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THE CANADIAN

PORTRAIT GALLERY.

BY

JOHN CHARLES DENT,
t » '
ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS

"VOL. I'V"

TORONTO:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. MAGUEN.
1881.

C. B. ROBINSON, PEINTEE,
5 JOBDAN STBEBT, ToEONTO.

^'

IKiiteied according to A. t of Parliament of Canada, in tlie year Biglitcen Hundred and Eighty-one, liy JOHN B. MAGHKK, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture/

CONTENTS.

General Sir William Fenwick Williams, Bart., K.C.B. ..... 5
The Most Rev. Elzear Alexandre Taschereau ... .10
The Hon. John Hawkins Hagarty, D.C.L. . . . . . . .12
The Most Rev. Robert Machray, D.D., LL.D. ...... 14
Sebastian Cabot . ¦•••¦..... 15

Frontenac
The Hon. Isaac Burpee

The Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald
The Rev. Alexander McKnight, D.D.
Daniel Wilson, LL.D., F.R.S.E.
The Hon. Joseph Adolphe Chapleau .
Lord Lisgar
The Hon. Timothy Blair Pardee

The Hon. Lucius Seth Huntington
The Rev. George W. Hill, A.M., D.C.L.
Sir Antoine Aime Dorion

The Rev. Edmund Albern Crawley, D.D.
The Hon. Robert A. Harrison, D.C.L.
The Hon. James Fbrrier
The Hon. John Douglas Armour
The Hon. John Henry Pope .
The Hon. William Hamilton Merritt
The Rev. W. Cyprian Pinkham
The Hon. Thomas Gushing Aylwin
William Brydone-Jack, A.M., D.C.L.
The Hon. John Carling .

19
25

The Hon. Thomas Heath Haviland, Q.C. ....... 27

28 34
35
38
40 42

The Hon. Sir William Young . . . . 43
The Hon. Joseph Curran Morrison ......
Lord Selkirk

4850
56
62 65

The Hon. Samuel Casey Wood ........ 67
The Hon. James McDonald, Q.C. .
The Hon. Sir John Rose, Bart., G.C.M.G.
The Hon. Allan Napier MacNab, Bart. .... 73

69 70

8689939596 98
104 105
108 110

CONTENTS.

page.
The Hon. Simon Hugh Holmes ..... 112
The Hon. Sir John Beverley Robinson, Bart., C.B., D.C.L. . 114
The Hon. John Wellington Gwynne ... 123
The Right Rev. Thomas Brock Fuller, D.D., D.C.L. . 125
The Hon. Philip M. M. S. Vankoughnet . . .127
The Hon. Malcolm Cameron ..... ... 130
Thomas Coltrin Keeper, C.M.G. .... .... 134
The Hon. Joseph Edouard Cauchon . . ... 138
The Hon. John Godfrey Spragge . . . . . . . . .146
The Hon. William McDougall, C.B. . . . . . 147
Louis Honore Frechette ........ 156
The Right Hon. Sir Edmund Walker Head, Bart., K.C.B. .... 158
The Hon. James Colledge Pope .... .160
The Right Hon. Viscount Monck ..... .162
The Hon. John O'Connor, Q.C. . . . . .164
The Right Hon. Earl Cathcart ...... 166
The Hon. Joseph Philippe Rene Adolphe Caron, B.C.L., Q.C. . 168
The Hon. George William Allan, D.C.L. . . . 170
The Rev. Alexander Sutherland, D.D. . . ... .172
WoLFRED Nelson, M.D. .
Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart. ...
Sir Etienne Pascal Tache ....
The Rev. William Morley Punshon, M.A., LL.D.
The Hon. Joseph Alfred Mousseau, Q.C.
The Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin
The Hon. Robert Duncan Wilmot

174
 182
185
. 188193
. 195198
The Hon. Pierre Joseph Olivier Chauveau, Q.C, D.C.L, LL.D. .... 199
The Hon. Charles Fisher, A.M., D.C.L. ....... 201
The Hon. Charles Clarke ..... ... 204
Henry James Morgan ..... .... 207
The Hon. Christopher Dunkik, Q.C, D.C.L. . . . . 209
The Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Goderic Blanchet, M.D. . 212
The Hon. Christopher Salmon Patterson . . . . . . _ 014
Jacques Cartier ...... . , 215

PREFACE.
TN attempting to place before the public an account of the lives of the leading personages
who have figured in Canadian history, from the period of the first discovery of the
country down to the present times, the editor has encountered the difficulties incidental
to such an undertaking. With respect to past times the principal difiiculty has been one
of selection. It has constantly been necessary to bear in mind the fact that the present
is a Canadian, and not a mere Provincial work, and that many names must be excluded
from its pages which would rightfully find a place in a Biographical Cyclopaedia of a
particular Province. During the' period before the Conquest, for instance, there were
many gallant gentlemen whose lives and achievements are pleasant to recall, and who
left at least a temporary impress upon the civil, political and ecclesiastical institutions of
New France. The interest in the lives of these personages, however, is for the most
part confined to the inhabitants of the Lower Provinces, and only a few sketches of the
lives of the more prominent among them could be admitted into the present work
with due regard to their relative importance. Similar remarks are applicable to various
personages who have played a not insignificant part in the history of the Maritime
Provinces, and even to some who have figured in the annals of the Province of Ontario.
It is believed, however, that no name of really national importance has been omitted,
and that the selection has been made with due regard to the comprehensive scope of
the work. As respects the present day, it has been found necessary to adopt a much wider
range. There are many living persons who, from the mere fact of their occupying more
or less conspicuous positions, are entitled to notice in the work, but who would undoubtedly
have had no place there by reason of their personal merits or abilities. This is an incident
of every work which attempts to deal with contemporaneous biography, and it is one
which can neither be ignored nor surmounted.
The four volumes comprised in The Canadian Portrait Gallery contain, in addition
to the title pages and tables of contents, 960 printed pages. The number of sketches is

vi. PREFACE.

204. For 185 of these, containing a total of 888 pages, the editor is personally responsible.
A few of them had been published in a Toronto newspaper prior to their appearance
in this work, but the sketches so previously published were subjected to a thorough
revision, and in most cases a good deal of important matter was added. The remaining
16 sketches, containing an aggregate of 72 pages, are the work of five valued contributors.
The sketch of Sir John A. Macdonald was prepared by Mr. Charles Lindsey, of Toronto,
whose '' Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie," published nearly twenty years ago,
made his name known from one end of this country to the other. The sketch of Sir
George E. Cartier is the work of a writer well fitted for such an undertaking by his
personal acquaintance with that gentleman during the latter 's lifetime. The sketches of
the Eev. Dr. Crawley, Sir Samuel Cunard, and the Hon. S. H. Holmes were contributed
by the Rev. Robert Murray, editor of the Presbyterian Witness, of Halifax, N.S. The
sketch of Sir Dominick Daly was written by Sir Francis Hincks, whose intimacy with Sir
Dominick during that gentleman's residence in Canada, and whose active participation
in the political life of the time render him peculiarly well qualified for the task. The
remaining contributor is Mr. George Stewart, jr., editor of the Quebec Chronicle, a
gentleman well-known to the Canadian public as the author of " Canada under the
Administration of the Earl of Dufferin," and of other valuable historical and literary
works. Mr. Stewart's contributions consist of the sketches of Sir S. L. Tilley, The Hons.
A. G. Archibald, T. A. R. Laflamme, R. E. Caron, E. B. Chandler, J. C. Allen, C. E. B.
De Boucherville, H. G. Joly, T. W. Anglin, J. J. C. Abbott, Sir William Young, Mgr. Laval,
and the Most Rev. John Medley. The editor deems it right to take this opportunity of
bearing public testimony to his high sense of the services of his friends above referred
to, and to the pleasant nature of his relations with them during the progress of this
work through the press.
With respect to the literary execution of the work, it is hoped that it will be found
to maintain the promises made on its behalf in the prospectus issued towards the close of
the year 1879. " In this country " — so ran the prospectus — " where political issues develop
strong sympathies— and even prejudices— it is of the first importance that the sketches of
public men shall be written with justice, and with entire freedom from political bias.
This difficult task— difficult, more especially in the case of living persons — the editor will
endeavour faithfully to discharge." It is scarcely to be expected that the editor's estimate
will in every case meet with universal acceptance. It is believed, however, that no reader
will dispute the fact that there has been an honest attempt to do justice to the character
and actions of every man whose life is delineated in these volumes. It was a matter of
course that a work of such dimensions would not pass through the press without some

PREFACE. vii.

errors creeping into it, in spite of the utmost care in reading and correcting proof-sheets.
The Canadian Portrait Gallery doubtless contains many such. Several of the more
important may as well be referred to in this place, as it is not proposed to issue a table of
errata. The first error occurs on the very first page of the first volume, in the sketch of
the present Governor-General of Canada. It is stated that Archibald, Marquis of Argyll,
was brought to the scaffold during the Protectorate, for his espousal* of the Royalist cause.
As matter of fact the Marquis was beheaded on the 27th of May, 1661, after the Protec
torate had come to an end; and his execution was due to his having intrigued with
Cromwell, and engaged in a treasonable correspondence with General Monk. Another
error occurs on page 53 of the third volume, in the sketch of the Hon. William Hume
-Blake. A tribute to the deceased Chancellor's memory is quoted as having been pro
nounced by the late Chancellor Vankoughnet, when as matter of fact the tribute was
pronounced by the present Chief Justice Spragge. The critical reader will also notice
that the surname of Sir Allan MacNab is spelled in various ways in different sketches.
This can scarcely be pronounced an error, as different branches of his family spell the
name in a variety of ways. It would have been preferable, however, had the spelling
been uniform throughout the work. As matter of fact Sir Allan — at all events during
the latter years of his life — jalways spelled the name as it will be found spelled in the
sketch of his life contained in the fourth volume — MacNab. The ecclesiastical prefix
" Most Reverend " was accidentally omitted in the title to the sketch of Archbishop
Connolly ; and the prefix " Sir " from the title to the sketch of Sir W. P. Howland.
There are doubtless other errors which have not been detected by the editor, but it is
believed that there are no others of importance.
During the passage of the work through the press, various events have occurred
which affect the text as it stands, and which may appropriately be recorded here. On
the 4th of January last the Judicial Bench of Ontario sustained a grievous loss by the
death, at Nice, France — whither he had gone for the improvement of his health — of Chief
Justice Moss. On the 28th of the same month the Hon. Mr. Letellier died at his home_in
the county of Kamouraska. The Rev. Dr. Punshon died in England on the 14th of April
last. The services of Lord Dufferin at St. Petersburg have come to an end, and he is
about to take up his abode in a diplomatic capacity at Constantinople. The Hon. F. G.
Baby has ceased to be a member of the Government at Ottawa, and has accepted a seat
as one of the Judges of the Court of Queen's Beijch for the Province of Quebec. The
Hon. James McDonald, late Minister of Justice, has succeeded Sir William Young as
Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. The Hon. J. G. Spragge has ceased to be Chancellor
of Ontario, and has become Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal. The Hon. S. H.

viii. PREFACE.

Blake has retired from the Bench, and has resumed practice at the Ontario Bar. On
the 24th of May the Hon. Hector Langevin and Chief Justice Ritchie were created
Knights Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. There have also
been several other changes in the composition of the Dominion Government, but as
they are understood to be of only a temporary nature, it is considered unnecessary to
specify them.
Toronto, June 1st, 1881.

liililirB^itaALrT««(n&ninMi<i.l7 WTIntiBtiLUnitnal.

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS,

BART., K.C.B.

TO tell the story of the life of " the Hero
of Kars " as it deserves to be told, and
as it will assuredly have to be told_ in the
not distant future, would require much
greater space than can be allotted for the
purpose in the present work. The life of
Sir Fenwick Williams, like that of his
friend and fellow-countryman Sir John
Inglis, forms a glorious chapter in the his
tory, not of Nova Scotia alone, but of the
British Empire, in which it must ever oc
cupy a conspicuous and an honoured place.
In the annals of the Crimean War and the
Indian Mutiny — two of the most notable
conflicts of modern times — the names of
these gallant sons of Nova Scotia stand out
in bold relief. The career of Sir John
Inglis was brought to a close eighteen
years ago. Sir Fenwick Williams, though
he has passed by a decade the allotted term
of three score years and ten, is happily still
preserved to us. His life is co-existent with
the present century, the history of which
he has materially contributed to make. In
none but a conventional - sense can he be
said to have fallen into the sear and yellow
leaf. It would be too much to expect that
a veteran of fourscore will add fresh lustre
to his name by any further military achieve
ments, but he is fully entitled to repose un
der the shade of his laurels for the remain
der of his days, surrounded by
' ' that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends."
IV— 2

He comes of military stock on both sides
of his house. -His father, of whom he is
the only surviving son, was Thomas Wil
liams, Commissary-General and Barrack
Master at Halifax, who subsequently rose
to the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel, and
who died in 1807. His mother was Maria,
daughter of Captain Thomas Walker. He
was born at Annapolis Royal, the ancient
capital of Nova Scotia, on the 4th of De
cember, 1800.* He had an elder and only
brother. Lieutenant Thomas Gregory Town-
send Williams, of the Royal Artillery, who
served under Wellington in the Peninsula
and in France, and who died after the com
bat at New Orleans in 1814-15.
For the greater part of his early, training,
military and otherwise, he was indebted to
his relative. Colonel William Fenwick, of
the Royal Engineers. In May, 1815, through
the influence of the Duke of Kent, who was
a friend and patron of his father, he was
placed at the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich, in England. While there he de
veloped a passion for a military life, and
studied military tactics with extraordinary
diligence. In 1821 he passed a very suc
cessful examination, and in 1825 was ga
zetted to a second lieutenancy in the Royal
Artillery. Two years later he was pro-
* Several authorities, Debrett among the number, place
the date of his birth a year later. We adopt the date
sanctioned by all the local historians, and by nearly aU
the standard coUeotions of military biographies.

6

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BART., K.C.B.

moted to a first lieutenancy, and was sta
tioned at Gibraltar. In 1829 he was trans
ferred to the East Indies, and was stationed
in the island of Ceylon. He spent consid
erable time in travelling through India in
the capacity of a military engineer, and
penetrated to districts which were known
to few Europeans in those days. Through
the good offices of Sir Robert Wilmot Hor-
ton, he obtained an appointment in the de
partment of the Surveyor-General of Cey
lon, where he superintended the erection of
various public buildings and bridges, and
the construction of several highways in the
neighbourhood of Colombo, the capital of the
island.^ Towards the close of 1835 he bade
adieu to India and proceeded to Egypt, where
he formed the acquaintance of the Viceroy,
the famous Mehemet Ali. Thence he proceed
ed to Syria and Constantinople, and, after a
somewhat prolonged sojourn at the Turkish
capital, returned to England in 1839 and re
joined his regiment. Early in the following
year he was promoted to a captaincy.
During his stay in Constantinople he had
been presented to Mahmoud II., the Sultan,
whose authority his great feudatory, Me
hemet Ali, had nearly succeeded in throw
ing off. The young English officer had
thus had an opportunity of personally esti
mating the respective characters of these
illustrious personages, and of forming a
more intelligent opinion as to the merits of
the controversy between them than any one
who had not travelled in their dominions
could have been expected to do. The Sul
tan died about this time, and was succeeded
by his son Abdul Medjid, who inherited but
a very moderate share of his father's states
manship and energy. Great Britain, being
then, as in times much more recent, sus
picious of Russian intrigues, and having
resolved upon " maintaining the integrity "
of the Ottoman Empire, prepared to inter
fere in the quarrel between the Sultan and
his insubordinate vassal. While the pre

parations were afoot, Lord Palmerston, who
was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
sent down to Woolwich a requisition for an
energetic and capable artillery officer, who
was to proceed to the Turkish capital and
inspect the arsenals there. The object of
such inspection was to remedy the numer
ous deficiencies which were believed to ex
ist, and to put the Turkish marine in an
efficient state of defence. Captain Fenwick
Williams was the officer selected for this
important duty. He repaired to Constanti
nople, and served in the arsenals there for
three years. Towards the close of the year
1843 he received his majority, and imme
diately afterwards proceeded as British
Commissioner to the conference held at
Erzeroum, in Upper Armenia, with a view
to a settlement of the boundary-line be
tween Persia and Turkey in Asia. The
commissioners were four in number, and
represented Great Britain, Russia, Turkey
and Persia. Their conference lasted about
four years, and after the Treaty was signed
the commissioners were detailed to see its
more important provisions carried out. This
involved an official survey of the entire ter
ritory lying between Mount Ararat and the
head of the Persian gulf. The survey oc
cupied several years' more, during the great
er part of which period the commissioners
were compelled to endure many privations
and hardships. They slept under canvas
tents, and were exposed to terrible vicissi
tudes of alternate heat and cold. While
engaged in his labours he was prostrated
by a serious illness, and was compelled to
return to England.
For his services in connection with the
making of the Treaty of Erzeroum he had
been advanced, in 1848, to the brevet rank
of Lieutenant-Colonel. During his illness
the Crimean War was entered upon, and
scarcely had he recovered ere the news
reached England that the Turkish forces
had been driven under the walls of Kars

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BART., K.C.B.

by the Russians under Prince Bebutoff.
The intelligence was regarded as momen
tous, as it was considered certain that the
Russians would follow up their success by
renewed efforts in Asia. It was highly de
sirable that Great Britain should have a
representative there, to keep her informed
of the state of the respective armies, and as
to the general course of events. Colonel
Williams, who was thoroughly familiar with
the ground, and of whose abilities the War
Office justly entertained a very high opinion,
was forthwith despatched to the scene of
action as Her Majesty's Commissioner. He
reached Constantinople on the 14th of Au
gust, 1855, and put himself into immediate
communication with Lord Raglan, Com
mander of the British Forces in the Crimea,
and with Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the
British Plenipotentiary at Constantinople.
He then set out for his destination, accom
panied only by three men, viz. : Lieutenant
Teesdale, Mr. Churchill, and Dr. Sand with.
On the 24th of September the little party
reached Kars, and Colonel Williams forth
with set himself to work to reorganize the
Turkish forces. He found that there had
been gross peculation and mismanagement,
and that the equipments and commissariat
were in a wretched condition. The array
was an unsightly rabble in rags and tatters,
bearing, except in the matter of numbers,
considerable resemblance to that famous
regiment with which Sir John Falstaff re
fused to march through Coventry. The
rations served out to the men were scanty
and foul. The officers were shiftless and
incompetent. The payment of the troops
was more than twelve months — and in
some cases more than twenty-two months
— in arrear. As a result, a state of insub
ordination prevailed. Drill was altogether
neglected, and many of the troops were
absolutely too lazy to take exercise. Such
was the condition of things which prevailed
when Colonel Williams arrived at Kars.

His first proceeding was to send off de
spatches to Constantinople representing the
state of affairs. His next was to make an
attempt to evoke some sort of order out of
the chaos which prevailed all around him.
Upon receipt of the despatches Lord Strat
ford de Redcliffe submitted the situation to
the Turkish Government, and urged them
to find a remedy. In response to this ap
peal the Turkish Government sent to Kars
an insolent and incapable drunkard named
Shukri Pasha, who, instead of being of
any service to Colonel Williams did all he
could to thwart his efforts at reorganiza
tion. The Colonel, after much routine
and delay, was appointed a Lieutenant-
General in the Sultan's service. In his
commission he was styled Williams Pasha ;
and this is the first instance on record of a
Christian being appointed to high rank in
the service of the Sublime Porte under his
own proper name. The custom had pre
viously been to bestow Moslem names upon
such officers, when promoting them to posi
tions of distinction. In the following No
vember Lieutenant - General Williams, re
paired to Erzeroum, which he placed in as
efficient a state of defence as the means at
his disposal rendered possible, leaving Lieu
tenant Teesdale behind at Kars to maintain
discipline there. In the following spring
he was reinforced by Colonel Lake, Captain
Olpherts, and Captain Thompson, from the
Indian army. The fortifications at Kars
were strengthened and largely reconstruct
ed, and provisions were stored up for a
siege, for it was known that a strong
Russian force under General Mouravieff
would attempt to take the place. The at
tempt was not long delayed. "Never,
probably," says a recent historian, "had a
man a more difficult task than that which
fell to the lot of Williams. He had to con
tend against official stupidity, corruption,
delay; he could get nothing done without
having first to remove whole mountains of

8

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BART., K.C.B.

obstruction, and to quicken into life and
movement an apathy which seemed like
that of a paralyzed system. He concen
trated his efforts at last upon the defence
of Kars, and he held the place against over
powering Russian forces, and against an
enemy far more appalling, starvation itself.
With his little garrison he repelled a tre
mendous attack of the Russian army under
General Mouravieff, in a battle that lasted
nearly seven hours, and as the result of
which the Russians left on the field more
than five thousand dead. He had to sur
render at last to famine ; but the very ar
ticles of surrender to which the conqueror
consented became the trophy of Williams
and his men. The garrison were allowed
to leave the place with all the honours of
war, and 'as a testimony to the valorous
resistance made by the garrison of Kars,
the officers of all ranks are to keep their
swords.' Williams and his English com
panions — Colonel Lake, Major Teesdale,
Major Thompson and Dr. Sandwith—had
done as much for the honour of their coun
try at the close of the war as Butler and
Nasmyth had done at its opening. The
curtain of that great drama rose and fell
upon a splendid scene of English heroism.
The war was virtually over."
General Williams and his valiant com
rades in arms were taken to Russia as pris
oners of war —first to Moscow, and after
wards to St. Petersburg; but they were
treated with the courtesy and respect due
to brave enemies. Immediately after the
conclusion of terms of peace they left for
England, where they landed, amid the ac
clamations of the entire British nation, in
May, 1856. Honours flowed in upon Gen
eral Williams thick and fast. A Baronetcy
and a Companionship of the Bath were
conferred upon him, and a pension of a
thousand pounds a year was granted to
him for life. The House of Lords and the
House of Commons vied with each other to

do honour to the hero who had so valiantly
maintained the national prestige against
overwhelming odds. Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton, in a speech in the Commons, while
reproaching the Government for its mis
management of affairs in the East, said :
"The stain of the fall of Kars will still
cling to your memory as a Government, as
long as history can turn to the record of a
fortitude which, in spite of your negligence
and languor, still leaves us proud of the
English name." The Earl of Derby, in the
House of Lords, said : " We honour the
valour and prize the fame of the brave but
unsuccessful defenders of Kars as not be
low those of the more fortunate conquerors
of Sebastopol." The Sultan of Turkey con
ferred upon the Hero of Kars the dignity
of a Pasha or Medjidie of the highest rank,
together with the title of " Mushir," or full
General in the Turkish service. The Em
peror of the French created him Grand Of
ficer of the Legion of Honour, and person
ally presented him with a diamond-hilted
sabre. But perhaps no token of the esteem
in which he was held affected the recipient
more than one from his native Province of
Nova Scotia. The Attorney- General of that
Province, Mr. — now Sir WilHam — Young,
made a motion in the Local House of As
sembly to the effect that the Lieutenant-
Governor should be requested to expend a
hundred and fifty guineas in the purchase
of a sword, to be presented to General Wil
liams as a mark of the high esteem in
which his character as a man and a soldier,
and more especially his heroic courage and
constancy in the defence of Kars, wei-e held
by the Legislature of his native Province.
The Hon. J. W. Johnston seconded the reso
lution — which passed unanimously — in elo
quent terms. The General's appreciation
of the honour is sufficiently attested by a
letter which he addressed from Berlin,
Prussia, to a gentleman in Halifax, under
date of May 28th, 1856 : "How thankful I

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FENWICK WILLIAMS, BART., K.C.B.

9

ought to be" — so runs the letter — ^"and
indeed am, to God for having spared me
through so many . dangers, to serve the
Queen in such a manner as to obtain her
approbation, and the good will of all my
countrymen on both sides of the water. Of
all the proofs which I have, or shall receive
of this too general sentiment in my favour,
the sword voted to me by the Nova Scotians
is the most acceptable to my heart; and
when I again come in sight of the shores of
that land where I first drew my breath, I
shall feel that I am a thousand times re
quited for all I have gone through during
the eventful years of the last terrible
struggle." In the way of lesser honours, the Uni
versity of Oxford, at the annual commemo
ration of 1856, conferred upon General Wil
liams the honorary degree of D.C.L. The
Corporation of London invested him with
the freedom of the city, accompanying the
investiture by the gift of a costly sword.
In the month of July, 1856, he was ap
pointed to the command of the garrison at
Woolwich, and was about the same time
returned to the House of Commons in the
Liberal interest as representative of the
borough of Calne. He was again returned
for the same constituency at the general
election of 1857. About two years later he
was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the
forces in British North America, and upon
his arrival in his native land he was re

ceived with salvos and acclamations from
one end of the Province of Nova Scotia to
the other.
The subsequent important events in his
life may be chronicled very briefly. From
the 12th of October, 1860, to the" 22nd of
January, 1861, he administered the Gov
ernment of Canada during the absence of
the Governor-General, Sir Edmund Head.
He also administered the Government of
Nova Scotia for some time after the de
parture from that Province of Sir Richard
Graves Macdonnell, in 1865. As senior
military officer, he was appointed the flrst
Lieutenant-Governor of that Province, after
the accomplishment of Confederation, and
retained that position until the month of
October, 1867. On the 2nd of August, 1868,
he was raised to the full rank of a General
in the British Army; and in the course of
the following year he was appointed Gov
ernor-General of Gibraltar, as successor to
Lieutenant-General Sir R. Airey. He ad
ministered the Government there until the
month of November, 187-5, when he resigned.
In October, 1877, he retired from the army,
since which time he has not taken any
prominent part in public affairs. A few
weeks ago he was appointed Constable of
the Tower of London, a position which he
still retains. At the present time, though
he has passed his eightieth year by sev
eral months, he retains a large measure of
vigour.

IV— 3

THE MOST REV. ELZEAR A. TASCHEREAU,
R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF QUEBEC

ARCHBISHOP TASCHEREAU is de
scended from Thomas Jacques Tasche
reau, a French gentleman who emigrated
from Touraine to Canada during the early
years of the seventeenth century, and whose
descendants have ever since been conspicu
ous members of society in the Province
of Quebec. Soon after the arrival of the
founder of the Canadian branch of the
family in the Province he was appointed
to the post of Marine Treasurer, and in 1736
he received a grant of a seignory on the
banks of the River Chaudi^re. The present
Archbishop of Quebec is the grandson of
this gentleman, and was born at Ste. Marie
de la Beauce, on the 17th of February, 1820.
When only eight years of age he was sent to
the Quebec Seminary, where he soon became
distinguished for his diligence and clever-
In 1836, when he was in his seven-

ness.

teenth year, he visited Rome in company
with the Abb^ Holmes, of the Seminary, and
in the following year received the tonsure
at the hands of Monseigneur Piatti, Arch
bishop of Trebizonde, in the Basilica of St.
John Lateran. Later in the same year he
returned to Quebec, and commenced his theo
logical studies, which, with other branches
of learning, occupied his attention for about
six years, when, though he was still under
canonical age, he was ordained Priest. His
ordination took place on the 10th of Septem
ber, 1842, at the Church of Ste. Marie de la
Beauce, his native place, in the presence of

Monseigneur Turgeon, then Coadjutor, and
subsequently successor to Archbishop Signal.
Within a short time after his ordination he
was appointed to the Chair of Philosophy
in the Seminary, and this position he held
for a period of twelve years. An episode in
his life during this interval deserves to be
recorded in a permanent form . About thirty
miles below Quebec, in the middle of the
River St. Lawrence, opposite the village of
St. Thomas, is an island, the chief use of
which is for a quarantine station for emi
grants, and the name of which is Grosse
Isle. In the year 1847 a malignant fever
broke out with great virulence among the
emigrants there. It ran a rapid course, and
the victims died in great numbers. The emi
grants at that time were chiefly composed
of Irish Roman Catholics, who had been
driven by poverty and famine to seek an
asylum in Canada. Their vitality had been
much impaired by starvation and suffering,
and they fell easy victims to the terrible
pestilence, which in some cases carried them
off in a few hours. The greater part of the
island was for a short time little better than
a mass of loathsomeness and pestilence. The
heroism which enables a man to face such a
danger as this is quite as praiseworthy as
that more demonstrative courage which en
ables him to walk up to the mouth of a can
non. Father Taschereau felt the call of
duty, and volunteered his services to assist
the Rev. Father McGavran, who was then

iiii.irW|»aaiKT«„..f„rfw,j^-j.E.i,v„„^,^K„b,<

/ ^ l/ZZ-O^ ¦ <^ Cxiit.*>^..,0'

J.HMiisuni,Pulilyt, j^ j;,^,;

THE MOST REV. ELZfiAR ALEXANDRE TASCHEREAU.

11

Chaplain at Grosse Isle, to minister to the
spiritual necessities of the victims of the
pestilence. His proposal was thankfully
accepted, and he landed on the island, where
he remained until he himself was struck
down by the scourge, and brought literally
to death's door. His conduct at this time
endeared him very much to the Irish Catho
lic population of Quebec.
In 1854 he again repaired to Rome,
charged by the second Provincial Council of
Quebec to submit its decrees for the sanction
of His Holiness. He spent two years in the
capital of Christendom, during which period
he occupied himself chiefly in studying the
Canon Law. In July, 1856, the Roman
Seminary conferred upon him the degree of
Doctor of Canon Law. He soon afterwards
returned to Quebec, where he was appointed
Director of the Fetit Seminaire, a position
which he fllled until 1859, when he was
elected Director of the Grayid Seminaire,
and appointed a member of the Lower Can
ada Council of Public Instruction. In 1860
he became Superior of the Seminary and
Rector of Laval University. In 1862 he ac
companied Archbishop Baillargeon to Rome,
and upon his return the same year, was ap
pointed Vicar-General of the Archdiocese

of Quebec. In 1864 he again visited Rome
on business connected with the University.
His term of office as Superior having expired
in 1866, he was again appointed Director of
the Grand Seminaire, which office he held
for three years, when he was reelected Su
perior. He again accompanied Archbishop
Baillargeon to Rome when the (Ecumenical
Council was held, and on his return resumed
his duties as Superior of the Seminary and
Rector of the University. After the death
of the Archbishop, in October, 1870, he ad
ministered the affairs of the Archdiocese
conjointly with Grand Vicar Cazeau. On
the 13th of February, 1871, it was announced
that he had been appointed successor to the
late Archbishop, and on Sunday, the 19th
of March, he was consecrated in the presence
of a vast concourse of people, many of the
clergy of the diocese, and of the Bishops of
Quebec and Ontario, the Archbishop of To
ronto officiating. From, that time down to
the present. Archbishop Taschereau has dis
charged the onerous duties of his dignifled
position with entire acceptance. He is held
in honour by persons of all classes and
creeds, and watches with zealous care over
the many and various interests committed
to his charge.

THE HON. JOHN HAWKINS HAGARTY, D.C.L.

THE Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's
Bench for Ontario was born at Dublin,
Ireland, on the l7th of December, 1816. His
father, Mr. Matthew Hagarty, was a gentle
man of reflned and scholarly tastes, and at
the time of his son's birth held the post of
Examiner of His Majesty's Court of Pre
rogative for Ireland. The future Chief Jus
tice received his early education at a pri
vate school in Dublin taught by the Rev.
Mr. Haddart. Soon after entering upon his
sixteenth year he entered as a student at
Trinity College, where he was known for a
bright intelligent boy, and was very popular
among his fellow-scholars. He was also
known as a diligent, although somewhat
fitful student, with a ready grasp of the
salient points of a lesson. He made rapid
progress during his brief collegiate career,
and devoted himself with much ardour to
classical studies. His fondness for such
studies has accompanied him throughout
the subsequent years of a busy and use
ful life. It is to be regretted that a schol
astic career of such promise should have
been so early broken off. He did not re
main long enough at college to obtain his
degree, as he became infected with the
mania for emigration which was so common
among clever and spirited young Irishmen
at that period. In 1834 he bade adieu to
his native land, and made his way to Can
ada. In the course of the following year
he reached Toronto, which had been incor

porated only a few months before (in March,
1834), and which was growing rapidly.
There he pitched his tent, and there he has
ever since resided. That he should succeed
in such a community — or indeed in almost
any community — was a matter of course.
He had brilliant abilities, a pleasing manner,
high principles, and much strength of will.
He studied law in the office of the late Mr.
George Duggan, and was called to the Bar
of Upper Canada in Michaelmas Term, 1840.
There were many strong men at the local
Bar in the early years of the Union of the
Provinces. Robert Baldwin, William Hume
Blake, Henry Eccles, William Henry Draper,
Robert Baldwin Sullivan and John Hillyard
Cameron were all formidable competitors in
the race for professional distinction. Young
Mr. Hagarty took his place by their side,
and won his full share of fame and honour.
He had an ingratiating -manner with juries,
and never failed to do full justice to any
case in which he was engaged. His lan
guage was apt and incisive, and his conduct
and demeanour were uniformly marked by
a high-minded respect for himself and his
profession. He prospered in his calling, and
no one grudged him his prosperity. The
usual inducements were held out to him to
enter political life, but he preferred to con
fine himself to the profession in which he
had already won a proud position. He in
terested himself in municipal affairs, how
ever, and in 1847 was an Alderman of the

THE HON. JOHN HAWKINS HAGARTY, D.C.L.

13

city. In course of time he formed a part
nership with the late Mr. John Crawford,
who in after years represented East To
ronto in the Canadian Assembly, and finally
became Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.
This partnership, which was carried on un
der the style of Crawford & Hagarty, ex
isted for many years, and in fact was only
dissolved when Mr. Hagarty retired from
practice and accepted a seat on the Judicial
Bench. In 1850, during the tenure of
office of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Ad
ministration, he was appointed a Queen's
Counsel, and he frequently thereafter rep
resented the Crown in important cases, both
civil and criminal.
In the society — and more especially in
the most cultivated literary society — of To
ronto, Mr. Hagarty had ever since his arri
val been regarded as a decided acquisition.
He had fine tastfe, brilliant powers of con
versation, a wide acquaintance with ancient
and modern literature, and a never-failing
fund of ready humour. He was, like every
other true Irishman, fond of poetry, and
did not disdain to occasionally throw off a
few verses on his own account. He con
tributed several poetical effusions to the
" Maple Leaf," a costly illustrated Annual
set on foot, in 1847, by his friend and fel
low-countryman Dr. McCaul. The most
noticeable thing about these contributions
is their exquisite perfection of rhythm, but
they display a certain degree of genuine
poetic inspiration, and are of a much higher
class of workmanship than the conventional
" offerings " in the English Annuals of that
date. He is also known as an author by a
pamphlet entitled " Thoughts on Law Re
form," published in Toronto a few years
ago. During the early years of his career
in Upper Canada he was also a frequent
contributor to the newspaper press, and
many of the smart, crisply-written para
graphs of that day were attributable to his
pen.

Mr. Hagarty was also an active member
of the Canadian Instituts, in the proceed
ings of which he has taken a warm interest
ever since its foundation, and of which he
has once or twice been elected President.
The St. Patrick's Society was another or
ganization with which he allied himself
early in his professional career. He was
President of the latter Society in 1846.
His elevation to the Bench took place on
the 5th of February, 1856, when he was
appointed a Puisn^ Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas. This dignity he retained
until the 18th of March, 1862, when he was
transferred to the Court of Queen's Bench,
where he remained until the 12th of No
vember, 1868, when he was appointed Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, as
successor to the Hon. (now Sir) William
Buell Richards, who had been promoted to
the dignity of Chief Justice of Ontario. Im
mediately after the death of the late Chief
Justice Harrison, Mr. Hagarty became Chief
Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench for
Ontario, which position he still retains. He
is a sound and well-read lawyer, and his ex
positions of the law are clear and lucid. His^
quickness of perception has long been pro
verbial among the profession. He grasps
the points of an argument almast before it
has been uttered, and if there be any fallacy
about it, it is rarely necessary for the op
posing counsel to urge it upon the attention
of the Court. His judicial humour is an
other characteristic which has long been
recognized by the profession. He sees the
ludicrous, as well as the legal side of a
question, and has the faculty of presenting
it in a light which is sometimes irresistibly
provocative of laughter. Many of his hu
morous sayings have passed into currency
among his brother judges and professional
men. Alike as a man and a judge he is
held in the highest respect, and his written
judgments- are equally conspicuous for ele
gance of diction and profound learning.

THE MOST REV. ROBERT MACHRAY, D.D., LL.D.,
BISHOP OF RUPERTS LAND.

THE Bishop of Rupert's Land is a son of
Mr. Robert Machray, advocate, of Aber
deen, Scotland. He was born at Aberdeen
in the year 1832, and in his early boyhood
entered King's College, University of Aber
deen, for the purpose of receiving a cleri
cal education. He graduated in 1851, and
subsequently entered Sidney College, Cam
bridge, where he graduated as B.A. in 1855,
taking high honours in mathematics. He
in due course obtained the desrrees of M.A.
and D.D. Immediately after receiving his
baccalaureate degree he was elected a Foun
dation Fellow of Sidney College, and in the
course of the same year was advanced to
Deacon's Orders by His Grace the Lord
Bishop of Ely. In 1856 he was advanced
to the Priesthood by the same Prelate. In
1858 he was elected Dean of his College.
In 1860 and 1861 he was University Ex
aminer, and in 1865 he became Ramsden
University Preacher.
For several years prior to his elevation to
the Episcopate he officiated as Vicar of Mad-
ingley, a village situated about five miles
west of Cambridge. In 1865 he was ap
pointed by the Crown as Bishop of Rupert's
Land, and was consecrated at Lambeth Pal
ace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as
sisted, by the Bishops of London, Ely, and
Aberdeen, and by the Right Rev. David
Anderson, a former Bishop of Rupert's Land.
His first exercise of his Episcopal functions
consisted of the holding of an ordination for
the Bishop of London, whereat he ordained

to the Priesthood the Rev. William Carpen
ter Bumpus, the present Bishop of Atha
basca, in the North- West Territories.
Bishop Machray's Episcopate has been
marked by great progress in the welfare of
the Church of England in his diocese. The
diocese of Rupert's Land was originally
constituted in 1849, and comprehended the
whole of what now forms the Province of
Manitoba and the North- West Territories.
The subsequent formation of separate bishop
rics curtailed the See of its proportions. The
See of I^upert's Land now consists of the
Province of Manitoba, with part of the Dis
trict of Cumberland, and the Districts of
Swan River, Norway House, and Lac La
Pluie. In 1874, on the subdivision of the
diocese. Bishop Machray was chosen Metro
politan, under the Primacy of the Arch
bishop of Canterbury. He is held in very
high esteem throughout his diocese, and has
done much to promote the cause of educa
tion. He is Chancellor and Warden of St.
John's College, Manitoba, and is also Pro
fessor of Ecclesiastical History in the Theo
logical College. His sermons and charges
to his clergy are marked by practical good
sense, and his manner, whether in the pul
pit or out of it, is eminently calculated to
make for him many friends. Though h6
makes no pretence to brilliancy of diction
or extraordinary gifts of oratory, he is capa
ble of rising, upon an important occasion,
to a high degree of eloquence and spiritual
fervour.

(7Z,' ^^^^^^-..^^^L^L^t^^^^^^^ .

.1 r;Jl:i.'>uni.ralilis!icv,TJiintito-

SEBASTIAN CABOT.

THE honour of being the original discover
er of the American continent is com
monly vouchsafed, by persons who do not
read, to Christopher Columbus. As matter
of fact the honour belongs neither to him
nor to the mendacious Florentine, Amerigo
Vespucci, who was the first to publish an
account of the New World which bears his
name. Leaving the mythical accounts of
western voyages by the Welsh and Irish out
of the question, as well as the semi-mythi
cal discoveries of the Norsemen in the ninth
and tenth centuries, Columbus may justly
lay claim to having led the van in the way
of American discovery, and to have wrested
from the western seas the marvellous secret
which they held hidden in their bosom.
Columbus deserves all the credit which even
the mo.st partial writers have claimed on his
behalf. His merits as a discoverer and a
man of genius have long been matters be
yond dispute, and the brightness of his fame
can never be tarnished. But, saving the
more or less mythical personages above-
mentioned, the first discoverer of the main
land of America — the first man to set foot
upon its shore, and to hold personal com
munication with its inhabitants — was the
intrepid navigator whose name stands at the
head of this sketch.
Sebastian Cabot was of Venetian extrac
tion, but of English birth, having been born
at Bristol — then the first of English seaports
— sometime in the year 1477. His father.

Giovanni Cabotta, was a native of Venice,
and was engaged in various maritime opera
tions of considerable magnitude, which com
pelled him to reside almost entirely in Eng
land for many years. As the time passed
by he became to all practical intents an
Englishman. His sympathies, language, and
habits of thought were all of the land in
which he dwelt, and he even Anglicized his
name, and was known as John Cabot. He
was a man of some learning and enterprise,
and is entitled to a share of the honour ac
corded to his more celebrated son.
The precise day upon which Sebastian
Cabot was born is unknown. There was
formerly a dispute as to his birthplace, but
that point may now be said to be definitely
settled. There does not seem to have been
any good. ground for difference of opinion
about the matter at any time. It arose
from conflicting expressions in various au
thors, some of whom wrote under the belief
that he had been born at Venice. Purchas
says of him (" Pilgrims,'' vol. iii., p. 901), " He
was an Englishman by breeding, borne a
Venetian, but spending most part of his
life in England, and English employments."
Harris, in his " Collection of Voyages," vol.
ii., p. 191, has the following : — " Sebastian
Cabote is, by many of our writers, affirmed
to be an Englishman, born at Bristol, but
the Italians as positively claim him for their
countryman, and say he was born at Venice,
which, to speak impartially I believe to be

16

SEBASTIAN CABOT.

the truth, for he says himself, that when
his father was invited over to England, he
brought him with him, though he was then
very young." Other writers have indulged
in similar remarks, which were probably
made in good faith. The impression that he
was by birth an Italian, however, was clearly
erroneous. The navigator's own statement
to Richard Eden, a careful writer and a con
temporary and personal friend of Sebastian,
was sufficiently explicit. " Sebastian Cabot
tould me," says Eden, " that he was borne in
Brystowe, and that at iiii. yeare ould he was
carried with his father to Venice, and so re
turned agayne into England with his father
after certayne years, whereby he was thought
to have been born in Venice." The work in
which these words occur (" The Decades of
the New World," fol. 255,) was originally
published in the English language in 1612.
Its accuracy, so far as we know, has never
been disputed by any one ; notwithstanding
which we find the Quarterly Review, vol.
xvi., p. 154, commenting upon the credit due
to England, for having " so wisely and hon
ourably enrolled this deserving foreigner in
the list of her citizens." Since the publica
tion of Mr. Richard Riddle's " Memoir," in
1831, there has never, we presume, been any
doubt as to Sebastian Cabot's birthplace.
The only information obtainable with re
spect to his youth is that he was carefully
instructed in mathematics and navigation,
and that he made several more or less ex
tended voyages in his father's company be
fore he was twenty years of age. There is
ground for believing that one of these voy
ages extended to Iceland, and probably as far
as Greenland. The great discoveries of Co
lumbus in the western seas inflamed all the
maritime powers of Europe with a passion
for exploration. The Spanish court did its
utmost to keep the momentous secret, but
in vain. It was a secret which could not be
kept. Among the enterprising mariners who
were roused to a high degree of enthusiasm

by the wonderful news was John Cabot, who
applied to King Henry VII. for a patent of
exploration, with the ostensible view of
finding a short route to the Indies. Henry,
who had narrowly missed securing the ser
vices of Columbus, was willing enough to en
courage such an undertaking. On the 5th
of March, 1496, a patent was granted to
John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebas
tian and Santius, authorizing them to seek
out, subdue, and occupy, at their own charges,
any regions which before had " been un
known to all Christians." Permission was
given to the patentees to set up the royal
banner of England, and to possess any terri
tories discovered by them as the king's
vassals. The expedition consisted of five
vessels, and sailed from Bristol in the month
of May, 1497. There is no evidence that
either John, Lewis or Santius accompanied
it, though the weight of testimony is in
favour of the father's having done so. Se
bastian was learned and mature beyond his
years, and was certainly the chief director
of the expedition. He embarked on board
the Matthew, and sailed in a north-westerly
course until he reached the fifty-eighth de
gree of north latitude,* when the intense
cold and floating masses of ice compelled
him to steer to the south-west. He had a
fair wind, and at five o'clock in the morning
of the 24th of June he came in sight of land.
This land he christened Prima Vista, because
it was his first view of a region hitherto un
known to Europeans. Much learning has
been expended in attempts to establish with
certainty the precise locality of this land,
which has been variously represented as
Labrador, the island of Newfoundland, the
island of Cape Breton, and the peninsula of
Nova Scotia. It is claimed by some writers
that Cabot entered Hudson's Bay during this
expedition, and one goes even so far as to
* There is some evidence that he advanced several de
grees farther northward than is stated above. It is im
possible at this date to fix the latitude with certainty.

SEBASTIAN CABOT.

17

state, without offering a particle of evidence
in support of the assertion, that he (Cabot)
ascended the river subsequently called St.
Lawrence as far as the mouth of the Sag-
uenay. Much must necessarily be matter
of conjecture. The map of the course pur
sued by the expedition, which was made
either by Cabot himself or under his per
sonal supervision, was engraved in 1549 by
one Clement Adams, and formerly hung in
Queen Elizabeth's gallery at Whitehall. It
has long since disappeared, and it is thus
impossible to fix the route with any ap
proach to certainty. The royal patent issued
during the following year, however, seems to
recognize the fact that " a Londe and Isles "
had been discovered during the expedition ;
and it is at least tolerably clear that Sebas
tian Cabot, during the summer of 1497,
sighted and landed on the American conti
nent — probably on the coast of Labrador —
and that he was the first European who had
done so since the days of the Norse expedi
tions of several centuries before.
Cabot returned to England with his ves
sels, and landed at Bristol in August, 1497.
The king, as may well be supposed, was
much gratified at the result of the expedi-
dition. A second patent, being the one
referred to in the foregoing paragraph, was
issued to " John Kabotto, Venecian," on the
3rd of the following February. It author
ized him, " by him, his deputie or deputies,"
to take six English ships of not more than
200 tons, and proceed to the land and islands
previously discovered. John, the patentee,
died before the preparations had been com
pleted, and the two sons, Lewis and Santius,
are supposed about this time to have settled
in Italy. The expedition sailed from Bris
tol, under the command of Sebastian, in the
following May. It seems tolerably certain
that he penetrated into Hudson's Bay du
ring this voyage, whatever may have been
the fact with reference to that of the pre
ceding year. He appears to have been ac-
IV— 4

companied by about three hundred men,
with a view to colonization. The accounts
of this second voyage, however, are exceed
ingly vague, and very little is definitely
known about it. It is said that he sailed
far to the northward, in the hope of finding
a passage to the Indies ; that when the
sailors found themselves in such a desolate
and unknown region, surrounded by ice
bergs and the various perils and discomforts
of Arctic exploration, they refused to pro
ceed farther, and broke out into open mutiny;
that the commander therefore turned back
and explored the American coast nearly as
far south as Florida, after which, his stock
of provisions having run short, he returned
to England, taking with him three native
Americans from northern climes.
His subsequent adventures have no special
interest for Canadian readers, and may be
given very briefly. In 1499 he engaged in
an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico, as to
which nothing specific is known. He sub
sequently entered the naval service of Fer
dinand of Spain, and supervised a revision
of the royal maps and charts. In 1517 he
joined Sir Thomas Perte, Vice- Admiral of
England, in an expedition to Spanish Amer
ica. In 1518 he returned to Spain, where
he is said to have been appointed Pilot-
Major. He made other voyages to South
America, hoping to discover a southern route
to the Indies. He ascended the River La
Plata and built a fort near one of the mouths
of the Parana. He finally settled in Eng
land, and was actively employed in mari
time affairs by the Government, who settled
upon him a pension of two hundred and fifty
marks. Hakluyt asserts that the offiqe of
Grand Pilot of England was created for, and
conferred upon him, the duties of the office
consisting of having " the examination and
appointing of all such mariners as shall
from this time forward take the charge of a
Pilot or Master upon him in any ship within
this our realm." It seems doubtful, how-

18

SEBASTIAN CABOT.

ever, whether such an office ever exist
ed in England. During the latter years
of his life he disclosed to King Edward
the phenomenon of the variations of the
magnetic needle. His later life was dis
tinguished by the organization of a com
pany, and the equipment of an expedition
which proved a great national benefit in
opening a lucrative trade with Russia.
His life, which was one of ceaseless physi
cal and mental activity, was a long, and
upon the whole a glorious one. His per
sonal character is highly commended by
all who have written about him. The
precise date of his death, like that of his
birth, is uncertain. He is presumed to
have died in London, sometime in the year
1557. Even the place of his interment is
unknown. It is worth mentioning that a work pub
lished at Venice, in 1583, entitled " Naviga-
tione nelle parte Settentrionale," has been
attributed by many writers to Sebastian
Cabot. Researches conducted during the
present century, however, have established
the fact that Cabot had nothing to do with
the authorship of the work, which was
probably written by one Stephen Bur-
rough, an adventurous navigator of the

sixteenth century. There is another error
which is worth correcting, viz., that one
or both of the Cabots (John and Sebas
tian) received the dignity of knighthood
from King Henry VII., in testimony of his
appreciation of their discoveries. The error
was originally perpetrated by Purchas, who
mistook the purport of an inscription under
a portrait of Sebastian. The error was
adopted as truth by Dr. Henry, in his " His
tory of Britain," and from him has been
copied by scores of writers who have been
content to adopt blunders without investiga
tion. In more than one history of Canada
we find references to " Sir John Cabot."
There never was any such personage. The
fame of the Cabots rests on a higher and
more solid foundation than any empty titu
lar dignities which it is the province of
kings to confer. A full exposure of the
blunder will be found in Biddle's " Memoir,"
already quoted from.
An original portrait in oil of Sebastian
Cabot, painted by the celebrated Holbein,
is in existence. It was formerly placed in
the royal picture gallery at Whitehall, but is
now in private hands. It has several times
been engraved, and is doubtless familiar to
many readers of these pages.

FRONTENAC

CONCERNING the early life of Louis
kJ de Buade, Count de Frontenac, who has
been called " the Saviour of New France,"
but little is known. He came of an ancient
and noble race, said to have been of Basque
origin, and was born in 1620, seven years
after the marriage of his father, who held a
high post in the household of Louis XIII.,
who became the child's godfather, and gave
him his own name. Even the diligence and
enthusiasm of Mr. Parkman have not enabled
him to discover any further circumstances
relating to the Count's childhood ; and the
known facts relating to his youth may be
comprised within a very few lines. It ap
pears that at the age of fifteen the young
Louis showed an uncontrollable passion for
the life of a soldier, and was sent to serve
under the Prince of Orange, in Holland.
Four years later, when he was nineteen, he
was a volunteer at the siege of Hesdin.
Next year he distinguished himself during
a sortie of the garrison at Arras. At twen
ty-one he took part in the siege of Aire,
and at twenty-two he was at the sieges of
Caillioure and Perpignan. At twenty-three
he became colonel of a regiment, and com
manded in several battles and sieges during
a campaign in Italy. He was repeatedly
wounded, and in 1646 had an arm broken
at the siege of Orbitello. He was then
twenty-six years of age, and before the year
was out he had been made a mar^chal de
camp — the French equivalent for the rank

of a brigadier-general. A year or two later
he was residing in his father's house in
Paris ; and these isolated facts include about
all that is certainly known with respect to
the first twenty-six years of the life of a man
of whom Mr. Parkman saj's, " a more remark
able figure, in its bold and salient individual
ity and sharply marked light and shadow, is
nowhere seen in American history."
The next episode in his career as to which
we have any precise information is his mar
riage, which took place at the church of St.
Pierre aux Boeufsi in Paris, in the month of
October, 1648. His bride w;as the young
and beautiful Mademoiselle Anne de la
Grange-Trianon, whose portrait, painted as
Minerva, hangs in one of the galleries at
Versailles at the present day. She was one
of the " professional " or court beauties of
that day, and was the friend and com
panion of Mademoiselle de Montpensier,
grand-daughter of Henry IV. Her marriage
with Frontenac was contracted without the
consent of her parents. It soon appeared
that the romantic and wayward couple were
unsuited to each other. The young wife
conceived an aversion to her husband, and
after the birth of a son she left his protec
tion, and attached herself to the suite of
Mademoiselle de Montpensier. The attach
ment between the two ladies was not per
manent. They quarrelled, and the beautiful
young Countess was dismissed. The latter
seems to have intrigued to get her husband

20

FRONTENAC.

sent out of the kingdom. The Count was
in high position at court, and was possessed
of fine and polished manners, as became. one
of his ancestry and rank. He is said to have
been one of the many lovers of the famous
Madame de Montespan, the haughty and ex
travagant mistress of the king, Louis XIV.
He had, however, an imperious and at times
ungovernable temper, and had run through
his fortune. In 1669 he was chosen by the
great Marshal Turenne to conduct a cam
paign against the Turks in Candia, where he
displayed dauntless courage and high mili
tary ability to very little purpose. In 1672,
after his return to his native land, he was
appointed Governor and Lieutenant-General
of New France. Various scandalous stories
have been told as to the origin of his ap
pointment. Several chronicles aver that
the king was aware of his intimacy with
Madame de Montespan, and wished to get
him out of the way. St. Simon, on the
other hand, says : — " He (Frontenac) was a
man of excellent parts, living much in so
ciety, and completely ruined. He found it
hard to bear the imperious temper of his
wife, and he was given the government of
Canada to deliver him from her, and afford
him some means of living." He was at this
time fifty-two years old. " Had nature dis
posed him to melancholy," says Mr. Park-
man, " there was much in his position to
awaken it. A man of courts and camps,
born and bred in the focus of a most gorge
ous civilization, he was banished to the ends
of the earth, among savage hordes and half-
reclaimed forests, to exchange the splendours
of St. Germain and the dawning glories of
Versailles for a stern gray rock, haunted
by sombre priests, rugged merchants and
traders, blanketed Indiaas, and wild bush
rangers. But Frontenac was a man of ac
tion. He wasted no time in vain regrets
and set himself to his work with the elastic
vigour of youth. His first impressions had
been very favourable. When, as he sailed

up the St. Lawrence, the basin of Quebec
opened before him, his imagination kindled
with the grandeur of the scene. ' I never,'
he wrote, ' saw anything more superb than
the position of this town. It could not be
better situated as the future capital of a
great empire.' "
He forthwith set himself vigorously to
work to reduce his dominions to a state of
order. He convoked a council at Quebec,
and administered an oath of allegiance to
the chief personages of the colony. His
principles of government were aristocratic
and monarchical, and he founded the three
estates of his realm — clergy, nobles and
commons — with great pomp and solemnity.
The clergy were ready-made to his hand
in the persons of the Jesuits and seminary
priests. To the three or four gentilshommes
whom he found at Quebec, he added a num
ber of officers, and these formed his nobility.
The merchants and citizens constituted the
third estate. The magistracy and members
of council were formed into a distinct body.
He made an oracular speech in which he in
formed his subjects that fealty to him was
not only a duty, but an inestimable privi
lege. He also established a sort of munici
pal government at Quebec. He took kindly
to the Indians, over whom he gained an ex
traordinary influenep. But— and here was
his gravest mistake of policy — he quarrelled
with the clergy.
At the time of his arrival in the colony
the priesthood still possessed an undue in
fluence, which they were by no means con
tent to restrict to spiritual affairs. Several
of Frontenac's predecessors had had enough
to do to maintain the civil authority against
them. But Frontenac brooked no rival.
He set himself in determined opposition to
the clerical influence from the first. To the
Jesuits and Sulpicians he was especially
hostile, and to this day many of them regard
him as an impious impostor. An impostor,
however, he was not, for he was by no means

FRONTENAC.

21

extravagant in his professions of orthodoxy.
Religion, with him, was a mere sentiment,
though, by mere force of custom, he con
tinued to respect and practise the formal
observances of the church throughout his
life. The only priests that found any favour
in his eyes were the RecoUets, whom he be
friended at first out of a mere spirit of op
position to the Bishop and the Jesuits, and
afterwards, it may be believed, from a feel
ing of genuine kindness. These Recollets
had originally been sent out to Canada to
counteract the machinations of the rival
order, and of course found no favour in
the eyes of the Bishop and his adherents.
The breach between them was widened by
the patronage of Frontenac. The priestly
method of exercising power by secret means
was very distasteful to the frank and courtly
soldier, who could not for the life of him
understand why any man should dissemble
his real opinions. He found that the priests
abused the confessional, intermeddled with
private family affairs with which they had
no right to concern themselves, set wives
against their husbands and children against
their parents — " and all," says Frontenac, in
a letter to Colbert, the king's famous minis
ter — " and all, as they say, for the greater
glory of God." He sent home constant
complaints against the priesthood, and they,
in turn, were equally assiduous in traducing
him at headquarters. These two powerful
influences were thus pitted against each
other in the colony, and an energy that
ought to have been exerted in promoting
the common weal was largely expended in
mutual opposition.
Frontenac was favourable to western ex
ploration. He found at Quebec a young
man who was very willing to promote any
such schemes. This young man was no
other than La Salle, whose life has been
sketched in an earlier volume. " There was
between them," says Mr. Parkman, " the
sympathetic attraction of two bold and en

ergetic spirits; and though Cavelier de la
Salle had neither the irritable vanity of the
Count, nor his Gallic vivacity of passion, he
had in full measure the same unconquerable
pride and hardy resolution. There were
but two or three men in Canada who knew
the western wilderness so well. He was
full of schemes of ambition and of gain ;
and, from this moment, he and Frontenac
seem to have formed an alliance, which
ended only with the governor's recall." Fron
tenac's predecessor, Courcelle, had urged
upon the king the expediency of building a
fort on Lake Ontario, in order to hold the
Iroquois in check, and intercept the trade
which the tribes of the Upper Lakes had
begun to carry on with the Dutch and Eng
lish of New York. Thus, a stream of wealth
would be turned into Canada, which would
otherwise enrich her enemies. Here, to all
appearance, was a great public good, and
from the military point of view it was so in
fact ; but it was clear that the trade thus
secured might be made to profit, not the
colony at large, but those alone who had
control of the fort, which would then be
come the instrument of a monopoly. This
the governor understood; and without doubt
he meant that the projected establishment
should pay him tribute. How far he and
La Salle were acting in concurrence at
this time it is not easy to say ; but Fron
tenac often took counsel of the explorer,
who, on his part, saw in the design a pos
sible first step towards the accomplishment
of his own far-reaching schemes. La Salle
was thoroughly familiar with the country
along the shores of Lake Ontario, and con
vinced Frontenac that the most appropri
ate site for his projected fort was at the
mouth of the River Cataraqui ; and there, on
the site where now stands the>bity of King
ston, the fort was built accordingly, during
the month of July, 1673. Frontenac's pa
tronage of La Salle continued throughout
the former's tenure of the Governorship. He

22

FRONTENAC.

also patronized other enthusiastic western
travellers, and sent Marquette and Joliet to
explore the regions of the Mississippi. Mean
time his quarrels with the clergy were in
cessant, and the perpetual recriminations
which were sent over to France were no
slight cause of annoyance at court. The
French king finally determined to send
over an intendant to manage the details of
the administration, and to report upon the
merits of the perpetual disputes between the
Governor and the clergy. The intendant
arrived in the colony in due course, in the
person of M. Duchesneau. This gentleman
sided with the clerical party, and became
the strenuous partisa,n of Bishop Laval.
This brought down upon his head the fierce
wrath of Frontenac. Into the bitter quar
rels, charges and counter-charges, that en
sued it is not necessary to enter. The strife
of the rival factions grew fiercer and fiercer.
Canes, sticks, and even drawn swords were
imported into the quarrel. In February,
1682, both Frontenac and Duchesneau were
recalled. La Barre succeeded as Governor,
and Frontenac repaired to Paris, where he
spent seven years, by which time La Barre,
and his successor, Denonville, had contrived
to bring the colony to the brink of ruin. In
this contingency the king once more had re
course to Frontenac, who was at this time
(1689) in his seventieth year. " I send you
back to Canada," he is reported to have
said, " where I am sure that you will serve
me as well as you did before; and I ask
nothing more of you." The Count accepted
the responsibility, and bade a last farewell
to France and his sovereign.
One of the principal drawbacks to the
success of the colony of New France was
the proximity of the Iroquois in the Province
of New York, who made frequent incursions
into Canada, and generally spread devasta
tion in their track. It was understood at
Quebec that these incursions were not only
winked at by the authorities at Albany and

New York, but were even in some instances
incited by them. There were also perpetual
troubles between the French and English
colonies respecting the fur-trade. No sooner
had Frontenac been reappointed as' Gover
nor than he conceived the design of invading
and ravaging the British colonies in America,
and thus removing the chief drawback to
the prosperity of New France by laying
waste the territory of her foes. He had no
sooner set foot in Canada than his spirit
began to infect the entire French population
there, and for the first time for seven years
some traces of energy were visible in the
streets of Quebec and Montreal. The ter
rible massacre which had taken place at
Lachine only a few months before was
almost forgotten in the ardour of the ap
proaching expedition against the British
colonies. Three separate war parties were
organized, and set out on their mission. The
history of their subsequent proceedings is a
terrible record of cruelty and bloodshed into
which it is unnecessary to enter here. Vari
ous points in New England and New York
were attacked almost simultaneously, and
with success for the French arms. The
British colonies became thoroughly aroused,
and organized a counter expedition against
Canada. A detachment under Colonel Win-
throp of Connecticut advanced from Albany
upon Montreal, and a naval armament under
Sir William Phips menaced Quebec.
The expedition against Montreal under
Winthrop was a failure, owing, in part, to
the combined effects of famine and small
pox. Sir William Phips, on the 5th of Oc
tober, (Old Style) 1690, anchored his fleet of
thirty-five vessels a little below Quebec, and
sent an envoy ashore with a summons to
Frontenac to surrender. Sir William had
delayed on his way up the St. Lawrence,
and the French had had time to put the gar
rison in an efficient state of defence. When
the envoy presented his summons to Fron
tenac in the Castle of St. Lewis, he was

FRONTENAC.

23

grossly insulted by some of the officers, but
was treated by the Governor himself with as
much courtesy as the occasion called for.
The summons to surrender was conceived in
a most peremptory style, and could not fail
to give serious offence to such a haughty
aristocrat as Frontenac was. It demanded,
in the name of WilHam and Mary, King and
Queen of England, Scotland, France and
Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, a surrender
of forts, castles and stores, as well as of the
persons and estates of the Governor and his
chief officials. It referred to the cruelties
and barbarities which had been practised by
the French and Indians against the colonists ;
and concluded by demanding a positive an
swer within an hour. When it had been
translated aloud. Sir William's envoy took
his watch from his pocket and handed it to
the Governor. The latter calmly waved it
aside, and delivered his memorable reply,
which, stripped of the florid ornamentation
with which it has been garnished by succes
sive generations of translators, was as fol
lows : " I will not keep you waiting so long.
Tell your general that I do not recognize
King William; and that the Prince of
Orange, who so styles himself, is a usurper,
who has violated the most sacred laws of
blood in attempting to dethrone his father-
in-law. I know no king of England but
King James. Your general ought not to be
surprised at the hostilities which he says
that the French have carried on in the col
ony of Massachusetts ; for, as the king my
master has taken the king of England under
his protection, and is about to replace him
on his throne by force of arms, he might
have expected that his Majesty would order
me to make war on a people who have re
belled against their lawful prince." Then,
turning with a smile to the officers about
him : " Even if your general offered me con
ditions a little more gracious, and if I had
a mind to accept them, does he suppose that
these brave gentlemen would give their con

sent, and advise me to trust a man who
broke his agreement with the governor of
Port Royal, or a rebel who has failed in his
duty to his king, and forgotten all the
favours he had received from him, to follow
a prince wh6 pretends to be the liberator of
England and the defender of the faith, and
yet destroys the laws and privileges of the
kingdom and overthrows its religion ? The
divine justice which your general invokes
in his letter will not fail to punish such acts
severely." The startled messenger asked
for an answer in writing. " No," returned
Frontenac, " I will answer your general
only by the mouths of my cannon, that he
may learn that a man like me is not to be
summoned after this fashion. Let him do
his best, and I will do mine." He was as
good as his word. He opened a fire on the
fleet. The upshot of the expedition was
that Sir William was completely discom
fited, and sailed off' down the St. Lawrence
to the- sea, leaving his artillery, which had
been disembarked near the mouth of the
St. Charles, behind him. He lost nine of
his vessels by rough weather on his way
back to Boston. Frontenac's victory was
commemorated by the erection of the little
church, still standing in the Lower Town
of Quebec, dedicated to Notre Dame de la
Victoire. The repulse of Phips and his fleet may be
pronounced the culminating point in the
career of the Count de Frontenac, although
eight years more of vigorous life remained
to him. Such vigour and energy in a man
of his age has few parallels in history. In
the summer of 1696, when he was in his
seventy-sixth year, he led an army in per
son from Montreal into the heart of the
Province of New York, and laid waste the
country of the Onondagas and Oneidas. For
this achievement his royal master sent him
the cross of the Military Order of St. Louis.
He had a due share of quarrels for the rest
of his life with the clergy and with certain

24

FRONTENAC.

of his officials, but he succeeded in restoring
the fallen fortunes of France in North
America. He paid the penalty of being a
blood-horse, and ran till he dropped. In
November, 1698, he was seized with a mor
tal illness, and sank very rapidly. He died
with perfect calmness and composure, as
became him, on the 28th of the month. He
was buried in the Church of the R^collet
Fathers. On the destruction of that church
his bones were removed to the cathedral of
Quebec, where they now repose. His heart,
by his direction, was enclosed in a case of
silver to his Countess. Tradition says that
the lady refused to receive it, saying that
she would not have a dead heart which had
never been hers while living.
Of Frontenac's services to French Canada
there can be no doubt. '' His own acts and
words," says Parkman, " best paint his char
acter, and it is needless to enlarge upon it.
What perhaps may be least forgiven him is
the barbarity of the warfare that he waged,
and the cruelties that he permitted. He
had seen too many towns sacked to be much
subject to the scruples of modern humani-
tarianism ; yet he was no whit more ruth
less than his times and his surroundings.

and some of his contemporaries find fault
with him for not allowing more Indian
captives to be tortured. Many surpassed
him in cruelty, none equalled him in capa
city and vigour. When civilized enemies
were once within his power, he treated
them, according to their degree, with a chi
valrous courtesy, or a generous kindness.
If he was a hot and pertinacious foe, he
was also a fast friend ; and he excited love
and hatred in about equal measure. His
attitude towards public enemies was always
proud and peremptory, yet his courage was
guided by so clear a sagacity that he never
was forced to recede from the position he
had taken. Towards Indians, he was an
admirable compound of sternness and con
ciliation. Of the immensity of his services
to the colony there can be no doubt. He
found it, under Denonville, in humiliation
and terror ; and he left it in honour, and
almost in triumph."
The Countess survived her husband about
nine years, and succeeded to the bulk of his
property after his death. Her only child,
the son whose birth was recorded in the
early part of this sketch, was slain in battle,
or, as some say, in a duel, at an early age.

IMl)]!'l!^l,S«airlTOl.i>,„rk4jylirj.T.jJ,y.0tmi.

THE HON. ISAAC BURPEE.

MR. BURPEE, one of the most distin
guished members of the Liberal Party
in the Province of New Brunswick, is de
scended from one of those old Huguenot
families which were driven by persecution
to emigrate from France during the latter
part of the sixteenth century. The Burpee
family sought refuge in England, and re
mained there for a generation or two, when,
being debarred from the enjoyment of full
religious freedom there, they once more
tried the experiment of emigration. In
1622 or thereabouts they followed in the
wake of those Pilgrim Fathers who, two
years before, had crossed the billowy At
lantic, and founded a little colony upon the
rugged coast of Massachusetts Bay. They
settled in what is now the State of Massa
chusetts, and there they and their descen
dants remained for about 140 years. In
1763, immediately after the making of the
Treaty of Paris, Jonathan Burpee, the head
of the family, removed from Rowley, Massa
chusetts, to Maugerville, on the north shore
of the St. John River, in what is now the
Province of New Brunswick. His descen
dants have ever since resided in that Prov
ince, and many of them have held impor
tant public offices there.
The immediate ancestor of the subject of
this sketch was Isaac Burpee, of Sheffield,
N.B., who married Phoebe, daughter of
Moses Coban. The present Isaac Burpee
was the eldest son of this couple, and was
IV— 5

born at Sheffield on the 28th of November,
1826. He received his education at the
County Grammar School, and at an early
age devoted himself to mercantile pursuits.
In 1848, when he was in his twenty- third
year, he removed from Sheffield to St. John,
the commercial capital of the Province, and
soon afterwards, in partnership with his
younger brother Frederick, he entered into
business as a hardware merchant, under the
style of I. & F. Burpee. Both these young
men displayed great aptitude for commer
cial life, and soon succeeded in building up
a large and prosperous business connection.
The senior partner acquired a very promi
nent position, not only as a merchant, but
as a man of large views and public spirit.
He took an interest in all questions affect
ing the welfare of the people, and was an
active promoter of the establishment of
manufactures to provide employment for
the surplus population. He also took an
active part in the movement which secured
for Portland — a town contiguous to St.
John, and in which his own residence is
situated — an Act of incorporation, whereby
the old system of irresponsible magistrates
appointed for life was done away with, and
whereby the management of municipal af
fairs was placed under the public control.
He was elected Chairman of the first Town
Council — an office identical with that of
Mayor — and continued to hold that posi
tion for several successive years.

26

THE HON. ISAAC BURPEE.

On the 8th of March, 1855, he married
Miss Henrietta Robertson, the youngest
daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Robert
son, a prominent hardware merchant of
Sheffield, England. The business carried
on by the firm of I. & F. Burpee continued
to prosper, and after some years another
brother, Mr. John P. C. Burpee, was ad
mitted as a member. It was almost a mat
ter of course that so influential and public-
spirited a citizen as the senior partner should
take a lively interest in political matters.
He had been reared in Liberal principles,
and had always adhered to the Reform side.
He first appeared in the rdle of a candidate
for Parliament at the general election of
1872, when he was returned to the House
of Commons for the city and county of St.
John, his colleague being Mr. A. L. Palmer,
a leading member of the local Bar. Both
the successful candidates, though of Liberal
tendencies, expressed their intention of giv
ing the Government of Sir John A. Mac
donald an independent support, and this
Mr. Burpee continued to do until the fall
of that Government in the autumn of 1873,
consequent on the Pacific Scandal disclo
sures. Since then Mr. Burpee has been a
vigorous opponent of the Conservative
Party, and has been able to indulge his
Liberal prepossessions. Upon the forma
tion of Mr. Mackenzie's Administration he
accepted the portfolio of Minister of Cus
toms, and upon presenting himself to his
constituents for reelection he was returned
by acclamation. Upon accepting office he
retired from his connection with the com
mercial firm, the success of which he had
been mainly instrumental in establishing,
deeming such a connection incompatible
with his position as a member of the
Cabinet.

His administration of the affairs of his
department was very efficient, and was
marked by the complete absence of jobbery
or scandal. As a member of the Privy
Council his practical good sense made him
extremely useful, and his diplomatic con
test with Mr. Bristow, who was then Secre
tary of the United States Treasury, respect
ing the navigation of the New York canals,
proved him to be possessed of a far higher
degree of statesmanship than he had pre
viously been credited with. As a Parlia
mentary speaker he at first had to contend
with the difficulties attendant upon inex
perience and a want of readiness in ex
pressing himself. These difficulties, how
ever, were erelong surmounted, and he be
came a ready and effective speaker. He
mastered every detail of his own depart
ment, and administered it with vigour and
resolution. At the general election held on
the 17th of September, 1878, he and his
colleague in the representation of St. John,
Mr. Palmer, again presented themselves to
their constituents for election. Mr. Burpee
was successful in securing his return by a
large majority, but Mr. Palmer was defeat
ed. Mr. Burpee resigned office, with his
colleagues, on the 16th of October.
Mr. Burpee occupies a high social position
in his native Province, and is connected
with various public institutions. He is a
Director of the Confederation Life Associa
tion ; of the Victoria Coal Mining Com- ,
pany; and of the New Brunswick Deaf
and Dumb Institution. He has filled the
office of Treasurer of the St. John Indus
trial School, is a member of the Executive
Council of the Congregational Union of
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and is
Vice-President of the New Brunswick
branch of the Evangelical Alliance.

THE HON. THOMAS HEATH HAVILAND, Q.C,
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR HAVI
LAND is a son of the late Hon. Thomas
Heath Haviland, formerly of Gloucester
shire, England, who for many years prior
to the introduction of Responsible Govern
ment in Prince Edward Island, in 1851,
was a member of the Executive and Legis
lative Councils, and Colonial Secretary of
the Province.
He was born at Charlottetown, the capi
tal of Prince Edward Island, on the I3th of
November, 1822, and received his early edu
cation there. He subsequently proceeded
to Belgium, in Europe, and completed his
education at Brussels, the pleasant capital
of that little kingdom. After his return to
his native Province he studied law, and was
called to the local Bar in 1846. He about
the same time began to take part in public
affairs, and towards the close of the year was
returned to the Provincial Assembly for
Georgetown. He thenceforward represent
ed that constituency in the Assembly for
a continuous period of twenty -four years ;
that is to say, until 1870, when he was
elected a member of the Legislative Council
of Prince Edward Island. From the month
of April, 1859, to November, 1862, he was a
member of the Executive Council of Prince
Edward Island, as Colonial Secretary. This
position he occupied on two subsequent oc
casions ; viz., during part of 1866 and 1867,
and from September, 1870, until April, 1872.
During part of the year 1865 he was Solici

tor-General of the Province, and was created
a Queen's Counsel just prior to his appoint
ment to that office. From 1863 to 1864 he
was Speaker of the Assembly, and from
1867 to the general election of 1870 he was
leader of the Opposition in that Chamber.
In April, 1873, he again entered the Local
Cabinet, and held the office of Provincial
Secretary from that time until 1876, when
he resigned.
Mr. Haviland had a share in bringing
about the great work of Confederation. He
was a delegate to the Union Conference
held at Quebec in 1864. In May, 1873,
he accompanied Messrs. Pope and Howlan
to Ottawa to arrange the final terms upon
which Prince Edward Island should be ad
mitted into the Confederation. Upon the
consummation of that event later on in the
same year he was called to the Senate of
the Dominion. He sat in that Body, and
took part in its deliberations, until his ap
pointment as Lieutenant-Governor of his
native Province, which took place on the
14th of July, 1879.
He has occupied various positions of dig
nity and importance, including that of Mas
ter in Chancery and Director of the Bank of
Prince Edward Island. He is also a Colonel
in the Volunteer Militia.
In 1847 he married Miss Annie Eliza
beth Grubbe, daughter of Mr. John Grubbe,
of Horsenden House, Buckinghamshire,
England.

THE HON. JOHN SANDFIELD MACDONALD.

THE late Mr. Macdonald occupied a place
in Canadian politics which it is not easy
to define. He acted alternately with Con
servatives and Reformers, and sometimes
even went the length of refusing to act with
either. His constituents were not exacting,
and he himself was not fond of being dic
tated to. He was probably in jest when he
referred to himself on the floor of the Assem
bly as " the Ishmael of Parliament," but
there were times and seasons when he might
have done so in grave earnest — when his
political isolation was complete, «and when
his hand was literally against every man in
public life. He seems to have been about
as indifferent to public opinion as a promi
nent member of Parliament very well can be.
He made many enemies, and took little pains
to conciliate them. Circumstances, how
ever, combined to give him a factitious im
portance. They also combined to impart to
his life an appearance of inconsistency. He
was an Upper Canadian, and he was likewise
a Roman Catholic ; yet he opposed both re
presentation by population and separate
schools. He lived in and represented a
constituency so near the boundary-line be
tween the two Provinces that he could
not always act with the extremists from
either side of it. He, however, always had
the courage of his opinions, and could con
trive to render something like a reason
for the political faith that was in him. He
occupied a prominent place among the pub

lic men of Canada for more than thirty
years. It cannot be said that he was a
great statesman. He initiated no great
measures of legislation, and did not seem
to have any very lofty conception of a
legislator's responsibilities. He was, how
ever, an excellent man of business and an
admirable tactician. Some desirable re
forms in the practice of the courts were
carried out under his auspices, and some
features which characterized his Adminis
tration are well worthy of emulation by his
successors. It should be remembered, too,
in extenuation of some of his foibles, that
during the greater part of his public career
he was compelled to struggle against seri
ous physical debility. Few men so handi
capped would have accomplished so much.
He retained his popularity among the Scot
tish Highlanders of Glengarry down to the
time of his death, which left a vacancy in
the district with which he was so long
identified that has never since b6en com
pletely filled. Few or none of the enmities
which he provoked have survived to the
present day, and many persons who once
opposed him to the uttermost bear him in
not unkindly remembrance.
He was descended from an old Highland
Roman Catholic family which settled at St.
Raphael, a little village in what is now the '
county of Glengarry, Ontario, about the
time of the close of the American Revolu
tionary War. They were not U. E. Loyal-

(y'<~^L

¦l.H.Ma :*ui3i,Milisiiei', llirii ll^¦> .

THE HON. JOHN SANDFIELD MACDONALD.

