bond Head's disastrous administration

of Upper Canadian affairs young Robinson was for some time one of his

aides-de-camp, and in this capacity was brought prominently into contact

with the troubles of December, 1837. He accompanied His Excellency from

Government House to Montgomery's hotel, Yonge Street, on the 7th of the

month, when the hotel and Gibson's dwelling-house were burned, and he

was thus an eye-witness of the spectacle so graphically described by Sir

Francis in the pages of "The Emigrant." A day or two later he was sent

to Washington as the bearer of important despatches to the British

Minister there, and remained in the American capital several weeks.

Soon after the close of the rebellion Mr. Robinson entered the office of

the Hon. Christopher Hagerman, a prominent lawyer and legislator of

those days, who held important offices in several administrations, and

who was subsequently raised to the Bench. After remaining about two

years there he had his articles transferred to Mr. James M. Strachan, of

the firm of Strachan & Cameron, one of the leading law firms in Toronto.

There he remained until the expiration of his articles, when, in Easter

Term of 1844, he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada. He does not

appear to have been admitted as an attorney and solicitor until Trinity

Term, 1869. Immediately after his call to the Bar he began practice in

Toronto, where he formed various partnerships, and continued to practise

up to the date of his appointment to the position which he now holds.

On the 30th of June, 1847, he married Miss Mary Jane Hagerman, the

second daughter of his former principal. He early began to take an

active interest in municipal affairs, and in 1851 was elected as

Alderman for St. Patrick's Ward, which at that time included the present

wards of St. Patrick and St. John. He held the post of Alderman for six

consecutive years; was for some time President of the City Council; and

in 1857 was elected Mayor. At the next general election he offered

himself to the citizens of Toronto as a candidate for a seat in the

Legislative Assembly, and was returned conjointly with the late Hon.

George Brown. Like all his family connections, he was a Conservative in

politics, and yielded a firm support to the Cartier-Macdonald

Administration. While in Parliament he was instrumental in procuring the

passage of several Acts referring to the Toronto Esplanade and other

local improvements. On the 27th of March, 1862, he accepted the office

of President of the Council in the Cartier-Macdonald Administration, and

held office until the resignation of the Ministry in the month of May

following. He has not since been a member of any Administration, but has

always been a strenuous supporter of the Conservative side, and has been

returned in that interest for his native city no fewer than seven times.

At the general election of 1872 he was returned to the House of Commons

for the District of Algoma, which he continued thenceforward to

represent until the dissolution. At the last general election for the

House of Commons, held on the 17th of September, 1878, he was returned

for Toronto West by a very large majority (637 votes) over Mr. Thomas

Hodgins, the Reform candidate. He continued to represent West Toronto in

the Commons until the 30th of June, 1880, when he was appointed to the

office of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, as successor to the Hon. D. A.

Macdonald.

Mr. Robinson was for many years Solicitor to the Corporation of the City

of Toronto. He has held several offices in connection with financial and

public institutions, and has been President of the St. George's Society

of Toronto.

HIS GRACE F. X. DE LAVAL-MONTMORENCY.

Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency was born on the 30th of April,

1623, at Laval, in the diocese of Chartres, France. From childhood his

thoughts were intimately associated with the Church, and at a very early

age he made up his mind to study for the priesthood. Bagot the Jesuit

may be said to have moulded his career, and directed his studies, with

that object in view. He next associated himself with the band of young

zealots at the Caen Hermitage, whose Ultramontane piety was the wonder

of the time. He studied for awhile under De Bernières, and in September,

1645, was ordained a priest at Paris. Eight years later he was made

Archdeacon of Evreux. In 1657 a bishop was wanted for Canada, and the

Sulpicians, like the Récollets some years earlier, aspired to furnish

that dignitary from their own order. They sent forward the name of

Father Queylus as candidate for the bishopric, and though the suggestion

found favour in the eyes of the French clergy, and was approved by

Cardinal Mazarin, the Jesuits were powerful enough to overthrow all the

designs of the rival fathers. They were strong at court, and so well did

they use their influence that Mazarin was soon induced to withdraw his

good offices, and Queylus was forced to relinquish his opportunity. The

Jesuits were then invited to name a bishop, and Laval was chosen. On the

16th of June, 1659, he arrived at Quebec, carrying the Pope's

benediction and the Vicar-Apostolicship for Canada.

It was his fate, during his lengthened stay in Canada, to dispute with

every successive Governor appointed by the Crown, on questions which

were often contemptible and trifling. He kept the King and his ministers

busy settling petty questions of precedence and church dignity. He was a

man of very domineering temper, arbitrary and dictatorial in all his

acts, a firm exponent of the Ultramontane doctrine which declares the

State to be subservient to the will of the Church on all occasions, and

that even princes and rulers must yield to the commands of the Pope. His

first quarrel was with Argenson, the then Governor of Canada, and was

about the relative position of the seats which each should occupy in

church. The case was sent to Aillebout, the pious ex-Governor, for

settlement, and a temporary reconciliation took place. The quarrel burst

forth afresh, however, from time to time, and Argenson, disgusted at

these constant wranglings between Church and State, and dissatisfied

with other matters connected with his administration, asked the Home

Government to relieve him. His resignation was accepted, and the old

soldier, Baron Dubois d'Avaugour, was appointed in his stead. The latter

soon had his point of dispute with Laval. In his case it turned upon the

much-vexed temperance question. Laval embarked for France in August,

1662, determined to lay the matter before the Court, and to urge the

removal of Avaugour. He was successful, and early in the following year

the Governor was recalled.

Laval's next conflict was with Dumesnil, an advocate of the Parliament

of Paris, and the agent of the Company of New France. While in Paris,

the bishop was instructed by the Government to choose a governor to his

own liking. He selected Saffray de Mézy, of Caen, for the governorship,

and with him he sailed for the colony, arriving on the 15th of

September, 1663. Immediately on arriving, Laval and the Governor

proceeded to construct the new Council. Virtually all the nominations

were made by the bishop, who knew everybody, while the Governor knew

absolutely no one in the whole country. The new Council formed, Dumesnil

at once pressed the long pending claims of his company for settlement.

The Council was composed of ignorant and corrupt men, several of whom

were actually defaulters to the company represented by Dumesnil, and

Laval was much blamed for placing them in an office which rendered them

judges in their own cause. The Attorney-General demanded in Council that

the papers of Dumesnil should be forcibly seized and sequestered. To

this the Council at once agreed, and that night Dumesnil's house was

entered and ransacked for the papers, which on being found were seized.

The agent himself barely escaped with his life. He fled to France, and

succeeded in gaining the ear of Colbert, the King's minister, who

promptly moved in the matter.

Mézy, though he owed everything to the bishop, determined that he would

be his mere instrument and tool no longer. The old war between Church

and State broke out again. Mézy was a bigot, who stood in mortal terror

of the power of the Church, and whose whole life was made up of the

veriest superstition, but he rebelled against Laval. Discovering that

the Council was composed of creatures of the bishop, he, on the 13th of

February, 1664, ordered three of the most notorious members to absent

themselves from the Council. At the same time he wrote to the bishop and

informed him of what he had done, and asked him to acquiesce in the

expulsion of his favourites. Of course Laval refused to do anything of

the kind. Mézy then caused his declaration to be announced to the people

in the usual way, by means of placards posted about the city, and by

sound of the drum. The bishop, however, had the best of the encounter.

Mézy learned to his horror and consternation that the churches were to

be closed against him, and that the sacraments would be refused him. In

his despair he sought counsel from the Jesuits, but the comfort which he

received from them was to follow the advice of his confessor--also a

Jesuit. In the meantime Laval had become unpopular through a tithe which

he had caused to be imposed, and the people were clamouring for a

settlement of the difficulty. Mézy called a public meeting, appointed a

new Attorney-General, and declared the old one excluded from all public

functions whatever, pending the King's pleasure in the matter. All

through this conflict of authority, the sympathy of the people was with

the Governor, though the latter was denounced from the pulpits. Mézy

appealed to the populace for justice, and by this act signed the warrant

of his own doom. Laval reported the circumstance to the King, and the

Governor was peremptorily recalled.

In 1663 Laval founded the Seminary of Quebec, and by this act endeared

himself to the priesthood. The King favoured the project, and with his

own hand signed the decree which sanctioned the establishment. Laval's

heart was in this great educational project, and not only did he secure

substantial aid from his friends at home, and from the King himself,

but in 1680 he gave to the institution of his creation almost everything

he possessed. Included in this gift were his enormous grants of lands,

which comprised the Seigniories of the Petite Nation, the Island of

Jesus, and Beaupré, all of immense value.

In 1666 Laval consecrated the Parochial Church of Quebec. In 1674 he

returned to France, and the height of his ambition became realized. He

was named Bishop of Quebec, a suffragan bishop of the Holy See, by a

bull of Clement X., dated the first of October. The revenues of the

Abbey of Meaubec, in the diocese of Bourges, were added to those of the

bishopric of Quebec. The new dignitary, armed with all the power and

influence of his office, set out for Canada, and proceeded, on arriving

there, to set his house in order. Of course, it was not long before

hostilities again broke out between the rival forces of the country.

