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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4), 
+by John Charles Dent
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
+
+Author: John Charles Dent
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35647]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADIAN PORTRAIT GALLERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marcia Brooks, Donna M. Ritchey and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet
+Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+_THE CANADIAN_
+
+_PORTRAIT GALLERY._
+
+
+BY
+
+JOHN CHARLES DENT,
+
+ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS.
+
+VOL. III.
+
+TORONTO:
+
+PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGURN.
+
+1881.
+
+
+
+C. B. ROBINSON, PRINTER,
+
+5 JORDAN STREET, TORONTO.
+
+
+[Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year Eighteen
+Hundred and Eighty-one, by JOHN B. MAGURN, in the office of the Minister
+of Agriculture.]
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Footnotes and Errata are placed at the end of this
+file.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
+
+[A Preface and an Alphabetical Index will be given at the close of the
+last volume.]
+
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE.
+
+    THE EARL OF DUFFERIN                                              1
+
+    THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS                                    13
+
+    THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS                                  15
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.                         17
+
+    CHARLES, LORD METCALFE                                           19
+
+    THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS                                        23
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT                                           27
+
+    THE HON. DAVID LAIRD                                             41
+
+    THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE                           44
+
+    THE REV. SAMUEL S. NELLES, D.D., LL.D.                           45
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE                                      48
+
+    THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.                                    54
+
+    THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY                                      56
+
+    THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL                                        58
+
+    THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.                                  60
+
+    LORD SEATON                                                      66
+
+    THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY                                       69
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM MCMASTER                                        72
+
+    THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER                                         75
+
+    THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT                                 77
+
+    LA SALLE                                                         79
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.                           90
+
+    LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI                           91
+
+    THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L.                              98
+
+    THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON                                 100
+
+    THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART.                         104
+
+    JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.                                    109
+
+    THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON                                  114
+
+    LORD DORCHESTER                                                 116
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND, C.B., K.C.M.G.                 124
+
+    THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D.                              128
+
+    GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A.                                       129
+
+    THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER                                    132
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE                                        133
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS                                         135
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY MCGEE                                    138
+
+    DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D.                                      149
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS GALT                                            152
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND, M.A., LL.D.                154
+
+    THE HON. LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, D.C.L.                            156
+
+    THE HON. HENRY ELZÉAR TASCHEREAU                                165
+
+    THE HON. ALFRED GILPIN JONES                                    167
+
+    THE HON. JOHN NORQUAY                                           170
+
+    THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT                            172
+
+    THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE                                    175
+
+    THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE                                      177
+
+    THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ                           181
+
+    THE HON. JAMES COX AIKINS                                       191
+
+    THE HON. FELIX GEOFFRION, N.P., P.C.                            193
+
+    THE HON. JOHN YOUNG                                             194
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D.                             200
+
+    THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER                              201
+
+    SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G.                                  203
+
+    THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON                                 206
+
+    JAMES YOUNG                                                     209
+
+    THE HON. PETER PERRY                                            212
+
+    THE HON. ADAM WILSON                                            215
+
+    THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL                                 217
+
+    THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH                                    220
+
+    CHARLES LENNOX, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND                         222
+
+    THE HON. CHARLES ALPHONSE PANTALEON PELLETIER, C.M.G.           225
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT                                      227
+
+    THE HON. JOHN JOSEPH CALDWELL ABBOTT, B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C.      229
+
+    THE HON. JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON                                 231
+
+    HIS GRACE FRANCOIS XAVIER LAVAL-MONTMORENCY                     233
+
+    JAMES ROBERT GOWAN                                              236
+
+    ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY                                          240
+
+
+
+
+THE EARL OF DUFFERIN.
+
+
+Of all the many personages who have been sent over from Great Britain to
+administer the Government in this country, since Canada first became an
+appendage of the British Crown, none has achieved so wide a popularity
+as Lord Dufferin. None of his predecessors succeeded in creating so wide
+a circle of personal friends, and none has left so many pleasant
+remembrances behind him. Lord Dorchester was a Governor, but the area
+over which his sway extended was very small as compared with the vast
+Dominion embraced within the purview of Lord Dufferin; and the
+inhabitants in his day were chiefly composed of the representatives of a
+single nationality. Lord Elgin was popular, but the exigencies of his
+position compelled him to make bitter enemies; and while every one, at
+the present day, acknowledges his great capacity and sterling worth,
+there was a time when he was subjected to grievous contumely and
+shameful indignity. Lord Dufferin, on the other hand, won golden
+opinions from the time of his first arrival in Canada, and when he left
+our shores he carried with him substantial tokens of the affection and
+good-will of the inhabitants. One single episode in his administration
+threatened, for a brief space, to interfere with the cordial relations
+between himself and one section of the people. His own prudence and
+tact, combined with the liberality and good sense of those who differed
+from him, enabled him to tide over the critical time; and long before
+his departure from among us he could number most of the latter among his
+warm personal friends. His Vice-Regal progresses made the lines of his
+face and the tones of his voice familiar to the inhabitants of every
+Province. Wherever he went he increased the number of his well-wishers,
+and won additional respect for his personal attainments. He identified
+himself with the popular sympathies, and entered with a keen zest into
+every question affecting the public welfare. He will long live in the
+memory of the Canadian people as a wise administrator, an accomplished
+statesman, a brilliant orator, a genial companion, and a sincere friend
+of the land which he was called upon to govern.
+
+He is descended, on the paternal side, from a Scottish gentleman named
+John Blackwood, who went over from his native country to Ireland, and
+settled in the county Down, towards the close of the sixteenth century.
+The family has ever since resided in that county, and has played a not
+unimportant part in the political history of Ireland. In 1763 a
+baronetcy was conferred upon the then chief representative of the
+family, who was conspicuous in his day and generation as a vehement
+supporter of the Whig side in politics. In 1800 the head of the family
+was created an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Dufferin and
+Clandeboye. The father of the present representative was Price, fourth
+Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1839. Fourteen years prior to his
+accession to the title--that is to say, in the year 1825--this gentleman
+married Miss Helen Selina Sheridan, a granddaughter of the Right Hon.
+Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The distinguished orator and dramatist, as
+all the world knows, had a son named Thomas Sheridan, who inherited no
+inconsiderable share of his father's wit and genius. Thomas--better
+known as Tom--Sheridan, had three daughters, all of whom were prominent
+members of English society, and were conspicuous alike for personal
+beauty and the brilliancy of their intellectual accomplishments. One of
+them was the beautiful Lady Seymour, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, who
+presided as Queen of Beauty at the famous tournament held at the Earl of
+Eglinton's seat in Scotland, in the month of August, 1839. Another
+daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Caroline Norton, won distinction by her poetical
+effusions, and by several novels, one of which, "Stuart of Dunleath," is
+a work exhibiting a high degree of mental power. This lady, whose
+domestic misfortunes formed at one time an absorbing topic of discussion
+in England, survived until 1877, having some months before her death
+been married to the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. The remaining
+daughter, Harriet Selina, was the eldest of the three. She, as we have
+seen, married Captain Price Blackwood, and subsequently became Lady
+Dufferin upon her husband's accession to the title in 1839. She also won
+a name in literature by numerous popular songs and ballads, the best
+known of which is "The Irish Emigrant's Lament." She was left a widow in
+1841, and twenty-one years later, by a second marriage, became Countess
+of Gifford. She died in 1867. Her only son, Frederick Temple, the
+subject of this sketch, was born at Florence, in Italy, on the 21st of
+June, 1826.
+
+He received his early education at Eton College, and subsequently at
+Christ Church, Oxford. He passed through the curriculum with credit, but
+left the University without taking a degree. In the month of July, 1841,
+when he had only just completed his fifteenth year, his father's death
+took place, and he thus succeeded to the family titles six years before
+attaining his majority. During the first Administration of Lord John
+Russell he officiated as one of the Lords-in-Waiting to Her Majesty; and
+again filled a similar position for a short time a few years later.
+
+One of the most memorable passages in his early career was a visit paid
+by him to Ireland during the terrible famine which broke out there in
+1846. Deriving his titles from Ireland, where the greater part of his
+property is situated, and being desirous of doing his duty by his
+tenantry, he had almost from boyhood paid a good deal of attention to
+the question of land-tenure in that country. With a view to extending
+his knowledge by personal observation, he set out from Oxford,
+accompanied by his friend, the Hon. Mr. Boyle, and went over, literally,
+to spy out the nakedness of the famine-stricken land. They for the first
+time in their lives found themselves face-to-face with misery in one of
+its most appalling shapes. They were young, kind-hearted and generous,
+and the scenes wherewith they were daily brought into contact made an
+impression upon their minds that has never been effaced. They published
+an account of their travels under the title of "A Narrative of a Journey
+from Oxford to Skibbereen, during the year of the Irish Famine," and
+devoted the proceeds of the sale of the narrative to the relief of the
+starving sufferers of Skibbereen. The realms of fiction may be ransacked
+in vain for anything more truly pathetic and heart-rending in its
+terrible, vigorous realism, than is this truthful picture of human
+privation and suffering. Upon one occasion, having bought a huge basket
+of bread for distribution among the most needy, they were completely
+besieged as soon as their intention became known. "Something like an
+orderly distribution was attempted," says the narrative, "but the
+dreadful hunger and impatience of the poor people by whom the donors
+were surrounded rendered this absolutely impossible, and the bread was
+thrown out, loaf by loaf, from a window, the struggles of the famished
+women over the insufficient supply being dreadful to witness." Of
+course, all they could do to alleviate the sufferings in the district
+was of little avail, but they gave to the extent of their ability, and
+the poor, famishing creatures were warmly touched by their unfeigned and
+tearful sympathy. When the two gentlemen left the town, their carriage
+was followed beyond the outskirts by crowds of suffering poor who
+implored the Divine blessing upon their heads. The publication of the
+"Narrative," moreover, aroused a general feeling of philanthropy
+throughout the whole of England and Scotland, and liberal contributions
+were sent over for the benefit of those who stood most in need of
+assistance.
+
+The practical knowledge of the condition of the Irish people acquired by
+Lord Dufferin during this visit was such as the most diligent study of
+blue-books could not have imparted. From this time forward he gave more
+attention than ever to the Irish question. It was a question in which he
+might well take a deep interest, for he was dependent upon the rent of
+his estates in county Down for the bulk of his income. His
+unselfishness, however, was signally proved by the stand he took, which
+was on the side of tenant-right. He has written and spoken much on the
+subject, and has contributed more than his share towards enabling the
+world to arrive at a just conclusion respecting it. His public
+utterances displayed a genuine philanthropy and breadth of view,
+mingled, at times, with a quaint and touching humour, which attracted
+the attention of every statesman in the kingdom. Twenty years before Mr.
+Gladstone's Irish Land Act was passed, its provisions had been
+anticipated by Lord Dufferin, and urged upon the attention of the House
+of Lords. In an eloquent and elaborate speech delivered before that Body
+in 1854 he suggested and outlined nearly every important legislative
+reform with reference to Irish Land Tenure which has since been brought
+about. A work on "Irish Emigration, and the Tenure of Land in Ireland,"
+gave still wider currency to his views on the subject, and it began to
+be perceived that the brilliant young Irish peer had ideas well worthy
+of the consideration of Parliament. He was created an English baron in
+1850, by the title of Baron Clandeboye.
+
+In politics he was a moderate Whig. The leading members of his party
+recognized his high abilities, and thought it desirable to enlist them
+in the public service. An opportunity soon presented itself. In the
+month of February, 1855, Lord John Russell was appointed as British
+Plenipotentiary to the conference to be held at Vienna for the purpose
+of settling the terms of peace between Russia and Turkey. Lord John
+invited Lord Dufferin to accompany him on the mission as a special
+_attaché_. The invitation was accepted, and Lord Dufferin repaired to
+the Austrian capital, where he remained until the close of the
+ineffectual conference. Soon after his return to England he determined
+upon a long yachting tour in the far northern seas, and in the early
+summer of 1856 he started on his adventurous voyage. The chronicle of
+this expedition, written with graphic force and humour by the pen of
+Lord Dufferin himself, has long been before the world under the title of
+"Letters from High Latitudes." The voyage, which lasted several months,
+was made in the schooner-yacht _Foam_, and included Iceland, Jan Meyen
+and Spitzbergen in its scope. There is no necessity for extended
+comment upon a book that has been read by pretty nearly everybody in
+Canada. Who is there among us who has not laughed over the account of
+that marvellous bird that, as the nights became shorter and shorter,
+never slept for more than five minutes at a stretch, without waking up
+in a state of nervous agitation lest it might be cock-crow; that was
+troubled by low spirits, owing to the mysterious manner in which a fresh
+member of his harem used to disappear daily; and that finally,
+overburdened by contemplation, went melancholy mad and committed
+suicide? Or over that extraordinary dog-Latin after-dinner speech by
+Lord Dufferin during his stay in the Icelandic capital, as voraciously
+recorded in Letter VI.? And who among us has failed to recognize the
+graphic power of description displayed in the account of the Geysers? Or
+the weird poetic force of "The Black Death of Bergen"? In all these
+various kinds of composition the author showed great natural aptitude,
+and his book, as a whole, is one of the most interesting chronicles of
+travel in our language.
+
+In 1860 Lord Dufferin was for the first time despatched abroad as the
+head of an important diplomatic mission. In the summer of that year,
+Great Britain, France, Russia and other European powers united in
+sending an expedition to Syria to protect the lives and property of
+Europeans, and to arrest the further effusion of blood in the threatened
+conflicts between the Druses and the Maronites. The immediate occasion
+of the expedition was a shocking massacre of Syrian Christians that had
+recently taken place, and a recurrence of which was considered highly
+probable. Turkey professed inability to deal effectively with the
+matter, and it became necessary that the leading European powers should
+interfere in the cause of humanity. Lord Dufferin was appointed by Lord
+Palmerston as Commissioner on behalf of Great Britain. He went out to
+Syria, where he remained some months. He proved himself admirably
+qualified to discharge a delicate diplomatic mission, and by his tact,
+good-nature and popular manners, no less than by his practical wisdom
+and good sense, succeeded in effecting a satisfactory settlement of the
+matter. As a testimony of the Government's appreciation of his services
+he immediately after his return received the Order of a Knight Commander
+of the Bath (Civil Division). Another result of his mission was the
+publication, in 1867, of "Notes on Ancient Syria," a work which, as its
+title imports, smacks more of reading than of observation.
+
+It fell to Lord Dufferin's lot, in December, 1861, to move the address
+in the House of Lords, in answer to Her Majesty's Speech from the
+Throne, referring to the death of the Prince Consort. The occasion was
+one upon which the speaker might be expected to do his best, and the
+speech made by him on that occasion drew tears from eyes which had long
+been unaccustomed to weep. A perusal of it makes one regret that Lord
+Dufferin's legitimate place was not in the other House, where his talent
+for oratory would have had an opportunity of growing, and where he would
+unquestionably have gained a high reputation as a parliamentary speaker.
+It is a simple matter of fact that in the dull, lifeless atmosphere of
+the House of Lords, Lord Dufferin's talents were almost thrown away. In
+the Commons he would have made a figure, with a nation for his audience.
+
+On the 23rd of October, 1862, he married Harriot Georgina, eldest
+daughter of the late Archibald Rowan Hamilton, of Killyleagh Castle,
+county Down. This lady, whose lineaments are almost as well known to
+Canadians as are those of His Lordship, still survives, and is the happy
+mother of a numerous family. In 1863 Lord Dufferin became a Knight of
+St. Patrick; and in the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant
+of the county Down. About the same time he was offered the position of
+Under-Secretary of State for India, which he accepted. In 1865 he was
+subjected to a searching examination respecting his views on the Irish
+Land question, before a Select Committee of the House of Commons. His
+examination lasted four days, and his evidence proved of incalculable
+value in the framing of the Act of Parliament which was passed before
+the close of the session. Several years later he put forth a vigorous
+pamphlet entitled, "An Examination of Mr. Mill's Plan for the
+Pacification of Ireland," in which he criticised John Stuart Mill's
+proposal that the landed estates of Irish landlords should be brought to
+a forced sale. Lord Dufferin's thorough knowledge of his subject, added
+to the fact that his views were sound, proved too much, even for the
+Master of Logic, who had made his proposal without due consideration of
+the subject, and on an incomplete statement of the facts.
+
+Lord Dufferin continued to fill the post of Secretary of State for India
+until early in 1866, when he was offered the Governorship of Bombay. The
+state of his mother's health--she had already begun to sink under the
+malady to which she finally succumbed a year later--was such as to
+forbid her accompanying him to India, and Lord Dufferin was too
+affectionate a son to leave her behind. He was accordingly compelled to
+decline the appointment. He accepted instead the post of Under-Secretary
+to the War Department, which he retained until the close of Earl
+Russell's Administration, in June, 1866. Upon the return of the Liberal
+Party to power under Mr. Gladstone, in the end of 1868, Lord Dufferin
+became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position which he
+retained up to the time of his being appointed Governor-General of
+Canada. He was also appointed Paymaster-General, and was sworn in as a
+Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. In November, 1871, he was made an
+Earl and Viscount of the United Kingdom, under the titles of Earl of
+Dufferin and Viscount Clandeboye.
+
+The successive dignities thus heaped upon him are sufficient evidence of
+the rising favour with which he was regarded by the Members of the
+Government; and as matter of fact he had made great progress in the
+esteem of the leading members of his Party generally. On the 22nd of
+May, 1872, he received the appointment which was destined to give
+Canadians a special interest in his career--that of Governor-General of
+the Dominion of Canada.
+
+By the great mass of Canadians the news of this appointment was received
+with a feeling very much akin to indifference. The fact is that, except
+among reading men, and persons intimately familiar with the diplomatic
+history of Great Britain during the preceding twenty years, the name of
+Lord Dufferin was entirely unknown in this country. A few middle-aged
+and elderly persons remembered that an Irish peer named Lord Dufferin
+had made an eloquent speech on the death of the Prince Consort. Others
+remembered that a peer of that name had done something noteworthy in
+Syria. A few had read or heard of "Letters from High Latitudes;" but not
+one of us suspected that the new Governor-General was destined to be the
+most popular representative of Great Britain known to Canadian history.
+It was not suspected that, for the first time during many years, we were
+to have at the head of our Administration a statesman of deep sympathies
+and enlarged views; a nobleman combining elegant learning and brilliant
+powers of oratory with a tact and _bonhomie_ which would win for him the
+friendship and respect of Canadians of all social ranks, and of all
+grades of political opinion. By many of us the office of a
+Governor-General in Canada had come to be looked upon as a sort of
+sinecure; as a part which any man not absolutely a dunce is capable of
+playing. We regarded the Governor-General merely as the Royal
+representative; as a figurehead whose duties consist of doing as he is
+bid. He has responsible advisers who prescribe for him a certain line of
+action, and all he has to do is to obey. When his Cabinet loses the
+confidence of Parliament, he either sends them about their business or
+accepts their resignation. The successors selected for him by the
+dominant majority are accepted as a matter of course, and everything
+goes on _da capo_. This, or something like this, was the way we had
+learned to estimate the powers and functions which Lord Dufferin was
+coming among us to discharge. It was reserved for him to give us a
+juster appreciation of the position of a Canadian Governor-General. The
+lesson learned by us during the six years of his residence among us is
+one that Canadians will not soon forget. The learning of it has perhaps
+made us unduly exacting, and it would have been most unfortunate had his
+successor been chosen from the ranks of respectable mediocrity whence
+Colonial Governors are not unfrequently selected. Happily the choice
+fell upon a gentleman whose character and attainments bear some affinity
+to those of his predecessor, and the dignity and respect due to the
+Governor-General are not likely to suffer depreciation while the office
+remains in his hands.
+
+There was one circumstance which led many Canadians to look upon the
+appointment of Lord Dufferin with no friendly eyes. He had been
+appointed by the Gladstone Government, and the Gladstone Government had
+manifested a disposition to treat Canada rather cavalierly. Canadian
+interests had not been very efficiently cared for at the negotiation of
+the Treaty of Washington, and there had been a good deal of diplomatic
+correspondence between the Canadian and Imperial Governments, in which
+the latter had pretty clearly intimated that Canada's separation from
+the Mother Country would not be regarded as an irreparable loss to the
+Empire at large. The London _Times_ openly advocated such a separation,
+and it was known to speak the sentiments of persons high in power. It
+was even conjectured by some of the more suspicious that Lord Dufferin
+had been appointed for the express purpose of carrying out an Imperial
+project for a separation between Canada and Great Britain. Had His
+Lordship been a weak or commonplace man he would most probably have had
+a very uncomfortable time of it in Canada. He was neither weak nor
+commonplace, however, and he began to be popular from the very hour of
+his arrival in the country. By the time he had been six months among us
+everyone spoke well of him; and long before his administration came to
+an end he had gained a firm hold on the hearts of the people throughout
+the length and breadth of our land.
+
+He arrived at Quebec on the 25th of June, 1872. During the same day he
+was sworn in as Governor-General, and two days later reached his seat of
+Government at Ottawa. There is no need to describe in minute detail the
+various events which characterized his administration. Those events are
+still fresh in all our memories, and have been recorded at full length
+by two Canadian authors--Mr. Stewart and Mr. Leggo--in works to which
+everyone has access. For these reasons it is considered unnecessary to
+give more than a brief summary in these pages.
+
+During the summer of 1872 Lord Dufferin made the first of his memorable
+Vice-Regal tours, visiting Toronto, Hamilton, London, Niagara Falls, and
+other places of interest in the Province of Ontario. To say that he made
+a marvellously favourable impression wherever he went is simply to say
+what everybody knows, and what might equally be said of all his
+subsequent progresses through the Dominion. There was a general
+election during the summer and autumn of this year, and an opportunity
+was thus afforded His Excellency for observing the working of our
+political institutions at such a time.
+
+The result of the elections was a majority in favour of Sir John A.
+Macdonald's Ministry. Parliament met in the following March, and on the
+2nd of April Mr. Huntington made his serious, and now historic, charge
+against the Government, in connection with the granting of the Pacific
+Railway Charter, and the corrupt sale to Sir Hugh Allan. A motion was
+made for a committee of investigation, but was voted down as a motion of
+want of confidence in the Government. A few days later, Sir John,
+knowing that a policy of reticence could not long be available, himself
+moved for a committee. The motion was passed, and the committee was
+appointed, but was unable to proceed, owing to its inability to take
+evidence on oath. A Bill was introduced into the House to give the
+committee the power required, and was passed without opposition, but was
+subsequently disallowed by the Imperial Government as being _ultra
+vires_. Meanwhile the inquiry was proceeded with; but on the 5th of May,
+owing to the absence from the country of three important witnesses--Sir
+George E. Cartier, Sir Hugh Allan and the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott--the
+committee deemed it advisable to adjourn to the 2nd of July. The
+ordinary Parliamentary business had been got through with, and there was
+no necessity for the House remaining in session; but, as the committee
+had no authority to sit during recess, it was thought desirable that
+there should be an adjournment of Parliament instead of a prorogation,
+until the committee should be prepared with its report. Accordingly, on
+the 23rd of May, Parliament adjourned to the 13th of August, when it was
+agreed that it should meet expressly for the purpose of receiving the
+committee's report, and not for the despatch of ordinary legislative
+business. It would thus be unnecessary for the Governor-General to be
+present at the formal reassembling, and soon after the adjournment His
+Excellency, with his family, started on a projected tour through the
+Maritime Provinces. On the 27th of June, while on his travels, he
+received a telegram from Lord Kimberley, Secretary for the Colonies in
+the Home Government, announcing the disallowance of the "Oaths Bill," as
+it was called, viz., the Act authorizing Parliamentary committees to
+examine witnesses under oath. He at once gave notice of the disallowance
+to the Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, who made it known to the
+committee. The committee was composed of five members, three of whom
+were supporters of the Government, and the remaining two of the
+Opposition. The Government supporters were the Hon. J. G. Blanchet, the
+Hon. James Macdonald (of Pictou), and the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+The Opposition members were the Hon. Edward Blake and the Hon. A. A.
+Dorion. On the 1st of July a proclamation was issued giving public
+notice of the disallowance of the Oaths Bill. The Premier offered to
+issue a Royal Commission to the committee, which would enable it to take
+evidence under oath, and to demand the production of persons, papers and
+records. The proposal was rejected by Messrs. Blake and Dorion, who
+wrote to the Premier pointing out to him that the inquiry was undertaken
+by the House; that the appointment of a Royal Commission by a Government
+to investigate charges against that Government would be an unheard-of
+and most unbecoming proceeding; and that the House did not expect the
+Crown or anyone else to obstruct the inquiry.
+
+When the Parliament met, pursuant to adjournment, on the 13th of August,
+the committee, having been prevented from taking evidence, was unable
+to report. A numerously signed memorial was presented to His Excellency
+praying that there might be no prorogation of Parliament until the
+charges against the existing Government had been subjected to
+investigation. His Excellency, however, replied that he felt bound to
+act on the advice of his Ministry. His Ministry advised him to prorogue
+Parliament, and prorogued it accordingly was. Every Canadian remembers
+the tumultuous scene which ensued--a scene almost without parallel in
+modern Parliamentary history; a faint reflex of that memorable episode
+which took place in the English House of Commons two hundred and twenty
+years before.
+
+The next act in the drama was the appointment by His Excellency of a
+Royal Commission on his own authority. It was issued to the Hon. C. D.
+Day, the Hon. Antoine Polette, and James Robert Gowan, three judges
+learned in the law. The commission met, and on the opening of the
+session in the following October its report was laid before Parliament.
+The contents are familiar to every reader of these pages, and do not
+form an attractive subject for extended comment. There could no longer
+be any doubt as to the course to be taken by the Premier. A few days
+afterwards Sir John Macdonald's Government resigned, and Mr. Mackenzie
+was called upon to form a new one. This he soon succeeded in doing, and
+on the 7th of November the new Administration took office. As was
+abundantly proved at the ensuing elections, the new government had the
+confidence of the country.
+
+During the progress of these events, Lord Dufferin was assailed with a
+good deal of rancour by one section of the Canadian press. The question
+now to be considered is: How far were these assaults justifiable? In
+other words: How far, if at all, was Lord Dufferin to blame?
+
+The principal allegations made against him were, that his sympathies all
+through this deplorable episode in our political history were with Sir
+John Macdonald and his colleagues; that he assisted the latter to
+postpone and evade investigation into their conduct; that his
+partisanship was evinced by his prompt transmission of the Oaths Bill
+for Imperial consideration, and by his subsequent prorogation of
+Parliament in defiance of the wishes of a large body of the members.
+
+It must be borne in mind, in considering these matters, that we at the
+present day are in a much better position to form a correct opinion
+respecting them than Lord Dufferin could possibly be in the summer of
+1873. He came to this country an utter stranger to every man in Canadian
+public life. He found at the head of affairs a gentleman who had long
+held the reins of power; who had a very wide circle of warm personal
+friends; who was regarded with affectionate loyalty by his Party; and
+whose Government enjoyed an overwhelming support in Parliament. With
+such a support at its back, the Government might reasonably lay claim to
+possessing the confidence of the Canadian people, and, possessing such
+confidence, it was entitled to the confidence of Her Majesty's
+Representative. There was, moreover, a manifest disposition on the part
+of some opponents of the Government to make the most of any little
+shortcomings of which Ministerialists might be guilty. One of the most
+virulent of the Opposition, a man whose own character could not be said
+to be wholly above reproach, made certain wild charges against the
+Government. These charges were so utterly monstrous and incredible that
+any man of probity might reasonably refuse to believe them until they
+were proved to be true by the most irrefutable evidence. Such evidence
+was not forthcoming. The head of the Government hurled back the charges
+in the teeth of the man who had made them; pronounced the latter a
+slanderous calumniator; protested that his own hands were clean; and
+called upon his Maker to bear witness to the truth of his avowal. His
+conduct was not unlike that of an honest man smarting under a strong
+sense of injustice. He professed to court inquiry, and while he treated
+Mr. Huntington's motion as one of want of confidence in the Government,
+and triumphantly voted it down, he himself came forward with his motion
+for a committee. Both from his place in the House, and to the
+Governor-General in person, he continued to protest before God that
+there was no shadow of foundation for the charges made against him. He
+spoke of his acquittal as a matter which did not admit of a moment's
+question. Under these circumstances, is it any wonder if Lord Dufferin
+refused to believe vague and unsubstantiated charges from such a source;
+charges which might well have excited incredulity by the very depth of
+their blackness? Is it to be wondered at, even if His Lordship
+sympathized with those whom he believed to have been so shamefully
+maligned, and who seemed so anxious to set themselves right before the
+country? Such was the state of affairs when Parliament was adjourned on
+the 23rd of May.
+
+With regard to the prompt transmission to England of the Oaths Bill, His
+Excellency simply complied with his official instructions, and with the
+Union Act, which requires the Governor-General to transmit "by the
+earliest convenient opportunity" all Acts of Parliament to which he has
+assented on Her Majesty's behalf. His Excellency's despatch to the
+Imperial Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 15th August, 1873,
+puts this matter very clearly. It shows that he understood and was
+prepared to do his duty, no matter what might be said by Opposition
+members, and no matter how scurrilous might be the attacks of hostile
+newspapers. "Amongst other respects," says the despatch, "in which my
+conduct has been criticised, the fact of my having communicated to you
+by the first opportunity a certified copy of the Oaths Bill, has been a
+very general point of attack. I apprehend it will not be necessary to
+justify myself to your Lordship in this particular. My law-adviser had
+called my attention to the possibility of the Bill being illegal. Had
+perjured testimony been tendered under it, no proceedings could have
+been taken against the delinquent, and if, under these circumstances, I
+had wilfully withheld from the Home Government all cognizance of the
+Act, it would have been a gross dereliction of duty. To those in this
+country who have questioned my procedure it would be sufficient to reply
+that I recognize no authority on this side of the Atlantic competent to
+instruct the Governor-General as to the nature of his correspondence
+with Her Majesty's Secretary of State." The assertion so often made, to
+the effect that the Law Officers of the Crown in England were improperly
+influenced to advise a disallowance of the Bill, is in itself utterly
+preposterous, and no attempt, so far as we know, has ever been made to
+bring forward any proof of it.
+
+There remains for consideration the prorogation of Parliament on the
+13th of August.
+
+Before the adjournment on the 23rd of May, as we have seen, it had been
+understood that Parliament should meet only to receive the committee's
+report, and not for the despatch of ordinary business. It had not even
+been considered necessary that His Excellency should attend. During his
+absence in the Maritime Provinces, however, the famous McMullen
+correspondence had appeared in print, and this, together with other
+circumstances which had come to his knowledge, had made him resolve to
+be present at the reassembling of Parliament. The attendance of
+Government supporters was not large, very few, if any, being present
+from outlying constituencies. The Opposition on the other hand, was
+fully represented, and was eager for the battle, which was regarded as
+inevitable. It soon appeared that there was nothing to be done. Owing to
+the disallowance of the Oaths Bill there was no report from the
+committee. In the estimation of His Excellency, to proceed with the
+investigation, as the Opposition members were desirous of doing, would
+under these circumstances have been to place the Ministry at an unfair
+disadvantage. A considerable number of its supporters were absent,
+whereas the Opposition was in full force. It has been charged upon the
+Ministry that this was part of their tactics, and that the absentees
+were acting under the orders of their Chief in remaining at home. This
+is another of those loose, sweeping assertions which may be true, but
+the truth of which has not been proved. That unhappy Ministry has enough
+to answer for at the Bar of History, without being called upon to refute
+charges which have never been substantiated by evidence. In any case, no
+fair-minded person will wish to hold the Governor-General responsible
+for such tactics. His position was one of no ordinary difficulty. Very
+damnatory correspondence had been given to the world, but it was not in
+such a shape that the House could possibly regard it as free from
+suspicion. The most serious charges seemed to point rather to the guilt
+of Sir Hugh Allan and McMullen than to that of the Members of the
+Government. The charges directly affecting the Government were solemnly
+and emphatically repudiated by the Premier, who pledged himself to
+explain the matter under oath to the satisfaction of the whole world, as
+soon as a properly constituted tribunal should be appointed, with
+authority to take evidence under oath. Sir Hugh Allan published a sworn
+affidavit, negativing McMullen's charges, and McMullen himself had
+subsequently admitted that his charges had been hasty and inaccurate.
+The latter, moreover, was evidently a man whose character was not such
+as to inspire respect. The Government could still command a majority of
+votes in the House. Under such circumstances, can His Excellency be
+blamed if he continued to act upon the advice of his constitutional
+advisers by proroguing Parliament? He was determined, however, that
+there should be no unnecessary delay, and exacted as a condition of
+adopting that course that parliament should be convened with all
+imaginable expedition. His reply to the memorial presented by the
+Opposition is so much to the point that we cannot do better than abridge
+a portion of it. "You urge me," says His Excellency, "on grounds which
+are very fully and forcibly stated, to decline the advice which has been
+unanimously tendered me by my responsible ministers, and to refuse to
+prorogue Parliament. In other words, you require me to dismiss them from
+my councils; for you must be aware that this would be the necessary
+result of my assenting to your recommendation. Upon what grounds would I
+be justified in taking so grave a step? What guarantee can you afford me
+that the Parliament of the Dominion would endorse such an act of
+personal interference on my part? You yourselves do not form an actual
+moiety of the House of Commons, and I have no means of ascertaining that
+the majority of that body subscribe to the opinion you have enounced. . .
+It is true, grave charges have been preferred. . . but the truth of
+these remains untested. . . Is the Governor-General, upon such evidence
+as this, to drive from his presence gentlemen who for years have filled
+the highest offices of State, and in whom, during the recent session,
+Parliament has repeatedly declared its continued confidence?. . .
+Certain documents of grave significance have lately been published in
+the newspapers, but no proof has been adduced which necessarily connects
+them with the culpable transactions of which it is asserted they formed
+a part. . . Under these circumstances, what right has the
+Governor-General, on his personal responsibility, to proclaim. . . that
+he believes his ministers guilty of the crimes alleged against them?"
+
+Such were the circumstances under which the prorogation of the 13th of
+August, 1873, took place. Looking back on it, in the light of the seven
+years which have since elapsed, it will be hard to arrive at any other
+conclusion than that Lord Dufferin did not deserve the animadversions
+which were heaped upon him. As he himself observed in his despatch to
+the Colonial Secretary two days after the prorogation: "It is a
+favourite theory at this moment with many persons that when once grave
+charges of this nature have been preferred against the Ministry they
+become _ipso facto_ unfit to counsel the Crown. The practical
+application of this principle would prove very inconvenient, and would
+leave not only the Governor-General, but every Lieutenant-Governor in
+the Dominion very thinly provided with responsible advisers; for, as far
+as I have been able to seize the spirit of political controversy in
+Canada, there is scarcely an eminent man in the country on either side
+whose character or integrity has not been, at one time or another, the
+subject of reckless attack by his opponents in the press." In a word, he
+acted on the well-established principle that every man is to be adjudged
+innocent until he has been proved guilty; and in so acting he showed
+that he understood the responsibilities of his position. That his
+Ministers were culpable, as well as unwise, in advising the prorogation,
+is certain; and when the next elections came on they paid the penalty of
+their disingenuousness.
+
+The events of Lord Dufferin's residence in Canada subsequent to the fall
+of the Macdonald Ministry, which has already been reviewed, must be
+given in few words. The political events by which his administration was
+characterized have been given at sufficient length in sketches to which
+they more properly belong. The Mackenzie Administration had not been
+long in power before each individual member of it was on friendly terms
+with the Governor-General, and there seems to have been a tacit
+understanding that all past differences of opinion should be forgotten.
+In the summer of 1874 His Excellency and suite made a tour through the
+Muskoka District, and thence westward by steamer over lakes Huron,
+Superior and Michigan. The tourists called at most of the interesting
+points on the route, including Chicago, where they disembarked, and
+returned overland by way of Detroit. All the most important towns in
+Ontario were then visited, and the party returned home to Ottawa in
+September, after an absence of about two months. It was during his
+sojourn in Toronto, while on his return from this expedition, that Lord
+Dufferin made his famous speech at the Toronto Club, which aroused the
+enthusiasm of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. A part of the
+summer and autumn of each succeeding year was spent by His Excellency in
+making other tours through the various Provinces of the Dominion. The
+last important one was made in 1877, and consisted of a pilgrimage
+through Manitoba and part of the District of Keewatin. In 1875 he also
+visited Ireland, and in 1876 attended the Centennial Exhibition at
+Philadelphia. Wherever he went, his visits were marked by a continual
+round of ovations. Lady Dufferin generally accompanied him on his
+excursions, and contributed not a little by her personal graces and
+accomplishments to the popularity of her lord. Perhaps the most
+marvellous thing about him is his ability to make an eloquent speech on
+any given topic, without ever repeating himself, and without descending
+to platitudes or commonplaces. He has always something to say which is
+appropriate to the particular occasion, and the special circumstances
+in which he happens to be placed. The quick perception and ready wit
+begotten of his Irish blood never fail him. Each of his replies to the
+thousand-and-one addresses which at one time and another have been
+presented to him has a merit of its own, has an application purely
+local, and is unlike all the others. His more serious utterances are
+marked not less by maturity of statesmanship than by brilliancy of
+imagination. It would be faint praise to say of him that as an orator he
+stands alone on the long roll of Canadian Governors. There has been no
+other who is even worthy of being named as second to him. It has been
+truly said of his speeches that they are "warm with the light of hope,
+brimful of sympathy for the toiling and the struggling, sparkling with
+humour, and moving with pathos."
+
+As the term of his residence among us drew towards its close the
+Canadian people began to realize how much they liked him. Addresses
+poured in upon him from every corner of the Dominion, many of which, at
+least, could only have had their origin in sincere esteem and hearty
+good-will. When, on the 19th of October, 1878, he took his final
+departure from among us,
+
+    "High hopes pursued him from the shore,
+     And prophesyings brave,"
+
+for it was felt that, if his life and health were spared the record of
+his future would not belie the record of his past. It was predicted that
+the man whose consummate tact, noble courtesy and largeness of heart had
+done so much to strengthen the ties between Great Britain and her
+Colonies would render further important services to his Sovereign and to
+the nation. That prediction has already been fulfilled. The effects of
+his mission to Russia have been made apparent in improved relations
+between the courts of St. Petersburg and St. James. In truth, no better
+antidote to the "spirited Foreign policy" of the late British Government
+could have been devised than the enrolment of Lord Dufferin in the
+diplomatic service.
+
+Since his departure for Russia it is said that the Vice-royalty of
+Ireland and of India have both been tendered to and declined by him.
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS.
+
+
+Dr. Burns was born at Paisley, Scotland, on the 23rd of December, 1826.
+After spending a term of four years at the Public Grammar School of that
+town, he was entered as a student at the University of Glasgow in the
+month of November, 1840, before he had quite completed his fourteenth
+year. He remained at that seat of learning four sessions, during which
+he achieved high standing in his classes, and carried off several
+prizes, including two in Latin. He stood third in Greek, second in
+Logic, and first in Moral Philosophy. While attending the University he
+had for associates Principal McKnight, of Halifax, the Rev. William
+Maclaren, of Blairlogie, and the late Rev. John Maclaren, of Glasgow. In
+1844-5 he attended New College, Edinburgh, during the second session of
+its existence, and sat at the feet of Drs. Chalmers, Cunningham and
+Duncan. He had meanwhile resolved on emigrating to Canada, and on the
+29th of March, 1845, he sailed from Greenock for Quebec. He made his way
+to Toronto, where he attended two sessions at Knox College, having for
+his contemporaries there Dr. Black, of Manitoba, and the late Rev. James
+Nisbet, of the Prince Albert Mission. During his collegiate career he
+acted as Student Catechist, and preached as a volunteer at Proudfoot's
+Mills, and also at Oakville. During the summer of 1846 he laboured to
+good purpose at Niagara. In April, 1847, he was licensed to preach by
+the Presbytery of Toronto, and on the first of July following he was
+ordained as first pastor of Chalmers Church, Kingston. During his
+residence at Kingston he officiated for a year as Chaplain to the
+Forty-first Regiment of Highland Infantry.
+
+On the 1st of July, 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth Holden, a daughter
+of Dr. Rufus Holden, of Belleville, and a sister of the wife of
+Professor Gregg, of Toronto. By this lady he now has a family of eight
+children, consisting of four sons and four daughters. After a pastorate
+of exactly eight years he left Kingston on the 5th of July, 1855, and
+settled at St. Catharines as first pastor of the United Church. He
+remained there nearly twelve years, during eight of which he also had
+charge of a congregation at Port Dalhousie, four miles distant. During
+his ministry at St. Catharines the new church now known as Knox Church
+was erected, and his congregation subsequently worshipped there. In 1862
+he took a conspicuous part in starting Sabbath School Conventions in
+this country, which have since been attended by many blessings to the
+young. In the month of July, 1866, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by Hamilton College, near Utica, in the State of New
+York, the leading literary institution of the New School of
+Presbyterians in that State. On the 20th of March, 1867, he became first
+pastor of the First Scotch Presbyterian Church in Chicago, which then
+and for some years thereafter belonged to the Canadian Church. During
+his incumbency of this charge he received several calls from various
+churches, all of which were declined. His Chicago pastorate lasted three
+years, during which the membership of his church trebled in number, and
+a fine new church was erected by the congregation on the corner of Adams
+and Sagamore Streets. In October, 1867, he accompanied the Rev. D. L.
+Moody, the Evangelist, from Chicago to Toronto, on the occasion of the
+first sitting of the Young Men's Christian Association Convention in the
+latter city. In the beginning of May, 1870, he returned to Canada, and
+was inducted into the pastorate of Cote Street Church, Montreal, where
+Dr. Fraser and the present Principal McVicar had previously ministered.
+Here he remained five years.
+
+On the 18th of March, 1875, he was settled over Fort Massey Church,
+Halifax, of which the Rev. J. K. Smith, of Galt, had been for two years
+pastor. Here Dr. Burns has ever since remained. The congregation has
+since its commencement discarded pew rents, and has been conducted on
+the weekly free-will-offering system, the offertory being collected at
+the church door. Their annual givings to church purposes are said to
+exceed $100 for each family. He was Moderator of the Synod of Montreal
+in 1873, and also Chairman of the Montreal College Board; and on his
+removal to Halifax he was elected to the same post there, which he still
+fills. During the session of 1877 he delivered special courses of
+lectures before the Montreal and Halifax students, and in 1878 these
+were followed up by a second special course in the Halifax College. In
+1877 he was associated with Principal Grant and others in pushing
+forward the $100,000 College Endowment Fund.
+
+Dr. Burns is also known as an author. As early as 1854 he contributed to
+the _Anglo-American Magazine_, published in Toronto; and several years
+later to the _Presbyterian Magazine_. In 1857 he published "The Progress
+and Principles of Temperance Reform;" and in 1865, in conjunction with
+the Rev. Mr. Norton, of St. Catharines, "Maple Leaves for the Grave of
+Abraham Lincoln." In 1872 he wrote and published his most voluminous
+work, "The Life and Times of Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto." This work
+passed through three editions, and was a decided success. His other
+works are chiefly pamphlets, sermons, and short fugitive pieces.
+
+At the meeting of the General Assembly held at Ottawa in 1879 Dr. Burns
+was one of the eight clerical delegates elected to attend the General
+Presbyterian Council, to be held in Philadelphia during the present
+year. Last summer he attended the Sunday School Celebration held in
+London, England, to commemorate the founding of Sunday Schools by Robert
+Raikes, in Gloucester, a century ago.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS, signed as A. N. RICHARDS]
+
+
+THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS,
+
+_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA._
+
+
+Mr. Richards is the youngest son of the late Mr. Stephen Richards, of
+Brockville, and a brother of the Hon. William Buell Richards, ex-Chief
+Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, a sketch of whose life
+appeared in the first volume of this series. Some account of the family
+history is contained in the sketch alluded to. Albert Norton Richards
+was born at Brockville, Upper Canada, on the 8th of December, 1822. Like
+his elder brothers, William and Stephen, he received his early education
+at the famous Johnstown District Grammar School, and embraced the legal
+profession as his calling in life. He studied law in the office of his
+brother William, with whom he entered into partnership after his call to
+the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1848. Though perhaps somewhat less
+conspicuous at the Bar than his partner, he took a high position, and
+was distinguished for the acumen and soundness of judgment which seem to
+be inherent in every member of his family. After his brother's elevation
+to the Bench, he himself continued to practise at Brockville. His
+business was large and profitable. He took a keen interest in politics,
+and was identified with the Reform Party. He did not seek Parliamentary
+distinction, however, until the year 1861, when he was an unsuccessful
+candidate for the representation of South Leeds in the Legislative
+Assembly of Canada--his successful opponent being Mr. Benjamin Tett. At
+the general election of 1863 he again offered himself in opposition to
+the same candidate, and on this occasion was returned at the head of the
+poll. In the month of December following he accepted office in the
+Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Administration, as Solicitor-General for the
+Upper Province. He was at the same time created a Queen's Counsel. Upon
+returning to his constituents for reëlection, after accepting office, he
+was compelled to encounter the full strength of the Conservative Party.
+The Government of the day existed by a mere thread, their majority
+averaging one, two and three, and it was felt that if Mr. Richards could
+be defeated the Government must resign. The constituency of South Leeds
+was invaded by all the principal speakers and agents of the Conservative
+Party, headed by the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the late Mr. D'Arcy
+McGee, and no stone was left unturned to defeat the new
+Solicitor-General. The result was the defeat of the latter by Mr. D.
+Ford Jones, the Conservative candidate, by a majority of five votes. Mr.
+Richards, after the resignation of the Government, remained out of
+public life until 1867, when he unsuccessfully contested his old seat
+for the House of Commons with the late Lieutenant-Governor Crawford, the
+latter being elected by a majority of thirty-nine. In 1869 Mr. Richards
+was offered by the Government of Sir John Macdonald the office of
+Attorney-General in the Provincial Government which Mr. Macdougall, as
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories, was about to establish
+at Fort Garry. Mr. Richards accepted the office, and accompanied Mr.
+Macdougall on his well-known journey, until stopped by Louis Riel at
+Stinking River. In the following year he visited British Columbia on
+public business, and in 1871 he again visited that Province, this time
+for the benefit of the health of his children, eight of whom he had lost
+by death during his residence at Brockville. At the general election of
+1872, Mr. Richards made another and a successful appeal to the electors
+of South Leeds, and was returned to the House of Commons. He held his
+seat until January, 1874; when, being absent from the country, on a
+visit to British Columbia, he was unable to return in time to be
+nominated for his old constituency, and South Leeds became lost to the
+Reform Party. Mr. Richards continued to reside in British Columbia, and
+for several years was the official Legal Agent of the Dominion
+Government in that Province. He took an active part in endeavouring to
+bring about various much-needed law reforms, as to several of which he
+was ultimately successful. On the 29th of July, 1875, he was appointed
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, a position which he has ever since
+held. His sterling qualities have obtained recognition, and he has won
+great popularity.
+
+He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on the 17th
+of October, 1849, was Frances, daughter of the late Benjamin Chaffey,
+formerly of Staffordshire, England. This lady died in April, 1853. On
+the 12th of August, 1854, he married Ellen, daughter of the late John
+Cheslett, also of Staffordshire. His second wife still survives.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.,
+
+_BISHOP OF ONTARIO._
+
+
+Bishop Lewis is a son of the John Lewis, M.A., who was formerly Rector
+of St. Anne's, Shandon, Cork, Ireland; and grandson of Mr. Richard
+Lewis, who was an Inspector-General of Revenue in the south of Ireland.
+He is himself an Irishman by birth and education, but has passed the
+last thirty years of his life in Canada. He was born in the county of
+Cork, on the 20th of June, 1825. He received private lessons from his
+father, and afterwards obtained his more advanced education at Trinity
+College, Dublin. He enjoyed a somewhat brilliant career at the
+University. He obtained honours both in classics and mathematics during
+his course as an undergraduate; and upon graduating, in 1846, he was
+gold medallist and senior moderator in ethics and logic. His degree of
+LL.D. was received, we believe, from his _alma mater_. He was intended
+for the Church from boyhood, and was ordained Deacon in 1848, at the
+Chapel of Christ's College, Cambridge, by the Lord Bishop of Chester. He
+was soon afterwards ordained Priest by the Lord Bishop of Down, and
+became Curate of the parish of Newtownbutler, celebrated in Irish annals
+for the victory gained by the colonists over King James's troops in
+1689. He did not long occupy that position, but resigned it in 1850, and
+came over to this country, where, soon after his arrival, he was
+appointed by the late Bishop Strachan to the parish of Hawkesbury, in
+the county of Prescott. Upon settling down in his parish he married Miss
+Anne Harriet Margaret Sherwood, a daughter of the late Hon. Henry
+Sherwood, a Canadian legislator who sat in the old Assembly from 1843 to
+1854, and who held office as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General for
+Canada West, respectively, in the Ministry of Mr. Draper, during the
+_régime_ of Sir Charles Metcalfe and Earl Cathcart.
+
+After officiating in Hawkesbury for four years, Mr. Lewis was appointed
+Rector of Brockville, where he remained until his election, in 1861, to
+the position which he now occupies. The seven years passed in the
+rectory at Brockville must have been busy ones, as we find numerous
+published sermons and pamphlets from his pen during this time. His
+sermons and writings generally are marked by much learning, and by an
+evident fondness for dialectics. Some of them have received high praise
+from the reviewers. One of them, entitled "A Plain Lecture to Enquirers
+into the meaning of the Liturgy," was thus characterized by the
+_American Quarterly Church Review_: "As an argument for Liturgical
+worship, and an answer to popular objections to the Prayer-book, this is
+one of the most valuable works we have ever seen." Other tracts of his
+have also been highly praised by persons whose praise is of value. The
+best known of his writings are "The Church of the New Testament;" "Does
+the Bible need re-translating?" "The Popular Baptist Argument Reviewed;"
+and "The Primitive Method of selecting Bishops;" the last-named
+production being given to the world in the _Journal of Sacred
+Literature_, published in London, England. During his residence at
+Brockville he interested himself actively in various local matters,
+sectarian and non-sectarian, and contributed to build up several
+important public institutions. He lectured before the Brockville Library
+Association and Mechanics' Institute, and did much to extend its
+membership and beneficial influence.
+
+The territorial division of the Diocese of Toronto was a project which
+began to take shape about the time when the subject of this sketch first
+arrived in this country. Up to that time the Diocese of Toronto
+comprehended the whole extent of Upper Canada, and was altogether too
+large to permit of one man's discharging the duties of the Bishopric
+with perfect efficiency, even though that man were endowed with the
+tremendous energy and vitality of the late Bishop Strachan. The Diocese
+of Huron was in due time set apart and the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin Cronyn
+was elected to the Bishopric. In 1861 the eastern division was also set
+apart as the Diocese of Ontario, and at the meeting of the Synod held at
+Kingston in the summer of that year Mr. Lewis was elected to the office
+of Bishop. He was then only thirty-six years of age, and was probably
+the youngest Prelate in America. He soon afterwards removed to Kingston,
+and thence to Ottawa, where he now resides.
+
+It will thus be seen that the Bishop has had a remarkably successful
+career since his arrival in Canada. He devotes himself assiduously to
+his official labours, and is held in high veneration by many of the
+clergymen of his Diocese. He has a numerous family, and a large circle
+of attached friends. His pulpit oratory is marked by fluency and
+smoothness of rhetoric, as well as by much learning and depth of
+thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES, LORD METCALFE.
+
+
+In former sketches we have seen how Responsible Government, after being
+strenuously contended for during many years in this country, and after
+its adoption had been vigorously recommended by Lord Durham, finally
+became an accomplished fact. We have seen how Lord Sydenham was sent
+over here as Governor-General for the purpose of carrying out the new
+order of things, and how, during his administration of affairs, the
+Union of the Provinces was finally effected in 1841. The Canadian
+Administration was carried on by both Lord Sydenham and his successor,
+Sir Charles Bagot, in accordance with the spirit of our new
+Constitution. In 1841 the Imperial Ministry, under whose auspices this
+Constitution had been framed, was deposed, and a Tory Government
+succeeded to power. In this Government the late Lord Derby, then Lord
+Stanley, held the portfolio appertaining to the office of Colonial
+Secretary. Soon after Sir Charles Bagot's resignation of the post of
+Governor-General, in the winter of 1842, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+selected as his successor. The selection was made at the instance of
+Lord Stanley, who had all along been inimical to the scheme of
+Responsible Government in Canada, and there is reason for believing that
+he entertained the design of subverting it. His selection of Sir Charles
+Metcalfe, and his subsequent instructions and general policy, certainly
+lend colour to such a belief. The new Governor was a man of excellent
+intentions, and of more than average ability, but his previous training
+and experience had been such as to render him totally unfit for the post
+of a Constitutional Governor.
+
+We can only afford space for a brief glance at his previous career, but
+even that brief glance will be sufficient to show how little sympathy he
+could be expected to have in colonial schemes of Responsible Government.
+He was born at Calcutta, on Sunday, the 30th of January, 1785, a few
+days before Warren Hastings ceased to be Governor-General of India. His
+father, Major Theophilus Metcalfe, of the Bengal army, was a gentleman
+of ample fortune, and a Director in the East India Company. Charles was
+the second son of his parents, and was destined at an early age for the
+Company's service. He was educated first at a private school at Bromley,
+in Middlesex, and afterwards at Eton College, where he remained until he
+had entered upon his sixteenth year, when he returned to India. He was
+appointed to a writership in the service of the Company, wherein for
+seven years he filled various offices, and in 1808 was selected by Lord
+Minto to take charge of a difficult mission to the Court of Lahore, the
+object of which was to secure the Sikh States, between the Sutlej and
+Jumna Rivers, from the grasp of Runjeet Singh. In this mission he fully
+succeeded, the treaty being concluded in 1809. He subsequently filled
+several other high offices of trust, and in 1827 took his seat as a
+member of the Supreme Council of India. Both his father and elder
+brother had meanwhile died, and he had become Sir Charles Metcalfe.
+
+In 1835, upon Lord W. Bentinck's resignation, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+provisionally appointed Governor-General, which office he held until
+Lord Auckland's arrival in the year following. During this short period
+he effected many bold and popular reforms, not the least of which was
+the liberation of the press of India from all restrictions. Under his
+immediate predecessor, Lord William Bentinck, the press had been as free
+as it is in England; but there were still certain laws or orders of a
+severe character, which at the pleasure of any future Governor might be
+called into operation. These Sir Charles Metcalfe repealed. His doing so
+gave umbrage to the Directors, and caused his resignation and return to
+Europe, when he was appointed Governor of Jamaica. The difficult duties
+of this position--the emancipation of the negroes having but recently
+occurred--were discharged by him to the satisfaction of the Government
+and the colonists. After over two years' residence the climate proved so
+unfavourable to his health that he was compelled to resign. The painful
+disease of which he afterwards died--cancer of the cheek--had seized him
+in a firm grip. Years before this time, when residing at Calcutta, a
+friend had one day noticed a red spot upon his cheek, and underneath it
+a single drop of blood. The blood was wiped away; the red spot remained.
+For a long while it occasioned neither pain nor anxiety. A little time
+after his departure from India, disquieting symptoms appeared, and on
+his arrival in England he had consulted Sir Benjamin Brodie; but it was
+not till his return from Jamaica that it received the attention it
+really demanded. Then consultations of the most eminent surgeons and
+physicians were held, and the application of a severe caustic was
+determined on. When told that it would probably "destroy the cheek
+through and through," he only answered, "What you determine shall be
+done at once;" and the same afternoon the painful remedy was applied.
+The physicians and surgeons of London did what they could for him, and
+he retired into the country. The disorder had not been eradicated, but
+merely checked. About this time the ill-health of Sir Charles Bagot had
+rendered that gentleman's resignation necessary, and the post of
+Governor-General of Canada thus became vacant. It was offered to, and
+accepted by, Sir Charles Metcalfe. No appointment could have been found
+for him at that moment in the whole political world the duties of which
+were more difficult, when the nature of his instructions and the
+peculiar position of the colony are taken into consideration. Add to
+this that his whole life had hitherto been passed in administering
+governments which were largely despotic in their character. Responsible
+Government, as we have seen, had been conceded to Canada. Sir Charles
+professed to approve of this concession, but his conduct throughout the
+whole course of his administration was at variance with his professions,
+and showed that his sympathies were not on the side of popular rights.
+He came over in the month of March, 1843, and on the following day took
+charge of the Administration. For the composition of the Government and
+an account of the situation of affairs in Canada at this time the reader
+is referred to the life of Robert Baldwin which has already appeared in
+these pages. The circumstances under which the Governor contrived to
+embroil himself with the leading members of the Administration are there
+given in sufficient detail, and there is no necessity for repeating them
+at length in this place. Sir Charles chose his associates and advisers
+from among the members of the defunct Family Compact. He endeavoured to
+circumscribe the power of the Executive Council, which demanded that no
+office should be filled, no appointment made, without its sanction. We
+are, argued the members of Council, in the same relation to the House of
+Assembly as Ministers in England to the English Parliament. We are
+responsible to it for the acts of Government; these acts must be ours,
+or the result of our advice, otherwise we cannot be responsible for
+them. Unless our demand is complied with, there is no such thing as
+Responsible Government. On the other hand, Sir Charles contended that by
+relinquishing his patronage he should be surrendering the prerogatives
+of the Crown, and should also incapacitate himself and all future
+Governors from acting as moderator between opposite factions. It was not
+long before an appointment, made by Sir Charles, brought the contest to
+an issue. Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, the two leading members of the
+Executive Council, urged upon the Governor to retract this appointment,
+or to promise that no other should be made without their advice. The
+Governor was firm in his refusal. The Executive Council resigned. To
+form a new Ministry was, under these circumstances, a most difficult
+task. Office went begging; a Solicitor-Generalship was offered to six
+individuals, and perseveringly refused by all. But Sir Charles was also
+persevering in his offers, and at last a seventh was found, who
+accepted. At last a weak Ministry was formed, and then followed a
+general election. Parliament met at Montreal on the 8th of November,
+1844, when, after a hard fight, Sir Allan Macnab was elected Speaker of
+the Assembly by a small majority of three. The debate on the address,
+after strong opposition, was carried by a Tory majority of six. The
+session dragged on without any change in the character of the Ministry,
+which was supported by a small and feeble majority in the Assembly. The
+popular feeling against the Governor rose to the highest pitch. Meantime
+Sir Charles's terrible malady was rapidly doing its work upon him. He
+had lost the use of one eye, the eye which was still useful sympathized
+with that which was destroyed; nor was there any hope of the eradication
+of the cancer. He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of
+another to write his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains
+above the eye and down the right side of the face as far as the chin.
+The cheek towards the nose and mouth was permanently swelled. He could
+not open his mouth to its usual width, and it was with difficulty he
+inserted and masticated food. He no longer looked forward to a cure. His
+Canadian medical attendants hesitated to apply the powerful caustic
+recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and counselled him to return to
+England. "I am tied to Canada by my duty," was his constant reply. Mr.
+George Pollock, house surgeon of St. George's Hospital, was despatched
+from England, to examine the case and apply the most approved remedies.
+No aid which science could give was wanting, but the disease was beyond
+medical control. Its ravages were now most painful and distressing. So
+far as the body was concerned, it was but the wreck of a man that
+remained. On this wreck or ruin, however, was to descend, as if in
+mockery, the coronet of nobility. He was created Baron Metcalfe. Idle as
+the honour was in itself to the childless invalid, it was still a
+testimony that his services had been appreciated. "But," says his
+biographer, "he was dying, no less surely for the strong will that
+sustained him, and the vigorous intellect which glowed in his shattered
+frame. A little while and he might die at his post. The winter was
+setting in--the navigation was closing. It was necessary at once to
+decide whether Metcalfe should now prepare to betake the suffering
+remnant of himself to England, or to abide at Montreal, if spared, till
+the coming spring. But he would not trust himself to form the decision.
+He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him at
+Monklands; and there he told them that he left the issue in their hands.
+It was a scene never to be forgotten by any who were present in the
+Governor-General's darkened room on this memorable occasion. Some were
+dissolved in tears. All were agitated by a strong emotion of sorrow and
+sympathy, mingled with a sort of wondering admiration of the heroic
+constancy of their chief. He told them that if they desired his
+continuance at the head of the Government--if they believed that the
+cause for which they had fought together so manfully would suffer by his
+departure, and that they therefore counselled him to remain at his post,
+he would willingly abide by their decision." What their decision was
+need hardly be said. Lord Metcalfe embarked for England quietly and
+unostentatiously, as his suffering state compelled. He could not, from
+the nature of the struggle in which he had been engaged, expect to quit
+the shores of Canada with the same unanimous approbation that had
+erected to his memory the "Metcalfe Hall" at Calcutta, or raised his
+statue in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He returned to England--returned to
+doctors and the darkened room. He was in constant pain except when under
+the influence of narcotics; but he made no complaint, and endured his
+sufferings with fortitude. He died on the 5th of September, 1846, and
+was interred in a quiet, private and unostentatious manner in the little
+parish church of Winkfield, near Fern Hill. He had often expressed a
+wish that this should be his last resting place. On a marble tablet in
+this church is an epitaph written by Mr.--afterwards Lord--Macaulay, who
+knew and had served with him in India. Thus it runs:--"Near this stone
+is laid CHARLES THEOPHILUS, first and last LORD METCALFE, a Statesman
+tried in many high posts and difficult conjunctures, and found equal to
+all. The Three Greatest Dependencies of the British Crown were
+successively intrusted to his care. In India his fortitude, his wisdom,
+his probity, and his moderation are held in honourable remembrance by
+men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed
+by a social revolution, he calmed the evil passions which long suffering
+had engendered in one class and long domination in another. In Canada,
+not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, he reconciled
+contending factions to each other and to the Mother Country. Public
+esteem was the just reward of his public virtue, but those only who
+enjoyed the privilege of his friendship could appreciate the whole worth
+of his gentle and noble nature. Costly monuments in Asiatic and American
+cities attest the gratitude of nations which he ruled; this tablet
+records the sorrow and the pride with which his memory is cherished by
+private Affection."
+
+Had it been his good fortune to die before receiving the appointment of
+Governor-General of Canada, Sir Charles Metcalfe would have left behind
+him a high reputation on all hands, and there would have been nothing to
+detract from the praise which would have been justly his due. His tenure
+of office in this country was a somewhat inglorious close to a long and
+useful public career. As Governor of a colony to which Responsible
+Government had been conceded he was altogether out of his element. He
+was simply unfit for the position, as well by reason of his personal
+character as by the training to which he had been subjected. Good
+intentions were undoubtedly his, and he acted up to the light that was
+in him; but to this modicum of praise no Canadian writer can justly add
+much in the way of commendation.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS.
+
+
+Mr. Morris is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Morris, whose name
+is prominently identified with the history of the Clergy Reserve and
+School Land questions in this country; and a nephew of the late Hon.
+James Morris, who held the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, and who was subsequently
+Receiver-General in the Administration organized under the leadership of
+Messrs. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte. The chief
+points of public interest connected with the family history are outlined
+in the sketch of his father's life, which appears elsewhere in these
+pages. The subject of the present memoir was born at Perth, Upper
+Canada--where his father then resided and carried on business--on the
+17th of March, 1826. In boyhood he attended the local Grammar School,
+which enjoyed a high reputation for the efficiency of its educational
+training. His father, who was desirous that his son should enjoy higher
+scholastic advantages than were then obtainable in this country, sent
+him, while he was still in early youth, to Scotland, where he entered as
+a student at Madras College, St. Andrews. After spending about a year at
+that establishment he was transferred to the University of Glasgow,
+where another industrious year was passed. Returning to his native land,
+he began to devote himself to the business of life. He at this time was
+intended for commercial pursuits, and spent three years in the
+establishment of Messrs. Thorne & Heward, commission merchants, at
+Montreal. The knowledge and experience gained during these three years
+have since proved of great service to him, although he was not destined
+to engage in commercial business on his own behalf. He had meanwhile
+resolved to enter the legal profession in Upper Canada, and was
+accordingly articled as a clerk to Mr.--now the Hon. Sir--John A.
+Macdonald, in the office of Messrs. Macdonald & Campbell, Barristers, of
+Kingston. Here he studied with such assiduity that his health gave way,
+and he was compelled to relinquish his studies for some months. His
+father having previously removed to Montreal, he returned to that city
+and resumed his scholastic studies in the University of McGill College,
+where he took the degrees successively of B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L.
+He was the first graduate in the Arts course of that institution, and
+was subsequently elected by the graduates one of the first Fellows in
+Arts, and thence was promoted to be one of the Governors of the
+University, which position he held for several years. He entered the
+office of the then Attorney-General Badgley, who subsequently became a
+Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in Quebec. He completed his course
+of studies in the office of Messrs. Badgley & Abbott, and then proceeded
+to Toronto, where he presented his credentials to the Benchers of the
+Law Society and requested to be called to the Bar, under the provisions
+of the law which enabled any person who had been duly registered as a
+clerk or student during the necessary period for the Bar of Lower
+Canada, to be called to the Bar of Upper Canada, after passing the
+necessary examination. He was examined in due course by the Benchers of
+Upper Canada, admitted to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, and was
+thereafter sworn in as an Attorney--both in Hilary Term of the year
+1851. He was then about to establish himself in the practice of the law
+in the city of Toronto, having been offered a partnership by the then
+Attorney-General, the late Hon. John Ross, when family circumstances led
+to his return to Montreal, where, having presented his diploma as a
+Barrister-at-Law of Upper Canada, he was after examination called to the
+Bar of Lower Canada as an Advocate. In November of the same year he
+married Miss Margaret Cline, daughter of the late Mr. William Cline, of
+Cornwall, and niece of the late Hon. Philip Vankoughnet, of the same
+place. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Montreal. His
+ability and social connections soon secured for him a large and
+lucrative practice, and having entered into partnership with the present
+Mr. Justice Torrance, he became known as one of the most successful
+practitioners in the Province, devoting himself mainly to commercial
+law. Like his father before him, he attached himself to the Conservative
+side in politics, and first entered active political life in 1861, when
+he contested the constituency of South Lanark, in Upper Canada, for the
+Legislative Assembly, in opposition to Mr. John Doran. His father had
+represented that constituency for twenty years, and he had no difficulty
+in securing his election. Upon the opening of the session he took his
+seat in the House, and made his first speech, on the debate on the
+Speech from the Throne, which was on the question of Representation by
+Population--a measure which he did not believe to be the true remedy for
+the unsatisfactory state of things which existed throughout the country.
+The true remedy, as he believed, and as he repeatedly urged, both from
+his place in Parliament and elsewhere, was the Confederation scheme
+which was subsequently adopted. In the negotiations which led to the
+formation of the Coalition Government, of which Sir John A. Macdonald
+and the late Hon. George Brown were members, and which secured the
+necessary Imperial legislation in order to bring about Confederation, he
+took an active and initiatory part, as appears by the record of the
+steps taken to form the Government, and secure that policy submitted to
+the Parliament of Canada at the time. He continued to represent South
+Lanark in the Assembly until Confederation, after which he represented
+it in the House of Commons until the general election of 1872. He was an
+active member, and stood high in the esteem of his Party. In the month
+of November, 1869, he accepted office in the then-existing Government as
+Minister of Inland Revenue, which he retained until, having resigned his
+position in the Government owing to broken health, he received the
+appointment of Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba,
+in July, 1872. Of this office he was the first incumbent, no Court of
+Queen's Bench having previously existed there. The highest judicial
+tribunal which had existed in the Prairie Province up to that time was
+the Quarterly Court, as it was called, organized under the authority of
+the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, and conducted in a rather primitive
+way. A short time prior to the date last mentioned this tribunal was
+abolished, and the Court of Queen's Bench established in its place.
+After accepting the office of Chief Justice, Mr. Morris prepared a
+series of rules introducing the English practice into the Court. He did
+not long retain his seat on the Judicial Bench, as, two months after his
+appointment as Chief Justice, he was nominated as Administrator, in
+place of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, who was absent on leave. On the
+2nd of December, 1872, he received the appointment of
+Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories, a
+position which he retained for five years. On the creation of the
+District of Keewatin he became Lieutenant-Governor of that territory _ex
+officio_. He was also appointed Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs
+in the Manitoba Superintendency, and one of the Special Commissioners
+for the making of treaties three, four, five and six, and the revision
+of treaties one and two; and, as will be seen from the last report of
+the Minister of the Interior, he suggested the making of the last and
+seventh treaty--that with the Blackfeet. In the making of these treaties
+he was the active Commissioner and chief spokesman, and was very
+successful in winning the confidence of the Indian tribes. The treaties
+in question extinguished the natural title of the Indian tribes to the
+vast region extending from the Height of Land beyond Lake Superior to
+the Blackfeet country in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, covering
+the route of the Canada Pacific Railway, and opening up a vast extent of
+fertile territory to settlement. When Mr. Morris assumed the government
+of Manitoba the Province was in a very disturbed condition. He had the
+satisfaction of leaving it reduced to order, and far advanced in
+settlement and legislative progress. On his departure from Manitoba, the
+_Free Press_, the organ of the Liberal Party, thus referred to his
+career in the North-West: "To-morrow is the last day of Hon. Alexander
+Morris's connection with Manitoba as Lieutenant-Governor. When, five
+years ago, the announcement was made that Chief Justice Morris had been
+appointed to the position which he is now just about vacating, very
+general satisfaction was manifested by the people of the Province. Mr.
+Morris succeeded to the office when it was surrounded by difficulties
+great and complicated; and the task before its incumbent was by no means
+an easy one. The Province occupied a most peculiar position; having just
+had constitutional self-government thrust upon it, without any
+preparatory training. The Lieutenant-Governor necessarily found himself
+at the head of a people who, no matter how good their intentions, could
+not reasonably be expected to have a very perfect appreciation of the
+true position of a Lieutenant-Governor under such a government.
+Lieutenant-Governor Morris during the early part of his official career
+had plenty of evidence of this, and it devolved upon him, in no small
+degree, to impress upon them exactly what such government entailed--that
+the Lieutenant-Governor was supposed to act almost solely upon the
+advice of the Crown Ministers of the day, who in turn were responsible
+to the people's chosen representatives in Parliament. And in no one way
+has Governor Morris more distinguished himself than in the observance of
+this fundamental principle of our constitution, however much he may
+actually have assisted in the government of the country by his ripe
+experience and statesmanship. The smallest Province though Manitoba is,
+the office of its Lieutenant-Governor has entailed more extensive
+responsibilities than that of any other Province in the Dominion."
+
+Upon the completion of his term of office Mr. Morris returned from
+Manitoba to his native town of Perth, in Ontario, where he had a
+residence. At the last general election for the House of Commons, in
+1878, he contested the constituency of Selkirk, Manitoba, with the Hon.
+Donald A. Smith, but was defeated by nine votes. Mr. Smith was, however,
+unseated on petition. About two months later the Hon. Matthew Crooks
+Cameron, who sat in the Local Legislature of Ontario for East Toronto,
+was appointed to a Puisné Judgeship of the Court of Queen's Bench. This
+left a vacancy in the representation of East Toronto, and Mr. Morris,
+who was then a resident of Perth, was nominated for the vacancy by a
+Conservative Convention. He offered himself as a candidate for the
+constituency, and was elected by a considerable majority over his
+opponent, Mr. John Leys. At the general local elections held on the 5th
+of June following Mr. Morris was again returned for East Toronto--of
+which he had in the interval become a resident--by a majority of 57 over
+the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario. He continues to represent
+that constituency, and occupies a prominent place as a member of the
+Opposition.
+
+Mr. Morris has also made a creditable name for himself in literature. In
+1854 he published a quasi-professional work embodying the Railway
+Consolidation Acts of Canada, with notes of cases. In 1855 appeared
+"Canada and Her Resources," an essay to which was awarded the second
+prize offered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada--the first
+prize having been awarded to the well-known essay by the late Mr. John
+Sheridan Hogan by Sir Edmund Head, then Governor-General. Three years
+later--in 1858--he delivered a lecture before the Mercantile Library
+Association of Montreal, in which was predicted the federation of the
+British American Provinces and the construction of the Intercolonial and
+Pacific Railways--subjects to which Mr. Morris had given a good deal of
+attention ever since, when a youth, he had read and studied Lord
+Durham's famous "Report" on Canada. This lecture was published, in
+pamphlet form, under the title of "Nova Britannia; or, British North
+America, its extent and future," by the Library Association. It was
+widely circulated, and attracted a good deal of attention, not only in
+this country but in Great Britain and the United States. No fewer than
+three thousand copies of it were sold in ten days. A contemporary notice
+of this pamphlet thus refers to the author and his theory: "Mr. Morris
+is at once statistical, patriotic and prophetic. The lecturer sees in
+the future a fusion of races, a union of all the existing provinces,
+with new provinces to grow up in the west, and a railway to the Pacific.
+The design of the lecture is excellent, and its facts seem to have been
+carefully collected." In 1859 Mr. Morris delivered and published another
+lecture of a somewhat similar nature, under the title of "The Hudson's
+Bay and Pacific Territories," advocating the withdrawal of the
+North-West Territories from the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+their incorporation with the Confederacy of Canada along with British
+Columbia. His latest work, published during the month of May last, is
+entitled, "The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the
+North-West Territories." It gives an account of all the treaties made
+with these Indians, from the original one made by Lord Selkirk down to
+the present time; contains suggestions for dealing with them, and
+predicts a hopeful future for them.
+
+Mr. Morris has for many years taken an active part in the Church Courts
+of, first, the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the
+Church of Scotland, and since the union of the four Presbyterian
+Churches of the Dominion as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, as a
+representative to the Assembly of that Church. He has been for twenty
+years a Trustee of Queen's College, Kingston, of which his father was
+one of the active founders. Mr. Morris actively assisted in bringing
+about the union of the Churches above alluded to, affirming it to be in
+the highest interests of Presbyterianism and religion in the Dominion
+that such a consummation should be brought about.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS TALBOT, signed as Thomas Talbot]
+
+
+THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT.
+
+
+Not often does it fall to the lot of the biographer to chronicle a more
+singular piece of history than is afforded by the life of the founder of
+the Talbot Settlement in Western Canada. A contemporary writer has
+proved to us that Ireland has, at one time and another, contributed her
+full share of notable personages to our population; and Colonel Talbot
+is certainly entitled to rank among the most remarkable of them all. A
+man of high birth and social position, of good abilities, with a decided
+natural turn for an active military career, and with excellent prospects
+of success before him, he voluntarily forsook the influences under which
+he had been reared, and spent by far the greater part of a long life in
+the solitude of the Canadian wilderness. He was the early associate and
+life-long friend of the illustrious Duke of Wellington. At the outset of
+their careers, any impartial friend of the two youths might not
+unreasonably have predicted a higher and wider fame for the scion of the
+House of Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley; for the former was the
+brighter, and apparently the more ambitious of the two, and his
+connections were at least equally influential. Had any one indulged in
+such a vaticination, however, his prediction would have been most
+ignominiously falsified by subsequent events. Arthur Wellesley lived to
+achieve a reputation second to that of scarcely any name in history. He
+became the most famous and successful military commander of modern
+times. Nations vied with each other in heaping well-deserved honours
+upon his head, and his Sovereign characterized him as "the greatest
+general England ever saw." Statesmen and princes hung upon his words,
+and even upon his nod; and lovely women languished for his smiles. When
+he died, full of years and honours, and everything of good which a
+grateful nation has to bestow, his body lay in state at Chelsea
+Hospital. It was visited by the high and mighty ones of the Empire, and
+was contemplated with an almost superstitious awe. It was finally borne
+with regal pomp, through streets draped in mourning, and thronged by a
+countless multitude, to its final resting-place in the crypt of the
+noblest of English cathedrals. The funeral rites were solemnized amid
+the tears of a nation, and formed an event in that nation's history. The
+obsequies of "the Iron Duke" took place on the 18th of November, 1852.
+In less than three months from that date his friend Colonel Talbot also
+went the way of all flesh. But by how different a road! His life, though
+it had by no means been spent in vain, had had little to commend it to
+the emulation or envy of mankind. Its most vigorous season had been
+passed amid the solitude of the Canadian forest, and in its decline it
+had become the prey of selfishness and neglect. Colonel Talbot died in a
+small room in the house of a man who had once been his servant. He must
+have tasted the bitterness of death many times before he finally entered
+into his rest. Neither wife, child, nor relative ministered to his
+wants. But scant ceremony was vouchsafed to his remains. His body,
+instead of lying in state, was deposited in a barn, and was finally
+attended to its last obscure resting-place in a little Canadian village
+by a handful of friends and acquaintances. The weather was piercingly
+cold, and we may be sure that the obsequies were not unnecessarily
+prolonged. Surely the force of antithesis could not much farther go!
+
+And yet, as we review the widely diverse careers of these two remarkable
+men, it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than that the
+result in each case was the legitimate outgrowth of their respective
+qualities. Arthur Wellesley, in his earliest boyhood, formed a definite
+purpose in life; and that purpose, during all the years of his
+probation, was kept constantly in view. Every other passion was kept in
+due subordination to it. Fortune was kind to him, and he well knew how
+to avail himself of her favours. The acquisition of fame, moreover,
+bears some analogy to the acquisition of wealth. The first step is by
+far the most difficult. Dr. Johnson once said that any man of strong
+will has it in his power to make a fortune, if he can only contrive to
+tide over the time while he is scraping together the first hundred
+pounds. Arthur Wellesley, having got his foot firmly on the first rung
+of the ladder, found the rest of the ascent feasible enough. Now, Thomas
+Talbot was endowed by nature with a will so strong as almost to deserve
+the name of stubbornness, but that was almost the only quality which he
+shared in common with his friend. If he ever formed any definite scheme
+of life he was certainly very inconsistent in pursuing it. His moods
+were as erratic as were those of the hero of Locksley Hall. He was
+unable to bring his mind into harmony with the inevitable, and knew not
+how to subordinate himself to the existing order of things. Even as an
+army-officer he was not always amenable to discipline. The follies and
+frivolities of society disgusted him, and his mind early received a warp
+from which it never recovered. He lived in a time when there was plenty
+of work ready to his hand, if he would but have condescended to take his
+share of it. The work, however, was not to his taste, and his ambition
+seems to have deserted him at a most inopportune time. He "burst all
+links of habit," withdrew himself from his proper place in the world,
+and passed the rest of his days in solitude and obscurity. As the
+founder of an important settlement in a new Province, he certainly
+accomplished some good in his day and generation. The enterprise,
+however, does not seem to have been undertaken with any definite design
+of accomplishing good, but merely with a view to securing a more
+congenial mode of life for himself. That a man reared as he had been
+should find anything congenial in such a life is a problem which is
+insoluble to ordinary humanity.
+
+The family from which he sprang has long been celebrated both in English
+and continental history. Readers of Shakespeare's historical plays are,
+it is to be hoped, sufficiently familiar with that "scourge of France"
+who was defied by Joan of Arc, and who, with his son, John Talbot, fell
+bravely fighting his country's battles on the field of Castillon, near
+Bordeaux. It would be difficult for a man to sustain the burden of a
+long line of such ancestors as these. It is therefore reassuring to
+learn that the Talbot line has been diversified by representatives of
+another sort. Readers of Macaulay's History are familiar with the name
+of Richard Talbot, that noted sharper, bully, pimp and pander, who
+haunted Whitehall during the years immediately succeeding the
+Restoration; whose genius for mendacity procured for him the nickname
+of "Lying Dick Talbot;" who became the husband of Frances Jennings; who
+slandered Anne Hyde for the money of the Duke of York; who, in a word,
+was one of the greatest scoundrels that figured in those iniquitous
+times; and who was subsequently raised by James II. to the Earldom of
+Tyrconnel. "Lying Dick" was a member of the Irish branch of the Talbot
+family, which settled in Ireland during the reign of Henry II., and
+became possessed of the ancient baronial castle of Malahide, in the
+county of Dublin. The Talbots of Malahide trace their descent from the
+same stock as the Talbots who have been Earls of Shrewsbury, in the
+peerage of Great Britain, since the middle of the fifteenth century. The
+father of the subject of this sketch was Richard Talbot, of Malahide.
+His mother was Margaret, Baroness Talbot; and he himself was born at
+Malahide on the 17th of July, 1771.
+
+All that can be ascertained about his childhood is that he spent some
+years at the Public Free School at Manchester, and that he received a
+commission in the army in the year 1782, when he was only eleven years
+of age. Whether or not he left school immediately after obtaining this
+commission does not appear, but his education must have been very
+imperfect, as he was not of a studious disposition, and in 1786, when he
+was only sixteen, we find him installed as an aide-de-camp to his
+relative the Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord Lieutenant of
+Ireland. His brother aide was the Arthur Wellesley already referred to.
+The two boys were necessarily thrown much together, and each of them
+formed a warm attachment for the other. Their future paths in life lay
+far apart, but they never ceased to correspond, and to recall the happy
+time they had spent together,
+
+    "Yearning for the large excitement that
+     the coming years would yield."
+
+Young Talbot continued in the position of aide-de-camp for several
+years. In 1790 he joined the 24th Regiment, which was then stationed at
+Quebec, in the capacity of Lieutenant. We have no record of his life
+during the next few months. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor
+Simcoe at Quebec, at the end of May, 1792, Lieutenant Talbot, who had
+nearly completed his twenty-first year, became attached to the
+Governor's suite in the capacity of private secretary. He continued to
+form part of the establishment of Upper Canada's first
+Lieutenant-Governor until just before the latter's removal from this
+country. "During that period," says General Simcoe, writing in 1803, "he
+not only conducted many details and important duties incidental to the
+original establishment of a colony, in matters of internal regulation,
+to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential
+measures necessary to preserve the country in peace, without violating,
+on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States; and on
+the other, alienating the affection of the Indian nations, at that
+period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I
+principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse
+with the several Indian Tribes; and occasionally with his Majesty's
+Minister at Philadelphia; and these duties, without any salary or
+emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction."
+
+It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary to
+Governor Simcoe that the idea of embracing a pioneer's life in Canada
+first took possession of young Talbot's mind. It has been alleged that
+his imagination was fired by reading a translation of part of
+Charlevoix's "Historie Générale de la Nouvelle France," a work which
+describes the writer's own experiences in the wilds of Canada in a
+pleasant and easy fashion. This idea is probably attributable to an
+assertion made by Colonel Talbot himself to Mrs. Jameson, when that
+lady visited him during her brief sojourn in Upper Canada. "Charlevoix,"
+said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to this place. You
+know he calls this the Paradise of the Hurons. Now I was resolved to get
+to Paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came here." It is much more
+probable, however, that he was influenced by his own experiences in the
+Canadian forest, which for him would possess all the charm of novelty,
+in addition to its natural beauties. He accompanied the
+Lieutenant-Governor hither and thither, and traversed in his company the
+greater part of what then constituted Upper Canada. He formed a somewhat
+intimate acquaintance with the Honourable William Osgoode, the first
+Chief Justice of this Province, who was for some time an inmate of
+Governor Simcoe's abode at Niagara--or Newark, as it was then generally
+called. The Chief Justice felt the isolation of his position very
+keenly, and was doubtless glad to relax his mind by communion with the
+young Irish lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the
+humour characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon
+companion. At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the
+misanthrope about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much
+enjoyment out of life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution
+was robust, and his disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed
+fastidious about his personal appearance, and was keenly alive to
+everything that was going on about him. He was popular among all the
+members of the household, and was the especial friend of Major
+Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary, whose name is familiar
+to most persons who take an interest in the history of the early
+settlement of this Province.
+
+On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have
+an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well
+as upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall[1] to
+explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of
+Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among
+whom were Major Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The
+Major kept a diary during the journey, which was given to the world more
+than forty years afterwards in the _Canadian Literary Magazine_, a
+periodical of which several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834.
+The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The
+route lay through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party
+were entertained by Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now
+stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater
+part of the journey being necessarily made on foot. On the return
+journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor
+Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future
+capital of the Province. One important result of this long and toilsome
+journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or, as it is frequently
+called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party were delighted with the
+wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, but
+not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as young Lieutenant Talbot,
+who expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south,
+bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the
+following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself and several
+members of his suite with another western excursion. During this journey
+the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young
+Lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had
+ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest
+tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings
+around me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may
+be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.
+
+In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became
+Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Foot. He returned to Europe,
+and joined his regiment, which was despatched on active service to the
+Continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was
+for some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the
+Peace of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, he sold his commission,
+retired from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention
+expressed by him to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his
+tent in the wilds of Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible
+to do more than conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to
+the end of his days. One writer ventures the hypothesis that he had been
+crossed in love. The only justification, so far as we are aware, for
+this hypothesis, is a half jocular expression of the Colonel's some
+years afterwards. A friend having bantered him on the subject of his
+remaining so long in a state of single blessedness, took an opportunity
+of questioning him about it, and in the course of a familiar chat, asked
+him why he remained so long single, when he stood so much in need of a
+help-mate. "Why," said the Colonel, "to tell you the truth, I never saw
+but one woman that I really cared anything about, and she would'nt have
+me; and to use an old joke, those who would have me, the devil would'nt
+have them. Miss Johnston," continued the Colonel, "the daughter of Sir
+J. Johnston, was the only girl I ever loved, and she wouldn't have me."
+
+Whatever cause may have impelled him, it is sufficiently evident that he
+had become out of sorts with society, and had resolved to betake himself
+to a distance from the haunts of civilized mankind. Aided by the
+influence of ex-Governor Simcoe and other powerful friends, he obtained
+a grant of five thousand acres of land as a Field Officer meaning to
+reside in the Province, and to permanently establish himself there. The
+land was situated in the southern part of the Upper Canadian peninsula,
+bordering on Lake Erie, and included the site of what afterwards became
+Port Talbot. This, however, was only a portion of the advantage
+derivable from the grant. In addition to the tract so conferred upon him
+he obtained a preëmptive or proprietary right over an immense territory
+including about half a million acres, and comprising twenty-eight of the
+adjacent townships.[2] For every settler placed by the Colonel on fifty
+acres of this land, he was entitled to a patent of a hundred and fifty
+additional acres for himself. He thus obtained practical control of an
+expanse of territory which, as has been said, was "a principality in
+extent." Armed with these formidable powers he once more crossed the
+Atlantic, and made his way to the present site of Port Talbot, which had
+so hugely attracted his fancy during his tour with Governor Simcoe. He
+reached the spot on the 21st of May, 1803, and immediately set to work
+with his axe, and cut down the first tree, to commemorate his landing to
+take possession of his woodland estate. The settlement which
+subsequently bore his name was then an unbroken forest, and there were
+no traces of civilization nearer than Long Point, sixty miles to the
+eastward, while to the westward the aborigines were still the lords of
+the soil, and rules with the tomahawk. In this sequestered region
+Colonel Talbot took up his abode, and literally made for himself "a
+local habitation and a name."
+
+At the time of his arrival he was accompanied by two or three stalwart
+settlers who had crossed the Atlantic under his auspices, and with their
+assistance he was not long in erecting an abode which was thenceforward
+known as Castle Malahide. It was built on a high cliff overhanging the
+lake. The "Castle" was "neither more nor less than a long range of low
+buildings, formed of logs and shingles." The main structure consisted of
+three divisions, or apartments; viz., a granary, which was also used as
+a store-room; a dining-room, which was also used as an office and
+reception-room for visitors; and a kitchen. There was another building
+close by, containing a range of bed-rooms, where guests could be made
+comfortable for the night. In his later years, the Colonel added a suite
+of rooms of more lofty pretensions, but without disturbing the old
+tenements, and these sumptuous apartments were reserved for state
+occasions. There were underground cellars for wine, milk, and kitchen
+stores. This description applies to the establishment as it appeared
+when finally completed. For some time after the Colonel's first arrival
+it was much less pretentious, and consisted of a single log shanty. In
+order to prevent settlers and other people from intruding upon his
+privacy unnecessarily, the Colonel caused one of the panes of glass in
+the window of his office to be removed, and a little door, swung upon
+hinges, to be substituted, after the fashion sometimes seen at rural
+post-offices. By means of this little swinging door he held conferences
+with all persons whom he did not chose to admit to a closer
+communication. This, which at a first glance, would seem to smack of
+superciliousness, was in reality nothing more than a judicious
+precaution. In the course of his dealings with settlers and emigrants,
+some of them were tempted, by the loneliness of his situation, to
+browbeat, and even to manifest violence towards him. On one occasion, it
+is said, he was assaulted and thrown down by one of the "land pirates,"
+as he used to call them. The solitary situation in which he had
+voluntarily placed himself, and the power he possessed of distributing
+lands, required him to act frequently with apparent harshness, in order
+to avoid being imposed upon by land jobbers, and to prevent artful men
+from overreaching their weaker-minded brethren. His henchman,
+house-steward and major-domo, was a faithful servant whose name was
+Jeffery Hunter, in whom his master had great confidence, and who, as we
+are gravely informed, was very useful in reaching down the maps.
+Jeffery, however, did not enter the Colonel's employ until the later had
+been some time in the country. Previous to that time this scion of
+aristocracy was generally compelled to be his own servant, and to cook,
+bake, and perform all the household drudgery, which he was not
+unfrequently compelled to perform in the presence of distinguished
+guests.
+
+Some years seem to have elapsed before the Colonel attracted any
+considerable number of settlers around him. The work of settlement
+cannot be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light
+thing in those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury
+himself in the remote wildernesses of Western Canada. There was no
+flouring-mill, for instance, within sixty miles of Castle Malahide. In
+the earliest years of the settlement the few residents were compelled to
+grind their own grain after a primitive fashion, in a mortar formed by
+hollowing out a basin in the stump of a tree with a heated iron. The
+grain was placed in the basin, and then pounded with a heavy wooden
+beetle until it bore some resemblance to meal. In process of time the
+Colonel built a mill in the township of Dunwich, not far from his own
+abode. It was a great boon to the settlement, but was not long in
+existence, having been destroyed during the American invasion in 1812.
+For the first twenty years of the Colonel's settlement, the hardships he
+as well as his settlers had to contend with were of no ordinary kind,
+and such only as could be overcome by industry and patient endurance.
+
+Colonel Talbot for many years exercised almost imperial sway over the
+district. He even provided for the wants of those in his immediate
+neighbourhood, and assembled them at his house on the first day of the
+week for religious worship. He read to them the services of the Church
+of England, and insured punctual attendance by sending the
+whiskey-bottle round among his congregation at the close of the
+ceremonial. Though never a religious man, even in the broadest
+acceptation of the term, he solemnized marriages and baptized the
+children. So that his government was, in the fullest and best sense,
+patriarchal. His method of transferring land was eminently simple and
+informal. No deeds were given, nor were any formal books of entry called
+into requisition. For many years the only records were sheet maps,
+showing the position of each separate lot enclosed in a small space
+within four black lines. When the terms of transfer had been agreed
+upon, the Colonel wrote the purchaser's name within the space assigned
+to the particular lot disposed of, and this was the only muniment of
+title. If the purchaser afterwards disposed of his lot, the vendor and
+vendee appeared at Castle Malahide, when, if the Colonel approved of the
+transaction, he simply obliterated the former purchaser's name with a
+piece of india-rubber, and substituted that of the new one.
+"Illustrations might be multiplied," says a contemporary Canadian
+writer, "of the peculiar way in which Colonel Talbot of Malahide
+discharged the duties he had undertaken to perform. There is a strong
+vein of the ludicrous running through these performances. We doubt
+whether transactions respecting the sale and transfer of real estate
+were, on any other occasion, or in any other place, carried on in a
+similar way. Pencil and india-rubber performances were, we venture to
+think, never before promoted to such trustworthy distinction, or called
+on to discharge such responsible duties as those which they described on
+the maps of which Jeffery and the dogs appeared to be the guardians.
+There is something irresistibly amusing in the fact that such an estate,
+exceeding half a million of acres, should have been disposed of in such
+a manner, with the help of such machinery, and, so far as we are aware,
+to the satisfaction of all concerned. It shows that a bad system
+faithfully worked is better than a good system basely managed."[3]
+
+During the American invasion of 1812-'13 and '14, Colonel Talbot
+commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of
+Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way
+to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people
+there were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a
+day or two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met
+his doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts
+from the American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and
+summoned the garrison to surrender. The place was not fortified, and the
+garrison consisted merely of a few farmers who had enrolled themselves
+in the militia under the temporary command of a Captain Patterson. A
+successful defence was out of the question and Colonel Talbot, who would
+probably have been deemed an important capture, quietly walked out of
+the back door as the invaders entered at the front. Some of the Indians
+saw the Colonel, who was dressed in homely, everyday garb, walking off
+through the woods, and were about to fire on him, when they were
+restrained by Captain Patterson, who begged them not to hurt the poor
+old fellow, who, he said, was the person who tended the sheep. This
+white lie probably saved the Colonel's life. The marauders, however,
+rifled the place, and carried off everything they could lay hands on,
+including some valuable horses and cattle. Colonel Talbot's gold,
+consisting of about two quart pots full, and some valuable plate,
+concealed under the front wing of the house, escaped notice. The
+invaders set fire to the grist mill, which was totally consumed, and
+this was a serious loss to the settlement generally.
+
+It was not till the year 1817 that anything like a regular store or shop
+was established in the settlement. Previous to that time the wants of
+the settlers were frequently supplied from the stores of Colonel Talbot,
+who provided necessaries for his own use, and for the men whom he
+employed. The Colonel was punctual in all his engagements, and
+scrupulously exact in all monetary transactions. The large sums he
+received for many years from the settlers were duly and properly
+accounted for to the Government. He would accept payment of his claims
+only in the form of notes on the Bank of Upper Canada, and persons
+having any money to pay him were always compelled to provide themselves
+accordingly. His accumulations were carefully stored in the place of
+concealment above referred to; and once a year he carried his wealth to
+Little York, and made his returns. This annual trip to Little York was
+made in the depth of winter, and was almost the only event that took him
+away from home, except on the two or three occasions when he visited the
+old country. He was accustomed to make the journey to the Provincial
+capital in a high box sleigh, clad in a sheepskin greatcoat which was
+known to pretty nearly every man in the settlement.
+
+Among the earliest settlers in the Talbot District was Mr. Mahlon
+Burwell, a land surveyor, who was afterwards better known as Colonel
+Burwell. He was of great assistance to Colonel Talbot, and became a
+privileged guest at Castle Malahide. He surveyed many of the townships
+in the Talbot District, and later on rose to a position of great
+influence in the Province. His industry and perseverance long enabled
+him to hold a high place in the minds of the people of the settlement,
+and he enjoyed the reflection of Colonel Talbot's high and benevolent
+character. He entered the Provincial Parliament, and for many years
+retained a large measure of public confidence. Another early settler in
+the District was the afterwards celebrated Dr. John Rolph, who took up
+his quarters on Catfish Creek in 1813. He was long on terms of close
+intimacy and friendship with Colonel Talbot, and in 1817 originated the
+Talbot Anniversary, to commemorate the establishment of the District,
+and to do honour to its Founder. This anniversary was held on the 21st
+of May, the Colonel's birthday, and was kept up without interruption for
+about twenty years. It was attended by every settler who could possibly
+get to the place of celebration, which was sometimes at Port Talbot, but
+more frequently at St. Thomas, after that place came into existence.
+Once only it was held at London. It is perhaps worth while mentioning
+that St. Thomas was called in honour of the Colonel's Christian name.
+Here the rustics assembled in full force to drink bumpers to the health
+of the Founder of the settlement, and to celebrate "the day, and all
+who honour it." The Colonel, of course, never failed to appear, and even
+after he had passed the allotted age of three score and ten, he always
+led off the first dance with some blooming maiden of the settlement.
+
+Practically speaking, there is no limit to the number of anecdotes which
+are rife to this day among the settlers of the Talbot District with
+respect to the Colonel's eccentricities and mode of life. On one
+occasion a person named Crandell presented himself at Castle Malahide,
+late in the evening, as an applicant for a lot of land. He was ushered
+into the Colonel's presence, when the latter turned upon him with a
+flushed and angry countenance, and demanded his money. The Colonel's
+aspect was so fierce, and the situation was so lonely, that Crandell was
+alarmed for his life, and forthwith surrendered all his capital. He was
+then led off by Jeffery to the kitchen, where he was comfortably
+entertained for the night. The next morning the Colonel settled his
+business satisfactorily, and returned him his money, telling him that he
+had taken it from him to prevent his being robbed by some of his
+rascally servants. On another occasion a pedantic personage who lived in
+the Township of Howard, and who spent much time in familiarizing himself
+with the longest words to be found in the Dictionary, presented himself
+before the Colonel, and began, in polysyllabic phrases, to lay a local
+grievance before him. The language employed was so periphrastic and
+pointless that the Colonel was at a loss to get at the meaning intended
+to be conveyed. After listening for a few moments with ill-concealed
+impatience, Talbot broke out with a profane exclamation, adding: "If you
+do not come down to the level of my poor understanding, I can do nothing
+for you." The man profited by the rebuke, and commenced in plain words,
+but in rather an ambiguous manner, to state that his neighbour was
+unworthy of the grant of land he had obtained, as he was not working
+well. "Come, out with it," said the Colonel, "for I see now what you
+would be at. You wish to oust your neighbour, and get the land for
+yourself." After enduring further characteristic expletives, the man
+took himself of incontinently. Although many of his settlers were native
+Americans, the Colonel had an aversion to Yankees, and used to say of
+them that they acquired property by whittling chips and barter--by
+giving a shingle for a blind pup, which they swopped for a goose, and
+then turned into a sheep. On another occasion, an Irishman, proud of his
+origin, and whose patronymic told at once that he was a son of the
+Emerald Isle, finding that he could not prevail with the Colonel on the
+score of being a fellow-countryman, resorted to rudeness, and, with more
+warmth than discretion, stood upon his pedigree, and told the Colonel
+that his family was as honourable, and the coat of arms as respectable
+and as ancient as that of the Talbots of Malahide. Jeffery and the dogs
+were always the last resource on such occasions. "My dogs don't
+understand heraldry," was the laconic retort, "and if you don't take
+yourself off, they will not leave a coat to your back."
+
+By the time the year 1826 came round, Colonel Talbot, in consequence of
+his exertions to forward the interests of his settlement, had begun to
+be very much straitened for means. He accordingly addressed a letter to
+Lord Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies in the Home Government, asking
+for some remuneration for his long and valuable services. In his
+application for relief we find this paragraph: "After twenty-three years
+entirely devoted to the improvement of the Western Districts of this
+Province, and establishing on their lands about 20,000 souls, without
+any expense for superintendence to the Government, or the persons
+immediately benefited; but, on the contrary, at a sacrifice of £20,000,
+in rendering them comfortable, I find myself entirely straitened, and
+now wholly without capital." He admitted that the tract of land he had
+received from the Crown was large, but added that his agricultural
+labours had been unproductive--a circumstance not much to be wondered at
+when it is borne in mind that his time was chiefly occupied in selling
+and portioning out the land. The Home Government responded by a grant of
+£400 sterling per annum. The pension thus conferred was not gratuitous,
+but by way of recompense for his services in locating settlers on the
+waste lands of the Crown. That he was entitled to such a recompense few,
+at the present day, will be found to deny. He was a father to his
+people, and, in the words of his biographer, "acted as the friend of the
+poor, industrious settler, whom he protected from the fangs of men in
+office who looked only to the fees."[4]
+
+In course of time the Colonel's place of abode at Port Talbot came to be
+a resort for distinguished visitors to Upper Canada, and the
+Lieutenant-Governors of the Province frequently resorted thither. The
+late Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson was a frequent and an
+honoured guest at Castle Malahide; and Colonel Talbot, in his turn,
+generally availed himself of the hospitality of the Chief Justice during
+his annual visits to Little York. Among scores of other distinguished
+visitors may be mentioned the Duke of Richmond, Sir Peregrine Maitland,
+Lord Aylmer and Sir John Colborne. Mrs. Jameson also visited the spot
+during her sojourn in this country just before the rebellion, and
+published the most readable account of it that has yet appeared.
+Speaking of the Colonel himself, she says: "This remarkable man is now
+about sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite
+of his rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and
+the primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has
+in his features, air, and deportment, that _something_ which stamps him
+gentleman. And that _something_ which thirty-four years of solitude have
+not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth--things of more
+consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than
+we are apt to allow. He must have been very handsome when young; his
+resemblance now to our royal family, particularly to the King, (William
+the Fourth,) is so very striking as to be something next to identity.
+Good-natured people have set themselves to account for this wonderful
+likeness in various ways, possible and impossible; but after a rigid
+comparison of dates and ages, and assuming all that latitude which
+scandal usually allows herself in these matters, it remains
+unaccountable. . . I had always heard and read of him as the 'eccentric'
+Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than of his
+benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his perseverance;
+but perhaps, according to the worldly nomenclature, these qualities come
+under the general head of 'eccentricity,' when devotion to a favourite
+object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. . . Colonel
+Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the
+completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and
+followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he
+saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in
+clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and
+axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty
+woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows,
+churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch
+of household economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on
+it." Of the château itself and its immediate surroundings, she says:
+"It" (the château) "is a long wooden building, chiefly of rough logs,
+with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I found
+suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those ferocious
+animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, and by some
+the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. This one, which
+had been killed in its attack on the fold or poultry-yard, was at least
+four feet in length, and glared on me from the rafters above, ghastly
+and horrible. The interior of the house contains several comfortable
+lodging-rooms; and one really handsome one, the dining-room. There is a
+large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable chimney. Around the house
+stands a vast variety of outbuildings, of all imaginable shapes and
+sizes, and disposed without the slightest regard to order or symmetry.
+One of these is the very log hut which the Colonel erected for shelter
+when he first 'sat down in the bush,' four-and-thirty years ago, and
+which he is naturally unwilling to remove. Many of these outbuildings
+are to shelter the geese and poultry, of which he rears an innumerable
+quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, looking over the wide blue lake, on
+which I have counted six schooners at a time with their white sails; on
+the left is Port Stanley. Behind the house lies an open tract of land,
+prettily broken and varied, where large flocks of sheep and cattle were
+feeding--the whole enclosed by beautiful and luxuriant woods, through
+which runs the little creek or river. The farm consists of six hundred
+acres; but as the Colonel is not quite so active as he used to be, and
+does not employ a bailiff or overseer, the management is said to be
+slovenly, and not so productive as it might be. He has sixteen acres of
+orchard-ground, in which he has planted and reared with success all the
+common European fruits, as apples, pears, plums, cherries, in abundance;
+but what delighted me beyond everything else was a garden of more than
+two acres, very neatly laid out and enclosed, and in which he evidently
+took exceeding pride and pleasure; it was the first thing he showed me
+after my arrival. It abounds in roses of different kinds, the cuttings
+of which he had brought himself from England in the few visits he had
+made there. Of these he gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented
+them to me with such an air as might have become Dick Talbot presenting
+a bouquet to Miss Jennings. We then sat down on a pretty seat under a
+tree, where he told me he often came to meditate. He described the
+appearance of the spot when he first came here, as contrasted with its
+present appearance, or we discussed the exploits of some of his
+celebrated and gallant ancestors, with whom my acquaintance was
+(luckily) almost as intimate as his own. Family and aristocratic pride I
+found a prominent feature in the character of this remarkable man. A
+Talbot of Malahide, of a family representing the same barony from father
+to son for six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a high value on
+his noble and unstained lineage; and, in his lonely position, the
+simplicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal
+pretensions a kind of poetical dignity. . . Another thing which gave a
+singular interest to my conversation with Colonel Talbot was the sort of
+indifference with which he regarded all the stirring events of the last
+thirty years. Dynasties rose and disappeared; kingdoms were passed from
+hand to hand like wine decanters; battles were lost and won;--he neither
+knew, nor heard, nor cared. No post, no newspaper brought to his
+forest-hut the tidings of victory and defeat, of revolutions of empires,
+or rumours of unsuccessful and successful war."
+
+The faithful servant, Jeffery Hunter, came in for a share of this
+clever woman's keen observation. "This honest fellow," she tells us,
+"not having forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a
+wife--and like the good knight in Chaucer, he did
+
+    'Upon his bare knees pray God him to send
+     A wife to last unto his life's end.'
+
+So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at
+hand--one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her
+virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel
+swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffery, who is a
+favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose
+increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help,
+seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the
+presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running
+about without let or hindrance."