29

ists, but came to Canada direct from their
native Highlands in or about the year 1786.
John Sandfield was born at St. Raphael, on
the 12th of December, 1812. His father's
name was Alexander Macdonald. The lat
ter seems to have been a characteristic Gael,
fond of having his own way, and little dis
posed to permit his offspring to follow his
example in that particular. He is said to
have ruled the subject of this sketch with
so exceedingly firm a hand that the latter
several times ran away from home. The
first of these excursions took place before
he had completed his eleventh year. He
was pursued by his irate parent and con
veyed back to his home ; but he soon made
a second attempt, and with a similar result.
His second capture was effected at Cornwall,
just when he was in the very act of nego
tiating with an Indian to convey him across
the river in a canoe. His entire capital at
this time was a quarter of a dollar, and the
noble savage was disposed to hold out for
double that sum. The negotiation was ab
ruptly put an end to by the arrival of the
father in pursuit of his prodigal son, and
the latter was once more taken back to St.
Raphael, to plan a further attempt at escape.
Under these circumstances it is not surpris
ing that he grew up to young manhood
with a somewhat imperfect education, and
with a tolerably stubborn will of his own.
Tradition reports that he was for some time
a clerk in a store at Cornwall and that he
threw up his situation in disgust on account
of his being stigmatised as a " counter-hop
per" by some unwashed urchins on the
street. From that moment, it is said, his
situation became odious to him, and he be
gan to look about him for some calling in
life which would render him less subject to
opprobrious epithets from the gamins of
the gutter. He discussed future possibilities
with one of the local lawyers, and the re
sult of the discussion was that he resolved
upon qualifying himself for the practice of

the law. His scholastic attainments were
confined to reading and writing, and even
in these branches he was probably not very
proficient. He was informed that by dili
gent study he might hope to qualify him
self to pass the preliminary examination
before the Law Society of Upper Canada
in three years. He set to work with a will.
He entered the school at Cornwall taught
by the late Dr. Urquhart, and worked at
his books early and late. This was in
November, 1832. In a little more than
two years from that date he had mastered
the curriculum and triumphantly passed
his examination before the Law Society.
His frame was slightly built, his constitu
tion was far from robust, and he doubtless
had to pay in body for the strain upon his
mind. He became delicate, and it was even
prophesied that he was far advanced in con
sumption. The diagnosis would seem to
have been at fault, as he lived and worked
hard for nearly forty years after this time.
The fact is that he was tough and wiry,
and there is good reason for believing that
he prolonged his life to some extent by the
sheer force of his will.
Having passed the Law Society in Hilary
Term, 1835, he was articled to Mr. Maclean
— afterwards the Hon. Archibald Maclean,
Chief Justice of Upper Canada — ^at Corn
wall, where he remained somewhat more
than two years. He then transferred his
services to the office of Mr. — afterwards the
Hon. Chief Justice — -Draper, in Toronto,
where he completed his studies in 1840.
He was admitted to practice as an attorney
and solicitor, and, being then twenty-eight
years of age, settled down at Cornwall,
where his connections and his natural abili
ties secured for him a remarkably profitable
business. In due course he was called to
the Bar, and was thus enabled to hold his
own briefs. He took as good care of his
physical health as was consistent with hard
work, and laughed at the gloomy predic-

30

THE HON. JOHN SANDFIELD MACDONALD.

tions of the physicians. He was successful
at the Bar, and increased both his know
ledge of law and his pecuniary resources.
Immediately after his call to the Bar, in
1840, he married Miss Waggoman, a daugh
ter of the Hon. George Waggoman, a United
States Senator who resided in Louisiana,
where he owned a large plantation and
several hundred slaves.*
He soon found his way into Parliament.
At the first general election held after the
Union of the Provinces in 1841 he was
elected to represent his native county of
Glengarry in the Assembly. He continued
to represent that constituency for sixteen
years, being several times elected without
opposition. He was originally elected in
the Conservative interest, but had scarcely
taken his seat in the House before he began
to assail the Family Compact. Upon the
formation of the first Baldwin-Lafontaine
Administration, in 1842, he arrayed himself
on the side of Liberal principles, and all
through the long struggle with Sir Charles
Metcalfe took a pronounced stand against
the Governor-General, and in favour of the
ex-Ministers. From this time forward he
was commonly associated in the popular
mind with the Reform Party, though he
frequently served it with a divided alle
giance. Whatever party he served seemed
to make no difference to his constituents,
who stood by him loyally, and did not at
tempt to interfere with his line of action.
This is in part accounted for by the fact
that nine-tenths of his constituents were
Highland Scotchmen, either by birth or
descent. From the census taken in 1851
it appears that there were at that time no
fewer than 3,242 persons named Macdonald
settled in the county of Glengarry, to all of
whom the language of Roderick Dhu was
as their mother tongue. Mr. Macdonald was
successively returned at the elections of
* Senator Waggoman was shot in a duel about three
years after his daughter's marriage to Mr. Macdonald.

1844, 1848, 1852 and 1854, either by ac
clamation or by sweeping majorities, and
his constituency came to be regarded as a
pocket-borough. Upon the formation of
the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Adminis
tration, in 1848, Mr. Macdonald accorded it
an energetic support; and on Mr. Blake's
retirement in December, 1849, he succeeded
to the office of Solicitor- General for Upper
Canada. He continued to hold that office
until the reconstruction of the Ministry
towards the close of 1851, when Mr. Hincks
became Premier. Mr. Baldwin's retirement
from the Cabinet had left the portfolio of
Attorney-General West without a holder,
and it was expected that Mr. Sandfield
Macdonald would be asked to succeed him
as a matter of course. This expectation,
however, was not fulfilled. He was passed
over, and Mr. W. B. Richards succeeded to
the Attorney-Generalship. Mr. Macdonald
was by no means insensible to the slight
put upon him, but carried his coals with
the best grace he could, and quietly bided
his time. When Parliament met at Quebec,
in August, 1852, he was elected to the
office of Speaker of the Assembly, on mo
tion of Mr. Hincks. He held that position
until the dissolution in 1854. On the as
sembling of Parliament in that year he re
corded an adverse vote on the address in
answer to the speech from the throne. He
had practical control over at least two other
votes, both of which were recorded against
the Government, and Mr. Hincks was com
pelled to resign.
Soon after this time Mr. Macdonald's
health, which had long required careful
nursing, completely broke down. One of
his lungs was completely destroyed, and re
mained closed during the remainder of his
life. His physicians insisted upon his ces
sation from the turmoil of politics, as the
only means whereby he could hope to pro
long his life, even for a few months He
accordingly started for Europe on a holi-

THE HON. JOHN SANDFIELD MACDONA.LD.

31

day tour, and on his departure many of his
friends bade him what they supposed to
be a last farewell, as it was not believed
that he .would live to return. He falsified
all the predictions of the faculty, however,
and returned in a few months greatly im
proved both in health and spirits. He lived
for seventeen years longer, and during the
greater part of that time got through enough
harassing labour to have killed a man of
apparently much more robust physique.
He threw himself into hard work, and not
only attended closely to his professional
duties, but took his full share in the politi
cal discussions of the day. He had already
fought for the secularization of the Clergy
Reserves, and had advocated non-sectarian
education. His opposition to the separate
schools aroused the anger of the clergy of
his Church, many of whom denounced him
from the altar, and enjoined the Highland
ers of Glengarry to discard him as their
representative. They might as well have
enjoined the Old Guard to fight against
Napoleon Bonaparte. They returned him
by increased majorities, and on one occasion
chased his opponent out of the Riding. It
was plain that "the Macdonald of Glen
garry " was not to be interfered with. On
matters unconnected with religion he gener
ally spoke and voted on the side of progress ;
but he regarded every question, as it arose,
upon what seemed to him to be its particu
lar merits or demerits. He refused to be
bound by any trammels of party, and was
consequently charged by both parties with
caprice. He opposed the method adopted
with respect to the construction of the
Grand Trunk Railway. He spoke vigor
ously on the "double majority" question,
contending that in matters of local con
cern the majority in each section should
control the affairs of that section. He for
some time opposed the late Mr. Brown on
nearly every public question, and was fre
quently denounced by that gentleman and

his western followers with characteristic
vehemence. During all this time he was carefully
husbanding his health. In the early spring
of 1857 his one remaining lung began to
manifest signs of giving out. He deter
mined to render his public life less arduous
by putting his brother into Parliament for
Glengarry, and choosing a smaller constitu
ency for himself. He accordingly intro
duced his younger brother, Donald Alexan
der Macdonald, the recent Lieutenant-Gov
ernor of Ontario, to his constituents, who
forthwith accepted him as their represen
tative. John Sandfield offered himself to
the electors of Cornwall, who returned him
at the head of the poll, and he thencefor
ward continued to represent them until his
death. Not long after his first election for Corn
wall he and Mr. Brown began to work
more cordially together. Upon the forma
tion of the short-lived Brown-Dorion Min
istry in August, 1858, he accepted office as
Attorney-General West. Brief as was the
existence of this Administration (even ac
cording to the most liberal computation it
lived only four days), the time was long
enough to develop grave misunderstandings
between Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Brown.
After the dissolution the differences be
tween them became wider and wider. The
western Reformers repudiated Mr. Mac
donald, who returned the compliment by
repudiating them. For some years after
this time he called himself " an Indepen
dent Member,'' which, as matter of fact, he
always had been. All through the tenure
of office of the Cartier-Macdonald Adminis
tration he showed his independence by at
tacking alternately the Government and the
Opposition. Upon the defeat of the Cartier-Macdonald
Ministry on the Militia Bill, in March, 1862,
the Governor-General, somewhat to the pub
lic surprise, applied to the subject of this

sketch to form an Administration. It is
easier to understand the position of affairs
at this time than to explain them in few
words. People looked forward to the dead
lock in public affairs which eventually en
sued. The two parties were so evenly di
vided that it was impossible that any purely
party measure could count upon a large ma
jority. It was therefore thought not im
probable that a man who could not strictly
be claimed as belonging to either party
might be able to form a stronger Govern
ment than an adherent of either one side
or the other. Mr. Macdonald responded
favourably to the Governor-General's ap
peal, and, with the assistance of Mr. Sicotte
from the Lower Province, he was soon able
to announce that he had formed a Ministry.
The announcement was made by Mr. Lewis
Wallbridge, the Speaker of the House, on
the 26th of April. The composition of the
Government was as follows : John Sand-
field Macdonald, Attorney- General West;
Louis Victor Sicotte, Attorney-General East;
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, President of the
Council; William Pearce Howland, Minis
ter of Finance; William McDougall, Com
missioner of Crown Lands; Antoine Aime
Dorion, Provincial Secretary ; Ulric Joseph
Tessier, Commissioner of Public Works;
Adam Wilson, Solicitor-General West; J.
J. C. Abbott, Solicitor-General East ; Fran-
9ois Evanturel, Minister of Agriculture;
Michael Hamilton Foley, Postmaster-Gen
eral ; and James Morris, Receiver-General.
The programme announced by the new
Ministry included the observance of the
"double majority" principle in all local
matters; a revision of the tariff with a
view to increasing the revenue ; retrench
ment in the public expenditure ; a new in
solvency law ; a new militia bill ; and vari
ous reforms in the conduct of the depart
ments. The principle of representation by
population, however, was not adopted, and
western members of the Reform Party were

not disposed to work heartily with any Gov
ernment which did not make rep. by pop.
the first plank in its platform. The Globe
opposed the new Ministry nearly as vigor
ously as it had opposed the preceding one,
and denounced its leader for pandering to
the French Canadian element. But little
business was transacted between the for
mation of the Cabinet and the prorogation,
which took place on the 9th of June. When
Parliament met at Quebec in the following
February it was evident that the Govern
ment held office by a frail tenure. There
were motions in favour of direct represen
tation by population, which were supported
by eloquent speeches from members of the
Opposition. These motions were defeated
by the solid Lower Canadian vote, but it
was evident that there was a growing feel
ing throughout the country in favour of a
more equitable adjustment of seats. At
last, early in May, the present Premier of
the Dominion moved and carried by a ma
jority of five a direct vote of want of confi
dence. Parliament was prorogued with a
view to its immediate dissolution, which
soon afterwards followed. Before the en
suing elections Mr. Macdonald tried the ex
periment of a reconstruction — a reconstruc
tion so sweeping as to practically result in
a new Ministry. Some of Mr. Brown's fol
lowers from the Upper Province were ad
mitted, among whom were Mr. Fergusson-
Blair and the present Premier of Ontario.
Certain Rouges from Lower Canada were
also included, and Mr. Macdonald found
himself with only three of his former col
leagues, viz., Messrs. Dorion, Howland, and
McDougall. Previous to its reconstruction
the Administration had been known as the
Macdonald -Sicotte Government. It was
thenceforward known as the Macdonald-
Dorion Government. What it gained on
one side by reconstruction it lost on the
other. It secured the support of some of
the prominent western Reformers, but it

had to encounter the fierce opposition of
the ousted members, Messrs. Foley, Mc
Gee, and Sicotte. It so happened that the
reconstructed Ministry did not contain a
single Irish member, and this, we may be
sure, was made the most of by Mr. McGee
and some of his compatriots. During the
following session the Government narrowly
escaped defeat time after time. They con
trived to drag through the session, but lost
further ground during recess, and upon the
assembling of the House again in February,
1864, they were without a working ma
jority. They accordingly resigned, and were
succeeded by the Administration formed un
der the auspices of Sir Etienne P. Tache and
the Hon. John A. Macdonald.
John Sandfield Macdonald was not favour
able to the scheme of Confederation, and op
posed it vigorously so long as opposition
could be of any avail. When the scheme
was accomplished, however, he yielded to
the popular sentiment, and loyally assisted
in carrying it out. To him was entrusted
the task of forming the first Government
of the Province of Ontario, which was suc
cessfully accomplished in July, 1867. It
was a Coalition Government, composed of
himself as Premier and Attorney-General;
the Hon. John Carling, Commissioner of
Agriculture and Public Works ; the Hon.
Stephen Richards, Commissioner of Crown
Lands ; the Hon. Edmund Burke Wood,
Treasurer; and the Hon. Matthew Crooks
Cameron, Secretary and Registrar. By this
Ministry the work of administration was
fairly set in motion in Ontario. The char
acteristic by which it was chiefly marked
was the rigid system of economy adopted by
it in all the departments, and in the general
conduct of public affairs. A not uncommon
idea prevails that this economy was some
what overdone. Such a fault, however, is
unquestionably on the right side, and seems
venial indeed when contrasted with the more
serious delinquencies of some other public
IV— 6

men in Canada. When he retired from his
premiership, in the month of December,
1871, there was a surplus of about three
millions of dollars in the treasury. His
retirement was due to an adverse vote of
the House in consequence of his Govern
ment's having appropriated a large sum for
railway subsidies without taking a vote on
the appropriations to the several roads sub
sidized. There is no doubt that he felt his
loss of office very keenly, and he survived
the loss only about six months. He died on
the 1st of June, 1872, at "Ivy Hall," his
residence at Cornwall. He was buried at
St. Andrews, a village situated about seven
miles from Cornwall, in the very centre of
the district inhabited by those Highlanders
who had borne faithful allegiance to him
for so many years. A large granite column
marks his last resting-place.
His name will long be held in affectionate
remembrance by the Highlanders of Stor-
mont and Glengarry, as well as by a wide
circle of other friends. His personal inde
pendence, amounting almost to stubbornness,
rendered him at times difficult to deal with,
but he was not malicious, and did not nurse
his animosities. He was somewhat uncouth
in his language at times, and given to quot
ing liberally from the Athanasian Creed in
ordinary conversation. Many readers of
these lines will remember the Strathroy
episode; and if they were personally ac
quainted with Mr. Macdonald their memo
ries will doubtless supply them with a
score of similar little ebullitions. This
sort of thing, however, was rather a matter
of habit than of malignity, and it was so
understood by his friends. He had a criti
cal and inquiring mind which impelled him
to question whatever was not proved, and
thus his natural place was in Opposition.
It cannot be said that he ever seriously
abused the power entrusted to him, and he
is on the whole entitled to a verdict in his
favour from posterity.

THE REV. ALEXANDER McKNIGHT, D.D.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

DR. McKNIGHT was born at Dalmelling-
ton, Ayrshire, Scotland, and studied
the Arts Course in the University of Glas
gow during the sessions of 1841-5. We
have been able to learn but few facts with
reference to his early life, which, like the
rest of his career, seems to have been free
from remarkable incident. His proficiency
as a student is proved by the testimony of
numerous f ellow-.students, as well as by class
prizes in Logic, Mathematics and Natural
Philosophy. He studied Theology in New
College, Edinburgh, from the session of 1845
till that of 1849, and was licensed by the
Free Presbytery of Ayr, on the 19th of
February, 1850.
In January, 1855, he received from the
Colonial Committee of the Free Church the
appointment of Teacher in Hebrew in the
Free College, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Shortly
after entering on the discharge of the duties
of this office, he was called by the congre
gation of St. James's Church, Dartmouth,
to be their pastor ; and having accepted the
call, he was ordained minister of that charge
on the 26th of January, 1857. During the
eleven years following, in addition to his
duties as pastor, he discharged the func
tions incidental to the Hebrew Chair; but
in 1868 he resigned the charge of the Dart
mouth congregation, and undertook Exeget-
ics in addition to Hebrew, in connection
with the College. In 1871, after the retire
ment of the Rev. Dr. King, he was trans

ferred to the Chair of Systematic Theology.
In the year 1877 he received the degree of
D.D. from his almja, mater, the University
of Glasgow.
To sum up : Dr. McKnight has been Pro
fessor in the Free College, Halifax, subse
quently in the Theological Hall of the Pres
byterian Church of the Lower Provinces
(after the Union between the Free and the
Presbyterian Churches of Nova Scotia in
1860, and of New Brunswick in 1866), and
lastly in the Presbyterian College, Halifax,
the Divinity School, in the Maritime Prov
inces, of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
By a vote of the Assembly at Hamilton he
was appointed Principal in 1878. He com
mands the confidence as he enjoys the esteem
of the whole Church. His reputation as a
preacher, and especially as a lucid expositor
of Scripture, is very high. He takes com
paratively little part in the Assembly's dis
cussions; but when he speaks he carries
great weight. He is thoroughly versed in
Church law as well as in his own special
department of Theology. He has peculiar
ability in expressing his thoughts in terse
and clear language. He always, even when
speaking without preparation, says precisely
what he means to say, and never leaves
either his students or his hearers in doubt
as to his meaning. He has impressed his
students with a deep sense of his intel
lectual power, and all of them entertain for
him the most profound respect and affection.

^.^<^^

¦Itiitiiiini PnhluflnT.TnrniiK.

DANIEL WILSON, LL.D., F.R.S.E.,
PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY* COLLEGE, TORONTO.

DR. WILSON is the second son of the
late Mr. Archibald Wilson, of Edin
burgh, Scotland, in which city he himself
was born in 1816. He was one of a numer
ous family. His younger brother, the late
Dr. George Wilson, Professor of Technology
in Edinburgh University, won considerable
reputation as a chemist and scientist, and,
after a long struggle with ill-health, died in
1859. The subject of this sketch received
his education at the High School of his
native city, and at Edinburgh University,
where he remained until he was about
twenty-one years of age. He was a hard
and patient student, and attracted much
notice among his schoolfellows and the Pro
fessors by his diligence, application and
energy. Being compelled to make his own
way in life, he immediately after leaving
the university betook himself to London,
where he remained for several years, deriv
ing his support mainly from the productions
of his pen. He then returned to Edinburgh,
and continued to support himself by literary
effort. He contributed to various news
papers and periodicals of that time, most
of which have now ceased to exist. He
had — and has — a fondness for archaeological
researches, and his studies in that line were
destined to produce abundant results. He
became an enthusiastic member of the Scot
tish Society of Antiquaries, and for some
time acted as secretary to, and edited the
proceedings of, that institution. He devoted

a good deal of attention to art, and became
proficient as a draughtsman. He was espe
cially fond of wandering about the quaint
old streets of Edinburgh, and acquired great
familiarity with the topography, history and
traditions of one of the most beautiful and
interesting cities in the world. In 1847 his
first published work — the precursor of many
others — was given to the world. Its title
is "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden
Time." It appeared in two quarto volumes,
with numerous illustrations by the author's
own hand. It enjoyed much local popu
larity, and was pronounced by the London
AthencBum to be "a very agreeable and
useful addition to our list of topographical
works." The London Literary Gazette said
of it : " These volumes will do him (the
author) honour in his native city so long as
the ancient capital of Scotland stands." A
second edition of the work was issued in
1872. In 1848 appeared " Oliver Cromwell
and the Protectorate," a work chiefly com
piled from Noble, Foster, Daubeny and Car-
lyle. In 1851 a more ambitious attempt
than either of the works above mentioned
appeared, viz., "The Archaeology and Pre
historic Annals of Scotland." It was pub
lished in royal 8vo, with about two hundred
illustrations (including six plates on steel)
chiefly from drawings by the author. It
was highly commended by the press of
Great Britain and America, and made its
author's name known to a much wider circle

of readers than any of his previous contri
butions to literature. It may be said, in
deed, to have given him a world-wide repu
tation among archaeologists. The British
Quarterly Review said of it: "This is no
ordinary book. If we mistake not, it will
form an epoch in the study of the earlier
antiquities of Scotland, and of Britain at
large. . . It is a work full of original
views, bearing everywhere the stamp of
independent investigation, and of an inde
pendent judgment." The Westminster Re
view spoke of it in terms equally lauda
tory, saying that " The Scandinavian anti
quaries have geologically deduced some
important facts regarding the prehistoric
period, and Dr. Wilson has followed up
the inquiry with regard to Scotland in a
manner worthy of all praise. His work
upon the prehistoric antiquities of Scotland
contains an immense mass of facts, with a
due proportion of rational deduction." Mr.
Hallam, quite as high an authority as either
of the foregoing, pronounced it to be the
most scientific treatment of the arch^ologi-
cal evidences of primitive history which
had ever been written. In 1863 a second
edition of the work, revised and largely re
written, appeared under the title of "Pre
historic Annals of Scotland."
The above-quoted dictum of Mr. Hallam
is said to have been the means of procuring
for Dr. Wilson the appointment of Professor
of History and English Literature in Uni
versity College, Toronto. This appointment
was conferred in 1853, and has ever since
been held by the recipient with entire satis
faction to the authorities and students of
the College, and to the general public. It
may be mentioned that he had not long
been installed in his Professorship ere he
received an offer of the position of Principal
of McGill College, Montfaal. This flattering
offer was declined, owing in part to certain
conditions annexed to the appointment, and
partly, as has been said, in consequence of

a natural dislike to abandon " a field which
promised such opportunities of usefulness,
and a sphere which bade fair to become
highly congenial."
Dr. Wilson's life, since his arrival in this
country, presents an uninterrupted record
of educational and literary industry, and
has been attended with great benefit to the
community in which it has been passed.
His labours in the various capacities of lec
turer, examiner, and member of the Uni
versity Senate and College Council have
been attended with the happiest results,
and have proved him to be the possessor of
abundant energies, great tact, and a fine
common sense, as well as of versatile accom
plishments. His lectures on History have
been marked by philosophical insight and
breadth of view, as well as by a spirit of
toleration for opposing schools of thought.
The same may be said of his discourses on
Archaeology and Ethnology. " But perha.ps
the greatest benefit he has conferred on the
University," says a sympathetic critic, " has
been conferred in the capacity of Examiner.
In such an institution good teaching is less
indispensable than a proper style of exami
nation questions, which ought to be of such
a kind as at once to test the student's know
ledge of the subject and serve as a guide to
him in his private reading. The style of
examination introduced by Dr. Wilson, and
perpetuated by his successors, who have for
the most part been at one time or another
members of his class, has done quite as
much for the training of students in His
tory, Ethnology, and English as his lectures,
valuable as thej;- are, have accomplished."
His eloquent and effective plea before a
Committee of the Canadian Parliament on
behalf of University College and non-sec
tarian endowments will be remembered by
many readers of these pages.
He had not been long in this country
before he began with renewed ardour to
prosecute his researches in archaeology and

ethnology. In 1862 the result of some of
the more important of his investigations on
both sides of the Atlantic was given to the
world in a work in two volumes, entitled
" Prehistoric Man : Researches into the Ori
gin of Civilization in the Old and the New
Worlds." A subsequent edition, revised and
partly re-written, was published in 1865.
This work was very favourably received
throughout the scientific world. The Edin
burgh Witness said of it: "This work is
worthy of the high reputation won by Dr.
Wilson by his previous contributions to
literature. It is a thoroughly good book ;
in its information fresh and ample, in its
conclusions wise, in its arrangement judi
cious and clear, in its style vigorous, expres
sive and distinct. The topic is not only
vast in range, complex in material, and diffi
cult from its nature, but brings the man
who ventures to discuss it into contact with
momentous and perplexing questions touch
ing the origin of civilization, the unity of
the human race, and the time during which
man has been a denizen of this planet. Dr.
Wilson proves himself at all points equal
to his task." Some' scientific critics took
a less favourable view of the work, but
its reception was on the whole remark
ably cordial, and a third edition has since
been published. In 1869 appeared " Chat-
terton: a Biographical Study," which Dr.
Wilson himself is said to regard with greater
satisfaction than any other product of his
pen. "Caliban, the Missing Link," a sort
of fanciful Shaksperean study, made its
appearance in 1873. Some years before
his arrival in Canada he published a small
volume of poems. In 1873 it was repub
lished in London with numerous additions,
under the title of " Spring Wild Flowers."
His latest separate work is " Reminiscences
of Old Edinburgh," published in two vol
umes at Edinburgh in 1878, and profusely

illustrated by phototypes from the author's
original designs. He also contributed vari
ous articles to the eighth edition of the
Encyclopcedia Britannica ; and to the
ninth edition — now in course of publica
tion — he has already contributed the arti
cles on '"Archaeology," "Canada," "Chatter-
ton," and " Edinburgh," besides others of
less importance. In addition to the works
already enumerated, his contributions to
the Canadian Journal and the Canadian
Monthly are well worthy of mention. His
articles in the Journal alone would make a
volume of formidable proportions, and con
sist chiefly of papers read by him before
the Canadian Institute, of which he has
long been one of the most prominent mem
bers, and of which he was for several years
President. Dr. Wilson has also won a creditable
reputation by his connection with various
philanthropic and social movements. To
his benevolent efforts the existence of the
Boys' Home in Toronto is largely due, and
he has contributed more than any other
singlei personage to render it efficacious for
the purpose for which it was established.
He was for some years the President of the
Young Men's Christian Association. In
addition to his many other services in the
cause of education, he has taken a warm in
terest in promoting the higher education of
women. He filled several times in succes
sion the chair of the Ontario Teachers'
Association, and was twice elected by the
High School Masters as their representative
in the old Council of Public Instruction.
He is a member of the Church of England,
and took an active part in the work of the
Church Association during its existence.
The last event in his history to which it is
deemed necessary to refer is his appoint
ment in August last to the Presidency of
University College.

THE HON. JOSEPH ADOLPHE CHAPLEAU.

M

R. CHAPLEAU comes of an old French
family which settled in the Seign
iory of Terrebonne nearly a century before
the Conquest, and has ever since resided
there. He was born at Ste. Thdrese de
Blainville, in the county of Terrebonne, on
the 9th of November, 1840. He was a re
markably bright and intelligent boy, and
was early intended by his parents for a pro
fessional life. He received his education
first at the College of Terrebonne, and after
wards at the College of St. Hyacinthe, at
both of which seats of learning he won a
high reputation for brilliancy and clever
ness. Having passed through the college
curriculum at St. Hyacinthe with much
credit, he fixed upon the law for a pro
fession, and entered the office of Messrs.
Ouimet, Morin & Marchand, at Montreal, to
qualify himself for the Bar. He joined the
Institut Canadian, of which he erelong be
came a prominent member, and eventually
one of the Presidents. Having completed
his professional studies, he was called to
the Bar of Lower Canada in the month of
December, 1861, he having attained his
majority only about a month previously.
He entered into partnership with his former
principals, and began practice at the Mont
real Bar, where he has ever since been one
of the most conspicuous figures.
At the Bar he early displayed remarkable
powers of oratory. He devoted himself
largely to criminal practice. The first im

portant case in which he figured involved
the defence of a whole family on a charge
of infanticide. The evidence against the
prisoners was very strong, and public feel
ing was very much aroused upon the sub
ject of the trial. In conducting the cross-
examination of some of the witnesses the
young advocate displayed powers which
even his intimate friends had scarcely given
him credit for possessing. His address to
the jury was admirably calculated to arouse
the .sympathies of his auditors on behalf of
his clients. The result of his exertions was
that the prisoners escaped the gallows, and
that he himself established a high reputa
tion as a criminal counsel. His subsequent
career has fully borne out the promise of its
commencement. His defence of Lepine and
Nault, at Winnipeg, in October, 1874, on a
charge of murdering Thomas Scott, will be
remembered by many of our readers as a
masterly forensic effort. He has also fre
quently appeared in the Courts on behalf of
the Oown, and has proved himself to be as
formidable in attack as in defence. He was
created a Queen's Counsel in 1873.
It was to be expected that a gentleman
of Mr. Chapleau's abilities and intelligence
would take a more than passing interest in
the political questions of the day. He may
be said to have been an ardent politician
from his youth, and in every electoral con
test he threw his influence into the struggle
on behalf of the Conservative side. In the

1 j-;\[;,._iiiriiViiblialJcr."

mwii.is-ftu-i'.-ft'-Ji-'"!?'^-':-"'""''-'^*"

THE HON. JOSEPH ADOLPHE CHAPLEAU.

39

beginning of the year 1862 he acquired a
pecuniary interest in a tri-weekly news
paper called Le Colonisateur, of which he
soon afterwards became editor. It did good
work for the Conservative Party during the
period of Mr Chapleau's editorship, but it
existed only about two years. At the first
general election under Confederation Mr.
Chapleau presented himself to the electors
of his native county of Terrebonne as a
candidate to represent them in the Local
Legislature of Quebec. He was elected as
second member (his colleague in the repre
sentation being the Hon. Louis F. R. Masson),
and has ever since been returned as such —
several times by acclamation. At the open
ing of the first session of the first Provincial
Parliament of Quebec Mr. Chapleau was
entrusted with the presentation of the Ad
dress in reply to the Speech from the Throne.
He has always devoted special attention to
railway legislation, and as early as 1868
made a telling speech in favour of a rail
way Bill which was then before the House.
Upon the reconstruction of the Chauveau
Cabinet under Mr. Ouimet, in February,
1873, the portfolio of Solicitor-General was
offered to, and accepted by, Mr. Chapleau,
who retained it until the 8th of September,
1874, when he resigned, with his leader.
On the 27th of January, 1876, he entered
the De Boucherville Government, as Provin
cial Secretary and Registrar. This position
he retained until the month of March, 1878,

when the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Letellier
de St. Just, dismissed his Ministry, under
circumstances already frequently referred
to in these pages. After such dismissal, and
the formation of Mr. Joly's Government,
Mr. Chapleau became leader of the Opposi
tion, and acted in that capacity until the
resignation of Mr. Joly's Ministry, in Octo
ber, 1879. Being called upon to form a
new Administration, Mr. Chapleau readily
accomplished that task, he himself becom
ing Premier and Minister of Agriculture
and Public Works. His Ministry still re
mains in power. It is well known that Mr.
Chapleau has more than once been urged
to accept office in the Dominion Govern
ment at Ottawa, and that, for reasons not
definitely communicated to the public, he
has hitherto thought proper to decline that
honour. At the general election of 1872 Mr. Chap
leau was an unsuccessful candidate for the
representation of the county of Verch^res in
the House of Commons. He is Professor of
Criminal Jurisprudence in the section of
Laval University established at Montreal.
He is a director of the Laurentides Railway
Company, and of Le Credit Fonder du Bas
Canada, and holds various other positions
of trust and emolument.
On the 25th of November, 1874, Mr.
Chapleau married Miss Mary Louisa King,
a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel King, Bri
gade Major, Sherbrooke.

LORD LISGAR.

LORD LISGAR, who, prior to his eleva
tion to the peerage in 1870, was well
known in political and diplomatic circles as
the Right Hon. Sir John Young, was born
in the Presidency of Bombay, British India,
on the 31st of August, 1807. He was the
eldest son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel
Sir William Young, Baronet, of Bailie-
borough Castle, in the county of Cavan,
Ireland, who was for many years a Director
and a very large shareholder in the East
India Company. The future diplomat was
sent home to Europe in his childhood, and
was educated, first at Eton, and afterwards
at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he
graduated as B.A. in 1829. He afterwards
studied law in the chambers of an eminent
special pleader in London, and in 1834 was
called to the Bar of Lincoln's Inn. It does
not appear that he engaged, or that he ever
had any intention of engaging in actual
practice at the Bar. He doubtless had an
eye to political life from his earliest youth.
Three years before the last-mentioned date,
and while he was still a student, he had en
tered the House of Commons, having been
elected in the Conservative interest as one
of the representatives of the county of
Cavan, where the family estates are situ
ated, and where the family influence was
paramount. He continued to represent that
constituency until the year 1855, during
which period he was known as a " working
member," and held many important minis

terial offices. In 1841 he was appointed a
Lord of the Treasury, which office he held
till 1844; and from the last-named year
until 1846 he fllled the more important
office of Secretary of the Treasury. On
the formation of the Earl of Aberdeen's
Administration in 1852, Sir John Young
was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland,
which office he held until 1855, when he be
came Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian
Islands. For some years prior to this time
he had been a magistrate and Deputy- Lieu
tenant for the county of Cavan ; and he had
succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of
his father, the first Baronet, in 1848. For
his successful administration of the Govern
ment of the Ionian Islands Sir John received
the decoration of the Grand Cross of the
Order of St. Michael and St. George. His
office of Lord High Commissioner having
ceased with the cession of the Islands to
Greece in 1859, he was soon afterwards
called upon to fill a more important posi
tion, having been appointed in 1860 Gover
nor of New South Wales. He administered
the affairs of that colony for six years, when
he was recalled, and was soon afterwards
appointed to succeed Lord Monck (whose
term of office, for reasons connected with
the constitutional changes then in progress,
had been extended for two years beyond
the usual period) as Governor-General of
Canada. Sir John arrived in this country
in November, 1868, and was sworn in as

Governor-General of the Dominion on the
29th of December following. His adminis
tration of Canadian affairs lasted till the
month of June, 1872, when he was succeed
ed by His Excellency the Earl of Dvifferin.
Meanwhile, in 1870, he had been created
Baron Lisgar of Lisgar and Bailipborough,
in the county of Cavan, in the Peerage of
the United Kingdom ; and in 1871 he had
been constituted Lord Lieutenant and Gus
tos Rotulorum of his county.
His tenure of office as Governor-General
of Canada was not specially remarkable for
energy, though it was an important epoch
in our history. It was during this period
that the "better terms" were conceded to
Nova Scotia, and that the Provinces of
Manitoba and British Columbia entered
Confederation. It was during his adminis
tration of affairs also that the Red River
rebellion broke out and was put down ; that
the' Treaty of Washington was signed ; and
that the terms of agreement for building
the Canadian Pacific Railway were agreed
upon. The Governor discharged the duties
of his position to the best of his ability, but
he was past middle life at the time of his
appointment, and was constitutionally older
than his years. During much of his resi
dence among us he was in rather indifferent
health, so that public business was in a few
instances somewhat delayed thereby. His
manners were pleafsant and ingratiating, and
he made many personal friends during his

peregrinations through the country, though
it cannot be said that he aroused any extra
ordinary ebullitions of enthusiasm, or that
he ever made himself universally popular.
He was criticised with some freedom by one
section of the local press. He left Canada
for the last time on the 22nd of June. Upon
his arrival in England he retired from the
public service, and soon afterwards took up
his abode on his estates in Ireland, where
the rest' of his life was passed very quietly,
owing to the increased feebleness of his
health. He died on the 6th of October,
1876. On the 8th of April, 1835, he married
Miss Adelaide Annabella, daughter of Ed
ward Tuite Dalton, by Olivia, his wife,
afterwards Marchioness of Headfort. There
was no issue of the marriage, and upon Lord
Lisgar 's death the barony became extinct.
The baronetcy and the representation of the
ancient family of Young devolved upon his
Lordship's nephew, now Sir William Muston
Need Young, posthumous son of the late
Mr. Thomas Young, of the Bengal Civil
Service, who was second son of the first
Baronet. This gentleman is the present
holder of the title as third Baronet.
In 1878 Lady Lisgar — whose many ac
complishments and fine social qualities made
for her many friends during her three years'
sojourn in Canada — contracted a second
marriage, with Sir Francis Fortescue Tur-
ville, K.C.M.G.

IY-7

THE HON. TIMOTHY BLAIR PARDEE.

MR. PARDEE'S grandparents emigrated
from the State of New York to Upper
Canada towards the close of the last cen
tury, and settled in what is now the county
of Grenville. His father is Mr. A. B. Pardee,
who at present resides in that county, and
he himself was born there on the 11th of
December, 1830. He received his education
at the public schools of his native county,
and afterwards at Brockville. He chose
the law for a profession, and became a stu
dent in the office of Mr. (now Sir) William
Buell Richards. In those days the marvel
lous achievements of " the Argonauts of '49 "
caused the eyes of many enterprising young
men to be turned in the direction of Cali
fornia. Young Pardee caught the prevail
ing infection, abandoned his studies, and
turned his steps in the direction of the set
ting sun. After spending two years in
California, during which he necessarily saw
a good deal of adventurous life among the
miners, he proceeded to Australia. There
he spent about five years, a great part of
which time was passed in the mining dis
tricts. He then returned to his native land,
and resumed his legal studies in the office of
Mr. Joshua Adams, of Sarnia. Having com
pleted the term of his articles he was admit
ted as an attorney and solicitor in Trinity
Term, 1860. He commenced the practice
of his profession at Sarnia, and in Hilary
Term of the following year he was called
to the Bar. He has ever since enjoyed a

fairly successful professional career, and has
made for himself a position of much local in
fluence. He embraced the Reform side in
politics, and at the flrst general election, un
der Confederation came out as the anti-Coali
tion candidate for a seat in the Ontario Leg
islature for Lambton. His opponent was Mr.
Robert Rae, ex- Warden of the county, whom
he defeated by a very large majority. At
the next election, in 1871, he was returned
by acclamation, and during the same year
he was elected a Bencher of the Law So
ciety of Ontario. On the 25th of October,
1872, he accepted the portfolio of Provincial
Secretary in the Ontario Cabinet, and upon
returning to his constituents for reelection
he was once more returned by acclamation.
He continued to be Provincial Secretary
until the 4th of , December, 1873, when he
became Commissioner of Crown Lands,
which position he has ever since occupied.
Since the division of the county he has sat
for West Lambton. At the general election
of 1875 he was returned by a majority of
about 600. At the last general local elec
tion his majority was 228. His duties as a
member of the Cabinet have been discharged
with efficiency, and various reforms in the
management of the Crown Lands Depart
ment have been carried out under his aus
pices. He married Miss Emma K. Forsyth,
a daughter of Mr. J. K. Forsyth, of the town
ship of Sombra, in the county of Lambton.
He was created a Queen's Counsel in 1876.

liilih-luri fmi K- 7^«i„ r™ji.,„j,y w.ii„ta„,.l(,„,„^

THE HON. SIR WILLIAM YOUNG.

FOR more than half a century Sir William
Young has been a conspicuous figure
in the political, social and professional life
of Nova Scotia, and few names among the
scholars and statesmen of that Province
have attained to greater celebrity than his.
He is the son of a distinguished man, who
like himself, in his day, wielded a great
power in his adopted home, and two of his
brothers have sustained the laurels of the
family in a degree almost equal to his own.
The Hon. John Young, his father, is still
remembered as the author of the famous
" Agricola " letters — papers which sixty odd
years ago exerted a considerable amount of
influence among the people throughout the
country. For a year the name of the author
was kept a profound secret. Lord Dalhousie
toasted the "Bluenose Junius" at a public
dinner, unmindful of the writer's presence
at the banquet. The author's name was
not given to the public until the year
1819. Three years afterwards these clever
papers were published in book form, and
added much to Mr. Young's reputation as a
writer and thinker. His son, the subject of
this sketch, was born at Falkirk, Stirling
shire, Scotland, on the 29th of July, 1799.
He was educated at Glasgow University
with a view to entering the profession of
the law. In 1814 his father, accompanied
by his family, emigrated to America, set
tled in Nova Scotia, and opened a store.
Father and son traded together as mer

chants until 1820, when the latter, tired
of mercantile pursuits, thought he would
turn to advantage the education he had
gained in his old home. Accordingly he
relinquished trade, and began with deter
mination and zeal the study of law, in the
office of Charles Rufus Fairbanks, an emi
nent lawyer of the period, and once Solici
tor-General of the Province. He studied
with diligence, and in 1.826 was admitted
a barrister of Nova Scotia. Nine years
later he was called to the Bar of Prince
Edward Island, and in 1843 was created a
Queen's Counsel. Upon being enrolled a
barrister of the Province whose future legal
status he has done so much to adorn, he en
tered into partnership with his brothers,
George R. and Charles. The former was
a prominent member of Parliament, and
the author of several eminently readable
works, the chief of which is the sketch of
" Colonial Literature, Science and Educa
tion." He was also the founder of the
Nova Scotian newspaper — a journal after
wards conducted by the Hon. Joseph Howe.
Charles Young, LL.D., became a Judge in
Prince Edward Island.
On the 10th of August, 1830, William
Young married Annie, eldest daughter of
the late Hon. Michael Tobin, M.L.C., and in
this year also he made up his mind to enter
the political arena. It was not until 1832,
however, that he was able to find a seat
in the House. In that year he was re-

44

THE HON. SIR WILLIAM YOUNG.

turned to Parliament as one of the repre
sentatives for the county of Cape Breton.
He signalized his entrance into the Assembly
by making a speech of considerable power,
on a subject just then affecting the dearest
interests of the people. The Home Govern
ment had threatened to collect the quit
rents, as well as to retain the coal mines of
the Province, and both of these questions
were very bitterly and hotly discussed, the
action of the Imperial authorities coming in
for severe condemnation. Mr. Young spoke
on the latter topic, and though the temper
ate suggestions which he offered were not
immediately adopted by the House, he had,
several years afterwards, the pleasure of
seeing the matter settled on the basis of
the changes he had advocated. From this
date his political position was assured, and
when in 1836 he presented himself for elec
tion in the county of Juste au Corps, now
kno-wn as Inverness, he was returned by
acclamation. During this period he linked
his fortunes with those of the Hon. Joseph
Howe and other redoubtable Reformers
then battling for Responsible Government,
and until that boon was granted the col
ony he fought against its opponents with
great determination and spirit. He second
ed Howe's memorable attack on the Legis
lative Council, and condemned that body for
the secret character of its sessions, and for
its refusal to allow the public free access to
its deliberations at all proper times. In the
following year the Bill limiting the dura
tion of Provincial Parliaments to four years
was the subject of a fierce debate, in which
almost every member of the House took
part. Mr. Young, on that occasion, deliv
ered one of the ablest speeches ever heard in
that chamber, and won a prominent place
among the public speakers of the- day. He
brought to bear on the discussion a sreat
variety of legal and constitutional lore.
After an animated debate, the four years'
term was adopted by the Lower House. It

was promptly rejected by the Council, but
next year became law.
In 1837 the fishermen of Nova Scotia
complained of the infringements practised
on their treaty rights by citizens of other
nations, notably those of the United States
and France. Mr. Young boldly espoused
the cause of the fishermen, and the result
was an address from the Assembly ip the
British Government on the subject. Five
hundred pounds were voted for the purpose
of arming small vessels to protect the fishing
interests of the Province. About this time
a despatch which had been anxiously looked
for was received by the Lieutenant-Gover
nor from Lord Glenelg. It was in reply
to certain representations which had been
made by the popular branch of the Legisla
ture as to the fees exacted by the Chief
Justice and the Puisn(^ Judges of the Prov
ince. His Lordship, while in the main
non-commital, ventured on the assertion
that he regarded the commutation of the
fees on two occasions by the Assembly as
involving a recognition of their legality.
He refrained from discussing the subject
further, nor would he say how far the origi
nal establishment of these fees was within
the actual tenor of the constitution. The
King refused to allow an immediate and
uncompensated abolition of the fees. Mr.
Howe moved his resolutions respecting the
constitution of the Council, and in the de
bate which ensued Mr. Young in a forcible
speech pronounced the deliberate opinion
that " the exaction of the fees, though sanc
tioned by long usage, was not legal." This
sentiment was received with great applause,
and the views expressed by the speaker had
considerable effect on future legislation.
Mr. Young, who was now regarded as a
strong man, was sent as a delegate with
the Hon. Mr. Johnston and others, to confer,
by invitation, with the Earl of Durham, on
matters affecting the prosperity of the Prov
ince. The Governor -General greeted the

THE HON. SIR WILLIAM YOUNG.

45

delegates with much cordiality, and pleasant
relations were established between them.
Mr. Young presented a communication com
plaining of the way in which the Crown
Lands were administered, of the regular and
systematic encroachments of the American
people on the fisheries, the expense of the
customs establishment, the large salaries of
some of the officers of the Government, and
the composition of the Legislative Council.
It was at this interview that His Excellency, •
in speaking of the ill-treatment which he
had received at the hands of the Home au
thorities, beca,me so overcome by his feel
ings that he had to retire to a distant part
of the room for a time.
During the session of 1839 Mr. Young
was appointed, with Mr. Herbert Hunting
ton, a delegate to proceed to England to
represent to the Imperial Government the
views and wishes of the House, and of the
people, of Nova Scotia, with reference to cer
tain proposed reforms. After considerable
time had elapsed the delegates returned
home, having succeeded in obtaining the
following concessions : Cumberland, Parrs-
boro', Windsor, Shelburne and Lunenburg
were declared free ports ; the Customs and
Excise departments were combined, so that
all duties might be collected at the Customs,
and the necessity for double entries, bonds
and securities might be dispensed with.
By this latter regulation at least fifteen
hundred pounds were saved to the Province
annually. The yearly grant of fifteen hun
dred pounds for maintenance of the Post
Office department was not to be required
— leaving the Assembly to arrange for .such
extensions as the state of the country might
from time to time demand. A Bill was sub
sequently prepared by the delegates, and
sanctioned by the Ministry, which guaran
teed the privilege to actual settlers of pur
chasing Crown lands as low as one shilling
sterling per acre.
In 1840 Mr. Young took an active part in

the demonstrations against Sir Colin Camp
bell, then Lieutenant-Governor of Nova
Scotia. The House of Assembly petitioned
the Imperial Government to remove the
obnoxious ruler, and to send to Nova Scotia
a Governor who would not only represent
the Crown, but carry out its policy with
firmness and good faith. Public meetings
were held, and Messieurs Young, Howe,
Forrester and Bell spoke earnestly in sup
port of the Assembly's course, and against
the arbitrary action of Sir Colin Campbell.
These impassioned orators carried their
point, and had the satisfaction of witness
ing the recall and departure of the Gover
nor. His successor, however, was no better,
and Viscount Falkland, on taking office soon
found himself face to face with problems
which he either would not or could not un
derstand. Howe proved a most implacable
enemy, but only one remove more bitter
than his fiery associate, Mr. Young. The
contest was carried on for a long time with
acrimony and warmth. In 1843 Mr. Howe
accepted the Collectorship of Colonial Rev
enue, and Mr. Young was elected Speaker
of the Assembly by a majority of two votes
over Mr. Huntington, his opponent. The
new House met on the 8th of February,
1844, when Mr. Young, who had been ele
vated to a seat in the Executive Council,
but had resigned on his appointment to the
Speakership, was reelected Speaker. This
gave much satisfaction throughout the
country, for the great majority of the peo
ple sympathized with the Reformers. Mr.
Young's name spread far and wide, and he
was regarded as one of the leading cham
pions in the tremendous struggle for Re
sponsible Government which was then agi
tating the whole of British North America.
He visited Upper Canada while Speaker,
and the Reformers of Toronto and the neigh-
bouring townships invited him to a public
dinner, as a mark of the high consideration
entertained of the able conduct displayed by

46

THE HON. SIR WILLIAM YOUNG.

himself and his colleagues in their contest
with Lord Falkland for constitutional gov
ernment. The banquet took place on the
23rd of September, in the Hall of the Re
form Association, and the chair was taken
by the Hon. Henry John Boulton. The
Hon. Robert Baldwin acted as croupier.
The demonstration was in all respects a
very brilliant one.
In 1847 Sir John Harvey, who succeeded
Falkland, proposed a coalition of forces, as a
way out of the difficulty. Speaker Young
opposed this vigorously, and he and his
friends addressed a letter to the Governor
declining to accede to the proposal in any
form. A new election was determined upon,
and in the fall of the year it took place.
The contest was very keen, but the Reform
ers were successful. The new House met on
Saturday, 22nd January, 1848. The former
Speaker was reelected, after a ballot of 28
to 22, and the Howe-Uniacke Ministry came
into power.
In the session of 1850 a commission, con
sisting of Mr. Young, Jonathan McCulley,
J. W. Ritchie and Joseph Whidden, was ap
pointed to consolidate and simplify the laws
of the Province. Mr. James Thomson lent
valuable aid to the scheme, which is said to
have been the first attempt of the kind ever
made in a British colony. The work was
thoroughly and satisfactorily done, and the
commissioners received high praise at the
conclusion of their labours.
On the appointment of Mr. Howe, in 1854,
to the Chairmanship of the Railway Board,
and his consequent retirement from the
office of Provincial Secretary, a reconstruc
tion of the Cabinet was necessary. The
Hon. Mr. Young, late Speaker, was en
trusted by the Lieutenant-Governor - with
the task of forming a^ Government. He
accepted the duty, and the office of Attor
ney-General, after which he issued a pro
clamation to his constituents at Inverness,
in which he presented an able exposition of

the principles by which the new Administra
tion proposed to be guided. All the mem
bers of the Ministry, on seeking reelection,
were returned by good majorities, except
the Premier, who was elected by a show of
hands. A very graceful act was performed by
Attorney-General Young in 1856, when he
moved in the House that His Excellency the
Lieutenant-Governor should be requested to
expend one hundred and fifty guineas in
the purchase of a sword, to be presented
to General Sir Fenwick Williams, hero of
Kars, as a mark of the high esteem in which
his character as a man and a soldier, and
more especially his heroic courage and con
stancy in the defence of Kars, were held by
the Legislature of his native Province. It
is scarcely necessary to say that this motion
was received with the greatest enthusiasm
by the entire populace, in and out of Par
liament. In 1857 the Mining Lease Act came up for
settlement. Mr. Young, as we have already
said, had expressed very decided but tem
perate views on this question many years
before. His opinion was that any lease
which gave a legal title must emanate from
the Assembly of Nova Scotia. This was
subsequently corroborated by the Crown
Law officers of England. In this year
the Liberal Government experienced defeat,
owing to a rash and violent letter which
Mr. Howe had written during the recess
against the Roman Catholic religion. On
the meeting of Parliament Mr. Johnston
proposed a motion of want of confidence,
which resulted in the overthrow of the
Government by a majority of seven votes.
Mr. Johnston was entrusted with the for
mation of a new Ministry. Dr. Tupper (now
Sir Charles) became Provincial Secretary.
In 1859 general elections were held through
out the country, after which the Liberal '
Party, headed by Mr. Young, their leader,
petitioned the Lieutenant-Governor, and

THE HON. SIR WILLIAM YOUNG.

47

asked for an early session, stating that they
had a majority of members. Dr. Tupper re
turned to them the Lieutenant-Governor's
reply, that he could not accept advice on
the subject of the memorial from any other
than his constitutional advisers, without dis
regarding the royal instructions, and com
promising the position of strict impartiality
between political parties. The House met
in January, 1860, and in the election for
Speaker the Opposition carried their candi
date by a majority of three votes. The
Government contended that five or six mem
bers were disqualified from sitting, as they
held offices of emolument under the Crown
at the time of their election. A good deal
of discussion followed, the Government ad
vised dissolution, the Governor refused, and
the Liberals came into power again, the new
Cabinet comprising Mr. Young as Premier
and President of the Council, Mr. Howe as
Provincial Secretary, and Mr. Archibald as
Attorney-General. On the death of Chief Justice Sir Bren-
ton Haliburton, Mr. Young was appointed
to that position — an office which he con
tinues to hold. His appointment is dated
August, 1860, and shortly afterwards he
was created Judge of the Vice-Admiralty.
In 1868 he was knighted by Her Majesty
for distinguished services to his country.
During his long incumbency of the Bench,
Sir William Young has tried very many im
portant cases, and his judgments, as a rule,
have been regarded as exceedingly able,
argumentative and clear. He is a many-
sided man, and apart from the performance
of his arduous and exacting duties as an
administrator of the law, he has found time

to cultivate, in his leisure, the arts, letters
and sciences. He has always taken great
interest in literature, and the numerous
addresses which he has from time to time
delivered before literary societies and col
leges are rich in graceful allusion, and ex
ceedingly elegant and scholarly. Indeed
there are few public men in Canada who can
equal him in such felicitous performances.
In July, 1873, he was present at the dinner
given to Lord Dufferin, in Halifax, and his
remarks in proposing the toast of the even
ing were characterized by great beauty of
style and diction. His interest in the col
leges and educational establishments, the
charities and public institutions of the coun
try, has never waned, and he has always
found time to devote a large amount of per
sonal attention to them. An active mem
ber of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie
College for several years. Sir William, while
Chairman of that Body, in April, 1878, was
presented with an oil painting of himself by
the Senate of the College. On the 10th of
August, 1880, the venerable Chief Justice
celebrated his golden wedding. The occa
sion was marked by a characteristic deed
of benevolence, several charitable organiza
tions in which Sir William took an active
interest being made the recipients of gifts
of money. The octogenarian is hale and
hearty, walks with a quick step, and though
superannuation has been hinted at now and
then, he declares that he will " die in har
ness." He could have had the Lieutenant-
Governorship of his Province, but he pre
ferred his own position to that of any other
within the gift of the Crown. He has en
joyed almost half a century of public life.

THE HON. JOSEPH CURRAN MORRISON.

JUDGE MORRISON is the eldest son of
the late Mr. Hugh Morrison, a native
of Sutherlandshire, Scotland, and was born
in the north of Ireland — where his par
ents were then sojourning— on the 20th of
August, 1816. His early days were spent in
Ireland, and his preliminary education was
received at the Royal Belfast Institution.
He removed to Upper Canada during his boy
hood, and settled at Little York, where he
completed his education at Upper Canada
College. After lefaving that institution he
entered upon the study of the law in the
office of the late Mr. Simon Washburn, Clerk
of the Peace, where he was a fellow-student
of Mr. William Hume Blake, who subse
quently became Chancellor of Upper Canada,
and whose life has already been outlined in
this work. Mr. Morrison and Mr. Blake,
during their student days, formed a friend
ship which endured until Mr. Blake's death
in 1870 ; and when the subject of this
sketch was called to the Bar of Upper Can
ada in Easter Term, 1839, the two entered
into a partnership which lasted until Mr.
Blake's elevation to the Bench as Chancellor
on the 30th of September, 1849. The style of
the firm was for some time Blake & Morrison,
but afterwards, when Dr. Skeffington Con
nor entered the firm, the style became Blake,
Morrison & Connor. Upon Mr. Blake's ele
vation to the Bench the late Mr. Alexander
McDonald entered the firm, the style of
which thenceforth became Morrison, Connor
& McDonald.

In the month of May, 1843, Mr. Morrison
became Deputy Clerk of the Executive
Council of Canada, for the purpose of acting
as Clerk of the Court of Error and Appeal.
In December, 1847, he resigned this position
in order to enter political life, and at the
general election held in the beginning of
the following year he was returned to the
Assembly as a member of the Third Parlia
ment under the Union for the West Riding
of the county of York. In politics he was
what was known in those days as a Bald
win Reformer, and he was returned as a
supporter of the policy inaugurated by the
second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration,
which came into power in the month of
March following. He sat in the Assembly
for West York until the close of the Third
Parliament in November, 1851, and at the
general election held in the following year
he was returned for the town of Niagara as
a supporter of the Hincks-Morin Adminis
tration. On the 22nd of June, 1853, he
accepted office in that Administration as
Solicitor-General for Upper Canada. His
acceptance of office was fully approved by
his constituents upon his presenting himself
before them for reelection in the month
of July following. He was created a Queen's
Counsel during the same year. Three years
previously (in 1850) he had been elected a
Bencher of the Law Society.
He continued to act as Solicitor-General
for Upper Canada until the 10th of Septem
ber, 1854, having been reelected to the Fifth

THE HON. JOSEPH CURRAN MORRISON.

49

Parliament by his constituents in Niagara
during the preceding month of August.
On the 19th of April, 1856, he became a
member of the Executive Council, and on
the 24th of May following he became
Receiver- General in the Tache-Macdonald
Administration, and a Member of the Board
of Railway Commissioners. His constitu
ents again testified their. approval of his
acceptance of office, and of his Parliamentary
career generally, by reelecting him upon his
presenting himself before them in the follow
ing August. He remained in the Ministry
after Mr. Tach^'s retirement (in the Mac-
donald-Cartier Administration) and held
office as Receiver-General until the expira
tion of the Fifth Parliament. At the gen
eral election of 1857 he was an unsuc
cessful candidate for the representation of
South Ontario, in the Assembly, and in
1858 was again defeated in North Oxford,
his successful opponent in the latter con
stituency being Mr. (now the Hon.) William
McDougall. Mr. Morrison was thus left
without a seat in the Assembly.
In 1856 he was appointed a member of
the Commission for the Consolidation of
the Public General Statutes of Upper Can
ada. In January, 1859, he was appointed
Registrar of the city of Toronto, and re
tained that office until February of the year
following, when he accepted a portfolio as
Solicitor-General in the Cartier-Macdonald
Government which was then in being. He
remained Solicitor-General until the 18th
of March, 1862, when he was appointed a
Puisnd Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas. On the 24th of August in the follow
ing year he was promoted to the Court of
Queen's Bench, where he remained until the
30th of November, 1877, when he was trans
ferred to the Court of Appeal. He is now
the Senior Puisne Judge of all the Courts
in the Province of Ontario.

While at the Bar he attained high distinc
tion, and was connected with many impor
tant cases, both civil and criminal. Among
the most important criminal cases conducted
by him were the prosecution of McDermott
and Grace Marks, in 1853, for the murder
of Mr. Kinnear ;* and the prosecution of
James Brown, in 1860, for the murder of
Mr. John Sheridan Hogan, M.P., at the Don
Bridge, Toronto. As a member of Parlia
ment and Minister of the Crown he was
identified with the advocacy of the secu
larization of the Clergy Reserves and the
abolition of the Seignorial Tenure. He has
always taken a warm interest in all educa
tional questions. He was for twenty-eight
years a member of the Council of Public
Instruction for Upper Canada; and for a
quarter of a century he was a member of
the Senate of the University of Toronto,
during fourteen of which he was Chancellor
of the University.
Since his elevation to the Bench he has
presided over many criminal trials of pub
lic interest, among which may be men
tioned the trial of James Greenwood for
murder ; the trial of Dr. Davis and his wife
for procuring abortion ; and the trial of
the Fenian prisoners taken at Fort Erie in
1866. Twenty-two of the latter were sen
tenced to death, but their sentences were
afterwards commuted to imprisonment for
life in the Provincial Penitentiary. He
is a learned, industrious, and painstaking
Judge, and his decisions are held in high
respect. In July, 1845, Mr. Morrison married Miss
Elizabeth Bloor, daughter of the late Mr.
Joseph Bloor, of Yorkville, whose name is
perpetuated in the name of the street — for
merly kiiown as St. Paul's Road — which
separates Yorkville from Toronto.
* An account of this Canadian cause ciUbre will be found
in Mrs. Moodie's "Life in the Clearings, versus the Bush."

IV— 8

LORD SELKIRK.

THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS DOUG
LAS, fifth Earl of Selkirk, was one of
the most public-spirited and enlightened
men who figure in Canadian annals. His
views on colonization and kindred subjects
were both original and philanthropic, and
he gave up some of the most important
years of his life to carrying them into prac
tical effect. His published works display
native powers df mind of a high order, care
fully disciplined by training and thought.
He encountered a great deal of that opposi
tion which inevitably falls to the lot of men
whose opinions are in advance of their times.
He died comparatively early — he was only
in his forty-ninth year at the time of his
death — but he lived long enough to see the
success of some of his cherished schemes,
and to find many of his cherished opinions
accepted by persons who had once opposed
them. He was broad and unselfish in his
views, and the world is the better for his
having lived in it.
He was the seventh and youngest son of
Dunbar, fourth Earl of Selkirk, and was
born at the family seat, St. Mary's Isle,
Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, on the 5th of
June, 1771. His" family have been noted
in Scottish history from the earliest times.
The peerage was created in 1646, and the
holder of it, in addition to being Earl of
Selkirk, is Baron Daer and Shortcleugh,
all in the peerage of Scotland. The subject
of this sketch developed remarkable capa

city, even as a little boy, and he received an
education of unusual thoroughness. He had
several private tutors, and attended for a
time at one of the national Universities.
He was a great reader of books of voyages
and travels, more especially those relating
to America, and was interested in the sub
ject of colonization before he had reached
manhood. He succeeded to the title upon
the death of his father, in 1799, his six elder
brothers having all died after reaching man
hood, and during the lifetime of their father.
On the 24th of November, 1807, he
married Miss Jean Colvie, only survivino-
daughter of Mr. James Wedderburn Colvie,
of Ochiltree, a gentleman of great wealth,
and a prominent member of the corporation
of the Hudson's Bay Company. His lord
ship, who was a Representative Peer of
Scotland, and Lord Lieutenant of the Stew-
artry of Kirkcudbright, had already become
known as an enthusiast on the subject of
emigration. He had given currency to his
opinions through the medium of newspapers,
and had also published several books and
pamphlets. So early as 1805 he had pub
lished a work entitled "Observations on
the Present State of the Highlands of Scot
land, with a view of the Causes and Prob
able Consequences of Emigration." It had
received the commendation of such diverse
authorities as Blackivood's Magazine, John
Ramsay McCulloch, the eminent political
economist, and Francis Horner, in the Edin-

LORD SELKIRK.

51

burgh Review. Another work on " National
Defence," published by him in 1808 —
being an expansion of the views enunci
ated by him in a speech made during the
preceding year in the House of Lords — was
also highly commended by the critics, and
was deemed of sufficient value to be re
printed so lately as 1860. Several smaller
works on Parliamentary Reform, the Scot
tish Peerage, and the Philosophy of Mal-
thus, bore testimony alike to his industry
and his vigour of mind. He was in every
respect a rigidly conscientious and high-
minded man, whose philanthropy was not
conflned to theorizing. He was very bene
ficent and charitable to the poor, and was
most considerate and generous in his deal
ings with his own tenantry. His views, as
has been intimated, were in advance of the
times, and they found many vigorous op
ponents, but it was admitted on all hands
that his Lordship was an original thinker,
and a sincere well-wisher of his race.
The principal scheme of his life, and the
one in which we in Canada are most directly
interested, was his colonization of the Red
River country. That country, of which the
Province of Manitoba now forms an im
portant part, was included in the territory
originally granted by Royal Charter, in the
year 1670, to " the Company of Merchant
Adventurers trading to Hudson's Bay."
This great corporation has long been known
by its shorter title of the Hudson's Bay
Company. For many years subsequent to
the date of its charter, however, the oper
ations of the Company did not extend into
the interior of the district comprised in the
grant, but were for the most part confined
to the shore and neighbourhood of Hudson's
Bay. In course of time, however, it was
found necessary, with a view to preventing
intrusion upon their domain, to penetrate
into the far western wilderness, whither
the French Canadian coureurs de bois had
already found their way in quest of furs.

The first white man whose foot is known
to have traversed those remote regions sub
sequently known as the Red River Settle
ment, was M. Varennes de la Verandrye, a
seigneur of Nouvelle France, and an ances
tor of the present Archbishop of St. Boni
face. This gentleman, who was born at the
old town of Three Rivers, at the mouth of
the St. Maurice, was on6 of the most daunt
less of western explorers. He made two
important voyages, which were the means
of making known to mankind the vast
prairies and wastes of the North-West. At
the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine
Rivers he founded a fort, which he called
Fort Rouge. It stood on the southern shore
of the Assiniboine, opposite the site of Fort
Garry. From this time forward French
fur-traders regularly resorted to Fort Rouge,
and other posts were established on the
route leading thence to Fort William on
Lake Superior. For some time after the
Conquest of 1763 the fur-trade in these
regions seems to have been almost aban
doned. It was gradually resumed, however,
chiefly by private traders, many of whom
were Scotchmen resident in Montreal. The
traffic was prosecuted under many disad
vantages, for agents sometimes proved faith
less, and there were large incidental losses.
It was nevertheless attended on the whole
with much pecuniar}' success. The Hud
son's Bay Company found that in order to
protect their own interests it would be neces
sary for them to engage in the traffic them
selves. They accordingly constructed forts
at various important points, and their wealth
enabled them to carry on the undertaking
on a scale, and after a fashion which mere
private traders could not hope to oppose
with any prospect of success. This led the
latter to cooperate for their mutual benefit.
In 1783 a number of these private traders
formed themselves into an organization un
der the name of the North-West Company
of Montreal. They had ample capital, and

52

LORD SELKIRK.

their directors were men of great energy
and force of character. They were fully
resolved to have their share of the profits
arising from the traffic in furs. They also
constructed forts here and there wherever
they deemed advisable, and their operations
extended all the way from Lake Superior
to the Pacific Coast. Some idea of the ex
tent of their operations may be formed from
the fact that they had as many as five thou
sand persons in their employ at the same
time. They denied or ignored the prior
rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, whom
they regarded as opulent and intolerant
rivals. The hostility between these two
companies was most intense. The operations
of the one constantly conflicted with those
of the other, and whenever their emissaries
met it was the old story of Montague and
Capulet over again.
While matters were in this unsatisfactory
state. Lord Selkirk, who, like his father-in-
law, was a large shareholder in the Hudson's
Bay Company, was elected as its Governor.
He had long cherished the scheme of found
ing a colony either in one of the remote
regions of the West or in one of the islands
of the Paciflc. His heart had often bled
for the condition' of many of the poor High
landers in the north, and he had longed to
emancipate them from their hapless lot.
He had also, as a prominent stockholder in
the Hudson's Bay Company, chafed under
the opposition of the rival concern. He
now saw his way to carrying out one of his
long-cherished colonization projects, and at
the same time to upholding the legitimate
supremacy of the great corporation in which
he had so large a pecuniary interest. The
possession of a fort at the confluence of the
Eed and Assiniboine Rivers would afford a
strong base of operations, and its mainten
ance would give the Company practical con
trol over the surrounding districts. A col
ony planted there would be dependent on
the Company for their supplies, and would

also be glad to dispose of their own supplies,
whereby a double profit would accrue to
the Company. The money paid to the col
onists would moreover be thus retained in
the country, instead of being carried out of
it. It must not be forgotten, too, that Lord
Selkirk was a man of great natural piety.
He was sincerely desirous of promoting the
evangelization of mankind, and believed that
a colony planted on Red River would ulti
mately be the means of rescuing the native
barbarians of the North-West from the
state of savagery in which they lived. It
would also relieve, to some extent, the re
dundant population of the Old World. He
accordingly resolved to take a number of
poor Highland families from Sutherland
shire, and establish them on the Red River,
at or near the important point where Fort
Rouge had been constructed eighty years
before by the Sieur Varennes de Verandrye.
In furtherance of this scheme he, in the
year 1811, obtained from the Company a
grant of sixteen thousand square miles, in
cluding more than ten millions of acres of
land contiguous to Red River. He thereby
obtained full proprietary rights over this
wide expanse of territory, subject only to
the burden of extinguishing the Indian
title. Having secured his grant, he at once set
about turning it to account. At this time
the enforced removal of many of the Duchess
of Sutherland's poorer tenants from her
estates in Sutherlandshire was imminent.
To these persons Lord Selkirk offered a home
in the wilds of Rupert's Land, and by a
shipload of them his offer was thankfully
accepted. They were nearly all from the
parish of Kildonan, the name of which is
perpetuated on this continent by the name
of the little parish in the Red River country
wherein many of them found a refuge. A
vessel having been provided for them, they
set sail from their native land, and reached
York Factory, at the mouth of Hayes River,

LORD SELKIRK.

53

on the western .shore of Hudson's Bay, in the
autumn of the year (1811). York Factory
was then the headquarters of the Hudson's
Bay Company in America. They spent the
winter at Fort Churchill, more than a hun
dred miles to the north of the point of dis
embarkation. With the advent of spring
they resumed their interrupted journey to
the centre of the North American continent.
They ascended the Norfolk River, crossed
Lake Winnipeg, and ascended the chocolate-
coloured stream known as the Red River of
the North, until they reached the point
where the Assiniboine pours its waters into
it. The old fori erected by Verandrye must
have been either dismantled or totally de
molished, as we find no reference to it after
the arrival of the emigrants. Scarcely had
they reached their destination when their
troubles began. The North-West Com
pany's emissaries, having heard of Lord Sel
kirk's project, had busied themselves in set
ting up the Indians of the district to oppose
the settlement of the emigrants. They also
made it their business to oppose the settle
ment on their own account. If an agricul
tural community were permitted to obtain
a footing there, it was evident enough that
the fur trade would be seriously interfered
with. A large mixed force, consisting of
Indians and representatives of the North-
West Company in the disguise of Indians,
presented themselves before the sons of the
Gael (who were about a hundred in number,
inclusive of women and children), and for
bade them to remain, on peril of their lives.
The latter were unable to make any efficient
resistance to these demands, for they had to
consider their wives and little ones, and the
number of Indians ready to take the field
against them seemed to be limitless. They
were accordingly compelled to seek refuge
at the Hudson's Bay Company's fort at Pem
bina, at what is now the frontier line be
tween Manitoba and the United States.
There they .spent, in great discomfort, the-

winter of 1812-13. In the following spring
they were permitted to return to the spot
whence they had been driven. They built
log huts, and made some little progress in
the way of cultivating the ground, when
they were again attacked by a force of com
bined Indians and whites, acting under
specific instructions from the North-West
Company, the directors whereof had formal
ly resolved upon the destruction of the col
ony. The huts of the colonists were burned
to the ground, their crops were destroyed,
and several of their number were slain.
They again sought a temporary refuge at
Pembina, but were soon afterwards rein
forced by the arrival of a number of addi
tional emigrants from Scotland. The entire
colony now set to work to rebuild their habi
tations, together with additional ones for
the new arrivals. A fort was also built
for their protection at a spot on the Red
River about a mile north of the confluence
of the two rivers. It was called Fort Doug
las, in honour of the family name of the
founder of the colony, and it stood on the
site now known as Point Douglas. The op
position to which the unfortunate colonists
were subjected made them lose heart, and in
1815 a number of them left for Canada.
For a time it seemed that there would be a
complete break-up of the colony. Several
additional reinforcements arrived, however,
from the Highlands of Scotland, and towards
the close of 1815 the settlers numbered
about 200. But the feud between the two
companies waxed hotter and hotter. In the
spring of 1816 Mr. Robert Semple arrived
in the colony. A few months previously he
had been appointed by the Hudson's Bay
Company to the position of Governor of
their forts and territories in Rupert's Land,
and the object of his mission to Red River
was to ascertain the exact position of the
colony there, with a view to providing, if ne
cessary, additional means of defence against
the encroachments of the North-West Com-

54

LORD SELKIRK.

pany and their scarcely more savage allies.
During an ignominious skirmish which oc
curred on the 19 th of June, 1816, between
a party of emissaries of the North-West
Company and a few of the colonists, Gover
nor Semple, who had placed himself at the
head of the latter, was slain, together with
a number of his partisans. This tragedy
occurred at a spot called Seven Oaks, a short
distance to the rear of the present abode of
Mr. Colin Inkster, Sheriff of Manitoba, and
about three miles from Fort Garry.
This tragical event for a time threatened
to effect the purpose which the North-West
Company had so much at heart — the break
ing up of the colony. At the time when
it occurred, however. Lord Selkirk himself
was on his way thither, anxious to see the
success of his experiment at colonization.
Upon reaching New York towards the close
of 1815, he for the first time heard of the
partial break-up of the colony. He had,
however, two other colonies on his hands,
both of which demanded his immediate at
tention at this juncture. One of these was
on Lake St. Clair ; the other was at the
mouth of the Grand River, in Upper Can
ada. He visited both these colonies in turn,
and made certain arrangements for the com
fort of the settlers. Having concluded these
arrangements he was about to proceed to Red
River when he was prostrated by sickness,
on the very eve of his intended departure,
and was compelled to send a representative.
The person chosen to represent His Lordship
was a French-Canadian by name Lagimo-
nifere, who was interrupted on his journey
by persons acting on behalf of the North-
West Company, and was not permitted to
continue it. Lord Selkirk had by this
time sufficiently recovered to be able to
undertake the expedition in person, and
having received no tidings of Lagimoni^re,
he concluded that he had been waylaid and
probably murdered by the agents of the
rival company. He accordingly resolved to

make his own way to Red River, and to
provide against a similar contingency to him
self by taking a sufficient force to protect
him from maltreatment. He proceeded to
Montreal, arid applied to the Commander-
in-Chief of the Forces for a body-guard of
sufficient strength to enable him to make
the journey in safety. In consequence of
the war with the United States having
been brought to a close, there were at that
time several disbanded regiments in Canada.
He engaged, at his own expense, about
eighty men and four officers of one of these
regiments, known as the De Meuron Regi
ment, together with a few voluntaries from
two other corps. He also caused himself to
be appointed a Justice of the Peace, in order
that he might invest his subsequent pro
ceedings with an aspect of legality. Plac
ing himself at the head of his forces, he
proceeded westward by way of Lake Huron.
Upon reaching Sault Ste. Marie, he heard for
the flrst time of the skirmish at Seven Oaks,
and of its tragical consequences. He has
tened on with his troops, by way of Lake
Superior, and in due course reached Fort
William, at the mouth of the Kaministiquia
River, where one of the principal stations
of the North-West Company was situated.
He encamped on the opposite side of. the
river, and issued his warrant as a Justice of
the Peace for the arrest of Mr. McGillivray,
the chief agent of the rival company at the
post. The latter submitted to arrest, and it
then appeared that several other partners in
the great Montreal Company were on the
premises. Notwithstanding the presence
of about two hundred French-Canadians .
and a number of Indians attached to the
Company's service. Lord Selkirk promptly
arrested all the partners, and despatched
them under a sufficient guard to York, to
stand their trial for the murder of Governor
Semple, and for arson, robbery, and other
misdemeanours committed at Red River.
He himself, with the greater part of his

LORD SELKIRK.

55

troops, pushed on to his destination, taking
possession of all the posts belonging to the
North-West Company on the route. Having
reached Red River, he succeeded in impart
ing some measure of his own determination
to the colonists. He felt himself responsi
ble for their presence there. He supplied
them with seed-grain and agricultural im
plements at his own expense. Notwith
standing his benevolence, the settlers suf
fered terrible privations. When their crops
were nearly fit for harvesting the grasshop
pers made their appearance, and left the
ground bare. Lord Selkirk imported fresh
supplies, and personally attended to many
details to insure the success of the colony.
He also succeeded in extinguishing the In
dian title to so much of the lands as was re
quired for purposes of colonization. This
was effected by an instrument dated the
18th of July, 1817, made between himself
and the chiefs and warriors df the Salteaux,
or Chippewa, and Cree nations. He also set
apart lands for the erection of a church and
a school-house. The hostility between the
two great companies was finally put an
end to by their amalgamation in 1821. His
Lordship, however, did not live to see this
consummation, but he lived to see his pro
ject an accomplished fact. He did not leave
Red River until he saw his colonists in what,
for them, must have been regarded as com
fortable circumstances. Then he took his
departure for his native land, his consti
tution seriously Impaired by the exposure
and hard.ships to which he had been sub
jected, and from the effects of which he
never recovered.
Meanwhile, the trials of the prisoners at
York had been delayed term after term.
Lord Selkirk believed that the influence
of the North-West Company was too strong
in Canada to enable him to obtain justice.
It is certain that the Company's influence
was very strong, and that the prisoners,
when their trials finally came on in Octo

ber, 1818, were acquitted for want of evi
dence. The Earl, however, does not seem
to have tried very hard to secure their con
viction. He did not wait for the trials, but
went home to Great Britain during the pre
vious year. He published several volumes
giving a full account of the Red River set
tlement, and of his proceedings in relation
thereto. Accompanied by Lady Selkirk,
he sought repose and a renewal of health
in the south of France. His vitality, how
ever, was too much impaired, and he died at
Pau on the 8th of April, 1820.
His name is held in high respect in the
colony on Red River, and one of its electoral
constituencies is named in his honour. The
town of Selkirk, also, several miles below
Lower Fort Garry, commemorates his name
and services to the district. Several ver
dicts for false imprisonment were obtained
against him at York after his departure
from Canada, the amounts whereof his ex
ecutors were called upon to pay. One of
these verdicts was in favour of William
Smith, Under-Sheriff of the Western Dis
trict, and was for £500. Another was for
the formidable sum of £1,500, and was re
covered by Daniel McKenzie, a former part
ner in the North-West Company.
In 1836 the Hudson's Bay Company, in
order to put an end to various complications
with respect to the land-tenure in the Red
River settlement, re-purchased from Lord
Selkirk's heirs the entire tract which had
been granted to him in 1811. The pecu
niary consideration for the re-purchase was
about eighty-four thousand pounds sterling.
His eldest son, Dunbar James Douglas,
born in 1809, succeeded him as sixth Earl,
and still survives. The wife of the subject
of this sketch, and the mother of the present
representative, survived until the 10th of
June, 1871. A daughter of the fifth Earl is
also living at the present time. She is Lady
Isabella Helen Hope, wife of the Hon. Charles
Hope, a son of the fourth Earl of Hopetoun.