Frontenac was Governor then, and the prime cause of the disturbance was

the old brandy trouble. Then honours and precedence were the questions

at issue between these two obstinate and high-spirited men. Precedence

at church, and precedence at public meetings were fought all over again,

and referred to France to the great disgust of the King, who losing all

patience at last, wrote a sharp letter to Frontenac, directing him to

conform to the practice established at Amiens, and to exact no more.

Laval continued to dispute from time to time with the Home Government

concerning the system of movable curés which had been instituted by him.

The bishop clung to his method despite all opposition and remonstrance,

even setting aside at one time a royal edict on the subject. In the very

height of the dispute Laval proceeded to Court, and asked permission to

retire from the bishopric he had been so zealous to establish. His plea

was ill-health, and the King granted his prayer, appointing in 1688

Saint Vallier as his successor. Laval wished to return to Canada, but

this privilege was denied him, and it was not until four years had

passed away that he was allowed to come back to the Church he loved so

well. Saint Vallier sought by every means in his power to undo Laval's

great work. He attacked the Seminary, and attempted to change its whole

economy, receiving, however, much opposition from the priests, who were

warmly attached to their old prelate. Laval groaned in despair at these

attacks on the fabric he had raised, but he had the grim satisfaction of

seeing the new bishop fail signally in many of his objects of

demolition. Laval at length, wearied and worn, retired to his beloved

Seminary, and on the 6th of May, 1708, he died there, at the advanced

age of 85, and was buried near the principal altar in the cathedral. The

Catholic University of Quebec, which boasts a Royal Charter signed by

Queen Victoria, stands as a monument to his fame and name.

JAMES ROBERT GOWAN,

_JUDGE OF THE JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF SIMCOE._

Judge Gowan is the only son of the late Henry Hatton Gowan, of Wexford,

Ireland, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 22nd of

December, 1817. His family emigrated to this country when he was in his

fifteenth year, and settled on a farm in the township of Albion, in what

is now the county of Peel. The late Mr. Gowan was afterwards appointed

Deputy Clerk of the Crown for the county of Simcoe, which position, we

believe, he retained until his death in 1863. The son's education would

appear to have been somewhat desultory, but he was an apt scholar, and

possessed the national fondness for learning. Having chosen the legal

profession as his future calling in life, he was articled as a clerk in

the office of the late Mr. James Edward Small, of Toronto--a well-known

lawyer of his day and generation, who held the post of Solicitor-General

in the first Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, formed in 1842. Young

Gowan went through the ordinary routine of study, working hard at his

books, and furnishing frequent contributions to the newspapers of the

day on a great variety of subjects. He was called to the Bar of Upper

Canada in Michaelmas Term, 1839. He at once formed a partnership with

Mr. Small, and devoted himself assiduously to the practice of his

profession, writing occasional articles on legal and other topics for

the press, and building up for himself the reputation of a man whose

opinions were of value. Notwithstanding his youth, he displayed

remarkable ability as a legal draughtsman and special pleader, and had

mastered the cumbrous and elaborate system of pleading then in vogue

among the profession. He took a keen interest in the political questions

of the day. He was a Reformer, and a disciple of Mr. Baldwin, who held

him in high esteem. The partnership with Mr. Small lasted somewhat more

than three years, during which period it was that the senior partner

accepted office in the Government of the day. As Solicitor-General, a

goodly share of patronage must have fallen to the latter's share, and we

presume it is to his connection with Mr. Small that Judge Gowan owes his

appointment to the position of Judge of the District and Surrogate

Courts of the county of Simcoe. His appointment bears date the 17th of

January, 1843, and is said to have been made without any solicitation on

the part of the recipient. However that may be, it is certain that few

better appointments have been made by any Government in this country.

Mr. Gowan first took his seat on the Judicial Bench when he was only

twenty-five years of age. He has continued to discharge his judicial

duties, almost without interruption, from that time to the present,

embracing a period of nearly thirty-eight years. During the whole of

that time not a single important decision of his, so far as we are

aware, has been over-ruled. He enjoys the reputation of being one of

the most profound and learned lawyers in the Dominion, and his decisions

are regarded with a respect seldom accorded to those of County Court

judges.

[Illustration: JAMES ROBERT GOWAN, signed as JAS. ROBT GOWAN]

His skill as a legal draughtsman was such that Mr. Baldwin, who, at the

time of Judge Gowan's appointment, was Attorney-General for Upper

Canada, availed himself of his services in preparing various important

measures which were afterwards submitted to Parliament. This was a

remarkably high compliment for a young man of twenty-five to receive,

but there is no doubt that the compliment was well merited, for the

measures so prepared were models of compact statutory legislation, and

gained no inconsiderable _eclat_ for the Administration. The example set

by Mr. Baldwin has since been followed by other Attorneys-General, and

Judge Gowan has thus made a decided mark upon our Canadian legislation

and jurisprudence. It is said, and we believe truly, that it was he who

suggested the introduction of the Common Law Procedure Act of 1856, and

that the adaptation of the English Act to our local requirements was

largely the work of his hand.

At the time of his appointment the judicial system of the inferior

courts was in a very primitive condition. He set himself diligently to

work in his own district, and, in the face of many difficulties,

succeeded in organizing the system which he has ever since administered

with such benefit and satisfaction to the community in which he resides.

The position of a judge in a rural district was attended in those days

with a good many inconveniences which have disappeared with advancing

civilization. The roads were in such a condition that he was generally

compelled to make his circuits on horseback. Judge Gowan's district was

the largest in the Province, and extended over a wide tract of country,

the greater part of which was but sparsely settled. He was frequently

compelled to ride from sixty to seventy miles a day, and to dispose of

five or six hundred cases at a single session. One of the newspapers

published in the county of Simcoe gave an account, several years ago, of

some of his early exploits; from which account it appears that he was

often literally compelled to take his life in his hand in the course of

his official peregrinations. It describes how, on one occasion, he was

compelled to ride from Barrie to Collingwood when the forest was on

fire. The heat and smoke were sufficiently trying, but he also had to

encounter serious peril from the blazing trees which were falling all

around him. On another occasion, while attempting to cross a river

during high water, his horse was caught by the flood, and carried down

stream at such a rate that he might well have given himself up for lost.

He saved himself by grasping his horse's tail, and thereby keeping his

head above water until he came to a spot where he could find foothold,

and so made the best of his way, more than half drowned, to the shore.

He was also frequently compelled to encounter dangers from which

travellers in the rural districts of Canada are not altogether free,

even at the present day--such dangers, for instance, as damp beds,

unwholesome and ill-cooked food, and badly ventilated rooms.

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, he was able to say, after he had

been a judge for more than a quarter of a century: "I have never been

absent from the Superior Courts over which I preside;"--by which he

meant the County Courts and Quarter Sessions--"and as to the Division

Courts, except when on other duties at the instance of the Government,

fifty days would cover all the occasions when a deputy acted for me."

In 1853 Judge Gowan was one of the five judges appointed under the

Division Court Act of that year, whereby the Governor was authorized to

appoint five judges to frame rules regulating the procedure in the

Division Courts. His collaborateurs in this task were the Hon. Samuel

Bealey Harrison, Judge of the County Court of the United Counties of

York and Peel; Judge O'Reilly, of Wentworth; Judge Campbell, of Lincoln;

and Judge Malloch, of Carleton. The rules framed by them have since

received many additions, and have been elaborately annotated; but they

still form the basis of Division Court practice in this Province. During

the same year (1853), Judge Gowan married Anna, second daughter of the

late Rev. S. B. Ardagh, Rector of Barrie, and Incumbent of Shanty Bay.

After the passing of the Common Law and County Courts Procedure Acts, in

1856 and 1857 respectively, Judge Gowan was associated with the judges

of the Superior Courts in framing the tariff of fees for the guidance of

attorneys and taxing-masters in the Courts of Common Law. He was also

associated with the late Robert Easton Burns, one of the Puisné Judges

of the Court of Queen's Bench, and the Hon. John Godfrey Spragge, the

present Chancellor, in framing rules and orders regulating the procedure

in the Probate and Surrogate Courts. He also rendered valuable service

in assisting the late Sir James B. Macaulay and others in the

consolidation of the Public General Statutes of Canada and Upper Canada

respectively.

In 1862, during Chief Justice Draper's absence in England, special

commissions were issued to Judges Macaulay and Gowan, authorizing them

to hold certain assizes which the Chief Justice's absence prevented him

from holding in person. Later in the same year disputes arose between

the Government of Canada and the contractors for the erection of the

Parliament Buildings at Ottawa. The disputes were submitted for

adjudication to a tribunal of three persons, consisting of the engineer

employed by the Government, an engineer named by the contractors, and an

Upper Canadian judge to be accepted by both the parties to the dispute.