+
+In politics Colonel Talbot was a Tory, but as a general rule he took no
+part in the election contests of his time. His servant Jeffery Hunter,
+however, who seems to have had a vote on his own account, was always
+despatched promptly to the polling-place to record his vote in favour of
+the Tory candidate. The Colonel was a Member of the Legislative Council,
+but he seldom or never attended the deliberations of that Body. During
+the Administration of Sir John Colborne, when the Liberals of Upper
+Canada fought the battles of Reform with such energy and vigour, the
+Colonel for a single campaign identified himself with the contest, and
+made what seems to have been rather an effective election speech on the
+platform at St. Thomas. He traced the history of the settlement, and
+referred to his own labours in a fashion which elicited tumultuous
+applause from the crowd. He deplored the spread of radical principles,
+and expressed his regret that some advocates of those principles had
+crept into the neighbourhood. The meeting passed a loyal address to the
+Crown, which was dictated by Colonel Talbot himself. This, so far as is
+known, was the only political meeting ever attended by him in this
+Province.
+
+The Colonel was nominally a member of the Church of England, and
+contributed liberally to its support, though, as may well be supposed,
+he was never eaten up by his zeal for episcopacy. By some people he was
+set down as a freethinker, and by others as a Roman Catholic. The fact
+is that the prevailing tone of his mind was not spiritual, and he gave
+little thought to matters theological. During the early years of the
+settlement, as we have seen, he was wont to read service to the
+assembled rustics on Sunday; but this custom was abandoned as soon as
+churches began to be accessible to the people of the neighbourhood; and
+after that time, though he was occasionally seen at church, he was not
+an habitual attendant at public worship. He was fond of good company,
+and liked to tell and listen to dubious stories "across the walnuts and
+the wine." A clergyman who officiated at a little church about five
+miles from Port Talbot was his frequent guest at dinner, until the
+Colonel's outrageous jokes and stories proved too much for the clerical
+idea of the eternal fitness of things. "It must," says his biographer,
+"have been rather a bold venture for a young clergyman to come in
+contact with a man of Colonel Talbot's wit and racy humour, and a man
+who would startle at the very idea of being priest ridden; in fact, who
+would be much more likely to saddle the priest. The reverend gentleman
+bore with him a long while, till at length finding that he was not
+making any progress with the old gentleman in a religious point of
+view--on the contrary, that his sallies of wit became more frequent and
+cutting--he left him to get to heaven without his assistance. Colonel
+Talbot was never pleased with himself for having said or done anything
+to provoke the displeasure of his reverend guest, but being in the habit
+at table, after dinner, of smacking his lips over a glass of good port,
+and cracking jokes, which extorted from his guest a half approving
+smile, he was tempted to exceed the bounds which religious or even
+chaste conversation would prescribe, and came so near proving _in vino
+veritas_, that the reverend gentleman would never revisit him, although
+I believe it was Colonel Talbot's earnest desire that he should."
+
+Bad habits, if not checked in season, have a tendency to grow worse. As
+the Colonel advanced in years his liking for strong drink increased to
+such an extent that the _in vino veritas_ stage was, we fear, reached
+pretty often. To such a state of things his solitary life doubtless
+conduced. He had an iron constitution, however, and it does not appear
+that his intemperate habits during the evening of his life materially
+shortened his days. He lived long enough to see the prosperity of his
+settlement fully assured. For many years prior to his death it appears
+to have been his cherished desire to bequeath his large estate to one of
+the male descendants of the Talbot family, and with this view he invited
+one of his sister's sons, Mr. Julius Airey, to come over from England
+and reside with him at Port Talbot. This young gentleman accordingly
+came to reside there, but the dull, monotonous life he was obliged to
+lead, and the Colonel's eccentricities, were ill calculated to engage
+the affections of a youth just verging on manhood; and after
+rusticating, without companions or equals in either birth or education,
+for some time, he returned to England and relinquished whatever claims
+he might consider he had on his uncle. Some years later a younger
+brother of Julius, Colonel Airey, Military Secretary at the Horse
+Guards, ventured upon a similar experiment, and came out to Canada with
+his family to live at Port Talbot. About this time the Colonel's health
+began seriously to fail, and his habits began to gain greater hold upon
+him than ever. As a necessary consequence he became crabbed and
+irritable. The uncle and nephew could not get on together. "The former,"
+says his biographer, "had been accustomed for the greater portion of his
+life to suit the convenience of his domestics, and, in common with the
+inhabitants of the country, to dine at noon; the latter was accustomed
+to wait for the buglecall, till seven o'clock in the evening. Colonel
+Talbot could, on special occasions, accommodate himself to the habits of
+his guests, but to be regularly harnessed up for the mess every day was
+too much to expect from so old a man; no wonder he kicked in the traces.
+He soon came to the determination of keeping up a separate
+establishment, and another spacious mansion was erected adjoining
+Colonel Airey's, where he might, he thought, live as he pleased. But all
+would not do, the old bird had been disturbed in his nest, and he could
+not be reconciled." He determined to leave Canada, and to end his days
+in the Old World. He transferred the Port Talbot estate, valued at
+£10,000, together with 13,000 acres of land in the adjoining township of
+Aldborough, to Colonel Airey. This transfer, however, left more than
+half of his property in his own hands, and he was still a man of great
+wealth. Acting on his determination to leave Canada, he started, in his
+eightieth year, for Europe. Upon reaching London, only a day's journey
+from Port Talbot, he was prostrated by illness, and was confined to his
+bed for nearly a month. He rallied, however, and resumed his journey. In
+due time he reached London the Greater. He was accompanied on the voyage
+by Mr. George McBeth, the successor to the situation of Jeffery Hunter,
+who had died some years before. McBeth had gained complete ascendancy
+over the Colonel's failing mind. Being a young man of some education,
+and a good deal of finesse, he was treated by his master as a companion
+rather than as a servant, and the latter merited his master's regard by
+nursing him with much care and attention.
+
+Colonel Talbot remained in London somewhat more than a year, during
+which period, as also during his previous visits to England, he renewed
+old associations with the friend of his youth, the great Duke. He was
+often the latter's guest at Apsley House, and the stern old hero of a
+hundred fights delighted in his society. London life, however, was
+distasteful to Colonel Talbot, and, after giving it a fair trial, he
+once more bade adieu to society and repaired to Canada--always attended
+assiduously by George McBeth. Upon reaching the settlement he took
+lodgings for himself and his companion in the house of Jeffery Hunter's
+widow. Here, cooped up in a small room, on the outskirts of the
+magnificent estate which was no longer his own, he received occasional
+visits from his old friends. Colonel Airey, meanwhile, had rented the
+Port Talbot property to an English gentleman named Saunders, and had
+returned to his post at the Horse Guards in England. Mr. Saunders had
+several daughters, to one of whom George McBeth paid assiduous court,
+and whom he afterwards married. Upon his marriage he removed to London,
+accompanied by Colonel Talbot, who resided with him until his death, on
+the 6th of February, 1853. When the Colonel's will was opened it was
+found that with the exception of an annuity of £20 to Jeffery Hunter's
+widow, all his vast estate, estimated at £50,000, had been left to
+George McBeth.
+
+The funeral took place on the 9th. On the previous day--the 8th--the
+body was conveyed in a hearse from London to Fingal, on the way to Port
+Talbot, so as to be ready for interment on the following morning. By
+some culpable neglect or mismanagement it was placed for the night in
+the barn or granary of the local inn. The settlers were scandalized at
+this indignity, and one of them begged, with tears in his eyes, that the
+body might be removed to his house, which was close by. The undertaker,
+who is said to have been under the influence of liquor, declined to
+accede to this request, and the body remained all night in the barn. On
+the following morning it was replaced in the hearse and conveyed to Port
+Talbot, where it rested for a short time within the walls of Castle
+Malahide. A few attached friends from London and other parts of the
+settlement attended the coffin to its place of sepulture in the
+churchyard at Tyrconnel. The officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr.
+Holland, read the service in a cutting wind, and the ceremony was ended.
+A plate on the oaken coffin bore the simple inscription:
+
+             THOMAS TALBOT,
+
+    FOUNDER OF THE TALBOT SETTLEMENT,
+
+        Died 6th February, 1853.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DAVID LAIRD, signed as D. LAIRD]
+
+
+THE HON. DAVID LAIRD,
+
+_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES._
+
+
+The Hon. David Laird is the fourth son of the late Hon. Alexander Laird,
+a Scottish farmer who, in the year 1819, emigrated from Renfrewshire to
+Prince Edward Island. The late Mr. Laird settled in Queen's County,
+about sixteen miles from Charlottetown, the capital of the Province, and
+devoted himself to agriculture. He was a man of high character and great
+influence, alike in political and social matters. For about sixteen
+years he represented the First District of Queen's County in the Local
+Assembly, and during one Parliamentary term of four years he was a
+member of the Executive Council. He was a colleague and supporter of the
+Hon. George Coles, who is called the father of Responsible Government in
+Prince Edward Island. He was one of the signatories to the petition
+forwarded by the Assembly to the Home Government in 1847, praying that
+Responsible Government might be conceded; and he had the satisfaction of
+sitting in the Assembly on the 25th of March, 1851, when Sir Alexander
+Bannerman, the Governor, announced that the prayer of the petition had
+been granted. He was also for many years one of the most active members
+of the Managing Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Prince
+Edward, an institution which did much for the advancement of
+agricultural industry in the Province, by encouraging the importation of
+improved stock, and by other similar operations.
+
+The subject of this sketch was born at the paternal home, near the
+village of New Glasgow, Queen's County, in the year 1833. He was
+educated at the district school of his native settlement, and afterwards
+entered the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Nova
+Scotia, which was then situated at Truro, in that Province. He completed
+his education at the Seminary, and soon afterwards embarked in
+journalism at Charlottetown, where he founded a newspaper called _The
+Patriot_. Under his editorship and business management this journal
+became, in the course of a few years, the leading organ of public
+opinion in Prince Edward Island. It advocated Liberal principles, and
+was conducted with much energy and ability. The editor had inherited
+Liberal ideas from his father, and spoke and wrote on behalf of them
+with great effect. After a time he became estranged from the leader of
+the Liberal Party, the chief cause of estrangement arising from the
+latter's having lent his countenance to some proceedings tending to
+exclude the Bible from the Common Schools. All minor causes of
+controversy, however, were cast into the shade by the great question of
+Confederation. After the close of the Quebec Conference in October,
+1864, Mr. Laird took a firm stand against the terms of the scheme agreed
+upon by the delegates, in so far as they related to his native Province.
+He assigned as his principal reasons for adopting this course the fact
+that the terms contained no proposal for the settlement of the Land
+Question, which had long been a sore grievance with the tenantry of the
+island; and the further fact that no provision was made for the
+construction of public works, although the island could be called upon
+to contribute its quota of taxation towards the Intercolonial Railway,
+the canals, and the Pacific Railway. He took an active part in the
+promotion of sanitary and other local improvements, and was for some
+years a member of the Charlottetown City Council. His first entry into
+Parliamentary life took place in 1871. The then-existing Government,
+under the leadership of the Hon. James Colledge Pope (the present
+Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Dominion Government), had
+carried a measure for the construction of the Prince Edward Island
+Railway, running nearly the entire length of the island. This project
+Mr. Laird had opposed, on the ground that it should have been first
+submitted to the people at the polls, and also because he regarded the
+undertaking as beyond the resources of the Province. The Government,
+however, had carried the Bill providing for the construction of the road
+through the House during the previous session, and the surveyors and
+Commissioners had been appointed. The Chairman of the Commissioners, the
+Hon. James Duncan, represented the constituency of Belfast in the
+Legislative Assembly, and was obliged to return to his constituents for
+reëlection after accepting office. Mr. Laird offered himself as a
+candidate in opposition to the Government nominee. His candidature was
+successful. The Commissioner was defeated, and Mr. Laird secured a seat
+in the Assembly. A good deal of dissatisfaction had been excited by the
+proceedings of the Local Government in connection with the construction
+of the road, the result being that Mr. Pope, when he next met the House,
+found he had lost the confidence of the majority, and being defeated, he
+dissolved the House and appealed to the country. The appeal was
+disastrous to his policy, a majority of the members returned being
+hostile to his Government. Among these was Mr. Laird, who was elected a
+second time for Belfast. A new Government was formed with Mr. R. P.
+Haythorne as Premier. During the following autumn Mr. Laird accepted
+office in this Government, and was sworn in as a Member of the Executive
+Council in November, 1872. Finding that if the railway were proceeded
+with on the credit of Prince Edward Island alone, the Provincial
+finances would be seriously embarrassed, the new Ministers responded
+favourably to an invitation from Ottawa to reconsider the question of
+Union. Mr. Laird formed one of the delegation which proceeded to Ottawa
+and negotiated terms of Union with the Dominion Government. After the
+return of the delegates the Local House was dissolved in order that the
+terms agreed upon might be submitted to the people. A good deal of
+finesse was practised by the Opposition, and various side issues were
+imported into the election contest. The result was the return of a
+majority hostile to Mr. Haythorne's Ministry, and Mr. Pope again
+succeeded to the reins of Government. Under his auspices the terms of
+Union were slightly modified, and Prince Edward Island entered
+Confederation.
+
+Mr. Laird had meanwhile succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal
+Party. The House did not divide, however, on the question of
+Confederation, and both Parties concurred in supporting the measure. Mr.
+Laird resigned his seat in the Local Legislature, and offered himself as
+a candidate for the House of Commons for the electoral district of
+Queen's County. He was returned by a large majority, and on the opening
+of the second session of the second Parliament of the Dominion, in
+October, 1873, he took his seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa. The
+Pacific Scandal disclosures followed, and Sir John A. Macdonald's
+Government made way for that of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In the new
+Administration Mr. Laird accepted the portfolio of Minister of the
+Interior, and was sworn into office on the 7th of November. Upon
+returning to his constituents in Queen's County he was returned by
+acclamation. He was again returned by acclamation at the general
+election of 1874. He retained his office of Minister of the Interior
+until the 7th of October, 1876, when he was appointed by the
+Governor-General to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-West
+Territories. This position he has ever since filled with the best
+results to the Dominion. During his tenure of office as Minister of the
+Interior he carried several important measures through Parliament,
+and--in the summer of 1874--effected an important Treaty with the
+Indians of the North-West, whereby he secured to the Crown the
+possession of a tract of 75,500 square miles in extent, and thus
+guaranteed the peaceable possession of a large portion of the route of
+the Canada Pacific Railway and its accompanying telegraph lines.
+
+In 1864 Mr. Laird married Mary Louisa, second daughter of the late Mr.
+Thomas Owen, who was for many years Postmaster-General of Prince Edward
+Island. An elder brother of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Alexander
+Laird, held office in the late Local Government of Prince Edward Island,
+and at present represents the Second District of Prince, in the Local
+Assembly.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE.
+
+
+The Bouchers and De Bouchervilles for over two hundred years have played
+no unimportant part in the history of Canada. Lieutenant-General Pierre
+Boucher, Sieur de Grobois, Governor of Three Rivers in 1653, the founder
+of the Seigniory of Boucherville, and a man of great influence in his
+day, was one of the most noted members of the family. The late Hon. P.
+Boucher de Boucherville, for many years a Legislative Councillor of
+Lower Canada, was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born
+at Boucherville, Province of Quebec, in 1820. He was educated at St.
+Sulpice College, Montreal. He subsequently went to Paris, pursued his
+studies in the medical profession there, and graduated with high
+honours. He has been married twice, first to Miss Susanne Morrogh,
+daughter of Mr. R. L. Morrogh, Advocate, of Montreal; and after her
+death, to Miss C. Luissier, of Varennes. In 1861 he was elected to the
+House of Assembly for the county of Chambly. He continued to represent
+this constituency until 1867, when he entered the Legislative Council,
+and became a member of Mr. Chauveau's Ministry, with the office of
+Speaker of the Council, which position he held until February, 1873. On
+the reconstruction of the Cabinet, September 22nd, 1874, he was
+entrusted with the formation of a Ministry. This duty he accomplished
+successfully, taking for himself the portfolio of Secretary and
+Registrar, and Minister of Public Instruction. On the 27th January,
+1876, he changed his portfolio for that of Agriculture and Public Works.
+In February, 1879, he was called to the Senate, an honour which he
+accepted without resigning his seat in the Legislative Council.
+
+The De Boucherville Ministry remained in power until the 4th of March,
+1878, when it was summarily dismissed by the Hon. Luc Letellier de St.
+Just, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, for reasons which appeared to
+him to be just. The facts with reference to this matter have been
+detailed in the sketch of the life of Mr. Letellier, contained in the
+first volume of this work. On the refusal of Mr. De Boucherville to name
+a successor, Mr. Letellier called in the Hon. Henri Gustave Joly of
+Lotbinière, and invited him to form a Ministry. In October, 1879, the
+ex-Premier and his friends succeeded in defeating the Liberal
+Government. A Conservative Ministry was formed, in whose councils,
+however, Mr. De Boucherville has taken no part, though his efforts to
+drive from power the Liberal Administration were conspicuously displayed
+in the Upper Chamber of the Province. He is a good speaker, precise,
+moderate and adroit. He is skilful in defence and equally skilful in
+attack. His administrative capacity is considerable, and the duties of
+the several offices which he has held at various intervals, have been
+ably and industriously performed.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SAMUEL NELLES, signed as S. S. NELLES]
+
+
+THE REV. SAMUEL NELLES, D.D., LL.D.,
+
+_PRESIDENT OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, COBOURG._
+
+
+Dr. Nelles's life, like that of most men of purely scholastic pursuits,
+has been comparatively uneventful, and does not form a very fruitful
+field for biographical purposes. It has, however, been an eminently
+useful one, and has been attended with results most beneficial to the
+educational establishment with which his name has long been associated,
+and over which he has presided for a continuous period of thirty years.
+He is of German descent, on both the paternal and maternal sides. His
+paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany to the State of New York
+sometime during the last century, and settled in the historic valley of
+the Mohawk, where some of their descendants still reside. There Dr.
+Nelles's father, the late Mr. William Nelles, was born, and there he
+passed the early years of his life. He married Miss Mary Hardy, who was
+also of German stock on the mother's side, and was born in the State of
+Pennsylvania. By this lady he had a numerous family, the eldest son
+being the subject of this sketch. The parents emigrated from New York
+State to Upper Canada soon after the close of the War of 1812-15, and
+devoted themselves to farming pursuits. The Doctor was born at the
+family homestead, in the quiet little village of Mount Pleasant--known
+to the Post Office Department as Mohawk--in what is now the township of
+Brantford, in the county of Brant, about five miles south-west of the
+present city of Brantford, on the 17th of October, 1823. At the present
+day, the schools of Mount Pleasant will bear comparison with those of
+many places of much larger population; but fifty years ago, when young
+Samuel Nelles was in attendance there, they were like most other schools
+in the rural districts of Upper Canada--that is to say, they afforded no
+facilities for anything beyond a very rudimentary educational training.
+Such as they were, however, they furnished the only means of instruction
+at his command until he had entered upon his seventeenth year. Previous
+to that time he had lived at home, attending school and assisting his
+father in farm work. He had, however, displayed great fondness for
+study, and had, by dint of his natural ability and steady application,
+made greater progress than could have been made by any boy who was not
+possessed by an ardent thirst for knowledge. His parents accordingly
+resolved that he should have an opportunity of following out the natural
+bent of his mind. In 1839 he was placed at Lewiston Academy, in the
+State of New York, where he spent an industrious year, and where he had
+for a tutor the brilliant, witty and humorous John Godfrey Saxe. Mr.
+Saxe was not then known to the world as a poet, but he was an
+accomplished philologist, and was reading for the Bar. He had just
+graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and was teaching
+_belles-lettres_ in the Lewiston Academy contemporaneously with the
+prosecution of his legal studies. In October, 1840, young Nelles
+transferred himself to an academy at Fredonia, in Chautauqua county,
+N.Y., where he remained ten months. In the following October (1841) he
+entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, N.Y., where he devoted
+his time chiefly to Classics, Mathematics, English Literature and
+Criticism. Having spent a profitable year at Lima, he entered Victoria
+College, Cobourg--which was then under the Presidency of the Rev.
+Egerton Ryerson--in the autumn of 1842. He was one of the first two
+matriculated students at the institution, which had just been
+incorporated as a University. After an Arts course of two years at
+Victoria College, and a year spent in study at home, he attended for
+some time at the University of Middletown, Connecticut, where he
+graduated as B.A. in 1846. He then spent a year as a teacher in Canada,
+and took charge of the Newburgh Academy, in the county of Lennox. In
+June, 1847, he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church,
+and was placed in charge of a congregation at Port Hope, where he
+remained for a year. He was then transferred to the old Adelaide Street
+Church, Toronto, where he laboured for two years. Thence he was
+transferred to London, but had only resided there about three months
+when, in the month of September, 1850, he was appointed President of
+Victoria College. This important and responsible position he has held
+ever since.
+
+At the time of his taking office, the institution was by no means in a
+flourishing condition. It was carried on under circumstances of great
+difficulty and embarrassment, and had a competent administrator not been
+found to take charge of it, its future would have been very
+problematical. An improvement in its condition, however, was perceptible
+from the time when Mr. Nelles took the management. It has continued to
+prosper ever since, and has long ago taken rank among the most
+noteworthy educational institutions in the Dominion. At the time of
+Professor Nelles's appointment there was only a single
+Faculty--Arts--and the attendance was very small. The teachers were only
+five in number. The Professor's vigorous administration soon effected a
+marked change for the better. In 1854 the Faculty of Medicine was added.
+It at first embraced only one medical college, which was presided over
+for many years by the late Dr. Rolph. In process of time a second
+institution, L'École de Médecine et de Chirurgie, Montreal, became
+affiliated, and still continues to hold the same relationship to the
+University. A Law Faculty was added in 1862, and in 1872 a Faculty of
+Theology.
+
+When Professor Nelles became President he at the same time became
+Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Logic, and the Evidences of
+Religion. These subjects he has continued to teach ever since, with the
+addition, since 1872, of Homiletics. He has devoted his life to the task
+of building up the institution, and has been ably seconded by the staff
+of teachers whom he has from time to time gathered about him. Until
+comparatively recent times there was no endowment fund, and the College
+had to depend for its support solely on tuition fees, on the annual
+contributions of the ministers and people of the Wesleyan Methodist
+Body, and on a Parliamentary grant which Victoria College, in common
+with other denominational schools, had been wont to receive. After
+Confederation, all grants to denominational colleges were discontinued,
+and Victoria College was left almost entirely unprovided for. At a
+meeting of the Methodist Conference it was proposed by President Nelles
+that an appeal should be made to the people for contributions to an
+endowment fund. The proposal was adopted by the Conference, and the Rev.
+Dr. Punshon, who was then resident in Canada, took an active personal
+interest in the movement. He contributed $3,000 out of his own pocket,
+and made a personal tour through part of Ontario, holding public
+meetings, whereby a sum of $50,000 was secured. Several other Methodist
+ministers followed his example, and the fund steadily increased. In
+1873, however, the amount was still insufficient, and the Rev. Joshua H.
+Johnson was appointed by the Conference to make further collections. Mr.
+Johnson entered upon his task, and pursued it with great vigour. His
+efforts were supplemented by a munificent bequest of $30,000 from the
+late Mr. Edward Jackson, of Hamilton. The requisite amount was
+eventually obtained, and the future of Victoria College secured.
+
+The erection of Faraday Hall, at a cost of $25,000, chiefly for
+Scientific purposes, marks a new epoch in the history of Victoria
+College. This Hall was formally opened on the 29th of May, 1878. Dr.
+Haanel, a distinguished German Professor, was placed in charge of the
+scientific department, and the results of his teaching are already
+apparent in an awakened interest in scientific matters displayed by the
+students of the College.
+
+Upon the whole, Dr. Nelles may well be pardoned if he looks back upon
+his thirty years' Presidency of Victoria College with a considerable
+degree of complacency. To him, more than to anyone else, is due its
+present state of prosperity and enlarged efficiency. He has also taken a
+warm interest in educational matters unconnected with the College, and
+his influence is perceptibly felt in all the local schools. He was for
+two successive years elected President of the Teachers' Association of
+Ontario, and his views on all matters pertaining to public instruction
+are held in high respect.
+
+Dr. Nelles was chosen a delegate to represent the Canadian Conference at
+the General Methodist Conference held at Philadelphia in 1864, at the
+New Brunswick Conference of 1866, and at the English Wesleyan Conference
+held at Newcastle in 1873. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by the University of Queen's College, Kingston, in
+1860. His Doctor's degree in Law was conferred upon him in 1873 by the
+University of Victoria College. He is the author of a popular text-book
+on Logic, and has frequently contributed to periodical literature. He
+enjoys high repute as a lecturer, more especially on educational
+subjects; and his sermons, some of which have been published, are said
+to be of an exceptionally high order.
+
+On the 3rd of July, 1851, he married Miss Mary B. Wood, daughter of the
+Rev. Enoch Wood, of Toronto, by whom he has a family of five children.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE.
+
+
+The late Chancellor Blake, one of the most distinguished jurists that
+ever sat on the Canadian Bench, was a member of an Irish family, known
+as the Blakes of Cashelgrove, in the county of Galway. The family was
+well connected and stood high among the county magnates. Sometime about
+the middle of the last century, Dominick Edward Blake, its chief
+representative, married the Hon. Miss Netterville, daughter of Lord
+Netterville, of Drogheda. After her death, he married a second wife, who
+was a daughter of Sir Joseph Hoare, Baronet, of Annabella, in the county
+of Cork. By this lady he had four sons, one of whom, christened Dominick
+Edward, after his father, took orders as a clergyman of the Church of
+England, and became Rector and Rural Dean of Kiltegan and
+Loughbrickland. This gentleman married Miss Anne Margaret Hume, eldest
+daughter of Mr. William Hume, of Humewood, M.P. for the county of
+Wicklow. During the progress of the rebellion of 1798, Mr. Hume sent his
+children to Dublin for safety, and took personal command of a corps of
+yeomanry raised in his county. He fell a victim to his loyalty, and was
+shot near his own residence at Humewood by some rebels of whom he was in
+pursuit. Lord Charlemont, in a published letter, alluded to this
+deplorable event as "the murder of Hume, the friend and favourite of his
+country," and characterized it as an "example of atrocity which exceeded
+all that went before it."
+
+William Hume Blake, the subject of this memoir, was the grandson and
+namesake of the unfortunate gentleman above referred to, and was one of
+the fruits of the marriage of his father, the Rev. D. E. Blake, to Miss
+Hume. He was born at the Rectory, at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, on the
+10th of March, 1809. He was the second son of his parents, his elder
+brother, Dominick Edward, being named in honour of his father and
+paternal grandfather. The elder brother emulated his father's example,
+and became a clergyman of the Church of England. The younger, after
+receiving his education at Trinity College, Dublin, studied surgery
+under Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton. Surgery, however, was not
+much to his taste. The accompaniments of that profession--notably the
+coarse jokes and experiments which he was daily called upon to encounter
+in the dissecting-room--proved at last so repulsive to his nature that
+he abandoned surgery altogether, and entered upon a course of
+theological study with a view to entering the Church. His studies had
+not proceeded far, however, before he and his elder brother determined
+to emigrate to Canada. This determination was carried out in the summer
+of 1832. A short time before leaving his native land, the younger
+brother married his cousin, Miss Catharine Hume, the granddaughter--as
+he himself was the grandson--of the William Hume whose tragical death
+has already been recorded. This lady, who shared alike the struggles
+and triumphs of her distinguished husband till the close of his earthly
+career, still survives.
+
+The Blake brothers were induced to emigrate to this country, partly
+because their prospects at home were not particularly bright, partly in
+consequence of the strong inducements held out by the then
+Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. The
+representations of Major Jones, the elder brother's father-in-law,
+doubtless contributed something to the result. The Major was a retired
+officer who had served in this country during the war of 1812-'13-'14,
+and had taken part in the battles of Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane.
+He was fond of fighting his battles over again by his own fireside and
+that of his son-in-law. He was never weary of enlarging on the beauty
+and primitive wildness of Canadian scenery, the pleasures and freedom
+from conventionality of a life spent in the backwoods, and the brilliant
+prospects awaiting young men of courage, energy, endurance, and ability,
+in the wilds of Upper Canada. The Blake brothers were Irishmen, and were
+gifted with the national vividness of imagination. They doubtless
+pictured to themselves the delights of "a lodge in some vast
+wilderness," where game of all sorts was abundant, and where game laws
+had no existence. They had of course no adequate conception of the
+struggles and trials incident to pioneer life. They were not alone in
+their notions about Canada. Many of their friends and acquaintances
+about this time became imbued with a desire to emigrate, and upon taking
+counsel together they found that there were enough of them to form a
+small colony by themselves. Having made all necessary arrangements they
+chartered a vessel--the _Ann_, of Halifax--and sailed for the St.
+Lawrence in the month of July, 1832. Among the friends and relations of
+the brothers Blake embarked on board were their mother, who had been
+left a widow; their sister and her husband, the late Archdeacon Brough;
+the late Mr. Justice Connor; the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, late Bishop of
+Huron; and the Rev. Mr. Palmer, Archdeacon of Huron. After a six weeks'
+voyage they reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence, whence by slow
+degrees they made their way to Little York, as the Upper Canadian
+capital was then called. Here they remained until the following spring,
+when they divided their forces. Some of them remained in York;
+others--including Mr. Connor and Mr. Brough--proceeded northward to the
+township of Oro, on Lake Simcoe; and others settled on the Niagara
+peninsula. The elder Blake had meanwhile been appointed by the
+Lieutenant-Governor to a Rectory in the township of Adelaide, and there
+he accordingly pitched his tent. His brother, the subject of this
+sketch, purchased a farm in the same part of the country, at a place on
+Bear Creek--now called Sydenham River--near the present site of the
+village of Katesville, or Mount Hope, in the county of Middlesex. He
+then had an opportunity of realizing the full delights of a life in the
+Canadian backwoods. "With whatever romantic ideas of the delights of
+such a life Mr. Hume Blake had determined on making Canada his home,"
+says a contemporary Canadian author, "they were soon dispelled by the
+rough experiences of the reality. The settler in the remotest section of
+Ontario to-day has no conception of the struggles and hardships that
+fell to the lot of men who, accustomed to all the refinements of life,
+found themselves cut off from all traces of civilization in a land,
+since settled and cultivated, but then so wild that between what are now
+populous cities there existed only an Indian trail through the forest.
+Mr. Blake was not a man to be easily discouraged, but soon found that
+his talents were being wasted in the wilderness. In after years he was
+fond of telling of the rude experiences of life in the bush, and among
+other incidents how that he had, on one occasion, walked to the
+blacksmith's shop before mentioned to obtain a supply of harrow-pins,
+and, finding them too heavy to carry, had fastened them to a chain,
+which he put round his neck, and so dragged them home through the
+woods."
+
+It was during the residence of the family at Bear Creek that the eldest
+son, Edward, was born,[5] but he was not destined to receive his
+educational training amid such surroundings. While he was still an
+infant the family removed to Toronto. A life in the backwoods had been
+tried, and was found to be unsuited to the genius and ambition of a man
+like William Hume Blake. He had tried surgery, divinity, and
+agriculture, and had not taken kindly to any of those pursuits. He now
+resolved to attempt the law, and commenced his legal studies in the
+office of the late Mr. Washburn, a well-known lawyer in those days.
+During the troubles of 1837 he was, we believe, for a short time
+paymaster of a battalion, but fortunately there was no occasion for his
+active services. In 1838 he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, and
+was not long in making his way to a foremost position. His rivals at the
+Bar were among the foremost counsel who have ever practised in this
+Province, and included Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice) Draper, Mr.
+(afterwards Judge) Sullivan, Mr. Henry John Boulton, Mr. (now Chief
+Justice) Hagarty, Robert Baldwin, Henry Eccles, and John Hillyard
+Cameron. Mr. Blake soon proved his ability to hold his own against all
+comers. He enjoyed some personal advantages which stood him in good
+stead, both while he was fighting his way and afterwards. His tall,
+handsome person, and fine open face, his felicitous language, and bold
+manly utterance gained him at once the full attention of both Court and
+Jury; and his vigorous grasp of the whole case under discussion, his
+acute, logical dissection of the evidence, and the thorough earnestness
+with which he always threw himself into his client's case, swept
+everything before them. In the days when such men as Draper, Sullivan,
+Baldwin and Eccles were at the Bar, it was something to stand among the
+foremost. Mr. Blake became associated in business with Mr. Joseph C.
+Morrison--now one of the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench--and some
+years later, his relative, the late Dr. Connor, who in 1863 became one
+of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, entered the firm. Business
+poured in, and the number of Mr. Blake's briefs increased in almost
+geometrical proportion. His arguments were of due weight with the judges
+of those times, but with juries his force was irresistible. Many
+incidents have been related of his forensic triumphs. Among other cases
+recorded by the writer already quoted from, that of Kerby vs. Lewis
+occupies a conspicuous place. The question at issue was Mr. Kerby's
+right to monopolize a ferry communication between Fort Erie and some
+point on the American shore. This right the defendant contested, and
+employed Mr. Blake to conduct his case. The judges appear to have leaned
+strongly to the side of the plaintiff, and granted a succession of new
+trials, as, on each occasion, Mr. Blake's telling appeals to their
+sympathy with the defendant, as the champion of free intercourse between
+the two countries, extorted from the juries a verdict in favour of his
+client. It is said that the Court finally refused to grant any further
+new trials in sheer hopelessness of any jury being found to reverse the
+original finding.
+
+Another proof of his energy and ingenuity was given in the Webb arson
+case, which made a considerable noise at the time. Webb was the owner
+of a shoe store in Toronto. Having on more than one occasion obtained
+compensation from fire insurance companies for losses he had sustained,
+suspicion was excited against him, and, on another fire occurring, the
+companies decided on prosecuting. Webb retained Mr. Blake. The theory of
+the defence was that a stove-pipe from the adjoining store, which
+connected with Webb's premises, had become heated, and had ignited some
+"rubbers" hanging in the vicinity. The prosecution denied that "rubbers"
+were combustible in any such sense as the defence represented. To put
+his theory beyond a doubt, Mr. Blake, on the evening before the trial,
+had set his two boys, Edward and Samuel, to look up every piece of
+information they could obtain from encyclopaedias or other sources as to
+the properties of rubber. Then an old pair of "rubbers" was procured,
+experiments were engaged in, and both father and sons were occupied
+during the greater part of the night in their investigations, to the no
+small discomfort of the other members of the household. When the trial
+came on next day, after the case for the prosecution had been presented,
+Mr. Blake began his defence. He dissected the prosecutor's evidence with
+an amazing fund of irony and sarcasm, and requested the jury to place as
+little reliance on the general testimony for the prosecution as they
+would soon do on the theory of "rubbers" being non-combustible. Then a
+candle and a pair of old "rubbers" were produced; a few strips cut from
+the latter were held in the flame, and the interested crowd of
+spectators saw them burn. The jury accepted this as sufficient, at all
+events, to cast doubts on the whole case against the prisoner, and Webb
+was acquitted.
+
+The "Markham gang," as they were called, are still well remembered by
+the older inhabitants of Toronto and the adjoining country. In several
+of the prosecutions arising out of the outrages of the gang, Mr. Blake
+was defending counsel, and invested the defence with additional
+interest, in the eyes of the legal profession, by raising the question
+of the admissibility of the evidence of an accomplice. Another case
+which showed the earnestness and conscientiousness of Mr. Blake, who
+prosecuted, was the trial of two persons--a man named McDermott and a
+girl named Grace Marks--charged with the murder of Mr. Kinnear and his
+housekeeper, near Richmond Hill, in the year 1843.[6] Not content with
+secondhand information, the hard-working lawyer devoted the only holiday
+which intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the trial to
+a careful and minute examination of the house and premises where the
+murder had occurred, so that in going into court he had the most perfect
+familiarity with every detail connected with the crime. The prisoners
+were convicted; the man suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the
+woman, who was reprieved, was only liberated from the Penitentiary after
+an incarceration of twenty years. No man could more readily seize hold
+of the salient points of a case presented to him; few could make so much
+out of a small and apparently insignificant point; but no one ever made
+the business before him the subject of more patient study or more
+exhaustive attention. Honourable and high-minded himself, he sought to
+inspire those about him with the same feelings. He endeavoured at all
+times to encourage a gentlemanly bearing in the young men who studied
+under him, and would tolerate nothing inconsistent with perfect fairness
+and honesty in transacting the business of the office.
+
+Mr. Blake and his partners were all active members of the Liberal Party.
+In the early contests for Municipal Institutions, National Education,
+Law Reform and all progressive measures, they took an earnest part--and
+in the struggle with Lord Metcalfe and his Tory abettors for the
+establishment of British Parliamentary Government in Canada, they did
+excellent service to the popular cause. Mr. Blake, at the general
+election of 1844, was the Reform candidate for the second Riding of
+York--now the county of Peel--but was defeated by a narrow majority on
+the second day of polling by his Tory opponent, Mr. George Duggan. A
+little later, he contested unsuccessfully the county of Simcoe, in
+opposition to the Hon. W. B. Robinson. At the general election of 1847,
+while absent in England, he was returned by a large majority for the
+East Riding of York--now the county of Ontario. The result of that
+election was the entire overthrow of the Conservative Government, and
+the accession of the Liberal Party to power, under Messrs. Baldwin and
+Lafontaine, on the 10th of March, 1848. Mr. Blake became
+Solicitor-General under the new arrangement, and was duly reëlected for
+East York. Then followed the struggle over the famous Rebellion Losses
+Bill. In that contest Mr. Blake took an active part in support of Lord
+Elgin, who was so outrageously treated by the Opposition leaders in
+Parliament, and by the mob of Montreal that followed in their wake. For
+his powerful advocacy of the Governor-General, and his scathing
+diatribes against the tactics of the Opposition, he was fiercely
+denounced by the Conservative leaders. So far was this denunciation
+carried that a hostile meeting between Mr. Blake and Mr. Macdonald--the
+present Sir John A. Macdonald--was only prevented by the interference of
+the Speaker of the House. The Opposition press, without the slightest
+justification, published articles in which the writers professed to
+believe that Mr. Blake was wanting in courage, and afraid to meet his
+antagonist in the field. The _Globe_, which was the organ of the
+Government in those days, replied in a spirit which did it honour. In an
+article written by the late Mr. Brown himself, and published in the
+_Globe_ on the 28th of March, 1849, we find these words: "The repeated
+insinuations against the courage of Mr. Blake, to use the ordinary
+phrase, are as untrue as they are base and ungenerous. We are quite
+aware of all the circumstances of what was so near leading to one of
+those transactions called affairs of honour. We know, and we state it
+with regret, that there was, on Mr. Blake's part, no wish to shrink from
+the consequences of the intended affair, but a great anxiety to meet it.
+We would have thought it far more creditable to him, and far more
+becoming the station he holds in the councils of the Province, if he had
+exhibited that higher courage which would shrink from being concerned in
+an affair which, however it may be glossed over by the sophistry and the
+practice of the world, is a crime of the deepest dye against the law of
+God and the well-being of society."
+
+The Court of Chancery for Upper Canada had been for years a mark for
+scorn and derision on account of the personal deficiencies of Mr.
+Vice-Chancellor Jameson, and the lack of organization in the whole
+Chancery system. The Baldwin-Lafontaine Government undertook the reform
+of the Court, increased the number of Judges to three, and gave it the
+improved system of procedure which has earned for the Court its present
+efficiency and popularity. When the measure became law, the question
+arose as to who should be appointed to the seats on the Bench that had
+been created. There was but one answer in the profession. Mr. Blake was
+universally pointed out as the man best fitted for the post of
+Chancellor. He accepted the Chancellorship of Upper Canada on the 30th
+of September, 1849, which he continued to fill until the 18th of March,
+1862, when failing health compelled him to retire. There were not
+wanting political opponents who declared that Mr. Blake had created the
+office that he might fill it; but all who knew the man and the position
+in which he stood were aware that it was with extreme reluctance he
+accepted the place. As his great judicial talents came to be recognized
+the voice of the slanderer ceased, and the services which he rendered on
+the Bench will, we doubt not, be now heartily acknowledged by all
+parties. Mr. Jameson for a short time continued to sit on the Bench as
+Vice-Chancellor, side by side with Mr. Blake. In the month of December,
+1850, he was permitted to retire on a pension of £750 a year.
+
+Mr. Blake, while at the Bar, held for a number of years the position of
+Professor of Law in the University of Toronto, but resigned it when he
+became Solicitor-General. He took a deep interest in all the affairs of
+the University, of which he was for a long time the able and popular
+Chancellor.
+
+Afflicted with gout in its most distressing form, Mr. Blake, after his
+retirement from the Bench, sought relief from his sufferings in milder
+climes. He returned to Canada in 1869, but it was evident that his end
+was not far distant. He died in Toronto, on the 17th of November, 1870.
+The late Chancellor Vankoughnet paid an eloquent tribute to his memory.
+"With an intellect fitting him to grasp more readily than most men the
+whole of a case," said Mr. Vankoughnet, "he was yet most patient and
+painstaking in the investigation of every case heard before him. He
+never spared himself; but was always most careful that no suitor should
+suffer wrong through any lack of diligence on his part. He had,
+moreover--what every Equity judge should have--a high appreciation of
+the duties and functions of the Court--of the mission, if I may so term
+it, of a Court of Equity in this country: not to adjudicate drily upon
+the case before the Court, but so to expound the principles of Equity
+Law as to teach men to deal justly and equitably between themselves. I
+have reason to believe that such expositions of the principles upon
+which this Court acts have had a salutary influence upon the country;
+and Mr. Blake, in the able and lucid judgments delivered by him,
+contributed largely to this result. He always bore in mind that to which
+the present Lord Chancellor of England gave expression in one of his
+judgments--'The standard by which parties are tried here, either as
+trustees or corporations, or in various other relations which may be
+suggested, is a standard, I am thankful to say, higher than the standard
+of the world.'"
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.
+
+
+The life of the late Dr. Topp, like the lives of most members of his
+sacred calling, was comparatively uneventful. He was born at
+Sheriffmill, a farm-house near the historic old town of Elgin, in
+Morayshire, Scotland, in the year 1815. He was educated at the Elgin
+Academy, the present representative of the old Grammar School of the
+burgh, and an establishment of much local repute. Thence, in his
+fifteenth year, he passed to King's College, Aberdeen--an institution
+affiliated with the University--where he passed through a very
+creditable course, winning one of the highest scholarships, and
+retaining it for four years. In 1836, immediately upon attaining his
+majority, he received a license to preach, and was appointed assistant
+to the minister of one of the churches in Elgin. This minister soon
+afterwards died, leaving the pastorate vacant. The abilities and zeal of
+his young assistant had made themselves recognized, and it was thought
+desirable that the latter should succeed to the vacant charge. The
+appointment was hedged in with certain restrictions, and was at the
+disposal of Government. A petition from the congregation and from the
+Town Council was successful, and Mr. Topp was inducted into the charge.
+Upon the disruption in 1843 he seceded from the Establishment, and
+carried over with him nearly the entire congregation, which erected a
+new church and manse for him. He continued in this charge until 1852,
+when he removed to Edinburgh, having accepted a pressing call from the
+Roxburgh Church there. Here he continued to minister for about six
+years, during which period his congregation increased to such an extent
+as to render the accommodation insufficient. A project for erecting a
+new and larger church was set on foot, but before it had been fully
+matured Mr. Topp had accepted a call from the congregation of Knox
+Church, Toronto. This was in 1858. Two years before that date he had
+received a pressing call from the same quarter, which he had then
+thought proper to decline. At the time of entering upon his charge in
+Toronto the membership of Knox Church was only about three hundred.
+Under his ministry there was a steadily perceptible increase, and at the
+time of his death the membership was in the neighbourhood of seven
+hundred. His abilities commanded recognition beyond the limits of his
+own congregation, and he steadily won his way to position and influence
+in the community. In 1868 he was elected Moderator of the General
+Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, and thus afforded the first
+instance of a unanimous nomination by the various Presbyteries to that
+office. He took a prominent part in the movement to bring about the
+Union between the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland,
+and the successful realization of that project was in no small degree
+due to his exertions. In 1876 he was elected Moderator to the General
+Assembly of the United Church. His doctor's degree was conferred upon
+him in 1870 by the University of Aberdeen, where he had been so
+successful a student forty years previously.
+
+For several years prior to his death Dr. Topp's constitution had given
+unmistakable symptoms of having become seriously impaired. In the autumn
+of 1877 his physicians acquainted him with the fact that he was
+suffering from a mortal disease--organic disease of the heart--but it
+was not supposed that the malady had made such progress as to endanger
+his life for some years to come. In the early summer of 1879 he paid a
+visit to his native land, and of course spent some time in Elgin,
+renewing the pleasant associations of his youth. He received many
+pressing overtures to preach, but the state of his health formed a
+sufficient excuse for his declining. One Sunday, however, contrary to
+the advice of a local medical practitioner, he consented to occupy the
+pulpit, and preached a long and vigorous sermon to his old congregation.
+His audience was very large, and his nervous system was naturally
+wrought up to a high pitch. It is believed that his efforts on that
+occasion materially shortened his life. Immediately after his return to
+his home in Toronto he sent in his resignation as pastor of Knox Church,
+but it had not been accepted ere the shades of death closed around him.
+
+The end came more suddenly than had been anticipated. He passed away on
+the 6th of October, 1879, while reclining on a sofa in the house of one
+of his parishioners. His death was very calm, and apparently free from
+all pain. He left behind him a name which will long be borne in
+affectionate remembrance by the members of the Presbyterian Church in
+Canada. He was kind and gentle in his demeanour, and was loved the most
+by them who knew him best. At the time of his death he had been pastor
+of Knox Church for more than twenty-one years, during the greater part
+of which he had laboured assiduously in all the various fields connected
+with his sacred calling. He was open-handed in his charities, and was an
+invaluable consoler in the sick-room. He literally died in harness, for
+death came upon him while he was paying a pastoral visit to a member of
+his congregation.
+
+The _Canada Presbyterian_, which may be presumed to reflect the opinions
+of Canadian Presbyterians generally, concluded an obituary notice
+written immediately after his death in the following words: "The name of
+Dr. Topp will never be forgotten in this country. While we regret that
+he has so suddenly been called away, we rejoice that in his case there
+are left to us so many happy remembrances of a useful and honourable
+career, and that he has bequeathed to the youthful ministry of the
+Church the example of a brave and faithful servant of Christ."
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY.
+
+
+Since Confederation the Hon. Mr. Joly has occupied a prominent position
+in the politics of the Province of Quebec. His high morality, integrity
+of character, and fine social qualities, have created for him a
+reputation which it is the lot of few public men to enjoy. He is
+conspicuous in the history of Quebec as the instrument through whose
+exertions the Liberal Party were restored to power for the first time
+since the Union. He is also noteworthy as being the Minister on whom
+devolved the office of selecting a Government to succeed the De
+Boucherville Administration, upon its dismissal by Mr. Letellier in the
+month of March, 1878.
+
+He was born in France on the 5th of December, 1829, and is the son of
+the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, Seigneur of Lotbinière, and Julie
+Christine, daughter of the late Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbinière,
+who was Speaker of the Quebec Assembly from 1794 until May, 1797, and
+was afterwards a prominent member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Joly
+received a liberal education at Paris, and while yet very young removed
+with his parents to Canada, settling in Lotbinière. Having chosen the
+law for a profession, he devoted five years to legal studies, and in the
+month of March, 1855, he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. He first
+entered political life in 1861, when he was returned to the Canadian
+House of Assembly for the county of Lotbinière. This seat he continued
+to hold until the Union of the Provinces, when at the general elections
+which followed the formation of the Dominion he was elected by
+acclamation to both the Commons of Canada and the Assembly of Quebec. He
+sat in both Houses until 1874, when, on dual representation being
+abolished, he resigned his seat in the Commons, and directed all his
+energies to the furtherance of Liberal principles in the Quebec House of
+Assembly. The same year he was offered a seat in the Senate, but
+declined to accept that dignity, preferring to fight the battles of
+Liberalism in the more popular Assembly, in which he had already
+achieved a high reputation as a statesman and debater, as well as much
+personal popularity. In January, 1877, he again declined elevation to
+the Upper House, and refused the portfolio of Dominion Minister of
+Agriculture which had been tendered him by the Mackenzie Administration.
+The constituency of Lotbinière has never proved fickle to her trust, but
+has regularly returned Mr. Joly as her representative to the popular
+branch of the Legislature. From the Union, he has been the acknowledged
+head of the Liberal Party in Lower Canada, and the chosen leader of the
+Opposition in the House of Assembly. In March, 1878, the Hon. Luc
+Letellier de St. Just, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, dismissed his
+Ministry under circumstances which have already been detailed at
+length in these pages; and on the then Premier--Mr. De
+Boucherville--refusing to nominate a successor, Mr. Joly was sent for
+and invited to form a Cabinet. He promptly accepted the responsibility,
+selected his colleagues, and, on being defeated in the Chamber, appealed
+to the people for a ratification of the principles of his Party. The
+contest was fought with great vigour and pertinacity on both sides, and
+the result was a victory, though a slight one, for the Liberal Party.
+Mr. Joly was opposed in Lotbinière by Mr. Guillaume E. Amyot, an
+advocate and journalist of Quebec. He was elected by a majority of more
+than three hundred votes. He became Premier and Minister of Public
+Works--an office which requires the utmost tact and delicacy in its
+administration. He set on foot a policy of retrenchment and purity, and
+contemplated several much-needed reforms which he did not retain office
+long enough to see brought into operation. Mr. Joly's Administration was
+based on principles of the closest economy, and every effort was made to
+check all unnecessary outlay of the public expenditure. The salaries of
+the Ministers were reduced, an effort was made to abolish the
+Legislative Council, and the railway policy of the country was developed
+with caution. Wherever the pruning knife could be advantageously
+employed, the Premier applied it, and if he was not always successful,
+the fault was certainly not his own. His personal popularity was
+sufficiently attested by the fact that although he is a Protestant, with
+fixed opinions on theological matters, he was Premier of a Province
+where a large majority of the population are adherents of the Roman
+Catholic faith. He carried on the affairs of the country with combined
+spirit and moderation until October, 1879, when, on being defeated in
+the House, he and his Government resigned their seats in the Executive,
+and Mr. Chapleau was sent for. Mr. Chapleau succeeded in forming an
+Administration, which at the time of the present writing still holds the
+reins of power in the Province of Quebec.
+
+[Illustration: HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY, signed as H. G. JOLY]
+
+Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of
+much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his
+convictions. Whether in power or in Opposition his language and
+demeanour are marked by conciliation and courtesy. He is a man of many
+friends, and has few personal enemies, even among those to whom he has
+been a life-long political opponent. He has devoted a good deal of
+attention to the study of forestry, and is the author of several
+important and valuable treatises on that subject. Among other offices
+which he holds may be mentioned the Presidency of the Society for the
+rewooding of the Province of Quebec, the first Presidency of the Reform
+Association, of the _Parti Nationale_ of Quebec, of the Lotbinière
+Agricultural Society No. 2, and of the Society for the Promotion of
+Canadian Industry. He is also Vice-President of the Humane Society of
+British North America, and one of the Council of the Geographical
+Society of Quebec, of which latter association he was once
+Vice-President.
+
+Some years ago Mr. Joly married Miss Gowan, a daughter of Mr. Hammond
+Gowan, of Quebec.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL,
+
+_MINISTER OF CUSTOMS._
+
+
+Mr. Bowell is English by birth, but has resided in this country ever
+since his tenth year. He was born at Rickinghall Superior, a pleasant
+little village situated in the northern part of the county of Suffolk,
+on the 27th of December, 1823. His father, the late Mr. John Bowell,
+emigrated from Suffolk to Canada in the spring of 1833, and settled in
+what is now the city of Belleville. His mother's maiden name was
+Elizabeth Marshall. He has been compelled to make his own way in the
+world, and has risen from obscure beginnings to the elevated position
+which he now occupies by dint rather of natural ability than of any
+adventitious aids. In his boyhood he enjoyed few educational advantages.
+He had been only a few months in Canada when he entered a printing
+office in Belleville, where he remained until he had completed his
+apprenticeship. He then became foreman of the establishment. He began to
+take an interest in politics at the very outset of his career, and
+attached himself to the Conservative side. He was very industrious, and
+during the term of his indentures did much to repair his defective
+education. He availed himself of every opportunity which came in his way
+for increasing his stock of knowledge, and erelong attained a position
+and influence far more than commensurate with his years. In 1853 he
+became sole proprietor of the Belleville _Intelligencer_, with which he
+continued to be identified for a period of twenty-two years. Under his
+management the _Intelligencer_ became one of the leading exponents of
+public opinion in the county of Hastings, and his own local influence
+was thereby greatly promoted. Other causes contributed to enhance his
+position and influence. When only eighteen years old he allied himself
+with the Orange Body, in which he rose to the highest dignities in the
+gift of that Order. For eight years he was Grand Master of the
+Provincial Grand Lodge of Ontario East. At the annual meeting of the
+Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution of British North America,
+held at Kingston in 1870, a change was made in the Grand Mastership,
+which had been held for many years by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+Mr. Bowell was unanimously elected to the office, and continued to
+occupy it until 1878, when he declined reëlection. For thirteen years he
+was Chairman of the Common School Board of Belleville, and was for some
+time Chairman of the Grammar School, always taking a lively interest in
+the promotion of education among the masses. For many years he was an
+active promoter of the Volunteer Militia force, as well as an active
+member. At the time of the St. Alban's raid he went with his company to
+Amherstburgh, where, at considerable sacrifice to his business, he
+remained four months. He was also at Prescott during the Fenian raid in
+1866. At present he holds the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel of
+Volunteer Rifles. He was one of the founders of the Press Association,
+and during one year occupied the position of President. He was also
+Vice-President of the Dominion Editors' and Reporters' Association.
+
+[Illustration: MACKENZIE BOWELL, signed as Mackenzie Bowell]
+
+Mr. Bowell was an active politician long before he emerged from his
+apprenticeship, but did not enter Parliament until after Confederation.
+In 1863 he contested the North Riding of Hastings, but was unsuccessful,
+and did not repeat the experiment until 1867, when he was returned to
+the House of Commons for that Riding, and he has ever since represented
+it. He signalized his entrance into Parliament by moving a series of
+resolutions against Sir George Cartier's Militia Bill, and though he
+failed to carry them all, he succeeded in defeating the Minister of
+Militia on some important points by which a considerable reduction was
+made in the expenditure. Several years later he took a prominent part in
+the expulsion of Louis Riel from the House of Commons. It was by Mr.
+Bowell that the investigation was instituted into Riel's complicity in
+the murder of Thomas Scott before the walls of Fort Garry. In 1876 he
+made a powerful attack upon Mr. Mackenzie's Government for having
+awarded a contract to Mr. T. W. Anglin, the Speaker of the House. The
+result of Mr. Bowell's attack was the unseating of several Members of
+Parliament, including Mr. Anglin; and a stringent Act respecting the
+Independence of Parliament was shortly afterwards passed.
+
+At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th
+of September, 1878, Mr. Bowell was opposed in North Hastings by Mr. E.
+D. O'Flynn, of Madoc, whom he defeated by a majority of 241--the vote
+standing 1,249 for Bowell and 1,008 for O'Flynn. After the resignation
+of Mr. Mackenzie's Government in the following month, Mr. Bowell
+accepted the portfolio of Minister of Customs in the Ministry of Sir
+John A. Macdonald. This position he still retains. Upon returning to his
+constituents after accepting office he was returned by acclamation. He
+is not a frequent speaker, but he has always taken an active and
+intelligent part in the business of the House, and is highly esteemed by
+his colleagues.
+
+Mr. Bowell married, in December, 1847, Miss Harriett Louisa Moore, of
+Belleville. He is a Director in numerous railway and general commercial
+enterprises. In 1875 he disposed of the _Intelligencer_, with which he
+had been identified for so many years, but he still takes a warm
+interest in its prosperity, and is indebted to it for a very firm and
+consistent support.
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.,
+
+_LATE BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANADA._
+
+
+The late Bishop Richardson was born in the same year which witnessed the
+death of the great founder of Methodism, John Wesley; the same year also
+which witnessed the passing of the Constitutional Act whereby Upper
+Canada was ushered into existence as a separate Province. He came of
+English stock on both sides. His father, James Richardson, after whom he
+was called, was a brave seaman; one of that old-world band of gallant
+tars who fought under Lord Rodney against the French, when
+
+    "Rochambeau their armies commanded,
+     Their ships they were led by De Grasse."
+
+He was present at the famous sea-fight off Dominica, in the West Indies,
+on the 12th of April, 1782, when the naval forces of France and Spain
+were almost entirely destroyed. He was soon afterwards taken prisoner,
+and sent to France, where he was detained until the cessation of
+hostilities. Having been set at liberty in 1785, he repaired to Quebec,
+and was subsequently appointed to an office in connection with the
+Canadian Marine. His duties lay chiefly on the upper lakes and rivers,
+and he took up his abode at Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He married a lady
+whose maiden name was Sarah Asmore, but who, at the time of her marriage
+with him had been for some years a widow. The subject of this sketch was
+one of the fruits of that union. He was born at Kingston, on the 29th of
+January, 1791.
+
+His parents were members of the Church of England, and he was brought up
+in the faith as taught and professed by that Body. He attended various
+schools in Kingston until he was about thirteen years of age, when he
+began his career as a sailor on board a vessel commanded by his father.
+During his five years' apprenticeship he acquired a thorough familiarity
+with the topography and navigation of the lakes and rivers of Upper
+Canada. In 1809, when he was eighteen years old, he entered the
+Provincial Marine. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 he received
+a Lieutenant's commission, and was forthwith employed in active service.
+He became sailing master of the _Moira_, under Captain Sampson, and
+afterwards of the _Montreal_, under Captain Popham. Upon the arrival of
+Sir James Yeo in Upper Canada, in May, 1813, the naval armament on the
+lakes entered upon a new phase of existence. The local marine ceased to
+exist as such, and became a part of the Royal Navy. The Provincial
+commissions previously granted were no longer of any effect, and that of
+Lieutenant Richardson shared the same fate as the rest. The Provincial
+officers resented this mode of dealing with their commissions, and all
+but two of them retired from the marine and took service in the militia,
+where, in the language of Colonel Coffin, they were permitted to
+risk their lives without offence to their feelings. The two exceptions
+were Lieutenant George Smith and the subject of this sketch. The latter
+shared the sentiments of his brother officers, but he recognized the
+importance to the country of working harmoniously with his superiors at
+such a juncture, and cast every personal consideration aside. He
+informed the Commodore that he was willing to give his country the
+benefit of his local knowledge and services, but declined to take any
+rank below that which had previously been conferred upon him. The
+Commodore availed himself of the young man's services as a master and
+pilot, and in those capacities he did good service until the close of
+the war. He shared the gun-room with the regular commissioned officers,
+with whom he was very popular. He was with the fleet during the
+unsuccessful attempt on Sackett's Harbour, towards the close of May,
+1813. A year later, at the taking of Oswego, he was pilot of the
+_Montreal_, under Captain Popham, already mentioned; and he took his
+vessel so close in to the fort that the Commodore feared lest he should
+run aground. Soon after bringing the _Montreal_ to anchor a shot from
+the fort carried off his left arm just below the shoulder. He sank down
+upon the deck of the vessel, and was carried below. The remnant of his
+shattered arm was secured so as to prevent him from bleeding to death,
+"and there," says his biographer,[7] "he lay suffering while the battle
+raged, his ears filled with its horrid din, and his mind oppressed with
+anxiety as to its result, till the cheers of the victors informed him
+that his gallant comrades had triumphed. He had been wounded in the
+morning, and it was nearly evening before the surgeon could attend to
+him, when it was found necessary to remove the shattered stump from the
+socket at the shoulder joint. During the severe operation the young
+lieutenant evinced the utmost fortitude. In the evening he was
+exceedingly weak from loss of blood, the pain of his wound, and the
+severity of the operation. Next day the fever was high, and for some
+days his life apparently hung in the balance; but at length he commenced
+to rally, and by the blessing of God upon the skilful attention and
+great care that he received, he was finally fully restored." During the
+following October he joined the _St. Lawrence_--said to have been the
+largest sailing vessel that ever navigated the waters of Lake
+Ontario--and in this service he remained until the close of the war.
+
+[Illustration: JAMES RICHARDSON, signed as JAS. RICHARDSON]
+
+Soon after the proclamation of peace he retired from the naval service,
+and settled at Presque Isle Harbour, near the present site of the
+village of Brighton, in the county of Northumberland. He was appointed
+Collector of Customs of the port, and soon afterwards became a Justice
+of the Peace. The Loyal and Patriotic Society requested his acceptance
+of £100, and a yearly pension of a like amount was awarded to him by
+Government in recognition of his services during the late war. This
+well-earned pension he continued to receive during the remainder of his
+life, embracing a period of more than fifty years.
+
+In the year 1813, while the war was still in progress, he had married;
+the lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Dennis, daughter of Mr. John
+Dennis, who was for many years a master-builder in the royal dock-yard
+at Kingston. This lady shared his joys and sorrows for forty-five years.
+During the last decade of her life she suffered great bodily affliction,
+which she endured with Christian resignation and serenity. She died at
+her home, Clover Hill, Toronto, on the 29th of March, 1858.
+
+During the early months of their residence at Presque Isle Harbour, both
+Mr. Richardson and his wife became impressed by serious thoughts on the
+subject of religion. In August, 1818, they united with the Methodist
+Episcopal Church. That Church was then in its infancy in this country,
+and was struggling hard to obtain a permanent foothold. With its
+subsequent history Mr. Richardson was closely identified. He was very
+much in earnest, and felt it to be his duty to do his utmost for the
+salvation of souls. His piety was not spasmodic or fitful, but steady
+and enduring. His education at that time, though it was necessarily
+imperfect, and far from being up to the standard of the present day, was
+better than was that of most of his fellow-labourers. He at once became
+a man of mark in the denomination, and was appointed to the offices of
+steward and local preacher on the Smith's Creek circuit. His labours
+were crowned with much success. His pulpit oratory is described as being
+"full of vitality--adapted to bring souls to Christ, and build up in
+holiness."[8] In 1824 he was called to active work, and placed on the
+Yonge Street circuit, which included the town of York, and extended
+through eight of the neighbouring townships. This rendered necessary his
+removal from Presque Isle, and his resignation of his office as
+Collector of Customs. His field of labour extended from York northwardly
+to Lake Simcoe--a distance of forty-five miles--with lateral excursions
+to right and left for indeterminate distances. The state of the roads
+was such that wheeled vehicles were frequently unavailable, and the
+greater part of the travelling had to be done on horseback, the preacher
+carrying his books, clothing, writing materials, and other accessories
+in his saddle-bags. His life was necessarily a toilsome one, and his
+financial remuneration was little more than nominal. During his second
+year on circuit he had for a colleague the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with
+whom he worked in the utmost harmony, and with very gratifying pastoral
+results. Dr. Richardson has left on record his appreciation of his
+colleague's services at this time. He says: "A more agreeable and useful
+colleague I could not have desired. We laboured together with one heart
+and mind, and God was graciously pleased to crown our united efforts
+with success--we doubled the members in society, both in town and
+country, and all was harmony and love. Political questions were not
+rife--indeed were scarcely known among us. The church was an asylum for
+any who feared God and wrought righteousness, irrespective of any party
+whatever. We so planned our work as to be able to devote one week out of
+four exclusively to pastoral labour in the town, and to preach there
+twice every Sabbath, besides meeting all the former appointments in the
+townships east and west bordering on Yonge Street for forty-five or
+fifty miles northward to Roach's Point, Lake Simcoe. This prosperous and
+agreeable state of things served to reconcile both my dear wife and
+myself to the itinerant life, with all the attendant privations and
+hardships incident to those times."
+
+In 1826 Mr. Richardson was sent to labour at Fort George and Queenston.
+Next year he was admitted into full connection, and ordained a deacon,
+along with the late Dr. Anson Green and Egerton Ryerson. Mr. Richardson
+was transferred to the River Credit, where he laboured for a year as a
+missionary among the Indians. An important crisis in the history of the
+Methodist Church in Canada was then at hand. The memorable Conference of
+1828 was held at Ernesttown, in the Bay of Quinté district. It was
+presided over by Bishop Hedding, and Mr. Richardson was chosen
+secretary. It was at this Conference that the decisive step of
+separation from the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
+in the United States was taken. Thenceforward the Church in Canada
+became an independent Body, with a Bishop and Conference of its own.
+"This step," says Mr. Richardson, "was fraught with results, for good or
+ill, according as it is viewed by different parties, from their several
+standpoints. It was deemed necessary then, by the majority, because of
+the political relations of the two countries, and the difficulty
+attendant on obtaining our legal right to hold church property, and
+solemnize matrimony. Others, viewing the church as catholic, or
+universal in her design and character, judged it wrong to limit her
+jurisdiction by national or municipal boundaries." Mr. Richardson
+subsequently regretted that the scheme of separation had been carried
+out. Meanwhile he was appointed, along with the Rev. Joseph Gatchell, to
+the Niagara Circuit, a very extensive field of labour, and took up his
+abode at what was then the insignificant village of St. Catharines.
+There he remained two years, and in 1830 was ordained as an elder by
+Bishop Hedding, of the United States--no Bishop having as yet been
+selected for the Canadian Church, which, since its separation, had been
+presided over by a General Superintendent in the person of the Rev.
+William Case. It is unnecessary that we should follow him in his labours
+from circuit to circuit. His life was spent in the service of his
+Church, and wherever he went he left behind him the impress of a sincere
+and zealous man. At the Conference held at York in 1831 he was appointed
+presiding elder of the Niagara District. In September, 1832, he became
+editor of the _Christian Guardian_, and while holding that position he
+opposed the reception of Government support to the churches with great
+vigour and determination. He continued to direct the policy of the
+_Guardian_ until the Conference of 1833. During this Conference, which
+marks another important epoch in the history of Canadian Methodism, the
+Articles of Union between the English and Canadian Connexions were
+adopted. To this union Mr. Richardson was a consenting party, believing
+that the step would be productive of good, though he subsequently had
+reason to modify his views on the subject. In 1836 he severed his
+connection with the Wesleyans, owing to the reception by that Body of
+State grants. He soon afterwards removed to Auburn, in the State of New
+York, where he won the respect of his congregation; but he was not
+adapted to such a circle as that in which he found himself, and did not
+feel himself at home there. "His quiet, unpretentious manners," says Mr.
+Carroll, "were not of the kind to carry much sway with our impressible
+American cousins; and the constant exhibition of an empty sleeve, ever
+reminding them of an arm lost in resisting their immaculate Republic,
+was likely to be an eye-sore to a people so hostile to Britain as the
+citizens of the United States." He was moreover an uncompromising
+abolitionist, and was fearless in his denunciations of the national
+curse of slavery. The prevailing sentiment in the State of New York in
+those days was not such as to conduce to the popularity of any man who
+took the side of humanity. He remained at Auburn only a year, when he
+returned to his native land, and took up his residence at Toronto.
+Immediately upon his arrival he encountered his old friend and
+fellow-labourer the Rev. Philander Smith. A long and serious
+conversation followed, during which they both decided to reunite
+themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Conference of that
+Body was then in session a short distance from Toronto, and their
+resolution was at once carried out. They were received with open arms,
+and continued in the ministry of the Church during the remainder of
+their respective lives.
+
+In 1837 Mr. Richardson was stationed at Toronto. The following year he
+travelled as a general missionary. The British and Foreign Bible
+Society having established a branch in Canada, Mr. Richardson was, in
+1840, appointed its agent, he having received permission of the
+Conference to act in that capacity. This office he filled, with
+advantage to the Society and credit to himself, for eleven years. While
+acting in that capacity he often filled Wesleyan pulpits, preserved the
+most cordial relations with his old friends belonging to that Body. In
+1842 he became Vice-President, and in 1851 President, of the Upper
+Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. He retained the latter position
+to the time of his death. In 1852 he was again appointed Presiding Elder
+of his Church. After occupying that position for two years his health
+was so much impaired that he was granted a superannuation, which he held
+for four years. On the 29th of March, 1858, he sustained a serious
+bereavement in the loss of his wife. At the Conference held in that year
+he reported himself able to resume his labours, and was once more
+appointed to the charge of a district, but before the close of the
+session he was elected to the Episcopal office. He was consecrated by
+Bishop Smith, on Sunday, the 22nd of August. He forthwith entered upon
+his duties. During the next two years he was in an infirm state of
+health, but a brief respite from work restored him, and he resumed his
+Episcopal and other duties with even more than his wonted vigour. In
+1865 he visited England on behalf of Albert College, Belleville. The
+College Board was hampered by a heavy debt, and it was found impossible
+to relieve the pressure by Canadian subscriptions alone. Bishop
+Richardson accordingly, at the request of the College authorities,
+crossed the Atlantic to solicit aid there. He was accompanied by his
+daughter, Mrs. Brett, wife of Mr. R. H. Brett, banker, of Toronto. They
+were absent about six months, during which they visited many of the
+principal cities and towns of England and Scotland. The Bishop was
+indefatigable in his exertions, but the Reformed Methodist Church in
+England is not a wealthy Body, and it had enough to do to support its
+institutions at home. For these reasons the subscriptions obtained were
+neither so large nor so numerous as had been hoped, though the
+expedition was by no means a fruitless one.
+
+The next five years were comparatively uneventful ones in the life of
+Bishop Richardson. His time was spent in the discharge of his official
+duties. His coadjutor, Bishop Smith, had become old and feeble, and
+Bishop Richardson willingly took upon himself a portion of the invalid's
+work. His time, therefore, was fully occupied. In 1870 Bishop Smith
+died, and during the next four years the entire duties pertaining to the
+Episcopal office devolved upon the survivor. He seemed almost to renew
+his youth in order to meet the extra demands made upon him. He was more
+than fourscore years of age, yet he contrived to get creditably through
+an amount of mental and bodily labour which would have prostrated many
+men not past their prime. He frequently conducted his pulpit services
+and the sessions of the Conference without the aid of spectacles; and he
+was persistent in his determination to do his own work without the
+assistance of a secretary. This state of things, however, in a man of
+his age, could not be expected to last. His vital forces began
+perceptibly to give way. In the month of August, 1874, at the General
+Conference of the Church held at Napanee, he consecrated the Rev. Dr.
+Carman to the Episcopal office. The ceremonial taxed his energies very
+severely, and he was compelled by physical suffering to leave the
+Conference room as soon as he had placed his associate in the chair. At
+the close of the Conference he returned to his home at Clover Hill--now
+known as St. Joseph Street--where a few days' rest enabled him to regain
+as great a measure of health as could be expected in a man who had
+entered upon his eighty-fourth year. During the autumn and winter he was
+actively at work as earnestly as ever, watching over every department of
+the Church, and giving especial attention to the questions submitted by
+the General Conference for the action of the Quarterly Meeting
+Conferences. During the following winter, while visiting the Ancaster
+Circuit, he was prostrated by dizziness, and after his return home it
+was evident that his end was near. He sank quietly to his rest on the
+9th of March, 1875. His death was like his life--manly, and devoid of
+display. "I have no ecstasy," he remarked to a clerical visitor, "but I
+know in whom I have believed." To another visitor he remarked, "My work
+is done; I have nothing to do now but to die." He retained his mental
+faculties in their full vigour almost up to the moment when he ceased to
+breathe. He was buried in the family vault at the Necropolis, Toronto,
+on the 12th of the month. The funeral was unusually large. The funeral
+sermon was preached by Bishop Carman in the Metropolitan Methodist
+Church, on the morning of Sunday, March 21st, from the text 1st
+Corinthians, xv. 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
+victory?"
+
+Bishop Richardson, while possessing few or none of the superlatively
+salient characteristics by which some of his contemporaries were
+distinguished, was one of those men who, almost imperceptibly, exert a
+wide and lasting influence for good. There was nothing showy or flashy
+about him; nothing theatrical or unreal. He made no pretence to
+brilliant oratory, or indeed to specially brilliant gifts of any kind.
+He was simply a man of good intellect and sound judgment, with a highly
+developed moral nature, who strove earnestly to benefit his fellow-men,
+and to leave the world better than he found it. He believed in
+Episcopacy, and was in full sympathy with the form of government adopted
+by his Church; but his zeal for Episcopacy was altogether subordinated
+to his zeal for Christianity. His life was conscientiously devoted to
+the service of his Master, and he has left behind him many hallowed
+memories. Next to his piety, perhaps the most conspicuous thing about
+him was his love for his country. His patriotism was as zealous in his
+declining years as it had been in those remote times when he lost his
+left arm before the batteries of Oswego. At the time of the Fenian
+invasion of Canada, in 1866--when he was in his seventy-sixth year--his
+loyal sympathies were roused to such a degree that he expressed his
+willingness to risk his one remaining arm in his country's defence. He
+would have taken the field, had his doing so been necessary, with as
+clear a conscience as he would have discharged any other duty of his
+life. In the words of his biographer: "Loyalty to God and his country,
+uprightness and integrity in his dealings with his fellow-men, and civil
+and religious liberty for all, were leading articles in his creed."
+
+
+
+
+LORD SEATON.
+
+
+Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title of
+Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman
+resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in
+the year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to
+Winchester College--where he remained several years--he embraced a
+military life, in 1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an
+ensign. The closing years of the last century were propitious for a
+young British soldier fired by an ambition to distinguish himself, and
+young Colborne had embraced precisely the career for which he was best
+fitted. He was a born soldier, and throughout his military life
+furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in the round hole.
+Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as having
+developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian
+refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced
+by those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief
+interest in his career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His
+services previous to that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In
+1799 he was sent over by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph
+Abercromby, and remained there until the realm of the Pharaohs was
+cleared of the French and restored to the Sultan's dominion. He was with
+the British and Russian troops employed on the Neapolitan frontier in
+1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in the campaign of 1806. Having
+obtained promotion for his gallant services, he became Military
+Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in Sicily and the
+Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to Sir John
+Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave Chief
+met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of Lord
+Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the
+operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a
+regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he
+commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of
+1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to
+observe the movements of General Reynier's _corps d'armée_ on the
+frontier of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and
+also on the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June,
+1814, he married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of
+Puslinch, Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively
+employed all through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due
+proportion of wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable
+battle of Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He
+likewise commanded a brigade on the celebrated march to Paris. The
+battle of Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part.
+He subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the
+Channel Islands. In 1825 he was appointed a Major-General; and in 1828
+he first came to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor, when the chief interest
+in his life, so far as Canadian readers are concerned, may be said to
+have begun. He succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been
+transferred to Nova Scotia.
+
+He arrived in Canada in November, 1828, and at once assumed charge of
+the Administration. His predecessor had left him a very undesirable
+legacy in the shape of great popular discontent. It was announced that
+Sir John had come over with instructions to reverse Sir Peregrine
+Maitland's policy, and to govern in accordance with liberal principles.
+The general elections of that year testified plainly enough that the
+people of Upper Canada were moving steadily in the direction of Reform,
+and if Sir John had acted in accordance with the instructions he had
+received from headquarters a good deal of subsequent calamity might
+perhaps have been averted. But the new Governor was essentially a
+military Governor. He had been literally "a man of war from his youth."
+His character, though in the main upright and honourable, was stern and
+unbending, and his military pursuits had not fitted him for the task of
+governing a people who were just beginning to grasp the principles of
+constitutional liberty. He allied himself with the Family Compact, and
+was guided by the advice of that body in his administration of public
+affairs. Parliament met early in January, 1829, and it soon became
+apparent that Sir John Colborne's idea of a liberal policy was not
+sufficiently advanced to meet the demands of the Assembly. There is no
+need to recapitulate in detail the arbitrary proceedings to which the
+Governor lent his countenance during the next few years. The prosecution
+of Collins and of William Lyon Mackenzie, and the setting apart of the
+fifty-seven rectories, have often been commented upon, and but little
+satisfaction is to be derived from repeating those oft-told grievances.
+Upon the whole, Sir John Colborne's Administration of Upper Canadian
+affairs cannot be said to have been much more beneficent than was that
+of his predecessor. With good intentions, he was constitutionally
+unequal to the requirements of the position in which he found himself
+placed. His course of action was very distasteful to the Reform Party,
+but he continued to govern the Upper Province until 1835, when he
+solicited his recall. His request was acceded to. His successor, Sir
+Francis Bond Head, arrived in January, 1836, and Sir John was just about
+to sail from New York for Europe, when he received a despatch appointing
+him Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Canada. He consequently
+returned, and took up his quarters at Quebec, the capital of the Lower
+Province, where he adopted such prompt measures for the defence of the
+country as the exigencies of the times demanded. On the breaking out of
+the Rebellion he was once more in his proper element, and showed that
+the high military reputation which he had achieved on the continent of
+Europe had not been undeserved. There is no need to go through the
+minutiae of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, nor to tell in detail the
+story of St. Denis, of St. Eustache, and of St. Benoit. Sir John has
+been accused of unnecessary cruelty in putting down the insurrection.
+Suffice it to say that the emergencies of the occasion were such as to
+call for determined measures, and that Sir John employed measures suited
+to the emergencies. He soon succeeded in extinguishing the flame of
+rebellion in all parts of the country, taking the field himself in
+person in several engagements. Papineau was compelled to retreat, as
+also was Wolfred Nelson and his colleagues; and when Robert, the
+latter's brother, presented himself, he was totally routed by the able
+regular and militia forces under Sir John Colborne's command. On the
+recall of Lord Gosford, Sir John was temporarily appointed
+Governor-General of British North America, which high office he vacated
+on Lord Durham's arrival in May, 1838. He was appointed to it again on
+that nobleman's sudden and unauthorized departure in November of the
+same year. He continued to administer the Government until 1839, when he
+earnestly solicited his recall, in order that he might be enabled to
+repose from his great labours. The Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson was
+appointed his successor, and arrived at Quebec to relieve him of the
+cares and anxieties of Government. On the 23rd of October Sir John
+sailed for England. On his arrival there new honours awaited him. He was
+created a peer of the United Kingdom, as Baron Seaton; received the
+Grand Cross of the Bath, of Hanover, of St. Michael, and of St. George.
+He was also created a Privy Councillor, and a pension of £2,000 per
+annum was conferred upon him and his two immediate successors by Act of
+Parliament. In 1838 he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and in 1854
+General, as also Colonel of the Second Life Guards. In 1860 he was
+raised to the highest rank and honour in the British service--that of
+Field-Marshal. He died on the 17th of April, 1863, leaving behind him a
+numerous progeny, the eldest whereof, James Colborne, succeeded to, and
+now holds, the family titles and estates. The latter are of considerable
+extent, and are situated in Devonshire, in London, and in the county of
+Kildare, Ireland. It is worth while mentioning that the present
+incumbent served his father in the capacity of an aide-de-camp during
+the Canadian Rebellion.
+
+The name of Sir John Colborne is inseparably blended with that of Upper
+Canada College in the minds of the people of this Province. During the
+early days of his Administration of affairs in Upper Canada there was a
+good deal of agitation in the public mind with respect to the
+establishment of a more advanced seat of learning than had previously
+existed here. It had long been considered advisable to afford facilities
+to the youth of Upper Canada for obtaining a more thorough education
+than was to be had at such institutions as the Home District Grammar
+School, which up to the year 1829 was the most advanced educational
+establishment in York. Public feeling was aroused, and several petitions
+were presented to the Legislature on the subject, each of which gave
+rise to prolonged controversy and debate. The outcome of the discussion
+was that Upper Canada College was established by an order of the
+Provincial Government. Its original name was "the Upper Canada College
+and Royal Grammar School," and the system upon which it was modelled was
+that which was then adopted in most of the great public schools of
+England. The classes were first opened on the 8th of January, 1830, in
+the building on Adelaide Street which had formerly been used as the Home
+District Grammar School. There it continued for more than a year. In the
+summer of 1831 the institution was removed to the site which it has
+since occupied. A fine portrait in oil of the subject of this sketch, in
+his military costume, may be seen in one of the apartments there.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY.
+
+
+Sir Dominick Daly was born on the 11th of August, 1799, and was the
+third son of Mr. Dominick Daly, a descendant of an old Roman Catholic
+family in the county of Galway, Ireland. He was educated at the Roman
+Catholic College of St. Mary's, near Birmingham, and after completing
+his studies spent some time with an uncle who was a banker in Paris. He
+subsequently returned to Ireland. In 1825 the Earl of Dalhousie visited
+England, and Sir Francis M. Burton, who acted as Lieutenant-Governor
+during his absence, brought with him as his private secretary, Mr.
+Dominick Daly, then about twenty-six years of age. Lord Dalhousie
+returned to Canada early in 1826, and Mr. Daly returned with Sir Francis
+Burton to England.
+
+In 1827 he returned to Quebec, bearing with him instructions to the
+Governor-General to confer upon him the office of Provincial Secretary.
+The appointment had been procured in England by the influence of Sir
+Francis Burton, and other friends of Mr. Daly. During the interval which
+elapsed between his appointment as Provincial Secretary and the
+rebellion of 1837, a period of about ten years, Mr. Daly carefully
+abstained from engaging in the political conflict, and seems to have
+enjoyed a larger share of public confidence than any other official.
+When Lord Durham was appointed Governor-General after the rebellion, Mr.
+Daly was the only public official who was sworn of the Executive
+Council, and there is no doubt that he was the only one of the British
+officials who was looked on with favour by the leaders of the popular
+party. And yet, viewing his conduct by the light of subsequent events,
+it is probable that the popular leaders overestimated Mr. Daly's
+sympathy with their cause. Unconnected with politics, he considered it
+his duty to support the policy of the Governor of the day; and he
+doubtless was of opinion that having been for many years incumbent of an
+office which had always been admitted to be held as a permanent tenure,
+he was justified in retaining it as long as he had the sanction of the
+Governor for doing so. When the Union of the old Provinces of Lower and
+Upper Canada took place in 1841, the Governor-General called on the
+principal departmental officers to find seats in the House of Assembly,
+although it is very improbable that he had any intention of strictly
+carrying into practice what has since been understood as Responsible
+Government. It had been the practice under the old system for the law
+officers of the Crown to find seats in the Legislature, but the offices
+of Provincial Secretary and Registrar, Receiver-General, Commissioner of
+Crown Lands, and Inspector-General, had always been considered
+non-political. Lord Sydenham, as far as can be judged from what
+occurred, had no definite policy on the subject. He induced Mr. Daly to
+enter Parliament, and the latter seems to have had no difficulty in
+procuring a seat for the county of Megantic. The Provincial Secretary in
+Upper Canada was allowed to retain his office without entering public
+life. The Commissioner of Crown Lands in Lower Canada declined becoming
+a candidate, and retained his office, while in Upper Canada the
+Commissioner of Crown Lands was a member both of the Legislative and
+Executive Councils. Mr. Daly seems to have been considered as
+unobjectionable by the leaders of the majority in Lower Canada, as he
+was by their opponents, which, taking into account the excited state of
+feeling at the period of the Union, is conclusive proof that he had
+acted with great discretion during the stormy period which preceded the
+suspension of the Constitution. When Mr. Baldwin, on accepting office at
+the time of the Union, deemed it his duty to acquaint those who were
+appointed members of Council prior to the meeting of the first
+Parliament of United Canada, that there were some in whom he had no
+political confidence, Mr. Daly was one of the exceptions; and as Mr.
+Baldwin's avowed object was the introduction of French Canadians into
+the Government, he must have been satisfied that they had not the
+objection to Mr. Daly that they had to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Day. Mr.
+Baldwin's attempt to procure a reconstruction of the Ministry was
+unsuccessful, and he resigned, not having been supported by those with
+whom he had avowed his readiness to act. Mr. Daly went through the
+session of 1841 as a member of the Government, and visited England
+during the recess. On the meeting of the Legislature in 1842, Sir
+Charles Bagot having, during the interval, succeeded Lord Sydenham,
+overtures were made, with the concurrence of Mr. Daly, to Messrs.
+Lafontaine and Baldwin, which led to a reconstruction of the Cabinet.
+Mr. Daly retained his office of Provincial Secretary, and acted in
+perfect harmony with his colleagues, not only during the short term of
+Sir Charles Bagot's Government, but during the critical period of 1843,
+after Sir Charles Metcalfe's assumption of the Government, and up to the
+very moment when, in the opinion of all his colleagues, resignation
+became absolutely necessary. During the whole of this period Mr. Daly
+appeared to concur with his colleagues on every point on which a
+difference of opinion arose, and it was only when resignation became
+absolutely necessary that he declined to act any longer in concert with
+them. At an early period of the session of 1843 a vacancy occurred in
+the Speakership of the Legislative Council--an office of considerable
+political importance, and one which it was clearly impossible that the
+Ministry could consent to have conferred on a political opponent. The
+choice of the Administration fell on the Hon. Denis B. Viger, one of the
+oldest Liberal politicians in the Province. On submitting their advice
+to Sir Charles Metcalfe, he not only objected most strongly to Mr.
+Viger's appointment, but stated that he had offered the post, without
+consulting his Ministers, to Mr. Sherwood, a retired Judge, and father
+of Mr. Henry Sherwood, one of the leading opponents of the
+Administration. Had Mr. Sherwood accepted the offer, the crisis would
+have occurred a few weeks sooner than it did, and on a question on which
+there could have been no misapprehension. Mr. Sherwood declined the
+offer, probably to avoid the impending difficulty, and after some
+negotiation, the Ministry consented to withdraw Mr. Viger's name, and to
+substitute that of the late Lieutenant-Governor Caron. During all this
+difficulty, Mr. Daly was apparently in accord with his colleagues,
+although it subsequently appeared that he was acting in concert with Mr.
+Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who took an active part in supporting Sir
+Charles, and whose letters published in England threw a good deal of
+light on the transactions previous to the crisis. Mr. Daly retained his
+office of Secretary in the new Ministry formed by Metcalfe, and was
+subjected to much censure for what was considered a desertion of his
+colleagues. So bitter was the personal feeling that on one occasion
+language was used in the House by one of his old colleagues, Mr. Aylwin,
+which he deemed so offensive as to lead him to retort in terms that
+provoked a hostile message and a subsequent meeting, when, after an
+exchange of shots, the dispute was amicably settled.
+
+The Ministry formed under Metcalfe in 1843 was changed repeatedly, Mr.
+Daly having been the only member of it who retained office until the
+resignation in March, 1848, in consequence of a vote of want of
+confidence having been carried in the Assembly at the opening of the
+third Parliament. There were during that period two Attorneys-General
+and two Solicitors-General in each of the Provinces, two Presidents of
+the Council, two Receivers-General, two Ministers of Finance, two
+Commissioners of Crown Lands, but only one Secretary, whose adhesion to
+office was the subject of a good deal of remark. When at last
+resignation became indispensably necessary, Mr. Daly withdrew almost
+immediately from public life. It had clearly never been his intention to
+continue in Parliament as a member of the Opposition; and it could
+scarcely have been expected by the Party with which circumstances had
+forced him into alliance that he would adhere to it after its downfall.
+It may truly be said of Mr. Daly that he was never a member of any
+Canadian Party, and that he had no sympathy with the political views of
+any of his numerous colleagues. A most amiable man in private life, and
+much esteemed by a large circle of private friends, he was wholly
+unsuited for public life. He had never been in the habit of speaking in
+public prior to his first election, and he never attempted to acquire
+the talent. Having no private fortune, he found himself after the age of
+forty suddenly called upon to take a prominent part in the organization
+of a new system of government, which involved his probable retirement,
+and as an almost necessary consequence, his subsequent exclusion from
+office.
+
+In estimating Sir Dominick Daly's political character, it would be
+unfair to judge him by the same standard as those who subsequently
+accepted office with a full knowledge of the responsibilities which they
+incurred by doing so. Sir Dominick Daly was the last of the old Canadian
+bureaucracy, and it is not a little singular that he should have been
+able to retain his old office of Secretary under the new system for a
+period of fully seven years. On his return to England his claim on the
+Imperial Government, which without doubt had been strongly urged by
+Metcalfe, was promptly recognized, and he was almost immediately
+appointed a Commissioner of Enquiry into the claims of the New and
+Waltham Forests, which he held until the close of the Commission in
+1850-51. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Tobago,
+in the Windward Island group, in 1851, and transferred to the government
+of Prince Edward Island in 1854, which he held until 1857. In November,
+1861, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of South
+Australia, where he died in the year 1868, in the sixty-ninth year of
+his age. He had received the honour of knighthood on the termination of
+his service in Prince Edward Island.
+
+Sir Dominick Daly married, in 1826, a daughter of Colonel Gore, of
+Barrowmount, in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, by whom he had several
+children. One of his sons is the present representative of the city of
+Halifax in the Dominion Parliament.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILLIAM McMASTER.
+
+
+Mr. McMaster is probably the most widely known among the merchant
+princes of Western Canada, and has had a remarkably successful
+commercial career. As is the case with most men who have been the
+architects of their own fortunes, his success is largely attributable to
+his personal qualifications. He inherited a sound constitution, an
+active, enterprising mind, and a strong will. With such advantages he
+began the battle of life in this country nearly half a century ago. He
+grew with the country's growth, and by his industry and shrewdness
+achieved, in course of time, a position which made him thoroughly
+independent of the world. It has been the fashion to say of him that his
+mercantile operations were always attended with "good luck;" but those
+who converse with him on commercial or financial questions for half an
+hour will draw their own conclusions as to how far "luck" has had to do
+with the matter. He has been lucky in the same sense that the late Duke
+of Wellington was lucky; that is to say, he has known how to take
+advantage of favourable circumstances. Anyone else possessing his
+keenness of perception and shrewd common sense would in the long run
+have been equally lucky. He has made good use alike of his wealth and
+his talents, and the land of his adoption is the better for his
+presence.
+
+He is by birth and early training an Irishman, and was born in the
+county of Tyrone, on the 24th of December, 1811. His father, the late
+Mr. William McMaster, was a linen merchant whose resources were not
+abundant, but who was able to give his son a good education. The latter
+received his educational training at an excellent private school taught
+by a Mr. Halcro, who had a high local reputation as a teacher. After
+leaving school he was for a short time a clerk in a local mercantile
+house. His prospects in Ireland, however, were not commensurate with his
+ambition. In 1833, when he was in his twenty-second year, he resigned
+his situation, and emigrated. Upon reaching New York he was advised by
+the resident British Consul not to settle in the United States, but to
+make his way to Canada. He acted upon the advice, and passed on to
+Toronto--or, as it was then called, Little York.
+
+The conditions of the wholesale trade in Canada in those days were very
+different from those which now prevail. The preeminence of Montreal as a
+point of distribution for both the Provinces was well established, and
+the wholesale trade of Little York was comparatively insignificant.
+There were very few exclusively wholesale establishments in the Upper
+Canadian capital, but several of the largest firms contrived to combine
+a wholesale and retail business. Young William McMaster, immediately
+upon his arrival at Little York, obtained a clerkship in one of these,
+viz., that of Mr. Robert Cathcart, a merchant who then occupied premises
+on the south side of King Street, opposite Toronto Street. After
+remaining in this establishment somewhat more than a year in the
+capacity of a clerk, young McMaster was admitted to a partnership in the
+business, a large share of which from that time forward came under his
+own personal management. The partnership lasted about ten years,
+when--in 1844--Mr. McMaster withdrew from it, and started a separate
+wholesale dry-goods business on his own account, in a store situated on
+the west side of Yonge Street, a short distance below the intersection
+of that thoroughfare with King Street. By this time the conditions of
+trade had undergone some modification. Montreal still had the lion's
+share of the wholesale trade, but Toronto and Hamilton had also become
+known as distributing centres, and both those towns contained some large
+wholesale warehouses. Mr. McMaster's business was a large one from the
+beginning, but it rapidly expanded, until there was not a town, and
+scarcely a village in Canada West, which did not largely depend upon the
+house of William McMaster for its dry-goods supplies. The attempt to
+make Toronto, instead of Montreal, the wholesale emporium for Western
+Canada was not initiated by Mr. McMaster, but it was ably seconded by
+him, and no merchant now living did so much to divert the wholesale
+trade to western channels. In process of time he admitted his nephews
+(who now compose the firm of Messrs. A. R. McMaster & Brother) into
+partnership, and removed to more commodious premises lower down on Yonge
+Street, contiguous to the Bank of Montreal. This large establishment in
+its turn became too small for the ever-increasing volume of trade, and
+the magnificent commercial palace on Front Street, where the business is
+still carried on, was erected. Here, under the style of William McMaster
+& Nephews, the business continued to grow. As time passed by, the senior
+partner became engaged in large financial and other enterprises, and
+practically left the purely commercial operations to the management of
+his nephews. Eventually he withdrew from the firm altogether, but his
+retirement has not been passed in idleness. He has a natural aptitude
+for dealing with matters of finance, and this aptitude has been
+increased by the operations of an active mercantile life. He has been a
+director in several of the most important banking and insurance
+institutions in the country, and has always taken his full share of the
+work devolving upon him. Twenty years ago he founded the Canadian Bank
+of Commerce, and became its President. That position he has occupied
+ever since, and every banking-day finds him at his post. There can be no
+doubt that his care and judgement have had much to do with the highly
+successful career of the institution. Mr. McMaster was also for some
+time a director of the Ontario Bank, and of the Bank of Montreal. He has
+for many years acted as President of the Freehold Loan and Savings
+Company, as Vice-President of the Confederation Life Association, and as
+a director of the Isolated Risk--now called the Sovereign--Insurance
+Company. He also for many years occupied the unenviable position of
+Chairman of the Canadian Board of the Great Western Railway. Upon the
+abolition of that Board a few years ago, and the election of an English
+Board in its stead, Mr. McMaster was the only Canadian whose services
+were retained.
+
+But it is not only with financial and kindred matters that Mr. McMaster
+has busied himself of late years. In 1862 he for the first time entered
+political life, having been elected to represent the Midland Division,
+embracing North York and South Simcoe, in the Legislative Council of old
+Canada. He was opposed by Mr. John W. Gamble, who sustained a crushing
+defeat, and Mr. McMaster continued to represent the Midland Division
+until the Union. When the Senate of the Dominion was substituted for the
+old Legislative Council, after the accomplishment of Confederation, Mr.
+McMaster was chosen as one of the Senators to represent Ontario, and he
+has ever since taken part in the deliberations of that body. He has
+always been identified with the Liberal Party, but has never been an
+extremist in his politics, and has kept himself aloof from the faction
+fights of the times.
+
+His highest claim to the consideration of posterity will probably rest
+upon his services in the cause of education. These have been of a kind
+which we would be glad to see emulated by others of our wealthy
+capitalists. His first connection with general educational matters dates
+from the year 1865, when he was appointed a member of the old Council of
+Public Instruction. He continued to represent the Baptist Church--of
+which he is a prominent member--at that Board for a period of ten years.
+When the Senate of Toronto University was reconstructed, in 1873, he was
+nominated one of its members by the Lieutenant-Governor. But his most
+important services in the cause of education have been in connection
+with the denomination of which he is a devoted member. When the Canadian
+Literary Institute, at Woodstock, was originally projected, he
+contributed liberally to the building fund, and repeated his
+contribution when money was needed for the restoration of the buildings
+after they were burned down. He has ever since contributed liberally to
+the support of the institution, and indeed has been its mainstay in a
+financial point of view. He has been largely instrumental in bringing
+about the removal of the theological department of the Institute to
+Toronto, where a suitable building is now in process of erection for its
+accommodation in the Queen's Park, on land purchased by Mr. McMaster
+specially for that purpose. The cost of erecting this building is borne
+entirely by Mr. McMaster, and will amount, it is said, to at least
+$70,000.
+
+His benefactions to the Baptist Church have been large and numerous, and
+of late years have been almost princely. The handsome edifice on the
+corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets, Toronto, is largely due to the
+bounty of Mr. McMaster and his wife, whose joint contributions to the
+building fund amounted to about $60,000. To Mr. McMaster also is due the
+existence of the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the Baptist Church
+of this Province, of which he is the President, and to the funds of
+which he has contributed with his accustomed liberality. He has also
+long contributed to the support of the Upper Canada Bible Society, of
+which he is the Treasurer.
+
+He married, in 1851, Miss Mary Henderson, of New York City. Her death
+took place in 1868; and three years afterwards he married his present
+wife, Susan Molton, widow of the late Mr. James Fraser, of Newburgh, in
+the State of New York. There is no issue of either marriage.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER.
+
+
+Mr. Laurier was born at St. Lin, L'Assomption, in the Province of
+Quebec, on the 20th of November, 1841. He was educated first at
+L'Assomption College, and subsequently at McGill University, where he
+took his degree of B.C.L. in 1864. A year later he was called to the Bar
+of Quebec, his law studies having been pursued in the office of Mr.--now
+the Hon.--T. A. R. Laflamme. His health having suffered by too close
+attention to his professional duties, Mr. Laurier, at the end of two
+years, left Montreal, where he had practised, and became the editor of
+_Le Défricheur_ newspaper at Arthabaska. His predecessor in the
+editorship was the late Mr. J. B. E. Dorion, the paper being devoted to
+the advocacy of Liberal principles. It did not, however, long continue
+in existence, and on its suspension Mr. Laurier once more returned to
+his professional pursuits, in which he soon obtained a high position,
+his personal popularity being as marked as his intellectual attainments.
+In 1871 he was the Liberal candidate for the representation of Drummond
+and Arthabaska in the Local Assembly, and carried the seat by a large
+majority. His talents as a debater and his statesmanlike cast of mind
+soon made him prominent in the Legislature, and when, in 1874, Mr.
+Mackenzie, shortly after accepting office, appealed to the country, Mr.
+Laurier relinquished his seat at Quebec to enter upon a more enlarged
+sphere of work at Ottawa. He was elected for Drummond and Arthabaska
+after a keen contest, and on the opening of the first session of the new
+Parliament was selected to second the address in reply to the Speech
+from the Throne. The manner in which he discharged this duty made a most
+favourable impression. He was at once recognized as one of the foremost
+of the many able representatives Quebec had sent to support the
+then-existing Government, and has since never failed to impress the
+House favourably when he has taken part in the debates.
+
+It was evident from his first introduction to parliamentary life that he
+must, at no distant day, be called upon to take his share in the
+responsibilities of office. Even before that time his status as a leader
+of opinion and a representative man in relation to public affairs had
+been very clearly marked out. In a lecture delivered by him at Quebec in
+July, 1877, on "Political Liberalism," he made a splendid defence of the
+Liberals of Quebec against the misrepresentations and aspersions to
+which they had been subjected. He insisted on the distinction between
+religious and political opinions being maintained, and showed how
+strictly moderate and constitutional were the views of those with whom
+he was politically associated. Of the Liberal Party of the past--of the
+follies that had characterized too many of its actions and utterances,
+nothing, he declared, then existed, but in its stead remained the
+principles of the Liberal Party of England. On the other hand, sketching
+the party opposed to him under the name of Conservative, he spoke as
+follows:--"Sir George Cartier," he said, "was devoted to the principles
+of the English Constitution--if Sir George Cartier were to return to the
+world again he would not recognize his Party. I certainly respect too
+much the opinion of my opponents to do them an injury, but I reproach
+them with knowing neither their country nor the times. I accuse them of
+estimating the political situation not by what has occurred here, but by
+what has occurred in France. I accuse them of endeavouring to introduce
+here ideas which would be impossible in our state of society. I accuse
+them of laboriously endeavouring, and, unfortunately, too effectually,
+to make religion the simple basis of a political Party. It is the custom
+of our adversaries to accuse us Liberals of irreligion. I am not here to
+parade my religious principles, but I proclaim that I have too much
+respect for the faith in which I was born ever to make it appear as the
+basis of a political organization. We are a happy and free people; we
+owe this freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us, which we
+owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the Mother Country. The
+policy of the Liberal Party is to guard these institutions, to defend
+and propagate them, and under the rule of these institutions to develop
+the latent resources of our country. Such is the policy of the Liberal
+Party, and it has no other." Mr. Laurier's Liberalism, in fact, is of
+the strictly British type, and to the immense benefit which has accrued
+to his French compatriots by the concession of free British institutions
+he has borne eloquent testimony. Few men, indeed, could be found better
+calculated than Mr. Laurier to effect a union of thought, sentiment, and
+interest between those distinguished by difference of race and creed, in
+the interest of their common country. It was not, as we have seen, at
+all surprising that on a vacancy occurring in the Quebec representation
+in the Dominion Cabinet, Mr. Laurier should be offered the vacant
+portfolio. His fitness for the position was disputed by none, either on
+personal or political grounds. In Ontario, no less than in Quebec, his
+acceptance of office was hailed as a just tribute to his worth and
+ability. In September, 1877, he was sworn of the Privy Council, and
+became Minister of Inland Revenue. The knowledge of his strength in
+Parliament and the country served to stimulate the determination of his
+opponents to defeat him at all hazards when he returned to his
+constituents for reëlection. The contest terminated by Mr. Bourbeau, the
+Conservative candidate, being elected by a majority of 22 votes over the
+new Minister. The defeat only served to show how highly the importance
+of Mr. Laurier's position in the country was estimated. Several
+constituencies were at once placed at his disposal. Ultimately the Hon.
+Mr. Thibaudeau, member for Quebec East, resigned, in order to create a
+vacancy. After a short but very exciting contest, Mr. Laurier carried
+the division by a majority of 315 votes. The result was the signal for
+general rejoicing, his journey to Ottawa and his reception there being
+one continued ovation. He retained the portfolio of Minister of Inland
+Revenue until the resignation of the Government in October, 1878. At the
+elections held on the 17th of September previous he was returned for
+Quebec East by a majority of 778 votes over his opponent, Mr. Vallière,
+and he now sits in the House for that constituency. He speaks both the
+French and English languages fluently, has a large amount of French
+vivacity sobered by great self-command, can strike home without too
+severely wounding, and commands the respect and good-will of his warmest
+political adversaries.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT.
+
+
+The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, the successor of Lord Sydenham
+as Governor-General of British North America, was born at Blithfield
+House, Rugeley, in Staffordshire, England, on the 23rd of September,
+1781. He was descended from an old aristocratic family, which has been
+resident in Staffordshire for several hundred years, and was ennobled in
+1780--the year previous to the birth of the subject of this sketch. He
+was the second son of William, first Baron Bagot, a nobleman highly
+distinguished for his scholastic and scientific attainments. His mother
+was Lady Louisa, daughter of Viscount St. John, brother and heir of the
+illustrious Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.
+
+His life was not marked by much variety of incident, and affords but
+scanty material for the biographer. From his early youth he was a prey
+to great feebleness of constitution, which prevented him from making any
+conspicuous figure at school. Upon completing his majority, his health
+being much improved, he entered public life on the Tory side, in the
+capacity of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, under Mr.
+Canning, during the Administration of the Duke of Portland. His tenure
+of that office does not seem to have been marked by any very noteworthy
+incidents. In 1814 he was despatched on a special mission to Paris, at
+which time he resided for several months in the French capital. Later on
+he was successively appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
+States, and Ambassador to the Courts of St. Petersburg and the Hague. By
+this time his health, which had never been very robust, again gave way,
+and he was compelled to decline several other honourable and lucrative
+appointments which were offered to him by the Ministry of the day. One
+of them was the Governor-Generalship of India, rendered vacant by the
+return of Lord Amherst to England. During Sir Robert Peel's short
+Administration in 1834, he took charge of a special mission to Vienna,
+in the discharge of which he commended himself highly to the authorities
+at home. A Reform Government succeeded, and during its tenure of office
+we have no information as to the subject of this memoir.
+
+In 1841 the Tories again came into power under the leadership of Sir
+Robert Peel. In the Ministry then formed, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl
+of Derby (father of the present Earl), held the post of Colonial
+Secretary. Upon Lord Sydenham's death, in that year, it became necessary
+to appoint a new Governor-General of British North America. Lord Stanley
+offered the post to Sir Charles Bagot, who accepted it, and soon
+afterwards sailed for this country, where public affairs, since Lord
+Sydenham's death in the preceding month of September, had been under the
+direction of Sir Richard Jackson, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Sir
+Charles entered upon his official duties on the 10th of January, 1842,
+and it soon became apparent that he intended to carry out the judicious
+line of policy inaugurated by his predecessor, Lord Sydenham. He held
+himself aloof from purely party questions, and formed no definite
+alliance with either Reformers or Conservatives. This was a grievous
+disappointment to the latter. His past political career had led the Tory
+leaders in Canada to suppose that he would espouse their views, and that
+by his aid their ascendancy would be reëstablished. These expectations
+were not destined to be realized. Sir Charles spent his time in
+familiarizing himself with the position and needs of the country at
+large. In some respects he showed himself to be more liberal than his
+predecessor, Lord Sydenham, had been. Lord Sydenham had been indisposed
+to have anything to do with those persons who had abetted the rebellion.