THE HON. LUCIUS SETH HUNTINGTON.

M

R. HUNTINGTON'S abilities would
have made him a marked man in any
legislative body in which he might have
found a place; but certain circumstances
have combined to render him one of the
best known personages in Canadian public
life. His abilities are disputed by none.
As to his personal character and attributes
there is greater divergence of opinion. In
the ranks of the Reform Party he holds a
very conspicuous place — a place second to
that of not more than two or three men in
the Dominion, and the esteem in which he
is held by Reformers generally is quite com
mensurate with his political standing. This
estimate, however, is not universally acqui
esced in by his political opponents, by many
of whom he is regarded with a very moder
ate degree of respect, and to whom his per
sonality is not more acceptable than his
politics. It would perhaps not be going too
far to say that by many of the latter he is
intensely disliked, and that by a few of
them he is contemplated with a hatred that
is unforgiving. It is neither our purpose
nor our desire to pronounce judgment on
the merits of such conflicting opinions. All
that we propose to ourselves is to briefly
and impartially tell the story of his life,
leaving it to others to interpret the narra
tive according to their own lights.
He comes of Puritan stock. In 1633 his
paternal ancestors emigrated from Norwich,
England, to the colony of Massachusetts

Bay, and thenceforward figured more or
less conspicuously in the colonial annals.
Towards the close of the last century his
paternal grandfather removed from New
England to Canada, and settled on the banks
of the Coaticook River, in the county of
Compton, in the Province of Quebec, where
his son, Mr. Seth Huntington, the father
of the subject of this sketch, also resided
until his death, which took place in. 1875.
Mr. Seth Huntington's wife, whose maiden
name was Horry, was also of a New Eng
land family, which removed to Canada after
the close of the Revolutionary War, and
settled in the county of Stanstead. Lucius
Seth Huntington was born at Compton,
on the 26th of May, 1827. He received
his education at the common schools, and
afterwards studied law at Sherbrooke, sup
porting himself meanwhile by teaching in a
township High School. In 1853 he was
called to the Bar of Lower Canada, and
three years later embarked in journalism as
proprietor of the Waterloo Advertiser. This
paper he conducted for some time with char
acteristic vigour, and the " slashing " tone of
its editorial articles involved him in various
local disputes which made his name widely
known throughout the Eastern Townships.
In political opinions he was an advanced
Liberal, and in 1860 he came forward as
a candidate for a seat in the Canadian As
sembly for the county of Shefford. The
contest resulted in a "tie," and there was

THE HON. LUCIUS SETH HUNTINGTON.

57

consequently no return, as the then-existing
Parliament expired before the election com
mittee appointed to investigate the affair
had presented its report. At the general
election of 1861 he again presented himself
to the same constituency, and secured a re
turn. He has ever since represented Shef
ford in Parliament ; prior to Confederation
in the Assembly, and since that event in
the House of Commons of the Dominion.
From the outset of his Parliamentary
career he developed remarkable aptitude
for Parliamentary life, more especially as a
speaker. He had a never-failing command
of vigorous. language, and made himself con
spicuous for his scathing criticism of meas
ures whereof he, disapproved. His energy
and good judgment also made him useful as
a member of committees. Upon the recon
struction of the late John Sandfield Mac
donald's Administration in May, 1863, he
became an Executive Councillor, and ac
cepted the Solicitor- Generalship for the
Lower Province. He retained office until
the resignation of the Government in March,
1864, when the Tache-Macdonald Govern
ment succeeded to power.
It has been said that Mr. Huntington's
political views were of an " advanced " char
acter; to which it may be added that on
sgme subjects they were altogether "in
advance" of most of his colleagues. He
was an avowed advocate of Canadian inde
pendence, and both in his speeches and his
writings urged his views upon the public
with frequency, as well as with considerable
power of oratory. In these views he found
few sympathizers among the members of
Parliament, and some of his opponents were
wont to taunt him with being an annexa
tionist in disguise. His almost isolated posi
tion in this respect interfered, to some ex
tent, with his usefulness to his Party, but
he never made any attempt to conceal or
dissemble his views, and had the full cour
age of his opinions. After the accomplish-
IV— 9

ment of Confederation he yielded his alle
giance to the new order of things. He
arrayed himself on the side of the Oppo
sition, and was from first to last one of the
most uncompromising opponents of Sir John
A. Macdonald's Government. His opposi
tion was fraught with momentous results
to the Government and to the country at
large. During the early part of the first session
of the second Parliament of the Dominion,
which was opened on the 6th of March,
1873, it began to be rumoured that there
was some irregularity about the granting
of the charter for the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, which had been
obtained by Sir Hugh Allan and others on
the 5th of February. The rumours were of
the most vague character, and it was not
commonly supposed that the irregularity
was very serious in its nature. As matter
of fact, Mr. Huntington had become pos
sessed of information which convinced him
that there had been a corrupt bargain be
tween Sir Hugh Allan and the Government,
and he proceeded quietly to get his mate
rials together with a view to bringing the
subject before the attention of Parliament.
With the assistance of his partner, Mr. La
flamme, he erelong succeeded in obtaining
such evidence as to justify him, in his opin
ion, in proceeding with the matter. On the
2nd of April he rose in his place in the
House, and after a brief statement of facts,
submitted the following resolution: — That
Mr. Huntington, a member of this House,
having stated in his place that he is credibly
informed, and believes that he can establish
by satisfactory evidence, that in anticipa
tion of the legislation of last session, as to
the Pacific Railway, an agreement was made
between Sir Hugh Allan, acting for himself
and certain other Canadian proriioters, and
G. W. McMullen, acting for certain United
States capitalists, whereby the latter agreed
to furnish all the funds necessary for the

58

THE HON. LUCIUS SETH HUNTINGTON.

construction of the contemplated railway,
and to give the former a certain percentage
of interest in consideration of their interest
and position ; the scheme agreed upon be
ing ostensibly that of a Canadian company
with Sir Hugh Allan at its head : That the
Government were aware that negotiations
were pending between these parties: That
subsequently an understanding was come
to between the Government and Sir Hugh
Allan and Mr. Abbott, M.P., that Sir Hugh
and his friends should advance a large sum
of money for the purpose of aiding the elec
tions of ministers and their supporters at
the ensuing general election, and that he
and his friends should receive the contract
for the construction of the railway : That
accordingly Sir Hugh Allan did advance a
large sum of money for the purpose men
tioned, and at the solicitation, and under
the pressing instance of ministers : That
part of the moneys expended by Sir Hugh
Allan in connection with the obtaining of
the Act of Incorporation and Charter were
paid to him by the said United States capi
talists under the agreement with him : It is
Ordered that a committee of seven members
be appointed to inquire into all the circum
stances connected with the negotiations for
the construction of the Pacific Railway, with
the legislation of last session on the subject,
and with the granting of the charter to Sir
Hugh Allan and others ; with power to send
for persons, papers, and records, and with
instructions to report in full the evidence
taken before, and all proceedings of said
committee. This resolution was treated as a motion
of want of confidence in the Ministry, and
was rejected by a majority of thirty-one
votes. Sir John Macdonald for the time
maintained silence in the House about the
matter, but he well knew that he could not
continue to do so with impunity. Public
opinion was aroused, and even his own sup
porters became moody and dissatisfied with

his policy of reticence. On the following
day, accordingly, he himself gave notice
that on the next Government day — Tues
day, the 8th — he would move for the ap
pointment of a committee. He kept his
word, and the committee was appointed. It
consisted of three Ministerialists — the Hons.
J. G. Blanchet, James McDonald, and John
Hillyard Cameron; and two members of
the Opposition — the Hons. Edward Blake
and A. A. Dorion. Mr. Cameron was ap
pointed chairman, but the question of ex
amining the witnesses upon oath having
been raised, it was deemed necessary to
postpone the proceedings until a Bill em
powering Parliamentary Committees to ad
minister oaths should become law. The
requisite Bill was passed on the 3rd of May,
and as doubts, were expressed as to its legal
ity a certified copy of it was forwarded by
the Governor-General to England for the
approval of the law officers of the Crown.
When the committee, thus fully empowered,
met twelve days afterwards, an appeal was
made for delay on the ground that Sir
George E. Cartier and the Hon. J. J. C.
Abbott, who were important witnesses, were
in England, and were not expected to return
to Canada for several weeks. Mr. Hunting
ton urged the committee to proceed. He
pointed out that his charges had been known
to these men for a month ; that they had
had ample time to return if they so desired ;
that the Premier had at first sought to stifle
inquiry ; that he had failed on the line first
taken ; that he then proposed to court it ;
that he allowed several weeks to be wasted
because he professed to want the evidence
taken on oath, while no effort was made to
enable the committee to proceed in that
way, and that among the witnesses were
several of the colleagues of the Premier, of
whose testimony he ought not to be so much
afraid. The committee finally adjourned
to the 2nd of July. Long before that, time
came round Mr. Huntington had obtained

THE HON. LUCIUS SETH HUNTINGTON.

59

important additional evidence, and on the
15th of May he informed the House that
original documents of the greatest impor
tance in the investigation of the charges
were held by a trustee (whose name he was
prepared to disclose to the committee) on
such condition, and under such circum
stances, that there was very great danger
that they might be placed beyond the reach
of the committee before the day upon which
they were next to meet. He asked the
House to order that the committee should
meet on the following day, and that they
should summon the trustee by whom the
documents were held, to appear before them
and produce the documents in his possession
relating to the inquiry. It is usual in such
cases for the House tp a.sk to be put in pos
session, so far as possible, of the character
of the papers and the nature of the infor
mation disclosed. Mr. Huntington, in the
course of his speech in support of his motion,
was about to read certain letters, when Sir
John A Macdonald called Mr. Huntington
to order, and said he would move that they
proceed to the orders of the day. He was
informed by Mr. Holton that he had stated
no point of order, that he had verbally put
a motion in amendment to the motion of
Mr. Huntington, which he had no right to
do, for Mr. Huntington had the floor and
had not concluded his remarks. Sir John
A. Macdonald then said it was not compe
tent for Mr. Huntington to read letters or
papers as evidence, as they could only be
properly submitted to the select committee
to whom the whole case had been referred
by the House. The Speaker, the Hon. James
Cockburn, held the point well taken, and
the papers were not read. They consisted
chiefly of the famous Allan-McMullen cor
respondence, and had been placed in the
hands of the Hon. Henry Starnes, banker,
of Montreal, to be delivered up to Sir Hugh
Allan on certain conditions. There is lit
tle doubt that had this correspondence been

read and made public as Mr. Huntington
proposed, the downfall of the Ministry could
not have been delayed until the following
November. When the committee met on the 2nd of
July it was announced that the Oaths Bill
had been disallowed. They were thus un
able to proceed with the inquiry, having
no power to examine witnesses under oath,
although Mr. Huntington was personally
in attendance for the purpose of substan
tiating the serious charges which he had
made. The next phase in the drama was a
proposal by the Premier to issue a Royal
Commission addressed to the gentlemen
forming the committee, which would confer
upon them all the powers given to a com
mittee, by the House of Commons, including
the examination of witnesses under oath,
and the power to send for persons, papers
and records. Both Mr. Dorion and Mr.
Blake wrote to Sir John A. Macdonald in
reply to this proposition. They pointed out
to him that the inquiry was undertaken by
the House ; that the issue of a Royal Com
mission by a Government to inquire into
charges against itself would be an unheard-
of proceeding, and that it would not aid but
prejudice the inquiry by the House ; that
the House did not expect the Crown or any
one else, least of all the membeirs of its own
committee, to obstruct the inquiry which it
had undertaken. The committee adjourned
to the 13th of August, and immediately af
terwards the famous Allan-McMullen cor-
resporidence was given to the world through
the Montreal Herald and the Toronto Globe.
The effect upon public opinion in Canada —
and in a lesser degree in Great Britain —
was electrical. There could no longer be
any real doubt as to the perpetration of
gross corruption, and the fate of the Mac
donald Ministry was sealed. When Parlia
ment met, pursuant to adjournment, on the
13th of August, the members were in a
decidedly investigating mood. His Excel-

lency, however, by the advice of his Minis
ters, prorogued Parliament, amid a tumult
uous scene which will not soon be forgotten
by those who beheld it. A Royal Commis
sion, under the Act 31 Victoria, chapter 38,
was then issued by the Governor- General,
directed to the Hon. C. D. Day, the Hon.
Antoine Polette, and James Robert Gowan,
Judge of the County Court of the county
of Simcoe. It enjoined upon the Commis
sioners that they should investigate the
charges made by Mr. Huntington, and re
port to the Speakers of the Senate and
Commons, as well as to the Secretary of
State. The Commission met at Ottawa,
and requested Mr. Huntington to furnish a
list of his witnesses. To this request Mr.
Huntington replied by a letter, dated the
26th of August, and addressed to Judge
Day, as Chairman of the Commission. " I
have to call your attention to the fact,"
wrote Mr. Huntington, "apparent on the
face of the Commission, that it was as a
member of the House of Commons, and
from my place in Parliament, that I pre
ferred these charges against Ministers of the
Crown and members of that House, which,
on the 8th day of April last, entertained
the charges, determined to investigate them
itself, and appointed a select committee to
inquire into and report upon them ; and to
the further fact, apparent on the Journals
of the House, that to the said, committee I
furnished a list of some of the principal
witnesses, whose evidence I believe could
establish my charges, and I have always
been ready to proceed to the proof thereof
before the tribunal constituted by the House
for the investigation. The determination of
the Commons to investigate these charges
remains unaltered, and I deem it inconsis
tent with my duty as a member of Parlia
ment, and a breach of the undoubted privi
leges of the House, to recognize any inferior
or exceptional tribunal, created to inquire
into charges still pending before the Com

mons, and so essentially affecting the privi
leges, dignity, and independence of Parlia
ment. I believe that it is a breach of those
privileges that a Royal Commission, issued
without the special sanction of the House,
should take any cognizance of, or should
assume to call on me, to justify words which
I have spoken on the floor of the Commons,
and for which I am responsible to them, and
to them alone. I feel that I should do no
act which may be construed into an acqui
escence in the attempt to remove from the
Commons the conduct and control of the
inquiry. I believe that the creation of the
Commission involves a breach of that funda
mental principle of the constitution which
preserves to the Commons the right and
duty of initiating and controlling inquiries
into high political offences ; that it involves
also a breach of that fundamental principle
of justice which prevents the accused from
creating the tribunal and controlling the
procedure for their trial; and that it is a
commission without precedent, unknown to
the Common Law, unsanctioned by the
Statute Law, providing by an exercise of
the prerogative for an inquiry out of the
ordinary course of justice into misdemean
our cognizable by the Courts, and conse
quently illegal and void. Entertaining
these views, you will not expect me to act
otherwise than in conformity with them,
and you will be satisfied that by my non
appearance before the Commission I intend
no disrespect to the Commissioners, but am
moved by the same sense of public duty
which will constrain me at the earliest
practicable moment to renew the efforts
which I have been making since April last
to bring to trial before the Commons of
Canada the men whom I have impeached
as public criminals."
Various other witnesses who were in a
position to give important evidence fol
lowed Mr. Huntington's example, and de
clined to appear before the Commission.

THE HON. LUCIUS SETH HUNTINGTON.

61

Thirty -six witnesses appeared and were
examined. Their evidence has long been
before the world, and judgment has long
since been passed upon it. When Parlia
ment met in the following autumn Mr.
Blake made a speech which produced a tell
ing effect upon the House, and upon the
country at large. The Ministry resigned
office, and were succeeded by Mr. Macken
zie's Government, which came into power
on the 7th of November. Mr. Huntington
did not immediately become a member of
the new Cabinet, but was sworn in as a
Privy Councillor on the 20th of January
foUcwing, when he became President of the
Council. Upon returning to his constituents
in Shefford, after accepting office, he was
reelected by acclamation. He retained the
office of President of the Council until Oc
tober, 1875, when he succeeded the Hon.
Telesphore Foumier as Postmaster -Gen
eral, which position he retained until the
resignation of the Government in October,
1878. The foregoing facts, we think, will suffi
ciently explain the hostile feelings enter
tained towards Mr. Huntington by certain
members of the Conservative Partv ; but he
has also been subjected to a good deal of ad
verse criticism on other grounds. For some
time previous to 1873 he had given con
siderable attention to commercial pursuits.

and had engaged in efforts to develop the
mineral resources of the Province of Quebec.
A market for Quebec copper having been
found in England and the United States, a
company was formed under his auspices for
working the mines. Out of these negotia
tions arose some serious charges against Mr.
Huntington, the purport of which was that
he had by misrepresentation obtained a
larger amount for the property than its real
value. The matter was frequently referred
to in the public press and elsewhere, and
suits were instituted against Mr. Hunting
ton. They were subsequently withdrawn,
however, and the plaintiffs admitted that
they had been misled bj' false information.
Since the accession to power of the present
Government Mr. Huntington has been con
spicuous as a member of the Opposition, and
is regarded as adding very materially to its
strength. He has been twice married. His first
wife was Miriam Jane, daughter of Major
David Wood, of Shefford. This lady died in
1871. His present wife, whom he married
at New York on the 28th of October, 1877,
was Mrs. Marsh, widow of the late Charles
Marsh, Civil Engineer. His eldest son, the
late Mr. Russ Wood Huntington, who died
on the 13th of November, 1879, was promi
nently connected with the editorial depart
ment of the Montreal Herald.

THE REV. GEORGE W. HILL, A.M., D.C.L.,
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HALIFAX.

DR. HILL, one of the most distinguished
living inhabitants of the Province of
Nova Scotia, was born in the city of Hali
fax, on the 9th of November, 1824. His
life has been one of very remarkable indus
try and mental activity, and has been at
tended with noteworthy results to the edu
cational, social, and literary interests of his
native Province. In his case, a rare capa
city for hard work is happily blended with
vigorous mental endowments, and a high
and honourable purpose in life. His capa
city for work is sufficiently attested by his
parochial, literary, and scholastic labours.
The distinction which he has achieved as a
divine, as an orator, as an educator, and as
a man of letters, affords abundant evidence
of a vigorous mind; and the respect in
which he is held by persons of the most
opposite lines of thought is a tolerably con
clusive proof of the worthiness of his aims.
Nova Scotia has produced men who have
become more widely known. His pursuits
have not been of a nature to blazon his
name abroad; but within the limits of the
Province in which nearly all his life has
been passed, no name is held in higher
esteem than that of the present Chancellor
of the University of Halifax.
His life, like that of most scholars, has
been devoid of startling adventures. It has
been passed in the acquisition and dissemi
nation of useful knowledge, in discharging
the duties incidental to clerical pursuits.

and in literary labours. He received the
elements of a good English and classical
education at the Halifax Grammar School,
and afterwards matriculated at Acadia Col
lege, Wolfville, where he passed through
the studies of the first and second years'
courses. He then betook himself to the
country, and spent several years in farm-
life, which did much to increase the vigour
of a naturally sound and robust constitu
tion. It was never his intention, however,
to make agriculture the business of his
life ; and having chosen the ministry of the
Church of England as his profession, he
entered King's College, Windsor, where,
after a successful collegiate career, he grad
uated as B.A. in 1847. During the same
year he was ordained a Deacon, and became
curate of the populous and important parish
of St. George's, Halifax. Next year he was
ordained to the priesthood. He remained
in connection with St. George's about seven
years, during which period he won a high
local reputation for learning, eloquence, and
the industry wherewith he discharged the
various duties assigned to him. Early in
1854 he proceeded to England on an im
portant mission on behalf of King's College,
Windsor. He acquitted himself of this mis
sion greatly to the satisfaction of all parties
concerned, and on his return, after an ab
sence of several months, his alma mater con
ferred upon him the appointment of Pro
fessor of Pastoral Theology. For five years

THE REV. GEORGE W. HILL, AM., D.C.L.

63

he filled the position with great satisfaction
to the friends of the College. In 1859 he
returned to Halifax as the curate of St.
Paul's Church, and, on the death of the in
cumbent, in 1865, he was chosen Rector by
the unanimous voice of the congregation.
He was at the same time appointed Chaplain
to the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia.
Both these appointments he has ever since
retained. As Rector, his position is a very
important one in the Nova Scotian capital,
both ecclesiastically and socially. We may
add that the position is one very congenial
to himself. " St. Paul's," says a contempo
rary writer, " has associations and a history
surpassing in interest probably those of any
other Protestant sanctuary in the Dominion.
Built within a year of the founding of Hali
fax (1750), it has witnessed the changes and
the progress of 130 years, and its frame of
oak is still untouched by the tooth of time.
Dean Stanley is not more au fait and en
thusiastic in all that pertains to his cele
brated abbey than is the Doctor in regard
to the interesting antiquities of St. Paul's."
In 1876 the University of Halifax was
established. It was modelled to a large
extent upon the University of London,
England, and does not undertake the office
of instruction. Its sole duty consists in
examining those who may present them
selves for examination, and in conferring
degrees upon those who are successful, in
the ordeal. The office of Chancellor was
conferred upon Doctor Hill, and his ap
pointment was accepted by all as a fitting
tribute to his great learning and high per
sonal character. His discharge of the duties
of the position has fully borne out the ex
pectations formed of him. Under his di
rection the Senate of the University has
made gratifying progress in harmonizing
the higher educational forces of the Prov
ince. Dr. Hill's contributions to literature have
been many in number, and various in char

acter. Among the most important may
be mentioned " Old Testament History, its
Chronology, Apparent Discrepancies, and
Unde.signed Coincidences," published at
Halifax in 1855; "Nova Scotia and Nova
Scotians," a lecture delivered before the
Literary and Debating Society of Windsor,
in 1858, and afterwards published in pam
phlet form. Of this production the Halifax
Express eulogistically remarked : " We have
seldom had the satisfaction of listening to
a discourse written in a style so classic, and
delivered in such an eloquent manner, as
that by which this lecture was character
ized. From the commencement to the close,
each period seemed to surpass in classic ele
gance that which had preceded it ; and the
simple narrative was so adorned and em
bellished as to appear the sublime concep
tion of the poet and the scholar." During
the same year Dr. Hill delivered and pub
lished a sermon entitled "A Review of the
Rise and Progress of the Church of Eng
land in Nova Scotia ;" also " Records of the
Church of England in Rawdon from its
origin until the present date." In 1860 the
Doctor delivered an oration at the inaugu
ration of the Welsford and Parker Monu
ment, which the journal already mentioned
characterized as " an oration of matchless
beauty, tracing with a master-hand the
lives and characters of the heroes, and the
stirring events in which they were actors."
In 1864 Dr. Hill published an important
addition to the Provincial literature in the
form of a " Memoir of Sir Brenton Hali
burton, late Chief Justice of the Province
of Nova Scotia." Of this work another
Nova Scotian newspaper remarked: "We
look upon this volume . . as a very
interesting contribution to our colonial lit
erature. It deals with the life and actions
of a good and great colonist who distin
guished himself, during the most stirring
periods of our colonial history, as a soldier,
statesman, and jurist ; and in the eyes of

64

THE REV. GEORGE W. HILL, A.M., D.C.L.

those who knew him best he was most ad
mired for the many virtues which adorned
his character in social life. In sketching
the career of his hero, the author's hand
seems to have been tremulous with affec
tion ; but the judgment which characterizes
his pages is unclouded, and the style is easy,
correct, and sometimes eloquent."
The foregoing works, which by no means
complete the list of Dr. Hill's literary efforts,
have been merely the products of his leisure.
The worh of his life has been chiefly devoted
to his professional and educational pursuits,
the records of which necessarily remain un
written. Though now in his fifty-seventh
year, he is still in the prime of his intel
lectual and physical powers. "Toil," says
a writer already quoted from, " has left but

little impress of itself on his erect form, and
fresh, health-indicating countenance. Noth
ing short of eminent natural endowments,
and well-disciplined faculties sustained in
their action by a high moral purpose, could
enable one to work so vigorously, so con
stantly, and withal so easily." In addition
to the offices already referred to, he fiUs
other important positions, including those
of President of the Church of England In
stitute, President of the Board controlling
St. Paul's Almshouse of Industry, and Gov
ernor of the Orphan Asylum. He is also
Vice-President both of the British and
Foreign Bible Society and of the Tract
Society. His degree of D.C.L. was con
ferred upon him by the University of
King's College, Windsor.

Iiili*^l^4sa^u:¦T™l,fo„Il..,JyK.l,T.^I.^tl«.m,

¦i.ra*itaaiut,i„i,j^

SIR ANTOINE AIME DORION,
CHIEF yUSTICE OF THE COURT OF QUEENS BENCH, QUEBEC.

CHIEF JUSTICE DORION was born in
the parish of Ste. Anne de la Perade,
in the county of Champlain, in the Prov
ince of Lower Canada, on the 17th of Janu
ary, 1818. He is a son of the late Mr. Pierre
Antoine Dorion, who carried on business as
a general merchant at Ste. Anne de la Pe
rade, and was a gentleman of much local
influence and reputation, having represent
ed the county of Champlain in the Legisla
tive Assembly of Lower Canada from 1830
to 1838. The Chief Justice's mother was
Genevieve, daughter of the late Mr. P. Bu
reau, who also occupied a seat in the Pro
vincial Assembly, where he represented the
county of St. Maurice for about fourteen
years, from 1820 to 1834.
After spending some time at the schools
of his native parish, Mr. Dorion completed
his education at Nicolet College, and entered
upon the study of the law. In the month
of January, 1842, he was called to the Bar
of Lower Canada, and immediately after
wards entered upon the practice of his pro
fession at Montreal. His excellent abilities
soon enabled him to take a conspicuous rank
at the Bar, and his graceful and courteous
manners contributed to establish him in a
high social position. In 1848 he married
Miss Trestler, a daughter of the late Dr.
Trestler, of Montreal.
In politics Mr. Dorion held very pro
nounced opinions on the Liberal side from
his earliest youth, and he had not been
IV— 10

many years at the Bar ere his eligibility for
a seat in Parliament began to be discussed
by the leading members of the Liberal Party
in Montreal. His actual, entry into public
life dates from the year 1854, when he was
returned at the general election for the city
of Montreal ; but for some time prior to that
date he had taken an active interest in the
Provincial politics; and had had no slight
share in formulating the policy of the Party
to which he ^belonged. From the outset of
his Parliamentary career he was the recog
nized leader of the Rouge Party in the
House, and was long the steadfast ally of
the late Mr. Brown. He continued to repre
sent the city of Montreal until 1861. When
Mr. Brown formed his short-lived Adminis
tration in the month of August, 1858, Mr.
Dorion accepted office in it as Commis
sioner of Crown Lands, and the Ministry
then formed is commonly referred to as the
Brown-Dorion Administration, from the
names of its respective leaders in the two
Provinces. Upon the formation of the Car
tier-Macdonald Government Mr. Dorion ar
rayed himself in Opposition, and for several
years thereafter he was one of the most
formidable critics which the Government
had to encounter. At the general election
following the dissolution of Parliament in
1861 he was defeated in his constituency
by the Hon. George Etienne Cartier, the
Lower Canadian leader of the Government.
For some months subsequent to this defeat

66

SIR ANTOINE AIMfi DORION.

he remained out of Parliament, but upon
the formation of the Sandfield Macdonald-
Sicotte Government in May, 1862, he ac
cepted office as Provincial Secretary. His
acceptance of office was confirmed by the
electors of Hochelaga, which constituency
he thenceforward continued to represent
until Confederation. He did not long re
tain office in the Cabinet, as then consti
tuted, owing to a difference of opinion with
his colleagues on some matter connected
with the construction of the Intercolonial
Railway. On the 28th of January, 1863,
he resigned, and was succeeded in his post
of Provincial Secretary by the Hon. J. 0.
Bureau. He remained out of office until
the month of May following, when the Gov
ernment was remodelled, and Mr. Dorion
succeeded Mr. Sicotte as Attorney- General
and Lower Canada leader. This position
he held until the defeat of the Cabinet in
March of the following year.
At the first general election after the
Union of the Provinces, Mr. Dorion was re
turned to the House of Commons for the
constituency of Hochelaga. In 1872 he an
nounced his intention of retiring from pub
lic life, and was tendered a complimentary
banquet, along with Mr. Holton, by his
friends in Montreal, but at the general elec
tions of that year he was induced to stand
for Napierville. where he was successful.
He continued to represent Napierville in
the House of Commons so long as he re
mained in public life. He resumed his old
position at the head of his Party, and op
posed Sir John Macdonald's Government
until its downfall in November, 1873. Upon
the formation of Mr. Mackenzie's Adminis
tration immediately afterwards, Mr. Dorion
accepted office in it as Minister of Justice,

which position he retained until his appoint
ment to the Chief Justiceship of Quebec, on
the 30th of May, 1874.
As a lawyer Mr. Dorion has long been
recognized as one of the foremost in his
Province. He was created a Queen's Coun
sel in 1863 ; was several timeselected Baton-
nier of the Bar of Montreal District, and was
also President of the Bar of the Province of
Quebec. He administered the Government
of the Province of Quebec from the death
of the late Lieutenant-Governor Caron until
the appointment of that gentleman's suc
cessor in the person of Mr. Letellier de St.
Ju,st — i.e., from the 8th of November to the
15th of December, 1876. He is a fine lin
guist, a polished scholar, and a judge whose
decisions are held in high respect. Of his
Parliamentary manner Mr. Fennings Tay
lor, in his " Portraits of British Americans,"
speaks in the following terms : " Though a
French Canadian himself, Mr. Dorion might
in one respect be regarded as a representa
tive of both races, for as a speaker and a
fiuent master of both languages he has no
superior in the Legislative Assembly. No
matter in what tongue he chooses to address
the House, his diction is pure and his man
ners equable. If he speaks in English, you
will think him an Englishman with a for
eign face. If he speaks in French, you will
in like manner think him a Frenchman who
has spent much of his life in England. He
is one of those polished, human perplexities,
which are rarely met with out of the diplo
matic services of the greater States of Eu
rope ; for, while his face is continental, his
manner is the manner of the people whose
language, for the time being, he thinks fit
to use, for his speech never bewrays his
race."

THE HON. SAMUEL CASEY WOOD.

MR. WOOD comes of a long-lived race.
His father, Mr. Thomas Smith Wood,
one of the few surviving veterans of the
"War of 1812, was born in 1790, and is con
sequently at the present time a nonagen
arian. His mother, whose maiden name
was Miss Frances Peckins, is also living,
and, at the advanced age of eighty-seven
years, is still in the full enjoyment of all
her faculties.
He was born at the village of Bath, in the
county of Lennox, Upper Canada, on the
27th of December, 1830. He received his
education at various common schools, owing
to the fact that during his boyhood his
parents removed several times from one part
of the country to another. The last school
attended by him was near Frankfort, in the
township of Sidney, in the county of Hast
ings, where he for about a year enjoyed the
advantage of having for his tutor Mr. — now
Doctor — G. H. Boulter. Mr. Boulter, who
now represents North Hastings in the On
tario Legislature, was then fresh from Vic
toria College, Cobourg, and proved himself
one of the most efficient instructors that the
rural districts of Canada have ever known.
Under his tutelage the subject of this sketch
made rapid strides in learning. Teacher
and pupil have since arrayed theinselyes
on opposite sides in politics, but Mr. Wood
has frequently acknowledged his indebted
ness to Dr. Boulter's early instructions, and
a warm ptersonal friendship has always sub

sisted between them. When only eighteen
years of age, young Mr. Wood obtained a
first-class certificate as a common school
teacher from the counties of Hastings, Nor
thumberland and Durham, and York and
Peel. Immediately on obtaining his certifi
cate he began to teach one of the schools in
Sidney. He afterwards taught at Prince
Albert, in North Ontario, and elsewhere.
About 1856 he abandoned the occupation
of teaching, and opened a general country
store in the township of Mariposa, in the
county of Victoria, which was at that time
united to the county of Peterborough. In
1860 the counties were divided, and Mr.
Wood was appointed Clerk and Treasurer
of the county of Victoria. He accordingly
removed to Lindsay, the county town, which
has ever since been his home, and where he
soon became one of the most popular and
prominent citizens. He took an active in
terest in all public matters, and more especi
ally in all questions relating to schools and
education. He from time to time held
various local offices. He was Chairman of
the Board of High and Public Schools ; and
after the passing of the Insolvent Act of
1864 he became Official Assignee. In 1874
he was elected a member of the now defunct
Council of Public Instruction, to represent
the school-inspectors. This position he re
signed, after holding it about a year.
He early allied himself with the Reform
Party in politics, and took an active part in

68

THE HON. SAMUEL CASEY WOOD.

the election campaigns of the times. His en
terprise, public spirit and popularity marked
him out as a fitting candidate for Parlia
mentary life, and at the general election of
1871 he contested the constituency of South
Victoria for the Local Legislature. He was
opposed by Mr. Thomas Mitchell, a Con
servative, who had already represented the
constituency. South Victoria had always
theretofore returned a Conservative, but
there were local reasons of great potency in
the Riding at the time, and it was thought
desirable that the representative should be
a resident of Lindsay. Mr. Wood's candida
ture was successful, and he was returned by
a majority of more than 300 votes. He soon
made his mark in the House as an industri
ous, hard-working member, and took an
intelligent part in the debates, more especi
ally on educational and agricultural topics.
His judgment and business faculties were
such that in the summer of 1875 he was
offered a seat in the Executive Council of
Ontario, as Commissioner of Agriculture,
Provincial Secretary and Registrar. He
accepted these offices on the 24th of July,
and retained them about two years. At the
general election of 1875 he was opposed by
a local Conservative candidate of great in
fluence, but was again successful in securing

his election. In March, 1877, there was a
partial readjustment of portfolios in the
Ontario Ministry. Mr. Wood ceased to be
Secretary and Registrar, which offices de
volved upon the Hon. A. S. Hardy. Mr.
Crooks became Minister of Education, and
Mr. Wood became Commissioner of Agri
culture and Provincial Treasurer. These
offices he still retains. In his departmental
capacity he has under his management the
Agricultural College at Guelph, the Refor
matory at Penetanguishene, the Andrew
Mercer Reformatory at Toronto, the Deaf
and Dumb Institution at Belleville, and the
Blind Asylum at Brantford, in addition to
the various Lunatic Asylums throughout the
Province. He also has charge of the Insur
ance Department, and is at the present time
Chairman of the Agricultural Commission.
At the general election held on the 5th of
June, 1879, Mr. Wood was opposed by Mr.
William L. Russell, ex- Warden of the County
of Victoria. Mr. Wood was elected by a
majority of 115. He is responsible for the
consolidation of the Agriculture and Arts
Act, and for other important measures affect
ing agricultural affairs in Ontario.
On the 17th of June, 1856, Mr. Wood
married Miss Charlotte M. Parkinson, of
the township of Mariposa.

3^->--L^^./(_

IjlliJj7Ri'^liSuuJliH":|.ir.Dii.&oiDTliiJlii,lyWT-TQpliT,llt

¦ l.[fiiLi>uni,hilih"sina-, Taroj

THE HON. JAMES McDONALD, Q.C,
MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

MR. MCDONALD'S ancestors emigrated
from the Highlands of Scotland to
Nova Scotia nearly a hundred years ago,
and settled in the county of Pictou. He
was born at East River, a port settlement
in Pictou County, on the 1st of July, 1828.
He was educated at New Glasgow, a sea
port town in the same county. He studied
law, and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar
in the year 1857. He practised in Halifax,
and soon won a conspicuous position in his
profession. Having become thoroughly es
tablished, he began to turn his attention to
public affairs. In 1859 he entered political
life, as the representative of the county of
Pictou in the Legislative Assembly of Nova
Scotia. He sat in the Assembly for that
constituency until the accomplishment of
Confederation. He was Chief Railway
Commissioner for Nova Scotia, from June,
1863, to December, 1864, when he was ap
pointed Financial Secretary in the Govern
ment led by the Hon. Dr. Tupper, which
he continued to hold until the Union. He
was one of the Commissioners (represent
ing Nova Scotia) appointed to open trade
relations between the West Indies, Mexico
and Brazil, and the British American Prov
inces in 1865-66.
In 1867 he was created a Queen's Counsel,
and during the same year, at the first gen
eral election under Confederation, he was
an unsuccessful candidate for the represen
tation of the county of Pictou in the House

of Commons. In the year 1871 he was
returned to the Local Legislature of Nova
Scotia for his old constituency of Pictou,
and sat for it until the month of July, 1872,
when he resigned his seat in the Local
House in order to enter the House of Com
mons. He was returned to the Commons
immediately afterwards, and remained a
member of that House until 1874, when he
was unsuccessful in securing his reelection.
At the general election held in September,
1878, he was again returned to the Com
mons for the county of Pictou by a consider
able majority, and he now sits for that con
stituency. He is a Conservative in politics,
and upon the formation of the present Gov
ernment in October, 1878, Mr. McDonald
accepted office in it as Minister of Justice,
which portfolio he still retains. He has
made an efficient Minister, and is highly
esteemed by his colleagues, though he has
been subjected to a due share of criticism
on the part of the Opposition press. It is
generally conceded, alike by supporters and
opponents, that he takes rank among the
foremost men in his Party, and is both in
tellectually and otherwise a very important
factor in the composition of the present
Administration. In 1856 Mr. McDonald married Miss Jane
Mortimer, daughter of the late Mr. William
Mortimer, of Pictou. He has held various
positions of dignity and local importance in
the Nova Scotian capital.

THE HON. SIR JOHN ROSE, BART., G.C.M.G.

SIR JOHN ROSE is not a Canadian by
birth, nor has he resided in this coun
try for some years past, but the greater
part of his life was spent among us, and it
was here that the foundation of his politi
cal and financial reputation was laid. He
is of Scottish birth and parentage, and was
born at Turriff, in Aberdeenshire, on the
2nd of August, 1820. He is a son of the
late Mr. William Rose, of Turriff, by his
marriage with Miss Elizabeth Fyfe, daugh
ter of Captain James Fyfe. He was edu
cated at 'various schools in Aberdeenshire,
and finally at King's College, Aberdeen.
While he was still a youth his parents
emigrated to Canada, and settled in the
county of Huntingdon, in the Lower Prov
ince, whither he accompanied them. He
for a short time engaged in the useful and
honourable, but in those days not very luc
rative occupation of a school teacher in the
Eastern Townships. Being conscious of
good abilities, and of his fitness for better
things than the business of tutorship seemed
to hold out to him, he soon abandoned that
pursuit, and proceeded to Montreal, where
he entered upon the study of the law. In
1842 he was called to the Bar of Lower
Canada (Montreal District), and at once
entered upon the practice of his profession
in Montreal. As an advocate he possessed
many advantages, being a ready and fiuent
speaker and a skilful debater, and having a
tall figure, an earnest manner, and a com

manding presence. All these advantages
were turned to good account, and he soon
succeeded in building up what was in those
days the largest commercial practice in
Montreal. His standing at the Bar was
commensurate with his practice. He had
many wealthy firms and corporations for
his clients, including the Hudson's Bay Com
pany. He also conducted a good many
cases on behalf of the Government of the
day, and acquired an intimate acquaintance
with political questions. In 1848 he was
created a Queen's Counsel. During the ex
istence of the Baldwin-Lafontaine Govern
ment he was strongly importuned to enter
public life, but he preferred to establish his
fortunes on a firm basis before allowing
himself to be drawn aside by any other
allurements. He, however, interested him
self in the operations of the Conservative
Party, to which he belonged, and with
which he was identified throughout his
public career. He was also a prominent
figure in the social life of Montreal, and
during his long residence there held many
offices of honour and responsibility in con
nection with charitable and other kindred
societies, banks, and institutions of learning.
It was not until 1857 that he felt himself
fully at liberty to enter upon a Parliament
ary career. On the 26th of November in
that year he accepted office in the Macdon-
ald-Cartier Administration as Solicitor-Gen
eral for Lower Canada. At the general

THE HON. SIR JOHN ROSE, BART., G.C.M.G.

71

election which followed, he offered himself,
in conjunction with the Hon. George E.
Cartier and Mr. H. Starnes, of Montreal, to
the electors of that city. These three prom
inent members of the Conservative Party
were opposed by the Hons. A. A. Dorion,
Luther H. Holton, and Thomas D'Arcy Mc
Gee. Mr. Rose, who appealed to the electors
of Montreal Centre, was the only one of the
ministerialists whose candidature was suc
cessful. He held the portfolio of Solicitor-
General East until the resignation of the
Ministry on the 1st of August, 1858. When
the Ministry, as reconstructed, resumed of
fice after the brief interval of the Brown-
Dorion Government, Mr. Rose, after a nomi
nal acceptance of office as Receiver-General,
resumed his former portfolio, with a seat in
the Executive Council. He continued as
Solicitor-General until the 10th of January
following, when he was transferred to the
more important department of the Public
Works. As such Commissioner the duty
devolved upon him of providing for the
accommodation of the Prince of Wales and
' suite, during His Royal Highness's visit to
Canada in 1860. Mr. Rose continued as
Commissioner of Public Works until the
, month of June, 1861, when, what between
the cares and responsibilities of his public
duties, and the demands upon his time and
attention of a large professional practice, he
found his health giving way, and resigned
office. He continued, however, to represent
Montreal Centre in Parliament until Con
federation. In 1864 he was appointed by
the Imperial Government as Commissioner
on behalf of Great Britain under the treaty
with the United States for the settlement
of the claims which had arisen out of the
Oregon Treaty. At the first general elec
tion, under Confederation, in 1867, Mr. Rose
declined a requisition to contest his old
constituency, in deference to an influential
minority of the electors who desired a com
mercial man as their representative in Par

liament. He therefore offered himself for
the county of Huntingdon, where he had
resided upon his first arrival in the country
nearly thirty years before. He was returned
by a large majority. On the retirement of
the Hon. (now Sir) Alexander T. Gait from
the Government at the beginning of the
following November, Mr. Rose was ap
pointed a member of the Privy Council
and Minister of Finance. He returned to
his constituents in Huntingdon, who tes
tified their approval of his acceptance of
office by reelecting him by acclamation.
The difficulties with which he had to con
tend as Minister of Finance, were consider
able. He had barely a fortnight to prepare
for the meeting of Parliament, and there
had been no session of the Legislature for
nearly eighteen months. New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia were then for the first
time included in the revenue and expendi
ture of Canada. " Four separate accounts,"
says a recent writer, commenting on the
Finance Minister's difficulties at this period,
" with as many Provinces had to be kept,
which were still further complicated by the
accounts of the old Province of Canada.
Beyond this, three different tariffs had to
be dealt with and assimilated, and as many
systems of inland revenue to be reduced to
one; the effects of unrestricted free trade
between the Provinces had not then been
developed; and the exceptional currency
and political discontent of Nova Scotia
added further to the difficulties of the posi
tion. Mr. Rose had therefore no easy task
before him, but he undertook it with even
more than his usual energy and application,
and before the session was many weeks old
he made a budget speech which surprised
Parliament and the public by its perspicuity
and fullness of detail." During the second
part of the first session of the Dominion
Parliament Mr. Rose also carried through
several financial measures, besides a read
justment of the tariff. In July, 1868, he

72

THE HON. SIR JOHN ROSE, BART., G.C.M.G.

went to England and successfully floated
half of the Intercolonial Railway Loan.
During the session of 1869 he introduced
a series of resolutions on currency and
banking, but as they proved unsatisfac
tory to a large majority of western mem
bers, and distasteful to bankers generally,
they were withdrawn. In the month of
September, 1869, having resolved to take
up his abode in England, Mr. Rose resigned
his seat in the Canadian House of Com
mons, and thus brought to a close his
twelve years' term of Parliamentary service
in this country. He soon afterwards re
moved to London, England, where he .be
came a partner in the well-known banking
firm of Messrs. Morton, Bliss & Co., the
style of which thenceforward became Mor

ton, Rose & Co. He has ever since resided
in England, and his connection with the
banking-house still continues. On the 18th
of January, 1870, he was nominated a
Knight Commander of the Order of St.
Michael and St. George; and in August,
1872, he was created a Baronet. On the
29th of October, 1878, in recognition of his
services as Executive Commissioner of Can
ada at the Paris Exhibition, and Member of
the Finance Committee, he was nominated
a G.C.M.G. In 1843 the subject of this sketch mar
ried Miss Charlotte Temple, a daughter
of the late Mr. Robert Temple, of Rut
land, in the State of Vermont, by whom
he has a family of three sons and two
daughters.

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

SIR ALLAN was a distinguished, an
active, and withal rather a useful man
in his day, and acquired a reputation fully
commensurate with his merits. It cannot
be said that he possessed, or that he ever
laid claim to possessing, any brilliant or
extraordinary powers of intellect, or that
he was mentally in advance of the times in
which he lived. It was his lot, however, to
be born beneath a lucky star. At various
epochs in his career, in youth and in middle
life, circumstances combined to give him a
great — we had almost said an undue — noto
riety ; and the impetus thus given to his for
tunes landed him on an eminence where he
continued to retain a footing to the end of
his days. He was a life-long sufferer from
impecuniosity, but Providence had fitted his
back for the burden, and financial troubles
sat more lightly upon him than on most
men who are subjected to maladies of that
nature. Endowed with high spirits and a
buoyant temperament, he could afford to
meet such minor afflictions as a chronic
scarcity of funds and the many drawbacks
attendant thereupon, with undaunted front.
Mark Tapley himself was not more persist
ently jolly under depressing circumstances
than was Allan MacNab during the greater
part of his life. He took the world remark
ably easy, and society seemed to have en
tered into a tacit conspiracy to push him
forward. He took the results, as he took
everything else, with comfortable self-com-
IV— 11

placency. And yet it would be most unfair
to say that his success was wholly unde
served. He merely received liberal pay
ment for services more or less substantial.
He was of a loyal and not unkindly nature.
He served his country in various capacities,
and cannot be said to have conspicuously
failed in any. He figured in the respec
tive characters of sailor, soldier, legislator.
Speaker to the Assembly, and Prime Minis
ter. High dignities descended upon him.
For his military services he received the dig
nity of knighthood. Later on he in turn be
came proprietary lord of Dundurn, Baronet,
Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty, and hono
rary Colonel in the British Army. " Some
men," says Malvolio, " are born great ; some
achieve greatness, and some have greatness
thrust upon 'em." Allan MacNab was cer
tainly not born great. His achievements,
though many of them were sufficiently
creditable to him, were not of a kind which
a critical judgment can pronounce truly
great. The inevitable inference is that his
Sovereign and his country were grateful;
that he received ample compensation for
his life's work ; and that such a man cannot
be said to have lived altogether in vain.
The nationality of his ancestry is suffi
ciently indicated by his name. His grand
father. Captain Robert MacNab, was an
officer in the Forty-second Royal Highland
ers, or " Black Watch," and resided on a
small estate called Dundurn, at the head of

74

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

Loch Erne, in Perthshire, Scotland. Robert
had a son named Allan, who, after serving
as a Lieutenant in the Third Regiment of
Dragoons, attached himself to the famous
corps of Queen's Rangers, and fought under
Colonel Simcoe through the Revolutionary
War. At the close of the struggle with the
colonies the Rangers were disbanded, and
many of them — Lieutenant Allan MacNab
among the number — retired on half-pay,
and took up their abode in Upper Canada,
after their old Colonel's appointment to the
Lieutenant-Governorship of that Province.
Prior to that date. Lieutenant MacNab had
married the youngest daughter of Captain
William Napier, Commissioner of the port
and harbour of Quebec. When Governor
Simcoe arrived in Canada young MacNab
accompanied or followed him to Newark,
and took up his abode there, acting, for a
time, as aide-de-camp to the Governor. The
young half -pay officer remained at Newark
for several years after Governor-Simcoe's
departure from the Province, and it was
during his residence there that the subject
of this sketch was bom, on the 19th of
February, 1798.
Soon after his birth his parents removed
to York, the provincial capital, where the
father for some time acted as a clerk in the
office of the Provincial Secretary, Mr. Wil
liam Jarvis. The impecuniosity which at
tended the subject of this sketch all through
his life came to him legitimately enough.
His parents lived on the outside fringe of
the aristocratic society of Little York in
those early days, and entertained notions
altogether beyond their means. They la
boured under the combined disadvantages
of aristocratic tastes and prejudices, and a
very insufficient income. The father was
always in pecuniary difficulties, and was fre
quently subjected to the indignities which
are the legitimate outcome of exuberant
social ideas and an empty exchequer. A
short time before his removal to York he

was imprisoned for debt in the Newark
gaol, from which he contrived to make his
escape on the night of the 1st of April, 1798,
at which time his little son was not quite
six weeks old. The sherifi" of the Niagara
District notified the escape to the Upper
Canadian public through the medium of an
advertisement in the only newspaper pub
lished in the Province, the Upper Canada
Gazette and Oracle, and offered a reward of
two hundred dollars for the apprehension
of the fugitive. The latter was a personage
who was neither a thing of beauty nor a joy
forever. His unprepossessing appearance
was proverbial among his acquaintances,
and his unloveliness was clearly set forth
in the advertisement, which described him
as " Allan MacNab, a confined debtor . .
a reduced lieutenant of horse, on the half-
pay list of the late corps of Queen's Rangers ;
aged thirty-eight years or thereabouts ; five
feet three inches high; fair complexion;
light hair ; red beard ; much marked with
the small-pox; the middle finger of one of
his hands remarkable for an overgrown
nail ; round shouldered ; stoops a little in
walking; and although a native of the
Highlands of Scotland, affects much, in
speaking, the Irish dialect." Whether these
minute details sufficed to bring about the
fugitive's recapture we have no means of
knowing, but if so, his second term of cap
tivity must have been brief, for towards the
close of the year we find him residing with
his family at Little York, and employed
as a clerk by the abovenamed Mr. Jarvis.
As his family increased his clerkship seems
to have become wholly inadequate for their
support, and he was appointed to various
subordinate positions of small emolument,
including that of Sergeant-at-arms to the
House of Assembly. As the years rolled
by, and as his family grew up around him,
he became somewhat more comfortable — or
rather less uracomfortable — in his circum
stances, but he was never free from debt,

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

75

and was frequently at his wits' end to pro
cure the necessaries of life for his family.
The house in which he resided for many
years before his death is still, or was re
cently standing, on King Street East, near
the intersection of that thoroughfare with
Queen Street, in the neighbourhood of the
Don Bridge. He had several daughters,
who were handsome, stately, and very popu
lar in society, one of them being currently
toasted as the belle of Little York.
Allan MacNab's high-born kinsman, the
Laird of MacNab, and the Chief of the clan,
emigrated to Upper Canada at an early
period of the Provincial history. He took
up his abode in a romantic region on the
Ottawa River, where he built an abode
which he named Kinnell Lodge. The old
Chief, whose social and political ideas seem
to have been about on a par with those of
Roderick Dhu, was a frequent visitor at
Little York, at which times he always so
journed with his relative at the above-men
tioned abode. He was exceedingly proud
of his handsome and queenly kinswomen,
and used to accompany them in state to
St. James's Church on the first day of the
week. His garb on these occasions — a,
somewhat modified form of the Highland
costume — was such as would have better
befitted his native hills in Scotland than
theae western climes, and made him the ob
served of all observers. It is said that on
one occasion he entered the Court of King's
Bench at York, clad in this peculiar cos
tume, while a trial was proceeding before
the Chief Justice, Sir William Campbell.
The haughty Gael, like the famous Chief
tain to whom we have already compared
him, seemed to "reck not if he stood on
Highland heath or Holy Rood," and kept
his bonnet firmly planted on his head. It
does not appear whether this proceeding on
his part was due to a determination not to
show deference to one of the clan Campbell.
At any rate — so the story goes — he kept

his bonnet on all the time he remained in
Court ; and when the Sheriff, by direction
of the Chief Justice, requested him to un
cover, he replied that " The MacNab of Mac-
Nabs doffs his bonnet to no man."
The childhood of the future baronet was
spent in the MacNab homestead on King
Street already referred to, which in those
times was on the skirt of the forest which
stretched far away northward to Lake Sim
coe. When he was nine years old he began
to attend the Home District School.* We
find no account of his having distinguished
himself there, nor have we any information
as to how long he remained. We can readily
believe the testimony of one of his fellow-
students to the effect that he was a high-
spirited, frolicsome boy, fond of play, and
but little addicted to study. The next
glimpse we catch of him is during the
American invasion of York, towards the
end of April, 1813. He was then fifteen
years of age. It was a critical period in
the history of the little capital of Upper
Canada, and every one capable of bearing
arms was expected to play the man. The
two Allan MacNabs, father and son, needed
no urging, and arrayed themselves side by
side in defence of their "altars and their
fires." We all know the sequel. The place
was not in a condition to be successfully de
fended against the foe, and after the blow
ing up of the magazine, and the death of
Brigadier -General Pike, the forces, under
the command of Sir Roger H. Sheaffe, re
treated to Kingston, leaving the blazing
halls of the Legislature behind them. It
does not appear that young Allan MacNab
had any chance of striking a blow in the
contest at this time, however good his will.
He formed one of the ranks on the retreat
to Kingston. During the march he attract
ed the attention of the Commander-in-Chief,

* It was opened in 1807, under the auspices of Dr.
Stuart, and young Allan MacNab was one of the first
pupils.

76

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

by whose influence he was appointed to a
midshipman's berth on board the Wolfe, the
flag-ship of the Commodore, Sir James Lucas
Yeo. In this capacity he accompanied the
expedition to Sackett's Harbour, Genesee,
and other places on the American side of
Lake Ontario. During his brief naval career,
which lasted about four months, he was
always at his post, and was several times
commended for his strict attention to his
duties. For some reason, however — proba
bly because promotion seemed afar off — he
left the navy and joined the 100th Regi
ment, under Colonel — afterwards Major-
General — John Murray, as a volunteer. On
land service he seemed to be more in his
native element, and he played a gallant
part in several exploits which marked the
progress of hostilities. In the beginning of
December, 1813, the Americans set fire to
Newark, which was almost entirely con
sumed. By way of retaliation for what was
a wanton and uncalled-for piece of cruelty.
Colonel Murray determined upon the storm
ing and capture of Fort Niagara, on the
American side of the Niagara River. The
determination was carried into effect on the
night of the 18th of the month. The night
o o
was black as ink, and the thermometer was
at zero. Then it was that young Allan Mac
Nab won his first spurs. He formed one of
the advanced guard of the five companies
which, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton,
were appointed to force the main gateway
of the fort. The storming proved to be a
much tamer affair than had been anticipated
by the assailants. The resistance made was
not very determined, and the British were
in possession of the fort before the entire
garrison were awake. Allan MacNab's share
in the assault consisted of the cutting down
of one of the sentinels. He had a truly
martial spirit, and his demeanour on the
occasion is said to have excited the admira
tion of the regular troops, many of whom
were veterans of a hundred fights. For his

gallantry on this occasion he was rewarded
with an ensigncy in the Forty-ninth Regi
ment, and received special mention in the
despatches. He continued in active service
until the close of the war. On the night of
the 29th of December — only eleven days af
ter the assault on Fort Niagara — he formed
one of the expedition under General Riall
which set fire to Buffalo and Black Rock.
When the campaign on the Niagara frontier
was brought to a close for the season he pro
ceeded to Montreal, where he joined his new
regiment. In September, 1814, he marched
with the land forces under Sir George Pro
vost to the attack on Plattsburg, a village
situated on the Saranac River, at its en
trance into Lake Champlain, and in the
territory of the United States. The place
was at the same time besieged by a British
fiotilla, under Commodore Downie, and if
Sir George Prevost had been equal to his
position there would have been a fair chance
of victory for the Canadian arms. As it
was, we were defeated, both by land and
water. Allan MacNab -was in the thick of
the fight, and was in one of the columns
under Major-Gen eral Robinson which tried
to force their way across the Saranac. Like
a good many of his brother officers, he was
intensely disgusted with the conduct of Sir
George Prevost. It is even said that in the
first flush of his indignation he placed his
foot upon the blade of his sword, snapped
it in two, and declared he would never again
draw sword under such a leader.* There
was however not much further occasion for
his services at this time. After the procla
mation of peace the army was reduced, and
Allan MacNab, like scores of other young
officers, was placed on the half -pay list. And
so his active military career was for the
time brought to a close.

* The same story is told of other British officers after
the defeat of Plattsburg. It is, however, quite in accord
ance with the well-known impetuosity of Sir Allan Mac
Nab's character.

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

77

He returned to the paternal home at
Little York. He was nearly eighteen years
of age, and as a military career was no
longer feasible, it was high time for him to
think about some means of earning a liveli
hood. He had the thews of an athlete, and
if he had devoted himself to some useful
trade he would have found employment
suited to his intellectual level. But he had
been trained in a school where the belief
was cherished that any man who earns his
bread by manual labour is a personage to be
patronized and looked down upon. Such, up
to a time within the memory of the present
generation, was the social philosophy cur
rent among the old Family Compact society
of Little York — a philosophy which would
be simply outrageous if it were not so irre
sistibly ludicrous. Its ludicrous element was
intensified by the peculiar circumstances in
which many of its professors stood. These
hangers-on of a narrow-minded and for the
most part illiterate clique : these proud and
sensitive scions of a sort of bastard aristoc
racy, were far too proud and high-born to
earn an honest living by the sweat of the
brow. But there were some of them who
had — or appeared to have — no scruples
about living on the fruits of the shame of
their wives and daughters. At least one of
them acted as an approver and standing-
witness for a prominent official. Hardly
any of them turned as much into the public
chest as he took out of it. Truly, it was a
rare old society, that shiftless and poverty-
stricken section of the aristocracy of Upper
Canada. It was a grosser anomaly than the
"prowd and hawty suthener'' of Artemus
Ward. Reared amid such influences, it was
not to be expected that young Allan Mac
Nab would voluntarily forfeit his caste by
learning a trade. He must embrace one
of the learned professions. Which ? His
choice was determined, not by any personal
inclination or native aptitude. His family
influence was sufficient to procure for him

a situation as copying-clerk in one of the
Government offices. He wrote a good hand,
and was equal to the not very exacting du
ties of such a pos-ition. The Hon. D'Arcy
Boulton, Attorney-General of the Province,
who had recentlj'' returned from confine
ment in a French prison, agreed to receive
him as an articled clerk, and to permit him
to retain his clerkship concurrently with
the term of his articles. Unnecessary to
say that the young man did not weaken his
fine constitution by severe study. Equal
ly unnecessary to say that he was unable
to make his income square with his ex
penditure. He displayed the true heredi
tary genius, and was always head over ears
in debt. It is fair to say, however, that
the difference between him and most of his
comrades in this respect was only one of de
gree. Among the latter he was a universal
favourite, for he was always overfiowing
with high spirits, and ready to engage in
any lark or " diversion " which suggested
itself. He was much given to playing prac
tical jokes, but they were free from malice ;
and he does not seem at this period to have
had an enemy in the world — except, perhaps,
himself. He was by no means ashamed of
his chronic impecuniosity. On the contrary,
he took a special delight in recounting the
various shifts and devices to which he was
compelled to resort in order to avoid arrest ;
for in those days, be it understood, arrest on
mesne process flourished in all its rigour.
" This- youth was doubtless designed by des
tiny to move in the circles of fashion, for
he's dipt in debt, and makes a merit of tell
ing it," says Doctor Pangloss. The tastes
of Allan MacNab were quite as exclusive in
this particular as erst were those of Master
Dick Dowlas. But the creditor was not al
ways to be bilked ; the bailiff was not al
ways to be hoodwinked. As the years went
by, our young friend became more and more
embarrassed, and it was no uncommon state
of affairs with him to be " on the limits." At

78

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

a certain distance from the old gaol in those
days, a succession of posts, painted blue, and
tipped with a dab of white paint, extended
round the populous part of our little capital,
terminated at either extremity by the waters
of the bay. These posts marked the bounds
beyond which no debtor who had given
" bail to the limits " was allowed to pass, on
pain of close confinement. It was frequent
ly noticed by Allan's yoyng friends, when
they were promenading the streets in his
company, that he came to a sudden halt at
the "blue posts," and retraced his steps.
His perambulations were thus restricted
within a somewhat limited radius. At such
seasons he was often hard put to it to pass
the time. He had few intellectual resources
within himself, and books were an abomina
tion to him. To relieve himself from the
wearisome monotony of his position he at
last took to carpentry — a pursuit for which
he displayed much aptitude. What was at
first taken up as a pastime erelong became
a source of profit. He manufactured vari
ous useful articles, such as panelled doors
and Venetian shutters, for which he found a
ready market ; and in this way he was able
to do something towards extricating him
self from his pecuniary difficulties. Still, he
was afraid of losing caste if it should become
known "in society" that he was earning
money by base mechanical arts. Moreover,
as he had never been regularly taught the
trade of a carpenter there was a limit to his
skill; and there was a corresponding limit
to the demand for his wares. Erelong his
occupation resembled that of the Moor of
Venice. Then he turned his attention to
theatricals, and performed various minor
characters on the public stage. It is said
that he displayed some histrionic talent, and
that he at one time contemplated taking
permanently to the stage as a profession.
Meanwhile, as we may reasonably infer, his
legal studies were not pursued with that
close application which Themis demands

from her votaries. His outlook for the
future was not very inspiriting. He was,
however, a universal favourite, and took a
sanguine view of things. No despondent
word was ever heard to come from his lips.
He never shirked his responsibilities, and
in 1821 he took upon himself the serious
responsibility of setting up a household on
his own account. On the 6th of May in
that year he married Miss Elizabeth Brooke,
a daughter of Lieutenant Daniel Brooke, of
Toronto. This lady bore him a son and a
daughter, and died in 1825. It was not till
Michaelmas Term, 1826, that he succeeded
in getting himself called to the Bar. He
then removed to Hamilton, and entered on
the practice of his profession. Good law
yers were less numerous in those days than
now, and his high spirits and bluff, hearty
manners, more than atoned for any intel
lectual shortcomings. He soon got together
a considerable business, and though he was
probably seldom or never free from debt,
there was a manifest improvement in his
condition and prospects.
Erelong an event occurred which gave a
decided impulse to his fortunes. The Lieu
tenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne (after
wards Lord Seaton) was exhibited in effigy
in the streets of Hamilton.* During the
ensuing session of Parliament, Dr. Rolph
moved that a Committee should be appoint
ed to inquire into the circumstances of the
outrage. The motion was carried, and the
Committee appointed. Among the witnesses
summoned to give evidence was the subject
of this sketch, who declined to testify, al
leging that he could not do so without im
plicating himself. Dr. Baldwin, father of
Robert, accordingly moved that the recalci
trant witness should be declared guilty of
contempt, and of a breach of Parliamentary
privilege. This motion was also carried, and
the delinquent was taken into custody by
the Sergeant-at-arms and brought to the
* See Vol. II., p. 110.

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

79

Bar of the House, where he complained that
he had not been afforded a hearing. On
motion of William Lyon Mackenzie he was
committed to gaol during the pleasure of
the House. His imprisonment was a mere
formality, and of very brief duration, but
it was the indirect means of making his
future career. The Tory Party looked upon
him as a martyr. The death of George
IV., in 1830, rendered a new election neces
sary, and it was determined that Allan
MacNab should be sent to Parliament as a
recompense for the indignity he had en
dured. He was returned to the Assembly
as one of the representatives of the county
of Wentworth. During the ensuing session
he was appointed to move the hostile motion
against William Lyon Mackenzie, by whose
instrumentality he himself had been com
mitted to gaol as above narrated. The pur
port of that motion, and its results, are
detailed in the sketch devoted to Mr. Mac
kenzie's life. Allah MacNab, as was to be
expected, was one of the most active spirits
in all the subsequent measures of hostility
against Mackenzie. He of course acted con
sistently with the Tory Party. He often
addressed the House, and made a consider
able figure in it, but neither then nor at any
subsequent time did he exhibit any qualities
of statesmanship. His speeches were very
voluble and not ineffective, but they never
rose above the veriest commonplace. In
1837 he was elected Speaker to the Assem
bly, and presided during the summer session
of that year. He retained the Speakership
until the Parliament of Upper Canada was
extinguished by the operation of the Act
of Union. After sitting for Wentworth in
three successive Parliaments he was re
turned for the town of Hamilton. Mean
while, however, another impetus had been
given to his fortunes by the Rebellion.
He seems to have kept up some sort of
connection with military affairs ever since
his retirement on half -pay after the close of

the War of 1812-15. In 1827 he held a
commission in the Sixty-eighth Regiment.
No sooner had the Rebellion fairly declared
itself, in December, 1837, than he placed
himself at the head of all the followers he
could muster in Hamilton, and repaired to
Toronto to the assistance of the Lieutenant-
Governor. His " Men of Gore," as they
were christened, stood loyally by him, and
after the rout of the insurgents at Mont
gomery's Tavern they accompanied him
westward to the London District, where
the smouldering fires of rebellion -were soon
quenched. They then repaired to the Ni
agara frontier, Mackenzie and his sympa
thizers having quartered themselves on
Navy Island. To Allan MacNab was as
signed the command of the Canadian land
forces, the naval arrangements being under
the direction of Lieutenant Drew. The
project of cutting-out the Caroline is said
to have originated with the former. At any
rate he gave it his hearty cooperation, and
the ill-fated steamer was set on fire and
sent rushing over the mighty cataract be
low. After the " dwarfish war " had been
effectually disposed of, Allan MacNab re
ceived the honour of knighthood, and also
the thanks of Her Majesty and of the Pro
vincial Legislature. Henceforth he will be
known to us as Sir Allan MacNab.
Hi* professional business at Hamilton
was flourishing apace, and he was soon
afterwards appointed a Queen's Counsel.
By degrees, however, he continued to give
more attention to his Legislative duties,
and less to his law business, which was
largely deputed to subordinate hands. His
return for Hamilton took place at the first
election contest after the Union of the Prov
inces, upon which occasion he defeated the
Hon. Samuel Bealey Harrison, the Provin
cial Secretary in the Government which
had just been formed under the new order
of things. He continued to represent Ham
ilton until 1857. Soon after the Union he

80

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

became leader of the Conservative Oppo
sition. After the defeat of the first Bald
win-Lafontaine Administration and the
formation of the Provisional Government
under Mr. Draper, Sir Allan was again
elected to the Speaker's Chair. He held
that office from the 28th of November, 1844,
to the 24th of February, 1848. He again
became leader of the Conservative Opposi
tion upon the accession to power of the
second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration,
and during the stormy debates on Mr. La-
fontaine's Rebellion Losses Bill he distin
guished himself by his strident vociferations
about putting a premium on treason. It
was not to be expected that a man of Sir
Allan's intellectual conformation, who had
moreover taken a prominent part in quelling
the insurrection, should look with compla
cency on Mr. Lafontaine's famous measure.
He even went to England, as the representa
tive of his Party, to invoke Imperial inter
ference. The Home Government, however,
in spite of a warm remonstrance from Mr.
Gladstone, supported Lord Elgin, and re
fused to disallow the Bill, which accordingly
became law. Sir Allan continued to direct
the Parliamentary tactics of his Party until
the defeat of the Hincks-Morin Government
in 1854, when he was entrusted by Lord
Elgin with the task of forming a new Ad
ministration. With the assistance of Mr.
Morin, he succeeded, in September, 1854, in
forming the Coalition Ministry which is
known by the names of its respective lead
ers. Sir Allan represented the Upper Cana
dian section of the Cabinet, Mr. Morin the
Lower Canadian section. Sir Allan became
President of the Executive Council and
Minister of Agriculture. At the preceding
election he had signified that, as the voice
of the country was loud and distinct in fa
vour of secularizing the Clergy Reserves, his
Party would no longer oppose that measure.
It therefore fell to the lot of his Adminis
tration to set that long disputed question at

rest. His tenure of office was marked by
other important legislation. The Seigniorial
Tenure was abolished, and a Treaty of Reci
procity was negotiated with the United
States. The active spirit in the Cabinet,
however, was not Sir Allan MacNab, but
the Attorney-General West, the present Sir
John A. Macdonald. Sir Allan was past
his prime, and the energy for which he had
once been conspicuous was very perceptibly
diminished. He suffered from repeated at
tacks of gout, and was sometimes unable to
take any part in public affairs. Upon his
active lieutenant devolved the lion's .share
of negotiations, and in May, 1856, Sir Allan
retired from the Administration. The doc
trine of the survival of the fittest thus re
ceived another exemplification. Sir Allan
left the Cabinet with no good will, and it is
doubtful if he ever quite forgave the am
bitious statesman who had supplanted him
in the leadership of his Party. The time
was past, however, when Sir Allan's patron
age could seriously affect the fortunes of
any one who had the ear of the Assembly,
The position to which Mr. Macdonald then
succeeded he has ever since retained.
Sir Allan, on retiring from office, was
created a baronet. In 1857, a short time
before the dissolution of Parliament, he re
signed his seat in the House, and issued an
address to his constituents in Hamilton, in
which he assigned ill-health as a reason for
his retirement from public life. He repaired
to England, with the intention of perma
nently residing there, and in the hope of
regaining the enviable condition of health
which had once been his. But he was at
this time rapidly nearing his sixtieth year,
and it was not to be expected that he would
ever again recover the vigour of his youth.
There was, however, a marked improvement
in his symptoms, and for a time it seemed
not unlikely that he might luxuriate in a
green old age. He took up his abode on
the south coast, near Brighton, and the soft

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

81

breezes of that beautiful region worked
wonders on his frame. In the spring of
1859 he wrote to a friend in Toronto that
he felt as young as ever, and ready for any
amount of hard work. At the general elec
tion for the House of Commons held in that
year he offered himself as a candidate for
the town of Brighton, as a supporter of the
late Lord Derby's Administration, in oppo
sition to Vice-Admiral Pechell, of Alton
House, Hampshire. The result was what
might have been expected. Sir Allan was
an unknown man, bearing an unfamiliar
patronymic. His opponent was an English
baronet whose family had been known in
the south of England for more than a cen
tury. The latter's agent by some means ob
tained possession of a copy of the printed
address, already referred to, which had been
issued by Sir Allan to his constituents in
Hamilton in October, 1857, and of course
made the most of it for election purposes.
It appeared from the terms of the address
that the member for Hamilton had with
drawn from public life on account of the
infirm state of his health. It was argued
by Vice-Admiral Pechell's supporters that
if the Canadian baronet's health did not
permit him to represent a constituency in
the colonial Legislature it would certainly
not permit him to fitly represent such an
important constituency as Brighton in th6
Imperial House of Commons. No allow
ance was made for the fact that his health
had in the interim materially improved. He
was beaten, and he soon after made up his
mind to return to the land of his birth. He
came back in the spring of 1860. Scarcely
had he reached his home in Hamilton when
he was again prostrated by a sharp attack
of his old enemy, the gout. WJiile he was
confined to his room by this painful malady.
Colonel Prince, who represented the West
ern Division in the Legislative Council, ac
cepted the position of Judge of the District
of Algoma. The representation of the West-
IV— 12

em Division was thus left vacant, and a
deputation waited on Sir Allan with a re
quest that he would become a candidate.
He temporarily rallied at the news, and at
once repaired to Sandwich to carry on the
campaign, but was partially stricken down
again on the journey, and had to be carried
from his bed to the hustings to deliver his
speech. Notwithstanding his physical dis
abilities, he was returned by a majority of
twenty-six votes. A partial reconciliation
about the same time took place between
him and his old lieutenant, the Hon. John
A. Macdonald. From this time forward
honours flowed in upon him thick and fast.
During his sojourn in England he had been
consulted by the Home Ministry on the sub
ject of the colonial defences, and, in recom
pense for the advice then given, he now re
ceived the honorary rank of a Colonel in
the British army. He was also appointed
an honorary Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, in
which capacity he attended the Prince of
Wales in his progress through Canada in
the autumn of 1860. At the opening of the
se.s.sion in 1862 he was chosen as the first
elective Speaker of the Legislative Council
by a majority of three votes over the present
Sir Alexander Campbell. It was soon ap
parent, however, that he was physically un
equal to the duties of that office. He was
perpetually harassed by attacks of gout, and
w;as sometimes completely prostrated by ex
cessive weakness. Towards the close of the
session he did not attempt to preside over
the proceedings of the Council, and when
the prorogation took place in June, he made
the best of his way home to Hamilton.
Before referring to the " last scene of all,"
it will be well to take a brief glance at some
of Sir Allan's private affairs. Reference has
been made to a son who was born to him by
his first wife. This son died in 1834, and
as Sir Allan never had another son there
was no heir to the baronetcy. He also had
a daughter (named Ann Jane) by his first

82

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

wife, who in 1849 married Assistant Com
missary-General Davenport. In 1841 Sir
Allan contracted a second marriage with
Miss Mary Stuart, eldest daughter of the
Sheriff of the Johnstown District. By this
lady, who died in 1846, he had two daugh
ters. The eldest (Sophia) was married, in
1855, to the Right Hon. William Coutts
Keppel, Viscount Bury, who sits in the
House of Lords as Baron Ashford, and who
is the .heir-apparent to the Earldom of Al
bemarle. At the time of the Viscount's
marriage to Miss MacNab he held the post
of Civil Secretary in Canada, and in 1878
was appointed Under-Secretary for War.
He has a son and heir, so that Sir Allan
MacNab's blood flows in the veins of an
embryo English peer. Sir Allan's second
daughter (Mary Stuart) was married, in
1861, to a son of the Hon. Sir Dominick
Daly, a sketch of whose life appears in the
third volume of this series.
Notwithstanding, his success in his pro
fession, in Parliament, and elsewhere. Sir
Allan MacNab's bete noir of impecuniosity
never left him entirely at peace. His ex
penditure was always lavish, and always in
excess of his income. Reference has been
made to the devices to which he was com
pelled to resort in the early part of his ca
reer in order to stave off his importunate
creditors. In the later phases of his life he
was equally ingenious, though the devices
assumed a different shape. This state of
affairs never affected his spirits. It was
jestingly said by his friends that debt was
his normal condition, and that if by any
chance he could be set pecuniarily straight
with the world he would die of the shock.
At any rate he was to the last fond of joking
about his poverty. In one respect he re
sembled a much more celebrated man — the
inimitable Mr. Wilkins Micawber. As soon
as he had settled an account by giving a
bill or note for the amount he honestly con
sidered that .there was an end of the matter.

Sometimes a pertinacious creditor would
haunt his footsteps from day to day till^
wearied, like the unjust judge in Scripture,
by continual importunity, the debtor would
propose to give a bill at three months for
the amount. Upon his proposition being
accepted he would lean back in his chair
with a grateful sense of relief, and exclaim,
" Thank Heaven, that job's done." To do
him justice, we do not believe he was in
tentionally dishonest. He simply had no
capacity for regulating his finances. He
was moreover liberal and generous to his
friends and the poor. Creditors might howl
round his door as long as they pleased ; their
bowlings never found a way to his heart.
But if a personal friend stood in need of
material aid, he .seldom appealed to Sir Allan
in vain. The man who could not find the
wherewithal to pay his own butcher's bill
could always contrive to scrape together a
liberal trifle if an appeal was made to his
sympathies for charity. Nor do we believe
that this sort of thing was a mere bid for
popularity. Sir Allan was a kind-hearted
man, who liked to see everybody happy
about him — and who liked to be happy
himself, as indeed he generally was, except
when he had the gout. His expenses were
large. Dundurn, his place at Hamilton,
named in honour of the ancestral estate at
the head of Loch Erne, was acquired during
his career in Parliament. It was, for the
times, a lordly mansion, and was thronged
by aristocratic visitors all the year round.
It was not his cu,stom to .stint his hospi
tality, and he always entertained his guests
in a lordly fashion. During the last few
years of his life he kept a somewhat stricter
guard over his outlay, but the habits of a
lifetime are not to be conquered in old age,
unless by a man of much stronger will than
Sir Allan was. Debt and duns pursued him
to the end.
The end was very near at the time of the
adjournment of the session in June, 1862.