Judge Gowan was the one so accepted. He acted as Chairman to the

tribunal, which settled the matter by a unanimous decision.

In 1869 a Board of County Court Judges was formed under the statute 32

Victoria, chapter 23, for further regulating Division Court procedure,

and settling conflicting decisions. The Board consisted of Judge Gowan,

and Judges Jones, of Brantford, Hughes, of Elgin, Daniell, of Prescott

and Russell, and Smith, of Victoria. They began their labours, and

promulgated certain rules, in the early spring of the year; but these

rules were only temporary, and were followed, on the 1st of July, by

other and more elaborately formed regulations, which are still in

operation. Judge Gowan was appointed Chairman to the Board, and still

retains that position. His large experience, both in the framing of such

rules and in carrying them into effect in the courts, have proved very

serviceable to the country at large, where the rules and orders

promulgated by the Board have all the force of law. During this same

year (1869), he was engaged, with other leading Canadian jurists, in

consolidating the Criminal Law of the various Provinces, prior to its

submission to Parliament to receive the sanction of that Body. Two years

later he was appointed one of five Commissioners to inquire into the

constitution and jurisdiction of the several Courts of Law and Equity,

with a view to a possible fusion. His colleagues in this important

inquiry were Judges Wilson, Gwynne, Strong, and Patterson.

Judge Gowan was one of the Royal Commissioners appointed on the 14th of

August, 1873, by His Excellency the Earl of Dufferin, to investigate the

charges made by the Hon. L. S. Huntington in connection with the Pacific

Railway Scandal. His colleagues were the Hon. Antoine Polette, a Judge

of the Superior Court of Quebec, and the Hon. C. D. Day, Chancellor of

McGill College, Montreal, and formerly a Judge of the Superior Court of

Lower Canada. The Commissioners were appointed by virtue of an Act

passed during the session of 1868. They were empowered to investigate

the charges, and to report thereupon to the Speakers of the Senate and

Commons, and to the Secretary of State. Everybody remembers the

excitement which prevailed throughout the country at that time. The

Commission met at Ottawa three days after the date of its appointment.

The examination of witnesses began on the 4th of September, and lasted

to the end of the month. Mr. Huntington, though summoned to appear

before the Commission and give evidence, did not present himself, nor

was any evidence offered in substantiation of the charges made by him on

the floor of the House. The labours of the Commission, therefore, were

necessarily unproductive, and they simply reported the evidence taken

and the various documents filed.

In 1874 Judge Gowan was appointed one of the Commissioners for the

revision, consolidation, and classification of the Public General

Statutes relating to Ontario; a task which was finally completed in

1877, and which included all public statutory legislation down to the

month of November in that year. The Judge has recently received from the

Ontario Government a beautifully-executed gold medal struck in

commemoration of the completion of that important work.

From the foregoing account of a few of the most important of Judge

Gowan's public services, it will be seen that his labours, in addition

to his ordinary official duties, have been many and onerous. He has also

held various offices which must have involved a considerable amount of

labour, and close attention to details. He was Chairman of the Board of

Public Instruction from the time of its foundation to its abolition in

1876. He has been for more than thirty years Chairman of the Senior High

School Board of the county of Simcoe. He has also held high office in

the Masonic Fraternity, and has taken a warm interest in all matters

relating to the Episcopal Church, of which he is a life-long member. In

1855 he was largely instrumental in founding the _Upper Canada Law

Journal_, and for many years thereafter he contributed to its pages.

Notwithstanding all these multifarious pursuits he never looks like an

overworked man, but carries his sixty-three years with a remarkably good

grace. He continues to take a warm interest in public and social

matters. He is revered alike by the public and by the professional men

of the county of Simcoe, who are justly proud of his well-deserved fame.

About twelve years ago, when he had completed a quarter of a century's

service on the Bench, he was presented by the local Bar with a

life-sized portrait in oil of himself in his robes. The portrait was

accompanied by an enthusiastic address expressive of the respect and

esteem in which he was held by the donors. He has been offered a seat on

the Bench of the Superior Courts, but has preferred to retain the

position which he has so long occupied. During the last eight years he

has had an efficient ally in the person of Mr. John A. Ardagh, B.A., who

was appointed Junior Judge of the County of Simcoe in 1872.

Judge Gowan resides at Ardraven, a pleasant seat in the neighbourhood of

Barrie, overlooking Kempenfeldt Bay, an inlet of Lake Simcoe. He also

has a delightful summer residence called Eileangowan, situated on an

island containing about four hundred acres, in Lake Muskoka, opposite

the mouth of Muskoka River, about an hour's ride from Gravenhurst.

ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY,

_THE "BANISHED BRITON."_

A few years before his death Mr. Gourlay issued the prospectus of a work

bearing the following title: "The Recorded Life of Robert Gourlay, Esq.,

now Robert Fleming Gourlay, with Reminiscences and Reflections, by

himself, in his 75th year." So far as we have been able to ascertain, no

portion of the projected work has ever been given to the world; and we

may add that nothing like a consecutive account of the life of one of

the most remarkable men known to the early political history of Upper

Canada has ever been attempted. Any account written at this distance of

time, and without access to Mr. Gourlay's family papers, must

necessarily be somewhat fragmentary and disconnected. During his

lifetime he published several volumes and numerous pamphlets, all of

which throw more or less light on certain episodes in his career; but

the writer who undertakes to separate the wheat from the chaff, and to

weave into a harmonious narrative the rambling, discursive, and often

incoherent literary productions of this singular man, will find that he

has no sinecure on his hands. It is desirable, however, that the attempt

should be made, for Robert Gourlay exercised no slight influence upon

Upper Canadian politics sixty-and-odd years ago, and the accounts of him

contained in the various histories of Canada are wofully meagre and

unsatisfactory. His life is interesting in itself, and instructive by

way of an example to egotists for all time to come. It presents the

spectacle of a man of good abilities and upright intentions, who spent

the greater part of a long life in endeavouring to benefit his

fellow-creatures, and who nevertheless, owing to the peculiar

idiosyncrasies of his character, was foredoomed to disappointment and

misfortune almost from his birth. "Robert," said his father, "will hurt

himself, but will do good to others." This judgment was passed when

Robert was a boy at school, and his subsequent career fully vindicated

the accuracy of the paternal estimate.

Robert Gourlay--who when past middle life assumed the name of Robert

Fleming Gourlay--was a native of the parish of Ceres, in Fifeshire,

Scotland, and was born there on the 24th of March, 1778. He came of

respectable ancestry. His father, a man of liberal education, had

studied law, and practised for thirteen years as a Writer to the Signet

in Edinburgh; and before the birth of his son, the subject of this

sketch, had become the possessor, by marriage, descent, and otherwise,

of considerable landed property. Soon after Robert's birth the old

gentleman retired from the practice of his profession, and settled upon

one of his estates, in the parish of Ceres, where he devoted much of his

time to devising and carrying out various agricultural improvements. He

also expended large sums of money in improving and beautifying the

highways in his parish, and in contributing to the comfort and

happiness of his poorer neighbours. His real estates were worth at least

£100,000 sterling, and he had a floating capital of about £20,000.

Robert received an education commensurate with his station in life.

After being taught by several private tutors, he was placed at the High

School of Edinburgh. He was also for a short time at the University of

St. Andrews, where he was a contemporary and warm personal friend of

Thomas (afterwards Doctor) Chalmers. The Doctor has left written

testimony to the capacity and moral worth of his fellow-pupil. The

latter also seems to have spent a term at the University of Edinburgh.

Owing to his being the eldest son, and born to considerable

expectations, he was not bred to any regular profession, and his life

for some years after leaving school seems to have been passed in a

somewhat desultory fashion. He lived at home, and was on visiting terms

with the resident gentry of Fifeshire. He took some interest in military

matters, and in October, 1799, received a commission to command a corps

of the Fifeshire Volunteers. This commission appears to have lapsed,

for, when war was declared by Great Britain against Bonaparte in 1803,

we find Robert Gourlay volunteering as a private in a troop of yeomanry

cavalry. The services of the troop, however, were not required, and,

regarding this as a slight to the troop and himself, he withdrew his

name from the muster-roll in high dudgeon. In 1806 he was again seized

with military ardour, and offered his services to take charge of a

military corps and invade Paris, during Bonaparte's absence in Poland.

He at this time evidently possessed an energetic, but unpractical and

ill-balanced mind, which may have been to some extent due to the nature

of his training, but was doubtless chiefly a matter of inherited

temperament. Like his father, he was very kind and generous to the poor

of Ceres and the neighbouring parishes, and spent much time in making

himself familiar with their needs and sympathies. By the lower orders he

was greatly beloved, and with reason, for he was actuated by a sincere

philanthropy, and contributed largely to the improvement of their

condition. He studied the economical side of the poor question with

great diligence, and was recognized as an authority on all matters

relating to parish rates, tithes, visiting justice business, and

pauperism generally. These studies brought him into contact with Mr.