+Sir Charles, knowing that Responsible Government had been conceded,
+resolved to govern himself accordingly. Though himself a Tory by
+predilection and by training, he knew that he had not been sent out to
+Canada to gratify his own political leanings, but to govern in
+accordance with the popular will. "He determined," says Mr. Macmullen,
+"to use whatever party he found capable of supporting a Ministry, and
+accordingly made overtures to the French Canadians and that section of
+the Reform Party of Upper Canada led by Mr. Baldwin, who then formed the
+Opposition in the Assembly. There can be no question that this was the
+wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the
+differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the
+common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the
+ascendant--the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive,
+and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past, and opening the door
+of preferment to men of talent of French as well as to those of British
+origin. The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the
+Union Act; and, after that, was the first great step towards the
+amalgamation of the races. A different policy would have nullified the
+principle of Responsible Government, and must have proved suicidal to
+any Ministry seeking to carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the
+broad principle that the constitutional majority had the right to rule
+under the Constitution." Finding that the Ministry then in being did not
+possess the public confidence, he called to his councils Robert Baldwin,
+Francis Hincks, Lafontaine, Morin, and Aylwin. Upon the opening of the
+Legislature, in the following September, he made a speech which showed
+that he understood the situation and requirements of the country, and
+was sincerely desirous of promoting its welfare. The session, which was
+a brief one, passed without any specially noteworthy incidents. Soon
+after the prorogation, which took place on the 8th of October, Sir
+Charles began to feel the effects of approaching winter in a rigorous
+climate. His physicians advised him, as he valued his life, to free
+himself from the cares of office, and betake himself to a milder clime.
+He sent in his resignation, and prepared to return to England, but the
+state of his health soon became so serious that he was unfit to endure
+an ocean voyage in the middle of winter. He was destined never to see
+his native land again. He lingered until the 19th of May, 1843, when he
+sank quietly to rest, at Kingston, in the sixty-second year of his age.
+
+
+
+
+LA SALLE.
+
+
+The publication last year of a revised edition of Mr. Parkman's
+"Discovery of the Great West" has made the compilation of a sketch of La
+Salle's life a very easy task. Mr. Parkman has told about everything
+that is worth telling--indeed, every important fact that is known--with
+reference to the great explorer; and for the future, any brief account
+of his life must necessarily be little more than a condensation of Mr.
+Parkman's book. "It is the glory and the misfortune of France," says M.
+Guizot, "to always lead the van in the march of civilization, without
+having the wit to profit by the discoveries and the sagacious boldness
+of her children. On the unknown roads which she has opened to human
+enterprise she has too often left the fruits to be gathered by nations
+less inventive, but more persevering." The life of the ardent explorer
+whose achievements form the subject of this sketch affords an apt
+commentary on the text of the eminent French historian above quoted.
+Long prior to the date of La Salle's discoveries, Samuel de Champlain
+had dreamed of and fruitlessly sought for a continuous water passage
+across the American continent, and hoped to thereby establish a
+profitable commerce with the Indies, China, and Japan. La Salle,
+following in Champlain's footsteps, and dreaming the same wild dreams,
+spent a great part of his life in attempting to do what his great
+predecessor had failed in accomplishing. His discoveries, however,
+extended over a much broader field. La Salle may practically be said to
+have discovered the Great West. He crossed the Mississippi, which the
+Jesuits had been the first to reach, and pushed on to the far south,
+constructing forts in the midst of the most savage districts, and taking
+possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis XIV. Abandoned by many
+of his comrades, and losing the most faithful of them by death; attacked
+by savages, betrayed by his own hirelings, thwarted in his projects by
+his enemies and his rivals, he at last met an inglorious death by
+assassination, just as he was about to make his way back to New France.
+He left the field open after him to the innumerable explorers of every
+nation and every language who have since left their mark on those
+measureless tracts. If but little benefit accrued to France from his
+discoveries, the fault was not his. He has left an imperishable record
+on the page of American history, and as a discoverer his name occupies a
+place in early Canadian annals second only--_if_ second--to that of
+Champlain himself.
+
+Réné-Robert Cavelier, better known by his territorial patronymic of La
+Salle, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, some time in the year 1643. The
+exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptism took place on the
+22nd of November of that year, at which time it is probable that he was
+only a few days old. His family had long been wealthy burghers of
+Rouen, and there were no obstacles in the way of his receiving a liberal
+education. He early displayed an aptitude for science and mathematics,
+and, while still young, entered a Jesuit Seminary in his native town. By
+this act, which constituted the first step towards taking holy orders,
+he forfeited the inheritance which would otherwise have descended to
+him--a forfeiture which does not seem at any time to have weighed very
+heavily on his mind. He seems to have occupied for a short time the
+position of a teacher in the Seminary. After profiting for several years
+by the discipline taught in the establishment he requested and obtained
+his discharge, obtaining high praise from the directors of the Seminary
+for the diligence of his studies and the purity of his life. "The
+cravings of a deep ambition," says Mr. Parkman, "the hunger of an
+insatiable intellect, the intense longing for active achievement,
+subdued in him all other passions; and among his faults the love of
+pleasure had no part." His father had died a short time before La Salle
+quitted the Seminary, and he would then have at once succeeded to a
+large patrimony but for his connection with the Jesuits. A small
+sum--amounting to several hundred livres--was handed over to him, and in
+the spring of 1666 the young adventurer embarked for fame and fortune in
+New France, towards which the attention of all western Europe was at
+that time directed. He had already an elder brother in this country--the
+Abbé Jean Cavelier, a Sulpician priest at Montreal. The Sulpicians had
+established themselves there a few years before this time, and had
+already become proprietors and feudal lords of the city and island. They
+were granting out their lands to settlers on very easy terms, and La
+Salle obtained a grant of a large tract of land a short distance above
+the turbulent current now known as the Lachine Rapids. Here he became a
+feudal proprietor and fur trader on his own account. Such a pursuit,
+however, was far from satisfying the cravings of his ambition. Like
+Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a passage to the
+South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of China and Japan.
+Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and on one occasion he
+was visited by a band of Seneca Iroquois, some of whom spent the winter
+with him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their
+country and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth
+could only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently
+the Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one. In accordance
+with geographical views then prevalent, La Salle conceived that this
+great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf
+of California. If so, it would give him what he sought--a western
+passage to China, while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to
+inhabit its banks might be made a source of great commercial profit. His
+imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he descended
+the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the Governor for
+his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in the art
+of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor (Courcelle), and the
+Intendant (Talon) were readily won over to his plan; for which, however,
+they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of the
+Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. The cost was to be
+his own; and he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He
+therefore proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should
+buy it back again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the
+Superior, being favourably disposed towards him, consented, and bought
+of him the greater part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including
+the clearings, to one Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred
+livres. With this he bought four canoes, with the necessary supplies,
+and hired fourteen men. This being accomplished, he started on his
+expedition, in the course of which he explored the southern shore of
+Lake Ontario, and visited the Senecas in Western New York. Continuing
+his journey, he passed the mouth of the Niagara River, where he heard
+the roar of the mighty cataract, and passed on to an Indian encampment
+near the present site of Hamilton. After much delay he reached a branch
+of the Ohio, and descended at least as far as the rapids at Louisville,
+where he was abandoned by his attendants, and was compelled to return,
+his problem being yet unsolved.
+
+But the time was not far distant when he was to make a much more
+extended voyage than he had hitherto accomplished, and with somewhat
+more important results. In 1672 Count Frontenac came over to Canada and
+succeeded Courcelle as Governor of the colony. A friendship sprang up
+between him and La Salle, and they began to form schemes of western
+enterprise. Erelong we find the latter paying a flying visit to France,
+and receiving from the King, mainly through his patron's influence, a
+patent of nobility and a grant of Fort Frontenac--which had just before
+been founded by the new Governor with imposing ceremonies--together with
+a large tract of the contiguous territory. Then La Salle's serious
+troubles may be said to have begun. His grant involved the exclusive
+right of fur-traffic with the Indians on Lake Ontario, and though trade
+was a secondary object with him, he nevertheless engaged in it as a
+means of furthering his more ambitious schemes of exploration. The
+merchants of Canada, envious of his influence and success, leagued
+themselves against him, and resolved to accomplish his downfall. The
+Jesuits also placed themselves in opposition to him, for his avowed
+projects conflicted with theirs. La Salle aimed at the control of the
+valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and the usufruct of half a
+continent. The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada. In other words,
+Canada was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal
+interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground. Therefore
+the Jesuits looked with redoubled solicitude to their missions in the
+West. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with
+their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other
+reasons. La Salle was a fur-trader, and moreover aimed at occupation and
+settlement. In short, he was a stumbling block in their path, and they
+leagued themselves against him. Many of them engaged in underhand
+dealings with the Indians, and while they refused absolution to all
+Europeans who sold brandy to the natives, they turned a good many
+dishonest pennies by selling it themselves. They laid all kinds of traps
+for La Salle, and did not escape the suspicion of attempting to poison
+him. It is certain that an attempt to destroy him in this fashion was
+made, though he himself exonerates the Jesuits from participation in the
+attempt. In the autumn of 1677 he again sailed for France, and while
+there procured Royal letters patent authorizing him to prosecute his
+schemes of western discovery, to erect forts at such places as he might
+deem expedient, and to enjoy the exclusive right of traffic in buffalo
+skins. With Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, as his lieutenant, he
+soon afterwards returned to Fort Frontenac, whence, in the autumn of
+1678, he set out for the Great West.
+
+The historian of this expedition was a mendacious Recollet friar, Father
+Louis Hennepin, a name which has attained some notoriety in early
+Canadian annals. Father Hennepin had come out to Canada three years
+before the date at which we have arrived. Upon landing at Quebec he was
+at once sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. He found that wild
+spot in the western wilderness very much to his liking. He had not been
+there long before he erected a gigantic cross, and superintended the
+building of a chapel for himself and his colleague, Father Luke Buisset.
+He seems to have discharged his duties with a reasonable amount of zeal.
+He for some time gave himself up to instructing and endeavouring to
+convert the Indians of the neighbourhood. Later on he visited other
+Indian settlements, and made a noteworthy journey into the interior of
+what is now the State of New York, where he preached the Gospel to
+various tribes of the Five Nations, with indifferent success.
+
+Upon receiving intelligence of La Salle's projected western journey, in
+1678, Father Hennepin felt and expressed great eagerness to accompany
+the expedition. Permission to do so having been obtained from his
+Provincial, as well as from La Salle, he set out in advance of the
+latter from Fort Frontenac, early in November, accompanied by the Sieur
+De La Motte and a crew of sixteen sailors, embarked in a brigantine of
+ten tons. They skirted the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and in due
+time arrived at the Indian village of Taiaiagon, situated at the mouth
+of a river near the present city of Toronto. The river was probably the
+Humber, and the village was doubtless a collection of wigwams which have
+left no trace behind them. From this point the explorers crossed the
+lake to the mouth of the Niagara River, which they entered on the
+morning of the 6th of December. They landed on the eastern side of the
+stream, where the old fort of Niagara now stands. The site was then
+occupied by a small village inhabited by Seneca Indians, many of whom
+probably then beheld for the first time those wondrous pale-faces, the
+fame of whose exploits had preceded them into the wilderness. As the
+vessel rounded the opposite point the entire crew burst forth into
+sacred song, and chanted "Te Deum Laudamus" until the anchor was cast
+into the river. Later in the day they ascended several miles farther up
+the stream, until they reached the present site of Lewiston, where they
+built a rude dwelling of palisades. After remaining for some time,
+waiting for La Salle to join them, they set off on an expedition into
+the interior of New York, to pay a visit to a village of the Senecas.
+
+In the meantime La Salle and Tonty had started from Fort Frontenac, with
+a band of men and a goodly store of supplies for the expedition. After
+encountering rough weather and being nearly wrecked off the Bay of
+Quinté, they crossed the lake and landed at the mouth of the Genesee
+River. Here they disembarked, and after a brief delay, started on a
+visit to the same Indian village which had just been visited by Hennepin
+and La Motte, and which was a short distance south-east of the present
+site of the city of Rochester. La Salle called a council of the natives,
+and did his utmost to conciliate them, for they looked upon his
+proceedings with no friendly eye, and were not slow in expressing their
+disapproval. They were wise enough to know that European exploration
+would be but the forerunner of European settlement, and that European
+settlement must be the "sullen presage of their own decay." La Salle,
+however, had a great deal of personal magnetism and force of character,
+and contrived to gain the good-will of several of the chiefs. After much
+argument and cajoling, he succeeded in gaining their consent to the
+conveyance of his arms and ammunition by way of the portage at Niagara.
+They also acquiesced in his proposal to establish a fortified warehouse
+at the mouth of the river, and to build a vessel above the falls in
+which to prosecute his researches in the west. Having accomplished so
+much--and considering the jealousy of the Indians, it is surprising
+that he should have obtained such concessions--he set out to join
+Hennepin and La Motte in the Niagara River, which had been appointed as
+their place of meeting.
+
+Father Hennepin and La Motte had not long taken up their quarters on the
+banks of the Niagara River before they ascended the stream to regale
+themselves with a view of the mighty cataract of which they had so often
+heard with awe and astonishment. To the skill of the mendacious priest
+we are indebted for the first verbal description of the falls by an
+eye-witness, as well as for the first artistic delineation of them. The
+friar had a keen eye for the beauties and grandeur of natural scenery;
+but, like other travellers before and since his time, he was much given
+to dealing in the marvellous. His view is drawn in direct violation of
+the laws of perspective, and the proportions are not correctly
+preserved. It must be remembered, however, that during the two hundred
+years which have elapsed since the sketch was made, nature has been
+steadily at work, and that the external appearance of the falls has
+undergone many changes in that time. It is probable, too, that the
+cross-fall depicted in his sketch as pouring over what has since been
+called "Table Rock" really existed in 1678. Upon the whole, there is no
+reason for doubting that in its general outlines the sketch made by
+Father Hennepin pourtrayed the scene more faithfully than did his
+written description, of which the following is a literal translation:
+"Betwixt the Lake Ontario and the Lake Erie there is a vast and
+prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and
+astonishing manner, insomuch that the universe does not afford its
+parallel. This wonderful downfall is about six hundred feet, and is
+composed of two great cross-streams of water, and two falls, with an
+island sloping across the middle of it. The waters which fall from this
+horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner
+imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of
+thunder; for when the wind blows out of the south their dismal roaring
+may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."
+
+Hennepin and La Motte were soon afterwards joined by La Salle and Tonty,
+accompanied by a party consisting of mechanics, labourers and voyageurs,
+who arrived in a small schooner. After a short exploration of the
+country thereabouts La Salle set about the construction of a large
+vessel of forty-five tons, for the prosecution of his western voyage.
+The ship-yard was located six miles above the Falls, near the mouth of
+Cayuga Creek, where the work of shipbuilding was carried on throughout
+the winter, spring, and early summer. At last the new vessel--the
+ill-fated _Griffin_ (the first European craft that ever navigated the
+waters of the upper lakes)--was completed, and on the 7th of August,
+1679, the adventurers embarked and sailed into Lake Erie--"where sail
+was never seen before." They passed on to the westward end of the lake,
+and up between the green islands of the stream now known as the Detroit
+River; crossed Lake St. Clair, and entered Lake Huron. In due course,
+after encountering a furious tempest, they reached Michillimackinac,
+where was a Jesuit Mission and centre of the fur trade. Passing on into
+Lake Michigan, La Salle and his company cast anchor in Green Bay. The
+_Griffin_ was forthwith laden with rich furs, and sent back to Niagara,
+with orders to turn over the cargo to La Salle's creditors, and return
+immediately. This is the last item respecting her which history affords.
+Whether she foundered or was captured by the Jesuits or Indians remains
+an open question to this day, and no certain tidings of her, subsequent
+to her departure eastward from Green Bay, ever reached the ears of her
+commander.
+
+Meanwhile, his creditors, from whom he had purchased his supplies, and
+with whom he was heavily involved, were selling his effects at Montreal.
+He himself, with his company in scattered groups, repaired in bark
+canoes to the head of Lake Michigan; and at the mouth of the St. Joseph
+he constructed a trading-house with palisades, known as the Fort of the
+Miamis. Of his vessel, on which his fortunes so much depended, no
+tidings came. Weary of delay, he resolved to penetrate Illinois; and
+leaving ten men to guard the Fort of the Miamis, La Salle himself, with
+Hennepin, Tonty, and about thirty followers, ascended the St. Joseph,
+and by a short portage over bogs and swamps made dangerous by a snow
+storm, entered the Kankakee. Descending this narrow stream, before the
+end of December, 1679, the little company had reached the site of an
+Indian village on the Illinois, probably not far from Ottoway, in La
+Salle county. The tribe was absent, passing the winter in the chase. On
+the banks of Lake Peoria Indians appeared, who, desirous to obtain axes
+and firearms, offered the calumet of peace, and agreed to an alliance.
+They described the course of the Mississippi, and they were willing to
+guide the strangers to its mouth. The spirit and prudence of La Salle,
+who was the life of the enterprise, won the friendship of the natives.
+But clouds lowered over his path. The _Griffin_, it seemed certain, was
+wrecked, thus delaying his discoveries as well as impairing his
+fortunes. His men began to despond. He toiled to revive their courage,
+and assured them that there could be no safety but in union. "None," he
+added, "shall stay after the spring, unless from choice." But fear and
+discontent pervaded the company; and when La Salle, thwarted by destiny,
+and almost despairing, planned and began to build a fort on the banks of
+the Illinois, four days' journey below Lake Peoria, he named it
+Crèvecoeur (Heart-break). Yet even here the immense power of his will
+appeared. Dependent on himself, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest
+French settlement, impoverished, harassed by enemies at Quebec and in
+the wilderness, he inspired his men with resolution to saw trees into
+plank and prepare a barque. He despatched Hennepin to explore the Upper
+Mississippi; he questioned the Illinois and the captives on the course
+of that river; he formed conjectures respecting the course of the
+Tennessee. Then, as new recruits and sails and cordage for the barque
+were needed, in the month of March, with a musket and pouch of powder
+and shot, with a blanket for his protection and skins of which to make
+moccasins, he, with three companions, set off on foot for Fort
+Frontenac, to trudge through thickets and forests, to wade through
+marshes and melting snows; without drink, except water from the running
+brooks; without food, except such precarious supplies as could be
+provided by his gun. After enduring dangers and hardships which would
+have effectually damped the ardour of any one but a French adventurer of
+that time; after narrowly escaping a plot to poison him; after being
+deserted by some of his followers, and threatened with all sorts of
+unknown penalties by the savages, he finally, after sixty-five days'
+journeying, arrived at Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 1680. But "man
+and nature seemed in arms against him." He found that during his absence
+his agents had plundered him, that his creditors had seized his
+property, and that several of his canoes, richly laden, had been lost in
+the rapids of the St. Lawrence. Another vessel which had been despatched
+with supplies for him from France had also been shipwrecked. Instead of
+sitting down to mourn over these mishaps, however, they seemed to
+inspire him with fresh vigour. Descending to Montreal, he in less than a
+week procured what supplies he needed, and returned to Fort Frontenac.
+Just as he was about to embark for Illinois, messengers arrived with
+intelligence that Tonty had been abandoned by his companions, and had
+been compelled to take shelter with a band of Pottawatomie Indians.
+
+Undiscouraged by the manifold disasters which had befallen him, La Salle
+once more set out from Fort Frontenac for the regions of the Great West.
+Instead of following the route by Lake Erie and the Detroit and St.
+Clair Rivers, as he had previously done, he crossed over to the Georgian
+Bay by way of the River Humber, which was on the line of one of the
+three great westward routes in those times. He was accompanied by
+twenty-five assistants, including his lieutenant, one La Forest, and a
+surgeon. In due course they reached Michillimackinac, which was then the
+great north-western dépôt of the fur trade. Here he found that his old
+enemies the Jesuits had been busy poisoning the minds of the natives
+against him, insomuch that it was only with difficulty that he could
+induce the latter to sell him provisions. After a brief delay he resumed
+his journey, passing numerous camps of the terrible Iroquois, who, tired
+of devastating the more eastern districts, were now spreading desolation
+through these western regions. Upon reaching Fort Crèvecoeur he found it
+deserted, and neither here nor elsewhere, for many days to come, was he
+able to gain any intelligence of his trusty ally, Tonty, who had been
+left behind on the former expedition, as already narrated. He continued
+his course southward, and erelong found himself on the banks of the
+Mississippi--the mighty Father of Waters, "the object of his day dreams,
+the destined avenue of his ambition and his hopes." Finding no traces of
+Tonty, he determined to look for him further northward, and retraced his
+footsteps to Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, near Lake Michigan, where he
+spent the winter. "Here," says Mr. Parkman, "he might have brooded on
+the redoubled ruin that had befallen him; the desponding friends, the
+exulting foes; the wasted energies, the crushing load of debt, the
+stormy past, the black and lowering future. But his mind was of a
+different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with adversity, and
+out of the fragments of his ruin to build up the fabric of success. He
+would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new contingency.
+His white enemies had found--or rather, perhaps, had made--a savage ally
+in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his enterprise
+would come to naught; and he thought he saw the means by which this new
+danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes of the
+west, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget their
+mutual animosities and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at its
+head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the
+Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of
+French allies they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire in some
+measure the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach
+them the Faith; La Salle and his associates could supply them with
+goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters
+could gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he could seek out the
+mouth of the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the
+Illinois would then find a ready passage to the markets of the world.
+Thus might this ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed
+to civilization and Christianity, and a stable settlement, half feudal,
+half commercial, grow up in the heart of the western wilderness. This
+plan was but a part of the original scheme of his enterprise, adapted to
+new and unexpected circumstances; and he now set himself to its
+execution with his usual vigour, joined to an address that, when dealing
+with Indians, never failed him."
+
+In pursuance of this scheme he called a council of all the Indian chiefs
+for leagues round, and entered into a formal covenant with them. His
+new project was hopefully begun. It remained to achieve the enterprise,
+twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. To
+this end, he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect
+his scattered resources. Towards the end of May he set out in canoes
+from Fort Miami, and, after a prosperous voyage, reached
+Michillimackinac. Here, to his great joy, he found Tonty and one Zenobe
+Membré, who had lately arrived from Green Bay. Without loss of time,
+they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled their canoes a
+thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, in this
+third beginning of his enterprise, La Salle found himself beset with
+embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the fruitless cost of his
+two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he had incurred in
+building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been wholly paid. The
+fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; yet, through the
+influence of the Count de Frontenac, and the support of a wealthy
+relative, he found means to appease his creditors, and even to gain
+fresh advances. He mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved
+to trust no more to agents, but to lead on his followers in a united
+body under his own personal command.
+
+Returning westward, he once more reached Fort Miami, whence, on the 26th
+of December, 1682, he set out for the mouth of the Mississippi, whither
+he arrived during the month of April following. "As he drifted down the
+turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, the brackish water
+changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the
+sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight, tossing
+its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely as when born of
+chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life." La Salle, in a canoe,
+coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then assembled his companions
+on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above the mouth of the river.
+In this wild spot, on the ninth of the month, which was the month of
+April, 1682, he planted a column bearing the arms of France and an
+inscription to Louis Le Grand. "On that day," says the writer already
+quoted from, "the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous
+accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the
+Mississippi, from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of
+the Gulf, from the woody ridges of the Rocky Mountains--a region of
+savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts and grassy prairies,
+inhabited by innumerable warlike tribes--passed beneath the sceptre of
+the Sultan of Versailles; and all by virtue of a feeble human voice,
+inaudible at half a mile." Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle
+on this new domain of the French crown, which stretched from the
+Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to
+the farthest springs of the Missouri.
+
+Retracing his steps, he founded on the banks of the Illinois River a
+colony of French and Indians, to answer the double purpose of a bulwark
+against the Iroquois and a place of storage for the furs of all the
+western tribes; and he hoped in the following year to secure an outlet
+for this colony, and for all the trade of the valley of the Mississippi,
+by occupying the mouth of that river with a fort and another colony. The
+site of the colony was near the spot now occupied by the village of
+Utica, in the State of Illinois. Early in the following autumn he placed
+Tonty in charge of it, and made the best of his way to Quebec, whence he
+soon afterwards sailed for France. He had an interview with the King, to
+whom he unfolded his schemes. Louis, notwithstanding the machinations of
+La Salle's enemies, took a favourable view of the latter's enterprises,
+and in the month of July, 1684, we find him setting sail from Rochelle
+with a fleet of four vessels and a small army of recruits, composed of
+soldiers, gentlemen, artisans and labourers. Their destination was not
+Canada, but the Gulf of Mexico; La Salle having obtained the royal
+authority for a vast scheme of trade and colonization on the
+Mississippi, to which was tacked on a wild and impracticable scheme of
+conquest of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. One of the vessels, laden
+with provisions and other necessaries for the projected colony, was
+captured by buccaneers. The other three, after calling at St. Domingo,
+entered the Mexican Gulf. La Salle, when at the mouth of the Mississippi
+nearly three years before, had taken the latitude, but for some reason
+or other had no clue to the longitude, and the consequence was that he
+now sailed more than four hundred miles too far west. He landed on the
+coast of Texas, and spent some time in exploration before he became
+convinced of his error. Meanwhile he was constantly quarrelling with
+Beaujeu, his naval commander, as well as with other members of the
+expedition. Add to this that he was repeatedly prostrated by attacks of
+fever, and in constant expectation of being attacked by the savages of
+the neighbourhood; and it will be confessed that his situation was not a
+very enviable one. To add to his perplexities, one of his vessels went
+aground, and a great part of the cargo was lost. About this time Beaujeu
+set out to return to France. He had accomplished his mission, and landed
+his passengers at what La Salle assured him to be one of the mouths of
+the Mississippi. His ship was in danger on this exposed and perilous
+coast, and he was anxious to find shelter. After some delay, La Salle
+erected a fort on Lavaca River, in which he placed the women and
+children and most of the men who formed part of the expedition, and with
+the rest of the men set out to renew his search for the mouth of the
+Mississippi. He set out from the fort--which he called Fort St.
+Louis--with fifty men, on the 31st of October, 1685, to find the mouth
+of "the fatal river"--by which name it had come to be known among the
+band of adventurers. Five months were spent in wanderings through the
+wilds of that region, during which the hardships and sufferings were
+such as to baffle description, but the object of their quest still
+seemed as remote as ever. At last, weary and dispirited, the survivors
+returned to Fort St. Louis, where La Salle fell dangerously ill, and for
+some time his life was despaired of. No sooner had he recovered than he
+determined to make his way by the Mississippi and the Illinois to
+Canada, whence he might bring succour to the colonists, and send a
+report of their condition to France. The attempt was beset with
+uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was first to be found, then
+followed through all the perilous monotony of its interminable windings
+to a goal which was to be but the starting point of a new and not less
+arduous journey. Twenty men, including La Salle's brother, the Abbé
+Cavelier, and Moranget, his nephew, were detailed to accompany him. On
+the 22nd of April, 1686, after mass and prayers in the chapel, they
+issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons, some with
+kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts for
+Indians. In this guise they held their way in silence across the
+prairie. They travelled north-easterly, and encountered a due share of
+adventures with wild beasts and Indian savages. They traversed a large
+extent of country, but the attempt to discover the mouth of the
+Mississippi proved wholly ineffectual. After several months La Salle and
+eight of his twenty men returned to Fort St. Louis. Of the rest, four
+had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an alligator;
+and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in
+attempting to regain the fort.
+
+The journey to Canada, however, was clearly the only hope of the
+colonists, and on the 6th of January, 1687, the attempt to make it was
+renewed. The band of adventurers this time consisted of eighteen
+persons. At their head was La Salle himself. His brother and nephew,
+already mentioned, were also of the party. Of the others the only ones
+necessary to specify are Joutel, La Salle's trusty henchman, the second
+in command; Hiens, a German, formerly a pirate of the Spanish Main;
+Duhaut, a man of respectable birth and education, but a cruel and
+remorseless villain; and l'Archévêque, his servant; Liotot, the surgeon
+of the expedition; Teissier, a pilot; Douay, a friar; and Nika, a
+Shawnee Indian, who was a devoted friend of La Salle's. They proceeded
+northward. The members of the party were incongruous, and did not agree
+one with another. Duhaut and Liotot were disappointed at the ruinous
+result of their enterprise. They had a quarrel with young Moranget.
+Already at Fort St. Louis Duhaut had intrigued against La Salle, against
+whom Liotot had also secretly sworn vengeance. On the 15th of March they
+encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on his
+preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and
+beans in a _caçhe_. As provisions were falling short he sent a party
+from the camp to find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, Hiens the
+buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archévêque, Nika the hunter, and La Salle's
+servant, Saget. They opened the _caçhe_, and found the contents spoiled;
+but as they returned they saw buffalo, and Nika shot two of them. They
+now encamped on the spot, and sent the servant to inform La Salle, in
+order that he might send horses to bring in the meat. Accordingly, on
+the next day he directed Moranget and another, with the necessary
+horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' camp. When they arrived they
+found that Duhaut and his companions had already cut up the meat, and
+laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, and had also put by for themselves
+certain portions to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect right.
+Moranget fell into an unreasonable fit of rage, and seized the whole of
+the meat. This added fuel to the fire of Duhaut's old grudge against
+Moranget and his uncle. The surgeon also bore hatred against Moranget.
+The two took counsel apart with Hiens, Teissier, and l'Archévêque, and
+it was resolved to kill Moranget, Nika and Saget. All the five were of
+one mind, except the pilot Teissier, who neither aided nor opposed the
+scheme. When night came on, the order of the guard was arranged; and the
+first hour was assigned to Moranget, the second to Saget, and the third
+to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood watch in turn. Duhaut and Hiens stood
+with their guns cocked, ready to shoot down any one of the victims who
+should resist. Saget, Nika and Moranget were ruthlessly butchered, and
+then it was resolved that La Salle should share their fate. La Salle was
+still at his camp, six miles distant. Next morning, having heard nothing
+of Moranget or the others, he set out to find them, accompanied by his
+Indian guide, and by Douay, the friar. "All the way," writes the friar,
+"he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and
+predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him
+from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America.
+Suddenly, I saw him overwhelmed with a profound sadness, for which he
+himself could not account. He was so much moved that I scarcely knew
+him." He soon recovered his usual calmness, and they walked on till they
+approached the camp of Duhaut, on the farther side of a small river.
+Looking about him, La Salle saw two eagles circling in the air, as if
+attracted by the carcasses of beasts or men. He fired his gun and his
+pistol as a summons. The shots reached the ears of the conspirators, who
+fired from their place of concealment, and La Salle, shot through the
+brain, sank lifeless on the ground. Douay stood terror-stricken. Duhaut
+called out to him that he had nothing to fear. The murderers came
+forward and gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great
+Bashaw! There thou liest!" exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base
+exultation over the unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they
+stripped it naked, dragged it into the bushes, and left it there a prey
+to the buzzards and the wolves. It is sad to think that such was the
+fate of the veritable Discoverer of the Great West.
+
+"Thus," says Mr. Parkman, "in the vigour of his manhood, at the age of
+forty-three, died Robert Cavelier de la Salle, 'one of the greatest
+men,' writes Tonty, 'of this age;' without question one of the most
+remarkable explorers whose names live in history. The enthusiasm of the
+disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the enthusiasm of La
+Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of the early Jesuit
+explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight-errant and the
+saint, but to the modern world of practical study and action. He was the
+hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but simply of a fixed idea and
+a determined purpose. It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not
+easy to hide from sight the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a
+throng of enemies, he stands, like the King of Israel, head and
+shoulders above them all. He was a tower of adamant, against whose
+impregnable front hardship and danger, the rage of man and of the
+elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, fatigue, famine and
+disease, delay, disappointment and deferred hope, emptied their quivers
+in vain. Never under the impenetrable mail of paladin or crusader beat a
+heart of more intrepid mettle than within the stoic panoply that armed
+the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the marvels of his patient
+fortitude, one must follow on his track through the vast scene of his
+interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles of forest,
+marsh and river, where again and again, in the bitterness of baffled
+striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onwards towards the goal which he
+was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in this
+masculine figure she sees the pioneer who guided her to the possession
+of her richest heritage."
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.,
+
+_BISHOP OF QUEBEC._
+
+
+Bishop Williams is a son of the late Rev. David Williams, who was for
+many years Rector of Banghurst, Hampshire, England. He was born at the
+town of Overton, Hampshire, in 1825, and his childhood was chiefly
+passed in that neighbourhood. He was intended for holy orders from his
+earliest years. In his boyhood he attended for some time at an
+educational establishment at Crewkerne, a town in the south-eastern part
+of Somersetshire, whence he passed to Pembroke College, Oxford. His
+collegiate course was not specially noteworthy, but was marked by
+considerable diligence. He graduated as B.A. in 1851, taking honours in
+classics. He in due course obtained his degrees of M.A. and D.D. He was
+admitted to Deacon's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Oxford, and (in 1856)
+to Priest's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. He for a short
+time held curacies respectively in Buckinghamshire and Somersetshire.
+His classical attainments were of more than average excellence, and
+seeing no prospect of immediate advancement in England, he in 1857 came
+over to Canada to assist in organizing a school in connection with
+Bishop's College, Lennoxville. Within a short time after his arrival he
+was appointed Rector of the College Grammar School, and soon afterwards
+succeeded to the Classical Professorship of the College, a position
+which he retained until his elevation to the Episcopacy.
+
+Upon the death of the late Right Rev. George Jehoshaphat Mountain,
+Bishop of Quebec, in 1863, the subject of this sketch was appointed his
+successor by the Synod; and on the 11th of June of that year he was
+consecrated at Quebec by the Most Reverend the Metropolitan, assisted by
+the Bishops of Toronto, Ontario, Huron and Vermont. His first Episcopal
+act was to advance three Deacons to the Priesthood.
+
+The See over which his jurisdiction extends was constituted in the year
+1793, and formerly comprised the whole of Upper and Lower Canada. Its
+extent has since been from time to time curtailed, and it is now
+confined to that part of the Province of Quebec extending from Three
+Rivers to the Straits of Belleisle and New Brunswick, on the shores of
+the St. Lawrence and all east of a line drawn from Three Rivers to Lake
+Memphremagog.
+
+Bishop Williams is a plain and unaffected preacher, and a man of
+scholarly tastes. He makes no pretence to showy or splendid gifts of
+pulpit oratory, but is known as an energetic and industrious
+ecclesiastic, careful for the spiritual welfare of his diocese and
+clergy. Several of his lectures and sermons have been published, and
+have been highly commended by the religious press of Canada and the
+United States. Among them may be mentioned his Charge delivered to the
+Clergy of the Diocese of Quebec, at the Visitation held in Bishop's
+College, Lennoxville, in 1864; and a lecture on Self-Education,
+published at Quebec in 1865.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI, signed as C. S. GZOWSKI]
+
+
+LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI,
+
+_AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA._
+
+
+In compiling the various sketches which have appeared in the present
+series, the editor has frequently been compelled to encounter the
+difficulty of constructing a readable narrative out of very sparse and
+prosaic materials. A collection of this kind must necessarily include
+the lives of many professional and scientific men; and eminence in
+literature, in science, and in the learned professions, is commonly
+attained by means which--however interesting to those most immediately
+concerned--seem wonderfully commonplace to the general public, when
+reduced to plain, matter-of-fact narration. As a rule, stirring and
+romantic incidents are incompatible with a successful professional
+career, and in recounting the life of a learned divine, Chief Justice,
+or man of science, it is rarely necessary to deal with thrilling
+incidents or dramatic situations. The lives of such men are usually
+passed within a narrow and restricted groove, and the salient points may
+easily be comprised within a few lines. In the life of Colonel Gzowski,
+on the other hand, we have an instance of a remarkably successful
+professional career, combined with a chapter of vicissitude and
+adventure which, in the hands of a writer familiar with all the details,
+might very well form the groundwork of a sensation novel. His elasticity
+of spirits, strength of will, and vigour of constitution have supported
+him through an amount of labour, fatigue and suffering to which a more
+feeble mind and a more delicately-constructed frame must inevitably have
+succumbed long ago. Such a life as his commonly leaves very perceptible
+traces behind it. In his case no such traces are discernible. Neither in
+his visage, his gait, nor his manner, can the most observant eye detect
+any sign that his pathway has not always been strewn with roses. No one
+remarking his erect and firmly-knit figure, his jauntiness of step, and
+his keenness of glance, as he perambulates our streets, would readily
+believe that he is rapidly approaching his sixty-eighth birthday. Still
+less would it be supposed that he has passed through adventures enough
+for a knight-errant; that he has fought and bled in the fierce struggle
+for a nation's existence; that he has had his full share of the horrors
+of war; that he has languished in a patriot's prison; and that some of
+the best years of his life were passed in a hard struggle for existence
+in a foreign land. As we pass in review the alternating phases of his
+chequered career we seem to be contemplating a shifting panorama of the
+novelist's fancy, rather than a veracious chronicle of facts. The story
+of his life can be adequately narrated by no other pen than his own, and
+for many years past he has found more profitable employment for his
+talents than the inditing of autobiographical memoirs. In the absence of
+any such memoirs, be it ours to place on record such of the more salient
+points of his life as are readily ascertainable.
+
+He is descended from an ancient Polish family which was ennobled in the
+sixteenth century, and which for more than two hundred years thereafter
+continued to exercise an influence upon the national affairs. His
+father, Stanislaus, Count (Hrabia) Gzowski, was an officer of the
+Imperial Guard. He himself was born on the 5th of March, 1813, at St.
+Petersburg, the Russian capital, where his parents were then temporarily
+sojourning. His childhood was spent as the childhood of most Polish
+children of his station in life was passed in those days--viz., in
+preparation for a military career. At nine years of age he entered a
+military engineering college at Kremenetz, in the Province of Volhynia,
+where he remained until 1830, when he graduated as an engineer, received
+a commission, and entered the army of Russia.
+
+The Russian Empire was at this time on the verge of one of those
+periodical insurrections to which she had long been subject, more
+especially since the final partition and absorption of Poland, and the
+annihilation of the Polish monarchy. In 1825, Nicholas I. succeeded his
+elder brother Alexander on the throne of Russia. He had not long been
+installed there before he gave evidence of that aggressive policy which
+he pursued through life, and which nearly thirty years later involved
+him in the Crimean War. Some years before his accession, his elder
+brother Constantine, the heir-apparent to the throne, had been entrusted
+with the military government of Poland, and in 1822 had resigned his
+right to the Russian throne in Nicholas's favour. Upon the latter's
+accession he continued his elder brother in his sovereignty of Poland.
+Constantine's administration of affairs in that unhappy country was
+arbitrary and despotic in the extreme, and little calculated to mollify
+the heartburnings of the inhabitants. His oppressions were not confined
+to the serfs, but extended to the nobility. The result of his tyranny
+was the formation of secret societies with a view to striking one more
+blow for Polish liberty. A widespread insurrection, wherein most of the
+Polish officers in the Imperial army were involved, finally broke out in
+1830--the year in which the subject of this sketch received his
+commission. The success of the concurrent revolution in France, and the
+forced abdication of Charles X., inspired the insurgents with high
+hopes. In November of the year last mentioned the Grand Duke Constantine
+and his Russian adherents were driven out of Warsaw, the Polish capital.
+If the insurrectionary forces had been thoroughly organized, and if they
+had not been subjected to extraneous interference, there is reason for
+believing that their country might have been freed from the hateful
+domination of the Czar. Notwithstanding all the manifold disabilities
+under which they carried on the contest, they achieved a temporary
+success. After the expulsion of Constantine, a provisional government
+was formed under the presidency of Prince Czartoryski, and a series of
+desperate engagements was fought in which the patriots had in almost
+every instance a decided advantage. Their desperate courage and
+self-devotion, however, were of no permanent avail, for Prussia and
+Austria both lent their assistance to crush them, and towards the close
+of 1831 Warsaw was recaptured by the allied forces under Count
+Paskevitch, who was forthwith installed as viceroy of Poland. The
+crushing of the insurrection was of course marked by merciless severity
+and cruelty. In 1832 Poland was declared to be an integral part of the
+Russian Empire, and all the important prisoners were either put to
+death, banished to Siberia, or compelled to endure the horrors of a
+Russian prison.
+
+Throughout the whole of this fruitless insurrection Casimir Stanislaus
+Gzowski played a conspicuous part. He cast in his lot with his
+compatriots from the beginning; was present at the expulsion of
+Constantine from Warsaw, in November, 1830, and was actively engaged in
+numerous important conflicts that ensued. He was wounded, and several
+times narrowly escaped capture. We have no means of closely following
+him through the hazardous exploits of that dark and sanguinary period.
+Persons who are familiar with the history of Polish insurrections will
+be at no loss to conjecture the "hair-breadth 'scapes, and moving
+accidents by flood and field," which he encountered in that desperate
+struggle for a nation's freedom. After the battle of Boremel, General
+Dwernicki's division, to which he was attached, retreated into Austrian
+territory, where the troops laid down their arms and became prisoners.
+The rank and file were permitted to depart whithersoever they would, but
+the officers, to the number of about six hundred, were placed in
+durance, and quartered in several fortified stations. There they
+languished for several months, when, by an arrangement entered into
+between the governments of Russia and Austria, they were shipped off as
+exiles to the United States.
+
+When Mr. Gzowski, with his fellow-exiles, landed at New York in the
+summer of 1833, he had no knowledge whatever of the English language.
+When the pilot came on board at Sandy Hook, and saluted the captain of
+the vessel, he heard that language spoken for the first time. Like most
+members of the Polish and Russian aristocracy, he was an accomplished
+linguist, and was familiar with many of the continental languages; but
+it was a part of the Russian policy in those days to exclude English
+books from the public schools, and to prevent by every conceivable means
+the spread of English ideas among the people. During his course of study
+at the military college at Kremenetz, one of the Professors had
+exhibited an English book to him as a sort of outlandish curiosity. He
+now found himself in a strange land, without means, without any friends
+except his fellow-exiles--who were as helpless in that respect as
+himself--and without any prospect of obtaining employment. He possessed
+qualifications, however, which, as the event proved, were of more value
+than mere worldly wealth. He had been a diligent student, and had
+acquired what must have been, for a youth of twenty years, a thorough
+knowledge of engineering. He was, as has been remarked, a good linguist,
+and had not merely a grammatical, but a practical knowledge of the
+French, German and Italian languages. Better than all these, he was
+endowed with an iron constitution, which even the rigours of an Austrian
+prison had not been able to injure, and a strength of will which would
+not admit the possibility of failure. Some idea of his resolution may be
+formed from the fact that, when he found that his want of knowledge of
+English prevented him from following the engineering profession with
+advantage, he determined to study law as a means of acquiring a mastery
+of the English tongue. After subsisting for some months in New York by
+giving lessons in French and German, he betook himself to Pittsfield,
+Massachusetts, where he entered the office of the late Mr. Parker L.
+Hall, an eminent lawyer of that town, and a gentleman of high social
+position. The facility displayed by the natives of Poland and Russia in
+acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages is well known, but the
+achievements of Mr. Gzowski at this time seem almost phenomenal. It must
+be borne in mind that while he was studying law in a tongue which was
+foreign to him, he was compelled to support himself by outside
+employment. He obtained his livelihood by teaching modern languages,
+drawing, and fencing, in two of the local academies. He worked early and
+late, and was at first obliged to study the commentaries of Blackstone
+and Kent through the medium of a dictionary. In nothing did he appear
+to greater advantage than in his invariable readiness to adapt his
+mind, without useless repining, to the circumstances in which he found
+himself. His indomitable industry, natural ability, and fine social
+qualities, combined with his misfortunes to make him a marked man in
+Pittsfield society. He gained many warm friends, but was always wise
+enough to remember that his success in life must mainly depend upon his
+own exertions. In the month of February, 1837, when he had been studying
+his profession about three years, he passed a successful examination,
+and was only prevented from being admitted to practice by his not having
+become a naturalized citizen of the United States. A knowledge of the
+legal profession, however, was with him merely a means to an end. He had
+no intention of permanently devoting himself to legal practice, and had
+always contemplated returning to his profession of an engineer. He had
+by this time acquired a competent knowledge of the English language, and
+had begun to look about him for some suitable field for his exertions.
+The development of the coal regions of Pennsylvania was attracting a
+good deal of attention at this time, and it occurred to him that he
+might not improbably find employment there. A visit to that State tended
+to confirm his views, and in November Term, 1837, having submitted the
+necessary proofs, and taken the oath of allegiance, he was duly admitted
+as a citizen of the United States, before the Prothonotary of the Court
+of Common Pleas, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had brought with him
+from Pittsfield numerous letters of introduction to persons of high
+social position and influence, all bearing testimony to his
+unimpeachable character and wide attainments. The only obstacle to his
+admission to practice having been removed, he was enrolled as an
+advocate at the Bar of the Supreme Court, and for a short time acted as
+an advocate in Pennsylvania. This, however, was not the line of action
+for which he considered himself best qualified, nor did the prospect
+held out to him satisfy his ambition. He soon obtained employment as an
+engineer in connection with the great canals and public works, and
+abandoned the law as a profession. He became interested in several
+contracts, which were faithfully and skilfully carried out; and wherever
+he went he won the reputation of a delightful companion and a thoroughly
+honourable man.
+
+Early in 1841 the project of widening and deepening the Welland Canal
+began to be discussed with some vehemence in Upper Canada. With a view
+to securing a contract, Mr. Gzowski came over from Erie, Pennsylvania
+(where he then resided), to Toronto, and for the first time was brought
+into contact with some of the leading public men of Canada. The
+Government was then administered by Sir Charles Bagot, a gentleman whose
+infirm state of health did not prevent him from taking a warm interest
+in the public improvements of the country. Sir Charles formed a high
+opinion of Mr. Gzowski's talents, and sanctioned his appointment to an
+office in connection with the Department of Public Works. This
+appointment having been accepted by Mr. Gzowski, he bade adieu to his
+many friends in the United States, and took up his abode in Upper
+Canada.
+
+During the next six years Mr. Gzowski's life was entirely occupied by
+his duties in connection with the Department of Public Works. It is
+manifestly out of the question to give even an epitome of the numberless
+important enterprises conducted by him during this, the busiest period
+of his active life. His reports of the works in connection with
+harbours, bridges and highways alone occupy a considerable portion of a
+large folio volume. It will be sufficient to say that every important
+provincial improvement came under his supervision, and that nearly
+every county in Upper Canada bears upon its surface the impress of his
+great industry and engineering skill. In 1846 he obtained naturalization
+and became a British subject. Soon after the accession to power of the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, in 1848, his services in an official
+capacity were brought to a close, and he began to enter upon large
+engineering enterprises on his own account. Towards the end of the year
+1848 he published a report on the mines of the Upper Canada Mining
+Company on Lake Huron. But his mind was occupied by more important
+schemes. The railway era set in. The Railroad Guarantee Act, authorizing
+Government grants to private companies undertaking the construction of
+railways, having been passed in 1849, the public began to hear of
+various railway projects of greater or lesser importance. The first
+great enterprise of this sort with which Mr. Gzowski connected himself
+was the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company, from Montreal to
+Island Pond, which has since been amalgamated with the Grand Trunk. Mr.
+Gzowski was appointed Chief Engineer of this undertaking, made a survey
+of the greater portion of the line, and superintended the actual
+construction. When the line became merged in the Grand Trunk he resigned
+his position of Chief Engineer, and received the most gratifying written
+testimonials from the Board of Directors as to his able administration
+of the important duties which had fallen to his share. Having formed a
+partnership with the present Sir Alexander T. Galt, the late Hon. Luther
+H. Holton, and the Hon. D. L. Macpherson, Mr. Gzowski for some years
+devoted himself entirely to the work of railway construction. On the
+24th of March, 1853, the firm of Gzowski & Co. obtained the contract for
+the construction of the line from Toronto westward to Sarnia. This great
+work was prosecuted to a successful conclusion, and was attended with
+most gratifying pecuniary results to the contractors. The firm was then
+dissolved, and has since consisted of Messrs. Gzowski and Macpherson
+only, who continued to carry on large operations in the way of railway
+construction. Among other railway works constructed by the firm were the
+line from Port Huron to Detroit, in the State of Michigan, and the line
+from London to St. Mary's, in this Province. In connection with their
+own enterprises, and for the purpose of supplying railway companies with
+iron rails and materials used in the construction of railways, Messrs.
+Gzowski & Macpherson in 1857 established the Toronto Rolling Mills,
+which were carried on successfully for about twelve years. Steel rails
+having largely superseded the use of iron ones, the necessity for
+maintaining the establishment ceased to exist, and the works were closed
+up in 1869.
+
+The excitement produced on two continents in 1861 by the Trent affair,
+and the threatened rupture of amicable relations between Great Britain
+and the United States, led Mr. Gzowski to reflect seriously on the
+defenceless condition of Canada. In the event of hostilities between the
+two nations, this country would of course be the first point of attack;
+and, in the absence of any efficient means of defence, it would
+manifestly be impossible to maintain a frontier extending over thousands
+of miles. It occurred to Mr. Gzowski that the establishment of a large
+arsenal in Canadian territory, where every description of armament and
+ammunition might be manufactured or repaired, would be a very wise
+precaution. He counted the cost, prepared elaborate plans, and even
+fixed upon what he believed to be the most appropriate site. Full of
+this scheme, he proceeded to England, where he submitted it to the War
+Secretary and other prominent members of the Imperial Government. Its
+liberality created much surprise among all to whom it was broached, for
+Mr. Gzowski proposed to provide capital for the construction and
+equipment of the entire establishment, subject to certain very
+reasonable stipulations. The project was taken into careful
+consideration by the Government, and for some time it seemed not
+unlikely to be carried out. It was finally concluded, however, that for
+certain diplomatic reasons, it would be undesirable to proceed with it;
+but full justice was done to Mr. Gzowski's unbounded liberality and
+public spirit, and he was assured that the Government were not
+insensible to the munificence of his proposal. From this time forward he
+began to interest himself in military matters. He took a very active
+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
+part in Edinburgh. It might well have been supposed that all the trials
+and sufferings he had undergone would have taught him a lesson, and
+that he would not again be so ill-advised as to recklessly bring trouble
+upon himself by interfering in public affairs which did not specially
+concern him. But his foible for searching out abuses was ineradicable
+and ingrained in his constitution. He could not behold injustice without
+showing his teeth, and his bumptiousness was destined to bring further
+suffering down upon his head. When he was not far from his seventieth
+year some land in or near Edinburgh which had theretofore been
+unenclosed, and which, in his opinion, should have continued unenclosed,
+was in some way or other appropriated, and the public were debarred from
+its use. We are not in possession of sufficient details to go into
+particulars. Mr. Gourlay denounced the enclosure as an act of
+high-handed tyranny, and harangued the common people on the subject
+until he had worked them up into a state of frenzy. Something resembling
+a riot was the result, in which he, while attempting to preserve the
+peace, was thrown down, and run over by a carriage. One of his legs was
+broken; a serious accident for a man of his years. The fracture refused
+to knit. He was confined to his bed for many months, and remained a
+cripple throughout the rest of his life.
+
+His case was again brought before the Canadian Assembly during Lord
+Elgin's Administration of affairs in this country, but nothing final was
+accomplished on his behalf. In 1857 he once more came out to Canada in
+person, and remained several years. He owned some property in the
+township of Dereham, in the county of Oxford, and took up his abode upon
+it. At the next general election he announced himself as a candidate for
+the constituency, and put forth a printed statement of his political
+views. He received, we believe, several votes, but of course his
+candidature never assumed a serious aspect. In 1858 the late Mr. Brown,
+Mr. M. H. Foley, and the present Chief Justice Dorion took up his cause
+in the Assembly, and procured permission for him to address the House in
+person. On the 2nd of June he made his appearance at the Bar, and
+liberated his mind by a speech in which he commented rather incoherently
+on his banishment and subsequent life, and concluded by handing in
+certificates from Dr. Chalmers and other eminent men in Scotland as to
+his personal character and abilities. The final result was that an
+official pardon was granted by the Governor-General, which pardon Mr.
+Gourlay repudiated as an insult. He also continued to repudiate his
+pension. Having completed his eightieth year, he married a young woman
+in the township of Dereham, who had been his housekeeper. This marriage
+was a source of profound regret to his friends, and especially to his
+two surviving daughters. The union was in no respect a felicitous one,
+for which circumstance the proverb about "crabbed age and youth" is
+quite sufficient to account, even had there not been other good and
+substantial reasons. In course of time the patriarchal bridegroom
+quietly took his departure for Scotland, leaving his bride--and of
+course the farm--behind him.
+
+He never returned to this country, but continued to reside in Edinburgh
+until his death, which took place on the 1st of August, 1863. He had
+completed his eighty-fifth year four months previously, and the tree was
+fully ripe.
+
+At the time of his death he had two daughters surviving, and we
+understand that all arrearages of pension were paid to them by the
+Canadian Government. One of these ladies went out to Zululand as a
+missionary several years since, but was compelled by ill health to
+return to her home in Scotland, where she has since died. The youngest
+daughter, Miss Helen Gourlay, still resides in Edinburgh.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Navy Hall was the Lieutenant-Governor's residence at Newark. See the
+sketch of the life of Governor Simcoe, in the first volume of this work.
+
+[2] From correspondence and documents laid before the Upper Canadian
+House of Assembly in 1836, and published in the appendix to the Journal
+for that year, we learn that the total quantity of land placed at
+Colonel Talbot's disposal amounted to exactly 518,000 acres. Five years
+before that date (in 1831) the population of the Talbot settlement had
+been estimated by the Colonel at nearly 40,000. It appears that the
+original grant did not include so large a tract, but that it was
+subsequently extended.
+
+[3] See "Portraits of British Americans," by W. Notman; with
+Biographical Sketches by Fennings Taylor; vol. I., p. 341.
+
+[4] See "Life of Colonel Talbot," by Edward Ermatinger; p. 70.
+
+[5] A sketch of the life of Edward Blake appears in Vol. I. of the
+present series. Since that sketch was published the subject of it has
+succeeded Mr. Mackenzie as leader of the Opposition in the House of
+Commons.
+
+[6] A full account of this interesting case will be found in Mrs.
+Moodie's "Life in the Clearings, _versus_ the Bush."
+
+[7] See "Life of Rev. James Richardson," by Thomas Webster, D.D.
+Toronto, 1876.
+
+[8] See "Case and his Cotemporaries," by John Carroll; Vol III., p. 17.
+
+[9] See "Nova Scotia, in its Historical, Mercantile and Industrial
+Relations;" by Duncan Campbell; p. 427.
+
+[10] Mr. Lafontaine was in reality the head of the Administration, which
+should strictly be called--and which is sometimes called--the
+Lafontaine-Baldwin Administration. In common parlance, however, and in
+most histories, Mr. Baldwin's name comes first, and we have adopted this
+phraseology throughout the present series.
+
+[11] See "The Poems of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, with an Introduction and
+Biographical Sketch by Mrs. J. Sadlier." New York, 1869.
+
+[12] See a sketch of Judge Wilmot's life by the Rev. J. Lathern
+(published at Halifax in 1880), p. 45.
+
+[13] It was administered to an Indian child. The great-grandfather of
+Madame Taché and the mother of M. Varennes de la Verandrye acted as
+sponsors.
+
+[14] See Lindsey's "Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie," vol i.,
+p. 147.
+
+
+ERRATA:
+
+Pg. 4--Typo corrected: wierd changed to weird
+Pg. 10--Typo corrected: proroging changed to proroguing
+Pg. 31--Typo corrected: would'nt changed to wouldn't
+Pg. 73--Typo corrected: partneship changed to partnership
+Pg. 77--Typo corrected: aristrocratic changed to aristocratic
+Pg. 80--Typo corrected: 1866 changed to 1666
+Pg. 106--Typo corrected: indvidual changed to individual
+Pg. 110--Typo corrected: siezure changed to seizure
+Pg. 115--Typo corrected: 1865 changed to 1875
+Pg. 121--Typo corrected: made changed to make
+Pg. 122--Typo corrected: decendant changed to descendant
+Pg. 125--Typo corrected: commerical changed to commercial
+Pg. 133--Typo corrected: Lieutentant-Governor changed to Lieutenant-Governor
+Pg. 134--Typo corrected: judical changed to judicial
+Pg. 142--Typo corrected: siezed changed to seized
+Pg. 148--Typo corrected: him-himself changed to himself
+Pg. 153--Typo corrected: that changed to than
+Pg. 157--Typo corrected: thoughout changed to throughout
+Pg. 171--Typo corrected: opinon changed to opinion
+Pg. 191--Typo corrected: succesful changed to successful
+Pg. 195--Typo corrected: concieve changed to conceive
+Pg. 256--Typo corrected: harrangued changed to harangued
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery -
+Volume 3 (of 4), by John Charles Dent
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of
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+      Volume 3 (of 4)
+      by John Charles Dent
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
+by John Charles Dent
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
+
+Author: John Charles Dent
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35647]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADIAN PORTRAIT GALLERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marcia Brooks, Donna M. Ritchey and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet
+Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<h1><span class="g"><i>THE CANADIAN</i><br />
+<br /><br />
+<i>PORTRAIT GALLERY.</i></span></h1>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>JOHN CHARLES DENT,</h2>
+<h4>ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS.</h4>
+<h3>VOL III.</h3>
+<h4>TORONTO:<br />
+
+PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGURN.<br />
+1881.</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h5>C. B. ROBINSON, PRINTER,<br />
+5 <span class="smcap">Jordan Street, Toronto.</span><br /></h5>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="center"><br /><small>
+[Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year Eighteen
+Hundred and Eighty-one,<br /> by <span class="smcap">John B. Magurn</span>, in the office of the Minister of
+Agriculture.]<br /></small></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+<div class="trans-note">Transcriber's Note: Footnotes
+and Errata are placed at the end of this file.</div>
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a>
+<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.</h2>
+
+<h5>[A Preface and an Alphabetical Index will be given at the close of the
+last volume.]</h5>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Table of Contents" width="65%">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'></td>
+<td align='right'>PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+
+
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_EARL_OF_DUFFERIN"><b><span class="smcap">The Earl of Dufferin</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_REV_ROBERT_FERRIER_BURNS"><b><span class="smcap">The Rev. Robert Ferrier Burns</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>13</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_ALBERT_NORTON_RICHARDS"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Albert Norton Richards</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>15</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_RIGHT_REV_JOHN_TRAVERS_LEWIS_LLD"><b><span class="smcap">The Right Rev. John Travers Lewis, LL.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>17</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHARLES_LORD_METCALFE"><b><span class="smcap">Charles, Lord Metcalfe</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>19</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_ALEXANDER_MORRIS"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Alexander Morris</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>23</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_THOMAS_TALBOT"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Thomas Talbot</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>27</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_DAVID_LAIRD"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. David Laird</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>41</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_CHARLES_E_B_DE_BOUCHERVILLE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Charles E. B. de Boucherville</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>44</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_REV_SAMUEL_NELLES_DD_LLD"><b><span class="smcap">The Rev. Samuel S. Nelles, D.D., LL.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>45</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_HUME_BLAKE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William Hume Blake</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>48</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_REV_ALEXANDER_TOPP_DD"><b><span class="smcap">The Rev. Alexander Topp, D.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>54</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_HENRI_GUSTAVE_JOLY"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Henri Gustave Joly</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>56</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_MACKENZIE_BOWELL"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Mackenzie Bowell</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>58</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_REV_JAMES_RICHARDSON_DD"><b><span class="smcap">The Rev. James Richardson, D.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>60</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LORD_SEATON"><b><span class="smcap">Lord Seaton</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>66</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_SIR_DOMINICK_DALY"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Sir Dominick Daly</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>69</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_MCMASTER"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William McMaster</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>72</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILFRID_LAURIER"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Wilfrid Laurier</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>75</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_RIGHT_HON_SIR_CHARLES_BAGOT"><b><span class="smcap">The Right Hon. Sir Charles Bagot</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>77</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LA_SALLE"><b><span class="smcap">La Salle</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>79</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_RIGHT_REV_JAMES_W_WILLIAMS_DD"><b><span class="smcap">The Right Rev. James W. Williams, D.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>90</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LIEUT_COL_CASIMIR_STANISLAUS_GZOWSKI"><b><span class="smcap">Lieut.-Col. Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>91</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THEODORE_HARDING_RAND_AM_DCL"><b><span class="smcap">Theodore Harding Rand, A.M., D.C.L.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>98</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_MATTHEW_CROOKS_CAMERON"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Matthew Crooks Cameron</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>100</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_SIR_LOUIS_H_LAFONTAINE_BART"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Sir Louis H. Lafontaine, Bart.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>104</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JOHN_CHRISTIAN_SCHULTZ_MD"><b><span class="smcap">John Christian Schultz, M.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>109</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_GEORGE_WILLIAM_BURTON"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. George William Burton</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>114</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LORD_DORCHESTER"><b><span class="smcap">Lord Dorchester</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>116</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_PEARCE_HOWLAND"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William Pearce Howland, C.B., K.C.M.G.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>124</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_MOST_REV_MICHAEL_HANNAN_DD"><b><span class="smcap">The Most Rev. Michael Hannan, D.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>128</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GEORGE_PAXTON_YOUNG_MA"><b><span class="smcap">George Paxton Young, M.A.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>129</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_TELESPHORE_FOURNIER"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Telesphore Fournier</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>132</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_OSGOODE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William Osgoode</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>133</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_MORRIS"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William Morris</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>135</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_THOMAS_DARCY_MCGEE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Thomas D'arcy McGee</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>138</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DAVID_ALLISON_MA_LLD"><b><span class="smcap">David Allison, M.A., LL.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>149</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_THOMAS_GALT"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Thomas Galt</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>152</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_RIGHT_REV_WILLIAM_BENNETT_BOND"><b><span class="smcap">The Right Rev. William Bennett Bond, M.A., LL.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>154</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_LEMUEL_ALLAN_WILMOT_DCL"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Lemuel Allan Wilmot, D.C.L.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>156</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_HENRY_ELZEAR_TASCHEREAU"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Henry Elzear Taschereau</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>165</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_ALFRED_GILPIN_JONES"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Alfred Gilpin Jones</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>167</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_JOHN_NORQUAY"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. John Norquay</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>170</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_SIR_RICHARD_JOHN_CARTWRIGHT"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Sir Richard John Cartwright</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>172</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_THEODORE_ROBITAILLE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Theodore Robitaille</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>175</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_SAMUEL_HUME_BLAKE"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Samuel Hume Blake</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>177</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_MOST_REV_ALEXANDRE_ANTONIN_TACHE"><b><span class="smcap">The Most Rev. Alexandre Antonin Tach&eacute;</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>181</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_JAMES_COX_AIKINS"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. James Cox Aikins</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>191</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_FELIX_GEOFFRION_NP_PC"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Felix Geoffrion, N.P., P.C.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>193</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_JOHN_YOUNG"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. John Young</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>194</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_RIGHT_REV_HIBBERT_BINNEY_DD"><b><span class="smcap">The Right Rev. Hibbert Binney, D.D.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>200</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_CHRISTOPHER_FINLAY_FRASER"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Christopher Finlay Fraser</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>201</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SANDFORD_FLEMING_CE_CMG"><b><span class="smcap">Sandford Fleming, C.E., C.M.G.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>203</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_DAVID_LEWIS_MACPHERSON"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. David Lewis Macpherson</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>206</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JAMES_YOUNG"><b><span class="smcap">James Young</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>209</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_PETER_PERRY"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Peter Perry</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>212</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_ADAM_WILSON"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Adam Wilson</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>215</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_SIR_ALEXANDER_CAMPBELL"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Sir Alexander Campbell</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>217</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_LEVI_RUGGLES_CHURCH"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Levi Ruggles Church</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>220</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHARLES_FOURTH_DUKE_OF_RICHMOND"><b><span class="smcap">Charles Lennox, Fourth Duke of Richmond</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>222</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_CHARLES_A_P_PELLETIER_CMG"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. Charles Alphonse Pantaleon Pelletier, C.M.G.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>225</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_WILLIAM_PROUDFOOT"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. William Proudfoot</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>227</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_JOHN_JOSEPH_CALDWELL_ABBOTT"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C.</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>229</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HON_JOHN_BEVERLEY_ROBINSON"><b><span class="smcap">The Hon. John Beverley Robinson</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>231</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#HIS_GRACE_F_X_DE_LAVAL_MONTMORENCY"><b><span class="smcap">His Grace Francois Xavier Laval-Montmorency</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>233</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JAMES_ROBERT_GOWAN"><b><span class="smcap">James Robert Gowan</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>236</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ROBERT_FLEMING_GOURLAY"><b><span class="smcap">Robert Fleming Gourlay</span></b></a></td>
+<td align='right'>240</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+<br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_EARL_OF_DUFFERIN" id="THE_EARL_OF_DUFFERIN"></a>THE EARL OF DUFFERIN.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Of all the many personages who have been sent over from Great Britain to
+administer the Government in this country, since Canada first became an
+appendage of the British Crown, none has achieved so wide a popularity
+as Lord Dufferin. None of his predecessors succeeded in creating so wide
+a circle of personal friends, and none has left so many pleasant
+remembrances behind him. Lord Dorchester was a Governor, but the area
+over which his sway extended was very small as compared with the vast
+Dominion embraced within the purview of Lord Dufferin; and the
+inhabitants in his day were chiefly composed of the representatives of a
+single nationality. Lord Elgin was popular, but the exigencies of his
+position compelled him to make bitter enemies; and while every one, at
+the present day, acknowledges his great capacity and sterling worth,
+there was a time when he was subjected to grievous contumely and
+shameful indignity. Lord Dufferin, on the other hand, won golden
+opinions from the time of his first arrival in Canada, and when he left
+our shores he carried with him substantial tokens of the affection and
+good-will of the inhabitants. One single episode in his administration
+threatened, for a brief space, to interfere with the cordial relations
+between himself and one section of the people. His own prudence and
+tact, combined with the liberality and good sense of those who differed
+from him, enabled him to tide over the critical time; and long before
+his departure from among us he could number most of the latter among his
+warm personal friends. His Vice-Regal progresses made the lines of his
+face and the tones of his voice familiar to the inhabitants of every
+Province. Wherever he went he increased the number of his well-wishers,
+and won additional respect for his personal attainments. He identified
+himself with the popular sympathies, and entered with a keen zest into
+every question affecting the public welfare. He will long live in the
+memory of the Canadian people as a wise administrator, an accomplished
+statesman, a brilliant orator, a genial companion, and a sincere friend
+of the land which he was called upon to govern.</p>
+
+<p>He is descended, on the paternal side, from a Scottish gentleman named
+John Blackwood, who went over from his native country to Ireland, and
+settled in the county Down, towards the close of the sixteenth century.
+The family has ever since resided in that county, and has played a not
+unimportant part in the political history of Ireland. In 1763 a
+baronetcy was conferred upon the then chief representative of the
+family, who was conspicuous in his day and generation as a vehement
+supporter of the Whig side in politics. In 1800 the head of the family
+was created an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Dufferin and
+Clandeboye. The father of the present representative was Price,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> fourth
+Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1839. Fourteen years prior to his
+accession to the title&mdash;that is to say, in the year 1825&mdash;this gentleman
+married Miss Helen Selina Sheridan, a granddaughter of the Right Hon.
+Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The distinguished orator and dramatist, as
+all the world knows, had a son named Thomas Sheridan, who inherited no
+inconsiderable share of his father's wit and genius. Thomas&mdash;better
+known as Tom&mdash;Sheridan, had three daughters, all of whom were prominent
+members of English society, and were conspicuous alike for personal
+beauty and the brilliancy of their intellectual accomplishments. One of
+them was the beautiful Lady Seymour, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, who
+presided as Queen of Beauty at the famous tournament held at the Earl of
+Eglinton's seat in Scotland, in the month of August, 1839. Another
+daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Caroline Norton, won distinction by her poetical
+effusions, and by several novels, one of which, "Stuart of Dunleath," is
+a work exhibiting a high degree of mental power. This lady, whose
+domestic misfortunes formed at one time an absorbing topic of discussion
+in England, survived until 1877, having some months before her death
+been married to the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. The remaining
+daughter, Harriet Selina, was the eldest of the three. She, as we have
+seen, married Captain Price Blackwood, and subsequently became Lady
+Dufferin upon her husband's accession to the title in 1839. She also won
+a name in literature by numerous popular songs and ballads, the best
+known of which is "The Irish Emigrant's Lament." She was left a widow in
+1841, and twenty-one years later, by a second marriage, became Countess
+of Gifford. She died in 1867. Her only son, Frederick Temple, the
+subject of this sketch, was born at Florence, in Italy, on the 21st of
+June, 1826.</p>
+
+<p>He received his early education at Eton College, and subsequently at
+Christ Church, Oxford. He passed through the curriculum with credit, but
+left the University without taking a degree. In the month of July, 1841,
+when he had only just completed his fifteenth year, his father's death
+took place, and he thus succeeded to the family titles six years before
+attaining his majority. During the first Administration of Lord John
+Russell he officiated as one of the Lords-in-Waiting to Her Majesty; and
+again filled a similar position for a short time a few years later.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most memorable passages in his early career was a visit paid
+by him to Ireland during the terrible famine which broke out there in
+1846. Deriving his titles from Ireland, where the greater part of his
+property is situated, and being desirous of doing his duty by his
+tenantry, he had almost from boyhood paid a good deal of attention to
+the question of land-tenure in that country. With a view to extending
+his knowledge by personal observation, he set out from Oxford,
+accompanied by his friend, the Hon. Mr. Boyle, and went over, literally,
+to spy out the nakedness of the famine-stricken land. They for the first
+time in their lives found themselves face-to-face with misery in one of
+its most appalling shapes. They were young, kind-hearted and generous,
+and the scenes wherewith they were daily brought into contact made an
+impression upon their minds that has never been effaced. They published
+an account of their travels under the title of "A Narrative of a Journey
+from Oxford to Skibbereen, during the year of the Irish Famine," and
+devoted the proceeds of the sale of the narrative to the relief of the
+starving sufferers of Skibbereen. The realms of fiction may be ransacked
+in vain for anything more truly pathetic and heart-rending in its
+terrible, vigorous realism, than is this truthful picture of human
+privation and suffering. Upon one occasion, having bought a huge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> basket
+of bread for distribution among the most needy, they were completely
+besieged as soon as their intention became known. "Something like an
+orderly distribution was attempted," says the narrative, "but the
+dreadful hunger and impatience of the poor people by whom the donors
+were surrounded rendered this absolutely impossible, and the bread was
+thrown out, loaf by loaf, from a window, the struggles of the famished
+women over the insufficient supply being dreadful to witness." Of
+course, all they could do to alleviate the sufferings in the district
+was of little avail, but they gave to the extent of their ability, and
+the poor, famishing creatures were warmly touched by their unfeigned and
+tearful sympathy. When the two gentlemen left the town, their carriage
+was followed beyond the outskirts by crowds of suffering poor who
+implored the Divine blessing upon their heads. The publication of the
+"Narrative," moreover, aroused a general feeling of philanthropy
+throughout the whole of England and Scotland, and liberal contributions
+were sent over for the benefit of those who stood most in need of
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The practical knowledge of the condition of the Irish people acquired by
+Lord Dufferin during this visit was such as the most diligent study of
+blue-books could not have imparted. From this time forward he gave more
+attention than ever to the Irish question. It was a question in which he
+might well take a deep interest, for he was dependent upon the rent of
+his estates in county Down for the bulk of his income. His
+unselfishness, however, was signally proved by the stand he took, which
+was on the side of tenant-right. He has written and spoken much on the
+subject, and has contributed more than his share towards enabling the
+world to arrive at a just conclusion respecting it. His public
+utterances displayed a genuine philanthropy and breadth of view,
+mingled, at times, with a quaint and touching humour, which attracted
+the attention of every statesman in the kingdom. Twenty years before Mr.
+Gladstone's Irish Land Act was passed, its provisions had been
+anticipated by Lord Dufferin, and urged upon the attention of the House
+of Lords. In an eloquent and elaborate speech delivered before that Body
+in 1854 he suggested and outlined nearly every important legislative
+reform with reference to Irish Land Tenure which has since been brought
+about. A work on "Irish Emigration, and the Tenure of Land in Ireland,"
+gave still wider currency to his views on the subject, and it began to
+be perceived that the brilliant young Irish peer had ideas well worthy
+of the consideration of Parliament. He was created an English baron in
+1850, by the title of Baron Clandeboye.</p>
+
+<p>In politics he was a moderate Whig. The leading members of his party
+recognized his high abilities, and thought it desirable to enlist them
+in the public service. An opportunity soon presented itself. In the
+month of February, 1855, Lord John Russell was appointed as British
+Plenipotentiary to the conference to be held at Vienna for the purpose
+of settling the terms of peace between Russia and Turkey. Lord John
+invited Lord Dufferin to accompany him on the mission as a special
+<i>attach&eacute;</i>. The invitation was accepted, and Lord Dufferin repaired to
+the Austrian capital, where he remained until the close of the
+ineffectual conference. Soon after his return to England he determined
+upon a long yachting tour in the far northern seas, and in the early
+summer of 1856 he started on his adventurous voyage. The chronicle of
+this expedition, written with graphic force and humour by the pen of
+Lord Dufferin himself, has long been before the world under the title of
+"Letters from High Latitudes." The voyage, which lasted several months,
+was made in the schooner-yacht <i>Foam</i>, and included Iceland, Jan Meyen
+and Spitzbergen in its scope.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> There is no necessity for extended
+comment upon a book that has been read by pretty nearly everybody in
+Canada. Who is there among us who has not laughed over the account of
+that marvellous bird that, as the nights became shorter and shorter,
+never slept for more than five minutes at a stretch, without waking up
+in a state of nervous agitation lest it might be cock-crow; that was
+troubled by low spirits, owing to the mysterious manner in which a fresh
+member of his harem used to disappear daily; and that finally,
+overburdened by contemplation, went melancholy mad and committed
+suicide? Or over that extraordinary dog-Latin after-dinner speech by
+Lord Dufferin during his stay in the Icelandic capital, as voraciously
+recorded in Letter VI.? And who among us has failed to recognize the
+graphic power of description displayed in the account of the Geysers? Or
+the weird poetic force of "The Black Death of Bergen"? In all these
+various kinds of composition the author showed great natural aptitude,
+and his book, as a whole, is one of the most interesting chronicles of
+travel in our language.</p>
+
+<p>In 1860 Lord Dufferin was for the first time despatched abroad as the
+head of an important diplomatic mission. In the summer of that year,
+Great Britain, France, Russia and other European powers united in
+sending an expedition to Syria to protect the lives and property of
+Europeans, and to arrest the further effusion of blood in the threatened
+conflicts between the Druses and the Maronites. The immediate occasion
+of the expedition was a shocking massacre of Syrian Christians that had
+recently taken place, and a recurrence of which was considered highly
+probable. Turkey professed inability to deal effectively with the
+matter, and it became necessary that the leading European powers should
+interfere in the cause of humanity. Lord Dufferin was appointed by Lord
+Palmerston as Commissioner on behalf of Great Britain. He went out to
+Syria, where he remained some months. He proved himself admirably
+qualified to discharge a delicate diplomatic mission, and by his tact,
+good-nature and popular manners, no less than by his practical wisdom
+and good sense, succeeded in effecting a satisfactory settlement of the
+matter. As a testimony of the Government's appreciation of his services
+he immediately after his return received the Order of a Knight Commander
+of the Bath (Civil Division). Another result of his mission was the
+publication, in 1867, of "Notes on Ancient Syria," a work which, as its
+title imports, smacks more of reading than of observation.</p>
+
+<p>It fell to Lord Dufferin's lot, in December, 1861, to move the address
+in the House of Lords, in answer to Her Majesty's Speech from the
+Throne, referring to the death of the Prince Consort. The occasion was
+one upon which the speaker might be expected to do his best, and the
+speech made by him on that occasion drew tears from eyes which had long
+been unaccustomed to weep. A perusal of it makes one regret that Lord
+Dufferin's legitimate place was not in the other House, where his talent
+for oratory would have had an opportunity of growing, and where he would
+unquestionably have gained a high reputation as a parliamentary speaker.
+It is a simple matter of fact that in the dull, lifeless atmosphere of
+the House of Lords, Lord Dufferin's talents were almost thrown away. In
+the Commons he would have made a figure, with a nation for his audience.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of October, 1862, he married Harriot Georgina, eldest
+daughter of the late Archibald Rowan Hamilton, of Killyleagh Castle,
+county Down. This lady, whose lineaments are almost as well known to
+Canadians as are those of His Lordship, still survives, and is the happy
+mother of a numerous family. In 1863 Lord Dufferin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> became a Knight of
+St. Patrick; and in the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant
+of the county Down. About the same time he was offered the position of
+Under-Secretary of State for India, which he accepted. In 1865 he was
+subjected to a searching examination respecting his views on the Irish
+Land question, before a Select Committee of the House of Commons. His
+examination lasted four days, and his evidence proved of incalculable
+value in the framing of the Act of Parliament which was passed before
+the close of the session. Several years later he put forth a vigorous
+pamphlet entitled, "An Examination of Mr. Mill's Plan for the
+Pacification of Ireland," in which he criticised John Stuart Mill's
+proposal that the landed estates of Irish landlords should be brought to
+a forced sale. Lord Dufferin's thorough knowledge of his subject, added
+to the fact that his views were sound, proved too much, even for the
+Master of Logic, who had made his proposal without due consideration of
+the subject, and on an incomplete statement of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Dufferin continued to fill the post of Secretary of State for India
+until early in 1866, when he was offered the Governorship of Bombay. The
+state of his mother's health&mdash;she had already begun to sink under the
+malady to which she finally succumbed a year later&mdash;was such as to
+forbid her accompanying him to India, and Lord Dufferin was too
+affectionate a son to leave her behind. He was accordingly compelled to
+decline the appointment. He accepted instead the post of Under-Secretary
+to the War Department, which he retained until the close of Earl
+Russell's Administration, in June, 1866. Upon the return of the Liberal
+Party to power under Mr. Gladstone, in the end of 1868, Lord Dufferin
+became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position which he
+retained up to the time of his being appointed Governor-General of
+Canada. He was also appointed Paymaster-General, and was sworn in as a
+Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. In November, 1871, he was made an
+Earl and Viscount of the United Kingdom, under the titles of Earl of
+Dufferin and Viscount Clandeboye.</p>
+
+<p>The successive dignities thus heaped upon him are sufficient evidence of
+the rising favour with which he was regarded by the Members of the
+Government; and as matter of fact he had made great progress in the
+esteem of the leading members of his Party generally. On the 22nd of
+May, 1872, he received the appointment which was destined to give
+Canadians a special interest in his career&mdash;that of Governor-General of
+the Dominion of Canada.</p>
+
+<p>By the great mass of Canadians the news of this appointment was received
+with a feeling very much akin to indifference. The fact is that, except
+among reading men, and persons intimately familiar with the diplomatic
+history of Great Britain during the preceding twenty years, the name of
+Lord Dufferin was entirely unknown in this country. A few middle-aged
+and elderly persons remembered that an Irish peer named Lord Dufferin
+had made an eloquent speech on the death of the Prince Consort. Others
+remembered that a peer of that name had done something noteworthy in
+Syria. A few had read or heard of "Letters from High Latitudes;" but not
+one of us suspected that the new Governor-General was destined to be the
+most popular representative of Great Britain known to Canadian history.
+It was not suspected that, for the first time during many years, we were
+to have at the head of our Administration a statesman of deep sympathies
+and enlarged views; a nobleman combining elegant learning and brilliant
+powers of oratory with a tact and <i>bonhomie</i> which would win for him the
+friendship and respect of Canadians of all social ranks, and of all
+grades of political opinion. By many of us the office of a
+Governor-General in Canada had come to be looked upon as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> sort of
+sinecure; as a part which any man not absolutely a dunce is capable of
+playing. We regarded the Governor-General merely as the Royal
+representative; as a figurehead whose duties consist of doing as he is
+bid. He has responsible advisers who prescribe for him a certain line of
+action, and all he has to do is to obey. When his Cabinet loses the
+confidence of Parliament, he either sends them about their business or
+accepts their resignation. The successors selected for him by the
+dominant majority are accepted as a matter of course, and everything
+goes on <i>da capo</i>. This, or something like this, was the way we had
+learned to estimate the powers and functions which Lord Dufferin was
+coming among us to discharge. It was reserved for him to give us a
+juster appreciation of the position of a Canadian Governor-General. The
+lesson learned by us during the six years of his residence among us is
+one that Canadians will not soon forget. The learning of it has perhaps
+made us unduly exacting, and it would have been most unfortunate had his
+successor been chosen from the ranks of respectable mediocrity whence
+Colonial Governors are not unfrequently selected. Happily the choice
+fell upon a gentleman whose character and attainments bear some affinity
+to those of his predecessor, and the dignity and respect due to the
+Governor-General are not likely to suffer depreciation while the office
+remains in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>There was one circumstance which led many Canadians to look upon the
+appointment of Lord Dufferin with no friendly eyes. He had been
+appointed by the Gladstone Government, and the Gladstone Government had
+manifested a disposition to treat Canada rather cavalierly. Canadian
+interests had not been very efficiently cared for at the negotiation of
+the Treaty of Washington, and there had been a good deal of diplomatic
+correspondence between the Canadian and Imperial Governments, in which
+the latter had pretty clearly intimated that Canada's separation from
+the Mother Country would not be regarded as an irreparable loss to the
+Empire at large. The London <i>Times</i> openly advocated such a separation,
+and it was known to speak the sentiments of persons high in power. It
+was even conjectured by some of the more suspicious that Lord Dufferin
+had been appointed for the express purpose of carrying out an Imperial
+project for a separation between Canada and Great Britain. Had His
+Lordship been a weak or commonplace man he would most probably have had
+a very uncomfortable time of it in Canada. He was neither weak nor
+commonplace, however, and he began to be popular from the very hour of
+his arrival in the country. By the time he had been six months among us
+everyone spoke well of him; and long before his administration came to
+an end he had gained a firm hold on the hearts of the people throughout
+the length and breadth of our land.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived at Quebec on the 25th of June, 1872. During the same day he
+was sworn in as Governor-General, and two days later reached his seat of
+Government at Ottawa. There is no need to describe in minute detail the
+various events which characterized his administration. Those events are
+still fresh in all our memories, and have been recorded at full length
+by two Canadian authors&mdash;Mr. Stewart and Mr. Leggo&mdash;in works to which
+everyone has access. For these reasons it is considered unnecessary to
+give more than a brief summary in these pages.</p>
+
+<p>During the summer of 1872 Lord Dufferin made the first of his memorable
+Vice-Regal tours, visiting Toronto, Hamilton, London, Niagara Falls, and
+other places of interest in the Province of Ontario. To say that he made
+a marvellously favourable impression wherever he went is simply to say
+what everybody knows, and what might equally be said of all his
+subsequent progresses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> through the Dominion. There was a general
+election during the summer and autumn of this year, and an opportunity
+was thus afforded His Excellency for observing the working of our
+political institutions at such a time.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the elections was a majority in favour of Sir John A.
+Macdonald's Ministry. Parliament met in the following March, and on the
+2nd of April Mr. Huntington made his serious, and now historic, charge
+against the Government, in connection with the granting of the Pacific
+Railway Charter, and the corrupt sale to Sir Hugh Allan. A motion was
+made for a committee of investigation, but was voted down as a motion of
+want of confidence in the Government. A few days later, Sir John,
+knowing that a policy of reticence could not long be available, himself
+moved for a committee. The motion was passed, and the committee was
+appointed, but was unable to proceed, owing to its inability to take
+evidence on oath. A Bill was introduced into the House to give the
+committee the power required, and was passed without opposition, but was
+subsequently disallowed by the Imperial Government as being <i>ultra
+vires</i>. Meanwhile the inquiry was proceeded with; but on the 5th of May,
+owing to the absence from the country of three important witnesses&mdash;Sir
+George E. Cartier, Sir Hugh Allan and the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott&mdash;the
+committee deemed it advisable to adjourn to the 2nd of July. The
+ordinary Parliamentary business had been got through with, and there was
+no necessity for the House remaining in session; but, as the committee
+had no authority to sit during recess, it was thought desirable that
+there should be an adjournment of Parliament instead of a prorogation,
+until the committee should be prepared with its report. Accordingly, on
+the 23rd of May, Parliament adjourned to the 13th of August, when it was
+agreed that it should meet expressly for the purpose of receiving the
+committee's report, and not for the despatch of ordinary legislative
+business. It would thus be unnecessary for the Governor-General to be
+present at the formal reassembling, and soon after the adjournment His
+Excellency, with his family, started on a projected tour through the
+Maritime Provinces. On the 27th of June, while on his travels, he
+received a telegram from Lord Kimberley, Secretary for the Colonies in
+the Home Government, announcing the disallowance of the "Oaths Bill," as
+it was called, viz., the Act authorizing Parliamentary committees to
+examine witnesses under oath. He at once gave notice of the disallowance
+to the Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, who made it known to the
+committee. The committee was composed of five members, three of whom
+were supporters of the Government, and the remaining two of the
+Opposition. The Government supporters were the Hon. J. G. Blanchet, the
+Hon. James Macdonald (of Pictou), and the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+The Opposition members were the Hon. Edward Blake and the Hon. A. A.
+Dorion. On the 1st of July a proclamation was issued giving public
+notice of the disallowance of the Oaths Bill. The Premier offered to
+issue a Royal Commission to the committee, which would enable it to take
+evidence under oath, and to demand the production of persons, papers and
+records. The proposal was rejected by Messrs. Blake and Dorion, who
+wrote to the Premier pointing out to him that the inquiry was undertaken
+by the House; that the appointment of a Royal Commission by a Government
+to investigate charges against that Government would be an unheard-of
+and most unbecoming proceeding; and that the House did not expect the
+Crown or anyone else to obstruct the inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>When the Parliament met, pursuant to adjournment, on the 13th of August,
+the committee, having been prevented from taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> evidence, was unable
+to report. A numerously signed memorial was presented to His Excellency
+praying that there might be no prorogation of Parliament until the
+charges against the existing Government had been subjected to
+investigation. His Excellency, however, replied that he felt bound to
+act on the advice of his Ministry. His Ministry advised him to prorogue
+Parliament, and prorogued it accordingly was. Every Canadian remembers
+the tumultuous scene which ensued&mdash;a scene almost without parallel in
+modern Parliamentary history; a faint reflex of that memorable episode
+which took place in the English House of Commons two hundred and twenty
+years before.</p>
+
+<p>The next act in the drama was the appointment by His Excellency of a
+Royal Commission on his own authority. It was issued to the Hon. C. D.
+Day, the Hon. Antoine Polette, and James Robert Gowan, three judges
+learned in the law. The commission met, and on the opening of the
+session in the following October its report was laid before Parliament.
+The contents are familiar to every reader of these pages, and do not
+form an attractive subject for extended comment. There could no longer
+be any doubt as to the course to be taken by the Premier. A few days
+afterwards Sir John Macdonald's Government resigned, and Mr. Mackenzie
+was called upon to form a new one. This he soon succeeded in doing, and
+on the 7th of November the new Administration took office. As was
+abundantly proved at the ensuing elections, the new government had the
+confidence of the country.</p>
+
+<p>During the progress of these events, Lord Dufferin was assailed with a
+good deal of rancour by one section of the Canadian press. The question
+now to be considered is: How far were these assaults justifiable? In
+other words: How far, if at all, was Lord Dufferin to blame?</p>
+
+<p>The principal allegations made against him were, that his sympathies all
+through this deplorable episode in our political history were with Sir
+John Macdonald and his colleagues; that he assisted the latter to
+postpone and evade investigation into their conduct; that his
+partisanship was evinced by his prompt transmission of the Oaths Bill
+for Imperial consideration, and by his subsequent prorogation of
+Parliament in defiance of the wishes of a large body of the members.</p>
+
+<p>It must be borne in mind, in considering these matters, that we at the
+present day are in a much better position to form a correct opinion
+respecting them than Lord Dufferin could possibly be in the summer of
+1873. He came to this country an utter stranger to every man in Canadian
+public life. He found at the head of affairs a gentleman who had long
+held the reins of power; who had a very wide circle of warm personal
+friends; who was regarded with affectionate loyalty by his Party; and
+whose Government enjoyed an overwhelming support in Parliament. With
+such a support at its back, the Government might reasonably lay claim to
+possessing the confidence of the Canadian people, and, possessing such
+confidence, it was entitled to the confidence of Her Majesty's
+Representative. There was, moreover, a manifest disposition on the part
+of some opponents of the Government to make the most of any little
+shortcomings of which Ministerialists might be guilty. One of the most
+virulent of the Opposition, a man whose own character could not be said
+to be wholly above reproach, made certain wild charges against the
+Government. These charges were so utterly monstrous and incredible that
+any man of probity might reasonably refuse to believe them until they
+were proved to be true by the most irrefutable evidence. Such evidence
+was not forthcoming. The head of the Government hurled back the charges
+in the teeth of the man who had made them; pronounced the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> latter a
+slanderous calumniator; protested that his own hands were clean; and
+called upon his Maker to bear witness to the truth of his avowal. His
+conduct was not unlike that of an honest man smarting under a strong
+sense of injustice. He professed to court inquiry, and while he treated
+Mr. Huntington's motion as one of want of confidence in the Government,
+and triumphantly voted it down, he himself came forward with his motion
+for a committee. Both from his place in the House, and to the
+Governor-General in person, he continued to protest before God that
+there was no shadow of foundation for the charges made against him. He
+spoke of his acquittal as a matter which did not admit of a moment's
+question. Under these circumstances, is it any wonder if Lord Dufferin
+refused to believe vague and unsubstantiated charges from such a source;
+charges which might well have excited incredulity by the very depth of
+their blackness? Is it to be wondered at, even if His Lordship
+sympathized with those whom he believed to have been so shamefully
+maligned, and who seemed so anxious to set themselves right before the
+country? Such was the state of affairs when Parliament was adjourned on
+the 23rd of May.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the prompt transmission to England of the Oaths Bill, His
+Excellency simply complied with his official instructions, and with the
+Union Act, which requires the Governor-General to transmit "by the
+earliest convenient opportunity" all Acts of Parliament to which he has
+assented on Her Majesty's behalf. His Excellency's despatch to the
+Imperial Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 15th August, 1873,
+puts this matter very clearly. It shows that he understood and was
+prepared to do his duty, no matter what might be said by Opposition
+members, and no matter how scurrilous might be the attacks of hostile
+newspapers. "Amongst other respects," says the despatch, "in which my
+conduct has been criticised, the fact of my having communicated to you
+by the first opportunity a certified copy of the Oaths Bill, has been a
+very general point of attack. I apprehend it will not be necessary to
+justify myself to your Lordship in this particular. My law-adviser had
+called my attention to the possibility of the Bill being illegal. Had
+perjured testimony been tendered under it, no proceedings could have
+been taken against the delinquent, and if, under these circumstances, I
+had wilfully withheld from the Home Government all cognizance of the
+Act, it would have been a gross dereliction of duty. To those in this
+country who have questioned my procedure it would be sufficient to reply
+that I recognize no authority on this side of the Atlantic competent to
+instruct the Governor-General as to the nature of his correspondence
+with Her Majesty's Secretary of State." The assertion so often made, to
+the effect that the Law Officers of the Crown in England were improperly
+influenced to advise a disallowance of the Bill, is in itself utterly
+preposterous, and no attempt, so far as we know, has ever been made to
+bring forward any proof of it.</p>
+
+<p>There remains for consideration the prorogation of Parliament on the
+13th of August.</p>
+
+<p>Before the adjournment on the 23rd of May, as we have seen, it had been
+understood that Parliament should meet only to receive the committee's
+report, and not for the despatch of ordinary business. It had not even
+been considered necessary that His Excellency should attend. During his
+absence in the Maritime Provinces, however, the famous McMullen
+correspondence had appeared in print, and this, together with other
+circumstances which had come to his knowledge, had made him resolve to
+be present at the reassembling of Parliament. The attendance of
+Government supporters was not large, very few, if any, being present
+from outlying constituencies. The Opposition on the other hand, was
+fully represented,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> and was eager for the battle, which was regarded as
+inevitable. It soon appeared that there was nothing to be done. Owing to
+the disallowance of the Oaths Bill there was no report from the
+committee. In the estimation of His Excellency, to proceed with the
+investigation, as the Opposition members were desirous of doing, would
+under these circumstances have been to place the Ministry at an unfair
+disadvantage. A considerable number of its supporters were absent,
+whereas the Opposition was in full force. It has been charged upon the
+Ministry that this was part of their tactics, and that the absentees
+were acting under the orders of their Chief in remaining at home. This
+is another of those loose, sweeping assertions which may be true, but
+the truth of which has not been proved. That unhappy Ministry has enough
+to answer for at the Bar of History, without being called upon to refute
+charges which have never been substantiated by evidence. In any case, no
+fair-minded person will wish to hold the Governor-General responsible
+for such tactics. His position was one of no ordinary difficulty. Very
+damnatory correspondence had been given to the world, but it was not in
+such a shape that the House could possibly regard it as free from
+suspicion. The most serious charges seemed to point rather to the guilt
+of Sir Hugh Allan and McMullen than to that of the Members of the
+Government. The charges directly affecting the Government were solemnly
+and emphatically repudiated by the Premier, who pledged himself to
+explain the matter under oath to the satisfaction of the whole world, as
+soon as a properly constituted tribunal should be appointed, with
+authority to take evidence under oath. Sir Hugh Allan published a sworn
+affidavit, negativing McMullen's charges, and McMullen himself had
+subsequently admitted that his charges had been hasty and inaccurate.
+The latter, moreover, was evidently a man whose character was not such
+as to inspire respect. The Government could still command a majority of
+votes in the House. Under such circumstances, can His Excellency be
+blamed if he continued to act upon the advice of his constitutional
+advisers by proroguing Parliament? He was determined, however, that
+there should be no unnecessary delay, and exacted as a condition of
+adopting that course that parliament should be convened with all
+imaginable expedition. His reply to the memorial presented by the
+Opposition is so much to the point that we cannot do better than abridge
+a portion of it. "You urge me," says His Excellency, "on grounds which
+are very fully and forcibly stated, to decline the advice which has been
+unanimously tendered me by my responsible ministers, and to refuse to
+prorogue Parliament. In other words, you require me to dismiss them from
+my councils; for you must be aware that this would be the necessary
+result of my assenting to your recommendation. Upon what grounds would I
+be justified in taking so grave a step? What guarantee can you afford me
+that the Parliament of the Dominion would endorse such an act of
+personal interference on my part? You yourselves do not form an actual
+moiety of the House of Commons, and I have no means of ascertaining that
+the majority of that body subscribe to the opinion you have enounced. . .
+It is true, grave charges have been preferred. . . but the truth of
+these remains untested. . . Is the Governor-General, upon such evidence
+as this, to drive from his presence gentlemen who for years have filled
+the highest offices of State, and in whom, during the recent session,
+Parliament has repeatedly declared its continued confidence?. . .
+Certain documents of grave significance have lately been published in
+the newspapers, but no proof has been adduced which necessarily connects
+them with the culpable transactions of which it is asserted they formed
+a part. . . Under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> these circumstances, what right has the
+Governor-General, on his personal responsibility, to proclaim. . . that
+he believes his ministers guilty of the crimes alleged against them?"</p>
+
+<p>Such were the circumstances under which the prorogation of the 13th of
+August, 1873, took place. Looking back on it, in the light of the seven
+years which have since elapsed, it will be hard to arrive at any other
+conclusion than that Lord Dufferin did not deserve the animadversions
+which were heaped upon him. As he himself observed in his despatch to
+the Colonial Secretary two days after the prorogation: "It is a
+favourite theory at this moment with many persons that when once grave
+charges of this nature have been preferred against the Ministry they
+become <i>ipso facto</i> unfit to counsel the Crown. The practical
+application of this principle would prove very inconvenient, and would
+leave not only the Governor-General, but every Lieutenant-Governor in
+the Dominion very thinly provided with responsible advisers; for, as far
+as I have been able to seize the spirit of political controversy in
+Canada, there is scarcely an eminent man in the country on either side
+whose character or integrity has not been, at one time or another, the
+subject of reckless attack by his opponents in the press." In a word, he
+acted on the well-established principle that every man is to be adjudged
+innocent until he has been proved guilty; and in so acting he showed
+that he understood the responsibilities of his position. That his
+Ministers were culpable, as well as unwise, in advising the prorogation,
+is certain; and when the next elections came on they paid the penalty of
+their disingenuousness.</p>
+
+<p>The events of Lord Dufferin's residence in Canada subsequent to the fall
+of the Macdonald Ministry, which has already been reviewed, must be
+given in few words. The political events by which his administration was
+characterized have been given at sufficient length in sketches to which
+they more properly belong. The Mackenzie Administration had not been
+long in power before each individual member of it was on friendly terms
+with the Governor-General, and there seems to have been a tacit
+understanding that all past differences of opinion should be forgotten.
+In the summer of 1874 His Excellency and suite made a tour through the
+Muskoka District, and thence westward by steamer over lakes Huron,
+Superior and Michigan. The tourists called at most of the interesting
+points on the route, including Chicago, where they disembarked, and
+returned overland by way of Detroit. All the most important towns in
+Ontario were then visited, and the party returned home to Ottawa in
+September, after an absence of about two months. It was during his
+sojourn in Toronto, while on his return from this expedition, that Lord
+Dufferin made his famous speech at the Toronto Club, which aroused the
+enthusiasm of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. A part of the
+summer and autumn of each succeeding year was spent by His Excellency in
+making other tours through the various Provinces of the Dominion. The
+last important one was made in 1877, and consisted of a pilgrimage
+through Manitoba and part of the District of Keewatin. In 1875 he also
+visited Ireland, and in 1876 attended the Centennial Exhibition at
+Philadelphia. Wherever he went, his visits were marked by a continual
+round of ovations. Lady Dufferin generally accompanied him on his
+excursions, and contributed not a little by her personal graces and
+accomplishments to the popularity of her lord. Perhaps the most
+marvellous thing about him is his ability to make an eloquent speech on
+any given topic, without ever repeating himself, and without descending
+to platitudes or commonplaces. He has always something to say which is
+appropriate to the particular occasion, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the special circumstances
+in which he happens to be placed. The quick perception and ready wit
+begotten of his Irish blood never fail him. Each of his replies to the
+thousand-and-one addresses which at one time and another have been
+presented to him has a merit of its own, has an application purely
+local, and is unlike all the others. His more serious utterances are
+marked not less by maturity of statesmanship than by brilliancy of
+imagination. It would be faint praise to say of him that as an orator he
+stands alone on the long roll of Canadian Governors. There has been no
+other who is even worthy of being named as second to him. It has been
+truly said of his speeches that they are "warm with the light of hope,
+brimful of sympathy for the toiling and the struggling, sparkling with
+humour, and moving with pathos."</p>
+
+<p>As the term of his residence among us drew towards its close the
+Canadian people began to realize how much they liked him. Addresses
+poured in upon him from every corner of the Dominion, many of which, at
+least, could only have had their origin in sincere esteem and hearty
+good-will. When, on the 19th of October, 1878, he took his final
+departure from among us,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;High hopes pursued him from the shore,</span><br />
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;&nbsp;And prophesyings brave,&rdquo;</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>for it was felt that, if his life and health were spared the record of
+his future would not belie the record of his past. It was predicted that
+the man whose consummate tact, noble courtesy and largeness of heart had
+done so much to strengthen the ties between Great Britain and her
+Colonies would render further important services to his Sovereign and to
+the nation. That prediction has already been fulfilled. The effects of
+his mission to Russia have been made apparent in improved relations
+between the courts of St. Petersburg and St. James. In truth, no better
+antidote to the "spirited Foreign policy" of the late British Government
+could have been devised than the enrolment of Lord Dufferin in the
+diplomatic service.</p>
+
+<p>Since his departure for Russia it is said that the Vice-royalty of
+Ireland and of India have both been tendered to and declined by him.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_REV_ROBERT_FERRIER_BURNS" id="THE_REV_ROBERT_FERRIER_BURNS"></a>THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Burns was born at Paisley, Scotland, on the 23rd of December, 1826.
+After spending a term of four years at the Public Grammar School of that
+town, he was entered as a student at the University of Glasgow in the
+month of November, 1840, before he had quite completed his fourteenth
+year. He remained at that seat of learning four sessions, during which
+he achieved high standing in his classes, and carried off several
+prizes, including two in Latin. He stood third in Greek, second in
+Logic, and first in Moral Philosophy. While attending the University he
+had for associates Principal McKnight, of Halifax, the Rev. William
+Maclaren, of Blairlogie, and the late Rev. John Maclaren, of Glasgow. In
+1844-5 he attended New College, Edinburgh, during the second session of
+its existence, and sat at the feet of Drs. Chalmers, Cunningham and
+Duncan. He had meanwhile resolved on emigrating to Canada, and on the
+29th of March, 1845, he sailed from Greenock for Quebec. He made his way
+to Toronto, where he attended two sessions at Knox College, having for
+his contemporaries there Dr. Black, of Manitoba, and the late Rev. James
+Nisbet, of the Prince Albert Mission. During his collegiate career he
+acted as Student Catechist, and preached as a volunteer at Proudfoot's
+Mills, and also at Oakville. During the summer of 1846 he laboured to
+good purpose at Niagara. In April, 1847, he was licensed to preach by
+the Presbytery of Toronto, and on the first of July following he was
+ordained as first pastor of Chalmers Church, Kingston. During his
+residence at Kingston he officiated for a year as Chaplain to the
+Forty-first Regiment of Highland Infantry.</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of July, 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth Holden, a daughter
+of Dr. Rufus Holden, of Belleville, and a sister of the wife of
+Professor Gregg, of Toronto. By this lady he now has a family of eight
+children, consisting of four sons and four daughters. After a pastorate
+of exactly eight years he left Kingston on the 5th of July, 1855, and
+settled at St. Catharines as first pastor of the United Church. He
+remained there nearly twelve years, during eight of which he also had
+charge of a congregation at Port Dalhousie, four miles distant. During
+his ministry at St. Catharines the new church now known as Knox Church
+was erected, and his congregation subsequently worshipped there. In 1862
+he took a conspicuous part in starting Sabbath School Conventions in
+this country, which have since been attended by many blessings to the
+young. In the month of July, 1866, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by Hamilton College, near Utica, in the State of New
+York, the leading literary institution of the New School of
+Presbyterians in that State. On the 20th of March, 1867, he became first
+pastor of the First Scotch Presbyterian Church in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> Chicago, which then
+and for some years thereafter belonged to the Canadian Church. During
+his incumbency of this charge he received several calls from various
+churches, all of which were declined. His Chicago pastorate lasted three
+years, during which the membership of his church trebled in number, and
+a fine new church was erected by the congregation on the corner of Adams
+and Sagamore Streets. In October, 1867, he accompanied the Rev. D. L.
+Moody, the Evangelist, from Chicago to Toronto, on the occasion of the
+first sitting of the Young Men's Christian Association Convention in the
+latter city. In the beginning of May, 1870, he returned to Canada, and
+was inducted into the pastorate of Cote Street Church, Montreal, where
+Dr. Fraser and the present Principal McVicar had previously ministered.
+Here he remained five years.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th of March, 1875, he was settled over Fort Massey Church,
+Halifax, of which the Rev. J. K. Smith, of Galt, had been for two years
+pastor. Here Dr. Burns has ever since remained. The congregation has
+since its commencement discarded pew rents, and has been conducted on
+the weekly free-will-offering system, the offertory being collected at
+the church door. Their annual givings to church purposes are said to
+exceed $100 for each family. He was Moderator of the Synod of Montreal
+in 1873, and also Chairman of the Montreal College Board; and on his
+removal to Halifax he was elected to the same post there, which he still
+fills. During the session of 1877 he delivered special courses of
+lectures before the Montreal and Halifax students, and in 1878 these
+were followed up by a second special course in the Halifax College. In
+1877 he was associated with Principal Grant and others in pushing
+forward the $100,000 College Endowment Fund.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Burns is also known as an author. As early as 1854 he contributed to
+the <i>Anglo-American Magazine</i>, published in Toronto; and several years
+later to the <i>Presbyterian Magazine</i>. In 1857 he published "The Progress
+and Principles of Temperance Reform;" and in 1865, in conjunction with
+the Rev. Mr. Norton, of St. Catharines, "Maple Leaves for the Grave of
+Abraham Lincoln." In 1872 he wrote and published his most voluminous
+work, "The Life and Times of Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto." This work
+passed through three editions, and was a decided success. His other
+works are chiefly pamphlets, sermons, and short fugitive pieces.</p>
+
+<p>At the meeting of the General Assembly held at Ottawa in 1879 Dr. Burns
+was one of the eight clerical delegates elected to attend the General
+Presbyterian Council, to be held in Philadelphia during the present
+year. Last summer he attended the Sunday School Celebration held in
+London, England, to commemorate the founding of Sunday Schools by Robert
+Raikes, in Gloucester, a century ago.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
+<img src="images/image1.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="A.N. Richards" title="A. N. Richards" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Albert Norton Richards, signed as A.N. Richards</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_ALBERT_NORTON_RICHARDS" id="THE_HON_ALBERT_NORTON_RICHARDS"></a>THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Richards is the youngest son of the late Mr. Stephen Richards, of
+Brockville, and a brother of the Hon. William Buell Richards, ex-Chief
+Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, a sketch of whose life
+appeared in the first volume of this series. Some account of the family
+history is contained in the sketch alluded to. Albert Norton Richards
+was born at Brockville, Upper Canada, on the 8th of December, 1822. Like
+his elder brothers, William and Stephen, he received his early education
+at the famous Johnstown District Grammar School, and embraced the legal
+profession as his calling in life. He studied law in the office of his
+brother William, with whom he entered into partnership after his call to
+the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1848. Though perhaps somewhat less
+conspicuous at the Bar than his partner, he took a high position, and
+was distinguished for the acumen and soundness of judgment which seem to
+be inherent in every member of his family. After his brother's elevation
+to the Bench, he himself continued to practise at Brockville. His
+business was large and profitable. He took a keen interest in politics,
+and was identified with the Reform Party. He did not seek Parliamentary
+distinction, however, until the year 1861, when he was an unsuccessful
+candidate for the representation of South Leeds in the Legislative
+Assembly of Canada&mdash;his successful opponent being Mr. Benjamin Tett. At
+the general election of 1863 he again offered himself in opposition to
+the same candidate, and on this occasion was returned at the head of the
+poll. In the month of December following he accepted office in the
+Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Administration, as Solicitor-General for the
+Upper Province. He was at the same time created a Queen's Counsel. Upon
+returning to his constituents for re&euml;lection, after accepting office, he
+was compelled to encounter the full strength of the Conservative Party.