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

83

It may be said indeed that he only returned
home to die, for six short weeks were all
that remained to him of life. He seemed
to recover strength for a while after his
arrival at home. When intelligence reached
him of the death of his old friend the Hon.
William Hamilton Merritt, on the 6th of
July, he exerted himself sufficiently to at
tend the funeral at St. Catharines, and to
act as one of the pall bearers. Mr. Merritt 's
death left a vacancy in the representation
of the Niagara District in the Legislative
Council, and Sir Allan, as Speaker, issued
his warrant for a new election. This was his
last public act. An attack of gout, sharper
than any to which he had previously been
subjected, came on towards the close of July,
and it was soon evident that it would be the
last. He lingered till the 8th of August,
when his spirit passed away.
The extraordinary circumstances which
followed his death are still well remembered
by many readers of these pages. Sir Allan
had been a life-long member of the Church
of England, and was wont to exhibit as
much zeal for the forms and ritual of that
Church as could be expected from a man of
his mental constitution. The breath had
not left his body many hours before start
ling reports began to creep into circulation
about interference by the Roman Catholic
clergy during his last moments. It was
said that Sir Allan's clergyman, the Rev.
Mr. Geddes, of Christ Church, was excluded
from his bedside, and that baptism, con
firmation and extreme unction had been
administered by Bishop Farrell and his
assistants, while Sir Allan was insensible.
The information, at first confined to a few
persons, was on the following Sunday made
known to the public by Mr. Geddes himself
from the pulpit. " Our dear old friend. Sir
Allan MacNab, is no more," said the reverend
gentleman. "You have all heard the sad
announcement, and it has stirred the feel
ings of your inmost hearts. His venerable

form, his manly, honest. countenance, beam
ing with kindness and benignity, have been
long familiar to us. For seven and twenty
years he has worshipped with this congre
gation. But a few short weeks ago he knelt
with us at the table of the Lord. He was
here present in his place the last Sunday but
one before his fatal illness. He received my
spiritual administrations on Thursday. I
was denied access to him, although I made
three ineffectual attempts, at one, five, and
half -past nine, a.m. ' On Friday morning, I
was informed, on calling at his residence,
that he had become a good Catholic, and
had been received into the bosom of the
Romish Church. Had this been the case,
he who prided himself upon his consistency
in all his political life is made to be guilty
of the grossest inconsigtency at the most
solemn period of his existence; he who
prided himself upon his honest, manly,
straightforward, fearless expression of his
sentiments, is made to act the coward or
the hypocrite. Oh, foul blot upon a fair
escutcheon ! — dark stigma upon a dear and
honoured being ! For the satisfaction, how
ever, of his old and familiar friends — for
the satisfaction of this congregation, and of
the whole community, I now solemnly de
clare to you from this sacred place, that
on Friday morning, about half-past nine
o'clock, in his clear and lucid moments, in
the presence of credible witnesses, our dear
departed friend solemnly expressed to me,
on his dying bed, his desire to die in the
pure and reformed faith of the Church of
England. And yet, can it be believed, that
as efforts were made to subvert his soul, so
it is to be apprehended that attempts are
being made to secure for his body Romish
burial ? And I have been notified by a
near relative of the deceased that I am not
to officiate at the funeral of my dear and
valued parishioner and friend."
The explanation of this singular story is
not difficult to find. For some years before

84

THE HON. SIR ALLAN NAPIER MacNAB, BART.

his death Sir 'Allan had afforded a home
and shelter to his sister-in-law, the widow
of his brother David. This lady, who ac
quired great influence over the baronet in
his declining years, and took charge of his
hou.sehold — he had been a widower ever
since 1846 — was a zealous member of the
Roman Catholic Church. Her influence
was exerted — and doubtless conscientiously
exerted — at a time when Sir Allan was in
no condition to resist her appeals. The
entire Protestant community in Hamilton,
however, were stirred to their inmost
depths. It was alleged that at the time
when the rites of the Romish Church were
administered to him he was utterly uncon
scious of what was passing around him.
Under such circumstances, it was said, the
administration of any religious rite requir
ing, to make it complete, the active volition
of the person receiving it, must be regarded
in the light of a mere mockery. The lady
and the prelate did not sit down quietly
under the countless taunts and accusations
to which they were subjected! It was
alleged on their behalf that the deceased,
while in the possession of all his mental
faculties, consciously, and of his own free
will, entered the Roman Catholic Church.
Upon Mrs. MacNab and Bishop Farrell, it
was claimed, no responsibility rested except
that of having faithfully carried out the
dying baronet's wishes. It was represented
that Sir Allan had some months previously,
while in the possession of perfect health,
promised the Bishop that he would join the
Catholic Church, and that in its fold he
intended to die. It was further alleged that
on the first or second day of the illness
which terminated in his death, before he or
any of his friends anticipated any serious
results, he had said to one of his most inti
mate friends, "I am about to take an im
portant step." When Bishop Farrell called
on him as a friend, during his illness, he
(the Bishop) was, according to his own ac

count, reminded by Sir Allan of the promise
made several months before, and Sir Allan
there and then expressed his intention of
redeeming it. On Thursday, at his own
special request. Bishop Farrell alleged, he
(the Bishop) was called in, and received the
penitent into the Roman Catholic Church
with the usual ceremonies, and administered
to him the sacraments which that Church
provides for those at the point of death.
Sir Allan — so said the lady and the priest
— was in the full possession of his mental
faculties, and clearly conscious of what he
was doing, and after his admission into the
Roman Catholic Church he on no occasion,
while in a state of consciousness, expressed
himself as dying in the Protestant faith.
This, however, did hot satisfy the public.
The Toronto Globe was at that time the
especial champion of Protestantism in west
ern Canada, and was greatly scandalized by
these proceedings. It spoke with an un
mistakable frankness, and characterized the
performance of the rites by Bishop Farrell
as an outrage of the grossest kind. Com
menting upon the defence set up, it ex
pressed its entire disbelief in the story.
" We do not believe," said the Globe, " that
Sir Allan MacNab 'told Bishop Farrell (not
by any means a careful or scrupulous man,
by the way,) that he would join the Church
and die in its fold. We do not believe that
he said this, and afterwards took the com
munion in the Church of England, and regu
larly attended its services. As to the vague
statement that Sir Allan said he was about
to take an important step, and the deduction
that the step referred to was his adhesion
to the Church of Rome, they are hardly
worthy of notice, except to show that those
who urge them lack evidence to establish
their case. If they can prove that on
Thursday, Sir Allan, while in full pcsses-
sion of his faculties, sent for Bishop Farrell,
and while still conscious, took the commu
nion from him, there is no need to fall back

upon vague remarks by Sir Allan to his
friends." Upon opening the will it was found that
Mr. T, C. Street and Mrs: MacNab were
named executor and executrix. Mr. Street
declined to act, and Mrs. MacNab became
mistress of the situation. She declared her
desire that the deceased should be buried
according to the rites of the Roman Catho
lic Church. Mr. John Hillyard Cameron,
who was present, gave it as his opinion
that, as executrix, Mrs. MacNab could claim
possession of the coffin, shroud, and other
articles enclosing the body, and as the body
could not be buried without them, it conse
quently, by law, became the right of Mrs.
MacNab to have the body interred as she
deemed proper. It was soon known among
the gentlemen assembled in the hall and
chambers, that Sir Allan was to be buried
according to the rites of the Roman Catholic
Church, and many hurriedly left the house.
In a few minutes, not half-a-dozen persons
were left standing in the hall. Chief Jus
tice McLean, Chief Justice Draper, the Hon.

Mr. Cameron, Chancellor Vankoughnet, and
other gentlemen who had come by train from
Toronto specially to attend the funeral, left
in the carriages by which they had come.
The sisters and other friends of the deceased
were compelled to stand aside, and see their
relative and friend carried beyond their
reach. The general public also declined to
participate in the ceremonies, and but a
¦few individuals paid the last tribute of re
spect to their deceased friend. All appeared
sad, and many said it Was scandalous to bury
a gentleman as a Roman Catholic who had
all his life been known for a Protestant. It
was at one time feared that there would
be a riot, and the Mayor was requested to
swear in a posse of special constables. The
day passed ofi", however, without any dis
turbance, and Mrs. David MacNab and
Bishop Farrell had it all their own way.
The deceased baronet was buried in Roman
Catholic ground, and according to Roman
Catholic rites. And thus the curtain fell
over the last obsequies of Sir Allan Napier
MacNab, of Dundurn.

THE REV EDMUND ALBERN CRAWLEY, D.D.

THE Rev. Dr. Crawley, Professor of New
Testament exegesis, and Principal of
the Theological Faculty of Acadia College,
Nova Scotia, was born at Ipswich, in the
county of Suffolk, England, on- the 20th of
January, 1799. He has accordingly reached
the great age of fourscore and two years.
Like the heroic prophet, law -giver, and
leader of old, his eye is not dimmed, and it
can almost be said that his natural strength
is not abated. His father. Captain Thomas
Crawley, R.N., was the eldest son of a
family long resident at Ipswich. His mother
was a daughter of the late Mr. Birnal, of
London. Her brother, Ralph Birnal, for
many years, and till his death, represented
in Parliament the city of Rochester, Kent.
The subject of this sketch was still a child
when his father removed to Sydney, Cape
Breton, to fill an office in the Government
of that island before its annexation to Nova
Scotia. Sydney was then the scene of a
miniature " court,'' and though the town
was small and the population of the island
sparse, there was not a little life and vigour
manifested in the capital, especially in the
summer season, when its beautiful harbour
was frequented by ships of all nations. The
world on which his boyish eyes most fre
quently rested embraced in the foreground
the harbour, sheltered from every wind that
blows, and in the background leagues of
virgin forest on one hand, and on the other
vast reaches of the lonely Atlantic.

Schools were few and of very inferior
quality in those days in Cape Breton, but
Sydney was not without its advantages,
and by means of the public school, supple
mented by private instruction, young Craw
ley, when he was seventeen years of age,
was qualified, to matriculate in King's Col
lege, Windsor, the only college then in the
Maritime Provinces. Here he made rapid
progress, and won distinction in all his
classes. In due course he received the de
grees of A.B. and M.A. He studied law
under the late James W. Johnston, subse
quently Judge in Equity, and was called to
the Bar of Nova Scotia and also of New
Brunswick in 1822. He practised his pro
fession with marked success, and a brilliant
career was, humanly speaking, certain.
Fifty-five years ago the Rev. J. T. Twi
ning, then curate of St. Paul's Church, Hali
fax, of which the late Bishop Inglis was
Rector, commenced to preach with earnest
ness the doctrines held by the Evangelical
school in the Church of England. The con
gregation were delighted with the young
preacher and his doctrines, but the Bishop
was so dissatisfied with both the doctrines
and the man that he dismissed Mr. Twi
ning from the curacy. Mr. Twining and his
friends, embracing three-fourths of the con
gregation, set up separate services which
were exceedingly popular. A church was
erected, and it was hoped that connection
with the Ajiglican Church could be main-

THE REV. EDMUND ALBERN CRAWLEY, D.D.

87

tained. The opposition of the Bishop, how
ever, was so keen and so effective that no
alternative was left to preacher or people
but to become " Dissenters," or to return
to full conformity. Mr. Twining was ap
pointed Garrison Chaplain, and a very large
majority of those who had left St. Paul's
with him quietly retraced their steps.
Some, however, became Baptists, and these
formed the nucleus of an influential Baptist
Church, that of Granville Street, Halifax.
Mr, Crawley's parents belonged to the
Church of England, and he regarded himself
as connected with that Body until 1828,
when he joined the Baptist Church, Halifax
— the Granville Street Church already re
ferred to. He was quickly recognized as
one of the leaders of the Church, and became
closely associated with such men as James
W. Johnston, J. W. Rutting, John Ferguson
and others whose influence was quickly felt
throughout the whole denomination in the
Maritime Provinces. Shortly after identi
fying himself with the Baptists, Mr. Craw
ley gave up the practice of law and de
voted himself to the ministry of the Gos
pel. He spent a year at Andover Seminary,
Massachusetts, as a resident graduate, at
tending the lectures of Moses Stuart, at that
time facile princeps of American exegetes
and theologians. He was appointed agent
for collecting funds for the support of Wolf
ville Academy, and in following up his work
he travelled extensively throughout the At
lantic States of America, and also visited
England and Scotland. The era of large
gifts for educational purposes had not then
arrived, but by hard work and eloquent per
suasion Mr. Crawley collected a very hand
some amount. The institution for which
he thus toiled was to some extent his own
creation. In 1828 he, as one of the dele
gates to the Baptist Association at Horton,
proposed the formation of the Baptist Edu
cation Society for the purpose of found
ing and supporting, first an academy at

Horton, and then a college. The Bap
tist Association of 1828 was co-extensive
with the Convention of 1880. It will
be observed therefore that the Education
Society was intended to represent the whole
denomination in the Maritime Provinces.
The proposal of Mr. Crawley was cordially
accepted, and the result was the almost
immediate establishment of an academy,
and, by and by, the erection of Acadia Col
lege. The desirableness of having an edu
cated ministry for the churches was fully
recognized, and the Baptist denomination
under the leadership of Mr. Crawley and
men of kindred spirit contended earnestly
and successfully for the advancement of
education in general, from the primary
school up to the college.
In 1831 Dr. Crawley became pastor of
Granville Street Baptist Church, Halifax,
a position which he filled with preeminent
success. His discourses bore the impress of
a thoroughly logical and philosophical mind.
They were well ordered, accurate and pre
cise. His language was withal poetical,
giving expression to the feelings of a warm,
generous and philanthropic heart. His elo
cution was most effective ; his voice flexible
and musical, adapting itself easily to the
grand, the pathetic — in fact, to every shade
of thought and emotion. His sympathies
and feelings were deep, tender, and fervid.
Tears often streamed down his cheeks while
dilating upon affecting themes. His ser
mons were always carefully prepared and
he never indulged in the mindless fluency
of speech too often mistaken for eloquence.
His prayers were extemporaneous, and they
were remarkable as impressing the congre
gation with a sense of the petitioner being
alone with God. He seemed as if his whole
heart and soul were set free in the exercise
of humble worship. Large congregations
crowded to hear him, and his preaching was
by far the most popular and powerful in
the city.

THE REV. EDMUND ALBEEN CRAWLEY, D.D.

In 1840 he took the Chair of Moral and
Intellectual Philosophy in Acadia College —
entering thus upon a field which was attrac
tive and congenial, and which he was well
fitted to cultivate with success. A battle
had been fought and won in Nova Scotia
for denominational colleges, and in this bat
tle Dr. Crawley took an active and influen
tial part. He now became identified more
closely than ever with a denominational
college ; but he never was, never could be,
a mere sectarian. His mind was of a high
order, and it was thoroughly cultivated.
His acquaintance with music, sculpture and
painting was remarkable in a man of his
limited opportunities. As a Professor he also
excelled. He at once won, and never could
lose, the entire confidence and 'respect of the
students. These feelings speedily ripened
into an admiration bordering on idolatry. In
after life the students never felt that they
had overestimated the man, but that they
had overworshipped him. In the lecture
room he was dignified and almost regal, but
he never forgot to be courteous and kind
to all. He understood young men, led them
along naturally, easily mastering and con
trolling their prejudices, and impressing
them with a profound sense of the nobility
of a well-spent life. The Professor must
ever be himself a student, and Dr. Crawley
recognized the fact, and kept well abreast
of the thought and literature of his sub
jects. In 1847 Dr. Crawley returned to the pas
torate of Granville Street Church, and con
tinued therein with his wonted vigour and
success until 1852, when he again accepted
the Chair of Moral Science, together with
the Presidency of the College at Wolfville.
These changes, we may remark, were not
made from any dissatisfaction on either side.

but from the pressing need of help now at
this point, and now at that, in the infant
state of education, in the Baptist denomi
nation, and in the early history of their
churches in the Maritime Provinces. The
degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred
upon him by Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island.
The name of Dr. Crawley is honourably
associated with the religious press, as well
as with the college of the Baptist denomina
tion. Up to the year 1835 a bi-monthly
magazine was deemed sufficient as a means
of communication among the churches. At
a meeting of the Association held at Fred-
ericton in that year. Dr. Crawley proposed
that a weekly religious newspaper be estab
lished in place of the magazine. The propo
sition was cordially adopted, and the Chris
tian Messenger was the result. Previously
to this date a weekly paper was issued for
a short time in connection with the Church
of England, but it was discontinued. The
Baptist paper has continued to fiourish, and
is the oldest religious journal in the Mari
time Provinces,
In 1855 Dr. Crawley, much to the regret
of the friends of Acadia College, resigned
his position in connection with it, for reasons
wholly private, and became at different times
engaged in several educational situations in
the United States — first in Ohio, and after
wards in South Carolina. In 1866 he re
newed his connection with Acadia College o
by accepting the Chair of Rhetoric and
Logic. In 1878 he relinquished that Chair
for the now more congenial one of Exegesis
of the Greek New Testament, with the
Principalship of the Theological Depart
ment of the College. This position Dr.
Crawley now holds, and its .duties he dis
charges with distinguished success.

THE HON. ROBERT A. HARRISON, D.C.L.

THE late Chief Justice Harrison .afforded
a striking exemplification of the power
of work. His native intellectual powers
were above the average, but he was far less
brilliant than were some of his contempo
raries at the Canadian Bar who have not
attained to anything approaching an equal
degree of professional eminence. His in
dustry and steadiness of purpose were the
qualities mainly instrumental in placing
him in the proud and hoiiourable position
which he attained. His capacity for steady,
continuous, hard labour has probably never
been surpassed by any lawyer in this coun
try, and in his case it has left abundant
traces behind it.
He was the eldest son of the late Mr,
Richard Harrison, formerly of Skegarvey,
in the county of Monaghan, Ireland, by his
marriage with Miss Frances Butler, of New
ton Butler, in the county of Fermanagh.
He was born at Montreal on the 3rd of
August, 1833, but his parents removed to
the township of Markham, in the county of
York, within a few months after his birth.
W^hile he was still a mere child the family
removed from Markham to Toronto, where
he was destined to spend the greater 'part
of his life. He received his education, first
at Upper Canada College, and afterwards
at the University of Trinity College, To
ronto, where he took his degree of B.C.L.
in 1855, and that of D.C.L, about four years
later. Having fixed upon the law as his
IV— 13

profession, he entered the office of Messrs.
Robinson & Allan as a law student when
he was in his seventeenth year. When he
was about eighteen, and had been less
than two years a student, he commenced
the compilation of a work which was des
tined to make his name known to every
lawyer in the country. This work was "A
Digest of all Cases determined in the Queen's
Bench and Practice Courts of Upper Canada,
from 1843 to 1851, inclusive," He was
about a year in writing and compiling the
work, and nearly as long in passing it
through the press. Being a young law
student, unknown to the profession, his
"Digest" was published under the super
vision of Mr. (now Sir) James Lukin Rob
inson, who was then the authorized re
porter to the Court of Queen's Bench. The
work was published in the joint names of
" Robinson & Harrison," and is known to
the profession as "Robinson & Harrison's
Digest." It was most successful, and,
as has been intimated, brought Mr. Harri
son's name prominently before the legal
profession. This was the only legal work
he wrote during the time he was a law
student, though he was a frequent contrib
utor to the magazines and newspapers of
the day. It was during his student days
also that he first aspired to University
honours. He entered the University of
Toronto, in the Law Faculty, but subse
quently migrated to Trinity College. He

90

THE HON. ROBERT ALEXANDER HARRISON, D.C.L.

did not receive his Bachelor's degree, as
above mentioned, until a short time subse
quent to his call to the Bar in 1855. He
was also a prominent member of the To
ronto Literary and Debating Society, and
of the Osgoode Club. In 1853 he trans
ferred his services to the office of Messrs.
Crawford & Hagarty, then perhaps the
leading law firm of the Province, the mem
bers whereof were the late Lieutenant-Gov
ernor of Ontario, and the present Chief
Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench for
Ontario. During the following year he re-
received an appointment in the Western
Branch of the Crown Law Department for
Upper Canada, as Chief Clerk, or Deputy
to the Attorney- General. The selection was
made by the late Hon. John Ross, who was
then Attorney-General, and was confirmed
by his successor in office, the Hon. (now
Sir) John A. Macdonald. This appoint
ment rendered necessary the removal of the
appointee from Toronto to Quebec, which
was for the time then being the seat of
Government. He was absent about a year,
when he returned with the Government to
Toronto. In Michaelmas Term, 1855, he was called
to the Bar " with honours," and being the
first so called, under the new rules which
had then just come into operation, he was
warmly congratulated by the late Mr. Robert
Baldwin, who was then Treasurer of the
Law Society. He began practice at the
Bar in Toronto, and from the very outset
had an abundance of clients. He had
meanwhile kept up his contributions to the
newspaper press, and was at this time a
constant contributor to the Colonist, one of
the leading papers of Toronto a quarter of
a century ago. Becoming too much involved
in politics, however, to the neglect of his
profession, he soon afterwards discontinued
his connection with the political press, and
confined himself entirely to work connected
with his profession. In 1857 he published

" The Statutes of Practical Utility in the
Civil Administration of Justice in Upper
Canada ;" also "A Manual of Costs in County
Courts;" both of which were well received
by the profession, and had a large sale. He
next began to prepare an annotated edition
of the Common Law and County Courts Pro
cedure Acts, with the new Rules of Practice.
He laboured diligently at this very exact
ing task for more than a year. Upon the
publication of the work in 1858 it was re
ceived with greater favour by the profession
than any of his former works, and was com
mended by the professional press through
out the English-speaking world. The Lon
don legal press placed him in the front rank
of those commentators who had undertaken
to edit the Acts embodied in his work. The
Jurist, one of the most critical professional
periodicals in England, in reviewing the re
sult of Mr. Harrison's labours, said : " These
are the Acts which have revolutionized the
law of Upper Canada, after their progeni
tors had exercised a like radical influence
in the old country. They are in effect an
amalgamation of our Procedure Acts of
1852 and 1854, together with an Act apply
ing them in a great measure to the County
Courts of Canada. The work is therefore
almost as useful to the English as to the
Canadian lawyer, and is not only the most
recent, but by far the most complete edition
which we have seen of these important Acts
of Parliament. The editor has not been
content with industriously collecting the
numerous decisions which are now scattered
through our reports upon these statutes, but
has displayed both skill and judgment in
their arrangement, and in deducing, wher
ever 'it was pos,sible, those principles of
which the decisions are either suggestive or
illustrative." A second and enlarged edi
tion of this valuable work was published in
1870. Notwithstanding the exactions of a large
and steadily-increasing business, Mr. Harri-

THE HON. ROBERT ALEXANDER HARRISON, D.C.L.

91

son still found time for literary work in
connection with his profession. He was for
several years joint editor of the Upper Can
ada Laiu Journal, to the columns of which
he also contributed many valuable editorial
articles. In 1859 his " Municipal Manual "
appeared. It was highly praised, and had a
large sale ; and two subsequent editions of
it have since been published.
The first trial of public importance in
which Mr. Harrison figured at the Bar was
the well known case of disputed identity
tried at Cayuga, in the county of Haldi-
mand, at the autumn assizes in 1857, and
known as Regina vs. Townsend alias Mc-
Henry. In this extraordinary case, the
merits of which are still warmly disputed
throughout the county of Haldimand, Mr.
Harrison appeared for the Crown ; the pris
oner being defended by the late Mr. Samuel
Black Freeman, of Hamilton. Mr. Harrison
also appeared for the Crown in the Norfolk
Shrievalty Case ; and was one of the Coun
sel who defended the ministers for violating
the Independence of Parliament Act by the
perpetration of the Double Shuffle. In the
famous Habeas Corpus case of John Ander
son, the negro, he gained his case before the
Queen's Bench, but lost it on technical
points before the Common Pleas.
Hitherto Mr. Harrison had continued to
hold his office in connection with the Crown
Law Department, and had not engaged in a
general legal practice. In 1859, however, he
resigned his clerkship ; and formed a part
nership with the late Mr. James Patterson.
The firm of Patterson & Harrison com
menced practice as barristers, attorneys and
solicitors in Toronto, and was a rising one
from the date of its original formation.
Mr. Patterson, the senior partner, was re
cognized as one of the best office lawyers in
the profession, and Mr. Harrison's standing
at the Bar was in the front rank. The firm
was subsequently reinforced by Mr. Thomas
Hodgins, and later still by Mr. John Bain.

On the death of the senior partner, the firm
of Harrison, Osier & Moss was formed, hav
ing as leading members the subject of this
memoir, the late Chief Justice Moss, and
Mr. Featherstone Osier, now a Puisnd Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas. This firm
obtained a practice which was probably
with a single exception the largest in the
Province. Its extent may be surmised from
the fact that it contained about half a dozen
members ; and that the share of the senior
partner alone for several years before he
accepted a seat on the Bench was from
$12,000 to $14,000 per annum.
Mr. Harrison was created a Queen's Coun
sel in 1867, and was elected a Bencher of
the Ontario Law Society in 1871. He was
for some time a member of the Corporation
of the city of Toronto, and was a Director
of the Life Association of Scotland. He
identified himself with the Church Associa
tion of the diocese of Toronto, and took a
warm interest in its proceedings. He was
also a Major in the Canadian Militia.
His entry into public life took place in
1867, when he contested West Toronto for
the House of Commons in the Conservative
interest, and successfully opposed Mr, John
Macdonald, who had represented the Divi
sion during the last Parliament of the old
Province of Canada. He continued a mem
ber of the House of Commons until 1872,
but he did not figure conspicuously in politi
cal life. At the general election of 1872 he
declined to contest his seat, and announced
his intention of retiring from a sphere /
which he had not found very much to his
taste. As a member of Parliament his name
is identified with several measures of some
importance, including Bills for amending the
law as to stamping promissory notes and
bills of exchange, and for the collection of
criminal statistics. He was for two sessions
Chairman of the Committee on Miscellan
eous and Private Bills. During his Parlia
mentary career he gave a general support to

92

THE HON. ROBERT ALEXANDER HARRISON, D.C.L.

the Administration of Sir John Macdonald.
After his withdrawal from political life he
confined his attention entirely to his pro
fessional duties, and it was at this period
that the business attained its largest dimen
sions. In the autumn of 1875, upon the promo
tion of the Hon, (now Sir) William Buell
Richards from the position of Chief Justice
of Ontario to that of Chief Justice of the
then recently constituted Supreme Court of
the Dominion, Mr. Harrison was fixed upon
as the most suitable successor to the position
thereby left vacant. When his appoint
ment was announced it was hailed with
great satisfaction by the legal profession
throughout Ontario. Mr. Harrison thus
passed at a single bound from the position
of leader of the Common Law Bar of On
tario to that of a Chief Justice, a circum
stance by no means common in the history
of judicial appointments. He received con
gratulatory addresses from members of the
Bar in various parts of the Province. He
entered upon his duties with the same un
conquerable passion for work which had
characterized him in previous passages of
his career. The large arrears in the Court
of Queen's Bench were soon removed, and
the sanguine anticipations which had been
formed as to his aptitude for judicial life
were fully realized. One of the best known
judgments delivered by him was in the case
of Regina vs. Wilkinson, in which the late
Hon. George Brown personally appeared

before the court and passed strictures upon
one of its members.
In 1876 he was appointed one of the
arbitrators on the question of the north
western boundary of Ontario, — -an appoint
ment which involved him in a great deal of
additional labour. It is not improbable
that it was the means of shortening his
life. There is at any rate no doubt that
his death at the comparatively early age of
forty -five was largely due to overwork.
For several years before the end came he
had been subjected to frequent disorder of
the heart, and had received grave warnings
from his physician to abstain altogether
from brain-work. To abstain from work,
however. Was an impossibility for him. In
August, 1878, he proceeded to Ottawa on
business connected with the boundary ar
bitration. After his return it was noticed
that he was worse in health than usual,
and various remedies — including, partial
cessation from work, and easy travel — were
resorted to. In vain; the machinery was
worn out. He died at his home in Toronto
on the 1st of November, 1878. He lives,
and will long live, in the various profes
sional works which he has left behind him.
He was twice married : first in 1859, to
Anna, daughter of Mr. J. M. Muckle, form
erly a merchant of Quebec. This lady died
in 1866. His second wife, whom he married
in 1868, was Kennithina Johanna Mackay,
only daughter of the late Mr. Hugh Scobie,
of Toronto.

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THE HON. JAMES FERRIER.

IT-L number of those hard-headed Scotch
men who, like Hugh Allan, John Young,
and other personages whose lives have been
outlined in the present series, have enjoyed
a remarkably successful career in Canada.
He was born on the 22nd of October, 1800,
so that his age is nearly coeval with that
of the nineteenth century. His parentage,
and the exact place of his birth, are matters
respecting which we have been unable to
gain any information. He seems to have
been born in the humble walks of life, and
to have received a rudimentary education
in one of the rural parishes of Fifeshire.
He served an apprenticeship in a mercantile
house at Perth, and in his twenty -first year
emigrated from Scotland to Canada. He
obtained commercial employment in Mon
treal, and early in 1823, when he had been
about a year and a half in the country,
began business there o.n his own account,
on Notre Dame Street. He is said to have
been the first to open a store on that
thoroughfare, which has since become one
of the busiest mercantile streets in the city.
Prior to Mr. Ferrier's commencing business
there, in 1823, Notre Dame Street contained
only private residences, and one of these
was rented by him and converted into a
" store " of the period.
He possessed in an eminent degree the
characteristics by which Scotchmen have
won recognition at all times, and in every

country on the globe. He was shrewd,
diligent, prudent and saving. In a few
years he had amassed a competence, and in
1836 he retired from business. He has ever
since been a busy man, however, and has
been engaged in various important financial,
social and charitable undertakings. Soon
after his retirement the Bank of British
North America opened a place of business
on St. James Street, under the control of
Austin Cuvillier, Albert Furniss, and the
subject of this sketch. The Bank was
actually opened on the 8th of March, 1837,
— more than forty-four years ago — and
Mr. Ferrier has ever since been, and still
is, a Director of its Canadian Board.
Upon the breaking out of the rebellion
in Lower Canada in 1837 Mr. Ferrier ap
proved his loyalty by volunteering his ser
vices and shouldering his musket. Apart
from his loyalty, he was a man of property,
and had large interests to defend in the
city of Montreal, where loyal subjects had
everything to dread in case of the success
of the insurgents. After the quieting down
of the flames of rebellion Mr. Ferrier began
to take a larger interest in municipal affairs
than he had previously done. In 1841 he
became a member of the Municipal Council
of the city. In 1844 he was elected, under
the new Municipal Act, Alderman for the
East Ward ; and next year he was elected
Mayor of the city. During his tenure of
office two terrible fires took place in Quebec,

94

THE HON. JAMES FERRIER.

whereby the suburbs of St. Roch and St.
John were nearly destroyed. These two
calamities, occurring only a month apart,
left great nuifibers of persons houseless and
penniless, and the whole Province was stirred
to take measures for their relief. Queen
Victoria herself originated a scheme for the
relief of the sufferers, and caused charity
sermons to be preached throughout the
United Kingdom. She also subscribed mu
nificently on her own behalf. Mr. Ferrier,
who had occasion to visit Quebec in his
official capacity, had an opportunity of see
ing for himself the extent of suffering and
destitution which had been brought about,
and felt move4 to pity. Upon his return
to Montreal, which was then the capital of
Canada, he waited upon the Governor-Gen
eral, Lord Metcalfe, and besought his Lord
ship's influence in aid of a large scheme of
relief. Lord Metcalfe, who as a private
individual was one of the best-hearted and
most generous of men, not only entered
heartily into the scheme proposed by Mr.
Ferrier, but volunteered a subscription on
his own behalf of $2,000. Mr. Ferrier then
convened a public meeting in the House of
Assembly, and told the audience what he
had seen of the Quebec fire and its conse
quences. Contributions to the amount of
$40,000 were forthwith subscribed ; and he
was thus the means of alleviating much
cruel misery and suffering. During the
same year he was appointed a member of
the Board of the Royal Institution for the
Advancement of Learning, of which he sub
sequently became President.
In 1846 Mr. Ferrier formed a regiment of
about seven hundred troops, consisting of
members of the city Fire Brigade. This
regiment was for some years maintained in
a state of considerable efficiency, and Mr.
Ferrier himself was appointed Lieutenant-
Colonel of it. On the 27th of May, 1847,
he was called by royal mandamus to a seat
in the Legislative Council, in the delibera

tions whereof he has ever since taken an
intelligent part. When the railway era set
in he took part in the organization of vari
ous great enterprises. He projected the
railway from Montreal to Lachine, which
was chartered in 1846, but which was sub
sequently swallowed by the larger scheme.
He also took a prominent part in the rees-
tablishment of McGill College on a sound
financial basis. To enumerate the many
other projects with which he is or has been
connected would occupy considerable space.
He became a Director of the Grand Trunk
Railway Company at a critical period in its
history, and is now Chairman of the Cana
dian Board. He was for six years President
of the Montreal Assurance Company, and
has several times been President of the St.
Andrew's Society of Montreal. He is a
member of the Council of Victoria College,
Cobourg, President of the Montreal Bible
Society, and of several of the most promi
nent Temperance and Prohibitory Associa
tions. He is Vice-President of the Sabbath
School Association of Canada, and of the
French Canadian Missionary Society. He
is also a Director of the International
Bridge Company.
In the month of May, 1867, he was called
to the Senate of the Dominion by Royal
Proclamation, and during the same year he
was appointed a memher of the Legisla
tive Council of the Province of Quebec for
Victoria. In politics Mr. Ferrier is, and has always
been, a Conservative. His theology is that
taught by John Wesley. He was originally
reared in the Presbyterian faith, but em
braced Wesleyan Methodism while he was
engaged in commercial business in Mon
treal. He has ever since been a very promi
nent member of that Body, to the advance
ment of which his best energies have fre
quently been directed. He resides in Mon
treal, which has been his home ever since
his arrival in Canada sixty years ago.

THE HON. JOHN DOUGLAS ARMOUR.

JUDGE ARMOUR was born in the town
ship of Otonabee, in the county of
Peterborough, Upper Canada, on the 4th of
May, 1830. He is the youngest son of the
late Rev. Samuel Armour, who was for
many years Rector of Cavan, in the county
of Durham, and was widely and favour
ably known throughout that part of Up
per Canada. In his boyhood he attended
the schools in the neighbourhood of his
home, and on the 27th of January, 1843,
entered as a student at Upper Canada Col
lege, Toronto. In 1847 he matriculated at
King's College, an institution which subse
quently developed into the University of
Toronto. His University career was bril
liant. He gained the first Univetsity schol
arship in classics, and subsequently gained
the Wellington scholarship. He graduated
in 1850, ¦sirinning the gold medal in classics.
He during the same year entered the office
of his brother, Mr. Robert Armour, and
began the study of the law. He completed
his studies in the office of the late P. M. M.
S. Vankoughnet, afterwards Chancellor of
Upper Canada. He was called to the Bar
in Michaelmas Term, 1853, and began prac
tice in Cobourg, where he formed a part
nership with the late Hon. Sidney Smith.
This partnership lasted till the 7th of No
vember, 1857, when Mr. Armour began to
practise without a partner. He subsequently
formed a partnership with Mr. H. F. Hol
land, which lasted until between three and

four years since, when Mr. Armour was
raised to the Bench.
Various other offices of more or less im
portance were from time to time held by
Mr. Armour. On the 26th of March, 1858,
he was appointed County Attorney of the
United Counties of Northumberland and
Durham, and during the following year he
was Warden of those counties. On the 2nd
of May, 1861, he was appointed Clerk of
the Peace for the same counties. On the
8th of January, 1859, he was elected a
member of the Senate of the University of
Toronto. On the 26th of June, 1867, he
was created a Queen's Counsel ; and in 1871
he was elected a Bencher of the Law Society
of Upper Canada. The highest dignity of
all came to him on the 30th of Novem
ber, 1877, when he was appointed a Puisne
Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, which
position he has ever since filled.
Judge Armour is by heredity and tradi
tion a Conservative, in both religion and
politics ; but he is an advanced Liberal by
thought and education, and a firm believer
in the benefit to be derived from Canadian
independence. He is a man of wide read
ing, multifarious knowledge, and great
shrewdness and common sense.
On the 28th of April, 1855, he married
Miss Eliza Church, daughter of the late
Freeman S. Church, of Cobourg, by whom
he has had eleven children, ten of whom
are now living.

THE HON. JOHN HENRY POPE,
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.

THE date and place of Mr. Pope's birth
are not given in any of the authorities
to which reference is commonly made for
such information, and the published facts
with respect to him are unusually scanty.
He is a man of middle age at the present
time, and was born in the Eastern Town
ships. He is said to be of U. E. Loyal
ist stock. We have no particulars of his
career prior to the year 1854, when he was
an unsuccessful candidate for the represen
tation of the county of Compton in the
Canadian Assembly. In 1857, he was re
turned in the Conservative interest for that
county, and has ever since represented it in
Parliament — in the Assembly up to Con
federation, and in the House of Commons
ever since. He first took office in October,
1871, when he was sworn of the Privy
Council and appointed Minister of Agricul
ture. He retained office until the downfall
of the Government in November, 1873, ow
ing to the Pacific Railway disclosures. He
remained in Opposition during Mr. Macken
zie's tenure of office. Upon the formation
of Sir John A. Macdonald's Government in
October, 1878, he again accepted his old
portfolio of Minister of Agriculture, which
he has held ever since. He seems to enjoy
a considerable share of popularity among
his constituents, and has several times been
returned by acclamation. He is described
as a representative man of the Lower Can
ada British population who has done credit

to his constituency. At the time of his
original appointment to office a high con
temporary authority referred to him as " a
man who entertains very warm feelings of
attachment to the Crown of England, and
to the autonomy of Canada as established
by the Act of Confederation, sympathizing
with no changes save those which will place
the central government in complete control
of the whole country between the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, subject, of course, to the
safeguards of local administration provided
by the Union Act. . , He is not a Cicero
in debate, and perhaps for that very reason
he sooner won his way to general esteem,
for whatever Mr. Pope has to say in Parlia
ment or out of it, he says with a terse vig
our and conciseness of language that make
a mockery of ornate phrases. He brings to
the Government a high personal character,
a capacity and a disposition for work, an in
telligent appreciation of the wants of the
country, and a well-studied Parliamentary
experience of nearly half an average life
time. These are not qualifications essential
to what is called a brilliant minister ; but
they are ample guarantees that the work of
his Department will be well and thoroughly
done. He is not likely from excess of
scrupulosity of conscience to fritter his time
and his health away in doing mere clerical
work, but will rather bend his intellect to
the general working and efficient organiza
tion of the different branches of the public

THE HON. JOHN HENRY POPE.

97

service over which he is now about to pre
side." To which it may be added that the
Department presided over by Mr. Pope is
one which specially requires close attention
to details, rather than any profound or
statesmanlike policy. It is to be regretted
that Mr. Pope's want of attention to those
details which some persons affect to despise
should have been the means of advertising
the Western States as a field for immigra
tion, and this at the expense of the Domin
ion Government. That the matter was a
mere oversight no man, we presume, seri
ously doubts, but it was the result of a
degree of carelessness for which a Cabinet
Minister must in fairness be held respon
sible. On the other hand, Mr. Pope has
earnestly endeavoured to gain for the Do
minion a share of the tenant-farmer immi
gration from Great Britain. , In the autumn
o of 1879 he caused a number of representa
tive agriculturists in the United Kingdom
to be invited to come to Canada, to examine

into its resources, and to report upon its ad
vantages as a field for settlement. The in
vitation was complied with, and the reports
of the delegates, which were very favourable
to Canada, have been very widely circulated
throughout the agricultural districts of Eng
land and Scotland. It is fair to assume
that the visit of the delegates has resulted,
and will result, in a considerable migration
from Britain to Canada of a class of settlers
well calculated to promote the country's
prosperity. For this Mr. Pope is fully en
titled to claim credit.
He is President of the St. Francis and
Megantic International Railway, and of the
Compton Colonization Company. He is
also one of the trustees of the St. Francis
College, Richmond, P.Q., and a director of
the Eastern Townships Bank. He com
manded the Cookshire Volunteer Cavalry
for a good many years, and retired from
that service, retaining his rank as a Major,
in 1862.

IV— 14

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

AT the time of the breaking out of the
American Revolutionary War, there
resided on a farm in Westchester County,
in what is now the State of New York, a
gentleman named Thomas Merritt. He was
descended from a Puritan family which had
settled in New England a century before, and
had through many vicissitudes preserved its
loyalty to the British Crown. When the
struggle broke out which finally terminated
in the emancipation of the American colo
nies from the control df the mother coun
try, Thomas Merritt joined the regiment of
Queen's Rangers — a regiment which had for
its Colonel a distinguished English officer
named Simcoe, who subsequently became
the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper
Canada. While attached to this famous
corps, young Merritt wooed and won Miss
Mary Hamilton, a lady belonging to a South
Carolina family. He fought all through
the war, and doubtless did good service in
the cause of King George. At the close of
hostilities the Queen's Rangers were dis
banded, and soon afterwards Mr. Merritt
and his wife removed to New Brunswick.
The climate there proving uncongenial, he
returned, after a brief sojourn, to the neigh
bourhood of the old family homestead in
Westchester County, where the subject of
this sketch was born on the 3rd of July,
1793. The State of New York, however'
did not prove a comfortable place of abode
for a man who had fought on the royal side

in the great struggle. Thomas Merritt and
his family were subjected, first to numerous
petty exactions, and afterwards to down
right persecution. His old Colonel, Simcoe,
had meanwhile been appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of Upper Canada, and had taken
up his residence at Navy Hall, Newark,
near the mouth of the Niagara River. The
favourable terms offered by Governor Sim
coe to persons settling in the Province at
tracted a great many of the loyalists from
the State of New York. Among those so
attracted was Mr. Thomas Merritt, who
came over with his family to Niagara, and
in 1796 settled on Lot No. 13, in the fourth
concession of the township of Grantham.
He shortly afterwards removed to Lot No.
20, in the same concession, and in the im
mediate neighbourhood of the present city
of St. Catharines, which was then covered
by a dense growth of oak, pine, and walnut
trees. He applied himself diligently to the
clearing and cultivation of his farm, and
went through the usual trials and priva
tions incidental to pioneer life. He rose to
a position of influence in the community,
and became Sheriff of the Niagara District.
The greater part of the site of St. (Catharines
was then owned by the Hon. Robert Hamil
ton, of Queenston, who had already built a
storehouse there for the purpose of furnish
ing supplies to the settlers in the neigh
bouring townships ; but there was no actual
settlement there until the summer of the

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

99

year 1797, when a Mr. Thomas Adams built
a tavern on what is now the corner of St.
Paul and Ontario Streets, nearly opposite
the site of the present post office. On the
bank of the adjacent stream, which was
called "Twelve Mile Creek," and which
now forms a part of the Welland Canal, Mr.
Adams also built a saw-mill, and not long
afterwards a grist-mill. From this time
forward the settlement was known as " The
Twelve." Adams's tavern subsequently
passed into the hands of one Paul Shipman,
and soon afterwards the place came to be
known as "Shipman's Corners." In 1809
the village was surveyed, and the name of
St. Catharines was bestowed upon it, in
honour of Mrs. Catharine Hamilton, wife
of the proprietor of the greater part of the
land. It was not until several years after
wards, however, that the latter name came
to be generally adopted, and in common
parlance the village was still called " The
Twelve,'' or " Shipman's Corners," accord
ing to the fancy of the speaker. During
the same year (1809) a store — the first in
the village — was opened by a Mr. Chisholm,
with whom the subject of this sketch subse
quently formed a commercial partnership.
It must be confessed that the prospects
of the first settlers in this part of the Prov
ince were not brilliant. An almost unbroken
wilderness extended all the way from the
Niagara frontier to Kingston, and the only
denizens of the intervening forests were
wild beasts and wandering tribes of In
dians. The U. E. Loyalists who settled on
the Niagara peninsula received free grants
of the lands which they took up. Other
settlers paid a nominal price. Real estate
in Upper Canada was not much sought
after in those times, and the price paid by
the original settlers in Grantham — by such
of them, at least, as paid anything — was
7^d. per acre. Even these figures, ridicu
lous as they appear to us at the present
day, do not represent the lowest price at

which lands were purchased on the penin
sula. There is at least one well-authenti
cated instance where a sale was effected at
less than half the price just quoted. A U. E.
Loyalist named Barnes received a grant
from Government of a tract of two hundred
acres in the township of Thorold. After
clearing a part of his property and working
it for two years, he came to the conclusion
that it could never be made productive, and
in a fit of disgust he sold the entire block
of two hundred acres for three pounds.
Most of the pioneers, however, were more
liberally endowed with patience and stam
ina than was Mr. Barnes, and were content
to make the best of the situation.
In 1806, the subject of this sketch, who
was then in his thirteenth year, was sent to
Port Burlington, now Hamilton, to attend
a school kept by a Mr. Cockerel. This
gentleman soon afterwards removed to Ni
agara, and young Merritt's education was
continued there, partly under Mr. Cockerel,
and partly under the Rev. John Burns, a
Presbyterian minister. When he was fif
teen years of age he was sent on a long
visit to an uncle at St. John, New Bruns
wick. There he continued his studies, and
made considerable progress, not only in the
ordinary branches of education, but also in
surveying and navigation. The bent given
to his mind by these studies was destined,
as will presently be seen, to exercise an im
portant infiuence upon his future career.
He returned to his home on the Niagara
peninsula in the month of December, 1809,
very much wiser and more experienced in
the ways of life than he had been at his
departure. Young as he was, he determined
to embark in business. He formed a part
nership in a general mercantile business
with Mr. Chisholm, as already narrated —
his share of the capital, we presume, being
advanced by his father. The business was
successful, and young Merritt continued in
it about two years, when he sold his interest

100

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

therein, and took charge of the homestead
farm — a step rendered necessary by the
fact that he was an only son, and that his
father's time was engrossed by his official
duties as Sheriff of the District, to which
position he had been appointed in 1803.
Soon afterwards the War of 1812 broke
out, and young Merritt left the farm to
take care of itself, while he fought the bat
tles of his Sovereign. He had previously
joined the militia, and had obtained an en
sign's commission. He was now promoted
to a lieutenancy, and repaired to Chippawa,
where he placed himself under the command
of Colonel Clark. He fought gallantly all
through the War, and was advanced to the
rank of a captain. He was present at the
surrender of Detroit by General Hull, and
was much trusted by the Commander-in-
chief, the brave General Brock. He also
fought at Queenston Heights, Stony Creek,
and Lundy's Lane. At the last-named en
gagement he was surrounded and taken
prisoner by the enemy. He and thirteen
of his comrades in arms were conveyed to
Fort Schlosser, on the American side of the
Niagara River, and detained as prisoners of
war for about eight months, when hostili
ties were brought to a close.
Captain Merritt returned to his home
about the end of March, 1815, bringing
with him a charming young wife, whom
he had married on the 13th of the month.
She was Miss Catharine Prendergast, the
only daughter of a practising physician of
Mayville, in the State of New York.
Soon after reaching his home he entered
into a mercantile partnership with a Mr.
Ingersoll, of Shipman's Corners. At the
close of the War of 1812-14 several officers
who had taken part in the struggle settled
• in the neighbourhood of Shipman's Cor
ners, which by this time had become a
well-known place of resort for the settlers
around. The new arrivals built houses of
a better class than had previously been seen

there. It was found, too, that the plateau
lying between the base of the mountain
and the lake shore was well adapted for
horticulture, and even at this early date the
fruit grown hereabouts began to attract
attention. In 1816 the population of the
township of Grantham was 1,119, and the
average price of land had increased to fifty
shillings per acre. During the same year
Mr. W. H. Merritt purchased from Mr.
Hamilton a part of the latter's property, on
the site of the village, which was re-sur
veyed and laid out shortly afterwards by
Mr. Jonathan Clendennen, a schoolmaster
of local renown. In August of the same
year Mr. Merritt began to turn to account
some of the numerous salt springs in the
neighbourhood, and this branch of industry
soon began to yield a very satisfactory re
turn. The village, however, was of slow
growth, and gave little promise of becoming
a large and prosperous town, the chief in
land watering-place of the Dominion, and
the resort of invalids and tourists from all
parts of North America.
In 1818 Mr. Merritt began to mature a
project which had been long in his mind,
and which was destined to have very im
portant results, not to St. Catharines alone,
but to the country at large. This project
was the construction of a canal connecting
Lakes Erie and Ontario. The Falls of Ni
agara presented an insuperable barrier to
the navigation of the Niagara River, and
there was no route whereby the produce
of the west could be conveyed eastward
through Canadian waters. Whether, as has
frequently been asserted, the idea originated
with Mr, Merritt is open to question; but
it is certain that he was the first to reduce
it to anything like shape, and that but for
his energy the scheme would not have been
carried out until at least some years later.
It is even probable that but for his exer
tions the canal would finally have been con
structed in United States territory instead

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

101

of in Canada. Having thought out some of
the leading features of his scheme, Mr. Mer
ritt made a survey of the district through
which he deemed it most desirable for the
canal to pass. The survey was rough, and
very defective, but its results satisfied Mr.
Merritt of the practicability of carrying out
the scheme at a moderate cost. He pre
sented to the Legislature a petition, signed
by himself and most of the infiuential set
tlers in the neighbourhood, asking for an
appropriation for a more accurate survey.
The petition was successful, and a sum of
two thousand pounds was voted for the
purpose. This sum, however, was expended
upon an injudicious survey, which, if acted
upon, would have involved the construction
of a canal nearly double the required length,
and more than double the necessary cost.
The project was accordingly suspended for
about five years. During this interval Mr.
Merritt was not idle, but spent a great deal
of time in pondering over his project. In
the spring of 1823 he conceived that he had
brought it to perfection, and repaired to
Niagara to get up an agitation on the sub
ject. A subscription list was set on foot
for the purpose of raising funds to pay for a
new survey by a competent engineer. The
necessary amount was soon raised, and the
.survey proceeded with. On the 10th of
May the engineer's report was published,
and at the next session of the Legislature,
in February, 1824, an Act of Incorporation
was procured. On the 12th of June Mr.
George Keefer was elected President of the
Company, the corporate style of which was,
" The Welland Canal Company." Mr. Mer
ritt was delegated to go to New York to
induce capitalists to embark money in the
undertaking, and started on his mission
shortly afterwards. His efforts were to
some extent successful, and on the 30th of
November the first sod was turned by Mr.
Keefer. The work of construction went
steadily on during the next five years, and

on the 27th of November, 1829, the first
two vessels passed through St. Catharines
on their way to Buffalo, whither they ar
rived in due course. In the following July
the canal was formally opened, and a brisk
business at once began to be done upon it.
In 1842 all the stock of the Company was
purchased by Government, who thencefor
ward assumed the control of the enterprise.
Under their auspices various enlargements
and improvements have from time to time
been effected. The commercial importance
to the country of the Welland Canal is in
calculable. The obstruction to trade be
tween west and east caused by the Falls of
Niagara is thereby entirely obviated, and
the produce of the west is thereby enabled
to pass down the St. Lawrence, and thence
to the seaboard by water, without tranship
ment. Its value, moreover, is not confined
to the facilities thus afforded, as there is a
fall of about three hundred and thirty-four
feet between the two lakes, and the hy
draulic power thus gained has been turned
to account by the inhabitants of the various
villages along the banks of the canal. The
construction of the canal, of course, gave a
great impetus to St. Catharines. In 1826
the population of the village was 317. In
1831 the population had more than quad
rupled, and in 1843 was 2,354.
In tracing the history of the great enter
prise with which Mr. Merritt's name must
ever continue to be associated, we have to
some extent anticipated the course of his
life. In 1832 he for the first time entered
Parliament, having been elected to a seat in
the Legislative Assembly by the electors of
the county of Haldimand. He was placed
on the Finance Committee, and forthwith
made his mark as a useful and industrious
member. His first speech in the House was
in favour of free trade in grain and cattle
with the United States. Another of his
early speeches was in favour of a Bill for
the abolition of imprisonment for debt.

102

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

During the session he wrote and published
a pamphlet on the inland navigation of the
Canadian Provinces, advocating an exten
sion of the canal system.* Throughout the
whole of his public career he took .special
interest in promoting public works and im
provements, more especially that magnum,
opms which had been successfully inaugu
rated under his auspices. He was also a
zealous advocate of the Union, which was
finally consummated in February, 1841.
During the rebellion of 1837, though he was
of course on the side of law and order, he
adopted a very moderate course. He had a
great contempt for Mr, Mackenzie, who had
taken a very hostile stand to him in the
House. He designated the enterprise as a
" Monkey War," and did not. regard it as by
any means a serious matter. Immediately
after the collapse of the demonstration' at
Gallows Hill, near Toronto, a magisterial
meeting was held at St. Catharines, with a
view to providing for the preservation of
the peace in the district. Mr. Merritt pre
sided at this meeting, and certain measures
were taken for the desired end. A few
suspected persons were arrested and ex
amined, but no one was imprisoned, and a
general policy of moderation was observed.
After the Union of the Provinces he ac
cepted the Reform nomination for the
county of Lincoln, in which he resided.
He was returned for that county, and re
presented it continuously for about nine
teen years. Among many of the important
enterprises with which he was connected
during this period was the Niagara Falls
Suspension Bridge, which was projected by
him in 1845. He was elected President of
the company by which it was built, and so
remained until his death. He also pro
moted the Welland Railway Company, and
obtained its charteir oir"*ixicorporation.
Within a few months after the formation
of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Adminis
tration, in 1848, Mr. Merritt accepted office

in it as President of the Council, This office
he retained until April, 1850, when he be
came Commissioner of Public Works. This
latter position he retained until early in
1851, when he resigned his office and retired
from the Government, owing to his want of
harmony with that Body on certain eco
nomical measures. This, at all events, was
the ostensible reason of his resignation, but
as matter of fact he was tired of office, and
longed for that perfect freedom and inde
pendence which a member of a Cabinet can
never entirely enjoy. "The restraints of
office," says a contemporary writer, " were
in the last degree irksome to him. He had
accustomed himself to speak when he liked,
to say what he thought, and to do as he
pleased ; and the obligation, therefore, of
speaking by the card, and in accordance
with the decisions of Council, must have
been as new to his experience as it was
foreign to his taste. Few who had ob
served his previous career imagined that he
would be able to stand the discipline ; and
the chief surprise his retirement occasioned
was that it did not take place sooner. Those
who most admired him doubted whether
he would find his colleagues in the Gov
ernment an applauding auditory, or the
Executive Council a congenial place for
airing successfully some of his peculiar
crotchets on Government currency and
finance ; crotchets by which he had, as we
think, impaired the influence of his grander
and more statesmanlike views on the sub
jects of progress and improvement, and
their relation to the almost inexhaustible re
sources of Canada. The truth seems to be
that he was neither a party man nor a poli
tician, in the exact sense of those terms.
Government as a science had, as we con
jecture, been but slightly studied by him.
His popularity sprang from his indepen
dence, his purity of character, and the prac
tical nature of his aims. Those who most
differed from him never questioned the hon-

THE HON. WILLIAM HAMILTON MERRITT.

103

esty of his intentions or the sincerity of his
views. His constituents never wavered in
their support of him ; and the Legislature,
of which he was so long a member, was al
ways proud of him. He was naturally and
constitutionally a grave and monotonous
speaker ; and this gravity and monotony of
tone were necessarily increased, because the
subjects on which he mostly spoke were
statistical or financial, and included a con
stant reference to dates and figures. Though
men were neither subdued by his oratory
nor charmed by his manner, they respected
his truth and moderation. Occasionally
they were swayed by his earnestness, if not
carried away by the force and charm of his
convictions. He was an upright man, whom
in life all men admired; and we may add,
without misplaced eulogy, that he was a
good man, whom in death all men mournec^."
So says Mr. Fennings Taylor, and the esti
mate of his character contained in the pre
ceding sentences will, we believe, stand the
test of time.
Mr. Merritt was a frequent contributor
to the public press on subjects connected
with the trade and industrial resources of
Canada. Many of his contributions on these
and kindred subjects appeared in the col
umns of the Niagara Gleaner. He made
frequent journeys to Europe in furtherance
of his various projects, as well as to the prin
cipal cities of the United States. On the
29th of September, 1860, he was elected a
member of the Legislative Council by accla
mation for the district of Allanburg. This
position he held until his death. During
the winter of 1860-61, he advocated the
establishment of a line of large-sized pro
pellers to ply between Chicago and Quebec,

with a view to diverting the traffic to the St.
Lawrence from the ordinary route through
the State of New York. He also favoured
the establishment of a line of vessels for
conveying Pennsylvania coal between Dun
kirk and the mouth of the Grand River.
He also had several conferences with the
Government on the subject of deepening
the St. Lawrence. All his schemes were of a
character thoroughly practical, and for the
advancement of his country's good. He
had, however, begun to suffer from repeated
attacks of ill-health, and his constitution
was evidently breaking down. Early in
1862 he suffered a serious bereavement by
the death of his wife, who had long been
an invalid. His own health continued un
certain throughout the rest of the winter.
Upon the approach of spring he started for
the sea-side, by .advice of his medical atten
dant. He proceeded down the St. Law
rence to Montreal, where he was attacked
by erysipelas in the head. He was given to
understand that in all probability he would
not recover, and immediately started to re
turn home. He was conveyed on board an
upward-bound steamer, but did not live to
reach his destination. On the morning of
Sunday, the 5th of July, " as the vessel
was passing through the canal at Cornwall,
almost within sight of the rapids, which
had been his thoughts for a life time, the
spirit so long and so actively identified with
this noble river took its fiight, and W. H.
Merritt was numbered with the dead." A
somewhat voluminous account of his life
has been compiled and published by his son,
Mr. J. P. Merritt, of St. Catharines, from
whose account the foregoing sentence has
been extracted.

THE REV. W. CYPRIAN PINKPIAM,
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF PROTESTANT SCHOOLS, MANITOBA.

MR. PINKHAM was born at the city of
St. John's, Newfoundland, in the year
1844. His youth was spent chiefly in St.
John's and its neighbourhood, and he re
ceived his education at the Theological Col
lege there. After some years' attendance
he became a pupil teacher in that institu
tion, under the direction of the Rev. G. P.
Harris, a distinguished graduate of Cam
bridge. After occupying that position about
two years he accepted a situation as teacher
in one of the Public Schools, where he ac
quitted himself very creditably, and re
ceived high commendations from the Secre
tary of the Protestant Board of Education
for St. John's. He subsequently repaired
to England for the purpose of receiving a
more thorough educational training than
was then to be obtained in Newfoundland.
He entered St. Augustine's College, at Can
terbury, where he passed through the usual
collegiate course, and in 1868 received his
diploma. He for a short time officiated as
private tutor in the family of Sir Frederick
Thomas Fowke, of Lowesby, Leicestershire.
Soon after leaving college he repaired to the
Red River Settlement, which was just com
ing into notice as a favourable field for emi
gration. Having been ordained a Deacon
by the late Bishop of Huron in 1868, he was
advanced to the Priesthood in 1869 by the
Bishop of Rupert's Land, and became in
cumbent of St. James's Church, Winnipeg.
During the absence of Mr. Molyneux St.

John, the first Superintendent of Protestant
Schools in Manitoba, Mr. Pinkham per
formed the duties incidental to that office,
and in the month of September, 1871, he
was regularly appointed to the position by
Lieutenant-Governor Archibald. He has
ever since discharged the duties of his office
irf a very satisfactory manner, and has been
the means of greatly promoting the cause
of popular education in Manitoba. He took
an active part in preparing the Amended
School Acts of 1873 and 1876. He is a
member of the Council of St. John's College,
and of the Theological Faculty for the de
grees of B.D. and D.D., being examiner in
Ecclesiastical History and Liturgiology. In
1879 he was unanimously chosen by the
Protestant section of the Board of Educa
tion to represent that body on the Senate
of the University of Manitoba. A local au
thority bears the following testimony to his
qualifications for the position which he fills :
— " Young, vigorous, considerate for others,
possessed of rare tact and judgment, he is
specially adapted to the work he has had to
perform. It must not be supposed that he
has formed a heterogeneous system consist
ing of the peculiar views of the different
races of the Province. The system is based
on the fundamental principles of sound edu
cation, as wrought out in all enlightened
countries ; and in the standard required for
teachers, and in other important features, it
is deserving of high commendation."

THE HON. THOMAS GUSHING AYLWIN.

THE late Judge Aylwin possessed one of
the shrewdest and keenest intellects
tha<t ever adorned the Canadian Bench.
His knowledge of criminal jurisprudence
and his skill as a forensic and Patliament-
ary debater were unsurpassed by those of
any Canadian of his time. He won a high
place alike as an advocate, as a statesman,
and as a jurist; and had the promise of his
youth been borne out by the performance
of his mature age, he would have left be
hind him the record of a truly great man.
But he paid the penalty of a too early ma
turity. His physical powers declined be
fore he could be said to have passed middle
life, and for sqme years before he sank into
his grave he was both physically and men
tally a mere .shadow, of what he had once
been. He will long be remembered, how
ever, as a man of much note in his day, and
is well entitled to a place in the present
collection. He was born in the city of Quebec, on
the 5th of January, 1806. His father was
a native of Wales, and his mother— whose
maiden name was Connolly — was of Irish
extraction. He received his primary edu
cation at a private school in Quebec, kept
by the Rev. Dr. Wilkie, a Presbyterian
clergyman. He subsequently spent a short
time at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massa
chusetts. It does not appear that he grad
uated there, but he was known for a youth
of great intellectual precocity, and was
IV- 15

looked upon as a genius by his tutors and
companions. Having resolved to devote
himself to the study of the law, he entered
the office of Mr. Moquin, a distinguished
advocate of Quebec. After studying for
some time under that gentleman's direc
tions, during which he paid special atten
tion to criminal law, he transferred his
services to the office of the late Judge
Thompson, of Gaspe. He displayed great
aptitude as a linguist, and it is said that
when he was only sixteen years old he
acted as interpreter in the Criminal Court
at Quebec. In 1828 he was called to the
Bar of Lower Canada, and speedily acquired
repute as an advocate of remarkable bril
liancy. He was especially noted among his
brother practitioners for his skill in detect
ing a flaw in an opponent's case, and his
sagacity in this respect gained him many a
forensic victory when the cause appeared
well nigh hopeless. For some time after
his call to the Bar he practised in partner
ship with the late Judge Short, of Sher
brooke. He had strong political leanings
on the Reform side, and took an active
part in the discussion of the various exci
ting public questions of those days. He was
an admirable writer, and during the three
or four years prior to the breaking out of
the rebellion of 1837 and '38, he contributed
many slashing and effective newspaper arti
cles to the provincial press. He was an
unsparing assailant of Lord Gosford and

106 •

THE HON. THOMAS GUSHING AYLWIN.

his satellites during that nobleman's tenure
of office, though he had no sympathy with
the active rebellion of Papineau and the
French Canadians generally. He was one of
the most conspicuous members of the British
Party, and took part in founding the Con
stitutional Association of Quebec, the lead
ing members whereof were John Neilson,
Andrew Stuart, Thomas A. Young, George
Pemberton, and the subject of this sketch.
He first entered public life after the con
summation of the Union of the Provinces in
1841, when he was returned to the First
Parliament of United Canada for the con
stituency of Portneuf. In the following
year he joined the first Baldwin-Lafontaine
Administration, and became Solicitor-Gen
eral for Lower Canada, an office which he
filled from the 26th of September, 1842,
until the 11th of December, 1843, when he
resigned, with his colleagues, owing to Sir
Charles Metcalfe's refusal to comply with
the views of the Ministry respecting the dis
tribution of Crown patronage. Mr. (after
wards Sir) John W. Kaye, in his life of Lord
Metcalfe, says of him : — " Mr. Aylwin bore
the reputation of being the best debater in
the Assembly — a man of infinite adroitness
and lawyer-like sagacity, skilled in making
the worse appear the better reason, and ex
posing the weakness of an adversary's case.
He had rendered essential service to the
French Canadians in the time of their
utmost heed, and had been brought into
the Council through the influence of that
party. But there was, in reality, little in
common between them, and it was said
that the connection gave no great satis
faction to the old clients of the Solicitor-
General." From the time of his resig
nation until the month of April, 1848 —
during which he wa^_„twice elected for
Portneuf and three times for the city of
Quebec — he remained in Opposition, and
rendered great service to the Liberal party
by his powers as a Parliamentary debater.

and by his great personal popularity. Of
him, even more truly than of Sir Francis
Hincks, might Lord Metcalfe's biographer
have said that he had a tongue that cut
like a sword. His powers of sarcasm and
vituperation were unrivalled in the As
sembly. Sir Dominick Daly, his former
colleague, on more than one occasion felt
the keen edge of his satire, and it was in
consequence of one of his passages of arms
with that gentleman that the bloodless duel
referred to in the sketch of Sir Dominick's
life took place.
Upon the formation of the second Bald
win-Lafontaine Administration, on the 4th
of March, 1848, Mr. Aylwin again accepted
the portfolio of Solicitor-General for Lower
Canada, but retained the office only a little
more than six weeks, when he was elevated
to the Bench as one of the Judges of the
Court of Queen's Bench for the District of
Quebec, as .successor to the Hon. Elzear
Bedard, who had resigned. In 1851 the
Judiciary of the Province of Quebec was
remodelled. The tribunal which is now
called the Superior Court was invested
with the jurisdiction of the old Court of
Queen's Bench, and the Court of Queen's
Bench, as remodelled, was invested with
appellate jurisdiction. Judge Aylwin was
transferred to the newly constituted Court
of Queen's Bench, and in 1850 he .removed
to Montreal. For many years subsequent
to that date he continued to discharge his
judicial duties without interruption. His
career as a judge added much to his repu
tation. His legal learning was great, and
his ready grasp of the chief points at issue
in the cases which came before him was the
admiration of both Bench and Bar. His
charges were singularly clear, and were
models of lucid exposition. He could see
his way through the meshes of an involved
and complicated argument with marvellous
rapidity, and was wont to expose the soph
istries of a lame defence with merciless

THE HON. THOMAS GUSHING AYLWIN.

107

severity. The students and young advo
cates of Montreal eagerly pressed into the
Court to listen to his masterly charges.
" It was his fortune," says a writer in the
Montreal Gazette, "to preside at many of
the most important and protracted criminal
trials which have taken place in this city,
and hundreds who read these lines will
recall the close and unwearied attention
which he gave to the evidence, and the ad
mirable clearness and precision with which
he summed up in both languages, forgetting
no fact of the slightest importance, and
brushing away in a few pithy and conclu
sive sentences all the skilfully woven soph
istries of the defence. Many of his charges
were remarkable specimens of forensic elo
quence, and were delivered in both the
English and French languages with equal
fluency and perspicuity. In some of the
more important murder trials, the charge
and the reading of the evidence lasted seven
or eight hours, the judge displaying won
derful energy and endurance. In Court he
was remarkable for maintaining decorum

and order. You might hear a pin drop in
the Court-room while the presidency was
in his charge. When in the full enjoytaient
of his faculties, he invariably impressed his
hearers with the belief that they were in the
presence of a man of no ordinary powers."
These protracted efforts doubtless had a
serious effect upon the judge's constitution.
In 1860 he was prostrated by a paralytic
stroke which seriously impaired his intel
lect, and though he erelong resumed his
judicial functions he never again displayed
his former vigour, either of body or mind.
After the lapse of several years he obtained
leave of absence, and spent some months in
Europe. Upon his return to Canada he
again resumed his judicial duties, but soon
afterwards sent in his resignation. The
resignation was not accepted for nearly a
year, when a pension was assigned to him,
and he retired from the Bench, and thence
forward lived in strict seclusion down to
the time of his death, which took place at
his home in Notre Dame Street, Montreal,
on the 14th of October, 1871.

WILLIAM BRYDONE-JACK, A.M., D.C.L.,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

PRINCIPAL JACK was born at Tinwald,
Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 23rd
of November, 1819. His father, a stone
mason and master builder, came of a
Perthshire family, but removed to Dum
friesshire early in life, married, and settled
down there. The subject of this sketch,
after receiving a preliminary education at
the schools of Tinwald, and a more ad
vanced training at Halton Hall Academy,
Caerlaverock, entered as a student at the
University of St. Andrews, in Fifeshire.
There he enjoyed the advantage of being
taught by Sir David Brewster, who was at
that time Principal of the united colleges
of St. Leonard and St. Salvador, and who
continued throughout his life to take an in
terest in his career. He graduated at St.
Andrews, and in 1840 took his Master's de
gree. During the same year he was offered
the Professorship of Physics in the New
College, Manchester, in connection with the
London University. He was also offered
the Professorship of Mathematics and Nat
ural Philosophy in the University of New
Brunswick — then King's College — Frederic-
ton. Sir David Brewster and other friends
who took a warm interest in his welfare
advised him to accept the latter position, as
they considered that he was too young (be
ing then not quite twenty-one years of age)
to safely risk his reputation in the wider
and more arduous field of study pursued at
Manchester. Their counsels prevailed, and

he accepted the New Brunswick Professor
ship. He reached the scene of his labours
in the month of September, 1840, intending
to remain there not more than a year or
two, and then to return to his native land.
Fortunately for the interests of the institu
tion, and of the cause of education in the
Province of New Brunswick generally, he
was subsequently induced to relinquish his
intention, and he has ever since been prom
inently identified with the struggles and
(finally) the success of the college.
What is now known as the University of
New Brunswick has undergone a variety of
changes in its name, character, and consti
tution. As early as 1800 it was established
by a Provincial Charter as the College of
New Brunswick, but for many years it had
few of the attributes of a college. In 1828,
chiefly through the instrumentality of Sir
Howard Douglas, the then Lieutenant-Gov
ernor of the Province, a Royal Charter was
granted by the Crown incorporating it as
King's College, Fredericton, and conferring
upon it all the privileges of a university.
This charter, as well as that granted to
King's College, Toronto, was a copy of that
previously granted, to King's College, Wind
sor, Nova Scotia. The King's Colleges at
Fredericton and Toronto, during the time
of their troubled existence as such, were
subjected to very similar trials and as
saults, arising from the exclusive nature of
their charters, which virtually made them

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WILLIAM BRYDONE-JACK, AM., D.C.L.

109

Church of England institutions. In New
Brunswick, scarcely five years after the
granting of the charter and the Act of En
dowment, public dissatisfaction had risen to
such a pitch that a deputation was sent by
the House of Assembly to the Home Gov
ernment with a list of grievances for which
they Were instructed to seek redress. They
were charged to complain of the narrow and
illiberal policy manifested in the charter of
King's College, and to ask for its amend
ment in several important particulars. In
1845, a Provincial Act was passed by the
Legislature for the amendment of the char
ter, and in 1846 it received the Royal assent.
By this Act all exclusive privileges were
abolished, with one significant exception,
namely, that the Professor of Theology was
to be at all times a clergyman of the United
Churches of England and Ireland. This, to
gether with the composition of the Council,
which was still largely Episcopalian, served
as a continued bone of contention ; and du
ring a long period of agitation and abuse the
college languished in a semi-lethargic state,
and grew more and more unpopular. In
1854, a Commission was appointed to in
quire into its condition, management and
utility ; and among the members of the
Commission were the eminent education
ists Dr. Dawson and Dr. Ryerson. They,
as directed, submitted to the Lieutenant-
Governor an able and exhaustive report,
together with the draft of a Bill for estab
lishing a comprehensive system of educa
tion in New Brunswick. These documents
were laid before the House of Assembly in
1855, and they form the groundwork upon
which the University, as now constituted,
was finally established. But the adversa
ries of the College continued implacable and
powerful, and year after year attempts were
made to deprive it of its endowment. The
final effort was made in 1858, when a Bill
passed both branches of the Legislature and

received the assent of the Lieutenant-Gov
ernor, withholding all money grants from
the College. The royal assent, however,
was refused, chiefly on account of the re
presentations of the Lieutenant-Governor
and memorials from parties interested in
the College. In the following year, the Act
establishing the University on its present
liberal footing was passed, and received the
royal assent. Since then it has continued
steadily to grow in the favour and estima
tion of the people, and the popular preju
dice which was so long and persistently
kept up against King's College has not
been perpetuated with respect to the Uni
versity of New Brunswick.
In 1861 the subject of this sketch was ap
pointed President of the University, which
position he has ever since retained, in ad
dition to his Professorship of Mathematics
and Natural Philosophy. During his Pre
sidency he has been accustomed to spend a
great part of the summer vacation of each
year in visiting and examining the schools
of the Province, and has done his utmost to
promote higher education generally. He
has delivered frequent addresses in various
parts of the Province, enlarging upon the
advantages of a University training and the
inducements thereto afforded by the Provin
cial University. His efforts have been at
tended with much success. The University
of New Brunswick, as we have seen, has
for some years past steadily advanced in
popular favour, and the outcry against it
has long ceased to make itself heard.
When the present School Law came into
operation in New Brunswick, President Jack
was officially appointed a member of the
Provincial Board of Education, and he has
since made his presence perceptibly an,d
beneficially felt there. He has always been
fond of astronomical studies, and has en
gaged in various important experiments con
nected with that branch of science.

THE HON. JOHN CARLING.

MR. CARLING is the youngest son of
the late Mr. Thomas Carling, a native
of the county of Yorkshire, England, who
emigrated thence to Canada in the year
1818, and during the following year set
tled in the township of London, in the
county of Middlesex, where he took up a
tract of Government land, and devoted
himself to a farmer's life in the bush. The
greater part of the township was then a
pathless forest, though a few settlers who
had arrived immediately after the close of
the war of 1812, '13 and '14, were to be
found here and there. The city of London,
of course, had no existence in those days,
and had not even arrived at the dignity of
a village. Its present site was covered by
a dense forest. A solitary hut near what
is now the foot of York Street was the one
human habitation on the site of the pres
ent capital of Western Ontario when Mr.
Thomas Carling first passed through it on
his way to his bush farm. The hut was
occupied by an American " squatter " named
Miller, who kept a small boat for the con
veyance of emigrants across the river. Mr.
Carling experienced the usual hardships and
vicissitudes incidental to pioneer life. He
served as a volunteer during the troubles of
1837 and 1838. He continued in agricul
tural pursuits until the year 1839, when he
removed into the town which had mean
while sprung up, and after an interval of
several years entered into business as a

brewer. A few years later, Mr. Thomas
Carling, having amassed a competence, re
tired from the business, which devolved
upon his sons, and under their auspices has
developed into one of the -largest of its kind
in the Dominion. After his retirement Mi;.
Carling, Senior, for some years took an ac
tive interest in municipal and local affairs
generally, and was a man of character and
influence. He died at his home in London
last winter, at the advanced age of eighty-
three years.
The subject of this sketch was born at
the paternal homestead in the township of
London on the 23rd of January, 1828. He
was educated at the public schools in the
neighbourhood, and at more advanced estab
lishments in town. He devoted himself to
acquiring a knowledge of the brewing busi
ness, and employed himself in the estab
lishment from the time of leaving school.
When he was twenty-one years of age he
married Miss Hannah Dalton, eldest daugh
ter of Mr. Henry Dalton, of London. Pre
vious to his marriage he succeeded to a
share in the active management of the busi
ness with his brother William, and the firm
of W. & J. Carling soon became one of the
best known firms in their line of business
in the Province. He prospered, and became
a man of influence in the community. In
politics he is a Conservative, and in De
cember, 1857, was returned to the old Cana
dian Assembly as member for the city of

THE HON. JOHN CARLING.

Ill

London. He thenceforward continued to
represent that constituency in the Assembly
until Confederation ; and after Confedera
tion he represented it both in the House
of Commons and the Local Legislature of
Ontario until the abolition of Dual Repre
sentation. Since then he has represented
it in the House of Commons only. He has
been an earnest and consistent supporter
of his Party, but has not been so extreme
as to have created any bitter enmities on
the part of his political opponents, and is
popular with adherents of all shades of
opinion. He held the position of Receiver-
General in the Cartier-Macdonald Adminis
tration for a short time before it went to
pieces in 1862.
When the late Hon. John Sandfield Mac
donald formed the first Ministry for Ontario
on the 16th of July, 1867, he offered to Mr.
Carling the portfolio of Commissioner of
Agriculture and Public Works. The offer
was accepted, and the position was retained
by Mr. Carling until the defeat of the Gov
ernment in December, 1871. His tenure of
office was marked by several measures of
some public importance, including a liberal

scheme of emigration, the opening up of the
Free Grant Lands to settlers in the District
of Muskoka, the establishing of an Agricul
tural College, and a measure for the drain
age of waste lands. Port Carling, a little
village situated on the short lock which
connects Lakes Muskoka and Rosseau, is
named in his honour.
Mr. Carling is a man of much enterprise
and public spirit, and is very popular in the
constituency wherein he resides, which he
has represented either in one House or an
other ever since his first entry into public
life, more than twenty -three years ago. He
is connected with various important com
panies, and is an excellent man of business.
He has been a school trustee and an alder
man of the city of London, and was for
many years a Director of the Great Western
Railway Company. He was also a promi
nent Director of the London, Huron and
Bruce and London and Port Stanley Rail
ways. In 1878 he was elected a Water
Commissioner for the construction of the
Water Works for the city of London, and
was suibsequently appointed Chairman of
the Board.

THE HON. SIMON HUGH HOLMES.

SIMON HUGH HOLMES, Provincial
Secretary and Premier of Nova Scotia,
is a son of the late Senator John Holmes,
of Pictou, N.S. Senator Holmes was one of
the earlier settlers of Pictou county, having
emigrated from the Scottish Highlands in
1801, when he was but eleven years' of age.
He settled at East River, Pictou, and by his
industry, intelligence and public spirit won
the confidence of the people among whom
he lived, to such effect that he was elected
to represent the county in the Provincial
Parliament for three successive terms of
four years each— extending from 1836 till
1848. He was elected again in 1852. In
1858 he was appointed a member of the
Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, a posi
tion which he occupied till the Union of the
Provinces in 1867, when he was called to
the Senate. Though he, was at the time of
the Union well nigh four score years of age,
he took his seat, and continued to attend
year after year till 1876, when he died,
aged eighty-six. Public life may thus be
supposed to have a claim upon the son —
a claim which he has been quite ready to
recognize. Mr. S. H. Holmes was educated at the
Grammar School, New Glasgow, and at
Pictou Academy. He studied law with
the Hon. James Macdonald, Q.C, and was
admitted to the Bar in 1864. He practised
his profession with industry and success,
but always looked forward to a public ca

reer, and took the deepest interest in the
political questions of the day. In 1857 he
originated the Colonial Standard, a weekly
political paper, which he continued to edit
with marked ability and success till he be
came Premier, in 1878.
The editor of a party new.spaper must
keep up a minute acquaintance with the
public affairs of the country where he de
sires to exercise his influence. Mr. Holmes
watched the doings and sayings of public
men in Nova Scotia with a keen eye, and
won the reputation of being a vigorous
political critic, an effective debater, and an
able organizer.
In 1867 Nova Scotia was convulsed with
an agitation for and against Confederation.
There was no possibility of mistaking the
drift of public feeling. The change in
volved in Confederation was so great that
the agitation against it rose and swelled
into stormy popularity, Mr. Holmes, how
ever, was an ardent Confederate ; and when
candidates for the local Legislature were re
quired he did not hesitate to stand in the
gap. He made a sturdy fight, although he
and his colleagues went to the polls with
the moral certainty of defeat. The reaction
came in due time, and in 1871 Mr. Holmes
was easily returned in the county of Pictou
at the head of the poll. Since 1871 he has
been thrice returned by the same constitu
ency, and by' increasing majorities.
In 1875 he became leader of the Oppo-

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THE HON. SIMON HUGH HOLMES.