Arthur Young, the eminent writer on agricultural questions, whose

"Travels in France during the years 1787, '88, '89 and '90," is the most

trustworthy source of information regarding the condition of that

country just before the breaking out of the Revolution. Mr. Young formed

a high estimate of Gourlay, and, at his suggestion, the latter was

appointed by a branch of the Government to conduct an inquiry into the

state of the poor in England. Mr. Gourlay travelled, chiefly on foot,

through the greater part of the chief agricultural districts of England

and Scotland, and when he had brought his inquiries to an end, he was

pronounced by Mr. Young to be better informed with respect to the poor

of Great Britain than any other man in the kingdom. He was consulted by

members of Parliament, political economists, parish overseers, and even

by members of the Cabinet, as to the best means for reforming the poor

laws, and was always ready to spend himself and his substance for the

public good.

In 1807 he married, and settled down at Pratis, one of his father's

estates in Fifeshire. He had only been thus settled a few months when he

got into a quarrel with his neighbour, the Earl of Kellie. The cause of

quarrel seems ludicrously small to have produced such results as ensued.

Lord Kellie was Chairman of a meeting of heritors held at Cupar on the

15th of February, 1808. The object of the meeting was to pass a loyal

address to the King, and to discuss certain details respecting the

farmers' income-tax. The address was duly voted, after which it was

proposed to adjourn the discussion on the income-tax question until a

future day. Mr. Gourlay, who was present, opposed this adjournment with

much vehemence. While he was making a speech, in favour of proceeding

with the discussion without delay, the Chairman, Lord Kellie, pronounced

the meeting adjourned, and vacated his chair. This action Mr. Gourlay

construed into a personal insult to himself. He and Lord Kellie were

diametrically opposed to each other in their views on this income-tax

question, and Mr. Gourlay considered that the Earl had taken an unfair

advantage of his position in order to stave off discussion. In this view

he was probably borne out by the fact. There can be no question,

however, that his anger was altogether out of proportion to the offence.

He wrote to Lord Kellie demanding an apology. The demand not being

complied with he devoted a fortnight to writing his "Letter to the Earl

of Kellie concerning the Farmers' Income Tax, with a hint on the

principle of representation, &c. &c." This letter, which occupies

sixty-three printed octavo pages, was published in London, at the

author's expense, and circulated throughout the county of Fife. Mr.

Gourlay's argument on the main question was sound enough, but it could

have been stated effectively in two or three pages, instead of in more

than twenty times that number. The pamphlet diverged into all sorts of

extraneous matters, and was full of personal abuse of Lord Kellie. It

did Mr. Gourlay no good in the county, even with the farmers whose cause

he espoused, and from this time forward we perceive in all his writings

the most unmistakable evidences of an irritated mind, and a temper under

very inadequate control.

His health having temporarily given way, he determined to try change of

climate, and in the course of the year 1809 he took up his abode in

England, as tenant of Deptford Farm, in the parish of Wily, in

Wiltshire, an estate belonging to the Duke of Somerset. His Grace had

expressed himself as being very desirous of improving the condition of

the English farming community, and had for several years made pressing

overtures to Mr. Gourlay to settle in Wiltshire, and to give him the

benefit of his knowledge and experience. There can be no doubt that Mr.

Gourlay was actuated at least as much by philanthropy as by selfish

motives in becoming the Duke's tenant. It may be said, indeed, that

throughout the whole of his life he was singularly indifferent to mere

gain. He had a bee in his bonnet which was constantly stinging him to

set himself up in opposition to those in authority, but he was

thoroughly honest in his views, and would suffer any trial or indignity

rather than sacrifice what he regarded as a righteous principle. In his

inability to see any side of a question but his own, he was undoubtedly

a consummate egotist, but his egotism was of the intellect only, and a

more honourable and single-minded man in all his pecuniary transactions

never lived. In almost every battle which he fought with the world he

had right on his side, but he had the unfortunate faculty of always

putting himself in the wrong. He was critical without discrimination,

and though naturally frank and open in his disposition, was morbidly

suspicious of the motives of others. He was also infected by an itch for

notoriety. It was sweet to him to know that people were talking about

him, even if they were speaking to his disadvantage. He was often guided

by petulance and passion; seldom or never by sober judgment. His mission

in life seemed to be that of a grievance-monger, and no occupation was

so gratifying to him as the hunting-up and exposure of abuses. Had his

just and liberal principles been allied to a calm intellect and a

patient temper, he would have accomplished much good for his

fellow-creatures, and might have lived a happy and useful life. But his

cantankerous temper and irritable nerves were constantly placing him at

a disadvantage. He had not been long settled at Deptford Farm ere he

began to agitate for a reform of the poor-laws. It was no secret that

the poor-laws were in a most unsatisfactory state, and needed

reformation, but Mr. Gourlay's method of advocacy was ill calculated

either to produce the desired end or to elevate him in public esteem. He

wrote column after column in the form of letters to the local

newspapers, in which the most sweeping and impracticable measures were

suggested as proper subjects for legislation, and in which the magnates

of the county of Wilts were referred to in the most violent and

opprobrious language. When the papers refused to publish his

communications any longer he issued them in pamphlet form, and

circulated them broadcast through the land at his own expense. He got

together considerable bodies of the labouring classes, and harangued

them with scurrilous volubility about the oppressions to which they were

subjected by the "landed oligarchy." He declaimed violently against the

Government, which permitted such "reptiles" to "grind the faces of God's

poor." He drew up petition after petition to Parliament, in which the

landlords were denounced as tyrants, bloodsuckers, and monsters of

selfish greed.

This course of procedure could have but one result. It influenced the

poor against their landlords, who looked upon Gourlay as a visionary and

mischievous demagogue. The Duke of Somerset's ardour for improving the

condition of his tenants suddenly cooled, and he began to regret that he

had imported this pestilent Scotchman, whom he stigmatized as a

"republican firebrand," into the hitherto quiet vales of Wiltshire. The

pestilent Scotchman, however, had an agreement for a lease of his farm

for twenty-one years, drawn up by the Duke's own solicitor, and had

expended several thousands of pounds in improvements and farm-stock. He

had faithfully performed all the conditions on his part, and his farm

was a model throughout the county. He gained premiums from various

agricultural societies for the best ploughing and the best crops. No

matter; it was necessary that he should be got rid of, at any cost. A

cunning solicitor found a pretext for filing a bill in Chancery against

him, and he was thus involved in a protracted and ruinous litigation,

whereby it was sought to avoid the agreement on certain technical

grounds into which it is unnecessary to enter. After much delay a decree

was pronounced in his favour; whereupon he filed a bill against the Duke

for specific performance of the agreement. This occasioned further delay

and expense, for the Duke's solicitors fought every inch of ground, and

resorted to every conceivable means to embarrass the plaintiff. When the

suit was finally decided in the latter's favour, he was a ruined man.

His farming operations had never been profitable, for his object had

been to carry on a model farm rather than to make money. The lawsuits

had been attended with great expense, his mode of living had been suited

to his condition and expectations, and his charities to the poor had

been abundant. Worse, however, remained behind. His father had become

bankrupt, and his own expectations of succeeding to an ample fortune

were at an end.

The bankruptcy of the elder Gourlay was due to various causes. The close

of the war between Great Britain and France had produced a great fall in

the price of real estate throughout the United Kingdom. Mr. Gourlay's

property consisted chiefly of land, and he was thus shorn of much of his

wealth. This might have been borne up against, but he had unfortunately

engaged in some injudicious speculations which collapsed at this time,

and rendered it necessary that he should pay a large sum of money. His

only means of obtaining the requisite amount was by sale of his real

estate, and the small prices realized for the latter were absolutely

ruinous to the seller. So far as can be judged, he seems to have been an

honourable, high-minded man, but--at any rate in his declining

years--with little capacity for business. There is no doubt that his

affairs were wofully mismanaged, and that a man of more tact and

experience might have steered clear of insolvency. The crash came,

however, and he was reduced to ruin. This was in 1815. He survived his

reverse of fortune about four years, and died towards the close of the

year 1819.

Meantime five children--a son and four daughters--had been born to

Robert Gourlay, and his wife was in delicate health. After casting about

in his mind what to do, he resolved to visit Canada, where he owned some

land in right of his wife, and also a block in the township of Dereham,

in the county of Oxford, which he had purchased on his own account in

1810. He looked across the Atlantic with wistful eyes, and thought it

possible that he might to some extent retrieve his broken fortunes

there. Leaving his family on the farm in Wiltshire, where he had then

resided for more than seven years, he sailed from Liverpool in the month

of April, 1817. The expedition was intended to be merely experimental.