+The Government of the day existed by a mere thread, their majority
+averaging one, two and three, and it was felt that if Mr. Richards could
+be defeated the Government must resign. The constituency of South Leeds
+was invaded by all the principal speakers and agents of the Conservative
+Party, headed by the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the late Mr. D'Arcy
+McGee, and no stone was left unturned to defeat the new
+Solicitor-General. The result was the defeat of the latter by Mr. D.
+Ford Jones, the Conservative candidate, by a majority of five votes. Mr.
+Richards, after the resignation of the Government, remained out of
+public life until 1867, when he unsuccessfully contested his old seat
+for the House of Commons with the late Lieutenant-Governor Crawford, the
+latter being elected by a majority of thirty-nine. In 1869 Mr. Richards
+was offered by the Government of Sir John Macdonald the office of
+Attorney-General in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> Provincial Government which Mr. Macdougall, as
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories, was about to establish
+at Fort Garry. Mr. Richards accepted the office, and accompanied Mr.
+Macdougall on his well-known journey, until stopped by Louis Riel at
+Stinking River. In the following year he visited British Columbia on
+public business, and in 1871 he again visited that Province, this time
+for the benefit of the health of his children, eight of whom he had lost
+by death during his residence at Brockville. At the general election of
+1872, Mr. Richards made another and a successful appeal to the electors
+of South Leeds, and was returned to the House of Commons. He held his
+seat until January, 1874; when, being absent from the country, on a
+visit to British Columbia, he was unable to return in time to be
+nominated for his old constituency, and South Leeds became lost to the
+Reform Party. Mr. Richards continued to reside in British Columbia, and
+for several years was the official Legal Agent of the Dominion
+Government in that Province. He took an active part in endeavouring to
+bring about various much-needed law reforms, as to several of which he
+was ultimately successful. On the 29th of July, 1875, he was appointed
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, a position which he has ever since
+held. His sterling qualities have obtained recognition, and he has won
+great popularity.</p>
+
+<p>He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on the 17th
+of October, 1849, was Frances, daughter of the late Benjamin Chaffey,
+formerly of Staffordshire, England. This lady died in April, 1853. On
+the 12th of August, 1854, he married Ellen, daughter of the late John
+Cheslett, also of Staffordshire. His second wife still survives.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RIGHT_REV_JOHN_TRAVERS_LEWIS_LLD" id="THE_RIGHT_REV_JOHN_TRAVERS_LEWIS_LLD"></a>THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>BISHOP OF ONTARIO.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Bishop Lewis is a son of the John Lewis, M.A., who was formerly Rector
+of St. Anne's, Shandon, Cork, Ireland; and grandson of Mr. Richard
+Lewis, who was an Inspector-General of Revenue in the south of Ireland.
+He is himself an Irishman by birth and education, but has passed the
+last thirty years of his life in Canada. He was born in the county of
+Cork, on the 20th of June, 1825. He received private lessons from his
+father, and afterwards obtained his more advanced education at Trinity
+College, Dublin. He enjoyed a somewhat brilliant career at the
+University. He obtained honours both in classics and mathematics during
+his course as an undergraduate; and upon graduating, in 1846, he was
+gold medallist and senior moderator in ethics and logic. His degree of
+LL.D. was received, we believe, from his <i>alma mater</i>. He was intended
+for the Church from boyhood, and was ordained Deacon in 1848, at the
+Chapel of Christ's College, Cambridge, by the Lord Bishop of Chester. He
+was soon afterwards ordained Priest by the Lord Bishop of Down, and
+became Curate of the parish of Newtownbutler, celebrated in Irish annals
+for the victory gained by the colonists over King James's troops in
+1689. He did not long occupy that position, but resigned it in 1850, and
+came over to this country, where, soon after his arrival, he was
+appointed by the late Bishop Strachan to the parish of Hawkesbury, in
+the county of Prescott. Upon settling down in his parish he married Miss
+Anne Harriet Margaret Sherwood, a daughter of the late Hon. Henry
+Sherwood, a Canadian legislator who sat in the old Assembly from 1843 to
+1854, and who held office as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General for
+Canada West, respectively, in the Ministry of Mr. Draper, during the
+<i>r&eacute;gime</i> of Sir Charles Metcalfe and Earl Cathcart.</p>
+
+<p>After officiating in Hawkesbury for four years, Mr. Lewis was appointed
+Rector of Brockville, where he remained until his election, in 1861, to
+the position which he now occupies. The seven years passed in the
+rectory at Brockville must have been busy ones, as we find numerous
+published sermons and pamphlets from his pen during this time. His
+sermons and writings generally are marked by much learning, and by an
+evident fondness for dialectics. Some of them have received high praise
+from the reviewers. One of them, entitled "A Plain Lecture to Enquirers
+into the meaning of the Liturgy," was thus characterized by the
+<i>American Quarterly Church Review</i>: "As an argument for Liturgical
+worship, and an answer to popular objections to the Prayer-book, this is
+one of the most valuable works we have ever seen." Other tracts of his
+have also been highly praised by persons whose praise is of value. The
+best known of his writings are "The Church of the New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Testament;" "Does
+the Bible need re-translating?" "The Popular Baptist Argument Reviewed;"
+and "The Primitive Method of selecting Bishops;" the last-named
+production being given to the world in the <i>Journal of Sacred
+Literature</i>, published in London, England. During his residence at
+Brockville he interested himself actively in various local matters,
+sectarian and non-sectarian, and contributed to build up several
+important public institutions. He lectured before the Brockville Library
+Association and Mechanics' Institute, and did much to extend its
+membership and beneficial influence.</p>
+
+<p>The territorial division of the Diocese of Toronto was a project which
+began to take shape about the time when the subject of this sketch first
+arrived in this country. Up to that time the Diocese of Toronto
+comprehended the whole extent of Upper Canada, and was altogether too
+large to permit of one man's discharging the duties of the Bishopric
+with perfect efficiency, even though that man were endowed with the
+tremendous energy and vitality of the late Bishop Strachan. The Diocese
+of Huron was in due time set apart and the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin Cronyn
+was elected to the Bishopric. In 1861 the eastern division was also set
+apart as the Diocese of Ontario, and at the meeting of the Synod held at
+Kingston in the summer of that year Mr. Lewis was elected to the office
+of Bishop. He was then only thirty-six years of age, and was probably
+the youngest Prelate in America. He soon afterwards removed to Kingston,
+and thence to Ottawa, where he now resides.</p>
+
+<p>It will thus be seen that the Bishop has had a remarkably successful
+career since his arrival in Canada. He devotes himself assiduously to
+his official labours, and is held in high veneration by many of the
+clergymen of his Diocese. He has a numerous family, and a large circle
+of attached friends. His pulpit oratory is marked by fluency and
+smoothness of rhetoric, as well as by much learning and depth of
+thought.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHARLES_LORD_METCALFE" id="CHARLES_LORD_METCALFE"></a>CHARLES, LORD METCALFE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>In former sketches we have seen how Responsible Government, after being
+strenuously contended for during many years in this country, and after
+its adoption had been vigorously recommended by Lord Durham, finally
+became an accomplished fact. We have seen how Lord Sydenham was sent
+over here as Governor-General for the purpose of carrying out the new
+order of things, and how, during his administration of affairs, the
+Union of the Provinces was finally effected in 1841. The Canadian
+Administration was carried on by both Lord Sydenham and his successor,
+Sir Charles Bagot, in accordance with the spirit of our new
+Constitution. In 1841 the Imperial Ministry, under whose auspices this
+Constitution had been framed, was deposed, and a Tory Government
+succeeded to power. In this Government the late Lord Derby, then Lord
+Stanley, held the portfolio appertaining to the office of Colonial
+Secretary. Soon after Sir Charles Bagot's resignation of the post of
+Governor-General, in the winter of 1842, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+selected as his successor. The selection was made at the instance of
+Lord Stanley, who had all along been inimical to the scheme of
+Responsible Government in Canada, and there is reason for believing that
+he entertained the design of subverting it. His selection of Sir Charles
+Metcalfe, and his subsequent instructions and general policy, certainly
+lend colour to such a belief. The new Governor was a man of excellent
+intentions, and of more than average ability, but his previous training
+and experience had been such as to render him totally unfit for the post
+of a Constitutional Governor.</p>
+
+<p>We can only afford space for a brief glance at his previous career, but
+even that brief glance will be sufficient to show how little sympathy he
+could be expected to have in colonial schemes of Responsible Government.
+He was born at Calcutta, on Sunday, the 30th of January, 1785, a few
+days before Warren Hastings ceased to be Governor-General of India. His
+father, Major Theophilus Metcalfe, of the Bengal army, was a gentleman
+of ample fortune, and a Director in the East India Company. Charles was
+the second son of his parents, and was destined at an early age for the
+Company's service. He was educated first at a private school at Bromley,
+in Middlesex, and afterwards at Eton College, where he remained until he
+had entered upon his sixteenth year, when he returned to India. He was
+appointed to a writership in the service of the Company, wherein for
+seven years he filled various offices, and in 1808 was selected by Lord
+Minto to take charge of a difficult mission to the Court of Lahore, the
+object of which was to secure the Sikh States, between the Sutlej and
+Jumna Rivers, from the grasp of Runjeet Singh. In this mission he fully
+succeeded, the treaty being concluded in 1809. He subsequently filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+several other high offices of trust, and in 1827 took his seat as a
+member of the Supreme Council of India. Both his father and elder
+brother had meanwhile died, and he had become Sir Charles Metcalfe.</p>
+
+<p>In 1835, upon Lord W. Bentinck's resignation, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+provisionally appointed Governor-General, which office he held until
+Lord Auckland's arrival in the year following. During this short period
+he effected many bold and popular reforms, not the least of which was
+the liberation of the press of India from all restrictions. Under his
+immediate predecessor, Lord William Bentinck, the press had been as free
+as it is in England; but there were still certain laws or orders of a
+severe character, which at the pleasure of any future Governor might be
+called into operation. These Sir Charles Metcalfe repealed. His doing so
+gave umbrage to the Directors, and caused his resignation and return to
+Europe, when he was appointed Governor of Jamaica. The difficult duties
+of this position&mdash;the emancipation of the negroes having but recently
+occurred&mdash;were discharged by him to the satisfaction of the Government
+and the colonists. After over two years' residence the climate proved so
+unfavourable to his health that he was compelled to resign. The painful
+disease of which he afterwards died&mdash;cancer of the cheek&mdash;had seized him
+in a firm grip. Years before this time, when residing at Calcutta, a
+friend had one day noticed a red spot upon his cheek, and underneath it
+a single drop of blood. The blood was wiped away; the red spot remained.
+For a long while it occasioned neither pain nor anxiety. A little time
+after his departure from India, disquieting symptoms appeared, and on
+his arrival in England he had consulted Sir Benjamin Brodie; but it was
+not till his return from Jamaica that it received the attention it
+really demanded. Then consultations of the most eminent surgeons and
+physicians were held, and the application of a severe caustic was
+determined on. When told that it would probably "destroy the cheek
+through and through," he only answered, "What you determine shall be
+done at once;" and the same afternoon the painful remedy was applied.
+The physicians and surgeons of London did what they could for him, and
+he retired into the country. The disorder had not been eradicated, but
+merely checked. About this time the ill-health of Sir Charles Bagot had
+rendered that gentleman's resignation necessary, and the post of
+Governor-General of Canada thus became vacant. It was offered to, and
+accepted by, Sir Charles Metcalfe. No appointment could have been found
+for him at that moment in the whole political world the duties of which
+were more difficult, when the nature of his instructions and the
+peculiar position of the colony are taken into consideration. Add to
+this that his whole life had hitherto been passed in administering
+governments which were largely despotic in their character. Responsible
+Government, as we have seen, had been conceded to Canada. Sir Charles
+professed to approve of this concession, but his conduct throughout the
+whole course of his administration was at variance with his professions,
+and showed that his sympathies were not on the side of popular rights.
+He came over in the month of March, 1843, and on the following day took
+charge of the Administration. For the composition of the Government and
+an account of the situation of affairs in Canada at this time the reader
+is referred to the life of Robert Baldwin which has already appeared in
+these pages. The circumstances under which the Governor contrived to
+embroil himself with the leading members of the Administration are there
+given in sufficient detail, and there is no necessity for repeating them
+at length in this place. Sir Charles chose his associates and advisers
+from among the members of the defunct Family Compact. He endeavoured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> to
+circumscribe the power of the Executive Council, which demanded that no
+office should be filled, no appointment made, without its sanction. We
+are, argued the members of Council, in the same relation to the House of
+Assembly as Ministers in England to the English Parliament. We are
+responsible to it for the acts of Government; these acts must be ours,
+or the result of our advice, otherwise we cannot be responsible for
+them. Unless our demand is complied with, there is no such thing as
+Responsible Government. On the other hand, Sir Charles contended that by
+relinquishing his patronage he should be surrendering the prerogatives
+of the Crown, and should also incapacitate himself and all future
+Governors from acting as moderator between opposite factions. It was not
+long before an appointment, made by Sir Charles, brought the contest to
+an issue. Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, the two leading members of the
+Executive Council, urged upon the Governor to retract this appointment,
+or to promise that no other should be made without their advice. The
+Governor was firm in his refusal. The Executive Council resigned. To
+form a new Ministry was, under these circumstances, a most difficult
+task. Office went begging; a Solicitor-Generalship was offered to six
+individuals, and perseveringly refused by all. But Sir Charles was also
+persevering in his offers, and at last a seventh was found, who
+accepted. At last a weak Ministry was formed, and then followed a
+general election. Parliament met at Montreal on the 8th of November,
+1844, when, after a hard fight, Sir Allan Macnab was elected Speaker of
+the Assembly by a small majority of three. The debate on the address,
+after strong opposition, was carried by a Tory majority of six. The
+session dragged on without any change in the character of the Ministry,
+which was supported by a small and feeble majority in the Assembly. The
+popular feeling against the Governor rose to the highest pitch. Meantime
+Sir Charles's terrible malady was rapidly doing its work upon him. He
+had lost the use of one eye, the eye which was still useful sympathized
+with that which was destroyed; nor was there any hope of the eradication
+of the cancer. He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of
+another to write his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains
+above the eye and down the right side of the face as far as the chin.
+The cheek towards the nose and mouth was permanently swelled. He could
+not open his mouth to its usual width, and it was with difficulty he
+inserted and masticated food. He no longer looked forward to a cure. His
+Canadian medical attendants hesitated to apply the powerful caustic
+recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and counselled him to return to
+England. "I am tied to Canada by my duty," was his constant reply. Mr.
+George Pollock, house surgeon of St. George's Hospital, was despatched
+from England, to examine the case and apply the most approved remedies.
+No aid which science could give was wanting, but the disease was beyond
+medical control. Its ravages were now most painful and distressing. So
+far as the body was concerned, it was but the wreck of a man that
+remained. On this wreck or ruin, however, was to descend, as if in
+mockery, the coronet of nobility. He was created Baron Metcalfe. Idle as
+the honour was in itself to the childless invalid, it was still a
+testimony that his services had been appreciated. "But," says his
+biographer, "he was dying, no less surely for the strong will that
+sustained him, and the vigorous intellect which glowed in his shattered
+frame. A little while and he might die at his post. The winter was
+setting in&mdash;the navigation was closing. It was necessary at once to
+decide whether Metcalfe should now prepare to betake the suffering
+remnant of himself to England, or to abide at Montreal, if spared,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> till
+the coming spring. But he would not trust himself to form the decision.
+He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him at
+Monklands; and there he told them that he left the issue in their hands.
+It was a scene never to be forgotten by any who were present in the
+Governor-General's darkened room on this memorable occasion. Some were
+dissolved in tears. All were agitated by a strong emotion of sorrow and
+sympathy, mingled with a sort of wondering admiration of the heroic
+constancy of their chief. He told them that if they desired his
+continuance at the head of the Government&mdash;if they believed that the
+cause for which they had fought together so manfully would suffer by his
+departure, and that they therefore counselled him to remain at his post,
+he would willingly abide by their decision." What their decision was
+need hardly be said. Lord Metcalfe embarked for England quietly and
+unostentatiously, as his suffering state compelled. He could not, from
+the nature of the struggle in which he had been engaged, expect to quit
+the shores of Canada with the same unanimous approbation that had
+erected to his memory the "Metcalfe Hall" at Calcutta, or raised his
+statue in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He returned to England&mdash;returned to
+doctors and the darkened room. He was in constant pain except when under
+the influence of narcotics; but he made no complaint, and endured his
+sufferings with fortitude. He died on the 5th of September, 1846, and
+was interred in a quiet, private and unostentatious manner in the little
+parish church of Winkfield, near Fern Hill. He had often expressed a
+wish that this should be his last resting place. On a marble tablet in
+this church is an epitaph written by Mr.&mdash;afterwards Lord&mdash;Macaulay, who
+knew and had served with him in India. Thus it runs:&mdash;"Near this stone
+is laid <span class="smcap">Charles Theophilus</span>, first and last <span class="smcap">Lord Metcalfe</span>, a Statesman
+tried in many high posts and difficult conjunctures, and found equal to
+all. The Three Greatest Dependencies of the British Crown were
+successively intrusted to his care. In India his fortitude, his wisdom,
+his probity, and his moderation are held in honourable remembrance by
+men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed
+by a social revolution, he calmed the evil passions which long suffering
+had engendered in one class and long domination in another. In Canada,
+not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, he reconciled
+contending factions to each other and to the Mother Country. Public
+esteem was the just reward of his public virtue, but those only who
+enjoyed the privilege of his friendship could appreciate the whole worth
+of his gentle and noble nature. Costly monuments in Asiatic and American
+cities attest the gratitude of nations which he ruled; this tablet
+records the sorrow and the pride with which his memory is cherished by
+private Affection."</p>
+
+<p>Had it been his good fortune to die before receiving the appointment of
+Governor-General of Canada, Sir Charles Metcalfe would have left behind
+him a high reputation on all hands, and there would have been nothing to
+detract from the praise which would have been justly his due. His tenure
+of office in this country was a somewhat inglorious close to a long and
+useful public career. As Governor of a colony to which Responsible
+Government had been conceded he was altogether out of his element. He
+was simply unfit for the position, as well by reason of his personal
+character as by the training to which he had been subjected. Good
+intentions were undoubtedly his, and he acted up to the light that was
+in him; but to this modicum of praise no Canadian writer can justly add
+much in the way of commendation.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_ALEXANDER_MORRIS" id="THE_HON_ALEXANDER_MORRIS"></a>THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Morris is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Morris, whose name
+is prominently identified with the history of the Clergy Reserve and
+School Land questions in this country; and a nephew of the late Hon.
+James Morris, who held the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, and who was subsequently
+Receiver-General in the Administration organized under the leadership of
+Messrs. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte. The chief
+points of public interest connected with the family history are outlined
+in the sketch of his father's life, which appears elsewhere in these
+pages. The subject of the present memoir was born at Perth, Upper
+Canada&mdash;where his father then resided and carried on business&mdash;on the
+17th of March, 1826. In boyhood he attended the local Grammar School,
+which enjoyed a high reputation for the efficiency of its educational
+training. His father, who was desirous that his son should enjoy higher
+scholastic advantages than were then obtainable in this country, sent
+him, while he was still in early youth, to Scotland, where he entered as
+a student at Madras College, St. Andrews. After spending about a year at
+that establishment he was transferred to the University of Glasgow,
+where another industrious year was passed. Returning to his native land,
+he began to devote himself to the business of life. He at this time was
+intended for commercial pursuits, and spent three years in the
+establishment of Messrs. Thorne &amp; Heward, commission merchants, at
+Montreal. The knowledge and experience gained during these three years
+have since proved of great service to him, although he was not destined
+to engage in commercial business on his own behalf. He had meanwhile
+resolved to enter the legal profession in Upper Canada, and was
+accordingly articled as a clerk to Mr.&mdash;now the Hon. Sir&mdash;John A.
+Macdonald, in the office of Messrs. Macdonald &amp; Campbell, Barristers, of
+Kingston. Here he studied with such assiduity that his health gave way,
+and he was compelled to relinquish his studies for some months. His
+father having previously removed to Montreal, he returned to that city
+and resumed his scholastic studies in the University of McGill College,
+where he took the degrees successively of B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L.
+He was the first graduate in the Arts course of that institution, and
+was subsequently elected by the graduates one of the first Fellows in
+Arts, and thence was promoted to be one of the Governors of the
+University, which position he held for several years. He entered the
+office of the then Attorney-General Badgley, who subsequently became a
+Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in Quebec. He completed his course
+of studies in the office of Messrs. Badgley &amp; Abbott, and then proceeded
+to Toronto, where he presented his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> credentials to the Benchers of the
+Law Society and requested to be called to the Bar, under the provisions
+of the law which enabled any person who had been duly registered as a
+clerk or student during the necessary period for the Bar of Lower
+Canada, to be called to the Bar of Upper Canada, after passing the
+necessary examination. He was examined in due course by the Benchers of
+Upper Canada, admitted to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, and was
+thereafter sworn in as an Attorney&mdash;both in Hilary Term of the year
+1851. He was then about to establish himself in the practice of the law
+in the city of Toronto, having been offered a partnership by the then
+Attorney-General, the late Hon. John Ross, when family circumstances led
+to his return to Montreal, where, having presented his diploma as a
+Barrister-at-Law of Upper Canada, he was after examination called to the
+Bar of Lower Canada as an Advocate. In November of the same year he
+married Miss Margaret Cline, daughter of the late Mr. William Cline, of
+Cornwall, and niece of the late Hon. Philip Vankoughnet, of the same
+place. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Montreal. His
+ability and social connections soon secured for him a large and
+lucrative practice, and having entered into partnership with the present
+Mr. Justice Torrance, he became known as one of the most successful
+practitioners in the Province, devoting himself mainly to commercial
+law. Like his father before him, he attached himself to the Conservative
+side in politics, and first entered active political life in 1861, when
+he contested the constituency of South Lanark, in Upper Canada, for the
+Legislative Assembly, in opposition to Mr. John Doran. His father had
+represented that constituency for twenty years, and he had no difficulty
+in securing his election. Upon the opening of the session he took his
+seat in the House, and made his first speech, on the debate on the
+Speech from the Throne, which was on the question of Representation by
+Population&mdash;a measure which he did not believe to be the true remedy for
+the unsatisfactory state of things which existed throughout the country.
+The true remedy, as he believed, and as he repeatedly urged, both from
+his place in Parliament and elsewhere, was the Confederation scheme
+which was subsequently adopted. In the negotiations which led to the
+formation of the Coalition Government, of which Sir John A. Macdonald
+and the late Hon. George Brown were members, and which secured the
+necessary Imperial legislation in order to bring about Confederation, he
+took an active and initiatory part, as appears by the record of the
+steps taken to form the Government, and secure that policy submitted to
+the Parliament of Canada at the time. He continued to represent South
+Lanark in the Assembly until Confederation, after which he represented
+it in the House of Commons until the general election of 1872. He was an
+active member, and stood high in the esteem of his Party. In the month
+of November, 1869, he accepted office in the then-existing Government as
+Minister of Inland Revenue, which he retained until, having resigned his
+position in the Government owing to broken health, he received the
+appointment of Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba,
+in July, 1872. Of this office he was the first incumbent, no Court of
+Queen's Bench having previously existed there. The highest judicial
+tribunal which had existed in the Prairie Province up to that time was
+the Quarterly Court, as it was called, organized under the authority of
+the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, and conducted in a rather primitive
+way. A short time prior to the date last mentioned this tribunal was
+abolished, and the Court of Queen's Bench established in its place.
+After accepting the office of Chief Justice, Mr. Morris prepared a
+series of rules introducing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the English practice into the Court. He did
+not long retain his seat on the Judicial Bench, as, two months after his
+appointment as Chief Justice, he was nominated as Administrator, in
+place of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, who was absent on leave. On the
+2nd of December, 1872, he received the appointment of
+Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories, a
+position which he retained for five years. On the creation of the
+District of Keewatin he became Lieutenant-Governor of that territory <i>ex
+officio</i>. He was also appointed Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs
+in the Manitoba Superintendency, and one of the Special Commissioners
+for the making of treaties three, four, five and six, and the revision
+of treaties one and two; and, as will be seen from the last report of
+the Minister of the Interior, he suggested the making of the last and
+seventh treaty&mdash;that with the Blackfeet. In the making of these treaties
+he was the active Commissioner and chief spokesman, and was very
+successful in winning the confidence of the Indian tribes. The treaties
+in question extinguished the natural title of the Indian tribes to the
+vast region extending from the Height of Land beyond Lake Superior to
+the Blackfeet country in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, covering
+the route of the Canada Pacific Railway, and opening up a vast extent of
+fertile territory to settlement. When Mr. Morris assumed the government
+of Manitoba the Province was in a very disturbed condition. He had the
+satisfaction of leaving it reduced to order, and far advanced in
+settlement and legislative progress. On his departure from Manitoba, the
+<i>Free Press</i>, the organ of the Liberal Party, thus referred to his
+career in the North-West: "To-morrow is the last day of Hon. Alexander
+Morris's connection with Manitoba as Lieutenant-Governor. When, five
+years ago, the announcement was made that Chief Justice Morris had been
+appointed to the position which he is now just about vacating, very
+general satisfaction was manifested by the people of the Province. Mr.
+Morris succeeded to the office when it was surrounded by difficulties
+great and complicated; and the task before its incumbent was by no means
+an easy one. The Province occupied a most peculiar position; having just
+had constitutional self-government thrust upon it, without any
+preparatory training. The Lieutenant-Governor necessarily found himself
+at the head of a people who, no matter how good their intentions, could
+not reasonably be expected to have a very perfect appreciation of the
+true position of a Lieutenant-Governor under such a government.
+Lieutenant-Governor Morris during the early part of his official career
+had plenty of evidence of this, and it devolved upon him, in no small
+degree, to impress upon them exactly what such government entailed&mdash;that
+the Lieutenant-Governor was supposed to act almost solely upon the
+advice of the Crown Ministers of the day, who in turn were responsible
+to the people's chosen representatives in Parliament. And in no one way
+has Governor Morris more distinguished himself than in the observance of
+this fundamental principle of our constitution, however much he may
+actually have assisted in the government of the country by his ripe
+experience and statesmanship. The smallest Province though Manitoba is,
+the office of its Lieutenant-Governor has entailed more extensive
+responsibilities than that of any other Province in the Dominion."</p>
+
+<p>Upon the completion of his term of office Mr. Morris returned from
+Manitoba to his native town of Perth, in Ontario, where he had a
+residence. At the last general election for the House of Commons, in
+1878, he contested the constituency of Selkirk, Manitoba, with the Hon.
+Donald A. Smith, but was defeated by nine votes. Mr. Smith was, however,
+unseated on petition. About two months later the Hon. Matthew Crooks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+Cameron, who sat in the Local Legislature of Ontario for East Toronto,
+was appointed to a Puisn&eacute; Judgeship of the Court of Queen's Bench. This
+left a vacancy in the representation of East Toronto, and Mr. Morris,
+who was then a resident of Perth, was nominated for the vacancy by a
+Conservative Convention. He offered himself as a candidate for the
+constituency, and was elected by a considerable majority over his
+opponent, Mr. John Leys. At the general local elections held on the 5th
+of June following Mr. Morris was again returned for East Toronto&mdash;of
+which he had in the interval become a resident&mdash;by a majority of 57 over
+the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario. He continues to represent
+that constituency, and occupies a prominent place as a member of the
+Opposition.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Morris has also made a creditable name for himself in literature. In
+1854 he published a quasi-professional work embodying the Railway
+Consolidation Acts of Canada, with notes of cases. In 1855 appeared
+"Canada and Her Resources," an essay to which was awarded the second
+prize offered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada&mdash;the first
+prize having been awarded to the well-known essay by the late Mr. John
+Sheridan Hogan by Sir Edmund Head, then Governor-General. Three years
+later&mdash;in 1858&mdash;he delivered a lecture before the Mercantile Library
+Association of Montreal, in which was predicted the federation of the
+British American Provinces and the construction of the Intercolonial and
+Pacific Railways&mdash;subjects to which Mr. Morris had given a good deal of
+attention ever since, when a youth, he had read and studied Lord
+Durham's famous "Report" on Canada. This lecture was published, in
+pamphlet form, under the title of "Nova Britannia; or, British North
+America, its extent and future," by the Library Association. It was
+widely circulated, and attracted a good deal of attention, not only in
+this country but in Great Britain and the United States. No fewer than
+three thousand copies of it were sold in ten days. A contemporary notice
+of this pamphlet thus refers to the author and his theory: "Mr. Morris
+is at once statistical, patriotic and prophetic. The lecturer sees in
+the future a fusion of races, a union of all the existing provinces,
+with new provinces to grow up in the west, and a railway to the Pacific.
+The design of the lecture is excellent, and its facts seem to have been
+carefully collected." In 1859 Mr. Morris delivered and published another
+lecture of a somewhat similar nature, under the title of "The Hudson's
+Bay and Pacific Territories," advocating the withdrawal of the
+North-West Territories from the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+their incorporation with the Confederacy of Canada along with British
+Columbia. His latest work, published during the month of May last, is
+entitled, "The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the
+North-West Territories." It gives an account of all the treaties made
+with these Indians, from the original one made by Lord Selkirk down to
+the present time; contains suggestions for dealing with them, and
+predicts a hopeful future for them.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Morris has for many years taken an active part in the Church Courts
+of, first, the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the
+Church of Scotland, and since the union of the four Presbyterian
+Churches of the Dominion as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, as a
+representative to the Assembly of that Church. He has been for twenty
+years a Trustee of Queen's College, Kingston, of which his father was
+one of the active founders. Mr. Morris actively assisted in bringing
+about the union of the Churches above alluded to, affirming it to be in
+the highest interests of Presbyterianism and religion in the Dominion
+that such a consummation should be brought about.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
+'<img src="images/image2.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Thomas Talbot, signed as Thomas Talbot</span></h5><br />
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_THOMAS_TALBOT" id="THE_HON_THOMAS_TALBOT"></a>THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Not often does it fall to the lot of the biographer to chronicle a more
+singular piece of history than is afforded by the life of the founder of
+the Talbot Settlement in Western Canada. A contemporary writer has
+proved to us that Ireland has, at one time and another, contributed her
+full share of notable personages to our population; and Colonel Talbot
+is certainly entitled to rank among the most remarkable of them all. A
+man of high birth and social position, of good abilities, with a decided
+natural turn for an active military career, and with excellent prospects
+of success before him, he voluntarily forsook the influences under which
+he had been reared, and spent by far the greater part of a long life in
+the solitude of the Canadian wilderness. He was the early associate and
+life-long friend of the illustrious Duke of Wellington. At the outset of
+their careers, any impartial friend of the two youths might not
+unreasonably have predicted a higher and wider fame for the scion of the
+House of Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley; for the former was the
+brighter, and apparently the more ambitious of the two, and his
+connections were at least equally influential. Had any one indulged in
+such a vaticination, however, his prediction would have been most
+ignominiously falsified by subsequent events. Arthur Wellesley lived to
+achieve a reputation second to that of scarcely any name in history. He
+became the most famous and successful military commander of modern
+times. Nations vied with each other in heaping well-deserved honours
+upon his head, and his Sovereign characterized him as "the greatest
+general England ever saw." Statesmen and princes hung upon his words,
+and even upon his nod; and lovely women languished for his smiles. When
+he died, full of years and honours, and everything of good which a
+grateful nation has to bestow, his body lay in state at Chelsea
+Hospital. It was visited by the high and mighty ones of the Empire, and
+was contemplated with an almost superstitious awe. It was finally borne
+with regal pomp, through streets draped in mourning, and thronged by a
+countless multitude, to its final resting-place in the crypt of the
+noblest of English cathedrals. The funeral rites were solemnized amid
+the tears of a nation, and formed an event in that nation's history. The
+obsequies of "the Iron Duke" took place on the 18th of November, 1852.
+In less than three months from that date his friend Colonel Talbot also
+went the way of all flesh. But by how different a road! His life, though
+it had by no means been spent in vain, had had little to commend it to
+the emulation or envy of mankind. Its most vigorous season had been
+passed amid the solitude of the Canadian forest, and in its decline it
+had become the prey of selfishness and neglect. Colonel Talbot died in a
+small room in the house of a man who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> once been his servant. He must
+have tasted the bitterness of death many times before he finally entered
+into his rest. Neither wife, child, nor relative ministered to his
+wants. But scant ceremony was vouchsafed to his remains. His body,
+instead of lying in state, was deposited in a barn, and was finally
+attended to its last obscure resting-place in a little Canadian village
+by a handful of friends and acquaintances. The weather was piercingly
+cold, and we may be sure that the obsequies were not unnecessarily
+prolonged. Surely the force of antithesis could not much farther go!</p>
+
+<p>And yet, as we review the widely diverse careers of these two remarkable
+men, it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than that the
+result in each case was the legitimate outgrowth of their respective
+qualities. Arthur Wellesley, in his earliest boyhood, formed a definite
+purpose in life; and that purpose, during all the years of his
+probation, was kept constantly in view. Every other passion was kept in
+due subordination to it. Fortune was kind to him, and he well knew how
+to avail himself of her favours. The acquisition of fame, moreover,
+bears some analogy to the acquisition of wealth. The first step is by
+far the most difficult. Dr. Johnson once said that any man of strong
+will has it in his power to make a fortune, if he can only contrive to
+tide over the time while he is scraping together the first hundred
+pounds. Arthur Wellesley, having got his foot firmly on the first rung
+of the ladder, found the rest of the ascent feasible enough. Now, Thomas
+Talbot was endowed by nature with a will so strong as almost to deserve
+the name of stubbornness, but that was almost the only quality which he
+shared in common with his friend. If he ever formed any definite scheme
+of life he was certainly very inconsistent in pursuing it. His moods
+were as erratic as were those of the hero of Locksley Hall. He was
+unable to bring his mind into harmony with the inevitable, and knew not
+how to subordinate himself to the existing order of things. Even as an
+army-officer he was not always amenable to discipline. The follies and
+frivolities of society disgusted him, and his mind early received a warp
+from which it never recovered. He lived in a time when there was plenty
+of work ready to his hand, if he would but have condescended to take his
+share of it. The work, however, was not to his taste, and his ambition
+seems to have deserted him at a most inopportune time. He "burst all
+links of habit," withdrew himself from his proper place in the world,
+and passed the rest of his days in solitude and obscurity. As the
+founder of an important settlement in a new Province, he certainly
+accomplished some good in his day and generation. The enterprise,
+however, does not seem to have been undertaken with any definite design
+of accomplishing good, but merely with a view to securing a more
+congenial mode of life for himself. That a man reared as he had been
+should find anything congenial in such a life is a problem which is
+insoluble to ordinary humanity.</p>
+
+<p>The family from which he sprang has long been celebrated both in English
+and continental history. Readers of Shakespeare's historical plays are,
+it is to be hoped, sufficiently familiar with that "scourge of France"
+who was defied by Joan of Arc, and who, with his son, John Talbot, fell
+bravely fighting his country's battles on the field of Castillon, near
+Bordeaux. It would be difficult for a man to sustain the burden of a
+long line of such ancestors as these. It is therefore reassuring to
+learn that the Talbot line has been diversified by representatives of
+another sort. Readers of Macaulay's History are familiar with the name
+of Richard Talbot, that noted sharper, bully, pimp and pander, who
+haunted Whitehall during the years immediately succeeding the
+Restoration; whose genius for mendacity procured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> for him the nickname
+of "Lying Dick Talbot;" who became the husband of Frances Jennings; who
+slandered Anne Hyde for the money of the Duke of York; who, in a word,
+was one of the greatest scoundrels that figured in those iniquitous
+times; and who was subsequently raised by James II. to the Earldom of
+Tyrconnel. "Lying Dick" was a member of the Irish branch of the Talbot
+family, which settled in Ireland during the reign of Henry II., and
+became possessed of the ancient baronial castle of Malahide, in the
+county of Dublin. The Talbots of Malahide trace their descent from the
+same stock as the Talbots who have been Earls of Shrewsbury, in the
+peerage of Great Britain, since the middle of the fifteenth century. The
+father of the subject of this sketch was Richard Talbot, of Malahide.
+His mother was Margaret, Baroness Talbot; and he himself was born at
+Malahide on the 17th of July, 1771.</p>
+
+<p>All that can be ascertained about his childhood is that he spent some
+years at the Public Free School at Manchester, and that he received a
+commission in the army in the year 1782, when he was only eleven years
+of age. Whether or not he left school immediately after obtaining this
+commission does not appear, but his education must have been very
+imperfect, as he was not of a studious disposition, and in 1786, when he
+was only sixteen, we find him installed as an aide-de-camp to his
+relative the Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord Lieutenant of
+Ireland. His brother aide was the Arthur Wellesley already referred to.
+The two boys were necessarily thrown much together, and each of them
+formed a warm attachment for the other. Their future paths in life lay
+far apart, but they never ceased to correspond, and to recall the happy
+time they had spent together,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Yearning for the large excitement that</span><br />
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;&nbsp;the coming years would yield.&rdquo;</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Young Talbot continued in the position of aide-de-camp for several
+years. In 1790 he joined the 24th Regiment, which was then stationed at
+Quebec, in the capacity of Lieutenant. We have no record of his life
+during the next few months. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor
+Simcoe at Quebec, at the end of May, 1792, Lieutenant Talbot, who had
+nearly completed his twenty-first year, became attached to the
+Governor's suite in the capacity of private secretary. He continued to
+form part of the establishment of Upper Canada's first
+Lieutenant-Governor until just before the latter's removal from this
+country. "During that period," says General Simcoe, writing in 1803, "he
+not only conducted many details and important duties incidental to the
+original establishment of a colony, in matters of internal regulation,
+to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential
+measures necessary to preserve the country in peace, without violating,
+on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States; and on
+the other, alienating the affection of the Indian nations, at that
+period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I
+principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse
+with the several Indian Tribes; and occasionally with his Majesty's
+Minister at Philadelphia; and these duties, without any salary or
+emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary to
+Governor Simcoe that the idea of embracing a pioneer's life in Canada
+first took possession of young Talbot's mind. It has been alleged that
+his imagination was fired by reading a translation of part of
+Charlevoix's "Historie G&eacute;n&eacute;rale de la Nouvelle France," a work which
+describes the writer's own experiences in the wilds of Canada in a
+pleasant and easy fashion. This idea is probably attributable to an
+assertion made by Colonel Talbot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> himself to Mrs. Jameson, when that
+lady visited him during her brief sojourn in Upper Canada. "Charlevoix,"
+said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to this place. You
+know he calls this the Paradise of the Hurons. Now I was resolved to get
+to Paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came here." It is much more
+probable, however, that he was influenced by his own experiences in the
+Canadian forest, which for him would possess all the charm of novelty,
+in addition to its natural beauties. He accompanied the
+Lieutenant-Governor hither and thither, and traversed in his company the
+greater part of what then constituted Upper Canada. He formed a somewhat
+intimate acquaintance with the Honourable William Osgoode, the first
+Chief Justice of this Province, who was for some time an inmate of
+Governor Simcoe's abode at Niagara&mdash;or Newark, as it was then generally
+called. The Chief Justice felt the isolation of his position very
+keenly, and was doubtless glad to relax his mind by communion with the
+young Irish lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the
+humour characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon
+companion. At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the
+misanthrope about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much
+enjoyment out of life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution
+was robust, and his disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed
+fastidious about his personal appearance, and was keenly alive to
+everything that was going on about him. He was popular among all the
+members of the household, and was the especial friend of Major
+Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary, whose name is familiar
+to most persons who take an interest in the history of the early
+settlement of this Province.</p>
+
+<p>On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have
+an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well
+as upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to
+explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of
+Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among
+whom were Major Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The
+Major kept a diary during the journey, which was given to the world more
+than forty years afterwards in the <i>Canadian Literary Magazine</i>, a
+periodical of which several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834.
+The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The
+route lay through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party
+were entertained by Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now
+stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater
+part of the journey being necessarily made on foot. On the return
+journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor
+Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future
+capital of the Province. One important result of this long and toilsome
+journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or, as it is frequently
+called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party were delighted with the
+wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, but
+not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as young Lieutenant Talbot,
+who expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south,
+bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the
+following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself and several
+members of his suite with another western excursion. During this journey
+the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young
+Lieutenant declared to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had
+ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest
+tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings
+around me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may
+be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.</p>
+
+<p>In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became
+Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Foot. He returned to Europe,
+and joined his regiment, which was despatched on active service to the
+Continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was
+for some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the
+Peace of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, he sold his commission,
+retired from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention
+expressed by him to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his
+tent in the wilds of Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible
+to do more than conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to
+the end of his days. One writer ventures the hypothesis that he had been
+crossed in love. The only justification, so far as we are aware, for
+this hypothesis, is a half jocular expression of the Colonel's some
+years afterwards. A friend having bantered him on the subject of his
+remaining so long in a state of single blessedness, took an opportunity
+of questioning him about it, and in the course of a familiar chat, asked
+him why he remained so long single, when he stood so much in need of a
+help-mate. "Why," said the Colonel, "to tell you the truth, I never saw
+but one woman that I really cared anything about, and she would'nt have
+me; and to use an old joke, those who would have me, the devil would'nt
+have them. Miss Johnston," continued the Colonel, "the daughter of Sir
+J. Johnston, was the only girl I ever loved, and she wouldn't have me."</p>
+
+<p>Whatever cause may have impelled him, it is sufficiently evident that he
+had become out of sorts with society, and had resolved to betake himself
+to a distance from the haunts of civilized mankind. Aided by the
+influence of ex-Governor Simcoe and other powerful friends, he obtained
+a grant of five thousand acres of land as a Field Officer meaning to
+reside in the Province, and to permanently establish himself there. The
+land was situated in the southern part of the Upper Canadian peninsula,
+bordering on Lake Erie, and included the site of what afterwards became
+Port Talbot. This, however, was only a portion of the advantage
+derivable from the grant. In addition to the tract so conferred upon him
+he obtained a pre&euml;mptive or proprietary right over an immense territory
+including about half a million acres, and comprising twenty-eight of the
+adjacent townships.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> For every settler placed by the Colonel on fifty
+acres of this land, he was entitled to a patent of a hundred and fifty
+additional acres for himself. He thus obtained practical control of an
+expanse of territory which, as has been said, was "a principality in
+extent." Armed with these formidable powers he once more crossed the
+Atlantic, and made his way to the present site of Port Talbot, which had
+so hugely attracted his fancy during his tour with Governor Simcoe. He
+reached the spot on the 21st of May, 1803, and immediately set to work
+with his axe, and cut down the first tree, to commemorate his landing to
+take possession of his woodland estate. The settlement which
+subsequently bore his name was then an unbroken forest, and there were
+no traces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of civilization nearer than Long Point, sixty miles to the
+eastward, while to the westward the aborigines were still the lords of
+the soil, and rules with the tomahawk. In this sequestered region
+Colonel Talbot took up his abode, and literally made for himself "a
+local habitation and a name."</p>
+
+<p>At the time of his arrival he was accompanied by two or three stalwart
+settlers who had crossed the Atlantic under his auspices, and with their
+assistance he was not long in erecting an abode which was thenceforward
+known as Castle Malahide. It was built on a high cliff overhanging the
+lake. The "Castle" was "neither more nor less than a long range of low
+buildings, formed of logs and shingles." The main structure consisted of
+three divisions, or apartments; viz., a granary, which was also used as
+a store-room; a dining-room, which was also used as an office and
+reception-room for visitors; and a kitchen. There was another building
+close by, containing a range of bed-rooms, where guests could be made
+comfortable for the night. In his later years, the Colonel added a suite
+of rooms of more lofty pretensions, but without disturbing the old
+tenements, and these sumptuous apartments were reserved for state
+occasions. There were underground cellars for wine, milk, and kitchen
+stores. This description applies to the establishment as it appeared
+when finally completed. For some time after the Colonel's first arrival
+it was much less pretentious, and consisted of a single log shanty. In
+order to prevent settlers and other people from intruding upon his
+privacy unnecessarily, the Colonel caused one of the panes of glass in
+the window of his office to be removed, and a little door, swung upon
+hinges, to be substituted, after the fashion sometimes seen at rural
+post-offices. By means of this little swinging door he held conferences
+with all persons whom he did not chose to admit to a closer
+communication. This, which at a first glance, would seem to smack of
+superciliousness, was in reality nothing more than a judicious
+precaution. In the course of his dealings with settlers and emigrants,
+some of them were tempted, by the loneliness of his situation, to
+browbeat, and even to manifest violence towards him. On one occasion, it
+is said, he was assaulted and thrown down by one of the "land pirates,"
+as he used to call them. The solitary situation in which he had
+voluntarily placed himself, and the power he possessed of distributing
+lands, required him to act frequently with apparent harshness, in order
+to avoid being imposed upon by land jobbers, and to prevent artful men
+from overreaching their weaker-minded brethren. His henchman,
+house-steward and major-domo, was a faithful servant whose name was
+Jeffery Hunter, in whom his master had great confidence, and who, as we
+are gravely informed, was very useful in reaching down the maps.
+Jeffery, however, did not enter the Colonel's employ until the later had
+been some time in the country. Previous to that time this scion of
+aristocracy was generally compelled to be his own servant, and to cook,
+bake, and perform all the household drudgery, which he was not
+unfrequently compelled to perform in the presence of distinguished
+guests.</p>
+
+<p>Some years seem to have elapsed before the Colonel attracted any
+considerable number of settlers around him. The work of settlement
+cannot be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light
+thing in those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury
+himself in the remote wildernesses of Western Canada. There was no
+flouring-mill, for instance, within sixty miles of Castle Malahide. In
+the earliest years of the settlement the few residents were compelled to
+grind their own grain after a primitive fashion, in a mortar formed by
+hollowing out a basin in the stump of a tree with a heated iron. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+grain was placed in the basin, and then pounded with a heavy wooden
+beetle until it bore some resemblance to meal. In process of time the
+Colonel built a mill in the township of Dunwich, not far from his own
+abode. It was a great boon to the settlement, but was not long in
+existence, having been destroyed during the American invasion in 1812.
+For the first twenty years of the Colonel's settlement, the hardships he
+as well as his settlers had to contend with were of no ordinary kind,
+and such only as could be overcome by industry and patient endurance.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Talbot for many years exercised almost imperial sway over the
+district. He even provided for the wants of those in his immediate
+neighbourhood, and assembled them at his house on the first day of the
+week for religious worship. He read to them the services of the Church
+of England, and insured punctual attendance by sending the
+whiskey-bottle round among his congregation at the close of the
+ceremonial. Though never a religious man, even in the broadest
+acceptation of the term, he solemnized marriages and baptized the
+children. So that his government was, in the fullest and best sense,
+patriarchal. His method of transferring land was eminently simple and
+informal. No deeds were given, nor were any formal books of entry called
+into requisition. For many years the only records were sheet maps,
+showing the position of each separate lot enclosed in a small space
+within four black lines. When the terms of transfer had been agreed
+upon, the Colonel wrote the purchaser's name within the space assigned
+to the particular lot disposed of, and this was the only muniment of
+title. If the purchaser afterwards disposed of his lot, the vendor and
+vendee appeared at Castle Malahide, when, if the Colonel approved of the
+transaction, he simply obliterated the former purchaser's name with a
+piece of india-rubber, and substituted that of the new one.
+"Illustrations might be multiplied," says a contemporary Canadian
+writer, "of the peculiar way in which Colonel Talbot of Malahide
+discharged the duties he had undertaken to perform. There is a strong
+vein of the ludicrous running through these performances. We doubt
+whether transactions respecting the sale and transfer of real estate
+were, on any other occasion, or in any other place, carried on in a
+similar way. Pencil and india-rubber performances were, we venture to
+think, never before promoted to such trustworthy distinction, or called
+on to discharge such responsible duties as those which they described on
+the maps of which Jeffery and the dogs appeared to be the guardians.
+There is something irresistibly amusing in the fact that such an estate,
+exceeding half a million of acres, should have been disposed of in such
+a manner, with the help of such machinery, and, so far as we are aware,
+to the satisfaction of all concerned. It shows that a bad system
+faithfully worked is better than a good system basely managed."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>During the American invasion of 1812-'13 and '14, Colonel Talbot
+commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of
+Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way
+to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people
+there were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a
+day or two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met
+his doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts
+from the American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and
+summoned the garrison to surrender. The place was not fortified, and the
+garrison consisted merely of a few farmers who had enrolled themselves
+in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> militia under the temporary command of a Captain Patterson. A
+successful defence was out of the question and Colonel Talbot, who would
+probably have been deemed an important capture, quietly walked out of
+the back door as the invaders entered at the front. Some of the Indians
+saw the Colonel, who was dressed in homely, everyday garb, walking off
+through the woods, and were about to fire on him, when they were
+restrained by Captain Patterson, who begged them not to hurt the poor
+old fellow, who, he said, was the person who tended the sheep. This
+white lie probably saved the Colonel's life. The marauders, however,
+rifled the place, and carried off everything they could lay hands on,
+including some valuable horses and cattle. Colonel Talbot's gold,
+consisting of about two quart pots full, and some valuable plate,
+concealed under the front wing of the house, escaped notice. The
+invaders set fire to the grist mill, which was totally consumed, and
+this was a serious loss to the settlement generally.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till the year 1817 that anything like a regular store or shop
+was established in the settlement. Previous to that time the wants of
+the settlers were frequently supplied from the stores of Colonel Talbot,
+who provided necessaries for his own use, and for the men whom he
+employed. The Colonel was punctual in all his engagements, and
+scrupulously exact in all monetary transactions. The large sums he
+received for many years from the settlers were duly and properly
+accounted for to the Government. He would accept payment of his claims
+only in the form of notes on the Bank of Upper Canada, and persons
+having any money to pay him were always compelled to provide themselves
+accordingly. His accumulations were carefully stored in the place of
+concealment above referred to; and once a year he carried his wealth to
+Little York, and made his returns. This annual trip to Little York was
+made in the depth of winter, and was almost the only event that took him
+away from home, except on the two or three occasions when he visited the
+old country. He was accustomed to make the journey to the Provincial
+capital in a high box sleigh, clad in a sheepskin greatcoat which was
+known to pretty nearly every man in the settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Among the earliest settlers in the Talbot District was Mr. Mahlon
+Burwell, a land surveyor, who was afterwards better known as Colonel
+Burwell. He was of great assistance to Colonel Talbot, and became a
+privileged guest at Castle Malahide. He surveyed many of the townships
+in the Talbot District, and later on rose to a position of great
+influence in the Province. His industry and perseverance long enabled
+him to hold a high place in the minds of the people of the settlement,
+and he enjoyed the reflection of Colonel Talbot's high and benevolent
+character. He entered the Provincial Parliament, and for many years
+retained a large measure of public confidence. Another early settler in
+the District was the afterwards celebrated Dr. John Rolph, who took up
+his quarters on Catfish Creek in 1813. He was long on terms of close
+intimacy and friendship with Colonel Talbot, and in 1817 originated the
+Talbot Anniversary, to commemorate the establishment of the District,
+and to do honour to its Founder. This anniversary was held on the 21st
+of May, the Colonel's birthday, and was kept up without interruption for
+about twenty years. It was attended by every settler who could possibly
+get to the place of celebration, which was sometimes at Port Talbot, but
+more frequently at St. Thomas, after that place came into existence.
+Once only it was held at London. It is perhaps worth while mentioning
+that St. Thomas was called in honour of the Colonel's Christian name.
+Here the rustics assembled in full force to drink bumpers to the health
+of the Founder of the settlement, and to celebrate "the day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and all
+who honour it." The Colonel, of course, never failed to appear, and even
+after he had passed the allotted age of three score and ten, he always
+led off the first dance with some blooming maiden of the settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Practically speaking, there is no limit to the number of anecdotes which
+are rife to this day among the settlers of the Talbot District with
+respect to the Colonel's eccentricities and mode of life. On one
+occasion a person named Crandell presented himself at Castle Malahide,
+late in the evening, as an applicant for a lot of land. He was ushered
+into the Colonel's presence, when the latter turned upon him with a
+flushed and angry countenance, and demanded his money. The Colonel's
+aspect was so fierce, and the situation was so lonely, that Crandell was
+alarmed for his life, and forthwith surrendered all his capital. He was
+then led off by Jeffery to the kitchen, where he was comfortably
+entertained for the night. The next morning the Colonel settled his
+business satisfactorily, and returned him his money, telling him that he
+had taken it from him to prevent his being robbed by some of his
+rascally servants. On another occasion a pedantic personage who lived in
+the Township of Howard, and who spent much time in familiarizing himself
+with the longest words to be found in the Dictionary, presented himself
+before the Colonel, and began, in polysyllabic phrases, to lay a local
+grievance before him. The language employed was so periphrastic and
+pointless that the Colonel was at a loss to get at the meaning intended
+to be conveyed. After listening for a few moments with ill-concealed
+impatience, Talbot broke out with a profane exclamation, adding: "If you
+do not come down to the level of my poor understanding, I can do nothing
+for you." The man profited by the rebuke, and commenced in plain words,
+but in rather an ambiguous manner, to state that his neighbour was
+unworthy of the grant of land he had obtained, as he was not working
+well. "Come, out with it," said the Colonel, "for I see now what you
+would be at. You wish to oust your neighbour, and get the land for
+yourself." After enduring further characteristic expletives, the man
+took himself of incontinently. Although many of his settlers were native
+Americans, the Colonel had an aversion to Yankees, and used to say of
+them that they acquired property by whittling chips and barter&mdash;by
+giving a shingle for a blind pup, which they swopped for a goose, and
+then turned into a sheep. On another occasion, an Irishman, proud of his
+origin, and whose patronymic told at once that he was a son of the
+Emerald Isle, finding that he could not prevail with the Colonel on the
+score of being a fellow-countryman, resorted to rudeness, and, with more
+warmth than discretion, stood upon his pedigree, and told the Colonel
+that his family was as honourable, and the coat of arms as respectable
+and as ancient as that of the Talbots of Malahide. Jeffery and the dogs
+were always the last resource on such occasions. "My dogs don't
+understand heraldry," was the laconic retort, "and if you don't take
+yourself off, they will not leave a coat to your back."</p>
+
+<p>By the time the year 1826 came round, Colonel Talbot, in consequence of
+his exertions to forward the interests of his settlement, had begun to
+be very much straitened for means. He accordingly addressed a letter to
+Lord Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies in the Home Government, asking
+for some remuneration for his long and valuable services. In his
+application for relief we find this paragraph: "After twenty-three years
+entirely devoted to the improvement of the Western Districts of this
+Province, and establishing on their lands about 20,000 souls, without
+any expense for superintendence to the Government, or the persons
+immediately benefited; but, on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> contrary, at a sacrifice of &pound;20,000,
+in rendering them comfortable, I find myself entirely straitened, and
+now wholly without capital." He admitted that the tract of land he had
+received from the Crown was large, but added that his agricultural
+labours had been unproductive&mdash;a circumstance not much to be wondered at
+when it is borne in mind that his time was chiefly occupied in selling
+and portioning out the land. The Home Government responded by a grant of
+&pound;400 sterling per annum. The pension thus conferred was not gratuitous,
+but by way of recompense for his services in locating settlers on the
+waste lands of the Crown. That he was entitled to such a recompense few,
+at the present day, will be found to deny. He was a father to his
+people, and, in the words of his biographer, "acted as the friend of the
+poor, industrious settler, whom he protected from the fangs of men in
+office who looked only to the fees."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>In course of time the Colonel's place of abode at Port Talbot came to be
+a resort for distinguished visitors to Upper Canada, and the
+Lieutenant-Governors of the Province frequently resorted thither. The
+late Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson was a frequent and an
+honoured guest at Castle Malahide; and Colonel Talbot, in his turn,
+generally availed himself of the hospitality of the Chief Justice during
+his annual visits to Little York. Among scores of other distinguished
+visitors may be mentioned the Duke of Richmond, Sir Peregrine Maitland,
+Lord Aylmer and Sir John Colborne. Mrs. Jameson also visited the spot
+during her sojourn in this country just before the rebellion, and
+published the most readable account of it that has yet appeared.
+Speaking of the Colonel himself, she says: "This remarkable man is now
+about sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite
+of his rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and
+the primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has
+in his features, air, and deportment, that <i>something</i> which stamps him
+gentleman. And that <i>something</i> which thirty-four years of solitude have
+not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth&mdash;things of more
+consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than
+we are apt to allow. He must have been very handsome when young; his
+resemblance now to our royal family, particularly to the King, (William
+the Fourth,) is so very striking as to be something next to identity.
+Good-natured people have set themselves to account for this wonderful
+likeness in various ways, possible and impossible; but after a rigid
+comparison of dates and ages, and assuming all that latitude which
+scandal usually allows herself in these matters, it remains
+unaccountable. . . I had always heard and read of him as the 'eccentric'
+Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than of his
+benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his perseverance;
+but perhaps, according to the worldly nomenclature, these qualities come
+under the general head of 'eccentricity,' when devotion to a favourite
+object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. . . Colonel
+Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the
+completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and
+followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he
+saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in
+clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and
+axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty
+woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows,
+churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch
+of household economy he became very expert, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> still piques himself on
+it." Of the ch&acirc;teau itself and its immediate surroundings, she says:
+"It" (the ch&acirc;teau) "is a long wooden building, chiefly of rough logs,
+with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I found
+suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those ferocious
+animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, and by some
+the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. This one, which
+had been killed in its attack on the fold or poultry-yard, was at least
+four feet in length, and glared on me from the rafters above, ghastly
+and horrible. The interior of the house contains several comfortable
+lodging-rooms; and one really handsome one, the dining-room. There is a
+large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable chimney. Around the house
+stands a vast variety of outbuildings, of all imaginable shapes and
+sizes, and disposed without the slightest regard to order or symmetry.
+One of these is the very log hut which the Colonel erected for shelter
+when he first 'sat down in the bush,' four-and-thirty years ago, and
+which he is naturally unwilling to remove. Many of these outbuildings
+are to shelter the geese and poultry, of which he rears an innumerable
+quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, looking over the wide blue lake, on
+which I have counted six schooners at a time with their white sails; on
+the left is Port Stanley. Behind the house lies an open tract of land,
+prettily broken and varied, where large flocks of sheep and cattle were
+feeding&mdash;the whole enclosed by beautiful and luxuriant woods, through
+which runs the little creek or river. The farm consists of six hundred
+acres; but as the Colonel is not quite so active as he used to be, and
+does not employ a bailiff or overseer, the management is said to be
+slovenly, and not so productive as it might be. He has sixteen acres of
+orchard-ground, in which he has planted and reared with success all the
+common European fruits, as apples, pears, plums, cherries, in abundance;
+but what delighted me beyond everything else was a garden of more than
+two acres, very neatly laid out and enclosed, and in which he evidently
+took exceeding pride and pleasure; it was the first thing he showed me
+after my arrival. It abounds in roses of different kinds, the cuttings
+of which he had brought himself from England in the few visits he had
+made there. Of these he gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented
+them to me with such an air as might have become Dick Talbot presenting
+a bouquet to Miss Jennings. We then sat down on a pretty seat under a
+tree, where he told me he often came to meditate. He described the
+appearance of the spot when he first came here, as contrasted with its
+present appearance, or we discussed the exploits of some of his
+celebrated and gallant ancestors, with whom my acquaintance was
+(luckily) almost as intimate as his own. Family and aristocratic pride I
+found a prominent feature in the character of this remarkable man. A
+Talbot of Malahide, of a family representing the same barony from father
+to son for six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a high value on
+his noble and unstained lineage; and, in his lonely position, the
+simplicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal
+pretensions a kind of poetical dignity. . . Another thing which gave a
+singular interest to my conversation with Colonel Talbot was the sort of
+indifference with which he regarded all the stirring events of the last
+thirty years. Dynasties rose and disappeared; kingdoms were passed from
+hand to hand like wine decanters; battles were lost and won;&mdash;he neither
+knew, nor heard, nor cared. No post, no newspaper brought to his
+forest-hut the tidings of victory and defeat, of revolutions of empires,
+or rumours of unsuccessful and successful war."</p>
+
+<p>The faithful servant, Jeffery Hunter,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> came in for a share of this
+clever woman's keen observation. "This honest fellow," she tells us,
+"not having forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a
+wife&mdash;and like the good knight in Chaucer, he did.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Upon his bare knees pray God him to send</span><br />
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;A wife to last unto his life's end.'</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at
+hand&mdash;one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her
+virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel
+swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffery, who is a
+favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose
+increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help,
+seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the
+presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running
+about without let or hindrance."</p>
+
+<p>In politics Colonel Talbot was a Tory, but as a general rule he took no
+part in the election contests of his time. His servant Jeffery Hunter,
+however, who seems to have had a vote on his own account, was always
+despatched promptly to the polling-place to record his vote in favour of
+the Tory candidate. The Colonel was a Member of the Legislative Council,
+but he seldom or never attended the deliberations of that Body. During
+the Administration of Sir John Colborne, when the Liberals of Upper
+Canada fought the battles of Reform with such energy and vigour, the
+Colonel for a single campaign identified himself with the contest, and
+made what seems to have been rather an effective election speech on the
+platform at St. Thomas. He traced the history of the settlement, and
+referred to his own labours in a fashion which elicited tumultuous
+applause from the crowd. He deplored the spread of radical principles,
+and expressed his regret that some advocates of those principles had
+crept into the neighbourhood. The meeting passed a loyal address to the
+Crown, which was dictated by Colonel Talbot himself. This, so far as is
+known, was the only political meeting ever attended by him in this
+Province.</p>
+
+<p>The Colonel was nominally a member of the Church of England, and
+contributed liberally to its support, though, as may well be supposed,
+he was never eaten up by his zeal for episcopacy. By some people he was
+set down as a freethinker, and by others as a Roman Catholic. The fact
+is that the prevailing tone of his mind was not spiritual, and he gave
+little thought to matters theological. During the early years of the
+settlement, as we have seen, he was wont to read service to the
+assembled rustics on Sunday; but this custom was abandoned as soon as
+churches began to be accessible to the people of the neighbourhood; and
+after that time, though he was occasionally seen at church, he was not
+an habitual attendant at public worship. He was fond of good company,
+and liked to tell and listen to dubious stories "across the walnuts and
+the wine." A clergyman who officiated at a little church about five
+miles from Port Talbot was his frequent guest at dinner, until the
+Colonel's outrageous jokes and stories proved too much for the clerical
+idea of the eternal fitness of things. "It must," says his biographer,
+"have been rather a bold venture for a young clergyman to come in
+contact with a man of Colonel Talbot's wit and racy humour, and a man
+who would startle at the very idea of being priest ridden; in fact, who
+would be much more likely to saddle the priest. The reverend gentleman
+bore with him a long while, till at length finding that he was not
+making any progress with the old gentleman in a religious point of
+view&mdash;on the contrary, that his sallies of wit became more frequent and
+cutting&mdash;he left him to get to heaven without his assistance. Colonel
+Talbot was never pleased with himself for having said or done anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+to provoke the displeasure of his reverend guest, but being in the habit
+at table, after dinner, of smacking his lips over a glass of good port,
+and cracking jokes, which extorted from his guest a half approving
+smile, he was tempted to exceed the bounds which religious or even
+chaste conversation would prescribe, and came so near proving <i>in vino
+veritas</i>, that the reverend gentleman would never revisit him, although
+I believe it was Colonel Talbot's earnest desire that he should."</p>
+
+<p>Bad habits, if not checked in season, have a tendency to grow worse. As
+the Colonel advanced in years his liking for strong drink increased to
+such an extent that the <i>in vino veritas</i> stage was, we fear, reached
+pretty often. To such a state of things his solitary life doubtless
+conduced. He had an iron constitution, however, and it does not appear
+that his intemperate habits during the evening of his life materially
+shortened his days. He lived long enough to see the prosperity of his
+settlement fully assured. For many years prior to his death it appears
+to have been his cherished desire to bequeath his large estate to one of
+the male descendants of the Talbot family, and with this view he invited
+one of his sister's sons, Mr. Julius Airey, to come over from England
+and reside with him at Port Talbot. This young gentleman accordingly
+came to reside there, but the dull, monotonous life he was obliged to
+lead, and the Colonel's eccentricities, were ill calculated to engage
+the affections of a youth just verging on manhood; and after
+rusticating, without companions or equals in either birth or education,
+for some time, he returned to England and relinquished whatever claims
+he might consider he had on his uncle. Some years later a younger
+brother of Julius, Colonel Airey, Military Secretary at the Horse
+Guards, ventured upon a similar experiment, and came out to Canada with
+his family to live at Port Talbot. About this time the Colonel's health
+began seriously to fail, and his habits began to gain greater hold upon
+him than ever. As a necessary consequence he became crabbed and
+irritable. The uncle and nephew could not get on together. "The former,"
+says his biographer, "had been accustomed for the greater portion of his
+life to suit the convenience of his domestics, and, in common with the
+inhabitants of the country, to dine at noon; the latter was accustomed
+to wait for the buglecall, till seven o'clock in the evening. Colonel
+Talbot could, on special occasions, accommodate himself to the habits of
+his guests, but to be regularly harnessed up for the mess every day was
+too much to expect from so old a man; no wonder he kicked in the traces.
+He soon came to the determination of keeping up a separate
+establishment, and another spacious mansion was erected adjoining
+Colonel Airey's, where he might, he thought, live as he pleased. But all
+would not do, the old bird had been disturbed in his nest, and he could
+not be reconciled." He determined to leave Canada, and to end his days
+in the Old World. He transferred the Port Talbot estate, valued at
+&pound;10,000, together with 13,000 acres of land in the adjoining township of
+Aldborough, to Colonel Airey. This transfer, however, left more than
+half of his property in his own hands, and he was still a man of great
+wealth. Acting on his determination to leave Canada, he started, in his
+eightieth year, for Europe. Upon reaching London, only a day's journey
+from Port Talbot, he was prostrated by illness, and was confined to his
+bed for nearly a month. He rallied, however, and resumed his journey. In
+due time he reached London the Greater. He was accompanied on the voyage
+by Mr. George McBeth, the successor to the situation of Jeffery Hunter,
+who had died some years before. McBeth had gained complete ascendancy
+over the Colonel's failing mind. Being a young man of some education,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> a good deal of finesse, he was treated by his master as a companion
+rather than as a servant, and the latter merited his master's regard by
+nursing him with much care and attention.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Talbot remained in London somewhat more than a year, during
+which period, as also during his previous visits to England, he renewed
+old associations with the friend of his youth, the great Duke. He was
+often the latter's guest at Apsley House, and the stern old hero of a
+hundred fights delighted in his society. London life, however, was
+distasteful to Colonel Talbot, and, after giving it a fair trial, he
+once more bade adieu to society and repaired to Canada&mdash;always attended
+assiduously by George McBeth. Upon reaching the settlement he took
+lodgings for himself and his companion in the house of Jeffery Hunter's
+widow. Here, cooped up in a small room, on the outskirts of the
+magnificent estate which was no longer his own, he received occasional
+visits from his old friends. Colonel Airey, meanwhile, had rented the
+Port Talbot property to an English gentleman named Saunders, and had
+returned to his post at the Horse Guards in England. Mr. Saunders had
+several daughters, to one of whom George McBeth paid assiduous court,
+and whom he afterwards married. Upon his marriage he removed to London,
+accompanied by Colonel Talbot, who resided with him until his death, on
+the 6th of February, 1853. When the Colonel's will was opened it was
+found that with the exception of an annuity of &pound;20 to Jeffery Hunter's
+widow, all his vast estate, estimated at &pound;50,000, had been left to
+George McBeth.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral took place on the 9th. On the previous day&mdash;the 8th&mdash;the
+body was conveyed in a hearse from London to Fingal, on the way to Port
+Talbot, so as to be ready for interment on the following morning. By
+some culpable neglect or mismanagement it was placed for the night in
+the barn or granary of the local inn. The settlers were scandalized at
+this indignity, and one of them begged, with tears in his eyes, that the
+body might be removed to his house, which was close by. The undertaker,
+who is said to have been under the influence of liquor, declined to
+accede to this request, and the body remained all night in the barn. On
+the following morning it was replaced in the hearse and conveyed to Port
+Talbot, where it rested for a short time within the walls of Castle
+Malahide. A few attached friends from London and other parts of the
+settlement attended the coffin to its place of sepulture in the
+churchyard at Tyrconnel. The officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr.
+Holland, read the service in a cutting wind, and the ceremony was ended.
+A plate on the oaken coffin bore the simple inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+THOMAS TALBOT,<br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Founder of the Talbot Settlement,</span><br /><br />
+<span class="smcap">Died 6th February</span>, 1853.<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image3.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">David Laird, signed as D. Laird</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_DAVID_LAIRD" id="THE_HON_DAVID_LAIRD"></a>THE HON. DAVID LAIRD,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The Hon. David Laird is the fourth son of the late Hon. Alexander Laird,
+a Scottish farmer who, in the year 1819, emigrated from Renfrewshire to
+Prince Edward Island. The late Mr. Laird settled in Queen's County,
+about sixteen miles from Charlottetown, the capital of the Province, and
+devoted himself to agriculture. He was a man of high character and great
+influence, alike in political and social matters. For about sixteen
+years he represented the First District of Queen's County in the Local
+Assembly, and during one Parliamentary term of four years he was a
+member of the Executive Council. He was a colleague and supporter of the
+Hon. George Coles, who is called the father of Responsible Government in
+Prince Edward Island. He was one of the signatories to the petition
+forwarded by the Assembly to the Home Government in 1847, praying that
+Responsible Government might be conceded; and he had the satisfaction of
+sitting in the Assembly on the 25th of March, 1851, when Sir Alexander
+Bannerman, the Governor, announced that the prayer of the petition had
+been granted. He was also for many years one of the most active members
+of the Managing Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Prince
+Edward, an institution which did much for the advancement of
+agricultural industry in the Province, by encouraging the importation of
+improved stock, and by other similar operations.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of this sketch was born at the paternal home, near the
+village of New Glasgow, Queen's County, in the year 1833. He was
+educated at the district school of his native settlement, and afterwards
+entered the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Nova
+Scotia, which was then situated at Truro, in that Province. He completed
+his education at the Seminary, and soon afterwards embarked in
+journalism at Charlottetown, where he founded a newspaper called <i>The
+Patriot</i>. Under his editorship and business management this journal
+became, in the course of a few years, the leading organ of public
+opinion in Prince Edward Island. It advocated Liberal principles, and
+was conducted with much energy and ability. The editor had inherited
+Liberal ideas from his father, and spoke and wrote on behalf of them
+with great effect. After a time he became estranged from the leader of
+the Liberal Party, the chief cause of estrangement arising from the
+latter's having lent his countenance to some proceedings tending to
+exclude the Bible from the Common Schools. All minor causes of
+controversy, however, were cast into the shade by the great question of
+Confederation. After the close of the Quebec Conference in October,
+1864, Mr. Laird took a firm stand against the terms of the scheme agreed
+upon by the delegates, in so far as they related to his native Province.
+He assigned as his principal reasons for adopting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> this course the fact
+that the terms contained no proposal for the settlement of the Land
+Question, which had long been a sore grievance with the tenantry of the
+island; and the further fact that no provision was made for the
+construction of public works, although the island could be called upon
+to contribute its quota of taxation towards the Intercolonial Railway,
+the canals, and the Pacific Railway. He took an active part in the
+promotion of sanitary and other local improvements, and was for some
+years a member of the Charlottetown City Council. His first entry into
+Parliamentary life took place in 1871. The then-existing Government,
+under the leadership of the Hon. James Colledge Pope (the present
+Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Dominion Government), had
+carried a measure for the construction of the Prince Edward Island
+Railway, running nearly the entire length of the island. This project
+Mr. Laird had opposed, on the ground that it should have been first
+submitted to the people at the polls, and also because he regarded the
+undertaking as beyond the resources of the Province. The Government,
+however, had carried the Bill providing for the construction of the road
+through the House during the previous session, and the surveyors and
+Commissioners had been appointed. The Chairman of the Commissioners, the
+Hon. James Duncan, represented the constituency of Belfast in the
+Legislative Assembly, and was obliged to return to his constituents for
+re&euml;lection after accepting office. Mr. Laird offered himself as a
+candidate in opposition to the Government nominee. His candidature was
+successful. The Commissioner was defeated, and Mr. Laird secured a seat
+in the Assembly. A good deal of dissatisfaction had been excited by the
+proceedings of the Local Government in connection with the construction
+of the road, the result being that Mr. Pope, when he next met the House,
+found he had lost the confidence of the majority, and being defeated, he
+dissolved the House and appealed to the country. The appeal was
+disastrous to his policy, a majority of the members returned being
+hostile to his Government. Among these was Mr. Laird, who was elected a
+second time for Belfast. A new Government was formed with Mr. R. P.
+Haythorne as Premier. During the following autumn Mr. Laird accepted
+office in this Government, and was sworn in as a Member of the Executive
+Council in November, 1872. Finding that if the railway were proceeded
+with on the credit of Prince Edward Island alone, the Provincial
+finances would be seriously embarrassed, the new Ministers responded
+favourably to an invitation from Ottawa to reconsider the question of
+Union. Mr. Laird formed one of the delegation which proceeded to Ottawa
+and negotiated terms of Union with the Dominion Government. After the
+return of the delegates the Local House was dissolved in order that the
+terms agreed upon might be submitted to the people. A good deal of
+finesse was practised by the Opposition, and various side issues were
+imported into the election contest. The result was the return of a
+majority hostile to Mr. Haythorne's Ministry, and Mr. Pope again
+succeeded to the reins of Government. Under his auspices the terms of
+Union were slightly modified, and Prince Edward Island entered
+Confederation.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Laird had meanwhile succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal
+Party. The House did not divide, however, on the question of
+Confederation, and both Parties concurred in supporting the measure. Mr.
+Laird resigned his seat in the Local Legislature, and offered himself as
+a candidate for the House of Commons for the electoral district of
+Queen's County. He was returned by a large majority, and on the opening
+of the second session of the second Parliament of the Dominion, in
+October, 1873, he took his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa. The
+Pacific Scandal disclosures followed, and Sir John A. Macdonald's
+Government made way for that of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In the new
+Administration Mr. Laird accepted the portfolio of Minister of the
+Interior, and was sworn into office on the 7th of November. Upon
+returning to his constituents in Queen's County he was returned by
+acclamation. He was again returned by acclamation at the general
+election of 1874. He retained his office of Minister of the Interior
+until the 7th of October, 1876, when he was appointed by the
+Governor-General to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-West
+Territories. This position he has ever since filled with the best
+results to the Dominion. During his tenure of office as Minister of the
+Interior he carried several important measures through Parliament,
+and&mdash;in the summer of 1874&mdash;effected an important Treaty with the
+Indians of the North-West, whereby he secured to the Crown the
+possession of a tract of 75,500 square miles in extent, and thus
+guaranteed the peaceable possession of a large portion of the route of
+the Canada Pacific Railway and its accompanying telegraph lines.</p>
+
+<p>In 1864 Mr. Laird married Mary Louisa, second daughter of the late Mr.
+Thomas Owen, who was for many years Postmaster-General of Prince Edward
+Island. An elder brother of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Alexander
+Laird, held office in the late Local Government of Prince Edward Island,
+and at present represents the Second District of Prince, in the Local
+Assembly.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_CHARLES_E_B_DE_BOUCHERVILLE" id="THE_HON_CHARLES_E_B_DE_BOUCHERVILLE"></a>THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The Bouchers and De Bouchervilles for over two hundred years have played
+no unimportant part in the history of Canada. Lieutenant-General Pierre
+Boucher, Sieur de Grobois, Governor of Three Rivers in 1653, the founder
+of the Seigniory of Boucherville, and a man of great influence in his
+day, was one of the most noted members of the family. The late Hon. P.
+Boucher de Boucherville, for many years a Legislative Councillor of
+Lower Canada, was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born
+at Boucherville, Province of Quebec, in 1820. He was educated at St.
+Sulpice College, Montreal. He subsequently went to Paris, pursued his
+studies in the medical profession there, and graduated with high
+honours. He has been married twice, first to Miss Susanne Morrogh,
+daughter of Mr. R. L. Morrogh, Advocate, of Montreal; and after her
+death, to Miss C. Luissier, of Varennes. In 1861 he was elected to the
+House of Assembly for the county of Chambly. He continued to represent
+this constituency until 1867, when he entered the Legislative Council,
+and became a member of Mr. Chauveau's Ministry, with the office of
+Speaker of the Council, which position he held until February, 1873. On
+the reconstruction of the Cabinet, September 22nd, 1874, he was
+entrusted with the formation of a Ministry. This duty he accomplished
+successfully, taking for himself the portfolio of Secretary and
+Registrar, and Minister of Public Instruction. On the 27th January,
+1876, he changed his portfolio for that of Agriculture and Public Works.
+In February, 1879, he was called to the Senate, an honour which he
+accepted without resigning his seat in the Legislative Council.</p>
+
+<p>The De Boucherville Ministry remained in power until the 4th of March,
+1878, when it was summarily dismissed by the Hon. Luc Letellier de St.
+Just, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, for reasons which appeared to
+him to be just. The facts with reference to this matter have been
+detailed in the sketch of the life of Mr. Letellier, contained in the
+first volume of this work. On the refusal of Mr. De Boucherville to name
+a successor, Mr. Letellier called in the Hon. Henri Gustave Joly of
+Lotbini&egrave;re, and invited him to form a Ministry. In October, 1879, the
+ex-Premier and his friends succeeded in defeating the Liberal
+Government. A Conservative Ministry was formed, in whose councils,
+however, Mr. De Boucherville has taken no part, though his efforts to
+drive from power the Liberal Administration were conspicuously displayed
+in the Upper Chamber of the Province. He is a good speaker, precise,
+moderate and adroit. He is skilful in defence and equally skilful in
+attack. His administrative capacity is considerable, and the duties of
+the several offices which he has held at various intervals, have been
+ably and industriously performed.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image4.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Samuel Nelles, signed as S. S. Nelles</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+
+<h2><a name="THE_REV_SAMUEL_NELLES_DD_LLD" id="THE_REV_SAMUEL_NELLES_DD_LLD"></a>THE REV. SAMUEL NELLES, D.D., LL.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>PRESIDENT OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, COBOURG.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Nelles's life, like that of most men of purely scholastic pursuits,
+has been comparatively uneventful, and does not form a very fruitful
+field for biographical purposes. It has, however, been an eminently
+useful one, and has been attended with results most beneficial to the
+educational establishment with which his name has long been associated,
+and over which he has presided for a continuous period of thirty years.
+He is of German descent, on both the paternal and maternal sides. His
+paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany to the State of New York
+sometime during the last century, and settled in the historic valley of
+the Mohawk, where some of their descendants still reside. There Dr.
+Nelles's father, the late Mr. William Nelles, was born, and there he
+passed the early years of his life. He married Miss Mary Hardy, who was
+also of German stock on the mother's side, and was born in the State of
+Pennsylvania. By this lady he had a numerous family, the eldest son
+being the subject of this sketch. The parents emigrated from New York
+State to Upper Canada soon after the close of the War of 1812-15, and
+devoted themselves to farming pursuits. The Doctor was born at the
+family homestead, in the quiet little village of Mount Pleasant&mdash;known
+to the Post Office Department as Mohawk&mdash;in what is now the township of
+Brantford, in the county of Brant, about five miles south-west of the
+present city of Brantford, on the 17th of October, 1823. At the present
+day, the schools of Mount Pleasant will bear comparison with those of
+many places of much larger population; but fifty years ago, when young
+Samuel Nelles was in attendance there, they were like most other schools
+in the rural districts of Upper Canada&mdash;that is to say, they afforded no
+facilities for anything beyond a very rudimentary educational training.
+Such as they were, however, they furnished the only means of instruction
+at his command until he had entered upon his seventeenth year. Previous
+to that time he had lived at home, attending school and assisting his
+father in farm work. He had, however, displayed great fondness for
+study, and had, by dint of his natural ability and steady application,
+made greater progress than could have been made by any boy who was not
+possessed by an ardent thirst for knowledge. His parents accordingly
+resolved that he should have an opportunity of following out the natural
+bent of his mind. In 1839 he was placed at Lewiston Academy, in the
+State of New York, where he spent an industrious year, and where he had
+for a tutor the brilliant, witty and humorous John Godfrey Saxe. Mr.
+Saxe was not then known to the world as a poet, but he was an
+accomplished philologist, and was reading for the Bar. He had just
+graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and was teaching
+<i>belles-lettres</i> in the Lewiston<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> Academy contemporaneously with the
+prosecution of his legal studies. In October, 1840, young Nelles
+transferred himself to an academy at Fredonia, in Chautauqua county,
+N.Y., where he remained ten months. In the following October (1841) he
+entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, N.Y., where he devoted
+his time chiefly to Classics, Mathematics, English Literature and
+Criticism. Having spent a profitable year at Lima, he entered Victoria
+College, Cobourg&mdash;which was then under the Presidency of the Rev.
+Egerton Ryerson&mdash;in the autumn of 1842. He was one of the first two
+matriculated students at the institution, which had just been
+incorporated as a University. After an Arts course of two years at
+Victoria College, and a year spent in study at home, he attended for
+some time at the University of Middletown, Connecticut, where he
+graduated as B.A. in 1846. He then spent a year as a teacher in Canada,
+and took charge of the Newburgh Academy, in the county of Lennox. In
+June, 1847, he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church,
+and was placed in charge of a congregation at Port Hope, where he
+remained for a year. He was then transferred to the old Adelaide Street
+Church, Toronto, where he laboured for two years. Thence he was
+transferred to London, but had only resided there about three months
+when, in the month of September, 1850, he was appointed President of
+Victoria College. This important and responsible position he has held
+ever since.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of his taking office, the institution was by no means in a
+flourishing condition. It was carried on under circumstances of great
+difficulty and embarrassment, and had a competent administrator not been
+found to take charge of it, its future would have been very
+problematical. An improvement in its condition, however, was perceptible
+from the time when Mr. Nelles took the management. It has continued to
+prosper ever since, and has long ago taken rank among the most
+noteworthy educational institutions in the Dominion. At the time of
+Professor Nelles's appointment there was only a single
+Faculty&mdash;Arts&mdash;and the attendance was very small. The teachers were only
+five in number. The Professor's vigorous administration soon effected a
+marked change for the better. In 1854 the Faculty of Medicine was added.
+It at first embraced only one medical college, which was presided over
+for many years by the late Dr. Rolph. In process of time a second
+institution, L'&Eacute;cole de M&eacute;decine et de Chirurgie, Montreal, became
+affiliated, and still continues to hold the same relationship to the
+University. A Law Faculty was added in 1862, and in 1872 a Faculty of
+Theology.</p>
+
+<p>When Professor Nelles became President he at the same time became
+Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Logic, and the Evidences of
+Religion. These subjects he has continued to teach ever since, with the
+addition, since 1872, of Homiletics. He has devoted his life to the task
+of building up the institution, and has been ably seconded by the staff
+of teachers whom he has from time to time gathered about him. Until
+comparatively recent times there was no endowment fund, and the College
+had to depend for its support solely on tuition fees, on the annual
+contributions of the ministers and people of the Wesleyan Methodist
+Body, and on a Parliamentary grant which Victoria College, in common
+with other denominational schools, had been wont to receive. After
+Confederation, all grants to denominational colleges were discontinued,
+and Victoria College was left almost entirely unprovided for. At a
+meeting of the Methodist Conference it was proposed by President Nelles
+that an appeal should be made to the people for contributions to an
+endowment fund. The proposal was adopted by the Conference, and the Rev.
+Dr. Punshon, who was then resident in Canada, took an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> active personal
+interest in the movement. He contributed $3,000 out of his own pocket,
+and made a personal tour through part of Ontario, holding public
+meetings, whereby a sum of $50,000 was secured. Several other Methodist
+ministers followed his example, and the fund steadily increased. In
+1873, however, the amount was still insufficient, and the Rev. Joshua H.
+Johnson was appointed by the Conference to make further collections. Mr.
+Johnson entered upon his task, and pursued it with great vigour. His
+efforts were supplemented by a munificent bequest of $30,000 from the
+late Mr. Edward Jackson, of Hamilton. The requisite amount was
+eventually obtained, and the future of Victoria College secured.</p>
+
+<p>The erection of Faraday Hall, at a cost of $25,000, chiefly for
+Scientific purposes, marks a new epoch in the history of Victoria
+College. This Hall was formally opened on the 29th of May, 1878. Dr.
+Haanel, a distinguished German Professor, was placed in charge of the
+scientific department, and the results of his teaching are already
+apparent in an awakened interest in scientific matters displayed by the
+students of the College.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the whole, Dr. Nelles may well be pardoned if he looks back upon
+his thirty years' Presidency of Victoria College with a considerable
+degree of complacency. To him, more than to anyone else, is due its
+present state of prosperity and enlarged efficiency. He has also taken a
+warm interest in educational matters unconnected with the College, and
+his influence is perceptibly felt in all the local schools. He was for
+two successive years elected President of the Teachers' Association of
+Ontario, and his views on all matters pertaining to public instruction
+are held in high respect.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Nelles was chosen a delegate to represent the Canadian Conference at
+the General Methodist Conference held at Philadelphia in 1864, at the
+New Brunswick Conference of 1866, and at the English Wesleyan Conference
+held at Newcastle in 1873. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by the University of Queen's College, Kingston, in
+1860. His Doctor's degree in Law was conferred upon him in 1873 by the
+University of Victoria College. He is the author of a popular text-book
+on Logic, and has frequently contributed to periodical literature. He
+enjoys high repute as a lecturer, more especially on educational
+subjects; and his sermons, some of which have been published, are said
+to be of an exceptionally high order.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3rd of July, 1851, he married Miss Mary B. Wood, daughter of the
+Rev. Enoch Wood, of Toronto, by whom he has a family of five children.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_HUME_BLAKE" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_HUME_BLAKE"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The late Chancellor Blake, one of the most distinguished jurists that
+ever sat on the Canadian Bench, was a member of an Irish family, known
+as the Blakes of Cashelgrove, in the county of Galway. The family was
+well connected and stood high among the county magnates. Sometime about
+the middle of the last century, Dominick Edward Blake, its chief
+representative, married the Hon. Miss Netterville, daughter of Lord
+Netterville, of Drogheda. After her death, he married a second wife, who
+was a daughter of Sir Joseph Hoare, Baronet, of Annabella, in the county
+of Cork. By this lady he had four sons, one of whom, christened Dominick
+Edward, after his father, took orders as a clergyman of the Church of
+England, and became Rector and Rural Dean of Kiltegan and
+Loughbrickland. This gentleman married Miss Anne Margaret Hume, eldest
+daughter of Mr. William Hume, of Humewood, M.P. for the county of
+Wicklow. During the progress of the rebellion of 1798, Mr. Hume sent his
+children to Dublin for safety, and took personal command of a corps of
+yeomanry raised in his county. He fell a victim to his loyalty, and was
+shot near his own residence at Humewood by some rebels of whom he was in
+pursuit. Lord Charlemont, in a published letter, alluded to this
+deplorable event as "the murder of Hume, the friend and favourite of his
+country," and characterized it as an "example of atrocity which exceeded
+all that went before it."</p>
+
+<p>William Hume Blake, the subject of this memoir, was the grandson and
+namesake of the unfortunate gentleman above referred to, and was one of
+the fruits of the marriage of his father, the Rev. D. E. Blake, to Miss
+Hume. He was born at the Rectory, at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, on the
+10th of March, 1809. He was the second son of his parents, his elder
+brother, Dominick Edward, being named in honour of his father and
+paternal grandfather. The elder brother emulated his father's example,
+and became a clergyman of the Church of England. The younger, after
+receiving his education at Trinity College, Dublin, studied surgery
+under Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton. Surgery, however, was not
+much to his taste. The accompaniments of that profession&mdash;notably the
+coarse jokes and experiments which he was daily called upon to encounter
+in the dissecting-room&mdash;proved at last so repulsive to his nature that
+he abandoned surgery altogether, and entered upon a course of
+theological study with a view to entering the Church. His studies had
+not proceeded far, however, before he and his elder brother determined
+to emigrate to Canada. This determination was carried out in the summer
+of 1832. A short time before leaving his native land, the younger
+brother married his cousin, Miss Catharine Hume, the granddaughter&mdash;as
+he himself was the grandson&mdash;of the William Hume whose tragical death
+has already been recorded. This lady, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> shared alike the struggles
+and triumphs of her distinguished husband till the close of his earthly
+career, still survives.</p>
+
+<p>The Blake brothers were induced to emigrate to this country, partly
+because their prospects at home were not particularly bright, partly in
+consequence of the strong inducements held out by the then
+Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. The
+representations of Major Jones, the elder brother's father-in-law,
+doubtless contributed something to the result. The Major was a retired
+officer who had served in this country during the war of 1812-'13-'14,
+and had taken part in the battles of Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane.
+He was fond of fighting his battles over again by his own fireside and
+that of his son-in-law. He was never weary of enlarging on the beauty
+and primitive wildness of Canadian scenery, the pleasures and freedom
+from conventionality of a life spent in the backwoods, and the brilliant
+prospects awaiting young men of courage, energy, endurance, and ability,
+in the wilds of Upper Canada. The Blake brothers were Irishmen, and were
+gifted with the national vividness of imagination. They doubtless
+pictured to themselves the delights of "a lodge in some vast
+wilderness," where game of all sorts was abundant, and where game laws
+had no existence. They had of course no adequate conception of the
+struggles and trials incident to pioneer life. They were not alone in
+their notions about Canada. Many of their friends and acquaintances
+about this time became imbued with a desire to emigrate, and upon taking
+counsel together they found that there were enough of them to form a
+small colony by themselves. Having made all necessary arrangements they
+chartered a vessel&mdash;the <i>Ann</i>, of Halifax&mdash;and sailed for the St.
+Lawrence in the month of July, 1832. Among the friends and relations of
+the brothers Blake embarked on board were their mother, who had been
+left a widow; their sister and her husband, the late Archdeacon Brough;
+the late Mr. Justice Connor; the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, late Bishop of
+Huron; and the Rev. Mr. Palmer, Archdeacon of Huron. After a six weeks'
+voyage they reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence, whence by slow
+degrees they made their way to Little York, as the Upper Canadian
+capital was then called. Here they remained until the following spring,
+when they divided their forces. Some of them remained in York;
+others&mdash;including Mr. Connor and Mr. Brough&mdash;proceeded northward to the
+township of Oro, on Lake Simcoe; and others settled on the Niagara
+peninsula. The elder Blake had meanwhile been appointed by the
+Lieutenant-Governor to a Rectory in the township of Adelaide, and there
+he accordingly pitched his tent. His brother, the subject of this
+sketch, purchased a farm in the same part of the country, at a place on
+Bear Creek&mdash;now called Sydenham River&mdash;near the present site of the
+village of Katesville, or Mount Hope, in the county of Middlesex. He
+then had an opportunity of realizing the full delights of a life in the
+Canadian backwoods. "With whatever romantic ideas of the delights of
+such a life Mr. Hume Blake had determined on making Canada his home,"
+says a contemporary Canadian author, "they were soon dispelled by the
+rough experiences of the reality. The settler in the remotest section of
+Ontario to-day has no conception of the struggles and hardships that
+fell to the lot of men who, accustomed to all the refinements of life,
+found themselves cut off from all traces of civilization in a land,
+since settled and cultivated, but then so wild that between what are now
+populous cities there existed only an Indian trail through the forest.
+Mr. Blake was not a man to be easily discouraged, but soon found that
+his talents were being wasted in the wilderness. In after years he was
+fond of telling of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> rude experiences of life in the bush, and among
+other incidents how that he had, on one occasion, walked to the
+blacksmith's shop before mentioned to obtain a supply of harrow-pins,
+and, finding them too heavy to carry, had fastened them to a chain,
+which he put round his neck, and so dragged them home through the
+woods."</p>
+
+<p>It was during the residence of the family at Bear Creek that the eldest
+son, Edward, was born,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> but he was not destined to receive his
+educational training amid such surroundings. While he was still an
+infant the family removed to Toronto. A life in the backwoods had been
+tried, and was found to be unsuited to the genius and ambition of a man
+like William Hume Blake. He had tried surgery, divinity, and
+agriculture, and had not taken kindly to any of those pursuits. He now
+resolved to attempt the law, and commenced his legal studies in the
+office of the late Mr. Washburn, a well-known lawyer in those days.
+During the troubles of 1837 he was, we believe, for a short time
+paymaster of a battalion, but fortunately there was no occasion for his
+active services. In 1838 he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, and
+was not long in making his way to a foremost position. His rivals at the
+Bar were among the foremost counsel who have ever practised in this
+Province, and included Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice) Draper, Mr.
+(afterwards Judge) Sullivan, Mr. Henry John Boulton, Mr. (now Chief
+Justice) Hagarty, Robert Baldwin, Henry Eccles, and John Hillyard
+Cameron. Mr. Blake soon proved his ability to hold his own against all
+comers. He enjoyed some personal advantages which stood him in good
+stead, both while he was fighting his way and afterwards. His tall,
+handsome person, and fine open face, his felicitous language, and bold
+manly utterance gained him at once the full attention of both Court and
+Jury; and his vigorous grasp of the whole case under discussion, his
+acute, logical dissection of the evidence, and the thorough earnestness
+with which he always threw himself into his client's case, swept
+everything before them. In the days when such men as Draper, Sullivan,
+Baldwin and Eccles were at the Bar, it was something to stand among the
+foremost. Mr. Blake became associated in business with Mr. Joseph C.
+Morrison&mdash;now one of the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench&mdash;and some
+years later, his relative, the late Dr. Connor, who in 1863 became one
+of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, entered the firm. Business
+poured in, and the number of Mr. Blake's briefs increased in almost
+geometrical proportion. His arguments were of due weight with the judges
+of those times, but with juries his force was irresistible. Many
+incidents have been related of his forensic triumphs. Among other cases
+recorded by the writer already quoted from, that of Kerby vs. Lewis
+occupies a conspicuous place. The question at issue was Mr. Kerby's
+right to monopolize a ferry communication between Fort Erie and some
+point on the American shore. This right the defendant contested, and
+employed Mr. Blake to conduct his case. The judges appear to have leaned
+strongly to the side of the plaintiff, and granted a succession of new
+trials, as, on each occasion, Mr. Blake's telling appeals to their
+sympathy with the defendant, as the champion of free intercourse between
+the two countries, extorted from the juries a verdict in favour of his
+client. It is said that the Court finally refused to grant any further
+new trials in sheer hopelessness of any jury being found to reverse the
+original finding.</p>
+
+<p>Another proof of his energy and ingenuity was given in the Webb arson
+case, which made a considerable noise at the time. Webb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> was the owner
+of a shoe store in Toronto. Having on more than one occasion obtained
+compensation from fire insurance companies for losses he had sustained,
+suspicion was excited against him, and, on another fire occurring, the
+companies decided on prosecuting. Webb retained Mr. Blake. The theory of
+the defence was that a stove-pipe from the adjoining store, which
+connected with Webb's premises, had become heated, and had ignited some
+"rubbers" hanging in the vicinity. The prosecution denied that "rubbers"
+were combustible in any such sense as the defence represented. To put
+his theory beyond a doubt, Mr. Blake, on the evening before the trial,
+had set his two boys, Edward and Samuel, to look up every piece of
+information they could obtain from encyclopaedias or other sources as to
+the properties of rubber. Then an old pair of "rubbers" was procured,
+experiments were engaged in, and both father and sons were occupied
+during the greater part of the night in their investigations, to the no
+small discomfort of the other members of the household. When the trial
+came on next day, after the case for the prosecution had been presented,
+Mr. Blake began his defence. He dissected the prosecutor's evidence with
+an amazing fund of irony and sarcasm, and requested the jury to place as
+little reliance on the general testimony for the prosecution as they
+would soon do on the theory of "rubbers" being non-combustible. Then a
+candle and a pair of old "rubbers" were produced; a few strips cut from
+the latter were held in the flame, and the interested crowd of
+spectators saw them burn. The jury accepted this as sufficient, at all
+events, to cast doubts on the whole case against the prisoner, and Webb
+was acquitted.</p>
+
+<p>The "Markham gang," as they were called, are still well remembered by
+the older inhabitants of Toronto and the adjoining country. In several
+of the prosecutions arising out of the outrages of the gang, Mr. Blake
+was defending counsel, and invested the defence with additional
+interest, in the eyes of the legal profession, by raising the question
+of the admissibility of the evidence of an accomplice. Another case
+which showed the earnestness and conscientiousness of Mr. Blake, who
+prosecuted, was the trial of two persons&mdash;a man named McDermott and a
+girl named Grace Marks&mdash;charged with the murder of Mr. Kinnear and his
+housekeeper, near Richmond Hill, in the year 1843.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Not content with
+secondhand information, the hard-working lawyer devoted the only holiday
+which intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the trial to
+a careful and minute examination of the house and premises where the
+murder had occurred, so that in going into court he had the most perfect
+familiarity with every detail connected with the crime. The prisoners
+were convicted; the man suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the
+woman, who was reprieved, was only liberated from the Penitentiary after
+an incarceration of twenty years. No man could more readily seize hold
+of the salient points of a case presented to him; few could make so much
+out of a small and apparently insignificant point; but no one ever made
+the business before him the subject of more patient study or more
+exhaustive attention. Honourable and high-minded himself, he sought to
+inspire those about him with the same feelings. He endeavoured at all
+times to encourage a gentlemanly bearing in the young men who studied
+under him, and would tolerate nothing inconsistent with perfect fairness
+and honesty in transacting the business of the office.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blake and his partners were all active members of the Liberal Party.
+In the early contests for Municipal Institutions, National<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Education,
+Law Reform and all progressive measures, they took an earnest part&mdash;and
+in the struggle with Lord Metcalfe and his Tory abettors for the
+establishment of British Parliamentary Government in Canada, they did
+excellent service to the popular cause. Mr. Blake, at the general
+election of 1844, was the Reform candidate for the second Riding of
+York&mdash;now the county of Peel&mdash;but was defeated by a narrow majority on
+the second day of polling by his Tory opponent, Mr. George Duggan. A
+little later, he contested unsuccessfully the county of Simcoe, in
+opposition to the Hon. W. B. Robinson. At the general election of 1847,
+while absent in England, he was returned by a large majority for the
+East Riding of York&mdash;now the county of Ontario. The result of that
+election was the entire overthrow of the Conservative Government, and
+the accession of the Liberal Party to power, under Messrs. Baldwin and
+Lafontaine, on the 10th of March, 1848. Mr. Blake became
+Solicitor-General under the new arrangement, and was duly re&euml;lected for
+East York. Then followed the struggle over the famous Rebellion Losses
+Bill. In that contest Mr. Blake took an active part in support of Lord
+Elgin, who was so outrageously treated by the Opposition leaders in
+Parliament, and by the mob of Montreal that followed in their wake. For
+his powerful advocacy of the Governor-General, and his scathing
+diatribes against the tactics of the Opposition, he was fiercely
+denounced by the Conservative leaders. So far was this denunciation
+carried that a hostile meeting between Mr. Blake and Mr. Macdonald&mdash;the
+present Sir John A. Macdonald&mdash;was only prevented by the interference of
+the Speaker of the House. The Opposition press, without the slightest
+justification, published articles in which the writers professed to
+believe that Mr. Blake was wanting in courage, and afraid to meet his
+antagonist in the field. The <i>Globe</i>, which was the organ of the
+Government in those days, replied in a spirit which did it honour. In an
+article written by the late Mr. Brown himself, and published in the
+<i>Globe</i> on the 28th of March, 1849, we find these words: "The repeated
+insinuations against the courage of Mr. Blake, to use the ordinary
+phrase, are as untrue as they are base and ungenerous. We are quite
+aware of all the circumstances of what was so near leading to one of
+those transactions called affairs of honour. We know, and we state it
+with regret, that there was, on Mr. Blake's part, no wish to shrink from
+the consequences of the intended affair, but a great anxiety to meet it.
+We would have thought it far more creditable to him, and far more
+becoming the station he holds in the councils of the Province, if he had
+exhibited that higher courage which would shrink from being concerned in
+an affair which, however it may be glossed over by the sophistry and the
+practice of the world, is a crime of the deepest dye against the law of
+God and the well-being of society."</p>
+
+<p>The Court of Chancery for Upper Canada had been for years a mark for
+scorn and derision on account of the personal deficiencies of Mr.
+Vice-Chancellor Jameson, and the lack of organization in the whole
+Chancery system. The Baldwin-Lafontaine Government undertook the reform
+of the Court, increased the number of Judges to three, and gave it the
+improved system of procedure which has earned for the Court its present
+efficiency and popularity. When the measure became law, the question
+arose as to who should be appointed to the seats on the Bench that had
+been created. There was but one answer in the profession. Mr. Blake was
+universally pointed out as the man best fitted for the post of
+Chancellor. He accepted the Chancellorship of Upper Canada on the 30th
+of September, 1849, which he continued to fill until the 18th of March,
+1862, when failing health compelled him to retire. There were not
+wanting political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> opponents who declared that Mr. Blake had created the
+office that he might fill it; but all who knew the man and the position
+in which he stood were aware that it was with extreme reluctance he
+accepted the place. As his great judicial talents came to be recognized
+the voice of the slanderer ceased, and the services which he rendered on
+the Bench will, we doubt not, be now heartily acknowledged by all
+parties. Mr. Jameson for a short time continued to sit on the Bench as
+Vice-Chancellor, side by side with Mr. Blake. In the month of December,
+1850, he was permitted to retire on a pension of &pound;750 a year.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blake, while at the Bar, held for a number of years the position of
+Professor of Law in the University of Toronto, but resigned it when he
+became Solicitor-General. He took a deep interest in all the affairs of
+the University, of which he was for a long time the able and popular
+Chancellor.</p>
+
+<p>Afflicted with gout in its most distressing form, Mr. Blake, after his
+retirement from the Bench, sought relief from his sufferings in milder
+climes. He returned to Canada in 1869, but it was evident that his end
+was not far distant. He died in Toronto, on the 17th of November, 1870.
+The late Chancellor Vankoughnet paid an eloquent tribute to his memory.
+"With an intellect fitting him to grasp more readily than most men the
+whole of a case," said Mr. Vankoughnet, "he was yet most patient and
+painstaking in the investigation of every case heard before him. He
+never spared himself; but was always most careful that no suitor should
+suffer wrong through any lack of diligence on his part. He had,
+moreover&mdash;what every Equity judge should have&mdash;a high appreciation of
+the duties and functions of the Court&mdash;of the mission, if I may so term
+it, of a Court of Equity in this country: not to adjudicate drily upon
+the case before the Court, but so to expound the principles of Equity
+Law as to teach men to deal justly and equitably between themselves. I
+have reason to believe that such expositions of the principles upon
+which this Court acts have had a salutary influence upon the country;
+and Mr. Blake, in the able and lucid judgments delivered by him,
+contributed largely to this result. He always bore in mind that to which
+the present Lord Chancellor of England gave expression in one of his
+judgments&mdash;'The standard by which parties are tried here, either as
+trustees or corporations, or in various other relations which may be
+suggested, is a standard, I am thankful to say, higher than the standard
+of the world.'"</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_REV_ALEXANDER_TOPP_DD" id="THE_REV_ALEXANDER_TOPP_DD"></a>THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The life of the late Dr. Topp, like the lives of most members of his
+sacred calling, was comparatively uneventful. He was born at
+Sheriffmill, a farm-house near the historic old town of Elgin, in
+Morayshire, Scotland, in the year 1815. He was educated at the Elgin
+Academy, the present representative of the old Grammar School of the
+burgh, and an establishment of much local repute. Thence, in his
+fifteenth year, he passed to King's College, Aberdeen&mdash;an institution
+affiliated with the University&mdash;where he passed through a very
+creditable course, winning one of the highest scholarships, and
+retaining it for four years. In 1836, immediately upon attaining his
+majority, he received a license to preach, and was appointed assistant
+to the minister of one of the churches in Elgin. This minister soon
+afterwards died, leaving the pastorate vacant. The abilities and zeal of
+his young assistant had made themselves recognized, and it was thought
+desirable that the latter should succeed to the vacant charge. The
+appointment was hedged in with certain restrictions, and was at the
+disposal of Government. A petition from the congregation and from the
+Town Council was successful, and Mr. Topp was inducted into the charge.