113

sition in the Assembly, and this position
he held till the change of Government re
sulting from the elections of 1878. While
in opposition to the Government of the day
he propounded measures which met with
the approval of the country, and devoted
his utmost energies to questions of finance,
and to the railway policy of the administra
tion. In 1878 the local Government was
defeated, having won only eight seats out
of thirty-eight. Mr. Holmes, as leader of
the Opposition, was called upon to form the
new Administration, of which he has con
tinued Premier and Provincial Secretary.
Since he has assumed the reins of power
it has been Mr. Holmes's duty to extricate
the Province from an extremely disagree
able financial predicament — to equalize
revenue and expenditure, which had fallen
sadly away from the safe condition of bal
ancing — and to place the railways of the
country in a position to be of some use to
the people by whose money they had been
so far constructed. The revenue had fallen
off by nearly $200,000. A debt of $350,-
000 had been incurred. The railways aided
with the greatest liberality by the Legisla
ture had not been completed, and having ex
hausted the Provincial subsidies, they ceased
to make any progress, Mr. Holmes has
grappled with the varied difficulties of the
situation with patient energy and sagacity,
and with the certainty of success. It is no
light matter to build and operate three hun
dred miles of railway, maintain roads and
bridges, meet the current expenses of ad
ministration and legislation, and give $200,-
000 in aid of education — all out of a rev
enue of $600,000.
Mr. Holmes when in opposition was an
advocate of municipal incorporation — local
self-government — for the counties. One of
the earliest and most valuable acts of his
administration was the maturing and enact
ing of an incorporation law suited to the
counties. The Act has been in operation
IV— 16

for over a year, and is giving entire satis
faction. No previous administration felt
strong enough (or had the courage) to grap
ple with the question. It is a reform of
great importance which should have taken
place twenty years ago.
Three years ago two railway companies
running connecting lines engaged in a bit
ter strife as injurious to themselves as to
the public. Each company did everything
in its power to embarrass and injure the
other. For one whole season the trade
of two counties was nearly paralyzed by
this foolish strife ; but there was no law
that could be brought to bear upon the case.
Mr. Holmes no sooner had the opportunity
than he matured a measure — a general Rail
way Act — which will effectually prevent the
recurrence of such a difficulty.
Nova Scotia has still a Legislative Coun
cil which adds considerably to the cost of
legistation. It is a part of Mr. Holmes's pol
icy to abolish this " Upper Chamber." For
the present a large majority of the Council
are in opposition to the policy of the Cab
inet on this point ; but the Premier has de
clared his determination to use every legiti
mate means to give effect to the .wishes of
the people.
Mr. Holmes is a forcible speaker, though
his elocution is by no ineans faultless. He
keeps to the point, and elaborates it to the
minutest detail. He usually rises from par
ticulars to generals, and concludes by pre
senting a subject in its largest and most im
pressive aspects. When dealing with a
favourite theme, such as the duty of main
taining the educational system in its integ
rity, or preserving intact the credit of the
country, he attains to genuine eloquence.
His power is largely in quiet persistence
and common sense. He is in the prime of
life, and is likely to be heard of in the wider
sphere of Dominion politics, as a states
man of whom his country needs not to be
ashamed.

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON,
BART, C.B., D.C.L.

THE subject of this sketch occupied a
conspicuous place in the society of
this Province for fully half a century. It
is granted to very few persons to enjoy so
long a lease of popularity, and to achieve
distinction in so many and such various
walks of life. Fame came to him very
early, and attended him throughout the
whole of his subsequent career. Every step
he took was a step- in advance. As a boy,
he was one of the most promising scholars
at the old Grammar School at Cornwall,
As a law-student he was diligent and
painstaking, and inspired all his youthful
companions with sanguine confidence in his
future. At twenty-one he volunteered to
fight the battles of his country, and served
with credit and distinction under Brock at
Detroit and at Queenston Heights. His
military ardour was again conspicuously
displayed during the troubles of 1837, when
he doffed his ermine, and once more buckled
on his sword to defend the Government of
the day against an armed insurrection. For
twelve successive years he was Attorney-
General of Upper Canada, and during the
greater part of that period he was the Par
liamentary leader of the political Party to
which he belonged. He surrendered these
distinctions to accept one still higher, and
for more than thirty-two years thereafter
he occupied the dignified position of Chief
Justice of his native Province. When the
grave closed over him it was declared in all

seriousness, by a writer who seems to have
reflected the prevalent sentiment of the
legal profession generally, that Canada had
lost the greatest man she had ever produced.
From all which it is evident enough that
his earthly career was one of undoubted
success, in so far as winning applause and
honour from his contemporaries can be said
to constitute success.
Worldly success, however, is not a con
clusive proof of greatness, and we venture
to predict that the verdict pronounced at
his death will not be the verdict of history.
John Beverley Robinson was a man of more
than average ability. His manners, from
youth to age, were generally courtly and
pleasing. He was steady, industrious, and
ambitious. Various circumstances combined
to afford him exceptional advantages in the
race for distinction, and he made the most
of his opportunities. By descent, by train
ing, and by native predilection, he was allied
to the Party which had long enjoyed a mo
nopoly of political power and authority. The
policy of that Party was to preserve the
then-existing order of things, and to frown
down all attempts to introduce change. It
numbered in its ranks all the scions of aris
tocracy to be found in Upper Canada. Few
of them could boast of much learning, but
their training was at least far in advance of
that of the people who made up the bulk of
the provincial population; and their polished
manners and social standing were such as

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THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

115

to give them a commanding influence in a
primitive comnxunity. In such a commu
nity, be it understood, a very moderate de
gree of learning and aptitude for public
life counted for much. Young John Bever
ley Robinson had more than a moderate
degree of intellect, and his educational
training was, for those times, exceptionally
liberal. He early came to be looked upon
as the rising hope of the Tories, and it can
not be denied that he realized their expec
tations. We believe him to have been
thoroughly well-meaning and conscientious.
Real greatness or genuine statesmanship,
however, cannot be claimed for him. A
statesman would have had a clearer insight
into the requirements of his country, and
would have endeavoured to promote its
best interests. He would not have been so
blinded by party prejudice as to throw the
whole weight of his influence into the scale
against those clearer-sighted spirits who ad
vocated Responsible Government, He would
have known that the fiat had gone forth ;
and that any attempts to prevent the inevi
table consummation would be as ineffectual
as were Mrs, Partington's exertions to stem
back the resistless tide of the Atlantic with
her broom. A statesman, with such know
ledge of the facts of the case as John Bever
ley Eobinson must have possessed, would
not have opposed Lord Durham's mission,
and would not have attempted to cast
odium and ridicule upon that nobleman's
" Report." A statesman, moreover, would
not have attempted to uphold the charter
of King's College. He would have known
that the people of Canada would not for
ever submit to the domination of an ecclesi
astical caste over the affairs of a national
university. So far as to the question of
statesmanship. A great man, on the other
hand, would not have lent himself to a
series of State prosecutions which form an
ignominious chapter in the history of Upper
Canadian jurisprudence. To say that in

all his actions John Beverley Robinson fol
lowed the dictates of his conscience is to
defend his personal integrity at the expense
of his political prescience and sagacity. A
man who conscientiously permits himself to
be the instrument of tyranny and selfish
misgovernment may be scrupulously honest
according to his lights ; but his lights are
not of the brightest, and his admirers must
not complain if history refuses to admit his
intellectual greatness, or even to accord him
a place on the same pedestal with Robert
Baldwin. He was descended from an old Yorkshire
family which traces its lineage back to
Nicholas Robinson, of Lincolnshire, ge;ntle-
man, who lived in the time of Henry VII.
During Puritan times several members of
the family emigrated from Yorkshire to
America, and settled in the Old Dominion,
where they attained to positions of high
social and political infiuence. The imme
diate ancestor of the late Chief Justice was
Mr. Christopher Robinson, who at the time
of the breaking out of the Revolutionary
War was a student at William and Mary
College, at Williamsburg, Virginia. He
cast in his lot with the royalist party, and
received an Ensign's commission in the
famous regiment of Queen's Rangers, com
manded by Colonel Simcoe, who afterwards
became the first Governor of Upper Canada.
He served in that regiment until the close
of hostilities, when, with many of his self-
exiled compatriots, he ¦ repaired to what
afterwards became the Province of New
Brunswick. He took up his abode in the
U. E. Loyalist settlement on the St. John
River, a few miles below Fredericton. In
1784 — the year which witnessed the crea
tion of the Province of New Brunswick —
he married Miss Esther Sayer, a daughter
of the Rev. John Sayer, a clergyman of the
Episcopal Church, formerly resident in Fair
field, Connecticut. In 1788 he removed to
the parish of L'Assomption, in the Province

116

THE HON. SIE JOHN BEVEELEY EOBINSON, BAET.

of Quebec. Three years later he removed to
Berthier, where his second son, the subject
of this sketch, was born on the 26th of July,
1791 — the year which was signalized by the
passing of the Constitutional Act, and the
creation of Upper Canada as a separate
Province. In former sketches we have seen that Gov
ernor Simcoe, immediately after his arrival
in Canada, in 1792, used his best endeav
ours to induce immigration into the Upper
Province which he had come out to govern.
By his influence, many of the members of
his old regiment of " Queen's Eangers " —
which regiment had been disbanded at the
close of the war — -were induced to settle on
the shores of Lake Ontario. Among these
was Christopher Robinson, who, in 1792,
removed from Berthier to Kingston, accom
panied by his wife and family, consisting of
his son, John Beverley, who was then only
a few months old, and an elder son, named
Peter. The family resided in Kingston
about six years. Christopher, the father,
practised law, and on the formation of the
Law Society of Upper Canada was elected
one of the first Benchers. He also repre
sented the United Counties of Lennox and
Addington in the Legislative Assembly, and
held important Government appointments,
including that of Deputy Ranger of Woods
and Forests for Upper Canada. It may as
well be mentioned in this place that Peter,
the eldest son, also entered public life, and
represented the county of York in the Leg
islative Assembly for many years. He sub
sequently became a member of the Legis
lative Council and Commissioner of Crown
Lands. He died in 1838. A younger son,
William, was also a well-known personage
in this Province, where he held many posi
tions of influence, including that of repre
sentative of the county of Simcoe in the
Assembly, Inspector-General, Commissioner
of Public Works, and Commissioner of the
Canada Company.

To return. In 1798 the family removed
from Kingston to York, the Provincial capi
tal. Christopher, the father, died within a
few months after this event, leaving a family
of three sons and three daughters but slen
derly provided for. John Beverley, who
was then seven years of age, was within a
year or two after this time sent to school
to Dr. — afterwards Bishop — Strachan, at
Kingston. Tutor and pupil seem to have
formed a mutual liking from the very first,
and the favourable opinion which each then
conceived of the other continued unchanged
throughout their respective lives. That the
Doctor should have been fond of his pupil
is not to be wondered at, for he must have
been a very lovable little fellow. He was
bright and handsome in appearance, truth
ful and honourable in his character. As a
student he was precocious and diligent, and
learned his tasks in less than half the time
required by his fellow-pupils. He was
equally proficient in the boyish exercises of
the playground, and was looked upon by
his young companions as a sort of Admir
able Crichton. When the Doctor removed
to Cornwall his pupil followed him thither,
and became his pet scholar. And so it
came about that the opinions of the latter
were to a large extent formed by Dr.
Strachan. No charge of inconsistency can
be brought against either of them. Other
people might change their opinions, but the
opinions of Dr. Strachan and John Beverley
Robinson, like those of most members of
the Family Compact, were as unalterable
as erst were the laws of the Medes and
Persians. Their minds never expanded ;
they never learned wisdom in the school of
experience. The political opinions instilled
into John Beverley Robinson's mind while
he was a boy at the Cornwall Grammar
School were conscientiously held by him
through life. The natural bent of his mind
was Conservative, and was confirmed by the
school in which he was reared. He was

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

117

never entirely emancipated from the thral
dom of the school-room, and throughout his
whole political career was more or less sub
ject to Dr. Strachan's influence.
At the age of sixteen he entered upon
the study of that profession in which he
was destined to attain such high eminence.
He began his studies in the year 1808, when
he was articled to the Hon. D'Arcy Boulton,
author of a " Sketch of His Majesty's Prov
ince of Upper Canada," published at Lon
don in 1805. Mr. Boulton, who subsequently
became Attorney-General, and in 1818 was
raised to the Judicial Bench, was at this
time Solicitor-General of Upper Canada, and
had what in those times was regarded as a
large practice. Young Robinson at the same
time obtained employment as a clerk in one
of the Departments, and subsequently acted
as Clerk to the House of Assembly. For
his services in the latter capacity he re
ceived fifty pounds, which sum was voted
to him by the House " for his extraordinary
attention to the duties of his office." When
he had been under articles a little more than
two years his principal had occasion to go
to Europe on official business. The vessel
in which the latter took passage was seized
by a French privateer during its progress
across the Atlantic, and the passengers and
crew — including ¦ Mr. Boulton — were con
veyed to France and confined as prisoners
of war. They were detained until the
Treaty of Peace was signed in 1814. Soon
after intelligence of the seizure reached
Upper Canada John Beverley Robinson
transferred his services to the office of the
Hon. John McDonell, Attorney-General of
the Province. Before he had completed
the term of his clerkship, however, both
himself and his principal were called upon
to defend their country from a foreign in
vader. On the 18th of June, 1812, the
President of the United States declared
war against Great Britain, and proceeded
to invade Canada as the most vulnerable

point of the Empire. The story of the west
ern expedition under Brigadier -General
Hull, and that of the expedition along the
Niagara River under Van Renssellaer, have
been related in the .sketch of the life of Gen
eral Brock, in the first volume of this series.
The subject of this sketch proved himself
a worthy descendant of his Loyalist father.
No sooner was the hostile declaration of the
American President made known in York
than he joined the York militia, and ob
tained a lieutenant's commission under Colo
nel William Allan. He accompanied Brock
on his marvellous western expedition, and
was present at the surrender of Detroit,
upon which occasion he was presented to
the redoubtable Tecumseh. It is said by a
contemporary writer that Lieutenant Rob
inson drew up the articles of capitulation
signed on the surrender of the fort — an as
sertion of which we have pot been able to
find any confirmation, and which does not
seem to be very probable. There is abun
dant evidence, however, that he bore him
self -gallantly, and proved himself worthy
of the stock from which he sprang. He
was placed on the detachment which formed
a guard over the American General, but
whether he accompanied it any farther east
than York we have not been able to ascer
tain. He was soon afterwards placed on
active service on the Niagara frontier, and
took part in the conflict at Queenston where
his principal. Attorney - General McDonell,
and the gallant Brock were slain. He was
not far from General Brock when that hero
fell, and throughout the rest of the battle
he distinguished himself by his courage and
his indifference to personal danger. Colonel
Coffin, in his work, " The War and its
Moral," draws a flattering, albeit a just
portraiture of the intrepid young lieuten
ant. " The men of Lincoln," he says, " and
the ' brave York volunteers,' with ' Brock '
on their lips and revenge in their hearts,
had joined in the last desperate charge, and

118

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

among the foremost, foremost ever found,
was John Beverley Robinson, a U. E. Loy
alist, a lawyer from Toronto, and not the
worse soldier for all that. His light, com
pact, agile figure, handsome face, and eager
eye, were long proudly remembered by those
who had witnessed his conduct in the field,
and who loved to dwell on those traits of
chivalrous loyalty, energetic talent, and
sterling worth which, in after years, and in
a happier sphere, elevated him to the posi
tion of Chief Justice of the Province, and
to the rank of an English Baronet;" The
young soldier was also mentioned with fit
ting honour in Sir Roger H. Sheaffe's de
spatch to Sir George Prevost, giving an
official account of the memorable engage
ment on Queenston Heights.
Lieutenant Robinson was detached to
convey the prisoners of war to Kingston.
Having performed this duty he returned to.
York, and having arrived there, he found
that he had been appointed to act as suc
cessor to his late principal in the important
office of Attorney-General. The intelligence
is said to have taken him by surprise, and
it may well have done so, for he was only
twenty-one years of age, and had not been
called to the Bar. The appointment was
made on the recommendation of William
Dummer Powell, who was then a Puisne
Judge of the Court of King's Bench, and a
man of high influence with the Govern
ment. Mr. Powell declared that the ap
pointment was "fully justifled by the high
character the young student had already
attained for legal knowledge, and the zeal
and assiduity which he always brought to
the performance of every duty that devolved
upon him." The appointment, backed by
a recommendation from such a quarter,
met with public approval. Solicitor- Gen
eral Boulton would have succeeded to the
office by rotation, if he had been available
for the post, but he was still confined in a
French prison. John Beverley Robinson

entered upon his official duties on the 3rd
of December, 1812. He was then called
to the Bar by a special rule of the Court of
King's Bench, which was subsequently con
firmed by a special Act of Parliament. On
the 4th of January, 1813, he was admitted
as an attorney. He retained the office of
Attorney-General until the 6th of January,
1815, when Mr. Boulton, having been liber
ated, and having returned to Canada, suc
ceeded to the position, and Mr. Robinson
accepted the post of Solicitor-General. He
was regularly called to the Bar by the Law
Society of Upper Canada in Hilary Term,
55 Geo. III., 1815, contemporaneously with
George Ridout, Jonas Jones, Christopher
A. Hagerman, and David Jones, all of whom
subsequently rose to high eminence in the'
Province. Soon after his appointment as Solicitor-
General he obtained leave of absence, and
proceeded to England, with a view to being
called to the English Bar. He kept several
Terms at Lincoln's Inn, but did not remain
long enough to enable him to present him
self for call to the Bar. During his stay in
London he married Miss Emma Walker, a
daughter of Mr. Charles Walker, and a niece
of Mr. William Merry, a gentleman who
was at one time Under Secretary for Foreign
Affairs. He returned to Canada immediately after
his marriage, which took place in 1817. He
had continued meanwhile to hold the office
of Solicitor-General.. In February, 1818,
the Attorney -General, Mr. Boulton, was
raised to the Bench, and Mr. Robinson at
the same time once more succeeded to the
office of Attorney- General. Among the
early prosecutions which devolved upon him
in this capacity were those of the Red River
rioters and the unfortunate Robert Gourlay.
With the particulars of the prosecutions
against Mr. Gourlay readers of these pages
are already familiar.* The trials of the
* See Vol. III., p. 247.

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

119

Red River criminals, which took place at
the assizes held at York in October, 1818,
arose out of the disputes between the Earl
of Selkirk and the North-West Company,
and made a great deal of noise at the time.
Lord Selkirk brought grave charges against
Attorney-General Robinson in connection
with these proceedings, and accused him of
tampering with justice. For this accusation
there does not seem to have been any justifi
cation, although it is certain that the At
torney-General displayed a good deal of
political partisanship, and was to a large
extent under the influence of Dr. Strachan.
The fact is, that Lord Selkirk was an en
lightened man, and held ideas in advance
of his times on the subject of colonization.
For this reason he was distasteful to the
Family Compact. His idea of planting and
settling an independent colony seemed to
them in the highest degree revolutionary,
and a thing to be put down. He was more
over the enemy of the North-West Com
pany, which had very powerful friends in
Upper Canada, among whom must be num
bered Dr. Strachan himself. His Lordship
did not appear in person at the trial, and
the prisoners were in each case pronounced
to be " not guilty."
In 1821 Mr. Robinson entered the House
of Assembly as the first representative for
the town of York. It had been well under
stood before his election that he was to be
come the leader of his Party immediately
upon taking his seat. The understanding
was carried into effect, and throughout his
Parliamentary career he continued to be
the advocate and mouthpiece of High Tory
ism. Whatever was supported by usage
and custom, that he supported. Whatever
was new, and smacked of innovation, that
he opposed. The Gourlay convention, for
instance; was in his (and Dr. Strachan's)
opinion a long stride in the direction of re
publicanism. His was the solitary voice
raised in the Assembly in 1821 against the

repeal of Mr. Jones's Act " for preventing
certain meetings {i.e. conventions) in Upper
Canada." His was the solitary vote recorded
against the repeal. The Act had been only
about two years in operation, but almost
every thinking man in the country had
come to regard it as absurd. Not so Mr.
Attorney-General. He was "a consistent
politician," and never changed his views.
Of course he had abundant reason to feel
satisfied with the prevalent order of things.
He fully realized the expectations of even
the most sanguine of his friends, whom he
served with a loyalty and unbending integ
rity which in themselves are worthy of all
praise. His politics, however, were the poli
tics of a past age. No intelligent man of the
present day would give utterance to such
political doctrines as the first member for
York gravely enunciated from session to
session. We have no space to particularize.
The general course of his career as a legis
lator has been indicated in the opening para
graphs. For the rest, he was a fluent and
finished speaker, with an admirable facility
in the art of putting things. He was natur
ally kind and amiable, and his temper was
under perfect control, so that he made fewer
personal enemies than might have been ex
pected from the very decided stand which
he took in matters political. He framed a
good many statutes of more or less import
ance, which afford evidence that he was an
adept in the mechanical part of legislation.
His presence was particularly fine and com
manding, and from first to last he was the
foremost figure in the Assembly.
In 1822 he was charged with on official
mission to Great Britain, the object sought
to be attained being the settlement of cer
tain differences which had arisen between
the Upper and Lower Provinces relative to
certain customs duties collected at the port
of Montreal. His efforts to bring about a
settlement were completely successful, and
the public appreciation of his services found

120

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

expression in a vote of thanks from both
Houses of the Legislature. During his visit
to England at this time he was called to the
Bar of Lincoln's Inn. His pleasant manners
and undoubted abilities won many friends
for him, and society readily opened its doors
to the clever and handsome young colonist.
Within a few months after his return to
Canada he was reelected to the Assembly
for the town of York by a majority of only
three votes over his opponent, the late Coro
ner Duggan. About the same time the Im
perial Government offered him the lucrative
post of Chief Justice of the Island of Mauri
tius, the emoluments of which amounted to
several thousands of pounds per annum.
But he was not to be tempted to leave his
native land, where his prospects were excel-
lent,'and where, indeed, he might very well
hope to rise to almost any position to which
he might aspire. His position in Parliament
was, as he believed, secure ; his legal prac
tice was very large and profitable ; and he
had a large circle of wealthy and attached
friends who looked up to him as their head.
It would be time enough to accept a seat
on the Bench when he should become tired
of public and professional life. That such
were his views was clearly proved a year
later, when he declined to succeed Judge
Powell as Chief Justice of Upper Canada.
The various indictments, fines, imprison
ments and libel suits, which marked Mr.
Robinson's tenure of the office of Attorney-
General are phases of his career upon which
it is not pleasant to dwell. It has been
urged on his behalf that many of these
prosecutions were justifiable and right, and
that as to the rest the Attorney-General
merely acted on orders issued by his supe
riors, and in fulfilment of his official duties.
Even if this presentation of the mattei' were
true, is it not beyond doubt that a man who
is at once honourable and enlightened will
never accept as " duties " any acts which
are oppressive, unjust, and subversive of

public liberty ? Such a man will not lend
himself to tyranny. His honour will appear
to him to be better worth preserving than
his place. If the latter cannot be retained
without sacrificing the former, the place
will have to go. But we fear that even the
facts, to say nothing of the argument, are
against the Attorney-General in this matter.
He was certainly not acting under orders
from the Government, nor was he perform
ing mere official duties, when he personally
prosecuted poor Francis Collins of the Free
man for imputing " native malignancy " and
" falsehood " to the Attorney-General. For
this offence the unhappy editor was mulcted
in a fine of fifty pounds, and lay a pris
oner in York gaol for twelve months. Nor
was it in compliance with official routine
that he took part in the proceedings which
resulted in the removal of Judge Willis,
with whom he had had several personal al
tercations, in which he had always been
worsted. The most notable of these pas
sages of arms is worthy of special mention.
The Attorney-General, while addressing the
Court (Judge Willis) on a prosecution, re
marked that during his ten years' tenure of
office he had never made a practice of insti
tuting proceedings until a formal complaint
had been made. " That," remarked Judge
Willis, "is a proof that your practice has
been uniformly wrong." The Attorney- Gen
eral had not been accustomed to have either
his practice or his judgment called in ques
tion. His reply was to the effect that he
knew his duty as well as any judge on the
Bench. " That may be," said Judge Willis,
" but j'ou have not done it." Upon the At
torney-General's persisting in the correctness
of his practice, and declaring that he should
continue to do in the future as he had done
in the past. Judge Willis informed him, in
a very severe and dignified manner, that it
would be his (the judge's) duty to report
the Attorney-General's conduct to the Home
Government — " and," he concluded, " under-

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

121

stand this ; it is my place to state to the
officers of the Crown the nature of their
duties ; and it is their place to perform
them," The Attorney-General was silenced,
but not convinced.
His personal prosecution of Collins, and
the severe punishment to which the alleged
libeller was subjected, did a good deal to
destroy, for a time, the popularity of At
torney-General Robinson. Remarks hos
tile to him appeared in several newspapers,
and some of thetti were much more strongly
expressed than CoUins's "libel" had been.
The libelled individual, however, seems to
have felt that he had gone far enough in
the way of personal prosecutions, and paid
no attention to these attacks. It is proba
ble that he was willing enough to be rid
of the onerous and invidious duties which
attached to the position of an Attorney-
General in those times. An opportune cir
cumstance soon afterwards enabled him to
follow his inclinations in this particular.
Sir William Campbell, Chief Justice of
Upper Canada, retired from the Bench, and
the important position thus left vacant was
offered to, and accepted by, Attorney-Gen
eral Robinson. There being some doubt as
to the legality of his passing immediately
from the office of Attorney-General to that
of Chief Justice, he accepted the office of
Registrar of the county of Kent, which
after the lapse of a few days he resigned,
and took his seat on the Bench. His ap
pointment bears date the 3rd of August,
1829. He was succeeded in the office of
Attorney-General by the Hon, Henry John
Boulton. As Chief Justice of the Province he was
President of the Executive Council, and at
the beginning of the following year he was
nominated Speaker of the Upper House.
He was formally introduced on the 8th of
January by his old friend Dr. Strachan,
who had by this time become Archdeacon
of York. Thenceforward until the Union
IV— 17

of the Provinces he figured conspicuously
in the debates, and his Conservative cast of
mind is apparent in almost every speech he
delivered. To say that he opposed every
attempt at interfering with the Clergy Re
serves, and that he fought against Respon
sible Government with every weapon he
had at command, is merely to say that he
acted up to his honest opinions. The value
of those opinions can be estimated at the
present day much more impartially than it
could reasonably be expected to be esti
mated by his contemporaries. During the
rebellion, as we have seen, he rallied to the
side of Sir Francis Bond Head, with his
musket on his shoulder. It fell to his lot
to pronounce sentence of death upon those
unhappy men, Samuel Lount and Peter
Matthews, who were executed in front of
the old Court House of Toronto on the 12th
of April, 1838, and whose bodies sleep be
neath the turf in the Necropolis.
During a visit to England, in 1839, the
Chief Justice wrote what he intended as a
counterblast to Lord Durham's Report, un
der the title of " Canada and the Canada
Bill." Its object was to show that the divi
sion of the Provinces in 1791 had been very
beneficial, and that their reiinion would be
an inadequate remedy for the evils which
existed. The writer's position in the colony
caused the work to be widely read in Eng
land, but the Atlantic was not to be turned
back by any such means. During his ab
sence in England he was offered the honour
of knighthood, but saw fit to decline the
honour. Soon after his return the Union
was consummated, and his connection with
political life came to an end. For about
twenty-two years thereafter he continued
to discharge his duties as Chief Justice with
a dignity and an efficiency which secured
universal approbation and respect. His
judicial career is by far the most pleasing
phase in which to regard him. It extended
over so long a period that he came to be

122

THE HON. SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, BART.

looked upon, alike by the profession and
the public at large, as a sort of legal Nestor.
The universal voice was loud in praise of
his learning, his acumen, and his spotless
judicial integrity. Even the bitterest of
his former political opponents forgot old
animosities, and joined in the common esti
mate. His industry was as conspicuous as
his learning, and his judgments were seldom
in arrear. Some of his written decisions
have been characterized as wordy and un
necessarily long, but excuse has been made
for their seeming verbosity on the. ground
of his anxiety to present everything in a
clear and unmistakable light. Certainly
the decisions of no Canadian jurist carry
more weight, and it is with great hesita
tion that his successors have ventured to
disturb any < of his dicta. Only one of his
judgments, we believe, was reversed on ap
peal to the Privy Council.
One of the last cases of permanent pub
lic importance which engaged his attention
was the famous Anderson extradition case,
which was decided in the winter of 1861-62.
Anderson, as many persons will remember,
was a fugitive negro slave from the South
ern States, who had killed his master in
self-defence when making his escape. The
case aroused an excitement in the public
mind almost without precedent in this coun
try and the United States, and indeed the
excitement extended to Great Britain. Sir
John's judgment, and that of the court, from
which the late Judge McLean dissented, was
that the prisoner must be surrendered. It
was formed upon a careful consideration of
the terms of the Extradition Treaty, and
had no reference to the rights or wrongs
of slavery, although to the public mind it
seemed to favour " the peculiar institution,"
and for a time the outcry against it in the
newspapers was loud and incessant. The

case subsequently came before the Court of
Common Pleas, when the prisoner was dis
charged on a technicality, which left the
principles of the decision in the Queen's
Bench untouched.
In 1850 Chief Justice Robinson was ap
pointed to the dignity of a Companion of
the Bath. In 1854 he was created a Baro
net of the United Kingdom; and on the
occasion of his last visit to England, in
1856, the honorary degree of D.C.L. was
conferred upon him by the University of
Oxford. In June, 1862, he resigned the
position of Chief Justice, and accepted the
less onerous one of President of the Court
of Appeal. He possessed a strong constitu
tion, and had all his life enjoyed excellent
general health ; but for many years prior
to this time he had suffered from repeated
attacks of gout, the intensity whereof in
creased with his advancing years. Early
in January, 1863, he presided for the last
time in the Court of Appeal. A few days
after he was subjected to an attack of ex
ceptional sharpness, and it was soon evident
that his earthly course was nearly run. He
finally sank to his rest on the 31st of the
month. On the 4th of February an im
mense concourse accompanied his remains
to their final resting-place in St, James's
Cemetery. He left behind him many pleasant and
hallowed memories; for in private life, as
well as on the Bench, he was one of the
most excellent and amiable of men. His
successor in the baronetcy, as well as the
rest of his sons, still resides in Toronto. The
second son, named after his father, is the
present Lieutenant-Governor of the Prov
ince of Ontario. His third son, Christo
pher, has long been one of the foremost
and most highly respected members of the
local Bar.

THE HON. JOHN WELLINGTON GWYNNE.

JUDGE GWYNNE is a son of the late
Rev. William Gwynne, D.D., a clergy
man formerly resident at Castle Knock, in
the county of Dublin, Ireland. His mother's
maiden name was Miss Eliza Nelson, and she
was a daughter of the Rev. Hugh Nelson, of
Dunshaughlin, in the county of Meath.
He was born at Castle Knock on the 30th
of March, 1814. After receiving some pri
vate tuition at home he entered Trinity Col
lege, Dublin, in July, 1828. He remained
there several years, and made great progress
in his classical education, but left without
taking a degree. Early in 1832 he emigra
ted to Canada with a view to improving his
prospects. There was a great exodus of
clever, scholarly young men from Ireland to
Canada during that year — which was the
dread year of the cholera — and young Mr.
Gwynne seems to have caught the spirit
of the time. Having reached the town of
Little York he determined to study law,
and passed his preliminary examination be
fore the Law Society of Upper Canada in
June. He then repaired to Kingston, and
became a student in the office of the late
Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick, a well-known law
yer and politician in those days, who rep
resented the county of Frontenac in the
Legislative Assembly. After spending about
two years in Mr. Kirkpatrick's office Mr.
Gwynne removed to Toronto, and became a
student in the office of Messrs. Draper and
Hagerman, who then practised law in part

nership. In Trinity Term, 1837, he was
called to the Bar, and began practice in
Toronto. He was for some years in part
nership with the late Messieurs Robert J.
Turner and William Vynne Bacon. In the
year 1844, when he had been nearly seven
years at the Bar, he sailed for England, and
spent fifteen months as a student in the
chambers of Mr. Rolt, an eminent English
lawyer. Though not showy or pretentious, Mr.
Gwynne proved himself to be the possessor
of fine abilities, and rose steadily in his pro
fession. He embraced the Reform side in
politics, and was an adherent of Robert
Baldwin. At the general election of 1848,
the result of which was to place the Reform
ers in power, under the leadership of Mes
sieurs Baldwin and Lafontaine, Mr. Gwynne
entered the political arena as a candidate for
the county of Huron, He was opposed by the
Hon. William Cayley. He received a fair
measure of support, but his candidature was
unsuccessful — he having polled only 320
votes to 388 for Mr. Cayley — and he has
never made any attempt to enter Parlia
ment sinpe that time. He had meanwhile
devoted himself to other schemes, and it is
not improbable that his wish to enter Par
liament was largely due to a desire for their
furtherance. In the early years of the rail
way era in Canada he had formed a com
pany for the construction, as part of a
scheme of colonization, of a line of railway

124

THE HON. JOHN WELLINGTON GWYNNE.

from Toronto westward to Lake Huron,
through the waste lands of the Crown. In
1847 he obtained an Act of Incorporation
for this Company, which subsequently de
veloped into the Toronto and Guelph Rail
way Company, and finally, in 1853, became
amalgamated with the Grand Trunk line.
Mr. Gwynne also interested himself in the
advancement of other railway projects, and
spent much time and money in maturing
schemes froiji which the great railway com
panies of Canada have derived more proflt
than has fallen to his own share.
In 1849 he was elected a Bencher of the
Law Society, and in 1850 was created a
Queen's Counsel. In July, 1852, he married
Miss Julia Durie, youngest daughter of the
late Dr. Durie, of Craigluscar. He contin
ued to devote himself to his profession, and
obtained high repute as an Equity pleader.
Without coming conspicuously before the
public, he was recognized by the profession
as a remarkably erudite lawyer, and his
written opinions cominanded a high price.
In comparatively recent times he was for
some years in partnership with Messieurs
Robert Armour and John Hoskin, the style
of the firm being Gwynne, Armour &
Hoskin. On the 12th of November, 1868,
he was appointed a Puisne Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas, as successor to the
Hon. Adam Wilson, who had been trans

ferred from that Court to the Queen's Bench.
In 1871 he was appointed a member of the
Law Reform Commission, and in 1873 be
came a member of the Senate of the Uni
versity of Toronto. In the month of May,
1874, he was nominated by the Hon. A. A.
Dorion, who was then Minister of Justice in
the Reform Goverment of Mr. Mackenzie,
as one of the permanent Judges of the
Court of Appeal in Ontario, under a clause
in the Provincial Statute 37 Victoria, chap
ter 7, providing for the appointment of
three additional Judges to the Court of Ap
peal, of which Court he was then a member.
Judge Gwynne accepted the appointment,
but subsequently declined it-in consequence
of a disagreement with the Government
(after Mr. Dorion's retirement) on a question
of precedence. In January, 1879, he was
transferred from the Common Pleas to the
Supreme Court of the Dominion, where he
now presides.
The late Mr. Hugh Nelson Gwynne, who
was once a teacher in Upper Canada Col
lege, and who was subsequently Secretary
to the Law Society of Upper Canada, was a
brother of the subject of this sketch. He
retired from his Secretaryship in Decem
ber, 1872, and died within a few days after
wards. The late Dr. Gwynne, one of the
medical lecturers to King's College, was also
one of his brothers.

/cX y y C^L^con^-(<^'

ljUilft'R<il|ili.Soffl(itrT.riint.ifroniJ'h"l».ly' annkrH:"

THE RIGHT REV. THOMAS BROCK FULLER,
D.D., D.C.L., BISHOP OF NIAGARA.

BISHOP FULLER is a native Canadian,
and was born at Kingston, Upper Can
ada, on the 16th of July, 1810. His father,
Thomas Richard Fuller, was a native of
Ireland, and a Major in the Forty-first Regi
ment of Foot. His mother was a daughter
of Captain England, of the Forty-seventh
Regiment of Foot, who was a cousin of Sir
Richard England, K.C.B,, Commander of the
Third Division of the British Forces in the
Crimea, It is also worth mentioning that
Bishop Fuller is lineally descended, on the
paternal side, from Dr. Thomas Fuller, the
celebrated English divine of the seventeenth
century. " Worthy Master Fuller," as he
was called, was a very voluminous author,
who combined great learning with an un
common degree of quaint humour. His
writings were well known to his contempo
raries, and were popular for many years
after his death. During the present een-
tury, mainly through the appreciative criti
cisms of Coleridge arid Southey, several of
them have become more widely known than
ever, and nearly all his numerous- writings
have been reprinted within the last one or
two generations.
The subject of this sketch was an only
child, and was named in honour of his
father and General Brock, who, a little more
than two years later, met a hero's death at
Queenston Heights. He had the misfortune
to be deprived of both his parents by death
while he was very young. He was adopted

by his aunt, the late Mrs. Leeming, wife of
the Rev. William Leeming, who was for
about forty years Rector of Chippewa.
Through the kindness of this lady, who is
said to have been possessed of great personal
attractions, as well as high intellectual at
tainments and force of character, Mr. Fuller
received the best education which the coun
try could afford in those days. He attended
for some years at the Hamilton Grammar
School. When he was nineteen years old
he entered the Theological Seminary at
Chambly, in the Lower Province, where he
went through the four years' course, and
learned the duties of a missionary, by act
ing as catechist and Scripture reader among
the Protestant settlers in the neighbour
hood. He was ordained Deacon in 1833,
in the Cathedral of Quebec, by the Right
Rev. Dr. Stuart, and after a brief residence
at the Bay of Quinte was selected as curate
for the Parish Church of Montreal. Soon
after his appointment, the cholera visitation
fell on the city, and with the late Dr. Atkin
son he laboured day and night amid the
. awful scenes of the pest houses, amid the
dying and the dead. He took part in estab
lishing a free service in a neglected part
of the city, which has since developed into
the parish of St. George. In 1833 he be
came curate at Adolphustown. In January,
1835, he was ordained to the priesthood at
Toronto, by the Bishop of Quebec, and a
few months later he married Cynthia, el-

dest daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Street,
of Niagara District. In or about the year
1836 he removed to Chatham, in the west
ern part of Upper Canada, where he la
boured for about four years with much zeal
and faithfulness as a travelling missionary.
He was then (1840) appointed to Thorold,
where he established congregations at sev
eral points in the vicinity of the Welland
Canal, while at the same time he was the
mainspring of the District Branch of the
Church Society, and his house was the cen
tre of all Church work. He laboured there
gratuitously for nearly twenty-one years,
when, in 18.61, he was appointed Rector of
St. George's Church, Toronto. Soon after
he left Thorold he made that parish a pres
ent of $11,000, which sum he had advanced
towards the erection of the church there.
His removal from their midst was regarded
by his parishioners at Thorold as an irrepa
rable loss, for he had won for himself a
warm place in their affections, and had
identified himself with their spiritual and
temporal needs. He had been the means of
stopping the Sunday traffic on the Welland
Canal, and had actively forwarded every
philanthropic movement in his parish. He
had done his utmost to promote kindly
and liberal feelings among the neighbour
ing clergy, by inducing them to effect in
terchanges of services and lectures in each
other's parishes. The high estimation in
which he was held by the clergy through
out the district where he had spent so much
of his life was proved by the touching ad
dress presented to him on his removal to
Toronto. At the time when he settled himself at
St. George's, Toronto, he found that heavy
liabilities, combined with unforeseen com
mercial depression, had seriously embar
rassed the parochial finances. He applied
himself to remedy this unsatisfactory state
of affairs, and in the course of a few years,
he succeeded, by his eminent administrative

abilities, backed by zealous lay helpers, in
placing that church in a prosperous condi
tion. In 1867 he became Archdeacon of the
Diocese of Toronto, and while holding that
position did much to increase the stipends
and provide for the comforts of the mis
sionaries of the Church. He also took an ac
tive part in promoting various educational
and benevolent projects. In 1875 the Dio
cese of Niagara was created, consisting of
the counties of Lincoln, Welland, Haldi
mand, Wentworth, Halton and Wellington.
Archdeacon Fuller was consecrated the first
Bishop of that Diocese, at Hamilton, on the
1st of May, in the year last named, by the
Most Rev. the Metropolitan, assisted by the
Bishops of Toronto, Huron, Michigan, and
Western New York. On the eve of his
departure, a most touching and complimen
tary address was presented to him, signed
by Dean Grasett and all the clergymen of
the city. The Episcopal robes were the
gift of the ladies of the parish of St.
George. His duties as a Bishop have been
discharged with the same zeal by which his
whole clerical life has been characterized,
and have been attended with the best re
sults to his Diocese. As a churchman he is
moderate in his sentiments, sound and con
sistent in his allegiance to the prayer book,
and free from all trace of bigotry and party
spirit. As an author, he is known by a pamphlet
written and published in 1836, entitled,
" Thoughts on the present condition and
future prospects of the Church of England
in Canada," also by a pamphlet published
at Cobourg in 1844, entitled " The Roman
Catholic Church not the Mother Church of
England; or, the Church of England the
Church originally planted in England." A
third pamphlet from his pen is " Religious
excitements tried by Scripture, and their
fruits tested by experience," published at
Toronto in 1856.

THE HON. PHILIP M. M. S. VANKOUGHNET.

THE late Chancellor Vankoughnet was
of German descent. His ancestors
emigrated from Frankfort-on-the-Main to
the British Colonies in America early in
the eighteenth century, and the family re
mained there until the close of the Revo
lutionary War. Upon the breaking out of
that struggle they took part with the royal
ists, and when it was ended they removed
to Upper Canada. The grandfather of the
Chancellor came over in the year 1782, and
settled in the neighbourhood of Cornwall.
His son Philip, the Chancellor's father, was
a prominent member of society in that part
of the Province, and for many years prior
to the Union of 1841 was a member of the
Upper Canadian Legislature.
Philip Michael Matthew Scott Vankough
net, the subject of this sketch, was born at
Cornwall, on the 26th of January, 1823.
He received his education there under Dr.
Urquhart, who it is said prophesied for him
a brilliant career. It was the wish of his
parents that he should embrace the clerical
profession, and his education was conducted
with a special view to that end. He seems
to have offered no objection to his parents'
wishes, and for several years was led to
look upon the Church as his chosen career.
While still in early youth, however, he
conceived a preference for the law. It has
been said that this preference was due to
the fact of his having heard Attorney-
General Hagerman deliver before a jury

a speech of remarkable brilliancy. Mr.
Hagerman was appointed Attorney-General
in 1837, and was raised to the Judicial
Bench in 1839 ; and as it was during this
interval that Mr. Vankoughnet first began
the study of the law, it is not improbable
that the cause assigned for his doing so may
be the true one. He at first studied in the
office of Mr. George Jarvis, at Cornwall, but
after a time transferred his services to the
office of Messrs. Smith & Crooks, of Toronto,
where he remained until the expiration of
his articles. As a student he worked and
read hard, and his principals conceived a
high idea of his talents and general apti
tude for legal practice.
He was called to the Bar of Upper Canada
in Hilary Term, 1844, and soon afterwards
formed a partnership with the late Robert
Easton Burns — who, like himself, was sub
sequently raised to a seat on the Bench —
and Mr. Oliver Mowat, the present Premier
of Ontario ; the style of the firm being
Burns, Mowat & Vankoughnet. The senior
partner, Mr. Burns, was at that time Judge
of the Home District Court, having juris
diction over the present counties of York,
Ontario and Peel. Upon the passing of the
Act whereby judges were prohibited from
engaging in practice, he withdrew from the
firm and from business, in order to confine
his attention exclusively to his judicial du
ties. After his withdrawal, Messrs. Mowat &
Vankoughnet continued in partnership for

128

THE HON. PHILIP M. M. S. VANKOUGHNET.

some time, after which Mr. Vankoughnet
formed a partnership with his brother, the
late Matthew Robert Vankoughnet. The
subject of the present sketch had by this
time secured a very prominent position at the
Bar, though it is said that his prominence
was due rather to his great natural ability
than to any strenuous efforts on his own part.
The diligence which marked his career as a
stiident does not seem to have accompanied
him to the Bar, where, as has been said, " he
trusted more to his talents than his indus
try." This, however, must be taken with
a due measure of allowance. He was cer
tainly less industrious than were some of his
competitors in those days, but it is incon
ceivable that he could have got creditably
through with such an amount of work as
he did unless he had been the reverse of
an indolent man. He attained great success
as an advocate at Nisi Prius, and was un
rivalled as a cross- examiner. During the
later years of his practice he gave his atten
tion chiefly to Equity, and was a formi
dable rival of Mr. Mowat, Mr. Strong, Mr.
Roaf, and other prominent Chancery bar
risters. He was for some time lecturer on
Equity Jurisprudence at Trinity College,
Toronto. A writer in the Upper Canada
Law Journal, referring to the lectures then
delivered by Mr. Vankoughnet, says that
they were oral, and " not remarkable as the
fruits of industry," but they were always
interesting and instructive. He received
the appointment of a Queen's Counsel from
the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Government
in the month of November, 1850. As Mr.
Vankoughnet was a Conservative in his
political views, and had always acted with
the Party opposed to that Administration,
his appointment must be accepted as a trib
ute to his acknowledged eminence at the
Bar, and as such was creditable alike to
himself and the Ministry.
In 1856, when he had been twelve years
at the Bar, he was earnestly importuned by

the Attorney-General — the present Sir John
A, Macdonald — to enter the Government of
the day. He yielded to the importunity,
and on the 24th of May in that year accept
ed the office of President of the Executive
Council and Minister of Agriculture, as suc
cessor to Sir Allan MacNab. He did not
obtain a seat in the Legislature until the
4th of November following, when he was
elected a member of the Legislative Council
for the Rideau Division. From this time
forward his attention was entirely taken up
with his duties as a Cabinet Minister, and
he ceased to engage in legal practice. It is
said that in accepting office he made a great
pecuniary sacrifice, as the income derived
from his business was much larger than his
official salary.
The Department of Agriculture was not
in a very satisfactory condition when Mr.
Vankoughnet succeeded to it. He was in
strumental in bringing about some much-
needed reforms, and had the satisfaction
of leaving it in a much better state than
that in which he had found it. As a Cabinet
Minister, however, he did not at once be
come popular. He had previously had but
little to do with politics, and felt himself in
an unfamiliar sphere. He at last succeed
ed in accommodating himself to his sur
roundings, but it cannot be said that politics
ever became a thoroughly congenial pur
suit with him. He ofcour.se shared the fate
of the Ministry at the end of July, 1858,
when it was defeated on the seat of Gover
ment question. Upon the formation of the
Cartier-Macdonald Administration, on the
7th of August, Mr. Vankoughnet became
Commissioner of Crown Lands, and thus
took part in the perpetration of the Double-
Shuffle. As head of the Crown Lands De
partment he did good service to the country
by introducing many much-needed changes.
He introduced the system of selling town
ships en bloc, and amalgamated the Indian
Department with that oi the Crown Lands.

THE HON. PHILIP M. M. S. VANKOUGHNET.

129

He administered his department with great
diligence, and got rid of many arrears of
long standing. From the ,time of his elec
tion to the Legislative Council he was the
Goverment leader of that body, and he con
ciliated opinion there by a manner which
was pleasing without effort. He was a
smooth and ready, albeit not a remarkably
powerful speaker, and could always be de
pended upon to do justice to any measure
which might form the subject of debate.
A short time before his appointment to the
Bench he repaired to England as one of a
delegation to confer with the Imperial au
thorities on the subject of the International
Railway. He was appointed to the dignified posi
tion of Chancellor of Upper Canada on the
18th of March, 1862. The position was an
onerous one, for there were large arrears of
work in the Court of Chancery. The long ill
ness of the previous Chancellor, the Hon.
William Hume Blake, and the vacancy in
the office subsequent to his resignation, had
been the means of delaying many judgments,
and even of preventing the hearing of causes.
Mr. Vankoughnet, moreover, had been for
some years out of practice, and could not be
expected to step upon the Bench with all
his legal lore fresh in his iriind. It was
soon apparent, however, that the Chancery
Bench had been very powerfully reinforced.
He was endowed with great readiness of
perception, grasped the points of a case
almost by intuition, and in a large propor
tion of cases pronounced judgment without
leaving his seat. His courtesy and consid
eration made him highly esteemed by the
Chancery Bar. To say that he was always
impartial and open to conviction is simply
to say what, it is to be hoped, might be
avouched of every judge who has sat on
the Bench of the Superior Courts of this
Province during the last generation or two.
He introduced many important reforms into

the practice of the Court over which he pre
sided. He administered justice in the Court
of Chancery for somewhat more than seven
years, during the last two or three of which
he suffered much from ill-health. It was not
generally believed, however, that his end
was neai', as he was still comparatively a
young man, and seemed to be endowed with
a large share of vitality. It would seem,
however,' that his constitution had never
been really robust. He died at his resi
dence in Toronto on Sunday, the 7th of
November, 1869, in the forty-seventh year
of his age.
Mr. Mowat, who was then one of the
Vice-Chancellors, was holding the Chancerv
circuit at Cobourg when intelligence reached
him of the Chancellor's death. He there
and then pronounced a eulogy upon the
deceased judge which contains upon the
whole a truthful estimate of his judicial
character, and for this reason we append it
to the foregoing remarks. "As a judge,"
said Mr. Mowat, " he was most conscien
tious ; he had a profound love of justice,
and an exalted sense of judicial duty. In
the discharge of his office, he acted without
fear, favour, or affection, if any judge ever
did. He was from the first prompt in de
ciding, and that he was generally accurate
as well as prompt is shown by the fact that
his decrees were generally (I believe) as sel
dom appealed from successfully as those of
any judge we ever had. Whatever those op
posed to him, politically, may have thought
of the measures or proceedings of the Gov
ernment of which he formed part, nobody
doubted the purity of his motives or the
soundness of his patriotism. He loved this
Canada of ours, which was the land of his
birth, and he earnestly desired to promote
its interests."
He married early in life the daughter of
Colonel Turner, an officer of one of the regi-
ments of the line. He left several children.

IV— 18

THE HON. MALCOLM CAMERON.

THERE was a time when Mr. Cameron
occupied a position second to that of
hardly any member of the Reform Party in
this Province. That time, however, was
long ago, and for many years before his
death he was a mere shadow of his former
self. He was a inan who had somewhat
more than his share of the ups and downs
of life, both political, commercial, and social ;
and it is not to be wondered at if the lustre
of his eye was dimmed in his old age. When
he was in the vigour of his manhood and
the plenitude of his power, Malcolm Cam
eron wa§ a force not to be despised, though
there was even then an impracticability
about him which interfered with his public
usefulness, and prevented his great energy
and force of character from being recognized
at their full value.
His name sufficiently indicates his Celtic
origin. His father was Mr. Angus Cameron,
formerly of Argyleshire, Scotland, who came
out to Canada in 1806, as the ho.spital ser
geant of a Highland regiment. His mother
was Euphemia, daughter of Mr. Duncan Mc
Gregor, of Perthshire. Malcolm was born at
Three Rivers, at the mouth of the St. Mau
rice, Lower Canada, on the 25th of April,
1808. The regiment to which his father
was attached was disbanded in 1816, and
Mr. Angus Cameron thenceforward made a
livelihood by keeping, a tavern at Perth,
in the Ottawa District. Here the family
resided until 1822, when the father died.

leaving his family but slenderly provided
for. It was during the residence at Perth,
as we may not unreasonably infer, that the
son conceived that distaste for bar-rooms
and ardent spirits which distinguished him
through life. Sobriety was a lost art in
Canada in those days ; or rather, it had not
then been invented. The amount of liquor
consumed in the remote districts was such
that the imperfect statistics of the times
seem incredible. The scenes wherewith
young Malcolm Cameron was brought into
frequent contact were such as might well fill
him with di.sgust for tavern-life. His mother
seconded the effect which such scenes might
naturally produce, by her timely admoni
tions. The combined result of daily expe
rience and warning was that he conceived a
horror of dram-drinking which accompanied
him through life. He was a total abstainer,
and finally an advocate of prohibition.
His political views were doubtless to some
extent the natural outcome of his tempera
ment, but they, as well as his distaste for
drink, are easily accounted for on the score
of early association. His mother was very
anxious that he should be removed from
the atmosphere of the tavern, and when
he was twelve years old a situation was
procured for him on a farm a few miles
farther back in the wilderness, on the banks
of the Mississippi River. Here a part of
his duty consisted of taking charge of a
ferry-boat. The neighbouring settlement

THE HON. MALCOLM CAMERON.

131

was largely peopled by quondam Glasgow
weavers, who were radicals of the most
pronounced stripe, and who lost no oppor
tunity of proclaiming the gospel of radical
ism to all who came in their way. Sitting
at the feet of these Gamaliels, young Mal
colm Cameron learned his first rudimentary
lessons in politics, and most of the ideas
then acquired clung to him through life.
He remained in this situation about three
years, when he obtained a situation in a store
at Laprairie. After a few months he dis
agreed with his employer and threw up his
situation. He walked in to Montreal and
accepted the first employment that came in
his way, which was that of a stable boy.
His father had meanwhile died, and his
mother about this time removed from Perth
to Montreal, where she opened a boarding-
house. During the following winter he
lived with her, and attended the district
school. Previous to this time he cannot be
said to have had any school education what
ever, except sufficient to enable him to read
words of one syllable, and to make pothooks.
He worked diligently at his lessons during
the winter, and in the following spring ob
tained employment as a clerk in a brewery
and distillery. He retained this situation
about four years, during which period he
gave great satisfaction to his employer. The
hours not required for business were de
voted to reading. As soon as he had saved
money enough, he purchased a copy of
Hume and Smollett's " History of England,"
and some idea of the state of the book
market in Montreal forty-five years ago
may be formed from the fact that the work
had to be specially ordered from England.
He read Hume and Smollett through again
and again, and then read such other books
as came in his way. His education pro
ceeded steadily, and, though he never be
came what can properly be called an edu
cated man, he amassed a great fund of
knowledge, useful and otherwise.

In 1828, when he was twenty years of
age, he embarked in his first commercial
enterprise, in partnership with a relative.
The connection did not prove harmonious,
and was soon terminated. He then opened
a general store on his own account, and
seems to have prospered fairly for several
years. In 1833, during a visit to Scotland,
whither he had gone to purchase goods,
he married his cousin. Miss Christina McGre
gor, daughter of his mother's brother, Mr.
Robert McGregor, cotton spinner, of Glas
gow. The marriage took place on the 29th
of April. Three years later, in 1836, he was
returned to the old Upper Canadian Assem
bly as member for the county of Lanark.
This was during the Lieutenant-Governor
ship of Sir Francis Bond Head, against
whose mischievous policy the subject of this
sketch arrayed himself with much resolution.
It was a matter of course that a young man
who had made his own way in life through
such difficulties should oppose the Family
Compact. He denounced that corrupt oli
garchy both on the floor of the house and
elsewhere, and did good service in the ranks
of the Reform Party. He fought on be
half of Responsible Government, the en
tire separation of the connection between
Church and State, and the Union of the
Provinces. After the Union he was reelect
ed for Lanark, and is said to have been
offered the portfolio of Inspector-General
by Lord Sydenham, in the first Baldwin-
Lafontaine Government. It is not easy to
understand why he refused such a position,
unless it was because his radicalism was of
too pronounced a character to enable him to
get on with Mr. Baldwin. At any rate,
the Inspector-Generalship, if offered to Mr.
Cameron, was declined by him, and was
conferred upon Mr. Hincks. Under Lord
Sydenham's successor. Sir Charles Bagot, he
accepted office as Inspector of Revenue, but
without a seat in the Cabinet. During his
tenure of office he did much to improve the

132

THE HON. MALCOLM CAMERON.

system adopted at the custom-houses in
those times.
Several years before the consummation
of the Union he had removed westward to
Sarnia, where he embarked in the milling
and lumbering business, and continued to
reside for many years. At the second gen
eral election after the Union, he success
fully contested the county of Kent, which
then included Lambton, for the Assembly,
and thenceforward sat for that constitu
ency for several years. It is to be presumed
that after his entry into public life Mr.
Cameron had little time to devote to the
improvement of his education. During the
first few years of his Parliamentary career
his deficiencies in this respect were apparent
enough to all who listened to his speeches,
and the good breeding of his opponents
may be inferred from the fact that they
were constantly sneering at his blunders
and holding him up to public ridicule on
the score of his want of learning. As time
passed by, however, his education improved,
and people began to admit that his opinions
were worth listening to. He had an im
passioned delivery, and a ready command
of not ineffective language ; and he was
thus a great lever during the progress of
the exciting political campaigns of the
times. Upon the accession to power of the sec
ond Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration, in
1848, Mr. Cameron became a member of
the Cabinet. During subsequent modifica
tions and reconstructions of that Adminis
tration he held the various offices of Presi
dent of the Council, Commissioner of Public
Works, Minister of Agriculture, and Post
master-General. He was too advanced a
radical to get on with Mr. Baldwin, and
withdrew from the Government in Feb
ruary, 1850. Previous to his withdrawal
he had attacked Mr. Merritt's method of
administering the Public Works Depart
ment, and had made that gentleman's posi

tion very uncomfortable. Upon the re
construction under Mr. Hincks and Mr.
Morin in October, 1851, Mr. Cameron ac
cepted office as President of the Council,
but upon presenting himself to his constit
uents for reelection after accepting office he
was opposed by the late Mr. Brown, who
succeeded in defeating him. He took re
fuge in Huron, which con.stituency he re
presented for the next three years. He
was at this time at the height of his power
and influence in the country, and, with the
late Dr. John Rolph, formed the head and
front of the advanced radical element. He
shared alike in the honour and obloquy
which attaches to the Hincks-Morin Gov
ernment, in all the great measures whereof
he took an active interest. He was one of
the Government Directors of the Grand
Trunk Railway, and came in for a good
deal of hostile criticism in connection there
with. He also visited Washington in con
nection with the Reciprocity Treaty. He
was a vigorous advocate of canal and rail
way construction, and of all public works
for opening up and increasing the trade of
the country. In 1854, when Mr. Hincks
brought about an appeal to the people, his
Government was condemned by the country.
Mr. Cameron shared in the general con
demnation, and was defeated at the polls
both in Huron and Lambton. During the
next four years he was not in public life.
In December, 1858, he was returned for
Lambton, which he represented until 1860,
when he resigned his seat and was elected to
the Legislative Council for the St. Clair
Division. During the following recess he
paid a visit to British Columbia and Van
couver Island, whence he repaired to Great
Britain on behalf of those colonies. It has
been said that his mission was productive of
much benefit to the colonists of the Pacific
coast, and that they long regarded them
selves as being under an obligation to him.
A numerously signed petition was sent over

THE HON. MALCOLM CAMERON.

133

to England, addressed to the Secretary of
State, in which it was prayed that Mr.
Cameron might be appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of British Columbia.
In 1863 he withdrew from Parliament to
accept the office of Queen's Printer, con
jointly with the late Mr. George Desbarats,
He held that office for about four years.
In 1869 he was an unsuccessful candidate
for the representation of South Renfrew in
the House of Commons. Two years later
he was defeated in South Lanark as a can
didate for the Local Legislature. In 1872
he contested the county of Russell for the
Commons, and was once more unsuccessful.
In 1874 he at last obtained a seat in the
House of Commons as member for South
Ontario — a position which he occupied
until his death, which took place at Ottawa
on the 1st of June, 1876. He had out
lived his physical and mental vigour before
his entry into the House of Commons,
and did not cut a conspicuous figure there,
though he occasionally spoke on questions
in which he felt a more than ordinary
interest. In addition to the various enlightened
measures already referred to as having been
supported by Mr. Cameron while he was a
member of Parliament, it may be mentioned
that he was also an advocate of the abolition

of imprisonment for debt, of the right of
married women to hold property indepen
dently of their husbands' control, of vote by
ballot, and of international arbitration in
stead of war. As an advocate of temper
ance he has not left his equal behind him.
During several sessions of Parliament he
formed societies solely composed of mem
bers of the Legislature, and in this way he
succeeded in inducing various friends to
sign the pledge for the session. He was
President of the Canadian Alliance for the
suppression of the liquor traffic, and fre
quently appeared on the temperance plat
form as a lecturer. He was endowed with
a vast fund of drollery and humour, and
could tell a story very effectively, either on
the platform or off it.
At the time of his death he was sixty -
eight years of age, and was the only mem
ber of the House of Commons who had sat
in the old Upper Canadian Legislature prior
to the Union. His business career was an
exceedingly chequered one. He was fond of
great undertakings, but did not seem to pos
sess the faculty of successfully dealing with
details. He was at different times a store
keeper, miller, lumberer, land speculator,
journalist, and what not. As a public man
he kept his hands clean, and died compara
tively poor.

THOMAS COLTRIN KEEFER, C.M.G,
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, LONDON.

M"

Upper Canada, on the 4th of No
vember, 1821. His father was the son of
a French Huguenot of German extraction,
who emigrated from Alsace, near Stras
bourg, on the Upper Rhine, more than a
century ago, to the then British Province
of New Jersey. On the breaking out of
the Revolution of 1776, George Kieffer es
poused the cause of the King, and lost his
life and property (which was considerable)
in consequence of this choice. In the year
1790, his widow, with her son George, rode
from the homestead at Paulinskill, near
Newton, in Sussex County, New Jersey, fol
lowing an Indian trail through the wilds of
southern New York — her son marching by
her side— and crossed the Niagara River into
Canada, opposite where Buffalo now stands.
The site of Buffalo then contained only a
hut, which was temporarily occupied by a
single fisherman. With only what could be
brought on horseback, and the grant of wild
lands made by the Crown to the widows
and children of U. E. Loyalists, the family
began life in their new home, but under the
old fiag. George Keefer (who spelled the
name as it is pronounced) was the first
President of the Welland Canal Company,
and his house was the headquarters of the
Engineers of that work. This circumstance
doubtless led to more than one of his sons
embracing the profession of Civil Engineer
ing. His eldest son and namesake was

employed on the Welland, St. Lawrence
and Chambly Canals, and also upon the
Grand Trunk Railway. His fourth son,
Mr. Samuel Keefer (of the Pacific Railway
Commission), was the first Engineer of Pub
lic Works when the Union of the Canadas
took place in 1841. He has been connected
with all the principal public works of Can
ada for the last half century, and received
the gold medal of the Paris Exhibition of
1878 for his suspension bridge at Niagara
Falls. The subject of this sketch is the eighth
son, and was educated first at Grantham
Academy, St. Catharines, and afterwards,
from 1833 to 1838, at Upper Canada Col
lege, where his name is now emblazoned
on the walls as the winner of the Elgin
Prize Essay. He entered the College du
ring the administration of its founder. Sir
John Colborne (Lord Seaton), whose sons
were pupils, and was a school-fellow of
many distinguished Canadians. Upon leav
ing college, in 1838, after passing into the
highest form, the principal — the Rev. Dr.
Harris — in taking leave of him predicted his
future success in life. No public work
being in progress in Canada at that time he
found employment on the Erie Canal under
an engineer who, when employed as Chief on
the Welland Canal, had been a frequent in
mate of his father's house. Upon the Union
of the Canadas in 1841, the purchase by
the Government of the Welland Canal from

THOMAS COLTRIN KEEFER, C.M.G.

135

the private Company which had construct
ed it was determined upon. Its enlarge
ment was proceeded with, and Mr. Keefer
was appointed Assistant Engineer for the
southern division, where he remained until
1845, when he was made Chief Engineer of
the Ottawa River Works, and removed to
the present capital of the Dominion.
Upon the completion of the Ottawa
Works in 1848, Mr. Keefer's connection
with the Government service terminated
- for the time, and foreseeing the advent of
the railway era in Canada he turned his at
tention to that question. In 1849 he pub
lished the " Philosophy of Railways," a
pamphlet which had much to do with the
commencement of the Grand Trunk and
other railways, and ¦with the policy of Gov
ernment and municipal aid by which their
construction was secured. This pamphlet
ran through several editions, the last of
which appeared in 1871. It was translated
into French, and reprinted in the Maritime
Provinces, It showed that Canada lost from
the want of railways and a winter market
an amount which would build fifty miles
every year ; that we could not have manu
factures without them; and that their want
was an actual tax on the industry of the
country. Early in the following year (1850)
it was announced that Mr. Keefer was the
winner of the prize offered by Lord Elgin
for the best essay on the influence of the
canals of Canada on her agriculture. In
this essay Mr. Keefer marked out, thirty
years ago, a National Policy in the follow
ing words—" Fortunately ' free trade ' and
' protection ' have not yet become war cries
in Canada, and we trust that patriotism
and the mutual respect of parties will dic
tate that spirit of compromise which is
the leaven of all good government. We
believe there is a freedom of commercial
intercourse which need not be unlicensed,
and an encouragement of native industry,
when judiciously directed, not incompati

ble with each other, or with the interests
of Canada as an agricultural country. We
cannot fail to perceive that we are already
a surplus food-producing people ; that our
most easily cultivated lands are taken up ;
that the want of a local market and super
abundant capital forbids the cultivation of
the richer and more expensively tilled soils ;
that our most valuable population — the na
tive born adults of both sexes — -are wander
ing off where good land is more plenty and
cheaper, or hard labour better rewarded.
By industry and thrift we may recover
from the effects of temporary calamities,
but when the young and vigorous, the en
terprising, intelligent and initiated portion
of our population abandon the country they
have been reared in, and which they are
best qualified to develop, she is indeed be
reaved. Any policy, therefore, which offers
a reasonable prospect of extending the va
riety of our occupations, should be received
upon its own merits, without reference to
its clashing with a principle."
The . Senate of the United States having
called for a report on their trade with Can
ada, the United States Consul at St. John,
New Brunswick, was entrusted with the
duty, and visited Canada for the purpose.
He applied to the late Hon. W. H. Merritt
for assistance, who referred him to Mr.
Keefer as the Canadian best qualified for
the duty. The latter had reentered the
Government service during the summer of
1850, on Mr. Merritt's accession to power,
and had been engaged on a survey of the
River St. Lawrence, above Montreal, and
below Quebec, including the communication
between Canada and New Brunswick via
Lake Temiscouata. After the completion
of the surveys Mr. Keefer was sent by the
Government to Boston to assist Mr, An
drews, the United States Consul, in pre
paring his first report on reciprocal trade
with Canada. A second report being called
for, Mr. Keefer (who had again left the'

136

THOMAS COLTRIN KEEFER, C.M.G.

Government service) was sent for by Mr.
Andrews in 1852 to New York, and con
tributed largely to the final report. In ac
knowledgement of his services the con
sular agency at Toronto was placed at Mr.
Keefer's disposal by Mr. Andrews, who had
now become Consul-General for British
North America, and he added his opinion
that in this matter of reciprocity, Mr. Keefer
had " done more for Canada, outside and
inside, than any other Canadian."
In 1851, the first movement respecting a
trunk railway was made by a convention
of Wardens and Mayors of counties and
towns between Kingston and Toronto, which
was held at Belleville, and Mr. Keefer was
appointed Chief Engineer. Following this,
the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway
Company at Montreal, represented by the
late Hon. John Young, provided for a sur
vey to connect their line with the Great
West by a bridge over the St. Lawrence
and a railway to Kingston, both of which
were entrusted to Mr. Keefer. His report
established for the first time the practi
cability of bridging the St. Lawrence at
Montreal, notwithstanding the formidable
ice movements which had led other eno-i-
neers to seek a site higher up the river.
The Victoria bridge has been built upon the
principles laid down in Mr. Keefer's report,
viz., contracting the water way by solid ap
proaches, instead of seeking increased water
way in a wider portion of the river; and
twenty years' experience has established
the correctness of his conclusions. While
these surveys were in progress Mr. Keefer
visited the first International E.xhibition in
London, in 1851, for which he had been
gazetted as one of the Canadian Commis-
.sioners by Lord Elgin in the previous year.'
In 1852 Mr. Keefer was appointed Chief
Engineer for the construction of the Mont
real water- works, in which he was engaged
until their completion in 1857. In 1853
he became Engineer of the Montreal Har

bour Commission. In 1854, when the re
peal of the Railway Act of 1849 and the
Grand Trunk subsidy cut off all further
Governmental aid to railways, Mr. Keefer
advocated in a lecture at Montreal a land
grant for securing a railway through the
Ottawa Vallej' ; and in 1856 a line from
Quebec to Lake Huron was chartered with a
liberal land grant. In 1857 he removed to
Hamilton, and constructed the water-works
for that city, filling at the same time the
position of Chief Engineer to the Hamilton "¦
and Port Dover Railway. In addition to the
important works of construction during his
residence at Montreal and Hamilton, he was
engaged as Consulting Engineer on harbour
questions, water-works, etc., in Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick. In 1862 he was ap
pointed a Commissioner to the second In
ternational Exhibition, and went over to
London to relieve the late Sir William
Logan, who had organized the Canadian
Department there.
In 1864, Mr. Keefer (who had removed
from Hamilton to Toronto in 1860) returned
to Ottawa, where for several years his time
was chiefly occupied with a family estate ;
but in 1869, immediately after the acquisi
tion by Canada of the claims of the Hud
son's Bay Company to the North-West
Territories, he commenced a series of letters
in the Montreal and Ottawa papers, point
ing out that " a continuous railway on Cana
dian soil was indispensable to the extension
of Confederation across the continent," and
that " the lands of the ' Fertile Belt ' must
build it." He opposed the expenditure then
going on upon the Dawson Route as certain
to be rendered useless by the early construc
tion of a railway, and as unable to compete
with the route through the United States.
These letters undoubtedly had much to do
in forming public opinion for a favourable
reception of the scheme a few years later.
In 1870, Mr, Keefer brought about a con
vention of municipa^l delegates from the

THOMAS COLTRIN KEEFER, C.M.G.

137

Ottawa Valley and from Montreal, in fa
vour of the Canada Central Railway, to
which he then alluded as the beginning of
a Canadian Paciflc Railway.
In 1872 he commenced the construction
of the Ottawa water-works, for which he
had made the preliminary survey in 1869.
He has also been connected as Consulting
Engineer with the water- works of Halifax,
Quebec, Toronto, St, Catharines, and Lon
don, Ontario. In 1877 he was appointed
Chief Commissioner for Canada at the Paris
Exhibition of 1878. That Exhibition was
the flrst at which Canada has appeared in
Europe since Confederation, and her Com
missioner fully comprehended the impor
tance of a favourable d/but for the new
North American Power. The great map
which has since been exhibited all over
Canada, and the models of public works,
for the first time fully illustrated the great
resources and enterprise of the Dominion,
and these, aided by a very complete exhibit
of the products of agriculture, the forest,
the mine, the fisheries, and manufactures,
produced a genuine surprise for England as
well as for France.
In addition to the arduous labours of
preparation and installation of such an ex
hibition, Mr. Keefer found time to edit one
of the most complete hand-books which has
ever been published in connection with any
country, accompanied and illustrated with
valuable and beautiful maps. In it the
mo.st recent and complete information was

given as to the physical geography, climate,
area and population, drainage .system, laws,
administration of government, public de
partments, commerce, agriculture, mines,
fisheries, education, railways, canals, etc.,
so that a European about to emigrate could
supplement what was wanting in the Ex
hibition itself, in the way of information to
enable him to judge of the merits of Canada
as a future home. The London Times and
other leading newspapers reviewed it in
highly favourable terms. Ten thousand
copies of it in French and English were
printed, eight thousand of which were dis
tributed in Europe. A copy was sent to
every member of the British Parliament,
and to many of the country clergy, who
are more consulted by intending emigrants
than any other class. The recent interest
displayed by both France and England in
the affairs of the Dominion is doubtless in
no small degree due to the comprehensive
and exhaustive exhibit made by Canada at
Paris in 1878.
France conferred upon the Canadian
Commissioner the rank of " officer " in the
Legion of Honour, and invited him, on the
nomination of the Prince of Wales, to be
come a member of the International Jury in
the class of Engineering. England acknow
ledged his services by the Companionship
of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
He is a member of the Institution of Civil
Engineers, London, and of the American So
ciety of Civil Engineers, New York.

IV— 19

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON,
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF MANITOBA.