In the event of his prospects in Canada turning out equal to his

anticipations he purposed to remove his family thither. In any case he

did not intend to fight the Duke of Somerset any longer, and before his

departure he offered to surrender his tenancy of Deptford Farm, upon

terms to be settled by mutual arbitrators. The offer was declined, the

Duke foreseeing that he would be able to get rid of his refractory

tenant upon his, the Duke's, own terms. Such was the state of affairs at

the time of Mr. Gourlay's departure from England.

He arrived in Upper Canada early in June. He was delighted with the

appearance of the country, and pronounced it "the most desirable place

of refuge for the redundant population of Britain." A man with an eye

for abuses, however, could not be long in Upper Canada in those days

without being greatly dissatisfied with the management of public

affairs. He formed the acquaintance of Mr. Barnabas Bidwell, the father

of Marshall Spring Bidwell, and received from that gentleman a great

deal of valuable information respecting Canadian history and statistics.

He also derived from him a tolerably accurate notion of the evils

arising from an irresponsible Executive and the domination of the Family

Compact. He found the management of the Crown Lands and the Clergy

Reserves in the hands of a selfish and grasping oligarchy, who cared

very little for the advancement of the country, and whose attention was

chiefly directed to enriching themselves at the public expense. There

was corruption everywhere, and some of the officials did not even deem

it necessary to veil their unscrupulousness. With such grievances as

points of attack, Robert Gourlay was in his element, and he soon began

to make his presence felt. He determined to engage in business as a

land-agent, and to set on foot a gigantic scheme of emigration from

Great Britain to Canada. As we have seen, he had obtained much

statistical information from Mr. Bidwell. With a view to supplementing

this knowledge, and making the condition of the Upper Province known to

the world, he addressed a series of thirty-one questions to the

principal inhabitants of each township. Looking over these questions at

this distance of time, the reader, unless he be minutely acquainted with

the state of affairs in Upper Canada in 1817, will be amazed to think

that the seeking for such information should have been regarded by any

one as criminal or objectionable. Not one of the questions is

unimportant, and the answers, taken collectively, form a photographic

representation of the condition of the country which could not readily

have been obtained by any other means. They relate to the date of

settlement of the various townships; the number of people and inhabited

houses; the number of churches, meeting houses, schools, stores, and

mills; the general character of the soil and surface; the various kinds

and quantities of timber and minerals; the rate of wages; the cost of

clearing the land; the ordinary time of ploughing and reaping; quality

of pasture; average crops; state of public highways; quantity and

condition of wild lands; etc., etc., etc. It will be observed that

information relating to such matters was of the utmost importance to the

public, and more especially to persons in Great Britain who were

desirous of emigrating to Canada. It is also apparent that the

particular questions propounded by Mr. Gourlay had no direct bearing

upon politics. The stinger, however, was the thirty-first question,

which was in the following words: "What, in your opinion, retards the

improvement of your township in particular, or the Province in general,

and what would most contribute to the same?" In the phraseology of this

momentous question, it is not difficult, we think, to detect the cunning

hand of Barnabas Bidwell.

Readers of "Little Dorrit" cannot have forgotten the dread and horror of

the brilliant young gentleman of the Circumlocution Office, when Mr.

Arthur Clennam "wanted to know, you know." He regarded the querist as a

dangerous, revolutionary fellow. The horror of Barnacle Junior, however,

was not one whit more pronounced than was that of the ruling faction in

Upper Canada when this other dangerous, revolutionary customer put forth

his famous thirty-one queries. "Upon my soul, you mustn't come into the

place saying you want to know, you know. You have no right to come this

sort of move." Such was the language of the heir of Mr. Tite Barnacle,

and it faithfully mirrors the sentiments of the Canadian oligarchy and

their hangers-on towards Mr. Gourlay in the year of grace 1817. Most of

them had a pecuniary interest in preserving the existing state of things

undisturbed. No taxes were imposed on unsettled lands, and a goodly

portion of the Upper Canadian domain was in the hands of members of the

Compact and their favourites. Being exempt from taxation, these lands

were no expense to the proprietors, and could be held year after year,

until the inevitable progress of the country and the labours of

surrounding settlers converted the pathless wilds into a valuable

estate. If this man Gourlay were allowed to go on unchecked, they would

be compelled either to pay taxes or to throw their lands into the

market. It was imperative for their selfish interests that he should be

silenced. Strenuous exertions were made to prevent the persons applied

to from furnishing any answers to the thirty-one queries. In many cases

the exertions were successful, for the faction had various means of

bringing influence to bear, and were not backward in employing them. The

Home District, including the counties of York and Simcoe, contained

numerous large tracts of land forming what is now the most valuable part

of the Province, but which were then lying waste for want of settlement.

The owners were in nearly every instance subject to Compact influence.

They would not sell at any price, and the country was kept back. Owing

chiefly to the efforts of Dr.--afterwards Bishop--Strachan, not a single

reply was received by Mr. Gourlay from this District. Many replies came

in from other parts of the Province, but in a few instances the stinging

thirty-first question was ignored or left unanswered. In cases where it

was replied to, the almost invariable tenor of the reply attributed the

slow development of the townships to the Crown and Clergy Reserves, and

to the immense tracts of land held by non-residents. A reply received

from Kingston may be taken as a sample of the prevalent sentiment in the

frontier townships wherein public opinion was unshackled. It says: "The

same cause which has surrounded Little York with a desert creates gloom

and desolation about Kingston, otherwise most beautifully situated; I

mean the seizure and monopoly of the land by people in office and

favour. On the east side, particularly, you may travel miles together

without passing a human dwelling. The roads are accordingly most

abominable to the very gates of this, the largest town in the Province;

and its market is supplied with vegetables from the United States, where

property is less hampered, and the exertions of cultivators more free."

But at this juncture, Mr. Gourlay's unfortunate faculty for putting

himself in the wrong asserted itself, and seriously retarded his efforts

for the public good. His pugnacity, querulousness and egotism displayed

themselves in various ways, and rendered him offensive even to many

persons who would willingly have been his friends. He wrote violent

letters to the newspapers, wherein Dr. Strachan and everybody else

connected with the Executive were stigmatized in terms of which no

sober-minded citizen could approve. The Reverend Doctor was referred to

as "a lying little fool of a renegade Presbyterian." Other prominent

personages came in for scurrility equally coarse. This sort of writing,

however, was not without its effect upon a certain class of minds, more

especially as the grievances complained of were patent to all the world.

A feeling of hostility against those in authority began to make itself

apparent throughout the Province, and at the next meeting of the

Legislature the Assembly passed a vote in favour of a commission of

inquiry into the state of public affairs. The Family Compact were

alarmed, and before any steps could be taken towards entering upon the

proposed inquiry they prevailed upon the Governor, Francis Gore, to

prorogue the House. For this prorogation there was not the slightest

legitimate ground, as a great deal of the public business was

necessarily left unfinished. The alleged pretext for the step--a dispute

with the Legislative Council--was not looked upon with more favour than

the act itself, for the dispute was believed to have been artificially

fermented with a view to lending some sort of colour to the prorogation.

The popular discontent was very great, and made itself heard in

unexpected quarters. Mr. Gourlay eagerly availed himself of this

discontent, and suggested through the public press that a convention

should be held at York, for the purpose of drafting a petition to the

Imperial authorities. He himself drafted a petition to the Prince Regent

as a basis, to be approved of by the proposed convention. The manuscript

was submitted to a meeting of sixteen respectable persons, among whom

were six magistrates. These gentlemen approved of the contents, and had

the entire petition printed in pamphlet form. Several thousand copies of

it were gratuitously circulated throughout the Province, and it was also

placed on sale in book-stores in the various towns and villages. Its

contents produced considerable effect on the public mind, which had

become thoroughly aroused. The people caught at the suggestion of a

convention, which was in due course held; but in the meantime the

Executive had also become thoroughly alarmed, and they now determined

that this interloping Mr. Gourlay should be silenced or got rid of. They

bestirred themselves to such good purpose that the action of the

convention came to nothing, it being arranged that the subject-matter

of the petition should be inquired into by the Lieutenant-Governor and

the House of Assembly. The Executive next instituted proceedings against

Mr. Gourlay. In the draft petition published by him, there was a passage

which reflected very strongly upon the way in which the Crown Lands were

administered. As there is no more faithful picture of the state of the

Province to be found, and as the work containing it has long been

practically unprocurable for general readers, we reproduce the passage

entire: "The lands of the Crown in Upper Canada are of immense extent,

not only stretching far and wide into the wilderness, but scattered over

the Province, and intermixed with private property, already cultivated.