+Upon the disruption in 1843 he seceded from the Establishment, and
+carried over with him nearly the entire congregation, which erected a
+new church and manse for him. He continued in this charge until 1852,
+when he removed to Edinburgh, having accepted a pressing call from the
+Roxburgh Church there. Here he continued to minister for about six
+years, during which period his congregation increased to such an extent
+as to render the accommodation insufficient. A project for erecting a
+new and larger church was set on foot, but before it had been fully
+matured Mr. Topp had accepted a call from the congregation of Knox
+Church, Toronto. This was in 1858. Two years before that date he had
+received a pressing call from the same quarter, which he had then
+thought proper to decline. At the time of entering upon his charge in
+Toronto the membership of Knox Church was only about three hundred.
+Under his ministry there was a steadily perceptible increase, and at the
+time of his death the membership was in the neighbourhood of seven
+hundred. His abilities commanded recognition beyond the limits of his
+own congregation, and he steadily won his way to position and influence
+in the community. In 1868 he was elected Moderator of the General
+Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, and thus afforded the first
+instance of a unanimous nomination by the various Presbyteries to that
+office. He took a prominent part in the movement to bring about the
+Union between the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland,
+and the successful realization of that project was in no small degree
+due to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> exertions. In 1876 he was elected Moderator to the General
+Assembly of the United Church. His doctor's degree was conferred upon
+him in 1870 by the University of Aberdeen, where he had been so
+successful a student forty years previously.</p>
+
+<p>For several years prior to his death Dr. Topp's constitution had given
+unmistakable symptoms of having become seriously impaired. In the autumn
+of 1877 his physicians acquainted him with the fact that he was
+suffering from a mortal disease&mdash;organic disease of the heart&mdash;but it
+was not supposed that the malady had made such progress as to endanger
+his life for some years to come. In the early summer of 1879 he paid a
+visit to his native land, and of course spent some time in Elgin,
+renewing the pleasant associations of his youth. He received many
+pressing overtures to preach, but the state of his health formed a
+sufficient excuse for his declining. One Sunday, however, contrary to
+the advice of a local medical practitioner, he consented to occupy the
+pulpit, and preached a long and vigorous sermon to his old congregation.
+His audience was very large, and his nervous system was naturally
+wrought up to a high pitch. It is believed that his efforts on that
+occasion materially shortened his life. Immediately after his return to
+his home in Toronto he sent in his resignation as pastor of Knox Church,
+but it had not been accepted ere the shades of death closed around him.</p>
+
+<p>The end came more suddenly than had been anticipated. He passed away on
+the 6th of October, 1879, while reclining on a sofa in the house of one
+of his parishioners. His death was very calm, and apparently free from
+all pain. He left behind him a name which will long be borne in
+affectionate remembrance by the members of the Presbyterian Church in
+Canada. He was kind and gentle in his demeanour, and was loved the most
+by them who knew him best. At the time of his death he had been pastor
+of Knox Church for more than twenty-one years, during the greater part
+of which he had laboured assiduously in all the various fields connected
+with his sacred calling. He was open-handed in his charities, and was an
+invaluable consoler in the sick-room. He literally died in harness, for
+death came upon him while he was paying a pastoral visit to a member of
+his congregation.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Canada Presbyterian</i>, which may be presumed to reflect the opinions
+of Canadian Presbyterians generally, concluded an obituary notice
+written immediately after his death in the following words: "The name of
+Dr. Topp will never be forgotten in this country. While we regret that
+he has so suddenly been called away, we rejoice that in his case there
+are left to us so many happy remembrances of a useful and honourable
+career, and that he has bequeathed to the youthful ministry of the
+Church the example of a brave and faithful servant of Christ."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_HENRI_GUSTAVE_JOLY" id="THE_HON_HENRI_GUSTAVE_JOLY"></a>THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Since Confederation the Hon. Mr. Joly has occupied a prominent position
+in the politics of the Province of Quebec. His high morality, integrity
+of character, and fine social qualities, have created for him a
+reputation which it is the lot of few public men to enjoy. He is
+conspicuous in the history of Quebec as the instrument through whose
+exertions the Liberal Party were restored to power for the first time
+since the Union. He is also noteworthy as being the Minister on whom
+devolved the office of selecting a Government to succeed the De
+Boucherville Administration, upon its dismissal by Mr. Letellier in the
+month of March, 1878.</p>
+
+<p>He was born in France on the 5th of December, 1829, and is the son of
+the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, Seigneur of Lotbini&egrave;re, and Julie
+Christine, daughter of the late Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbini&egrave;re,
+who was Speaker of the Quebec Assembly from 1794 until May, 1797, and
+was afterwards a prominent member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Joly
+received a liberal education at Paris, and while yet very young removed
+with his parents to Canada, settling in Lotbini&egrave;re. Having chosen the
+law for a profession, he devoted five years to legal studies, and in the
+month of March, 1855, he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. He first
+entered political life in 1861, when he was returned to the Canadian
+House of Assembly for the county of Lotbini&egrave;re. This seat he continued
+to hold until the Union of the Provinces, when at the general elections
+which followed the formation of the Dominion he was elected by
+acclamation to both the Commons of Canada and the Assembly of Quebec. He
+sat in both Houses until 1874, when, on dual representation being
+abolished, he resigned his seat in the Commons, and directed all his
+energies to the furtherance of Liberal principles in the Quebec House of
+Assembly. The same year he was offered a seat in the Senate, but
+declined to accept that dignity, preferring to fight the battles of
+Liberalism in the more popular Assembly, in which he had already
+achieved a high reputation as a statesman and debater, as well as much
+personal popularity. In January, 1877, he again declined elevation to
+the Upper House, and refused the portfolio of Dominion Minister of
+Agriculture which had been tendered him by the Mackenzie Administration.
+The constituency of Lotbini&egrave;re has never proved fickle to her trust, but
+has regularly returned Mr. Joly as her representative to the popular
+branch of the Legislature. From the Union, he has been the acknowledged
+head of the Liberal Party in Lower Canada, and the chosen leader of the
+Opposition in the House of Assembly. In March, 1878, the Hon. Luc
+Letellier de St. Just, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, dismissed his
+Ministry under circumstances which have already been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> detailed at
+length in these pages; and on the then Premier&mdash;Mr. De
+Boucherville&mdash;refusing to nominate a successor, Mr. Joly was sent for
+and invited to form a Cabinet. He promptly accepted the responsibility,
+selected his colleagues, and, on being defeated in the Chamber, appealed
+to the people for a ratification of the principles of his Party. The
+contest was fought with great vigour and pertinacity on both sides, and
+the result was a victory, though a slight one, for the Liberal Party.
+Mr. Joly was opposed in Lotbini&egrave;re by Mr. Guillaume E. Amyot, an
+advocate and journalist of Quebec. He was elected by a majority of more
+than three hundred votes. He became Premier and Minister of Public
+Works&mdash;an office which requires the utmost tact and delicacy in its
+administration. He set on foot a policy of retrenchment and purity, and
+contemplated several much-needed reforms which he did not retain office
+long enough to see brought into operation. Mr. Joly's Administration was
+based on principles of the closest economy, and every effort was made to
+check all unnecessary outlay of the public expenditure. The salaries of
+the Ministers were reduced, an effort was made to abolish the
+Legislative Council, and the railway policy of the country was developed
+with caution. Wherever the pruning knife could be advantageously
+employed, the Premier applied it, and if he was not always successful,
+the fault was certainly not his own. His personal popularity was
+sufficiently attested by the fact that although he is a Protestant, with
+fixed opinions on theological matters, he was Premier of a Province
+where a large majority of the population are adherents of the Roman
+Catholic faith. He carried on the affairs of the country with combined
+spirit and moderation until October, 1879, when, on being defeated in
+the House, he and his Government resigned their seats in the Executive,
+and Mr. Chapleau was sent for. Mr. Chapleau succeeded in forming an
+Administration, which at the time of the present writing still holds the
+reins of power in the Province of Quebec.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image5.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Henri Gustave Joly, signed as H. G. Joly</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p>Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of
+much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his
+convictions. Whether in power or in Opposition his language and
+demeanour are marked by conciliation and courtesy. He is a man of many
+friends, and has few personal enemies, even among those to whom he has
+been a life-long political opponent. He has devoted a good deal of
+attention to the study of forestry, and is the author of several
+important and valuable treatises on that subject. Among other offices
+which he holds may be mentioned the Presidency of the Society for the
+rewooding of the Province of Quebec, the first Presidency of the Reform
+Association, of the <i>Parti Nationale</i> of Quebec, of the Lotbini&egrave;re
+Agricultural Society No. 2, and of the Society for the Promotion of
+Canadian Industry. He is also Vice-President of the Humane Society of
+British North America, and one of the Council of the Geographical
+Society of Quebec, of which latter association he was once
+Vice-President.</p>
+
+<p>Some years ago Mr. Joly married Miss Gowan, a daughter of Mr. Hammond
+Gowan, of Quebec.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_MACKENZIE_BOWELL" id="THE_HON_MACKENZIE_BOWELL"></a>THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>MINISTER OF CUSTOMS.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Bowell is English by birth, but has resided in this country ever
+since his tenth year. He was born at Rickinghall Superior, a pleasant
+little village situated in the northern part of the county of Suffolk,
+on the 27th of December, 1823. His father, the late Mr. John Bowell,
+emigrated from Suffolk to Canada in the spring of 1833, and settled in
+what is now the city of Belleville. His mother's maiden name was
+Elizabeth Marshall. He has been compelled to make his own way in the
+world, and has risen from obscure beginnings to the elevated position
+which he now occupies by dint rather of natural ability than of any
+adventitious aids. In his boyhood he enjoyed few educational advantages.
+He had been only a few months in Canada when he entered a printing
+office in Belleville, where he remained until he had completed his
+apprenticeship. He then became foreman of the establishment. He began to
+take an interest in politics at the very outset of his career, and
+attached himself to the Conservative side. He was very industrious, and
+during the term of his indentures did much to repair his defective
+education. He availed himself of every opportunity which came in his way
+for increasing his stock of knowledge, and erelong attained a position
+and influence far more than commensurate with his years. In 1853 he
+became sole proprietor of the Belleville <i>Intelligencer</i>, with which he
+continued to be identified for a period of twenty-two years. Under his
+management the <i>Intelligencer</i> became one of the leading exponents of
+public opinion in the county of Hastings, and his own local influence
+was thereby greatly promoted. Other causes contributed to enhance his
+position and influence. When only eighteen years old he allied himself
+with the Orange Body, in which he rose to the highest dignities in the
+gift of that Order. For eight years he was Grand Master of the
+Provincial Grand Lodge of Ontario East. At the annual meeting of the
+Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution of British North America,
+held at Kingston in 1870, a change was made in the Grand Mastership,
+which had been held for many years by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+Mr. Bowell was unanimously elected to the office, and continued to
+occupy it until 1878, when he declined re&euml;lection. For thirteen years he
+was Chairman of the Common School Board of Belleville, and was for some
+time Chairman of the Grammar School, always taking a lively interest in
+the promotion of education among the masses. For many years he was an
+active promoter of the Volunteer Militia force, as well as an active
+member. At the time of the St. Alban's raid he went with his company to
+Amherstburgh, where, at considerable sacrifice to his business, he
+remained four months. He was also at Prescott during the Fenian raid in
+1866. At present he holds the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> of
+Volunteer Rifles. He was one of the founders of the Press Association,
+and during one year occupied the position of President. He was also
+Vice-President of the Dominion Editors' and Reporters' Association.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image6.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Mackenzie Bowell, signed as Mackenzie Bowell</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Bowell was an active politician long before he emerged from his
+apprenticeship, but did not enter Parliament until after Confederation.
+In 1863 he contested the North Riding of Hastings, but was unsuccessful,
+and did not repeat the experiment until 1867, when he was returned to
+the House of Commons for that Riding, and he has ever since represented
+it. He signalized his entrance into Parliament by moving a series of
+resolutions against Sir George Cartier's Militia Bill, and though he
+failed to carry them all, he succeeded in defeating the Minister of
+Militia on some important points by which a considerable reduction was
+made in the expenditure. Several years later he took a prominent part in
+the expulsion of Louis Riel from the House of Commons. It was by Mr.
+Bowell that the investigation was instituted into Riel's complicity in
+the murder of Thomas Scott before the walls of Fort Garry. In 1876 he
+made a powerful attack upon Mr. Mackenzie's Government for having
+awarded a contract to Mr. T. W. Anglin, the Speaker of the House. The
+result of Mr. Bowell's attack was the unseating of several Members of
+Parliament, including Mr. Anglin; and a stringent Act respecting the
+Independence of Parliament was shortly afterwards passed.</p>
+
+<p>At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th
+of September, 1878, Mr. Bowell was opposed in North Hastings by Mr. E.
+D. O'Flynn, of Madoc, whom he defeated by a majority of 241&mdash;the vote
+standing 1,249 for Bowell and 1,008 for O'Flynn. After the resignation
+of Mr. Mackenzie's Government in the following month, Mr. Bowell
+accepted the portfolio of Minister of Customs in the Ministry of Sir
+John A. Macdonald. This position he still retains. Upon returning to his
+constituents after accepting office he was returned by acclamation. He
+is not a frequent speaker, but he has always taken an active and
+intelligent part in the business of the House, and is highly esteemed by
+his colleagues.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bowell married, in December, 1847, Miss Harriett Louisa Moore, of
+Belleville. He is a Director in numerous railway and general commercial
+enterprises. In 1875 he disposed of the <i>Intelligencer</i>, with which he
+had been identified for so many years, but he still takes a warm
+interest in its prosperity, and is indebted to it for a very firm and
+consistent support.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_REV_JAMES_RICHARDSON_DD" id="THE_REV_JAMES_RICHARDSON_DD"></a>THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>LATE BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANADA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The late Bishop Richardson was born in the same year which witnessed the
+death of the great founder of Methodism, John Wesley; the same year also
+which witnessed the passing of the Constitutional Act whereby Upper
+Canada was ushered into existence as a separate Province. He came of
+English stock on both sides. His father, James Richardson, after whom he
+was called, was a brave seaman; one of that old-world band of gallant
+tars who fought under Lord Rodney against the French, when</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Rochambeau their armies commanded,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Their ships they were led by De Grasse."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He was present at the famous sea-fight off Dominica, in the West Indies,
+on the 12th of April, 1782, when the naval forces of France and Spain
+were almost entirely destroyed. He was soon afterwards taken prisoner,
+and sent to France, where he was detained until the cessation of
+hostilities. Having been set at liberty in 1785, he repaired to Quebec,
+and was subsequently appointed to an office in connection with the
+Canadian Marine. His duties lay chiefly on the upper lakes and rivers,
+and he took up his abode at Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He married a lady
+whose maiden name was Sarah Asmore, but who, at the time of her marriage
+with him had been for some years a widow. The subject of this sketch was
+one of the fruits of that union. He was born at Kingston, on the 29th of
+January, 1791.</p>
+
+<p>His parents were members of the Church of England, and he was brought up
+in the faith as taught and professed by that Body. He attended various
+schools in Kingston until he was about thirteen years of age, when he
+began his career as a sailor on board a vessel commanded by his father.
+During his five years' apprenticeship he acquired a thorough familiarity
+with the topography and navigation of the lakes and rivers of Upper
+Canada. In 1809, when he was eighteen years old, he entered the
+Provincial Marine. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 he received
+a Lieutenant's commission, and was forthwith employed in active service.
+He became sailing master of the <i>Moira</i>, under Captain Sampson, and
+afterwards of the <i>Montreal</i>, under Captain Popham. Upon the arrival of
+Sir James Yeo in Upper Canada, in May, 1813, the naval armament on the
+lakes entered upon a new phase of existence. The local marine ceased to
+exist as such, and became a part of the Royal Navy. The Provincial
+commissions previously granted were no longer of any effect, and that of
+Lieutenant Richardson shared the same fate as the rest. The Provincial
+officers resented this mode of dealing with their commissions, and all
+but two of them retired from the marine and took service in the militia,
+where, in the language of Colonel Coffin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> they were permitted to
+risk their lives without offence to their feelings. The two exceptions
+were Lieutenant George Smith and the subject of this sketch. The latter
+shared the sentiments of his brother officers, but he recognized the
+importance to the country of working harmoniously with his superiors at
+such a juncture, and cast every personal consideration aside. He
+informed the Commodore that he was willing to give his country the
+benefit of his local knowledge and services, but declined to take any
+rank below that which had previously been conferred upon him. The
+Commodore availed himself of the young man's services as a master and
+pilot, and in those capacities he did good service until the close of
+the war. He shared the gun-room with the regular commissioned officers,
+with whom he was very popular. He was with the fleet during the
+unsuccessful attempt on Sackett's Harbour, towards the close of May,
+1813. A year later, at the taking of Oswego, he was pilot of the
+<i>Montreal</i>, under Captain Popham, already mentioned; and he took his
+vessel so close in to the fort that the Commodore feared lest he should
+run aground. Soon after bringing the <i>Montreal</i> to anchor a shot from
+the fort carried off his left arm just below the shoulder. He sank down
+upon the deck of the vessel, and was carried below. The remnant of his
+shattered arm was secured so as to prevent him from bleeding to death,
+"and there," says his biographer,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> "he lay suffering while the battle
+raged, his ears filled with its horrid din, and his mind oppressed with
+anxiety as to its result, till the cheers of the victors informed him
+that his gallant comrades had triumphed. He had been wounded in the
+morning, and it was nearly evening before the surgeon could attend to
+him, when it was found necessary to remove the shattered stump from the
+socket at the shoulder joint. During the severe operation the young
+lieutenant evinced the utmost fortitude. In the evening he was
+exceedingly weak from loss of blood, the pain of his wound, and the
+severity of the operation. Next day the fever was high, and for some
+days his life apparently hung in the balance; but at length he commenced
+to rally, and by the blessing of God upon the skilful attention and
+great care that he received, he was finally fully restored." During the
+following October he joined the <i>St. Lawrence</i>&mdash;said to have been the
+largest sailing vessel that ever navigated the waters of Lake
+Ontario&mdash;and in this service he remained until the close of the war.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image7.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">James Richardson, signed as Jas. Richardson</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p>Soon after the proclamation of peace he retired from the naval service,
+and settled at Presque Isle Harbour, near the present site of the
+village of Brighton, in the county of Northumberland. He was appointed
+Collector of Customs of the port, and soon afterwards became a Justice
+of the Peace. The Loyal and Patriotic Society requested his acceptance
+of &pound;100, and a yearly pension of a like amount was awarded to him by
+Government in recognition of his services during the late war. This
+well-earned pension he continued to receive during the remainder of his
+life, embracing a period of more than fifty years.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1813, while the war was still in progress, he had married;
+the lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Dennis, daughter of Mr. John
+Dennis, who was for many years a master-builder in the royal dock-yard
+at Kingston. This lady shared his joys and sorrows for forty-five years.
+During the last decade of her life she suffered great bodily affliction,
+which she endured with Christian resignation and serenity. She died at
+her home, Clover Hill, Toronto, on the 29th of March, 1858.</p>
+
+<p>During the early months of their residence at Presque Isle Harbour, both
+Mr. Richardson and his wife became impressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> by serious thoughts on the
+subject of religion. In August, 1818, they united with the Methodist
+Episcopal Church. That Church was then in its infancy in this country,
+and was struggling hard to obtain a permanent foothold. With its
+subsequent history Mr. Richardson was closely identified. He was very
+much in earnest, and felt it to be his duty to do his utmost for the
+salvation of souls. His piety was not spasmodic or fitful, but steady
+and enduring. His education at that time, though it was necessarily
+imperfect, and far from being up to the standard of the present day, was
+better than was that of most of his fellow-labourers. He at once became
+a man of mark in the denomination, and was appointed to the offices of
+steward and local preacher on the Smith's Creek circuit. His labours
+were crowned with much success. His pulpit oratory is described as being
+"full of vitality&mdash;adapted to bring souls to Christ, and build up in
+holiness."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In 1824 he was called to active work, and placed on the
+Yonge Street circuit, which included the town of York, and extended
+through eight of the neighbouring townships. This rendered necessary his
+removal from Presque Isle, and his resignation of his office as
+Collector of Customs. His field of labour extended from York northwardly
+to Lake Simcoe&mdash;a distance of forty-five miles&mdash;with lateral excursions
+to right and left for indeterminate distances. The state of the roads
+was such that wheeled vehicles were frequently unavailable, and the
+greater part of the travelling had to be done on horseback, the preacher
+carrying his books, clothing, writing materials, and other accessories
+in his saddle-bags. His life was necessarily a toilsome one, and his
+financial remuneration was little more than nominal. During his second
+year on circuit he had for a colleague the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with
+whom he worked in the utmost harmony, and with very gratifying pastoral
+results. Dr. Richardson has left on record his appreciation of his
+colleague's services at this time. He says: "A more agreeable and useful
+colleague I could not have desired. We laboured together with one heart
+and mind, and God was graciously pleased to crown our united efforts
+with success&mdash;we doubled the members in society, both in town and
+country, and all was harmony and love. Political questions were not
+rife&mdash;indeed were scarcely known among us. The church was an asylum for
+any who feared God and wrought righteousness, irrespective of any party
+whatever. We so planned our work as to be able to devote one week out of
+four exclusively to pastoral labour in the town, and to preach there
+twice every Sabbath, besides meeting all the former appointments in the
+townships east and west bordering on Yonge Street for forty-five or
+fifty miles northward to Roach's Point, Lake Simcoe. This prosperous and
+agreeable state of things served to reconcile both my dear wife and
+myself to the itinerant life, with all the attendant privations and
+hardships incident to those times."</p>
+
+<p>In 1826 Mr. Richardson was sent to labour at Fort George and Queenston.
+Next year he was admitted into full connection, and ordained a deacon,
+along with the late Dr. Anson Green and Egerton Ryerson. Mr. Richardson
+was transferred to the River Credit, where he laboured for a year as a
+missionary among the Indians. An important crisis in the history of the
+Methodist Church in Canada was then at hand. The memorable Conference of
+1828 was held at Ernesttown, in the Bay of Quint&eacute; district. It was
+presided over by Bishop Hedding, and Mr. Richardson was chosen
+secretary. It was at this Conference that the decisive step of
+separation from the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
+in the United States was taken. Thenceforward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> the Church in Canada
+became an independent Body, with a Bishop and Conference of its own.
+"This step," says Mr. Richardson, "was fraught with results, for good or
+ill, according as it is viewed by different parties, from their several
+standpoints. It was deemed necessary then, by the majority, because of
+the political relations of the two countries, and the difficulty
+attendant on obtaining our legal right to hold church property, and
+solemnize matrimony. Others, viewing the church as catholic, or
+universal in her design and character, judged it wrong to limit her
+jurisdiction by national or municipal boundaries." Mr. Richardson
+subsequently regretted that the scheme of separation had been carried
+out. Meanwhile he was appointed, along with the Rev. Joseph Gatchell, to
+the Niagara Circuit, a very extensive field of labour, and took up his
+abode at what was then the insignificant village of St. Catharines.
+There he remained two years, and in 1830 was ordained as an elder by
+Bishop Hedding, of the United States&mdash;no Bishop having as yet been
+selected for the Canadian Church, which, since its separation, had been
+presided over by a General Superintendent in the person of the Rev.
+William Case. It is unnecessary that we should follow him in his labours
+from circuit to circuit. His life was spent in the service of his
+Church, and wherever he went he left behind him the impress of a sincere
+and zealous man. At the Conference held at York in 1831 he was appointed
+presiding elder of the Niagara District. In September, 1832, he became
+editor of the <i>Christian Guardian</i>, and while holding that position he
+opposed the reception of Government support to the churches with great
+vigour and determination. He continued to direct the policy of the
+<i>Guardian</i> until the Conference of 1833. During this Conference, which
+marks another important epoch in the history of Canadian Methodism, the
+Articles of Union between the English and Canadian Connexions were
+adopted. To this union Mr. Richardson was a consenting party, believing
+that the step would be productive of good, though he subsequently had
+reason to modify his views on the subject. In 1836 he severed his
+connection with the Wesleyans, owing to the reception by that Body of
+State grants. He soon afterwards removed to Auburn, in the State of New
+York, where he won the respect of his congregation; but he was not
+adapted to such a circle as that in which he found himself, and did not
+feel himself at home there. "His quiet, unpretentious manners," says Mr.
+Carroll, "were not of the kind to carry much sway with our impressible
+American cousins; and the constant exhibition of an empty sleeve, ever
+reminding them of an arm lost in resisting their immaculate Republic,
+was likely to be an eye-sore to a people so hostile to Britain as the
+citizens of the United States." He was moreover an uncompromising
+abolitionist, and was fearless in his denunciations of the national
+curse of slavery. The prevailing sentiment in the State of New York in
+those days was not such as to conduce to the popularity of any man who
+took the side of humanity. He remained at Auburn only a year, when he
+returned to his native land, and took up his residence at Toronto.
+Immediately upon his arrival he encountered his old friend and
+fellow-labourer the Rev. Philander Smith. A long and serious
+conversation followed, during which they both decided to reunite
+themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Conference of that
+Body was then in session a short distance from Toronto, and their
+resolution was at once carried out. They were received with open arms,
+and continued in the ministry of the Church during the remainder of
+their respective lives.</p>
+
+<p>In 1837 Mr. Richardson was stationed at Toronto. The following year he
+travelled as a general missionary. The British and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> Foreign Bible
+Society having established a branch in Canada, Mr. Richardson was, in
+1840, appointed its agent, he having received permission of the
+Conference to act in that capacity. This office he filled, with
+advantage to the Society and credit to himself, for eleven years. While
+acting in that capacity he often filled Wesleyan pulpits, preserved the
+most cordial relations with his old friends belonging to that Body. In
+1842 he became Vice-President, and in 1851 President, of the Upper
+Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. He retained the latter position
+to the time of his death. In 1852 he was again appointed Presiding Elder
+of his Church. After occupying that position for two years his health
+was so much impaired that he was granted a superannuation, which he held
+for four years. On the 29th of March, 1858, he sustained a serious
+bereavement in the loss of his wife. At the Conference held in that year
+he reported himself able to resume his labours, and was once more
+appointed to the charge of a district, but before the close of the
+session he was elected to the Episcopal office. He was consecrated by
+Bishop Smith, on Sunday, the 22nd of August. He forthwith entered upon
+his duties. During the next two years he was in an infirm state of
+health, but a brief respite from work restored him, and he resumed his
+Episcopal and other duties with even more than his wonted vigour. In
+1865 he visited England on behalf of Albert College, Belleville. The
+College Board was hampered by a heavy debt, and it was found impossible
+to relieve the pressure by Canadian subscriptions alone. Bishop
+Richardson accordingly, at the request of the College authorities,
+crossed the Atlantic to solicit aid there. He was accompanied by his
+daughter, Mrs. Brett, wife of Mr. R. H. Brett, banker, of Toronto. They
+were absent about six months, during which they visited many of the
+principal cities and towns of England and Scotland. The Bishop was
+indefatigable in his exertions, but the Reformed Methodist Church in
+England is not a wealthy Body, and it had enough to do to support its
+institutions at home. For these reasons the subscriptions obtained were
+neither so large nor so numerous as had been hoped, though the
+expedition was by no means a fruitless one.</p>
+
+<p>The next five years were comparatively uneventful ones in the life of
+Bishop Richardson. His time was spent in the discharge of his official
+duties. His coadjutor, Bishop Smith, had become old and feeble, and
+Bishop Richardson willingly took upon himself a portion of the invalid's
+work. His time, therefore, was fully occupied. In 1870 Bishop Smith
+died, and during the next four years the entire duties pertaining to the
+Episcopal office devolved upon the survivor. He seemed almost to renew
+his youth in order to meet the extra demands made upon him. He was more
+than fourscore years of age, yet he contrived to get creditably through
+an amount of mental and bodily labour which would have prostrated many
+men not past their prime. He frequently conducted his pulpit services
+and the sessions of the Conference without the aid of spectacles; and he
+was persistent in his determination to do his own work without the
+assistance of a secretary. This state of things, however, in a man of
+his age, could not be expected to last. His vital forces began
+perceptibly to give way. In the month of August, 1874, at the General
+Conference of the Church held at Napanee, he consecrated the Rev. Dr.
+Carman to the Episcopal office. The ceremonial taxed his energies very
+severely, and he was compelled by physical suffering to leave the
+Conference room as soon as he had placed his associate in the chair. At
+the close of the Conference he returned to his home at Clover Hill&mdash;now
+known as St. Joseph Street&mdash;where a few days' rest enabled him to regain
+as great a measure of health as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> could be expected in a man who had
+entered upon his eighty-fourth year. During the autumn and winter he was
+actively at work as earnestly as ever, watching over every department of
+the Church, and giving especial attention to the questions submitted by
+the General Conference for the action of the Quarterly Meeting
+Conferences. During the following winter, while visiting the Ancaster
+Circuit, he was prostrated by dizziness, and after his return home it
+was evident that his end was near. He sank quietly to his rest on the
+9th of March, 1875. His death was like his life&mdash;manly, and devoid of
+display. "I have no ecstasy," he remarked to a clerical visitor, "but I
+know in whom I have believed." To another visitor he remarked, "My work
+is done; I have nothing to do now but to die." He retained his mental
+faculties in their full vigour almost up to the moment when he ceased to
+breathe. He was buried in the family vault at the Necropolis, Toronto,
+on the 12th of the month. The funeral was unusually large. The funeral
+sermon was preached by Bishop Carman in the Metropolitan Methodist
+Church, on the morning of Sunday, March 21st, from the text 1st
+Corinthians, xv. 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
+victory?"</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Richardson, while possessing few or none of the superlatively
+salient characteristics by which some of his contemporaries were
+distinguished, was one of those men who, almost imperceptibly, exert a
+wide and lasting influence for good. There was nothing showy or flashy
+about him; nothing theatrical or unreal. He made no pretence to
+brilliant oratory, or indeed to specially brilliant gifts of any kind.
+He was simply a man of good intellect and sound judgment, with a highly
+developed moral nature, who strove earnestly to benefit his fellow-men,
+and to leave the world better than he found it. He believed in
+Episcopacy, and was in full sympathy with the form of government adopted
+by his Church; but his zeal for Episcopacy was altogether subordinated
+to his zeal for Christianity. His life was conscientiously devoted to
+the service of his Master, and he has left behind him many hallowed
+memories. Next to his piety, perhaps the most conspicuous thing about
+him was his love for his country. His patriotism was as zealous in his
+declining years as it had been in those remote times when he lost his
+left arm before the batteries of Oswego. At the time of the Fenian
+invasion of Canada, in 1866&mdash;when he was in his seventy-sixth year&mdash;his
+loyal sympathies were roused to such a degree that he expressed his
+willingness to risk his one remaining arm in his country's defence. He
+would have taken the field, had his doing so been necessary, with as
+clear a conscience as he would have discharged any other duty of his
+life. In the words of his biographer: "Loyalty to God and his country,
+uprightness and integrity in his dealings with his fellow-men, and civil
+and religious liberty for all, were leading articles in his creed."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LORD_SEATON" id="LORD_SEATON"></a>LORD SEATON.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title of
+Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman
+resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in
+the year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to
+Winchester College&mdash;where he remained several years&mdash;he embraced a
+military life, in 1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an
+ensign. The closing years of the last century were propitious for a
+young British soldier fired by an ambition to distinguish himself, and
+young Colborne had embraced precisely the career for which he was best
+fitted. He was a born soldier, and throughout his military life
+furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in the round hole.
+Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as having
+developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian
+refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced
+by those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief
+interest in his career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His
+services previous to that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In
+1799 he was sent over by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph
+Abercromby, and remained there until the realm of the Pharaohs was
+cleared of the French and restored to the Sultan's dominion. He was with
+the British and Russian troops employed on the Neapolitan frontier in
+1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in the campaign of 1806. Having
+obtained promotion for his gallant services, he became Military
+Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in Sicily and the
+Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to Sir John
+Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave Chief
+met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of Lord
+Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the
+operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a
+regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he
+commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of
+1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to
+observe the movements of General Reynier's <i>corps d'arm&eacute;e</i> on the
+frontier of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and
+also on the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June,
+1814, he married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of
+Puslinch, Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively
+employed all through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due
+proportion of wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable
+battle of Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He
+likewise commanded a brigade on the celebrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> march to Paris. The
+battle of Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part.
+He subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the
+Channel Islands. In 1825 he was appointed a Major-General; and in 1828
+he first came to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor, when the chief interest
+in his life, so far as Canadian readers are concerned, may be said to
+have begun. He succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been
+transferred to Nova Scotia.</p>
+
+<p>He arrived in Canada in November, 1828, and at once assumed charge of
+the Administration. His predecessor had left him a very undesirable
+legacy in the shape of great popular discontent. It was announced that
+Sir John had come over with instructions to reverse Sir Peregrine
+Maitland's policy, and to govern in accordance with liberal principles.
+The general elections of that year testified plainly enough that the
+people of Upper Canada were moving steadily in the direction of Reform,
+and if Sir John had acted in accordance with the instructions he had
+received from headquarters a good deal of subsequent calamity might
+perhaps have been averted. But the new Governor was essentially a
+military Governor. He had been literally "a man of war from his youth."
+His character, though in the main upright and honourable, was stern and
+unbending, and his military pursuits had not fitted him for the task of
+governing a people who were just beginning to grasp the principles of
+constitutional liberty. He allied himself with the Family Compact, and
+was guided by the advice of that body in his administration of public
+affairs. Parliament met early in January, 1829, and it soon became
+apparent that Sir John Colborne's idea of a liberal policy was not
+sufficiently advanced to meet the demands of the Assembly. There is no
+need to recapitulate in detail the arbitrary proceedings to which the
+Governor lent his countenance during the next few years. The prosecution
+of Collins and of William Lyon Mackenzie, and the setting apart of the
+fifty-seven rectories, have often been commented upon, and but little
+satisfaction is to be derived from repeating those oft-told grievances.
+Upon the whole, Sir John Colborne's Administration of Upper Canadian
+affairs cannot be said to have been much more beneficent than was that
+of his predecessor. With good intentions, he was constitutionally
+unequal to the requirements of the position in which he found himself
+placed. His course of action was very distasteful to the Reform Party,
+but he continued to govern the Upper Province until 1835, when he
+solicited his recall. His request was acceded to. His successor, Sir
+Francis Bond Head, arrived in January, 1836, and Sir John was just about
+to sail from New York for Europe, when he received a despatch appointing
+him Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Canada. He consequently
+returned, and took up his quarters at Quebec, the capital of the Lower
+Province, where he adopted such prompt measures for the defence of the
+country as the exigencies of the times demanded. On the breaking out of
+the Rebellion he was once more in his proper element, and showed that
+the high military reputation which he had achieved on the continent of
+Europe had not been undeserved. There is no need to go through the
+minutiae of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, nor to tell in detail the
+story of St. Denis, of St. Eustache, and of St. Benoit. Sir John has
+been accused of unnecessary cruelty in putting down the insurrection.
+Suffice it to say that the emergencies of the occasion were such as to
+call for determined measures, and that Sir John employed measures suited
+to the emergencies. He soon succeeded in extinguishing the flame of
+rebellion in all parts of the country, taking the field himself in
+person in several engagements. Papineau was compelled to retreat, as
+also was Wolfred Nelson and his colleagues; and when Robert, the
+latter's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> brother, presented himself, he was totally routed by the able
+regular and militia forces under Sir John Colborne's command. On the
+recall of Lord Gosford, Sir John was temporarily appointed
+Governor-General of British North America, which high office he vacated
+on Lord Durham's arrival in May, 1838. He was appointed to it again on
+that nobleman's sudden and unauthorized departure in November of the
+same year. He continued to administer the Government until 1839, when he
+earnestly solicited his recall, in order that he might be enabled to
+repose from his great labours. The Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson was
+appointed his successor, and arrived at Quebec to relieve him of the
+cares and anxieties of Government. On the 23rd of October Sir John
+sailed for England. On his arrival there new honours awaited him. He was
+created a peer of the United Kingdom, as Baron Seaton; received the
+Grand Cross of the Bath, of Hanover, of St. Michael, and of St. George.
+He was also created a Privy Councillor, and a pension of &pound;2,000 per
+annum was conferred upon him and his two immediate successors by Act of
+Parliament. In 1838 he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and in 1854
+General, as also Colonel of the Second Life Guards. In 1860 he was
+raised to the highest rank and honour in the British service&mdash;that of
+Field-Marshal. He died on the 17th of April, 1863, leaving behind him a
+numerous progeny, the eldest whereof, James Colborne, succeeded to, and
+now holds, the family titles and estates. The latter are of considerable
+extent, and are situated in Devonshire, in London, and in the county of
+Kildare, Ireland. It is worth while mentioning that the present
+incumbent served his father in the capacity of an aide-de-camp during
+the Canadian Rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Sir John Colborne is inseparably blended with that of Upper
+Canada College in the minds of the people of this Province. During the
+early days of his Administration of affairs in Upper Canada there was a
+good deal of agitation in the public mind with respect to the
+establishment of a more advanced seat of learning than had previously
+existed here. It had long been considered advisable to afford facilities
+to the youth of Upper Canada for obtaining a more thorough education
+than was to be had at such institutions as the Home District Grammar
+School, which up to the year 1829 was the most advanced educational
+establishment in York. Public feeling was aroused, and several petitions
+were presented to the Legislature on the subject, each of which gave
+rise to prolonged controversy and debate. The outcome of the discussion
+was that Upper Canada College was established by an order of the
+Provincial Government. Its original name was "the Upper Canada College
+and Royal Grammar School," and the system upon which it was modelled was
+that which was then adopted in most of the great public schools of
+England. The classes were first opened on the 8th of January, 1830, in
+the building on Adelaide Street which had formerly been used as the Home
+District Grammar School. There it continued for more than a year. In the
+summer of 1831 the institution was removed to the site which it has
+since occupied. A fine portrait in oil of the subject of this sketch, in
+his military costume, may be seen in one of the apartments there.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_SIR_DOMINICK_DALY" id="THE_HON_SIR_DOMINICK_DALY"></a>THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Sir Dominick Daly was born on the 11th of August, 1799, and was the
+third son of Mr. Dominick Daly, a descendant of an old Roman Catholic
+family in the county of Galway, Ireland. He was educated at the Roman
+Catholic College of St. Mary's, near Birmingham, and after completing
+his studies spent some time with an uncle who was a banker in Paris. He
+subsequently returned to Ireland. In 1825 the Earl of Dalhousie visited
+England, and Sir Francis M. Burton, who acted as Lieutenant-Governor
+during his absence, brought with him as his private secretary, Mr.
+Dominick Daly, then about twenty-six years of age. Lord Dalhousie
+returned to Canada early in 1826, and Mr. Daly returned with Sir Francis
+Burton to England.</p>
+
+<p>In 1827 he returned to Quebec, bearing with him instructions to the
+Governor-General to confer upon him the office of Provincial Secretary.
+The appointment had been procured in England by the influence of Sir
+Francis Burton, and other friends of Mr. Daly. During the interval which
+elapsed between his appointment as Provincial Secretary and the
+rebellion of 1837, a period of about ten years, Mr. Daly carefully
+abstained from engaging in the political conflict, and seems to have
+enjoyed a larger share of public confidence than any other official.
+When Lord Durham was appointed Governor-General after the rebellion, Mr.
+Daly was the only public official who was sworn of the Executive
+Council, and there is no doubt that he was the only one of the British
+officials who was looked on with favour by the leaders of the popular
+party. And yet, viewing his conduct by the light of subsequent events,
+it is probable that the popular leaders overestimated Mr. Daly's
+sympathy with their cause. Unconnected with politics, he considered it
+his duty to support the policy of the Governor of the day; and he
+doubtless was of opinion that having been for many years incumbent of an
+office which had always been admitted to be held as a permanent tenure,
+he was justified in retaining it as long as he had the sanction of the
+Governor for doing so. When the Union of the old Provinces of Lower and
+Upper Canada took place in 1841, the Governor-General called on the
+principal departmental officers to find seats in the House of Assembly,
+although it is very improbable that he had any intention of strictly
+carrying into practice what has since been understood as Responsible
+Government. It had been the practice under the old system for the law
+officers of the Crown to find seats in the Legislature, but the offices
+of Provincial Secretary and Registrar, Receiver-General, Commissioner of
+Crown Lands, and Inspector-General, had always been considered
+non-political. Lord Sydenham, as far as can be judged from what
+occurred, had no definite policy on the subject. He induced Mr. Daly to
+enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> Parliament, and the latter seems to have had no difficulty in
+procuring a seat for the county of Megantic. The Provincial Secretary in
+Upper Canada was allowed to retain his office without entering public
+life. The Commissioner of Crown Lands in Lower Canada declined becoming
+a candidate, and retained his office, while in Upper Canada the
+Commissioner of Crown Lands was a member both of the Legislative and
+Executive Councils. Mr. Daly seems to have been considered as
+unobjectionable by the leaders of the majority in Lower Canada, as he
+was by their opponents, which, taking into account the excited state of
+feeling at the period of the Union, is conclusive proof that he had
+acted with great discretion during the stormy period which preceded the
+suspension of the Constitution. When Mr. Baldwin, on accepting office at
+the time of the Union, deemed it his duty to acquaint those who were
+appointed members of Council prior to the meeting of the first
+Parliament of United Canada, that there were some in whom he had no
+political confidence, Mr. Daly was one of the exceptions; and as Mr.
+Baldwin's avowed object was the introduction of French Canadians into
+the Government, he must have been satisfied that they had not the
+objection to Mr. Daly that they had to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Day. Mr.
+Baldwin's attempt to procure a reconstruction of the Ministry was
+unsuccessful, and he resigned, not having been supported by those with
+whom he had avowed his readiness to act. Mr. Daly went through the
+session of 1841 as a member of the Government, and visited England
+during the recess. On the meeting of the Legislature in 1842, Sir
+Charles Bagot having, during the interval, succeeded Lord Sydenham,
+overtures were made, with the concurrence of Mr. Daly, to Messrs.
+Lafontaine and Baldwin, which led to a reconstruction of the Cabinet.
+Mr. Daly retained his office of Provincial Secretary, and acted in
+perfect harmony with his colleagues, not only during the short term of
+Sir Charles Bagot's Government, but during the critical period of 1843,
+after Sir Charles Metcalfe's assumption of the Government, and up to the
+very moment when, in the opinion of all his colleagues, resignation
+became absolutely necessary. During the whole of this period Mr. Daly
+appeared to concur with his colleagues on every point on which a
+difference of opinion arose, and it was only when resignation became
+absolutely necessary that he declined to act any longer in concert with
+them. At an early period of the session of 1843 a vacancy occurred in
+the Speakership of the Legislative Council&mdash;an office of considerable
+political importance, and one which it was clearly impossible that the
+Ministry could consent to have conferred on a political opponent. The
+choice of the Administration fell on the Hon. Denis B. Viger, one of the
+oldest Liberal politicians in the Province. On submitting their advice
+to Sir Charles Metcalfe, he not only objected most strongly to Mr.
+Viger's appointment, but stated that he had offered the post, without
+consulting his Ministers, to Mr. Sherwood, a retired Judge, and father
+of Mr. Henry Sherwood, one of the leading opponents of the
+Administration. Had Mr. Sherwood accepted the offer, the crisis would
+have occurred a few weeks sooner than it did, and on a question on which
+there could have been no misapprehension. Mr. Sherwood declined the
+offer, probably to avoid the impending difficulty, and after some
+negotiation, the Ministry consented to withdraw Mr. Viger's name, and to
+substitute that of the late Lieutenant-Governor Caron. During all this
+difficulty, Mr. Daly was apparently in accord with his colleagues,
+although it subsequently appeared that he was acting in concert with Mr.
+Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who took an active part in supporting Sir
+Charles, and whose letters published in England threw a good deal of
+light on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> the transactions previous to the crisis. Mr. Daly retained his
+office of Secretary in the new Ministry formed by Metcalfe, and was
+subjected to much censure for what was considered a desertion of his
+colleagues. So bitter was the personal feeling that on one occasion
+language was used in the House by one of his old colleagues, Mr. Aylwin,
+which he deemed so offensive as to lead him to retort in terms that
+provoked a hostile message and a subsequent meeting, when, after an
+exchange of shots, the dispute was amicably settled.</p>
+
+<p>The Ministry formed under Metcalfe in 1843 was changed repeatedly, Mr.
+Daly having been the only member of it who retained office until the
+resignation in March, 1848, in consequence of a vote of want of
+confidence having been carried in the Assembly at the opening of the
+third Parliament. There were during that period two Attorneys-General
+and two Solicitors-General in each of the Provinces, two Presidents of
+the Council, two Receivers-General, two Ministers of Finance, two
+Commissioners of Crown Lands, but only one Secretary, whose adhesion to
+office was the subject of a good deal of remark. When at last
+resignation became indispensably necessary, Mr. Daly withdrew almost
+immediately from public life. It had clearly never been his intention to
+continue in Parliament as a member of the Opposition; and it could
+scarcely have been expected by the Party with which circumstances had
+forced him into alliance that he would adhere to it after its downfall.
+It may truly be said of Mr. Daly that he was never a member of any
+Canadian Party, and that he had no sympathy with the political views of
+any of his numerous colleagues. A most amiable man in private life, and
+much esteemed by a large circle of private friends, he was wholly
+unsuited for public life. He had never been in the habit of speaking in
+public prior to his first election, and he never attempted to acquire
+the talent. Having no private fortune, he found himself after the age of
+forty suddenly called upon to take a prominent part in the organization
+of a new system of government, which involved his probable retirement,
+and as an almost necessary consequence, his subsequent exclusion from
+office.</p>
+
+<p>In estimating Sir Dominick Daly's political character, it would be
+unfair to judge him by the same standard as those who subsequently
+accepted office with a full knowledge of the responsibilities which they
+incurred by doing so. Sir Dominick Daly was the last of the old Canadian
+bureaucracy, and it is not a little singular that he should have been
+able to retain his old office of Secretary under the new system for a
+period of fully seven years. On his return to England his claim on the
+Imperial Government, which without doubt had been strongly urged by
+Metcalfe, was promptly recognized, and he was almost immediately
+appointed a Commissioner of Enquiry into the claims of the New and
+Waltham Forests, which he held until the close of the Commission in
+1850-51. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Tobago,
+in the Windward Island group, in 1851, and transferred to the government
+of Prince Edward Island in 1854, which he held until 1857. In November,
+1861, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of South
+Australia, where he died in the year 1868, in the sixty-ninth year of
+his age. He had received the honour of knighthood on the termination of
+his service in Prince Edward Island.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Dominick Daly married, in 1826, a daughter of Colonel Gore, of
+Barrowmount, in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, by whom he had several
+children. One of his sons is the present representative of the city of
+Halifax in the Dominion Parliament.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_MCMASTER" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_MCMASTER"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM McMASTER.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. McMaster is probably the most widely known among the merchant
+princes of Western Canada, and has had a remarkably successful
+commercial career. As is the case with most men who have been the
+architects of their own fortunes, his success is largely attributable to
+his personal qualifications. He inherited a sound constitution, an
+active, enterprising mind, and a strong will. With such advantages he
+began the battle of life in this country nearly half a century ago. He
+grew with the country's growth, and by his industry and shrewdness
+achieved, in course of time, a position which made him thoroughly
+independent of the world. It has been the fashion to say of him that his
+mercantile operations were always attended with "good luck;" but those
+who converse with him on commercial or financial questions for half an
+hour will draw their own conclusions as to how far "luck" has had to do
+with the matter. He has been lucky in the same sense that the late Duke
+of Wellington was lucky; that is to say, he has known how to take
+advantage of favourable circumstances. Anyone else possessing his
+keenness of perception and shrewd common sense would in the long run
+have been equally lucky. He has made good use alike of his wealth and
+his talents, and the land of his adoption is the better for his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>He is by birth and early training an Irishman, and was born in the
+county of Tyrone, on the 24th of December, 1811. His father, the late
+Mr. William McMaster, was a linen merchant whose resources were not
+abundant, but who was able to give his son a good education. The latter
+received his educational training at an excellent private school taught
+by a Mr. Halcro, who had a high local reputation as a teacher. After
+leaving school he was for a short time a clerk in a local mercantile
+house. His prospects in Ireland, however, were not commensurate with his
+ambition. In 1833, when he was in his twenty-second year, he resigned
+his situation, and emigrated. Upon reaching New York he was advised by
+the resident British Consul not to settle in the United States, but to
+make his way to Canada. He acted upon the advice, and passed on to
+Toronto&mdash;or, as it was then called, Little York.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions of the wholesale trade in Canada in those days were very
+different from those which now prevail. The preeminence of Montreal as a
+point of distribution for both the Provinces was well established, and
+the wholesale trade of Little York was comparatively insignificant.
+There were very few exclusively wholesale establishments in the Upper
+Canadian capital, but several of the largest firms contrived to combine
+a wholesale and retail business. Young William McMaster, immediately
+upon his arrival at Little York, obtained a clerkship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> in one of these,
+viz., that of Mr. Robert Cathcart, a merchant who then occupied premises
+on the south side of King Street, opposite Toronto Street. After
+remaining in this establishment somewhat more than a year in the
+capacity of a clerk, young McMaster was admitted to a partnership in the
+business, a large share of which from that time forward came under his
+own personal management. The partnership lasted about ten years,
+when&mdash;in 1844&mdash;Mr. McMaster withdrew from it, and started a separate
+wholesale dry-goods business on his own account, in a store situated on
+the west side of Yonge Street, a short distance below the intersection
+of that thoroughfare with King Street. By this time the conditions of
+trade had undergone some modification. Montreal still had the lion's
+share of the wholesale trade, but Toronto and Hamilton had also become
+known as distributing centres, and both those towns contained some large
+wholesale warehouses. Mr. McMaster's business was a large one from the
+beginning, but it rapidly expanded, until there was not a town, and
+scarcely a village in Canada West, which did not largely depend upon the
+house of William McMaster for its dry-goods supplies. The attempt to
+make Toronto, instead of Montreal, the wholesale emporium for Western
+Canada was not initiated by Mr. McMaster, but it was ably seconded by
+him, and no merchant now living did so much to divert the wholesale
+trade to western channels. In process of time he admitted his nephews
+(who now compose the firm of Messrs. A. R. McMaster &amp; Brother) into
+partnership, and removed to more commodious premises lower down on Yonge
+Street, contiguous to the Bank of Montreal. This large establishment in
+its turn became too small for the ever-increasing volume of trade, and
+the magnificent commercial palace on Front Street, where the business is
+still carried on, was erected. Here, under the style of William McMaster
+&amp; Nephews, the business continued to grow. As time passed by, the senior
+partner became engaged in large financial and other enterprises, and
+practically left the purely commercial operations to the management of
+his nephews. Eventually he withdrew from the firm altogether, but his
+retirement has not been passed in idleness. He has a natural aptitude
+for dealing with matters of finance, and this aptitude has been
+increased by the operations of an active mercantile life. He has been a
+director in several of the most important banking and insurance
+institutions in the country, and has always taken his full share of the
+work devolving upon him. Twenty years ago he founded the Canadian Bank
+of Commerce, and became its President. That position he has occupied
+ever since, and every banking-day finds him at his post. There can be no
+doubt that his care and judgement have had much to do with the highly
+successful career of the institution. Mr. McMaster was also for some
+time a director of the Ontario Bank, and of the Bank of Montreal. He has
+for many years acted as President of the Freehold Loan and Savings
+Company, as Vice-President of the Confederation Life Association, and as
+a director of the Isolated Risk&mdash;now called the Sovereign&mdash;Insurance
+Company. He also for many years occupied the unenviable position of
+Chairman of the Canadian Board of the Great Western Railway. Upon the
+abolition of that Board a few years ago, and the election of an English
+Board in its stead, Mr. McMaster was the only Canadian whose services
+were retained.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not only with financial and kindred matters that Mr. McMaster
+has busied himself of late years. In 1862 he for the first time entered
+political life, having been elected to represent the Midland Division,
+embracing North York and South Simcoe, in the Legislative Council of old
+Canada. He was opposed by Mr. John W. Gamble,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> who sustained a crushing
+defeat, and Mr. McMaster continued to represent the Midland Division
+until the Union. When the Senate of the Dominion was substituted for the
+old Legislative Council, after the accomplishment of Confederation, Mr.
+McMaster was chosen as one of the Senators to represent Ontario, and he
+has ever since taken part in the deliberations of that body. He has
+always been identified with the Liberal Party, but has never been an
+extremist in his politics, and has kept himself aloof from the faction
+fights of the times.</p>
+
+<p>His highest claim to the consideration of posterity will probably rest
+upon his services in the cause of education. These have been of a kind
+which we would be glad to see emulated by others of our wealthy
+capitalists. His first connection with general educational matters dates
+from the year 1865, when he was appointed a member of the old Council of
+Public Instruction. He continued to represent the Baptist Church&mdash;of
+which he is a prominent member&mdash;at that Board for a period of ten years.
+When the Senate of Toronto University was reconstructed, in 1873, he was
+nominated one of its members by the Lieutenant-Governor. But his most
+important services in the cause of education have been in connection
+with the denomination of which he is a devoted member. When the Canadian
+Literary Institute, at Woodstock, was originally projected, he
+contributed liberally to the building fund, and repeated his
+contribution when money was needed for the restoration of the buildings
+after they were burned down. He has ever since contributed liberally to
+the support of the institution, and indeed has been its mainstay in a
+financial point of view. He has been largely instrumental in bringing
+about the removal of the theological department of the Institute to
+Toronto, where a suitable building is now in process of erection for its
+accommodation in the Queen's Park, on land purchased by Mr. McMaster
+specially for that purpose. The cost of erecting this building is borne
+entirely by Mr. McMaster, and will amount, it is said, to at least
+$70,000.</p>
+
+<p>His benefactions to the Baptist Church have been large and numerous, and
+of late years have been almost princely. The handsome edifice on the
+corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets, Toronto, is largely due to the
+bounty of Mr. McMaster and his wife, whose joint contributions to the
+building fund amounted to about $60,000. To Mr. McMaster also is due the
+existence of the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the Baptist Church
+of this Province, of which he is the President, and to the funds of
+which he has contributed with his accustomed liberality. He has also
+long contributed to the support of the Upper Canada Bible Society, of
+which he is the Treasurer.</p>
+
+<p>He married, in 1851, Miss Mary Henderson, of New York City. Her death
+took place in 1868; and three years afterwards he married his present
+wife, Susan Molton, widow of the late Mr. James Fraser, of Newburgh, in
+the State of New York. There is no issue of either marriage.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILFRID_LAURIER" id="THE_HON_WILFRID_LAURIER"></a>THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Laurier was born at St. Lin, L'Assomption, in the Province of
+Quebec, on the 20th of November, 1841. He was educated first at
+L'Assomption College, and subsequently at McGill University, where he
+took his degree of B.C.L. in 1864. A year later he was called to the Bar
+of Quebec, his law studies having been pursued in the office of Mr.&mdash;now
+the Hon.&mdash;T. A. R. Laflamme. His health having suffered by too close
+attention to his professional duties, Mr. Laurier, at the end of two
+years, left Montreal, where he had practised, and became the editor of
+<i>Le D&eacute;fricheur</i> newspaper at Arthabaska. His predecessor in the
+editorship was the late Mr. J. B. E. Dorion, the paper being devoted to
+the advocacy of Liberal principles. It did not, however, long continue
+in existence, and on its suspension Mr. Laurier once more returned to
+his professional pursuits, in which he soon obtained a high position,
+his personal popularity being as marked as his intellectual attainments.
+In 1871 he was the Liberal candidate for the representation of Drummond
+and Arthabaska in the Local Assembly, and carried the seat by a large
+majority. His talents as a debater and his statesmanlike cast of mind
+soon made him prominent in the Legislature, and when, in 1874, Mr.
+Mackenzie, shortly after accepting office, appealed to the country, Mr.
+Laurier relinquished his seat at Quebec to enter upon a more enlarged
+sphere of work at Ottawa. He was elected for Drummond and Arthabaska
+after a keen contest, and on the opening of the first session of the new
+Parliament was selected to second the address in reply to the Speech
+from the Throne. The manner in which he discharged this duty made a most
+favourable impression. He was at once recognized as one of the foremost
+of the many able representatives Quebec had sent to support the
+then-existing Government, and has since never failed to impress the
+House favourably when he has taken part in the debates.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident from his first introduction to parliamentary life that he
+must, at no distant day, be called upon to take his share in the
+responsibilities of office. Even before that time his status as a leader
+of opinion and a representative man in relation to public affairs had
+been very clearly marked out. In a lecture delivered by him at Quebec in
+July, 1877, on "Political Liberalism," he made a splendid defence of the
+Liberals of Quebec against the misrepresentations and aspersions to
+which they had been subjected. He insisted on the distinction between
+religious and political opinions being maintained, and showed how
+strictly moderate and constitutional were the views of those with whom
+he was politically associated. Of the Liberal Party of the past&mdash;of the
+follies that had characterized too many of its actions and utterances,
+nothing, he declared, then existed, but in its stead remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the
+principles of the Liberal Party of England. On the other hand, sketching
+the party opposed to him under the name of Conservative, he spoke as
+follows:&mdash;"Sir George Cartier," he said, "was devoted to the principles
+of the English Constitution&mdash;if Sir George Cartier were to return to the
+world again he would not recognize his Party. I certainly respect too
+much the opinion of my opponents to do them an injury, but I reproach
+them with knowing neither their country nor the times. I accuse them of
+estimating the political situation not by what has occurred here, but by
+what has occurred in France. I accuse them of endeavouring to introduce
+here ideas which would be impossible in our state of society. I accuse
+them of laboriously endeavouring, and, unfortunately, too effectually,
+to make religion the simple basis of a political Party. It is the custom
+of our adversaries to accuse us Liberals of irreligion. I am not here to
+parade my religious principles, but I proclaim that I have too much
+respect for the faith in which I was born ever to make it appear as the
+basis of a political organization. We are a happy and free people; we
+owe this freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us, which we
+owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the Mother Country. The
+policy of the Liberal Party is to guard these institutions, to defend
+and propagate them, and under the rule of these institutions to develop
+the latent resources of our country. Such is the policy of the Liberal
+Party, and it has no other." Mr. Laurier's Liberalism, in fact, is of
+the strictly British type, and to the immense benefit which has accrued
+to his French compatriots by the concession of free British institutions
+he has borne eloquent testimony. Few men, indeed, could be found better
+calculated than Mr. Laurier to effect a union of thought, sentiment, and
+interest between those distinguished by difference of race and creed, in
+the interest of their common country. It was not, as we have seen, at
+all surprising that on a vacancy occurring in the Quebec representation
+in the Dominion Cabinet, Mr. Laurier should be offered the vacant
+portfolio. His fitness for the position was disputed by none, either on
+personal or political grounds. In Ontario, no less than in Quebec, his
+acceptance of office was hailed as a just tribute to his worth and
+ability. In September, 1877, he was sworn of the Privy Council, and
+became Minister of Inland Revenue. The knowledge of his strength in
+Parliament and the country served to stimulate the determination of his
+opponents to defeat him at all hazards when he returned to his
+constituents for re&euml;lection. The contest terminated by Mr. Bourbeau, the
+Conservative candidate, being elected by a majority of 22 votes over the
+new Minister. The defeat only served to show how highly the importance
+of Mr. Laurier's position in the country was estimated. Several
+constituencies were at once placed at his disposal. Ultimately the Hon.
+Mr. Thibaudeau, member for Quebec East, resigned, in order to create a
+vacancy. After a short but very exciting contest, Mr. Laurier carried
+the division by a majority of 315 votes. The result was the signal for
+general rejoicing, his journey to Ottawa and his reception there being
+one continued ovation. He retained the portfolio of Minister of Inland
+Revenue until the resignation of the Government in October, 1878. At the
+elections held on the 17th of September previous he was returned for
+Quebec East by a majority of 778 votes over his opponent, Mr. Valli&egrave;re,
+and he now sits in the House for that constituency. He speaks both the
+French and English languages fluently, has a large amount of French
+vivacity sobered by great self-command, can strike home without too
+severely wounding, and commands the respect and good-will of his warmest
+political adversaries.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RIGHT_HON_SIR_CHARLES_BAGOT" id="THE_RIGHT_HON_SIR_CHARLES_BAGOT"></a>THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, the successor of Lord Sydenham
+as Governor-General of British North America, was born at Blithfield
+House, Rugeley, in Staffordshire, England, on the 23rd of September,
+1781. He was descended from an old aristocratic family, which has been
+resident in Staffordshire for several hundred years, and was ennobled in
+1780&mdash;the year previous to the birth of the subject of this sketch. He
+was the second son of William, first Baron Bagot, a nobleman highly
+distinguished for his scholastic and scientific attainments. His mother
+was Lady Louisa, daughter of Viscount St. John, brother and heir of the
+illustrious Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.</p>
+
+<p>His life was not marked by much variety of incident, and affords but
+scanty material for the biographer. From his early youth he was a prey
+to great feebleness of constitution, which prevented him from making any
+conspicuous figure at school. Upon completing his majority, his health
+being much improved, he entered public life on the Tory side, in the
+capacity of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, under Mr.
+Canning, during the Administration of the Duke of Portland. His tenure
+of that office does not seem to have been marked by any very noteworthy
+incidents. In 1814 he was despatched on a special mission to Paris, at
+which time he resided for several months in the French capital. Later on
+he was successively appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
+States, and Ambassador to the Courts of St. Petersburg and the Hague. By
+this time his health, which had never been very robust, again gave way,
+and he was compelled to decline several other honourable and lucrative
+appointments which were offered to him by the Ministry of the day. One
+of them was the Governor-Generalship of India, rendered vacant by the
+return of Lord Amherst to England. During Sir Robert Peel's short
+Administration in 1834, he took charge of a special mission to Vienna,
+in the discharge of which he commended himself highly to the authorities
+at home. A Reform Government succeeded, and during its tenure of office
+we have no information as to the subject of this memoir.</p>
+
+<p>In 1841 the Tories again came into power under the leadership of Sir
+Robert Peel. In the Ministry then formed, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl
+of Derby (father of the present Earl), held the post of Colonial
+Secretary. Upon Lord Sydenham's death, in that year, it became necessary
+to appoint a new Governor-General of British North America. Lord Stanley
+offered the post to Sir Charles Bagot, who accepted it, and soon
+afterwards sailed for this country, where public affairs, since Lord
+Sydenham's death in the preceding month of September, had been under the
+direction of Sir Richard Jackson, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Sir
+Charles entered upon his official duties on the 10th of January, 1842,
+and it soon became apparent that he intended to carry out the judicious
+line of policy inaugurated by his predecessor, Lord Sydenham. He held
+himself aloof from purely party questions, and formed no definite
+alliance with either Reformers or Conservatives. This was a grievous
+disappointment to the latter. His past political career had led the Tory
+leaders in Canada to suppose that he would espouse their views, and that
+by his aid their ascendancy would be re&euml;stablished. These expectations
+were not destined to be realized. Sir Charles spent his time in
+familiarizing himself with the position and needs of the country at
+large. In some respects he showed himself to be more liberal than his
+predecessor, Lord Sydenham, had been. Lord Sydenham had been indisposed
+to have anything to do with those persons who had abetted the rebellion.
+Sir Charles, knowing that Responsible Government had been conceded,
+resolved to govern himself accordingly. Though himself a Tory by
+predilection and by training, he knew that he had not been sent out to
+Canada to gratify his own political leanings, but to govern in
+accordance with the popular will. "He determined," says Mr. Macmullen,
+"to use whatever party he found capable of supporting a Ministry, and
+accordingly made overtures to the French Canadians and that section of
+the Reform Party of Upper Canada led by Mr. Baldwin, who then formed the
+Opposition in the Assembly. There can be no question that this was the
+wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the
+differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the
+common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the
+ascendant&mdash;the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive,
+and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past, and opening the door
+of preferment to men of talent of French as well as to those of British
+origin. The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the
+Union Act; and, after that, was the first great step towards the
+amalgamation of the races. A different policy would have nullified the
+principle of Responsible Government, and must have proved suicidal to
+any Ministry seeking to carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the
+broad principle that the constitutional majority had the right to rule
+under the Constitution." Finding that the Ministry then in being did not
+possess the public confidence, he called to his councils Robert Baldwin,
+Francis Hincks, Lafontaine, Morin, and Aylwin. Upon the opening of the
+Legislature, in the following September, he made a speech which showed
+that he understood the situation and requirements of the country, and
+was sincerely desirous of promoting its welfare. The session, which was
+a brief one, passed without any specially noteworthy incidents. Soon
+after the prorogation, which took place on the 8th of October, Sir
+Charles began to feel the effects of approaching winter in a rigorous
+climate. His physicians advised him, as he valued his life, to free
+himself from the cares of office, and betake himself to a milder clime.
+He sent in his resignation, and prepared to return to England, but the
+state of his health soon became so serious that he was unfit to endure
+an ocean voyage in the middle of winter. He was destined never to see
+his native land again. He lingered until the 19th of May, 1843, when he
+sank quietly to rest, at Kingston, in the sixty-second year of his age.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LA_SALLE" id="LA_SALLE"></a>LA SALLE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>The publication last year of a revised edition of Mr. Parkman's
+"Discovery of the Great West" has made the compilation of a sketch of La
+Salle's life a very easy task. Mr. Parkman has told about everything
+that is worth telling&mdash;indeed, every important fact that is known&mdash;with
+reference to the great explorer; and for the future, any brief account
+of his life must necessarily be little more than a condensation of Mr.
+Parkman's book. "It is the glory and the misfortune of France," says M.
+Guizot, "to always lead the van in the march of civilization, without
+having the wit to profit by the discoveries and the sagacious boldness
+of her children. On the unknown roads which she has opened to human
+enterprise she has too often left the fruits to be gathered by nations
+less inventive, but more persevering." The life of the ardent explorer
+whose achievements form the subject of this sketch affords an apt
+commentary on the text of the eminent French historian above quoted.
+Long prior to the date of La Salle's discoveries, Samuel de Champlain
+had dreamed of and fruitlessly sought for a continuous water passage
+across the American continent, and hoped to thereby establish a
+profitable commerce with the Indies, China, and Japan. La Salle,
+following in Champlain's footsteps, and dreaming the same wild dreams,
+spent a great part of his life in attempting to do what his great
+predecessor had failed in accomplishing. His discoveries, however,
+extended over a much broader field. La Salle may practically be said to
+have discovered the Great West. He crossed the Mississippi, which the
+Jesuits had been the first to reach, and pushed on to the far south,
+constructing forts in the midst of the most savage districts, and taking
+possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis XIV. Abandoned by many
+of his comrades, and losing the most faithful of them by death; attacked
+by savages, betrayed by his own hirelings, thwarted in his projects by
+his enemies and his rivals, he at last met an inglorious death by
+assassination, just as he was about to make his way back to New France.
+He left the field open after him to the innumerable explorers of every
+nation and every language who have since left their mark on those
+measureless tracts. If but little benefit accrued to France from his
+discoveries, the fault was not his. He has left an imperishable record
+on the page of American history, and as a discoverer his name occupies a
+place in early Canadian annals second only&mdash;<i>if</i> second&mdash;to that of
+Champlain himself.</p>
+
+<p>R&eacute;n&eacute;-Robert Cavelier, better known by his territorial patronymic of La
+Salle, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, some time in the year 1643. The
+exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptism took place on the
+22nd of November of that year, at which time it is probable that he was
+only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> a few days old. His family had long been wealthy burghers of
+Rouen, and there were no obstacles in the way of his receiving a liberal
+education. He early displayed an aptitude for science and mathematics,
+and, while still young, entered a Jesuit Seminary in his native town. By
+this act, which constituted the first step towards taking holy orders,
+he forfeited the inheritance which would otherwise have descended to
+him&mdash;a forfeiture which does not seem at any time to have weighed very
+heavily on his mind. He seems to have occupied for a short time the
+position of a teacher in the Seminary. After profiting for several years
+by the discipline taught in the establishment he requested and obtained
+his discharge, obtaining high praise from the directors of the Seminary
+for the diligence of his studies and the purity of his life. "The
+cravings of a deep ambition," says Mr. Parkman, "the hunger of an
+insatiable intellect, the intense longing for active achievement,
+subdued in him all other passions; and among his faults the love of
+pleasure had no part." His father had died a short time before La Salle
+quitted the Seminary, and he would then have at once succeeded to a
+large patrimony but for his connection with the Jesuits. A small
+sum&mdash;amounting to several hundred livres&mdash;was handed over to him, and in
+the spring of 1666 the young adventurer embarked for fame and fortune in
+New France, towards which the attention of all western Europe was at
+that time directed. He had already an elder brother in this country&mdash;the
+Abb&eacute; Jean Cavelier, a Sulpician priest at Montreal. The Sulpicians had
+established themselves there a few years before this time, and had
+already become proprietors and feudal lords of the city and island. They
+were granting out their lands to settlers on very easy terms, and La
+Salle obtained a grant of a large tract of land a short distance above
+the turbulent current now known as the Lachine Rapids. Here he became a
+feudal proprietor and fur trader on his own account. Such a pursuit,
+however, was far from satisfying the cravings of his ambition. Like
+Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a passage to the
+South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of China and Japan.
+Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and on one occasion he
+was visited by a band of Seneca Iroquois, some of whom spent the winter
+with him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their
+country and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth
+could only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently
+the Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one. In accordance
+with geographical views then prevalent, La Salle conceived that this
+great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf
+of California. If so, it would give him what he sought&mdash;a western
+passage to China, while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to
+inhabit its banks might be made a source of great commercial profit. His
+imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he descended
+the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the Governor for
+his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in the art
+of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor (Courcelle), and the
+Intendant (Talon) were readily won over to his plan; for which, however,
+they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of the
+Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. The cost was to be
+his own; and he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He
+therefore proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should
+buy it back again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the
+Superior, being favourably disposed towards him, consented, and bought
+of him the greater part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+the clearings, to one Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred
+livres. With this he bought four canoes, with the necessary supplies,
+and hired fourteen men. This being accomplished, he started on his
+expedition, in the course of which he explored the southern shore of
+Lake Ontario, and visited the Senecas in Western New York. Continuing
+his journey, he passed the mouth of the Niagara River, where he heard
+the roar of the mighty cataract, and passed on to an Indian encampment
+near the present site of Hamilton. After much delay he reached a branch
+of the Ohio, and descended at least as far as the rapids at Louisville,
+where he was abandoned by his attendants, and was compelled to return,
+his problem being yet unsolved.</p>
+
+<p>But the time was not far distant when he was to make a much more
+extended voyage than he had hitherto accomplished, and with somewhat
+more important results. In 1672 Count Frontenac came over to Canada and
+succeeded Courcelle as Governor of the colony. A friendship sprang up
+between him and La Salle, and they began to form schemes of western
+enterprise. Erelong we find the latter paying a flying visit to France,
+and receiving from the King, mainly through his patron's influence, a
+patent of nobility and a grant of Fort Frontenac&mdash;which had just before
+been founded by the new Governor with imposing ceremonies&mdash;together with
+a large tract of the contiguous territory. Then La Salle's serious
+troubles may be said to have begun. His grant involved the exclusive
+right of fur-traffic with the Indians on Lake Ontario, and though trade
+was a secondary object with him, he nevertheless engaged in it as a
+means of furthering his more ambitious schemes of exploration. The
+merchants of Canada, envious of his influence and success, leagued
+themselves against him, and resolved to accomplish his downfall. The
+Jesuits also placed themselves in opposition to him, for his avowed
+projects conflicted with theirs. La Salle aimed at the control of the
+valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and the usufruct of half a
+continent. The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada. In other words,
+Canada was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal
+interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground. Therefore
+the Jesuits looked with redoubled solicitude to their missions in the
+West. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with
+their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other
+reasons. La Salle was a fur-trader, and moreover aimed at occupation and
+settlement. In short, he was a stumbling block in their path, and they
+leagued themselves against him. Many of them engaged in underhand
+dealings with the Indians, and while they refused absolution to all
+Europeans who sold brandy to the natives, they turned a good many
+dishonest pennies by selling it themselves. They laid all kinds of traps
+for La Salle, and did not escape the suspicion of attempting to poison
+him. It is certain that an attempt to destroy him in this fashion was
+made, though he himself exonerates the Jesuits from participation in the
+attempt. In the autumn of 1677 he again sailed for France, and while
+there procured Royal letters patent authorizing him to prosecute his
+schemes of western discovery, to erect forts at such places as he might
+deem expedient, and to enjoy the exclusive right of traffic in buffalo
+skins. With Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, as his lieutenant, he
+soon afterwards returned to Fort Frontenac, whence, in the autumn of
+1678, he set out for the Great West.</p>
+
+<p>The historian of this expedition was a mendacious Recollet friar, Father
+Louis Hennepin, a name which has attained some notoriety in early
+Canadian annals. Father Hennepin had come out to Canada three years
+before the date at which we have arrived.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> Upon landing at Quebec he was
+at once sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. He found that wild
+spot in the western wilderness very much to his liking. He had not been
+there long before he erected a gigantic cross, and superintended the
+building of a chapel for himself and his colleague, Father Luke Buisset.
+He seems to have discharged his duties with a reasonable amount of zeal.
+He for some time gave himself up to instructing and endeavouring to
+convert the Indians of the neighbourhood. Later on he visited other
+Indian settlements, and made a noteworthy journey into the interior of
+what is now the State of New York, where he preached the Gospel to
+various tribes of the Five Nations, with indifferent success.</p>
+
+<p>Upon receiving intelligence of La Salle's projected western journey, in
+1678, Father Hennepin felt and expressed great eagerness to accompany
+the expedition. Permission to do so having been obtained from his
+Provincial, as well as from La Salle, he set out in advance of the
+latter from Fort Frontenac, early in November, accompanied by the Sieur
+De La Motte and a crew of sixteen sailors, embarked in a brigantine of
+ten tons. They skirted the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and in due
+time arrived at the Indian village of Taiaiagon, situated at the mouth
+of a river near the present city of Toronto. The river was probably the
+Humber, and the village was doubtless a collection of wigwams which have
+left no trace behind them. From this point the explorers crossed the
+lake to the mouth of the Niagara River, which they entered on the
+morning of the 6th of December. They landed on the eastern side of the
+stream, where the old fort of Niagara now stands. The site was then
+occupied by a small village inhabited by Seneca Indians, many of whom
+probably then beheld for the first time those wondrous pale-faces, the
+fame of whose exploits had preceded them into the wilderness. As the
+vessel rounded the opposite point the entire crew burst forth into
+sacred song, and chanted "Te Deum Laudamus" until the anchor was cast
+into the river. Later in the day they ascended several miles farther up
+the stream, until they reached the present site of Lewiston, where they
+built a rude dwelling of palisades. After remaining for some time,
+waiting for La Salle to join them, they set off on an expedition into
+the interior of New York, to pay a visit to a village of the Senecas.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime La Salle and Tonty had started from Fort Frontenac, with
+a band of men and a goodly store of supplies for the expedition. After
+encountering rough weather and being nearly wrecked off the Bay of
+Quint&eacute;, they crossed the lake and landed at the mouth of the Genesee
+River. Here they disembarked, and after a brief delay, started on a
+visit to the same Indian village which had just been visited by Hennepin
+and La Motte, and which was a short distance south-east of the present
+site of the city of Rochester. La Salle called a council of the natives,
+and did his utmost to conciliate them, for they looked upon his
+proceedings with no friendly eye, and were not slow in expressing their
+disapproval. They were wise enough to know that European exploration
+would be but the forerunner of European settlement, and that European
+settlement must be the "sullen presage of their own decay." La Salle,
+however, had a great deal of personal magnetism and force of character,
+and contrived to gain the good-will of several of the chiefs. After much
+argument and cajoling, he succeeded in gaining their consent to the
+conveyance of his arms and ammunition by way of the portage at Niagara.
+They also acquiesced in his proposal to establish a fortified warehouse
+at the mouth of the river, and to build a vessel above the falls in
+which to prosecute his researches in the west. Having accomplished so
+much&mdash;and considering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> the jealousy of the Indians, it is surprising
+that he should have obtained such concessions&mdash;he set out to join
+Hennepin and La Motte in the Niagara River, which had been appointed as
+their place of meeting.</p>
+
+<p>Father Hennepin and La Motte had not long taken up their quarters on the
+banks of the Niagara River before they ascended the stream to regale
+themselves with a view of the mighty cataract of which they had so often
+heard with awe and astonishment. To the skill of the mendacious priest
+we are indebted for the first verbal description of the falls by an
+eye-witness, as well as for the first artistic delineation of them. The
+friar had a keen eye for the beauties and grandeur of natural scenery;
+but, like other travellers before and since his time, he was much given
+to dealing in the marvellous. His view is drawn in direct violation of
+the laws of perspective, and the proportions are not correctly
+preserved. It must be remembered, however, that during the two hundred
+years which have elapsed since the sketch was made, nature has been
+steadily at work, and that the external appearance of the falls has
+undergone many changes in that time. It is probable, too, that the
+cross-fall depicted in his sketch as pouring over what has since been
+called "Table Rock" really existed in 1678. Upon the whole, there is no
+reason for doubting that in its general outlines the sketch made by
+Father Hennepin pourtrayed the scene more faithfully than did his
+written description, of which the following is a literal translation:
+"Betwixt the Lake Ontario and the Lake Erie there is a vast and
+prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and
+astonishing manner, insomuch that the universe does not afford its
+parallel. This wonderful downfall is about six hundred feet, and is
+composed of two great cross-streams of water, and two falls, with an
+island sloping across the middle of it. The waters which fall from this
+horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner
+imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of
+thunder; for when the wind blows out of the south their dismal roaring
+may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."</p>
+
+<p>Hennepin and La Motte were soon afterwards joined by La Salle and Tonty,
+accompanied by a party consisting of mechanics, labourers and voyageurs,
+who arrived in a small schooner. After a short exploration of the
+country thereabouts La Salle set about the construction of a large
+vessel of forty-five tons, for the prosecution of his western voyage.
+The ship-yard was located six miles above the Falls, near the mouth of
+Cayuga Creek, where the work of shipbuilding was carried on throughout
+the winter, spring, and early summer. At last the new vessel&mdash;the
+ill-fated <i>Griffin</i> (the first European craft that ever navigated the
+waters of the upper lakes)&mdash;was completed, and on the 7th of August,
+1679, the adventurers embarked and sailed into Lake Erie&mdash;"where sail
+was never seen before." They passed on to the westward end of the lake,
+and up between the green islands of the stream now known as the Detroit
+River; crossed Lake St. Clair, and entered Lake Huron. In due course,
+after encountering a furious tempest, they reached Michillimackinac,
+where was a Jesuit Mission and centre of the fur trade. Passing on into
+Lake Michigan, La Salle and his company cast anchor in Green Bay. The
+<i>Griffin</i> was forthwith laden with rich furs, and sent back to Niagara,
+with orders to turn over the cargo to La Salle's creditors, and return
+immediately. This is the last item respecting her which history affords.
+Whether she foundered or was captured by the Jesuits or Indians remains
+an open question to this day, and no certain tidings of her, subsequent
+to her departure eastward from Green Bay, ever reached the ears of her
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, his creditors, from whom he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> had purchased his supplies, and
+with whom he was heavily involved, were selling his effects at Montreal.
+He himself, with his company in scattered groups, repaired in bark
+canoes to the head of Lake Michigan; and at the mouth of the St. Joseph
+he constructed a trading-house with palisades, known as the Fort of the
+Miamis. Of his vessel, on which his fortunes so much depended, no
+tidings came. Weary of delay, he resolved to penetrate Illinois; and
+leaving ten men to guard the Fort of the Miamis, La Salle himself, with
+Hennepin, Tonty, and about thirty followers, ascended the St. Joseph,
+and by a short portage over bogs and swamps made dangerous by a snow
+storm, entered the Kankakee. Descending this narrow stream, before the
+end of December, 1679, the little company had reached the site of an
+Indian village on the Illinois, probably not far from Ottoway, in La
+Salle county. The tribe was absent, passing the winter in the chase. On
+the banks of Lake Peoria Indians appeared, who, desirous to obtain axes
+and firearms, offered the calumet of peace, and agreed to an alliance.
+They described the course of the Mississippi, and they were willing to
+guide the strangers to its mouth. The spirit and prudence of La Salle,
+who was the life of the enterprise, won the friendship of the natives.
+But clouds lowered over his path. The <i>Griffin</i>, it seemed certain, was
+wrecked, thus delaying his discoveries as well as impairing his
+fortunes. His men began to despond. He toiled to revive their courage,
+and assured them that there could be no safety but in union. "None," he
+added, "shall stay after the spring, unless from choice." But fear and
+discontent pervaded the company; and when La Salle, thwarted by destiny,
+and almost despairing, planned and began to build a fort on the banks of
+the Illinois, four days' journey below Lake Peoria, he named it
+Cr&egrave;vecoeur (Heart-break). Yet even here the immense power of his will
+appeared. Dependent on himself, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest
+French settlement, impoverished, harassed by enemies at Quebec and in
+the wilderness, he inspired his men with resolution to saw trees into
+plank and prepare a barque. He despatched Hennepin to explore the Upper
+Mississippi; he questioned the Illinois and the captives on the course
+of that river; he formed conjectures respecting the course of the
+Tennessee. Then, as new recruits and sails and cordage for the barque
+were needed, in the month of March, with a musket and pouch of powder
+and shot, with a blanket for his protection and skins of which to make
+moccasins, he, with three companions, set off on foot for Fort
+Frontenac, to trudge through thickets and forests, to wade through
+marshes and melting snows; without drink, except water from the running
+brooks; without food, except such precarious supplies as could be
+provided by his gun. After enduring dangers and hardships which would
+have effectually damped the ardour of any one but a French adventurer of
+that time; after narrowly escaping a plot to poison him; after being
+deserted by some of his followers, and threatened with all sorts of
+unknown penalties by the savages, he finally, after sixty-five days'
+journeying, arrived at Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 1680. But "man
+and nature seemed in arms against him." He found that during his absence
+his agents had plundered him, that his creditors had seized his
+property, and that several of his canoes, richly laden, had been lost in
+the rapids of the St. Lawrence. Another vessel which had been despatched
+with supplies for him from France had also been shipwrecked. Instead of
+sitting down to mourn over these mishaps, however, they seemed to
+inspire him with fresh vigour. Descending to Montreal, he in less than a
+week procured what supplies he needed, and returned to Fort Frontenac.
+Just as he was about to embark for Illinois, messengers arrived<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> with
+intelligence that Tonty had been abandoned by his companions, and had
+been compelled to take shelter with a band of Pottawatomie Indians.</p>
+
+<p>Undiscouraged by the manifold disasters which had befallen him, La Salle
+once more set out from Fort Frontenac for the regions of the Great West.
+Instead of following the route by Lake Erie and the Detroit and St.
+Clair Rivers, as he had previously done, he crossed over to the Georgian
+Bay by way of the River Humber, which was on the line of one of the
+three great westward routes in those times. He was accompanied by
+twenty-five assistants, including his lieutenant, one La Forest, and a
+surgeon. In due course they reached Michillimackinac, which was then the
+great north-western d&eacute;p&ocirc;t of the fur trade. Here he found that his old
+enemies the Jesuits had been busy poisoning the minds of the natives
+against him, insomuch that it was only with difficulty that he could
+induce the latter to sell him provisions. After a brief delay he resumed
+his journey, passing numerous camps of the terrible Iroquois, who, tired
+of devastating the more eastern districts, were now spreading desolation
+through these western regions. Upon reaching Fort Cr&egrave;vecoeur he found it
+deserted, and neither here nor elsewhere, for many days to come, was he
+able to gain any intelligence of his trusty ally, Tonty, who had been
+left behind on the former expedition, as already narrated. He continued
+his course southward, and erelong found himself on the banks of the
+Mississippi&mdash;the mighty Father of Waters, "the object of his day dreams,
+the destined avenue of his ambition and his hopes." Finding no traces of
+Tonty, he determined to look for him further northward, and retraced his
+footsteps to Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, near Lake Michigan, where he
+spent the winter. "Here," says Mr. Parkman, "he might have brooded on
+the redoubled ruin that had befallen him; the desponding friends, the
+exulting foes; the wasted energies, the crushing load of debt, the
+stormy past, the black and lowering future. But his mind was of a
+different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with adversity, and
+out of the fragments of his ruin to build up the fabric of success. He
+would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new contingency.
+His white enemies had found&mdash;or rather, perhaps, had made&mdash;a savage ally
+in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his enterprise
+would come to naught; and he thought he saw the means by which this new
+danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes of the
+west, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget their
+mutual animosities and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at its
+head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the
+Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of
+French allies they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire in some
+measure the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach
+them the Faith; La Salle and his associates could supply them with
+goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters
+could gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he could seek out the
+mouth of the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the
+Illinois would then find a ready passage to the markets of the world.
+Thus might this ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed
+to civilization and Christianity, and a stable settlement, half feudal,
+half commercial, grow up in the heart of the western wilderness. This
+plan was but a part of the original scheme of his enterprise, adapted to
+new and unexpected circumstances; and he now set himself to its
+execution with his usual vigour, joined to an address that, when dealing
+with Indians, never failed him."</p>
+
+<p>In pursuance of this scheme he called a council of all the Indian chiefs
+for leagues<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> round, and entered into a formal covenant with them. His
+new project was hopefully begun. It remained to achieve the enterprise,
+twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. To
+this end, he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect
+his scattered resources. Towards the end of May he set out in canoes
+from Fort Miami, and, after a prosperous voyage, reached
+Michillimackinac. Here, to his great joy, he found Tonty and one Zenobe
+Membr&eacute;, who had lately arrived from Green Bay. Without loss of time,
+they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled their canoes a
+thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, in this
+third beginning of his enterprise, La Salle found himself beset with
+embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the fruitless cost of his
+two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he had incurred in
+building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been wholly paid. The
+fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; yet, through the
+influence of the Count de Frontenac, and the support of a wealthy
+relative, he found means to appease his creditors, and even to gain
+fresh advances. He mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved
+to trust no more to agents, but to lead on his followers in a united
+body under his own personal command.</p>
+
+<p>Returning westward, he once more reached Fort Miami, whence, on the 26th
+of December, 1682, he set out for the mouth of the Mississippi, whither
+he arrived during the month of April following. "As he drifted down the
+turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, the brackish water
+changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the
+sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight, tossing
+its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely as when born of
+chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life." La Salle, in a canoe,
+coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then assembled his companions
+on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above the mouth of the river.
+In this wild spot, on the ninth of the month, which was the month of
+April, 1682, he planted a column bearing the arms of France and an
+inscription to Louis Le Grand. "On that day," says the writer already
+quoted from, "the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous
+accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the
+Mississippi, from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of
+the Gulf, from the woody ridges of the Rocky Mountains&mdash;a region of
+savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts and grassy prairies,
+inhabited by innumerable warlike tribes&mdash;passed beneath the sceptre of
+the Sultan of Versailles; and all by virtue of a feeble human voice,
+inaudible at half a mile." Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle
+on this new domain of the French crown, which stretched from the
+Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to
+the farthest springs of the Missouri.</p>
+
+<p>Retracing his steps, he founded on the banks of the Illinois River a
+colony of French and Indians, to answer the double purpose of a bulwark
+against the Iroquois and a place of storage for the furs of all the
+western tribes; and he hoped in the following year to secure an outlet
+for this colony, and for all the trade of the valley of the Mississippi,
+by occupying the mouth of that river with a fort and another colony. The
+site of the colony was near the spot now occupied by the village of
+Utica, in the State of Illinois. Early in the following autumn he placed
+Tonty in charge of it, and made the best of his way to Quebec, whence he
+soon afterwards sailed for France. He had an interview with the King, to
+whom he unfolded his schemes. Louis, notwithstanding the machinations of
+La Salle's enemies, took a favourable view of the latter's enterprises,
+and in the month of July, 1684, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> find him setting sail from Rochelle
+with a fleet of four vessels and a small army of recruits, composed of
+soldiers, gentlemen, artisans and labourers. Their destination was not
+Canada, but the Gulf of Mexico; La Salle having obtained the royal
+authority for a vast scheme of trade and colonization on the
+Mississippi, to which was tacked on a wild and impracticable scheme of
+conquest of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. One of the vessels, laden
+with provisions and other necessaries for the projected colony, was
+captured by buccaneers. The other three, after calling at St. Domingo,
+entered the Mexican Gulf. La Salle, when at the mouth of the Mississippi
+nearly three years before, had taken the latitude, but for some reason
+or other had no clue to the longitude, and the consequence was that he
+now sailed more than four hundred miles too far west. He landed on the
+coast of Texas, and spent some time in exploration before he became
+convinced of his error. Meanwhile he was constantly quarrelling with
+Beaujeu, his naval commander, as well as with other members of the
+expedition. Add to this that he was repeatedly prostrated by attacks of
+fever, and in constant expectation of being attacked by the savages of
+the neighbourhood; and it will be confessed that his situation was not a
+very enviable one. To add to his perplexities, one of his vessels went
+aground, and a great part of the cargo was lost. About this time Beaujeu
+set out to return to France. He had accomplished his mission, and landed
+his passengers at what La Salle assured him to be one of the mouths of
+the Mississippi. His ship was in danger on this exposed and perilous
+coast, and he was anxious to find shelter. After some delay, La Salle
+erected a fort on Lavaca River, in which he placed the women and
+children and most of the men who formed part of the expedition, and with
+the rest of the men set out to renew his search for the mouth of the
+Mississippi. He set out from the fort&mdash;which he called Fort St.
+Louis&mdash;with fifty men, on the 31st of October, 1685, to find the mouth
+of "the fatal river"&mdash;by which name it had come to be known among the
+band of adventurers. Five months were spent in wanderings through the
+wilds of that region, during which the hardships and sufferings were
+such as to baffle description, but the object of their quest still
+seemed as remote as ever. At last, weary and dispirited, the survivors
+returned to Fort St. Louis, where La Salle fell dangerously ill, and for
+some time his life was despaired of. No sooner had he recovered than he
+determined to make his way by the Mississippi and the Illinois to
+Canada, whence he might bring succour to the colonists, and send a
+report of their condition to France. The attempt was beset with
+uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was first to be found, then
+followed through all the perilous monotony of its interminable windings
+to a goal which was to be but the starting point of a new and not less
+arduous journey. Twenty men, including La Salle's brother, the Abb&eacute;
+Cavelier, and Moranget, his nephew, were detailed to accompany him. On
+the 22nd of April, 1686, after mass and prayers in the chapel, they
+issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons, some with
+kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts for
+Indians. In this guise they held their way in silence across the
+prairie. They travelled north-easterly, and encountered a due share of
+adventures with wild beasts and Indian savages. They traversed a large
+extent of country, but the attempt to discover the mouth of the
+Mississippi proved wholly ineffectual. After several months La Salle and
+eight of his twenty men returned to Fort St. Louis. Of the rest, four
+had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an alligator;
+and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in
+attempting to regain the fort.</p>
+
+<p>The journey to Canada, however, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> clearly the only hope of the
+colonists, and on the 6th of January, 1687, the attempt to make it was
+renewed. The band of adventurers this time consisted of eighteen
+persons. At their head was La Salle himself. His brother and nephew,
+already mentioned, were also of the party. Of the others the only ones
+necessary to specify are Joutel, La Salle's trusty henchman, the second
+in command; Hiens, a German, formerly a pirate of the Spanish Main;
+Duhaut, a man of respectable birth and education, but a cruel and
+remorseless villain; and l'Arch&eacute;v&ecirc;que, his servant; Liotot, the surgeon
+of the expedition; Teissier, a pilot; Douay, a friar; and Nika, a
+Shawnee Indian, who was a devoted friend of La Salle's. They proceeded
+northward. The members of the party were incongruous, and did not agree
+one with another. Duhaut and Liotot were disappointed at the ruinous
+result of their enterprise. They had a quarrel with young Moranget.
+Already at Fort St. Louis Duhaut had intrigued against La Salle, against
+whom Liotot had also secretly sworn vengeance. On the 15th of March they
+encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on his
+preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and
+beans in a <i>ca&ccedil;he</i>. As provisions were falling short he sent a party
+from the camp to find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, Hiens the
+buccaneer, Teissier, l'Arch&eacute;v&ecirc;que, Nika the hunter, and La Salle's
+servant, Saget. They opened the <i>ca&ccedil;he</i>, and found the contents spoiled;
+but as they returned they saw buffalo, and Nika shot two of them. They
+now encamped on the spot, and sent the servant to inform La Salle, in
+order that he might send horses to bring in the meat. Accordingly, on
+the next day he directed Moranget and another, with the necessary
+horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' camp. When they arrived they
+found that Duhaut and his companions had already cut up the meat, and
+laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, and had also put by for themselves
+certain portions to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect right.
+Moranget fell into an unreasonable fit of rage, and seized the whole of
+the meat. This added fuel to the fire of Duhaut's old grudge against
+Moranget and his uncle. The surgeon also bore hatred against Moranget.
+The two took counsel apart with Hiens, Teissier, and l'Arch&eacute;v&ecirc;que, and
+it was resolved to kill Moranget, Nika and Saget. All the five were of
+one mind, except the pilot Teissier, who neither aided nor opposed the
+scheme. When night came on, the order of the guard was arranged; and the
+first hour was assigned to Moranget, the second to Saget, and the third
+to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood watch in turn. Duhaut and Hiens stood
+with their guns cocked, ready to shoot down any one of the victims who
+should resist. Saget, Nika and Moranget were ruthlessly butchered, and
+then it was resolved that La Salle should share their fate. La Salle was
+still at his camp, six miles distant. Next morning, having heard nothing
+of Moranget or the others, he set out to find them, accompanied by his
+Indian guide, and by Douay, the friar. "All the way," writes the friar,
+"he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and
+predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him
+from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America.
+Suddenly, I saw him overwhelmed with a profound sadness, for which he
+himself could not account. He was so much moved that I scarcely knew
+him." He soon recovered his usual calmness, and they walked on till they
+approached the camp of Duhaut, on the farther side of a small river.
+Looking about him, La Salle saw two eagles circling in the air, as if
+attracted by the carcasses of beasts or men. He fired his gun and his
+pistol as a summons. The shots reached the ears of the conspirators, who
+fired from their place of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> concealment, and La Salle, shot through the
+brain, sank lifeless on the ground. Douay stood terror-stricken. Duhaut
+called out to him that he had nothing to fear. The murderers came
+forward and gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great
+Bashaw! There thou liest!" exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base
+exultation over the unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they
+stripped it naked, dragged it into the bushes, and left it there a prey
+to the buzzards and the wolves. It is sad to think that such was the
+fate of the veritable Discoverer of the Great West.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus," says Mr. Parkman, "in the vigour of his manhood, at the age of
+forty-three, died Robert Cavelier de la Salle, 'one of the greatest
+men,' writes Tonty, 'of this age;' without question one of the most
+remarkable explorers whose names live in history. The enthusiasm of the
+disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the enthusiasm of La
+Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of the early Jesuit
+explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight-errant and the
+saint, but to the modern world of practical study and action. He was the
+hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but simply of a fixed idea and
+a determined purpose. It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not
+easy to hide from sight the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a
+throng of enemies, he stands, like the King of Israel, head and
+shoulders above them all. He was a tower of adamant, against whose
+impregnable front hardship and danger, the rage of man and of the
+elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, fatigue, famine and
+disease, delay, disappointment and deferred hope, emptied their quivers
+in vain. Never under the impenetrable mail of paladin or crusader beat a
+heart of more intrepid mettle than within the stoic panoply that armed
+the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the marvels of his patient
+fortitude, one must follow on his track through the vast scene of his
+interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles of forest,
+marsh and river, where again and again, in the bitterness of baffled
+striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onwards towards the goal which he
+was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in this
+masculine figure she sees the pioneer who guided her to the possession
+of her richest heritage."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RIGHT_REV_JAMES_W_WILLIAMS_DD" id="THE_RIGHT_REV_JAMES_W_WILLIAMS_DD"></a>THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>BISHOP OF QUEBEC.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Bishop Williams is a son of the late Rev. David Williams, who was for
+many years Rector of Banghurst, Hampshire, England. He was born at the
+town of Overton, Hampshire, in 1825, and his childhood was chiefly
+passed in that neighbourhood. He was intended for holy orders from his
+earliest years. In his boyhood he attended for some time at an
+educational establishment at Crewkerne, a town in the south-eastern part
+of Somersetshire, whence he passed to Pembroke College, Oxford. His
+collegiate course was not specially noteworthy, but was marked by
+considerable diligence. He graduated as B.A. in 1851, taking honours in
+classics. He in due course obtained his degrees of M.A. and D.D. He was
+admitted to Deacon's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Oxford, and (in 1856)
+to Priest's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. He for a short
+time held curacies respectively in Buckinghamshire and Somersetshire.
+His classical attainments were of more than average excellence, and
+seeing no prospect of immediate advancement in England, he in 1857 came
+over to Canada to assist in organizing a school in connection with
+Bishop's College, Lennoxville. Within a short time after his arrival he
+was appointed Rector of the College Grammar School, and soon afterwards
+succeeded to the Classical Professorship of the College, a position
+which he retained until his elevation to the Episcopacy.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the death of the late Right Rev. George Jehoshaphat Mountain,
+Bishop of Quebec, in 1863, the subject of this sketch was appointed his
+successor by the Synod; and on the 11th of June of that year he was
+consecrated at Quebec by the Most Reverend the Metropolitan, assisted by
+the Bishops of Toronto, Ontario, Huron and Vermont. His first Episcopal
+act was to advance three Deacons to the Priesthood.</p>
+
+<p>The See over which his jurisdiction extends was constituted in the year
+1793, and formerly comprised the whole of Upper and Lower Canada. Its
+extent has since been from time to time curtailed, and it is now
+confined to that part of the Province of Quebec extending from Three
+Rivers to the Straits of Belleisle and New Brunswick, on the shores of
+the St. Lawrence and all east of a line drawn from Three Rivers to Lake
+Memphremagog.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Williams is a plain and unaffected preacher, and a man of
+scholarly tastes. He makes no pretence to showy or splendid gifts of
+pulpit oratory, but is known as an energetic and industrious
+ecclesiastic, careful for the spiritual welfare of his diocese and
+clergy. Several of his lectures and sermons have been published, and
+have been highly commended by the religious press of Canada and the
+United States. Among them may be mentioned his Charge delivered to the
+Clergy of the Diocese of Quebec, at the Visitation held in Bishop's
+College, Lennoxville, in 1864; and a lecture on Self-Education,
+published at Quebec in 1865.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image8.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski, signed as C. S. Gzowski</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+
+<h2><a name="LIEUT_COL_CASIMIR_STANISLAUS_GZOWSKI" id="LIEUT_COL_CASIMIR_STANISLAUS_GZOWSKI"></a>LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>In compiling the various sketches which have appeared in the present
+series, the editor has frequently been compelled to encounter the
+difficulty of constructing a readable narrative out of very sparse and
+prosaic materials. A collection of this kind must necessarily include
+the lives of many professional and scientific men; and eminence in
+literature, in science, and in the learned professions, is commonly
+attained by means which&mdash;however interesting to those most immediately
+concerned&mdash;seem wonderfully commonplace to the general public, when
+reduced to plain, matter-of-fact narration. As a rule, stirring and
+romantic incidents are incompatible with a successful professional
+career, and in recounting the life of a learned divine, Chief Justice,
+or man of science, it is rarely necessary to deal with thrilling
+incidents or dramatic situations. The lives of such men are usually
+passed within a narrow and restricted groove, and the salient points may
+easily be comprised within a few lines. In the life of Colonel Gzowski,
+on the other hand, we have an instance of a remarkably successful
+professional career, combined with a chapter of vicissitude and
+adventure which, in the hands of a writer familiar with all the details,
+might very well form the groundwork of a sensation novel. His elasticity
+of spirits, strength of will, and vigour of constitution have supported
+him through an amount of labour, fatigue and suffering to which a more
+feeble mind and a more delicately-constructed frame must inevitably have
+succumbed long ago. Such a life as his commonly leaves very perceptible
+traces behind it. In his case no such traces are discernible. Neither in
+his visage, his gait, nor his manner, can the most observant eye detect
+any sign that his pathway has not always been strewn with roses. No one
+remarking his erect and firmly-knit figure, his jauntiness of step, and
+his keenness of glance, as he perambulates our streets, would readily
+believe that he is rapidly approaching his sixty-eighth birthday. Still
+less would it be supposed that he has passed through adventures enough
+for a knight-errant; that he has fought and bled in the fierce struggle
+for a nation's existence; that he has had his full share of the horrors
+of war; that he has languished in a patriot's prison; and that some of
+the best years of his life were passed in a hard struggle for existence
+in a foreign land. As we pass in review the alternating phases of his
+chequered career we seem to be contemplating a shifting panorama of the
+novelist's fancy, rather than a veracious chronicle of facts. The story
+of his life can be adequately narrated by no other pen than his own, and
+for many years past he has found more profitable employment for his
+talents than the inditing of autobiographical memoirs. In the absence of
+any such memoirs, be it ours to place on record such of the more salient
+points of his life as are readily ascertainable.</p>
+
+<p>He is descended from an ancient Polish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> family which was ennobled in the
+sixteenth century, and which for more than two hundred years thereafter
+continued to exercise an influence upon the national affairs. His
+father, Stanislaus, Count (Hrabia) Gzowski, was an officer of the
+Imperial Guard. He himself was born on the 5th of March, 1813, at St.
+Petersburg, the Russian capital, where his parents were then temporarily
+sojourning. His childhood was spent as the childhood of most Polish
+children of his station in life was passed in those days&mdash;viz., in
+preparation for a military career. At nine years of age he entered a
+military engineering college at Kremenetz, in the Province of Volhynia,
+where he remained until 1830, when he graduated as an engineer, received
+a commission, and entered the army of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian Empire was at this time on the verge of one of those
+periodical insurrections to which she had long been subject, more
+especially since the final partition and absorption of Poland, and the
+annihilation of the Polish monarchy. In 1825, Nicholas I. succeeded his
+elder brother Alexander on the throne of Russia. He had not long been
+installed there before he gave evidence of that aggressive policy which
+he pursued through life, and which nearly thirty years later involved
+him in the Crimean War. Some years before his accession, his elder
+brother Constantine, the heir-apparent to the throne, had been entrusted
+with the military government of Poland, and in 1822 had resigned his
+right to the Russian throne in Nicholas's favour. Upon the latter's
+accession he continued his elder brother in his sovereignty of Poland.
+Constantine's administration of affairs in that unhappy country was
+arbitrary and despotic in the extreme, and little calculated to mollify
+the heartburnings of the inhabitants. His oppressions were not confined
+to the serfs, but extended to the nobility. The result of his tyranny
+was the formation of secret societies with a view to striking one more
+blow for Polish liberty. A widespread insurrection, wherein most of the
+Polish officers in the Imperial army were involved, finally broke out in
+1830&mdash;the year in which the subject of this sketch received his
+commission. The success of the concurrent revolution in France, and the
+forced abdication of Charles X., inspired the insurgents with high
+hopes. In November of the year last mentioned the Grand Duke Constantine
+and his Russian adherents were driven out of Warsaw, the Polish capital.