THE Honourable Mr. Cauchon occupies a
position among the public men of the
Dominion which, for want of a better word,
we shall designate as peculiar. He has
been conspicuously before the Canadian
public for nearly forty years, and is known,
at least by name, throughout the length and
breadth of our land. He was a politician
from his boyhood, and enjoyed a certain
local repute as a writer on political ques
tions long before he had attained his ma
jority, and consequently long before he had
reached an age when his opinions on such
q^uestions could be expected to have much
value. His intellect, however, developed
early, and when he first entered Parliament,
in 1844, he was considerably older than his
years. From that date down to the time
of his appointment to the position which he
now occupies — an interval embracing thirty-
three years — he continuously occupied a
seat in the Legislature, either as private
member. Cabinet Minister, or Speaker of
the Senate. A parliamentary career extend
ing over so long a period would of itself
have been sufficient to make him widely
known. But there are other reasons for the
celebrity — we had nearly said notoriety —
which attaches to his name. The mem
ber for Montmorency was never afflicted
with bashfulness or diffidence. He was not
only a frequent speaker, but a remarkably
fiery and effective one. His speeches were
always listened to, for on whatsoever topic

he thought fit to deliver himself, he spoke
with a verve and energy which could not
fail to secure attention. His arguments
were not always convincing, but they were
nearly always controversial and aggressive.
It is no disparagement to his French Cana
dian contemporaries to say that few, if any,
of them can claim intellectual precedence
over Joseph Edouard Cauchon. Sir George
Cartier was his superior as a party leader.
Sir A. A. Dorion was and is his superior
in culture, and in its application to prac
tical work. The Hon. A. N. Morin was a
man of undoubted capacity, and of much
intellectual and moral worth. Dorion and
Morin, however, throughout the whole of
their public career, were diffident men.
You might know them for years ere you
knew how much strength was in them. Mr.
Cauchon — ^well, Mr. Cauchon is not, and
never has been, diffident. Whether in Par
liamentary speech or newspaper article, he
bursts upon you like a tornado. His great
force impresses you at once. For various
reasons, however, he has not for many years
exerted an influence commensurate with his
abilities, and he has long ceased to be widely
popular. True, his constituents in Montmo
rency stuck to him through evil report and
good report, and he never appealed to their
suffrages in vain. But there were a queru-
lousness and pugnacity about him which
constantly provoked bitter enmities, and
these enmities he seldom or never attempt-

^1^'''. &''-^ ^m--

z>^

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

139

ed to allay. He seemed to take delight in
ridiculing and exasperating his opponents.
This was perhaps a weakness, but, if so, it
was unquestionably a weakness allied to
strength. The more powerful of his enemies
hated him ; the weaker ones both hated and
feared. He came to be regarded as a danger
ous antagonist and an undesirable ally.
Then, there were certain pecuniary trans
actions which, whether rightly or wrongly,
enveloped him in 'an atmosphere of dis
repute. His enemies were numerous, and
readily availed themselves of such a state of
affairs to attack him in the most vulnerable
place. That many offences were laid to his
charge of which he was entirely innocent
there can be no reasonable doubt. Still, it
is to be feared that certain transactions
wherewith he was more or less connected
were of such a nature as to lend colour to
stultifying accusations, even when, as was
sometimes the case, the latter were wholly
groundless. He became a political Ish-
maelite, and his intellectual fibre was
such that he scarcely seemed even to re
gret his isolation. His unpopularity, how
ever, became so widespread that his use
fulness as a public man was seriously in
terfered with, and there can be no doubt
that he acted wisely in accepting a high and
dignified position which removed him from
the scene of his many antagonisms. As
Lieutenant-Governor he has conducted him
self with a moderation which could scarcely
have been expected from his previous career.
He still enjoys a large measure of physical
and mental vigour, but he has entered upon
the sixty-fifth year of his age, and it is
hardly likely that he will ever care to re
enter the arena where he long occupied so
conspicuous a place.
He is descended from an old French fam
ily that originally settled at L'Ange Gar-
dien — a parish situated on the north shore
of the St. Lawrence, a few miles below Que
bec — in the year 1636. The founder of the

Canadian branch of the family appears to
have been a gentleman of position and in
fluence. He was a member of the Conseil
Superieur, and the personal friend and
associate of M. de Montmagny, Governor of
the colony of New France. His son, Cau
chon de Laverdifere, became a Judge of the
Cour Royale, in the Island of Orleans. A
more modern descendant was the late Mr.
Joseph Ange Cauchon, of Quebec, who mar
ried Miss Marguerite Vallie, of the same
city. The present Lieutenant-Governor of
Manitoba is one of the fruits of that mar
riage, and was born at St. Roch's, Quebec,
on the 31st of December, 1816.
He began political life with the advan
tage of a much more thorough mental train-
ing than has fallen to the lot of most of our
public men. After receiving a rudimentary
education, he entered the Petit Seminaire
de Quebec in his fourteenth year. His
attendance there lasted for about nine years,
during which period he was known as a
youth of remarkable precocity and mental
grasp. He entered with keen relish into
the vexed political questions of the time,
and became an ardent nationalist while still
in his teens. He was a high authority on
constitutional questions among his fellow-
students, and was accustomed to air his boy
ish prejudices in the columns of Le Liberal,
a newspaper which was at that time pub
lished in Quebec in the interests of the
French-Canadian party. In 1837, while he
was still a student at the Seminary, he en
tered the office of the late Mr. Justice Morin,
but did not long remain there, being notified
that it was contrary to the college regulations
for him to pursue his professional studies
concurrently with his scholastic course at the
Seminary. In 1839, having completed a
brilliant course at the last-named institu
tion, he entered the office of the late Mr.
James G. Baird, a local advocate of high
repute. Legal studies, however, do not
seem to have been much to his taste, and

140

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

though he read the prescribed course, and
was duly called to the Bar of Lower Canada
in 1843, it does not appear that he ever seri
ously gave his mind to his profession, or
that he ever engaged in actual practice as
an advocate. During the currency of his
articles he gave up his time almost exclu
sively to journalistic pursuits. He was a
regular contributor to Le Canadien, the
leading exponent of French-Canadian opin
ion, which was then edited by Mr. Etienne
Parent, an eloquent and vigorous, but inju
dicious writer, who had paid the penalty of
imprisonment for his demonstrative expres
sion of his opinions during the troubles of
1837-8. Upon Mr. Parent's election to Par
liament, in 1841, as representative for the
county of Saguenay, young Cauchon, then
in his twenty-fifth year, succeeded to the
editorial chair. Being no longer subjected
to the control of an older and wiser head
than his own, he gave an exceedingly loose
rein to his journalistic Pegasus, and for a
few months wrote in such a strain that his
articles could not be allowed to pass unno
ticed. As he turned a deaf ear to all admo
nitions, Le Canadien was suppressed by the
Government, and the young editor was of
course regarded by hi? admirers as a political
martyr. He next determined to launch out
into a newspaper enterprise on his own ac
count, and, with the assistance of his bro
ther-in-law, Mr. Cote, he established the
Journal de Quebec. He threw himself in
to this new enterprise with characteristic
energy, and made a personal canvass of his
native city for subscribers and advertise
ments. He succeeded in obtaining a satis
factory subscription list, and the first num
ber of the paper made its appearance on
the 1st of December, 1842. He had learned
wisdom in the school of experience, and the
Journal, under his management, erelong
won an influential position among French-
Canadian newspapers. Its editorial articles
were marked by a vigour and breadth which

proved that the writer's mind had developed
apace since the inditing of the frothy,
windy verbosity which had characterized
his contributions to Le Liberal and Le Cana
dien. His fame as a writer spread far be
yond the limits of Quebec, and he was re
peatedly solicited by more than one con
stituency to enter public life.
These solicitations were doubtless highly
satisfactory to Mr. Cauchon, and at the
general election of 1844 he was returned
for the county of Montmorency. He con
tinuously represented that constituency,
either in one House or another, or in both,
down to 1872.
His entry into public life took place at a
critical period in the history of our consti
tution. The first Baldwin-Lafontaine Ad
ministration had resigned only a few months
before, and the struggle between Sir Charles
Metcalfe and the constitutional Reformers
of Canada had fairly begun. The nature
of that struggle is already familiar to our
readers, and only a passing reference to it
is needed here. The result of the elections
of 1844 had been to give the Governor-
General's policy a majority of supporters.
The majority, however, was too small to
render the position of Messrs. Draper and
Viger by any means comfortable or assured,
and the Opposition was perhaps the most
formidable known to Canadian political
history. At its head were Messrs. Baldwin
and Lafontaine, and in its ranks were Fran
cis Hincks, Thomas Gushing Aylwin, and
indeed nearly every prominent member of
Parliament. To swell these ranks now
came Joseph Edouard Cauchon, who soon
proved that he was not less formidable on
the floor of the Assembly than in the col
umns of the Journal de Quebec. His
speeches, during the early part of his Par
liamentary career, were marked by a hesita
tion of utterance begotten of redundancy
of ideas, but this drawback was soon sur
mounted, and apt words flowed from his

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

141

lips like a torrent from an Alpine fastness.
He developed extraordinary powers of sar
casm and objurgation — and also developed
an extraordinary faculty for making ene
mies. Long before the Reform Party re
turned to power in 1848 he was recognized
as a Parliamentary gladiator who, so far as
readiness of repartee and eloquence of vi
tuperation were concerned, was without a
peer in the Assembly. In later times he
had sundry passages of arms with his fel
low-countryman, Louis Joseph Papineau,
but the sceptre of the " old man eloquent"
had departed from him, and he never ap
peared to less advantage than when ex
changing left-handed compliments with the
member for Montmorency across the floor
of the House.
Mr. Cauchon supported his leader, Mr.
Lafontaine, until that gentleman's retire
ment to private life in 1851. Upon the ac
cession to power of the Hincks-Morin Ad
ministration he assumed a hostile attitude,
and was a source of no little trouble to the
Premier. He strongly objected to some of
the western members in the Government.
Mr. Malcolm Cameron and Dr. Rolph, re
presenting the " Clear Grit " element in the
House, were specially distasteful to him,
and he directed all his energies to their mor
tification. An attempt was made to appease
him by Mr. Hincks, who offered him the post
of Assistant-Secretary for Lower Canada,
with a seat in Parliament, but without a seat
in the Cabinet. Mr. Cauchon declined the
offer, and on the opening of the session in
1852 arrayed himself in determined oppo
sition. He made an attempt to form a sep
arate Opposition composed exclusively of
Conservatives from the Lower Province, of
which element he was at that time the
acknowledged leader. He could not muster
a sufficient force, however, to make a dis
tinct Opposition, and contented himself
with attacking the Ministry upon every
available opportunity. Among other pro

jects which he advocated at this time with
great vehemence was that of construct
ing a North Shore Railway, out of which
he contrived to make some political capital.
He did his utmost to oust Mr. Hincks from
power, and upon the formation of the Mac-
nab-Morin Coalition Government, in 1854,
he yielded it his cordial support. He sup
ported the Acts abolishing the Seignorial
Tenure and secularizing the Clergy Re
serves. Upon Mr. Morin's retirement from
the Government in the beginning of 1855,
to accept a seat on the Bench, Mr. Cauchon
entered the Administration, and became
Commissioner of Crown Lands. Within a
few weeks after his accession to office he in
troduced and successfully carried through
the Act rendering the Legislative Council
elective. His tenure of office generally was
marked by great industry, and he certainly
left his mark upon the legislation of the
time. He retained his place in the Minis
try until the month of April, 1857, when a
disagreement arose between him and his
colleagues with respect to the North Shore
Railway. He was desirous of obtaining
Government assistance towards the con
struction of the line, and pressed his wishes
upon his colleagues very strongly. Being
unable to obtain the wished- for boon, he
withdrew from the Administration in great
dudgeon, and went into Opposition. When
he tendered his resignation it was generally
understood that he only did so to extort
concessions from his colleagues, and that he
did not really intend to retire. His resig
nation, however, was accepted almost with
out remonstrance. Soon after the perpetra
tion of the Double-Shijffle he began to give a
more or less cordial support to the Cartier-
Macdonald Government. As time passed
his support became more firm, and in June,
1861, he accepted office in it as Commission
er of Public Works. He held that portfolio
until the defeat of the Government in May,
1862, when he resigned with his colleagues.

142

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

Mr. Cauchon was a zealous and active
supporter of the scheme of Confederation,
both in Parliament and in his paper, which
he continued to edit with never-failing
ability. He was offered a seat in the Tache-
Macdonald Administration in 1864, but
thought proper to decline it, although he
supported it so long as it remained in
power. At the first general election after the
Union, in 1867, he was returned by accla
mation, both to the House of Commons and
to the Local Legislature of Quebec, by his
old constituency of Montmorency. When
Sir Narcisse Fortunat Belleau entered on
his duties as first Lieutenant-Governor of
the Province of Quebec, he offered the Pre
miership to Mr. Cauchon ; but that gentle
man, after consultation with other persons
whom he had invited to take office with
him, declined the honour. Just before the
meeting of the Dominion Parliament in
the following November he was offered the
Speakership of the Senate, which position
he accepted, and resigned his seat in the
Commons. The duties incidental to the
Speakership are said to have been dis
charged by him with becoming dignity,
and his tenure of office was marked by
a liberal and profuse hospitality. He re
signed the Speakership in July, 1872, in
order to reenter the House of Commons,
and at the general election of that year he
was returned to the Commons for Quebec
Centre as an independent candidate. It
was known before then that he was sup
porting the Opposition under Mr. Macken
zie's leadership.
Meanwhile, he had ever since the Union
continued to sit in the Local Legislature of
Quebec for the county of Montmorency.
Towards the end of 1872 he was compelled
by the pressure of public opinion to resign
his seat for that constituency. The circum
stances attendant upon this resignation are
not pleasant to dwell upon, and we would

gladly omit all reference to them if such
omission were possible. Such a course,
however, would involve a suppressio veri
which the editor of this work does not con
ceive to be consistent with his duty. The
story of the Beauport scandal, as elicited
by a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry,
must be told.
In the parish of Beauport, on the north
shore of the St. Lawrence, and about five
miles belpw Quebec, a private lunatic asylum
was established more than thirty years ago
by Dr. James Douglas, who himself assumed
the superintendence of the institution. The
Doctor's management was characterized by
great kindness, and by the most beneficial
results to the patients, and his asylum soon
acquired a creditable reputation. There
was no Provincial asylum in the neighbour
hood, and the Government placed such luna
tics as they were bound to provide for in
Dr. Douglas's charge, making him an annual
allowance of so much per head for their
care and support. This arrangement proved
profitable to the Doctor, and entirely satis
factory to the Government. After the lapse
of some years Dr. Douglas sold the estab
lishment to one Dr. Roy. The latter was a
gentleman of comparatively small means,
and it was surmised that he must have re
ceived large pecuniary assistance from some
.quarter or other in order to carry out the
transaction. He was well known to be
largely under Mr. Cauchon's influence, and
it was commonly rumoured that it was from
him that the necessary funds for the pur
chase had been derived. This, however,
was merely rumour, though the matter was
frequently hinted at' in the House, and sus
picions very uncomplimentary to Mr. Cau
chon were engendered in the public mind.
It must be borne in mind that Mr. Cauchon
during this time occupied the position of
a member of Parliament. Meanwhile the
lunatics chargeable upon the public con
tinued to be quartered at the Beauport

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

143

Asylum. The suspicions with reference to
Mr. Cauchon gathered force from year to
year. During the session of 1872 Mr. Joly,
the leader of the Opposition in the Quebec
Legislature, became cognizant of facts which
induced him to declare from his place in
Parliament that Mr. Cauchon was a Govern
ment contractor. After making this decla-
ration he demanded an investigation before
the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges
and Elections. Mr. Chauveau's Government
was then in power, and the greatest efforts
were made to suppress inquiry into the
matter. Mr. Joly succeeded in his motion,
however, and the investigation was pro
ceeded with. The result was most disas
trous to Mr. Cauchon's reputation. It was
proved that the profits and revenues of the
asylum belonged to him, and had belonged
to him for many years. Dr. Roy proved
that Mr. Cauchon had furnished him with
the capital to buy out Dr. Douglas, and that
it had been agreed that Cauchon and Roy
should share the profits of the establishment
between them, Mr. Cauchon stipulating that
his part in the transaction should be kept
secret in order that he might continue to
sit in Parliament. The amount actually
advanced by Mr. Cauchon was $38,000. He
took from Dr. Roy a mortgage on the asy
lum for $58,000, the additional $20,000 be
ing an honorarium for his services in con
nection with the matter. It was alleged
that Mr. Cauchon had subsequently taken
advantage of Dr. Roy's impecuniosity,
placed him upon a salary of $1,600 a year,
and retained all the profits of the establish
ment, amounting to something like $15,000
annually. Early in 1872, Dr. Roy had be
come tired of this unequal partnership, and
a prosecution had been instituted against
Mr. Cauchon for sitting in Parliament while
he occupied the position of a contractor
with the Government. Mr. Cauchon was
thus placed upon the horns of a most em
barrassing dilemma. If he admitted that

he was a contractor with the Government
he would become liable to a penalty of
$1,000 for every day he had sat in Parlia
ment while holding that position. If he
repudiated his partnership, and claimed to
be a mere mortgagee, all the vast sums he
had received would be set off against his
claim on the mortgage, and he had long
since been paid in full. According to Dr.
Roy's evidence, that gentleman finally ar
ranged to settle the matter by paying Mr.
Cauchon $50,000. Mr. Cauchon was to re
linquish his proprietorship, and was to use
his influence to procure a ten years' renewal
of the contract between the Government and
the asylum. Dr. Roy further alleged that
Mr. Cauchon claimed to have spent large
sums in securing the return of members
favourable to Mr. Chauveau's Government,
and had thus placed himself in a position
to demand the desired renewal. There were
many other humiliating disclosures, and the
Provincial press was loud in its denunci
ations. Mr. Cauchon, in order to avoid ex
pulsion, was compelled to resign his seat in
the Quebec Parliament, but he was speedily
reelected by acclamation by his constituents
in Montmorency, who seemed to be quite
unconscious that their member had done
anything to forfeit his claims to their con
fidence and respect.
Such, divested of accessories, is the story
of the Beauport scandal, the aroma of which
has ever since clung to Mr. Cauchon, but
which did not prevent his repeated reelec
tion to the House of Commons for Quebec
Centre. At the general election of 1874 he
was returned for that constituency by ac
clamation, and the same result followed
when he returned to his constituents for
reelection after accepting office in Mr. Mac
kenzie's Government in December, 1875.
Mr. Mackenzie was subjected to some criti
cism for receiving such a colleague, and it
is certain that the latter was a source of
weakness, rather than strength to the Gov-

144

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

ernment. Mr. Cauchon's intellectual quali
fications for office, however, were of a high
order. His connection with the Beauport
Asylum was wholly indefensible, but Mr.
Mackenzie ascertained, by careful investi
gation, that other serious charges against
him were wholly without foundation, and
he still retained the confidence of many of
the French-Canadian members. Under these
circumstances Mr. Mackenzie — -as we be
lieve, not without serious misgivings — ad
mitted him to his Government, and he was
duly installed as President of the Council.
On the 8th of June, 1877, he was transfer
red to the Department of Inland Revenue,
as successor to the Hon. T. A. R. Laflamme.
He made an efficient Cabinet Minister, so
far as his services and intellectual capacity
were concerned, but as time passed by it
became apparent to Mr. Mackenzie that his
continuance in the Ministry was undesir
able. His faculty for making enemies had
not grown rusty with age, and that faculty,
combined with the general estimation in
which he was held, was such as to seriously
interfere with his usefulness. He had served
Mr. Mackenzie, however, with perfect faith
and loyalty, giving him a full and whole
hearted support. In the Riel and Lepine
affair, and in the New Brunswick school
question, he rendered valuable aid to the
Government, and was entitled to some con
sideration at their hands. In the early au
tumn of 1877 he was offered the Lieutenant-
Governorship of Manitoba. The population
of that Province is largely made up of his
French-Canadian fellow-countrymen, and it
was believed that his appointment would be
the means of promoting a good understand
ing between the rival races there. He ac
cepted the position, and his appointment
took place on the 8th of October. The
intelligence was not received in the Prairie
Province with unmixed enthusiasm or satis
faction, but the appointment was an accom
plished fact, and as such was acquiesced in.

The hopes entertained prior to his appoint
ment have to some extent been realized. It
would perhaps be going too far to say that
Lieutenant-Governor Cauchon has made
himself universally popular in Manitoba,
but, so far as we are aware, he has adminis
tered the Government with justice and im
partiality. Mr. Cauchon has contributed several
works to the literature of his native Prov
ince, the most important of which are re
productions of some of his articles in his
newspaper, the Journal de Quebec. One of
these reproductions, published in 1865, un
der the title of " L'Union des Provinces de
I'Amerique Britannique du Nord," is said
to have done much to influence public opin
ion in the Lower Province in favour of the
projected Confederation. Concerning his
literary and journalistic style, Mr. Fennings
Taylor remarks: "He is one of the most
clear and nervous of our public writers;
and to his other high merits unites a well
stored and cultivated mind on almost every
branch of knowledge. Besides an indomi
table will, Mr. Cauchon po'ssesses great indi
viduality of character ; determination which
no opposition can intimidate, industry which
no labour, can exhaust, and perseverance
which no discouragement can appal. He
moves vehemently as well as persistently
towards the point he wishes to arrive at.
Such movement, moreover, appears to be
impelled by the unrestrained despotism of
his thoughts ; thoughts which know neither
friend nor counsellor outside of the fervid
brain in which they are generated. The
matter of his .speech harmonizes with his
temperature. He rarely persuades ; he seeks
rather to destroy than to convince ; to ex
pose the weakness of his adversary's argu
ment rather than exhibit the strength of
his own. He does not resort to sophistry,
being careful only to assert truth, or what
he believes to be truth. He conciliates by
accident, while he controls by habit. Force

THE HON. JOSEPH EDOUARD CAUCHON.

145

is his normal condition, and intellectual ac
tivity is the life of that condition. He de
lights in mental gymnastics, and enters with
zest, and from sheer love of the exercise, into
the arena of controversy. Though he lacks
the flexible qualities which go to make a
leader popular, he possesses the forcible
ones which make an ally valuable. He is a
powerful associate and a dangerous oppo
nent." Mr. Cauchon has been thrice married.
His first wife, whom he married in 1843,

was Julie, eldest daughter of Mr. Charles
Lemieux, of Quebec. This lady died in 1864.
Two years later Mr. Cauchon married
Miss Maria Nolan, daughter of Mr. Martin
Nolan, of Quebec. She died in December,
1877. On the 1st of February, 1880, he
married Miss Emma Lemoine, daughter of
Mr. Robert Lemoine, Clerk of the Senate.
He has several times been Mayor of his na
tive city, and has also been Lieutenant-Col
onel of the Ninth Battalion of Volunteer
Militia, or Chasseurs de Quebec.

IV— 20

THE HON. JOHN GODFREY SPRAGGE.

THE Chancellor of Ontario belongs to a
Dorsetshire (England) family, but was
born at New Cross, one of the Surrey
suburbs of London, in 1807. His father,
the late Mr. Joseph Spragge, was by pro
fession a tutor. The family removed to
Canada during the early boyhood of the
future Chancellor, and settled at Little
York, where Mr. Spragge, Sr., became tutor
of the Central School. The subject of this
sketch, with his brothers, Joseph and Wil
liam, received his education, first at the
Central School, and afterwards at the Royal
Grammar or Home District School, under
the late Dr. Strachan, afterwards Bishop of
Toronto. He studied law, first in the office
of the late Sir James B. Macaulay, and
afterwards in the office of Robert Baldwin,
where he completed the term of his articles.
He was admitted as an attorney and was
called to the Bar of Upper Canada in
Michaelmas Term, 1828, and immediately
thereafter he began the practice of his pro
fession in York. When the late Hon. John
Hillyard Cameron was called to the Bar in
Michaelmas Term, 1838, Mr. Spragge ad
mitted him to a partnership, which was
maintained for some years under the style
of Spragge & Cameron. While at the Bar
Mr. Spragge had a very large agency busi
ness, and was considered the ablest Equity
draughtsman in the Province.
Upon the creation of the Court of Chan
cery of Upper Canada, in 1837, Mr. Spragge

received the appointment of Master in Chan
cery. He subsequently, in accordance with
the practice then in vogue, attended the sit
tings of the Legislative Council in that ca
pacity. From July, 1836, until the Union
of the Provinces in 1841, he was Surrogate
Judge of the Home District. On the 13th
of July, 1844, he was appointed Registrar
of the Court of Chancery. He was subse
quently elected a Bencher of the Law So
ciety of Upper Canada, and in 1850 became
Treasurer to that Body. In January, 1851,
he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Upper
Canada, and retained that position until the
death of the Hon. P. M. M. S. Vankoughnet,
towards the close of 1869, when he became
Chancellor — a position which he has ever
since filled with dignity and honour. At
the present time it is rumoured that further
promotion awaits him.
In 1847 he wrote and published in pam
phlet form a letter on the subject of the
Courts of Law in Upper Canada, addressed
to the Attorney-General and Solicitor-
General. In 1858 he was one of the Judges
selected to make rules and orders regulating
the procedure in the Surrogate Courts. No
more learned lawyer has ever sat on the
Equity Bench of this Province, and no judg
ments are more highly respected than his.
While at the Bar he married a daughter
of the late Dr. Alexander Thom, Staff Sur
geon, and Medical Superintendent of Mili
tary Settlements on the Rideau.

,- /¦ ^ 'J, T!,

liihJiyli-lf-L Siaih (J- r-*..,ii:. ;R.,oni.-h>JiF HnaTw kC.

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

MR. McDOUGALL occupies a position
apart and alone in Canadian political
life. His bitterest enemy — and he has a
good many bitter enemies — will not deny
that he is in some respects one of our very
ablest public men. He has been born and
reared among us, and his sympathies, such
as they are, are what might naturally be ex
pected from his birth and training. His
native intelligence is of a high order, and
has been sharpened by a considerable range
of reading, mental discipline, and wide in
tercourse with mankind. His knowledge
of Canadian affairs is accurate and compre
hensive, and he is, when he pleases, one of
the mo.st powerful speakers in the Canadian
Parliament. His voice is clear and sonorous,
his figure is erect and commanding. His
language is well-chosen and idiomatic, and
his delivery effective. Such a man, in a new
country like our own, might naturally be
expected to exert a potent and far-reaching
influence. That he does so cannot be denied,
although, for various reasons, his influence
for some years past has not been commen
surate with his abilities. His enemies say
that he is not to be trusted. Without en
dorsing such a statement, it may be said
that he possesses a strong individuality of
his own ; that he has not been able to school
his mind sufficiently to render himself sub
servient to any leader ; and that he has thus
failed to meet the full requirements of party
discipline. There is moreover an aggres

siveness in his manner and in his character
which has seriously interfered with his
popularity, and with his success in life. His
public career has been a peculiar one. He
has at different times attached himself to
both the political parties into which, prior
to Confederation, the public men of Canada
were divided. He has even worked with
apparent cordiality with different wings of
each party. *It is difficult for any one who
knows and has conversed with him to avoid
the conclusion that he is a man of Liberal
convictions ; yet he has been a member of
at least one Ministry that was nothing if
not Conservative. At present he is — and
indeed he has for some time past been — a
free lance in public life. He supports the
present Government on the tariff question,
and just so much farther as he thinks proper,
but claims and exercises perfect indepen
dence of action. He calls himself a Conser
vative Liberal, and the phrase represents
his position pretty accurately.
He was born in the town of York, now
the city of Toronto, on the 25th of January,
1822, His father was the late Mr. Daniel
McDougall, who, three years after his son's
birth, removed to a farm on Yonge Street, a
few miles north of the city. His paternal
grandfather was Mr. John McDougall, a
native of the Highlands of Scotland, and a
U. E. Loyalist, who served in the British
Commissariat service during the Revolution
ary War. After the close of hostilities, John

148

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

McDougall removed to Nova Scotia, and
marrying the daughter of a British officer
who had settled at Shelburne, attempted to
establish himself in commercial business in
that ill-fated refugee town. After the arri
val of Governor Simcoe in this Province he
removed to Upper Canada, and settled in
Little York. His son Daniel married Miss
Hannah Matthews, of St. Andrews, in Lower
Canada, who thus became the mother of the
subject of this sketch. It is said that the
latter inherits from her the individuality and
force of character which have made him con
spicuous in public life,
William McDougall received his prelimi
nary education at various public and pri
vate schools, and afterwards spent some
time at Victoria College, Cobourg. Much
of his early life was passed upon his father's
farm on Yonge Street, where he doubt
less laid the foundation of the robust phy
sique which he has possessed ever since
attaining manhood. It was felt, however,
that such energy and abilities as his must
find some other outlet than agricultural
pursuits, and when he was eighteen years
of age he entered the office of the late Mr.
— afterwards the Hon. — James Hervey
Price, barrister, of Toronto, and began the
study of the law. Before the expiration of
his articles he had begun to contribute to
the newspapers of the day, and displayed
a decided talent for the profession of a
journalist. He completed his studies, how
ever, and was admitted as an attorney and
solicitor in Michaelmas Terra, 1847. He en
tered into partnership with a fellow-student,
Mr. Ambrose Gorham, and for a short tirae
practised his profession ; but within a few
months after his admission as an attorney we
find him establishing the Canada Farmer, a
weekly paper devoted to agriculture, science
and literature. Its name was subsequently
changed to that of the Canadian Agri
culturist, which continued to be published
under his auspices down to the year 1858,

when he sold the copyright to the Upper
Canada Board of Agriculture, by whom
it was subsequently sold to the late Hon.
George Brown. Long before this period,
however, Mr. McDougall had ceased to be
a raere agricultural journalist. In 1850 he
established the North American, a semi-
weekly newspaper of Radical proclivities.
The divisions in the ranks of the Reform
Party at that time had estranged many
readers from the Globe, and the existence of
such a paper as the North American was
much desired by the more advanced wing
of the Reformers. Mr. McDougall became
editor-in-chief, and conducted the new ven
ture with great energy and vigour. Its
articles were written with great verve, and
it was read for the sake of its spicincss by
many persons who did not approve of its
politics. In that far-away time personal
journalism was all the rage, and Mr. Mc
Dougall proved that he could hold his own
in journalistic warfare, even against Mr.
Brown and the Globe. He was regarded by
the Reformers as one of their " coming "
men for Parliament. The political platform
laid down in 1850 by this bold innovator,
the last important plank of which has just
been adopted by the Attorney-General of
Ontario in his new Judicature Bill, is not
only a matter of historical interest, but
supplies us with a key to the motive forces
which, though unperceived by some and
forgotten by others, have more than once
impelled Mr. McDougall to leave the beaten
track of party. His chief planks, as we find
them set down in the North Avnerican,
were : — 1. Elective Institutions, which were
to apply to the Legislative Council or Upper
House of that day, as well as to municipal
and local officers. 2. The abolition of prop
erty qualification for Parliamentary repre
sentatives. 3. The extension of the elective
franchise to householders. 4. Vote by ballot.
5. Biennial Parliaments. 6. Representation
based on population. 7. Power to the Cana-

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

149

dian Parliament to regulate commercial in
tercourse with other nations. 8. Law Re
form, by the giving of Equity jurisdiction
to the Courts of Law, and by simplification
of law proceedings. 9. The application of
the Clergy Reserves to educational pur
poses. 10. The abolition of the Rectories.
11. The abolition of all laws giving special
privileges to particular religious denomina
tions. 12. Modification of the Usury laws.
13. The abolition of the doctrine of Primo
geniture as applied to real estate. 14. A
decimal currency. 15. Free navigation of
the St. Lawrence. When it is remembered
that in 1850 none of these measures had
been achieved except the election of munici
pal councillors, and that Mr. McDougall's
platform was denounced by the Tories as
revolutionary and republican, and by the
Globe (then the organ of the existing Bald
win-Lafontaine Government) as radical and
mischievous, we can estimate the courage
and energy of the man who advocated such
root-and-branch reforms. Of this list of
fifteen important political, financial and
legal changes, nearly every one has since
become the subject of legislation by politi
cal leaders and parties who for years after
they were first propounded opposed and
denounced them. In 1853 he represented
Canada at the Universal Exhibition held
at New York in that year. Upon the for
mation of the Hincks-Morin Administra
tion the North American became its mouth
piece, but even at that time the editor had
decided opinions of his own, and did not
hesitate to proclaim them. He was used
by the Reformers in two election contests
as a forlorn hope, and though he was de
feated in both constituencies — North Went
worth and Waterloo — the experience gained
by hira was valuable, as it gave him perfect
confidence in himself on the political plat
form, and enabled him to feel the public
pulse. It also made hira well known
throughout the Upper Province, and caused

his name to be very frequently in men's
mouths. The Coalition of 1854, and its conse
quences, caused the Reformers to awaken
to a true sense of their position before the
country. It was evident that if they were
ever 'to achieve any great measure of success,
it was to be achieved by presenting a united
front to their opponents, instead of wasting
their energies by internal dissensions. Mr.
McDougall and Mr. Brown accordingly re
conciled their differences, and for sorae years
worked together with some approach to
harmony. The reconciliation was a matter
of time, and was not fully brought about
until the year 1857, when the publication
of the North Arnerican was discontinued,
being merged in the Globe. Mr. McDougall
at the same time joined the editorial staff
of the last-named journal, with which he
continued to be identified for about two
years. His articles added not a little to the
power and popularity of the Globe, for he
was, and is, one of the raost trenchant
writers in the country. It will easily be
understood, however, that two such spirits
as George Brown and Williara McDougall
would not long reraain in araity if brought
into frequent personal contact. Both gentle-
raen were too self-conscious and fond of
having their own way for either of them
to bear dictation from the other. For sorae
time, however, all went smoothly between
them, and Mr. McDougall, as a public man,
received the full support of the Globe. He
entered public life in 1858, having during
the previous year been an unsuccessful can
didate for the representation of the county
of Perth, against Mr. T. M. Daly. In the
autumn of 1858 he offered himself as a can
didate for the representation of the North
Riding of Oxford, against the Hon. (now
Mr. Justice) Joseph Curran Morrison. He
was returned at the head of the poll, and
continued to sit in the Assembly for that
very distinctly Reform constituency until

150

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

1863. In 1859 he was Secretary to the
Constitutional Reforra Association of Upper
Canada. He grew steadily in power and
infiuence from the time of first taking his
seat, and furnished one of the few instances
in the Canadian Parliament of a public
man who could both speak and write re
markably well. He had not been two years
in the Assembly before he was accounted
one of the most fluent and vigorous debaters
there. He was at this time a very distinctly
pronounced party-man, and an advocate of
Representation by Population, but still acted
with much boldness and independence. The
latter qualities were the cause of his sever
ance from Mr. Brown and the Globe in 1860.
In Hilary Term, 1862, he was called to the
Bar of Upper Canada, but did not engage
in practice for some years after that date.
Upon the formation of the Sandfield Mac-
donald-Sicotte Administration in May, 1862,
Mr. McDougall accepted office therein as
Comraissioner of Crown Lands. He was
left undisturbed in his portfolio at the re
construction of the Ministry in 1863, when
the Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion Govern-
raent was forraed. He held office until
March, 1864, when he retired, with his col
leagues, owing to an adverse vote in the
Assembly. He about the same time aban
doned as impracticable the scheme of Repre
sentation by Population, and advocated a
federal union of the Provinces on the plan
he had, proposed at the Reform Conven
tion in -1859. He was of course assailed
by Mr. Brown and the Globe for relin
quishing Rep. by Pop. At the general
election of 1863 he was returned for North
Ontario, which he thenceforward repre
sented until July, 1864. Four months later
he was returned for the North Riding of
Lanark, which he represented from that
date until the Union. During the few
weeks' tenure of office of the Tache-Macdon
ald Administration he remained in Opposi
tion. After the defeat of that Government

in June, 1864, the Great Coalition was
formed which resulted in Confederation.
Mr. McDougall was one of the two Re
formers whora the Hon. George Brown took
with hira into the Coalition Cabinet. He was
appointed Provincial Secretary, which office
he held till the dissolution of the old Pro
vincial Government by the enforcement of
the Union Act on the 1st of July, 1867. On
that day he was sworn in as a meraber of
the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, and
appointed Minister of Public Works in the
Governraent then formed by the Hon. John
A. Macdonald. During the same year he was
created a Corapanion of the Bath (Civil).
He was f rora first to last an active promoter
of the scheme of Confederation. He was a
delegate to the Union Conference held at
Charlottetown, P.E.I., in 1864, and to that
held later in the same year at Quebec. In
1866 and '67 he was present at the Colonial
Conference held in London, England, when
the terras of union of the Provinces were
finally settled. After his return to Canada
he heartily advocated the policy of disre
garding the old party lines of the past,
which had been laid down under conditions
which had long ceased to prevail. He has
ever since advocated this policy, and cannot
in strictness be said to have belonged to
any political party since the accomplishment
of Confederation.
In 1865 and '66 Mr. McDougall was Chair
man of the Commission appointed to open
trade relations with the West Indies, Mexi
co, and Europe, and at the same time was
Acting Minister of Marine, with charge of
the Provincial gun-boats on the lakes.
Having accepted office, as we have seen,
in the first Ministry under the new order of
things, as Minister of Public Works, he was
returned to the House of Comraons by ac
clamation at the next general election for
the North Riding of Lanark, which he had
previously represented in the Assembly.
Ever since his first entry into public life

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

151

Mr. McDougall had taken much interest in
all matters relating to the North-West.
" The North-West question," says a Cana
dian writer, "had been for years one of
his most cherLshed hobbies ; how to break
up the Hudson's Bay monopoly ; how to
throw these fertile lands open for settle
ment ; how to acquire them for Canada ;
were with him questions of serious and fre
quent consideration, and of much discussion
both in the press and on the platform." And
after the adoption of the Confederation
policy, in 1864, Mr. McDougall never ceased
to take a lively interest in the project
for the acquisition of the North-West by
the Dominion, and the opening up of its
lands for settlement. In the auturan of
the year 1868 he accorapanied the late
Sir George E. Cartier to England to confer
with the Iraperial authorities on several
raatters of public interest, including the de
fences of the Dorainion and the acquisition
of the North-West Territory. The negoti
ations, in so far as they related to the latter
subject, were successful. The arrangeriient,
as finally corapleted, gave general satisfac
tion in Canada, and received the unanimous
approval of Parliament. Mr. McDougall's
share in these negotiations, and his warm
interest in everything relating to the North-
West, were deserving of sorae public recog
nition. It was deeraed fitting that he should
be offered the responsibility of organizing
the Governraent of those territories, and pre
paring the way for the progress of imrai-
gration and the establishment of municipal
and other local institutions within their
boundaries. On the 28th of Septeraber,
1869, he was appointed Lieutenant-Gover
nor of Rupert's Land and the North-West
Territories, at a salary of $7,000 per annura.
During the previous suramer Lieutenant-
Colonel John Stoughton Dennis, the present
Deputy Minister of the Interior, had been
despatched to Red River to organize a systera
of public surveys. Colonel Dennis had

obeyed his instructions, and had not been
long in the North-West ere he had become
convinced that a Provisional Government
would not be established by the Canadian
authorities at Fort Garry Mathout sorae
difficulty. The French half-breeds through
out the territory were in a sullen and dis
satisfied raood. They coraplained that they
had never been consulted as to the transfer
of the Territory frora the Hudson's Bay
Corapany, and they were fearful lest their
title to their lands should be called in ques
tion. Colonel Dennis notified the authori
ties at Ottawa of this state of things, but it
was not supposed that the hostility was
serious, and but little iraportance was at
tached to it. Mr. McDougall started for
Fort Garry, the proposed seat of his Gov
ernraent, in October, 1869, and proceeded
by way of St. Paul, Minnesota, to Pembina,
whither he arrived on the 30th of that
month. He was accompanied by his faraily,
and by several gentlemen who were to com
pose part of his Council, including the Hon.
Albert N. Richards, the present Lieutenant-
Governor of British Columbia (who was to
be Attorney-General), Mr. J. A. N. Prov-
encher, and Captain Cameron, of " blawsted
fence" notoriety. Ruraours reached them
all along the route that the dissatisfaction
felt by the French half-breed population of
the Red River Settlement was daily finding
louder and louder expression, but it was
not believed that there would be anything
like a serious attempt at arraed insurrection.
Mr. McDougall took with him rifles and a
stock of ammunition, the mere display of
which he believed would be sufficient to
check any little hostilities that might at
tempt to show themselves.
Upon reaching Pembina, however, he
found that the situation was more serious
than he had anticipated. A half-breed, who
had been waiting there for hira several days,
served him with a formal notice, by the
terms whereof he was forbidden to enter

152

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

the Territory. He paid slight respect to
this notice, and proceeded about two railes
farther, when he arrived at the Hudson's
Bay Corapany 's post, situated within the
Territory. Here he received intelligence
from Colonel Dennis which afforded food
for serious deliberation. The Colonel and
his assistants had been prevented from pro
ceeding with their surveys, a party of about
twenty " half-breeds, headed by the after
wards famous Louis Riel, having interfered
with their operations, and forbidden them
to proceed any farther. No violence had
been employed, but Riel had stated in
so raany words that the land belonged to
the French half-breeds, who would not
allow any survey to be raade of it by the
Canadian Government. Colonel Dennis had
then laid the matter before Mr. McTavish,
the Hudson's Bay Corapany's Governor at
Fort Garry, who had reraonstrated with
Riel and his adherents to no purpose. A
largely-attended raeeting of the French half-
breeds had subsequently been held, and it
had been deterrained that Mr. McDougall
should not be permitted to enter the Terri
tory. The English-speaking settlers were
not rebellious, but raany of thera were un-
enthusiastic about the raatter, and, in fact,
indifferent. Colonel Dennis's reports were
very full, and disclosed a state of affairs
which it was irapossible any longer to ignore.
Mr. McDougall despatched to the Secretary
of State at Ottawa a full account of the
situation. Meanwhile, arraed parties of
French half-breeds had assembled at various
points along the route between Pembina
and Fort Garry, with the avowed intention
of opposing Mr. McDougall in the event of
his endeavouring to make his way to the
latter place. It was evident to Mr. Mc
Dougall that if he were to reach Fort
Garry he raust fight his way thither, and
this, of course, he was not in a position to do,
even had he felt so inclined. He accord
ingly remained at the Hudson's Bay Com

pany's post, and despatched Mr. Provencher
to Fort Garry with a message to Governor
McTavish, a,sking that gentleman to confer
with the half-breeds, to ascertain the nature
of their deraands, and to assure them of the
amicable and just intentions of the Canadian
Government. Mr, Provencher, however, was
not allowed to proceed to Fort Garry with
this message. Upon reaching a stream called
the River Sale, a few miles on the route, he
found a barricade thrown up, and an array
of arraed half-breeds behind it. He w.as in
formed that neither himself, Mr. McDougall,
nor any other meraber of their party would
be allowed to proceed to Fort Garry, and he
was warned not to repeat the attempt to do
so. A day or two afterwards a party of four
teen' armed horseraen approached Mr. Mc
Dougall's quarters frora the direction of
Fort Garry, and deraanded an interview
with him, which was at once accorded. They
then informed him that he raust leave the
North-West Territory before nine o'clock
on the following raorning. Mr. McDougall
argued the matter for sorae time, and the
half-breeds retired, apparently without hav
ing come to any fixed conclusion. Early
on the following raorning they appeared at
the gateway in an excited state, with their
arras in their hands, and drawn up in a
half circle. They intimated that if Mr. Mc
Dougall and his party did not leave the
Territory before nine o'clock their lives
would be in danger. Mr. McDougall, not
wishing to give the marauders any excuse
for further outrage, had his horses harnessed,
and with his party set out for the southern
side of the boundary-line. They were es
corted by the half-breeds, and when they
reached the post which marks the 49th par
allel of latitude, one of the band peremp
torily informed Mr. McDougall that he must
not re-cross that boundary. The half-breeds
then returned northward,and Mr. McDougall
and his party took up their quarters at a

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

153

farm-house several miles south of the boun
dary-line, where they remained about six
weeks, awaiting the course of events, and
hoping to be able to make a peaceable entry
into the Territory.
Meanwhile the armed resistance to au
thority had attained serious proportions, and
assumed the form of active rebellion. A
"Provisional Governraent" had been forraed,
with Mr. John Bruce as its nominal Presi
dent, and Louis Riel as Secretary. The latter
personage, however, was the head and front
of the insurrection. By his instructions Fort
Garry had been captured by the insurgents,
and the officials there had been treated with
contumely. Governor McTavish 's authority
was set at defiance. A number of loyal
Canadian residents were taken prisoners
and placed in Fort Garry, Some particulars
of these transactions will be found in the
sketch of the life of Dr. Schultz^ contained
in the third volume of this series.
On the 1st of December Mr. McDougall
issued a proclaraation, stating, araong vari
ous other raatters, that he, as Her Majesty's
representative, would always be ready to
redress all well-founded grievances, and as
suring the inhabitants that all their civil
and religious rights and privileges would be
respected. Those who had taken up arms
were commanded to peaceably disperse and
return to their homes, under the penalties
of the law in case of their disobedience.
This proclamation was grounded on the
erroneous belief that the North-West Ter
ritory had been transferred frora the Ira
perial Governraent to Canada. The 1st of
December was the date which had been
fixed upon for the transfer, but, owing to
the state of the country, no peaceful trans
fer was possible at that time. The insur
gents were aware of this fact, and conse
quently paid no respect to the proclaraation.
Mr. McDougall also issued a coraraission to
Colonel Dennis as his " Lieutenant and Con
servator of the Peace in and for the North-
IV- 21

West Territories," erapowering him to raise;
organize, equip and provision a sufficient
force to quell the insurrection, and arming
him with very full authority. Colonel
Dennis did his best, but was unable to effect
anything of importance. Mr. McDougall,
having learned that no actual transfer of
the Territory had taken place, and that his
coraraission as Lieutenant-Governor was a
nullity, returned to his horae in Ontario.
With the further progress of the Red River
Rebellion he had no special concern. He
naturally felt aggrieved at the Governraent
of the day for having placed hira in a false
position. Soon after his return he was appointed
— by his old colleague, the Hon. John Sand
field Macdonald — Government Trustee of
the Canada Southern Railway Municipal
Bonds ; and in 1871 he was appointed Com
missioner for the Province of Ontario for
the settlement of the North-Western boun
dary. In 1872, upon presenting himself
for reelection to his constituents in North
Lanark, he was defeated, and for three years
afterwards he was without a seat in Parlia
ment. In 1873 he was sent over to England
by the Canadian Government as Special
Commissioner to confer with the Iraperial
authorities on the subject of the Canadian
Fisheries ; and also for the purpose of raak-
ing arrangements in Scandinavia and the
Baltic Provinces on behalf of the Emigra
tion Department. After his return he be-
carae a raeraber of the law firm of McDougall
& Gordon, of Toronto, and was concerned
in several important cases, the raost widely-
known of which was that of Campbell vs.
Gordon, the unhappy particulars of which
are still fresh in public memory. This case,
after having been tried and decided both at
law and in equity, was argued by Mr. Mc
Dougall with marked energy and ability
before the Senate of the Dorainion on be
half of Mrs. Carapbell; against the applica
tion of her husband for a divorce a vinculo.

\-

154

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

Turning the tables, he claimed a divorce
a mensa et thoro, and maintenance for the
wife, in both of which contentions he suc
ceeded. In May, 1875, he again entered
public life as the representative of the South
Riding of Siracoe in the Local Legislature of
Ontario. He sat for that constituency as a
proraihent opponent of Mr. Mowat's Govern
ment until the general Dominion election
held in Septeraber, 1878, when he resigned
his seat in order to contest the representa
tion of the county of Halton in the House
of Coraraons. He was opposed in Halton
by Mr. W. McCraney, a local candidate. Mr.
McDougall was elected by a majority of
eighteen votes. He has ever since sat in
the Coraraons for Halton, and his visit and
address to his constituents last winter on
the subject of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Syndicate are still fresh in the public recol
lection. Soon after the general election of
1878 he reraoved from Toronto — where he
had theretofore resided and practised law
— to Ottawa, which has ever since been his
home. He. practises his profession there,
but rather as an adviser in special cases than
as a general practitioner.
After a long public career, during which
he has held high and responsible position.s,
and, according to popular notions on the
subject, had many opportunities to better
his fortunes, Mr. McDougall is still a poor
man. He was offered a permanent office by
the Hincks-Morin Government in 1853, as
appears frora the newspapers of the tirae;
but as acceptance would have involved his
retirement frora journalism and the aban
donment of his platform, he declined. On
the defeat of the Conservative Government
in 1864, Sir Etienne P. Tache, being unable
to reconstruct without a dissolution, offered
Mr. McDougall three seats in the Upper
Canada section of the Cabinet if he could
bring two Liberals in with him ; but as Sir
Etienne refused to apply the Coalition prin
ciple in Lower Canada, the offer was de

clined. Mr. McDougall adraitted that there
was a deadlock, and that the state of par
ties and the conflict between the Provinces
on the subject of Representation did not
encourage either side to appeal to the coun
try a second tirae upon the questions at issue
between thera. He further adraitted that
as " Her Majesty's Governraent must be car
ried on," a Coalition was justifiable, but he
refused to undertake the task unless some
of his Liberal confreres in Lower Canada
could be admitted. Sir Etienne contended
that his party were strong enough in Lower
Canada, and that he could not ally himself
with "Rouges" and "infidels." Mr. Mc
Dougall accordingly declined to discuss the
matter any further. When the explanations
were made in both Houses Mr. McDougall
was highly eulogized, especially by his
Lower Canada friends. If he had accept
ed Sir Etienne's overture with the Liberal
political programme proposed by the latter,
there is reason to believe a Government
strong enough to coraraand a working raa-
jority raight have been the result, and the
Coalition forraed a few days later by Mr.
Brown, with a federal union of the two
Provinces as the iraraediate policy, and Con
federation of all the Provinces as its ulti
mate aim, would have been indefinitely
postponed. While Minister of Public Works, Mr. Mc
Dougall disapproved of the selection of the
North Shore Route for the Intercolonial
Railway, and offered to resign with Sir
Leonard Tilley on that question. It was
found that they would have no followers ;
that even the Opposition would not .second
their action ; and that the long route, hav
ing been raade a sine qua non by the Im
perial Government, nothing could be accom
plished by resignation.
It is understood that Mr. McDougall was
offered a judgeship by the present Gov
ernment last year, and that he may, if so
inclined, accept one of the Lieutenant-Gov-

THE HON. WILLIAM McDOUGALL, C.B.

155

ernorships about to becorae vacant. We
have been led to understand, however, that
he prefers to retain his seat in Parliaraent
until the next general election. His men
tal powers are unimpaired, and his physi
cal vigour shows no sign of decay. In
the event of a reconstruction of parties in
the Dominion it is not impossible that he
may yet play a more or less iraportant
rdle. As a legislator Mr. McDougall is responsi
ble for nuraerous Acts of Parliaraent, araong
which raay be enumerated the Bureau of
Agriculture and Agricultural Societies Act ;
the Act providing for the disposal of the
property of Lunatics ; the Act respecting
Corrupt Practices at Elections ; the Gram
mar School Act of 1866 ; the Act providing
for granting Charters of Incorporation to
Companies ; the Public Works Act of 1867 ;
and an Act respecting Patents for Inven
tions. We find his views on local matters
thus laid down in the pages of a contempo
rary : " It is his theory and belief that it is
in the interest of the people at large, in the

interest of the Provinces, and therefore of
the Dorainion, that our local questions, our
local measures, and our municipal affairs,
should be considered on their merits, and
independently of politics." He is the author
of " Eight Letters to the Hon. Joseph Howe
on the Red River Rebellion," and of " Six
Letters to the Hon, Oliver Mowat, Attorney-
General, on the Araendraent of the Provin
cial Constitution," a paraphlet published at
Toronto in 1872.
Mr. McDougall has been twice raarried.
His flrst wife, whom he raarried in 1845,
while he was a student-at-law, was previ
ously Miss Amelia Caroline Easton, a daugh
ter of Mr. Joseph Easton, of Millbank, in
the county of York. This lady, by whora
he had several children, survived her mar
riage nearly twenty-four years, and died in
the month of January, 1869. On the 18th
of November, 1872, he married his second
wife. Miss Mary Adelaide Beatty, a daugh
ter of Dr. John Beatty, formerly a Pro
fessor in the University of Victoria College,
Cobourg.

LOUIS HONORE FRECHETTE.

MR. FRfiOHETTE has occupied a seat
in the House of Commons, but his
highest triumphs have been achieved in lit
erature, rather than in political life. He
was born at Levis, coramonly known as Point
Levi, on the southern shore of the St. Law
rence, opposite Quebec, on the 16th of No
vember, 1839. He received his education
at the Quebec Seminary, at Ste. Anne's Col
lege, and at the College of Nicolet. He sub
sequently studied law at Quebec, and was
called to the Bar of Lower Canada in 1864.
From his earliest boyhood he manifested a
passionate fondness for literature, and used
to corapose original verses before he had
entered his teens. In this there is perhaps
nothing remarkable. Most educated boys
who are gifted with any measure of imagi
nation or fancy are wont to liberate their
souls at a very tender age by the perpetra
tion of more or less absurdity in the form
of versified effusions. Judging frora tra
ditional reports, however, young Frechette's
raetrical effusions differed frora those of
most other boys, and in some instances were
really meritorious productions. It is related
that in his collegiate days, when he was only
thirteen years old, he was detected by one
of the professors with sorae rhyraes in his
possession. The professor demanded of the
boy where he had obtained them, and was
informed by the latter that they had been
composed by himself. They were so re
markably good that the statement seemed

incredible to the professor, who resolved to
put the lad's poetic powers to a practical
test. Master Frechette was accordingly
locked up by himself in a small room. A
subject was prescribed to him, and he was
ordered to "drop into poetry" thereon
without delay. To such an ordeal Shaks-
peare or Milton would probably have proved
unequal. Thomas Moore or Robert Southey,
however, would probably have got over the
matter without difficulty, and so did the
subject of this sketch, who, as we are in
formed, " dashed off an admirable little
poem," which is still preserved among the
archives of the college.
A fondness for literature, and more especi
ally for poetry, has been the guiding im
pulse of Mr. Frechette's life. While prose
cuting his legal studies he lived chiefly by
his pen, and was a voluminous contributor
to the newspaper literature of the day. As
early as 1858 he began to contribute short
lyrical effusions to the Quebec press. For a
short time, in 1861, he was one of the editors
of Le Journal de Quebec, and in 1865 he
founded a newspaper of his own at Point
Levi, called Le Journal de Levis, of which
he was for some tirae sole editor. In 1862,
during his student days, he published, at
Quebec, a collection of poeras under the title
of Mes Loisirs, which received coraraenda-
tion frora no less an authority than the au
thor of "Evangeline." He also published
several draraas which have been publicly

LOUIS HONORfi FRECHETTE.

157

performed on the boards of the theatres of
the Lower Province. The best known of
them are Papineau and L' Exile.
It will readily be believed that to a young
man with an ardent imagination and a de
cided talent for poetry, the exacting profes
sion of the law would not be the most con
genial of occupations. In 1866 he removed
to Chicago, where he succeeded Mr. Thomas
Dickens, brother of Charles Dickens, as
foreign correspondent to the Land Depart
ment of the Illinois Central Railroad Com
pany. This position he occupied for about
two years. During his residence in Chicago
he contributed to the Tribune of that city,
and also to a French newspaper called
L'Amerique, of which he becarae editor. He
also wrote and published La Voix d'un
Exile, which is said to be a decided advance
on any of his former productions. In 1871
he returned to Canada, and resumed the
practice of his profession in his native town.
He at once began to make his influence felt
in matters political. In politics he is an
advanced Reformer, and as such he offered
himself to the electors of Levis at the gen
eral election of 1871 as their representative
in the Local Legislature of Quebec. His
candidature was not successful, and his op
ponent. Dr. J. G. Blanchet, the present
Speaker of the House of Commons, retained
the seat, which he had occupied ever since
Confederation. At the general election for
the Commons held in 1872 Mr. Frechette
offered himself to his fellow-townsraen as
their representative in that Body, but was

again unsuccessful. At the next general
election, however, held in 1874, he again
offered hiraself, and was returned at the
head of the poll. He sat all through the
following Parliaraent as a supporter of Mr.
Mackenzie's Adrainistration. At the last
general election, held on the I7th of Sep
teraber, 1878, he offered hiraself once raore
to the electors of Levis, but was defeated on
the tariff question by Dr. Blanchet, who now
sits for that constituency in the House of
Comraons. Soon afterwards Mr. Frechette
reraoved to Montreal, where he has ever
since resided, devoting hiraself entirely to
literary pursuits. He writes prose with re
markable smoothness and facility, though
his greenest laurels have been won in the
raore congenial fleld of poetry. He is a
ready and graceful speaker, and, notwith
standing his advanced Liberalism, he enjoys
a wide popularity among persons of all
shades of political opinion.
In August, 1880, the news arrived in
Canada that Mr. Frechette had won the
Prix Montyon, the most important and the
most envied reward offered annually by the
French Acaderay to the best literary pro
duction of the year. The book thus crowned
by L' Institut de France is entitled " Les
Fleurs Boreales " and " Les Oiseaux de
Neige," and contains a selection of poems
the greater part of which had already been
published in another volume called "Pele-
Mele," in 1877. "Les Fleurs Boreales" has
since been reprinted in Paris, and is just
now obtaining a large sale.

THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDMUND W. HEAD,

BART, K.C.B.

SIR EDMUND HEAD was descended
from the sarae stock as Sir Francis
Bond Head, whose life is farailiar to readers
of these pages. The faraily is of antiquity
in Kent, and derives its surnarae frora the
Kentish fort which is now called Hythe,
but which was formerly known as Le Hede.
A baronetcy was conferred on Sir Richard
Head, the chief representative, in the year
1676. Sir Richard was a resident of
Rochester, and represented that city in
Parliament for some time during King
Charles II.'s reign. The family annals tell
how, during King James II.'s sojourn at
Rochester, just prior to his fiight to France,
that wretched monarch was entertained by
the abovenamed Sir Richard Head, who
then received frora His Majesty a keepsake
in the forra of a valuable eraerald ring. Sir
Richard was the direct ancestor of the sub
ject of this sketch. Sir Francis was de
scended frora the fourth baronet.
Sir Edraund was born at the Herraitage,
near Rochester, Kent, in 1805. He was the
only son of the Rev. Sir John Head, M.A.,
seventh baronet. Perpetual Curate of Eger-
ton, in Kent, and Rector of Rayleigh, in
the county of Essex. His mother was Jane,
only child and heiress of Thomas Walker,
of London. He received his education at
Oriel College, Oxford, where he obtained a
first-class in classics in 1827. He subse
quently becarae a Fellow of Merton College
at the sarae University. He graduated as

M.A. in 1830, and in 1834 was appointed
University Examiner. His entire Univer
sity career was marked by a very unusual
degree of diligence, and by great classical
attainments. We have had wiser and great
er Governors in Canada than Sir Edmund
Head, but we have had none who could pre
tend to anything like equal learning. His
researches, though chiefly directed to clas
sical studies, were by no means confined to
thera. He devoted sorae tirae to the study
of politics as a science, and took a special
interest in all matters relating to the colo
nies. Whether this interest, which was un
doubtedly well known to many members of
Parliaraent, had anything to do with the
ludicrous raistake (if such it was) referred
to in the life of Sir Francis Bond Head, is a
question which the present writer cannot
undertake to answer.
Owing to pecuniary losses sustained by
his family, he officiated for several years- as a
tutor at Oxford, and at the same time con
tributed to the periodical press of London.
A remarkably clever article of his in the
Foreign Quarterly Review attracted the at
tention of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who
was a liberal patron of literary raerit. The
Marquis, in the course of an interview with
hira, advised hira to turn his attention to
ecclesiastical law. The advice araounted to
a tacit promise of patronage, and he at once
acted upon it by resigning his tutorship and
entering upon the prescribed course of

THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDMUND WALKER HEAD, BART., K.C.B. 159

study. He had not long to wait for patron
age. Scarcely had he begun to read eccle
siastical law wheii he was appointed to an
Assistant Poor-Law Comraissionership, at a
salary of £1,000 per annum. Like his kins
man, Francis, he possessed a decided faculty
for Poor-Law administration. He acquitted
himself so satisfactorily that he erelong re
ceived an appointment as a Chief Comrais
sioner at a salary of £2,000.
He had meanwhile succeeded to the
family title as eighth baronet, upon the
death of his father, on the 4th of January,
1838. On the 27th of November following
he raarried Anna Maria, daughter of the
Rev. Philip Yorke, Prebendary of Ely, and
granddaughter of the Hon. and Right Rev.
James Yorke, D.D., Lord Bishop of Ely,
and fifth son of the eminent Lord Chancel
lor, Philip Yorke, first Earl of Hardwicke.
In October, 1847, he was appointed Lieu
tenant-Governor of New Brunswick, a posi
tion which he held from the time of enter
ing on the duties of his office in the follow
ing year until Septeraber, 1854, when he was
promoted to be Governor-General of British
North America, as successor to Lord Elgin.
He succeeded to the Government of Canada
at an important time, and administered it
through an eventful period. He was a
man of considerable self-will, not disposed
to act as a raere figure-head to the land over
the destinies whereof he had been placed.
When the Brown-Dorion Governraent came
into power, in 1858, he refused to grant
them a dissolution, on the ground that as
a general election had taken place but a few
months before he would not be justified in
throwing the country so soon after into the
turmoil of another contest. For having
taken this stand he was fiercely denounced

in the Eeform newspapers of the day, but
he had the satisfaction of seeing his course
approved in England by the subsequent re
newal of his terra of office. He was a pains
taking man, very often giving more atten
tion to the details of departmental work
than sorae of his rainisters thought was
quite the thing for the representative of
the Sovereign. He never put his signature
to a public document without reading it
through, and finding out all the particulars
relating to it. Quiet and unobtrusive, he
was not well adapted for the rough-and-
tumble of political life, his natural leanings
being rather in the direction of quiet "liter
ary pursuits. In this line his name is not
unknown. He obtained considerable repu
tation by his work on " The Handbook of
Spanish Painters," and he was the author
of a small book, better known in Canada,
entitled " Two Chapters on Shall and Will."
He continued to administer the Govern
ment in this country until October, 1861,
when he returned to England, where he
was soon afterwards appointed a Civil Ser
vice Commissioner. He was also elected
Governor of the Hudson's Bay Corapany,
a position which he thenceforth occupied
for the remainder of his life. He received
the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the Uni
versity of Oxford, and that of LL.D. from
the University of Cambridge. He died at
his town house, 29 Eaton Square, London, on
the 28th of January, 1868. Upon his death
the baronetcy becarae extinct, his only son,
John, having unfortunately been drowned
on the 25th of Septeraber, 1859, while bath
ing near the falls of Shawanegan, on the
St. Maurice Eiver, a few railes north of the
town of Three Elvers. At the tirae of his
death he was in his twentieth year.

THE HON. JAMES COLLEDGE POPE,
MINISTER OF MARINE AND FISHERIES.

M

E. POPE is the second son of the Hon.
Joseph Pope, of Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island, and is descended, on the pa
ternal side, from a Huguenot family which
fled from France in consequence of the re
vocation of the Edict of Nantes, in the year
1685. The family took refuge in England,
and settled in the county of Cornwall,
whence in due time their descendants found
their way to this side of the Atlantic. The
present Minister of Marine and Fisheries
was born at the village of Bedeque, or Cen-
treville, in Prince County, Prince Edward
Island, on the 11th of June, 1826. He re
ceived his primary training at home, and
subsequently went to England, where his
education was corapleted. Upon his return
to his native land he erabarked in mer
cantile business. He entered public life in
1857, when, at a partial election, he was re
turned to the Prince Edward Island Assem
bly for Prince County. At the general elec
tions of 1858 and 1859 he was successively
returned for the sarae constituency, which
he thenceforward continued to represent for
some years. He was Premier of Prince Ed
ward Island from 1865 to 1867, when he re
tired frora politics, retaining by perraission
of Her Majesty the rank and precedence of
an Executive Councillor. He was a strong
opponent of the scherae of Confederation
as applied to his native Province, and during
the session of 1866 moved and carried a
resolution in the Assembly to the effect that

"this House deeras it to be its sacred and
imperative duty to declare and record its
conviction, as it now does, that any Federal
Union of the North American Colonies that
would embrace this island would be as hos
tile to the feelings and wishes, as it would be
opposed to the best and most vital interests
of its people." This resolution was adopted
by a vote of twenty-one to seven, and an
address founded upon it was adopted and for
warded to England to Her Majesty. Later
on in the same year Mr. Pope personally
visited England, where the negotiations for
Confederation were then in progress. In
1868, in consequence of his views on the
School question, which temporarily alienated
raany of his friends, he was an unsuccessful
candidate for the representation of Prince
County in the Asserably. Two years later
he was returned to the Asserably, and again
became Premier. In 1871 he carried a bill
for the construction of the Prince Edward
Island Eailway ; and in April, 1872, on an
appeal being made to the country, the Gov
ernment was defeated. He was again re
turned to the Assembly at the general elec
tion of 1873, and becarae again Premier,
when — more favourable terras having been
secured for his Province — he succeeded in
carrying the resolutions under which Prince
Edward Island entered the Dominion. In
1873 he resigned his seat in the House of
Asserably, and was elected a raeraber of the
House of Coraraons for Prince County. At

THE HON. JAMES COLLEDGE POPE.

161

the general election which followed the re
tirement from office of Sir John A. Mac
donald's Government in that year he did not
seek reelection. In 1875 he was elected
by acclamation to represent Prince County
in the House of Assembly. Next year, in
consequence of his views on the School
question, he was an unsuccessful candidate
for Charlottetown. Towards the close of the
sarae year the Hon. David Laird, who repre
sented Queen's County in the House of Cora
raons, was appointed Lieutenant-Governor

of the North-West Territories, and thus left
his constituency without a representative
at Ottawa. Mr. Pope accordingly offered
himself, and was returned by a majority
of 88. At the last general election, in Sep
teraber, 1878, his raajority was increased to
883 votes. Upon the forraation of the Gov
ernraent in the following October he took
office in it as Minister of Marine and Fish
eries, and still retains that portfolio. In
1852 he married Miss Pethick, a daughter
of Mr. Thomas Pethick, of Charlottetown.

IV— 22

THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MONCK.

CHAELES STANLEY, fourth Viscount
Monck, who was Governor-General of
Canada when the scherae of Confederation
was carried into effect, was born at Temple-
more, in the county of Tipperary, Ireland,
on the 10th of October, 1819. Persons who
are enthusiastic about matters genealogical
trace his descent back to Williara Le Moyne,
a Norraan gentleraan who accompanied
William the Conqueror on that famous ex
pedition of his in the auturan of the year
1066, and who after the Conquest was in
vested with the Lordship of the Manor of
Potheridge, in the county of Devon. It is
sufficient for the purposes of the present
sketch to say that the peerage dates from
the year 1797, when Charles Stanley Monck,
the head of the faraily for the tirae being,
was created Baron Monck of Ballytramraon,
Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland. Three
years later he was created a viscount (Irish).
The subject of this sketch is the fourth
viscount, and is the eldest son of Charles
Joseph Kelly, third Viscount Monck, who
died on the 20th of April, 1849. His raother
was Bridget, youngest daughter of John
Willington, of Killoskehane, in the county
of Tipperary, Ireland. He received his edu
cation at Trinity College, Dublin. After
leaving college he studied law, and was
called to the Irish Bar at the King's Inns
in 1841. In the month of May, 1848, he
was an unsuccessful candidate for the repre
sentation of the county of Wicklow in the

House of Commons. He succeeded to the
family title and estates upon the death of
his father on the date previously indicated.
In February, 1851, he was appointed a Cora-
missioner of charitable donations and be
quests in Ireland. He first obtained a seat
in Parliament in July, 1852, as member for
Portsmouth, which he thenceforth repre
sented in the House of Coraraons until the
general elections of 1857, when he was de
feated. While in Parliament he occupied
one or two minor posts of emolument. Upon
the formation of Lord Palmerston's Adrain
istration, after the resignation of Lord Aber
deen's Cabinet in February, 1855, he was ap
pointed a Lord of the Treasury, and retained
the appointraent until he lost his seat, as
above raentioned, in 1857. He then unsuc
cessfully contested the representation of
Dudley, in Worcestershire. From the time of
this latter defeat he did not come conspicu-
oasly before the public until October, 1861,
when he was appointed Governor-General of
Canada, as successor to Sir Edmund Walker
Head. He retained that office until the
Union of the Provinces, when he was ap
pointed Governor-General of the Dominion.
He administered the Government in this
country during a very troubled period. Al
most immediately after his succession to the
administration the " Trent " affair occurred,
and for a time it seemed not improbable
that there would be war between Great
Britain and the United States, in which

THE EIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MONCK.

163

case, of course, Canada would have been
the fighting-ground, and the consequences,
both moral and material, would have been
raoraentous to Canada. The threatened
danger passed by, but the difficulty of carry
ing on the Government becarae greater and
greater every year, owing to the nearly
even balance of parties, and the impossibil
ity of any administration being able to cora
raand a safe majority in Parliament. One
Government succeeded another, only to be
dispossessed of the reins of power in its
turn, until matters arrived at a dead-lock.
How these manifold difficulties were finally
surraounted by the scheme of Confederation
has already been told elsewhere. The St.
Alban's raid and the Fenian invasions and
trials were also disquieting episodes in Lord
Monck's adrainistration of affairs in this
country. Of that adrainistration as a whole
it raay be said to have been marked by
much good sense and right feeling, and by

an honest desire to carry out the wishes of
the people.
Lord Monck was retained in office until
the new order of things had been brought
fully into operation. He sailed from Quebec
for England on the 14th of November, 1808,
and was succeeded by Sir John Young,
afterwards created Lord Lisgar. His subse
quent career has not been in any respect
reraarkable. During his residence in Canada (in 1866)
he was created a peer of the United King-
dora, by the title of Baron Monck of Bally
tramraon, in the county of Wexford. In
1874 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant
and Gustos Eotulorum of the county orDub-
lin. He is also a Deputy-Lieutenant of the
county of Wicklow.
On the 22nd of July, 1844, he raarried
his cousin. Lady Elizabeth Louise Mary
Monck, daughter of the first Earl of Rath-
downe, by whora he has several children.

THE HON. JOHN O'CONNOR, Q.C.

MR. O'CONNOR, it is almost superfluous
to say, is of Irish descent. His par
ents, both of whom were named O'Connor,
were representatives of two distinct branches
of that faraily, and eraigrated from the
county of Kerry to Boston, Massachusetts,
in the year 1823. The subject of this sketch
was born at Boston in the month of Janu
ary following. When he was four years old
his parents removed to Upper Canada, and
settled in the township of Maidstone, in the
county of Essex, where the future Secretary
of State grew up to manhood. After his
school days were over he studied law in
Windsor. In Trinity Term, 1852, he was
admitted as an attorney, and in Hilary
Term, 1854, he was called to the Bar. He
settled down to practice in Windsor, and
was successful, not only in gaining a profit
able business, but in acquiring a good deal
of local influence, political and - otherwise.
He was for a considerable period Reeve of
the town of Windsor. He was also Warden
of Essex County for three years, being twice
elected by a unaniraous vote of the County
Council ; and for twelve years he perf orraed
the duties of Chairraan of the Board of Edu
cation of Windsor. He has also been ad
mitted to practise as a meraber of the Bar
of the State of Michigan. In politics he is a
Conservative, and in religion he is a Roraan
Catholic. He was an unsuccessful candidate
for the representation of the county of Essex
in the Canadian ALSsembly in 1861, but suc

ceeded in 1863 in unseating the then sitting
raeraber, Mr. Arthur Rankin, and in obtain
ing a new election. He was then returned,
and sat until the dissolution of Parliament
in May of that year. He again contested
the same seat in 1863, when a special re
turn was made to the House by the Return
ing Officer. Both candidates petitioned to
be declared seated. The petition of Mr.
O'Connor's opponent, Mr. Rankin, was
granted, and Mr. O'Connor was thus once
more left without a seat in Parliament. At
the first general election after Confederation
he was returned to the House of Coraraons
for the county of Essex, and the same good
fortune attended him in 1872. On the 2nd
of July in the year last named he was sworn
of the Privy Council, and thenceforward
was President of that Body until the 4th of
March, 1873, when he becarae Minister of
Inland Revenue. On the 1st of July fol
lowing he was transferred to the position of
Postraaster-General, which office he retained
until the fall of the Ministry in the follow
ing November. At the general election of
1874 Mr. O'Connor again presented himself
to his constituents in the county of Essex
for reelection. He was opposed by Mr. Wil
liam McGregor, who was elected by a large
majority over the ex -Postmaster -General.
During the next four years the country
had not the advantage of being served by
Mr. O'Connor. At the general election of
the 17th of September, 1878, he was re-

THE HON, JOHN O'CONNOR, Q.C.

165

turned for the county of Russell, and upon
the formation of Sir John Macdonald's Gov
ernment in October Mr. O'Connor took office
in it as President of the Council. He re
tained that office until January, 1880, when
he became Postraaster-General. In the
shifting of portfolios which took place just
prior to the last session of Parliament he
became Secretary of State, which portfolio
he holds at the tirae of this present writing.
He is regarded as a representative Roraan
Catholic, and has a considerable following
araong his co-religionists of his own nation

ality. He is not particularly effective as
a speaker, but can raake a clear and lucid
raatter- of -fact statement, and is quite equal
to the not very exacting duties of his de
partment. He was created a Q.C. upon accepting
office in 1872. He is the author of a series
of letters addressed to the Governor-General
of Canada on the subject of Fenianism, pub
lished in 1870.
In April, 1849, he married Miss Mary
Barrett, eldest daughter of Mr. Richard Bar
rett, forraerly of Killarney, Ireland.

THE RIGHT HON. EARL CATHCART.

LORD CATHCART cannot be said to
have staraped his name very distinctly
upon Canadian history during his adminis
tration of affairs in this country, but in pur
suance of our plan to include in the present
work sketches of the lives of all Governors-
General since the Union of 1841, it has been
thought desirable to present a brief outline
of his career. He sprang from a Scottish
family of great antiquity. Reinaldus de
Kethcart appears as a subscribing witness
to a grant by Alan, the son of Walter Dapi-
fer Regis, of the patronage of the church of
Kethcart to the monastery of Paisley, in
the year 1178. The faraily was ennobled
in 1447, when Sir Allan Cathcart, the chief
representative at that date, was created
Baron Cathcart in the peerage of Scotland
by James II. His descendants have ever
since been more or less conspicuous in his
tory. One of them fell " on Flodden's fatal
field," in 1513. Another was slain at the
battle of Pinkie, in 1547. The eighth Baron
fought and distinguished himself at the
battle of Sheriffrauir, in 1715. His succes
sor was an ambassador to the Court of Rus
sia. In 1807 Williara Schaw, tenth Baron
Cathcart, who was the father of the subject
of this sketch, was appointed comraander-in-
chief of the expedition to Copenhagen, and
on his return, received a British peerage, as
Viscount Cathcart and Baron Greenock. He
was advanced on the 16th of July, 1814, to
the dignity of Earl Cathcart. On the 10th

of April, 1779, he married Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Andrew Elliot, Governor of New
York, and uncle of the first Earl of Minto.
By this lady he had three sons, the eldest
of whora died in his father's lifetirae, where
by the subject of this sketch — who was the
second son — becarae heir-apparent to the
title, to which he eventually succeeded.
Charles Murray Cathcart was born on the
21st of Deceraber, 1783, at Waltharas, in
the county of Essex, England. He received
his education at Eton, and early adopted
the faraily profession of arras. He became
an Ensign in the 40th Regiment in 1799,
and formed one of the expedition to North
Holland in that year. He displayed sol
dierly qualities during the campaign, and
was slightly wounded. After the return of
his regiment to England he spent several
years at the railitary college at High Wy-
corabe, Buckinghamshire. In 1803 he again
entered upon active service, and it is no ex
aggeration to say that from this time for
ward his life forms a brilliant chapter in
the military history of England. There is
no need to follow him through his number
less campaigns. It was a fighting age, and
the future Lord Cathcart proved himself to
be fully in sympathy with it. He fought
under his father at the siege of Copenhagen.
Later, he saw service all through the Penin
sular War. He had a horse shot under him
at the battle of Barossa, and was honour
ably mentioned in the official despatches.

THE RIGHT HON. EARL CATHCART.

167

He also took part in the battles of Sala
manca and Vittoria, by which tirae he had
risen to the rank of a Colonel. In 1815 he
fought at Waterloo, when he had three
horses shot under hira. When Lord Angle
sey received the wound in his knee which
rendered necessary the amputation of his
leg, the subject of this sketch was by his
side, and received hira in his arras as he
was about to fall. He also bore his Lord
ship frora the field, and was present at the
amputation of his limb. For several years
afterwards he was with the array of occu
pation in France. He received raany foreign
honours and decorations, and was made a
Companion of the Bath. During his service
in France, on the 30th of September, 1818,
he married Miss Henrietta Mather, second
daughter of Thomas Mather. The marriage
was subsequently solemnized in England on
the 12th of February, 1819.
During the next quarter of a century he
was constantly alternating between staff
duty and diligent study. He was very fond
of railitary and scientific studies, and was
regarded by his friends as a man of much
learning. He succeeded to the title as sec
ond Earl and eleventh Baron upon the
death of his father, on the 16th of June,
1843. In 1845 he was appointed Com
mander-in-Chief of the Forces in British
North America, as successor to General Sir
Richard D. Jackson. He introduced many
important reforras among the troops in this
country. Upon the departure of the Gov

ernor-General, Sir Charles Metcalfe, for
England, in November, 1845, the Admin
istration of the Government devolved upon
Lord Cathcart, and was conducted by hira
as Administrator until March of the fol
lowing year, when he was appointed Gov
ernor-General. The relations between Great
Britain and the United States were not
very cordial at that period, and it was
very properly thought that a gentleman of
Lord Cathcart's railitary knowledge and ex
perience was required at the head of Cana
dian affairs. He showed a wise and dis
creet judgraent in keeping aloof from the
disputes of the rival political parties of that
period. He confined his functions to ad
ministering the Governraent and directing
the arrangeraent of the military forces. At
the end of January, 1847, he resigned both
his positions, and was succeeded by Lord
Elgin. Upon his return to his home in Scotland
he was appointed to the command of the
northern and midland district of England,
which position he retained about six years.
He also sat as a Coramissioner on several
important railitary committees, and was, as
became his rank, an honoured and influen
tial raeraber of society. He died at St.
Leonards-on-Sea, in the county of Sussex,
on the 16th of July, 1859. He was suc
ceeded by his son Alan Frederick Cathcart,
the present representative. His widow sur
vived hira about thirteen years, and died in
1872.

THE HON. JOSEPH R R. A. CARON, B.C.L., Q.C,
MINISTER OF MILITIA.

MR. CARON is the eldest surviving son
of the late Hon. Rene Edouard Caron,
Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, and
afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of that
Province, a sketch of whose life appeared
in the flrst volume of this series. He is a
lineal descendant of Robert Caron, who
came frora France with Sarauel de Cham
plain, the first Governor of Canada. Robert
Caron married Marie Crevet, at Quebec, in
or about the year 1637, and lived there un
til his death in 1656. His widow married
Noel Langlois, one of Sir George Etienne
Cartier's ancestors. The Caron family is
now represented in the district in and around
Quebec by several hundred people bearing
about fifty different names.
The present Minister of Militia was reared
in a political atraosphere, for very few fami
lies in Canada have been so continually en
gaged in public life as his. For nearly half
a century the house occupied by the late
Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec was the
rendezvous of the Conservative Party of the
Lower Province. The present Minister of
Militia has been known to the leaders of
that Party ever since his youth, and his con
ciliating manners and practical good sense
have long since won appreciation. He to
day represents what is termed the political
tradition of that old National Party, which
kept cool when Mr. Papineau set on foot
his too advanced movement.
Mr. Caron was born at Quebec in the year

1843, and received his education at the
Quebec Seminary, at Laval University, and
finally at McGill University, where he grad
uated as a B.C.L. in 1865. During the same
year he was called to the Bar of Lower Can
ada, having studied in the office of Mr. L. G.
Baillairgd, and subsequently in that of the
Hon.(now Sir) John Rose. He began practice
at Quebec, and has ever since resided there.
He has been more than fairly successful in
his profession, and is now a raeraber of the
well-known law firra of Messrs. Andrews,
Caron & Andrews. On the 25th of June,
1867, he raarried Miss Alice Baby, only
daughter of the late Hon. Fran5ois Baby,
who for sorae years represented the Stada-
cona Division in the Legislative Council of
Canada. As may be inferred frora his holding
office in the present Adrainistration, Mr.
Caron is in politics a Conservative. At the
general election of 1872 he unsuccessfully
contested the representation of the county of
Bellechasse in the House of Comraons. In
March of the following year he was return
ed to the Coraraons for the county of Que
bec, which constituency he has ever since
represented there, having been returned at
both the general elections which have since
taken place. At the last general election,
on the I7th of Septeraber, 1878, he was op
posed by the Hon. Isidore Thibaudeau, of
Quebec, but was returned by a majority of
more than 600. On the 19th of May, 1879,

¦IPJJagumfiihhsha-, loTtnlb

he was created a Queen's Counsel, and upon
the readjustment of portfolios which took
place in the month of November last he
entered the present Government in the ca
pacity of Minister of Militia. His political
platform announces that he will not " vote
blindly with any particular clique, but will
give a loyal support to all measures which
he shall consider good, and likely to con
solidate the Confederation, to develop the
resources of our country, and to protect
our institutions." Personally Mr. Caron is
highly popular with the members, and is a
man of many friends. His tenure of office
has been too brief at the time of the present
writing to enable the public to pronounce
any decided opinion upon it. He has never
missed any opportunity of contributing by
his activity and influence towards the wel
fare of his fellow-citizens. While yet a
young man he identified himself with more

than one iraportant raoveraent. He has
assisted materially in the setting up of the
volunteer systera in Quebec, and he is
still reraerabered in the rank and file by
raany who are now proud of seeing hira at
the head of the militia of the Dominion.
It is stated that when he went before the
electors of the county of Quebec, in 1873,
one of the electors requested hira to with
draw frora the position of a candidate, "con
sidering that this county only elect Minis
ters of the Crown." " I am the very man
you want, then," happily answered Mr.
Caron, " for I intend to be your representa
tive, and also a Minister of the Crown very
soon." He was a Director of the Stadacona Bank
of Quebec, and also of the Anticosti Cora
pany. He has held (in 1867) the position
of Vice-President of the Literary and His
torical Society of Quebec.