The disposal of this land is left to Ministers at home, who are palpably

ignorant of existing circumstances; and to a Council of men resident in

the Province, who, it is believed, have long converted the trust reposed

in them to purposes of selfishness. The scandalous abuses in this

department came some years ago to such a pitch of monstrous magnitude

that the Home Ministers wisely imposed restrictions on the Land Council

of Upper Canada. These, however, have by no means removed the evil; and

a system of patronage and favouritism, in the disposal of the Crown

lands, still exists, altogether destructive of moral rectitude, and

virtuous feeling, in the management of public affairs. Corruption,

indeed, has reached such a height in this Province, that it is thought

no other part of the British Empire witnesses the like; and it is vain

to look for improvement till a radical change is effected. It matters

not what characters fill situations of public trust at present--all sink

beneath the dignity of men--become vitiated and weak, as soon as they

are placed within the vortex of destruction. Confusion on confusion has

grown out of this unhappy system; and the very lands of the Crown, the

giving away of which has created such mischief and iniquity, have

ultimately come to little value from abuse. The poor subjects of His

Majesty, driven from home by distress, to whom portions of land are

granted, can now find in the grant no benefit; and Loyalists of the

United Empire--the descendants of those who sacrificed their all in

America in behalf of British rule--men whose names were ordered on

record for their virtuous adherence to your Royal Father--the

descendants of these men find now no favour in their destined rewards;

nay, these rewards, when granted, have, in many cases, been rendered

worse than nothing; for the legal rights in the enjoyment of them have

been held at nought; their land has been rendered unsaleable, and, in

some cases, only a source of distraction and care. Under this system of

internal management, and weakened from other evil influences, Upper

Canada now pines in comparative decay; discontent and poverty are

experienced in a land supremely blessed with the gifts of nature; dread

of arbitrary power wars, here, against the free exercise of reason and

manly sentiment; laws have been set aside; legislators have come into

derision; and contempt from the mother country seems fast gathering

strength to disunite the people of Canada from their friends at home."

This passage was fastened upon as libellous, and a criminal prosecution

was set on foot against the author. He was arrested, and on the 14th of

August, 1818, thrown into jail at Kingston, where he remained until the

day of his trial, which was the 20th. He conducted his own defence, and,

although the Attorney-General, John Beverley Robinson, pressed hard for

a conviction, he was triumphantly acquitted. A few days afterwards he

was again arrested and placed on trial at Brockville for another alleged

libel contained in the petition. He was once more successful in securing

his acquittal. These triumphs roused his egotism to a high pitch. He

became for a time a sort of popular idol, who had suffered grievously

for endeavouring to obtain justice for the people. Public meetings and

banquets were held in his honour, and he was in his element. His

complacency, however, was doomed to receive a severe check. The Compact,

with Dr. Strachan at their head, finding it impossible to convict him of

libel, resolved that he should literally be driven out of the country.

He was represented to the public as a man of desperate fortunes and

vicious character. Rumours were set afloat that he entertained projects

of rebellion, and that he had attended a treasonable meeting in England

prior to his arrival in Canada. As matter of fact, Mr. Gourlay, both

then and throughout the whole course of his life, was a loyal man, but

his effervescing radicalism seemed to lend some sort of colour to the

accusation. The word "convention," too, under which name the meeting at

York had been summoned, and which word was often in Mr. Gourlay's mouth,

had a republican sound about it which was not grateful to the ears of

the loyal Upper Canadians. The Assembly also modified its hitherto

kindly feelings towards him, and regarded the holding of "conventions"

as an unconstitutional infringement of its own prerogatives. In the

meantime Sir Peregrine Maitland had succeeded to the

Lieutenant-Governorship. It was a matter of course that he should have

no sympathy with a man of Mr. Gourlay's views, and the latter had

prejudiced the new Lieutenant-Governor against him by a foolish letter,

in which he had offered to wait upon the representative of royalty and

give him the benefit of his knowledge and experience of Canadian

affairs. When Parliament met on the 12th of October, the

Lieutenant-Governor's speech contained a sentence that was well

understood to be levelled directly at Gourlay. "In the course of your

investigations,"--so ran the sentence--"you will, I doubt not, feel a

just indignation at the attempts which have been made to excite

discontent, and to organize sedition. Should it appear to you that a

convention of delegates cannot exist without danger to the Constitution,

in framing a law of prevention your dispassionate wisdom will be careful

that it shall not unwarily trespass on the sacred right of the subject

to seek a redress of his grievances by petition." This

cunningly-constructed sentence, in which the hand of Dr. Strachan is

sufficiently apparent, was well calculated, not only by its

characterization of Mr. Gourlay's projects, but by its covert flattery

of the Assembly, to increase the hostility of the latter against the

former. And thus the injudicious champion of popular rights found

himself in conflict with the entire Legislature. The Assembly--the

special guardian of popular rights--in its reply to the speech of the

Lieutenant-Governor, even went so far as to use these words: "We lament

that the designs of one factious individual should have succeeded in

drawing into the support of his vile machinations so many honest men and

loyal subjects of His Majesty." Two or three weeks later, a Bill was

introduced and passed to prevent the holding of conventions. It was

introduced by Mr. Jonas Jones, the member for Leeds, a man whose public

career and conduct, as Mr. Lindsey truly remarks, present as few points

on which admiration can find a resting-place as any Canadian politician

of his time.[14] It was significant of the state of public opinion that

only one vote was recorded against this measure. It was equally

significant of the fluctuating nature of public opinion that when the

Act was repealed, two years later, there was only one vote recorded

against the repeal. In the latter instance the dissenting vote was given

by the Attorney-General, Mr. John Beverley (afterwards Chief Justice)

Robinson.

A good many people still championed Mr. Gourlay's cause, but they were

for the most part unconnected with politics, and unable to materially

assist him when he stood most in need of powerful aid. The time of his

chastening was near at hand. By a statute passed on the 9th of March,

1804, known as "the Alien Act," and intended to check the designs of

disloyal immigrants from Ireland and the United States, authority was

given to the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, members of the Legislative

and Executive Councils, and to the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench,

to issue a warrant for the arrest of "any person or persons not having

been an inhabitant or inhabitants of this Province for the space of six

months next preceding the date of such warrant,. . . or not having taken

the oath of allegiance,. . . who by words, actions, or other behaviour

or conduct, hath or have endeavoured, or hath or have given just cause

to suspect that he, she, or they, is or are about to endeavour to

alienate the minds of His Majesty's subjects of this Province from his

person or government, or in any wise with a seditious intent to disturb

the tranquillity thereof, to the end that such person or persons shall

forthwith be brought before the said person or persons so granting such

warrant;. . . and if such person or persons. . . shall not give. . .

full and complete satisfaction that his, her, or their words, actions,

conduct, or behaviour had no such tendency, or were not intended to

promote or encourage disaffection. . . it shall and may be lawful. . .

to deliver an order or orders, in writing, to such person or persons,. .

. requiring of him, her, or them, to depart this Province within a time

to be limited by such order or orders, or if it shall be deemed

expedient that he, she, or they, should be permitted to remain in this

Province, to require from him, her, or them, good and sufficient

security, to the satisfaction of the person or persons acting under the

authority hereby given, for his, her, or their good behaviour, during

his, her, or their continuance therein." Under this statute, Mr.

Gourlay, who was just about to establish his land agency, and was

negotiating for a suitable house at Queenston, in which to commence

business, was on the 21st of December, 1818, arrested by the Sheriff of

the Niagara District, and carried before the Hon. William Dickson and

the Hon. William Claus. These gentlemen were members of the Legislative

Council, and bitter enemies of the unhappy man who appeared before them,

though they had at one time professed much esteem for him. They adjudged

that he should depart from the Province on or before the first day of

January, 1819; that is to say, within ten days.

There can be but one opinion about this proceeding. It was not merely a

glaring instance of oppression, but was founded upon downright

rascality. In the first place, the Act of 1804 was an unconstitutional

measure, under which it is doubtful whether any one could have been

legally punished. But, even had it been valid, it was intended to apply

to aliens, and not to loyal subjects of Great Britain, such as Mr.

Gourlay undoubtedly was. He had never been asked to take the oath of

allegiance, and his persecutors well knew that his loyalty was at least

as sincere as their own, and far more unselfish. Moreover he had, as

both Dickson and Claus were well aware, been a resident of the Province

for nearly a year and a half, whereas the Act applied only to "any

person or persons not having been an inhabitant or inhabitants of this

Province for the space of six months." By what bribe or other means an

unprincipled man named Isaac Swayze, who was a member of the Legislative

Assembly, was induced to make oath that he verily believed that Robert

Gourlay had not been an inhabitant of the Province for six months, and

that he was an "evil-minded and seditious person," will probably never

be known. An information from some quarter it was necessary to have

before any decisive action could be taken, and it was furnished by this

man Swayze, who had been a spy and "horse-provider" during the

Revolutionary War, and who now proved his fitness for the position of a

legislator by deliberate perjury.

The allotted term of ten days expired, and the proscribed personage had

not obeyed the order enjoining him to quit the Province. "To have obeyed

this order," says Gourlay, "would have proved ruinous to the business

for which, at great expense, and with much trouble, I had qualified

myself; it would have been a tacit acknowledgment of guilt whereof I was

unconscious; it would have been a surrender of the noblest British

right; it would have been holding light my natural allegiance; it would

have been a declaration that the Bill of Rights was a Bill of Wrongs. I

resolved to endure any hardship rather than to submit voluntarily.