+If the insurrectionary forces had been thoroughly organized, and if they
+had not been subjected to extraneous interference, there is reason for
+believing that their country might have been freed from the hateful
+domination of the Czar. Notwithstanding all the manifold disabilities
+under which they carried on the contest, they achieved a temporary
+success. After the expulsion of Constantine, a provisional government
+was formed under the presidency of Prince Czartoryski, and a series of
+desperate engagements was fought in which the patriots had in almost
+every instance a decided advantage. Their desperate courage and
+self-devotion, however, were of no permanent avail, for Prussia and
+Austria both lent their assistance to crush them, and towards the close
+of 1831 Warsaw was recaptured by the allied forces under Count
+Paskevitch, who was forthwith installed as viceroy of Poland. The
+crushing of the insurrection was of course marked by merciless severity
+and cruelty. In 1832 Poland was declared to be an integral part of the
+Russian Empire, and all the important prisoners were either put to
+death, banished to Siberia, or compelled to endure the horrors of a
+Russian prison.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the whole of this fruitless insurrection Casimir Stanislaus
+Gzowski played a conspicuous part. He cast in his lot with his
+compatriots from the beginning; was present at the expulsion of
+Constantine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> from Warsaw, in November, 1830, and was actively engaged in
+numerous important conflicts that ensued. He was wounded, and several
+times narrowly escaped capture. We have no means of closely following
+him through the hazardous exploits of that dark and sanguinary period.
+Persons who are familiar with the history of Polish insurrections will
+be at no loss to conjecture the "hair-breadth 'scapes, and moving
+accidents by flood and field," which he encountered in that desperate
+struggle for a nation's freedom. After the battle of Boremel, General
+Dwernicki's division, to which he was attached, retreated into Austrian
+territory, where the troops laid down their arms and became prisoners.
+The rank and file were permitted to depart whithersoever they would, but
+the officers, to the number of about six hundred, were placed in
+durance, and quartered in several fortified stations. There they
+languished for several months, when, by an arrangement entered into
+between the governments of Russia and Austria, they were shipped off as
+exiles to the United States.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Gzowski, with his fellow-exiles, landed at New York in the
+summer of 1833, he had no knowledge whatever of the English language.
+When the pilot came on board at Sandy Hook, and saluted the captain of
+the vessel, he heard that language spoken for the first time. Like most
+members of the Polish and Russian aristocracy, he was an accomplished
+linguist, and was familiar with many of the continental languages; but
+it was a part of the Russian policy in those days to exclude English
+books from the public schools, and to prevent by every conceivable means
+the spread of English ideas among the people. During his course of study
+at the military college at Kremenetz, one of the Professors had
+exhibited an English book to him as a sort of outlandish curiosity. He
+now found himself in a strange land, without means, without any friends
+except his fellow-exiles&mdash;who were as helpless in that respect as
+himself&mdash;and without any prospect of obtaining employment. He possessed
+qualifications, however, which, as the event proved, were of more value
+than mere worldly wealth. He had been a diligent student, and had
+acquired what must have been, for a youth of twenty years, a thorough
+knowledge of engineering. He was, as has been remarked, a good linguist,
+and had not merely a grammatical, but a practical knowledge of the
+French, German and Italian languages. Better than all these, he was
+endowed with an iron constitution, which even the rigours of an Austrian
+prison had not been able to injure, and a strength of will which would
+not admit the possibility of failure. Some idea of his resolution may be
+formed from the fact that, when he found that his want of knowledge of
+English prevented him from following the engineering profession with
+advantage, he determined to study law as a means of acquiring a mastery
+of the English tongue. After subsisting for some months in New York by
+giving lessons in French and German, he betook himself to Pittsfield,
+Massachusetts, where he entered the office of the late Mr. Parker L.
+Hall, an eminent lawyer of that town, and a gentleman of high social
+position. The facility displayed by the natives of Poland and Russia in
+acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages is well known, but the
+achievements of Mr. Gzowski at this time seem almost phenomenal. It must
+be borne in mind that while he was studying law in a tongue which was
+foreign to him, he was compelled to support himself by outside
+employment. He obtained his livelihood by teaching modern languages,
+drawing, and fencing, in two of the local academies. He worked early and
+late, and was at first obliged to study the commentaries of Blackstone
+and Kent through the medium of a dictionary. In nothing did he appear
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> greater advantage than in his invariable readiness to adapt his
+mind, without useless repining, to the circumstances in which he found
+himself. His indomitable industry, natural ability, and fine social
+qualities, combined with his misfortunes to make him a marked man in
+Pittsfield society. He gained many warm friends, but was always wise
+enough to remember that his success in life must mainly depend upon his
+own exertions. In the month of February, 1837, when he had been studying
+his profession about three years, he passed a successful examination,
+and was only prevented from being admitted to practice by his not having
+become a naturalized citizen of the United States. A knowledge of the
+legal profession, however, was with him merely a means to an end. He had
+no intention of permanently devoting himself to legal practice, and had
+always contemplated returning to his profession of an engineer. He had
+by this time acquired a competent knowledge of the English language, and
+had begun to look about him for some suitable field for his exertions.
+The development of the coal regions of Pennsylvania was attracting a
+good deal of attention at this time, and it occurred to him that he
+might not improbably find employment there. A visit to that State tended
+to confirm his views, and in November Term, 1837, having submitted the
+necessary proofs, and taken the oath of allegiance, he was duly admitted
+as a citizen of the United States, before the Prothonotary of the Court
+of Common Pleas, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had brought with him
+from Pittsfield numerous letters of introduction to persons of high
+social position and influence, all bearing testimony to his
+unimpeachable character and wide attainments. The only obstacle to his
+admission to practice having been removed, he was enrolled as an
+advocate at the Bar of the Supreme Court, and for a short time acted as
+an advocate in Pennsylvania. This, however, was not the line of action
+for which he considered himself best qualified, nor did the prospect
+held out to him satisfy his ambition. He soon obtained employment as an
+engineer in connection with the great canals and public works, and
+abandoned the law as a profession. He became interested in several
+contracts, which were faithfully and skilfully carried out; and wherever
+he went he won the reputation of a delightful companion and a thoroughly
+honourable man.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1841 the project of widening and deepening the Welland Canal
+began to be discussed with some vehemence in Upper Canada. With a view
+to securing a contract, Mr. Gzowski came over from Erie, Pennsylvania
+(where he then resided), to Toronto, and for the first time was brought
+into contact with some of the leading public men of Canada. The
+Government was then administered by Sir Charles Bagot, a gentleman whose
+infirm state of health did not prevent him from taking a warm interest
+in the public improvements of the country. Sir Charles formed a high
+opinion of Mr. Gzowski's talents, and sanctioned his appointment to an
+office in connection with the Department of Public Works. This
+appointment having been accepted by Mr. Gzowski, he bade adieu to his
+many friends in the United States, and took up his abode in Upper
+Canada.</p>
+
+<p>During the next six years Mr. Gzowski's life was entirely occupied by
+his duties in connection with the Department of Public Works. It is
+manifestly out of the question to give even an epitome of the numberless
+important enterprises conducted by him during this, the busiest period
+of his active life. His reports of the works in connection with
+harbours, bridges and highways alone occupy a considerable portion of a
+large folio volume. It will be sufficient to say that every important
+provincial improvement came under his supervision, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> nearly
+every county in Upper Canada bears upon its surface the impress of his
+great industry and engineering skill. In 1846 he obtained naturalization
+and became a British subject. Soon after the accession to power of the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, in 1848, his services in an official
+capacity were brought to a close, and he began to enter upon large
+engineering enterprises on his own account. Towards the end of the year
+1848 he published a report on the mines of the Upper Canada Mining
+Company on Lake Huron. But his mind was occupied by more important
+schemes. The railway era set in. The Railroad Guarantee Act, authorizing
+Government grants to private companies undertaking the construction of
+railways, having been passed in 1849, the public began to hear of
+various railway projects of greater or lesser importance. The first
+great enterprise of this sort with which Mr. Gzowski connected himself
+was the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company, from Montreal to
+Island Pond, which has since been amalgamated with the Grand Trunk. Mr.
+Gzowski was appointed Chief Engineer of this undertaking, made a survey
+of the greater portion of the line, and superintended the actual
+construction. When the line became merged in the Grand Trunk he resigned
+his position of Chief Engineer, and received the most gratifying written
+testimonials from the Board of Directors as to his able administration
+of the important duties which had fallen to his share. Having formed a
+partnership with the present Sir Alexander T. Galt, the late Hon. Luther
+H. Holton, and the Hon. D. L. Macpherson, Mr. Gzowski for some years
+devoted himself entirely to the work of railway construction. On the
+24th of March, 1853, the firm of Gzowski &amp; Co. obtained the contract for
+the construction of the line from Toronto westward to Sarnia. This great
+work was prosecuted to a successful conclusion, and was attended with
+most gratifying pecuniary results to the contractors. The firm was then
+dissolved, and has since consisted of Messrs. Gzowski and Macpherson
+only, who continued to carry on large operations in the way of railway
+construction. Among other railway works constructed by the firm were the
+line from Port Huron to Detroit, in the State of Michigan, and the line
+from London to St. Mary's, in this Province. In connection with their
+own enterprises, and for the purpose of supplying railway companies with
+iron rails and materials used in the construction of railways, Messrs.
+Gzowski &amp; Macpherson in 1857 established the Toronto Rolling Mills,
+which were carried on successfully for about twelve years. Steel rails
+having largely superseded the use of iron ones, the necessity for
+maintaining the establishment ceased to exist, and the works were closed
+up in 1869.</p>
+
+<p>The excitement produced on two continents in 1861 by the Trent affair,
+and the threatened rupture of amicable relations between Great Britain
+and the United States, led Mr. Gzowski to reflect seriously on the
+defenceless condition of Canada. In the event of hostilities between the
+two nations, this country would of course be the first point of attack;
+and, in the absence of any efficient means of defence, it would
+manifestly be impossible to maintain a frontier extending over thousands
+of miles. It occurred to Mr. Gzowski that the establishment of a large
+arsenal in Canadian territory, where every description of armament and
+ammunition might be manufactured or repaired, would be a very wise
+precaution. He counted the cost, prepared elaborate plans, and even
+fixed upon what he believed to be the most appropriate site. Full of
+this scheme, he proceeded to England, where he submitted it to the War
+Secretary and other prominent members of the Imperial Government. Its
+liberality created much surprise among all to whom it was broached,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> for
+Mr. Gzowski proposed to provide capital for the construction and
+equipment of the entire establishment, subject to certain very
+reasonable stipulations. The project was taken into careful
+consideration by the Government, and for some time it seemed not
+unlikely to be carried out. It was finally concluded, however, that for
+certain diplomatic reasons, it would be undesirable to proceed with it;
+but full justice was done to Mr. Gzowski's unbounded liberality and
+public spirit, and he was assured that the Government were not
+insensible to the munificence of his proposal. From this time forward he
+began to interest himself in military matters. He took a very active
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> as described in Colonel Gzowski's
+volume.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THEODORE_HARDING_RAND_AM_DCL" id="THEODORE_HARDING_RAND_AM_DCL"></a>THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;the fathers and mothers of coming
+generations&mdash;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."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> 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.&mdash;now Sir Charles&mdash;Tupper, belongs in great measure the credit of
+having brought about a more satisfactory state of things. It was by his
+Ministry that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> the Educational Act of 1864 was passed, and he
+himself, though well aware that he seriously risked his popularity by
+promoting it&mdash;for it introduced direct taxation&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image9.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Theodore H. Rand, signed as Theodore H. Rand</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p>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 <i>Journal of Education</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_MATTHEW_CROOKS_CAMERON" id="THE_HON_MATTHEW_CROOKS_CAMERON"></a>THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;now Adelaide and Jarvis Streets&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> 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 &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;more than all&mdash;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&mdash;success.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;and afterwards in
+Brantford&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.&mdash;now Dr.&mdash;Daniel
+McMichael was subsequently admitted, and the firm of Messrs. Cayley,
+Cameron &amp; McMichael long had a business second to that of no firm in the
+Province. The partnership subsequently underwent various modifications,
+but its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> members have always maintained its position as one of the
+leading legal firms in Toronto.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lection 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 pre&euml;minence 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 Puisn&eacute;
+Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. As a Judge, he displays the same
+characteristics by which he was distinguished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_SIR_LOUIS_H_LAFONTAINE_BART" id="THE_HON_SIR_LOUIS_H_LAFONTAINE_BART"></a>THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image10.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Louis H. Lafontaine, signed as L. H. Lafontaine </span></h5>
+</div>
+
+<p>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 Ad&egrave;le, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> 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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>nolle prosequi</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry resigned office in November, 1843,
+in consequence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> 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<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="JOHN_CHRISTIAN_SCHULTZ_MD" id="JOHN_CHRISTIAN_SCHULTZ_MD"></a>JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Nor'-Wester</i>, 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 <i>Nor'-Wester</i> to Dr. Walter Robert Bown, by
+whom the paper was conducted at the time of the outbreak to be presently
+referred to.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> 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 <i>terra
+firma</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> 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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> 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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_GEORGE_WILLIAM_BURTON" id="THE_HON_GEORGE_WILLIAM_BURTON"></a>THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>The life of an industrious lawyer, though interesting to himself and his
+clients, is uneventful, and there is not much to be said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+<i>Smiles vs. Belford et al.</i>, 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LORD_DORCHESTER" id="LORD_DORCHESTER"></a>LORD DORCHESTER.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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."</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>regime</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;stablish. 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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> 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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> 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&mdash;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 Chaudi&egrave;re. 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 co&ouml;peration 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> 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 co&ouml;perate 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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."</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;a title still
+borne by his descendant, the fourth Baron. During the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> 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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_PEARCE_HOWLAND" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_PEARCE_HOWLAND"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>C.B., K.C.M.G.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Among the hundred passengers who landed from the <i>Mayflower</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i>
+sterling&mdash;equal, in round numbers, to about $1.50. From Quebec, the rate
+was 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> 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<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> with the Order of the
+Companionship of the Bath, on the 1st of July, 1867.</p>
+
+<p>There was another conference which Mr. Howland attended in 1867, and one
+of much political significance&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>ad interim</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; Co. Sir William's second wife, whom he married in
+1866, was the widow of the late Captain Hunt, of Toronto.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_MOST_REV_MICHAEL_HANNAN_DD" id="THE_MOST_REV_MICHAEL_HANNAN_DD"></a>THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF HALIFAX.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image11.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Michael Hannan, signed as M. Hannan, Aly. of Halifax</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="GEORGE_PAXTON_YOUNG_MA" id="GEORGE_PAXTON_YOUNG_MA"></a>GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;the "Christopher North" of <i>Blackwood's
+Magazine</i>&mdash;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&mdash;departments which are now in charge of
+Principal Caven and Professor Gregg.</p>
+
+<p>During his Professorship in Knox College, Professor Young contributed
+some remarkable papers on philosophical subjects to the pages of the
+<i>Canadian Journal</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> 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 <i>Journal</i>. 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 <i>Home and Foreign Record</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_TELESPHORE_FOURNIER" id="THE_HON_TELESPHORE_FOURNIER"></a>THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Judge Fournier is the son of William Fournier, of B&eacute;cancour, in the
+Province of Quebec. He was born at St. Fran&ccedil;ois, Rivi&egrave;re du Sud,
+Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a
+pupil of the Abb&eacute; 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 <i>Le National</i>, 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
+Puisn&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_OSGOODE" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_OSGOODE"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+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 &pound;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&mdash;a mansion in the West End of London&mdash;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:&mdash;"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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_MORRIS" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_MORRIS"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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
+&pound;11,000 as interest on the daily deposits of public money&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_THOMAS_DARCY_MCGEE" id="THE_HON_THOMAS_DARCY_MCGEE"></a>THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY McGEE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image12.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Thomas Darcy McGee, signed as T. D. McGee</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+<p>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."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> 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
+<i>Pilot</i>, 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 <i>Pilot</i> 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 <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, 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 <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, 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 <i>Journal</i> 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 <i>Journal</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Dillon, had several
+years before this time established the <i>Nation</i>, at Dublin. The <i>Nation</i>
+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 <i>Freeman's Journal</i> 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 <i>Nation</i>,
+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.'"</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> 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&mdash;whither, by the clemency of the
+Government which he had sought to subvert, he had been permitted to
+return&mdash;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."</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>New York
+Nation</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> 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 <i>Nation</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>American Celt</i>,
+a paper which was of precisely the same cast as the defunct <i>New York
+Nation</i> 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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> 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 <i>Celt</i>, 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 <i>Celt</i> 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&mdash;"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>New Era</i>. 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 <i>New Era</i>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> 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&mdash;be it
+said&mdash;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 Tach&eacute;-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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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,"&mdash;says the author of "The Irishman in
+Canada,"&mdash;"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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> 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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image13.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">David Allison, signed as David Allison</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="DAVID_ALLISON_MA_LLD" id="DAVID_ALLISON_MA_LLD"></a>DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>His preliminary education was received at the Provincial Academy at
+Halifax&mdash;since re-organized and developed into Dalhousie College&mdash;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&mdash;Howe,
+Johnston, Young, Uniacke&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>The work of a classical teacher, especially in a country college, does
+not attract much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_THOMAS_GALT" id="THE_HON_THOMAS_GALT"></a>THE HON. THOMAS GALT.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.&mdash;afterwards the Hon. Chief Justice&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> engaged in practice.
+He became solicitor for numerous corporations and public companies, and
+had always a very large business.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+<i>Regina</i> vs. <i>Brogden</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Galt was appointed to his present position, that of a Puisn&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RIGHT_REV_WILLIAM_BENNETT_BOND" id="THE_RIGHT_REV_WILLIAM_BENNETT_BOND"></a>THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>M.A., LL.D., BISHOP OF MONTREAL.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image14.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">William Bennett Bond, signed as W. B. Montreal</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_LEMUEL_ALLAN_WILMOT_DCL" id="THE_HON_LEMUEL_ALLAN_WILMOT_DCL"></a>THE HON. LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, D.C.L.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image15.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Lemuel Allan Wilmot, signed as L. A. Wilmot</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p>The incidents of his early boyhood, so far as known to the writer of
+these pages, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> 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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> 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 <i>minutiae</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+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&mdash;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."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&auml;cted 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>North American Review</i>, 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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of January, 1851, he retired from the Administration, and
+accepted a seat on the Judicial Bench, as a Puisn&eacute; 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> 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 Puisn&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;and that in no mere
+metaphorical sense&mdash;as the Word of God.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_HENRY_ELZEAR_TASCHEREAU" id="THE_HON_HENRY_ELZEAR_TASCHEREAU"></a>THE HON. HENRY ELZ&Eacute;AR TASCHEREAU.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Judge Taschereau is the eldest son of the late Pierre Elz&eacute;ar 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 H&eacute;n&eacute;dine, 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 Puisn&eacute; Judge of the
+Supreme Court of the Dominion upon its formation in 1875. He was
+superannuated about two years ago.</p>
+
+<p>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 Puisn&eacute; Judge
+of the Superior Court for the Province of Quebec, and held that position
+until his forty-second birthday&mdash;the 7th of October, 1878&mdash;when he was
+elevated to his present position&mdash;that of a Puisn&eacute; Judge of the Supreme
+Court of the Dominion.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Commentaries, Precedents of Indictments, &amp;c., &amp;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 Proc&eacute;dure
+Civile du Bas Canada, with Annotations," which has also received high
+commendation from legal critics.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/image16.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Alfred Gilpin Jones, signed as A. G. Jones</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_ALFRED_GILPIN_JONES" id="THE_HON_ALFRED_GILPIN_JONES"></a>THE HON. ALFRED GILPIN JONES.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+&amp; Sons, West India commission merchants. He subsequently founded the
+firm of Messrs. A. G. Jones &amp; Co.&mdash;engaged in the same trade&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> 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 re&euml;lection. 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.&mdash;now Sir Charles&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_JOHN_NORQUAY" id="THE_HON_JOHN_NORQUAY"></a>THE HON. JOHN NORQUAY,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>PREMIER OF THE PROVINCE OF MANITOBA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> the Governor
+and Council of the District of Keewatin.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;that of Minister of
+Agriculture&mdash;was accordingly offered to the Hon. Maxime Goulet, member
+for La V&eacute;randrye, who accepted office, and returned to his constituents
+for re&euml;lection, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_SIR_RICHARD_JOHN_CARTWRIGHT" id="THE_HON_SIR_RICHARD_JOHN_CARTWRIGHT"></a>THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> 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 <i>regime</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image17.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Richard John Cartwright, signed as R. J. Cartwright</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<p>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
+re&euml;lection. 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image18.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Theodore Robitaille, signed as Theodore Robitaille</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_THEODORE_ROBITAILLE" id="THE_HON_THEODORE_ROBITAILLE"></a>THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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. Th&eacute;r&egrave;se, 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&mdash;at the general election
+of 1861&mdash;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 re&euml;lected 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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>Upon Mr. Letellier's dismissal from office, as related in previous
+sketches, Dr. Robitaille<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>On the 30th of September, 1879, Lieutenant-Governor Robitaille paid a
+visit to the Seminary of Ste. Th&eacute;r&egrave;se, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_SAMUEL_HUME_BLAKE" id="THE_HON_SAMUEL_HUME_BLAKE"></a>THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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. &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;who was then absent in Europe for the
+benefit of his health&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Campbell</i> vs.
+<i>Campbell</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image19.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Alexandre Antonin Tache, signed as Aly. Arch. of St. Boniface</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_MOST_REV_ALEXANDRE_ANTONIN_TACHE" id="THE_MOST_REV_ALEXANDRE_ANTONIN_TACHE"></a>THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACH&Eacute;,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Archbishop Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute;, 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 <i>regime</i>. 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 Tach&eacute;, 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 Tach&eacute;, a well-known
+Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the
+Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Tach&eacute;, Sheriff of St.
+Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Tach&eacute;, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the
+subject of the present sketch.</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop was born at Rivi&egrave;re 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 Tach&eacute;, after the death of her husband, repaired with her
+young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la
+Broquerie. Madame Tach&eacute; 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>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
+Tach&eacute;. 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&mdash;having moreover
+been sheltered by the same roof under which Marquette had registered the
+first baptism administered in the locality<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>&mdash;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&mdash;<i>Pauperes evangelizantur</i>. This decision awakened a flame
+in the heart of the novice Tach&eacute;. 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 Tach&eacute; was restored to health, and was
+spared for twenty-six years to witness the elevation and popularity to
+which her beloved son was destined.</p>
+
+<p>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 "<i>Vingt Ann&eacute;es de Missions</i>," published some years ago,
+vividly describes his feelings on the occasion:&mdash;"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> 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."</p>
+
+<p>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 Tach&eacute; 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&mdash;the illustrious Varennes de la
+Verandrye. Shortly after his ordination Father Tach&eacute; was appointed to
+accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle &agrave; 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 &agrave; 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 Tach&eacute;'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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>While Father Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute;, 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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute;, on taking his departure for Isle &agrave;
+la Crosse, knelt to ask the blessing of Monseigneur Provencher. The
+venerable prelate gave expression on that occasion to the following
+prophetic words:&mdash;"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."</p>
+
+<p>Father Tach&eacute;'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 &agrave; 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:&mdash;"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&mdash;my 'valet de chambre' is also a bishop&mdash;my cook himself
+is sometimes a bishop. The illustrious <i>employ&eacute;s</i> have countless
+defects,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> 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 <i>en route</i>, 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 <i>Benedicite
+omnia opera</i> 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 Tach&eacute;, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> 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 Tach&eacute; 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
+&agrave; 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 Tach&eacute; 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:&mdash;"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:&mdash;"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?"</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> 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:&mdash;"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."</p>
+
+<p>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 Tach&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>en route</i>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Tach&eacute; 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&mdash;"the dark crime of the rebellion"&mdash;had been
+committed. Bishop Tach&eacute;, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> 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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute;. 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.</p>
+
+<p>On the 22nd of September, 1871, Bishop Tach&eacute; was appointed Archbishop
+and Metropolitan of a new ecclesiastical province&mdash;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 Tach&eacute;'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
+Tach&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>In 1875 Archbishop Tach&eacute; 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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> 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 Tach&eacute;, 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 Tach&eacute; 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:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Monseigneur et Messieurs</span>,&mdash;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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute;, of whom he says:&mdash;"Of Bishop Tach&eacute;,
+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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+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.'"</p>
+
+<p>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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute; 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 Tach&eacute; 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&mdash;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. Fran&ccedil;ois 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 Tach&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image20.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">James Cox Aikins, signed as J. C. Aikins</span></h5>
+</div><br />
+
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_JAMES_COX_AIKINS" id="THE_HON_JAMES_COX_AIKINS"></a>THE HON. JAMES COX AIKINS.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_FELIX_GEOFFRION_NP_PC" id="THE_HON_FELIX_GEOFFRION_NP_PC"></a>THE HON. FELIX GEOFFRION, N.P., P.C.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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 Verch&egrave;res.
+In the latter year he was elected member of the House of Assembly for
+that county&mdash;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&mdash;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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>In October, 1856, he married Miss Almaide Dansereau, of Verch&egrave;res, the
+youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Dansereau.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_JOHN_YOUNG" id="THE_HON_JOHN_YOUNG"></a>THE HON. JOHN YOUNG.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;"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 pre&euml;minence 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.</p>
+
+<p>He was born at the seaport town of Ayr,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> 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 &amp; 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 &amp;
+Co., and took charge of the Quebec branch of the business, which was
+carried on under the style of Torrance &amp; 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 &amp; Young having been dissolved in
+1837.</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>The Canadian Economist</i>, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> 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 <i>Ireland</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> 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. Tach&eacute; 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 <i>vi&acirc;</i> 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 &pound;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Anglo
+Saxon</i>, of the Allan Line, on her passage from Liverpool to Quebec; and
+once during a passage on the Inman steamer <i>City of New York</i>, bound for
+Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>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
+<i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i>.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RIGHT_REV_HIBBERT_BINNEY_DD" id="THE_RIGHT_REV_HIBBERT_BINNEY_DD"></a>THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D.,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>BISHOP OF NOVA SCOTIA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>In 1855 Bishop Binney married Miss Mary Bliss, a daughter of the Hon. W.
+B. Bliss, a Puisn&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image21.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">Hibert Binney, signed as H. Nova Scotia</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_CHRISTOPHER_FINLAY_FRASER" id="THE_HON_CHRISTOPHER_FINLAY_FRASER"></a>THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Recorder</i>. 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&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> of patronage
+to which they were entitled by reason of their numbers and influence.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lection 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 re&euml;lection after accepting office, and was
+re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>He was re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>In 1876 Mr. Fraser was created a Queen's Counsel. His wife was formerly
+Miss Lafayette, of Brockville.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SANDFORD_FLEMING_CE_CMG" id="SANDFORD_FLEMING_CE_CMG"></a>SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;in 1852&mdash;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&mdash;the Northern Railway Company) about eleven years. During much of
+this period he also did a good deal of professional work in connection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+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&mdash;the natal day of the Dominion&mdash;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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Canadian Journal</i> 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&deg; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3rd of January, 1855, he married Miss Ann Jean Hall, daughter of
+the Sheriff of the county of Peterboro'.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_DAVID_LEWIS_MACPHERSON" id="THE_HON_DAVID_LEWIS_MACPHERSON"></a>THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>SPEAKER OF THE SENATE.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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 &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>In conjunction with Mr. Gzowski, Mr. Macpherson has since engaged in the
+construction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
+<img src="images/image22.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">David Lewis Macpherson, signed as D. L. Macpherson</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+<p>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&mdash;now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of
+British Columbia&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+and for some time the cordial relations between him and his old
+political associates were interrupted. After a brief interval, however,
+harmony was re&euml;stablished 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>The
+Accommodation</i>, 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="JAMES_YOUNG" id="JAMES_YOUNG"></a>JAMES YOUNG.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Reformer</i>, which he thenceforward
+conducted for about ten years. Under his management this paper&mdash;the
+politics whereof are sufficiently indicated by its name&mdash;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
+<i>Reformer</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>During his connection with the <i>Reformer</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> 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 <i>Trade Review</i>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lected 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>For many years Mr. Young's services have been in request as a writer and
+public speaker. He has contributed occasionally to the <i>Canadian
+Monthly</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of February, 1858, Mr. Young married Miss Margaret McNaught,
+daughter of Mr. John McNaught, of Brantford.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_PETER_PERRY" id="THE_HON_PETER_PERRY"></a>THE HON. PETER PERRY.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 Quint&eacute;. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> 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 re&euml;nter 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_ADAM_WILSON" id="THE_HON_ADAM_WILSON"></a>THE HON. ADAM WILSON.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> of West
+Toronto. Upon the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte
+Administration, in May, 1862, he accepted office therein as
+Solicitor-General, and was re&euml;lected 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 Puisn&eacute;
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Patriot</i>, a once well-known
+newspaper published in Toronto.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_SIR_ALEXANDER_CAMPBELL" id="THE_HON_SIR_ALEXANDER_CAMPBELL"></a>THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.&mdash;now the Hon. Sir&mdash;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 &amp; 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> 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. Tach&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 Tach&eacute;-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for
+although Sir E. P. Tach&eacute; 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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> 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&mdash;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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_LEVI_RUGGLES_CHURCH" id="THE_HON_LEVI_RUGGLES_CHURCH"></a>THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> 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 &amp; Kenney, and a Governor of the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons in the Lower Province.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lection, 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHARLES_FOURTH_DUKE_OF_RICHMOND" id="CHARLES_FOURTH_DUKE_OF_RICHMOND"></a>CHARLES, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 Ren&eacute;e 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.&mdash;afterwards the Right Honourable Sir Robert&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &pound;15,000,
+including an item of &pound;8,000 for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> 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 <i>farther from water</i>. 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&mdash;which was the 28th&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_CHARLES_A_P_PELLETIER_CMG" id="THE_HON_CHARLES_A_P_PELLETIER_CMG"></a>THE HON. CHARLES A. P. PELLETIER, C.M.G.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Pelletier was born on the 22nd of January, 1837, at Rivi&egrave;re 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 Pocati&egrave;re, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 Terri&egrave;re, second daughter of the late Hon. Marc Paschal de
+Sales La Terri&egrave;re, M.D., who sat for many years in the Parliament of
+Lower Canada, and afterwards in that of the United Provinces.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pelletier was for some time Syndie of the Quebec Bar. The <i>Soci&eacute;t&eacute;
+St. Jean Baptiste de Quebec</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> been considered a decisive victory.
+At the general election in 1872 Mr. Pelletier again defeated the
+Conservative candidate, Mr.&mdash;now Judge&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_WILLIAM_PROUDFOOT" id="THE_HON_WILLIAM_PROUDFOOT"></a>THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;the
+Rev. Alexander Mackenzie&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>The third son, the subject of this sketch, like his elder brothers, was
+educated at home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> 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 &amp; 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 &amp;
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_JOHN_JOSEPH_CALDWELL_ABBOTT" id="THE_HON_JOHN_JOSEPH_CALDWELL_ABBOTT"></a>THE HON. JOHN JOSEPH CALDWELL ABBOTT,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 re&euml;lected 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>In 1849 he married Miss Mary Bethune, daughter of the Very Reverend J.
+Bethune, D.D., late Dean of Montreal.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HON_JOHN_BEVERLEY_ROBINSON" id="THE_HON_JOHN_BEVERLEY_ROBINSON"></a>THE HON. JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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 &amp; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HIS_GRACE_F_X_DE_LAVAL_MONTMORENCY" id="HIS_GRACE_F_X_DE_LAVAL_MONTMORENCY"></a>HIS GRACE F. X. DE LAVAL-MONTMORENCY.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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 Berni&egrave;res, 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 R&eacute;collets 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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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 M&eacute;zy, 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.</p>
+
+<p>M&eacute;zy, 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. M&eacute;zy 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. M&eacute;zy 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.
+M&eacute;zy 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&mdash;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. M&eacute;zy 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. M&eacute;zy
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> 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 Beaupr&eacute;, all of immense value.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Laval continued to dispute from time to time with the Home Government
+concerning the system of movable cur&eacute;s 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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="JAMES_ROBERT_GOWAN" id="JAMES_ROBERT_GOWAN"></a>JAMES ROBERT GOWAN,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>JUDGE OF THE JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF SIMCOE.</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;">
+<img src="images/image23.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+<h5><span class="smcap">James Robert Gowan, signed as Jas. Robt. Gowan</span></h5>
+</div>
+
+<p>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 <i>eclat</i> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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;"&mdash;by which he
+meant the County Courts and Quarter Sessions&mdash;"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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> 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 Puisn&eacute; 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 <i>Upper Canada Law
+Journal</i>, 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ROBERT_FLEMING_GOURLAY" id="ROBERT_FLEMING_GOURLAY"></a>ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY,</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+<h3><i>THE "BANISHED BRITON."</i></h3>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Gourlay&mdash;who when past middle life assumed the name of Robert
+Fleming Gourlay&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+happiness of his poorer neighbours. His real estates were worth at least
+&pound;100,000 sterling, and he had a floating capital of about &pound;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> 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, &amp;c. &amp;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> 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&mdash;at any rate in his declining
+years&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime five children&mdash;a son and four daughters&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.&mdash;afterwards Bishop&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> 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."</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;a dispute
+with the Legislative Council&mdash;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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+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&mdash;all sink
+beneath the dignity of men&mdash;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&mdash;the descendants of those who sacrificed their all in
+America in behalf of British rule&mdash;men whose names were ordered on
+record for their virtuous adherence to your Royal Father&mdash;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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> 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,"&mdash;so ran the sentence&mdash;"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&mdash;the
+special guardian of popular rights&mdash;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.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> 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.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> "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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> 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
+<i>Spectator</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> 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
+<i>protest</i>, 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."</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> 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
+re&euml;stablishment 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 <i>'gone a digging'</i> 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 <i>speaking out</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> 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&mdash;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&mdash;who of course turned out to be Mr. Gourlay&mdash;was
+taken into custody for a breach of privilege, deprived of his whip, and
+handed over to the Sergeant-at-Arms. The <i>Courier</i> 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."</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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."</p>
+
+<p>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
+part in Edinburgh. It might well have been supposed that all the trials
+and sufferings he had undergone would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> taught him a lesson, and
+that he would not again be so ill-advised as to recklessly bring trouble
+upon himself by interfering in public affairs which did not specially
+concern him. But his foible for searching out abuses was ineradicable
+and ingrained in his constitution. He could not behold injustice without
+showing his teeth, and his bumptiousness was destined to bring further
+suffering down upon his head. When he was not far from his seventieth
+year some land in or near Edinburgh which had theretofore been
+unenclosed, and which, in his opinion, should have continued unenclosed,
+was in some way or other appropriated, and the public were debarred from
+its use. We are not in possession of sufficient details to go into
+particulars. Mr. Gourlay denounced the enclosure as an act of
+high-handed tyranny, and harangued the common people on the subject
+until he had worked them up into a state of frenzy. Something resembling
+a riot was the result, in which he, while attempting to preserve the
+peace, was thrown down, and run over by a carriage. One of his legs was
+broken; a serious accident for a man of his years. The fracture refused
+to knit. He was confined to his bed for many months, and remained a
+cripple throughout the rest of his life.</p>
+
+<p>His case was again brought before the Canadian Assembly during Lord
+Elgin's Administration of affairs in this country, but nothing final was
+accomplished on his behalf. In 1857 he once more came out to Canada in
+person, and remained several years. He owned some property in the
+township of Dereham, in the county of Oxford, and took up his abode upon
+it. At the next general election he announced himself as a candidate for
+the constituency, and put forth a printed statement of his political
+views. He received, we believe, several votes, but of course his
+candidature never assumed a serious aspect. In 1858 the late Mr. Brown,
+Mr. M. H. Foley, and the present Chief Justice Dorion took up his cause
+in the Assembly, and procured permission for him to address the House in
+person. On the 2nd of June he made his appearance at the Bar, and
+liberated his mind by a speech in which he commented rather incoherently
+on his banishment and subsequent life, and concluded by handing in
+certificates from Dr. Chalmers and other eminent men in Scotland as to
+his personal character and abilities. The final result was that an
+official pardon was granted by the Governor-General, which pardon Mr.
+Gourlay repudiated as an insult. He also continued to repudiate his
+pension. Having completed his eightieth year, he married a young woman
+in the township of Dereham, who had been his housekeeper. This marriage
+was a source of profound regret to his friends, and especially to his
+two surviving daughters. The union was in no respect a felicitous one,
+for which circumstance the proverb about "crabbed age and youth" is
+quite sufficient to account, even had there not been other good and
+substantial reasons. In course of time the patriarchal bridegroom
+quietly took his departure for Scotland, leaving his bride&mdash;and of
+course the farm&mdash;behind him.</p>
+
+<p>He never returned to this country, but continued to reside in Edinburgh
+until his death, which took place on the 1st of August, 1863. He had
+completed his eighty-fifth year four months previously, and the tree was
+fully ripe.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of his death he had two daughters surviving, and we
+understand that all arrearages of pension were paid to them by the
+Canadian Government. One of these ladies went out to Zululand as a
+missionary several years since, but was compelled by ill health to
+return to her home in Scotland, where she has since died. The youngest
+daughter, Miss Helen Gourlay, still resides in Edinburgh.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Navy Hall was the Lieutenant-Governor's residence at
+Newark. See the sketch of the life of Governor Simcoe, in the first
+volume of this work.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From correspondence and documents laid before the Upper
+Canadian House of Assembly in 1836, and published in the appendix to the
+Journal for that year, we learn that the total quantity of land placed
+at Colonel Talbot's disposal amounted to exactly 518,000 acres. Five
+years before that date (in 1831) the population of the Talbot settlement
+had been estimated by the Colonel at nearly 40,000. It appears that the
+original grant did not include so large a tract, but that it was
+subsequently extended.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See "Portraits of British Americans," by W. Notman; with
+Biographical Sketches by Fennings Taylor; vol. I., p. 341.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See "Life of Colonel Talbot," by Edward Ermatinger; p. 70.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A sketch of the life of Edward Blake appears in Vol. I. of
+the present series. Since that sketch was published the subject of it
+has succeeded Mr. Mackenzie as leader of the Opposition in the House of
+Commons.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> A full account of this interesting case will be found in
+Mrs. Moodie's "Life in the Clearings, <i>versus</i> the Bush."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See "Life of Rev. James Richardson," by Thomas Webster,
+D.D. Toronto, 1876.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> See "Case and his Cotemporaries," by John Carroll; Vol
+III., p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See "Nova Scotia, in its Historical, Mercantile and
+Industrial Relations;" by Duncan Campbell; p. 427.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Mr. Lafontaine was in reality the head of the
+Administration, which should strictly be called&mdash;and which is sometimes
+called&mdash;the Lafontaine-Baldwin Administration. In common parlance,
+however, and in most histories, Mr. Baldwin's name comes first, and we
+have adopted this phraseology throughout the present series.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> See "The Poems of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, with an
+Introduction and Biographical Sketch by Mrs. J. Sadlier." New York,
+1869.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See a sketch of Judge Wilmot's life by the Rev. J. Lathern
+(published at Halifax in 1880), p. 45.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> It was administered to an Indian child. The
+great-grandfather of Madame Tach&eacute; and the mother of M. Varennes de la
+Verandrye acted as sponsors.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See Lindsey's "Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie,"
+vol i., p. 147.</p></div>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<div class="note">
+<h3>ERRATA:</h3>
+
+<ul><li>Pg. 4&mdash;Typo corrected: wierd changed to weird</li>
+<li>Pg. 10&mdash;Typo corrected: proroging changed to proroguing</li>
+<li>Pg. 31&mdash;Typo corrected: would'nt changed to wouldn't</li>
+<li>Pg. 73&mdash;Typo corrected: partneship changed to partnership</li>
+<li>Pg. 77&mdash;Typo corrected: aristrocratic changed to aristocratic</li>
+<li>Pg. 80&mdash;Typo corrected: 1866 changed to 1666</li>
+<li>Pg. 106&mdash;Typo corrected: indvidual changed to individual</li>
+<li>Pg. 110&mdash;Typo corrected: siezure changed to seizure</li>
+<li>Pg. 115&mdash;Typo corrected: 1865 changed to 1875</li>
+<li>Pg. 121&mdash;Typo corrected: made changed to make</li>
+<li>Pg. 122&mdash;Typo corrected: decendant changed to descendant</li>
+<li>Pg. 125&mdash;Typo corrected: commerical changed to commercial</li>
+<li>Pg. 133&mdash;Typo corrected: Lieutentant-Governor changed to Lieutenant-Governor</li>
+<li>Pg. 134&mdash;Typo corrected: judical changed to judicial</li>
+<li>Pg. 142&mdash;Typo corrected: siezed changed to seized</li>
+<li>Pg. 148&mdash;Typo corrected: him-himself changed to himself</li>
+<li>Pg. 153&mdash;Typo corrected: that changed to than</li>
+<li>Pg. 157&mdash;Typo corrected: thoughout changed to throughout</li>
+<li>Pg. 171&mdash;Typo corrected: opinon changed to opinion</li>
+<li>Pg. 191&mdash;Typo corrected: succesful changed to successful</li>
+<li>Pg. 195&mdash;Typo corrected: concieve changed to conceive</li>
+<li>Pg. 256&mdash;Typo corrected: harrangued changed to harangued</li></ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery -
+Volume 3 (of 4), by John Charles Dent
+
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+</pre>
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+  </body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,13908 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4),
+by John Charles Dent
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
+
+Author: John Charles Dent
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35647]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADIAN PORTRAIT GALLERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marcia Brooks, Donna M. Ritchey and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet
+Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+_THE CANADIAN_
+
+_PORTRAIT GALLERY._
+
+
+BY
+
+JOHN CHARLES DENT,
+
+ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS.
+
+VOL. III.
+
+TORONTO:
+
+PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGURN.
+
+1881.
+
+
+
+C. B. ROBINSON, PRINTER,
+
+5 JORDAN STREET, TORONTO.
+
+
+[Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year Eighteen
+Hundred and Eighty-one, by JOHN B. MAGURN, in the office of the Minister
+of Agriculture.]
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Footnotes and Errata are placed at the end of this
+file.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
+
+[A Preface and an Alphabetical Index will be given at the close of the
+last volume.]
+
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE.
+
+    THE EARL OF DUFFERIN                                              1
+
+    THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS                                    13
+
+    THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS                                  15
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.                         17
+
+    CHARLES, LORD METCALFE                                           19
+
+    THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS                                        23
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT                                           27
+
+    THE HON. DAVID LAIRD                                             41
+
+    THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE                           44
+
+    THE REV. SAMUEL S. NELLES, D.D., LL.D.                           45
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE                                      48
+
+    THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.                                    54
+
+    THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY                                      56
+
+    THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL                                        58
+
+    THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.                                  60
+
+    LORD SEATON                                                      66
+
+    THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY                                       69
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM MCMASTER                                        72
+
+    THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER                                         75
+
+    THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT                                 77
+
+    LA SALLE                                                         79
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.                           90
+
+    LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI                           91
+
+    THEODORE HARDING RAND, A.M., D.C.L.                              98
+
+    THE HON. MATTHEW CROOKS CAMERON                                 100
+
+    THE HON. SIR LOUIS H. LAFONTAINE, BART.                         104
+
+    JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ, M.D.                                    109
+
+    THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON                                  114
+
+    LORD DORCHESTER                                                 116
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND, C.B., K.C.M.G.                 124
+
+    THE MOST REV. MICHAEL HANNAN, D.D.                              128
+
+    GEORGE PAXTON YOUNG, M.A.                                       129
+
+    THE HON. TELESPHORE FOURNIER                                    132
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM OSGOODE                                        133
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM MORRIS                                         135
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY MCGEE                                    138
+
+    DAVID ALLISON, M.A., LL.D.                                      149
+
+    THE HON. THOMAS GALT                                            152
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND, M.A., LL.D.                154
+
+    THE HON. LEMUEL ALLAN WILMOT, D.C.L.                            156
+
+    THE HON. HENRY ELZEAR TASCHEREAU                                165
+
+    THE HON. ALFRED GILPIN JONES                                    167
+
+    THE HON. JOHN NORQUAY                                           170
+
+    THE HON. SIR RICHARD JOHN CARTWRIGHT                            172
+
+    THE HON. THEODORE ROBITAILLE                                    175
+
+    THE HON. SAMUEL HUME BLAKE                                      177
+
+    THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHE                           181
+
+    THE HON. JAMES COX AIKINS                                       191
+
+    THE HON. FELIX GEOFFRION, N.P., P.C.                            193
+
+    THE HON. JOHN YOUNG                                             194
+
+    THE RIGHT REV. HIBBERT BINNEY, D.D.                             200
+
+    THE HON. CHRISTOPHER FINLAY FRASER                              201
+
+    SANDFORD FLEMING, C.E., C.M.G.                                  203
+
+    THE HON. DAVID LEWIS MACPHERSON                                 206
+
+    JAMES YOUNG                                                     209
+
+    THE HON. PETER PERRY                                            212
+
+    THE HON. ADAM WILSON                                            215
+
+    THE HON. SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL                                 217
+
+    THE HON. LEVI RUGGLES CHURCH                                    220
+
+    CHARLES LENNOX, FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND                         222
+
+    THE HON. CHARLES ALPHONSE PANTALEON PELLETIER, C.M.G.           225
+
+    THE HON. WILLIAM PROUDFOOT                                      227
+
+    THE HON. JOHN JOSEPH CALDWELL ABBOTT, B.C.L., D.C.L., Q.C.      229
+
+    THE HON. JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON                                 231
+
+    HIS GRACE FRANCOIS XAVIER LAVAL-MONTMORENCY                     233
+
+    JAMES ROBERT GOWAN                                              236
+
+    ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY                                          240
+
+
+
+
+THE EARL OF DUFFERIN.
+
+
+Of all the many personages who have been sent over from Great Britain to
+administer the Government in this country, since Canada first became an
+appendage of the British Crown, none has achieved so wide a popularity
+as Lord Dufferin. None of his predecessors succeeded in creating so wide
+a circle of personal friends, and none has left so many pleasant
+remembrances behind him. Lord Dorchester was a Governor, but the area
+over which his sway extended was very small as compared with the vast
+Dominion embraced within the purview of Lord Dufferin; and the
+inhabitants in his day were chiefly composed of the representatives of a
+single nationality. Lord Elgin was popular, but the exigencies of his
+position compelled him to make bitter enemies; and while every one, at
+the present day, acknowledges his great capacity and sterling worth,
+there was a time when he was subjected to grievous contumely and
+shameful indignity. Lord Dufferin, on the other hand, won golden
+opinions from the time of his first arrival in Canada, and when he left
+our shores he carried with him substantial tokens of the affection and
+good-will of the inhabitants. One single episode in his administration
+threatened, for a brief space, to interfere with the cordial relations
+between himself and one section of the people. His own prudence and
+tact, combined with the liberality and good sense of those who differed
+from him, enabled him to tide over the critical time; and long before
+his departure from among us he could number most of the latter among his
+warm personal friends. His Vice-Regal progresses made the lines of his
+face and the tones of his voice familiar to the inhabitants of every
+Province. Wherever he went he increased the number of his well-wishers,
+and won additional respect for his personal attainments. He identified
+himself with the popular sympathies, and entered with a keen zest into
+every question affecting the public welfare. He will long live in the
+memory of the Canadian people as a wise administrator, an accomplished
+statesman, a brilliant orator, a genial companion, and a sincere friend
+of the land which he was called upon to govern.
+
+He is descended, on the paternal side, from a Scottish gentleman named
+John Blackwood, who went over from his native country to Ireland, and
+settled in the county Down, towards the close of the sixteenth century.
+The family has ever since resided in that county, and has played a not
+unimportant part in the political history of Ireland. In 1763 a
+baronetcy was conferred upon the then chief representative of the
+family, who was conspicuous in his day and generation as a vehement
+supporter of the Whig side in politics. In 1800 the head of the family
+was created an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Dufferin and
+Clandeboye. The father of the present representative was Price, fourth
+Baron, who succeeded to the title in 1839. Fourteen years prior to his
+accession to the title--that is to say, in the year 1825--this gentleman
+married Miss Helen Selina Sheridan, a granddaughter of the Right Hon.
+Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The distinguished orator and dramatist, as
+all the world knows, had a son named Thomas Sheridan, who inherited no
+inconsiderable share of his father's wit and genius. Thomas--better
+known as Tom--Sheridan, had three daughters, all of whom were prominent
+members of English society, and were conspicuous alike for personal
+beauty and the brilliancy of their intellectual accomplishments. One of
+them was the beautiful Lady Seymour, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, who
+presided as Queen of Beauty at the famous tournament held at the Earl of
+Eglinton's seat in Scotland, in the month of August, 1839. Another
+daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Caroline Norton, won distinction by her poetical
+effusions, and by several novels, one of which, "Stuart of Dunleath," is
+a work exhibiting a high degree of mental power. This lady, whose
+domestic misfortunes formed at one time an absorbing topic of discussion
+in England, survived until 1877, having some months before her death
+been married to the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. The remaining
+daughter, Harriet Selina, was the eldest of the three. She, as we have
+seen, married Captain Price Blackwood, and subsequently became Lady
+Dufferin upon her husband's accession to the title in 1839. She also won
+a name in literature by numerous popular songs and ballads, the best
+known of which is "The Irish Emigrant's Lament." She was left a widow in
+1841, and twenty-one years later, by a second marriage, became Countess
+of Gifford. She died in 1867. Her only son, Frederick Temple, the
+subject of this sketch, was born at Florence, in Italy, on the 21st of
+June, 1826.
+
+He received his early education at Eton College, and subsequently at
+Christ Church, Oxford. He passed through the curriculum with credit, but
+left the University without taking a degree. In the month of July, 1841,
+when he had only just completed his fifteenth year, his father's death
+took place, and he thus succeeded to the family titles six years before
+attaining his majority. During the first Administration of Lord John
+Russell he officiated as one of the Lords-in-Waiting to Her Majesty; and
+again filled a similar position for a short time a few years later.
+
+One of the most memorable passages in his early career was a visit paid
+by him to Ireland during the terrible famine which broke out there in
+1846. Deriving his titles from Ireland, where the greater part of his
+property is situated, and being desirous of doing his duty by his
+tenantry, he had almost from boyhood paid a good deal of attention to
+the question of land-tenure in that country. With a view to extending
+his knowledge by personal observation, he set out from Oxford,
+accompanied by his friend, the Hon. Mr. Boyle, and went over, literally,
+to spy out the nakedness of the famine-stricken land. They for the first
+time in their lives found themselves face-to-face with misery in one of
+its most appalling shapes. They were young, kind-hearted and generous,
+and the scenes wherewith they were daily brought into contact made an
+impression upon their minds that has never been effaced. They published
+an account of their travels under the title of "A Narrative of a Journey
+from Oxford to Skibbereen, during the year of the Irish Famine," and
+devoted the proceeds of the sale of the narrative to the relief of the
+starving sufferers of Skibbereen. The realms of fiction may be ransacked
+in vain for anything more truly pathetic and heart-rending in its
+terrible, vigorous realism, than is this truthful picture of human
+privation and suffering. Upon one occasion, having bought a huge basket
+of bread for distribution among the most needy, they were completely
+besieged as soon as their intention became known. "Something like an
+orderly distribution was attempted," says the narrative, "but the
+dreadful hunger and impatience of the poor people by whom the donors
+were surrounded rendered this absolutely impossible, and the bread was
+thrown out, loaf by loaf, from a window, the struggles of the famished
+women over the insufficient supply being dreadful to witness." Of
+course, all they could do to alleviate the sufferings in the district
+was of little avail, but they gave to the extent of their ability, and
+the poor, famishing creatures were warmly touched by their unfeigned and
+tearful sympathy. When the two gentlemen left the town, their carriage
+was followed beyond the outskirts by crowds of suffering poor who
+implored the Divine blessing upon their heads. The publication of the
+"Narrative," moreover, aroused a general feeling of philanthropy
+throughout the whole of England and Scotland, and liberal contributions
+were sent over for the benefit of those who stood most in need of
+assistance.
+
+The practical knowledge of the condition of the Irish people acquired by
+Lord Dufferin during this visit was such as the most diligent study of
+blue-books could not have imparted. From this time forward he gave more
+attention than ever to the Irish question. It was a question in which he
+might well take a deep interest, for he was dependent upon the rent of
+his estates in county Down for the bulk of his income. His
+unselfishness, however, was signally proved by the stand he took, which
+was on the side of tenant-right. He has written and spoken much on the
+subject, and has contributed more than his share towards enabling the
+world to arrive at a just conclusion respecting it. His public
+utterances displayed a genuine philanthropy and breadth of view,
+mingled, at times, with a quaint and touching humour, which attracted
+the attention of every statesman in the kingdom. Twenty years before Mr.
+Gladstone's Irish Land Act was passed, its provisions had been
+anticipated by Lord Dufferin, and urged upon the attention of the House
+of Lords. In an eloquent and elaborate speech delivered before that Body
+in 1854 he suggested and outlined nearly every important legislative
+reform with reference to Irish Land Tenure which has since been brought
+about. A work on "Irish Emigration, and the Tenure of Land in Ireland,"
+gave still wider currency to his views on the subject, and it began to
+be perceived that the brilliant young Irish peer had ideas well worthy
+of the consideration of Parliament. He was created an English baron in
+1850, by the title of Baron Clandeboye.
+
+In politics he was a moderate Whig. The leading members of his party
+recognized his high abilities, and thought it desirable to enlist them
+in the public service. An opportunity soon presented itself. In the
+month of February, 1855, Lord John Russell was appointed as British
+Plenipotentiary to the conference to be held at Vienna for the purpose
+of settling the terms of peace between Russia and Turkey. Lord John
+invited Lord Dufferin to accompany him on the mission as a special
+_attache_. The invitation was accepted, and Lord Dufferin repaired to
+the Austrian capital, where he remained until the close of the
+ineffectual conference. Soon after his return to England he determined
+upon a long yachting tour in the far northern seas, and in the early
+summer of 1856 he started on his adventurous voyage. The chronicle of
+this expedition, written with graphic force and humour by the pen of
+Lord Dufferin himself, has long been before the world under the title of
+"Letters from High Latitudes." The voyage, which lasted several months,
+was made in the schooner-yacht _Foam_, and included Iceland, Jan Meyen
+and Spitzbergen in its scope. There is no necessity for extended
+comment upon a book that has been read by pretty nearly everybody in
+Canada. Who is there among us who has not laughed over the account of
+that marvellous bird that, as the nights became shorter and shorter,
+never slept for more than five minutes at a stretch, without waking up
+in a state of nervous agitation lest it might be cock-crow; that was
+troubled by low spirits, owing to the mysterious manner in which a fresh
+member of his harem used to disappear daily; and that finally,
+overburdened by contemplation, went melancholy mad and committed
+suicide? Or over that extraordinary dog-Latin after-dinner speech by
+Lord Dufferin during his stay in the Icelandic capital, as voraciously
+recorded in Letter VI.? And who among us has failed to recognize the
+graphic power of description displayed in the account of the Geysers? Or
+the weird poetic force of "The Black Death of Bergen"? In all these
+various kinds of composition the author showed great natural aptitude,
+and his book, as a whole, is one of the most interesting chronicles of
+travel in our language.
+
+In 1860 Lord Dufferin was for the first time despatched abroad as the
+head of an important diplomatic mission. In the summer of that year,
+Great Britain, France, Russia and other European powers united in
+sending an expedition to Syria to protect the lives and property of
+Europeans, and to arrest the further effusion of blood in the threatened
+conflicts between the Druses and the Maronites. The immediate occasion
+of the expedition was a shocking massacre of Syrian Christians that had
+recently taken place, and a recurrence of which was considered highly
+probable. Turkey professed inability to deal effectively with the
+matter, and it became necessary that the leading European powers should
+interfere in the cause of humanity. Lord Dufferin was appointed by Lord
+Palmerston as Commissioner on behalf of Great Britain. He went out to
+Syria, where he remained some months. He proved himself admirably
+qualified to discharge a delicate diplomatic mission, and by his tact,
+good-nature and popular manners, no less than by his practical wisdom
+and good sense, succeeded in effecting a satisfactory settlement of the
+matter. As a testimony of the Government's appreciation of his services
+he immediately after his return received the Order of a Knight Commander
+of the Bath (Civil Division). Another result of his mission was the
+publication, in 1867, of "Notes on Ancient Syria," a work which, as its
+title imports, smacks more of reading than of observation.
+
+It fell to Lord Dufferin's lot, in December, 1861, to move the address
+in the House of Lords, in answer to Her Majesty's Speech from the
+Throne, referring to the death of the Prince Consort. The occasion was
+one upon which the speaker might be expected to do his best, and the
+speech made by him on that occasion drew tears from eyes which had long
+been unaccustomed to weep. A perusal of it makes one regret that Lord
+Dufferin's legitimate place was not in the other House, where his talent
+for oratory would have had an opportunity of growing, and where he would
+unquestionably have gained a high reputation as a parliamentary speaker.
+It is a simple matter of fact that in the dull, lifeless atmosphere of
+the House of Lords, Lord Dufferin's talents were almost thrown away. In
+the Commons he would have made a figure, with a nation for his audience.
+
+On the 23rd of October, 1862, he married Harriot Georgina, eldest
+daughter of the late Archibald Rowan Hamilton, of Killyleagh Castle,
+county Down. This lady, whose lineaments are almost as well known to
+Canadians as are those of His Lordship, still survives, and is the happy
+mother of a numerous family. In 1863 Lord Dufferin became a Knight of
+St. Patrick; and in the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant
+of the county Down. About the same time he was offered the position of
+Under-Secretary of State for India, which he accepted. In 1865 he was
+subjected to a searching examination respecting his views on the Irish
+Land question, before a Select Committee of the House of Commons. His
+examination lasted four days, and his evidence proved of incalculable
+value in the framing of the Act of Parliament which was passed before
+the close of the session. Several years later he put forth a vigorous
+pamphlet entitled, "An Examination of Mr. Mill's Plan for the
+Pacification of Ireland," in which he criticised John Stuart Mill's
+proposal that the landed estates of Irish landlords should be brought to
+a forced sale. Lord Dufferin's thorough knowledge of his subject, added
+to the fact that his views were sound, proved too much, even for the
+Master of Logic, who had made his proposal without due consideration of
+the subject, and on an incomplete statement of the facts.
+
+Lord Dufferin continued to fill the post of Secretary of State for India
+until early in 1866, when he was offered the Governorship of Bombay. The
+state of his mother's health--she had already begun to sink under the
+malady to which she finally succumbed a year later--was such as to
+forbid her accompanying him to India, and Lord Dufferin was too
+affectionate a son to leave her behind. He was accordingly compelled to
+decline the appointment. He accepted instead the post of Under-Secretary
+to the War Department, which he retained until the close of Earl
+Russell's Administration, in June, 1866. Upon the return of the Liberal
+Party to power under Mr. Gladstone, in the end of 1868, Lord Dufferin
+became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position which he
+retained up to the time of his being appointed Governor-General of
+Canada. He was also appointed Paymaster-General, and was sworn in as a
+Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. In November, 1871, he was made an
+Earl and Viscount of the United Kingdom, under the titles of Earl of
+Dufferin and Viscount Clandeboye.
+
+The successive dignities thus heaped upon him are sufficient evidence of
+the rising favour with which he was regarded by the Members of the
+Government; and as matter of fact he had made great progress in the
+esteem of the leading members of his Party generally. On the 22nd of
+May, 1872, he received the appointment which was destined to give
+Canadians a special interest in his career--that of Governor-General of
+the Dominion of Canada.
+
+By the great mass of Canadians the news of this appointment was received
+with a feeling very much akin to indifference. The fact is that, except
+among reading men, and persons intimately familiar with the diplomatic
+history of Great Britain during the preceding twenty years, the name of
+Lord Dufferin was entirely unknown in this country. A few middle-aged
+and elderly persons remembered that an Irish peer named Lord Dufferin
+had made an eloquent speech on the death of the Prince Consort. Others
+remembered that a peer of that name had done something noteworthy in
+Syria. A few had read or heard of "Letters from High Latitudes;" but not
+one of us suspected that the new Governor-General was destined to be the
+most popular representative of Great Britain known to Canadian history.
+It was not suspected that, for the first time during many years, we were
+to have at the head of our Administration a statesman of deep sympathies
+and enlarged views; a nobleman combining elegant learning and brilliant
+powers of oratory with a tact and _bonhomie_ which would win for him the
+friendship and respect of Canadians of all social ranks, and of all
+grades of political opinion. By many of us the office of a
+Governor-General in Canada had come to be looked upon as a sort of
+sinecure; as a part which any man not absolutely a dunce is capable of
+playing. We regarded the Governor-General merely as the Royal
+representative; as a figurehead whose duties consist of doing as he is
+bid. He has responsible advisers who prescribe for him a certain line of
+action, and all he has to do is to obey. When his Cabinet loses the
+confidence of Parliament, he either sends them about their business or
+accepts their resignation. The successors selected for him by the
+dominant majority are accepted as a matter of course, and everything
+goes on _da capo_. This, or something like this, was the way we had
+learned to estimate the powers and functions which Lord Dufferin was
+coming among us to discharge. It was reserved for him to give us a
+juster appreciation of the position of a Canadian Governor-General. The
+lesson learned by us during the six years of his residence among us is
+one that Canadians will not soon forget. The learning of it has perhaps
+made us unduly exacting, and it would have been most unfortunate had his
+successor been chosen from the ranks of respectable mediocrity whence
+Colonial Governors are not unfrequently selected. Happily the choice
+fell upon a gentleman whose character and attainments bear some affinity
+to those of his predecessor, and the dignity and respect due to the
+Governor-General are not likely to suffer depreciation while the office
+remains in his hands.
+
+There was one circumstance which led many Canadians to look upon the
+appointment of Lord Dufferin with no friendly eyes. He had been
+appointed by the Gladstone Government, and the Gladstone Government had
+manifested a disposition to treat Canada rather cavalierly. Canadian
+interests had not been very efficiently cared for at the negotiation of
+the Treaty of Washington, and there had been a good deal of diplomatic
+correspondence between the Canadian and Imperial Governments, in which
+the latter had pretty clearly intimated that Canada's separation from
+the Mother Country would not be regarded as an irreparable loss to the
+Empire at large. The London _Times_ openly advocated such a separation,
+and it was known to speak the sentiments of persons high in power. It
+was even conjectured by some of the more suspicious that Lord Dufferin
+had been appointed for the express purpose of carrying out an Imperial
+project for a separation between Canada and Great Britain. Had His
+Lordship been a weak or commonplace man he would most probably have had
+a very uncomfortable time of it in Canada. He was neither weak nor
+commonplace, however, and he began to be popular from the very hour of
+his arrival in the country. By the time he had been six months among us
+everyone spoke well of him; and long before his administration came to
+an end he had gained a firm hold on the hearts of the people throughout
+the length and breadth of our land.
+
+He arrived at Quebec on the 25th of June, 1872. During the same day he
+was sworn in as Governor-General, and two days later reached his seat of
+Government at Ottawa. There is no need to describe in minute detail the
+various events which characterized his administration. Those events are
+still fresh in all our memories, and have been recorded at full length
+by two Canadian authors--Mr. Stewart and Mr. Leggo--in works to which
+everyone has access. For these reasons it is considered unnecessary to
+give more than a brief summary in these pages.
+
+During the summer of 1872 Lord Dufferin made the first of his memorable
+Vice-Regal tours, visiting Toronto, Hamilton, London, Niagara Falls, and
+other places of interest in the Province of Ontario. To say that he made
+a marvellously favourable impression wherever he went is simply to say
+what everybody knows, and what might equally be said of all his
+subsequent progresses through the Dominion. There was a general
+election during the summer and autumn of this year, and an opportunity
+was thus afforded His Excellency for observing the working of our
+political institutions at such a time.
+
+The result of the elections was a majority in favour of Sir John A.
+Macdonald's Ministry. Parliament met in the following March, and on the
+2nd of April Mr. Huntington made his serious, and now historic, charge
+against the Government, in connection with the granting of the Pacific
+Railway Charter, and the corrupt sale to Sir Hugh Allan. A motion was
+made for a committee of investigation, but was voted down as a motion of
+want of confidence in the Government. A few days later, Sir John,
+knowing that a policy of reticence could not long be available, himself
+moved for a committee. The motion was passed, and the committee was
+appointed, but was unable to proceed, owing to its inability to take
+evidence on oath. A Bill was introduced into the House to give the
+committee the power required, and was passed without opposition, but was
+subsequently disallowed by the Imperial Government as being _ultra
+vires_. Meanwhile the inquiry was proceeded with; but on the 5th of May,
+owing to the absence from the country of three important witnesses--Sir
+George E. Cartier, Sir Hugh Allan and the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott--the
+committee deemed it advisable to adjourn to the 2nd of July. The
+ordinary Parliamentary business had been got through with, and there was
+no necessity for the House remaining in session; but, as the committee
+had no authority to sit during recess, it was thought desirable that
+there should be an adjournment of Parliament instead of a prorogation,
+until the committee should be prepared with its report. Accordingly, on
+the 23rd of May, Parliament adjourned to the 13th of August, when it was
+agreed that it should meet expressly for the purpose of receiving the
+committee's report, and not for the despatch of ordinary legislative
+business. It would thus be unnecessary for the Governor-General to be
+present at the formal reassembling, and soon after the adjournment His
+Excellency, with his family, started on a projected tour through the
+Maritime Provinces. On the 27th of June, while on his travels, he
+received a telegram from Lord Kimberley, Secretary for the Colonies in
+the Home Government, announcing the disallowance of the "Oaths Bill," as
+it was called, viz., the Act authorizing Parliamentary committees to
+examine witnesses under oath. He at once gave notice of the disallowance
+to the Premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, who made it known to the
+committee. The committee was composed of five members, three of whom
+were supporters of the Government, and the remaining two of the
+Opposition. The Government supporters were the Hon. J. G. Blanchet, the
+Hon. James Macdonald (of Pictou), and the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+The Opposition members were the Hon. Edward Blake and the Hon. A. A.
+Dorion. On the 1st of July a proclamation was issued giving public
+notice of the disallowance of the Oaths Bill. The Premier offered to
+issue a Royal Commission to the committee, which would enable it to take
+evidence under oath, and to demand the production of persons, papers and
+records. The proposal was rejected by Messrs. Blake and Dorion, who
+wrote to the Premier pointing out to him that the inquiry was undertaken
+by the House; that the appointment of a Royal Commission by a Government
+to investigate charges against that Government would be an unheard-of
+and most unbecoming proceeding; and that the House did not expect the
+Crown or anyone else to obstruct the inquiry.
+
+When the Parliament met, pursuant to adjournment, on the 13th of August,
+the committee, having been prevented from taking evidence, was unable
+to report. A numerously signed memorial was presented to His Excellency
+praying that there might be no prorogation of Parliament until the
+charges against the existing Government had been subjected to
+investigation. His Excellency, however, replied that he felt bound to
+act on the advice of his Ministry. His Ministry advised him to prorogue
+Parliament, and prorogued it accordingly was. Every Canadian remembers
+the tumultuous scene which ensued--a scene almost without parallel in
+modern Parliamentary history; a faint reflex of that memorable episode
+which took place in the English House of Commons two hundred and twenty
+years before.
+
+The next act in the drama was the appointment by His Excellency of a
+Royal Commission on his own authority. It was issued to the Hon. C. D.
+Day, the Hon. Antoine Polette, and James Robert Gowan, three judges
+learned in the law. The commission met, and on the opening of the
+session in the following October its report was laid before Parliament.
+The contents are familiar to every reader of these pages, and do not
+form an attractive subject for extended comment. There could no longer
+be any doubt as to the course to be taken by the Premier. A few days
+afterwards Sir John Macdonald's Government resigned, and Mr. Mackenzie
+was called upon to form a new one. This he soon succeeded in doing, and
+on the 7th of November the new Administration took office. As was
+abundantly proved at the ensuing elections, the new government had the
+confidence of the country.
+
+During the progress of these events, Lord Dufferin was assailed with a
+good deal of rancour by one section of the Canadian press. The question
+now to be considered is: How far were these assaults justifiable? In
+other words: How far, if at all, was Lord Dufferin to blame?
+
+The principal allegations made against him were, that his sympathies all
+through this deplorable episode in our political history were with Sir
+John Macdonald and his colleagues; that he assisted the latter to
+postpone and evade investigation into their conduct; that his
+partisanship was evinced by his prompt transmission of the Oaths Bill
+for Imperial consideration, and by his subsequent prorogation of
+Parliament in defiance of the wishes of a large body of the members.
+
+It must be borne in mind, in considering these matters, that we at the
+present day are in a much better position to form a correct opinion
+respecting them than Lord Dufferin could possibly be in the summer of
+1873. He came to this country an utter stranger to every man in Canadian
+public life. He found at the head of affairs a gentleman who had long
+held the reins of power; who had a very wide circle of warm personal
+friends; who was regarded with affectionate loyalty by his Party; and
+whose Government enjoyed an overwhelming support in Parliament. With
+such a support at its back, the Government might reasonably lay claim to
+possessing the confidence of the Canadian people, and, possessing such
+confidence, it was entitled to the confidence of Her Majesty's
+Representative. There was, moreover, a manifest disposition on the part
+of some opponents of the Government to make the most of any little
+shortcomings of which Ministerialists might be guilty. One of the most
+virulent of the Opposition, a man whose own character could not be said
+to be wholly above reproach, made certain wild charges against the
+Government. These charges were so utterly monstrous and incredible that
+any man of probity might reasonably refuse to believe them until they
+were proved to be true by the most irrefutable evidence. Such evidence
+was not forthcoming. The head of the Government hurled back the charges
+in the teeth of the man who had made them; pronounced the latter a
+slanderous calumniator; protested that his own hands were clean; and
+called upon his Maker to bear witness to the truth of his avowal. His
+conduct was not unlike that of an honest man smarting under a strong
+sense of injustice. He professed to court inquiry, and while he treated
+Mr. Huntington's motion as one of want of confidence in the Government,
+and triumphantly voted it down, he himself came forward with his motion
+for a committee. Both from his place in the House, and to the
+Governor-General in person, he continued to protest before God that
+there was no shadow of foundation for the charges made against him. He
+spoke of his acquittal as a matter which did not admit of a moment's
+question. Under these circumstances, is it any wonder if Lord Dufferin
+refused to believe vague and unsubstantiated charges from such a source;
+charges which might well have excited incredulity by the very depth of
+their blackness? Is it to be wondered at, even if His Lordship
+sympathized with those whom he believed to have been so shamefully
+maligned, and who seemed so anxious to set themselves right before the
+country? Such was the state of affairs when Parliament was adjourned on
+the 23rd of May.
+
+With regard to the prompt transmission to England of the Oaths Bill, His
+Excellency simply complied with his official instructions, and with the
+Union Act, which requires the Governor-General to transmit "by the
+earliest convenient opportunity" all Acts of Parliament to which he has
+assented on Her Majesty's behalf. His Excellency's despatch to the
+Imperial Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 15th August, 1873,
+puts this matter very clearly. It shows that he understood and was
+prepared to do his duty, no matter what might be said by Opposition
+members, and no matter how scurrilous might be the attacks of hostile
+newspapers. "Amongst other respects," says the despatch, "in which my
+conduct has been criticised, the fact of my having communicated to you
+by the first opportunity a certified copy of the Oaths Bill, has been a
+very general point of attack. I apprehend it will not be necessary to
+justify myself to your Lordship in this particular. My law-adviser had
+called my attention to the possibility of the Bill being illegal. Had
+perjured testimony been tendered under it, no proceedings could have
+been taken against the delinquent, and if, under these circumstances, I
+had wilfully withheld from the Home Government all cognizance of the
+Act, it would have been a gross dereliction of duty. To those in this
+country who have questioned my procedure it would be sufficient to reply
+that I recognize no authority on this side of the Atlantic competent to
+instruct the Governor-General as to the nature of his correspondence
+with Her Majesty's Secretary of State." The assertion so often made, to
+the effect that the Law Officers of the Crown in England were improperly
+influenced to advise a disallowance of the Bill, is in itself utterly
+preposterous, and no attempt, so far as we know, has ever been made to
+bring forward any proof of it.
+
+There remains for consideration the prorogation of Parliament on the
+13th of August.
+
+Before the adjournment on the 23rd of May, as we have seen, it had been
+understood that Parliament should meet only to receive the committee's
+report, and not for the despatch of ordinary business. It had not even
+been considered necessary that His Excellency should attend. During his
+absence in the Maritime Provinces, however, the famous McMullen
+correspondence had appeared in print, and this, together with other
+circumstances which had come to his knowledge, had made him resolve to
+be present at the reassembling of Parliament. The attendance of
+Government supporters was not large, very few, if any, being present
+from outlying constituencies. The Opposition on the other hand, was
+fully represented, and was eager for the battle, which was regarded as
+inevitable. It soon appeared that there was nothing to be done. Owing to
+the disallowance of the Oaths Bill there was no report from the
+committee. In the estimation of His Excellency, to proceed with the
+investigation, as the Opposition members were desirous of doing, would
+under these circumstances have been to place the Ministry at an unfair
+disadvantage. A considerable number of its supporters were absent,
+whereas the Opposition was in full force. It has been charged upon the
+Ministry that this was part of their tactics, and that the absentees
+were acting under the orders of their Chief in remaining at home. This
+is another of those loose, sweeping assertions which may be true, but
+the truth of which has not been proved. That unhappy Ministry has enough
+to answer for at the Bar of History, without being called upon to refute
+charges which have never been substantiated by evidence. In any case, no
+fair-minded person will wish to hold the Governor-General responsible
+for such tactics. His position was one of no ordinary difficulty. Very
+damnatory correspondence had been given to the world, but it was not in
+such a shape that the House could possibly regard it as free from
+suspicion. The most serious charges seemed to point rather to the guilt
+of Sir Hugh Allan and McMullen than to that of the Members of the
+Government. The charges directly affecting the Government were solemnly
+and emphatically repudiated by the Premier, who pledged himself to
+explain the matter under oath to the satisfaction of the whole world, as
+soon as a properly constituted tribunal should be appointed, with
+authority to take evidence under oath. Sir Hugh Allan published a sworn
+affidavit, negativing McMullen's charges, and McMullen himself had
+subsequently admitted that his charges had been hasty and inaccurate.
+The latter, moreover, was evidently a man whose character was not such
+as to inspire respect. The Government could still command a majority of
+votes in the House. Under such circumstances, can His Excellency be
+blamed if he continued to act upon the advice of his constitutional
+advisers by proroguing Parliament? He was determined, however, that
+there should be no unnecessary delay, and exacted as a condition of
+adopting that course that parliament should be convened with all
+imaginable expedition. His reply to the memorial presented by the
+Opposition is so much to the point that we cannot do better than abridge
+a portion of it. "You urge me," says His Excellency, "on grounds which
+are very fully and forcibly stated, to decline the advice which has been
+unanimously tendered me by my responsible ministers, and to refuse to
+prorogue Parliament. In other words, you require me to dismiss them from
+my councils; for you must be aware that this would be the necessary
+result of my assenting to your recommendation. Upon what grounds would I
+be justified in taking so grave a step? What guarantee can you afford me
+that the Parliament of the Dominion would endorse such an act of
+personal interference on my part? You yourselves do not form an actual
+moiety of the House of Commons, and I have no means of ascertaining that
+the majority of that body subscribe to the opinion you have enounced. . .
+It is true, grave charges have been preferred. . . but the truth of
+these remains untested. . . Is the Governor-General, upon such evidence
+as this, to drive from his presence gentlemen who for years have filled
+the highest offices of State, and in whom, during the recent session,
+Parliament has repeatedly declared its continued confidence?. . .
+Certain documents of grave significance have lately been published in
+the newspapers, but no proof has been adduced which necessarily connects
+them with the culpable transactions of which it is asserted they formed
+a part. . . Under these circumstances, what right has the
+Governor-General, on his personal responsibility, to proclaim. . . that
+he believes his ministers guilty of the crimes alleged against them?"
+
+Such were the circumstances under which the prorogation of the 13th of
+August, 1873, took place. Looking back on it, in the light of the seven
+years which have since elapsed, it will be hard to arrive at any other
+conclusion than that Lord Dufferin did not deserve the animadversions
+which were heaped upon him. As he himself observed in his despatch to
+the Colonial Secretary two days after the prorogation: "It is a
+favourite theory at this moment with many persons that when once grave
+charges of this nature have been preferred against the Ministry they
+become _ipso facto_ unfit to counsel the Crown. The practical
+application of this principle would prove very inconvenient, and would
+leave not only the Governor-General, but every Lieutenant-Governor in
+the Dominion very thinly provided with responsible advisers; for, as far
+as I have been able to seize the spirit of political controversy in
+Canada, there is scarcely an eminent man in the country on either side
+whose character or integrity has not been, at one time or another, the
+subject of reckless attack by his opponents in the press." In a word, he
+acted on the well-established principle that every man is to be adjudged
+innocent until he has been proved guilty; and in so acting he showed
+that he understood the responsibilities of his position. That his
+Ministers were culpable, as well as unwise, in advising the prorogation,
+is certain; and when the next elections came on they paid the penalty of
+their disingenuousness.
+
+The events of Lord Dufferin's residence in Canada subsequent to the fall
+of the Macdonald Ministry, which has already been reviewed, must be
+given in few words. The political events by which his administration was
+characterized have been given at sufficient length in sketches to which
+they more properly belong. The Mackenzie Administration had not been
+long in power before each individual member of it was on friendly terms
+with the Governor-General, and there seems to have been a tacit
+understanding that all past differences of opinion should be forgotten.
+In the summer of 1874 His Excellency and suite made a tour through the
+Muskoka District, and thence westward by steamer over lakes Huron,
+Superior and Michigan. The tourists called at most of the interesting
+points on the route, including Chicago, where they disembarked, and
+returned overland by way of Detroit. All the most important towns in
+Ontario were then visited, and the party returned home to Ottawa in
+September, after an absence of about two months. It was during his
+sojourn in Toronto, while on his return from this expedition, that Lord
+Dufferin made his famous speech at the Toronto Club, which aroused the
+enthusiasm of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. A part of the
+summer and autumn of each succeeding year was spent by His Excellency in
+making other tours through the various Provinces of the Dominion. The
+last important one was made in 1877, and consisted of a pilgrimage
+through Manitoba and part of the District of Keewatin. In 1875 he also
+visited Ireland, and in 1876 attended the Centennial Exhibition at
+Philadelphia. Wherever he went, his visits were marked by a continual
+round of ovations. Lady Dufferin generally accompanied him on his
+excursions, and contributed not a little by her personal graces and
+accomplishments to the popularity of her lord. Perhaps the most
+marvellous thing about him is his ability to make an eloquent speech on
+any given topic, without ever repeating himself, and without descending
+to platitudes or commonplaces. He has always something to say which is
+appropriate to the particular occasion, and the special circumstances
+in which he happens to be placed. The quick perception and ready wit
+begotten of his Irish blood never fail him. Each of his replies to the
+thousand-and-one addresses which at one time and another have been
+presented to him has a merit of its own, has an application purely
+local, and is unlike all the others. His more serious utterances are
+marked not less by maturity of statesmanship than by brilliancy of
+imagination. It would be faint praise to say of him that as an orator he
+stands alone on the long roll of Canadian Governors. There has been no
+other who is even worthy of being named as second to him. It has been
+truly said of his speeches that they are "warm with the light of hope,
+brimful of sympathy for the toiling and the struggling, sparkling with
+humour, and moving with pathos."
+
+As the term of his residence among us drew towards its close the
+Canadian people began to realize how much they liked him. Addresses
+poured in upon him from every corner of the Dominion, many of which, at
+least, could only have had their origin in sincere esteem and hearty
+good-will. When, on the 19th of October, 1878, he took his final
+departure from among us,
+
+    "High hopes pursued him from the shore,
+     And prophesyings brave,"
+
+for it was felt that, if his life and health were spared the record of
+his future would not belie the record of his past. It was predicted that
+the man whose consummate tact, noble courtesy and largeness of heart had
+done so much to strengthen the ties between Great Britain and her
+Colonies would render further important services to his Sovereign and to
+the nation. That prediction has already been fulfilled. The effects of
+his mission to Russia have been made apparent in improved relations
+between the courts of St. Petersburg and St. James. In truth, no better
+antidote to the "spirited Foreign policy" of the late British Government
+could have been devised than the enrolment of Lord Dufferin in the
+diplomatic service.
+
+Since his departure for Russia it is said that the Vice-royalty of
+Ireland and of India have both been tendered to and declined by him.
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. ROBERT FERRIER BURNS.
+
+
+Dr. Burns was born at Paisley, Scotland, on the 23rd of December, 1826.
+After spending a term of four years at the Public Grammar School of that
+town, he was entered as a student at the University of Glasgow in the
+month of November, 1840, before he had quite completed his fourteenth
+year. He remained at that seat of learning four sessions, during which
+he achieved high standing in his classes, and carried off several
+prizes, including two in Latin. He stood third in Greek, second in
+Logic, and first in Moral Philosophy. While attending the University he
+had for associates Principal McKnight, of Halifax, the Rev. William
+Maclaren, of Blairlogie, and the late Rev. John Maclaren, of Glasgow. In
+1844-5 he attended New College, Edinburgh, during the second session of
+its existence, and sat at the feet of Drs. Chalmers, Cunningham and
+Duncan. He had meanwhile resolved on emigrating to Canada, and on the
+29th of March, 1845, he sailed from Greenock for Quebec. He made his way
+to Toronto, where he attended two sessions at Knox College, having for
+his contemporaries there Dr. Black, of Manitoba, and the late Rev. James
+Nisbet, of the Prince Albert Mission. During his collegiate career he
+acted as Student Catechist, and preached as a volunteer at Proudfoot's
+Mills, and also at Oakville. During the summer of 1846 he laboured to
+good purpose at Niagara. In April, 1847, he was licensed to preach by
+the Presbytery of Toronto, and on the first of July following he was
+ordained as first pastor of Chalmers Church, Kingston. During his
+residence at Kingston he officiated for a year as Chaplain to the
+Forty-first Regiment of Highland Infantry.
+
+On the 1st of July, 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth Holden, a daughter
+of Dr. Rufus Holden, of Belleville, and a sister of the wife of
+Professor Gregg, of Toronto. By this lady he now has a family of eight
+children, consisting of four sons and four daughters. After a pastorate
+of exactly eight years he left Kingston on the 5th of July, 1855, and
+settled at St. Catharines as first pastor of the United Church. He
+remained there nearly twelve years, during eight of which he also had
+charge of a congregation at Port Dalhousie, four miles distant. During
+his ministry at St. Catharines the new church now known as Knox Church
+was erected, and his congregation subsequently worshipped there. In 1862
+he took a conspicuous part in starting Sabbath School Conventions in
+this country, which have since been attended by many blessings to the
+young. In the month of July, 1866, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by Hamilton College, near Utica, in the State of New
+York, the leading literary institution of the New School of
+Presbyterians in that State. On the 20th of March, 1867, he became first
+pastor of the First Scotch Presbyterian Church in Chicago, which then
+and for some years thereafter belonged to the Canadian Church. During
+his incumbency of this charge he received several calls from various
+churches, all of which were declined. His Chicago pastorate lasted three
+years, during which the membership of his church trebled in number, and
+a fine new church was erected by the congregation on the corner of Adams
+and Sagamore Streets. In October, 1867, he accompanied the Rev. D. L.
+Moody, the Evangelist, from Chicago to Toronto, on the occasion of the
+first sitting of the Young Men's Christian Association Convention in the
+latter city. In the beginning of May, 1870, he returned to Canada, and
+was inducted into the pastorate of Cote Street Church, Montreal, where
+Dr. Fraser and the present Principal McVicar had previously ministered.
+Here he remained five years.
+
+On the 18th of March, 1875, he was settled over Fort Massey Church,
+Halifax, of which the Rev. J. K. Smith, of Galt, had been for two years
+pastor. Here Dr. Burns has ever since remained. The congregation has
+since its commencement discarded pew rents, and has been conducted on
+the weekly free-will-offering system, the offertory being collected at
+the church door. Their annual givings to church purposes are said to
+exceed $100 for each family. He was Moderator of the Synod of Montreal
+in 1873, and also Chairman of the Montreal College Board; and on his
+removal to Halifax he was elected to the same post there, which he still
+fills. During the session of 1877 he delivered special courses of
+lectures before the Montreal and Halifax students, and in 1878 these
+were followed up by a second special course in the Halifax College. In
+1877 he was associated with Principal Grant and others in pushing
+forward the $100,000 College Endowment Fund.
+
+Dr. Burns is also known as an author. As early as 1854 he contributed to
+the _Anglo-American Magazine_, published in Toronto; and several years
+later to the _Presbyterian Magazine_. In 1857 he published "The Progress
+and Principles of Temperance Reform;" and in 1865, in conjunction with
+the Rev. Mr. Norton, of St. Catharines, "Maple Leaves for the Grave of
+Abraham Lincoln." In 1872 he wrote and published his most voluminous
+work, "The Life and Times of Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto." This work
+passed through three editions, and was a decided success. His other
+works are chiefly pamphlets, sermons, and short fugitive pieces.
+
+At the meeting of the General Assembly held at Ottawa in 1879 Dr. Burns
+was one of the eight clerical delegates elected to attend the General
+Presbyterian Council, to be held in Philadelphia during the present
+year. Last summer he attended the Sunday School Celebration held in
+London, England, to commemorate the founding of Sunday Schools by Robert
+Raikes, in Gloucester, a century ago.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS, signed as A. N. RICHARDS]
+
+
+THE HON. ALBERT NORTON RICHARDS,
+
+_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA._
+
+
+Mr. Richards is the youngest son of the late Mr. Stephen Richards, of
+Brockville, and a brother of the Hon. William Buell Richards, ex-Chief
+Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, a sketch of whose life
+appeared in the first volume of this series. Some account of the family
+history is contained in the sketch alluded to. Albert Norton Richards
+was born at Brockville, Upper Canada, on the 8th of December, 1822. Like
+his elder brothers, William and Stephen, he received his early education
+at the famous Johnstown District Grammar School, and embraced the legal
+profession as his calling in life. He studied law in the office of his
+brother William, with whom he entered into partnership after his call to
+the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1848. Though perhaps somewhat less
+conspicuous at the Bar than his partner, he took a high position, and
+was distinguished for the acumen and soundness of judgment which seem to
+be inherent in every member of his family. After his brother's elevation
+to the Bench, he himself continued to practise at Brockville. His
+business was large and profitable. He took a keen interest in politics,
+and was identified with the Reform Party. He did not seek Parliamentary
+distinction, however, until the year 1861, when he was an unsuccessful
+candidate for the representation of South Leeds in the Legislative
+Assembly of Canada--his successful opponent being Mr. Benjamin Tett. At
+the general election of 1863 he again offered himself in opposition to
+the same candidate, and on this occasion was returned at the head of the
+poll. In the month of December following he accepted office in the
+Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Administration, as Solicitor-General for the
+Upper Province. He was at the same time created a Queen's Counsel. Upon
+returning to his constituents for reelection, after accepting office, he
+was compelled to encounter the full strength of the Conservative Party.
+The Government of the day existed by a mere thread, their majority
+averaging one, two and three, and it was felt that if Mr. Richards could
+be defeated the Government must resign. The constituency of South Leeds
+was invaded by all the principal speakers and agents of the Conservative
+Party, headed by the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the late Mr. D'Arcy
+McGee, and no stone was left unturned to defeat the new
+Solicitor-General. The result was the defeat of the latter by Mr. D.
+Ford Jones, the Conservative candidate, by a majority of five votes. Mr.
+Richards, after the resignation of the Government, remained out of
+public life until 1867, when he unsuccessfully contested his old seat
+for the House of Commons with the late Lieutenant-Governor Crawford, the
+latter being elected by a majority of thirty-nine. In 1869 Mr. Richards
+was offered by the Government of Sir John Macdonald the office of
+Attorney-General in the Provincial Government which Mr. Macdougall, as
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories, was about to establish
+at Fort Garry. Mr. Richards accepted the office, and accompanied Mr.
+Macdougall on his well-known journey, until stopped by Louis Riel at
+Stinking River. In the following year he visited British Columbia on
+public business, and in 1871 he again visited that Province, this time
+for the benefit of the health of his children, eight of whom he had lost
+by death during his residence at Brockville. At the general election of
+1872, Mr. Richards made another and a successful appeal to the electors
+of South Leeds, and was returned to the House of Commons. He held his
+seat until January, 1874; when, being absent from the country, on a
+visit to British Columbia, he was unable to return in time to be
+nominated for his old constituency, and South Leeds became lost to the
+Reform Party. Mr. Richards continued to reside in British Columbia, and
+for several years was the official Legal Agent of the Dominion
+Government in that Province. He took an active part in endeavouring to
+bring about various much-needed law reforms, as to several of which he
+was ultimately successful. On the 29th of July, 1875, he was appointed
+Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, a position which he has ever since
+held. His sterling qualities have obtained recognition, and he has won
+great popularity.
+
+He has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on the 17th
+of October, 1849, was Frances, daughter of the late Benjamin Chaffey,
+formerly of Staffordshire, England. This lady died in April, 1853. On
+the 12th of August, 1854, he married Ellen, daughter of the late John
+Cheslett, also of Staffordshire. His second wife still survives.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT REV. JOHN TRAVERS LEWIS, LL.D.,
+
+_BISHOP OF ONTARIO._
+
+
+Bishop Lewis is a son of the John Lewis, M.A., who was formerly Rector
+of St. Anne's, Shandon, Cork, Ireland; and grandson of Mr. Richard
+Lewis, who was an Inspector-General of Revenue in the south of Ireland.
+He is himself an Irishman by birth and education, but has passed the
+last thirty years of his life in Canada. He was born in the county of
+Cork, on the 20th of June, 1825. He received private lessons from his
+father, and afterwards obtained his more advanced education at Trinity
+College, Dublin. He enjoyed a somewhat brilliant career at the
+University. He obtained honours both in classics and mathematics during
+his course as an undergraduate; and upon graduating, in 1846, he was
+gold medallist and senior moderator in ethics and logic. His degree of
+LL.D. was received, we believe, from his _alma mater_. He was intended
+for the Church from boyhood, and was ordained Deacon in 1848, at the
+Chapel of Christ's College, Cambridge, by the Lord Bishop of Chester. He
+was soon afterwards ordained Priest by the Lord Bishop of Down, and
+became Curate of the parish of Newtownbutler, celebrated in Irish annals
+for the victory gained by the colonists over King James's troops in
+1689. He did not long occupy that position, but resigned it in 1850, and
+came over to this country, where, soon after his arrival, he was
+appointed by the late Bishop Strachan to the parish of Hawkesbury, in
+the county of Prescott. Upon settling down in his parish he married Miss
+Anne Harriet Margaret Sherwood, a daughter of the late Hon. Henry
+Sherwood, a Canadian legislator who sat in the old Assembly from 1843 to
+1854, and who held office as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General for
+Canada West, respectively, in the Ministry of Mr. Draper, during the
+_regime_ of Sir Charles Metcalfe and Earl Cathcart.
+
+After officiating in Hawkesbury for four years, Mr. Lewis was appointed
+Rector of Brockville, where he remained until his election, in 1861, to
+the position which he now occupies. The seven years passed in the
+rectory at Brockville must have been busy ones, as we find numerous
+published sermons and pamphlets from his pen during this time. His
+sermons and writings generally are marked by much learning, and by an
+evident fondness for dialectics. Some of them have received high praise
+from the reviewers. One of them, entitled "A Plain Lecture to Enquirers
+into the meaning of the Liturgy," was thus characterized by the
+_American Quarterly Church Review_: "As an argument for Liturgical
+worship, and an answer to popular objections to the Prayer-book, this is
+one of the most valuable works we have ever seen." Other tracts of his
+have also been highly praised by persons whose praise is of value. The
+best known of his writings are "The Church of the New Testament;" "Does
+the Bible need re-translating?" "The Popular Baptist Argument Reviewed;"
+and "The Primitive Method of selecting Bishops;" the last-named
+production being given to the world in the _Journal of Sacred
+Literature_, published in London, England. During his residence at
+Brockville he interested himself actively in various local matters,
+sectarian and non-sectarian, and contributed to build up several
+important public institutions. He lectured before the Brockville Library
+Association and Mechanics' Institute, and did much to extend its
+membership and beneficial influence.
+
+The territorial division of the Diocese of Toronto was a project which
+began to take shape about the time when the subject of this sketch first
+arrived in this country. Up to that time the Diocese of Toronto
+comprehended the whole extent of Upper Canada, and was altogether too
+large to permit of one man's discharging the duties of the Bishopric
+with perfect efficiency, even though that man were endowed with the
+tremendous energy and vitality of the late Bishop Strachan. The Diocese
+of Huron was in due time set apart and the late Rev. Dr. Benjamin Cronyn
+was elected to the Bishopric. In 1861 the eastern division was also set
+apart as the Diocese of Ontario, and at the meeting of the Synod held at
+Kingston in the summer of that year Mr. Lewis was elected to the office
+of Bishop. He was then only thirty-six years of age, and was probably
+the youngest Prelate in America. He soon afterwards removed to Kingston,
+and thence to Ottawa, where he now resides.
+
+It will thus be seen that the Bishop has had a remarkably successful
+career since his arrival in Canada. He devotes himself assiduously to
+his official labours, and is held in high veneration by many of the
+clergymen of his Diocese. He has a numerous family, and a large circle
+of attached friends. His pulpit oratory is marked by fluency and
+smoothness of rhetoric, as well as by much learning and depth of
+thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES, LORD METCALFE.
+
+
+In former sketches we have seen how Responsible Government, after being
+strenuously contended for during many years in this country, and after
+its adoption had been vigorously recommended by Lord Durham, finally
+became an accomplished fact. We have seen how Lord Sydenham was sent
+over here as Governor-General for the purpose of carrying out the new
+order of things, and how, during his administration of affairs, the
+Union of the Provinces was finally effected in 1841. The Canadian
+Administration was carried on by both Lord Sydenham and his successor,
+Sir Charles Bagot, in accordance with the spirit of our new
+Constitution. In 1841 the Imperial Ministry, under whose auspices this
+Constitution had been framed, was deposed, and a Tory Government
+succeeded to power. In this Government the late Lord Derby, then Lord
+Stanley, held the portfolio appertaining to the office of Colonial
+Secretary. Soon after Sir Charles Bagot's resignation of the post of
+Governor-General, in the winter of 1842, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+selected as his successor. The selection was made at the instance of
+Lord Stanley, who had all along been inimical to the scheme of
+Responsible Government in Canada, and there is reason for believing that
+he entertained the design of subverting it. His selection of Sir Charles
+Metcalfe, and his subsequent instructions and general policy, certainly
+lend colour to such a belief. The new Governor was a man of excellent
+intentions, and of more than average ability, but his previous training
+and experience had been such as to render him totally unfit for the post
+of a Constitutional Governor.
+
+We can only afford space for a brief glance at his previous career, but
+even that brief glance will be sufficient to show how little sympathy he
+could be expected to have in colonial schemes of Responsible Government.
+He was born at Calcutta, on Sunday, the 30th of January, 1785, a few
+days before Warren Hastings ceased to be Governor-General of India. His
+father, Major Theophilus Metcalfe, of the Bengal army, was a gentleman
+of ample fortune, and a Director in the East India Company. Charles was
+the second son of his parents, and was destined at an early age for the
+Company's service. He was educated first at a private school at Bromley,
+in Middlesex, and afterwards at Eton College, where he remained until he
+had entered upon his sixteenth year, when he returned to India. He was
+appointed to a writership in the service of the Company, wherein for
+seven years he filled various offices, and in 1808 was selected by Lord
+Minto to take charge of a difficult mission to the Court of Lahore, the
+object of which was to secure the Sikh States, between the Sutlej and
+Jumna Rivers, from the grasp of Runjeet Singh. In this mission he fully
+succeeded, the treaty being concluded in 1809. He subsequently filled
+several other high offices of trust, and in 1827 took his seat as a
+member of the Supreme Council of India. Both his father and elder
+brother had meanwhile died, and he had become Sir Charles Metcalfe.
+
+In 1835, upon Lord W. Bentinck's resignation, Sir Charles Metcalfe was
+provisionally appointed Governor-General, which office he held until
+Lord Auckland's arrival in the year following. During this short period
+he effected many bold and popular reforms, not the least of which was
+the liberation of the press of India from all restrictions. Under his
+immediate predecessor, Lord William Bentinck, the press had been as free
+as it is in England; but there were still certain laws or orders of a
+severe character, which at the pleasure of any future Governor might be
+called into operation. These Sir Charles Metcalfe repealed. His doing so
+gave umbrage to the Directors, and caused his resignation and return to
+Europe, when he was appointed Governor of Jamaica. The difficult duties
+of this position--the emancipation of the negroes having but recently
+occurred--were discharged by him to the satisfaction of the Government
+and the colonists. After over two years' residence the climate proved so
+unfavourable to his health that he was compelled to resign. The painful
+disease of which he afterwards died--cancer of the cheek--had seized him
+in a firm grip. Years before this time, when residing at Calcutta, a
+friend had one day noticed a red spot upon his cheek, and underneath it
+a single drop of blood. The blood was wiped away; the red spot remained.
+For a long while it occasioned neither pain nor anxiety. A little time
+after his departure from India, disquieting symptoms appeared, and on
+his arrival in England he had consulted Sir Benjamin Brodie; but it was
+not till his return from Jamaica that it received the attention it
+really demanded. Then consultations of the most eminent surgeons and
+physicians were held, and the application of a severe caustic was
+determined on. When told that it would probably "destroy the cheek
+through and through," he only answered, "What you determine shall be
+done at once;" and the same afternoon the painful remedy was applied.
+The physicians and surgeons of London did what they could for him, and
+he retired into the country. The disorder had not been eradicated, but
+merely checked. About this time the ill-health of Sir Charles Bagot had
+rendered that gentleman's resignation necessary, and the post of
+Governor-General of Canada thus became vacant. It was offered to, and
+accepted by, Sir Charles Metcalfe. No appointment could have been found
+for him at that moment in the whole political world the duties of which
+were more difficult, when the nature of his instructions and the
+peculiar position of the colony are taken into consideration. Add to
+this that his whole life had hitherto been passed in administering
+governments which were largely despotic in their character. Responsible
+Government, as we have seen, had been conceded to Canada. Sir Charles
+professed to approve of this concession, but his conduct throughout the
+whole course of his administration was at variance with his professions,
+and showed that his sympathies were not on the side of popular rights.
+He came over in the month of March, 1843, and on the following day took
+charge of the Administration. For the composition of the Government and
+an account of the situation of affairs in Canada at this time the reader
+is referred to the life of Robert Baldwin which has already appeared in
+these pages. The circumstances under which the Governor contrived to
+embroil himself with the leading members of the Administration are there
+given in sufficient detail, and there is no necessity for repeating them
+at length in this place. Sir Charles chose his associates and advisers
+from among the members of the defunct Family Compact. He endeavoured to
+circumscribe the power of the Executive Council, which demanded that no
+office should be filled, no appointment made, without its sanction. We
+are, argued the members of Council, in the same relation to the House of
+Assembly as Ministers in England to the English Parliament. We are
+responsible to it for the acts of Government; these acts must be ours,
+or the result of our advice, otherwise we cannot be responsible for
+them. Unless our demand is complied with, there is no such thing as
+Responsible Government. On the other hand, Sir Charles contended that by
+relinquishing his patronage he should be surrendering the prerogatives
+of the Crown, and should also incapacitate himself and all future
+Governors from acting as moderator between opposite factions. It was not
+long before an appointment, made by Sir Charles, brought the contest to
+an issue. Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, the two leading members of the
+Executive Council, urged upon the Governor to retract this appointment,
+or to promise that no other should be made without their advice. The
+Governor was firm in his refusal. The Executive Council resigned. To
+form a new Ministry was, under these circumstances, a most difficult
+task. Office went begging; a Solicitor-Generalship was offered to six
+individuals, and perseveringly refused by all. But Sir Charles was also
+persevering in his offers, and at last a seventh was found, who
+accepted. At last a weak Ministry was formed, and then followed a
+general election. Parliament met at Montreal on the 8th of November,
+1844, when, after a hard fight, Sir Allan Macnab was elected Speaker of
+the Assembly by a small majority of three. The debate on the address,
+after strong opposition, was carried by a Tory majority of six. The
+session dragged on without any change in the character of the Ministry,
+which was supported by a small and feeble majority in the Assembly. The
+popular feeling against the Governor rose to the highest pitch. Meantime
+Sir Charles's terrible malady was rapidly doing its work upon him. He
+had lost the use of one eye, the eye which was still useful sympathized
+with that which was destroyed; nor was there any hope of the eradication
+of the cancer. He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of
+another to write his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains
+above the eye and down the right side of the face as far as the chin.
+The cheek towards the nose and mouth was permanently swelled. He could
+not open his mouth to its usual width, and it was with difficulty he
+inserted and masticated food. He no longer looked forward to a cure. His
+Canadian medical attendants hesitated to apply the powerful caustic
+recommended by Sir Benjamin Brodie, and counselled him to return to
+England. "I am tied to Canada by my duty," was his constant reply. Mr.
+George Pollock, house surgeon of St. George's Hospital, was despatched
+from England, to examine the case and apply the most approved remedies.
+No aid which science could give was wanting, but the disease was beyond
+medical control. Its ravages were now most painful and distressing. So
+far as the body was concerned, it was but the wreck of a man that
+remained. On this wreck or ruin, however, was to descend, as if in
+mockery, the coronet of nobility. He was created Baron Metcalfe. Idle as
+the honour was in itself to the childless invalid, it was still a
+testimony that his services had been appreciated. "But," says his
+biographer, "he was dying, no less surely for the strong will that
+sustained him, and the vigorous intellect which glowed in his shattered
+frame. A little while and he might die at his post. The winter was
+setting in--the navigation was closing. It was necessary at once to
+decide whether Metcalfe should now prepare to betake the suffering
+remnant of himself to England, or to abide at Montreal, if spared, till
+the coming spring. But he would not trust himself to form the decision.
+He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him at
+Monklands; and there he told them that he left the issue in their hands.
+It was a scene never to be forgotten by any who were present in the
+Governor-General's darkened room on this memorable occasion. Some were
+dissolved in tears. All were agitated by a strong emotion of sorrow and
+sympathy, mingled with a sort of wondering admiration of the heroic
+constancy of their chief. He told them that if they desired his
+continuance at the head of the Government--if they believed that the
+cause for which they had fought together so manfully would suffer by his
+departure, and that they therefore counselled him to remain at his post,
+he would willingly abide by their decision." What their decision was
+need hardly be said. Lord Metcalfe embarked for England quietly and
+unostentatiously, as his suffering state compelled. He could not, from
+the nature of the struggle in which he had been engaged, expect to quit
+the shores of Canada with the same unanimous approbation that had
+erected to his memory the "Metcalfe Hall" at Calcutta, or raised his
+statue in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He returned to England--returned to
+doctors and the darkened room. He was in constant pain except when under
+the influence of narcotics; but he made no complaint, and endured his
+sufferings with fortitude. He died on the 5th of September, 1846, and
+was interred in a quiet, private and unostentatious manner in the little
+parish church of Winkfield, near Fern Hill. He had often expressed a
+wish that this should be his last resting place. On a marble tablet in
+this church is an epitaph written by Mr.--afterwards Lord--Macaulay, who
+knew and had served with him in India. Thus it runs:--"Near this stone
+is laid CHARLES THEOPHILUS, first and last LORD METCALFE, a Statesman
+tried in many high posts and difficult conjunctures, and found equal to
+all. The Three Greatest Dependencies of the British Crown were
+successively intrusted to his care. In India his fortitude, his wisdom,
+his probity, and his moderation are held in honourable remembrance by
+men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed
+by a social revolution, he calmed the evil passions which long suffering
+had engendered in one class and long domination in another. In Canada,
+not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, he reconciled
+contending factions to each other and to the Mother Country. Public
+esteem was the just reward of his public virtue, but those only who
+enjoyed the privilege of his friendship could appreciate the whole worth
+of his gentle and noble nature. Costly monuments in Asiatic and American
+cities attest the gratitude of nations which he ruled; this tablet
+records the sorrow and the pride with which his memory is cherished by
+private Affection."
+
+Had it been his good fortune to die before receiving the appointment of
+Governor-General of Canada, Sir Charles Metcalfe would have left behind
+him a high reputation on all hands, and there would have been nothing to
+detract from the praise which would have been justly his due. His tenure
+of office in this country was a somewhat inglorious close to a long and
+useful public career. As Governor of a colony to which Responsible
+Government had been conceded he was altogether out of his element. He
+was simply unfit for the position, as well by reason of his personal
+character as by the training to which he had been subjected. Good
+intentions were undoubtedly his, and he acted up to the light that was
+in him; but to this modicum of praise no Canadian writer can justly add
+much in the way of commendation.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. ALEXANDER MORRIS.
+
+
+Mr. Morris is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Morris, whose name
+is prominently identified with the history of the Clergy Reserve and
+School Land questions in this country; and a nephew of the late Hon.