IV— 23

THE HON. GEORGE 'WILLIAM ALLAN, D.C.L

M

R. ALLAN was born at Little York,
the Provincial capital of Upper Can
ada, on the 9th of January, 1822, more than
twelve years before it developed into the
city of Toronto. His father, the late Hon.
Williara Allan, was a well-known resident
of Little York, of which he was one of
the pioneer settlers. He took up his abode
there during Lieutenant-Governor Siracoe's
tenure of office, and continued to reside
there until his death in 1853. He was a raan
of energy and public spirit. He had en
joyed fair educational advantages, of which
he had duly availed hiraself. Persons cora-
bining such qualifications were ranch more
rare in Upper Canada in those days than
they are now, and Mr. Allan was called
upon to fill raany iraportant offices simul
taneously. He was the first Postmaster of
York, and the first Custom House Collector
of the Port. He served as a Lieutenant-
Colonel in the railitia during the War of
1812-'15, and the subject of this sketch
still has in his possession the flags of his
father's old regiraent. In later tiraes Mr.
Allan was the first President of the Bank of
Upper Canada. He filled other less irapor
tant positions without nuraber. He was for
raany years a meraber of the Legislative
Council of Upper Canada, and during the
Administration of Francis Bond Head and
Sir George Arthur he occupied a seat in the
Executive Council of the Province. > His
wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch.

was Leah Tyrer, fourth daughter of the late
Dr. John Gamble, a U. E. Loyalist, and a
surgeon in the Queen's Rangers, a corps
raised in Upper Canada after Lieutenant-
Governor Siracoe's arrival in the Province,
and naraed in honour of the veteran corps
forraerly coraraanded by hira during the
Revolutionary War.
When George Williara Allan was eight
years old Upper Canada College was opened,
and it was there that he received his edu
cation. During the rebellion, at which
period he was in his sixteenth year, he joined
the Bank corps, as it was called, and served
in it for about eighteen months, after which
he returned to college. He was fortunately
born to a position which rendered him pecu
niarily independent of the world, but after
completing his education he resolved to
acquire a profession. He fixed upon that
of the law, and studied in the office of his
uncle, Mr. Clarke Gamble, Barrister, of To
ronto. He was called to the Bar of Upper
Canada in Hilary Term, 1846, and almost
immediately afterwards entered into part
nership with Mr. James Lukin Robinson,
the eldest son of the late Sir John Beverley
Robinson, and the inheritor of the baronetcy.
The partnership lasted soraewhat more than
three years, during which period Mr. Allan
emulated his father's example by taking an
active interest in public affairs. He was
elected Alderraan for St. David's Ward, and
served in that capacity for a terra, after

THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM ALLAN, D.C.L.

171

which he went abroad, and reraained away
several years. During his absence he en
gaged in what in those tiraes was consid
ered a very extensive tour, erabracing not
only every country in Europe except Rus
sia, but extending to Egypt, up the Nile, and
into the then little known recesses of Syria.
He is believed to have been the first Cana
dian who ever stood upon the sumrait of
the Great Pyramid. During his joumey-
ings through the East he had some exciting
experiences, and it is to be regretted that he
has never seen fit to publish any account of
his wanderings into a region which was then
not rauc'h better known to Europeans than
Equatorial Africa is at the present day.
His father's death, which occurred in
1853, soon after Mr. Allan's return to Can
ada from a second visit to the East, entailed
upon him the necessity of taking charge of
a large estate, and thus left him neither time
nor inclination for resuming the practice of
his profession. He has ever since been one
of Toronto's raost prominent citizens. In
January, 1855, he was elected Mayor of the
city, and served in that capacity through
out the year. In 1858 he presented hira
self as a candidate for the representation of
York Division in the Legislative Council of
Canada. He was elected by an overwhelra-
ing majority, and sat in the Council from
that time until Confederation. In May,
1867, he was called to the Senate of the
Dominion, and has ever since taken his
share in the deliberations of that Body.
Some years prior to Confederation he was
elected Chairman of the Private Bill Com
mittee of the Legislative Council ; and on
the first meeting of the Dominion Parlia
raent in 1867 he was elected to a similar
position in the Senate. In politics he is a
Conservative, and a supporter of the present
Government. Mr. Allan holds raany dignified and in
fluential offices. Since 1865 he has been
Chief Coraraissioner of the Canada Com

pany. He is also Chancellor of the Uni
versity of Trinity College, Toronto, frora
which institution he received his degree of
D.C.L. He is President of the Western
Canada Loan and Savings Corapany ; Lieu
tenant-Colonel of the Regimental Division
of East Toronto ; and an honorary raeraber
of the " Queen's Own " Rifles. He is also
President of the Upper Canada Bible So
ciety ; a Fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society, and of the Zoological Society. He
is, and has been for twenty-five years.
President of the Horticultural Society of
Toronto, and it is to his gift, in 1857, of five
acres of valuable land, that the present spa
cious and attractive gardens of the Society
owe their origin. He is known as a liberal
and discrirainating patron of art, and did
ranch to advance the fortunes and repu
tation of the late Mr. Paul Kane. He pur
chased, and is now the owner of a fine col
lection of Mr. Kane's paintings, erabracing
more than a hundred views illustrative of
Indian life and customs, and of the wild
and picturesque scenery of the North-West,
from Lake Huron to Vancouver's Island.
The collection is perfectly unique, as illus
trating the features, manners and customs
of a race which is rapidly passing away,
and an aspect of the country which will not
ranch longer, raeet the eyes of even the pres
ent generation. He has also been a prorai-
nent member of the Canadian Institute,
Toronto, and has several tiraes occupied the
position of President. He has contributed
to the Canadian Journal, published under
the auspices of the Institute.
In 1846 Mr. Allan raarried Miss Louisa
Maud Robinson, third daughter of the late
Sir John Beverley Robinson, Bart., C.B.
This lady died at Rorae in 1852. On the
27th of May, 1857 he raarried his sec
ond wife, who was Miss Adelaide Harriett
Schreiber, third daughter of the Rev. T.
Schreiber, forraerly of Bradwell Lodge, in
the county of Essex, England.

THE REV ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, D.D.

DR. SUTHERLAND was born in the
township of Guelph, in the county of
Wellington, Upper Canada, on the 17th of
Septeraber, 1833. His parents, who emi
grated from Scotland to Upper Canada in
1832, were farmers, and he was brought
up amid the prosaic but healthful and in
vigorating surroundings of Canadian farra
life. He was the youngest of four children.
From his earliest years he was possessed
by an ardent thirst for knowledge, and was
a very diligent student while in attend
ance at the "section school" during the
winter. He lost his father when he was
nine years of age, and it was soon evident
to him that it would be necessary for him
to work his own way through the world.
When he was fourteen he became an ap
prentice to the printing business in the
town of Guelph. He worked as a printer
about seven years, during which period he
also wrote paragraphs and local articles for
the newspaper published in the office in
which he was employed. He thus became
a ready and practised writer. He was an
insatiable reader, and seems to have carried
on his reading with much discrimination,
for by the time he had reached manhood
he was — considering his age and the limited
educational advantages he had enjoyed — re
markably well informed on a great variety
of subject!?. During his nineteenth year he
was awakened by the preaching of the Rev.
George Goodson, a well-known Methodist

minister of those days, who was then sta
tioned at Guelph. He became a meraber
of the Methodist Church, and was soon
after seized with a desire to preach the gos
pel. He had long taken an active interest
in the Sunday school and the temperance
movement, and used sometimes to address
audiences on the subject of temperance.
Soon after completing his apprenticeship he
was sent out, under the auspices of Mr.
Lewis Warner, on trial to the Clinton cir
cuit, where he spent the year intervening
between the Conferences of 1855 and '56.
The genius of Methodism, while never op
posed to the highest education, has been
practical enough to consider half a loaf bet
ter than no bread — where it has not been
able to educate men for the ministry, it has
endeavoured to educate men in the minis
try ; and has thus thrust out into active and
useful work many a raan who has compen
sated for scholastic deficiencies by native
talent, business training, and that familiar
ity with the rough hard work of the Vr-orld
which has enabled him to win the hearts of
the toiling masses. Now that the country is
developed, Methodism is fiexible enough to
change its methods ; and no man to-day in
the Methodist Church is raore strenuous in
his efforts to raise the educational standard
for all ministerial candidates than is Dr.
Sutherland. The Clinton Circuit gave him a taste of
the old-fashioned itinerant life. By the

.U;lb'aim.Mli*b'a;I'n''n^

THE REV. ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, D.D.

173

Conference of 1856 he was received on
trial, and appointed to the Gait and Berlin
circuit. After remaining on that circuit
a year he was stationed at Berlin, where
he spent another year. He was then per
mitted to attend Victoria College, Cobourg,
for a year. At the Conference of 1859
he was received into full connection, and
placed in charge of the Niagara circuit,
where he reraained till the summer of 1861.
Then followed two years in Thorold and
one year at Drumraondville. Frora 1864
to 1867 he was the colleague of the Rev.
Dr. Ephraira B. Harper, at Hamilton. He
was then stationed at Yorkville, where he
spent another term of three years, after
which he was transferred to the circuit of
Richmond Street, Toronto. There he re
mained from 1870 to 1873, when he re
raoved to St. James Street Church, Mont
real. Connexional deraands allowed him to
remain only a year and a half there, since
which time he has been entrusted with gen
eral Connexional offices alone.
He filled the Secretary's office in the old
United Conference in 1870 and 1871. He
filled the appointment of fraternal delegate
to the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in the United States,
which assembled in Brooklyn, New York,
in 1872. At the first General Conference
of the Methodist Church in Canada, in
1874, he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of
X the Missionary Society. At the General
Conference of 1878 he was elected Secre
tary of that legislative body, and was also
reelected Secretary of the Missionary So
ciety by acclaraation. In his present posi
tion he has travelled through the greater
part of the Dominion, as well as beyond
it. As Secretary of the Missionary Society
he has not only displayed business talent in
routine work, but has by his speeches at
missionary meetings done much to kindle
enthusiasm. During the hard tiraes of the
last four or five years the Missionary So

ciety incurred a debt of about $75,000. By
a special effort in 1879 this incubus was
reraoved, a total Relief and Extension Fund
of $116,000 was contributed, and the So
ciety, under Dr. Sutherland's management,
seems about to enter upon a new era of
prcsperity. Dr. Sutherland is a man of great energy
and versatility. Had he not been a min
ister, he might have been a successful jour
nalist, politician, or man of business ; and
it is the combination of such varied abilities
that has made him so useful to the Church.
His early interest in the temperance cause
has never flagged. For some time he was
President of the Ontario Temperance and
Prohibitory League, since merged in the
Dominion Alliance. In 1871 he published
a teraperance sheet under the title of Pure
Gold, which subsequently passed into other
hands and ultiraately ceased to be published.
¦ Earnest Christianity was the title of a read
able and successful religious raagazine pub
lished by Dr. Sutherland from 1873 to
1877 in Toronto. In the latter year it was
merged in the Canadian Methodist Maga
zine. In January, 1881, appeared the first
number of The Missionary Outlook. In the
New York Methodist Quarterly Review for
April, 1875, appeared a valuable article on
" Egypt and the Pentateuch," in which the
Doctor guided his readers through the fasci
nating scenes of that mysterious land, and
pointed out many confirmations of the truth
of Old Testament history. Nuraerous ser
mons and addresses by Dr. Sutherland have
also been published.
Dr. Sutherland is held in very high
esteem throughout the Methodist Body,
and bids fair to become one of the foreraost
representatives of Methodisra in Canada.
His degree in divinity was conferred upon
him by Victoria College, Cobourg, in May,
1879. On the 10th of June, 1859, he raar
ried Miss Mary Jane Moore, eldest daughter
of Mr. Hugh Moore, of Dundas.

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D

DR. NELSON won a high local reputa
tion as a medical practitioner, and as
a prolific writer on various topics connected
with his profession, but if he had never
signalized himself in any other manner it
would hardly have been deeraed necessary
to assign him a place in The Canadian
Portrait Gallery. He was something
raore than a physician and surgeon ; sorae-
thing more than a vigorous and sensible
writer ; and he was regarded as an authority
on raany subjects of raore general interest
than acute laryngitis.* He was an earnest
politician, a not ineffective speaker, and an
ardent constitutional reformer. With the
single exception of Mr. Papineau, he was
the raost conspicuous figure in the Lower
Canadian Rebellion, and if all his coadjutors
had possessed a tithe of his energy, ability
and good sense, that rebellion would have
assuraed a ranch more serious aspect than
under existing circumstances it was perrait-
ted to do. At the present day it is quite
possible to rejoice at the non-success of the
rising of 1837-8, and at the same time to ex
tend a certain measure of sympathy to the
men who fought and suffered on its behalf.
Wolfred Nelson was descended, on his
father's side, from a respectable English
faraily. His father, Mr. Williara Nelson,
was the son of a victualling officer in the
Royal Navy of Great Britain. His mother,
* One of his beat known contributions to medical litera
ture was on this subject.

Miss Dies, was the daughter of a U. E. Loyal
ist formerly resident in the Province of New
York, who took refuge in Canada after the
close of the Revolutionary War. He was
born in the city of Montreal, on the 10th of
July, 1792, and after receiving a fair educa
tion, which he subsequently improved by
an extensive course of general reading, be
gan to qualify himself for the medical pro
fession. He studied under Dr. Carter, a
retired array surgeon, who practised at Wil
liam Henry, now called Sorel, on the Riche
lieu River. During his student days he for
some time had charge of a small military'
hospital, where he acquired a familiarity
with difficult surgical operations. In Janu
ary, 1811, he obtained a license to practise,
and established himself at the village of St.'
Denis, in the county of St. Hyacinthe — a
spot which, as will presently be seen, was
afterwards rendered memorable to him by
achievements unconnected with his profes
sion. He was very skilful as a surgeon, and
was recognized by all who came in contact
with him as possessing raore than average
intelligence. He was kind and generous
in his dealings with mankind, and soon
won wide popularity among the French-
Canadian population, whose language was
as familiar to him as his own. He enjoyed
a large and profitable practice, and even
in his youth acted as a sort of general ad
viser to raany of the people of St. Denis
and its neighbourhood. When the War of

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

175

1812 broke out he volunteered his services
as an active member of militia, and is said
to have expressed a desire to be the right-
hand man of his regiment. His services in
a professional capacity, however, were of
raore value to the authorities than any mili
tary services he could have been expected
to render, and he served all through the
War as surgeon of the battalion raised in
his district. He seems to have possessed
much natural aptitude for a railitary life,
and during his service on the frontier he dis
played a marked fondness for everything
connected with the profession of a soldier.
It is not unlikely that the lessons learned
by him during this period stood him in
good stead in the troubles of after years.
After the close of the War he returned to
his patients and his practice at St. Denis.
He grew steadily in public favour, and ac
quired a competent fortune. - He took a
warm interest in public affairs, and his sym
pathies were all on the popular side. His
going to Parliaraent was only a raatter of
tirae, but he refused all overtures to enter
actively into political life until he could see
his way to doing so with advantage to the
country. His opportunity carae to hira when
he was in his thirty-fifth year. In response
to urgent entreaties, he consented to contest
the representation of " the Royal Borough
of Williara Henry," as it was called, with
Mr. (afterwards Sir) James Stuart, the At
torney-General, at the general election of
1827. The contest lasted seven days. It
was conducted with a keenness almost un
exampled, even in those days, and resulted
in Mr. Nelson's return by a majority of two
votes. He subsequently charged his op
ponent, on the floor of the Assembly, with
having been guilty, during the election, of
conduct exceedingly unbecoming in an offi
cial of his station, and with having abused
his office to oppress and tyrannize over those
who had voted against him. A Parliamen
tary inquiry was instituted into the matter.

which, after having given rise to heated and
prolonged debate during several sessions,
resulted in Mr. Stuart's suspension frora
office by the Governor-General, Lord Ayl-
raer. From the time of his first entry into
Parliaraentary life. Dr. Nelson was a promi
nent figure in the House, and before the
Province. He found plenty of work ready
to his hand, and he did it like a raan. He
seeras to have sat only in one Parliaraent at
this tirae, however, and to have then re
turned to his professional pursuits at St.
Denis, where he also owned and carried on
a brewery and distillery. There is no tirae
— nor, indeed, is this the place — to recapit
ulate the raany grievances to which the
people of the Lower Province were subject
ed. Many enthusiastic persons were foolish
enough to suppose that these grievances
could be remedied by the strong hand. Dr.
Nelson knew better, and moreover it was
very hard for him to make up his mind to
take up arms against the authorities. Con
tinued misgovernraent, however, seems to
have warped his usually sound judgraent.
He at last allied himself with the projects of
Mr. Papineau and the Sons of Liberty. His
object was not mere notoriety, as was the case
with some of his colleagues. His only desire
was to gain for British subjects in Canada
the same rights which British subjects en
joyed in other parts of the world. His in
fluence in the part of Lower Canada in
which he resided was very great, and he
had no difficulty in securing the cooperation
of a large and determined body of men. At
the famous " meeting of the six counties,"
as it was called, held at St. Charles, on the
River Richelieu, on the 23rd of October,
1837, he attended as a delegate from St.
Hyacinthe, and was elected chairraan. He
presided over the raeeting, which was the
largest that had ever been convened for
political purposes in Canada. Delegates at
tended it frora all parts of the Lower Prov
ince, but it consisted chiefly of the inhab-

176

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

itants of the counties of Richelieu, St.
Hyacinthe, Rouville, Chambly and Ver-
ch^res, with a deputation frora Acadie. Mr.
Papineau, who was present, made a speech
which astonished raany of his audience by
the moderateness of its tone. He deprecated
an appeal to arms, and recommended that
constitutional resistance only should be re
sorted to. The most effectual method of
constitutional resistance, he urged, would be
to buy nothing from Great Britain. Dr.
Nelson was not a thoroughly trained politi
cal economist, judged by a modern stand
ard, but he was wise enough to know that
the suggested remedy would be wholly in
efficacious. He had been trained in an allo
pathic school, and had no faith in ho
moeopathy for either political or physical
maladies. He felt that the die was cast,
and that the conflagration was not to be
quenched by casting water upon it with a
teaspoon. He protested loudly against play
ing at revolution, and before he sat down
advocated arraed resistance. He had kindled
the spark, and the atraosphere reechoed
with applause frora the excited crowd.
From that tirae forward he acted as one of
the principal organizers and directors of the
revolutionary party. That party was soon
arrayed in open rebellion. Dr. Nelson dis
played a military knowledge and skill
which would not have disgraced a veteran,
and won the only important victory that
was gained by the insurgents. This was at
St. Denis, where, on the 23rd of November,
he and his insurgent forces were attacked
by a body of infantry and volunteer cavalry
under the command of Colonel Gore, a vet
eran who had fought under Wellington at
Waterloo. Accompanying the Colonel was
a deputy-sheriff, who bore with hira a war
rant for Dr. Nelson's arrest on a charge of
high treason. The insurgents had on the
previous night captured Lieutenant Weir,
who was the bearer of despatches to Lieu
tenant-Colonel Wetherall, at St. Charles,

and Dr. Nelson had thus becorae aware of
the intended attack, and was ready to repel
it. His skill was raade manifest by the ar
rangements raade by hira for the coraing
engagement. He posted his men in his dis
tillery, a large three-story stone building,
and in several houses adjoining. When
Colonel Gore and his forces arrived they
made repeated attempts to dislodge the in
surgents from the advantageous position
which they occupied, but the valiant Doctor
proved himself as great an adept at military
defence as if he had been bred to the pro
fession of a soldier. After the engagement
had lasted between flve and six hours the
Colonel was compelled to retreat. Six of
his raen had lost their lives during the at
tack, and more than twice that number had
been wounded. Of the insurgents thirteen
were slain, and frora twenty to thirty
wounded.* Frora first to last the Doctor
had deraeaned hiraself like one who has
been a raan of war from his youth. Early
in the morning he had gone out on horse
back to reconnoitre the advancing troops,
and had gone so far that it needed hard
spurring to enable hira to get back to St.
Denis. With the assistance of some of his
voluntaries he had then broken down several
bridges, so as to retard the advance of the
troops, and to give him time to perfect his
arrangements. Throughout the siege he ex
posed himself to danger with the raost
dauntless intrepidity, advancing several
tiraes frora the barricade, and finally head
ing a detachraent and driving the regulars
frora the field. When the Colonel and his
forces had retreated, leaving five of their
wounded behind them on the field. Dr. Nel
son took charge of the latter, whora he
treated with the greatest kindness, attend
ing to their coraforts hiraself, and doing
* Among the !French-Canadian insurgents intrenched
within the walls of the historic distillery on this 23rd of
November, was a young gentleman -who in after life took
a very conspicuous part in public affairs in Canada —
George Etienne Cartier. See Vol. I., pp. 75,76.

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

177

everything in his power to relieve their suf
ferings. His conduct shows in bright con
trast to that of Mr. Papineau, who fled from
St. Denis before the engageraent began, and
after the defeat of the insurgents at St.
Charles, raade good his escape to the United
States, where he spent some time in a fruit
less endeavour to induce the Araerican Con
gress to erabark in the struggle on behalf
of himself and his allies. The whole truth
with respect to this escape of Mr. Papineau
will probably never be known. It is alleged
oh his behalf that he was willing, and even
anxious, to stay and take his part in the
conflict at St. Denis, but that he was in
duced to depart by the representations of
Dr. Nelson and others of his colleagues, who
clairaed that his life was too precious to be
risked at that time. Dr. Nelson, however,
in after years told a different story, and in
any case Mr. Papineau, to whom raore than
to any other raan the rebellion was due,
does not appear to great advantage in the
affair. The barbarous murder — for such it must
be called — of the unfortunate Lieutenant
Weir, who, as we have seen, had been cap
tured on the night of the 22nd, with de
spatches for Colonel Wetherall, is the dark
est feature in the history of the St. Denis
episode of the rebellion. It is of course un
necessary to say that Dr. Nelson had no
hand in that villainous transaction, but it
was perpetrated by his allies, and the ques
tion arises how far he should be held re
sponsible for it. The Doctor's own account
of the affair is as follows : — " A gentleman
in coloured clothes was brought to Dr. Nel
son's house at about one o'clock a.ra. on the
day of the battle. After sorae reluctance
he acknowledged that his narae was Weir,
and that he was a Lieutenant in the 32nd
Regiment. Appearing fatigued and cold.
Dr. Nelson ordered his servants to place be
fore him some refreshments, which he de
clined, but accepted of some whiskey punch.
IV— 24

He was urged to retire to bed and repose,
but he preferred sitting up. Three respect
able persons were desired to keep hira cora
pany, and of these one was Dr. Kiraber, of
Chambly, distinguished alike for his warm
heartedness and his bravery. Mr. Weir was
told that he must submit to be detained in
custody for a few hours, but that he would
be perfectly safe, and should be treated with
respect and kindness, such as the Doctor
said he would wish to receive were he him
self a prisoner, which might be the case in
a very short time. Nothing more came
under the iraraediate knowledge of Dr. Nel
son, after he left his house to meet the ad
vancing force. Previous to going, he gave
Mr. Weir in charge of three elderly and
trustworthy habitants, with injunctions to
prevent his escape, but to do this with mild
ness. However, on hearing the firing, at
a short distance, which occurred frora the
conflict of the soldiers aiid patriots, the
Lieutenant made efforts to leave the house,
whereupon his guards, without any orders
to that effect, put hira into a carriage to
take him to the camp at St, Charles. As
the unfortunate prisoner and his escort
reached the upper part of the village of St.
Denis, he jumped into the road and struck
at his guards. A scuffle ensued, and a couple
of persons proceeding to the spot where the
contest was already becoming warm — one
arraed with a sabre and another with a gun
— attacked Mr. Weir, who was said to be a
spy, and in the exciteraent of the fray in
flicted raortal wounds upon hira. Thus,
through his own iraprudence and rashness,
to say the least, was this fine young man
killed, almost before he had attained com
plete manhood. When Dr. Nelson heard of
this sad event he expressed his utter abhor
rence of it, and most severely blamed and
reproached those who had been concerned
in it, saying that, ' being three in number
they could easily have secured their pris
oner,' and it is mere justice to these indi-

178

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

viduals to mention that, on reflection, they
expressed in the most poignant terras their
regret and sorrow of their precipitancy.
Under the stupid irapression that the catas
trophe could be concealed, sorae persons
raade a hole, in the night, on the beach of
the river, and there buried the body of the
unfortunate gentleman." It is due to his
torical truth to give the above outline of an
accident that cast the profoundest gloom
over a large coraraunity, including Dr. Nel
son and his friends — an occurrence which,
until the real facts of the case^ were known,
naturally excited unusual regret and con-
deranation. Mr. Christie, in his " History of Lower
Canada," raakes a corament upon the fore
going account which raay properly be in
serted here as a set-off to Dr. Nelson's ver
sion. " The above," says Mr. Christie, " as
far as it goes, is, no doubt, in accordance
with facts ; but it avoids — very pardonably,
I am willing to admit — the cruel circum
stances and manner in which Lieutenant
Weir was put 'to death, and is evidently
intended to be palliative of this raost atro
cious and revolting horaicide (never con-
teraplated, I ara very certain, by Dr. Nelson,
to whatever liabilities, in a legal or raoral
sense, he may have subjected hiraself by
raaking the unfortunate gentleman a pris
oner), and I therefore' cannot allow it to
pass without observing, that I do not, nor
will ray readers, I imagine, find in it one
solitary extenuating circurastance of the
guilt of those who, in cold blood, slew poor
Weir. His arms were tightly bound with a
rope previous to, or on his being put into a
cart, or caliche, for conveyance to St. Charles
— consequently any assault, so pinioned, that
he could possibly make on his guards, can
not have been formidable, and it was in this
defenceless state, after — on hearing the dis
charge of musketry— he had leaped, very
foolishly, it must be admitted, from the cart
in which he was, under which, when assailed.

he vainly sought shelter, that he was merci
lessly shot, sabred, hacked and stabbed to
death by the raonsters who, as his guards,
had him in charge, and of which his man
gled body, when found, afforded too many
shocking evidences ; and all this, it seeras,
in the presence of a raultitude of spectators
taraely looking on at this heartrending horai
cide. It is to be recollected that poor Weir,
when slain, was alone, in the hands of ex
cited eneraies, without one kindred heart
among them to sympathize with him, or
friendly eye to witness and relate the oc
currences that preceded and caused his
death — that even the facts offered in pal
liation of the cruelty exercised upon him,
and of his assassination, come entirely from
those who were either the actual perpetra
tors or tacit accomplices, previous to, during
or after the fact, and who therefore natur
ally would seek to palliate the appalling
deed. We know, indeed, actually nothing
of the real facts attendant upon this young
gentleman's untimely end, but such as those
more or less iraplicated in it have chosen to
give us, in which, however, there is more
than enough of horror to sicken the most
unfeeling heart.''
We are disposed to view the murder of
Lieutenant Weir as one of those unhappy
concomitants of a struggle in which it is
necessary to employ savage and serai-bar
barous allies. How far Dr. Nelson was jus
tified in participating in the rebellion is a
question which every reader will answer for
hiraself, according to his individual notions
of right and wrong. As raatter of history
it is proper to present the subject from op
posite points of view. This has now been
done, and here we leave it, with the single
additional remark that if Dr. Nelson is to be
held responsible for the young Lieutenant's
murder, it is hard to see how William Lyon
Mackenzie can be acquitted of responsibility
for the shooting of Colonel Moodie.
The successful repulse of Colonel Gore at

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

179

St. Denis merely postponed the inevitable
result. After the departure of the troops
Dr. Nelson called his friends around him,
and consulted as to what was best to be
done. He advocated resistance to the last.
His friends, however, had not corae un
scathed out of the battle, and recognized
the fact that, as Miles Standish says, "war
is a terrible trade." Before any line of ac
tion had been decided upon intelligence
reached them of the defeat of their coad
jutors at St. Charles, where the troops, un
der Colonel Wetherall, had won a signal
victory. Frora that moraent all atterapts
on the Doctor's part to rouse his adherents
to further!^ united action was out of the
question. He found hiraself deserted, ex
cept by seven staunch friends who declared
their deterraination to act according to his
behests. There was of course nothing for
it but prompt and rapid flight. They started
through back roads and dense forests for
the United States. The Doctor himself,
having taken a tearful farewell of his hither
to happy horae and attached family, started
for the frontier with his staunch friends.
A reward of two^thousand dollars had been
offered for his apprehension, and scouts were
out in every direction looking for him. It
was of course necessary to proceed with the
utraost care and circumspection. On the
second day out Dr. Nelson- hiraself was
nearly engulfed in a rapid stream. It was
soon after deemed advisable by the little
band that they should separate. They suf
fered terrible privations from cold, hunger,
and scant clothing. During the early days
of December Dr. Nelson traversed scores of
railes of wilderness, and was flnally cap
tured a few miles from the frontier on the
raorning of the 12th. The place of his cap
ture was an out-of-the-way spot in the
township of Stukely, in the county of Shef
ford. His captors were four of Colonel
Knowlton's militia, by whora he was handed
over to a detachraent of Missisquoi volun

teers. He was faraished with cold and
hunger, and during the seven preceding
nights had slept without covering in the
woods, exposed to the biting blasts of an
unusually cold Deceraber. His only com
panions, at the time of his arrest, were a
French Canadian naraed Celestin Parent,
and an Indian whora he had picked up in
the wilderness and engaged as a guide. He
was, for the tirae, a raere wreck of his forraer
self, and one of his captors, who had known
him in the days of his prosperity, was melted
to tears. He was treated with great kind
ness and consideration. After a brief in
terval of rest he was conveyed to Montreal,
where he was lodged in gaol. His suffer
ings and privations brought on an attack
of dropsy, to which coraplaint he continued
to be subject at intervals during the remain
ing years of his life. His mind, however,
soon recovered its tone, and his spirit was
unbroken. He made no supplications for
mercy, and sought no .syrapathy. He had
played a desperate game, and had lost it,
and was not the man to complain of his ill
fortune. He had raade up his mind from
the first that no favour would be shown
hira, nor did he on any occasion endeavour
to palliate his acts. He boldly proclaimed
his sense of justification in resisting as he
did, and that as the fates were against him,
he was prepared for the worst. He con
ceived that he would be deemed far more
culpable than the French Canadians, whose
dissimilarity of faith and origin might plead
in extenuation of their acts, but that he, the
son of an Englishman and a Protestant,
should be found sympathizing with the
former, would appear a crime of very great
magnitude, and much enhanced by the fact
of his having successfully resisted the at
tack of the troops. Meanwhile raost of the
friends who had set out with hira frora St.
Denis for the frontier had been captured,
and lodged, like hiraself, in the Montreal
gaol.

180

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

Soon after Lord Durham's arrival in Can
ada, Dr. Nelson and seven of his fellow-
prisoners addressed a letter to His Lordship
expressing, their readiness to plead guilty,
in order to avoid the necessity of a trial,
and to prevent the probable effusion of
blood ; for there were many hundreds of
persons in the Province who would have
taken up arms in case of the Governraent's
having proceeded to extreraities with them.
The course adopted by Lord Durham in the
very difficult circumstances in which he was
placed have been fully detailed in the sketch
of that nobleman's life. Wolfred Nelson
was one of those prisoners who were sen
tenced — illegally, but wisely — to be ban
ished to Berrauda. After being confined in
the Montreal gaol for seven raonths he was
despatched thither in one of Her Majesty's
vessels. Long before this tirae the Govern
raent troops under Colonel Gore had again
attacked St. Denis. Some of the soldiers,
acting, it is said, on their own authority,
and not on instructions from their Colonel,
had set fire to Dr. Nelson's house and dis
tillery, together with other valuable build
ings, all of which had been reduced to
ashes. Upon landing at Berrauda Dr. Nelson and
his fellow-exiles won the respect of every
one by their manly and independent de
portment.. They did not attempt to revile
the Home Government, but on the contrary
acquitted it of all blame. They felt and
knew that the English authorities were de
sirous of acting with justice and kindness
towards the colonists. They maintained
that the root and mainspring of their op
pressions lay entirely in the corrupt set of
office-holders, who, like their kin, the old
oligarchy in the Thirteen Colonies, were
traitorously deceiving their Sovereign, and
were, by incessant injury and insult, forc
ing the people into disaffection and ulti
mately resistance, as well in vindication of
their rights and privileges as subjects, as in

the maintenance of their dignity and self-
respect as men.
The sojourn of Dr. Nelson and his friends
in Berrauda was very brief. Lord Durhara
was declared to have exceeded his authority,
and their banishment was pronounced to
have been illegal. They were accordingly
allowed to depart. Dr. Nelson proceeded
to the United States, and took up his abode
at Plattsburg, as near to his native land as
he could easily get. His family joined him,
and he practised his profession there until
the amnesty of 1842 permitted hira to re
turn to Canada. He then took up his
abode in Montreal, where he continued to
reside during the twenty-one years reraain-
ing to hira. He soon gained a large raedical
and surgical practice, and was once raore a
prosperous raan.
He had lost none of his old energy. He
found time in the midst of his large practice
to contribute a number of papers on various
raedical and surgical subjects to the pro
fessional periodicals of the tirae. Experts
have pronounced sorae of these papers to be
of the highest value. His political career,
however, was not yet over. At the general
election of 1844 he presented hiraself to
the electors of the county of Richelieu, in
opposition to the Hon. Denis Benjamin
Viger, who had accepted the office of Presi
dent of the Executive Council in the Gov
ernment formed under the auspices of Sir
Charles Metcalfe and Mr. Draper. Dr. Nel
son worsted the Governraent candidate, and
thenceforward represented the county of
Richelieu in the second and third Parlia-
raents under the Union. He was therefore
a raeraber of the Asserably at the tirae of
the fierce debate on Mr. Lafontaine's faraous
Rebellion Losses Bill in 1849. He spoke
strongly in favour of the Bill, and was on
several occasions taunted with the part he
had played in the rebellion which gave rise
to the raeasure. After a taunt of more than
usual coarseness, in which he was stigma-

WOLFRED NELSON, M.D.

181

tized by a Lower Canadian member as a
rebel and a traitor, he rose to reply. " Those
who call me and ray friends rebels," said
he, " I tell them they lie in their throats ;
and here and everywhere else, I hold my
self responsible for the assertion. But, Mr.
Speaker, if to love ray country quite as
much as myself, if to be ardently attached
to the British crown and our glorious Sov
ereign is to be guilty of high-treason, then
I ara a rebel indeed. But I tell those gen
tlemen to their teeth, that it is they, and
such as they, who cause revolutions, who
pull down thrones, trample crowns into the
dust and annihilate dynasties. It is their
vile acts that madden people, and drive
them to desperation. . As for ray own great
losses, wantonly inflicted as they were, I
cheerfully raake no claira for thera ; but I
call on you to pay those whose property
you destroyed in my hands ; and I am
happy, for I feel that with the protection
of an Alraighty Providence, I raay yet hon
ourably, by ray own exertions, acquit my
dues, advanced as I am in years. But there
are hundreds of others with less encourag
ing prospects before them, whose only crime
was, reposing confldence in the man they
loved and trusted ; pay these unhappy men,
I ask no more."
His Parliaraentary career closed in 1851,
when he accepted the post of Inspector of
Prisons. His reports on the Penitentiary,
Prisons and Public Health contain many
valuable suggestions towards the iraprove-
raent of our prison discipline in the care of
convicts and the preservation of public hy

giene, many of which were adopted by the
Government. In 1859 he became Chairman
of the Board of Inspectors. During the
ship fever of 1847 he had rendered great
services to the poor, sick and dying immi
grants, at the risk of his own life ; and du
ring the cholera years, as Chairman of the
Board of Health, he was also most zealous.
He was twice elected President of the Col
lege of Physicians and Surgeons for Lower
Canada. He was also twice elected Mayor
of Montreal. He preserved his vigour up
to within about a year of his death, which
took place at his horae in Montreal on the
I7th of June, 1863. His end was calraand
peaceful, and he was mourned by a wide
circle of attached friends. Faction had long
ceased to busy itself with the errors of his
past life, and at the time of his death he '
was respected by persons of all shades of
political opinion. "Through a life full of
adventure as that of a hero of romance,"
says one of his contemporaries, " he pre
served a name unsullied by any baseness.
He carried into politics and official life a
heart tender as a child's, excitable and ro
mantic as a woman's. His aims were always
high, never sordid or base. Possessed once
of wealth, he sacrificed it on the altar of
(what he esteemed) his duty to his country ;
and, in his later years, when other men were
accused of enriching themselves at the ex
pense of the country, his escutcheon ever
escaped unstained." He left two sons, both
of whom attained to considerable eminence
in the ranks of the medical profession in
Montreal.

SIR SAMUEL CUNARD, BART.

ABRAHAM CUNARD, a thrifty and en
terprising mechanic in the Halifax
lumber-yard, saved enough money to cora-
mence business on a small scale as a grocer
and West India merchant. He early associ
ated his son Sarauel with hira in the busi
ness, and their frugality and sagacity were
rewarded with raore than average success.
Samuel Cunard was born on the 15th of
November, 1787. He grew up a sturdy,
hardy, well-built boy, and early manifested
the courage, the patience, the self-control
and decision of character which ultiraately
placed him araong the raerchant princes of
the world. Tradition tells how he " endured
hardness" when a boy, and how bravely
he bore up under it, and developed into a
strong and self-reliant raan. His education
was only such as Halifax could afford in
the earlier years of this century. Indeed
Sarauel Cunard was virtually a self-taught
raan. Mr. Cunard's industry, raercantile tact,
and high honour placed him, while still a
young man, in the front rank among the
merchants of his native town. For some
years he prosecuted the whale fishery with
success ; but about sixty years ago that in
dustry, owing to successive failures, became
defunct, so far as Halifax was concerned.
He also had an interest in extensive coal
mines in the county of Pictou and in the
Island of Cape Breton, and also in lumber
ing operations in Miraraichi, New Bruns

wick. But his narae was destined to corae
with special prorainence before the world
in connection with ocean steam naviga
tion. Thus far he was " the son of his own
deeds," and he continued throughout his
whole career to exhibit the sarae sterling
qualities of head and heart.
It was in 1819 that the first atterapt was
raade to cross the Atlantic by stearaer ; and
the attempt was successful. In the sura-
raer of that year the Savannah, of 350 tons,
left New York for Liverpool, and raade the
voyage safely in twenty-four days. Cora-
raercially the experiment was so disastrous
that there was no disposition to repeat it.
The engines and the fuel occupied nearly the
whole available space in the vessel. She used
sails as well as steam, and the weather having
been exceptionally fair, the wind had no
doubtmuch to do with the success of the voy
age. For nearly twenty years no second effort
was made to cross the Atlantic by steam ;
and indeed the conviction became universal
that it was impossible to do so in safety.
Had not Lardner demonstrated with all the
precision of mathematical science that no
steamer, however large, could carry coals
enough to enable her successfully to reach
the western continent ? However, in 1838,
a company of English merchants were cou
rageous enough, in the face of raatheraatical
conclusions, to despatch two steamers, the
Sirius and the Great Western, across the
ocean. Both arrived at New York in safety.

'lyP^ f^

.BMaSumPolili.-^li'T, loroBtij

SIR SAMUEL CUNARD, BART.

183

the Sirius in eighteen and a-half days, and
the Great Western in fourteen and a-half
days. The Sirius was only a coasting steara
er, and did not continue in the trade. The
Great Western continued her voyages for
ten years, crossing the Atlantic in periods
ranging from thirteen to fifteen days.
Several other steamers soon ventured to
face the stormy ocean. In 1840 (March
10th) the President, a Thames-built stearaer,
sailed from New York with freight and
passengers, and was never heard of again.
This was the first great steamboat disaster
upon the Atlantic. In 1838 the British
Government invited a tender for carrying
the mails by stearaships between England,
Halifax, and Boston. The owners of the
Great Western made an offer which was not
accepted. Mr. Cunard carefully watched
what was going on. In the sumraer of 1838
he proceeded to England with the hope of
being able to tender for carrying the raails
on conditions acceptable to the Adrairalty.
He first laid his plans before leading Liver
pool merchants, but none of them could see
their way to run the risks involved. He
was equally unsuccessful in London. His
attention was attracted by the splendid rival
lines of steamers plying between Liverpool
and Glasgow — by far the best then jn the
world. These steamers had been built and
equipped by Robert Napier, the foreraost
engineer of the tirae. One line was repre
sented by Messrs. Burns, of Glasgow ; the
other by Messrs. Maclver, of Liverpool. Mr.
Cunard proceeded to Glasgow and laid his
plans before Mr. Napier, who entered into
thera with enthusiasra. He introduced Mr.
Cunard to Messrs.- Burns, who at once ap
proved of the great enterprise, and expressed
their willingness to erabark in it. Their
rivals, Messrs. Maclver, also were brought
Mr. Cunard laid his plans before the

in.

Adrairalty, and raet there with all the suc
cess he could wish. The contract for carry
ing the mails for seven years was secured ;

the company was fully organized, and the
work of construction entered upon without
delay. Thus originated " The Cunard Company,"
the narae and farae whereof have long been
world-wide. The mails were to be carried
fortnightly between Liverpool, Halifax, and
Boston. The steamers were to be so con
structed as to be available for the transport
of troops and warlike stores if the Govern
ment should require them. Four steamers
were built with the least possible delay — the
Brita^nnia, the A cadia, the Caledonia and
the Columbia. They were but small in cora-
parison with the gigantic structures of these
days — naraely, each 1,200 tons register, and
440 horse-power. The Britannia, the pio
neer of the Cunard fleet, left Liverpool on
the 4th of July, 1840, reached Halifax in
eleven days, and Bo.ston in fourteen days
and eight hours, including the detention of
twelve hours at Halifax. Up to this date
(1840) the raails were borne across the At
lantic in Government ten-gun brigs, usually
known as " coffins." The voyage occupied
frora six weeks to three months according
to wind and weather. It often happened
in the spring months that these packets
were lost with all on board. It is no won
der that there was an eager desire for
swifter and safer modes of communication
and travel. The Government showed its
sense of the iraportance of the service un
dertaken by the Cunard -Company by pay
ing an annual subsidy of first £145,000
sterling; and then, when the service em
braced New York, £197,000 sterling.
Mr. Cunard accorapanied the Britannia
on her first voyage. His welcorae in his
native city was raost flattering, and could
not have been raore cordial. But Boston
went fairly wild over the new arrival. The
good ship carae to her moorings late on a
Saturday evening, and was received with
salutes of artillery and a popular ovation.
A public banquet was held three days after

184

SIR SAMUEL CUNARD, BART.

her arrival, in honour of Mr. Cunard, and to
celebrate the establishment of postal com
munication by steam between Great Britain
and the United States. Mr. Cunard received
no fewer than one thousand eight hundred
invitations to dinner during the first two
days of his stay in Boston. As a lasting
raark of the kindly appreciation of the
citizens a massive piece of plate was pre
sented to him with the following inscrip
tion : " Presented by the citizens of Boston,
Massachusetts, to the Hon. Samuel Cunard
of Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose enterprise
established the line of British Mail Steam
Packets between Liverpool, Halifax, and
Boston, United States of America, 1840."
The original four steamers were supple
mented, or rather superseded, by larger and
still larger ones. Paddles were succeeded by
the screw ; wood by iron ; and iron by steel.
The Company, as occasion required, rendered
signal service to the Government, during
the Criraean War, the Indian Mutiny, and
during the troublous days of the Araerican
Civil War. It justified its reputation as a
national " institution," of which a great cora-
mercial nation might justly be proud.
The Cunard fleet now crossing the At
lantic numbers twenty-eight vessels, many
of them araong the finest afioat. They
have ever been reraarkable for regularity,
strength and safety. The crews are disci
plined with the utmost care, and none but
the best class of captains are put in charge.
The Company at one time came into curi
ous prominence in the House of Comraons.
The "Galway subsidy " had been withdrawn

on account of the inefficiency of the service
rendered, or attempted to be rendered. This
gave offence to certain members from Ire
land, who asked the Secretary of the Treas
ury, Mr. F. Peel, for a return of the number
and date of the breaches of contract by the
Cunard Company during the first two years
of their service, and the penalties imposed ;
and in how many instances such penalties
had been remitted by the Treasury. After
due investigation Mr. Peel announced to the
House, amid ringing cheers, that the Cunard
Corapany had never broken contract, had
incurred no penalties, and had never asked
any indulgence from the Governraent. They
had carried the raails with undeviating regu
larity during the twenty-one years that the
contract had been in force.
The Company pays about one-seventh of
the steam tonnage dues of Liverpool. Its
tonnage araounts to about one hundred
thousand tons, and the number of vessels
exceeds fifty, with, say, 20,000 horse-power.
The lines in operation besides the Atlan
tic service are : Mediterranean and Havre ;
Liverpool and Glasgow ; Glasgow and Bel
fast; Glasgow and Derry; Halifax and
Jamaica. Mr. Cunard was created a Baronet on the
9th of March, 1857, the honour being heredi
tary in his faraily. During the latter half
of his life he resided in England, He died
on the 28th of April, 1865, aged seventy-
eight years. Till the close of his life he
devoted all his energies to the business of
the Company, and he succeeded in amassing
a large fortune.

SIR ETIENNE PASCAL TACHE.

SIR ETIENNE PASCAL TACHfi—
raore familiarly known as " Colonel "
Tache — was in his day one of the most dis-
tingui.shed personages connected with pub
lic life in this country. He was descended
frora an old French faraily, various raem-
bers of which have attained distinction in
Canada, both before the Conquest and since.
Some facts relating to the founder of the
Canadian branch of the family and his de
scendants will be found in the sketch of the
Most Rev. Alexandre Antonin Tache, Arch
bishop of St. Boniface, contained in the
third volurae of the present series. By re
ference to the genealogy there delineated, it
will be seen that the subject of this sketch
was an uncle of the Archbishop, and not a
brother, as has been asserted in previous
biographies. He was born at the village
of St. Thomas, in the Lower Province, in
1795. He was educated partly by private
tuition, and partly at one of the seminaries.
He does not seem to have made any choice
of a profession until after the breaking out
of the War of 1812-'15, when, with the
military instinct inherent in his race, he
joined the incorporated railitia as an Ensign
in the Fifth Battalion, and was almost im
mediately afterwards placed on duty on the
frontier. He served all through the cam
paign, and until peace was proclairaed. The
authorities are unanimous in bearing testi
mony to his gallantry and chivalrous pa
triotism. During the progress of the war
IV— 25 —x

he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the
Canadian Chasseurs, with which corps he
took part in several engagements. He was
present at the famous battle of Chateau-
guay, in October, 1813, where a mere hand
ful of his gallant fellow-countrymen, under
Colonel de Salaberry, defeated a force of
between four and five thousand Americans
under General Harapton and Colonel Purdy.
This was one of the most brilliant achieve
ments in the history of the War. A gal
lant American officer who had the raisf or-
tune to be present was accustomed to say
in after years that no American officer with
any regard for his reputation would wil
lingly acknowledge that he had taken part
in that engagement. Young Etienne Tache
bore himself as raight have been expected
frora one of his lineage. For his services
there he received a medal which he was
wont to contemplate with pride, and on
which he used to expatiate with pardon
able garrulity half a century afterwards.
After the close of hostilities the naval
and military establishments were reduced,
and young Tache's occupation as an officer
was at an end. He then studied medicine,
and in due time obtained a medical degree.
He settled down to practice in his native
village, and remained in comparative ob
scurity until the Union of the Provinces
in 1841. "Comparative" is a saving word.
His close attention to his professional pur
suits prevented hira from becoming widely

186

SIR ETIENNE PASCAL TACHfi.

known beyond his own immediate neigh
bourhood. There, however, he was a power,
professionally, politically, and socially. Du
ring the troublous times which culminated
in the rebellion of 1837-'38 he sympathized
heartily with the efforts made by his fel
low-countrymen to obtain redress for their
grievances ; but when those efforts took the
shape of armed resistance he drew back,
and remained staunch in his allegiance to
the Government. At the first general
election after the Union he was returned
to the Assembly as representative for the
county of .L'Islet. He sat for that con
stituency through the First Parliament of
United Canada, during which he distin
guished himself by the enlightened stand
which he took on several questions of
national importance. The tone of his mind
was essentially Conservative. He was a
zealous upholder of raonarchy, and on one
occasion declared, in the course of a speech
in the Legislature, that the last gun fired in
support of British supremacy on this conti
nent would be fired by the hand of a French
Canadian. There were certain questions,
however, on which he entertained decidedly
Liberal views, and whenever a vote was
taken upon any of these his own vote was
always recorded conscientiously, and with
out respect to Party. At the general elec
tion for the Second Parliaraent, held in
1844, he was reelected for the county of
L'Islet. He sat for that county until the
end of June, 1846, when he accepted the
appointment of Deputy Adjutant- General
of Militia for Lower Canada. His rigid
habits of discipline and his early military
experience combined to fit him to discharge
the duties of this position with efficiency.
It was upon his accession to this office that
he first becarae known as Colonel Tach4,
and by that name he is still comraonly re
ferred to by raany of his conteraporaries.
Upon the formation of the second Bald
win-Lafontaine Government,in March,1848,

Colonel Tache, at Mr. Lafontaine's request,
accepted office in it as Coramissioner of
Public Works, with a seat in the Executive
Council. This step rendered it necessary
that he should vacate his office of Deputy
Adjutant-General, and that he should also
reenter Parliament. He accordingly accept
ed a seat in the Legislative Council, and
was sworn in on the 23rd of May. He held
the Comraissionership of Public Works un
til the 27th of November, 1849, when, on
the retirement of the Hon. L. M. Viger,
he became Receiver-General. This position
he retained between six and seven years.
Upon the reconstruction of the Government
under ,Messieurs Hincks and Morin, towards
the close of 1851, Colonel Tache retained
his portfolio. He also retained office after
the formation of the Coalition Government
known as the Macnab-Morin Adrainistra
tion, in 1854 ; and when Mr. Morin several
raonths afterwards retired frora the Gov
ernraent, and accepted a seat on the Bench,
as a Judge of the Superior Court, Colonel
Tache becarae leader of the Lower Cana
dian section of the Cabinet. The Coalition
is thenceforward known to history as the
Macnab-Tache Adrainistration. Sir Allan
Macnab retired in May, 1856, and the pres
ent Sir John A. Macdonald succeeded to
his place as leader of the Upper Canadian
Conservatives. As raatter of fact, the lead
ing spirit of the Governraent was "Mr. Mac
donald, though Colonel Tache was the
actual Preraier. The Colonel was elected
Speaker of the Legislative Council. He
retained that office until his withdrawal
frora the Administration, on the 25th of
November, 1857. For about four months
prior to his withdrawal he also discharged
the duties of Commissioner of Crown Lands,
which office had been left vacant by the
resignation of the Hon. J. E. Cauchon. It
must also be mentioned that upon the for
raation of the Grand Trunk Railway Com
pany, and the guarantee by the Province of

SIR ETIENNE PASCAL TACHSI.

187

three thousand pounds per mile towards its
construction. Colonel Tachd was appointed
one of the Governraent Directors. He re
tained his Directorship until the raonth of
July, 1857, when the Act abolishing the
office came into operation.
When Colonel Tache resigned office as
above mentioned in Noveraber, 1857, it was
his intention to retire permanently to pri
vate life. As the event proved, he was
only permitted to do so temporarily. He
cannot, indeed, be said to have absolutely
withdrawn from public life, even terapora-
rily, for he was a lif e-raember of the Legis
lative Council, and continued to attend the
deliberations of that Body after his retire
ment from the Government. A year after
wards Her Majesty, in recognition of his
long and iraportant public services, confer
red upon him the dignity of Knighthood.
In 1860 he was appointed, jointly with Sir
Allan Macnab, to the honorary rank of a
Colonel in the British army, and Aide-de-
Camp to Her Majesty the Queen, and in this
capacity he forraed one of the suite of His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales during
his tour in Canada in the autumn of 1860.
After an absence of nearly seven years
from official life. Sir Etienne was again con
strained to corae to the front as the head
of an Adrainistration. The circumstances
under which he did so are well known to
most of our readers. The balance of par
ties had become so nearly even that no
Governraent could feel safe, and legislation
was alraost impossible. When the Sand
field Macdonald-Dorion Governraent fell,
in February, 1864, there was practically a
dead-lock in public affairs. The late Mr.

Blair, who had been Provincial Secretary
in the deposed Adrainistration having failed
to get together a Cabinet, the Governor-
General applied to Sir Etienne Tache, upon
whom the hopes of the Conservatives at
this time were centred. Sir Etienne had
come through the ordeal of a long official
life, at a time when party feeling ran high,
and when the party press was not over
scrupulous in its attacks upon public men,
without a stain upon his name, and raoder-
ate raen looked to him as the man above
all others calculated to bring confidence
to an Adrainistration, and to secure for it
that support which would be essential to its
success. Sir Etienne yielded to the pres
sure brought to bear upon him, and with
the assistance of his old colleague, Mr. John
A. Macdonald, formed an Administration
which bears their joint names. It did not
stand, however. It was indeed impossible
that any Administration should stand, un
less upon sufferance. The Tachd-Macdonald
Government was defeated before it had been
in existence three months. Then followed
the negotiations which resulted in Confed
eration. Sir Etienne lent his assistance to
bring about the new order of things, and
presided as Chairman at the Quebec Con
ference. But he was by this time nearly
seventj'' years old, and the strain and ex
citeraent of the tiraes told seriously upon his
health. After the Conference he returned
to his home at St, Thomas an unmistakable
invalid. He continued to take an interest
in public affairs during the few months of
life that remained to him, but his own share
in them was over. He died on the 30th of
July, 1865.

THE REV. WILLIAM MORLEY PUNSHON,

M.A., LL.D.

DR. PUNSHON'S residence in Canada
was of only about five years' dura
tion, but it was fraught with such impor
tant results to the religious Body where
with he is immediately connected — a Body
forming a large and influential element in
Canadian life — as to well entitle him to a
place in these pages.
Williara Morley Punshon, the greatest
living pulpit exponent of Wesleyan Method
isra, was born at Doncaster, in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, England, on Royal
Oak Day— the 29th of May— 1824. He
was an only child, and was naraed in honour
of his maternal grandfather, Mr. William
Morley, a timber merchant and shipowner.
His father was a linen draper carrying on
business in Doncaster. His raother was a
daughter of the abovenamed Mr. William
Morley, and a sister of Sir Isaac Morley, of
Beechfield, Doncaster, a magistrate of the
West Riding, and one of the senior magis
trates of the Borough. The entire family
connection were in corafortable circum
stances, and during his early years William
Morley Punshon enjoyed excellent educa
tional advantages, of which he duly avail
ed himself. He attended various private
schools in his native town, and in his
thirteenth year entered the local Grammar
School, with a view to preparing himself
for matriculation at a university. Why
this intention was not carried out does not
appear. It seems probable that some re

verse of fortune had occurred in the family
affairs, as it was deeraed necessary that the
young raan should be put in the way of
earning his living. In 1838, when he was
fourteen years of age, he was placed in the
service of his raaternal grandfather, Mr.
Williara Morley, who had some time before
removed his place of business from Don
caster to Hull. He developed unusual tal
ents for business, and was soon entru.sted
with the performance of important duties
such as are commonly assigned only to per
sons of mature age and experience. He
had not long been engaged in commercial
life before he became seriously irapressed
on the subject of religion. His religious
training had been strict, for his parents
were God-fearing people, with high ideas
on the subject of raan's responsibilities to
his Maker. They are described by a con-
teraporary English writer as " people who
raade religion the practice as well as the
profession of their lives — who put on relig
ion, not as a conventional garb like the
evening dress which now-a-days passes as
the erablera of respectability, but as the
armour which was to protect them through
the trials and temptations of life." Their
son, however, does not appear to have con
ceived any serious irapressions while he re
mained under the parental roof. It was
not until after he had gone out into the
world, and had seen something of its ways,
that the lessons of his childhood bore fruit.

THE REV. WILLIAM MORLEY PUNSHON, M.A., LL.D.

189

In his eighteenth year he united himself to
the Wesleyan Methodists, and almost ira-
raediately afterwards felt himself called
upon to erabrace the profession of the
rainistry. For this calling he possessed
raany natural advantages, among which
must be numbered a large and robust frame,
a comraanding presence, a rich fund of
choice language, and a reraarkably irapres-
sive delivery. He preached his first serraon
soon after completing his eighteenth year,
at a village called Ellerby, in the neighbour
hood of Hull. Notwithstanding his youth,
the sermon is said to have been charac
terized, not only by singular power and
eloquence, but by a maturity and depth of
thought such as is not often heard, even
from a preacher of advanced years and long
experience in the pulpit. Soon after this
tirae his uncle retired from comraercial life,
and the subject of this sketch, though he
was fully resolved to become a preacher
upon reaching manhood, continued for a
short period to occupy himself with mer
cantile affairs. He was transferred to the
seaport town of Sunderland, in the county
of Durhara, where an exten.sive branch of
the business was carried on by his uncle's
successors. While stationed there his re
ligious convictions becarae strengthened,
and he devoted to study every moraent that
he could spare frora his business pursuits,
in order to qualify himself for the sacred
calling to which he had deterrained to de
vote his future life. He enlisted hiraself in
the service as a "local preacher," a prepara
tory rainisterial office, the duties of which
are always exacted of candidates aspiring
to enter the Wesleyan pastorate. Four
years later, and after he had passed a short
probationary terra at the Wesleyan Col
lege at Richraond, in Surrey, he was ap
pointed to his first pastoral charge at Mar-
den, in the county of Kent. His congre
gation there was chiefly coraposed of per
sons who had seceded frora the Episcopal

Church in consequence of the ritualistic
observances of the clergyraan of the parish.
The/ earnestness and eloquence of the young
Wesleyan, as well as his personal character,
raade hira very acceptable as a pastor to the
little congregation at Marden. Persons who
bore but a scant degree of good-will to
"Dissenters" in general soraetiraes present
ed theraselves at the chapel to listen to his
earnest appeals and glowing oratory. He
reraained in his charge only a few raonths,
however. At the Conference held in 1845
— at which period he was only twenty-one
years of age — he was appointed to a charge
in the north-western part of Cumberland,
where he had to encounter much opposition
from the local raagnates, who looked upon
all phases of dissent with very unfavourable
eyes. He was next transferred to the raore
responsible charge of Whitehaven, in the
same county. His reputation had preceded
him thither, and people flocked from all
parts of the country to be thrilled by his
powerful eloquence. He completed the
terra of his probation at Carlisle, and in the
suraraer of 1849 he was regularly ordained
to the rainistry at the Oldham Street
Chapel, in Manchester, upon which occasion
he delivered a thrilling address wherein
was embodied an account of his own
spiritual experiences. He subsequently
rainigtered in various parts of England, in
cluding Newcastle-on-Tyne, Sheffield, and
Bristol. Wherever he went he attracted a
large share of attention, and did ranch to
wards strengthening the Wesleyan Body.
He visited London on several occasions, and
there, as elsewhere, his addresses, whether
frora the pulpit or the platform, received
very wide and favourable recognition. In
1858 he reraoved to London, where he pub
lished a volurae of poems, entitled " Lays of
Hope ;" and also several lectures, including
those on " John Bunyan," and " The Hugue
nots," with which Canadian audiences are
familiar. He for sorae tirae ministered to

a congregation in Bayswater, one of the
raost attractive districts of London ; and
afterwards had charge of Islington Chapel,
in the northern reaches of the capital.
His reputation as an eloquent preacher
had long been known in this country, and
at the General Conference of the Wesleyan
Methodist Church of Canada, held in 1867,
it was resolved to apply to the British Con
ference for the appointraent of Mr. Pun
shon as their President. The British Con
ference acceded to this request on the part
of their Canadian brethren, and granted
Mr. Punshon leave to go to Canada, with
permission to remain, if desired to do so by
the Canadian Conference. Mr. Punshon
availed hiraself of the permission so granted.
The very flattering terms of an address
which was presented to him on his depar
ture from his native land affords abundant
testiraony of the high estimation in which
he was held by the Methodist Body there.
He arrived in Canada in the early suramer
of 1868, and presided at the Annual Con
ference, held in July of that year. He was
subsequently reelected to the Presidential
Chair five times in succession.
Canadian Methodisra has always been
well able to hold its own without any ex
traneous aid, but there is no manner of
doubt that Mr. Punshon's five years' resi
dence here gave an impetus to the Body
which will be felt for many generations to
come. He preached and lectured to ira-
inense crowds in nearly every iraportant
city and town of the Dorainion, and every
serraon and lecture was a fresh triuraph.
His pulpit oratory, though calm and free
from adventitious display, was marvellously
powerful and effective. His elocution was
almost perfect. Some of his lectures, on
the other hand, were marked by lofty and
impassioned flights of oratory which liter
ally took his audiences by storm. Among
those which will long be reraerabered by all
who heard thera were his two discourses on

"Macaulay," and "Daniel in Babylon." " Mr.
Punshon's lectures," says the English writer
previously quoted, " brought hira much and
immediate popularity from the Canadian
people. Throughout his vigorous and ani
mating eloquence there was a deep, fault
less vein of human sympathy — a sympathy
which at once lays strong hold of his hearers,
softening their passions, and intensifying
their affections. The newspapers were
daily aglow with the praises of the man,
and Canadian Methodisra reflected back, so
to speak, the light which English Methodism
for the time being had lost." In addition
to his rainistrations in Canada he delivered
frequent serraons and lectures in the United
States, where he was received with as much
enthusiasm as here.
For some years prior to Mr. Punshon's
arrival in Canada a strong feeling had been
growing araong the Wesleyan Body in To
ronto that the accommodation at their dis
posal was inadequate to their requirements,
and unworthy of the high and influential
position which they occupied in this com
munity. The year of his arrival (1868) was
marked by active raeasures, in which he
took a prominent part, for the erection of a
central church edifice which should be pro
portionate in splendour and accommodation
to the status of Wesleyan Methodism in
Toronto. Magill Square, comprising three
and a quarter acres of land, was purchased,
and the erection of the Metropolitan Church
was proceeded with. Upon its completion
it was pronounced by Mr. Punshon himself
— who was entitled to speak with authority
on such a subject — to be unequalled araong
the Methodist churches of the world. It
was at one time hoped that Mr. Punshon
might be induced to accept the pastorate,
but though its vaulted aisles have fre
quently reechoed to the reverberating tones
of his eloquence, he could not see his way to
taking up his permanent abode in Canada.
Early in 1871 he was chosen to represent

THE REV. WILLIAM MORLEY PUNSHON, M.A., LL.D.

191

the Canadian Church at the Annual Wes
leyan Methodist Conference held in Man
chester in July of that year. He was en
thusiastically welcoraed there ; and during
his stay in England preached in the Metro
politan Tabernacle in Newington Butts,
London, on behalf of the Wesleyan Metro
politan Chapel Building Fund. It can
hardly be necessary to inforra the reader
that " The Tabernacle " is the spacious place
of worship in which Mr. Spurgeon has for
many years preached. The great Baptist
preacher gave up his pulpit to Mr. Punshon
for the occasion, and occupied the rostrum
by his side. This episode was widely com-
raented upon alike by the religious and the
secular press, as an illustration of that lib
eral spirit which impels really great spirits
to discard tradition and lay aside secta
rian differences for the advancement of true
Christianity. Mr. Punshon returned to Toronto in
September. During the following year he,
as one o£ the representatives of the British
Conference, attended the General Confer
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church of
the United States, held at Brooklyn, upon
which occasion he delivered what has been
described as " one of the most finished and
persuasive, beautiful and brilliant utterances
ever delivered before the General Confer
ence." His residence in Canada was also
marked by his successful exertions in pro
moting an adequate endowraent to the
University of Victoria College, Cobourg.
He returned to England in June, 1873.
When his intention to leave Canada was
made known, the announcement was re
ceived with regret throughout the land, not
by the Methodist Body alone, but by a large
number of the adherents of other religious
bodies. It was felt that he had brought a
blessing with hira, and that his going would
be a loss. The loss was of course felt raost
keenly by the Methodist community, and
he took with him flattering and substan

tial testimonials of their appreciation of the
great service he had done them. Soon after
his arrival in England he was appointed
pastor of Warwick Chapel, Kensington ; and
in July, 1874, he was elected President of
the Conference for the ensuing year. From
that tirae down to the present he has been
one of the missionary secretaries of the Wes
leyan Missionary Society, whose emissaries
are to be found, as is well known, in every
part of the world. Dr. Punshon is now the
senior secretary of that Society.
It is generally conceded that Mr. Pun
shon's services to Methodisra in England
have been pararaount to those of any living
divine. Even in a land which maintains
a connection between Church and State,
hampered by all the aristocratic traditions
which such a connection of necessity en
genders, the disciples of John Wesley are
no longer looked upon as composing a dif
ferent order of humanity from Episcopa
lians. All men and all sects have been cora-
pelled to recognize the fact that Methodisra
is a mighty influence for good, and a potent
factor in society. Its preachers number
araong their ranks raen of learning and
ability, fit to cope with the divines of any
creed, and of a character and social posi
tion which no State can affect to despise.
Their influence is raore or less felt in every
parish of the United Kingdom, and, to their
praise be it spoken, it has always been ex
erted on the side of human liberty and
human progress. This state of things has
of course not been brought about by one
man or by one generation ; but it has
never been so apparent as during the last
quarter of a century, and no one has con
tributed in a higher degree to compel its
wide recognition than has William Morley
Punshon. In addition to the works already men
tioned, Mr. Punshon has published a sec
ond volume of poeras, entitled " Sabbath
Chimes," and a volume of four sermons on

192

THE REV. WILLIAM MORLEY PUNSHON, M.A., LL.D.

the Prodigal Son, besides several pamphlets
on theological subjects.
He has been thrice raarried. His first
wife, to whora he was united during his
residence at Newcastle-on-Tyne, shortly
after his ordination, was Miss Vickers, of
Gateshead. This lady survived her raar-
riage about ten years. His union with his
second wife, who was a sister of the first,
took place soon after his reraoval from
England to Canada ; and her death, in Oc
tober, 1871, awakened a wide-spread syra
pathy for the bereaved husband, both in
Canada and in England. This second mar
riage, which was not in accordance with

prevalent law and usage, evoked much
comraent and criticisra at the time, but
did not affect Mr. Punshon's popularity or
usefulness. On the I7th of June, 1873,
he raarried his third wife, who was Miss
Mary Foster, a daughter of the late Mr.
Williara Foster, of Sheffield. This lady
still survives. He has several children by
his first wife. His degree of M.A. was
conferred upon hira many years ago by
the Middletown University, in the State
of Connecticut. His degree of LL.D. was
conferred by the University of Victoria
College, Cobourg, during his residence in
Canada.

THE HON. JOSEPH ALFRED MOUSSEAU, Q.C.

M".

R. MOUSSEAU was born at Berthier,
in Lower Canada, in the month of
July, 1838. He is a son of M. Louis Mous
seau, by Sophie Duteau de Grand Pr^, and
a grandson of M. Alexis Mousseau, who for
many years occupied a seat in the Legis
lative Assembly of the Province of Quebec.
He received his education chiefly at the
Berthier Acaderay, and after corapleting it
he studied law, first in the office of the Hon.
Louis Auguste Olivier, now a Puisne Judge
of the Superior Court of Quebec ; second, in
the office of the Hon. Thomas Kennedy
Ramsay, now a Puisne Judge of the Court
of Queen's Bench for that Province; and
third, in the office of the late Judge Drura-
mond and the present Judge Belanger. In
1860 he was called to the Bar of his native
Province, at which he soon won a creditable
place. Like many other young professional
men, he took a keen interest in journalism,
and contributed largely to the periodical
press. He was one of the founders of Le
Colonisateur newspaper, in 1862, and of
L'Opinion Publique, in 1870. He is the
author of a paraphlet published in 1867 in
defence of the scherae of Confederation.
He also wrote a brochure entitled Cardinal
et Duguet, victim.es de 1837-38.
In 1873 he was created a Queen's Coun
sel. He first entered public life at the gen
eral election of 1874, when he was returned
in the Conservative interest as the repre
sentative of the county of Bagot in the
IV— 26

House of Coraraons. He represented that
constituency all through the Third Parlia
raent. At the general election held on the
17th of September, 1878, he presented him
self to his constituents for reelection, and
was returned by a majority of 161 votes
over his opponent, Mr. Chagnon. During
his first Parliaraentary session, frora 1874 to
1878, he took a prorainent part in the dis
cussion of the question of aranesty to the
insurgents in the North-West. He advo
cated "a full and coraplete amnesty, covering
all offences comraitted in the North-West
previous to the establishment of a Consti
tutional Government there." Throughout
his whole Parliaraentary career he has taken
an intelligent part in the debates on eco-
noraical questions. The Supreme Court
and the insolvency laws have also engaged
a due share of his attention as a member
of Parliament. During the session of 1879
he took a specially active part in the de
bates of the House. He took an uncom
promising stand on the Letellier question,
and early in the session moved and carried
a resolution declaring that the disraissal by
the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec of his
Ministers on the second day of March,
1878, was, under the circurastances, unwise
and subversive of the position accorded to
the advisers of the Crown since the conces
sion of the principle of Responsible Govern
raent to the British North American Colo-
This was exactly the sarae resolu-

nies.

194

THE HON. JOSEPH ALFRED MOUSSEAU, Q.C.

tion as had been offered by Sir John Mac
donald during the session of 1878, and de
feated. Mr. Mousseau, in renewing it, ex
pressly denied that he was actuated by any
political motive, but protested that he had
in view simply to uphold the great political
principle of free and responsible govern
ment, which in his estimation Mr. Letellier
had violated in dismissing the De Boucher
ville Adrainistration. He reviewed ex
haustively the correspondence in the case,
contending (1) that even were the reasons
alleged by His Honour for that act substan
tially accurate as to the facts, they would
have formed no sufficient justification of his
conduct ; and (2) that the reasons alleged
were valueless, and were characterized by
serious errors and inaccuracies. He quoted
various constitutional authorities to show
that Mr. Lfetellier's conception of the rights
and privileges of the Crown were exagger
ated and incorrect, and he repudiated the
statement that the coup d'etat had received
the bona fide support of the people of the
Province of Quebec.

On the 6th of February, 1879, Mr. Mous
seau delivered a lecture on " Lord Durhara,
1837-1877," before the Conservative Club
of St. Hyacinthe, which was responded to
by a very flattering address on the part of
the Club, and which was reviewed by the
newspapers of the day in very compliraent-
ary terras. Mr. Mousseau's abilities, and
his eminent services to the Conservative
Party, obtained recognition in the month of
November last, when he was invited to ac
cept a seat in the Cabinet as President of
the Council. He responded favourably to
the invitation, and was duly sworn into
office. His political platforra is represented
by a conteraporary as being, "to have
British North America erected into a grand
empire under the auspices and with the in
stitutions of the mother country."
Mr. Mousseau raarried Marie Louise Her-
selie, eldest daughter of Leopold Des Rosiers,
notary, of Berthier. He is at present senior
partner in the well-known Montreal law
firm of Messrs. Mousseau, Archambault &
Monk.

^,0:^Z-^^^<^

Ii(kii*j4a«iini,„,i,;„ji^jy,jjj,jj^^^

THE HON. TIMOTHY WARREN ANGLIN.

MR. ANGLIN was born at Clonakilty,
Cork County, Ireland, on the 31st of
August, 1822. His father, Francis Anglin,
was for many years an officer in the civil
service of the East India Corapany. His
mother was Joanna, daughter of Timothy
Warren and Isabel Haliburton. He was
originally intended for a profession, and
received a liberal education at the en
dowed Gramraar School of his native town.
The dreadful faraine df 1846-7, however,
changed the whole current of his plans.
While struggling to save frora ruin the
property on which his relatives depended
-for support, and frora which he had hoped
to derive the raeans of pursuing the pro
fessional career for which he had been pre
paring, he beheld the faraine-stricken peo
ple dying and starving around him. Jle
remained among thera until 1849, doing
what he could to help them in their strug
gles with the destroyer. In the spring of
that year he emigrated to St. John, New
Brunswick, where he soon made for hira
self a corafortable horae. He turned his at
tention to journalisra, for which profession
his talents and abilities were 'peculiarly
suited. He possessed a good English edu
cation, had a liberal acquaintance with the
Latin language, and considerable knowledge
of English and foreign contemporary poli
tics. Erelong he found hiraself occupying
a leading position in his new home. With
the assistance of sorae friends who recog
nized his intellectual worth he, in August,

1849, established the Weeldy Freeman.
This journal he published until the auturan
of 1850, when it was suspended, and in
February, 1851, the Morning Freeman (tri
weekly) was founded. The latter was a
thoroughly Liberal paper, and soon suc
ceeded in exerting great influence on the
local political thought of the day. It al
ways raaintained its high character as a
well-written journal, was the recognized
raouthpiece of the Roraan Catholics of New
Brunswick, and while it lacked certain
features of the true newspaper, was always
valuable as the raediura through which Mr.
Anglin addressed his readers. He support
ed the Liberal Party then in power. The
Governraent, however, permitted the Pro
hibitive Liquor Bill to become law, and this
greatly displeased Mr. Anglin, who opposed
the measure, and took the ground that in a
matter of such importance the Ministry must
be held responsible for what was done by the
Legislature. When he failed to induce the
Liberal leaders, who were not Prohibition
ists, to take this view of the case, and sepa
rate themselves from the ultra-teraperance
party, he felt it to be his duty to go into
active Opposition, and to support Messrs.
Wilmot and Gray and their associates, as
the only means of getting rid of a measure
which he thought so injurious to the country.
Under the new Administration the Prohibi
tory Act was repealed, but the Government
was not a strong one, and in the following
year (1857) it collapsed, and the Liberals,

196

THE HON. TIMOTHY WARREN ANGLIN.

with Mr. Tilley, again took charge of af
fairs, Mr. Charles Fisher becoming Attor
ney-General. Mr. Anglin, however, con
tinued to support the Party he had iised to
get rid of the Prohibitory law, and he did
so with much zeal and vigour, because he
had lost faith entirely in the raen who, as
he thought, had allowed the Prohibitory
Bill to become law when they really dis
approved of it. Mr. Anglin never changed
his mind regarding that Act, and the atti
tude assutaed towards it by the Liberal Ad
ministration. In 1860 he was elected one of the repre
sentatives of the city and county of St. John
in the House of Assembly. He was the
first Roman Catholic, it is said, who was ever
elected to represent that constituency, which
is largely Protestant. He at once took an
iraportant part in the discussion of all raat
ters which affected the public interest. He
was an active raover in the first efforts
which were made for the construction of
the European and North Araerican Rail
way, now a portion of the Intercolonial.
These efforts for sorae years appeared hope
less enough, and when Mr. Archibald and
the representatives of Messrs. Peto, Brassey
& Co. proposed to build it on terms which
seemed favourable, he was prompt in ac
cepting those terms. When the Fisher
Cabinet proposed to buy out the contrac
tors and build the road through Corarais-
sioners, he approved of that proposal also,
and gave the Governraent what assistance
he could, though he afterwards attacked
them severely because he fancied he de
tected the germs of jobbery in the man
ner in which the work was carried on.
When a proposal was made that the In
tercolonial should be constructed under
an arrangement which would throw two-
sevenths of the whole cost on the Province
of New Brunswick, he opposed it. When
the question of Confederation was proposed
he became one of the leaders in opposi

tion to the movement. With his tongue
and pen he argued against the adoption of
the Quebec scheme, on the grounds that
he did not believe, as some declared, that
the proposed Union of the Provinces was
absolutely necessary for the purposes of
defence, or the continuance of British con
nection, and that a very large increase in
the rate of taxation in New Brunswick
would be the direct result of the political
change contemplated. He also condemned
the Union because he considered that it
would act disadvantageously towards the
manufacturing interests of the Province.
When the Legislature was dissolved and the
question submitted to the people, Mr. Ang
lin was a successful candidate for the city
and county of St. John. The Anti-Con
federates were returned by overwhelming
majorities, and Mr. Anglin became a mera
ber, without office, of the Albert J. Smith
Administration. During the campaign he
pledged himself to build the road intended
to connect the Province with the United
States as a Governraent work, contending
that so important a main road should be con
structed, owned and managed by the coun
try. Some months later, when his colleagues
in the Government resolved to let the work
to a corapany forraed in St. John which had
really no capital, and to approve of its be
ing built by a party of speculators frora
over the border, he resigned his seat in the
Council. He continued, however, to support
the Government, because it was opposed to
Confederation. A popular agitation set in,
the cry of " No Popery " was raised, and
Roman Catholicisra, always very strong in
Mr. Anglin, was bitterly attacked. He was
charged with being disloyal to the Erapire,
and declared to be a Fenian of the worst
type, and a sraall body of these gentry ap
pearing at a convenient time on the New
Brunswick border, and the proclamation
which their leader, Mr. B. D. Killian, issued,
inviting the Anti-Confederates to cooperate

THE HON. TIMOTHY WARREN ANGLIN.