Although I had written home that I meant to leave Canada for England in

a few weeks, I now acquainted my family of the cruel delay, and stood my

ground." On the 4th of January, 1819, a warrant was issued by Dickson

and Claus, under which he was arrested and lodged in jail at Niagara. On

the 20th of the month he obtained a writ of Habeas Corpus, under which

he appeared before Chief Justice Powell, at York, on the 8th of

February. The Chief Justice, after hearing a short argument by an

attorney on Mr. Gourlay's behalf, declined to set him at liberty, and

indorsed on the writ a judgment to the effect that "the warrant of

commitment appearing to be regular, according to the provisions of the

Act, which does not authorize bail or mainprize, the said Robert Gourlay

is hereby remanded to the custody of the Sheriff of the District of

Niagara, and the keeper of the jail therein, conformable to the said

warrant of commitment." The poor man was accordingly remanded to jail,

where he languished for eight weary months. For some time his spirits

remained buoyant, and his pugnacity unconquered. He obtained written

opinions from various eminent counsel learned in the law. These counsel

were unanimous in pronouncing his imprisonment illegal. Sir Arthur

Pigott declared that Chief Justice Powell should have released him from

imprisonment under the writ of Habeas Corpus; and further expressed his

opinion that Gourlay had a good ground of action for false imprisonment

against Dickson and Claus. This opinion was forthwith acted upon, and

civil proceedings were instituted against both those persons. The

plaintiff's painful position, however, compelled him to fight his

enemies at a great disadvantage. An order was obtained by the

defendants, calling upon him to furnish security for costs; which, being

in confinement, he was unable to do, and the actions lapsed.

And here it becomes necessary to revert for a moment to the convention

of delegates which had been held at York during the preceding year.

Among the matters which the convention had had in view was the calling

of the Royal attention to a promise which had been held out to the

militia during the war of 1812-'15, that grants of land should be made

to them in recompense for their services. It had been the policy of the

United States to hold out offers of land to their troops who invaded

Canada--offers without which they could not have raised an army for that

purpose; and these offers had been punctually and liberally fulfilled

immediately after the restoration of peace. On the British side, three

years had passed away without attention to a promise which the Canadian

militia kept in mind, not only as it concerned their interest, but their

honour. While the convention entrusted the consideration of inquiry to

the Lieutenant-Governor and Assembly, they ordered an address to be

sent home to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, as a matter of

courtesy and respect, having annexed to it the rough sketch of an

address originally drafted by Mr. Gourlay, as already mentioned, for the

purpose of being borne home by a commission. In that sketch the neglect

of giving land to the militia was, among other matters, pointed out. The

sketch having been printed in America, found its way into British

newspapers. In June, 1819, when Mr. Gourlay had lain more than five

months in jail, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada summoned the

Assembly to meet a second time, and, in his speech, notified them that

he had received an order from the Prince Regent to grant land to the

militia, but that he himself should think it proper to withhold such

grant from those persons who had been members of the convention. The

injustice of this measure was instantly in the mouth of everyone.

Several weeks passed away, while it was anxiously hoped that the

Assembly would mark its disapprobation of the opening speech, but

approval was at last carried by the Speaker's vote, and the Legislative

Council concurred in the most direct and submissive language. This was

too much for Mr. Gourlay to bear with composure. He seized his pen, and

liberated his mind by writing a virulent commentary upon the situation,

which he procured to be published in the next issue of the Niagara

_Spectator_. The communication was discussed by the House of Assembly,

and pronounced to be a libel, and the Lieutenant-Governor was solicited

to direct the Attorney-General to prosecute the editor. Sir Peregrine

Maitland was not the man to turn a deaf ear to such a solicitation from

such a quarter. The unfortunate editor, who had been away from home when

Mr. Gourlay's diatribe was published, and who was wholly ignorant of its

publication, was seized in his bed during the middle of the night,

hurried to Niagara jail, and thence, next morning, to that of York,

where he was detained many days out of the reach of friends to bail him.

Mr. Gourlay fared worse still. His treatment was marked by a malignant

cruelty to which no pen but his own can do complete justice. "After two

months' close confinement," he tells us, "in one of the cells of the

jail my health had begun to suffer, and, on complaint of this, the

liberty of walking through the passages and sitting at the door was

granted. This liberty prevented my getting worse the four succeeding

months, although I never enjoyed a day's health, but by the power of

medicine. At the end of this period I was again locked up in the cell,

cut off from all conversation with my friends, but through a hole in the

door, while the jailer or under-sheriff watched what was said, and for

some time both my attorney and magistrates of my acquaintance were

denied admission to me. The quarter sessions were held soon after this

severe and unconstitutional treatment commenced, and on these occasions

it was the custom and duty of the grand jury to perambulate the jail,

and see that all was right with the prisoners. I prepared a memorial for

their consideration, but on this occasion was not visited. I complained

to a magistrate through the door, who promised to mention my case to the

chairman of the sessions, but the chairman happened to be brother of one

of those who had signed my commitment, and the court broke up without my

obtaining the smallest relief. Exasperation of mind, now joined to the

heat of the weather, which was excessive, rapidly wasted my health and

impaired my faculties. I felt my memory sensibly affected, and could not

connect my ideas through any length of reasoning, but by writing, which

many days I was wholly unfitted for by the violence of continual

headache. Immediately before the sitting of the assizes the weather

became cool, so that I was able to apply constantly for three days, and

finish a written defence on every point likely to be questioned on the

score of seditious libel. I also prepared a formal protest against any

verdict which might pass against me, as subject to the statute under

colour of which I was confined. It was again reported that I should be

tried only as to the fact of refusing to leave the Province. A state of

nervous irritability, of which I was not then sufficiently aware,

deprived my mind of the power of reflection on the subject; I was seized

with a fit of convulsive laughter, resolved not to defend such a suit,

and was, perhaps, rejoiced that I might be even thus set at liberty from

my horrible situation. On being called up for trial, the action of the

fresh air, after six weeks' close confinement, produced the effect of

intoxication. I had no control over my conduct, no sense of consequence,

nor little other feeling but of ridicule and disgust for the court which

countenanced such a trial. At one moment I had a desire to protest

against the whole proceeding, but, forgetting that I had a written

protest in my pocket, I struggled in vain to call to mind the word

_protest_, and in another moment the whole train of ideas which led to

the wish had vanished from my mind. When the verdict was returned, that

I was guilty of having refused to leave the Province, I had forgot for

what I was tried, and affronted a juryman by asking if it was for

sedition."

Strange to say, this sad story is not exaggerated. The poor man's mind,

never very firmly set in its place, had been thrown completely off its

balance, and throughout the remaining forty-four years of his life he

was subject to frequent intervals of mental aberration.

To return to the narrative: he was found guilty under the Act of 1804,

and ordered to quit the Province within twenty-four hours, under pain of

death in case of his return. He crossed over into the United States, and

published, at Boston, a pamphlet under the title of "The Banished

Briton," giving an account of his wrongs. From Boston he made his way to

England. His family and affairs there were in a state of unspeakable

disorder, which had been grievously aggravated by his long imprisonment.

At Michaelmas, 1817, the Duke of Somerset had made a distraint for rent.

Poor Mrs. Gourlay had contrived to borrow money to pay the rent, but she

had been panic-struck by calamity, and, by her brother's advice, had

abandoned Deptford Farm. An assignment of the tenancy had been forwarded

by her across the Atlantic to her husband, which he had executed and

returned. His successor had contrived to get possession of the lease and

stock for next to nothing, and Mr. Gourlay's pecuniary condition had

thus been rendered more desperate than ever. When he landed in England

in December, 1819, he found that his father had just breathed his last,

and that his mother was in much affliction at her home in Fifeshire. He

hastened thither, and spent a month in adjusting her affairs, after

which he waited upon a bookseller in Edinburgh with a formidable

collection of manuscript for publication. We have seen that during his

stay in Canada he had become the confidential friend of Mr. Barnabas

Bidwell. That gentleman had, just before the breaking out of the war of

1812-'15, written a series of historical and topographical sketches of

Upper Canada, embodying a large amount of useful information. They were

not published, but the author carefully preserved the manuscript, and

after the close of the war revised it throughout, and inserted a

considerable amount of additional matter. Soon after Mr. Gourlay's

arrival in Canada, Mr. Bidwell presented the MS. to him, partly for the

latter's personal information, and partly with a view to ultimate

publication. We have also seen that Mr. Gourlay received numerous

replies to his series of questions addressed to persons in the various

townships of the Province. During his confinement in jail at Niagara, he

had beguiled his saner moments by carefully going through these various

MSS. After his return to Great Britain he re-read them all with great

care, and wrote a great mass of rambling matter on his own account,

giving a description of his trials and persecutions, and embodying

various official documents and Acts of Parliament. The entire collection

amounted to a formidable mass of MSS., and he was desirous of laying the

whole before the public. Hence his interview with the Edinburgh

bookseller as above recorded. The bookseller declined to undertake the

publication, and Mr. Gourlay carried his MSS. to London, where they were

published in three large octavo volumes in 1822. The second and third

volumes contain what the author calls the "Statistical Account of Upper

Canada;" and the first contains a "General Introduction." The value of

the work as a whole is beyond question, but it is strung together with

such loose, rambling incoherence, that only a diligent student,

accustomed to analyze evidence, can use it with advantage, or even with

perfect safety. His wife had meanwhile been removed from a life of

turmoil and anxiety, and his children had been placed under the care of

some of their relatives in Scotland. Mr. Gourlay himself engaged in

further litigation with his old enemy, the Duke of Somerset, about the

tenure of Deptford Farm. Into the history of this litigation there is no

time to enter. Suffice it to say that the Duke's purse was too long for

Mr. Gourlay, whose household furniture and effects were sold to meet law

expenses. He avenged himself by attacking the Lord Chancellor (Eldon),

and various other persons high in authority, through the public press.