+James Morris, who held the portfolio of Postmaster-General in the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, and who was subsequently
+Receiver-General in the Administration organized under the leadership of
+Messrs. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte. The chief
+points of public interest connected with the family history are outlined
+in the sketch of his father's life, which appears elsewhere in these
+pages. The subject of the present memoir was born at Perth, Upper
+Canada--where his father then resided and carried on business--on the
+17th of March, 1826. In boyhood he attended the local Grammar School,
+which enjoyed a high reputation for the efficiency of its educational
+training. His father, who was desirous that his son should enjoy higher
+scholastic advantages than were then obtainable in this country, sent
+him, while he was still in early youth, to Scotland, where he entered as
+a student at Madras College, St. Andrews. After spending about a year at
+that establishment he was transferred to the University of Glasgow,
+where another industrious year was passed. Returning to his native land,
+he began to devote himself to the business of life. He at this time was
+intended for commercial pursuits, and spent three years in the
+establishment of Messrs. Thorne & Heward, commission merchants, at
+Montreal. The knowledge and experience gained during these three years
+have since proved of great service to him, although he was not destined
+to engage in commercial business on his own behalf. He had meanwhile
+resolved to enter the legal profession in Upper Canada, and was
+accordingly articled as a clerk to Mr.--now the Hon. Sir--John A.
+Macdonald, in the office of Messrs. Macdonald & Campbell, Barristers, of
+Kingston. Here he studied with such assiduity that his health gave way,
+and he was compelled to relinquish his studies for some months. His
+father having previously removed to Montreal, he returned to that city
+and resumed his scholastic studies in the University of McGill College,
+where he took the degrees successively of B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L.
+He was the first graduate in the Arts course of that institution, and
+was subsequently elected by the graduates one of the first Fellows in
+Arts, and thence was promoted to be one of the Governors of the
+University, which position he held for several years. He entered the
+office of the then Attorney-General Badgley, who subsequently became a
+Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in Quebec. He completed his course
+of studies in the office of Messrs. Badgley & Abbott, and then proceeded
+to Toronto, where he presented his credentials to the Benchers of the
+Law Society and requested to be called to the Bar, under the provisions
+of the law which enabled any person who had been duly registered as a
+clerk or student during the necessary period for the Bar of Lower
+Canada, to be called to the Bar of Upper Canada, after passing the
+necessary examination. He was examined in due course by the Benchers of
+Upper Canada, admitted to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, and was
+thereafter sworn in as an Attorney--both in Hilary Term of the year
+1851. He was then about to establish himself in the practice of the law
+in the city of Toronto, having been offered a partnership by the then
+Attorney-General, the late Hon. John Ross, when family circumstances led
+to his return to Montreal, where, having presented his diploma as a
+Barrister-at-Law of Upper Canada, he was after examination called to the
+Bar of Lower Canada as an Advocate. In November of the same year he
+married Miss Margaret Cline, daughter of the late Mr. William Cline, of
+Cornwall, and niece of the late Hon. Philip Vankoughnet, of the same
+place. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Montreal. His
+ability and social connections soon secured for him a large and
+lucrative practice, and having entered into partnership with the present
+Mr. Justice Torrance, he became known as one of the most successful
+practitioners in the Province, devoting himself mainly to commercial
+law. Like his father before him, he attached himself to the Conservative
+side in politics, and first entered active political life in 1861, when
+he contested the constituency of South Lanark, in Upper Canada, for the
+Legislative Assembly, in opposition to Mr. John Doran. His father had
+represented that constituency for twenty years, and he had no difficulty
+in securing his election. Upon the opening of the session he took his
+seat in the House, and made his first speech, on the debate on the
+Speech from the Throne, which was on the question of Representation by
+Population--a measure which he did not believe to be the true remedy for
+the unsatisfactory state of things which existed throughout the country.
+The true remedy, as he believed, and as he repeatedly urged, both from
+his place in Parliament and elsewhere, was the Confederation scheme
+which was subsequently adopted. In the negotiations which led to the
+formation of the Coalition Government, of which Sir John A. Macdonald
+and the late Hon. George Brown were members, and which secured the
+necessary Imperial legislation in order to bring about Confederation, he
+took an active and initiatory part, as appears by the record of the
+steps taken to form the Government, and secure that policy submitted to
+the Parliament of Canada at the time. He continued to represent South
+Lanark in the Assembly until Confederation, after which he represented
+it in the House of Commons until the general election of 1872. He was an
+active member, and stood high in the esteem of his Party. In the month
+of November, 1869, he accepted office in the then-existing Government as
+Minister of Inland Revenue, which he retained until, having resigned his
+position in the Government owing to broken health, he received the
+appointment of Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba,
+in July, 1872. Of this office he was the first incumbent, no Court of
+Queen's Bench having previously existed there. The highest judicial
+tribunal which had existed in the Prairie Province up to that time was
+the Quarterly Court, as it was called, organized under the authority of
+the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, and conducted in a rather primitive
+way. A short time prior to the date last mentioned this tribunal was
+abolished, and the Court of Queen's Bench established in its place.
+After accepting the office of Chief Justice, Mr. Morris prepared a
+series of rules introducing the English practice into the Court. He did
+not long retain his seat on the Judicial Bench, as, two months after his
+appointment as Chief Justice, he was nominated as Administrator, in
+place of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald, who was absent on leave. On the
+2nd of December, 1872, he received the appointment of
+Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories, a
+position which he retained for five years. On the creation of the
+District of Keewatin he became Lieutenant-Governor of that territory _ex
+officio_. He was also appointed Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs
+in the Manitoba Superintendency, and one of the Special Commissioners
+for the making of treaties three, four, five and six, and the revision
+of treaties one and two; and, as will be seen from the last report of
+the Minister of the Interior, he suggested the making of the last and
+seventh treaty--that with the Blackfeet. In the making of these treaties
+he was the active Commissioner and chief spokesman, and was very
+successful in winning the confidence of the Indian tribes. The treaties
+in question extinguished the natural title of the Indian tribes to the
+vast region extending from the Height of Land beyond Lake Superior to
+the Blackfeet country in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, covering
+the route of the Canada Pacific Railway, and opening up a vast extent of
+fertile territory to settlement. When Mr. Morris assumed the government
+of Manitoba the Province was in a very disturbed condition. He had the
+satisfaction of leaving it reduced to order, and far advanced in
+settlement and legislative progress. On his departure from Manitoba, the
+_Free Press_, the organ of the Liberal Party, thus referred to his
+career in the North-West: "To-morrow is the last day of Hon. Alexander
+Morris's connection with Manitoba as Lieutenant-Governor. When, five
+years ago, the announcement was made that Chief Justice Morris had been
+appointed to the position which he is now just about vacating, very
+general satisfaction was manifested by the people of the Province. Mr.
+Morris succeeded to the office when it was surrounded by difficulties
+great and complicated; and the task before its incumbent was by no means
+an easy one. The Province occupied a most peculiar position; having just
+had constitutional self-government thrust upon it, without any
+preparatory training. The Lieutenant-Governor necessarily found himself
+at the head of a people who, no matter how good their intentions, could
+not reasonably be expected to have a very perfect appreciation of the
+true position of a Lieutenant-Governor under such a government.
+Lieutenant-Governor Morris during the early part of his official career
+had plenty of evidence of this, and it devolved upon him, in no small
+degree, to impress upon them exactly what such government entailed--that
+the Lieutenant-Governor was supposed to act almost solely upon the
+advice of the Crown Ministers of the day, who in turn were responsible
+to the people's chosen representatives in Parliament. And in no one way
+has Governor Morris more distinguished himself than in the observance of
+this fundamental principle of our constitution, however much he may
+actually have assisted in the government of the country by his ripe
+experience and statesmanship. The smallest Province though Manitoba is,
+the office of its Lieutenant-Governor has entailed more extensive
+responsibilities than that of any other Province in the Dominion."
+
+Upon the completion of his term of office Mr. Morris returned from
+Manitoba to his native town of Perth, in Ontario, where he had a
+residence. At the last general election for the House of Commons, in
+1878, he contested the constituency of Selkirk, Manitoba, with the Hon.
+Donald A. Smith, but was defeated by nine votes. Mr. Smith was, however,
+unseated on petition. About two months later the Hon. Matthew Crooks
+Cameron, who sat in the Local Legislature of Ontario for East Toronto,
+was appointed to a Puisne Judgeship of the Court of Queen's Bench. This
+left a vacancy in the representation of East Toronto, and Mr. Morris,
+who was then a resident of Perth, was nominated for the vacancy by a
+Conservative Convention. He offered himself as a candidate for the
+constituency, and was elected by a considerable majority over his
+opponent, Mr. John Leys. At the general local elections held on the 5th
+of June following Mr. Morris was again returned for East Toronto--of
+which he had in the interval become a resident--by a majority of 57 over
+the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario. He continues to represent
+that constituency, and occupies a prominent place as a member of the
+Opposition.
+
+Mr. Morris has also made a creditable name for himself in literature. In
+1854 he published a quasi-professional work embodying the Railway
+Consolidation Acts of Canada, with notes of cases. In 1855 appeared
+"Canada and Her Resources," an essay to which was awarded the second
+prize offered by the Paris Exhibition Committee of Canada--the first
+prize having been awarded to the well-known essay by the late Mr. John
+Sheridan Hogan by Sir Edmund Head, then Governor-General. Three years
+later--in 1858--he delivered a lecture before the Mercantile Library
+Association of Montreal, in which was predicted the federation of the
+British American Provinces and the construction of the Intercolonial and
+Pacific Railways--subjects to which Mr. Morris had given a good deal of
+attention ever since, when a youth, he had read and studied Lord
+Durham's famous "Report" on Canada. This lecture was published, in
+pamphlet form, under the title of "Nova Britannia; or, British North
+America, its extent and future," by the Library Association. It was
+widely circulated, and attracted a good deal of attention, not only in
+this country but in Great Britain and the United States. No fewer than
+three thousand copies of it were sold in ten days. A contemporary notice
+of this pamphlet thus refers to the author and his theory: "Mr. Morris
+is at once statistical, patriotic and prophetic. The lecturer sees in
+the future a fusion of races, a union of all the existing provinces,
+with new provinces to grow up in the west, and a railway to the Pacific.
+The design of the lecture is excellent, and its facts seem to have been
+carefully collected." In 1859 Mr. Morris delivered and published another
+lecture of a somewhat similar nature, under the title of "The Hudson's
+Bay and Pacific Territories," advocating the withdrawal of the
+North-West Territories from the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+their incorporation with the Confederacy of Canada along with British
+Columbia. His latest work, published during the month of May last, is
+entitled, "The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the
+North-West Territories." It gives an account of all the treaties made
+with these Indians, from the original one made by Lord Selkirk down to
+the present time; contains suggestions for dealing with them, and
+predicts a hopeful future for them.
+
+Mr. Morris has for many years taken an active part in the Church Courts
+of, first, the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the
+Church of Scotland, and since the union of the four Presbyterian
+Churches of the Dominion as the Presbyterian Church in Canada, as a
+representative to the Assembly of that Church. He has been for twenty
+years a Trustee of Queen's College, Kingston, of which his father was
+one of the active founders. Mr. Morris actively assisted in bringing
+about the union of the Churches above alluded to, affirming it to be in
+the highest interests of Presbyterianism and religion in the Dominion
+that such a consummation should be brought about.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS TALBOT, signed as Thomas Talbot]
+
+
+THE HON. THOMAS TALBOT.
+
+
+Not often does it fall to the lot of the biographer to chronicle a more
+singular piece of history than is afforded by the life of the founder of
+the Talbot Settlement in Western Canada. A contemporary writer has
+proved to us that Ireland has, at one time and another, contributed her
+full share of notable personages to our population; and Colonel Talbot
+is certainly entitled to rank among the most remarkable of them all. A
+man of high birth and social position, of good abilities, with a decided
+natural turn for an active military career, and with excellent prospects
+of success before him, he voluntarily forsook the influences under which
+he had been reared, and spent by far the greater part of a long life in
+the solitude of the Canadian wilderness. He was the early associate and
+life-long friend of the illustrious Duke of Wellington. At the outset of
+their careers, any impartial friend of the two youths might not
+unreasonably have predicted a higher and wider fame for the scion of the
+House of Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley; for the former was the
+brighter, and apparently the more ambitious of the two, and his
+connections were at least equally influential. Had any one indulged in
+such a vaticination, however, his prediction would have been most
+ignominiously falsified by subsequent events. Arthur Wellesley lived to
+achieve a reputation second to that of scarcely any name in history. He
+became the most famous and successful military commander of modern
+times. Nations vied with each other in heaping well-deserved honours
+upon his head, and his Sovereign characterized him as "the greatest
+general England ever saw." Statesmen and princes hung upon his words,
+and even upon his nod; and lovely women languished for his smiles. When
+he died, full of years and honours, and everything of good which a
+grateful nation has to bestow, his body lay in state at Chelsea
+Hospital. It was visited by the high and mighty ones of the Empire, and
+was contemplated with an almost superstitious awe. It was finally borne
+with regal pomp, through streets draped in mourning, and thronged by a
+countless multitude, to its final resting-place in the crypt of the
+noblest of English cathedrals. The funeral rites were solemnized amid
+the tears of a nation, and formed an event in that nation's history. The
+obsequies of "the Iron Duke" took place on the 18th of November, 1852.
+In less than three months from that date his friend Colonel Talbot also
+went the way of all flesh. But by how different a road! His life, though
+it had by no means been spent in vain, had had little to commend it to
+the emulation or envy of mankind. Its most vigorous season had been
+passed amid the solitude of the Canadian forest, and in its decline it
+had become the prey of selfishness and neglect. Colonel Talbot died in a
+small room in the house of a man who had once been his servant. He must
+have tasted the bitterness of death many times before he finally entered
+into his rest. Neither wife, child, nor relative ministered to his
+wants. But scant ceremony was vouchsafed to his remains. His body,
+instead of lying in state, was deposited in a barn, and was finally
+attended to its last obscure resting-place in a little Canadian village
+by a handful of friends and acquaintances. The weather was piercingly
+cold, and we may be sure that the obsequies were not unnecessarily
+prolonged. Surely the force of antithesis could not much farther go!
+
+And yet, as we review the widely diverse careers of these two remarkable
+men, it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than that the
+result in each case was the legitimate outgrowth of their respective
+qualities. Arthur Wellesley, in his earliest boyhood, formed a definite
+purpose in life; and that purpose, during all the years of his
+probation, was kept constantly in view. Every other passion was kept in
+due subordination to it. Fortune was kind to him, and he well knew how
+to avail himself of her favours. The acquisition of fame, moreover,
+bears some analogy to the acquisition of wealth. The first step is by
+far the most difficult. Dr. Johnson once said that any man of strong
+will has it in his power to make a fortune, if he can only contrive to
+tide over the time while he is scraping together the first hundred
+pounds. Arthur Wellesley, having got his foot firmly on the first rung
+of the ladder, found the rest of the ascent feasible enough. Now, Thomas
+Talbot was endowed by nature with a will so strong as almost to deserve
+the name of stubbornness, but that was almost the only quality which he
+shared in common with his friend. If he ever formed any definite scheme
+of life he was certainly very inconsistent in pursuing it. His moods
+were as erratic as were those of the hero of Locksley Hall. He was
+unable to bring his mind into harmony with the inevitable, and knew not
+how to subordinate himself to the existing order of things. Even as an
+army-officer he was not always amenable to discipline. The follies and
+frivolities of society disgusted him, and his mind early received a warp
+from which it never recovered. He lived in a time when there was plenty
+of work ready to his hand, if he would but have condescended to take his
+share of it. The work, however, was not to his taste, and his ambition
+seems to have deserted him at a most inopportune time. He "burst all
+links of habit," withdrew himself from his proper place in the world,
+and passed the rest of his days in solitude and obscurity. As the
+founder of an important settlement in a new Province, he certainly
+accomplished some good in his day and generation. The enterprise,
+however, does not seem to have been undertaken with any definite design
+of accomplishing good, but merely with a view to securing a more
+congenial mode of life for himself. That a man reared as he had been
+should find anything congenial in such a life is a problem which is
+insoluble to ordinary humanity.
+
+The family from which he sprang has long been celebrated both in English
+and continental history. Readers of Shakespeare's historical plays are,
+it is to be hoped, sufficiently familiar with that "scourge of France"
+who was defied by Joan of Arc, and who, with his son, John Talbot, fell
+bravely fighting his country's battles on the field of Castillon, near
+Bordeaux. It would be difficult for a man to sustain the burden of a
+long line of such ancestors as these. It is therefore reassuring to
+learn that the Talbot line has been diversified by representatives of
+another sort. Readers of Macaulay's History are familiar with the name
+of Richard Talbot, that noted sharper, bully, pimp and pander, who
+haunted Whitehall during the years immediately succeeding the
+Restoration; whose genius for mendacity procured for him the nickname
+of "Lying Dick Talbot;" who became the husband of Frances Jennings; who
+slandered Anne Hyde for the money of the Duke of York; who, in a word,
+was one of the greatest scoundrels that figured in those iniquitous
+times; and who was subsequently raised by James II. to the Earldom of
+Tyrconnel. "Lying Dick" was a member of the Irish branch of the Talbot
+family, which settled in Ireland during the reign of Henry II., and
+became possessed of the ancient baronial castle of Malahide, in the
+county of Dublin. The Talbots of Malahide trace their descent from the
+same stock as the Talbots who have been Earls of Shrewsbury, in the
+peerage of Great Britain, since the middle of the fifteenth century. The
+father of the subject of this sketch was Richard Talbot, of Malahide.
+His mother was Margaret, Baroness Talbot; and he himself was born at
+Malahide on the 17th of July, 1771.
+
+All that can be ascertained about his childhood is that he spent some
+years at the Public Free School at Manchester, and that he received a
+commission in the army in the year 1782, when he was only eleven years
+of age. Whether or not he left school immediately after obtaining this
+commission does not appear, but his education must have been very
+imperfect, as he was not of a studious disposition, and in 1786, when he
+was only sixteen, we find him installed as an aide-de-camp to his
+relative the Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord Lieutenant of
+Ireland. His brother aide was the Arthur Wellesley already referred to.
+The two boys were necessarily thrown much together, and each of them
+formed a warm attachment for the other. Their future paths in life lay
+far apart, but they never ceased to correspond, and to recall the happy
+time they had spent together,
+
+    "Yearning for the large excitement that
+     the coming years would yield."
+
+Young Talbot continued in the position of aide-de-camp for several
+years. In 1790 he joined the 24th Regiment, which was then stationed at
+Quebec, in the capacity of Lieutenant. We have no record of his life
+during the next few months. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor
+Simcoe at Quebec, at the end of May, 1792, Lieutenant Talbot, who had
+nearly completed his twenty-first year, became attached to the
+Governor's suite in the capacity of private secretary. He continued to
+form part of the establishment of Upper Canada's first
+Lieutenant-Governor until just before the latter's removal from this
+country. "During that period," says General Simcoe, writing in 1803, "he
+not only conducted many details and important duties incidental to the
+original establishment of a colony, in matters of internal regulation,
+to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential
+measures necessary to preserve the country in peace, without violating,
+on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States; and on
+the other, alienating the affection of the Indian nations, at that
+period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I
+principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse
+with the several Indian Tribes; and occasionally with his Majesty's
+Minister at Philadelphia; and these duties, without any salary or
+emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction."
+
+It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary to
+Governor Simcoe that the idea of embracing a pioneer's life in Canada
+first took possession of young Talbot's mind. It has been alleged that
+his imagination was fired by reading a translation of part of
+Charlevoix's "Historie Generale de la Nouvelle France," a work which
+describes the writer's own experiences in the wilds of Canada in a
+pleasant and easy fashion. This idea is probably attributable to an
+assertion made by Colonel Talbot himself to Mrs. Jameson, when that
+lady visited him during her brief sojourn in Upper Canada. "Charlevoix,"
+said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to this place. You
+know he calls this the Paradise of the Hurons. Now I was resolved to get
+to Paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came here." It is much more
+probable, however, that he was influenced by his own experiences in the
+Canadian forest, which for him would possess all the charm of novelty,
+in addition to its natural beauties. He accompanied the
+Lieutenant-Governor hither and thither, and traversed in his company the
+greater part of what then constituted Upper Canada. He formed a somewhat
+intimate acquaintance with the Honourable William Osgoode, the first
+Chief Justice of this Province, who was for some time an inmate of
+Governor Simcoe's abode at Niagara--or Newark, as it was then generally
+called. The Chief Justice felt the isolation of his position very
+keenly, and was doubtless glad to relax his mind by communion with the
+young Irish lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the
+humour characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon
+companion. At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the
+misanthrope about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much
+enjoyment out of life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution
+was robust, and his disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed
+fastidious about his personal appearance, and was keenly alive to
+everything that was going on about him. He was popular among all the
+members of the household, and was the especial friend of Major
+Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary, whose name is familiar
+to most persons who take an interest in the history of the early
+settlement of this Province.
+
+On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have
+an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well
+as upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall[1] to
+explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of
+Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among
+whom were Major Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The
+Major kept a diary during the journey, which was given to the world more
+than forty years afterwards in the _Canadian Literary Magazine_, a
+periodical of which several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834.
+The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The
+route lay through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party
+were entertained by Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now
+stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater
+part of the journey being necessarily made on foot. On the return
+journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor
+Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future
+capital of the Province. One important result of this long and toilsome
+journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or, as it is frequently
+called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party were delighted with the
+wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, but
+not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as young Lieutenant Talbot,
+who expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south,
+bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the
+following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself and several
+members of his suite with another western excursion. During this journey
+the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young
+Lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had
+ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest
+tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings
+around me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may
+be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.
+
+In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became
+Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Foot. He returned to Europe,
+and joined his regiment, which was despatched on active service to the
+Continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was
+for some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the
+Peace of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, he sold his commission,
+retired from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention
+expressed by him to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his
+tent in the wilds of Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible
+to do more than conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to
+the end of his days. One writer ventures the hypothesis that he had been
+crossed in love. The only justification, so far as we are aware, for
+this hypothesis, is a half jocular expression of the Colonel's some
+years afterwards. A friend having bantered him on the subject of his
+remaining so long in a state of single blessedness, took an opportunity
+of questioning him about it, and in the course of a familiar chat, asked
+him why he remained so long single, when he stood so much in need of a
+help-mate. "Why," said the Colonel, "to tell you the truth, I never saw
+but one woman that I really cared anything about, and she would'nt have
+me; and to use an old joke, those who would have me, the devil would'nt
+have them. Miss Johnston," continued the Colonel, "the daughter of Sir
+J. Johnston, was the only girl I ever loved, and she wouldn't have me."
+
+Whatever cause may have impelled him, it is sufficiently evident that he
+had become out of sorts with society, and had resolved to betake himself
+to a distance from the haunts of civilized mankind. Aided by the
+influence of ex-Governor Simcoe and other powerful friends, he obtained
+a grant of five thousand acres of land as a Field Officer meaning to
+reside in the Province, and to permanently establish himself there. The
+land was situated in the southern part of the Upper Canadian peninsula,
+bordering on Lake Erie, and included the site of what afterwards became
+Port Talbot. This, however, was only a portion of the advantage
+derivable from the grant. In addition to the tract so conferred upon him
+he obtained a preemptive or proprietary right over an immense territory
+including about half a million acres, and comprising twenty-eight of the
+adjacent townships.[2] For every settler placed by the Colonel on fifty
+acres of this land, he was entitled to a patent of a hundred and fifty
+additional acres for himself. He thus obtained practical control of an
+expanse of territory which, as has been said, was "a principality in
+extent." Armed with these formidable powers he once more crossed the
+Atlantic, and made his way to the present site of Port Talbot, which had
+so hugely attracted his fancy during his tour with Governor Simcoe. He
+reached the spot on the 21st of May, 1803, and immediately set to work
+with his axe, and cut down the first tree, to commemorate his landing to
+take possession of his woodland estate. The settlement which
+subsequently bore his name was then an unbroken forest, and there were
+no traces of civilization nearer than Long Point, sixty miles to the
+eastward, while to the westward the aborigines were still the lords of
+the soil, and rules with the tomahawk. In this sequestered region
+Colonel Talbot took up his abode, and literally made for himself "a
+local habitation and a name."
+
+At the time of his arrival he was accompanied by two or three stalwart
+settlers who had crossed the Atlantic under his auspices, and with their
+assistance he was not long in erecting an abode which was thenceforward
+known as Castle Malahide. It was built on a high cliff overhanging the
+lake. The "Castle" was "neither more nor less than a long range of low
+buildings, formed of logs and shingles." The main structure consisted of
+three divisions, or apartments; viz., a granary, which was also used as
+a store-room; a dining-room, which was also used as an office and
+reception-room for visitors; and a kitchen. There was another building
+close by, containing a range of bed-rooms, where guests could be made
+comfortable for the night. In his later years, the Colonel added a suite
+of rooms of more lofty pretensions, but without disturbing the old
+tenements, and these sumptuous apartments were reserved for state
+occasions. There were underground cellars for wine, milk, and kitchen
+stores. This description applies to the establishment as it appeared
+when finally completed. For some time after the Colonel's first arrival
+it was much less pretentious, and consisted of a single log shanty. In
+order to prevent settlers and other people from intruding upon his
+privacy unnecessarily, the Colonel caused one of the panes of glass in
+the window of his office to be removed, and a little door, swung upon
+hinges, to be substituted, after the fashion sometimes seen at rural
+post-offices. By means of this little swinging door he held conferences
+with all persons whom he did not chose to admit to a closer
+communication. This, which at a first glance, would seem to smack of
+superciliousness, was in reality nothing more than a judicious
+precaution. In the course of his dealings with settlers and emigrants,
+some of them were tempted, by the loneliness of his situation, to
+browbeat, and even to manifest violence towards him. On one occasion, it
+is said, he was assaulted and thrown down by one of the "land pirates,"
+as he used to call them. The solitary situation in which he had
+voluntarily placed himself, and the power he possessed of distributing
+lands, required him to act frequently with apparent harshness, in order
+to avoid being imposed upon by land jobbers, and to prevent artful men
+from overreaching their weaker-minded brethren. His henchman,
+house-steward and major-domo, was a faithful servant whose name was
+Jeffery Hunter, in whom his master had great confidence, and who, as we
+are gravely informed, was very useful in reaching down the maps.
+Jeffery, however, did not enter the Colonel's employ until the later had
+been some time in the country. Previous to that time this scion of
+aristocracy was generally compelled to be his own servant, and to cook,
+bake, and perform all the household drudgery, which he was not
+unfrequently compelled to perform in the presence of distinguished
+guests.
+
+Some years seem to have elapsed before the Colonel attracted any
+considerable number of settlers around him. The work of settlement
+cannot be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light
+thing in those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury
+himself in the remote wildernesses of Western Canada. There was no
+flouring-mill, for instance, within sixty miles of Castle Malahide. In
+the earliest years of the settlement the few residents were compelled to
+grind their own grain after a primitive fashion, in a mortar formed by
+hollowing out a basin in the stump of a tree with a heated iron. The
+grain was placed in the basin, and then pounded with a heavy wooden
+beetle until it bore some resemblance to meal. In process of time the
+Colonel built a mill in the township of Dunwich, not far from his own
+abode. It was a great boon to the settlement, but was not long in
+existence, having been destroyed during the American invasion in 1812.
+For the first twenty years of the Colonel's settlement, the hardships he
+as well as his settlers had to contend with were of no ordinary kind,
+and such only as could be overcome by industry and patient endurance.
+
+Colonel Talbot for many years exercised almost imperial sway over the
+district. He even provided for the wants of those in his immediate
+neighbourhood, and assembled them at his house on the first day of the
+week for religious worship. He read to them the services of the Church
+of England, and insured punctual attendance by sending the
+whiskey-bottle round among his congregation at the close of the
+ceremonial. Though never a religious man, even in the broadest
+acceptation of the term, he solemnized marriages and baptized the
+children. So that his government was, in the fullest and best sense,
+patriarchal. His method of transferring land was eminently simple and
+informal. No deeds were given, nor were any formal books of entry called
+into requisition. For many years the only records were sheet maps,
+showing the position of each separate lot enclosed in a small space
+within four black lines. When the terms of transfer had been agreed
+upon, the Colonel wrote the purchaser's name within the space assigned
+to the particular lot disposed of, and this was the only muniment of
+title. If the purchaser afterwards disposed of his lot, the vendor and
+vendee appeared at Castle Malahide, when, if the Colonel approved of the
+transaction, he simply obliterated the former purchaser's name with a
+piece of india-rubber, and substituted that of the new one.
+"Illustrations might be multiplied," says a contemporary Canadian
+writer, "of the peculiar way in which Colonel Talbot of Malahide
+discharged the duties he had undertaken to perform. There is a strong
+vein of the ludicrous running through these performances. We doubt
+whether transactions respecting the sale and transfer of real estate
+were, on any other occasion, or in any other place, carried on in a
+similar way. Pencil and india-rubber performances were, we venture to
+think, never before promoted to such trustworthy distinction, or called
+on to discharge such responsible duties as those which they described on
+the maps of which Jeffery and the dogs appeared to be the guardians.
+There is something irresistibly amusing in the fact that such an estate,
+exceeding half a million of acres, should have been disposed of in such
+a manner, with the help of such machinery, and, so far as we are aware,
+to the satisfaction of all concerned. It shows that a bad system
+faithfully worked is better than a good system basely managed."[3]
+
+During the American invasion of 1812-'13 and '14, Colonel Talbot
+commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of
+Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way
+to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people
+there were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a
+day or two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met
+his doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts
+from the American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and
+summoned the garrison to surrender. The place was not fortified, and the
+garrison consisted merely of a few farmers who had enrolled themselves
+in the militia under the temporary command of a Captain Patterson. A
+successful defence was out of the question and Colonel Talbot, who would
+probably have been deemed an important capture, quietly walked out of
+the back door as the invaders entered at the front. Some of the Indians
+saw the Colonel, who was dressed in homely, everyday garb, walking off
+through the woods, and were about to fire on him, when they were
+restrained by Captain Patterson, who begged them not to hurt the poor
+old fellow, who, he said, was the person who tended the sheep. This
+white lie probably saved the Colonel's life. The marauders, however,
+rifled the place, and carried off everything they could lay hands on,
+including some valuable horses and cattle. Colonel Talbot's gold,
+consisting of about two quart pots full, and some valuable plate,
+concealed under the front wing of the house, escaped notice. The
+invaders set fire to the grist mill, which was totally consumed, and
+this was a serious loss to the settlement generally.
+
+It was not till the year 1817 that anything like a regular store or shop
+was established in the settlement. Previous to that time the wants of
+the settlers were frequently supplied from the stores of Colonel Talbot,
+who provided necessaries for his own use, and for the men whom he
+employed. The Colonel was punctual in all his engagements, and
+scrupulously exact in all monetary transactions. The large sums he
+received for many years from the settlers were duly and properly
+accounted for to the Government. He would accept payment of his claims
+only in the form of notes on the Bank of Upper Canada, and persons
+having any money to pay him were always compelled to provide themselves
+accordingly. His accumulations were carefully stored in the place of
+concealment above referred to; and once a year he carried his wealth to
+Little York, and made his returns. This annual trip to Little York was
+made in the depth of winter, and was almost the only event that took him
+away from home, except on the two or three occasions when he visited the
+old country. He was accustomed to make the journey to the Provincial
+capital in a high box sleigh, clad in a sheepskin greatcoat which was
+known to pretty nearly every man in the settlement.
+
+Among the earliest settlers in the Talbot District was Mr. Mahlon
+Burwell, a land surveyor, who was afterwards better known as Colonel
+Burwell. He was of great assistance to Colonel Talbot, and became a
+privileged guest at Castle Malahide. He surveyed many of the townships
+in the Talbot District, and later on rose to a position of great
+influence in the Province. His industry and perseverance long enabled
+him to hold a high place in the minds of the people of the settlement,
+and he enjoyed the reflection of Colonel Talbot's high and benevolent
+character. He entered the Provincial Parliament, and for many years
+retained a large measure of public confidence. Another early settler in
+the District was the afterwards celebrated Dr. John Rolph, who took up
+his quarters on Catfish Creek in 1813. He was long on terms of close
+intimacy and friendship with Colonel Talbot, and in 1817 originated the
+Talbot Anniversary, to commemorate the establishment of the District,
+and to do honour to its Founder. This anniversary was held on the 21st
+of May, the Colonel's birthday, and was kept up without interruption for
+about twenty years. It was attended by every settler who could possibly
+get to the place of celebration, which was sometimes at Port Talbot, but
+more frequently at St. Thomas, after that place came into existence.
+Once only it was held at London. It is perhaps worth while mentioning
+that St. Thomas was called in honour of the Colonel's Christian name.
+Here the rustics assembled in full force to drink bumpers to the health
+of the Founder of the settlement, and to celebrate "the day, and all
+who honour it." The Colonel, of course, never failed to appear, and even
+after he had passed the allotted age of three score and ten, he always
+led off the first dance with some blooming maiden of the settlement.
+
+Practically speaking, there is no limit to the number of anecdotes which
+are rife to this day among the settlers of the Talbot District with
+respect to the Colonel's eccentricities and mode of life. On one
+occasion a person named Crandell presented himself at Castle Malahide,
+late in the evening, as an applicant for a lot of land. He was ushered
+into the Colonel's presence, when the latter turned upon him with a
+flushed and angry countenance, and demanded his money. The Colonel's
+aspect was so fierce, and the situation was so lonely, that Crandell was
+alarmed for his life, and forthwith surrendered all his capital. He was
+then led off by Jeffery to the kitchen, where he was comfortably
+entertained for the night. The next morning the Colonel settled his
+business satisfactorily, and returned him his money, telling him that he
+had taken it from him to prevent his being robbed by some of his
+rascally servants. On another occasion a pedantic personage who lived in
+the Township of Howard, and who spent much time in familiarizing himself
+with the longest words to be found in the Dictionary, presented himself
+before the Colonel, and began, in polysyllabic phrases, to lay a local
+grievance before him. The language employed was so periphrastic and
+pointless that the Colonel was at a loss to get at the meaning intended
+to be conveyed. After listening for a few moments with ill-concealed
+impatience, Talbot broke out with a profane exclamation, adding: "If you
+do not come down to the level of my poor understanding, I can do nothing
+for you." The man profited by the rebuke, and commenced in plain words,
+but in rather an ambiguous manner, to state that his neighbour was
+unworthy of the grant of land he had obtained, as he was not working
+well. "Come, out with it," said the Colonel, "for I see now what you
+would be at. You wish to oust your neighbour, and get the land for
+yourself." After enduring further characteristic expletives, the man
+took himself of incontinently. Although many of his settlers were native
+Americans, the Colonel had an aversion to Yankees, and used to say of
+them that they acquired property by whittling chips and barter--by
+giving a shingle for a blind pup, which they swopped for a goose, and
+then turned into a sheep. On another occasion, an Irishman, proud of his
+origin, and whose patronymic told at once that he was a son of the
+Emerald Isle, finding that he could not prevail with the Colonel on the
+score of being a fellow-countryman, resorted to rudeness, and, with more
+warmth than discretion, stood upon his pedigree, and told the Colonel
+that his family was as honourable, and the coat of arms as respectable
+and as ancient as that of the Talbots of Malahide. Jeffery and the dogs
+were always the last resource on such occasions. "My dogs don't
+understand heraldry," was the laconic retort, "and if you don't take
+yourself off, they will not leave a coat to your back."
+
+By the time the year 1826 came round, Colonel Talbot, in consequence of
+his exertions to forward the interests of his settlement, had begun to
+be very much straitened for means. He accordingly addressed a letter to
+Lord Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies in the Home Government, asking
+for some remuneration for his long and valuable services. In his
+application for relief we find this paragraph: "After twenty-three years
+entirely devoted to the improvement of the Western Districts of this
+Province, and establishing on their lands about 20,000 souls, without
+any expense for superintendence to the Government, or the persons
+immediately benefited; but, on the contrary, at a sacrifice of L20,000,
+in rendering them comfortable, I find myself entirely straitened, and
+now wholly without capital." He admitted that the tract of land he had
+received from the Crown was large, but added that his agricultural
+labours had been unproductive--a circumstance not much to be wondered at
+when it is borne in mind that his time was chiefly occupied in selling
+and portioning out the land. The Home Government responded by a grant of
+L400 sterling per annum. The pension thus conferred was not gratuitous,
+but by way of recompense for his services in locating settlers on the
+waste lands of the Crown. That he was entitled to such a recompense few,
+at the present day, will be found to deny. He was a father to his
+people, and, in the words of his biographer, "acted as the friend of the
+poor, industrious settler, whom he protected from the fangs of men in
+office who looked only to the fees."[4]
+
+In course of time the Colonel's place of abode at Port Talbot came to be
+a resort for distinguished visitors to Upper Canada, and the
+Lieutenant-Governors of the Province frequently resorted thither. The
+late Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson was a frequent and an
+honoured guest at Castle Malahide; and Colonel Talbot, in his turn,
+generally availed himself of the hospitality of the Chief Justice during
+his annual visits to Little York. Among scores of other distinguished
+visitors may be mentioned the Duke of Richmond, Sir Peregrine Maitland,
+Lord Aylmer and Sir John Colborne. Mrs. Jameson also visited the spot
+during her sojourn in this country just before the rebellion, and
+published the most readable account of it that has yet appeared.
+Speaking of the Colonel himself, she says: "This remarkable man is now
+about sixty-five, perhaps more, but he does not look so much. In spite
+of his rustic dress, his good-humoured, jovial, weather-beaten face, and
+the primitive simplicity, not to say rudeness, of his dwelling, he has
+in his features, air, and deportment, that _something_ which stamps him
+gentleman. And that _something_ which thirty-four years of solitude have
+not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth--things of more
+consequence, when philosophically and philanthropically considered, than
+we are apt to allow. He must have been very handsome when young; his
+resemblance now to our royal family, particularly to the King, (William
+the Fourth,) is so very striking as to be something next to identity.
+Good-natured people have set themselves to account for this wonderful
+likeness in various ways, possible and impossible; but after a rigid
+comparison of dates and ages, and assuming all that latitude which
+scandal usually allows herself in these matters, it remains
+unaccountable. . . I had always heard and read of him as the 'eccentric'
+Colonel Talbot. Of his eccentricity I heard much more than of his
+benevolence, his invincible courage, his enthusiasm, his perseverance;
+but perhaps, according to the worldly nomenclature, these qualities come
+under the general head of 'eccentricity,' when devotion to a favourite
+object cannot possibly be referred to self-interest. . . Colonel
+Talbot's life has been one of persevering, heroic self-devotion to the
+completion of a magnificent plan, laid down in the first instance, and
+followed up with unflinching tenacity of purpose. For sixteen years he
+saw scarce a human being, except the few boors and blacks employed in
+clearing and logging his land: he himself assumed the blanket-coat and
+axe, slept upon the bare earth, cooked three meals a day for twenty
+woodsmen, cleaned his own boots, washed his own linen, milked his cows,
+churned the butter, and made and baked the bread. In this latter branch
+of household economy he became very expert, and still piques himself on
+it." Of the chateau itself and its immediate surroundings, she says:
+"It" (the chateau) "is a long wooden building, chiefly of rough logs,
+with a covered porch running along the south side. Here I found
+suspended, among sundry implements of husbandry, one of those ferocious
+animals of the feline kind, called here the cat-a-mountain, and by some
+the American tiger, or panther, which it more resembles. This one, which
+had been killed in its attack on the fold or poultry-yard, was at least
+four feet in length, and glared on me from the rafters above, ghastly
+and horrible. The interior of the house contains several comfortable
+lodging-rooms; and one really handsome one, the dining-room. There is a
+large kitchen with a tremendously hospitable chimney. Around the house
+stands a vast variety of outbuildings, of all imaginable shapes and
+sizes, and disposed without the slightest regard to order or symmetry.
+One of these is the very log hut which the Colonel erected for shelter
+when he first 'sat down in the bush,' four-and-thirty years ago, and
+which he is naturally unwilling to remove. Many of these outbuildings
+are to shelter the geese and poultry, of which he rears an innumerable
+quantity. Beyond these is the cliff, looking over the wide blue lake, on
+which I have counted six schooners at a time with their white sails; on
+the left is Port Stanley. Behind the house lies an open tract of land,
+prettily broken and varied, where large flocks of sheep and cattle were
+feeding--the whole enclosed by beautiful and luxuriant woods, through
+which runs the little creek or river. The farm consists of six hundred
+acres; but as the Colonel is not quite so active as he used to be, and
+does not employ a bailiff or overseer, the management is said to be
+slovenly, and not so productive as it might be. He has sixteen acres of
+orchard-ground, in which he has planted and reared with success all the
+common European fruits, as apples, pears, plums, cherries, in abundance;
+but what delighted me beyond everything else was a garden of more than
+two acres, very neatly laid out and enclosed, and in which he evidently
+took exceeding pride and pleasure; it was the first thing he showed me
+after my arrival. It abounds in roses of different kinds, the cuttings
+of which he had brought himself from England in the few visits he had
+made there. Of these he gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented
+them to me with such an air as might have become Dick Talbot presenting
+a bouquet to Miss Jennings. We then sat down on a pretty seat under a
+tree, where he told me he often came to meditate. He described the
+appearance of the spot when he first came here, as contrasted with its
+present appearance, or we discussed the exploits of some of his
+celebrated and gallant ancestors, with whom my acquaintance was
+(luckily) almost as intimate as his own. Family and aristocratic pride I
+found a prominent feature in the character of this remarkable man. A
+Talbot of Malahide, of a family representing the same barony from father
+to son for six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a high value on
+his noble and unstained lineage; and, in his lonely position, the
+simplicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal
+pretensions a kind of poetical dignity. . . Another thing which gave a
+singular interest to my conversation with Colonel Talbot was the sort of
+indifference with which he regarded all the stirring events of the last
+thirty years. Dynasties rose and disappeared; kingdoms were passed from
+hand to hand like wine decanters; battles were lost and won;--he neither
+knew, nor heard, nor cared. No post, no newspaper brought to his
+forest-hut the tidings of victory and defeat, of revolutions of empires,
+or rumours of unsuccessful and successful war."
+
+The faithful servant, Jeffery Hunter, came in for a share of this
+clever woman's keen observation. "This honest fellow," she tells us,
+"not having forsworn female companionship, began to sigh after a
+wife--and like the good knight in Chaucer, he did
+
+    'Upon his bare knees pray God him to send
+     A wife to last unto his life's end.'
+
+So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at
+hand--one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her
+virtues, for most certainly it was not for her attractions. The Colonel
+swore at him for a fool; but, after a while, Jeffery, who is a
+favourite, smuggled his wife into the house; and the Colonel, whose
+increasing age renders him rather more dependent on household help,
+seems to endure very patiently this addition to his family, and even the
+presence of a white-headed chubby little thing, which I found running
+about without let or hindrance."
+
+In politics Colonel Talbot was a Tory, but as a general rule he took no
+part in the election contests of his time. His servant Jeffery Hunter,
+however, who seems to have had a vote on his own account, was always
+despatched promptly to the polling-place to record his vote in favour of
+the Tory candidate. The Colonel was a Member of the Legislative Council,
+but he seldom or never attended the deliberations of that Body. During
+the Administration of Sir John Colborne, when the Liberals of Upper
+Canada fought the battles of Reform with such energy and vigour, the
+Colonel for a single campaign identified himself with the contest, and
+made what seems to have been rather an effective election speech on the
+platform at St. Thomas. He traced the history of the settlement, and
+referred to his own labours in a fashion which elicited tumultuous
+applause from the crowd. He deplored the spread of radical principles,
+and expressed his regret that some advocates of those principles had
+crept into the neighbourhood. The meeting passed a loyal address to the
+Crown, which was dictated by Colonel Talbot himself. This, so far as is
+known, was the only political meeting ever attended by him in this
+Province.
+
+The Colonel was nominally a member of the Church of England, and
+contributed liberally to its support, though, as may well be supposed,
+he was never eaten up by his zeal for episcopacy. By some people he was
+set down as a freethinker, and by others as a Roman Catholic. The fact
+is that the prevailing tone of his mind was not spiritual, and he gave
+little thought to matters theological. During the early years of the
+settlement, as we have seen, he was wont to read service to the
+assembled rustics on Sunday; but this custom was abandoned as soon as
+churches began to be accessible to the people of the neighbourhood; and
+after that time, though he was occasionally seen at church, he was not
+an habitual attendant at public worship. He was fond of good company,
+and liked to tell and listen to dubious stories "across the walnuts and
+the wine." A clergyman who officiated at a little church about five
+miles from Port Talbot was his frequent guest at dinner, until the
+Colonel's outrageous jokes and stories proved too much for the clerical
+idea of the eternal fitness of things. "It must," says his biographer,
+"have been rather a bold venture for a young clergyman to come in
+contact with a man of Colonel Talbot's wit and racy humour, and a man
+who would startle at the very idea of being priest ridden; in fact, who
+would be much more likely to saddle the priest. The reverend gentleman
+bore with him a long while, till at length finding that he was not
+making any progress with the old gentleman in a religious point of
+view--on the contrary, that his sallies of wit became more frequent and
+cutting--he left him to get to heaven without his assistance. Colonel
+Talbot was never pleased with himself for having said or done anything
+to provoke the displeasure of his reverend guest, but being in the habit
+at table, after dinner, of smacking his lips over a glass of good port,
+and cracking jokes, which extorted from his guest a half approving
+smile, he was tempted to exceed the bounds which religious or even
+chaste conversation would prescribe, and came so near proving _in vino
+veritas_, that the reverend gentleman would never revisit him, although
+I believe it was Colonel Talbot's earnest desire that he should."
+
+Bad habits, if not checked in season, have a tendency to grow worse. As
+the Colonel advanced in years his liking for strong drink increased to
+such an extent that the _in vino veritas_ stage was, we fear, reached
+pretty often. To such a state of things his solitary life doubtless
+conduced. He had an iron constitution, however, and it does not appear
+that his intemperate habits during the evening of his life materially
+shortened his days. He lived long enough to see the prosperity of his
+settlement fully assured. For many years prior to his death it appears
+to have been his cherished desire to bequeath his large estate to one of
+the male descendants of the Talbot family, and with this view he invited
+one of his sister's sons, Mr. Julius Airey, to come over from England
+and reside with him at Port Talbot. This young gentleman accordingly
+came to reside there, but the dull, monotonous life he was obliged to
+lead, and the Colonel's eccentricities, were ill calculated to engage
+the affections of a youth just verging on manhood; and after
+rusticating, without companions or equals in either birth or education,
+for some time, he returned to England and relinquished whatever claims
+he might consider he had on his uncle. Some years later a younger
+brother of Julius, Colonel Airey, Military Secretary at the Horse
+Guards, ventured upon a similar experiment, and came out to Canada with
+his family to live at Port Talbot. About this time the Colonel's health
+began seriously to fail, and his habits began to gain greater hold upon
+him than ever. As a necessary consequence he became crabbed and
+irritable. The uncle and nephew could not get on together. "The former,"
+says his biographer, "had been accustomed for the greater portion of his
+life to suit the convenience of his domestics, and, in common with the
+inhabitants of the country, to dine at noon; the latter was accustomed
+to wait for the buglecall, till seven o'clock in the evening. Colonel
+Talbot could, on special occasions, accommodate himself to the habits of
+his guests, but to be regularly harnessed up for the mess every day was
+too much to expect from so old a man; no wonder he kicked in the traces.
+He soon came to the determination of keeping up a separate
+establishment, and another spacious mansion was erected adjoining
+Colonel Airey's, where he might, he thought, live as he pleased. But all
+would not do, the old bird had been disturbed in his nest, and he could
+not be reconciled." He determined to leave Canada, and to end his days
+in the Old World. He transferred the Port Talbot estate, valued at
+L10,000, together with 13,000 acres of land in the adjoining township of
+Aldborough, to Colonel Airey. This transfer, however, left more than
+half of his property in his own hands, and he was still a man of great
+wealth. Acting on his determination to leave Canada, he started, in his
+eightieth year, for Europe. Upon reaching London, only a day's journey
+from Port Talbot, he was prostrated by illness, and was confined to his
+bed for nearly a month. He rallied, however, and resumed his journey. In
+due time he reached London the Greater. He was accompanied on the voyage
+by Mr. George McBeth, the successor to the situation of Jeffery Hunter,
+who had died some years before. McBeth had gained complete ascendancy
+over the Colonel's failing mind. Being a young man of some education,
+and a good deal of finesse, he was treated by his master as a companion
+rather than as a servant, and the latter merited his master's regard by
+nursing him with much care and attention.
+
+Colonel Talbot remained in London somewhat more than a year, during
+which period, as also during his previous visits to England, he renewed
+old associations with the friend of his youth, the great Duke. He was
+often the latter's guest at Apsley House, and the stern old hero of a
+hundred fights delighted in his society. London life, however, was
+distasteful to Colonel Talbot, and, after giving it a fair trial, he
+once more bade adieu to society and repaired to Canada--always attended
+assiduously by George McBeth. Upon reaching the settlement he took
+lodgings for himself and his companion in the house of Jeffery Hunter's
+widow. Here, cooped up in a small room, on the outskirts of the
+magnificent estate which was no longer his own, he received occasional
+visits from his old friends. Colonel Airey, meanwhile, had rented the
+Port Talbot property to an English gentleman named Saunders, and had
+returned to his post at the Horse Guards in England. Mr. Saunders had
+several daughters, to one of whom George McBeth paid assiduous court,
+and whom he afterwards married. Upon his marriage he removed to London,
+accompanied by Colonel Talbot, who resided with him until his death, on
+the 6th of February, 1853. When the Colonel's will was opened it was
+found that with the exception of an annuity of L20 to Jeffery Hunter's
+widow, all his vast estate, estimated at L50,000, had been left to
+George McBeth.
+
+The funeral took place on the 9th. On the previous day--the 8th--the
+body was conveyed in a hearse from London to Fingal, on the way to Port
+Talbot, so as to be ready for interment on the following morning. By
+some culpable neglect or mismanagement it was placed for the night in
+the barn or granary of the local inn. The settlers were scandalized at
+this indignity, and one of them begged, with tears in his eyes, that the
+body might be removed to his house, which was close by. The undertaker,
+who is said to have been under the influence of liquor, declined to
+accede to this request, and the body remained all night in the barn. On
+the following morning it was replaced in the hearse and conveyed to Port
+Talbot, where it rested for a short time within the walls of Castle
+Malahide. A few attached friends from London and other parts of the
+settlement attended the coffin to its place of sepulture in the
+churchyard at Tyrconnel. The officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr.
+Holland, read the service in a cutting wind, and the ceremony was ended.
+A plate on the oaken coffin bore the simple inscription:
+
+             THOMAS TALBOT,
+
+    FOUNDER OF THE TALBOT SETTLEMENT,
+
+        Died 6th February, 1853.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DAVID LAIRD, signed as D. LAIRD]
+
+
+THE HON. DAVID LAIRD,
+
+_LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES._
+
+
+The Hon. David Laird is the fourth son of the late Hon. Alexander Laird,
+a Scottish farmer who, in the year 1819, emigrated from Renfrewshire to
+Prince Edward Island. The late Mr. Laird settled in Queen's County,
+about sixteen miles from Charlottetown, the capital of the Province, and
+devoted himself to agriculture. He was a man of high character and great
+influence, alike in political and social matters. For about sixteen
+years he represented the First District of Queen's County in the Local
+Assembly, and during one Parliamentary term of four years he was a
+member of the Executive Council. He was a colleague and supporter of the
+Hon. George Coles, who is called the father of Responsible Government in
+Prince Edward Island. He was one of the signatories to the petition
+forwarded by the Assembly to the Home Government in 1847, praying that
+Responsible Government might be conceded; and he had the satisfaction of
+sitting in the Assembly on the 25th of March, 1851, when Sir Alexander
+Bannerman, the Governor, announced that the prayer of the petition had
+been granted. He was also for many years one of the most active members
+of the Managing Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Prince
+Edward, an institution which did much for the advancement of
+agricultural industry in the Province, by encouraging the importation of
+improved stock, and by other similar operations.
+
+The subject of this sketch was born at the paternal home, near the
+village of New Glasgow, Queen's County, in the year 1833. He was
+educated at the district school of his native settlement, and afterwards
+entered the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Nova
+Scotia, which was then situated at Truro, in that Province. He completed
+his education at the Seminary, and soon afterwards embarked in
+journalism at Charlottetown, where he founded a newspaper called _The
+Patriot_. Under his editorship and business management this journal
+became, in the course of a few years, the leading organ of public
+opinion in Prince Edward Island. It advocated Liberal principles, and
+was conducted with much energy and ability. The editor had inherited
+Liberal ideas from his father, and spoke and wrote on behalf of them
+with great effect. After a time he became estranged from the leader of
+the Liberal Party, the chief cause of estrangement arising from the
+latter's having lent his countenance to some proceedings tending to
+exclude the Bible from the Common Schools. All minor causes of
+controversy, however, were cast into the shade by the great question of
+Confederation. After the close of the Quebec Conference in October,
+1864, Mr. Laird took a firm stand against the terms of the scheme agreed
+upon by the delegates, in so far as they related to his native Province.
+He assigned as his principal reasons for adopting this course the fact
+that the terms contained no proposal for the settlement of the Land
+Question, which had long been a sore grievance with the tenantry of the
+island; and the further fact that no provision was made for the
+construction of public works, although the island could be called upon
+to contribute its quota of taxation towards the Intercolonial Railway,
+the canals, and the Pacific Railway. He took an active part in the
+promotion of sanitary and other local improvements, and was for some
+years a member of the Charlottetown City Council. His first entry into
+Parliamentary life took place in 1871. The then-existing Government,
+under the leadership of the Hon. James Colledge Pope (the present
+Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Dominion Government), had
+carried a measure for the construction of the Prince Edward Island
+Railway, running nearly the entire length of the island. This project
+Mr. Laird had opposed, on the ground that it should have been first
+submitted to the people at the polls, and also because he regarded the
+undertaking as beyond the resources of the Province. The Government,
+however, had carried the Bill providing for the construction of the road
+through the House during the previous session, and the surveyors and
+Commissioners had been appointed. The Chairman of the Commissioners, the
+Hon. James Duncan, represented the constituency of Belfast in the
+Legislative Assembly, and was obliged to return to his constituents for
+reelection after accepting office. Mr. Laird offered himself as a
+candidate in opposition to the Government nominee. His candidature was
+successful. The Commissioner was defeated, and Mr. Laird secured a seat
+in the Assembly. A good deal of dissatisfaction had been excited by the
+proceedings of the Local Government in connection with the construction
+of the road, the result being that Mr. Pope, when he next met the House,
+found he had lost the confidence of the majority, and being defeated, he
+dissolved the House and appealed to the country. The appeal was
+disastrous to his policy, a majority of the members returned being
+hostile to his Government. Among these was Mr. Laird, who was elected a
+second time for Belfast. A new Government was formed with Mr. R. P.
+Haythorne as Premier. During the following autumn Mr. Laird accepted
+office in this Government, and was sworn in as a Member of the Executive
+Council in November, 1872. Finding that if the railway were proceeded
+with on the credit of Prince Edward Island alone, the Provincial
+finances would be seriously embarrassed, the new Ministers responded
+favourably to an invitation from Ottawa to reconsider the question of
+Union. Mr. Laird formed one of the delegation which proceeded to Ottawa
+and negotiated terms of Union with the Dominion Government. After the
+return of the delegates the Local House was dissolved in order that the
+terms agreed upon might be submitted to the people. A good deal of
+finesse was practised by the Opposition, and various side issues were
+imported into the election contest. The result was the return of a
+majority hostile to Mr. Haythorne's Ministry, and Mr. Pope again
+succeeded to the reins of Government. Under his auspices the terms of
+Union were slightly modified, and Prince Edward Island entered
+Confederation.
+
+Mr. Laird had meanwhile succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal
+Party. The House did not divide, however, on the question of
+Confederation, and both Parties concurred in supporting the measure. Mr.
+Laird resigned his seat in the Local Legislature, and offered himself as
+a candidate for the House of Commons for the electoral district of
+Queen's County. He was returned by a large majority, and on the opening
+of the second session of the second Parliament of the Dominion, in
+October, 1873, he took his seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa. The
+Pacific Scandal disclosures followed, and Sir John A. Macdonald's
+Government made way for that of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. In the new
+Administration Mr. Laird accepted the portfolio of Minister of the
+Interior, and was sworn into office on the 7th of November. Upon
+returning to his constituents in Queen's County he was returned by
+acclamation. He was again returned by acclamation at the general
+election of 1874. He retained his office of Minister of the Interior
+until the 7th of October, 1876, when he was appointed by the
+Governor-General to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-West
+Territories. This position he has ever since filled with the best
+results to the Dominion. During his tenure of office as Minister of the
+Interior he carried several important measures through Parliament,
+and--in the summer of 1874--effected an important Treaty with the
+Indians of the North-West, whereby he secured to the Crown the
+possession of a tract of 75,500 square miles in extent, and thus
+guaranteed the peaceable possession of a large portion of the route of
+the Canada Pacific Railway and its accompanying telegraph lines.
+
+In 1864 Mr. Laird married Mary Louisa, second daughter of the late Mr.
+Thomas Owen, who was for many years Postmaster-General of Prince Edward
+Island. An elder brother of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Alexander
+Laird, held office in the late Local Government of Prince Edward Island,
+and at present represents the Second District of Prince, in the Local
+Assembly.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. CHARLES E. B. DE BOUCHERVILLE.
+
+
+The Bouchers and De Bouchervilles for over two hundred years have played
+no unimportant part in the history of Canada. Lieutenant-General Pierre
+Boucher, Sieur de Grobois, Governor of Three Rivers in 1653, the founder
+of the Seigniory of Boucherville, and a man of great influence in his
+day, was one of the most noted members of the family. The late Hon. P.
+Boucher de Boucherville, for many years a Legislative Councillor of
+Lower Canada, was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born
+at Boucherville, Province of Quebec, in 1820. He was educated at St.
+Sulpice College, Montreal. He subsequently went to Paris, pursued his
+studies in the medical profession there, and graduated with high
+honours. He has been married twice, first to Miss Susanne Morrogh,
+daughter of Mr. R. L. Morrogh, Advocate, of Montreal; and after her
+death, to Miss C. Luissier, of Varennes. In 1861 he was elected to the
+House of Assembly for the county of Chambly. He continued to represent
+this constituency until 1867, when he entered the Legislative Council,
+and became a member of Mr. Chauveau's Ministry, with the office of
+Speaker of the Council, which position he held until February, 1873. On
+the reconstruction of the Cabinet, September 22nd, 1874, he was
+entrusted with the formation of a Ministry. This duty he accomplished
+successfully, taking for himself the portfolio of Secretary and
+Registrar, and Minister of Public Instruction. On the 27th January,
+1876, he changed his portfolio for that of Agriculture and Public Works.
+In February, 1879, he was called to the Senate, an honour which he
+accepted without resigning his seat in the Legislative Council.
+
+The De Boucherville Ministry remained in power until the 4th of March,
+1878, when it was summarily dismissed by the Hon. Luc Letellier de St.
+Just, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, for reasons which appeared to
+him to be just. The facts with reference to this matter have been
+detailed in the sketch of the life of Mr. Letellier, contained in the
+first volume of this work. On the refusal of Mr. De Boucherville to name
+a successor, Mr. Letellier called in the Hon. Henri Gustave Joly of
+Lotbiniere, and invited him to form a Ministry. In October, 1879, the
+ex-Premier and his friends succeeded in defeating the Liberal
+Government. A Conservative Ministry was formed, in whose councils,
+however, Mr. De Boucherville has taken no part, though his efforts to
+drive from power the Liberal Administration were conspicuously displayed
+in the Upper Chamber of the Province. He is a good speaker, precise,
+moderate and adroit. He is skilful in defence and equally skilful in
+attack. His administrative capacity is considerable, and the duties of
+the several offices which he has held at various intervals, have been
+ably and industriously performed.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SAMUEL NELLES, signed as S. S. NELLES]
+
+
+THE REV. SAMUEL NELLES, D.D., LL.D.,
+
+_PRESIDENT OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, COBOURG._
+
+
+Dr. Nelles's life, like that of most men of purely scholastic pursuits,
+has been comparatively uneventful, and does not form a very fruitful
+field for biographical purposes. It has, however, been an eminently
+useful one, and has been attended with results most beneficial to the
+educational establishment with which his name has long been associated,
+and over which he has presided for a continuous period of thirty years.
+He is of German descent, on both the paternal and maternal sides. His
+paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany to the State of New York
+sometime during the last century, and settled in the historic valley of
+the Mohawk, where some of their descendants still reside. There Dr.
+Nelles's father, the late Mr. William Nelles, was born, and there he
+passed the early years of his life. He married Miss Mary Hardy, who was
+also of German stock on the mother's side, and was born in the State of
+Pennsylvania. By this lady he had a numerous family, the eldest son
+being the subject of this sketch. The parents emigrated from New York
+State to Upper Canada soon after the close of the War of 1812-15, and
+devoted themselves to farming pursuits. The Doctor was born at the
+family homestead, in the quiet little village of Mount Pleasant--known
+to the Post Office Department as Mohawk--in what is now the township of
+Brantford, in the county of Brant, about five miles south-west of the
+present city of Brantford, on the 17th of October, 1823. At the present
+day, the schools of Mount Pleasant will bear comparison with those of
+many places of much larger population; but fifty years ago, when young
+Samuel Nelles was in attendance there, they were like most other schools
+in the rural districts of Upper Canada--that is to say, they afforded no
+facilities for anything beyond a very rudimentary educational training.
+Such as they were, however, they furnished the only means of instruction
+at his command until he had entered upon his seventeenth year. Previous
+to that time he had lived at home, attending school and assisting his
+father in farm work. He had, however, displayed great fondness for
+study, and had, by dint of his natural ability and steady application,
+made greater progress than could have been made by any boy who was not
+possessed by an ardent thirst for knowledge. His parents accordingly
+resolved that he should have an opportunity of following out the natural
+bent of his mind. In 1839 he was placed at Lewiston Academy, in the
+State of New York, where he spent an industrious year, and where he had
+for a tutor the brilliant, witty and humorous John Godfrey Saxe. Mr.
+Saxe was not then known to the world as a poet, but he was an
+accomplished philologist, and was reading for the Bar. He had just
+graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and was teaching
+_belles-lettres_ in the Lewiston Academy contemporaneously with the
+prosecution of his legal studies. In October, 1840, young Nelles
+transferred himself to an academy at Fredonia, in Chautauqua county,
+N.Y., where he remained ten months. In the following October (1841) he
+entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, N.Y., where he devoted
+his time chiefly to Classics, Mathematics, English Literature and
+Criticism. Having spent a profitable year at Lima, he entered Victoria
+College, Cobourg--which was then under the Presidency of the Rev.
+Egerton Ryerson--in the autumn of 1842. He was one of the first two
+matriculated students at the institution, which had just been
+incorporated as a University. After an Arts course of two years at
+Victoria College, and a year spent in study at home, he attended for
+some time at the University of Middletown, Connecticut, where he
+graduated as B.A. in 1846. He then spent a year as a teacher in Canada,
+and took charge of the Newburgh Academy, in the county of Lennox. In
+June, 1847, he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Church,
+and was placed in charge of a congregation at Port Hope, where he
+remained for a year. He was then transferred to the old Adelaide Street
+Church, Toronto, where he laboured for two years. Thence he was
+transferred to London, but had only resided there about three months
+when, in the month of September, 1850, he was appointed President of
+Victoria College. This important and responsible position he has held
+ever since.
+
+At the time of his taking office, the institution was by no means in a
+flourishing condition. It was carried on under circumstances of great
+difficulty and embarrassment, and had a competent administrator not been
+found to take charge of it, its future would have been very
+problematical. An improvement in its condition, however, was perceptible
+from the time when Mr. Nelles took the management. It has continued to
+prosper ever since, and has long ago taken rank among the most
+noteworthy educational institutions in the Dominion. At the time of
+Professor Nelles's appointment there was only a single
+Faculty--Arts--and the attendance was very small. The teachers were only
+five in number. The Professor's vigorous administration soon effected a
+marked change for the better. In 1854 the Faculty of Medicine was added.
+It at first embraced only one medical college, which was presided over
+for many years by the late Dr. Rolph. In process of time a second
+institution, L'Ecole de Medecine et de Chirurgie, Montreal, became
+affiliated, and still continues to hold the same relationship to the
+University. A Law Faculty was added in 1862, and in 1872 a Faculty of
+Theology.
+
+When Professor Nelles became President he at the same time became
+Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Logic, and the Evidences of
+Religion. These subjects he has continued to teach ever since, with the
+addition, since 1872, of Homiletics. He has devoted his life to the task
+of building up the institution, and has been ably seconded by the staff
+of teachers whom he has from time to time gathered about him. Until
+comparatively recent times there was no endowment fund, and the College
+had to depend for its support solely on tuition fees, on the annual
+contributions of the ministers and people of the Wesleyan Methodist
+Body, and on a Parliamentary grant which Victoria College, in common
+with other denominational schools, had been wont to receive. After
+Confederation, all grants to denominational colleges were discontinued,
+and Victoria College was left almost entirely unprovided for. At a
+meeting of the Methodist Conference it was proposed by President Nelles
+that an appeal should be made to the people for contributions to an
+endowment fund. The proposal was adopted by the Conference, and the Rev.
+Dr. Punshon, who was then resident in Canada, took an active personal
+interest in the movement. He contributed $3,000 out of his own pocket,
+and made a personal tour through part of Ontario, holding public
+meetings, whereby a sum of $50,000 was secured. Several other Methodist
+ministers followed his example, and the fund steadily increased. In
+1873, however, the amount was still insufficient, and the Rev. Joshua H.
+Johnson was appointed by the Conference to make further collections. Mr.
+Johnson entered upon his task, and pursued it with great vigour. His
+efforts were supplemented by a munificent bequest of $30,000 from the
+late Mr. Edward Jackson, of Hamilton. The requisite amount was
+eventually obtained, and the future of Victoria College secured.
+
+The erection of Faraday Hall, at a cost of $25,000, chiefly for
+Scientific purposes, marks a new epoch in the history of Victoria
+College. This Hall was formally opened on the 29th of May, 1878. Dr.
+Haanel, a distinguished German Professor, was placed in charge of the
+scientific department, and the results of his teaching are already
+apparent in an awakened interest in scientific matters displayed by the
+students of the College.
+
+Upon the whole, Dr. Nelles may well be pardoned if he looks back upon
+his thirty years' Presidency of Victoria College with a considerable
+degree of complacency. To him, more than to anyone else, is due its
+present state of prosperity and enlarged efficiency. He has also taken a
+warm interest in educational matters unconnected with the College, and
+his influence is perceptibly felt in all the local schools. He was for
+two successive years elected President of the Teachers' Association of
+Ontario, and his views on all matters pertaining to public instruction
+are held in high respect.
+
+Dr. Nelles was chosen a delegate to represent the Canadian Conference at
+the General Methodist Conference held at Philadelphia in 1864, at the
+New Brunswick Conference of 1866, and at the English Wesleyan Conference
+held at Newcastle in 1873. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was
+conferred upon him by the University of Queen's College, Kingston, in
+1860. His Doctor's degree in Law was conferred upon him in 1873 by the
+University of Victoria College. He is the author of a popular text-book
+on Logic, and has frequently contributed to periodical literature. He
+enjoys high repute as a lecturer, more especially on educational
+subjects; and his sermons, some of which have been published, are said
+to be of an exceptionally high order.
+
+On the 3rd of July, 1851, he married Miss Mary B. Wood, daughter of the
+Rev. Enoch Wood, of Toronto, by whom he has a family of five children.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILLIAM HUME BLAKE.
+
+
+The late Chancellor Blake, one of the most distinguished jurists that
+ever sat on the Canadian Bench, was a member of an Irish family, known
+as the Blakes of Cashelgrove, in the county of Galway. The family was
+well connected and stood high among the county magnates. Sometime about
+the middle of the last century, Dominick Edward Blake, its chief
+representative, married the Hon. Miss Netterville, daughter of Lord
+Netterville, of Drogheda. After her death, he married a second wife, who
+was a daughter of Sir Joseph Hoare, Baronet, of Annabella, in the county
+of Cork. By this lady he had four sons, one of whom, christened Dominick
+Edward, after his father, took orders as a clergyman of the Church of
+England, and became Rector and Rural Dean of Kiltegan and
+Loughbrickland. This gentleman married Miss Anne Margaret Hume, eldest
+daughter of Mr. William Hume, of Humewood, M.P. for the county of
+Wicklow. During the progress of the rebellion of 1798, Mr. Hume sent his
+children to Dublin for safety, and took personal command of a corps of
+yeomanry raised in his county. He fell a victim to his loyalty, and was
+shot near his own residence at Humewood by some rebels of whom he was in
+pursuit. Lord Charlemont, in a published letter, alluded to this
+deplorable event as "the murder of Hume, the friend and favourite of his
+country," and characterized it as an "example of atrocity which exceeded
+all that went before it."
+
+William Hume Blake, the subject of this memoir, was the grandson and
+namesake of the unfortunate gentleman above referred to, and was one of
+the fruits of the marriage of his father, the Rev. D. E. Blake, to Miss
+Hume. He was born at the Rectory, at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, on the
+10th of March, 1809. He was the second son of his parents, his elder
+brother, Dominick Edward, being named in honour of his father and
+paternal grandfather. The elder brother emulated his father's example,
+and became a clergyman of the Church of England. The younger, after
+receiving his education at Trinity College, Dublin, studied surgery
+under Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton. Surgery, however, was not
+much to his taste. The accompaniments of that profession--notably the
+coarse jokes and experiments which he was daily called upon to encounter
+in the dissecting-room--proved at last so repulsive to his nature that
+he abandoned surgery altogether, and entered upon a course of
+theological study with a view to entering the Church. His studies had
+not proceeded far, however, before he and his elder brother determined
+to emigrate to Canada. This determination was carried out in the summer
+of 1832. A short time before leaving his native land, the younger
+brother married his cousin, Miss Catharine Hume, the granddaughter--as
+he himself was the grandson--of the William Hume whose tragical death
+has already been recorded. This lady, who shared alike the struggles
+and triumphs of her distinguished husband till the close of his earthly
+career, still survives.
+
+The Blake brothers were induced to emigrate to this country, partly
+because their prospects at home were not particularly bright, partly in
+consequence of the strong inducements held out by the then
+Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. The
+representations of Major Jones, the elder brother's father-in-law,
+doubtless contributed something to the result. The Major was a retired
+officer who had served in this country during the war of 1812-'13-'14,
+and had taken part in the battles of Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane.
+He was fond of fighting his battles over again by his own fireside and
+that of his son-in-law. He was never weary of enlarging on the beauty
+and primitive wildness of Canadian scenery, the pleasures and freedom
+from conventionality of a life spent in the backwoods, and the brilliant
+prospects awaiting young men of courage, energy, endurance, and ability,
+in the wilds of Upper Canada. The Blake brothers were Irishmen, and were
+gifted with the national vividness of imagination. They doubtless
+pictured to themselves the delights of "a lodge in some vast
+wilderness," where game of all sorts was abundant, and where game laws
+had no existence. They had of course no adequate conception of the
+struggles and trials incident to pioneer life. They were not alone in
+their notions about Canada. Many of their friends and acquaintances
+about this time became imbued with a desire to emigrate, and upon taking
+counsel together they found that there were enough of them to form a
+small colony by themselves. Having made all necessary arrangements they
+chartered a vessel--the _Ann_, of Halifax--and sailed for the St.
+Lawrence in the month of July, 1832. Among the friends and relations of
+the brothers Blake embarked on board were their mother, who had been
+left a widow; their sister and her husband, the late Archdeacon Brough;
+the late Mr. Justice Connor; the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, late Bishop of
+Huron; and the Rev. Mr. Palmer, Archdeacon of Huron. After a six weeks'
+voyage they reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence, whence by slow
+degrees they made their way to Little York, as the Upper Canadian
+capital was then called. Here they remained until the following spring,
+when they divided their forces. Some of them remained in York;
+others--including Mr. Connor and Mr. Brough--proceeded northward to the
+township of Oro, on Lake Simcoe; and others settled on the Niagara
+peninsula. The elder Blake had meanwhile been appointed by the
+Lieutenant-Governor to a Rectory in the township of Adelaide, and there
+he accordingly pitched his tent. His brother, the subject of this
+sketch, purchased a farm in the same part of the country, at a place on
+Bear Creek--now called Sydenham River--near the present site of the
+village of Katesville, or Mount Hope, in the county of Middlesex. He
+then had an opportunity of realizing the full delights of a life in the
+Canadian backwoods. "With whatever romantic ideas of the delights of
+such a life Mr. Hume Blake had determined on making Canada his home,"
+says a contemporary Canadian author, "they were soon dispelled by the
+rough experiences of the reality. The settler in the remotest section of
+Ontario to-day has no conception of the struggles and hardships that
+fell to the lot of men who, accustomed to all the refinements of life,
+found themselves cut off from all traces of civilization in a land,
+since settled and cultivated, but then so wild that between what are now
+populous cities there existed only an Indian trail through the forest.
+Mr. Blake was not a man to be easily discouraged, but soon found that
+his talents were being wasted in the wilderness. In after years he was
+fond of telling of the rude experiences of life in the bush, and among
+other incidents how that he had, on one occasion, walked to the
+blacksmith's shop before mentioned to obtain a supply of harrow-pins,
+and, finding them too heavy to carry, had fastened them to a chain,
+which he put round his neck, and so dragged them home through the
+woods."
+
+It was during the residence of the family at Bear Creek that the eldest
+son, Edward, was born,[5] but he was not destined to receive his
+educational training amid such surroundings. While he was still an
+infant the family removed to Toronto. A life in the backwoods had been
+tried, and was found to be unsuited to the genius and ambition of a man
+like William Hume Blake. He had tried surgery, divinity, and
+agriculture, and had not taken kindly to any of those pursuits. He now
+resolved to attempt the law, and commenced his legal studies in the
+office of the late Mr. Washburn, a well-known lawyer in those days.
+During the troubles of 1837 he was, we believe, for a short time
+paymaster of a battalion, but fortunately there was no occasion for his
+active services. In 1838 he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, and
+was not long in making his way to a foremost position. His rivals at the
+Bar were among the foremost counsel who have ever practised in this
+Province, and included Mr. (afterwards Chief Justice) Draper, Mr.
+(afterwards Judge) Sullivan, Mr. Henry John Boulton, Mr. (now Chief
+Justice) Hagarty, Robert Baldwin, Henry Eccles, and John Hillyard
+Cameron. Mr. Blake soon proved his ability to hold his own against all
+comers. He enjoyed some personal advantages which stood him in good
+stead, both while he was fighting his way and afterwards. His tall,
+handsome person, and fine open face, his felicitous language, and bold
+manly utterance gained him at once the full attention of both Court and
+Jury; and his vigorous grasp of the whole case under discussion, his
+acute, logical dissection of the evidence, and the thorough earnestness
+with which he always threw himself into his client's case, swept
+everything before them. In the days when such men as Draper, Sullivan,
+Baldwin and Eccles were at the Bar, it was something to stand among the
+foremost. Mr. Blake became associated in business with Mr. Joseph C.
+Morrison--now one of the Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench--and some
+years later, his relative, the late Dr. Connor, who in 1863 became one
+of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, entered the firm. Business
+poured in, and the number of Mr. Blake's briefs increased in almost
+geometrical proportion. His arguments were of due weight with the judges
+of those times, but with juries his force was irresistible. Many
+incidents have been related of his forensic triumphs. Among other cases
+recorded by the writer already quoted from, that of Kerby vs. Lewis
+occupies a conspicuous place. The question at issue was Mr. Kerby's
+right to monopolize a ferry communication between Fort Erie and some
+point on the American shore. This right the defendant contested, and
+employed Mr. Blake to conduct his case. The judges appear to have leaned
+strongly to the side of the plaintiff, and granted a succession of new
+trials, as, on each occasion, Mr. Blake's telling appeals to their
+sympathy with the defendant, as the champion of free intercourse between
+the two countries, extorted from the juries a verdict in favour of his
+client. It is said that the Court finally refused to grant any further
+new trials in sheer hopelessness of any jury being found to reverse the
+original finding.
+
+Another proof of his energy and ingenuity was given in the Webb arson
+case, which made a considerable noise at the time. Webb was the owner
+of a shoe store in Toronto. Having on more than one occasion obtained
+compensation from fire insurance companies for losses he had sustained,
+suspicion was excited against him, and, on another fire occurring, the
+companies decided on prosecuting. Webb retained Mr. Blake. The theory of
+the defence was that a stove-pipe from the adjoining store, which
+connected with Webb's premises, had become heated, and had ignited some
+"rubbers" hanging in the vicinity. The prosecution denied that "rubbers"
+were combustible in any such sense as the defence represented. To put
+his theory beyond a doubt, Mr. Blake, on the evening before the trial,
+had set his two boys, Edward and Samuel, to look up every piece of
+information they could obtain from encyclopaedias or other sources as to
+the properties of rubber. Then an old pair of "rubbers" was procured,
+experiments were engaged in, and both father and sons were occupied
+during the greater part of the night in their investigations, to the no
+small discomfort of the other members of the household. When the trial
+came on next day, after the case for the prosecution had been presented,
+Mr. Blake began his defence. He dissected the prosecutor's evidence with
+an amazing fund of irony and sarcasm, and requested the jury to place as
+little reliance on the general testimony for the prosecution as they
+would soon do on the theory of "rubbers" being non-combustible. Then a
+candle and a pair of old "rubbers" were produced; a few strips cut from
+the latter were held in the flame, and the interested crowd of
+spectators saw them burn. The jury accepted this as sufficient, at all
+events, to cast doubts on the whole case against the prisoner, and Webb
+was acquitted.
+
+The "Markham gang," as they were called, are still well remembered by
+the older inhabitants of Toronto and the adjoining country. In several
+of the prosecutions arising out of the outrages of the gang, Mr. Blake
+was defending counsel, and invested the defence with additional
+interest, in the eyes of the legal profession, by raising the question
+of the admissibility of the evidence of an accomplice. Another case
+which showed the earnestness and conscientiousness of Mr. Blake, who
+prosecuted, was the trial of two persons--a man named McDermott and a
+girl named Grace Marks--charged with the murder of Mr. Kinnear and his
+housekeeper, near Richmond Hill, in the year 1843.[6] Not content with
+secondhand information, the hard-working lawyer devoted the only holiday
+which intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the trial to
+a careful and minute examination of the house and premises where the
+murder had occurred, so that in going into court he had the most perfect
+familiarity with every detail connected with the crime. The prisoners
+were convicted; the man suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the
+woman, who was reprieved, was only liberated from the Penitentiary after
+an incarceration of twenty years. No man could more readily seize hold
+of the salient points of a case presented to him; few could make so much
+out of a small and apparently insignificant point; but no one ever made
+the business before him the subject of more patient study or more
+exhaustive attention. Honourable and high-minded himself, he sought to
+inspire those about him with the same feelings. He endeavoured at all
+times to encourage a gentlemanly bearing in the young men who studied
+under him, and would tolerate nothing inconsistent with perfect fairness
+and honesty in transacting the business of the office.
+
+Mr. Blake and his partners were all active members of the Liberal Party.
+In the early contests for Municipal Institutions, National Education,
+Law Reform and all progressive measures, they took an earnest part--and
+in the struggle with Lord Metcalfe and his Tory abettors for the
+establishment of British Parliamentary Government in Canada, they did
+excellent service to the popular cause. Mr. Blake, at the general
+election of 1844, was the Reform candidate for the second Riding of
+York--now the county of Peel--but was defeated by a narrow majority on
+the second day of polling by his Tory opponent, Mr. George Duggan. A
+little later, he contested unsuccessfully the county of Simcoe, in
+opposition to the Hon. W. B. Robinson. At the general election of 1847,
+while absent in England, he was returned by a large majority for the
+East Riding of York--now the county of Ontario. The result of that
+election was the entire overthrow of the Conservative Government, and
+the accession of the Liberal Party to power, under Messrs. Baldwin and
+Lafontaine, on the 10th of March, 1848. Mr. Blake became
+Solicitor-General under the new arrangement, and was duly reelected for
+East York. Then followed the struggle over the famous Rebellion Losses
+Bill. In that contest Mr. Blake took an active part in support of Lord
+Elgin, who was so outrageously treated by the Opposition leaders in
+Parliament, and by the mob of Montreal that followed in their wake. For
+his powerful advocacy of the Governor-General, and his scathing
+diatribes against the tactics of the Opposition, he was fiercely
+denounced by the Conservative leaders. So far was this denunciation
+carried that a hostile meeting between Mr. Blake and Mr. Macdonald--the
+present Sir John A. Macdonald--was only prevented by the interference of
+the Speaker of the House. The Opposition press, without the slightest
+justification, published articles in which the writers professed to
+believe that Mr. Blake was wanting in courage, and afraid to meet his
+antagonist in the field. The _Globe_, which was the organ of the
+Government in those days, replied in a spirit which did it honour. In an
+article written by the late Mr. Brown himself, and published in the
+_Globe_ on the 28th of March, 1849, we find these words: "The repeated
+insinuations against the courage of Mr. Blake, to use the ordinary
+phrase, are as untrue as they are base and ungenerous. We are quite
+aware of all the circumstances of what was so near leading to one of
+those transactions called affairs of honour. We know, and we state it
+with regret, that there was, on Mr. Blake's part, no wish to shrink from
+the consequences of the intended affair, but a great anxiety to meet it.
+We would have thought it far more creditable to him, and far more
+becoming the station he holds in the councils of the Province, if he had
+exhibited that higher courage which would shrink from being concerned in
+an affair which, however it may be glossed over by the sophistry and the
+practice of the world, is a crime of the deepest dye against the law of
+God and the well-being of society."
+
+The Court of Chancery for Upper Canada had been for years a mark for
+scorn and derision on account of the personal deficiencies of Mr.
+Vice-Chancellor Jameson, and the lack of organization in the whole
+Chancery system. The Baldwin-Lafontaine Government undertook the reform
+of the Court, increased the number of Judges to three, and gave it the
+improved system of procedure which has earned for the Court its present
+efficiency and popularity. When the measure became law, the question
+arose as to who should be appointed to the seats on the Bench that had
+been created. There was but one answer in the profession. Mr. Blake was
+universally pointed out as the man best fitted for the post of
+Chancellor. He accepted the Chancellorship of Upper Canada on the 30th
+of September, 1849, which he continued to fill until the 18th of March,
+1862, when failing health compelled him to retire. There were not
+wanting political opponents who declared that Mr. Blake had created the
+office that he might fill it; but all who knew the man and the position
+in which he stood were aware that it was with extreme reluctance he
+accepted the place. As his great judicial talents came to be recognized
+the voice of the slanderer ceased, and the services which he rendered on
+the Bench will, we doubt not, be now heartily acknowledged by all
+parties. Mr. Jameson for a short time continued to sit on the Bench as
+Vice-Chancellor, side by side with Mr. Blake. In the month of December,
+1850, he was permitted to retire on a pension of L750 a year.
+
+Mr. Blake, while at the Bar, held for a number of years the position of
+Professor of Law in the University of Toronto, but resigned it when he
+became Solicitor-General. He took a deep interest in all the affairs of
+the University, of which he was for a long time the able and popular
+Chancellor.
+
+Afflicted with gout in its most distressing form, Mr. Blake, after his
+retirement from the Bench, sought relief from his sufferings in milder
+climes. He returned to Canada in 1869, but it was evident that his end
+was not far distant. He died in Toronto, on the 17th of November, 1870.
+The late Chancellor Vankoughnet paid an eloquent tribute to his memory.
+"With an intellect fitting him to grasp more readily than most men the
+whole of a case," said Mr. Vankoughnet, "he was yet most patient and
+painstaking in the investigation of every case heard before him. He
+never spared himself; but was always most careful that no suitor should
+suffer wrong through any lack of diligence on his part. He had,
+moreover--what every Equity judge should have--a high appreciation of
+the duties and functions of the Court--of the mission, if I may so term
+it, of a Court of Equity in this country: not to adjudicate drily upon
+the case before the Court, but so to expound the principles of Equity
+Law as to teach men to deal justly and equitably between themselves. I
+have reason to believe that such expositions of the principles upon
+which this Court acts have had a salutary influence upon the country;
+and Mr. Blake, in the able and lucid judgments delivered by him,
+contributed largely to this result. He always bore in mind that to which
+the present Lord Chancellor of England gave expression in one of his
+judgments--'The standard by which parties are tried here, either as
+trustees or corporations, or in various other relations which may be
+suggested, is a standard, I am thankful to say, higher than the standard
+of the world.'"
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. ALEXANDER TOPP, D.D.
+
+
+The life of the late Dr. Topp, like the lives of most members of his
+sacred calling, was comparatively uneventful. He was born at
+Sheriffmill, a farm-house near the historic old town of Elgin, in
+Morayshire, Scotland, in the year 1815. He was educated at the Elgin
+Academy, the present representative of the old Grammar School of the
+burgh, and an establishment of much local repute. Thence, in his
+fifteenth year, he passed to King's College, Aberdeen--an institution
+affiliated with the University--where he passed through a very
+creditable course, winning one of the highest scholarships, and
+retaining it for four years. In 1836, immediately upon attaining his
+majority, he received a license to preach, and was appointed assistant
+to the minister of one of the churches in Elgin. This minister soon
+afterwards died, leaving the pastorate vacant. The abilities and zeal of
+his young assistant had made themselves recognized, and it was thought
+desirable that the latter should succeed to the vacant charge. The
+appointment was hedged in with certain restrictions, and was at the
+disposal of Government. A petition from the congregation and from the
+Town Council was successful, and Mr. Topp was inducted into the charge.
+Upon the disruption in 1843 he seceded from the Establishment, and
+carried over with him nearly the entire congregation, which erected a
+new church and manse for him. He continued in this charge until 1852,
+when he removed to Edinburgh, having accepted a pressing call from the
+Roxburgh Church there. Here he continued to minister for about six
+years, during which period his congregation increased to such an extent
+as to render the accommodation insufficient. A project for erecting a
+new and larger church was set on foot, but before it had been fully
+matured Mr. Topp had accepted a call from the congregation of Knox
+Church, Toronto. This was in 1858. Two years before that date he had
+received a pressing call from the same quarter, which he had then
+thought proper to decline. At the time of entering upon his charge in
+Toronto the membership of Knox Church was only about three hundred.
+Under his ministry there was a steadily perceptible increase, and at the
+time of his death the membership was in the neighbourhood of seven
+hundred. His abilities commanded recognition beyond the limits of his
+own congregation, and he steadily won his way to position and influence
+in the community. In 1868 he was elected Moderator of the General
+Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, and thus afforded the first
+instance of a unanimous nomination by the various Presbyteries to that
+office. He took a prominent part in the movement to bring about the
+Union between the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland,
+and the successful realization of that project was in no small degree
+due to his exertions. In 1876 he was elected Moderator to the General
+Assembly of the United Church. His doctor's degree was conferred upon
+him in 1870 by the University of Aberdeen, where he had been so
+successful a student forty years previously.
+
+For several years prior to his death Dr. Topp's constitution had given
+unmistakable symptoms of having become seriously impaired. In the autumn
+of 1877 his physicians acquainted him with the fact that he was
+suffering from a mortal disease--organic disease of the heart--but it
+was not supposed that the malady had made such progress as to endanger
+his life for some years to come. In the early summer of 1879 he paid a
+visit to his native land, and of course spent some time in Elgin,
+renewing the pleasant associations of his youth. He received many
+pressing overtures to preach, but the state of his health formed a
+sufficient excuse for his declining. One Sunday, however, contrary to
+the advice of a local medical practitioner, he consented to occupy the
+pulpit, and preached a long and vigorous sermon to his old congregation.
+His audience was very large, and his nervous system was naturally
+wrought up to a high pitch. It is believed that his efforts on that
+occasion materially shortened his life. Immediately after his return to
+his home in Toronto he sent in his resignation as pastor of Knox Church,
+but it had not been accepted ere the shades of death closed around him.
+
+The end came more suddenly than had been anticipated. He passed away on
+the 6th of October, 1879, while reclining on a sofa in the house of one
+of his parishioners. His death was very calm, and apparently free from
+all pain. He left behind him a name which will long be borne in
+affectionate remembrance by the members of the Presbyterian Church in
+Canada. He was kind and gentle in his demeanour, and was loved the most
+by them who knew him best. At the time of his death he had been pastor
+of Knox Church for more than twenty-one years, during the greater part
+of which he had laboured assiduously in all the various fields connected
+with his sacred calling. He was open-handed in his charities, and was an
+invaluable consoler in the sick-room. He literally died in harness, for
+death came upon him while he was paying a pastoral visit to a member of
+his congregation.
+
+The _Canada Presbyterian_, which may be presumed to reflect the opinions
+of Canadian Presbyterians generally, concluded an obituary notice
+written immediately after his death in the following words: "The name of
+Dr. Topp will never be forgotten in this country. While we regret that
+he has so suddenly been called away, we rejoice that in his case there
+are left to us so many happy remembrances of a useful and honourable
+career, and that he has bequeathed to the youthful ministry of the
+Church the example of a brave and faithful servant of Christ."
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY.
+
+
+Since Confederation the Hon. Mr. Joly has occupied a prominent position
+in the politics of the Province of Quebec. His high morality, integrity
+of character, and fine social qualities, have created for him a
+reputation which it is the lot of few public men to enjoy. He is
+conspicuous in the history of Quebec as the instrument through whose
+exertions the Liberal Party were restored to power for the first time
+since the Union. He is also noteworthy as being the Minister on whom
+devolved the office of selecting a Government to succeed the De
+Boucherville Administration, upon its dismissal by Mr. Letellier in the
+month of March, 1878.
+
+He was born in France on the 5th of December, 1829, and is the son of
+the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, Seigneur of Lotbiniere, and Julie
+Christine, daughter of the late Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbiniere,
+who was Speaker of the Quebec Assembly from 1794 until May, 1797, and
+was afterwards a prominent member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Joly
+received a liberal education at Paris, and while yet very young removed
+with his parents to Canada, settling in Lotbiniere. Having chosen the
+law for a profession, he devoted five years to legal studies, and in the
+month of March, 1855, he was called to the Bar of Lower Canada. He first
+entered political life in 1861, when he was returned to the Canadian
+House of Assembly for the county of Lotbiniere. This seat he continued
+to hold until the Union of the Provinces, when at the general elections
+which followed the formation of the Dominion he was elected by
+acclamation to both the Commons of Canada and the Assembly of Quebec. He
+sat in both Houses until 1874, when, on dual representation being
+abolished, he resigned his seat in the Commons, and directed all his
+energies to the furtherance of Liberal principles in the Quebec House of
+Assembly. The same year he was offered a seat in the Senate, but
+declined to accept that dignity, preferring to fight the battles of
+Liberalism in the more popular Assembly, in which he had already
+achieved a high reputation as a statesman and debater, as well as much
+personal popularity. In January, 1877, he again declined elevation to
+the Upper House, and refused the portfolio of Dominion Minister of
+Agriculture which had been tendered him by the Mackenzie Administration.
+The constituency of Lotbiniere has never proved fickle to her trust, but
+has regularly returned Mr. Joly as her representative to the popular
+branch of the Legislature. From the Union, he has been the acknowledged
+head of the Liberal Party in Lower Canada, and the chosen leader of the
+Opposition in the House of Assembly. In March, 1878, the Hon. Luc
+Letellier de St. Just, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, dismissed his
+Ministry under circumstances which have already been detailed at
+length in these pages; and on the then Premier--Mr. De
+Boucherville--refusing to nominate a successor, Mr. Joly was sent for
+and invited to form a Cabinet. He promptly accepted the responsibility,
+selected his colleagues, and, on being defeated in the Chamber, appealed
+to the people for a ratification of the principles of his Party. The
+contest was fought with great vigour and pertinacity on both sides, and
+the result was a victory, though a slight one, for the Liberal Party.
+Mr. Joly was opposed in Lotbiniere by Mr. Guillaume E. Amyot, an
+advocate and journalist of Quebec. He was elected by a majority of more
+than three hundred votes. He became Premier and Minister of Public
+Works--an office which requires the utmost tact and delicacy in its
+administration. He set on foot a policy of retrenchment and purity, and
+contemplated several much-needed reforms which he did not retain office
+long enough to see brought into operation. Mr. Joly's Administration was
+based on principles of the closest economy, and every effort was made to
+check all unnecessary outlay of the public expenditure. The salaries of
+the Ministers were reduced, an effort was made to abolish the
+Legislative Council, and the railway policy of the country was developed
+with caution. Wherever the pruning knife could be advantageously
+employed, the Premier applied it, and if he was not always successful,
+the fault was certainly not his own. His personal popularity was
+sufficiently attested by the fact that although he is a Protestant, with
+fixed opinions on theological matters, he was Premier of a Province
+where a large majority of the population are adherents of the Roman
+Catholic faith. He carried on the affairs of the country with combined
+spirit and moderation until October, 1879, when, on being defeated in
+the House, he and his Government resigned their seats in the Executive,
+and Mr. Chapleau was sent for. Mr. Chapleau succeeded in forming an
+Administration, which at the time of the present writing still holds the
+reins of power in the Province of Quebec.
+
+[Illustration: HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY, signed as H. G. JOLY]
+
+Mr. Joly is a good departmental officer, a graceful speaker, a man of
+much force of character, and one who has always the courage of his
+convictions. Whether in power or in Opposition his language and
+demeanour are marked by conciliation and courtesy. He is a man of many
+friends, and has few personal enemies, even among those to whom he has
+been a life-long political opponent. He has devoted a good deal of
+attention to the study of forestry, and is the author of several
+important and valuable treatises on that subject. Among other offices
+which he holds may be mentioned the Presidency of the Society for the
+rewooding of the Province of Quebec, the first Presidency of the Reform
+Association, of the _Parti Nationale_ of Quebec, of the Lotbiniere
+Agricultural Society No. 2, and of the Society for the Promotion of
+Canadian Industry. He is also Vice-President of the Humane Society of
+British North America, and one of the Council of the Geographical
+Society of Quebec, of which latter association he was once
+Vice-President.
+
+Some years ago Mr. Joly married Miss Gowan, a daughter of Mr. Hammond
+Gowan, of Quebec.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. MACKENZIE BOWELL,
+
+_MINISTER OF CUSTOMS._
+
+
+Mr. Bowell is English by birth, but has resided in this country ever
+since his tenth year. He was born at Rickinghall Superior, a pleasant
+little village situated in the northern part of the county of Suffolk,
+on the 27th of December, 1823. His father, the late Mr. John Bowell,
+emigrated from Suffolk to Canada in the spring of 1833, and settled in
+what is now the city of Belleville. His mother's maiden name was
+Elizabeth Marshall. He has been compelled to make his own way in the
+world, and has risen from obscure beginnings to the elevated position
+which he now occupies by dint rather of natural ability than of any
+adventitious aids. In his boyhood he enjoyed few educational advantages.
+He had been only a few months in Canada when he entered a printing
+office in Belleville, where he remained until he had completed his
+apprenticeship. He then became foreman of the establishment. He began to
+take an interest in politics at the very outset of his career, and
+attached himself to the Conservative side. He was very industrious, and
+during the term of his indentures did much to repair his defective
+education. He availed himself of every opportunity which came in his way
+for increasing his stock of knowledge, and erelong attained a position
+and influence far more than commensurate with his years. In 1853 he
+became sole proprietor of the Belleville _Intelligencer_, with which he
+continued to be identified for a period of twenty-two years. Under his
+management the _Intelligencer_ became one of the leading exponents of
+public opinion in the county of Hastings, and his own local influence
+was thereby greatly promoted. Other causes contributed to enhance his
+position and influence. When only eighteen years old he allied himself
+with the Orange Body, in which he rose to the highest dignities in the
+gift of that Order. For eight years he was Grand Master of the
+Provincial Grand Lodge of Ontario East. At the annual meeting of the
+Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution of British North America,
+held at Kingston in 1870, a change was made in the Grand Mastership,
+which had been held for many years by the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron.
+Mr. Bowell was unanimously elected to the office, and continued to
+occupy it until 1878, when he declined reelection. For thirteen years he
+was Chairman of the Common School Board of Belleville, and was for some
+time Chairman of the Grammar School, always taking a lively interest in
+the promotion of education among the masses. For many years he was an
+active promoter of the Volunteer Militia force, as well as an active
+member. At the time of the St. Alban's raid he went with his company to
+Amherstburgh, where, at considerable sacrifice to his business, he
+remained four months. He was also at Prescott during the Fenian raid in
+1866. At present he holds the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel of
+Volunteer Rifles. He was one of the founders of the Press Association,
+and during one year occupied the position of President. He was also
+Vice-President of the Dominion Editors' and Reporters' Association.
+
+[Illustration: MACKENZIE BOWELL, signed as Mackenzie Bowell]
+
+Mr. Bowell was an active politician long before he emerged from his
+apprenticeship, but did not enter Parliament until after Confederation.
+In 1863 he contested the North Riding of Hastings, but was unsuccessful,
+and did not repeat the experiment until 1867, when he was returned to
+the House of Commons for that Riding, and he has ever since represented
+it. He signalized his entrance into Parliament by moving a series of
+resolutions against Sir George Cartier's Militia Bill, and though he
+failed to carry them all, he succeeded in defeating the Minister of
+Militia on some important points by which a considerable reduction was
+made in the expenditure. Several years later he took a prominent part in
+the expulsion of Louis Riel from the House of Commons. It was by Mr.
+Bowell that the investigation was instituted into Riel's complicity in
+the murder of Thomas Scott before the walls of Fort Garry. In 1876 he
+made a powerful attack upon Mr. Mackenzie's Government for having
+awarded a contract to Mr. T. W. Anglin, the Speaker of the House. The
+result of Mr. Bowell's attack was the unseating of several Members of
+Parliament, including Mr. Anglin; and a stringent Act respecting the
+Independence of Parliament was shortly afterwards passed.
+
+At the last general election for the House of Commons, held on the 17th
+of September, 1878, Mr. Bowell was opposed in North Hastings by Mr. E.
+D. O'Flynn, of Madoc, whom he defeated by a majority of 241--the vote
+standing 1,249 for Bowell and 1,008 for O'Flynn. After the resignation
+of Mr. Mackenzie's Government in the following month, Mr. Bowell
+accepted the portfolio of Minister of Customs in the Ministry of Sir
+John A. Macdonald. This position he still retains. Upon returning to his
+constituents after accepting office he was returned by acclamation. He
+is not a frequent speaker, but he has always taken an active and
+intelligent part in the business of the House, and is highly esteemed by
+his colleagues.
+
+Mr. Bowell married, in December, 1847, Miss Harriett Louisa Moore, of
+Belleville. He is a Director in numerous railway and general commercial
+enterprises. In 1875 he disposed of the _Intelligencer_, with which he
+had been identified for so many years, but he still takes a warm
+interest in its prosperity, and is indebted to it for a very firm and
+consistent support.
+
+
+
+
+THE REV. JAMES RICHARDSON, D.D.,
+
+_LATE BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANADA._
+
+
+The late Bishop Richardson was born in the same year which witnessed the
+death of the great founder of Methodism, John Wesley; the same year also
+which witnessed the passing of the Constitutional Act whereby Upper
+Canada was ushered into existence as a separate Province. He came of
+English stock on both sides. His father, James Richardson, after whom he
+was called, was a brave seaman; one of that old-world band of gallant
+tars who fought under Lord Rodney against the French, when
+
+    "Rochambeau their armies commanded,
+     Their ships they were led by De Grasse."
+
+He was present at the famous sea-fight off Dominica, in the West Indies,
+on the 12th of April, 1782, when the naval forces of France and Spain
+were almost entirely destroyed. He was soon afterwards taken prisoner,
+and sent to France, where he was detained until the cessation of
+hostilities. Having been set at liberty in 1785, he repaired to Quebec,
+and was subsequently appointed to an office in connection with the
+Canadian Marine. His duties lay chiefly on the upper lakes and rivers,
+and he took up his abode at Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He married a lady
+whose maiden name was Sarah Asmore, but who, at the time of her marriage
+with him had been for some years a widow. The subject of this sketch was
+one of the fruits of that union. He was born at Kingston, on the 29th of
+January, 1791.
+
+His parents were members of the Church of England, and he was brought up
+in the faith as taught and professed by that Body. He attended various
+schools in Kingston until he was about thirteen years of age, when he
+began his career as a sailor on board a vessel commanded by his father.
+During his five years' apprenticeship he acquired a thorough familiarity
+with the topography and navigation of the lakes and rivers of Upper
+Canada. In 1809, when he was eighteen years old, he entered the
+Provincial Marine. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 he received
+a Lieutenant's commission, and was forthwith employed in active service.
+He became sailing master of the _Moira_, under Captain Sampson, and
+afterwards of the _Montreal_, under Captain Popham. Upon the arrival of
+Sir James Yeo in Upper Canada, in May, 1813, the naval armament on the
+lakes entered upon a new phase of existence. The local marine ceased to
+exist as such, and became a part of the Royal Navy. The Provincial
+commissions previously granted were no longer of any effect, and that of
+Lieutenant Richardson shared the same fate as the rest. The Provincial
+officers resented this mode of dealing with their commissions, and all
+but two of them retired from the marine and took service in the militia,
+where, in the language of Colonel Coffin, they were permitted to
+risk their lives without offence to their feelings. The two exceptions
+were Lieutenant George Smith and the subject of this sketch. The latter
+shared the sentiments of his brother officers, but he recognized the
+importance to the country of working harmoniously with his superiors at
+such a juncture, and cast every personal consideration aside. He
+informed the Commodore that he was willing to give his country the
+benefit of his local knowledge and services, but declined to take any
+rank below that which had previously been conferred upon him. The
+Commodore availed himself of the young man's services as a master and
+pilot, and in those capacities he did good service until the close of
+the war. He shared the gun-room with the regular commissioned officers,
+with whom he was very popular. He was with the fleet during the
+unsuccessful attempt on Sackett's Harbour, towards the close of May,
+1813. A year later, at the taking of Oswego, he was pilot of the
+_Montreal_, under Captain Popham, already mentioned; and he took his
+vessel so close in to the fort that the Commodore feared lest he should
+run aground. Soon after bringing the _Montreal_ to anchor a shot from
+the fort carried off his left arm just below the shoulder. He sank down
+upon the deck of the vessel, and was carried below. The remnant of his
+shattered arm was secured so as to prevent him from bleeding to death,
+"and there," says his biographer,[7] "he lay suffering while the battle
+raged, his ears filled with its horrid din, and his mind oppressed with
+anxiety as to its result, till the cheers of the victors informed him
+that his gallant comrades had triumphed. He had been wounded in the
+morning, and it was nearly evening before the surgeon could attend to
+him, when it was found necessary to remove the shattered stump from the
+socket at the shoulder joint. During the severe operation the young
+lieutenant evinced the utmost fortitude. In the evening he was
+exceedingly weak from loss of blood, the pain of his wound, and the
+severity of the operation. Next day the fever was high, and for some
+days his life apparently hung in the balance; but at length he commenced
+to rally, and by the blessing of God upon the skilful attention and
+great care that he received, he was finally fully restored." During the
+following October he joined the _St. Lawrence_--said to have been the
+largest sailing vessel that ever navigated the waters of Lake
+Ontario--and in this service he remained until the close of the war.
+
+[Illustration: JAMES RICHARDSON, signed as JAS. RICHARDSON]
+
+Soon after the proclamation of peace he retired from the naval service,
+and settled at Presque Isle Harbour, near the present site of the
+village of Brighton, in the county of Northumberland. He was appointed
+Collector of Customs of the port, and soon afterwards became a Justice
+of the Peace. The Loyal and Patriotic Society requested his acceptance
+of L100, and a yearly pension of a like amount was awarded to him by
+Government in recognition of his services during the late war. This
+well-earned pension he continued to receive during the remainder of his
+life, embracing a period of more than fifty years.
+
+In the year 1813, while the war was still in progress, he had married;
+the lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Dennis, daughter of Mr. John
+Dennis, who was for many years a master-builder in the royal dock-yard
+at Kingston. This lady shared his joys and sorrows for forty-five years.
+During the last decade of her life she suffered great bodily affliction,
+which she endured with Christian resignation and serenity. She died at
+her home, Clover Hill, Toronto, on the 29th of March, 1858.