197

with him and resist British t3rranny, lent
colour to these charges. The Fenians prom
ised the New Brunswickers legislative in
dependence if they would link their for
tunes with thera, and in other ways at
tempted to prominently identify themselves
with the anti-Union raoveraent. Of course
the disunionists paid no heed to the bland-
ishraents of the ruffians over the border.
Ridiculous as this Fenian exciteraent ap
pears now, it did wonderful service in
changing the rainds of the people during
the raemorable struggle of 1866. The re
ligious question was also imported into the
fight, and men were openly told that by
voting for Mr. Anglin they would encourage
the worst form of Ultraraontanisra. The
Province became thoroughly alarmed and
disorganized. The Smith Governraent was
wedged out and the Legislature dissolved.
A general election followed, the Anti-Con
federates were signally defeated, and Mr.
Anglin lost his election in St. John. In
the elections which followed in 1867, for
the House of Coraraons, he becarae a candi
date for the county of Gloucester. He was
returned, his raajority being nearly four
hundred. In 1872 he was reelected, and in
1874 he was returned by a show of hands.
Mr. Anglin has contrived to do a great
deal in the way of influencing public opinion
in his adopted home. In debate he has few
equals in the Canadian Parliament, and
his wonderful memory for flgures and facts,
his skill in attack, and his vast political
knowledge at once proclaim him a man of
no ordinary mind. Up to 1867 he was con
spicuous only for the prolific and powerful
character of his' pen. It is since then that
he has achieved his farae as a public speaker
and debater. He has always had the cour
age of his opinions, and a good deal of his
strength was expended in his denunciation
of the New Brunswick School Act. Thor
oughly in accord with the views of the
Catholic bishops and laity, he took strong

ground on this question, and was so far
successful in his labours that in raany parts
of the Province a compromise was effected
which 'gave to those of his faith permission
to have their own schools and teachers, and
to give religious instruction before or after
school hours.
On the 26th of March, 1874, Mr. Anghn
was unanimou.sly elected Speaker of the
House of Coraraons. On the 7th of April,
1877, Mr. Mackenzie Bo well raoved a reso
lution to the effect that the printing con
tract held by the Speaker with the Gov
ernment was an infringement of the In
dependence of Parliament Act. An active
debate followed, and the next day the mo
tion was negatived by 111 to 72, when
Mr. Casey raoved that the question of Mr.
Anglin's printing contract be referred to
the Comraittee on Privileges and Elections.
This Coraraittee did not report until the daj'
of prorogation, at too late an hour for the
House to take action on the question. The
decision at which the Committee arrived,
however, was that the seat was voided,
and during the rece.ss which followed, the
Speaker resigned and was reelected by his
constituents. On Parliament assembling in
1878 he was again chosen Speaker. He
filled this responsible office with great dig
nity and ability. His rulings, often involv
ing immense research among confficting
constitutional authorities, were always ren
dered with strict impartiality and justice.
In Septeraber, 1878, when the general elec
tions were held throughout the Dorainion,
he was elected for Gloucester without op
position. Sir John Macdonald returned to
power, and the ex-Speaker took his sea,t as
one of the leading raerabers of the Oppo
sition. He has been twice raarried : first in 1853,
to his cousin, Margaret O'Ryan; and sec
ond in September, 1862, to Miss McTavish,
daughter of the late Alexander McTavish,
of St. John, N.B.

THE HON. ROBERT DUNCAN WILMOT,

LIE UTENANT-GO VERNOR OF NE W BR UNS WICK.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR WILMOT
belongs to the same family as the late
Judge Wilmot, whose life has already ap
peared in these pages. He is a grandson of
the Major Lemuel Wilraot mentioned in the
former sketch, and a son of the late John M.
Wilmot, who for many years represented
the county of St. John in the Legislative
Assembly of New Brunswick. His mother,
prior to her marriage, was Miss Susan Har
riet Wiggins, daughter of Mr. Samuel Wig
gins, a prominent raerchant of St. John.
He was born at Fredericton, New Bruns
wick, on the 16th of October, 1809. When
he was in his fifth year his parents removed
to St. John, where he soon afterwards began
to attend school, and where his education
has been chiefly received. Upon reaching
manhood he engaged in business as a .ship
owner and miller at St. John. He subse
quently resided in Liverpool, England, but
returned to St. John about 1840.
He flrst entered public life in 1846, when
he was returned to the Legislative Assem
bly of New Brunswick as representative of
the city and county of St. John. He repre
sented that constituency for a continuous
period of fifteen years, during which he
was twice a member of the Executive Coun
cil — viz., from 1851 to 1854, when he held
office as Surveyor-General in the Partelow
Governraent; and again from 1856 to 1857
in the Wilmot and Gray Government. He
made an excellent head of a Departraent.

Frora 1861 to 1865 he reraained out of
Parliament. During the last-named year
he was again returned for St. John, and
sat for that constituency until Confedera
tion, when, in the month of May, 1867, he
was called to the Senate by Royal Procla
mation. Upon the formation of Sir John
Macdonald's Government in October, 1878,
Mr. Wilraot was sworn of the Privy Coun
cil, without portfolio. He was immediately
afterwards appointed Speaker of the Sen
ate, as successor to the Hon. David Christie,
a position which he retained until the 10th
of February, 1880, when he resigned, and
accepted the Lieutenant-Governorship of
his native Province, as successor to the late
Hon. Edward Barron -Chandler.
He has always held strong views in fa
vour of protection, and has also been a
strenuous advocate of paper currency in
New Brunswick.
In 1833 he married Miss Mowatt, of St.
Andrews. In 1849 he was Mayor of the
city of St. John, He was Surveyor-Gen
eral of the Province of New Brunswick
frora 1851 to 1854, and Provincial Secretary
frora 1856 to 1857. In 1865 he was a dele
gate on behalf of his Province to the Con
federate Council of Trade held at Quebec ;
and in Deceraber, 1866, attended the Union
Conference held in London, England. In
1876 he was a Coraraissioner on behalf of
Canada to the Centennial Exhibition held
at Philadelphia.

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J.Bifa|iini,FiMsLfir, Bronto

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ialilni<a!]ili Sirjtfi tn Ta-JOUi rwaPHii.- ly W,Ki,tmBtLMmii-nl

THE HON. PIERRE J. O. CHAUVEAU,

Q.C, D.C.L., LL.D.

MR: CHAUVEAU unites the qualities of
the astute politician with those of the
graceful man of letters. His life has been a
oseries of surprises to his friends, and while
he has never developed reraarkable capacity
as an adrainistrative officer, his fine personal
qualities have enabled hira to carry hiraself
and his Party successfully through raany a
bitter and exciting period. He has generally
been happy in his surroundings, and though
utterly unskilful in attack, he has raade
hiraself famous by the boldness, defiance
and vigour with which he has conducted
himself in defence. He has never led a
charge, but raany a forraidable blow has
been turned and warded off with the skill
and adroitness of a complete master of fence.
He has always interested himself in the
cause of education, and for forty years his
name has been conspicuous as one of the
brightest rainds in that poetic and roraantic
school of literature which a coterie of talent
ed young French Canadian journalists and
lawyers inaugurated in the Lower Province
as far back as 1840 — a literature which is
native to the soil, and has its counterpart
in no other part of the globe.
He was born on the 30th of May, 1820,
at Quebec. His father was a merchant, and
the lineal descendant of one of the oldest
and most respectable families of Charles-
bourg. He died while his son was but a
child, and the early training of the boy was
confided to the care of Mr. Joseph Roy and

Judge Hamel, his grandfather and uncle
respectively. Under such tutorship he made
good progress. He went through a course
of studies at the old Seminary of Quebec,
and after graduating with high honours,
entered the law offices of Messrs. Hamel &
Roy, and (later) those of Mr. — afterwards
Judge — Stuart. He at one tirae intended
to become a priest, but subsequently changed
his mind, and took up the legal profession
as his calling in life.
At an early age he began writing for the
newspapers. His efforts were appreciated
by the public, and while his poeras in Le
Canadien found acceptance among scholars,
his letters on politics and social topics won
for him many words of praise from the
readers of Le Courrier des Etats Unis, in
which journal they appeared regularly for
about eleven years. In 1844 he was returned
to Parliaraent for Quebec County, beating
his opponent, the Hon. John Neilson, by a
majority of over 1,000 votes. From that
year until 1855 he continued a meraber of
the Asserably, always representing the same
constituency. Up to 1848 he supported Mr.
Lafontaine, but at the close of the elections
in that year the popular Reformer found
himself so strong that the Quebec support
was not essential to hira. He failed to con
sult the members for the district, and Mr.
Chauveau, smarting under the slight, at once
withdrew his allegiance, and transferred it
to Mr. Papineau, who welcoraed hira with

200 THE HON. PIERRE JOSEPH OLIVIER CHAUVEAU, Q.C, D.O.L., LL.D.

open arms. When the Rebellion Losses
Bill was up for debate in 1849, Mr. Chau
veau advocated in a striking speech the
claims of the Bermuda exiles, and in the
sarae year he obtained a comraittee to in
quire into the causes of the eraigration of
French Canadians to the United States.
In Noveraber, 1851, under the Hincks-
Morin Adrainistration, he becarae Solicitor-
General for Lower Canada, a post which he
gave up in August, 1853, to take the position
of Provincial Secretary, with a seat in the
Executive Council. This office he held until
January, 1855, when he retired frora the
Government, and on being appointed in
July Chief Superintendent of Education, as
the successor to Dr. Meilleur, he devoted
all his energies to the adrainistration of the
affairs of the department. In 1856 Le
Journal de V Instruction Publique and The
Journal of Education were founded under
his auspices. ' He was the editor of the
former, and a frequent contributor to the
latter. During his superintendency he visit
ed Europe, the British Isles and the United
States, for the purpose of studying the
various educational systems in those coun
tries, with a view towards the adoption in
Canada, of the better points of each.
He remained at the head of the schools
until Confederation, when he was returned
as the representative of Quebec County to
both the House of Coraraons and the Que
bec House of Asserably. He took his seat
in both Houses. In August, 1867, Mr.
Cauchon, unable to form a stable Govern
ment in Quebec, made way for Mr. Chauveau,
who at once undertook the responsibility,
and forraed a strong Ministry. In 1873,
owing to a difference between himself and
his colleagues, he resigned his seat in the
Cabinet, and subsequently was defeated
in Charlevoix by Mr. Tremblay. On the
21st of February he was appointed Speaker
of the Senate, and reraained in that posi
tion until the 8th of January, 1874, when

the Administration of Mr. Mackenzie came
into power. He then resigned his seat in
the Upper House. In Septeraber, 1877, he'
was nominated Sheriff of Montreal, which
office he now fills with great acceptance.
On the 22nd of May, 1878, Laval University
conferred on hira the honorary degree of
LL.D. In 1840 he married Miss Moss, of
Quebec, by whom he has had seven children.
His literary life has been active, and he
has raade a narae for himself which extends
beyond the limits of his home. His poems
— delicate and graceful corapositions — first
brought hira into farae. These were fol
lowed by his letters to Le Courrier des Etats
Unis, which were regularly copied into the
Canadian papers of the tirae, from 1841
to 1852, From 1847 to 1850 he wrote in
poetry and prose, for Le Castor, La Fan-
tasque, and La Revue Canadienne. Later
he contributed to various Lower Canadian
periodicals. His novel — " Charles Guerin "
— a really clever story, appeared in 1852,
and raade a raarked sensation in Montreal
and Quebec. His oration in July, 1855, at
the laying of the corner stone of the monu
ment dedicated to the memory of those who
fell on the Plains of Abraham, was a per
formance that elevated him into the front
rank of Canadian orators. It was afterwards
published in pamphlet forra. A sketch of
the Prince of Wales's tour in Araerica fol
lowed, in French and in English, in 1861,
and in Septeraber, 1867, he pronounced the
funeral oration over the grave of his dead
friend, F. X. Garneau, the historian. L'ln-
struction Publique au Canada, a statisti
cal and historical account of the progress
of Education in Canada, was published in
1876. Since then Mr. Chauveau has written
for the newspapers and raagazines in the
spare raoments which he has been able to
snatch from other duties. His literary style
has been ranch admired, and among living
French Canadian writers he ranks as the
acknowledged head.

THE HON. CHARLES FISHER, A.M., D.C.L.

THE late Judge Fisher, though he was
possessed of few or none of those
qualities which it is customary to associate
with greatness, was one of the most useful
and highly respected raen in New Bruns
wick. He figured largely in the two raost
important epochs in the Provincial history
of his time — Responsible Government and
Confederation — and though he necessarily
had to encounter bitter opposition, he seems
to have ihade no personal enemies, and to
have left behind him a host of pleasant and
kindly remembrances. He was the grand
son of Mr. Peter Fisher, a U. E, Loyalist, of
the Province of New York, who settled in
New Brunswick about the time of its be
ing constituted a separate Province. Peter
Fisher had a son, also named Peter Fisher,
who engaged in business as a luraber-mer-
chant in Fredericton, where his son, the sub
ject of this sketch, was born in the month
of Septeraber, 1808.
Young Charles Fisher's boyhood gave no
special promise. He was simply a good-
tempered and by no raeans brilliant youth,
who was attentive to his studies, and whose
raind raatured somewhat late. In his
twentieth year he matriculated at King's
College, and three years later graduated as
B.A. He studied law in the office of the
late Hon. G. F. Street, a member of the Ex
ecutive Council, who subsequently became
a Judge of the Supreme Court of New
Brunswick. He was admitted as an At-
IV— 27

torney in 1831, and began to practise in his
native city. In 1853 he was called to the
Bar of New Brunswick. In Septeraber,
1836, he married Miss Amelia Halfield,
seventh daughter of Mr. David Halfield,
also a U. E. Loyalist frora the Province of
New York. Next year he entered public
life as the colleague of Lerauel Allan
Wilmot in the representation of the county
of York in the Provincial Assembly. The
struggle for Responsible Government was
still in its infancy, but there were evi
dences that it would erelong attain a lusty
manhood. Charles Fisher entered upon his
share of the struggle with no less conscien
tiousness and determination than his raore
brilliant colleague. Those were days when
it needed no slight courage on the part of
a young man beginning life to fight the
battle of the people against the oligarchy.
The subject of this sketch fought side by
side with Mr. Wilraot until Responsible
Governraent was conceded, and it was his
hand which, in 1848, prepared the resolu
tion to the effect that Earl Grey's de
spatch of the previous year was as appli
cable to New Brunswick as to Nova Scotia.*
The history of the contest which ended in the
establishraent of Responsible Governraent
has been given at sufficient length in pre
vious sketches. Mr. Fisher was associated
with all the Liberal raeasures by which the
history of the contest was raarked, inclu-
* See Vol. III., p. 161.

202

THE HON. CHARLES FISHER, AM., D.C.L.

ding the reforms in the Civil Service and the
securing of equal rights for all religious
bodies. He continued to sit in the Assem
bly for the county of York until 1850, when
he was defeated. In 1848 he becarae a
raeraber of the Executive Council, but de
clined to accept any office of eraolument.
He and his friend Mr, Wilraot were strongly
censured by raany members of the Liberal
Party for entering the Governraent, which
was a Conservative one. They were charged
with desertion of their principles. The de
fence raade by thera was that their prin
ciples had triumphed upon the accoraplish-
raent of Responsible Government, and that
they were indisposed to wage a mere war
for office.
In 1850 Mr. Fisher attended the faraous
Railway Convention at Portland, as a dele
gate. In 1852 he was appointed a Cora
missioner to codify and consolidate the
statute law of New Brunswick, and to in
quire into the procedure of the Courts of
Law and Equity, and into the law of evi
dence. In 1854 he was again elected for
York, and thenceforward continued to rep
resent that constituency in the Asserably
until 1865. In 1855 he was created a
Queen's Counsel. At the 'general election
of 1857, the Government of the day was
defeated on an appeal to the country, and
Mr. Fisher, being on the winning side, en
tered the new Governraent as Attorney-
General. He held office about four years,
when, in 1861, he resigned both his office
and his seat in the Government, in con
sequence of certain land troubles in which
he was involved. He retained his seat as a
private meraber. He espoused the Confe
deration project with ranch fervour, and
attended the Quebec Conference in 1864 as
a delegate on behalf of his native Province.
His Union proclivities cost him his seat for
York at the election of 1865 ; but he was
reelected in March, 1866, and -sat in the As
sembly for his old constituency until the

Union. He accepted office as Attorney-
General in the Governraent which, in 1866,
succeeded the Anti-Confederate Govern
ment led by the Hon. (now Sir) Albert
James Smith, and retained office until Con
federation was accoraplished. He attended
the final Conference in London to secure
the passage of the British North Araerica
Act in 1866-67. Eight years prior to this
tirae (in 1858) he had visited England as
the co-delegate of the Hon. Albert Jaraes
Sraith, on business connected with the In
tercolonial Railway. At the first election
after Confederation he was returned to the
House of Coraraons for the county of York,
and sat until the 3rd of October, 1868, when
he was appointed a Puisn^ Judge of the
Supreme Court of New Brunswick, on the
appointraent of his old colleague, Lemuel
Allan Wilmot to the Lieutenant-Governor
ship of the Province. On the 14th of Oc
tober, 1868, he was appointed Judge of the
Court of Divorce and Matriraonial Causes
for New Brunswick. Frora that date down
to the raonth of December last he continued
to discharge his judicial duties with great
efficiency. He was painstaking and con
scientious, rather than profoundly learned
or brilliant, but he was an exceedingly well-
read lawyer, and in constitutional law he
was regarded as the highest authority in
New Brunswick. In private life he was
an exceedingly kind and amiable raan. His
death was a sudden and great surprise, for
up to two or three days before he passed
away he was apparently in the enjoyment
of excellent health, and it was believed that
years of unpretending usefulness were still
before him. True, he had passed by nearly
two years the allotted terra of three score
and ten, but he carae of one of the old
patriarchal farailies of New Brunswick,
and it is by no means uncoraraon to find
members of those families in the enjoyment
of good health and considerable vigour at
fourscore. The Judge was a raan of fine

THE HON. CHARLES FISHER, AM., D.C.L.

203

physical development, robust constitution,
and regular domestic habits, so that there
was every reason to predict that he would
live to an advanced age. As matter of fact,
such a prediction was often made by the
Judge's friends, and it would doubtless have
been verified but for accidental causes.
During the first week of December last he
caught a severe cold, which settled upon
his lungs, and produced an exhausting in-
flamraation, to which he rapidly succurabed.
He died at his home in Fredericton on the
morning of the 8th of December, 1880.
At the time of his death he was a raera
ber of the Senate of the University of New
Brunswick, and an honorary member of the
New Brunswick Provincial Teachers' Insti
tute. He received the honorary degree of
D.C.L. from the University of New Bruns
wick in 1866. He was an extensive reader,
and had a finely cultivated mind. He was
an open-handed, large-hearted man, a warm
friend and a generous opponent. As law
yer, politician and private citizen, he de
served well of his native Province, and of
his country.
Frora the foregoing outline it will be
apparent that Charles Fisher played an im
portant part in the public life of his native
Province for an exceptionally long period.
That he played it with credit is sufficiently
proved by the high and honourable posi
tion to which he attained during his life.

and by the numerous laudatory tributes to
his memory from persons of all shades of
political opinion after his death. " He was
a Liberal," says a local organ of opinion, " in
the largest and true meaning of the word.
He was a thorough believer in the right of
the people to rule and in popular institu
tions of every kind. He favoured vote by
ballot, municipal institutions, railways, free
schools, and constitutional rule. He was a
born loyalist, every impulse of his soul being
in the direction of the support of British
laws and institutions. He was also a great
lover of the Protestant faith in which he
had been educated, while he exercised the
largest charity towards all who differed
from him in religious opinion. It raay
truthfully be said of Charles Fisher that he
was an ardent lover of his Province. His
public career covered all the time within
which the great improvements of the age
have been worked out, and his brain aided
to secure many of these for the benefit of
his fellow-citizens of New Brunswick. He
was certainly the first constitutional lawyer
among New Brunswickers, The institu
tions which he was instrumental in secur
ing for our Province he was ever ready to
defend. Although so much of his life was
spent in the public service, he was a well-
read lawyer, and his judgments were gener
ally based on the broad principles of equity
and justice."

THE HON. CHARLES CLARKE,
SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO.

LIEUTENANT -COLONEL CLARKE
was born in the grand old cathedral city
of Lincoln, England, within sound of the fa
mous bell known as "Great Tom," on the
28th of November, 1826. In his boyhood
he was the pupil of Mr. — now the. Rev. —
Thomas Cooper, well known from his connec-'
tion with the Chartist movement, and conse
quent imprisonment in Stafford jail and
likely to be known to future generations by
his remarkable epic poem, " The Purgatory
of Suicides." Mr. Clarke received his more
advanced education at Waddington, in Lin
colnshire, under the tuition of Mr. George
Boole, who is known as the author of several
raatheraatical works, and who becarae first
Professor of Mathematics in Queen's College,
Cork, Ireland. After completing his educa
tion he served his apprenticeship as a draper
with Mr. John Norton of Lincoln, a promi
nent Radical, a warm advocate of Free Trade,
and a personal friend of John Bright and
Richard Cobden. Brought up amid such in
fluences, it is not to be wondered at that
Mr. Clarke early imbibed advanced ideas on
social, comraercial and political questions.
At the time when he was expanding frora
boyhood to youth, England was agitated
frora end to end on the questions of un
restricted coraraerce with foreign nations
and the abolition of the Corn Laws. He
was even in those early days an ardent be
liever in Free Trade and the rights of the
people, and the years that have since passed

over his head have witnessed no abate-
raent of his ardour. He is a Liberal of the
Liberals. Some of his family connections having
eraigrated to Canada in 1843, he followed
during the next year, settling in the town
ship of Canboro', in the Niagara District.
Here he gave hiraself up to f arraing pursuits
for about four years, when, in 1848, having
suffered for sorae time from fever and ague,
then comraon in that part of the country,
he took up his residence in Hamilton. Hav
ing found commercial employment there,
he amused himself by writing two or three
contributions for the press descriptive of
the scenery in the neighbourhood of Flora,
where some of his faraily connections re
sided, and where he had been a frequent
visitor. The wild and rugged beauty of that
region afforded, and still affords, a suitable
therae for a writer endowed with graphic
power of description, and Mr. Clarke's
contributions attracted the attention of the
editor of the Hamilton Journal and Ex
press. He was invited to contribute other
articles, and the connection led to his en
gagement as sub-editor of that paper. The
Journal and Express was a faithful sup
porter of the Baldwin-Lafontaine Adminis
tration (which was then in power) although
opposed to radical reforms. The young jour
nalist in a few months obtained full control
of its editorial columns, and launched into
the advocacy of measures which were then

THE HON. CHARLES CLARKE.

205

thought to be altogether in advance of the
tiraes, but most of which have since been
engrafted upon the statute-book, and are
now defended by Reformers and Conserva
tives alike.
The times were stirring. Europe was
moved to its foundations with democratic
excitement. Old institutions were falling
with a crash in every direction, and it would
have been indeed strange had the raove
raent in favour of extended reforras not
reached Canada. The young editor found
the work upon a semi- weekly journal in-
.sufficient for his energies. Thoughts were
breathing within hira that raust flnd a
burning expression by means of some other
channel. In 1850 he contributed, under
the pseudonym of " Ref ormator," a series of
letters to the Toronto Mirror, the organ of
the Irish Roraan Catholic party, then edited
by Dr. Joseph Workman. These letters at
tracted considerable attention, as their radi
calism was of the raost pronounced char
acter, and were generally attributed to the
pen of Dr. John Rolph. They were widely
copied, and freely coraraented upon by the
Reforra press. Mr. Clarke's connection with
the Harailton Journal and Express terrai-
nated in 1850, when he reraoved to Flora,
and shortly afterwards engaged in raercan
tile pursuits. He still, however, continued
to write for the press, and was requested by
Mr. — now the Hon. — William McDougall,
then editing the North American, to prepare
a series of articles for that paper. He fur
nished these under the heading of " Planks
of our Platform," each article dealing with
one of the reforras then advocated by the
editor. About this time also he contributed
to the Dundas Banner, Paris Sta,r, Toronto
Examiner and other Reform journals.
In 1852, a weekly newspaper, the Back
woodsman, was comraenced in Elora, by a
joint-stock corapany. Mr. Clarke acted as
its political editor for sorae time, persistent
ly defending the interests of the settlers.

who were then filling up the country from
the Grand River to Lake Huron, His pen
was always employed in defence of Reform
principles. The Backwoodsman obtained a
fair circulation, and continued to exist for
some years, doing a fair share of work in
determining the political bias of the locality.
In 1852, he married Emma, daughter of Mr.
Jaraes Kent, of Selkirk, in the county of
Haldimand. Until the time of her death in
1878, Mrs. Clarke was truly a helpmeet.
She was possessed of remarkable activity of
body, was a clear and incisive thinker, a
pleasant but not profuse conversationist,
and a mother araong ten thousand. Her
broad coraraon-sense views, and her cheerful
application of thera in the affairs of every
day life, were of service to her husband in
facing many of the inevitable difficulties
that arise during every long and busy pub
lic life. ¦ By this marriage Mr. Clarke had
five children. His only son, Charles Kirk,
is now a resident physician at the Hamilton
Asylum for the Insane.
In 1857 Elora was incorporated, and Mr.
Clarke was elected to the first Council.
Next year he was appointed Reeve, and for
many years thereafter he occupied a seat
in the County Council of Wellington. He
was norainated for Warden, but owing to
sectional political differences he was de
feated by one vote. He acted as a School
Trustee for raany years, and is now a mem
ber of the Elora High School Board, tak
ing a warm interest in educational progress.
While occupying a seat in the County Coun
cil he was a constant supporter of public
improvements, and largely assisted in carry
ing out the systera of gravel roads which
did so ranch to develop the raaterial interests
of Wellington. He has taken a fair share,
too, in the support of the various railway
projects brought before the people of the
county. In August, 1861, he was appointed Lieu
tenant in a Volunteer Rifle Company formed

206

THE HON. CHARLES CLARKE.

in Elora. In 1866 he rose to the Captaincy,
having served about three months at Chat
ham and Point Edward previous to and
during the Fenian Raid. He was gazetted
Senior Major of the 30th Wellington Bat
talion of Rifles, upon its formation in Sep
tember of that year. Upon the resignation
of Lieutenant- Colonel Higinbothara, he was
promoted to the coraraand of the Battalion,
and still holds this position. As a military
officer he is highly esteemed by the men
under his coraraand.
Frora his first settleraent in Wellington
he took an active share in politics, and for
raany years acted as Secretary of the Re
forra Association of the North Riding. At
the general election in 1871, he was unani
mously nominated by a Reforra Convention
as candidate for the representation of Centre
Wellington in the Ontario Legislature. He
was elected over his opponent, Mr. Alex
ander McLaren, by a raajority of 674, re
placing a Conservative who had previously
represented the constituency. In 1875 he
was elected by acclaraation, and in 1879 was
reelected by a raajority of 660, his oppo
nent having obtained a trifiing raajority in
only two of the polling sub-divisions of the
Riding. During his Parliaraentary career Mr.
Clarke has introduced and carried several
bills dealing with raatters of interest to the
farraing community, among which may be
enuraerated the Insectivorous Birds Bill,
and a Bill for the protection of life and limb
frora accidents in connection with threshing
machines. He however directed his particu
lar attention to the question of the Ballot.
In 1873 he brought in a Bill providing for

the use of the secret vote at parliamentary
elections, and succeeded in securing its sec
ond reading by a large majority. The Gov
ernraent requested hira to withdraw this
Bill, proraising to deal with the question
during the following session, and, believing
that a raatter of so ranch iraportance ought
to be in the hands of the leader of the
House, he consented. In the following ses
sion, Mr. Mowat proposed a coraprehensive
raeasure, which became law, and was fol
lowed by another, extending the Ballot to
municipal elections. Colonel Clarke acted
as permanent Chairman of the House in
the Third Parliament, and as Chairman of
Standing Comraittee on Public Accounts for
three sessions. On the re-opening of Par
liaraent in 1880, he was norainated for the
Speakership by the Preraier, seconded by
the Hon. R. M. Wells, the retiring Speaker,
and supported by Mr. Meredith, the leader
of the Opposition, who expressed confidence
in the selection raade by the Governraent
and the House.
Socially, Colonel Clarke is uniformly
obliging to all, and is to-day as highly re
spected as any man in the county of Wel
lington. He is remarkably fond of a joke,
and enjoys it, even if told at his own ex
pense. He has a liking for natural science
and art, and is generally well-informed. He
is a keen observer of raen and things, quick
at repartee, and sharp as a needle. He is
somewhat given to satire, and has been
known to alienate acquaintances by his
impromptu sarcastic remarks and home
thrusts. As a rule, however, he is a genial
companion, of kindly feelings, and is chari
table in thought, word and deed.

HENRY JAMES MORGAN,
KEEPER OF THE RECORDS, CANADA.

MR. MORGAN was born in the city of
Quebec, on the 14th of November,
1842. His father, who had served in the
army, died when the subject of this sketch
was only four years of age, leaving his widow
in straitened circumstances. The son was
taken from school by his mother when he
was eleven years of age to enter the public
service, which he did at the foot of the lad
der. He was self-reliant, and lost no oppor
tunity of improving his mind and condition.
He attended night-school, passed the civil
service exaraination, and, thanks to Sir John
, Macdonald and the late Chief Justice Harri
son, obtained his proraotion. Leaving the
civil service in 1861, he attended the Arts
course of Morrin College, Quebec, and later
on, he followed the law course at McGill,
supporting hiraself and his mother the while
by his contributions to the press. He was
called to the Bar of Quebec and to that of
Ontario in the sarae year. Prior to this lat
ter event he had become Private Secretary
to the Hon. Isaac Buchanan, who was Presi
dent of the Council in the Tach6-Macdonald
Adrainistration, and on the retirement of
that gentleman he was appointed Private
Secretary to the Hon. William McDougall,
C.B., who held the office of Provincial
Secretary in the Coalition Governraents of
Tache-Macdonald and Belleau- Macdonald.
When Confederation was accoraplished Mr.
Morgan was appointed to the Department
of State, to which branch of the public

service he still belongs. In 1868, during
the prevalence of the Texan cattle plague,
he proceeded to the Western States as a
Coramissioner to report on the nature and
extent of the disease, a duty he successfully
performed, in company with Professor Gam-
gee, of London, who had been charged with
a sirailar raission by the British authorities.
In October, 1873, he was appointed to the
charge of the public records of Canada,
which, by law, are under the care and con
trol of the Secretary of State. He took
charge of the State records lying at Ottawa,
and proceeding to Montreal, reraoved from
there to the capital all the ancient and his
torical records which had been lying in
the vaults of the old Government House in
Montreal for raany years — sorae of them
since the Conquest. The whole, which forms
a very respectable collection in size, is now
being assorted, classified and indexed. In
1875 Mr. Morgan attained to the rank of
Chief Clerk in the Civil Service, with the
title of Keeper of the Records, he being the
first to hold that office in Canada.
Mr. Morgan is best known by his published
works. He began writing when young, for
he was Parliamentary correspondent to an
Eastern journal during the session of 1858,
at Toronto. He also served in a similar
capacity at Quebec and Ottawa, and has
filled the editorial chair of two daily papers.
He was associated with the late Chief Jus
tice Harrison in editing The Poker, a hu-

208

HENRY JAMES MORGAN.

raorous weekly paper published at Toronto.
He has also contributed to the British
American Magazine, Johnson's Universal
Cyclopcedia, Appleton's New American Cy
clopaedia, etc.
In 1860 he published his first volurae,
being an account of the tour of the Prince
of Wales through Canada and the United
States. It was well received by the press,
and had the additional merit of earning for
the author the thanks of Her Majesty the
Queen, of the late Prince Consort, and of
the Prince of Wales. The late Duke of
Newcastle and General Bruce, who accom
panied the Prince on his visit, testified in
private letters to Mr. Morgan to the accu
racy, taste and care with which the book
had been prepared.
" Sketches of Celebrated Canadians and
Persons connected with Canada" followed
in 1862. This was an 8vo volume of nearly
800 pages, and was a more ambitious effort.
Notwithstanding some blemishes and draw
backs, due chiefly to the youth and inex
perience of the author, this book possesses
many merits, the chief of which is that it
furnishes a readable account of eminent and
notable Canadians of the past — mission
aries, warriors, judges, statesraen, authors,
officials and teachers. In the same year
Mr. Morgan, after consultation with Cap
tain Dod, commenced the publication of
The Canadian Parliamentary Companion,
modelled on the same plan as the English
work. The Companion was continued an
nually by Mr. Morgan up to 1876, when he
disposed of the copyright to the present pro
prietor. In Mr. Morgan's hands it became
widely known throughout the country, and
was acknowledged as a trustworthy author
ity on raatters parliaraentary, political and
official. Mr. Morgan's magnum opus is his " Bib-
liotheca Canadensis, or a Manual of Cana
dian Literature,'' which after long and ardu
ous labour, lasting five years, was published

in 1867. It is the only coraplete biblio
graphical work yet published in Canada —
Faribault's being only, as its name indicates,
a catalogue. Many leading literary raen
and periodicals of Europe and Araerica have
borne testimony to the great value of Mr.
Morgan's labour and researches. His next
publication was "The Canadian Legal Di
rectory," which embraced a full and authen
tic account of the several courts of law,
their forms and proceedings, with the names
of the members of the legal profession, and
biographical sketches of the raerabers of the
Judiciary. It was published in 1878,- and
was a successful venture. In 1879 Mr.
Morgan began to publish " The Dorainion
Annual Register and Review," of which two
voluraes have already appeared. Both of
thera are highly creditable to Mr. Morgan's
industry and discriraination, and will be in
dispensable ' to the future historian of Can
ada. They have received very high and
well -deserved encoraiums from the pre.ss,
and from leading writers and statesmen.
Mr. Morgan was also editor of a book, pub
lished in 1864, bearing the title of "The
Industrial Politics of America," embracing
the opinions of Mr. Isaac Buchanan, then
M.P. for Hamilton, in behalf of Protection
to Horae Industries; and of a lecture, printed
in pamphlet forra in 1866, on " The Place
British Araericans have won in History."
This lecture was widely read and quoted
frora, and won for the lecturer unraeasured
praise from the Canadian press.
Mr. Morgan is a corresponding member of
the Historical Societies of Buffalo, Quebec
and New York, and of the Araerican Geo
graphical Society; a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Northern Antiquaries of Den
mark ; and one of seven honorary Fellows
of the Royal Colonial Institute of England.
Mr. Morgan married in 1873, Emily, sec
ond daughter of the Hon. Albert Norton
Richards, Q.C, Lieutenant-Governor of the
Province of British Columbia.

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER DUNKIN, Q.C, D.C.L.

JUDGE DUNKIN was an Englishman
by birth, descent, and early education.
He was born on the 24th of September, 1811,
and was educated first at the University of
London, and afterwards at the Glasgow Uni
versity. He eraigrated to the United States
while still a young man, and completed his
educational training at Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was after
wards for a short time a teacher of Greek in
that institution. Not long before the re
bellion he reraoved to Lower Canada, and
was for some time engaged in journalism in
Montreal. He edited the Morning Chronicle
of that city from the month of May, 1837, to
the suramer of 1838. In the last-named
year he was appointed Secretary to the
Education Commission under the Earl of
Durham, who arrived in Canada in May, as
Governor-General and Lord High Commis
sioner " for the adjustment of certain im
portant affairs affecting the Provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada." After serving
for sorae tirae on the Education Commis
sion Mr. Dunkin was appointed Secretary
of the Post Office Commission, In 1839 he
contributed to the North American Re
view, published at Boston, Massachusetts, a
thoughtful paper on British American poli
tics. Upon the consuraraation of the Union
of 1841, he was appointed Assistant Secre
tary for Lower Canada, a position which he
retained until the raonth of May, 1847. He
had raeanwhile studied law in the office of
IV— 28

the late Mr. Alexander Buchanan, Q.C, of
Montreal, and afterwards in the office of
Mr. Francis Godschall Johnson, now a
Puisnd Judge of the Suprerae Court of the
Province of Quebec. In 1846 he was called
to the Bar of the Lower Province, and in
May of the following year he resigned his
Assistant Secretaryship in order to devote
himself exclusively to his profession. He
practised for some years in Montreal, in
partnership with Messieurs William CoUis
Meredith (the present Chief Justice of the
Superior Court of Quebec) and Strachan
Bethune, Q.C.
At the general election of 1844 he was
an unsuccessful candidate for the represen
tation of the county of Drumraond in the
Canadian Assembly. His successful com
petitor was Mr. R. N. Watts. He did not
again seek Parliamentary honours until the
general election of 1857, when he was re
turned to the sixth Parliament of Canada
by the electors of Drummond and Artha-
baska. He represented that constituency
in the Assembly until the general election
of 1861, when he was defeated. He then
offered himself to the electors of Brome,
and was returned at the head of the poll.
He sat in the Asserably for the county of
Brome frora January, 1862, until the Union,
when he was returned to the House of
Comraons by acclaraation by the sarae con
stituency. Mr. Dunkin, during his Parliaraentary

210

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER DUNKIN, Q.C, D.C.L.

career, acted with the Conservative Party,
and was always regarded as belonging to
that side of politics, though he conducted
himself with great independence, and record
ed his votes irrespective of Party considera
tions. On the great question of Confedera
tion he differed widely from those with
whom he usually acted. He attacked the
project as immature, faulty in detail, and
likely to lead to embarrassraents and con
fusions worse than those it was designed to
remove. Though suffering from illness at
the time of the Confederation debate, he
made a long and impressive speech wherein
he assailed nearly every proposition of the
Quebec Conference of 1864. Eventually,
however, when it became apparent that
no opposition on his part would be effec
tive in defeating the project, he, during
the session of 1866, avowed his deterraina
tion to assist in raaking the then proposed
Confederation beneficial to the country at
large. He took an active part in raaturing
the necessary preparator}' legislation, and
was one of the raost prorainent advocates
of the educational interests of the minori
ties in both Upper and Lower Canada. In
1867 he was created a Queen's Counsel.
In July, 1867, he was invited by the
Hon. Mr. Chauveau to join the Local Cabi
net of the Province of Quebec. He accept
ed the invitation, and entered the Quebec
Cabinet as Provincial Treasurer. His du
ties in this position were necessarily of
an intricate character, from the unsettled
accounts between the two sections of the
old Province and the Dorainion. In the
negotiations that took place towards the
final adjudication of these claim.s he acted
with considerable deliberation, but it can
not be said that he acted otherwise than
in accordance with his pledge as given in
1866, to exert his utraost influence to raake
the Union a success. He occupied the post
of Provincial Treasurer of Quebec until the
month of Noveraber, 1869, when he accept

ed office in the Dorainion Cabinet as Minis
ter of Agriculture and Statistics. The re
signation of the Hon. (now Sir) John Rose
had left the British population of Quebec
without a representative in the Privy Coun
cil, and Mr. Dunkin, who enjoyed the full
est confidence of his large and influential
constituency, and was held in high personal
esteera by all classes of the community,
was regarded as a fitting substitute for
Mr. Rose. He held office until the 25th of
October, 1871, when he was elevated to a
seat on the Judicial Bench as a Puisne Judge
of the Superior Court of Quebec, as succes
sor to the late Hon. Mr. Justice Short. He
filled that position until his death, which
topk place at his home at Knowlton, near
Montreal, on the 6th of January last. He
was succeeded as Minister of Agriculture by
the gentleman who now holds that office —
the Hon. John Henry Pope.
As a legislator Mr. Dunkin obtained wide
recognition by the Act (respecting the sale
of intoxicating liquors and the issue of
licenses therefor) which is commonly coup
led with his narae, but which is raore cor
rectly intituled the Canada Temperance
Act of 1864. This important measure has
since been frequently amended, and portions
of it have been repealed. Such clauses of
it as are still in force are erabodied in the
Canada Teraperance Act of 1878. A Cana
dian writer portraying Mr. Dunkin during
his tenure of office as Minister of Agricul
ture referred in the following terras to
that gentleraan's career as a legislator : " In
proportion to his physical strength, Mr.
Dunkin is a man of extraordinary mental
energy. As a Parliamentary debater he is
distinguished by the closeness of his reason
ing ; in fact, he has sometimes been regard
ed as reasoning so closely as to demolish
both sides of the question, and leave his
audience in utter perplexity. The elabora
tion of detail, which is a characteristic of
the legal mind, frequently obscures the

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER DUNKIN, Q.C, D.C.L.

211

main feature of an argument in the view of
less carefully trained intellects, and thus
usually the best lawyers are considered
'hair splitters' when they enter into the
discussion of political questions. Mr. Dun
kin did not escape this imputation on his
first entry into public life, and has, perhaps,
scarcely yet lived it down. But his course
on public questions has given evidence of
statesraanlike capacity, as well as of patri
otic devotion to the public good. He has
been to the Lower Canada Conservatives
soraewhat as the Hon. J. S. Macdonald to
the Upper Canada Reforraers — of the Party
by association and conviction, but raaintain-
ing his own peculiar views."
As a lawyer and judge he was conspicuous
for his coraprehensive knowledge of French,
as well as English, law and practice. He
was regarded by his brother judges and by
the profession at large as one of the raost
learned and large-minded men on the Bench
of the Lower Province.
In addition to the papers already men
tioned, the subject of this sketch published
an address delivered at the Bar of the Legis
lative Assembly of Canada on behalf of cer

tain proprietors of Seignories against the
second reading of the Bill intituled "An Act
to define Seignorial Rights in Lower Can
ada, and to facilitate the redemption there
of." This was published at Quebec in 1863.
In 1855 he published at Montreal the "Case
(in part) of the Seigniors of Lower Canada,
submitted to the Judges of the Court of
Queen's Bench and of the Superior Court
for Lower Canada."
Mr. Dunkin married Miss Mary Barber,
daughter of the late Dr. Jonathan Barber,
afterwards of McGill University, Montreal.
He held various offices of dignity. He was
President of the Shakspeare Club of Mont
real, and a meraber of the Council of Public
Instruction. He was also an active promoter
of the volunteer raoveraent, and in 1866
issued a " raeraorandura " relative to the
railitia systera. From 1856 to 1859 he was
Lieutenant -Colonel of the Montreal Light
Infantry; and from Septeraber, 1866, to
June, 1872, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the
52nd ("Bedford") Battalion of V. I. He
was also a Governor of McGill University,
Montreal, and a Trustee of St. Francis Col
lege, Richmond, P.Q.

THE HON. LIEUT.-COL. J. G. BLANCHET, M.D.,
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

DR. BLANCHET is a descendant of an
old French family which settled in
this country at an early period of our his
tory, and has ever since resided in the Prov
ince of Quebec. His father was the late
Louis Blanchet, of St. Pierre, Riviere du
Sud, and he hiraself was born there on the
7th of June, 1829. He received his edu
cation at the Quebec Seminary, and at the
Ste. Anne College. He chose to devote hira
self to the medical profession, and upon
completing his professional studies he set
tled down to practice as a physician at the
town of Levis — commonly known as Point
Levi — on the southern shore of the St.
Lawrence River, opposite Quebec. He en
joyed a successful professional career, and
acquired much popularity among his fel
low-townsmen, who elected him Mayor of
the town on six different occasions. In the
month of August, 1850, he married Emilie,
daughter of M. G. D. Balzaretti, of Milan,
in Italy. In politics Dr. Blanchet has always
acted with the Conservative Party. He
first aspired to political honours in 1857,
when he unsuccessfully contested the rep
resentation of the town of L^vis in the
Canadian Asserably. At the general elec
tion of 1861 he raade the attempt a second
time, and was successful. He thenceforth
represented Levis in the Assembly until
Confederation. At the first general election
under the Union he was returned by accla

raation to the House of Commons by his
old constituents in Ldvis ; and at the elec
tion for the Local Legislature of the Prov
ince of Quebec he was also returned at the
head of the poll for Levis. Dual representa
tion was then permissible, and Dr. Blanchet
occupied a seat in both Legislatures until
the passing of the Act prohibiting such
a course in 1874, when he resigned his. seat
in the Comraons in order to reraain in the
Local Asserably, in which he had ever since
the meeting of the first Parliament after
the Union occupied the position of Speaker.
At the general election held in the following
year (1875) for the Local Parliament he was
defeated. During the same year the Hon.
Telesphore Fournier, the representative of
the county of Bellechasse in the House of
Commons, was raised to the Bench of the
Suprerae Court, and a vacancy was thus left
in the representation of that constituency.
Dr. Blanchet presented himself to the elec
tors, and was returned on the 23rd of No
vember. He sat for Bellechasse until the
close of the Third Parliament. At the
general election held on the I7th of Sep
tember, 1878, he offered hiraself as a candi
date for the Coraraons to the electors of
L4vis, in opposition to Mr. L. H. Frechette,
whora he defeated by a raajority of 118
votes. He now sits in the House for Levis.
Upon the asserabling of the Fourth Parlia
ment on the 13th of February, 1879, he was
norainated by Sir John Macdonald, the

Iiili})yRi^bS!iiffliinTir™i..APDiftoM7WJ.7ii[.iiy,(>rt«.a.

1 BJifa6mu.Bihlifllier, loro at.-

THE HON. LIEUT.-COL. JOSEPH GODERIC BLANCHET, M.D.

213

Preraier, for the office of Speaker of the
Commons, and the nomination was seconded
by the Hon. (now Sir) Samuel Leonard
Tilley. The Preraier spoke in high terras
of Dr. Blanchet's qualifications for the post,
and Mr. Mackenzie, leader of the Opposi
tion, in commenting upon the nomination,
said there was no gentleman on the Minis
terial side of the House in whom he and his
friends on the Opposition benches would
have greater confidence.
In 1863 Dr. Blanchet raised the 17th
Battalion of Volunteer Infantry, of which
he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and

which he has ever since coraraanded. He
also commanded the Third Administrative
Battalion in frontier service during the St.
Alban's Raid in 1865, and was in cora
raand of the Active Militia Force on the
south shore of the St. Lawrence, Quebec
District, during the Fenian Raid in 1866,
and again in 1870, In 1871 he was elected
President of the Cercle de Quebec, and in
1872 he was elected President of the Levis
and Kennebec Railway. In 1873 he was
appointed a raeraber of the Catholic section
of the Council of Public Instruction for the
Province of Quebec.

THE HON. CHRISTOPHER S. PATTERSON.

CHRISTOPHER SALMON PATTER-
\J SON coraes of Irish stock, but was
born in London, England — where his par
ents at that tirae resided — in the year 1823.
He received his priraary education in Lon
don, and afterwards attended the Royal
Academical Institution, Belfast, Ireland.
He emigrated to Canada in 1845, when he
was in his twenty-second year, and settled
at the town of Picton, in the county of
Prince Edward, Canada West. He irarae-
diately afterwards entered upon the study
of the legal profession in the office of Mr.
Philip Low, Q.C, at Picton, and reraained
there until the expiration of his articles.
He was adraitted as an Attorney on the 7th
of Septeraber, 1850. In Hilary Terra of
the following year he was called to the Bar
of Upper Canada, and iraraediately after
wards forraed a partnership with his former
principal, Mr. Low, and settled down to
practice at Picton. This partnership lasted
until the year 1856, when the subject of
this sketch removed to Toronto, and entered
into partnership with Mr. Adara Wilson
(the present Judge of the Court of Queen's
Bench) and Mr. Jaraes Beaty, Q.C, the style
of the firra being Wilson, Patterson & Beaty.
The firra enjoyed a large and profitable
business of the best class, and had a very
large agency connection. Upon Mr. Wilson's
elevation to the Judicial Bench, in May,
1863, the style of the firm becarae Patterson
& Beaty, and afterwards underwent various

raodifications. In 1866 Mr. Patterson be
came a Bencher of the Law Society of Up
per Canada, and in 1871, when the Act
carae into operation whereby Benchers were
elected by the profession at large, he was
elected to that dignity. During the last-
mentioned year he was also appointed a
meraber of the Law Reforra Coraraission.
In 1872 he was created a Queen's Counsel.
On the 6th of June, 1874, he was elevated
to the Bench as a Ju.stice of the Court of
Appeal — a position which he has ever since
filled. In the auturan of 1877 he was ap
pointed a Commissioijier to investigate and
report upon certain charges of partiality
and official misconduct which had been
raade against the Central Coraraittee of
Examiners of the Educational Department
of Ontario. The investigation occupied
several weeks, and rendered necessary the
examination of a large nuraber of wit
nesses, including several of the leading
publishers of Toronto. Judge Patterson's
report fully exonerated the Coraraittee frora
the charges which had been brought against
thera. In 1853, while engaged in practice at
Picton, he raarried Miss Mary Dickson, a
daughter of the late Mr. Andrew Dickson,
of Glenconway, in the county of Antrim,
Ireland. He is known as an industrious,
painstaking, and well-read lawyer, and his
decisions inspire the respect due to his dig
nified position.

JACQUES CARTIER.

AN account of the life of Jacques Cartier
cannot be omitted from a work de
voted to Canadian biography, and had there
been any attempt to preserve chronological
order it must have appeared very early in
the first volume, instead of at the end of
the fourth. To Jacques Cartier belongs the
honour of being the first European to ex
plore the interior of the land upon the coast
of which Cabot and his companions had
merely set foot, and for this reason he is
rightly accredited with being the real dis
coverer of Canada.
But little is known with respect to his
early life. He was born at the ancient sea
port town of St. Malo, in Brittany; that
nursery of intrepid mariners, which Mr.
Parkman describes as "thrust out like a
buttress into the sea, strange and grim of
aspect, breathing war from its wall and bat
tlements of ragged stone — a stronghold of
privateers, the home of a race whose in
tractable and defiant independence neither
time nor change has subdued." It had been
the home of the Cartier family for raany
years. The presuraed date of the birth of
the discoverer of Canada is the 31st of De
cember, 1494. His youth, like that of raany
of his adventurous contemporaries, seeras to
have been passed chiefly on the water, and
it is conjectured that he had made several
voyages to the Banks of Newfoundland be
fore he engaged in the raore extended enter
prises which were destined to gain for him a
patent of nobility, and to transmit his narae

to a reraote posterity. While still young
he married the Demoiselle Catherine des
Granches, with whose hand he seems to have
acquired some property of raore or less value
in the neighbourhood of St. Malo. Not much
is definitely known as to his achievements,
however, until he was about forty years of
age, when he was despatched by Phillippe
de Chabot-Brion, Admiral of France, acting
for King Francis I., on a voyage of discovery
to the western world.
The discovery of the American continent
led to the settlement of those colonies in
Mexico and Peru which proved so fruitful
a source of wealth to Spain, and the ac
counts of which so effectually aroused the
enterprise of other European Powers. The
achieveraents of Cortez and Pizarro more
or less inflamed the cupidity of every mon
arch in Europe. Among others, Francis I., of
France, determined upon securing a share of
the spoil. He resolved to found an Ameri
can colony which should in the first place
serve to deplete his kingdom of its surplus
population, and which might eventually
contribute to fill his treasury with the newly-
discovered raineral wealth of the New
World. In 1524 John Verazzano was de
spatched across the Atlantic on a voyage of
discovery. That intrepid navigator coasted
along the seaboard of the greater part of
what is now the United States, and took
norainal possession of the territory on be
half of his sovereign. To hira the world is
indebted for the earliest "written description

216

JACQUES CARTIER.

known to exist of the coasts which he ex
plored. He seems to have made a second
voyage next year, with rather barren results,
after which an interval of nearly ten years
elapsed without any further atterapts at
western colonization on behalf of France.
In 1534 Jacques Cartier was sent on an ex
pedition sirailar to that previously under
taken by Verazzano.
He sailed for Newfoundland frora St.
Malo on the 20th of April, with a view to
exploring the unknown expanse beyond the
fishing-grounds. He passed through the
Straits of Belle Isle, and advanced up the
St. Lawrence to within sight of Anticosti,
He had no doubt that the raighty streara
upon which he was erabarked connected
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and that
he had at last discovered the true western
route to India and China. The weather,
however, was very storray, and he was not
provisioned for an extended voyage ; so,
after luring two young Indians frora the
raainland on board his vessel, he set sail for
France, resolving to return with more thor
ough equipment? in the following spring.
The spring of 1535 was far advanced be
fore he started on his second voyage. On
the 1 9th of May, in that year, he set sail
with his officers and crew in a little fleet
consisting of three vessels, the largest of
which was only of 120 tons burthen.
"In the seaport of St. Malo 'twas a smiling morn in
May,
When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the west
ward sailed away ; '
In the crowded old cathedral all the town were on
their knees
For the safe return of kinsmen from the undiscov
ered seas ;
And every autumn blast that swept o'er pinnacle
and pier,
Fill'd many hearts with sorrow, and gentle hearts
with fear."
So sings, or sang, the late Thoraas D'Arcy
McGee. The hardy raariners crossed the ocean in

safety, and again ascended the St. Lawrence,
past the Island of Anticosti, past the frown
ing cliffs which guard the entrance to the
Saguenay, and early in Septeraber anchored
in a quiet channel between a richly-wooded
island and the northern bank of the river.
The foliage of the trees on this island was
alraost hidden from view by innumerable
dark clusters of fast ripening grapes, for
which reason Cartier named it the Isle of
Bacchus. It is now called the Island of
Orleans. Here he disembarked and went
ashore, accompanied by his officers and part
of his crew, and by the two young natives
whom he had captured on his forraer voy
age. The favourable account given by the
latter — whose naraes were Taignoagny and
Doraagaya — of the treatment they had re
ceived from their captors at once gained for
the explorers the good-will of the Indians,
who came flocking about them in great num
bers. Next day the native potentate, whose
name was Donnacona, attended by his fol
lowers in twelve canoes, paid Cartier a visit
in state, and the interview was marked by
mutual protestations of friendship. Having
thus established amicable relations with the
natives, Cartier proceeded up the river in a
small boat in search of a secure place of
anchorage for his little fleet. He ascended
to the head of the island, and there beheld
"a raighty promontory, rugged and bare"
looming before him, with a primitive In
dian village at its base. The village was
Donnacona's capital, and occupied the site
now covered by St. Roque and St. John, two
districts of Quebec. It consisted merely of
a few rude wigwams, and rejoiced in the
name of Stadacona. A short distance up the
stream — now called the St. Charles — which
here joins the St. Lawrence, Cartier found
the desired haven for his ships, which were
forthwith brought up and anchored there.
It is said that when the lofty proraontory
was first beheld by the French sailors they
exclaimed, " Quel bee ! " — " What a beak ! "

JACQUES CARTIER.

217

and thus give rise to the narae " Quebec."
Another derivation, however, seems much
raore probable, and has come to be generally
accepted as the true one.* The word kebec,
in the language of the natives who were
then settled on the banks of the St. Law
rence, signifies " a strait " — and this expres
sion might very properly have been applied
to the narrowing of the river at this point.
After partaking of the Indian prince's hospi
talities, Cartier resolved to proceed up the
St. Lawrence, to Hochelaga, which was de
scribed by the natives as a great city farther
up the river, and a good raany days' jour
ney. Cartier deterrained to pay a visit to
this reraote city, the raore especially as
Donnacona, " the Lord of Stadacona," full
of inward raisgivings concerning these in
trepid white raen frora beyond the great
salt water, urgently aissuaded hira from so
doing. He set sail on the 19th of Septem
ber, 1535, in a pinnace, with two smaller
boats in tow. His crew consisted of twenty-
eight sailors, the two natives, and four
French gentlemen who had accompanied
him on his expedition, one of whora was
Claudius de Ponte Briand, cupbearer to the
Dauphin of France. Upon arriving at the
head of Lake St. Peter they found the water
so shallow that recourse was had to the
small boats. On the 2nd of October the
company landed below the current of St.
Marie, six miles from their intended desti
nation, and on the following raorning made
the rest of the journey on foot. How dif
ferent from a journey over the same ground
at the present day 1 They were one and all
delighted with the variegated appearance
of the country, a great part of which was
covered with stately oak trees resplendent
in their autumn foliage, the ground beneath
being plentifully bestrewn with acorns.
When about two-thirds of the distance had
been traversed they were met by a chief
and a number of natives, with whom they

* See the sketch of Champlain in Vol. I.
IV— 29

held converse through the raediura of the
two Indians, who had by this tirae acquired
sorae knowledge of the French language.-|-
They proceeded towards the village. The
path was well beaten, and they soon eraerged
frora the forest into spacious fields of corn,
by which the village was surrounded on all
sides to the distance of nearly a raile. As
they approached the entrance to the village
they were met by the Agouhanna, " the King
of the country," who was carried aloft on the
shoulders of the natives, and who had come
forth to do homage to his visitors, whora he
believed to be angels sent down by the Great
Spirit to heal the diseases of His children.
Cartier read a portion of the Gospel of St.
John — whereby, it is to be presumed, the na
tives were greatly edified — and offered up a
prayer, after which the party were conduct
ed through the solitary gateway whereby
entrance was effected into the village.
It must have been a queer spot, indeed,
that Indian village of Hochelaga, when first
beheld by Jacques Cartier and the handful
of adventurous Frenchmen who accom
panied hira on his expedition. It was built
after a fashion very different from the vil
lages of Brittany, though subsequent ex
plorers of the territory inhabited by the
Hurons and Iroquois found many others of
sirailar construction. It was circular in
forra, and surrounded by a rude wall. In
front of the rampart were three rows of
strong wooden palisades about eleven feet
in height, which seemed to have been put
together with some rudimentary knowledge
of the principles of fortification. Along
the inside of the two outer rows ran narrow
galleries, accessible by raeans of scaling-
ladders placed at regular intervals of a few
t So say the old chronicles, but there is evidently some
mistake or omission. The two Indian boys did not belong
to the same nation as the inhabitants of Hochelaga, and
must have spoken a different language or dialect. How
then could they have acted as interpreters between the
latter and the Frenchmen ? It is probable that any con
verse which took place was chiefly by signs.

218

JACQUES CARTIER.

yards apart. All along the galleries were
placed piles of stones and knotted clumps
of wood of all sizes, to be used as missiles
in case of an attack upon the place. The
houses, of which there were about fifty,
were of uniform size and pattern. They
are described as being about fifty paces long
by twelve or fifteen broad, and were made
of wood, covered with bark' "as broad as
any board, and cunningly joined together."
They were tunnel-shaped, with court-yards
in the middle, and each contained a suffi
cient number of charabers for the accorarao-
dation of several farailies. The inhabitants
understood the mysteries of bread-making,
and kept their corn, beans, purapkins and
squashes in garrets or upper charabers. The
gate by which ingress and egress to and
frora the enclosure were obtained was rudely,
but strongly, fortified with huge wooden
stakes and bars. Such, according to Jacques
Cartier's description, was the Indian village
of Hochelaga.
After spending several hours in walking
to and fro within the enclosure, and in in
specting the interior of many of the habi
tations, Cartier ascended the mountain and
surveyed the raagniflcent prospect visible
from its surarait. He was much, impressed
by the beauty of the scenery, and christened
the elevation " Mont Royal" — a name which,
in the slightly modified form of " Montreal,"
was subsequently applied to the neighbour
ing city. The Agouhanna, regarding the
Breton raariner and his corapanions as the
direct eraissaries of the Great Spirit, ovSr-
whelraed them with kindness, and entreated
them to prolong their stay ; but Cartier had
seen sufficient to take the keen edge off his
curiosity, and after learning such particulars
respecting the country farther west as the
natives were able to give, he started on his
return to Stadacona about sunset on the
evening of the day of his arrival. Upon
reaching the mouth of the St. Charles —
called by hira the St. Croix — he found his

crew busy constructing a palisade round his
vessels, as it had been deterrained to pass
the winter there.' Before the rigorous sea
son was far advanced a raalignant type of
scurvy broke out araong the Europeans,
which carried off 25 out of the 110 raen
composing the expedition. The disorder
was at last arrested by a decoction of the
bai'k and leaves of the spruce fir, a tree
called by the natives anneda. The hardy
Frenchmen who survived passed a dreary,
miserable winter, and upon the arrival of
spring they prepared to return to France.
Before leaving Stadacona they were guilty
of an act of base treachery and ingratitude,
after the raanner of the explorers of those
times. They had been well treated by the
Indian sovereign, who had extended to them
raany acts of kindness. He had, however,
told Cartier raany strange stories of the
country farther westward, and some of these
narratives were so extraordinary that the
latter was unwilling to stake his reputation
with the French king by retailing thera
without proof. He accordingly resolved to
capture Donnacona and sorae of his chiefs,
and carry thera back with hira to the French
court, where the King could hear all those
marvels frora their own lips. Having lured
thera into an ambuscade, he seized and con
veyed them on board his Vessels, whereupon
the sails were spread, and the expedition
returned to St. Malo, arriving thither on the
the 16th of July, 1536. The inhabitants of
the old seaport raay well have wondered
when they heard the raarvellous tale which
their adventurous fellow-townsraan had to
tell thera.
The luckless captive sovereign and his
chiefs did not long survive their abduction
frora their native wilds. Excellent care,
however, was taken of their souls. "In
due time," says Mr. Parkman, "they had
been baptized, and soon reaped the benefit
of the rite, since they all died within a year
or two."

JACQUES CARTIER.

219

On the 23rd of May, 1541, Cartier, with
a fleet of five vessels, was despatched on a
third expedition to the St. Lawrence. Upon
reaching Stadacona he was asked by the
natives for intelligence of their chief and
the other warriors who had been abducted.
He informed them that Donnacona was
dead, and that the other chiefs had married
wives and deterrained to reraain in the old
world. The latter statement was, as ap
pears from the facts stated above, a false
hood. The Indians, not unnaturally, were
sullen and suspicious, and declined to pro-
raote a European settlement in their coun
try. Cartier accordingly deemed it prudent
to withdraw frora Stadacona, and proceeded
up the river to Cap Rouge, where he built
a sraall fort and passed another uncomfort
able winter. During the following sum
raer he raade occasional incursions into the
surrounding country in search of precious
metals. He found only a few small speci
mens of gold in the beds of some of the
rivulets, and a few small diamonds on the
promontory where the citadel subsequently
arose. His supplies soon ran short, and he
once more made up his mind to return to
France. Putting into the harbour of St.
John, Newfoundland, he encountered the
Sieur de Roberval — who had been appointed
Governor of New France — accompanied by
nearly 200 people, whom he had brought
out to forra the nucleus of a colony. Car-
tier continued his homeward journey, and
arrived safely at his destination. This was
his last western voyage, or at any rate the
last as to which any positive information
has corae down to us. It is said by sorae
writers that during the auturan of 1543 he
returned to the assistance of Roberval, but
the evidence on this point is to say the least
doubtful. All that is certainly known as
to his subsequent career is that Francis I.
granted him a patent of nobility, and created
him Seigneur of Limoilou ; and that he died,
leaving no issue behind hira, in 1554. His

seignorial raansion, a rude stone structure,
still stands alraost intact in the outskirts of
the village of Limoilou, in the neighbour
hood of St. Malo.
There is no evidence that Hochelaga was
ever again seen by European eyes for many
years after the date of Cartier's visit. The
statement to be found in guide-books and
elsewhere to the effect that the place was
settled by a small colony from Brittany in
1542 is entirely without foundation. When
Samuel Champlain visited the spot, in 1603,
he found it deserted, and he shortly after
wards learned that the tribe which had for
raerly inhabited it had been exterrainated
by their eneraies. When he again visited
the neighbourhood in 1611 he found the
village occupied by the Hurons, who had
forraed a treaty with the Algonquins to re
sist the continual incursions of the warlike
Iroquois. So that even the narae of the
tribe to which Jacques Cartier's entertain
ers belonged is unknown. From certain
peculiarities in their language and architec
ture it is presumable that they were an off
shoot or kindred tribe of the Hurons, but
nothing definite is known as to their origin
or subsequent history. The name of their
village survives, being perpetuated by the
name of an eastern suburb of Montreal, and
by the narae of the county in which it
is situated. If it were perraitted to Jacques
Cartier to revisit the scenes of sorae of his
former exploits on this planet; he would
find raany evidences around hira that the
world has not stood still during the three-
hundred-and-odd years which have elapsed
since he lived and moved among men.
Since those days when the Emerillon first
ploughed the lirapid waters of the St. Law
rence under his guidance, generations have
come and gone, dynasties have arisen and
fallen, and raany places and things which
then were living realities have crumbled
into dust and become faded memories of
a past age. The mysteries of a new world

220

JACQUES CARTIER.

have been revealed to the gaze of civilized
raankind, and even the old world has under
gone such startling transf orraations that the
hardy raariner of Brittany would find in it
coraparatively little to remind him of those
far-away times when he had his habitation
therein. In his native town of St. Malo he
might, perhaps, be able to find his way
along once farailiar streets to the site of the
little house near the Quai St. Dominique
which he was wont to call his horae ; but
the house itself has given way to an es
tablishraent for the sale of ships' stores, and
the little church where he was wont to
attend mass has been metaraorphosed into
a refuge for disabled searaen. By journey
ing out a raile or two into the suburbs he
would find the seignorial mansion of Limoi
lou still standing, and looking sufficiently
like its former self to recall to his memory
the days when it served the purpose of his
country-seat. But if he were wafted to
these western shores, and set down any
where within the limits of what is now the
city of Montreal, his would be a lost spirit
indeed. On the site where, on the raorning
of the 3rd of October, 1535, he found large
fields of Indian corn and a few rude Indian
huts covered with bark, he would to-day
behold a great and prosperous city, abound
ing with stately teraples of coraraerce, and
with palatial private mansions beside which
the most pretentious structures of his native
town would appear poor and insignificant.
Instead of languid stalks of corn, more or
less stunted by the severity of the northern
cliraate, lofty cathedral towers and church
spires now raise their tall points cloud-ward,
and myriad human feet tread the streets
which once echoed only to the shrill war-

whoop of the barbarian and to the discon
solate wail of the forest. The noble river
still rolls by on its way to the sea, and the
neighbouring mountain still rears its front
in the distance ; but the banks of the one
no longer present an uninviting face of
slime and mud, and the heights of the other
are no longer the abodes of poisonous ser
pents and howling beasts of prey. The mud-
bank has given way to a long unbroken
frbnt of sculptured stone, by the side of
which are moored stately ships which bear
the choice products of the land to every
port in the known world. On the moun
tain where the swarthy savage roamed at
his own sweet will in pursuit of wolves and
deer, the eye now encounters beautifully
laid out drives and pleasure-grounds, attrac
tive suburban villas, and many other objects
indicative of an advanced state of civiliza
tion. And instead of a sparse population
of about a hundred and fifty Indian fami
lies gaining a rude livelihood by hunting,
fishing, and primitive agriculture. Sailor
Jacques would, in these days, find an ac
tive, energetic people to the number of
more than a hundred thousand — coraposed
largely of descendants of his own country
men — engaged in almost every branch of
trade under the sun, and rapidly increasing
in numbers, in wealth, and in general com
mercial importance. Such are the changes
which three and a half centuries of time
have brought about. The bewildered ghost
of the erewhile skipper of St. Malo might
well be excused if it failed to recognize
anything familiar in the landscape which
once aroused his enthusiasm, and which
he was the first European to behold and
describe.

INDEX.

Vol. Page.
Abbott, Hon. J. J, C. . . III. 229
Aikins, Hon. J. C  IIL 191
Allan, Hon. G. W  IV. 170
Allan, Sir Hugh  II, 38
Allen, Hon. J. C  I. 185
Allison, David  IIL 149
Anglin, Hon. T. W  IV. 195
Archibald, Hon. A. G  I. 86
Armour, Hon. J. D  IV. 95
Aylwin, Hon. T. C  IV. ^ 105
Baby, Hon. F. G  II. 131
Bagot, Right Hon. Sir C  III. 77
Baldwin, Hon. Robert  I. 17
Bid well, M. S  . . II. 108
Binney, Right Rev. Hibbert . . . III. 200
Blake, Hon. Edward  I. 120
Blake, Hon. S. H  III. 177
Blake, Hon. W. H  Ill, 48
Blanchet, Hon. J. G  IV. 212
Bond, Right Rev. W. B  III. 154
Bowell, Hon. M  III. 58
Brant, Joseph  I. 59
Brock. Sir Isaac ..'..,. I. 129
Brown, Hon. George .... . . II. 3
Burns, Rev. Alex  II. 41
Bums, Rev. R. F  • ¦ • ^^I- ^^
Burpee, Hon. Isaac . .... IV. 25
Burton, Hon. G. W  III. 114
Cabot, Sebastian  IV. 15
Cameron, Hon. Malcolm  IV. 130
Cameron, Hon. M. C  III. 100

Vol. Page.
Campbell, Sir Alexander . . . III. 217
Carling, Hon. John  IV. 110
Carman, Rev. A  II. 167
Caron, Hon. J. P. R. A  IV. 168
Caron, Hon. R. E  I. 116
Cartier, Hon. Sir G. E  I. 73
Cartier, Jacques . . ... . IV. 215
Cartwright, Hon. Sir R. J  IH. 172
Cathcart, Lord  IV. 166
Cauchon, Hon. J. E  IV. 138
Caven, Rev. William  II. 190
Chauveau, Hon. P. J. O. . . IV. 199
Champlain, Samuel De . ... I. 157
Chapleau, Hon. J. A, . TV. 38
Chandler, Hon. B. B. . . . I. 118
Church, Hon. L. R  III. 220
Clarke, Hon. Charles . ..... IV. 204
Connolly, Thomas Louis  II. 54
Crawley, Rev. B. A  «... IV. 86
Crooks, Hon. Adam  II. 139
Cunard, Sir Samuel ... IV. 182
Daly, Sir D.  III. 69
Dawson, J. W  II. 133
De Boucherville, Hon. C. E. B. III. 44
Dewart, Rev, E, H  II. 221
Dorchester, Lord  III. 116
Dorion, Hon. A, A  IV. 65
Douglas, Rev. George  II. 94
Douglas, Sir James  .1. 202
Draper, Hon. W. H  II. 70
Duflferin, Earl of  HI- 1
Dunkin, Hon. C  IV. 209

222

INDEX.

Vol. Page,
Durham, Lord  II. 27
Elgin, Lord  II. 97
Ferrier, Hon. James  IV. 93
Fisher, Hon. C  IV. 201
Fleming, Sandford  III. 203
Fournier, Hon. T  III. 132
Eraser, Hon. C. F  III. 201
Frfehette, L. H  IV. 156
Frontenac  IV. 19
Fuller, Right Rev. T. B  IV. 125
Fyfe, Rev. R. A  II. 104
Gait, Sir A. T  IL ,181
Gait, Hon. T  III. 152
Geoffrion, Hon. F  III. 193
Gourlay, R. F  IIL 240
Gowan, J. R  III. 236
Grant, Very Rev. G. M  L 167
Gwynne, Hon. J. W  IV. 123
Gzowski, Lieut.-Ool. C. S. ... III. 91

Hagarty, Hon. J. H.
Hannan, Most Rev. Michael
Hardy, Hon. A. S. .
Harrison, Hon. R. A.
Haviland, Hon. T. H.
Head, Right Hon. Sir E. W,
Head, Sir F. B. . ,
Hellmuth, Right Rev. Isaac
Henry, Hon. W. A. .
Hill, Rev. G. W. .
Hincks, Hon. Sir F. .
Holmes, Hon. 8. H. .
Holton, Hon. L. H. .
Howe, Hon. Joseph .
Howland, Hon. Sir W. P,
Huntington, Hon. L. S,

Jack, William B.
Jameson, Anna .
Joly, Hon. H. G.
Jones, Hon. A. G.

IV.
IIL n.
IV.
IV. IV. II,II. II,
IV, I.

12
128
215 8927
158169
213205 62
229

. IV. 112
. II. 193
. IL 115
. III. 124
. IV. 56

IV. 108
II. 67
III. 56
IIL 167

Keefer, T. C.

Vol. Page.
IV. 134

Laflamme, Hon. T. A. R.
Lafontaine, Hon, Sir L, H. .
Laird, 'Hon, David
Langevin, Hon. H. L.
La Salle 
Laurier, Hon. W 
Laval-Montmorenoy, Mgr. F,
Letellier, Hon. Luc .
Lewis, Right Rev. J. T. .
Lisgar, Lord . . .
Lome, Marquis of .
Lynch, Most Rev. J. J. ,
Macdonald, Hon. James .
Macdonald, Hon, Sir .1, A,
Macdonald, Hon. J. S. .
Maohray, Most Rev. R. .
Mackenzie, Hon. A. .
Mackenzie, W. L. . . .
Mackerras, Rev. J. H.
MacNab, Hon. Sir Allan N
Macpherson, Hon. D. L. .
Medley, Most Rev. John
Merritt, Hon, W, H. .
Metcalfe, Lord .
Monck, Lord
MontcalmMorgan, H, J, .
Morris, Hon. Alex
Morris, Hon, William
Morrison, Hon, J. C,
Moss, Hon. Thomas
Mousseau, Hon, J. A.
Mowat, Hon. 0. . .
McDougall, Hon, William
McGee, Hon, T, D, .
McKnight, Rev. Dr. . .
McMaster, Hon. William
Mc Vicar, Rev. D. H. .

X.

Nelles, Rev. S. S. . .
Nelson, Wolfred .
Norquay, Hon. John

L 91
HI. 104
IIL 41
IL 164
III. 79

. III.III.
. L
, III. IV.
, I.

IV. L
IV, IV.

I.
IV.
III. IL
IV.
III. IV, n.
IV.
III. HI. IV. L
IV. II.

IV.
III. IL

75
233 471740' 1

I. 141

69 5
2814

I. 246
IL 44

209 73
206 1
9819
162 79
207 23
136 48
264193 86

IV. 147
III. 138 34
7267

IIL 45
IV. 174
III. 170

INDEX,

223

O'Connor, Hon. John
Osgoode, Hon. William

Papineau, Hon. L. J. .
Pardee, Hon. T. B. .
Patterson, Hon. C. S. .
Pelletier, Hon. C. A. P,
Perry, Hon, Peter .
Pinkham, Rev. W. C, .
Pope, Hon. J. C. .
Pope, Hon. J. H. . .
Proudfoot, Hon. William
Punshon, Rev. W. M.

Rand, T. H 
Richards, Hon. A. N. .
Richards, Hon. Sir W. B
Richardson, Rev. James
Richmond, Duke of ,
Ritchie, Hon. W, J. .
Robinson, Hon. J. B. .
Robinson, Hon, Sir J, B
Robitaille, Hon. T. .
Rose, Hon. Sir John
Ryerson, Rev. B, ,

Schultz, Dr.
Seaton, Lord
Selkirk, Lord ,
Simcoe, Governor .
Smith, Hon. Sir A. .1.
Smith, Goldwin . .
Spragge, Hon. J. G.
Stafford, Rev. M. .

Vol. Page.
IV. 164
III. 133

II.
IV.

IV.
IV.
III.

III. III. IL

199 42

IV. 214
III. 225
III. 212
IV. 104

160 96
227

IV. 188

III. 98
III. 16
L 212

III. IV, I.
III.III. IV. I.

60
222 25

IIL 231
IV. 114

175 70
187 109 6650
174

IL 218
I. 150

IV. 146
IL 187

Vol. Page.
Strachan, Right Rev. John ... I. 94
Strong, Hon. S. H  II. 179
Sutherland, Rev. Alexander .... IV. 172
Sweatman, Right Rev. A  II. 161
Sydenham, Lord  II. 207
Tach^, Most Rev. A, A  III. 181
Ta,ch4, Hon. Sir E. P  IV. 185
Talbot, Hon. Thomas  III. 27
Taschereau, Most Rev. E. A. . . IV. 10
Taschereau, Hon. H, B, . . . . IIL 165
Tecumseh  . . II. 144
Tilley, Hon. Sir S. L, ,.-.... I. 64
Topp, Rev. Alexander .... . Ill, 64
Tupper, Hon. Sir C  II. 73

Vankoughnet, Hon. P. M. M. S.
Walkem, Hon. G. A, .
Williams, Hon. Sir W. F.
Williams, Right Rev. J. W. .
Wilmot, Hon, L. A.
Wilmot, Hon. R. D 
Wilson, Hon, Adam
Wilson, Daniel , . . .
Wolfe, Major-General James .
Wood, Hon. B. B 
Wood, Hon. S. C. .
Young, G, P.
Young, James 
Young, Hon. John . , ,
Young, Sir William . , .

IV. 127

II.
IV.
III.

III. IV.

I.
IV.

158 5
90

IIL 156
IV. 198 215 35

I. 216

146 67

III. 129
IIL 209
II [. 194
IV. 43

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