Quiescence seemed to be an utter impossibility for him. He was also

involved in litigation arising out of the winding-up of his father's

estate. Erelong he was left absolutely penniless, and became for a time

nearly or quite insane. On the 9th of September, 1822, he threw himself

upon the parish of Wily, in Wiltshire, where he had formerly resided.

Having proved his right of settlement, he was set to work by the

overseer of the poor of that parish to break flints on the public

highway. This was not such a hardship as it appears, for it was

deliberately brought about by Mr. Gourlay himself, with a view to the

reëstablishment of his mental and physical health, which he believed

would be most effectually restored by hard bodily labour. This state of

things went on for some weeks, after which he seems to have wandered

about from one part of the kingdom to another, in an aimless sort of

way, and generally with no particular object in view. He was at times by

no means insensible to his mental condition, and there is something

ludicrous, as well as pathetic, in some of his observations about

himself at this period. His health, however, was much improved, and his

many afflictions seem to have sat lightly upon him. He compared his

condition with that of the Marquis of Londonderry, who, while suffering

from mental derangement, had committed suicide. "A year before Lord

Castlereagh left us," says Mr. Gourlay, in a paper addressed to the Lord

Chancellor, "I heard him in the House of Commons ridicule the idea of

going to dig; but had he then _'gone a digging'_ he might still have

been prating to Parliament. I have had greater provocation and

perplexity than the departed minister, but I have resorted to proper

remedies; and among these is that of _speaking out_. I have not only

laboured and lived abstemiously, travelled and changed the scene, but I

have talked and written, to give relief to my mind and play to my

imagination." He at this time had a mania for presenting petitions to

the House of Commons on all sorts of subjects, but chiefly relating to

his personal affairs. This line of procedure brought him into collision

with Mr. Henry Brougham, the member for Westmoreland--afterwards Lord

Brougham and Vaux. Mr. Brougham seems to have presented one or two

petitions for him as a mere matter of form, but finally became weary of

his continual importunity, and left his letters unanswered. With an

irritation of temper bordering on insanity, Mr. Gourlay determined to

take a decisive step which should call the attention of the whole nation

to his calamities. On the afternoon of the 11th of June, 1824, as Mr.

Brougham was passing through the lobby of the House of Commons, to

attend his duty in Parliament, a person who walked behind him, and held

a small whip in his hand, which he flourished, was heard by some of the

bystanders to utter, in a hurried and nearly inarticulate manner, the

phrase, "You have betrayed me, sir; I'll make you attend to your duty."

Mr. Brougham, on encountering this interruption, turned round and said,

"Who are you, sir?" "You know well," replied the assailant, who without

further ceremony laid his whip smartly across the shoulders of the

august member for Westmoreland. The latter made his escape through the

door leading into the House of Commons. The bustle excited on the

occasion naturally attracted the attention of the constables, and Mr.

Brougham's assailant--who of course turned out to be Mr. Gourlay--was

taken into custody for a breach of privilege, deprived of his whip, and

handed over to the Sergeant-at-Arms. The _Courier_ of the next morning

(June 12th) contained the following account of the poor man's aspect and

conduct after his arrest: "From the appearance of the individual

yesterday, coupled with the eccentricity of his recent conduct, an

inference would arise more of a nature to excite a feeling of compassion

for this person, who once moved in a different situation of life, than

to point him out as a fit person to be held sternly responsible for his

actions. His appearance is decayed and debilitated; and, when removed

into one of the committee-rooms of the House of Commons, in the custody

of the constable who apprehended him, he let fall his head upon his

hand, as a person labouring under the relapse incidental to violent

excitement. He complained of some neglect of Mr. Brougham's respecting

the presentation of a petition from Canada, which, we understand, has no

foundation, and the course taken by Mr. Canning in postponing the

consideration of the breach of privilege supports the inference of the

irresponsibility of the individual, for a reason apparent from the very

foolish nature of the act itself. On being, in the course of the

evening, told that, if he would express contrition for his outrage, Mr.

Brougham would instantly move for his discharge, he refused to make any

apology to Mr. Brougham, but said he had no objection to petition the

House. He added, that he was determined to have a fight with Mr.

Brougham, because he had shamefully deserted his cause, and taken up

that of a dead missionary. It is hardly necessary to add that Mr.

Brougham is totally unconscious of the alleged desertion, and that

Gourlay labours under a complete and melancholy delusion."

While detained in custody in the House of Commons he was visited by Sir

George Tuthill and Dr. Munro, two eminent "mad-doctors," who concurred

in pronouncing him deranged, and unfit to be at large. He was

accordingly detained in custody until the close of the session several

days afterwards, when he was set at liberty. He walked out of the

committee-room in which he had been detained, and proceeded up

Parliament Street and along the Strand. As he was walking quietly along

he was again arrested by a constable, not for the breach of privilege,

but for a breach of the peace in striking Mr. Brougham. He was consigned

to the House of Correction in Cold Bath Fields, where he lay for

several years. The sole grounds of his detention after the first day or

two were the medical certificates that he was unfit to be at large. He

might have had his liberty at any time, however, but he persistently

refused either to employ a solicitor or to give bail for his good

behaviour. To several persons who demanded from him his reasons for

horsewhipping Mr. Brougham in the sacred purlieus of the House of

Commons, he quoted the illustrious example of One who scourged sinners

out of the temple. During part of the time of his imprisonment he

occupied the same cell with Tunbridge, who had been a warehouseman of

Richard Carlile, and had been sentenced to two years' confinement for

blasphemy. The cell was during the same year occupied by Fauntleroy, the

banker and forger, whose misdeeds form one of the most remarkable

chapters in the history of English criminal jurisprudence.

While he lay in durance he was an indefatigable reader of newspapers,

and took special note of everything relating to Canada. He was also a

persistent correspondent, and in a letter written to his children, under

date of July 27th, 1824, we find this quasi-prophetic remark with

reference to Canada: "The poor ignorant inhabitants are now wrangling

about the Union of the Canadas, when, in fact, those Provinces should be

confederated with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and

Newfoundland, for their general good, while each retained its Local

Government, as is the case with the United States."

How he at last contrived to procure his liberty from Cold Bath Fields

Prison we have not been able to ascertain. He persisted in his refusal

either to give bail or employ a solicitor. It is not improbable that he

was permitted to depart from prison unconditionally. In 1826 we find him

publishing "An Appeal to the Common Sense, Mind and Manhood of the

British Nation;" and two years later a series of letters on Emigration

Societies in Scotland. For some time subsequent to this date we have no

intelligence whatever as to his movements. He came over to America

several years prior to the Canadian rebellion, but the sentence of

banishment prevented him from entering Canadian territory. While the

rebellion was in progress, he resided in Cleveland, Ohio, where he saw a

good deal of the American filibusters who took part in the attempt to

capture Canada at that period. We have said that Robert Gourlay was a

loyal subject of Great Britain. He proved his loyalty at this time by

doing his utmost to dissuade the conspirators from their enterprise, and

by sending over important information to Sir Francis Bond Head as to

their movements. For this he received several letters of thanks from Sir

Francis, and an invitation to return to Canada, which, however, he

declined to do until the sentence of banishment should be reversed. This

was done by the House of Assembly after the Union of the Provinces in

1841, upon the motion of Dr. Dunlop. A pension of fifty pounds a year

was at the same time granted to him, which, however, he refused to

accept. He was not satisfied with a mere reversal of his sentence and

the granting of a pension. He said, in effect, "I do not want mercy, but

justice. I do not want to have the sentence merely reversed, but to have

it declared that it was unjust from the beginning, that I may not go

down to the grave with this stain resting on my children." Nothing

further was done in the matter at that time, and for some years we again

lose sight of him. He seems to have returned to Scotland, and to have

contrived to save from the wreck of his father's estate sufficient to

maintain himself with some approach to comfort. He resided for the most