+
+During the early months of their residence at Presque Isle Harbour, both
+Mr. Richardson and his wife became impressed by serious thoughts on the
+subject of religion. In August, 1818, they united with the Methodist
+Episcopal Church. That Church was then in its infancy in this country,
+and was struggling hard to obtain a permanent foothold. With its
+subsequent history Mr. Richardson was closely identified. He was very
+much in earnest, and felt it to be his duty to do his utmost for the
+salvation of souls. His piety was not spasmodic or fitful, but steady
+and enduring. His education at that time, though it was necessarily
+imperfect, and far from being up to the standard of the present day, was
+better than was that of most of his fellow-labourers. He at once became
+a man of mark in the denomination, and was appointed to the offices of
+steward and local preacher on the Smith's Creek circuit. His labours
+were crowned with much success. His pulpit oratory is described as being
+"full of vitality--adapted to bring souls to Christ, and build up in
+holiness."[8] In 1824 he was called to active work, and placed on the
+Yonge Street circuit, which included the town of York, and extended
+through eight of the neighbouring townships. This rendered necessary his
+removal from Presque Isle, and his resignation of his office as
+Collector of Customs. His field of labour extended from York northwardly
+to Lake Simcoe--a distance of forty-five miles--with lateral excursions
+to right and left for indeterminate distances. The state of the roads
+was such that wheeled vehicles were frequently unavailable, and the
+greater part of the travelling had to be done on horseback, the preacher
+carrying his books, clothing, writing materials, and other accessories
+in his saddle-bags. His life was necessarily a toilsome one, and his
+financial remuneration was little more than nominal. During his second
+year on circuit he had for a colleague the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, with
+whom he worked in the utmost harmony, and with very gratifying pastoral
+results. Dr. Richardson has left on record his appreciation of his
+colleague's services at this time. He says: "A more agreeable and useful
+colleague I could not have desired. We laboured together with one heart
+and mind, and God was graciously pleased to crown our united efforts
+with success--we doubled the members in society, both in town and
+country, and all was harmony and love. Political questions were not
+rife--indeed were scarcely known among us. The church was an asylum for
+any who feared God and wrought righteousness, irrespective of any party
+whatever. We so planned our work as to be able to devote one week out of
+four exclusively to pastoral labour in the town, and to preach there
+twice every Sabbath, besides meeting all the former appointments in the
+townships east and west bordering on Yonge Street for forty-five or
+fifty miles northward to Roach's Point, Lake Simcoe. This prosperous and
+agreeable state of things served to reconcile both my dear wife and
+myself to the itinerant life, with all the attendant privations and
+hardships incident to those times."
+
+In 1826 Mr. Richardson was sent to labour at Fort George and Queenston.
+Next year he was admitted into full connection, and ordained a deacon,
+along with the late Dr. Anson Green and Egerton Ryerson. Mr. Richardson
+was transferred to the River Credit, where he laboured for a year as a
+missionary among the Indians. An important crisis in the history of the
+Methodist Church in Canada was then at hand. The memorable Conference of
+1828 was held at Ernesttown, in the Bay of Quinte district. It was
+presided over by Bishop Hedding, and Mr. Richardson was chosen
+secretary. It was at this Conference that the decisive step of
+separation from the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
+in the United States was taken. Thenceforward the Church in Canada
+became an independent Body, with a Bishop and Conference of its own.
+"This step," says Mr. Richardson, "was fraught with results, for good or
+ill, according as it is viewed by different parties, from their several
+standpoints. It was deemed necessary then, by the majority, because of
+the political relations of the two countries, and the difficulty
+attendant on obtaining our legal right to hold church property, and
+solemnize matrimony. Others, viewing the church as catholic, or
+universal in her design and character, judged it wrong to limit her
+jurisdiction by national or municipal boundaries." Mr. Richardson
+subsequently regretted that the scheme of separation had been carried
+out. Meanwhile he was appointed, along with the Rev. Joseph Gatchell, to
+the Niagara Circuit, a very extensive field of labour, and took up his
+abode at what was then the insignificant village of St. Catharines.
+There he remained two years, and in 1830 was ordained as an elder by
+Bishop Hedding, of the United States--no Bishop having as yet been
+selected for the Canadian Church, which, since its separation, had been
+presided over by a General Superintendent in the person of the Rev.
+William Case. It is unnecessary that we should follow him in his labours
+from circuit to circuit. His life was spent in the service of his
+Church, and wherever he went he left behind him the impress of a sincere
+and zealous man. At the Conference held at York in 1831 he was appointed
+presiding elder of the Niagara District. In September, 1832, he became
+editor of the _Christian Guardian_, and while holding that position he
+opposed the reception of Government support to the churches with great
+vigour and determination. He continued to direct the policy of the
+_Guardian_ until the Conference of 1833. During this Conference, which
+marks another important epoch in the history of Canadian Methodism, the
+Articles of Union between the English and Canadian Connexions were
+adopted. To this union Mr. Richardson was a consenting party, believing
+that the step would be productive of good, though he subsequently had
+reason to modify his views on the subject. In 1836 he severed his
+connection with the Wesleyans, owing to the reception by that Body of
+State grants. He soon afterwards removed to Auburn, in the State of New
+York, where he won the respect of his congregation; but he was not
+adapted to such a circle as that in which he found himself, and did not
+feel himself at home there. "His quiet, unpretentious manners," says Mr.
+Carroll, "were not of the kind to carry much sway with our impressible
+American cousins; and the constant exhibition of an empty sleeve, ever
+reminding them of an arm lost in resisting their immaculate Republic,
+was likely to be an eye-sore to a people so hostile to Britain as the
+citizens of the United States." He was moreover an uncompromising
+abolitionist, and was fearless in his denunciations of the national
+curse of slavery. The prevailing sentiment in the State of New York in
+those days was not such as to conduce to the popularity of any man who
+took the side of humanity. He remained at Auburn only a year, when he
+returned to his native land, and took up his residence at Toronto.
+Immediately upon his arrival he encountered his old friend and
+fellow-labourer the Rev. Philander Smith. A long and serious
+conversation followed, during which they both decided to reunite
+themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Conference of that
+Body was then in session a short distance from Toronto, and their
+resolution was at once carried out. They were received with open arms,
+and continued in the ministry of the Church during the remainder of
+their respective lives.
+
+In 1837 Mr. Richardson was stationed at Toronto. The following year he
+travelled as a general missionary. The British and Foreign Bible
+Society having established a branch in Canada, Mr. Richardson was, in
+1840, appointed its agent, he having received permission of the
+Conference to act in that capacity. This office he filled, with
+advantage to the Society and credit to himself, for eleven years. While
+acting in that capacity he often filled Wesleyan pulpits, preserved the
+most cordial relations with his old friends belonging to that Body. In
+1842 he became Vice-President, and in 1851 President, of the Upper
+Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. He retained the latter position
+to the time of his death. In 1852 he was again appointed Presiding Elder
+of his Church. After occupying that position for two years his health
+was so much impaired that he was granted a superannuation, which he held
+for four years. On the 29th of March, 1858, he sustained a serious
+bereavement in the loss of his wife. At the Conference held in that year
+he reported himself able to resume his labours, and was once more
+appointed to the charge of a district, but before the close of the
+session he was elected to the Episcopal office. He was consecrated by
+Bishop Smith, on Sunday, the 22nd of August. He forthwith entered upon
+his duties. During the next two years he was in an infirm state of
+health, but a brief respite from work restored him, and he resumed his
+Episcopal and other duties with even more than his wonted vigour. In
+1865 he visited England on behalf of Albert College, Belleville. The
+College Board was hampered by a heavy debt, and it was found impossible
+to relieve the pressure by Canadian subscriptions alone. Bishop
+Richardson accordingly, at the request of the College authorities,
+crossed the Atlantic to solicit aid there. He was accompanied by his
+daughter, Mrs. Brett, wife of Mr. R. H. Brett, banker, of Toronto. They
+were absent about six months, during which they visited many of the
+principal cities and towns of England and Scotland. The Bishop was
+indefatigable in his exertions, but the Reformed Methodist Church in
+England is not a wealthy Body, and it had enough to do to support its
+institutions at home. For these reasons the subscriptions obtained were
+neither so large nor so numerous as had been hoped, though the
+expedition was by no means a fruitless one.
+
+The next five years were comparatively uneventful ones in the life of
+Bishop Richardson. His time was spent in the discharge of his official
+duties. His coadjutor, Bishop Smith, had become old and feeble, and
+Bishop Richardson willingly took upon himself a portion of the invalid's
+work. His time, therefore, was fully occupied. In 1870 Bishop Smith
+died, and during the next four years the entire duties pertaining to the
+Episcopal office devolved upon the survivor. He seemed almost to renew
+his youth in order to meet the extra demands made upon him. He was more
+than fourscore years of age, yet he contrived to get creditably through
+an amount of mental and bodily labour which would have prostrated many
+men not past their prime. He frequently conducted his pulpit services
+and the sessions of the Conference without the aid of spectacles; and he
+was persistent in his determination to do his own work without the
+assistance of a secretary. This state of things, however, in a man of
+his age, could not be expected to last. His vital forces began
+perceptibly to give way. In the month of August, 1874, at the General
+Conference of the Church held at Napanee, he consecrated the Rev. Dr.
+Carman to the Episcopal office. The ceremonial taxed his energies very
+severely, and he was compelled by physical suffering to leave the
+Conference room as soon as he had placed his associate in the chair. At
+the close of the Conference he returned to his home at Clover Hill--now
+known as St. Joseph Street--where a few days' rest enabled him to regain
+as great a measure of health as could be expected in a man who had
+entered upon his eighty-fourth year. During the autumn and winter he was
+actively at work as earnestly as ever, watching over every department of
+the Church, and giving especial attention to the questions submitted by
+the General Conference for the action of the Quarterly Meeting
+Conferences. During the following winter, while visiting the Ancaster
+Circuit, he was prostrated by dizziness, and after his return home it
+was evident that his end was near. He sank quietly to his rest on the
+9th of March, 1875. His death was like his life--manly, and devoid of
+display. "I have no ecstasy," he remarked to a clerical visitor, "but I
+know in whom I have believed." To another visitor he remarked, "My work
+is done; I have nothing to do now but to die." He retained his mental
+faculties in their full vigour almost up to the moment when he ceased to
+breathe. He was buried in the family vault at the Necropolis, Toronto,
+on the 12th of the month. The funeral was unusually large. The funeral
+sermon was preached by Bishop Carman in the Metropolitan Methodist
+Church, on the morning of Sunday, March 21st, from the text 1st
+Corinthians, xv. 55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
+victory?"
+
+Bishop Richardson, while possessing few or none of the superlatively
+salient characteristics by which some of his contemporaries were
+distinguished, was one of those men who, almost imperceptibly, exert a
+wide and lasting influence for good. There was nothing showy or flashy
+about him; nothing theatrical or unreal. He made no pretence to
+brilliant oratory, or indeed to specially brilliant gifts of any kind.
+He was simply a man of good intellect and sound judgment, with a highly
+developed moral nature, who strove earnestly to benefit his fellow-men,
+and to leave the world better than he found it. He believed in
+Episcopacy, and was in full sympathy with the form of government adopted
+by his Church; but his zeal for Episcopacy was altogether subordinated
+to his zeal for Christianity. His life was conscientiously devoted to
+the service of his Master, and he has left behind him many hallowed
+memories. Next to his piety, perhaps the most conspicuous thing about
+him was his love for his country. His patriotism was as zealous in his
+declining years as it had been in those remote times when he lost his
+left arm before the batteries of Oswego. At the time of the Fenian
+invasion of Canada, in 1866--when he was in his seventy-sixth year--his
+loyal sympathies were roused to such a degree that he expressed his
+willingness to risk his one remaining arm in his country's defence. He
+would have taken the field, had his doing so been necessary, with as
+clear a conscience as he would have discharged any other duty of his
+life. In the words of his biographer: "Loyalty to God and his country,
+uprightness and integrity in his dealings with his fellow-men, and civil
+and religious liberty for all, were leading articles in his creed."
+
+
+
+
+LORD SEATON.
+
+
+Lord Seaton, who is better known to Canadians by his commoner's title of
+Sir John Colborne, was a son of Samuel Colborne, an English gentleman
+resident at Lyndhurst, in the county of Hants. He was born sometime in
+the year 1777, and after passing from the hands of a private tutor to
+Winchester College--where he remained several years--he embraced a
+military life, in 1794, by entering the army in the capacity of an
+ensign. The closing years of the last century were propitious for a
+young British soldier fired by an ambition to distinguish himself, and
+young Colborne had embraced precisely the career for which he was best
+fitted. He was a born soldier, and throughout his military life
+furnished an apt illustration of the round peg in the round hole.
+Napier, the historian of the Peninsular War, speaks of him as having
+developed "an extraordinary genius for war," and another historian
+refers to him as one of the bravest and most efficient officers produced
+by those stirring times. For the readers of these pages the chief
+interest in his career begins with his arrival in Canada in 1828. His
+services previous to that date may be summarized in a few sentences. In
+1799 he was sent over by way of Holland to Egypt under Sir Ralph
+Abercromby, and remained there until the realm of the Pharaohs was
+cleared of the French and restored to the Sultan's dominion. He was with
+the British and Russian troops employed on the Neapolitan frontier in
+1805; also in Sicily and Calabria, in the campaign of 1806. Having
+obtained promotion for his gallant services, he became Military
+Secretary to General Fox, Commander of the Forces in Sicily and the
+Mediterranean, and afterwards acted in the same capacity to Sir John
+Moore. He was present at the battle of Corunna, where his brave Chief
+met a glorious death. Immediately afterwards he joined the army of Lord
+Wellington, and in 1809 he was sent to La Mancha to report on the
+operations of the Spanish armies. Having received the command of a
+regiment, and having been appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, he
+commanded a brigade in Sir Rowland Hill's division in the campaigns of
+1810-11, and was detached in command of the brigade to Castel Branco, to
+observe the movements of General Reynier's _corps d'armee_ on the
+frontier of Portugal. At the battle of Busaco he commanded a brigade and
+also on the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras. On the 21st of June,
+1814, he married Miss Elizabeth Yonge, daughter of the Rev. J. Yonge, of
+Puslinch, Devonshire, and Rector of Newton-Ferrers. He was actively
+employed all through the War in the Peninsula, and received his due
+proportion of wounds and glory. In 1815 he was present at the memorable
+battle of Waterloo, in command of his old regiment, the 52nd. He
+likewise commanded a brigade on the celebrated march to Paris. The
+battle of Waterloo was the last European conflict in which he took part.
+He subsequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, one of the
+Channel Islands. In 1825 he was appointed a Major-General; and in 1828
+he first came to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor, when the chief interest
+in his life, so far as Canadian readers are concerned, may be said to
+have begun. He succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had been
+transferred to Nova Scotia.
+
+He arrived in Canada in November, 1828, and at once assumed charge of
+the Administration. His predecessor had left him a very undesirable
+legacy in the shape of great popular discontent. It was announced that
+Sir John had come over with instructions to reverse Sir Peregrine
+Maitland's policy, and to govern in accordance with liberal principles.
+The general elections of that year testified plainly enough that the
+people of Upper Canada were moving steadily in the direction of Reform,
+and if Sir John had acted in accordance with the instructions he had
+received from headquarters a good deal of subsequent calamity might
+perhaps have been averted. But the new Governor was essentially a
+military Governor. He had been literally "a man of war from his youth."
+His character, though in the main upright and honourable, was stern and
+unbending, and his military pursuits had not fitted him for the task of
+governing a people who were just beginning to grasp the principles of
+constitutional liberty. He allied himself with the Family Compact, and
+was guided by the advice of that body in his administration of public
+affairs. Parliament met early in January, 1829, and it soon became
+apparent that Sir John Colborne's idea of a liberal policy was not
+sufficiently advanced to meet the demands of the Assembly. There is no
+need to recapitulate in detail the arbitrary proceedings to which the
+Governor lent his countenance during the next few years. The prosecution
+of Collins and of William Lyon Mackenzie, and the setting apart of the
+fifty-seven rectories, have often been commented upon, and but little
+satisfaction is to be derived from repeating those oft-told grievances.
+Upon the whole, Sir John Colborne's Administration of Upper Canadian
+affairs cannot be said to have been much more beneficent than was that
+of his predecessor. With good intentions, he was constitutionally
+unequal to the requirements of the position in which he found himself
+placed. His course of action was very distasteful to the Reform Party,
+but he continued to govern the Upper Province until 1835, when he
+solicited his recall. His request was acceded to. His successor, Sir
+Francis Bond Head, arrived in January, 1836, and Sir John was just about
+to sail from New York for Europe, when he received a despatch appointing
+him Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Canada. He consequently
+returned, and took up his quarters at Quebec, the capital of the Lower
+Province, where he adopted such prompt measures for the defence of the
+country as the exigencies of the times demanded. On the breaking out of
+the Rebellion he was once more in his proper element, and showed that
+the high military reputation which he had achieved on the continent of
+Europe had not been undeserved. There is no need to go through the
+minutiae of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, nor to tell in detail the
+story of St. Denis, of St. Eustache, and of St. Benoit. Sir John has
+been accused of unnecessary cruelty in putting down the insurrection.
+Suffice it to say that the emergencies of the occasion were such as to
+call for determined measures, and that Sir John employed measures suited
+to the emergencies. He soon succeeded in extinguishing the flame of
+rebellion in all parts of the country, taking the field himself in
+person in several engagements. Papineau was compelled to retreat, as
+also was Wolfred Nelson and his colleagues; and when Robert, the
+latter's brother, presented himself, he was totally routed by the able
+regular and militia forces under Sir John Colborne's command. On the
+recall of Lord Gosford, Sir John was temporarily appointed
+Governor-General of British North America, which high office he vacated
+on Lord Durham's arrival in May, 1838. He was appointed to it again on
+that nobleman's sudden and unauthorized departure in November of the
+same year. He continued to administer the Government until 1839, when he
+earnestly solicited his recall, in order that he might be enabled to
+repose from his great labours. The Hon. Charles Poulett Thomson was
+appointed his successor, and arrived at Quebec to relieve him of the
+cares and anxieties of Government. On the 23rd of October Sir John
+sailed for England. On his arrival there new honours awaited him. He was
+created a peer of the United Kingdom, as Baron Seaton; received the
+Grand Cross of the Bath, of Hanover, of St. Michael, and of St. George.
+He was also created a Privy Councillor, and a pension of L2,000 per
+annum was conferred upon him and his two immediate successors by Act of
+Parliament. In 1838 he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and in 1854
+General, as also Colonel of the Second Life Guards. In 1860 he was
+raised to the highest rank and honour in the British service--that of
+Field-Marshal. He died on the 17th of April, 1863, leaving behind him a
+numerous progeny, the eldest whereof, James Colborne, succeeded to, and
+now holds, the family titles and estates. The latter are of considerable
+extent, and are situated in Devonshire, in London, and in the county of
+Kildare, Ireland. It is worth while mentioning that the present
+incumbent served his father in the capacity of an aide-de-camp during
+the Canadian Rebellion.
+
+The name of Sir John Colborne is inseparably blended with that of Upper
+Canada College in the minds of the people of this Province. During the
+early days of his Administration of affairs in Upper Canada there was a
+good deal of agitation in the public mind with respect to the
+establishment of a more advanced seat of learning than had previously
+existed here. It had long been considered advisable to afford facilities
+to the youth of Upper Canada for obtaining a more thorough education
+than was to be had at such institutions as the Home District Grammar
+School, which up to the year 1829 was the most advanced educational
+establishment in York. Public feeling was aroused, and several petitions
+were presented to the Legislature on the subject, each of which gave
+rise to prolonged controversy and debate. The outcome of the discussion
+was that Upper Canada College was established by an order of the
+Provincial Government. Its original name was "the Upper Canada College
+and Royal Grammar School," and the system upon which it was modelled was
+that which was then adopted in most of the great public schools of
+England. The classes were first opened on the 8th of January, 1830, in
+the building on Adelaide Street which had formerly been used as the Home
+District Grammar School. There it continued for more than a year. In the
+summer of 1831 the institution was removed to the site which it has
+since occupied. A fine portrait in oil of the subject of this sketch, in
+his military costume, may be seen in one of the apartments there.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. SIR DOMINICK DALY.
+
+
+Sir Dominick Daly was born on the 11th of August, 1799, and was the
+third son of Mr. Dominick Daly, a descendant of an old Roman Catholic
+family in the county of Galway, Ireland. He was educated at the Roman
+Catholic College of St. Mary's, near Birmingham, and after completing
+his studies spent some time with an uncle who was a banker in Paris. He
+subsequently returned to Ireland. In 1825 the Earl of Dalhousie visited
+England, and Sir Francis M. Burton, who acted as Lieutenant-Governor
+during his absence, brought with him as his private secretary, Mr.
+Dominick Daly, then about twenty-six years of age. Lord Dalhousie
+returned to Canada early in 1826, and Mr. Daly returned with Sir Francis
+Burton to England.
+
+In 1827 he returned to Quebec, bearing with him instructions to the
+Governor-General to confer upon him the office of Provincial Secretary.
+The appointment had been procured in England by the influence of Sir
+Francis Burton, and other friends of Mr. Daly. During the interval which
+elapsed between his appointment as Provincial Secretary and the
+rebellion of 1837, a period of about ten years, Mr. Daly carefully
+abstained from engaging in the political conflict, and seems to have
+enjoyed a larger share of public confidence than any other official.
+When Lord Durham was appointed Governor-General after the rebellion, Mr.
+Daly was the only public official who was sworn of the Executive
+Council, and there is no doubt that he was the only one of the British
+officials who was looked on with favour by the leaders of the popular
+party. And yet, viewing his conduct by the light of subsequent events,
+it is probable that the popular leaders overestimated Mr. Daly's
+sympathy with their cause. Unconnected with politics, he considered it
+his duty to support the policy of the Governor of the day; and he
+doubtless was of opinion that having been for many years incumbent of an
+office which had always been admitted to be held as a permanent tenure,
+he was justified in retaining it as long as he had the sanction of the
+Governor for doing so. When the Union of the old Provinces of Lower and
+Upper Canada took place in 1841, the Governor-General called on the
+principal departmental officers to find seats in the House of Assembly,
+although it is very improbable that he had any intention of strictly
+carrying into practice what has since been understood as Responsible
+Government. It had been the practice under the old system for the law
+officers of the Crown to find seats in the Legislature, but the offices
+of Provincial Secretary and Registrar, Receiver-General, Commissioner of
+Crown Lands, and Inspector-General, had always been considered
+non-political. Lord Sydenham, as far as can be judged from what
+occurred, had no definite policy on the subject. He induced Mr. Daly to
+enter Parliament, and the latter seems to have had no difficulty in
+procuring a seat for the county of Megantic. The Provincial Secretary in
+Upper Canada was allowed to retain his office without entering public
+life. The Commissioner of Crown Lands in Lower Canada declined becoming
+a candidate, and retained his office, while in Upper Canada the
+Commissioner of Crown Lands was a member both of the Legislative and
+Executive Councils. Mr. Daly seems to have been considered as
+unobjectionable by the leaders of the majority in Lower Canada, as he
+was by their opponents, which, taking into account the excited state of
+feeling at the period of the Union, is conclusive proof that he had
+acted with great discretion during the stormy period which preceded the
+suspension of the Constitution. When Mr. Baldwin, on accepting office at
+the time of the Union, deemed it his duty to acquaint those who were
+appointed members of Council prior to the meeting of the first
+Parliament of United Canada, that there were some in whom he had no
+political confidence, Mr. Daly was one of the exceptions; and as Mr.
+Baldwin's avowed object was the introduction of French Canadians into
+the Government, he must have been satisfied that they had not the
+objection to Mr. Daly that they had to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Day. Mr.
+Baldwin's attempt to procure a reconstruction of the Ministry was
+unsuccessful, and he resigned, not having been supported by those with
+whom he had avowed his readiness to act. Mr. Daly went through the
+session of 1841 as a member of the Government, and visited England
+during the recess. On the meeting of the Legislature in 1842, Sir
+Charles Bagot having, during the interval, succeeded Lord Sydenham,
+overtures were made, with the concurrence of Mr. Daly, to Messrs.
+Lafontaine and Baldwin, which led to a reconstruction of the Cabinet.
+Mr. Daly retained his office of Provincial Secretary, and acted in
+perfect harmony with his colleagues, not only during the short term of
+Sir Charles Bagot's Government, but during the critical period of 1843,
+after Sir Charles Metcalfe's assumption of the Government, and up to the
+very moment when, in the opinion of all his colleagues, resignation
+became absolutely necessary. During the whole of this period Mr. Daly
+appeared to concur with his colleagues on every point on which a
+difference of opinion arose, and it was only when resignation became
+absolutely necessary that he declined to act any longer in concert with
+them. At an early period of the session of 1843 a vacancy occurred in
+the Speakership of the Legislative Council--an office of considerable
+political importance, and one which it was clearly impossible that the
+Ministry could consent to have conferred on a political opponent. The
+choice of the Administration fell on the Hon. Denis B. Viger, one of the
+oldest Liberal politicians in the Province. On submitting their advice
+to Sir Charles Metcalfe, he not only objected most strongly to Mr.
+Viger's appointment, but stated that he had offered the post, without
+consulting his Ministers, to Mr. Sherwood, a retired Judge, and father
+of Mr. Henry Sherwood, one of the leading opponents of the
+Administration. Had Mr. Sherwood accepted the offer, the crisis would
+have occurred a few weeks sooner than it did, and on a question on which
+there could have been no misapprehension. Mr. Sherwood declined the
+offer, probably to avoid the impending difficulty, and after some
+negotiation, the Ministry consented to withdraw Mr. Viger's name, and to
+substitute that of the late Lieutenant-Governor Caron. During all this
+difficulty, Mr. Daly was apparently in accord with his colleagues,
+although it subsequently appeared that he was acting in concert with Mr.
+Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who took an active part in supporting Sir
+Charles, and whose letters published in England threw a good deal of
+light on the transactions previous to the crisis. Mr. Daly retained his
+office of Secretary in the new Ministry formed by Metcalfe, and was
+subjected to much censure for what was considered a desertion of his
+colleagues. So bitter was the personal feeling that on one occasion
+language was used in the House by one of his old colleagues, Mr. Aylwin,
+which he deemed so offensive as to lead him to retort in terms that
+provoked a hostile message and a subsequent meeting, when, after an
+exchange of shots, the dispute was amicably settled.
+
+The Ministry formed under Metcalfe in 1843 was changed repeatedly, Mr.
+Daly having been the only member of it who retained office until the
+resignation in March, 1848, in consequence of a vote of want of
+confidence having been carried in the Assembly at the opening of the
+third Parliament. There were during that period two Attorneys-General
+and two Solicitors-General in each of the Provinces, two Presidents of
+the Council, two Receivers-General, two Ministers of Finance, two
+Commissioners of Crown Lands, but only one Secretary, whose adhesion to
+office was the subject of a good deal of remark. When at last
+resignation became indispensably necessary, Mr. Daly withdrew almost
+immediately from public life. It had clearly never been his intention to
+continue in Parliament as a member of the Opposition; and it could
+scarcely have been expected by the Party with which circumstances had
+forced him into alliance that he would adhere to it after its downfall.
+It may truly be said of Mr. Daly that he was never a member of any
+Canadian Party, and that he had no sympathy with the political views of
+any of his numerous colleagues. A most amiable man in private life, and
+much esteemed by a large circle of private friends, he was wholly
+unsuited for public life. He had never been in the habit of speaking in
+public prior to his first election, and he never attempted to acquire
+the talent. Having no private fortune, he found himself after the age of
+forty suddenly called upon to take a prominent part in the organization
+of a new system of government, which involved his probable retirement,
+and as an almost necessary consequence, his subsequent exclusion from
+office.
+
+In estimating Sir Dominick Daly's political character, it would be
+unfair to judge him by the same standard as those who subsequently
+accepted office with a full knowledge of the responsibilities which they
+incurred by doing so. Sir Dominick Daly was the last of the old Canadian
+bureaucracy, and it is not a little singular that he should have been
+able to retain his old office of Secretary under the new system for a
+period of fully seven years. On his return to England his claim on the
+Imperial Government, which without doubt had been strongly urged by
+Metcalfe, was promptly recognized, and he was almost immediately
+appointed a Commissioner of Enquiry into the claims of the New and
+Waltham Forests, which he held until the close of the Commission in
+1850-51. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Island of Tobago,
+in the Windward Island group, in 1851, and transferred to the government
+of Prince Edward Island in 1854, which he held until 1857. In November,
+1861, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of South
+Australia, where he died in the year 1868, in the sixty-ninth year of
+his age. He had received the honour of knighthood on the termination of
+his service in Prince Edward Island.
+
+Sir Dominick Daly married, in 1826, a daughter of Colonel Gore, of
+Barrowmount, in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, by whom he had several
+children. One of his sons is the present representative of the city of
+Halifax in the Dominion Parliament.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILLIAM McMASTER.
+
+
+Mr. McMaster is probably the most widely known among the merchant
+princes of Western Canada, and has had a remarkably successful
+commercial career. As is the case with most men who have been the
+architects of their own fortunes, his success is largely attributable to
+his personal qualifications. He inherited a sound constitution, an
+active, enterprising mind, and a strong will. With such advantages he
+began the battle of life in this country nearly half a century ago. He
+grew with the country's growth, and by his industry and shrewdness
+achieved, in course of time, a position which made him thoroughly
+independent of the world. It has been the fashion to say of him that his
+mercantile operations were always attended with "good luck;" but those
+who converse with him on commercial or financial questions for half an
+hour will draw their own conclusions as to how far "luck" has had to do
+with the matter. He has been lucky in the same sense that the late Duke
+of Wellington was lucky; that is to say, he has known how to take
+advantage of favourable circumstances. Anyone else possessing his
+keenness of perception and shrewd common sense would in the long run
+have been equally lucky. He has made good use alike of his wealth and
+his talents, and the land of his adoption is the better for his
+presence.
+
+He is by birth and early training an Irishman, and was born in the
+county of Tyrone, on the 24th of December, 1811. His father, the late
+Mr. William McMaster, was a linen merchant whose resources were not
+abundant, but who was able to give his son a good education. The latter
+received his educational training at an excellent private school taught
+by a Mr. Halcro, who had a high local reputation as a teacher. After
+leaving school he was for a short time a clerk in a local mercantile
+house. His prospects in Ireland, however, were not commensurate with his
+ambition. In 1833, when he was in his twenty-second year, he resigned
+his situation, and emigrated. Upon reaching New York he was advised by
+the resident British Consul not to settle in the United States, but to
+make his way to Canada. He acted upon the advice, and passed on to
+Toronto--or, as it was then called, Little York.
+
+The conditions of the wholesale trade in Canada in those days were very
+different from those which now prevail. The preeminence of Montreal as a
+point of distribution for both the Provinces was well established, and
+the wholesale trade of Little York was comparatively insignificant.
+There were very few exclusively wholesale establishments in the Upper
+Canadian capital, but several of the largest firms contrived to combine
+a wholesale and retail business. Young William McMaster, immediately
+upon his arrival at Little York, obtained a clerkship in one of these,
+viz., that of Mr. Robert Cathcart, a merchant who then occupied premises
+on the south side of King Street, opposite Toronto Street. After
+remaining in this establishment somewhat more than a year in the
+capacity of a clerk, young McMaster was admitted to a partnership in the
+business, a large share of which from that time forward came under his
+own personal management. The partnership lasted about ten years,
+when--in 1844--Mr. McMaster withdrew from it, and started a separate
+wholesale dry-goods business on his own account, in a store situated on
+the west side of Yonge Street, a short distance below the intersection
+of that thoroughfare with King Street. By this time the conditions of
+trade had undergone some modification. Montreal still had the lion's
+share of the wholesale trade, but Toronto and Hamilton had also become
+known as distributing centres, and both those towns contained some large
+wholesale warehouses. Mr. McMaster's business was a large one from the
+beginning, but it rapidly expanded, until there was not a town, and
+scarcely a village in Canada West, which did not largely depend upon the
+house of William McMaster for its dry-goods supplies. The attempt to
+make Toronto, instead of Montreal, the wholesale emporium for Western
+Canada was not initiated by Mr. McMaster, but it was ably seconded by
+him, and no merchant now living did so much to divert the wholesale
+trade to western channels. In process of time he admitted his nephews
+(who now compose the firm of Messrs. A. R. McMaster & Brother) into
+partnership, and removed to more commodious premises lower down on Yonge
+Street, contiguous to the Bank of Montreal. This large establishment in
+its turn became too small for the ever-increasing volume of trade, and
+the magnificent commercial palace on Front Street, where the business is
+still carried on, was erected. Here, under the style of William McMaster
+& Nephews, the business continued to grow. As time passed by, the senior
+partner became engaged in large financial and other enterprises, and
+practically left the purely commercial operations to the management of
+his nephews. Eventually he withdrew from the firm altogether, but his
+retirement has not been passed in idleness. He has a natural aptitude
+for dealing with matters of finance, and this aptitude has been
+increased by the operations of an active mercantile life. He has been a
+director in several of the most important banking and insurance
+institutions in the country, and has always taken his full share of the
+work devolving upon him. Twenty years ago he founded the Canadian Bank
+of Commerce, and became its President. That position he has occupied
+ever since, and every banking-day finds him at his post. There can be no
+doubt that his care and judgement have had much to do with the highly
+successful career of the institution. Mr. McMaster was also for some
+time a director of the Ontario Bank, and of the Bank of Montreal. He has
+for many years acted as President of the Freehold Loan and Savings
+Company, as Vice-President of the Confederation Life Association, and as
+a director of the Isolated Risk--now called the Sovereign--Insurance
+Company. He also for many years occupied the unenviable position of
+Chairman of the Canadian Board of the Great Western Railway. Upon the
+abolition of that Board a few years ago, and the election of an English
+Board in its stead, Mr. McMaster was the only Canadian whose services
+were retained.
+
+But it is not only with financial and kindred matters that Mr. McMaster
+has busied himself of late years. In 1862 he for the first time entered
+political life, having been elected to represent the Midland Division,
+embracing North York and South Simcoe, in the Legislative Council of old
+Canada. He was opposed by Mr. John W. Gamble, who sustained a crushing
+defeat, and Mr. McMaster continued to represent the Midland Division
+until the Union. When the Senate of the Dominion was substituted for the
+old Legislative Council, after the accomplishment of Confederation, Mr.
+McMaster was chosen as one of the Senators to represent Ontario, and he
+has ever since taken part in the deliberations of that body. He has
+always been identified with the Liberal Party, but has never been an
+extremist in his politics, and has kept himself aloof from the faction
+fights of the times.
+
+His highest claim to the consideration of posterity will probably rest
+upon his services in the cause of education. These have been of a kind
+which we would be glad to see emulated by others of our wealthy
+capitalists. His first connection with general educational matters dates
+from the year 1865, when he was appointed a member of the old Council of
+Public Instruction. He continued to represent the Baptist Church--of
+which he is a prominent member--at that Board for a period of ten years.
+When the Senate of Toronto University was reconstructed, in 1873, he was
+nominated one of its members by the Lieutenant-Governor. But his most
+important services in the cause of education have been in connection
+with the denomination of which he is a devoted member. When the Canadian
+Literary Institute, at Woodstock, was originally projected, he
+contributed liberally to the building fund, and repeated his
+contribution when money was needed for the restoration of the buildings
+after they were burned down. He has ever since contributed liberally to
+the support of the institution, and indeed has been its mainstay in a
+financial point of view. He has been largely instrumental in bringing
+about the removal of the theological department of the Institute to
+Toronto, where a suitable building is now in process of erection for its
+accommodation in the Queen's Park, on land purchased by Mr. McMaster
+specially for that purpose. The cost of erecting this building is borne
+entirely by Mr. McMaster, and will amount, it is said, to at least
+$70,000.
+
+His benefactions to the Baptist Church have been large and numerous, and
+of late years have been almost princely. The handsome edifice on the
+corner of Jarvis and Gerrard Streets, Toronto, is largely due to the
+bounty of Mr. McMaster and his wife, whose joint contributions to the
+building fund amounted to about $60,000. To Mr. McMaster also is due the
+existence of the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the Baptist Church
+of this Province, of which he is the President, and to the funds of
+which he has contributed with his accustomed liberality. He has also
+long contributed to the support of the Upper Canada Bible Society, of
+which he is the Treasurer.
+
+He married, in 1851, Miss Mary Henderson, of New York City. Her death
+took place in 1868; and three years afterwards he married his present
+wife, Susan Molton, widow of the late Mr. James Fraser, of Newburgh, in
+the State of New York. There is no issue of either marriage.
+
+
+
+
+THE HON. WILFRID LAURIER.
+
+
+Mr. Laurier was born at St. Lin, L'Assomption, in the Province of
+Quebec, on the 20th of November, 1841. He was educated first at
+L'Assomption College, and subsequently at McGill University, where he
+took his degree of B.C.L. in 1864. A year later he was called to the Bar
+of Quebec, his law studies having been pursued in the office of Mr.--now
+the Hon.--T. A. R. Laflamme. His health having suffered by too close
+attention to his professional duties, Mr. Laurier, at the end of two
+years, left Montreal, where he had practised, and became the editor of
+_Le Defricheur_ newspaper at Arthabaska. His predecessor in the
+editorship was the late Mr. J. B. E. Dorion, the paper being devoted to
+the advocacy of Liberal principles. It did not, however, long continue
+in existence, and on its suspension Mr. Laurier once more returned to
+his professional pursuits, in which he soon obtained a high position,
+his personal popularity being as marked as his intellectual attainments.
+In 1871 he was the Liberal candidate for the representation of Drummond
+and Arthabaska in the Local Assembly, and carried the seat by a large
+majority. His talents as a debater and his statesmanlike cast of mind
+soon made him prominent in the Legislature, and when, in 1874, Mr.
+Mackenzie, shortly after accepting office, appealed to the country, Mr.
+Laurier relinquished his seat at Quebec to enter upon a more enlarged
+sphere of work at Ottawa. He was elected for Drummond and Arthabaska
+after a keen contest, and on the opening of the first session of the new
+Parliament was selected to second the address in reply to the Speech
+from the Throne. The manner in which he discharged this duty made a most
+favourable impression. He was at once recognized as one of the foremost
+of the many able representatives Quebec had sent to support the
+then-existing Government, and has since never failed to impress the
+House favourably when he has taken part in the debates.
+
+It was evident from his first introduction to parliamentary life that he
+must, at no distant day, be called upon to take his share in the
+responsibilities of office. Even before that time his status as a leader
+of opinion and a representative man in relation to public affairs had
+been very clearly marked out. In a lecture delivered by him at Quebec in
+July, 1877, on "Political Liberalism," he made a splendid defence of the
+Liberals of Quebec against the misrepresentations and aspersions to
+which they had been subjected. He insisted on the distinction between
+religious and political opinions being maintained, and showed how
+strictly moderate and constitutional were the views of those with whom
+he was politically associated. Of the Liberal Party of the past--of the
+follies that had characterized too many of its actions and utterances,
+nothing, he declared, then existed, but in its stead remained the
+principles of the Liberal Party of England. On the other hand, sketching
+the party opposed to him under the name of Conservative, he spoke as
+follows:--"Sir George Cartier," he said, "was devoted to the principles
+of the English Constitution--if Sir George Cartier were to return to the
+world again he would not recognize his Party. I certainly respect too
+much the opinion of my opponents to do them an injury, but I reproach
+them with knowing neither their country nor the times. I accuse them of
+estimating the political situation not by what has occurred here, but by
+what has occurred in France. I accuse them of endeavouring to introduce
+here ideas which would be impossible in our state of society. I accuse
+them of laboriously endeavouring, and, unfortunately, too effectually,
+to make religion the simple basis of a political Party. It is the custom
+of our adversaries to accuse us Liberals of irreligion. I am not here to
+parade my religious principles, but I proclaim that I have too much
+respect for the faith in which I was born ever to make it appear as the
+basis of a political organization. We are a happy and free people; we
+owe this freedom to the Liberal institutions which govern us, which we
+owe to our forefathers and to the wisdom of the Mother Country. The
+policy of the Liberal Party is to guard these institutions, to defend
+and propagate them, and under the rule of these institutions to develop
+the latent resources of our country. Such is the policy of the Liberal
+Party, and it has no other." Mr. Laurier's Liberalism, in fact, is of
+the strictly British type, and to the immense benefit which has accrued
+to his French compatriots by the concession of free British institutions
+he has borne eloquent testimony. Few men, indeed, could be found better
+calculated than Mr. Laurier to effect a union of thought, sentiment, and
+interest between those distinguished by difference of race and creed, in
+the interest of their common country. It was not, as we have seen, at
+all surprising that on a vacancy occurring in the Quebec representation
+in the Dominion Cabinet, Mr. Laurier should be offered the vacant
+portfolio. His fitness for the position was disputed by none, either on
+personal or political grounds. In Ontario, no less than in Quebec, his
+acceptance of office was hailed as a just tribute to his worth and
+ability. In September, 1877, he was sworn of the Privy Council, and
+became Minister of Inland Revenue. The knowledge of his strength in
+Parliament and the country served to stimulate the determination of his
+opponents to defeat him at all hazards when he returned to his
+constituents for reelection. The contest terminated by Mr. Bourbeau, the
+Conservative candidate, being elected by a majority of 22 votes over the
+new Minister. The defeat only served to show how highly the importance
+of Mr. Laurier's position in the country was estimated. Several
+constituencies were at once placed at his disposal. Ultimately the Hon.
+Mr. Thibaudeau, member for Quebec East, resigned, in order to create a
+vacancy. After a short but very exciting contest, Mr. Laurier carried
+the division by a majority of 315 votes. The result was the signal for
+general rejoicing, his journey to Ottawa and his reception there being
+one continued ovation. He retained the portfolio of Minister of Inland
+Revenue until the resignation of the Government in October, 1878. At the
+elections held on the 17th of September previous he was returned for
+Quebec East by a majority of 778 votes over his opponent, Mr. Valliere,
+and he now sits in the House for that constituency. He speaks both the
+French and English languages fluently, has a large amount of French
+vivacity sobered by great self-command, can strike home without too
+severely wounding, and commands the respect and good-will of his warmest
+political adversaries.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES BAGOT.
+
+
+The Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, the successor of Lord Sydenham
+as Governor-General of British North America, was born at Blithfield
+House, Rugeley, in Staffordshire, England, on the 23rd of September,
+1781. He was descended from an old aristocratic family, which has been
+resident in Staffordshire for several hundred years, and was ennobled in
+1780--the year previous to the birth of the subject of this sketch. He
+was the second son of William, first Baron Bagot, a nobleman highly
+distinguished for his scholastic and scientific attainments. His mother
+was Lady Louisa, daughter of Viscount St. John, brother and heir of the
+illustrious Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.
+
+His life was not marked by much variety of incident, and affords but
+scanty material for the biographer. From his early youth he was a prey
+to great feebleness of constitution, which prevented him from making any
+conspicuous figure at school. Upon completing his majority, his health
+being much improved, he entered public life on the Tory side, in the
+capacity of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, under Mr.
+Canning, during the Administration of the Duke of Portland. His tenure
+of that office does not seem to have been marked by any very noteworthy
+incidents. In 1814 he was despatched on a special mission to Paris, at
+which time he resided for several months in the French capital. Later on
+he was successively appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
+States, and Ambassador to the Courts of St. Petersburg and the Hague. By
+this time his health, which had never been very robust, again gave way,
+and he was compelled to decline several other honourable and lucrative
+appointments which were offered to him by the Ministry of the day. One
+of them was the Governor-Generalship of India, rendered vacant by the
+return of Lord Amherst to England. During Sir Robert Peel's short
+Administration in 1834, he took charge of a special mission to Vienna,
+in the discharge of which he commended himself highly to the authorities
+at home. A Reform Government succeeded, and during its tenure of office
+we have no information as to the subject of this memoir.
+
+In 1841 the Tories again came into power under the leadership of Sir
+Robert Peel. In the Ministry then formed, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl
+of Derby (father of the present Earl), held the post of Colonial
+Secretary. Upon Lord Sydenham's death, in that year, it became necessary
+to appoint a new Governor-General of British North America. Lord Stanley
+offered the post to Sir Charles Bagot, who accepted it, and soon
+afterwards sailed for this country, where public affairs, since Lord
+Sydenham's death in the preceding month of September, had been under the
+direction of Sir Richard Jackson, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Sir
+Charles entered upon his official duties on the 10th of January, 1842,
+and it soon became apparent that he intended to carry out the judicious
+line of policy inaugurated by his predecessor, Lord Sydenham. He held
+himself aloof from purely party questions, and formed no definite
+alliance with either Reformers or Conservatives. This was a grievous
+disappointment to the latter. His past political career had led the Tory
+leaders in Canada to suppose that he would espouse their views, and that
+by his aid their ascendancy would be reestablished. These expectations
+were not destined to be realized. Sir Charles spent his time in
+familiarizing himself with the position and needs of the country at
+large. In some respects he showed himself to be more liberal than his
+predecessor, Lord Sydenham, had been. Lord Sydenham had been indisposed
+to have anything to do with those persons who had abetted the rebellion.
+Sir Charles, knowing that Responsible Government had been conceded,
+resolved to govern himself accordingly. Though himself a Tory by
+predilection and by training, he knew that he had not been sent out to
+Canada to gratify his own political leanings, but to govern in
+accordance with the popular will. "He determined," says Mr. Macmullen,
+"to use whatever party he found capable of supporting a Ministry, and
+accordingly made overtures to the French Canadians and that section of
+the Reform Party of Upper Canada led by Mr. Baldwin, who then formed the
+Opposition in the Assembly. There can be no question that this was the
+wisest line of policy he could adopt, and that it tended to remove the
+differences between the two races, and unite them more cordially for the
+common weal. The French Canadian element was no longer in the
+ascendant--the English language had decidedly assumed the aggressive,
+and true wisdom consisted in forgetting the past, and opening the door
+of preferment to men of talent of French as well as to those of British
+origin. The necessity of this line of policy was interwoven with the
+Union Act; and, after that, was the first great step towards the
+amalgamation of the races. A different policy would have nullified the
+principle of Responsible Government, and must have proved suicidal to
+any Ministry seeking to carry it out. Sir Charles Bagot went on the
+broad principle that the constitutional majority had the right to rule
+under the Constitution." Finding that the Ministry then in being did not
+possess the public confidence, he called to his councils Robert Baldwin,
+Francis Hincks, Lafontaine, Morin, and Aylwin. Upon the opening of the
+Legislature, in the following September, he made a speech which showed
+that he understood the situation and requirements of the country, and
+was sincerely desirous of promoting its welfare. The session, which was
+a brief one, passed without any specially noteworthy incidents. Soon
+after the prorogation, which took place on the 8th of October, Sir
+Charles began to feel the effects of approaching winter in a rigorous
+climate. His physicians advised him, as he valued his life, to free
+himself from the cares of office, and betake himself to a milder clime.
+He sent in his resignation, and prepared to return to England, but the
+state of his health soon became so serious that he was unfit to endure
+an ocean voyage in the middle of winter. He was destined never to see
+his native land again. He lingered until the 19th of May, 1843, when he
+sank quietly to rest, at Kingston, in the sixty-second year of his age.
+
+
+
+
+LA SALLE.
+
+
+The publication last year of a revised edition of Mr. Parkman's
+"Discovery of the Great West" has made the compilation of a sketch of La
+Salle's life a very easy task. Mr. Parkman has told about everything
+that is worth telling--indeed, every important fact that is known--with
+reference to the great explorer; and for the future, any brief account
+of his life must necessarily be little more than a condensation of Mr.
+Parkman's book. "It is the glory and the misfortune of France," says M.
+Guizot, "to always lead the van in the march of civilization, without
+having the wit to profit by the discoveries and the sagacious boldness
+of her children. On the unknown roads which she has opened to human
+enterprise she has too often left the fruits to be gathered by nations
+less inventive, but more persevering." The life of the ardent explorer
+whose achievements form the subject of this sketch affords an apt
+commentary on the text of the eminent French historian above quoted.
+Long prior to the date of La Salle's discoveries, Samuel de Champlain
+had dreamed of and fruitlessly sought for a continuous water passage
+across the American continent, and hoped to thereby establish a
+profitable commerce with the Indies, China, and Japan. La Salle,
+following in Champlain's footsteps, and dreaming the same wild dreams,
+spent a great part of his life in attempting to do what his great
+predecessor had failed in accomplishing. His discoveries, however,
+extended over a much broader field. La Salle may practically be said to
+have discovered the Great West. He crossed the Mississippi, which the
+Jesuits had been the first to reach, and pushed on to the far south,
+constructing forts in the midst of the most savage districts, and taking
+possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis XIV. Abandoned by many
+of his comrades, and losing the most faithful of them by death; attacked
+by savages, betrayed by his own hirelings, thwarted in his projects by
+his enemies and his rivals, he at last met an inglorious death by
+assassination, just as he was about to make his way back to New France.
+He left the field open after him to the innumerable explorers of every
+nation and every language who have since left their mark on those
+measureless tracts. If but little benefit accrued to France from his
+discoveries, the fault was not his. He has left an imperishable record
+on the page of American history, and as a discoverer his name occupies a
+place in early Canadian annals second only--_if_ second--to that of
+Champlain himself.
+
+Rene-Robert Cavelier, better known by his territorial patronymic of La
+Salle, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, some time in the year 1643. The
+exact date of his birth is unknown, but his baptism took place on the
+22nd of November of that year, at which time it is probable that he was
+only a few days old. His family had long been wealthy burghers of
+Rouen, and there were no obstacles in the way of his receiving a liberal
+education. He early displayed an aptitude for science and mathematics,
+and, while still young, entered a Jesuit Seminary in his native town. By
+this act, which constituted the first step towards taking holy orders,
+he forfeited the inheritance which would otherwise have descended to
+him--a forfeiture which does not seem at any time to have weighed very
+heavily on his mind. He seems to have occupied for a short time the
+position of a teacher in the Seminary. After profiting for several years
+by the discipline taught in the establishment he requested and obtained
+his discharge, obtaining high praise from the directors of the Seminary
+for the diligence of his studies and the purity of his life. "The
+cravings of a deep ambition," says Mr. Parkman, "the hunger of an
+insatiable intellect, the intense longing for active achievement,
+subdued in him all other passions; and among his faults the love of
+pleasure had no part." His father had died a short time before La Salle
+quitted the Seminary, and he would then have at once succeeded to a
+large patrimony but for his connection with the Jesuits. A small
+sum--amounting to several hundred livres--was handed over to him, and in
+the spring of 1666 the young adventurer embarked for fame and fortune in
+New France, towards which the attention of all western Europe was at
+that time directed. He had already an elder brother in this country--the
+Abbe Jean Cavelier, a Sulpician priest at Montreal. The Sulpicians had
+established themselves there a few years before this time, and had
+already become proprietors and feudal lords of the city and island. They
+were granting out their lands to settlers on very easy terms, and La
+Salle obtained a grant of a large tract of land a short distance above
+the turbulent current now known as the Lachine Rapids. Here he became a
+feudal proprietor and fur trader on his own account. Such a pursuit,
+however, was far from satisfying the cravings of his ambition. Like
+Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a passage to the
+South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of China and Japan.
+Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and on one occasion he
+was visited by a band of Seneca Iroquois, some of whom spent the winter
+with him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their
+country and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth
+could only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently
+the Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one. In accordance
+with geographical views then prevalent, La Salle conceived that this
+great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf
+of California. If so, it would give him what he sought--a western
+passage to China, while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to
+inhabit its banks might be made a source of great commercial profit. His
+imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he descended
+the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the Governor for
+his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in the art
+of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor (Courcelle), and the
+Intendant (Talon) were readily won over to his plan; for which, however,
+they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of the
+Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. The cost was to be
+his own; and he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He
+therefore proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should
+buy it back again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the
+Superior, being favourably disposed towards him, consented, and bought
+of him the greater part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including
+the clearings, to one Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred
+livres. With this he bought four canoes, with the necessary supplies,
+and hired fourteen men. This being accomplished, he started on his
+expedition, in the course of which he explored the southern shore of
+Lake Ontario, and visited the Senecas in Western New York. Continuing
+his journey, he passed the mouth of the Niagara River, where he heard
+the roar of the mighty cataract, and passed on to an Indian encampment
+near the present site of Hamilton. After much delay he reached a branch
+of the Ohio, and descended at least as far as the rapids at Louisville,
+where he was abandoned by his attendants, and was compelled to return,
+his problem being yet unsolved.
+
+But the time was not far distant when he was to make a much more
+extended voyage than he had hitherto accomplished, and with somewhat
+more important results. In 1672 Count Frontenac came over to Canada and
+succeeded Courcelle as Governor of the colony. A friendship sprang up
+between him and La Salle, and they began to form schemes of western
+enterprise. Erelong we find the latter paying a flying visit to France,
+and receiving from the King, mainly through his patron's influence, a
+patent of nobility and a grant of Fort Frontenac--which had just before
+been founded by the new Governor with imposing ceremonies--together with
+a large tract of the contiguous territory. Then La Salle's serious
+troubles may be said to have begun. His grant involved the exclusive
+right of fur-traffic with the Indians on Lake Ontario, and though trade
+was a secondary object with him, he nevertheless engaged in it as a
+means of furthering his more ambitious schemes of exploration. The
+merchants of Canada, envious of his influence and success, leagued
+themselves against him, and resolved to accomplish his downfall. The
+Jesuits also placed themselves in opposition to him, for his avowed
+projects conflicted with theirs. La Salle aimed at the control of the
+valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and the usufruct of half a
+continent. The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada. In other words,
+Canada was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal
+interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground. Therefore
+the Jesuits looked with redoubled solicitude to their missions in the
+West. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with
+their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other
+reasons. La Salle was a fur-trader, and moreover aimed at occupation and
+settlement. In short, he was a stumbling block in their path, and they
+leagued themselves against him. Many of them engaged in underhand
+dealings with the Indians, and while they refused absolution to all
+Europeans who sold brandy to the natives, they turned a good many
+dishonest pennies by selling it themselves. They laid all kinds of traps
+for La Salle, and did not escape the suspicion of attempting to poison
+him. It is certain that an attempt to destroy him in this fashion was
+made, though he himself exonerates the Jesuits from participation in the
+attempt. In the autumn of 1677 he again sailed for France, and while
+there procured Royal letters patent authorizing him to prosecute his
+schemes of western discovery, to erect forts at such places as he might
+deem expedient, and to enjoy the exclusive right of traffic in buffalo
+skins. With Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, as his lieutenant, he
+soon afterwards returned to Fort Frontenac, whence, in the autumn of
+1678, he set out for the Great West.
+
+The historian of this expedition was a mendacious Recollet friar, Father
+Louis Hennepin, a name which has attained some notoriety in early
+Canadian annals. Father Hennepin had come out to Canada three years
+before the date at which we have arrived. Upon landing at Quebec he was
+at once sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. He found that wild
+spot in the western wilderness very much to his liking. He had not been
+there long before he erected a gigantic cross, and superintended the
+building of a chapel for himself and his colleague, Father Luke Buisset.
+He seems to have discharged his duties with a reasonable amount of zeal.
+He for some time gave himself up to instructing and endeavouring to
+convert the Indians of the neighbourhood. Later on he visited other
+Indian settlements, and made a noteworthy journey into the interior of
+what is now the State of New York, where he preached the Gospel to
+various tribes of the Five Nations, with indifferent success.
+
+Upon receiving intelligence of La Salle's projected western journey, in
+1678, Father Hennepin felt and expressed great eagerness to accompany
+the expedition. Permission to do so having been obtained from his
+Provincial, as well as from La Salle, he set out in advance of the
+latter from Fort Frontenac, early in November, accompanied by the Sieur
+De La Motte and a crew of sixteen sailors, embarked in a brigantine of
+ten tons. They skirted the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and in due
+time arrived at the Indian village of Taiaiagon, situated at the mouth
+of a river near the present city of Toronto. The river was probably the
+Humber, and the village was doubtless a collection of wigwams which have
+left no trace behind them. From this point the explorers crossed the
+lake to the mouth of the Niagara River, which they entered on the
+morning of the 6th of December. They landed on the eastern side of the
+stream, where the old fort of Niagara now stands. The site was then
+occupied by a small village inhabited by Seneca Indians, many of whom
+probably then beheld for the first time those wondrous pale-faces, the
+fame of whose exploits had preceded them into the wilderness. As the
+vessel rounded the opposite point the entire crew burst forth into
+sacred song, and chanted "Te Deum Laudamus" until the anchor was cast
+into the river. Later in the day they ascended several miles farther up
+the stream, until they reached the present site of Lewiston, where they
+built a rude dwelling of palisades. After remaining for some time,
+waiting for La Salle to join them, they set off on an expedition into
+the interior of New York, to pay a visit to a village of the Senecas.
+
+In the meantime La Salle and Tonty had started from Fort Frontenac, with
+a band of men and a goodly store of supplies for the expedition. After
+encountering rough weather and being nearly wrecked off the Bay of
+Quinte, they crossed the lake and landed at the mouth of the Genesee
+River. Here they disembarked, and after a brief delay, started on a
+visit to the same Indian village which had just been visited by Hennepin
+and La Motte, and which was a short distance south-east of the present
+site of the city of Rochester. La Salle called a council of the natives,
+and did his utmost to conciliate them, for they looked upon his
+proceedings with no friendly eye, and were not slow in expressing their
+disapproval. They were wise enough to know that European exploration
+would be but the forerunner of European settlement, and that European
+settlement must be the "sullen presage of their own decay." La Salle,
+however, had a great deal of personal magnetism and force of character,
+and contrived to gain the good-will of several of the chiefs. After much
+argument and cajoling, he succeeded in gaining their consent to the
+conveyance of his arms and ammunition by way of the portage at Niagara.
+They also acquiesced in his proposal to establish a fortified warehouse
+at the mouth of the river, and to build a vessel above the falls in
+which to prosecute his researches in the west. Having accomplished so
+much--and considering the jealousy of the Indians, it is surprising
+that he should have obtained such concessions--he set out to join
+Hennepin and La Motte in the Niagara River, which had been appointed as
+their place of meeting.
+
+Father Hennepin and La Motte had not long taken up their quarters on the
+banks of the Niagara River before they ascended the stream to regale
+themselves with a view of the mighty cataract of which they had so often
+heard with awe and astonishment. To the skill of the mendacious priest
+we are indebted for the first verbal description of the falls by an
+eye-witness, as well as for the first artistic delineation of them. The
+friar had a keen eye for the beauties and grandeur of natural scenery;
+but, like other travellers before and since his time, he was much given
+to dealing in the marvellous. His view is drawn in direct violation of
+the laws of perspective, and the proportions are not correctly
+preserved. It must be remembered, however, that during the two hundred
+years which have elapsed since the sketch was made, nature has been
+steadily at work, and that the external appearance of the falls has
+undergone many changes in that time. It is probable, too, that the
+cross-fall depicted in his sketch as pouring over what has since been
+called "Table Rock" really existed in 1678. Upon the whole, there is no
+reason for doubting that in its general outlines the sketch made by
+Father Hennepin pourtrayed the scene more faithfully than did his
+written description, of which the following is a literal translation:
+"Betwixt the Lake Ontario and the Lake Erie there is a vast and
+prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and
+astonishing manner, insomuch that the universe does not afford its
+parallel. This wonderful downfall is about six hundred feet, and is
+composed of two great cross-streams of water, and two falls, with an
+island sloping across the middle of it. The waters which fall from this
+horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner
+imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of
+thunder; for when the wind blows out of the south their dismal roaring
+may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."
+
+Hennepin and La Motte were soon afterwards joined by La Salle and Tonty,
+accompanied by a party consisting of mechanics, labourers and voyageurs,
+who arrived in a small schooner. After a short exploration of the
+country thereabouts La Salle set about the construction of a large
+vessel of forty-five tons, for the prosecution of his western voyage.
+The ship-yard was located six miles above the Falls, near the mouth of
+Cayuga Creek, where the work of shipbuilding was carried on throughout
+the winter, spring, and early summer. At last the new vessel--the
+ill-fated _Griffin_ (the first European craft that ever navigated the
+waters of the upper lakes)--was completed, and on the 7th of August,
+1679, the adventurers embarked and sailed into Lake Erie--"where sail
+was never seen before." They passed on to the westward end of the lake,
+and up between the green islands of the stream now known as the Detroit
+River; crossed Lake St. Clair, and entered Lake Huron. In due course,
+after encountering a furious tempest, they reached Michillimackinac,
+where was a Jesuit Mission and centre of the fur trade. Passing on into
+Lake Michigan, La Salle and his company cast anchor in Green Bay. The
+_Griffin_ was forthwith laden with rich furs, and sent back to Niagara,
+with orders to turn over the cargo to La Salle's creditors, and return
+immediately. This is the last item respecting her which history affords.
+Whether she foundered or was captured by the Jesuits or Indians remains
+an open question to this day, and no certain tidings of her, subsequent
+to her departure eastward from Green Bay, ever reached the ears of her
+commander.
+
+Meanwhile, his creditors, from whom he had purchased his supplies, and
+with whom he was heavily involved, were selling his effects at Montreal.
+He himself, with his company in scattered groups, repaired in bark
+canoes to the head of Lake Michigan; and at the mouth of the St. Joseph
+he constructed a trading-house with palisades, known as the Fort of the
+Miamis. Of his vessel, on which his fortunes so much depended, no
+tidings came. Weary of delay, he resolved to penetrate Illinois; and
+leaving ten men to guard the Fort of the Miamis, La Salle himself, with
+Hennepin, Tonty, and about thirty followers, ascended the St. Joseph,
+and by a short portage over bogs and swamps made dangerous by a snow
+storm, entered the Kankakee. Descending this narrow stream, before the
+end of December, 1679, the little company had reached the site of an
+Indian village on the Illinois, probably not far from Ottoway, in La
+Salle county. The tribe was absent, passing the winter in the chase. On
+the banks of Lake Peoria Indians appeared, who, desirous to obtain axes
+and firearms, offered the calumet of peace, and agreed to an alliance.
+They described the course of the Mississippi, and they were willing to
+guide the strangers to its mouth. The spirit and prudence of La Salle,
+who was the life of the enterprise, won the friendship of the natives.
+But clouds lowered over his path. The _Griffin_, it seemed certain, was
+wrecked, thus delaying his discoveries as well as impairing his
+fortunes. His men began to despond. He toiled to revive their courage,
+and assured them that there could be no safety but in union. "None," he
+added, "shall stay after the spring, unless from choice." But fear and
+discontent pervaded the company; and when La Salle, thwarted by destiny,
+and almost despairing, planned and began to build a fort on the banks of
+the Illinois, four days' journey below Lake Peoria, he named it
+Crevecoeur (Heart-break). Yet even here the immense power of his will
+appeared. Dependent on himself, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest
+French settlement, impoverished, harassed by enemies at Quebec and in
+the wilderness, he inspired his men with resolution to saw trees into
+plank and prepare a barque. He despatched Hennepin to explore the Upper
+Mississippi; he questioned the Illinois and the captives on the course
+of that river; he formed conjectures respecting the course of the
+Tennessee. Then, as new recruits and sails and cordage for the barque
+were needed, in the month of March, with a musket and pouch of powder
+and shot, with a blanket for his protection and skins of which to make
+moccasins, he, with three companions, set off on foot for Fort
+Frontenac, to trudge through thickets and forests, to wade through
+marshes and melting snows; without drink, except water from the running
+brooks; without food, except such precarious supplies as could be
+provided by his gun. After enduring dangers and hardships which would
+have effectually damped the ardour of any one but a French adventurer of
+that time; after narrowly escaping a plot to poison him; after being
+deserted by some of his followers, and threatened with all sorts of
+unknown penalties by the savages, he finally, after sixty-five days'
+journeying, arrived at Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 1680. But "man
+and nature seemed in arms against him." He found that during his absence
+his agents had plundered him, that his creditors had seized his
+property, and that several of his canoes, richly laden, had been lost in
+the rapids of the St. Lawrence. Another vessel which had been despatched
+with supplies for him from France had also been shipwrecked. Instead of
+sitting down to mourn over these mishaps, however, they seemed to
+inspire him with fresh vigour. Descending to Montreal, he in less than a
+week procured what supplies he needed, and returned to Fort Frontenac.
+Just as he was about to embark for Illinois, messengers arrived with
+intelligence that Tonty had been abandoned by his companions, and had
+been compelled to take shelter with a band of Pottawatomie Indians.
+
+Undiscouraged by the manifold disasters which had befallen him, La Salle
+once more set out from Fort Frontenac for the regions of the Great West.
+Instead of following the route by Lake Erie and the Detroit and St.
+Clair Rivers, as he had previously done, he crossed over to the Georgian
+Bay by way of the River Humber, which was on the line of one of the
+three great westward routes in those times. He was accompanied by
+twenty-five assistants, including his lieutenant, one La Forest, and a
+surgeon. In due course they reached Michillimackinac, which was then the
+great north-western depot of the fur trade. Here he found that his old
+enemies the Jesuits had been busy poisoning the minds of the natives
+against him, insomuch that it was only with difficulty that he could
+induce the latter to sell him provisions. After a brief delay he resumed
+his journey, passing numerous camps of the terrible Iroquois, who, tired
+of devastating the more eastern districts, were now spreading desolation
+through these western regions. Upon reaching Fort Crevecoeur he found it
+deserted, and neither here nor elsewhere, for many days to come, was he
+able to gain any intelligence of his trusty ally, Tonty, who had been
+left behind on the former expedition, as already narrated. He continued
+his course southward, and erelong found himself on the banks of the
+Mississippi--the mighty Father of Waters, "the object of his day dreams,
+the destined avenue of his ambition and his hopes." Finding no traces of
+Tonty, he determined to look for him further northward, and retraced his
+footsteps to Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, near Lake Michigan, where he
+spent the winter. "Here," says Mr. Parkman, "he might have brooded on
+the redoubled ruin that had befallen him; the desponding friends, the
+exulting foes; the wasted energies, the crushing load of debt, the
+stormy past, the black and lowering future. But his mind was of a
+different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with adversity, and
+out of the fragments of his ruin to build up the fabric of success. He
+would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new contingency.
+His white enemies had found--or rather, perhaps, had made--a savage ally
+in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his enterprise
+would come to naught; and he thought he saw the means by which this new
+danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes of the
+west, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget their
+mutual animosities and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at its
+head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the
+Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of
+French allies they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire in some
+measure the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach
+them the Faith; La Salle and his associates could supply them with
+goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters
+could gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he could seek out the
+mouth of the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the
+Illinois would then find a ready passage to the markets of the world.
+Thus might this ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed
+to civilization and Christianity, and a stable settlement, half feudal,
+half commercial, grow up in the heart of the western wilderness. This
+plan was but a part of the original scheme of his enterprise, adapted to
+new and unexpected circumstances; and he now set himself to its
+execution with his usual vigour, joined to an address that, when dealing
+with Indians, never failed him."
+
+In pursuance of this scheme he called a council of all the Indian chiefs
+for leagues round, and entered into a formal covenant with them. His
+new project was hopefully begun. It remained to achieve the enterprise,
+twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. To
+this end, he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect
+his scattered resources. Towards the end of May he set out in canoes
+from Fort Miami, and, after a prosperous voyage, reached
+Michillimackinac. Here, to his great joy, he found Tonty and one Zenobe
+Membre, who had lately arrived from Green Bay. Without loss of time,
+they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled their canoes a
+thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, in this
+third beginning of his enterprise, La Salle found himself beset with
+embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the fruitless cost of his
+two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he had incurred in
+building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been wholly paid. The
+fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; yet, through the
+influence of the Count de Frontenac, and the support of a wealthy
+relative, he found means to appease his creditors, and even to gain
+fresh advances. He mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved
+to trust no more to agents, but to lead on his followers in a united
+body under his own personal command.
+
+Returning westward, he once more reached Fort Miami, whence, on the 26th
+of December, 1682, he set out for the mouth of the Mississippi, whither
+he arrived during the month of April following. "As he drifted down the
+turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, the brackish water
+changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the
+sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight, tossing
+its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely as when born of
+chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life." La Salle, in a canoe,
+coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then assembled his companions
+on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above the mouth of the river.
+In this wild spot, on the ninth of the month, which was the month of
+April, 1682, he planted a column bearing the arms of France and an
+inscription to Louis Le Grand. "On that day," says the writer already
+quoted from, "the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous
+accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the
+Mississippi, from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of
+the Gulf, from the woody ridges of the Rocky Mountains--a region of
+savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts and grassy prairies,
+inhabited by innumerable warlike tribes--passed beneath the sceptre of
+the Sultan of Versailles; and all by virtue of a feeble human voice,
+inaudible at half a mile." Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle
+on this new domain of the French crown, which stretched from the
+Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to
+the farthest springs of the Missouri.
+
+Retracing his steps, he founded on the banks of the Illinois River a
+colony of French and Indians, to answer the double purpose of a bulwark
+against the Iroquois and a place of storage for the furs of all the
+western tribes; and he hoped in the following year to secure an outlet
+for this colony, and for all the trade of the valley of the Mississippi,
+by occupying the mouth of that river with a fort and another colony. The
+site of the colony was near the spot now occupied by the village of
+Utica, in the State of Illinois. Early in the following autumn he placed
+Tonty in charge of it, and made the best of his way to Quebec, whence he
+soon afterwards sailed for France. He had an interview with the King, to
+whom he unfolded his schemes. Louis, notwithstanding the machinations of
+La Salle's enemies, took a favourable view of the latter's enterprises,
+and in the month of July, 1684, we find him setting sail from Rochelle
+with a fleet of four vessels and a small army of recruits, composed of
+soldiers, gentlemen, artisans and labourers. Their destination was not
+Canada, but the Gulf of Mexico; La Salle having obtained the royal
+authority for a vast scheme of trade and colonization on the
+Mississippi, to which was tacked on a wild and impracticable scheme of
+conquest of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. One of the vessels, laden
+with provisions and other necessaries for the projected colony, was
+captured by buccaneers. The other three, after calling at St. Domingo,
+entered the Mexican Gulf. La Salle, when at the mouth of the Mississippi
+nearly three years before, had taken the latitude, but for some reason
+or other had no clue to the longitude, and the consequence was that he
+now sailed more than four hundred miles too far west. He landed on the
+coast of Texas, and spent some time in exploration before he became
+convinced of his error. Meanwhile he was constantly quarrelling with
+Beaujeu, his naval commander, as well as with other members of the
+expedition. Add to this that he was repeatedly prostrated by attacks of
+fever, and in constant expectation of being attacked by the savages of
+the neighbourhood; and it will be confessed that his situation was not a
+very enviable one. To add to his perplexities, one of his vessels went
+aground, and a great part of the cargo was lost. About this time Beaujeu
+set out to return to France. He had accomplished his mission, and landed
+his passengers at what La Salle assured him to be one of the mouths of
+the Mississippi. His ship was in danger on this exposed and perilous
+coast, and he was anxious to find shelter. After some delay, La Salle
+erected a fort on Lavaca River, in which he placed the women and
+children and most of the men who formed part of the expedition, and with
+the rest of the men set out to renew his search for the mouth of the
+Mississippi. He set out from the fort--which he called Fort St.
+Louis--with fifty men, on the 31st of October, 1685, to find the mouth
+of "the fatal river"--by which name it had come to be known among the
+band of adventurers. Five months were spent in wanderings through the
+wilds of that region, during which the hardships and sufferings were
+such as to baffle description, but the object of their quest still
+seemed as remote as ever. At last, weary and dispirited, the survivors
+returned to Fort St. Louis, where La Salle fell dangerously ill, and for
+some time his life was despaired of. No sooner had he recovered than he
+determined to make his way by the Mississippi and the Illinois to
+Canada, whence he might bring succour to the colonists, and send a
+report of their condition to France. The attempt was beset with
+uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was first to be found, then
+followed through all the perilous monotony of its interminable windings
+to a goal which was to be but the starting point of a new and not less
+arduous journey. Twenty men, including La Salle's brother, the Abbe
+Cavelier, and Moranget, his nephew, were detailed to accompany him. On
+the 22nd of April, 1686, after mass and prayers in the chapel, they
+issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons, some with
+kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts for
+Indians. In this guise they held their way in silence across the
+prairie. They travelled north-easterly, and encountered a due share of
+adventures with wild beasts and Indian savages. They traversed a large
+extent of country, but the attempt to discover the mouth of the
+Mississippi proved wholly ineffectual. After several months La Salle and
+eight of his twenty men returned to Fort St. Louis. Of the rest, four
+had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an alligator;
+and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in
+attempting to regain the fort.
+
+The journey to Canada, however, was clearly the only hope of the
+colonists, and on the 6th of January, 1687, the attempt to make it was
+renewed. The band of adventurers this time consisted of eighteen
+persons. At their head was La Salle himself. His brother and nephew,
+already mentioned, were also of the party. Of the others the only ones
+necessary to specify are Joutel, La Salle's trusty henchman, the second
+in command; Hiens, a German, formerly a pirate of the Spanish Main;
+Duhaut, a man of respectable birth and education, but a cruel and
+remorseless villain; and l'Archeveque, his servant; Liotot, the surgeon
+of the expedition; Teissier, a pilot; Douay, a friar; and Nika, a
+Shawnee Indian, who was a devoted friend of La Salle's. They proceeded
+northward. The members of the party were incongruous, and did not agree
+one with another. Duhaut and Liotot were disappointed at the ruinous
+result of their enterprise. They had a quarrel with young Moranget.
+Already at Fort St. Louis Duhaut had intrigued against La Salle, against
+whom Liotot had also secretly sworn vengeance. On the 15th of March they
+encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on his
+preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and
+beans in a _cache_. As provisions were falling short he sent a party
+from the camp to find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, Hiens the
+buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archeveque, Nika the hunter, and La Salle's
+servant, Saget. They opened the _cache_, and found the contents spoiled;
+but as they returned they saw buffalo, and Nika shot two of them. They
+now encamped on the spot, and sent the servant to inform La Salle, in
+order that he might send horses to bring in the meat. Accordingly, on
+the next day he directed Moranget and another, with the necessary
+horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' camp. When they arrived they
+found that Duhaut and his companions had already cut up the meat, and
+laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, and had also put by for themselves
+certain portions to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect right.
+Moranget fell into an unreasonable fit of rage, and seized the whole of
+the meat. This added fuel to the fire of Duhaut's old grudge against
+Moranget and his uncle. The surgeon also bore hatred against Moranget.
+The two took counsel apart with Hiens, Teissier, and l'Archeveque, and
+it was resolved to kill Moranget, Nika and Saget. All the five were of
+one mind, except the pilot Teissier, who neither aided nor opposed the
+scheme. When night came on, the order of the guard was arranged; and the
+first hour was assigned to Moranget, the second to Saget, and the third
+to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood watch in turn. Duhaut and Hiens stood
+with their guns cocked, ready to shoot down any one of the victims who
+should resist. Saget, Nika and Moranget were ruthlessly butchered, and
+then it was resolved that La Salle should share their fate. La Salle was
+still at his camp, six miles distant. Next morning, having heard nothing
+of Moranget or the others, he set out to find them, accompanied by his
+Indian guide, and by Douay, the friar. "All the way," writes the friar,
+"he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and
+predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him
+from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America.
+Suddenly, I saw him overwhelmed with a profound sadness, for which he
+himself could not account. He was so much moved that I scarcely knew
+him." He soon recovered his usual calmness, and they walked on till they
+approached the camp of Duhaut, on the farther side of a small river.
+Looking about him, La Salle saw two eagles circling in the air, as if
+attracted by the carcasses of beasts or men. He fired his gun and his
+pistol as a summons. The shots reached the ears of the conspirators, who
+fired from their place of concealment, and La Salle, shot through the
+brain, sank lifeless on the ground. Douay stood terror-stricken. Duhaut
+called out to him that he had nothing to fear. The murderers came
+forward and gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great
+Bashaw! There thou liest!" exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base
+exultation over the unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they
+stripped it naked, dragged it into the bushes, and left it there a prey
+to the buzzards and the wolves. It is sad to think that such was the
+fate of the veritable Discoverer of the Great West.
+
+"Thus," says Mr. Parkman, "in the vigour of his manhood, at the age of
+forty-three, died Robert Cavelier de la Salle, 'one of the greatest
+men,' writes Tonty, 'of this age;' without question one of the most
+remarkable explorers whose names live in history. The enthusiasm of the
+disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the enthusiasm of La
+Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of the early Jesuit
+explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight-errant and the
+saint, but to the modern world of practical study and action. He was the
+hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but simply of a fixed idea and
+a determined purpose. It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not
+easy to hide from sight the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a
+throng of enemies, he stands, like the King of Israel, head and
+shoulders above them all. He was a tower of adamant, against whose
+impregnable front hardship and danger, the rage of man and of the
+elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, fatigue, famine and
+disease, delay, disappointment and deferred hope, emptied their quivers
+in vain. Never under the impenetrable mail of paladin or crusader beat a
+heart of more intrepid mettle than within the stoic panoply that armed
+the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the marvels of his patient
+fortitude, one must follow on his track through the vast scene of his
+interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles of forest,
+marsh and river, where again and again, in the bitterness of baffled
+striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onwards towards the goal which he
+was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in this
+masculine figure she sees the pioneer who guided her to the possession
+of her richest heritage."
+
+
+
+
+THE RIGHT REV. JAMES W. WILLIAMS, D.D.,
+
+_BISHOP OF QUEBEC._
+
+
+Bishop Williams is a son of the late Rev. David Williams, who was for
+many years Rector of Banghurst, Hampshire, England. He was born at the
+town of Overton, Hampshire, in 1825, and his childhood was chiefly
+passed in that neighbourhood. He was intended for holy orders from his
+earliest years. In his boyhood he attended for some time at an
+educational establishment at Crewkerne, a town in the south-eastern part
+of Somersetshire, whence he passed to Pembroke College, Oxford. His
+collegiate course was not specially noteworthy, but was marked by
+considerable diligence. He graduated as B.A. in 1851, taking honours in
+classics. He in due course obtained his degrees of M.A. and D.D. He was
+admitted to Deacon's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Oxford, and (in 1856)
+to Priest's Orders by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. He for a short
+time held curacies respectively in Buckinghamshire and Somersetshire.
+His classical attainments were of more than average excellence, and
+seeing no prospect of immediate advancement in England, he in 1857 came
+over to Canada to assist in organizing a school in connection with
+Bishop's College, Lennoxville. Within a short time after his arrival he
+was appointed Rector of the College Grammar School, and soon afterwards
+succeeded to the Classical Professorship of the College, a position
+which he retained until his elevation to the Episcopacy.
+
+Upon the death of the late Right Rev. George Jehoshaphat Mountain,
+Bishop of Quebec, in 1863, the subject of this sketch was appointed his
+successor by the Synod; and on the 11th of June of that year he was
+consecrated at Quebec by the Most Reverend the Metropolitan, assisted by
+the Bishops of Toronto, Ontario, Huron and Vermont. His first Episcopal
+act was to advance three Deacons to the Priesthood.
+
+The See over which his jurisdiction extends was constituted in the year
+1793, and formerly comprised the whole of Upper and Lower Canada. Its
+extent has since been from time to time curtailed, and it is now
+confined to that part of the Province of Quebec extending from Three
+Rivers to the Straits of Belleisle and New Brunswick, on the shores of
+the St. Lawrence and all east of a line drawn from Three Rivers to Lake
+Memphremagog.
+
+Bishop Williams is a plain and unaffected preacher, and a man of
+scholarly tastes. He makes no pretence to showy or splendid gifts of
+pulpit oratory, but is known as an energetic and industrious
+ecclesiastic, careful for the spiritual welfare of his diocese and
+clergy. Several of his lectures and sermons have been published, and
+have been highly commended by the religious press of Canada and the
+United States. Among them may be mentioned his Charge delivered to the
+Clergy of the Diocese of Quebec, at the Visitation held in Bishop's
+College, Lennoxville, in 1864; and a lecture on Self-Education,
+published at Quebec in 1865.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI, signed as C. S. GZOWSKI]
+
+
+LIEUT.-COL. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI,
+
+_AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA._
+
+
+In compiling the various sketches which have appeared in the present
+series, the editor has frequently been compelled to encounter the
+difficulty of constructing a readable narrative out of very sparse and
+prosaic materials. A collection of this kind must necessarily include
+the lives of many professional and scientific men; and eminence in
+literature, in science, and in the learned professions, is commonly
+attained by means which--however interesting to those most immediately
+concerned--seem wonderfully commonplace to the general public, when
+reduced to plain, matter-of-fact narration. As a rule, stirring and
+romantic incidents are incompatible with a successful professional
+career, and in recounting the life of a learned divine, Chief Justice,
+or man of science, it is rarely necessary to deal with thrilling
+incidents or dramatic situations. The lives of such men are usually
+passed within a narrow and restricted groove, and the salient points may
+easily be comprised within a few lines. In the life of Colonel Gzowski,
+on the other hand, we have an instance of a remarkably successful
+professional career, combined with a chapter of vicissitude and
+adventure which, in the hands of a writer familiar with all the details,
+might very well form the groundwork of a sensation novel. His elasticity
+of spirits, strength of will, and vigour of constitution have supported
+him through an amount of labour, fatigue and suffering to which a more
+feeble mind and a more delicately-constructed frame must inevitably have
+succumbed long ago. Such a life as his commonly leaves very perceptible
+traces behind it. In his case no such traces are discernible. Neither in
+his visage, his gait, nor his manner, can the most observant eye detect
+any sign that his pathway has not always been strewn with roses. No one
+remarking his erect and firmly-knit figure, his jauntiness of step, and
+his keenness of glance, as he perambulates our streets, would readily
+believe that he is rapidly approaching his sixty-eighth birthday. Still
+less would it be supposed that he has passed through adventures enough
+for a knight-errant; that he has fought and bled in the fierce struggle
+for a nation's existence; that he has had his full share of the horrors
+of war; that he has languished in a patriot's prison; and that some of
+the best years of his life were passed in a hard struggle for existence
+in a foreign land. As we pass in review the alternating phases of his
+chequered career we seem to be contemplating a shifting panorama of the
+novelist's fancy, rather than a veracious chronicle of facts. The story
+of his life can be adequately narrated by no other pen than his own, and
+for many years past he has found more profitable employment for his
+talents than the inditing of autobiographical memoirs. In the absence of
+any such memoirs, be it ours to place on record such of the more salient
+points of his life as are readily ascertainable.
+
+He is descended from an ancient Polish family which was ennobled in the
+sixteenth century, and which for more than two hundred years thereafter
+continued to exercise an influence upon the national affairs. His
+father, Stanislaus, Count (Hrabia) Gzowski, was an officer of the
+Imperial Guard. He himself was born on the 5th of March, 1813, at St.
+Petersburg, the Russian capital, where his parents were then temporarily
+sojourning. His childhood was spent as the childhood of most Polish
+children of his station in life was passed in those days--viz., in
+preparation for a military career. At nine years of age he entered a
+military engineering college at Kremenetz, in the Province of Volhynia,
+where he remained until 1830, when he graduated as an engineer, received
+a commission, and entered the army of Russia.
+
+The Russian Empire was at this time on the verge of one of those
+periodical insurrections to which she had long been subject, more
+especially since the final partition and absorption of Poland, and the
+annihilation of the Polish monarchy. In 1825, Nicholas I. succeeded his
+elder brother Alexander on the throne of Russia. He had not long been
+installed there before he gave evidence of that aggressive policy which
+he pursued through life, and which nearly thirty years later involved
+him in the Crimean War. Some years before his accession, his elder
+brother Constantine, the heir-apparent to the throne, had been entrusted
+with the military government of Poland, and in 1822 had resigned his
+right to the Russian throne in Nicholas's favour. Upon the latter's
+accession he continued his elder brother in his sovereignty of Poland.
+Constantine's administration of affairs in that unhappy country was
+arbitrary and despotic in the extreme, and little calculated to mollify
+the heartburnings of the inhabitants. His oppressions were not confined
+to the serfs, but extended to the nobility. The result of his tyranny
+was the formation of secret societies with a view to striking one more
+blow for Polish liberty. A widespread insurrection, wherein most of the
+Polish officers in the Imperial army were involved, finally broke out in
+1830--the year in which the subject of this sketch received his
+commission. The success of the concurrent revolution in France, and the
+forced abdication of Charles X., inspired the insurgents with high
+hopes. In November of the year last mentioned the Grand Duke Constantine
+and his Russian adherents were driven out of Warsaw, the Polish capital.
+If the insurrectionary forces had been thoroughly organized, and if they
+had not been subjected to extraneous interference, there is reason for
+believing that their country might have been freed from the hateful
+domination of the Czar. Notwithstanding all the manifold disabilities
+under which they carried on the contest, they achieved a temporary
+success. After the expulsion of Constantine, a provisional government
+was formed under the presidency of Prince Czartoryski, and a series of
+desperate engagements was fought in which the patriots had in almost
+every instance a decided advantage. Their desperate courage and
+self-devotion, however, were of no permanent avail, for Prussia and
+Austria both lent their assistance to crush them, and towards the close
+of 1831 Warsaw was recaptured by the allied forces under Count
+Paskevitch, who was forthwith installed as viceroy of Poland. The
+crushing of the insurrection was of course marked by merciless severity
+and cruelty. In 1832 Poland was declared to be an integral part of the
+Russian Empire, and all the important prisoners were either put to
+death, banished to Siberia, or compelled to endure the horrors of a
+Russian prison.
+
+Throughout the whole of this fruitless insurrection Casimir Stanislaus
+Gzowski played a conspicuous part. He cast in his lot with his
+compatriots from the beginning; was present at the expulsion of
+Constantine from Warsaw, in November, 1830, and was actively engaged in
+numerous important conflicts that ensued. He was wounded, and several
+times narrowly escaped capture. We have no means of closely following
+him through the hazardous exploits of that dark and sanguinary period.
+Persons who are familiar with the history of Polish insurrections will
+be at no loss to conjecture the "hair-breadth 'scapes, and moving
+accidents by flood and field," which he encountered in that desperate
+struggle for a nation's freedom. After the battle of Boremel, General
+Dwernicki's division, to which he was attached, retreated into Austrian
+territory, where the troops laid down their arms and became prisoners.
+The rank and file were permitted to depart whithersoever they would, but
+the officers, to the number of about six hundred, were placed in
+durance, and quartered in several fortified stations. There they
+languished for several months, when, by an arrangement entered into
+between the governments of Russia and Austria, they were shipped off as
+exiles to the United States.
+
+When Mr. Gzowski, with his fellow-exiles, landed at New York in the
+summer of 1833, he had no knowledge whatever of the English language.
+When the pilot came on board at Sandy Hook, and saluted the captain of
+the vessel, he heard that language spoken for the first time. Like most
+members of the Polish and Russian aristocracy, he was an accomplished
+linguist, and was familiar with many of the continental languages; but
+it was a part of the Russian policy in those days to exclude English
+books from the public schools, and to prevent by every conceivable means
+the spread of English ideas among the people. During his course of study
+at the military college at Kremenetz, one of the Professors had
+exhibited an English book to him as a sort of outlandish curiosity. He
+now found himself in a strange land, without means, without any friends
+except his fellow-exiles--who were as helpless in that respect as
+himself--and without any prospect of obtaining employment. He possessed
+qualifications, however, which, as the event proved, were of more value
+than mere worldly wealth. He had been a diligent student, and had
+acquired what must have been, for a youth of twenty years, a thorough
+knowledge of engineering. He was, as has been remarked, a good linguist,
+and had not merely a grammatical, but a practical knowledge of the
+French, German and Italian languages. Better than all these, he was
+endowed with an iron constitution, which even the rigours of an Austrian
+prison had not been able to injure, and a strength of will which would
+not admit the possibility of failure. Some idea of his resolution may be
+formed from the fact that, when he found that his want of knowledge of
+English prevented him from following the engineering profession with
+advantage, he determined to study law as a means of acquiring a mastery
+of the English tongue. After subsisting for some months in New York by
+giving lessons in French and German, he betook himself to Pittsfield,
+Massachusetts, where he entered the office of the late Mr. Parker L.
+Hall, an eminent lawyer of that town, and a gentleman of high social
+position. The facility displayed by the natives of Poland and Russia in
+acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages is well known, but the
+achievements of Mr. Gzowski at this time seem almost phenomenal. It must
+be borne in mind that while he was studying law in a tongue which was
+foreign to him, he was compelled to support himself by outside
+employment. He obtained his livelihood by teaching modern languages,
+drawing, and fencing, in two of the local academies. He worked early and
+late, and was at first obliged to study the commentaries of Blackstone
+and Kent through the medium of a dictionary. In nothing did he appear
+to greater advantage than in his invariable readiness to adapt his
+mind, without useless repining, to the circumstances in which he found
+himself. His indomitable industry, natural ability, and fine social
+qualities, combined with his misfortunes to make him a marked man in
+Pittsfield society. He gained many warm friends, but was always wise
+enough to remember that his success in life must mainly depend upon his
+own exertions. In the month of February, 1837, when he had been studying
+his profession about three years, he passed a successful examination,
+and was only prevented from being admitted to practice by his not having
+become a naturalized citizen of the United States. A knowledge of the
+legal profession, however, was with him merely a means to an end. He had
+no intention of permanently devoting himself to legal practice, and had
+always contemplated returning to his profession of an engineer. He had
+by this time acquired a competent knowledge of the English language, and
+had begun to look about him for some suitable field for his exertions.
+The development of the coal regions of Pennsylvania was attracting a
+good deal of attention at this time, and it occurred to him that he
+might not improbably find employment there. A visit to that State tended
+to confirm his views, and in November Term, 1837, having submitted the
+necessary proofs, and taken the oath of allegiance, he was duly admitted
+as a citizen of the United States, before the Prothonotary of the Court
+of Common Pleas, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had brought with him
+from Pittsfield numerous letters of introduction to persons of high
+social position and influence, all bearing testimony to his
+unimpeachable character and wide attainments. The only obstacle to his
+admission to practice having been removed, he was enrolled as an
+advocate at the Bar of the Supreme Court, and for a short time acted as
+an advocate in Pennsylvania. This, however, was not the line of action
+for which he considered himself best qualified, nor did the prospect
+held out to him satisfy his ambition. He soon obtained employment as an
+engineer in connection with the great canals and public works, and
+abandoned the law as a profession. He became interested in several
+contracts, which were faithfully and skilfully carried out; and wherever
+he went he won the reputation of a delightful companion and a thoroughly
+honourable man.
+
+Early in 1841 the project of widening and deepening the Welland Canal
+began to be discussed with some vehemence in Upper Canada. With a view
+to securing a contract, Mr. Gzowski came over from Erie, Pennsylvania
+(where he then resided), to Toronto, and for the first time was brought
+into contact with some of the leading public men of Canada. The
+Government was then administered by Sir Charles Bagot, a gentleman whose
+infirm state of health did not prevent him from taking a warm interest
+in the public improvements of the country. Sir Charles formed a high
+opinion of Mr. Gzowski's talents, and sanctioned his appointment to an
+office in connection with the Department of Public Works. This
+appointment having been accepted by Mr. Gzowski, he bade adieu to his
+many friends in the United States, and took up his abode in Upper
+Canada.
+
+During the next six years Mr. Gzowski's life was entirely occupied by
+his duties in connection with the Department of Public Works. It is
+manifestly out of the question to give even an epitome of the numberless
+important enterprises conducted by him during this, the busiest period
+of his active life. His reports of the works in connection with
+harbours, bridges and highways alone occupy a considerable portion of a
+large folio volume. It will be sufficient to say that every important
+provincial improvement came under his supervision, and that nearly
+every county in Upper Canada bears upon its surface the impress of his
+great industry and engineering skill. In 1846 he obtained naturalization
+and became a British subject. Soon after the accession to power of the
+Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, in 1848, his services in an official
+capacity were brought to a close, and he began to enter upon large
+engineering enterprises on his own account. Towards the end of the year
+1848 he published a report on the mines of the Upper Canada Mining
+Company on Lake Huron. But his mind was occupied by more important
+schemes. The railway era set in. The Railroad Guarantee Act, authorizing
+Government grants to private companies undertaking the construction of
+railways, having been passed in 1849, the public began to hear of
+various railway projects of greater or lesser importance. The first
+great enterprise of this sort with which Mr. Gzowski connected himself
+was the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company, from Montreal to
+Island Pond, which has since been amalgamated with the Grand Trunk. Mr.
+Gzowski was appointed Chief Engineer of this undertaking, made a survey
+of the greater portion of the line, and superintended the actual
+construction. When the line became merged in the Grand Trunk he resigned
+his position of Chief Engineer, and received the most gratifying written
+testimonials from the Board of Directors as to his able administration
+of the important duties which had fallen to his share. Having formed a
+partnership with the present Sir Alexander T. Galt, the late Hon. Luther
+H. Holton, and the Hon. D. L. Macpherson, Mr. Gzowski for some years
+devoted himself entirely to the work of railway construction. On the
+24th of March, 1853, the firm of Gzowski & Co. obtained the contract for
+the construction of the line from Toronto westward to Sarnia. This great
+work was prosecuted to a successful conclusion, and was attended with
+most gratifying pecuniary results to the contractors. The firm was then
+dissolved, and has since consisted of Messrs. Gzowski and Macpherson
+only, who continued to carry on large operations in the way of railway
+construction. Among other railway works constructed by the firm were the
+line from Port Huron to Detroit, in the State of Michigan, and the line
+from London to St. Mary's, in this Province. In connection with their
+own enterprises, and for the purpose of supplying railway companies with
+iron rails and materials used in the construction of railways, Messrs.
+Gzowski & Macpherson in 1857 established the Toronto Rolling Mills,
+which were carried on successfully for about twelve years. Steel rails
+having largely superseded the use of iron ones, the necessity for
+maintaining the establishment ceased to exist, and the works were closed
+up in 1869.
+
+The excitement produced on two continents in 1861 by the Trent affair,
+and the threatened rupture of amicable relations between Great Britain
+and the United States, led Mr. Gzowski to reflect seriously on the
+defenceless condition of Canada. In the event of hostilities between the
+two nations, this country would of course be the first point of attack;
+and, in the absence of any efficient means of defence, it would
+manifestly be impossible to maintain a frontier extending over thousands
+of miles. It occurred to Mr. Gzowski that the establishment of a large
+arsenal in Canadian territory, where every description of armament and
+ammunition might be manufactured or repaired, would be a very wise
+precaution. He counted the cost, prepared elaborate plans, and even
+fixed upon what he believed to be the most appropriate site. Full of
+this scheme, he proceeded to England, where he submitted it to the War
+Secretary and other prominent members of the Imperial Government. Its
+liberality created much surprise among all to whom it was broached, for
+Mr. Gzowski proposed to provide capital for the construction and
+equipment of the entire establishment, subject to certain very
+reasonable stipulations. The project was taken into careful
+consideration by the Government, and for some time it seemed not
+unlikely to be carried out. It was finally concluded, however, that for
+certain diplomatic reasons, it would be undesirable to proceed with it;
+but full justice was done to Mr. Gzowski's unbounded liberality and
+public spirit, and he was assured that the Government were not
+insensible to the munificence of his proposal. From this time forward he
+began to interest himself in military matters. He took a very active
+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 reelection 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 preeminence 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 Puisne
+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 Adele, 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 reelected 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 reelected 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 reestablish. 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 Chaudiere. 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 cooeperation 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 cooeperate 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 Becancour, in the
+Province of Quebec. He was born at St. Francois, Riviere du Sud,
+Montmagny, in 1824, and was educated at Nicolet College, where he was a
+pupil of the Abbe 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
+Puisne 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 L800 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
+L11,000 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 Tache-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 Puisne 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 reaected 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 Puisne 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 Puisne 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 ELZEAR TASCHEREAU.
+
+
+Judge Taschereau is the eldest son of the late Pierre Elzear 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 Henedine, 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 Puisne 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 Puisne 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 Puisne 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 Procedure
+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 reelection. 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 reelected 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 Verandrye, who accepted office, and returned to his constituents
+for reelection, 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
+reelection. 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. Therese, 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 reelected 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 reelected 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. Therese, 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 TACHE, signed as ALY. ARCH. of St. BONIFACE]
+
+
+THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHE,
+
+_R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE._
+
+
+Archbishop Tache 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 Tache, 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 Tache, 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 Tache, a well-known
+Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the
+Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Tache, Sheriff of St.
+Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Tache, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the
+subject of the present sketch.
+
+The Archbishop was born at Riviere 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 Tache, after the death of her husband, repaired with her
+young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la
+Broquerie. Madame Tache 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
+Tache. 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 Tache. 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 Tache 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 Annees 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 Tache 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 Tache was appointed to
+accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle a 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 a 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 Tache'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 Tache 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 Tache, 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 Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache, on taking his departure for Isle a
+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 Tache'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 a 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 _employes_ 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 Tache, 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 Tache 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
+a 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 Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache, 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 Tache 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 Tache. 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 Tache 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 Tache'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
+Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache, 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 Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache, of whom he says:--"Of Bishop Tache,
+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 Tache 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 Tache 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 Tache 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. Francois 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 Tache 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 Vercheres.
+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 reelected 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 Vercheres, 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 preeminence 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. Tache 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 _via_ 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 L1,000 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 Puisne 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 reelection 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 reelection after accepting office, and was
+reelected 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 reelected 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 deg. 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 reestablished 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 reelected 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 Quinte. 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 reenter 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 reelected 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 Puisne
+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. Tache 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 Tache-Macdonald Ministry, as already referred to; for
+although Sir E. P. Tache 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 reelection, 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 Renee 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 L15,000,
+including an item of L8,000 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 Riviere 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 Pocatiere, 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 Terriere, second daughter of the late Hon. Marc Paschal de
+Sales La Terriere, 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 _Societe
+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 reelected 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 Bernieres, 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 Recollets 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 Mezy, 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.
+
+Mezy, 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. Mezy 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. Mezy 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.
+Mezy 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. Mezy 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. Mezy
+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 Beaupre, 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 cures 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 Puisne 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
+L100,000 sterling, and he had a floating capital of about L20,000.
+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
+reestablishment 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
+part in Edinburgh. It might well have been supposed that all the trials
+and sufferings he had undergone would have taught him a lesson, and
+that he would not again be so ill-advised as to recklessly bring trouble
+upon himself by interfering in public affairs which did not specially
+concern him. But his foible for searching out abuses was ineradicable
+and ingrained in his constitution. He could not behold injustice without
+showing his teeth, and his bumptiousness was destined to bring further
+suffering down upon his head. When he was not far from his seventieth
+year some land in or near Edinburgh which had theretofore been
+unenclosed, and which, in his opinion, should have continued unenclosed,
+was in some way or other appropriated, and the public were debarred from
+its use. We are not in possession of sufficient details to go into
+particulars. Mr. Gourlay denounced the enclosure as an act of
+high-handed tyranny, and harangued the common people on the subject
+until he had worked them up into a state of frenzy. Something resembling
+a riot was the result, in which he, while attempting to preserve the
+peace, was thrown down, and run over by a carriage. One of his legs was
+broken; a serious accident for a man of his years. The fracture refused
+to knit. He was confined to his bed for many months, and remained a
+cripple throughout the rest of his life.
+
+His case was again brought before the Canadian Assembly during Lord
+Elgin's Administration of affairs in this country, but nothing final was
+accomplished on his behalf. In 1857 he once more came out to Canada in
+person, and remained several years. He owned some property in the
+township of Dereham, in the county of Oxford, and took up his abode upon
+it. At the next general election he announced himself as a candidate for
+the constituency, and put forth a printed statement of his political
+views. He received, we believe, several votes, but of course his
+candidature never assumed a serious aspect. In 1858 the late Mr. Brown,
+Mr. M. H. Foley, and the present Chief Justice Dorion took up his cause
+in the Assembly, and procured permission for him to address the House in
+person. On the 2nd of June he made his appearance at the Bar, and
+liberated his mind by a speech in which he commented rather incoherently
+on his banishment and subsequent life, and concluded by handing in
+certificates from Dr. Chalmers and other eminent men in Scotland as to
+his personal character and abilities. The final result was that an
+official pardon was granted by the Governor-General, which pardon Mr.
+Gourlay repudiated as an insult. He also continued to repudiate his
+pension. Having completed his eightieth year, he married a young woman
+in the township of Dereham, who had been his housekeeper. This marriage
+was a source of profound regret to his friends, and especially to his
+two surviving daughters. The union was in no respect a felicitous one,
+for which circumstance the proverb about "crabbed age and youth" is
+quite sufficient to account, even had there not been other good and
+substantial reasons. In course of time the patriarchal bridegroom
+quietly took his departure for Scotland, leaving his bride--and of
+course the farm--behind him.
+
+He never returned to this country, but continued to reside in Edinburgh
+until his death, which took place on the 1st of August, 1863. He had
+completed his eighty-fifth year four months previously, and the tree was
+fully ripe.
+
+At the time of his death he had two daughters surviving, and we
+understand that all arrearages of pension were paid to them by the
+Canadian Government. One of these ladies went out to Zululand as a
+missionary several years since, but was compelled by ill health to
+return to her home in Scotland, where she has since died. The youngest
+daughter, Miss Helen Gourlay, still resides in Edinburgh.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Navy Hall was the Lieutenant-Governor's residence at Newark. See the
+sketch of the life of Governor Simcoe, in the first volume of this work.
+
+[2] From correspondence and documents laid before the Upper Canadian
+House of Assembly in 1836, and published in the appendix to the Journal
+for that year, we learn that the total quantity of land placed at
+Colonel Talbot's disposal amounted to exactly 518,000 acres. Five years
+before that date (in 1831) the population of the Talbot settlement had
+been estimated by the Colonel at nearly 40,000. It appears that the
+original grant did not include so large a tract, but that it was
+subsequently extended.
+
+[3] See "Portraits of British Americans," by W. Notman; with
+Biographical Sketches by Fennings Taylor; vol. I., p. 341.
+
+[4] See "Life of Colonel Talbot," by Edward Ermatinger; p. 70.
+
+[5] A sketch of the life of Edward Blake appears in Vol. I. of the
+present series. Since that sketch was published the subject of it has
+succeeded Mr. Mackenzie as leader of the Opposition in the House of
+Commons.
+
+[6] A full account of this interesting case will be found in Mrs.
+Moodie's "Life in the Clearings, _versus_ the Bush."
+
+[7] See "Life of Rev. James Richardson," by Thomas Webster, D.D.
+Toronto, 1876.
+
+[8] See "Case and his Cotemporaries," by John Carroll; Vol III., p. 17.
+
+[9] See "Nova Scotia, in its Historical, Mercantile and Industrial
+Relations;" by Duncan Campbell; p. 427.
+
+[10] Mr. Lafontaine was in reality the head of the Administration, which
+should strictly be called--and which is sometimes called--the
+Lafontaine-Baldwin Administration. In common parlance, however, and in
+most histories, Mr. Baldwin's name comes first, and we have adopted this
+phraseology throughout the present series.
+
+[11] See "The Poems of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, with an Introduction and
+Biographical Sketch by Mrs. J. Sadlier." New York, 1869.
+
+[12] See a sketch of Judge Wilmot's life by the Rev. J. Lathern
+(published at Halifax in 1880), p. 45.
+
+[13] It was administered to an Indian child. The great-grandfather of
+Madame Tache and the mother of M. Varennes de la Verandrye acted as
+sponsors.
+
+[14] See Lindsey's "Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie," vol i.,
+p. 147.
+
+
+ERRATA:
+
+Pg. 4--Typo corrected: wierd changed to weird
+Pg. 10--Typo corrected: proroging changed to proroguing
+Pg. 31--Typo corrected: would'nt changed to wouldn't
+Pg. 73--Typo corrected: partneship changed to partnership
+Pg. 77--Typo corrected: aristrocratic changed to aristocratic
+Pg. 80--Typo corrected: 1866 changed to 1666
+Pg. 106--Typo corrected: indvidual changed to individual
+Pg. 110--Typo corrected: siezure changed to seizure
+Pg. 115--Typo corrected: 1865 changed to 1875
+Pg. 121--Typo corrected: made changed to make
+Pg. 122--Typo corrected: decendant changed to descendant
+Pg. 125--Typo corrected: commerical changed to commercial
+Pg. 133--Typo corrected: Lieutentant-Governor changed to Lieutenant-Governor
+Pg. 134--Typo corrected: judical changed to judicial
+Pg. 142--Typo corrected: siezed changed to seized
+Pg. 148--Typo corrected: him-himself changed to himself
+Pg. 153--Typo corrected: that changed to than
+Pg. 157--Typo corrected: thoughout changed to throughout
+Pg. 171--Typo corrected: opinon changed to opinion
+Pg. 191--Typo corrected: succesful changed to successful
+Pg. 195--Typo corrected: concieve changed to conceive
+Pg. 256--Typo corrected: harrangued changed to harangued
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Canadian Portrait Gallery -
+Volume 3 (of 4), by John Charles Dent
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